Archive for December, 2006

Sleep rocking chair

Tuesday, December 12th, 2006

There are new words for me to dread and they are “sleep rocking chair”. I’m not sure why but Reid has decided that being rocked to sleep while nursing is the only way to go. Maybe she is having flashbacks to her early weeks when I would sit it the rocking chair and nurse her while Ken laid on her bed. In any case, it works well at bedtime and makes it less likely that I will fall asleep and stay asleep with her. I sometimes fall asleep while rocking but wake up with a stiff back and sometimes when I put her in bed she wakes up and so I crawl in and then fall asleep. But sometimesn, I stay awake and go visit with Ken. The trouble starts in the middle of the night when Reid wakes up and wants to go to the rocking chair to go back to sleep and I want to crawl into bed with her and pretend to myself that I didn’t wake up. Sometimes I will rock and sometims I am hard-hearted. If I am not hard-hearted, I’m stiff-backed and so the trade-off is clear.

As long as she is mostly asleep between 7:30 pm and 6:30 am, I won’t complain. Especially since I had tea with a friend whose daughter stayed up til 11:30 last night! I couldn’t manage that (okay, I would figure out but I would be grumpy ;+)

Over the river and through the woods to grandmothers’ houses we go

Tuesday, December 12th, 2006

After the Santa breakfast, we went to Marmora to visit Grandmama. Our visit was a surprise but she didn’t seem at all thrown by us arriving with food for a “picnic”. Our late breakfast and big drive meant we needed to eat and it seemed rude to spring ourselves on her AND ask her to feed us. It still impresses me how well Reid, remembers people – it’s been a couple of months since we saw Grandmama last but Reid was comfortable right from the start. She also remembered Grandmama’s, walker and used her charming smile on Grandmama to get around Daddy’s “no touching” rule and drove it around the apartment and sat on it. We spent a couple of hours eating and visiting. On our way to Frankford, Reid had us on the lookout for cows and horses and sheep. Ken, despite being the driver, was able to spot the first two before me but even he couldn’t find any “sheeps”.

As we parked the car at Grandma Barb and Grandpa Terry’s, she began talking about the blocks that Grandma Barb keeps for the kids to play with and as soon as hello kisses were taken care of, she set to building. Being the centre of attention works well for Reid.  I’m not sure how it happened exactly but all of a sudden Reid had unwrapped a present and the other adults in the room seemed to be expecting it. Grandma and Grandpa had chosen well – a remote-controlled school bus, that was (of course) yellow was just the thing to make Reid’s eyes sparkle. She just about mugged Ken for it as he was putting the batteries in. Finally, it was time for her to play with it and she quickly figured out the remote control. It says something about her spatial ability, I think, that she was able to operate it without many unintentional crashes. We had a nice dinner that involved olives, one of Reid’s favourite foods. She definitely gets that preference from her dad.

On Sunday we started our day with breakfast by the hotel pool because they wouldn’t let us into the restaurant without shoes. It turned out to be a good restriction as it was like being somewhere south eating in the warmth and humidity. We took a swim and Reid jumped off the pool edge a few times without holding my hands on the way in. That’s a first for her. Back at Grandma and Grandpa’s, Reid opened a new puzzle. It is a 252-piece foam world map puzzle that is 4′ by 7′ when assembled.
Reid enjoyed dismantling the puzzle from the six blocks it came in and then wanted to climb the mountain of pieces. She was less interested in sorting the pieces with straight edges as Daddy and Grandma Barb were doing. When it was time to assemble, Reid’s “working quietly” muscles were tired and she played with her school bus, helped with the dishes by putting cutlery away (and sorting Grandma’s bottom drawer ;+) and caused a bit of chaos. Grandpa Terry made us one of his favourite brunches and then it was time to open more presents. Reid was excited to receive an electric piano but Mama is sure that *she* didn’t have any noisy toys until she was old enough to be sent to the barn to plasy alone. Reid had been asking to go outside, partly to make her “outside noises”. Outside noises are any loud and / or high-pitched sounds that make me want to wear ear plugs, in case you were wondering. So, outside she went with the rest of us trailing along so that she could run around the yard like a crazy person. Grandma Barb helped Reid slide down a little snowbank, too, which makes me think tobogganing will have a place in our winter. All too soon, it was time to leave. Reid had a nice long sleep   (thank goodness) and so did I. Ken, fortunately, stayed awake and drove us safely home.

Santa breakfast

Monday, December 11th, 2006

My indoctrination of Reid continued on Saturday as we attended a Santa breakfast at the church where Kindermusik is normally held. As we were leaving straight from there, Ken ws lucky enough to join us. There was a Brownie troop to serve us our sausages, pancakes and scrambled eggs and juice boxes and clementines on the tables. Reid, not surprisingly, went through her eggs and some of Ken’s, ate most of her sausage (it is meat after all) but wasn’t keen on the pancakes. I don’t think Ken is a fan of them either and so we have to acknowledge she comes by it honestly. After we ate, there was a sing-a-long that included a song about a reindeer named Pablo from Mexico. We had been practicing that one over the last few classes but Reid wasn’t interested in doing the actions with all of the people watching. I’m pretty sure she gets that from her dad, too. There were also a couple of guys singing various songs, including that Harry Chapin song about “Flowers and red and green leaves are green” which seemed more than a little out of place (plus I find it terribly depressing). They redeemed themselves with “Thank God for kids” which made me cry and snuggle Reid. The stars were aligned and so she allowed the snuggling. Finally, Santa arrived. He handed out loot bags (sounds awful but that’s what they called it) without any requirement for Reid to get closer than arms length. She ate one candy and hasn’t asked about the other treats again. I think it was her favourite Santa-encounter so far.

