August 5, 2008 by Barbara.

I tried to get a video but Reid wasn’t in the mood. Here are a couple of pics from Lenscrafters:

Thank goodness I was able to convince Reid that she didn’t need to keep her nose crinkled like this all of the time she has glasses on.

There were four more mirrors between this one and the front door. Reid checked her reflection in each. Based on the smile on her face, she liked what she saw.

It’s not too easy to see Reid’s glasses. They tried to sell me bright red plastic frames. I bet you could have seen them easily! They would have been cute for a while but then it would have been “oh, you’re wearing red glasses again today”. The frames are metal with a light purple tint to them. It’s subtle, though. We were only presented with the ones we got and the red ones because she needed such strong lenses, only the smallest frames would do.

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April 25, 2008 by Barbara.

Skirts have been the subject of a few conversations lately. I don’t recall how often Reid wore skirts when she was small enough to require assistance in the bathroom but I suspect it wasn’t often. Skirts seem to be “big girl” clothes to me and so I suspect she mostly wore dresses, pants and shorts. I’ve been thinking about these things because I noticed Reid pulling her skirt down with her tights one morning. I interrupted the process and told her to only pull down the tights. How can she be nearly 4 without knowing this? What other important woman-knowledge have I forgotten to impart?

With the unseasonably warm weather - though I’m not sure that we can say “seasonable” anymore with the wild fluctuations that we’re seeing - Reid wore a dress and her ever-so-cute white socks with lace at the top. She refused to have them cuffed over and so left the house wearing odd almost-knee socks and a big smile at having evaded the fashion faux pas I’d tried to foist upon her. I mention the socks because they aren’t so white anymore, more striped like a zebra from slouching down than their original pure white like a unicorn. This is what happened to all of her socks last summer, too. I knew it would happen to the fancy pair, too, but keeping the socks unworn in the drawer just so that they would be clean didn’t seem to be a viable option. When we picked Reid up from daycare that night, one of the teachers suggested that Reid might do well to wear shorts under her dresses to “keep things clean down there.” I don’t know why it didn’t come up last year but I hadn’t thought of it and no one had mentioned it. I’ve mentioned the need to Grandma Joyce and she’ll make up spare shorts. We discussed whether she should make bloomers instead but she thought shorts could be worn more often and I thought of the time it takes me to get just the waistband elastics sewn. Grandma Joyce leaves the waistband elastics to me since I have Reid right there in my house but I’m a procrastinator. Sometimes Reid outgrows her clothes before I sew the elastics. I think that might mean I’m a bad mother, letting her wear clothes with safety pins in them.

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December 2, 2007 by Barbara.

The other day Reid came across her Disney princess ‘high heeled” shoes when we were in the basement and went upstairs to find the other parts of the costume. When I told her she needed to come back downstairs, Reid said, “I can’t. I need my  Atira.” It’s true that she hasn’t seen Cousin Atira in a long time but Christmas is coming soon. The tiara was found and Princess Reid was beautiful in that regal way of happy 3 year old girls.

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December 1, 2007 by Barbara.

Reid has been interested lately in where things come from, who made them and who bought them. After a series of questions about who bought her sled, snow shovel and snowsuit to which the answer was always “Mama,” I decided that I should point out to Reid that Ken does many things to contribute to our family’s well-being. I said, “Mama does the shopping but Daddy washes our clothes for us.” Reid nodded and said, “And I do the cleaning.” Umm, no! Ken is the primary cleaner in our family, too. I resisted the urge to say, “I don’t think so, Vern” because that would have showed my age and settled on, “And you help with the cleaning.” Reid does help with the cleaning, as much as most 3 year olds do, I think.

In the same vein, we have also talked about from where clothes or things come.  The first thing to determine is whether an item was made in a factory or by someone Reid knows firsthand. For the most part, the non-factory products come from the farmers at the market - no, not from *our* farm (the Canada Agricultural Museum) - and Grandma Joyce. Reid always hopes that I will know about the factory workers and what motivates them in their job to answer her “why?” I really don’t know the answer. Reid understands that Grandma Joyce sews for her because she loves her. She still asks sometimes, though, just to hear me say it. For things that have come from a factory, we continue to establish that I do most of the shopping.

