I've developed some really bad habits over the last year or so. Perhaps the worst of which has been not following a regular exercise program. I'm now announcing publicly that those days are over. I joined a gym and have committed to going 4 times a week over my lunch hour. So far so good. I give all of my readers to kick my butt if I don't stick with the program.
Here are some other ways I'm going to tune myself up:
- Tomorrow, I'm cutting my hair. It's not going to be the usual trim. I'm getting myself a new look. Something sexy!
- On Monday, I'm going for some much needed career counseling.
- I'm going to try to turn in my Blackberry (wish me luck with this one!)
- A lot of my stress comes from taking too much onto my own shoulders. So, I'm going to start delegating a lot more.
- I am going to treat myself to a facial.
- I'm giving up caffeine. The process has begun. Just give me a few more days and I'll have made the full switch to decaf.
- I'm putting my sweet tooth in check. No more desserts at every meal.
- When I do eat dessert, I'm going to go all out and enjoy every last bite.
- I'm going to cut back my spending. No more clothes that I don't really need. No more expensive coffee drinks. No more eating out so much.
- Guilt sucks. So I'm not going to let others (i.e. certain family members) make me feel guilt anymore.
- I'm going to go out on more dates with hubby. When is the last time we went to the movies together? Neither of us remembers.
- I'm going to convert this house into an oasis. First step: I'm going to "declutter" this house because we've got way too much crap. Maybe I'll even hire a Feng Shui consultant.
Wish me luck with this ambitious list.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
I mine!
When baby boy overheard me telling hubby that he (baby boy) was my priority, he echoed my sentiments. "I mine!" he shouted, pointing at himself. I guess I know exactly where his priorities lie :)
********************
The first time he said it I just about fell off of my chair.
"Mommy," he said. "I want a baby."
I wasn't sure what to say, so I asked him if he wanted a real baby or a pretend toy baby. Without hesitating he replied "A real baby."
As it turned out, he had had the same conversation with Daddy. Only Daddy asked him if he wanted a baby brother or sister. The little guy pondered the question, but didn't reply.
Since then, he desire for a baby has become one of his favourite topics. And he's obviously given it some thought. He now says, "I want a baby. A sister kind."
No pressure or anything!!!!
************************
The icemaker, the garage door lifting, the aquarium filter, the fire engine sirens in the distance....if he hears a noise, he needs to know about it.
Any time there is a noise he pauses. His ears perk up like a German Shephard's, and he asks, "What kind is that, that sounding?"
**************************
Our hockey obsessed son has taken to wearing a basket on his head like a hockey helmet. And, to complete his uniform, he carefully balances his feet on a narrow foam block. He says, "I skating, Mommy."
Just as he has a preference for drinking milk that comes out of a red carton, he favours teams dressed in red jerseys. "I want play RED hockey, Mommy," he says.
Now that he's finally learned from all of the penalties we've given him for high sticking (i.e. hockey stick confiscation), it's "game on" all the time in our household!
********************
The first time he said it I just about fell off of my chair.
"Mommy," he said. "I want a baby."
I wasn't sure what to say, so I asked him if he wanted a real baby or a pretend toy baby. Without hesitating he replied "A real baby."
As it turned out, he had had the same conversation with Daddy. Only Daddy asked him if he wanted a baby brother or sister. The little guy pondered the question, but didn't reply.
Since then, he desire for a baby has become one of his favourite topics. And he's obviously given it some thought. He now says, "I want a baby. A sister kind."
No pressure or anything!!!!
************************
The icemaker, the garage door lifting, the aquarium filter, the fire engine sirens in the distance....if he hears a noise, he needs to know about it.
Any time there is a noise he pauses. His ears perk up like a German Shephard's, and he asks, "What kind is that, that sounding?"
**************************
Our hockey obsessed son has taken to wearing a basket on his head like a hockey helmet. And, to complete his uniform, he carefully balances his feet on a narrow foam block. He says, "I skating, Mommy."
Just as he has a preference for drinking milk that comes out of a red carton, he favours teams dressed in red jerseys. "I want play RED hockey, Mommy," he says.
Now that he's finally learned from all of the penalties we've given him for high sticking (i.e. hockey stick confiscation), it's "game on" all the time in our household!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Get me a passport out of this mess!
Twice we've tried to get the little guy's passport photo taken, and twice we've failed. He's terrified of the big camera and of the strangers who try to get him to sit still and pose.