Turfed again

Monday, December 4th, 2006

I told Ken last night he had to lie to daycare about Reid having a rough weekend, or specifically that he couldn’t say she had thrown up on Saturday night, since that is a 48-hour infraction. At 3:20, the daycare folk called to say that Reid had diarrhea and would have to be picked up. Another 48-hour infraction. They mentioned as well that they were in “outbreak mode”. I don’t know what that means but it sounds ominous. On the bright side, now that Reid has been turfed for two days, I have a bit of time to get her winter coat fixed. The daycare had called me earlier to say the zipper was split and since she doesn’t have a spare, and must be properly equipped for outdoor play in order to attend daycare, I was in a pickle. Now I don’t have to worry about that rule ;+)

Please keep your fingers crossed for us that Melissa will be able to watch Reid – though with all of the supply teaching that she has been doing, I am not optimistic. It’s never a bad thing to have extra time with Reid, and part of me is running a list of the things we could do together, but work is hectic and what I don’t do tomorrow will be waiting the next day. Since Ken missed two days last week, he is definitely snowed under at the office already and he does more than his share of sick day parenting.  Sigh. Such are the trials of the working family ;+)

If anyone wants to come visit for a few days, Reid has no symptoms but the one and she is great company.

It’s football, not hockey, in our house

Monday, December 4th, 2006

Laying on the couch, weak with illness, Reid noticed the hockey game on tv. She said, “football” and I told her that it was “hockey”. She replied, “No hockey, football”. I pointed out the sticks and the puck and that meant we were watching hockey. As she disputed the point, Ken said he thought Reid wanted to watch football. When he changed to a US college football game, Reid said, “football” again, this time in a satisfied voice, and settled back down on the couch. I hope that her Canadian citizenship won’t be at risk over this preference.

What a weekend, part 3

Monday, December 4th, 2006

Warning: this post isn’t funny, it’s gross

Reid wouldn’t eat supper even though I made hamburgers, one of her favourite foods. Shortly afterwards, we discovered why when she threw up on the stairs as she headed to bed at 6:40. Reid had no idea what was happening when she threw up. It was unpleasant and confusing and, of course, messy. Having done it once, she still didn’t recognize the signs when it started to happen again. Ken had been supposed to go to the St Andrew’s dinner but stayed home because he was still feeling under the weather. I have to confess that I was glad for his illness. Between us, we cleaned up from three or four bouts of vomiting. One time, Reid threw up right after drinking water and so afterward, we had to say “no” when this weak little voice pleaded for water. That was worse than cleaning up. I went out to get some Pedialyte and thought apple flavour might pass for apple juice, a treat in our house, but it doesn’t seem to have fooled Reid. After the three longest hours we have had in a long time, Reid settled into a restless sleep.

By Sunday morning, Reid was looking like she’d been on a bender that had involved a bar fight (remember the run-in with the corner) but she was pretty much back to normal. Ken and I were pretty tired, though, and so when Reid wanted to snuggle and nurse after a bath we all climbed into the big bed and slept from 10:30 til 12:45. I had to hurry to get ready to go see Stuart McLean. It was odd to be out without Reid being attached after the preceding 20 hours. The performance was so funny, it balanced off the sick kid time. I’ll have to find some break for Ken that gives him the same break. They seemed to have had a good afternoon, watching football, building puzzles and reading dozens of books.

At bedtime, Reid was happy to climb up the stairs. She didn’t want to lay in her bed but snuggled in to nurse in the glider and was soon asleep. Ken and I managed a nice visit and quiet evening, each with our laptop and the football game on. Thank goodness it wasn’t a long weekend. I don’t know that we could have survived!

What a weekend, part 2

Monday, December 4th, 2006

On Saturday morning, Reid and I went to the final Kindermusik class of the session. I brought my camera and took some photos. Some of the kids have been in our class since we started last September and I’d like to have a record of them (’cause I won’t remember them with my memory).  After class Reid and I went to get her a flu shot. I got my Friday afternoon when I went to the doctor’s office to get Reid’s immunization record up to date so that they will let her go to daycare after Wednesday. She was such a brave kid. She barely flinched when the nurse put the needle in. We killed our 15 minutes at the colouring table and headed home. If you haven’t got your flu shot yet, Reid and I would like to encourage you to do so and want you to know it doesn’t hurt more than a bit.

Just before supper, Reid (who would like to move somewhere warm so that she wouldn’t have to wear clothes) was running from Ken while trying to take off her shirt. She stumbled and went face first into the exterior corner of the living room wall and scraped her face on the molding. Poor kid looks like she fought with a door and lost.

