Author: sox

today, i exercised

I halfheartedly tried to break my running date with kaptaink this afternoon, but she was my conscience and got me out there. We decided to run around Cedar Hill golf course. We finished up a lap, and were both feeling pretty good, so we went around again. We didn’t run the whole second lap, but I’m pretty sure we did at least 5 km. Longest I’ve run for a while.

Upon arriving home, I basically turned around and went out the door again, pushing my 20-pound toddler in her 10-pound stroller for a half hour walk with Yoshi.

When I squatted down to grab something off the floor this evening, there was a moment where I thought I wasn’t going to make it back up again. My legs are certainly feeling it.

sacrilege

I was at a fair today and did not eat mini donuts. Although I did have a cheeseburger with lots of fried onions, and there is half a dozen Krispy Kremes sitting in our fridge right now. Both these things could have been factors in my decision not to buy mini donuts.

Still, it’s somewhat shocking.

is this ever going to get easier?

I dropped Elliot off at daycare today and watched from outside the door for a few minutes, as he seemed even more hesitant than usual. He just stood there, looking around, with a very solemn look on his face. I wanted to wait until I saw him move towards something (or someone), but he didn’t move. I eventually had to go.

Now, if I think practically about this, I can remind myself that he’s almost always happy when I pick him up, there are no tears when I drop him off, he talks about daycare quite a bit, and none of what he says is negative. And I can also remind myself that this is his nature. I know it takes him a while to warm up, especially in group situations. Plus he hasn’t been there since Thursday.

So no, none of this is surprising, but on days like today, when maybe I’m feeling a bit vulnerable myself, I wonder what I’m doing to him as I turn around and leave when he’d rather just spend the day with me.

when it’s too long for a tweet, i blog

We broke ground this afternoon for a sandbox for Amy and Elliot. Elliot was playing with his dump truck and loader in the resulting dirt pit and left the vehicles in and near the pit when he came in for dinner. It looks like a mini construction site out there now. And if I wasn’t so lazy I’d upload the picture I just took of it…perhaps later.

could they make it any more difficult?

I phoned Service Canada to change my address. After being told they have an “unusually high call volume”, they directed me to their website. The recording specifically said I could change my address there. I went through about 15 hoops to sign up for an epass account (four security questions, the usual user id and password, three different agreements to privacy statements and a bunch of personal questions), only to be told that I wasn’t eligible to change my address online. It listed a bunch of reasons, none of which applied to me.

So I phoned back and was told to try again later, as their call volume was too high. Nice.

not instilling confidence

I couldn’t get hold of my mum on the phone yesterday until about 8:30 pm. I kept getting a “call cannot be completed as dialed” message. I finally phoned Telus and the operator got me through. When I asked why this was happening she told me the system was overloaded because of Mother’s Day.

Makes me wonder what will happen if/when a natural disaster strikes BC.

he had some Gravol before bed

I took Elliot to the medical clinic tonight for an issue related to his boy parts (we’ll just keep it at that to protect his dignity). As we were waiting our turn, he told me his tummy hurt. This was the third time he’d told me that today, and usually it means he has to poop. So we went into the bathroom. I pulled down his pants and tried to put him on the toilet, and he planked on me. I put him back on the floor, and he complained again about his tummy. He then grabbed his throat and sputtered “I’m going to spit-up, Mum!”. I knew vomit was imminent. I had the wherewithal to get out of his way, but not to point him toward the toilet. He proceeded to puke all over the bathroom floor, his clothes and his shoes, all with his pants halfway down his legs.

The poor guy. Although he felt so much better afterwards that he perked up right away, and watched while I cleaned up the bathroom floor. I could have let the receptionist do it, but I felt bad for her, cleaning up some other kid’s puke. So she gave me gloves and some cleaner and I did it. We had a long wait, so it gave me something to do. This is the first time I’ve had to clean up that particular type of mess, and I dreaded this day. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

We finished up our wait in the clinic, went to the pharmacy to get some drugs, then headed home. Thankfully the second puke session happened in our bathroom, in front of the toilet, and it all made it in the bowl, thanks to Greg.

As Greg mentioned in a recent tweet, we are dreading the middle-of-the-night clean-up that is bound to be happening tonight.

Oh, and let this be a lesson that carrying around a spare set of clothes for your child is not wasted effort.

this has not been a good day

I woke up with a headache. Not as bad as the three previous ones I have had this month, but still bad enough to make me dread the day.

Then Amy had a blow out. Something is not right with her. She had a fever on the weekend and now she’s got some pretty bad runs. Thankfully she’s eating and drinking, so that is at least encouraging. Thankfully Greg took care of the first blow out. He unfortunately wasn’t around for the second, where there was crap all the way up her back and into her ear. Yes, her ear. Thank goodness we have a hand held shower head.

Amy is having her third nap of the day, and I’ve retreated to the basement to blog so I don’t throttle my other child. Where do I start? He has resisted peeing all day, yet his underwear is wet and he obviously needs to go. He pooped in his underwear for the first time in months (although I think it was totally unexpected for him, and we cleaned it up pretty easily).

We’ve gone through five pairs of underwear today. I told him we had to pee before we left for the park, and through the screams he made his way to the toilet, started peeing and then purposefully decided to pee all over the floor. I yelled. Not proud of myself for that one. Then there was the fight over washing hands.

Then at the park he wouldn’t stop throwing sand, so we left. A meltdown ensued (no surprise). I plunked him in the wagon and he booted Amy. So I plunked him on the concrete. We eventually made it home, where we had another fight to pee.

