Portrait of a Saturday

Posted on December 13, 2008 by Sherry

Weekends are sometimes the two days of the week we look forward to the most. We might have plans with friends or just an outing of some sort – park (not now with all the snow, mind you), shopping, the used bookstore, whatever. And sometimes they are just really quiet and low-key.

Especially when you have a six-year-old who comes home on the Friday from school, looking a little tired and grumpy, only to realize she’s actually coming down with a mild gastro. At that point, she spends most of the day lying on the couch, watching movies and looking much smaller than she really is.

I felt so bad for her because she would be hungry (she was starving at lunch time and ate four slices of toast), but then her stomach would hurt and she’d end up on the couch again.

Then I had a little three-year-old who was apparently going a little stir-crazy.

I would have taken her out in the snow – or at least a walk, since playing in the snow gets old for her after ten minutes – but George wasn’t home today and Hayley certainly wasn’t in any sort of shape to accompany us. I’m not sure she would have had the energy to even get outside, let alone have fun.

And to round it all out, we also had the innocent looking Beagle, looking all pretty and angelic.

Looking at that cute face, you would never know that just last night I nearly traded her in for a goldfish because when I got up to refill my glass of water, she jumped up on my chair and ate the last giant piece of delicious butter chicken that was still on my plate. DEVASTATION is what that is.

As for me, I took it easy and hung out with the girls, trying to keep Breanna entertained (thank God for her dinosaurs) and tried to help Hayley feel better. We had never seen High School Musical so I put that on. Because I am still a teenager on the inside, I LOVED it and can’t wait to see the second and third one. That movie only reinforced my belief that life would be so much more fun and exciting if we all burst into song and dance at random intervals.

It was a quiet day, but that’s okay sometimes. It was warm and cozy inside, I got to play in Photoshop for awhile, had good (if a bit sickly) company, and found out that this picture was nominated as the photo of the week in one of my Flickr groups:

That’s pretty cool if you ask me. So altogether, not a bad Saturday at all.

This is getting so old

Posted on February 13, 2008 by Sherry

I live in Canada, it’s Winter, there is snow, blablabla. I get it. I know. But really? Getting a massive snowfall at least once per week has officially gotten old now.

We have another storm going on right now and I am both surprised and disappointed that there were no school cancellations today because it would have been the perfect day to say “Yeah? Well %$#& this!” and go back to sleep. Alas, schools were open and Hayley had to go because she had to hand in her money and order for lunch on pizza day next Friday, it was the last day for the chocolate heart sale at lunch time in the cafeteria, and the deadline for returning the form they sent home to find out how many people would be interested in a school-provided breakfast program.

I said hell yes to the breakfast idea. It’s not because I don’t have time to give her breakfast or because I’m negligent enough to not care. However, and it took me a stupidly long time to figure this out, Hayley is not a fan of eating immediately upon waking up. I’m not sure why I didn’t realize it sooner since I’m the same way. The only times I’ve eaten breakfast within the first ten minutes of getting up was when I was pregnant (helped dull down morning sickness), or if I have to go out. Apparently Hayley does better with breakfast if she’s been up for at least an hour, and it only took me over five months of school to make that connection. Unfortunately, she already has to get up at 6:30 am so there’s no way in hell I’m getting her up at 5:30 so she can sit around for an hour before eating. If they do the breakfast program at the school, that will solve the problem. It is ridiculously cheap at only $12 four times per year, it’s something like 30 cents per breakfast and they have a choice of hot or cold things. Awesome! I hope it will start this year.

*******

Speaking of school, since tomorrow is Valentine’s day, last week they sent home a list with the names of all the students and asked that we send in a valentine for each one. During the week they all made a little post office box and decorated it and wrote their name, so that this week students could bring in cards and deliver them to the boxes. On the 14th they’ll get to open all their cards and theoretically, if everyone follows the instructions, they’ll each get 22 cards.

I like that they insist that students have to give one to EACH classmate. It helps to avoid having that one unpopular kid get three cards while someone else gets a ton. When they’re older they can go ahead and just give to their friends but it’s nice to teach them about not hurting someone’s feelings. As it is, in high school they used to sell carnations for two bucks and they’d be delivered during homeroom on the 14th and it was the worst to be sitting there, praying that someone, ANYONE had gotten you at least one because trust me, people looked to see who didn’t get one. More than once I sent an anonymous carnation to a couple of the unpopular loners just because I felt bad.

Hayley made me laugh though. We had gotten a few packs of mixed cards from the dollar store and she was going through her list yesterday, filling the cards out. She had picked one with two caterpillars hugging and it said, “You’re nice!” on the outside. She looked at it, then looked at the name of the little boy who was next on the list and she said, “I don’t think I want to use this one for so-and-so. He’s not actually very nice.” I said that although she had to give a card to everyone, she absolutely didn’t have to give a “you’re nice” card to someone who wasn’t nice. She picked a more generic card for him.

