Good-Bye

It's strange to live the significant moments in your child's life with more emotional awareness than them. For instance, a baby's first birthday or Christmas is far more exciting for the parents than the kid, right?

Today was one such an occasion. It was Cole's last day at Beth's home daycare. He has been there for over a year and a half, since he was nearly one year old. Now he is two years and seven months. When I first visited Beth's house, he was four months old (a month older than Amelia is right now). In Beth's caring hands, he learned to sign, to babble, to talk, to run, to climb, to slide, to swing, to talk, then to talk in full sentences, to count to ten, to identify colours, to sing, to dance and to share. How on earth do you thank someone for that? How do you thank them for being trustworthy and capable enough that you'd leave your baby with them the first time you were ever away from them for so long? How do you say good-bye to Beth when your son has no idea how much he'll miss her.

I tried to get him to hug is friends, Madden and Evander. He said he was angry, but I don't think he meant angry. I think he meant he felt sad. And Beth gave him a big hug. As we walked away, she and I were both blotting our eyes. Cole called good-bye over his shoulder at her in a casual way that could have meant it was any other day, but then, he looked at her a little longer and while he held tight to my hand, he called good-bye to her one more time.

Dave and Darren

There is an older gentleman who lives down the road from me. His name is Dave and he has a collie named Darren. The two walk about two dozen times a day around the neighbourhood. Dave wears white knee socks and shorts and is very friendly and waves. My husband is always forgetting which one is Dave and which one is Darren. If you go out to the grocery store, you'll drive by them somewhere in the neighbourhood. And when you return, you'll drive by them again. If you're up at 3 a.m. nursing your baby, they'll walk by the picture window. If you're enjoying an early morning tea, they'll walk by too. If you're in the back yard with your toddler playing in the sand box, they'll walk by. If you're hanging up your laundry and your baby is screaming on a blanket at your feet, they'll walk by too. I almost wonder if he ever goes home, or if he just does repeat laps around the block.

Well, yesterday I went for a walk at 2 p.m. to the grocery store. (I had been to the park earlier). I was pushing the stroller with Amelia in it and I saw Dave and Darren up ahead. Dave smiled at me as I greeted him and then he said, "Isn't this your SECOND walk today?"

Handedness

Cole was eating a breakfast cereal bar with his left hand. We've always suspected he was a lefty, but we still aren't 100% sure.

He asked me to just wash his left hand (it was the stickiest). I said, "Is that the hand you like to use for eating?"

He said, "No."
I said, "Which hand do you like to use for eating?"
He said, "Nothing." (Which means 'neither')
Then he explained, "You don't EAT hands!"

http://outsideathome.blogspot.com

My sister has started a new blog on the topics of gardening, renovations, and all the wonders of outside in your own back yard. She has graciously allowed me to be a co-blogger, alias, Miss Greenish Thumb.

Divo Concert

Mark went to a Divo concert yesterday.
Cole asked, "Where's Daddy?"
I said, "At a concert with is friends."
"A concert?"
"Yup."
"Like the Wiggles?"

Father's Day

I tried to explain to Cole about Father's day on Saturday. I said that all Daddy wanted for Father's day was to sleep in and watch t.v. And then at bedtime, I wanted to see if Cole remembered. I asked, "What special day is tomorrow?"

He thought for a moment and then relied, "Tomorrow is Father's day...but the next day is MY day!"

Lifejackets

Cole decided yesterday that he wanted to wear his lifejacket.... in 30 degree weather, in the sandbox. His little red lifejacket is far too small for him. His yellow lifejacket fits, but it certainly isn't easy to bend over to pick up a shovel or a pail while wearing it.

After playing outside, Cole and I came inside to eat a snack. Cole asked if he could wear his RED lifejacket next time he went outside. I said, "I think your red lifejacket is too small." He looked at me very seriously and said, "Tomorrow the sunshine will make my red lifejacket bigger!" I said, "I'm not sure about that. Maybe you should just wear your yellow lifejacket." He shrugged and said, "Tomorrow the sunshine will make my yellow lifejacket too small."

