Archive for May, 2007

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If dirty equals happy

Friday, May 11th, 2007

If dirty equals happy, then Reid had a FABULOUS! day yesterday. When I picked her up, I was impressed to see one of the teachers still wearing a Sens jersey. It takes dedication to wear a hockey jersey when it’s 27 degrees and humid. I commented and she admitted to wishing she’d worn a t-shirt instead but I’m sticking with my first impression. When I said I’d been worried that they might have had to stay inside because of the “extreme weather” rule, they said that the didn’t have to check the humidex until June. Good attitude, I thought as I headed further into the play yard to find Reid. She’d seen me and mysteriously slipped away. I found her, in all of her muddy glory, barefoot and smiling at the far end of the enclosure. Her clothes were nearly uniformly covered with dust or dried mud and had the appearance of someone putting a grey-brown filter over the pale green with pink pigs, purple cows, etc. Her legs had mud splatters and her face had spots of wet sand on it. Even her hat had gotten dirtier (did I mention they painted outside earlier in the week?) and she had no sandals on.  She did have the biggest smile on her face, though. It turns out that they have little troughs that they can pour water through and that seemed like a good idea for such a hot day. It was! I’m not sure if the little shirt and skort will ever be the same but that’s the hazard of letting Reid wear clothes. I hope I’m correct in thinking Grandma Joyce would prefer Reid to get the clothes dirty rather than handing down barely worn outfits. They wouldn’t look right on Damien and Zachary, anyway ;+)

One of the dads was grumpy about the kids being barefoot and so dirty but I’m more laid back. Have you noticed? Of course, I only had to take Reid to Melissa’s and she has seen her own messy kids. This daddy was taking his daughter to a store to buy a present for her mom’s birthday. I hope he doesn’t usually mind the dirtiness. I tend to think that dirty and happy go hand-in-hand for Reid.

Posted in Barbara's family, clothes, Daycare, Mama, Uncategorized | 28 Comments »

Daycare f’ends

Thursday, May 10th, 2007

I think I’ve mentioned before that when asked who she played with on a given day, Reid will often say “my daycare f’ends”. If pressed, she will name names. I have decided that I shouldn’t be giving actual names in the event that someone’s parent is a secret agent, involved in witness protection of just a private person. Reid doesn’t talk much in front of me at daycare. She will wave to or smile at people when she first sees them or as we are leaving but she doesn’t often speak. There are a couple of little girls who always say, “Hi, Reid!” when we arrive or they do but they get only smiles in response, at least when I’m there to hear. The teachers say that Reid talks more when I’m gone. Did I tell you that when the one girl started in Juniors, her mom asked her if she’d made any friends and she happily replied, “Reid”? One of the toddler teachers said that Reid had a little “gang” with whom she hung around. Her bestest girl friend ever, L, is now staying at home while her mama is on maternity leave and so Reid hasn’t seen her since Christmas. (I think that Reid would say Dylan is her bestest boy friend given how happy she is to see him and how much she talks about him. Ben would be a close second but she is only starting to be human in his eyes – it’s more of hero worship, so far.) In the last couple of months, a couple girls that were in Toddlers with Reid have come up to Juniors and so she is able to reform her gang. One of the teachers was commenting last week that Reid has been coming out of her shell lately, I think Reid needed time to feel comfortable but also that having the new old girls has helped.

I mentioned that Reid had noticed boys stand up when they pee and yesterday when the topic of — Ken, you might not want to read this — Daddy having a penis came up, though I don’t know why Reid and I were discussing the fact, she piped in, “like some of my daycare f’ends”. I had to agree that some of her friends do come so equipped. It was an odd conversation, I guess, but I think it would have been worse if we didn’t use the technical terms. It wouldn’t work for me to say Daddy has a “pee-pee” or something like that. He *is* also my *husband* after all. Ironically, I think I’d have more trouble discussing our “womanly bits” (see what I mean about it seeming silly) though we have always been consistent with using “breast”. I wonder if the little boys at daycare discuss with their parents how the girls pee. I bet they don’t. Okay, so now that I’ve given you something to talk about at the supper table, I think I’ll wrap up.