(Yes, she’s wearing a Halloween pumpkin costume in that picture. Don’t ask.)

*******
Another fun thing at the school happens on Friday. It’s the 100th day of school this year (already?!). The teacher sent home a letter about it, saying that they’ve been doing a lot of fun stuff about the number 100 like learning to count to 100 by fives and tens (which I didn’t know she could do until I mentioned it, at which point she started rattling the numbers off), and playing games based on the number. We were all asked to send in something for Friday. We could send in 100 buttons/paper clips/whatever, draw a picture and attach 100 things (they gave an example of drawing a big sheep and gluing on 100 cotton balls), or sending in 100 of some small treat. Usually they have a no junk policy so Hayley jumped on the idea of sending in a candy treat for a special occasion and so on Friday she’ll be taking in 100 gummy hearts to share.

That should make her popular with every kid in the class. Even the not-so-nice one.

My poor homeless daughter

Posted on January 27, 2008 by Sherry

You know how kids often mimic their parents when they’re playing? It’s part of how they learn. They cook pretend meals in their toy kitchens, they use dry rags to pretend they’re dusting or cleaning floors, they push a play vacuum around the floor. One very common pretend game they do is to play Mommy or Daddy (or in the case of my girls you get Hayley playing the mother while Breanna gets stuck being the father). Kids will take a little plastic stroller, find their favorite doll (or stuffed animal), maybe even dress it up, stick it in the stroller and push it all around the place.

Hayley used to do that. She used to even enjoy taking the stroller with her dolls to the park, slowly pushing her way along the sidewalk like a real little Mommy.

Breanna?

Apparently Breanna is a homeless person, with all that’s left of her worldly belongings stuffed into her stroller like a shopping cart, wheeling it wherever she goes.

Traumatized

Posted on December 9, 2007 by Sherry

Today we took the girls out to the store for some art supplies to give them something to do for the afternoon since I’m still low on energy post-illness and Hayley has a bit of a cold.

After I got Breanna down to sleep for a bit, I set the table up and got out a piece of styrofoam to use for the paint, and Hayley went to town. She must have painted at least 25 different things, including one painting she did of Dora that impressed me enough that I have to take a picture of it when it’s dry.

For some reason, Breanna had never painted before. She came out after her nap and saw Hayley at the table and climbed up beside her. She was fascinated and nearly exploded in glee when I gave her a brush of her own and showed her that she could either use it to put the paint on the paper or use her fingers (being not very fond of dirty hands, she preferred the brush).

After awhile, when they had both been enjoying and expressing themselves, I squirted out some more paint for them. Since the bottle was partly empty now it made that “plllbbbbttt” sound we all know. Breanna was surprised and I joked, “the paint bottle farted!” Hayley laughed uproariously but Breanna looked at her paper suspiciously, then looked at her hands in horror.

“Oh no! Stinky poop!” she shrieked.

I quickly reassured her that although I may make questionable parenting choices on occasion, I would not in fact let her paint with poop, stinky or otherwise.

Hayley thought it was hilarious that Breanna thought the paint was poop, but after a few more repetitions that it was paint and paint was just another way to draw a picture, she calmed down and went back to her artwork, but I’m still not sure she was completely convinced.

If she ever does that thing some kids do by making art on the wall with the contents of her diaper, I’ll know where the inspiration came from.

And apropos of nothing, there is little else as cute as two (unintentionally) matching girls in Tinkerbell pajamas.

Except maybe the fact that Breanna got confused about the name “Tinkerbell” and I heard her singing, “Tink-oo-bell, Tink-oo-bell, Tink-oo all the way” to the tune of “Jingle Bells”!

Living with kids is not for the weak

Posted on May 28, 2007 by Sherry

Sometimes having two kids is like a lesson in total insanity, so I can only imagine how crazy things must get sometimes in larger families. In theory, assuming we suddenly won the lottery and had a nice big house, I would love more kids. But other days I’d kind of like to run away to a Buddhist monastery where everyone has taken a vow of silence. Would you like to hear some random events that all occurred on the same day? Continue reading →

A moment to compose myself

Posted on November 26, 2006 by Sherry

On Saturday George and I were invited to a party. We had planned to drop Breanna off at his parents’ house that evening; Hayley had already gone out with them for the afternoon. At about 2 that afternoon I decided I wanted to take some brownies to the party so I plopped Breanna into the stroller and we set off. It was really beautiful out, sunny and not cold at all. We wandered around the mall and I found several good Christmas gift ideas for the girls for us to consider getting.

