March Break Mommy Brain

So I did it. It really was only a matter of time before it happened.

Last week, I sent my daughter to a class that did not actually exist.

Yep, we woke up early on a Saturday morning; rushed through our morning routine (I probably yelled at her to hurry her up); then I tightly pulled her hair into a bun; woke up her father, who gulped down his coffee; and finally I sent them both running out the door to ballet class.

As soon as they left, I leaned back, sighed, and had my second cup of coffee and started to relax. Then the phone call came...

Husband - “.... Hun... are you sure she has class today? The doors are locked...”

Me - “What do you mean the doors are locked? I read the email... they are only taking a break from Tuesday until Thursday. Hang on... I will check the email again.”

dramatic pause

Me - “sh*t – Tuesday until the Thursday after March break.... sorry”

Considering how many programs my daughter has been in over her short lifespan, I am actually shocked that I do not do this more often.

I can blame my mind slip on many things: being overwhelmed, being tired after March Break, desperately needing to have the house to myself... But really there is only one person at fault here – ME. I was not doing the thing I tell my daughter to do everyday – pay attention.

Lesson learned. And, I believe my little one gets to get away with not paying attention this week, at least once. Also, I guess it is time for me to get a new calendar.

Winter Blues....

Winter is usually my favourite season, but even I am reaching my breaking point.

When is it going to warm up?

Okay, I do not actually mind the snow, in fact I much prefer the snow than the disgusting brown goop – the mixture of mud, slush, dirt and a winter's worth of unburied dog excrement – that shows up each spring.

However, I am so sick of the cold. I am sick of wearing three layers of sweaters inside my house; I am sick of putting on my large, shapeless, yet remarkably warm coat every time I have to leave the house; I am sick of stomping around in boots that look like something astronauts wear; I am sick of being stuck inside my house because breathing while outside causes my nose hairs to freeze; and I am sick of getting fat, because I am trying to help heat the house by baking more.

I would like to pause this winter rant by thanking my parents for insisting that I learned to ski when I was little. If it was not for skiing, this winter would SUCK.

I am so very happy that my daughter LOVES to ski; it allows my family to do something fun, and outside in the winter. Also, since skiing is mainly a weekend activity, and there are really not that that many great weekends to ski each year, it does help make time fly a little bit.

So instead of: Oh crap! What do you mean there are three more weeks of winter!!!

It becomes: Drat! Only three more good ski days left... sigh...

Maybe I should hold off on hoping to finally put the winter gear away, and instead I should pull it all out, pack up and try to hit the slopes a couple more times before I start complaining about the summer heat, and dreaming about snow again.

Oh... screw that ... I am still not going to stop dreaming about a nice tropical beach vacation.

How are you beating the winter blues?

The year's Valentine's Day Letter

And here is this year's belated love letter.... (I am starting to see a trend... sigh)

Dear Deep Breath,

It has been a while since I have taken some time for you.

My life seems to be so hectic these days, running off to school, zooming to after school activities, getting food ready, cleaning (okay, I do not really clean that much...) and then planning for things to do on the weekend.

I feel like I forgot how to just stop and inhale. I feel like I am going nowhere fast.

Just the other day, I took my daughter sledding; knowing that we had a very small window to do this activity – a) the sun sets at 4:30 (at least it no longer start setting at 3:00...) and b) it was freezing. So there I stood watching her zoom down the hill, and then SLOWLY coming back up the hill with her toboggan. She was employing the two step forward, three slides back method of climbing up the hill. I was, of course, getting annoyed standing up there waiting for her. After all, she was the one who wanted to do this. I was about to yell, when I noticed that she was giggling, laughing and having fun!

This was the moment when I remembered you my long lost friend.

So I stood on top of the hill, took a very deep breath, and just enjoyed the scenery. I was literally at the top of a hill (and we had the hill to ourselves that day) watching a beautiful sunset and spending time with my daughter. So really, who the hell cares that we were not going up and down as many time as we could pack in. The whole point of this was to go outside, get some fresh air and have fun! If she has fun falling down the hill, I should just let her.

So from this point on, I am hoping to rediscover and spend more time with you. To stop, take a deep breath, and just enjoy the moment.

Forever yours,

Me

Letters from previous years

2013

2012

2011

Happy New Year! again....

Okay... I am finally ready to make my anti-new-year-resolution wish list....

Yes, I know it is already February, but hey, it is still Chinese New Year!

Anyway, this year, my list is pretty simple. It will include some of the stuff from my previous lists, see here or here. 

But this year, I am borrowing my list from my daughter. Child's teacher asked her and her class to make some resolutions (her teacher did not know my anti-resolution stance).

My little one decided that her resolution is to have more FUN!

I was a little offended about her resolution at first; after all, I spent most of my day planning on how to make her life fun... which I admit sometimes involve activities that she does not always enjoy, like violin practice (“but I swear it will be fun once you can play actual songs!”). But really, the child plays about 90% of the time excluding the hours she is in school (which I am pretty sure still involves lots of playing), and the time she is unconscious (probably dreaming of play).

And then I thought a bit more about it, and figure, you know what, we all can use a bit more fun in our lives.

So this year, my wish list has only one item on it.

HAVE MORE FUN! (and try not to get injured while doing so; oh and maybe only after the dishes are done...).

