Archive for the ‘clothes’ Category

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.

Slowly, very slowly but she knows her colours

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

Wednesday evenings have passed in a blur since September because Reid has had swimming lessons at 6:00. The final night was no exception, was even more rushed, in fact since I had to pick the car up from the garage before getting Reid. (Darn those DriveClean requirements) Luckily, Ken had rode with Paul and so was home to start supper. We walked in to a yummy-smelling house. Reid was slow, like the maple sap on a cold day, but finally made it to the table to eat. Of course, she was as reluctant to stop eating as she had been to start and we dragged her from the table before she was ready. For once we were poolside before Emily led the others to the water. After only three and a half months! We were the last from our class to leave the change room. I usually lay our suits on the towel and then roll it up before putting it in the bag. Reid sometimes helps. Last night, she insisted on unrolling everything and starting over. Beach towels are very large when you are a two-and-a-half. It takes a lot of effort to get the towel flattened for rolling but Reid can demonstrate great patience when she wants to. . There was a woman there with a girl about 10. She watched Reid working so intently and had a bit of a smile on her lips. I suspect I look like that when I see a mother with a baby who is feeling a bit rushed; I love the memories and wish the mother could enjoy the time because it goes so fast. I slowed my thinking and noticed how precise and focused Reid was on her task. She can be impatient as all get out and become frustrated sometimes in a nanosecond. But often, she works quietly at a task (maybe because she set it for herself?). My thanks to the other mother for reminding me that the time goes so fast and I should appreciate the “now”.

As we walked down the hallway to the lobby where Ken was waiting, Reid touched and called out the colours of the tile on the wall. There’s a pattern of red, yellow, blue and white tiles. Ken was grinning and walking towards us as we got to the lobby. He could hear Reid’s colour identification, apparently. Reid knows many colours but not a lot about stealth.

Slow Sunday at home – or not

Monday, February 26th, 2007

I started this yesterday, gave it a “slow Sunday” subject and jotted down what we had done. I’m not sure it was all that slow, but Reid and I didn’t go to Eddy’s for breakfast and I didn’t take her to the grocery store with me and so it seemed more relaxed than other Sundays.

Reid decided that we should let Daddy sleep rather than waking him with kisses and so Ken got a bit of extra time in bed. I wouldn’t say “slept in” as Reid isn’t particularly quiet as she walks through the bedroom to get to and from her potty and she wasn’t willing to use the bathroom downstairs. Still, he didn’t have a small girl climbing on him as he struggled to wake up. Ever since the time I thought Reid was sick and so gave her crackers to eat while laying on the couch, Reid has asked often to have crackers when we get downstairs. I treated her and we had crackers and apple slices and milk for breakfast. Okay, I had a coffee and tea (yes, both) and some apple slices. We built two puzzles, the fire engine and school bus or at least Reid built them and I sat with her on the floor. As the last piece went in to its place, Reid clapped and her eyes sparkled and she grinned. All I had to do was join in the clapping. Afterward, we played with the potatoes but Reid didn’t like it when I put the face on upside down and took mine apart. I try to teach her flexibility (and Ken would say something about pots and kettles but he doesn’t write these) sometimes.

Once Ken was up, I headed out to get groceries. Reid wanted to come but I told her that it would be more fun to stay with Daddy and that he would play wherever she wanted, thinking she’d choose to go to the basement. Instead, she decided to play upstairs, which meant Ken had to basically turn right around. Reid has wanted to play in her room lately, though I’m not sure why. While  grocery shopping I realized that I had forgotten Reid’s photo appointment. Knowing that Reid was in desperate need of a bath and some quality time with a hairbrush, I dropped in to apologize. Reid was introduced to a culinary delicacy as we were putting the groceries away. I had taken the pizza box out of the fridge since it had only a Reid-portion in it. Reid peaked inside, saw the pizza and asked if she could eat it. The first bite had her exclaiming, “It’s cold!” as though somethine were very wrong, sacriligeous, even, with cold pizza. We told her that cold pizza was good and given that she ate the rest without comment, I guess she agreed.

In preparation for the picture trip (though, of course, I didn’t tell her), I gave Reid a bath and let her play for a long time with her bath crayons and Dora coloring pad and Dora, Boots and Diego figures and their island. Soon, it was time for lunch and then napping.

After her nap, Reid again wanted to play in her room. We got out her American Girl doll and Reid rummaged through the clothes and chose the princess dress. Once it was on, I reminded Reid that she had a matching dress and she had me put it on her, too. The doll’s hat stands in a nice point but Reid’s isn’t sturdy enough. She got tired of the floppy hat pretty fast. Soon she was at the stairs calling for Ken to come see her and dolly in their fancy dresses. I’m not sure if Ken could have imagined a more fun thing to do then watch me and Reid play with her dolls. ;+)

Once she tired of the dress and doll, Reid decided to hide on her bed. For Reid, ‘hiding” requires only that her head be covered. It doesn’t require any other part of her body be concealed and it definitely doesn’t mean that she has to be quiet. She laid there announcing, “I’m hiding” quite loudly and then invited me in, too. When I went to change, Ken was brought into the game and when I came back, they were both laying on the bed with their heads under pillows hiding from me. Reid had me crawl back into the bed with them, apparently it isn’t important to hide *from* someone. It’s probably a good thing that Reid’s bed sits right on the floor.