On Saturday afternoon, Reid again asked her snowsuit and I said I bought it, just like I buy most of her things. Reid said, “Aunt Jane bought my hat,” and checked her feet before continuing, “and my socks.”. It’s true. Aunt Jane does buy Reid stuff, especially cool socks with patterns. Boring old Mama-bought socks come from Old Navy in large quantities of blue or white with anti-slip writing on the bottom. Thank goodness for honourary aunts. Reid’s true and dramatic sense of sock style would otherwise be crushed.

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November 14, 2007 by Barbara.

The other night, I noticed that the pants Reid had on kept falling down. It was kind of frustrating since this is the second year that she is wearing them and still they don’t fit properly. Now don’t go thinking that I shouldn’t have put them on her last year because the pants she had been wearing were all high-waters. We have cold winters here in Ottawa and her ankles need the protection. In the last year, Reid’s waist measurement seems to have stayed the same but she is thriving, so that’s okay.

In any case, I hiked up her pants. Again. And noticed that when the pants were pulled up to the appropriate place, Reid was once again properly dressed for a flood. It’s good, then, that Reid’s pants slip down. People seems to find droopy pants to be stylish but too-shorts pants less so.

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October 19, 2007 by Barbara.

I wore a new pair of tights yesterday. They were black with a pattern. Reid watched in fascination as I put them on and came hurrying over when she noticed the pattern. “Diamonds!” she gasped. Or maybe she exclaimed. Either way, I knew she thought I was some kind of fabulous. Ken teased and asked if Reid thought I should go as I was or if I needed a skirt. She looked at him as if he were talking crazy talk but she also seemed surprised that he was able to resist stroking my diamond-clad legs like she was doing. In case you’re wondering, I did put on a skirt.

Reid was right, though, I did look nice. If I do say so myself. And I just did. ;+)

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September 12, 2007 by Barbara.

Have you ever noticed how kids get slower and chattier when you’re standing in the rain, waiting to take them out of the car - where, incidentally, they are able to stay dry? It happens to us all of the time.

Reid was having a between-season footwear dilemma yesterday. I was all set to send her in sandals when Ken mentioned running shoes. Reid decided she needed shoes and socks and so I ran upstairs to get her socks. The socks went on okay but then the shoes I offered were deemed unsuitable. The second pair were no better. As the little vein on the side of Ken’s head started to pulse - he thinks he is Zen-like as he waits without speaking - I told Reid she’d have to take her socks off and wear her sandals. At which point, she discovered the solution for herself: socks and flip-flops. Ken blurted out a “that won’t work” kind of statement. I explained that she’d done it before, made me cringe but they aren’t my feet. I took her running shoes to the car, just in case.

When Ken and Reid got to daycare, Reid fiddled about putting on her shoes - I’m not sure whether it was sandals or runners she was working on - as Ken stood in the rain. Reid is never quick about getting out of the car but it seems that she is slowest on rainy days. Even on cold and snowy days, it’s not so bad since we can bundle up but we’re not slicker-wearing folk on the way to work. We’re working on Zen-like acceptance of the vagaries of nature.

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August 27, 2007 by Barbara.

I generally feel like I’m living in an episode of Kids Say the Darnedest Things but watching Reid get dressed this morning provided a couple of memorable lines.

 Reid put her shirt on her legs and bum and said, “Look, Mama, my shirt is upside down.” I smiled and said, “It is! But you can’t wear your shirt on your bum when you go to the dentist.” To which Reid responded, “Why?” She had me there. I don’t have anything to point to that explains that arcane rule.

 Ken came downstairs and asked Reid if she’d brushed her teeth yet. I told him what a good dad he was to ignore the fact that Reid was sitting wearing her shirt upside down and no shorts. He burst my vision him as super-tolerant man by saying he couldn’t tell it was a shirt. As he helped her get her shorts on, Reid asked if she had them positioned the right way. Ken said it didn’t matter. Reid sort of nodded and said, “Grandma made them?” as if that would explain everything. And it does, since Grandma Joyce, for obvious reasons, doesn’t put tags in all of the clothes that she makes and the difference betweeen the front and back in a size 3 pair of shorts isn’t evident (and indeed there may be no difference, I haven’t seen the patterns).

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July 31, 2007 by Barbara.