Here is how the scene has unfolded both times: We sit him down on the stool. He cries, looks away from the camera, and begs us to pick him up. We attempt several times to sooth him and get him in the right frame of mind. When it's obvious this isn't going to work we take a break. We hang out and try to acclimatize him to the store. We butter him up. Tell him it will be fun to get his picture taken. We watch other people sit on the stool and get their pictures taken. We talk to the nice strangers operating the camera. And then we try again, and again and again until we admit defeat and go home.
I know that getting him to sit still and look at the camera is only half the battle. There is also the issue of making sure he keeps his mouth closed. The rule for passport photos is that you must have your mouth closed. Even babies and toddlers. That's so crazy! The automatic reaction of every kid in that age group is to gawk, wide mouthed at the camera.
I'd really like to know why it's essential that the "closed mouth" rule apply to young children. Do they experience a lot of problems with reckless toddlers trying to smuggle apple juice across the border? Does an open mouth mask a baby's true identity? It's so utterly stupid.
Wish me luck with attempt #3. I'm going to need it!
Here is how the scene has unfolded both times: We sit him down on the stool. He cries, looks away from the camera, and begs us to pick him up. We attempt several times to sooth him and get him in the right frame of mind. When it's obvious this isn't going to work we take a break. We hang out and try to acclimatize him to the store. We butter him up. Tell him it will be fun to get his picture taken. We watch other people sit on the stool and get their pictures taken. We talk to the nice strangers operating the camera. And then we try again, and again and again until we admit defeat and go home.
I know that getting him to sit still and look at the camera is only half the battle. There is also the issue of making sure he keeps his mouth closed. The rule for passport photos is that you must have your mouth closed. Even babies and toddlers. That's so crazy! The automatic reaction of every kid in that age group is to gawk, wide mouthed at the camera.
I'd really like to know why it's essential that the "closed mouth" rule apply to young children. Do they experience a lot of problems with reckless toddlers trying to smuggle apple juice across the border? Does an open mouth mask a baby's true identity? It's so utterly stupid.
Wish me luck with attempt #3. I'm going to need it!
Early spring cleaning
I can't believe how many toys we've accumulated in the last few months between the little guy's birthday and Christmas. It's actually obscene. At the best of times it was hard to keep our tiny place clutter free. Now I've pretty much given up trying. Of course the toys aren't the only problem. We have loads and loads of stuff in the house that we really don't need.
So here's my strategy:
- Loan out, sell, or donate all of the baby stuff (except a few keepsakes)
- Rotate the toys we have so they aren't all out at the same time
- Go through my closet and hubby's closet and get rid of clothes that haven't been worn in over a year
- Take all of my books (except the most precious ones) and donate them to the public library;
- Get rid of stuff that we never use, room by room
- Shred my boxes and boxes full of old documents
- Once all of the above have been done, I'd like to get a storage locker for all of the stuff we just don't have space for i.e. camping gear, ski equipment, luggage, etc... It can live there until we buy a new house with a basement and garage.
It's a daunting task, but if we do this little by little I think our quality of life can only get better.
So here's my strategy:
- Loan out, sell, or donate all of the baby stuff (except a few keepsakes)
- Rotate the toys we have so they aren't all out at the same time
- Go through my closet and hubby's closet and get rid of clothes that haven't been worn in over a year
- Take all of my books (except the most precious ones) and donate them to the public library;
- Get rid of stuff that we never use, room by room
- Shred my boxes and boxes full of old documents
- Once all of the above have been done, I'd like to get a storage locker for all of the stuff we just don't have space for i.e. camping gear, ski equipment, luggage, etc... It can live there until we buy a new house with a basement and garage.
It's a daunting task, but if we do this little by little I think our quality of life can only get better.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Toilet training trials and tribulations
When my son was 18-months old, the doctor told me to set up a potty and start the toilet training process. Baby boy is now almost 26 months old and has successfully used the potty six times - five pees and one pooh. The pooh success was a total fluke. I was changing his diaper right as he was starting to do his business, so I grabbed him and plopped him on the potty right as he let go.
There are days where he's very open to sitting on the potty. Sometimes he'll even initiate the activity. But usually his motivations have nothing to do with actually using the potty, but rather as a means of getting me or daddy to read him a book. Among his bathroom literature are books like "You can go to the Potty," or "The Potty Book," titles that he enjoys immensely!
These books are definitely helping him to understand the mechanics of potting training. I firmly believe that if there was a Potty Training 101 course he'd ace it. But knowing the mechanics, and actually putting them into practice are two completely separate things.....