I don’t know whether to just continue letting him pee his pants a bit or go through the fight of getting him to the toilet. It was fine when the wet spot was the size of a loonie, but it’s now the size of a pancake almost every time we pee.

It’s just hard. And he just came down and hit me. It’s because I’m not paying attention to him, but like I said, I just want to throttle him. And when he laughs when I reprimand him, it just makes it worse.

Sigh.

door to door in 120 minutes

Elliot and I took the bus home today. While environmentally conscientious, it’s certainly not the quickest way home. Although, things would have been a bit more streamlined sans child.

The trip home was a multi-step process:

Step 1: Catch bus from downtown to Elliot’s daycare. This was easy and I timed it well.

Step 2: Figure out what bus stop to get off at, and then proceed to get off.

Step 3: Find Elliot. I thought he’d be outside, but I couldn’t see him playing. So I went inside. He wasn’t in his classroom or the “pickup” classroom. So back outside it was, and I found him second time round. He was wearing a bright orange short, so not sure why I didn’t see him the first time.

Step 4: Walk to bus stop. Slowly.

Step 5: While waiting for bus, respond to Elliot’s “I’m thirsty” and “I’m hungry” pleas. Greg and I are expert parents now and we have learned to come prepared for these pleas, or there will be hell to pay. I was able to provide water and snacks.

Step 6: Get on bus. Unfortunately it was the milk run, but I didn’t feel like waiting 15 minutes for the next bus. So we got to go back downtown and then we were treated to a scenic trip through Saxe Point.

Step 7: Figure out what bus stop to get off at, and then proceed to get off.

Step 8: Carry Elliot “until that pole”. I made a mental note to bring a backpack next time so I don’t have to juggle five things and carry a 40 lb child.

Step 9: Discover that your child has a much better sense of direction than his mother as he immediately requests to go to the “Library” Park. He’s been to this park maybe ten times over the past three years, and can’t see it from where we are walking. Yet he knows it’s close. I agree to go to park.

Step 10: Play at park. This was no big chore since it was such a beautiful day.

Step 11: We call it the Library Park for good reason…it’s right by the library. Consider Elliot’s request to go in a get a library book. Sure, why not.

Step 12: Trip to bathroom. Unfortunately we didn’t avert a minor accident, but thankfully Elliot doesn’t mind walking around in wet underwear.

Step 13: Pick out book. Elliot was more interested in toys, so I picked out the book. Halfway through my selection process Elliot announces he has to poop. Based on the smell in the vicinity, I check his pants to make sure he didn’t already. Thankfully just gas. He decides he’ll wait to get home to poop.

Step 14: Attempt to use automatic checkout to take out book. Computer Science graduate can’t figure it out so we go to main checkout desk.

Step 15: Leave library, head for home. Have to walk through the “Boat” Park, Elliot’s favourite park. I agree to do five underducks.

Step 16: With the five underducks complete, we head for home. I have to carry Elliot up a very large hill. I make a second mental note to bring a backpack.

Step 17: Elliot finds newfound energy and races for home with about 100 m left.

Step 18: I arrive home a few seconds later…almost two hours after I left work.

But it was sunny, I spent that whole time with Elliot, and dinner was ready when we got home.

rejoining the rat race

I’ve just finished my second day back at work. Two days down, thousands to go. There were ups and downs. Getting out of the house was a bit stressful for me, but for no real reason. It actually went pretty smoothly. I think I was just out of practise.

Elliot’s drop-off on Monday was pretty seamless and Greg did Amy’s, which involved a few tears, but not many. I was met getting off the elevator at work by my two bosses and a friend, all of them with hugs. Everyone had warm hellos for me, and on my desk there was a bouquet of flowers, four framed pictures of my kids and a gift bag filled with goodies and a new mug. Plus a co-worker had baked a bunch of goodies in my honour. I couldn’t have felt more welcome.

Dinner Monday was a bit hectic, but we managed to get through it (through cries of “Mum, play with me”), got the kids bathed, lunches ready, and Greg and I even managed to watch an hour of TV.

Elliot’s drop-off today was again fine, and I did Amy’s as well. That one wasn’t fine. I walked down the driveway hearing her screams fade. I called once I was at work and she’d calmed down a bit, but it took her an hour before she was herself again.

Dinner tonight went a lot more smoothly, probably because Elliot played outside and Amy was in a much better mood then the previous evening. She’s definitely on the mend from her cold.

Work is a bit slow as we’re waiting for some contracts to get signed, but I’m muddling my way through. I know things will pick up eventually. It feels both strange and familiar to be there. There are four new people (which is a lot when you only work in an office of 15 people), and they’ve been there for a while so they’ve established relationships with the people I already know. I’m sitting at my same desk with my same podmates, which is great.

I went for a walk on Monday at lunch at saw a few mums with strollers. I felt a twinge of something, but it didn’t last long. I am definitely ready to be back at work, I am just looking forward to it feeling normal again.

I’m thankful that my return will be so gradual, mostly because the kids aren’t plunged into four days of daycare a week. And it’s nice for me as well, to get back into the work thing slowly.

Our evenings won’t be as relaxed as we try to get everything ready for the next day, and it’s making me think about what day I’ll take off when I do go back four days a week. I was originally thinking of taking Fridays off, but I’m wondering if Wednesdays would be better. Then the kids get a midweek break from daycare and Greg and I get a break from frantic evenings. I might try it that way and see how it goes.

Speaking of frantic evenings…I’m going to end this now so I can spend some of this evening relaxing with my husband. After I do our menu plan, of course.