Posted in Daddy, Daycare, Language skills, Mama, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Stick person walking

Wednesday, May 9th, 2007

One night last week, Reid was having me draw on the easel. This is a favourite pastime of Reid’s and I go along with it sometimes. I prefer to watch her draw as she brings such passion to the activity, often talking and even singing and dancing as she draws. Reid likes to be the art director as well as the artist, though, and boy can she direct!  So, as I started to say, I was drawing the people and things as Reid asked me to do. It was going well until I got to the Daddy stickperson. He was walking along in his yellow gloriousness and so I drew one eye in the centre of the circle and added a nose to the appropriate curve. And Reid started to cry and yell. She didn’t care for my explanation of how people, even stickpeople, need to look where they are walking. I added a bright red tongue waggling, to capture a favourite trick of Daddy’s. It made her even less happy, maybe because it looked like he was bleeding from the mouth. (I never claimed to be an artist.) Next time, I will draw both eyes, the nose and the mouth in their appropriate places in the oval. My grade eight art teacher will be disappointed that my art shows such little sophistication, but if it makes Reid happy, I’m good with that.

Posted in Mama, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Dancing with M

Wednesday, May 9th, 2007

I’ve been meaning to tell you about Reid’s full-contact dancing experience ever since she came home from daycare a couple of weeks ago with bandaids on her elbow and even more scrapes on her legs than usual. Ken said that he didn’t have to sign an incident report – unlike the three, or is it four, times that Reid has been bitten at daycare but I’m digressing. When we asked what she’d been doing when the injury happened, Reid replied with a smile, “dancing with M”. Reid and M have been spending lots of time together lately and had been dancing on one of the paths in the outside play area when calamity struck. I don’t remember seeing any tear tracks on Reid’s cheeks, and usually she is dirty enough when playing oustide that a track would be evident, but I’m sure she wasn’t traumatized by the whole thing. Instead, Reid was very proud of and pleased with the two bandaids. She talked me into fresh bandaids after her bath. And no, the blood wasn’t still dripping to the floor at the time. The scrape was big enough and Reid gets so dirty outside that the protective covering seemed wise. Next time, though, I demand to see the blood to maintain my membership in the family hard-nose club.

Since that day, Reid has played often with M and has even danced with her again. Reid doesn’t understand why we ask about the dancing, though.

Posted in Daycare, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Tales from the backseat

Wednesday, May 9th, 2007

On the way to Kitchener last Thursdsay, I rode in the backseat with Reid. Now, I used to say snarky things about women who sat with their kids instead of their husbands but I have to fall back on my mantra “It works for our family” and deal with the forces of the universe laughing at my earlier unfair judgments. In any case, Reid and I generally get along except when she PUTS HER FOOT ON ME. That drives me crazy! Ken was having a good example of what it would be like to drive two kids around, except that I don’t mind it when Reid looks at me. It made me think of a conversation that Melissa and I had years ago when they were looking for a vehicle that could fit all three car seats side-by-side. They couldn’t and I think that’s a good thing – I don’t think it’d be a good idea for all three kids to be able to touch each other. I know Reid and I would get along better if she couldn’t put her foot on me. I don’t think she initially intended to torment me but once she got a reaction, she couldn’t resist.

In case you’re wondering if it would have been better for me to ride up front, we did sing songs, colour, stick stickers and read together quite happily. We also watched Toopy and Binoo videos on the computer and finally we had a nap. The six hours didn’t exactly fly by but it was far from horrible.

Posted in Mama, Pastimes, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Reid’s latest hair cut – number 3, but who is counting?

Tuesday, May 8th, 2007

On Saturday, Uncle Roger took Reid to get her hair cut. I wasn’t allowed to go for some reason – because would “perform” if I was there or because I’m a wimp – you’ll have to ask Aunt Karin. Aunt Karin was planning to be there, too, but she got delayed taking “other Pam’s” (not Aunt Pam’s) kid to work, which was necessary so that Pam could be around to do the hair cut. Daddy told Reid that once she was old enough to ask for a hair cut, he would take her but she never asked. This time she didn’t ask either; in fact, she said clearly, “No hair dut.” But I said she needed one. 7.5 centimetres / 3 inches of hair later, Pam asked Uncle Roger what he though. Uncle Roger said, “Her daddy will be ecstatic and her mama will be heartbroken.” I’m not sure that Ken was ecstatic – that would’ve required a brush cut, I think but I was pretty sad to see how short it was (still past the shoulders).

