Reading is a wonderful thing. I was that stereotype girl with thick glasses, out-of-control-hair, bad fashion sense, and a nose perpetually stuck in a book. I still love reading even if I don’t make as much time for reading of the book variety (I read a lot of stuff online of course).

Hayley loves reading too and she’s getting better and better at it. A couple of weeks ago she took Are You My Mother? by Dr. Seuss to school and she read it to her class, getting a huge “super reader” sticker from her teacher along with a note saying she had “read it beautifully”. Every night, she gets into bed and she turns on her reading lamp and reads her books to herself. We still read to her too (I’m in the middle of a chapter book with her about Mariposa, she loves it. I can’t wait until she’s ready for a really big chapter book so I can read The Secret of N.I.M.H. to her!) but she just really loves reading to herself.

However, there are some drawbacks to it, and if you’re currently the parent of a child who has not learned to read yet, you might want to bear it in mind.

For one thing, talking about certain topics with others in front of your children will become a lot more difficult. George can no longer turn to me and mention that he’s going to go buy a c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e b-a-r at the store because now Hayley will shriek, “You’re buying a chocolate bar?!” If I’m not sure I want to take the kids to the park I can’t say “We might go to the p-a-r-k if I finish my work in time” because then Hayley will ask me about the park five million times.

I hadn’t really thought about the repercussions of having a reader and no longer being able to spell. We can use French for now, although chocolat is too close to chocolate so some words are still impossible to hide, and she’ll be fluent in French soon enough that it will be off the table as an option too. Right now we resort to charades a lot, or vague references like “that place on the other side of town that serves hot beverages and little round edible things” so that Hayley can’t figure out we’re talking about donuts at Tim Horton’s.

Eventually we may have to learn an obscure language like Gaelic or Esperanto or perhaps Klingon just so we can still converse privately among the kids.

The other disadvantage is that it can be annoying. How so? Tonight Hayley was trying to resist sleep by banging her legs as loudly as possible on her mattress which was noisy enough, on top of all the books she kept knocking with a crash onto the floor. I was trying to watch American Idol work, so I went in and said, “Hayley, you’re going to wake your sister up which will interrupt American Idol my work, please be quiet!”

And she looked up at me with a big smile and said, “I can SPELL quiet! Q-u-i-e-t!” And what do you say to that? “Yes, very good, but please do it instead of just spelling it. You have to go to sleep.”

“I can spell sleep! S-l-e-e-p!”

“OK GREAT THEN JUST SPELL WORDS SILENTLY IN YOUR HEAD UNTIL YOU’RE SLEEPING.”

So think long and hard. Do you want to have your own words spelled back at you when you’re trying to parent? Do you want to lose an important method of communication with your spouse? If the answer to those questions is no, then do yourself a favor and go hide all the children’s books, turn off reading shows like Super Why and Sesame Street, and toss out the alphabet blocks.

It’s your only chance.

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By the way, I reviewed a really delicious c-e-r-e-a-l on my review blog. I was sent a complimentary box of Frosted Flakes Gold and it was so y-u-m-m-y it lasted under three days here. Go check it out!

Tonight, after George finished supper, he had to run out quickly to do a few things. He left while the girls and I were still eating supper. It was a pleasantly warm day so our balcony sliding doors were wide open.

While we were eating dessert (oh hello blueberries, *swoon*), I heard the screaming of brakes outside and I wasn’t 100% sure but I thought I heard a car hitting something. I rushed to the balcony and peered outside; we have an intersection outside so I thought there had been an accident. I didn’t see anything other than a car a little further across the crosswalk than it should have been so I assumed that someone thought they could beat the yellow light and then changed their mind at the last minute.

We finished eating and I had just started clearing the plates when I heard sirens. That’s not unusual, but the sirens didn’t get further away. In fact, it sounded like they stopped right outside. I went to the balcony again and saw fire trucks, an ambulance, and a police car.

I rushed out and tried to see what had happened but the trees on our front property blocked the view. I could see, though, that everything seemed to be happening right at the driveway of our parking lot.

Of course, Hayley and Breanna were out on the balcony with me and were very curious about what was going on but all that was running through my head was, “I don’t know when that screeching of brakes happened. I can’t remember how much time passed between when George walked out that front door and when the brakes screeched. Why can’t I remember how much time went by?!”

