My youngest daughter, Rose, is a girl who loves physical contact. Sometimes it's the kind parents like to discourage (hitting, pulling, etc) but usually she just wants someone to sit next to her on the couch so you can cuddle. It's very cute.
Rose is now 4. She's big. I'm not super big. She really does not fit on my lap any more. But she still thinks she's a lap baby. On the couch this is acceptable as I can usually adjust to be comfortable, but at the dining room table, while I'm drinking hot coffee and trying to read my emails (or god forbid type something!) it is much less comfortable.
I really don't want to discourage her love of human contact, but how can I keep her off my lap for just those 15 minutes I need in the morning to eat and catch up with the world? If she does manage to climb up there she then wants to "make letters!" or "push the arrow!" which is fine if I'm just browsing around, but after about 2 minutes my legs hurt and I have to get up. Then she gets the computer and I'm left standing, drinking my coffee. Not quite fair.
I know distraction is best, but the tv is already on, her Dad's lap is somehow inferior to mine, and I'm just a human contact magnet I guess. Do your (large) kids still insist on lap time? Do you let them and suffer the consequences? or have you find a solution? Please do share any ideas or insights you've discovered!
Toodles!
Thursday, 11 June 2015
Tuesday, 9 June 2015
Power Outage Causes Bedtime Struggles, But All Is Resolved
Tonight Emma had her Mode Elle modelling/talent class. Took Rose to a few stores, and changed her into jammies (in case she fell asleep in the car on the way home - she woke up at 5am today) while we waited big sis to finish. I got a message from my neighbour asking if my power was out while we were "shopping." Of course I wasn't home so, no idea! Then hubby calls 10 minutes later to tell me he stopped at home between his day job and evening work and guess what! - The power's out. Guess neighbour was right.
Kids were kind of intrigued by the idea of no power, until I explained to them what that meant. No tv or movies when we get home (we wouldn't have done that anyway, as it's Rose's bedtime by the time we get home); no nightlights (catastrophe!); and - horror of horrors - no toasted english muffins or anything else that requires cooking.
The power was not on when we got home - nor was hubby still home to assist the power-less bedtimes. The battery backups in the basement were beeping like crazy, and Emma wondered why the dryer was buzzing so often and, wait a minute, it doesn't take batteries, does it? Sometimes the way her mind works astonishes me still.
Anyway, Rose got to bed okay - it was dark, she was worried about it, so we had to find flashlights because the light from the hallway was just not good enough tonight. I actually managed to find a few, some with rechargable batteries - and luckily there were a few with enough charge to last a few minutes at least. Once she accepted the scenario she was asleep quickly.
I was starting to get worried - Emma was wearing the battery down on my phone playing games and I was not really looking forward to straining to read by candle or flashlight as the sun went down. My big plans for the night were blogging and having a Palm Bay while watching tv - with a chaser of going to bed by 9:30. I know, exciting night, right?
Well, wonder of wonders, the power came back on about 15 minutes before Emma's bedtime. So she finished wearing down my phone and then she went to bed - not much fuss, just a story and then some reading-on-her-own time. So now I am living the dream, drinking my Palm Bay and watching some tv while blogging. Life is good. And it's not even 9pm!
Toodles!
Kids were kind of intrigued by the idea of no power, until I explained to them what that meant. No tv or movies when we get home (we wouldn't have done that anyway, as it's Rose's bedtime by the time we get home); no nightlights (catastrophe!); and - horror of horrors - no toasted english muffins or anything else that requires cooking.
The power was not on when we got home - nor was hubby still home to assist the power-less bedtimes. The battery backups in the basement were beeping like crazy, and Emma wondered why the dryer was buzzing so often and, wait a minute, it doesn't take batteries, does it? Sometimes the way her mind works astonishes me still.
Anyway, Rose got to bed okay - it was dark, she was worried about it, so we had to find flashlights because the light from the hallway was just not good enough tonight. I actually managed to find a few, some with rechargable batteries - and luckily there were a few with enough charge to last a few minutes at least. Once she accepted the scenario she was asleep quickly.
I was starting to get worried - Emma was wearing the battery down on my phone playing games and I was not really looking forward to straining to read by candle or flashlight as the sun went down. My big plans for the night were blogging and having a Palm Bay while watching tv - with a chaser of going to bed by 9:30. I know, exciting night, right?