After getting the pictures taken, we headed to the pool to go swimming. Reid always says “fwimming!” as though the word always needs an exclamation point. As always, Reid spent lots of time on a yellow floater board. She jumped off of it, pushed it into me, kicked while holding on and generally had a good time. Reid put on a life jacket and floated all by herself and practiced walking off the ledge in the hot pool, both with the life jacket on and without. She counted 7-8-9-10-go a few times but wouldn’t start the count at 1. How boring would that have been!? She went down the little slide (also, yellow, in a happy coincidence) many times. We all walked nicely to the car, discussing Reid’s run to the car after Wednesday’s lesson that ended with Reid’s hand scraped. She would be happy to show you, if you asked.

Wednesday wonders

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007
Yesterday, when it was time to choose her clothes, Reid told Ken to do it. I can’t remember the last time either he or I were entrusted with this task. Ken’s comment as he handed me the clothes was, “This isn’t going to end well.” I agreed but decided to try anyway. All went well until I tried to put Reid’s shirt on her. Ken had chosen one I’ve suggested, extolled the virtues of and cajoled her to wear for a couple of weeks. It remained her drawer never-worn. Reid refused it but I countered with another shirt apparently even more abhorrent and she decided to wear the one he had chosen. Ken never said anything when he saw her after his shower and by then we were into the final rush to departure and I forgot to ask. I thought it was a day that would be full of wonders and it was.

I had a couple of conversations with fellows on my team that sure made *me* wonder. During one, the fellow was using acronyms related to application development with such sincerity and enthusiasm that I felt bad telling him that it was like he had started speaking Polish to me. I was kind of flattered that he thought I would understand but the wind whistled at the speed of the conversation going right over my head.  Later, I was looking at a Web page with another fellow and told him one of the colours was eye-popping shade. He opened the page code and said he could change it right then, what did I want. I said “lighter” and he asked for the six-digit code I preferred. When I was at a loss, he first suggested an alternate final letter that he next switched for a number when the effect was still not light enough. Again, I was flattered at his suggestion that I might know the necessary codes. On the bright side, I can find grammatical errors that they miss. (Not that you would think so based on these messages, I blame the errors on my thumbs).

After work, Reid wanted all of us to walk to get the mail together. She takes such joy in having both of take her places and so I shooed Ken out the door. As we walked, Ken reminded Reid that it was swimming night. The wonders wouldn’t cease. It was Wednesday and so swimming night! I hadn’t forgotten. (No surprises, there.)

Outtakes from the November photos

Wednesday, January 17th, 2007

I was looking at the photos that I have taken in the last while and came across this one from November. Reid was not interested in wearing shoes with her fancy dress, thinking that her “Winnie Pooh” boots were the go-anywhere sort of footwear.

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Thank goodness I had a girl

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007

I had an important meeting this morning and I wore a black skirt and and black tights with a burgundy top. Very slick and professional. As Ken was putting Reid into her car seat, she looked at me and exclaimed, “Mama no shoes!” I looked at my feet – they weren’t cold and so I was pretty sure I had shoes on – and saw that I was wearing baby blue Crocs. I ran into the house for more appropriate footwear and we headed off. Ken hadn’t noticed but when he saw, he said he thought it would have been funny if I’d gotten to work like that. I like to think he would have told me, if he’d noticed. In any case, I had a girl who notices such things. I have an ally, for a while at least, in fashion. I won’t make fun of her shoe collection ever again.

Where does the time go?

Monday, January 8th, 2007

Ken had showered and shaved by the time I got Reid out of bed this morning. I managed to choose an outfit that she liked (yellow button-up oxford shirt plus jeans and yellow socks, if you’re wondering) and she happily put her clothes on while I showered. Or at least she did after she claimed my large bath towel as her own and gave me a smaller (but big for Reid) towel instead. What a fink! In any case, she was dressed and playing mini-sticks hockey in the hall by the time Ken and I were getting dressed. Ken made his lunch while Reid finished up and then I did her hair. At some point, though, we entered a time warp and so instead of being earlier we were late. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Reid started to cry when she realized that Ken had packed his lunch without her assistance – how dare he! Or it might have been that she decided needed to make herself a sandwich before leaving for daycare. All of a sudden, the time was gone but it seemed much too smooth for a day that we were late.

Comings and goings leading up to C Day

Saturday, January 6th, 2007

On the Saturday morning, the day before Christmas Eve, Reid and I we’re up and entertaining Uncle Roger, Aunt Karin and Grandma Joyce by 7:45. I had made plans for breakfast with Melissa and she brought Dylan and Roy along to visit Reid while we were out. This was a great way to start our visit. Reid really enjoys her time with Dylan. She doesn’t mention Roy much but I’m sure she likes him, too. (But he is old, almost as old as Mama.) Melissa commented on how lucky I am that Reid will stay without me without fussing. I hadn’t really thought about it but it is true. Melissa and I had a nice visit sans kids. I really enjoyed seeing her pregnant belly. Pregnant ladies make me happy and help me to remember when it was my turn.

