Park Fun October 31, 2013

On Monday I brought Henry & Freddy to the park in the afternoon to let him blow off some steam. Both had slept for less than an hour and were climbing the walls so I thought a park outing would help.  We were there about 20 minutes when Henry started getting bored. I figured we’d head back home when another mom showed up with her two sons.  They were 3yrs and 18 months old and exactly what Henry needed. He started following the oldest boy like crazy. Henry can come on a little strong with other kids but this guy was having just as much fun. The mom even offered to help Henry up the rock climbing wall of the play structure since I had Freddy strapped to me, rendering me pretty much useless. She was pretty cool herself. I started having visions of play dates with these kids. She must have sensed I was getting attached because she then dropped the bomb that they’re from Yellowknife and just visiting her parents for a month. Curse you Yellowknife!!!

We ended up spending 2 hours there. Chris even came and joined us there after work. When it came time to go home, Henry refused to leave. He lost it. Like really lost it. Chris had to drag him home kicking and screaming as Henry clawed at his face. It was right around the time where parents are waiting outside for their school aged children to arrive via bus so they got a great show. I was walking behind slightly embarrassed and explaining sheepishly “he didn’t want to leave the park”. Thank god for that one mom who answered “we’ve all been there”.  I think Henry deep down was bemoaning Yellowknife as well.

Henry telling me “you sit on the other side”

 

Great childminding tool…

 

I Love the swing!

 

Me too!

 

Freddy playing it fast and loose by leaning waaaay in.

 

 

 

 

Scrubbing In For Surgery

Sunday, Henry and I did some intense surgery on the weekend. We successfully conducted two pumpkin-ectomies. We went to the grocery store and let Henry pick out two pumpkins. Unfortunately one is a bit of a dud and won’t stand on its own but I won’t hold that against him…much.

Henry was into the pumpkin carving for all of 5 minutes then ditched me to play with his cars.  Carving pumpkins is labour intensive. I didn’t have any proper tools so I used a steak knife. A lot of back and forth sawing gave me a good arm workout.

 

Help me carry these mama!

 

scooping out the guts. Henry hates getting his hands dirty with food so this was pretty much his worst nightmare.

 

our supervising chief of surgery.

 

our works of art.

 

 

 

Masterpiece Theater

Last Wednesday we took Henry and Freddy to see Sesame Street Live. We had waited until the night before to tell Henry we were going since he has gratification issues. Basically he wants things right away. So the night before I explained to him that we were going to see Elmo after “school” the next day. Well drop off at daycare that morning was rough. He kept saying “No daycare, ELMO!” and I kept saying “after daycare Henry” and then communication lines broke down from there. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty excited myself to go. We’ve become very VERY well acquainted with Sesame Street, particularly Elmo and I’m not going to lie, I’m a fan. I like everything there is about Sesame Street. They’ve “kept it real” for a really long time.

So it was with great chagrin, that when we picked him up early, he was clearly sick.  He was all red and lethargic and cranky. We debated whether we should go or not, but before we could decide, Henry said “we go see Elmo now?” so I couldn’t not bring him. We figured we’d go for a bit and then leave if he got too tired. We rushed home, gave him a bit of Tylenol and headed back out.

He was a bit confused at first, not quite knowing what was happening.  About 10 minutes into the show, it was like I was seeing a different Henry. He was jumping around, dancing, clapping his hands, singing and naming every character as they appeared on stage.  We also got to hang out with my sister and nephew Niko and niece Victoria who scored free tickets from my aunt Francine. At one point, Henry felt it was imperative to reach over to my sister and say “Kiki, that’s Cookie Monster”. I guess he thought she wasn’t familiar with the characters. The boys had a blast. Well Freddy fell asleep in the second half but I’m sure he enjoyed what he saw.  The second it was over, Henry just crashed. He used all his energy for Elmo.

Now for the show itself, as an adult, I thought it was awesome. They really engage the kids with catchy song and dance numbers. I felt bad for the people in the costumes since the whole show is prerecorded so these people are on stage miming along to the soundtrack. I felt Cookie Monster was over-exaggerating his movement but I guess if movement is the only thing you’re allowed to do, you want to make sure you’re noticed. I noticed you Cookie Monster. There were a few jokes that adults could pick up on as well. The best part though was just watching Henry thoroughly enjoy the moment. He was just so happy seeing his heroes up close. I would definitely go again.

I don’t feel good but I still want to see Elmo

 

what is going on?

 

Chris got into it also.

 

overacting Cookie Monster

 

kind of blurry since Henry was dancing and clapping

 

Freddy tired and confused. I was wearing a sesame street shirt that i’ve had for years. Needless to say it was a hit with the kids.

 

mesmerized by the show.

 

back to being sick and miserable right after. Ever the frugal shopper, I bought that Grover doll earlier that day at the grocery store for $7 instead of buying a $25 one at the show. We gave it to him at the end and he loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So Long Nina, Bon Voyage! October 21, 2013

My sister Nina has moved to Australia for at least a year to live with her boyfriend Josh. A few weeks ago, we had a goodbye brunch for her to send her on her way and I took a bunch of pictures. Thought I’d share a few so that if she misses us all the way over there, she can take a quick look at these and remember why she left… hehe.. just kidding. Good luck on your adventure Nina!