On the way back home, I walked past the elementary school that Hayley will be attending next Fall. I could see through the windows and I saw all the little desks and chairs and tables, and all the artwork and the chalkboards. I realized how quickly Hayley has grown up and how – despite the fact that she laments that “it will be such a long time” until she turns five – she will be in school before I know it. And I unexpectedly started to cry. I was a little startled and also a little embarrassed, peeking around to make sure no one else was on the sidewalk who might see me.

I managed to get control of myself and I started walking towards home. I made myself feel better due by thinking about how I can join the parent committee, go to the parent-teacher nights, and be as involved as possible in her school life. The school is close by and by then Breanna will be old enough that maybe I could have her spend a few hours with George’s dad so that I can go and volunteer with stuff or something. I’m actually really excited about the idea of the parent committee; I don’t think I’d be comfortable being the chairperson like my dad was when I was in elementary school, but I definitely want to be a part of it. Thinking of those things helped me stop feeling sad.

I know it’s inevitable because we all grow up and we all have to let go of our kids when they start to grow up too, but it feels so sudden. She may be restless for Kindergarten to start, but frankly I’m glad there are still ten months before she goes.

New addition

Posted on November 22, 2005 by Sherry

Welcome to the world, Breanna!
Born November 20th, 2005 at 9:54 am after less than four hours of labor.
Weighed in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces; 51 centimeters in length; head circumference of 31 centimeters.
No epidural because it all happened so fast.
More later! Click on photos to enlarge, hover for caption.

Sarcasm is a lost art

Posted on October 21, 2005 by Sherry

Sarcastic humor is apparently lost on young children.

Sherry: Get into bed with your Toy Story book. I’m going to the living room to get your Buzz doll.
Hayley: Buzz Lightyear?!
Sherry: (deadpan) No. Buzz Goldstein.
Hayley: Huh?
Sherry: Never mind.

Now, off to read Toy Story.

Afternoon appointments suck

Posted on August 25, 2005 by Sherry

Every single prenatal appointment from the beginning of this pregnancy to the extras they book past your due date (just in case) have been scheduled for the morning. It’s just more convenient because kids are usually in a better mood earlier in the day, and since MissH has to come with me, that’s a good arrangement. When you already have a child they also ask if you want morning appointments because of the assumption that they’ll be napping later in the day (ha, don’t I wish!).

Unfortunately, when the nurse cancelled our appointment for Monday because she was sick, everything got jumbled all over the place and I got saddled with a 2 pm appointment today. Honestly, I would probably just skip it altogether since next month starts the every-two-weeks appointments anyway and I can’t even think of a single damn question that I need to ask so I wouldn’t mind not bothering, but I have to go because I need to be scheduled for my glucose screen next week (oh fucking YAY) and also my Rhogam injection on the same day. Poo.

It’s just a big lethargic situation. When I have a 9:30 appointment, I do have to get myself and MissH up earlier than normal, but you get up, get dressed, eat, and go without stopping for much of anything. I’ve been up since 8 am though and I just don’t FEEL like going out to the damn hospital now. But of course I will. Besides, what with Murphy’s Law and all, if I did cancel my appointment today I’d end up having some bizarre complication tomorrow. It will be nice to hear the heart beat anyway, and to see if my weight gain is what I think it is (our scale is a bit off so I’m not 100% sure but I think I’ve gained 13-15 pounds so far).

I just need to get motivated now because George’s dad is picking us up in about 40 minutes and I still need to pack MissH’s portable toilet seat, a bottle of water for myself, a book in case I have to wait awhile, and possibly my knitting since I really want to finish MissH’s scarf so I can move on to my own. Oh, and maybe I should go stick my contact lenses in my eyes and brush my teeth.

Must.stop.procrastinating!

That figures

Posted on August 22, 2005 by Sherry

I had a prenatal appointment at 9:30 this morning. George’s dad was going to take us but his mom had an appointment as well at 9 am, so we had to be ready to leave here at 8 o’clock. I got up at 6:45 and MissH was so tired and reluctant to get out of bed. She was all cute and groggy and really wanted to go back to sleep. I managed to get her up and we were in the living room having some breakfast when the phone rang.

It was the receptionist calling to let me know that the nurse had called in sick so my appointment was cancelled and I should call back later this morning to book a new appointment. I definitely appreciate that I didn’t get all the way there only to find out that it was cancelled so it was great that she called, but it just figures that on the one morning MissH probably would have slept until 8 or so, we ended up getting up for nothing. Plus, now I have to make a new appointment for sometime later this week.

Oh well. I know there’s no way in hell we’re going back to bed now but at least we can just hang out. Since it’s supposed to rain this morning, not having to go out sounds really nice.

*yawn*

Chaos Theory

Category Archives: Kids