While we were in Chicago, I only ever offered Reid dresses to wear. She’d received a couple new ones for her birthday and we had another that I love but that she hasn’t worn as much as I’d like. She gets so dirty at daycare that I hesitate to send her in a dress. When I do suggest them, she often rejects them with a “no, I want clothes.” She doesn’t balk at them while we were travelling, though. Maybe because she knows that there isn’t a whole drawer of other options. She didn’t know that I’d packed enough shorts and t-shirts that she could have worn instead. I didn’t want her to remember Chicago as the city of tears (shed over dresses).

Note to self - and to you - vacations are a great time to try out dresses, lederhosen, or whatever else your kids where reluctantly.

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July 17, 2007 by Barbara.

At supper, Reid asked what we were going to do after supper. I asked what she wanted to do and she said that she wanted to go “some bery far away, like Daddy’s work.” Ken suggested that Reid and I could go to Dairy Queen for ice cream. And bring him an banana split, of course. 

After supper, I (selfishly) wanted to use the bathroom alone. I went upstairs as Reid protested loudly and with great enthusiasm. Ken later told me that she was saying, “I like to watch!” I’ve always suspected that about her. Reid followed me upstairs and sat outside the closed door and wailed. I had privacy, yes, but neither peace nor quiet. As we went back downstairs, I offered to carry Reid but she gave me a “I’m punishing you” look and said, “No.” I started down the stairs and Reid realized the flaw in her plan. Everyone has to learn about not cutting off your nose to spite your face, eh?

After a bit, I ran up to get Reid some clothes to wear out and she followed me. She was rocking on the Curious George rocking toy that I “loved” the eyes off of when I was a child and having a great time. I asked her if she would rather play with her dollies in her room than go out for ice cream. Of course, she said she wanted to do both but I told her she had to choose. She said she wanted to stay and so she played with her dollies and I sorted through her chest of drawers. That kid has many shirts and no small number of pairs of pants, in her size and the size she’ll grow into. It’s good that I did this, I found a couple of summer shirts that had eluded me when I got out her summer clothes. Grandma Joyce has mentioned the existence of some freshly sewn pants and so Reid is all set for fall and winter clothes. And I thought I might need to hit a Target when we were in Chicago! (I can hear Ken’s groan when he reads this - the very thought of more clothes will make him groan ;+)

Once Ken had finished cleaning up from supper, he joined us in Reid’s room. At one point, e offered his assistance to Reid as she struggled to put shoes on one of the dolls. She assured him that the shoes were too small for that particular doll. I was allowed to try, though, and as I accomplished the impossible, Ken protested that *he* could have done so. I’d have liked to have seen his big man hands working on the fiddly little shoes. He is much more dextrous than I am; it’s the contrast that appeals to me. Ken’s hands look very much like my dad’s. I love to look at them at anytime, come to think of it.

Reid took advantage of this time together to serenade us with a song of her own devising. She sang loudly and happily. Ken said he was sure the teenage boy in the next townhouse, the one who listens to loud bass music quite early  and all through the day, appreciated her volume. (But we don’t complain about him since he respects the usual quiet hours and we’re able to sleep, unlike our neighbour on the other side.)

All was well, swell even, until I gave a 3 minute warning and Reid asked to go out for ice cream. When I reminded her that she’d chosen to stay home and play, she told me, “I choosed two.” I agreed that choosing both would have been nice but that wasn’t the deal and it was time for bed. Reid said, “Let’s go sleep.” She ran to the other end of the room, stretched out on the carpet for at least 5 nanoseconds and jumped up with a “I no tired.” What a scammer. As I finished getting ready to put her to sleep, she climbed into the armchair, stood on her head and wailed. She knocked the pajamas that had been sitting on the arm of the chair to the floor and looked around for something else to take a swipe at. Ken said that when she noticed the box with too-small clothes in and on it, her eyes lit up. He choked back a laugh, which caught my attention, and I noticed what she was doing in time to intervene. What a kid. What a man.

There was a bit of storm still in her but eventually Reid fell asleep. This morning, Reid asked about going for ice cream before she was even out of bed but she didn’t mention it tonight. We reminisced about the fun of playing with dollies in her room without any mention of the troubles. We’ll do it again, I’m sure.