I didn’t want to alarm the kids, especially Hayley who understands more, so I said, “hey, let’s go downstairs and see what’s going on, get your shoes on!” Meanwhile, what my BRAIN was really saying was, “oh my god, oh my god, ohmygod did someone hit George and if so, is he okay?”

We went downstairs and walked over to where the yellow tape had already been put up and although I felt guilty, I breathed an enormous sigh of relief when I saw a minivan and a burgundy car, neither of which belonged to us. Then I alleviated my guilt when I noticed that although some people looked shaken up and some were being treated by medics, there didn’t appear to be any urgency so no one seemed to be seriously injured.

The minivan had a busted read bumper but the car was crumpled around the hood and looked like it would cost an awful lot to fix up. Clearly the minivan was leaving the parking lot and got rammed by someone going way too fast, coming up the street. Brilliant.

By the time we had been back upstairs for five minutes, we heard the beeping noise of an ambulance backing up and they headed towards the hospital but didn’t turn on sirens so I guess everyone was fine. Thank goodness.

Still. Just that thought on repeat, not knowing if the timing was such that someone could have hit George as he pulled out of the parking lot, or even hit him as he walked towards the garbage bin to toss out our trash on his way to the car… Well.

We’re not perfect. Like most couples we argue and fight, sometimes about stupid things, sometimes about important things but in stupid ways. But let me tell you, there is nothing like the feeling of your heart pounding up in your THROAT to make you realize that none of those things are all that important when it all comes down to it.

I’m glad no one was hurt, but I’m extra glad he wasn’t.

Guerilla Gardening. This seriously makes me want to go buy a few packs of seeds and a shovel. And I just might.

Yesterday we watched a movie together and I can not recommend it highly enough – if you haven’t yet seen The Waterhorse, I urge you to run to the nearest rental store and get a copy of it. It’s charming, it’s funny, and it puts a spin on the origins of the Loch Ness Monster. Breanna probably didn’t really understand most of it, but she enjoyed watching the sea creature running around (especially with the dog) and Hayley absolutely loved it.

What’s additionally great about it is that it’s not just a kids’ movie because George and I really enjoyed it as well, although I missed part of it while cleaning up the kitchen – I’ll have to see the parts I missed.

You might want to screen it first if you have kids who are particularly sensitive because I can see how it could be scary. Hayley jumped a few times but had no residual side effects (no trouble sleeping or nightmares) and Breanna is very much like me. I’ll watch horror movies in the hopes of being terrified – Breanna is scared of eyes in the dark (such as when a cartoon character is looking around a dark room and the whole screen is black except for a pair of blinking eyes) but she loves them too.

Definitely a hit and it will probably be a regular rotation movie over here.

(I was really amused that a couple of hours after we had all watched and enjoyed it, I got an email from my sister saying that we absolutely must see the movie. I guess good taste runs in the family!)

When I was in grade seven and thus in the world of high school, I decided I really resented having to wear a winter hat. My mother insisted that I wear one to keep my head warm. My solution seemed obvious – wear it until I was out of sight and then take it off my head, not putting it on until I was almost home again. This would have been a dandy solution except for one thing.

We lived in an upper duplex and my mother would watch me leave in the morning. I chose to take my hat off when I got just around the corner, concealed by a large hedge on the corner property. Naturally, the hedge was not higher than the living room window. My mother saw me take my hat off every morning and stuff it into my bag as I walked up the street. If she happened to spot me coming home she would also see me stop and pull it back out of my bag to put it on my head before coming around the corner.

She didn’t tell me she knew my little secret for years. But I do know now how amused she must have been, because Hayley is starting early.

Today she tried to tell me that she didn’t need to wear a coat. I explained that she could go out at recess and lunch without it and she certainly didn’t need it after school, but that the mornings were still chilly. She debated for a bit but I held firm, especially since she was wearing a t-shirt. We did compromise by agreeing it could remain unzipped.

We stood in the schoolyard waiting for the bell to ring, and when her best friend got off the bus, they walked off together towards the Kindergarten entrance. Because I’m just like that, I always watch until she goes around the corner to the doorway before I leave, just to make sure she goes in – once she gets to that point, there’s a teacher standing there to make sure everyone goes inside.

I guess she forgot that I stand there and watch every morning because when she got halfway across the schoolyard she stopped her friend, then she glanced over her shoulder to look for me. There was a crowd of kids streaming off the school buses and into various doors so she didn’t see me. Then she quickly shrugged her coat off and stuffed it into her school bag before smugly strutting off towards her door in the chilly morning air in her short sleeves.