Well, wonder of wonders, the power came back on about 15 minutes before Emma's bedtime. So she finished wearing down my phone and then she went to bed - not much fuss, just a story and then some reading-on-her-own time. So now I am living the dream, drinking my Palm Bay and watching some tv while blogging. Life is good. And it's not even 9pm!
Toodles!
Sunday, 7 June 2015
Is It Swimming Weather? or My Kids Are Crazy!
My kids went swimming today - today is June 7th - no one even looked at the temperature in the pool because us grownups are too cold blooded to even think about getting in., Although, the car did say 22 degrees (Celsius) that is nowhere near swimming weather to me!
Sundays are usually good days. Nanny takes the girls to church, then they often go to their aunts to play with awesome young cousin with a sibling cousin on the way. After that (while cousin naps) they go back to Nanny's for movie or swimming (when the weather is nice) or park play, then we all gather there for dinner. Tonight we had pork steaks with corn on the cob, rice and salad. So delicious. The kids even ate some. That's a feat in itself some days. Everything is quiet upstairs now (8:30 pm). Time for Mom and Dad to sit quietly and unwind, watch tv, and try hard not to eat snacks we don't really need because we had a perfectly delicious and calorically dense dinner. I'm about to fall asleep, but I think that's more due to the wine I had with dinner, than the time of day.
Next weekend is going to be more busy, as will the next 2 weekends be. Dance recitals abound, as well as following family gatherings. Luckily my families are happy to help out, bring foodstuffs, and help to tidy. I'm hoping the weather will cooperate for the next two weekends as well. If it gets hot we do always have access to Nanny's pool to cool off after a hard day's work!
Toodles!
Sundays are usually good days. Nanny takes the girls to church, then they often go to their aunts to play with awesome young cousin with a sibling cousin on the way. After that (while cousin naps) they go back to Nanny's for movie or swimming (when the weather is nice) or park play, then we all gather there for dinner. Tonight we had pork steaks with corn on the cob, rice and salad. So delicious. The kids even ate some. That's a feat in itself some days. Everything is quiet upstairs now (8:30 pm). Time for Mom and Dad to sit quietly and unwind, watch tv, and try hard not to eat snacks we don't really need because we had a perfectly delicious and calorically dense dinner. I'm about to fall asleep, but I think that's more due to the wine I had with dinner, than the time of day.
Next weekend is going to be more busy, as will the next 2 weekends be. Dance recitals abound, as well as following family gatherings. Luckily my families are happy to help out, bring foodstuffs, and help to tidy. I'm hoping the weather will cooperate for the next two weekends as well. If it gets hot we do always have access to Nanny's pool to cool off after a hard day's work!
Toodles!
Saturday, 6 June 2015
Shopping Success!
Emma is a great shopper. I'm so surprised we had such a smooth day out looking for shoes and clothes. We were done by noon! She got stuff she needed (and some stuff she didn't) and I even got a pair of shoes that were on 70% off!
Now the girls are outside playing with their friends, I've got laundry hanging outside and we have a batch of spaghetti sauce in the slow-cooker. It feels like a productive day. Although now we have to start thinking about dinner - steak and corn on the cob - because lunch was a long time ago...
Toodles!
Now the girls are outside playing with their friends, I've got laundry hanging outside and we have a batch of spaghetti sauce in the slow-cooker. It feels like a productive day. Although now we have to start thinking about dinner - steak and corn on the cob - because lunch was a long time ago...
Toodles!
Friday, 5 June 2015
Tomorrow We're Going Shopping!
Somehow my weekends are rapidly filling up this month. With the end of our extra-curriculars and the end of school, time is counting down like crazy. I just realized that this is the last free weekend I have to take Emma for a new outfit and new shoes before her talent headshot photoshoot at the end of the month. So while Patrick takes Rose to ballet, Emma and I will troupe around town trying on all manor of clothes and accessories.
I don't think Emma has clued in to the idea that she won't be doing her free art at the Tett this week. I hope she doesn't catch on, I really don't want to spend then entire day out and about. I like the girls having their weekend afternoons at home, outside, with their friends.
Emma thinks we're just going to go to the mall - I don't think that's the best place for her to find shoes. We already tried WalMart but she's between sizes there. I guess actual shoe stores (I miss Kiddie Kobbler) will be on the agenda tomorrow. I just know that narrowing down choices will be quite a chore. And truthfully I don't even know what we need for this photo session. Because she's a child we have to take all clothes, shoes and accessories, but there will be a stylist there to help her put together outfits etc.
