could be responsible for my weight gain

How can I be blogging for four years and not have a “booze” topic? I’ve obviously been leaving some stuff out.

I never used to drink alcohol. I had no objections to it, I just hated the taste of it. Then I started drinking the odd cider (the Okanagan Springs sweet stuff), and when I met Greg I started drinking beer. I think I was trying to impress him, and in the process realized I actually liked it.

From there both of us branched out into wine, and although we have no idea how to really taste a wine, we can definitely give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. We keep meaning to keep track of the ones we like, and there are a few we can remember, but mostly we just wing it. Funnily enough the bottles ALWAYS get finished.

And somewhere along the line I discovered my drink. Strongbow. There was a short stopover on Merridale Traditional Cider, but for the past two years I’ve been pretty committed. And now that I’ve made the switch, I can’t imagine drinking an Okanagan Springs. Eeeew.

So I sit here, drinking my Strongbow that my mother-in-law so kindly purchased for me, enjoying the mild buzz it’s giving me, and fully admit that I am now an avid consumer of alcohol.

how things change

As I navigated to my blog for tonight’s post, no concrete post ideas in my mind, I clicked one of my “This Day In” links, and found this post.

Everyone says things get easier as your kids get older. Or at least a lot of things get easier. And yes, it’s easier to have a “Mummy Day” with a four-and-a-half-year-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old than with a two-and-a-half-year-old and six-month-old. Two years ago I was dreading my Mummy Day. Yesterday was my Mummy Day and we had a great day. The kids are more portable, I don’t have to lug around a crap load of stuff, they can provide input on what we do for the day, they provide more feedback on things they enjoy (and things they don’t enjoy) and they both make me laugh.

We spent the first part of the morning making a birthday card for my sister. Elliot drew an amazing cat on her card, and wrote “Happy Birthday Auntie Jan” (copying from me) and his name. He also did a card for his cousin, with a cat eating an apple. Amy did some scribbles. It was fun to just sit and do a craft, and have them both enjoy it for such a long period of time.

We then visited their old daycare, which was a bit odd. Elliot was pretty hesitant, as I knew he would be, but he actually was more outgoing than I thought he’d be. He gave one of his old teachers a big hug, and said hi to a couple of kids he knew. Amy was pretty shy with her old teachers, even though she said she had been missing them, but she had a few smiles. It was a quick visit, and I don’t think I’ll do it again unless the kids ask to go up. I think it’s a bit confusing, and I think Elliot may have some not-so-great memories of the place. As we were walking toward the big yard (where we often saw him looking quite forlorn) he was a bit upset that we weren’t just going inside to his classroom. Kind of gives me the willies, wondering what he was going through while he was there. But thankfully we’ve dealt with that one.

After the visit we headed down to the best children’s book store in Victoria for story time. It was a full house. Elliot spent most of his time looking at a book, which is a bit unusual for him (he’s usually listening to the stories and songs), and Amy must be getting used to the place because she was more into it than she has been in the past. Maybe because last time she was there she got a cookie from Kate. 🙂

Next up, we went home for lunch to meet up with JenV and Carys. The kids had fun playing outside, and in the afternoon I read and had a great nap on the couch while Elliot watched TV and Amy napped.

We still have bumps — probably every day — but in general I’m enjoying this time, and I’m thankful that I have the flexibility to take a day “off” with them.

great big concert

I started listening to Great Big Sea about eight years ago, right around the time Sea of No Cares was released. I’d heard of them before that, and knew a couple of their songs, but that was it. I can’t even remember why I started listening to them. I don’t own all of their albums, but I’ve got everything since Sea of No Cares, and in my opinion they keep getting better.

The first time I saw them live was an outdoor concert at Centennial Square, and if I wasn’t hooked before then, I sure was after that. They are a fantastic band to see live, and I’ve lost count of how many of their concerts I’ve been to. They are energetic, funny, talented and they share the spotlight.

So when I found out they were playing the Orpheum, I checked with Kaptain K to see if she’d join me (Greg will listen to them, but he doesn’t share my passion). K had just seen them play the Seattle Zoo in the summer, but she was game.