Victoria is clearly not impressed with the unfolding events.

Niko smoldering for the camera

Logan and his shadow Henry

Freddy happy to be with the ladies.

They say don’t work with animals or kids. That couldn’t be truer for these two brutes. Nina was really flexing her muscles trying to get them to cooperate.

Frank and his fiancee Catherine and their crazy energetic dog Disney

tickles from grand-maman

Victoria giving some smolder of her own with mama.

This is sadly the best picture I could get of Nina with 3 of her nephews. Niko is doing that face for all of the pics and Henry looks like he’s going to cry…. Good memories for you Nina!

Pic with the parents.

Guess What??? You’re Awesome!

I’m not going to lie, I often find myself doubting my ability to parent. I’m constantly re-evaluating every move/decision I make in the name of my kids. Continuous second guessing. A few times a day I have to stop myself and take a deep breath before going off the frazzled deep end. I look over to Chris who seems to have an infinite reserve of parenting patience and he just seems to know what to say to Henry all the time.

And then, a few days ago, I had one of those “I am mama, hear me roar!!!” moments. One of those moments where I was able to think “I got this!”.  I took both Henry and Freddy to the Valley View Animal Farm. My plan was to have Freddy in the stroller, and Henry walk next to me as we met the animals and walked the grounds. Both kids disagreed with this plan immediately with Freddy writhing around in the stroller like he was possessed and Henry trying to climb in the stroller and kick Freddy out. So I switched to plan B, put Freddy in the carrier and pushed Henry around. Things were going well and then Freddy started doing his “I’m getting hungry” song and dance. From where I was on the farm, there was no spot to sit down and feed and I knew Henry would start showing his toddlerhood if I stopped pushing the stroller. So, I pulled down my nursing top and fed Freddy in the carrier while I continued to push Henry in the stroller. I had always stressed out about the possibility of nursing in the carrier. Thinking “no way I’ll ever be able to do this” and when the time came, it just happened so naturally, with such ease, like I was meant to do this. It was very empowering. It made me realize, yeah, I can do this parenting thing. I may doubt myself, but when it comes down to it, it’s something that comes fairly naturally.  I’m doing the best I can and my kids are turning out alright.

And that’s where you come in. Parents who are reading this, who may be at the end of their ropes and feeling like failures. I want you to know that I think you’re awesome. You’re doing the best that you can and that’s great! I hope you all can have a zen like moment that I had recently and realize that everything will be ok. Just keep doing what’s working for you and don’t overthink too much. Take everyone’s opinion on parenting with a grain of salt. Everyone is living different circumstances than you, so what works for them might not work for you and vice versa. Just keep doing what keeps your family healthy, safe and most importantly, keeps you sane!

I’m getting hungry mom and there’s nowhere to sit down.

I’d rather be in here than use my legs thankyouverymuch

Henry decided he was ok to get out of the stroller to go down this massive slide. He changed his mind once up there.

Henry kept calling these apples and when I said “Henry, they’re pumpkins” he’d say “no, mama silly”

posing for pictures in front of the pumpkins. I took a picture of Henry and his friend Avery at this very spot 2 years ago. How time flies!

 

 

 

I’ll Tell You What I Want, What I Really Really Want October 7, 2013

In the past few weeks Henry has undergone a vocabulary explosion.  Out of nowhere he’s just chatting up a storm, repeating everything we’re saying (which has made me acutely aware of how often I swear while driving) and most of all, telling us what he wants.

Henry is very VERY good at telling us what he wants. When we were coming back from Caitlin and Brian’s wedding, we stopped at the Maple Dale cheese store near Tweed where they have various samples of cheeses. The entire time there, Henry would repeat “I want cheese, I want cheese, I want cheese”. We kind of thought it was awesome since it’s mostly aged or smoked cheddar and we thought “sweet! our kid loves fancy cheese, he’s a foodie! No kraft slices for him!”. Little did we know that by indulging his cheese request, he associated constant his constant request with actually getting it, so now, when he wants something, he just constantly repeats what he wants ad nauseum.

So now in the morning, after he’s had his milk, he’ll say “I want more milk” and we’ll say “no, you’ve had your milk” so he’ll ask a few times and them will switch “Ok, I want juice” x 100.  You know how Noriega surrendered after several days of US Troops playing Van Halen’s “Panama” over and over again. Well I know understand how he must have felt. The first 5-10 times you can kind of ignore it. You think “if I ignore him, he’ll stop” but then he’ll make physical contact, like put his hand on your arm and just keep repeating “I want juice, I want juice, I want juice…” My kid is awesome at psychological warfare apparently. When I do surrender, he claps his hands and says “YEAH!!!” like it was no effort whatsoever repeating the same sentence over 100 times.

If I don’t give in, this is what I get:

WHHYYYY WON’T YOU GIVE ME JUICE!!!!