Storytime with Mom

Cousin Isaac

Cousin picture attempt #1

attempt #2

Cozy Cozy Blanket

Cole loves his cozy cozy blanket. It's a thin synthetic duvet (the cheapest one at Ikea) with a cover of motorcycles and trucks. Even if I have to wash the cover, tears fall.

With this hot weather, Cozy cozy had to go away. Cole was waking up drenched in sweat. So Mark explained to Cole that Cozy Cozy went to the North Pole, where it is always cold, to keep Santa warm. I think he was trying to appeal to Cole's charitable nature. A few nights passed without incident, then a cool night came and I made the mistake of bringing Cozy Cozy back. Upon hearing we were in for another week of hot weather, Cozy Cozy disappeared this time and Cole hit the roof.

So, this morning, on June 16th, Cole was blessed with a phone call from the North Pole. Santa reassured Cole he'd return his blanket by this evening and that he'd get an extra prezzie this Christmas for being so thoughtful. My word, the things I never imagined that parenthood entailed.

Appreciation

I have given birth to a mini-me. Cole didn't look like me when he was a baby. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, informed me that he was a spitting image of my husband. And then he grew shocking copper hair and he didn't resemble either of us.

Over the winter, we put him into gymnastics. I was certain he would love gymnastics. He is a gross motor boy. He loves to run and climb and jump. But from the first class to the 14th class, certain activities brought tears to my little boy's eyes. Walking in a circle during warm-up, made Cole cling desperately to my leg pleading to be picked up. He didn't want to go on the trampoline for the first month. Thinking perhaps he was just having difficulty with the transition from being an only child to being an older brother, we tried to be understanding. We tried not to worry that our child wasn't good at following instructions or taking turns. I tried not to worry that he was anxious about new social situations. But WE became more and more stressed as Saturday mornings approached and I believe all (Mark, me and Cole) breathed a sigh of relief when gymnastics was over.

Then we signed Cole up for soccer. He loves to play in the yard and kick balls, so this seemed great. His best friend, Ana, was also in the same programme. What better incentive. But for the first two practises, it has been a repeat of gymnastics. In fact, as Mark put it, "Soccer makes gymnastics look like a walk in the park."

Cole doesn't want to kick the ball. He wants to be held. He wants to play on the swings. He says he has to go to the washroom. He seems anxious. And soccer is supposed to be fun!

But as I reflect on my childhood, I remember how I refused to go through the ritual to become a real Brownie. How I cried and froze and wouldn't do it! I remember at a piano recital, how I sat down to play, pushed on the first two notes (not hard enough, evidently) and no sound came out. I threw my head down on the keyboard, wrapped my arms around myself and cried and refused to be consoled. I remember awkwardness as I started baseball. I didn't understand some of the rules, I threw the baseball bat by accident and hit my coach, and when it came time to suggest a team name, I was so stressed that I said the first thing that came to mind, "pork chops".

But I went on to eventually, in my own time, "fly up" and become a Brownie, not in front of all the parents, but at a later date, just with the other Brownies. And at the end of the year, I was nominated Most Improved Brownie. I enjoy playing the piano, just not in front of other people. And my baseball team ended up being the Bancroft Bulls (NOT the Bancroft Pork Chops). And through it all, my parents accepted my slow warming to new situations, they accepted my sensitivity and they continued to hide their frustration, if any festered in them. They reassured me over and over and over and over again that I would eventually learn my seven times tables and that it certainly wasn't worth losing sleep over. This is the kind of patience that you come to expect in your own parents, but once you are the parent, you realize how difficult it can be.

I am so grateful that my parents always accepted who I was, albeit a little neurotic, right from the start.

Antithesis Mom

My sister has a friend named Kate. Kate is fantastic. I know Kate personally but also through my sister's accounts of their friendship. Kate is an avid quilter and crafter and dumpster-diver and canner of foods and I am convinced that if I lived in Ottawa, Kate and I would be bff.