 I am of course going to continue to try to be the mother that my daughter needs me to be, and this year, I am going to try to listen more and lecture less... (I managed to do it for an hour now!).

What is your resolution or wish list for this year?

My complicated relationship with Santa Claus

Okay, I still have no anti-resolution wish list, but am still feeling I need a holiday debrief.

For the last five years, my daughter has sent a letter to Santa Claus with her Christmas wish list. I also tell her Santa is a very busy man, and she will definitely not be getting ALL the toys on this list, and she will most likely be getting a toy somewhat similar to the one on the list, but probably not be the exact toy.

Anyway, here is my and my husband's usual Christmas eve routine: guests leave, dishes are loaded into the dishwasher (or hand washed, hey Santa, I need a bigger dishwasher), and house is tidied to an acceptable level (I have very low standards, so there is actually very little tidying). Then probably sometime after midnight, us 'Santa helpers' start assembling toys that will magically appear on Christmas day.

I have discovered that it is incredibly difficult for my fingers to work on anything other than a remote control, and to follow any sort of instructions after midnight.

But, it is all worth it to see her happy, excited face on Christmas morning when she discovers that she has actually been a good little girl (or good enough little girl) for Santa to bring her a present on her wish list, and not just a rock (knowing my kid though, she would actually be quite happy with a rock).

And then I find my feelings of happiness is inversely correlated to how happy Santa is making my child. Why should Santa get all the credit? What about all the toys that mommy and daddy got her?

It gets worse when months later she reminds me that her favourite gift is one that Santa got her, and then asks, what did you get me again mommy?

So this last Christmas I decided that mommy (and daddy too) is going to come up top dog this time. So take that Santa.

We decided to give her an expensive, and quite extravagant present this year. And this year, we are taking the credit for it.

Sure Santa still got her a couple of things from her list (most of which is now sitting in a pile near my feat), but it is the big gift that is still played with and is much treasured.

I think my relationship with Santa has moved to a much happier place this year. I no longer feel jealous and resentful towards the jolly old man. In fact, I am now appreciating him for the thing he does best – as a threat to my child to behave for the entire month of December (and if I am lucky, November as well).

Note – this last Christmas was also made easier when all the gifts that Santa brought did not require any sort of assembly.

Happy New Year and being unprepared....

I usually start off my new year with my anti-resolution list, but this year, I decided to do something different. Okay, I really did not think much about the list. It was a very busy holiday season, with power outages, no heat, unexpected guests, and then a 'vacation' (you know, the ones that require a week to recover from). I barely had time to register that we have actually started a new year!

However, instead of just sitting around and contemplating my list of wishes for this year, I decided to try and start this year by just writing. Or as I like to call it, get my ass in gear instead of procrastinating by watching hours of Youtube videos, well maybe one more of that really cute puppy trying hard not to fall asleep.....

Anyway, a very long time ago, I wrote about travelling with a small child. I would now like to continue that thought by adding a couple of packing essentials: a thermometer; children fever medicine and children anti-nausea medication.

And how do I know these are essentials? Simple, I did not pack them.

My family and I went to a resort a bit north of our home over the holidays. We drove. The resort was in an area with shopping malls and big box stores. So I figured, if we forgot anything, we can always go out to buy it.

Of course, it did not occur to me that my child will get sick on the one day during our vacation where NOTHING was opened. Yep, my daughter started throwing up and feeling awfully warm on New Year's DAY! (Actually, if she was considerate and got sick half an hour earlier, I could had stilled made it to the drugstore before they closed....).

So my husband and I ended up spending our New Year's reminiscing about our youth... the last time he held someone's hair back over a toilet was mine... And we got to stay up all night, granted there was no party, but instead, a 2am cool bath to try and bring the little one's fever down. Let us say it was a memorable way to start the new year. I hope for much less exciting days and nights in the future.

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Oh! The small child was fine the next day, actually it was probably a great new year for her; she got about 10 hours of uninterrupted television watching, no one forced her to eat anything, and all the ginger ale that she wanted to drink...

Sometimes reading is overrated...

For the last two years my husband and I have been trying to get our child to read. After much encouraging, bribing, yelling, crying, begging, hair pulling... she is now willing to read on her own, and sometimes, she even enjoys doing it.

And then, I discovered that my child likes to read at the most inconvenient (and sometimes inappropriate) times or places.

I remember one incident that took place a couple of years ago while we were out getting dessert. Up until that day, I was able to avoid telling my small child about certain ice cream flavours (the ones embedded with a lot of candy, and therefore has a lot of extra sugar) because she could not read the menu. For this outing, my daughter suddenly decided she was able to read the words 'Easter Egg'. Prior to that words like 'a' and 'the' were sometimes beyond her reading ability. I was not quite sure whether I should be proud or annoyed.

Then just last week, my husband was walking down the street with her when they approached a light pole where someone decided to exercise their artistic ability and wrote a word for the world to read. That word of course was F*%#. And, my curious and now literate child decided that this was the perfect time to practice sounding out a new word. Being a single syllable word, and having years of practice with early readers describing different colour trucks, ducks and pucks (we are Canadian after all...), she did not have any trouble sounding out the “F” word; and then proceeded to say it out loud, and quite proudly, to her father in the middle of the street.

Maybe teaching her to read was not that great of an idea...