Posted in Barbara's family, Daddy, Mama, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Reid shouldn’t believe everything I tell her

Tuesday, May 8th, 2007

After we dropped Daddy off at his hotel on Thursday, Reid and I headed for Wheatley. Not long into the drive, Reid was saying that she was “hunny”, “firsty” and had to pee in succession and she ran through the list a few times. She refused the apple and green pepper I offered a few times and drank all of the water that I could reach. As it hadn’t been very long since we last went to the bathroom, I told her she’d have to wait. When she said that she was thirsty again, I told her that she wasn’t hungry or thirsty and she didn’t have to pee but that she *was* bored. Reid’s response was, “I firsty” in a whiny voice. I told her that I couldn’t reach the water and that otherwise she would have to cry and then lick the tears. Soon after, Reid let out a couple of wails and then stuck her tongue out for the tears. I wanted to laugh a bit at the sight, at the fact that she thought two wails would produce tears, and at her utter confidence in what I said being true. Then I felt bad that I had made her cry, even though I wasn’t serious. I managed to get Reid interested in some of the toys that we’d brought with us instead.  Eventually we made it to a service centre and I got Reid some food and a carton of chocolate milk. Just in case, I put two bottles of water within my reach. I don’t think she drank from either.

Posted in Mama, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Sympathy … or not

Monday, May 7th, 2007

I’ve got that labrynthitis thing again. At the hotel on Sunday, I had Ken help Reid to the bathroom after she had asked me to take her. Reid cried and carried on. This morning the dizziness was even more severe. I tried to carry Reid to the bathroom but after three steps, I was weaving so badly that I put her down. She cried and pushed at me and I fell over – no balance and weak, that was me. I tried explaining that I was sick and dizzy, like when she rolls down a hill but it didn’t make much of an impression. Finally, I suggested that Reid could crawl with me to the bathroom. She stopped crying at that. The problem was that Reid thought she should be able to ride on my back while I crawled. Daddy had to intervene to pull her off of my back.

I managed to help Reid get dressed while Ken showered. It helps that she can do most of the getting dressed on her own. Of course, it wasn’t a brief process – Reid decided that today she needed an undershirt, turtleneck and second long-sleeve shirt over that. We had to nix the two pairs of socks as they won’t fit inside her shoes. It was 19 Celsius or 66 Fahrenheit. Ken made some joke with the daycare teachers to make sure that they knew that we didn’t dress her and that they could remove layers as seemed appropriate. I’d have done the same thing.

Posted in Daddy, Mama, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Reid shouldn’t believe everything I say

Saturday, May 5th, 2007

After we dropped Daddy off at his hotel on Thursday, Reid and I headed for Wheatley. Not long into the drive, Reid was saying that she was “hunny”, “firsty” and had to pee in succession and she ran through the list a few times. She refused the apple and green pepper I offered a few times and drank all of the water that I could reach. As it hadn’t been very long since we last went to the bathroom, I told her she’d have to wait. When she said that she was thirsty again, I told her that she wasn’t hungry or thirsty and she didn’t have to pee but that she *was* bored. Reid’s response was, “I firsty” in a whiny voice. I told her that I couldn’t reach the water and that otherwise she would have to cry and then lick the tears. Soon after, Reid let out a couple of wails and then stuck her tongue out for the tears. I wanted to laugh a bit at the sight, at the fact that she thought two wails would produce tears, and at her utter confidence in what I said being true. Then I felt bad that I had made her cry, even though I wasn’t serious. I managed to get Reid interested in some of the toys that we’d brought with us instead.  Eventually we made it to a service centre and I got Reid some food and a carton of chocolate milk. Just in case, I put two bottles of water within my reach. I don’t think she drank from either.

Posted in Food, Mama, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Sleep stories

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007

At 6:50 last night, as Amanda, Ken and I were finishing our desserts, Reid went upstairs. She didn’t sneak away, oh no. She called out as she climbed each step. I offered Ken a quarter to chase her, he countered with fifty cents for me if I’d go or a dollar if Amanda would. Amanda said that she’d go, without the dollar but Ken will come through with the cash. Eventually. Reid decided to put her diaper and pajamas on. Although she did make a brief appearance downstaid again, she asked me to take her back up again. Reid climbed into my lap without any silliness or wandering around as is usual and snuggled down for a few stories. I thought maybe we would be reading for a long time, since it was just after 7:00 when we started reading instead of our usual 7:30. It didn’t happen like that. Reid chose four fairly short books and then said no to anymore books. Daddy stopped in for a kiss and hug once Amanda left, just in time. She nursed a bit and went to sleep. Wow, thought I.

Reid’s sleep was rough over night. She tossed and turned and talked a lot. As she woke up this morning, Reid was fretting and speaking about a “hotel”. I told her that tomorrow Daddy would be staying at hotel but not us. She piped in, “Going to Grandma’s. See Dylan. In hot pool.” It’s nice to know she has been paying attention and also what her expectations are.

Posted in Amanda, Barbara's family, Uncategorized | 57 Comments »

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