All of the parenting books and web sites talk about looking for signs of toilet training readiness. The signs are all there but for some reason after every success we go through long periods of failure. I guess we should just chalk it up to "he's not ready."
But still there are very encouraging signs, like waking up in the morning with a dry diaper. Religiously each morning we encourage him to start his day by sitting on the potty. Occasionally he'll go along with the idea. But more often than not, he'll say "no potty."
I think one of the issues is that disposable diapers are designed too well these days. He never feels wet and uncomfortable. Perhaps it's time to switch to cloth? Or maybe we should try pull ups? It's worth a try. My mother-in-law even suggested having him wear underwear underneath his diaper so that he notices when he's gone.
Everyone I talk to has a different idea. Some say bribe him with candy. Others say let him run around naked and try to catch him in the act. And, of course, there are those who say, "don't worry, he'll toilet train when he's ready."
I guess we'll just have to experiment and see what works! If you have any words of wisdom, feel free to share them on my blog.
There are days where he's very open to sitting on the potty. Sometimes he'll even initiate the activity. But usually his motivations have nothing to do with actually using the potty, but rather as a means of getting me or daddy to read him a book. Among his bathroom literature are books like "You can go to the Potty," or "The Potty Book," titles that he enjoys immensely!
These books are definitely helping him to understand the mechanics of potting training. I firmly believe that if there was a Potty Training 101 course he'd ace it. But knowing the mechanics, and actually putting them into practice are two completely separate things.....
All of the parenting books and web sites talk about looking for signs of toilet training readiness. The signs are all there but for some reason after every success we go through long periods of failure. I guess we should just chalk it up to "he's not ready."
But still there are very encouraging signs, like waking up in the morning with a dry diaper. Religiously each morning we encourage him to start his day by sitting on the potty. Occasionally he'll go along with the idea. But more often than not, he'll say "no potty."
I think one of the issues is that disposable diapers are designed too well these days. He never feels wet and uncomfortable. Perhaps it's time to switch to cloth? Or maybe we should try pull ups? It's worth a try. My mother-in-law even suggested having him wear underwear underneath his diaper so that he notices when he's gone.
Everyone I talk to has a different idea. Some say bribe him with candy. Others say let him run around naked and try to catch him in the act. And, of course, there are those who say, "don't worry, he'll toilet train when he's ready."
I guess we'll just have to experiment and see what works! If you have any words of wisdom, feel free to share them on my blog.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
I'd like to thank the academy
The little guy is like an Academy Award recipient. Lately, there is no end to his thank yous. Daddy brought him home a big, red firetruck a couple of weeks ago. Every day since, he's repeated several times a day, "Thank you for the firetruck, Daddy."
When we went for sushi last week, he waved at the lady behind the counter and said, "Thanks for your help with sushi." Afterwards, we went to the fruit market and he told the owner "Thanks for help with the apples."
****************************
Hubby was using the coffee table as a foot rest today. Instead of asking him to move his legs out of the way, baby boy said, "Are those your socks?"
When Daddy acknowledged that yes they were in fact his socks, he said "Can you move your socks and pants?"
*****************************
I think I've mentioned before that baby boy requests different colours of milk. Whole milk is "red milk" because of its red carton. Purple milk is 1% etc... Over the holidays, he kept demanding "brown milk." You guessed it -- egg nog! He would have chugged it by the gallon if we had let him.
****************************
The little guy is deathly afraid of icicles. "No, no icicles!!!" he yells when he sees them out the window. Frankly, I find them frightening too. They sometimes hang down like menacing fanged teeth. But besides that, they sound like thunder when the fall from the roof. Just the other day, during a warm spell, a huge ice chunk made a 3 foot hole in our fence! For obvious reasons, the yard is out of bounds as a play areas during the winter.
The other day I was telling baby boy about how careful we have to be around icicles. I asked him what he should do if he saw an icicle, hoping he would say, "don't go near it." Instead he said, "I stomp, stomp, stomp it," and dramatically stomped around the room pounding his foot on the floor. For someone who is afraid of them, he sure was acting like a tough guy.
When we went for sushi last week, he waved at the lady behind the counter and said, "Thanks for your help with sushi." Afterwards, we went to the fruit market and he told the owner "Thanks for help with the apples."
****************************
Hubby was using the coffee table as a foot rest today. Instead of asking him to move his legs out of the way, baby boy said, "Are those your socks?"
When Daddy acknowledged that yes they were in fact his socks, he said "Can you move your socks and pants?"