I'm looking forward to this excursion as an opportunity to actually talk to Emma about the endgame of this modelling and talent course. She says she wants to act more than model (so far). I'm unsure if she even knows what acting actually is. Today she had to stand up in front of her whole school - she raised the most money for her Jump Rope for Heart - and she seemed to think it was a little terrifying. I will say that I think she is less self-conscious and shy than she was, but whether that's just growing up, or this course has something to do with it I have no idea.
Anyway, if anything exciting happens on our adventures tomorrow I will be sure to share them, but until then...
Toodles!
I don't think Emma has clued in to the idea that she won't be doing her free art at the Tett this week. I hope she doesn't catch on, I really don't want to spend then entire day out and about. I like the girls having their weekend afternoons at home, outside, with their friends.
Emma thinks we're just going to go to the mall - I don't think that's the best place for her to find shoes. We already tried WalMart but she's between sizes there. I guess actual shoe stores (I miss Kiddie Kobbler) will be on the agenda tomorrow. I just know that narrowing down choices will be quite a chore. And truthfully I don't even know what we need for this photo session. Because she's a child we have to take all clothes, shoes and accessories, but there will be a stylist there to help her put together outfits etc.
I'm looking forward to this excursion as an opportunity to actually talk to Emma about the endgame of this modelling and talent course. She says she wants to act more than model (so far). I'm unsure if she even knows what acting actually is. Today she had to stand up in front of her whole school - she raised the most money for her Jump Rope for Heart - and she seemed to think it was a little terrifying. I will say that I think she is less self-conscious and shy than she was, but whether that's just growing up, or this course has something to do with it I have no idea.
Anyway, if anything exciting happens on our adventures tomorrow I will be sure to share them, but until then...
Toodles!
Wednesday, 3 June 2015
Weekend anxiety
I felt a bit stressed out this past weekend. Patrick was away Saturday, the girls didn't go to church Sunday, and I just felt so disconnected with everything. I was at the end of my monthly "visitor" and the weather was all over the place and I had a few acute bouts of my "mom anxiety"as I like to call it. You know, when you can't handle anything, especially related to your kids. Like when they tell you they feel sick and then you're constantly "on" just waiting for the moaning and groaning or "Mom! I'm gonna throw up!" and you can't sleep or do anything that requires attention because half your brain is occupied thinking about where the closest toilet is, or any other receptacle for catching the mess. Ya, fun times.
My first "mom anxiety" involved taking the girls to the Tett so Rose can have her dance lesson. The Tett Centre is a fabulous Kingston resource for anyone interested in arts. Every Saturday they have a free drop-in session with an artist who has a studio in the centre. It's kid oriented on Saturdays, but they are supposed to be running more adult geared stuff too. Anyway, I can drop Emma off at art, then go upstairs with Rose and then go back to art while Rose is dancing. For some reason this week being separated from Emma for so long (Rose and I were early for dance so we sat upstairs for a long time) caused me distress. And I know, in my logical brain, that she's totally fine and she does this every week - the artists know her and know we are up at KSD - and there are other dance sibling there with and without parents, but my "mom brain" wouldn't stop dwelling on any- and everything that could be going on in the art area. Of course, when I got down there she was fine and had done a ton of stuff,
Next item in the "mom anxiety" world was the sprinkler. It was hot Saturday afternoon so we had the sprinkler out. Lovely neighbour girl was visiting, got her swimsuit, everything was fine but I couldn't deal with the fact that they were barely in the sprinkler. So I wanted to turn it off, but that made everyone mad. So I tried to sit and read my book while they played willy-nilly in the yard and on the climber and in the sprinkler, but I could not focus on reading. The girls were great, they played fine, they asked for freezies, they told me when they were done, but that still didn't quiet the nags inside my brain. Maybe part of it was knowing I couldn't "tag out" and let Patrick watch them for a bit since he was working. I don't know, but I do know that I could have been inside as I usually am when they're playing, but for some reason having the sprinkler out really amped up the anxiety.
There were Sunday episodes as well, but I don't want to bore you with all my personal issues. I just need to talk about them sometimes. Believe it or not it helps the anxiety to talk about it. Especially to people who I may not even know, because who cares if you're judging me and my ridiculous brain? Oh wait, my "mom anxiety" cares...
Toodles!