When Kate became pregnant, I thought of my transition to motherhood. I thought of how I loved to do all those crafty things and to exercise my creativity in my spare time and how I felt, to a degree, that my freedom to hobby had been torn from me. In many ways, with the birth of my children, I've mourned my independence. And even though I love them and now I couldn't imagine life without them, it is limiting having a child. In the first few months, my children seem to cry a lot. I carry them a lot. I wake many times in the night and spend a lot of time bouncing them, swaddling them, shushing them and soothing them. My back often aches and sometimes I think that motherhood is not for the faint of heart. And I am not afraid to tell any mother-to-be that life with a newborn is not my favourite part.

Kate, on the other hand, is the antithesis of me. It would seem she loves being a mom at every single junction. She loves dressing Kate in cute outfits each morning. (My children wear PJ's around the clock for the first few months until the puking subsides.) I post facebook comments like "Someone save me from the eternal sleeplessness that is motherhood" and Kate posts comments like "I love making baby food". I once said to my sister, "I wonder if anyone can stand sitting and rocking their baby in their arms for hours and hours on end?" and she said, "Kate loves it."

Well, my baby is crying (14 minute nap), thus cutting short this blog. I hope I can put on my Kate-kind-of-mother attitude today and see all the wonderfulness of motherhood.

Sharing

Cole was eating pears. I asked if he'd share with me and he said yes. I asked if he'd share with Amelia and he said, "No, Amelia doesn't eat pears!"
"What does she eat?"
"Baby milk," he informed me.
"Why can't she eat pears?" I asked.
"She has no teeth," we had been explaining this to Cole for a while.
"When she gets older, she'll get teeth and then she can have pears?" I asked Cole.
He nodded emphatically then added, "And I can share my toothbrush with her!"

A sense of time

Yesterday, Cole and I went to the library. We returned some books and picked out some new ones. Then I gave Cole his card to give to the librarian and as he handed it to her he said, "I'm two!" She said, "Wow."
Then he added, "I have a green dump truck. It's going to be my birthday."
She said, "Oh really? When is your birthday?"
He said, "I don't know." So I helped him, "Your birthday is in November, Cole."
"November," he told her.
She nodded approvingly and flashed me a knowing grin.
And then he said, "It's going to be in half an hour."

Ah Man!

Cole is picking up some sayings from older kids.

I told him he was having pizza for supper and he said, "Ah man!" I told him Aunty Mary is coming to visit and he said, "Ah man!" (He loves Aunty Mary). Apparently, Swiper (from Dora the Explorer) says Ah Man if you stop him from swiping.

I was eating a piece of toast and Cole saw it and said, "Is that MY toast?" and I said, "No, it's my toast." To which he exclaimed, "You've got to be KIDDING me!"
(Mark said he got that one from him - he yells that at other drivers who do silly things because it seems a bit more benign than the things he wants to say to them.)

And at supper yesterday, Mark asked Cole, "Would you like more milk?"
And Cole said, "Yeah baby!"

Cole's first soccer game

Amelia and Jaime

...and Callum

Look what Jaime can do!

They don't look 4 months apart, do they?

Annabelle and Amelia

My sister

Rabbit

We have a rabbit in our yard. Cole thinks it's cute. Mark chased it and tried to catch it because it's eating my onions.

This morning, I said to Cole, "Where is that rabbit?"
He said, "That rabbit eats mommy's plants."
I said, "Which plants was that rabbit eating, Cole?"
Cole said, "The green ones."

Zellers

On the way home from daycare, Cole said, "We should go to Zellers to buy me a toy." As an excuse I said, "I don't have any money, buddy, sorry." He repeated, "Can we go to Zellers to get me a toy, please?" I explained, "At Zellers, we have to give them money to buy toys."

Cole thought for a moment then suggested, "We can go to Zellers to get money. They have money at Zellers Mom." I said, "No, we have to GIVE them money to get toys at Zellers."

Then he thought some more. "I have money, Mom. In my piggy bank. We can get money from Ham (name of piggy bank). Mom, I can share it with you."