After breakfast, I dashed in, picked up Reid and Karin and we went to the hair dresser’s.  It is crazy expensive to get my hair done in Ottawa and the last time I didn’t even like the results. Reid finds hair washing to be stressful, even when it is my hair being washed and when I love the process. She did like wearing the kid’s cape and spraying Aunt Karin with the bottle Pam uses to wet people’s hair. When we were finally finished (Reid was good but it was kind of boring), we had to go to Leamington to buy shoes for Reid. I’ve misplaced at home the ruby slippers that I bought her and we lost one of her brown shoes at that awful Quiznos (another reason I will probably never go back). As it was getting to be almost naptime, we ate at the McDonald’s in Walmart. Reid was only interested in her hamburger but Karin and I enjoyed the apple slices and caramel dip that came with it.

Chantelle was at Grandma’s when we got back but we didn’t get to visit as it was nap time. Sari came later and stayed for a visit. Auntie M (Merri-Lynn) and Uncle Roger came over, too. Reid went to Shea’s hockey game and then had pizza for supper. When Aunt Karin asked if Reid wanted a pepperoni or Hawaiian pizza. Reid said, “No pizza”. When Aunt Karin gave her the pizza, Reid said, “No pizza” and so Uncle Roger was put in charge of feeding her. He was impressed at how wide Reid could open her mouth once she’d had the first bite. She *really* likes pizza. Ken and I went to see “Casino Royale” in Windsor. It was really good! How nice to have a date night that actually involves a movie worth watching. We’re still recovering from the trauma of the “mad cap adventure” (my expectation) that was “Four Brothers” and a few others. Reid had been put into the toddler bed at Grandma Joyce’s but when we got there she was mostly under the big bed. No wonder Ken didn’t see her when he checked.

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.

Princess Chicken

Monday, October 30th, 2006

There is a story on the back of Starbucks cups about how people speak of conquering mountains but really the mountain lets us climb to the peak in the end.

On Saturday morning as we left the house, Reid dressed as a princess for the Kindermusik party, Reid noticed the chicken costume in her stroller where I’d put it to take back to the store. She exclaimed (yes, exclaimed, not merely said), “Chicken doat” and wouldn’t wear her purple coat that Ken offered but insisted on the chicken coat. And so, Reid was a Princess Chicken for the Kindermusik class. I thought, for a moment, I won! And then I thought of that Starbucks cup and realized my mountain hadn’t changed (or at least not beacuse of me).

Reid was a hit at Kindermusik, both in her chicken coat and as a princess. She wore her tiara and “glass” slippers and carried her sceptre from Melissa and Peter and the kids with regal grace. There were cute pumpkins and frogs and Woody from Toy Story and also some other animals. My mama-heart went out to the lady who sat next to us whose son wouldn’t put on his costume, not even the hat. I told her about Reid wearing a dress-up dress rather than the costume I bought. I hope it helped as she seemed self-conscious that Malcolm wasn’t in costume. He is a generally shy kid, though, but sweet when he warms up.

After class, I changed Reid into jeans and a couple shirts, including her “Ghoul power” t-shirt, and she happily put her chicken coat back on. When we got to the Agricultural Museum, I said she needed her orange pants (the chicken legs and feet) for warmth, which was true. She put them on without a word. I felt like doing a victory dance. We got some good photos that I’ll send later and had fun seeing the animals and doing a couple of crafts. The oddest costume we saw was worn by one of the staff who had on pink pants, a pink shirt with two rows of four bottle nipples down the front, and a snout. We saw one other Old Navy chicken and some ladies in the colouring room asked where Reid’s costume was from. Wet and cold, at least Ken and I were, we headed to the car with Reid clutching the apple juice can we purchased about 90 minutes after arriving. I thought the allure of the can had to do with Daddy’s Coke cans but when I realized it was 12:15 and she wanted to nurse when we got to the car, I decided her tummy was probably rumbly, too. I guess the two jack o’lantern cookies at Kindermusik didn’t have enough stick-to-your-ribs power.

Reid fell asleep nursing and then Ken and I went to Lick’s for lunch. I braved the wind and rain to get our scrumptious hamburgers and fries and we pretended we were at a crowded (but quiet) restaurant and ate and talked. Kinda nice, actually.

Just before supper, I bundled Reid back into her chicken costume and we headed out before we left, though, Ken said “Are you going to get your picture taken?” To quote Homer Simpson , “D’oh” I said and as Reid started to pull off her chicken coat, I LIED and said, “No, we’re goung to buy a balloon”. Once we got to the grocery store, I had to come through with the balloon but Reid didn’t fuss in the portrait studio, at least. She was pretty reticent with her smiles, though. Her expression was sort of pleasant, in a humouring the child sort of way. But then the photographer brought out Dora and Reid smiled a real smile and so we left the portait studio for another month. I thought I was being organized and asked about an appointment for November to get Christmas card photos done. There were no morning slots for Saturday or Sunday for the last week of November or the first week of December. Yikes! It’ll be another before supper adventure, I guess.

Okay, gotta go. Have a great day!