My first "mom anxiety" involved taking the girls to the Tett so Rose can have her dance lesson. The Tett Centre is a fabulous Kingston resource for anyone interested in arts. Every Saturday they have a free drop-in session with an artist who has a studio in the centre. It's kid oriented on Saturdays, but they are supposed to be running more adult geared stuff too. Anyway, I can drop Emma off at art, then go upstairs with Rose and then go back to art while Rose is dancing. For some reason this week being separated from Emma for so long (Rose and I were early for dance so we sat upstairs for a long time) caused me distress. And I know, in my logical brain, that she's totally fine and she does this every week - the artists know her and know we are up at KSD - and there are other dance sibling there with and without parents, but my "mom brain" wouldn't stop dwelling on any- and everything that could be going on in the art area. Of course, when I got down there she was fine and had done a ton of stuff,
Next item in the "mom anxiety" world was the sprinkler. It was hot Saturday afternoon so we had the sprinkler out. Lovely neighbour girl was visiting, got her swimsuit, everything was fine but I couldn't deal with the fact that they were barely in the sprinkler. So I wanted to turn it off, but that made everyone mad. So I tried to sit and read my book while they played willy-nilly in the yard and on the climber and in the sprinkler, but I could not focus on reading. The girls were great, they played fine, they asked for freezies, they told me when they were done, but that still didn't quiet the nags inside my brain. Maybe part of it was knowing I couldn't "tag out" and let Patrick watch them for a bit since he was working. I don't know, but I do know that I could have been inside as I usually am when they're playing, but for some reason having the sprinkler out really amped up the anxiety.
There were Sunday episodes as well, but I don't want to bore you with all my personal issues. I just need to talk about them sometimes. Believe it or not it helps the anxiety to talk about it. Especially to people who I may not even know, because who cares if you're judging me and my ridiculous brain? Oh wait, my "mom anxiety" cares...
Toodles!
Monday, 1 June 2015
Dance is Eating Up My Life! (not really...)
The girl's dance studio has an end-of-year performance which is actually put on as a ballet at the theatre in town. It has 2 acts, one is ballet exclusively (I think) and the other is all the other dance styles (tap, contemporary, swing, etc.). Of course Emma would be in both acts as she does ballet and contemporary - that means she has rehearsals every day on the week leading up to the performance. This will not be easy for us. Patrick is out of town Wed to Fri that week and most of the rehearsals end at 8 or 8:30. Rose needs to be in bed before that or I will have to carry her sleeping self in and out of the car every night to pick Emma up. Also one night he is away I have to work until 6 so getting Emma there for 5 may prove challenging. And then there's the night she has her modelling/talent class - she's just going to miss that rehearsal. I remember this inconvenience from last year, but then she was in only one class, and only the first act and so there were half as many rehearsals.
Rose, on the other hand, has an in-studio "recital" that we will all get to see without spending $20 a ticket and all our free time taking her to rehearsals. This is because she is in the 3 year old dance class. And thank god, as there's no way she would be able to stay up for a 7pm performance, and we get snacks after this in-studio show. The kids have so much fun performing and I can't wait to see both the shows, but I'm a bit anxious about all the work we have to put in it first.
And if I'm anxious about all this, I can only imagine what will happen if any "talent" people like Emma's headshots at the modelling agency we're using. Driving to Toronto is not my favourite thing to do on a good day, but if she wants to do this, and enjoys it, then I will totally be the chauffeur mom that I need to be. We're starting this stuff the weekend after the dance performance, as the photoshoot is at the agency's offices in Belleville. And I have already scheduled her a manicure for that morning but she'll be disappointed that she can't have colour. There are a lot of rules in this modelling world.
Toodles!
Rose, on the other hand, has an in-studio "recital" that we will all get to see without spending $20 a ticket and all our free time taking her to rehearsals. This is because she is in the 3 year old dance class. And thank god, as there's no way she would be able to stay up for a 7pm performance, and we get snacks after this in-studio show. The kids have so much fun performing and I can't wait to see both the shows, but I'm a bit anxious about all the work we have to put in it first.
And if I'm anxious about all this, I can only imagine what will happen if any "talent" people like Emma's headshots at the modelling agency we're using. Driving to Toronto is not my favourite thing to do on a good day, but if she wants to do this, and enjoys it, then I will totally be the chauffeur mom that I need to be. We're starting this stuff the weekend after the dance performance, as the photoshoot is at the agency's offices in Belleville. And I have already scheduled her a manicure for that morning but she'll be disappointed that she can't have colour. There are a lot of rules in this modelling world.
Toodles!
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