*****************************
I think I've mentioned before that baby boy requests different colours of milk. Whole milk is "red milk" because of its red carton. Purple milk is 1% etc... Over the holidays, he kept demanding "brown milk." You guessed it -- egg nog! He would have chugged it by the gallon if we had let him.
****************************
The little guy is deathly afraid of icicles. "No, no icicles!!!" he yells when he sees them out the window. Frankly, I find them frightening too. They sometimes hang down like menacing fanged teeth. But besides that, they sound like thunder when the fall from the roof. Just the other day, during a warm spell, a huge ice chunk made a 3 foot hole in our fence! For obvious reasons, the yard is out of bounds as a play areas during the winter.
The other day I was telling baby boy about how careful we have to be around icicles. I asked him what he should do if he saw an icicle, hoping he would say, "don't go near it." Instead he said, "I stomp, stomp, stomp it," and dramatically stomped around the room pounding his foot on the floor. For someone who is afraid of them, he sure was acting like a tough guy.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Spoken like a true toddler
I've been using this blog to document the little guy's language development. In the last few weeks he's started adding new elements to his speech. For instance, he now identifies who he's talking to:
"I want an orange, Mommy"
"Thank you for big fire truck, Daddy"
He now likes to make comparisons. For example, the other day told us he was swimming on the bed. To clarify, he said, "Pretend swimming. Not real." And when he saw the scary totem poles and masks at the museum, he was comforted when he was told that they weren't real.
His other favourite comparison is fresh vs. dirty. "Fresh diaper!" he yells while we're changing him. At night he picks up his water bottle and says, "Water dirty, mommy. I want fresh water."
But I think that perhaps the most amazing development is how he now links his sentences to express more complex ideas. A good example of this was on New Year's eve. We were at a party, and he didn't want to leave because he was having too good of a time. As a stalling tactic he said, "Daddy, can you tell the people on the couch to move? I'll sleep on the couch."
*******************************
Baby boy went back to daycare this week. When the caregiver asked him what he had done on his holidays he replied excitedly, "I bought groceries!"
Apparently grocery shopping was much more noteworthy than going to the farm; the children's museum, the art gallery, seeing a waterfall, visiting the horse stables, tobogganing, playing at the park, eating sushi, buying and x-mas tree and decorating it, making pasta, baking pretzels, opening a billion toys on x-mas morning etc....
********************************
At the art gallery there is a sculpture of a gigantic newborn baby. It looks real, save for its elephant-like proportions. Baby boy stopped in his tracks when he saw it. When he realized it was "pretend not real" he bravely went in for a closer look. He didn't say anything for a while. But after inspecting the umbilical cord, he pronounced very loudly so that his voice could echo throughout the gallery, "Look mommy. Giant baby has penis!" When I explained to him that it was an umbilical cord he said, "Baby penis bilical cord."
:-)
"I want an orange, Mommy"
"Thank you for big fire truck, Daddy"
He now likes to make comparisons. For example, the other day told us he was swimming on the bed. To clarify, he said, "Pretend swimming. Not real." And when he saw the scary totem poles and masks at the museum, he was comforted when he was told that they weren't real.
His other favourite comparison is fresh vs. dirty. "Fresh diaper!" he yells while we're changing him. At night he picks up his water bottle and says, "Water dirty, mommy. I want fresh water."
But I think that perhaps the most amazing development is how he now links his sentences to express more complex ideas. A good example of this was on New Year's eve. We were at a party, and he didn't want to leave because he was having too good of a time. As a stalling tactic he said, "Daddy, can you tell the people on the couch to move? I'll sleep on the couch."
*******************************
Baby boy went back to daycare this week. When the caregiver asked him what he had done on his holidays he replied excitedly, "I bought groceries!"
Apparently grocery shopping was much more noteworthy than going to the farm; the children's museum, the art gallery, seeing a waterfall, visiting the horse stables, tobogganing, playing at the park, eating sushi, buying and x-mas tree and decorating it, making pasta, baking pretzels, opening a billion toys on x-mas morning etc....
********************************
At the art gallery there is a sculpture of a gigantic newborn baby. It looks real, save for its elephant-like proportions. Baby boy stopped in his tracks when he saw it. When he realized it was "pretend not real" he bravely went in for a closer look. He didn't say anything for a while. But after inspecting the umbilical cord, he pronounced very loudly so that his voice could echo throughout the gallery, "Look mommy. Giant baby has penis!" When I explained to him that it was an umbilical cord he said, "Baby penis bilical cord."
:-)
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