I just stood there, laughing in disbelief and remembering my little hat trick.

I still haven’t told her. Maybe I won’t for a few more years, just like my mother. I’ll just let her think she pulled one over on her mom instead.

If you are, you can check out my post reviewing Kellog’s Special K Bliss Cereal Bars. And then run to the store to buy some because they’re THAT tasty.

Bigger post coming later!

I Twittered about it a bit, but George has been working with this guy Mark Henry. Mark wanted to do a Gospel album and even though I’m not inclined to listen to a lot of Gospel, I love his voice and his songs have been beautiful.

George grew up in a household that celebrated black musical artists and with his dad being from Barbados, there was a lot of Calypso/Soca going on. George HATED it growing up. As an adult now and a musician, he can appreciate it more but he doesn’t listen to it. I think *i* might know more Calypso song lyrics than he does.

Anyway, all that to say that much to the shock of many, one day George just up and wrote this Calypso song. He wrote and played everything except the bass. Mark got a friend of his to come do the bass two days ago and then Mark came back this morning to sing the vocals after writing the words over the weekend.

The song kicks serious ass. Even though it’s got the Gospel lyrics it will easily cross over to be played on local stations that play Calypso and I’d love so much to hear Mark do this live at Montreal’s Jazz Fest or Carifiesta.

I’d love to have you listen to it and give me a bit of feedback. And honestly, if you don’t find yourself at least *wanting* to dance, I fear you may be deceased.

Here it is, called “God’s Promise”

Muchas gracias!

I think these pinhole cameras look like a lot of fun to make.

I am so embarrassed, so incredibly embarrassed to be a part of this city. Last night I was ecstatic to see the Montreal Canadiens win. They played a horrible game on Thursday and Saturday was a great game but we lost. It was the last chance to stay in the playoffs and Montreal played so well, kicking Boston’s ass in a five-nothing shut-out game. It was exciting, it was inspiring, it was awesome.

The game finished just past 9:30 pm and I went to bed just before the local news at 11:30 pm. During that two hour period I took some pictures of two girls in Canadiens shirts standing on the median of our street, arms in the air, screaming and jumping up and down. Cars with Canadiens flags honked their horns all up and down the street, some of them yelling to each other from their open windows. It was great, it was a huge celebration and although I did hope the kids would sleep through the noise (they did), I was happy to hear so many people who were so obviously thrilled that we’ve moved up to the next level. Great team spirit, great city morale.

And then I woke up this morning. I always watch Canada AM in the morning because it’s a great national news show. While I was getting Hayley’s breakfast ready, I heard something about hockey riots. I figured they were talking about concerns of a repeat of 1993’s riots after Montreal beat L.A. for the Stanley Cup. Except when I got to sit down for a few minutes to watch the local segment I discovered they were talking about last night, where people in the downtown area smashed store windows, looted some stores, jumped up and down on police cars, ripped the cars apart, and then as a final touch, set several police cars on fire.

They arrested 16 people ranging in age from 14 to 25. I hope they fine them a ridiculous amount of money and give them jail time too. Those are the people who are ruining Montreal’s reputation all across Canada today and they’re the ones who destroy everything for the normal fans who make noise and jump around without destroying things. They also took away so much from the team that worked so hard to play an incredible game last night. As one of the CTV reporters pointed out this morning, one of the newspapers that had a late enough deadline to cover the story had a huge picture of the destruction and story about the riot, with a tiny little corner down at the bottom mentioning that we won. That’s disgusting. The game itself should have been an enormous headline with a gigantic photo to accompany it but it’s the lesser part of the story after what happened. On the local news reports, the riots are reported first; the outcome of the game is nothing more than an afterthought – ‘oh yeah, and we won”.

I hope the team will make a formal announcement condemning this type of behavior. It’s not supporting your home team in any way.

You can see the ridiculous footage of what happened right here.

Update: Steve has more photos of the disgusting display or mayhem.

I need to say that I’m very sorry if I disrupted anyone’s evening. If you were sitting comfortably with a book or perhaps watching a movie and you were interrupted by loud screaming and shrieking, that would have been the moment when the Montreal Canadiens scored a fifth goal in their shut-out final game against Boston, at which point I went and pulled a Crazy Tom Cruise by pretty much leaping up on my couch and hooting a lot.

Way to go Montreal! Suivant, next!