What a weekend, part 1

Monday, December 4th, 2006

We went to the Aviation Museum on Friday night for the Members’ Christmas party. I haven’t been in the Aviation Museum in many years but Ken and Reid have been there together a couple times. As soon as we got our coats off, Reid headed off down one of the aisles to see the “ai’planes” and “hepidopters”. She wasn’t interested in the craft table (like I might have been) but went to sit in the helicopter trainer. I was interested in the ejection seat but Reid didn’t want to sit in it with me and, when I put the helmet and oxygen mask on, she seemed a bit worried. Reid showed me the planes that she had assigned to Ken, me and herself on her last visit. Ken and I took turns standing in line waiting for Reid’s turn to see Santa. I’m so glad we went there so early in our visit as the line moved so slowly. Reid and I had time to write a letter to Santa that went something like this:
“Dear Santa,
How are you, Mrs Claus and the reindeer? Mama says that I have been a good girl. I would like a cradle for my baby dolll and a choo-choo train. Thank you. ”
Reid didn’t want to draw on the letter but she enjoyed using the rubber stamp to make pictures on the envelope. After the stamping was done, she put her letter safely in a box and we went to check out the little stage that had been set out – okay, I was intending to walk back to Ken but Reid made a bee line for the microphone on the little stage. I’m not sure why it was the microphone that attracted her but she wasn’t interested in the music stand or speakers; maybe Ken takes her to rock concerts when I go to the grocery store. In any case, she had lots of smiles for the crowd as she stroked the mic stand. After a short wait (for her), Reid and I went up to see Santa. I had to strongly enourage her to come up but I think she was glad for it when Santa gave her a candy cane. Reid seems to have a particular fondness for candy canes. We did a couple of crafts – using lots of glue, because Reid loves “bluing” and then had a snack. At which point I got a good look at Ken and noticed he looked like he might fall over. He was off sick Thursday and Friday but wanted to come to the party. He was important to carry our sticky, gluey crafts and to share Reid’s appreciation for the planes in a more knowledgeable way than I could. The museum itself was more fun than I remember, seeing it through Reid’s eyes. She noticed differences in colour, size, type, etc and was excited by it all.
It was time to go home and get my Reynolds people to bed.

Shoes and no, really, it is time to go

Friday, December 1st, 2006

Reid and I talk about footwear fairly often. Lately, we’ve been discussing her shoes over and over. It goes something like this as she changes from her boots in her cubby:
Reid: “Brown shoes home, Mama?”
Me: “Yes, Reid.”
Reid: “White shoes daycare.”
Me: “Yes, Reid.” Sometimes I even explain that brown shoes are more appropriate for the fall and winter but I haven’t actually told her that you’re not supposed to wear white after Labour Day and before Victoria Day because she really does need shoes at daycare and she likes her white ones just fine. She doesn’t want the brown shoes particularly, though she will choose to wear them when we are at home. She just likes to know where they are, I think. I have been trying to remember to ask Ken if they also have this conversation but haven’t yet. He reads these messages and will tell me. Thank goodness for email.

I’m not sure what it says about me but lately Reid has been reluctant to leave daycare. Her face lights up and she comes running when I get to the Toddler Room and she helps sign herself out. Okay, she helps hold the pen while I write the time down but it is the thought that counts. Then, we head toward her cubby (or at least I do) and she runs for the front door. Sometimes she sits in the chair by the door. People see her and smile. If we haven’t been there long, I think that it is because Reid is cute. If we’ve been there a long time, I think that they’re smiling because they’re glad their kid doesn’t dally this badly. Eventually, she’ll change into her outdoor gear and we’ll head for the car. Last night, she cried, “Back daycare!” as I put her into the car. Confidence-building, that is what it was ;+) Thank goodness we were heading for Melissa’s and so I had all 5 of the people in her family with which to entice Reid.

The last two mornings have been tough on Reid. It seems she is having trouble transitioning from one part of her life to the other. In my selfish-mama-heart, I’m a little bit glad she isn’t entirely sick of home and all-to-eager to leave it in the morning. It’s tough, though, to hear her cry in the morning.

The flip-a-roo

Friday, December 1st, 2006

In addition to having a method for putting on boots, Reid’s daycare has an established process for putting on coats – or at least they have a process that the kids must follow, I think the teachers are allowed to wing it. The teachers mentioned that they’d taught the kids to put their coats on by:
1. laying the coat on the floor with the hood at the kid’s feet;
2. the kid bends over and puts their arms in the sleeves;
3. the kid flips the coat over their head and onto their back – the flip-a-roo; and
4. someone zips the coat up.

It took a bit for me to process how to orient the coat and I tried this with Reid for the first time last week. *She* is clearly a professional. She flips it on so fast and with such a big smile it’s quite something to see. Reid is very proud of this accomplishment.

When I told Melissa about it, she said that Ben still does it sometimes although he can get his coat on the usual way, too. I thought it was unusual but then, Melissa is a trained teacher and maybe she learned the technique in teacher’s college.

Ask Reid about the flip-a-roo the next time you see her and she’ll be pleased to demonstrate, I am sure.