The concerts I enjoy the most are the ones where they sing more of their new material, and Monday night’s concert was one of those. They sang five or six songs from Safe Upon the Shore, and a couple from Fortune’s Favour. They did two complete sets, so they were playing for close to three hours. And the crowd was awesome. I am not a big fan of seeing concerts in theaters, as people tend to sit down, but as soon as the opening notes of Ordinary Day started, before the band was even on stage, everyone was on their feet, and we stayed that way for the majority of the concert.

One of the things I like about seeing bands live, especially bands that so obviously enjoy performing live, is I feel like I’m connecting with them. Sure, I’m one of thousands in that crowd, but I feel like they are playing for me. Another thing I like is hearing a bit of the history behind the songs, and during Monday’s concert there was a lot of that.

So I guess you could say I enjoyed it. And the added bonus was spending 24 hours with K. We went over Monday afternoon, made an Ikea stop, had a sushi dinner, took in the concert and then headed home the next morning.

Next up, Wil.

halloween

As I said yesterday, Halloween was a pleasant surprise this year. And not just the evening — the whole day was wonderful.

My mum was visiting for the weekend, and we’ve been having some really nice visits lately. The kids seem to have really connected with her, and they both were happy to spend some time with “Gran”. We weren’t sure what we were going to do Sunday morning but we knew we wanted to do something outside, so when JenV called and suggested we go to Goldstream with her, we said yes.

The weather was gorgeous — sunny, crisp and cool with just enough of a breeze to send tons of golden leaves gently to the ground. A few times it looked like it was snowing leaves. The salmon were still running, and I’m embarrassed to admit that in my 20 years of living in Victoria, I’ve never been to Goldstream when the salmon were running. So that was a treat as well. The kids were able to see quite a few of them making their way upstream.

We had an impromptu lunch of hot dogs and hot chocolate, bought from some firefighters raising money for Muscular Dystrophy, and then headed home for some naps and quiet time (the girls all napped, the boys all had quiet time). When we got home our neighbour’s 12-year-old daughter, was having a Halloween party. And here’s where we get to the surprise part. Elliot has never been interested in trick-or-treating. I’m not exactly sure why, but my guess is that there’s too much attention placed on him. People will notice him more in a costume and he’ll have to actually talk to people he doesn’t know. But really, it could be something entirely different. Because I’ve never asked. If my child doesn’t want to get dressed up and go out and get a big bag of processed sugar, I’m not going to try to convince him.

So when we got home, Elliot went over to talk to the neighbours for a bit, and when Zoe asked him if he wanted to go out trick-or-treating with her, I was shocked to hear Elliot say yes with no hesitation. I thought he might back out, but he was gung ho, and even let me paint his face with a nose and whiskers to enhance his last minute lion costume. Amy wasn’t interested initially, but 30 minutes before they were due to go out, she changed her mind. So we threw some fairy wings on her and the whole Fox family went out with Zoe and her dad.

And it was so much FUN. The night was beautiful, the kids seemed to really enjoy it, lots of people were out, and our street has some great decorations. Plus it was a nice way to talk to some of our neighbours. And we conveniently had Mum at home to hand out our candy for us.

The kids went to about a dozen houses before they started to get tired…this was three times the amount Elliot said he would do (“I’m only going to four houses because I’m four”). The lure of candy was too much for him.

The only disappointing part of the day was the community bonfire. We went down after we got back from trick-or-treating and it didn’t feel very community-like. Lots of really scary costumes, too dark (that sounds odd, I know), and several very stern police officers patrolling around. We didn’t stay long.

But it didn’t really matter because we’d had such a great day.

starting the bar low

I’m 15 minutes away from running out the door to pick up Kaptain K. We’re heading over to the mainland for a Great Big Sea concert, and I don’t want to depend on an internet connection on the ferry. Would be really bad to not post on the first day of NaBloPoMo.

We ended up having a wonderful Hallowe’en, much to my surprise. But because I don’t have a lot of time, I’ll save the details for tomorrow’s post.

So like I said, I’m starting the bar low here…it can only get better.

the daycare shuffle

Over the past week, Amy has transitioned from the toddler room to one of the “big kid” rooms at her daycare. It’s a pretty big step. They jump from a four-to-one ratio to an eight-to-one ratio, and when they go outside, they are in the big play area with four other classrooms, instead of in their own enclosure with the infants.

We were able to get her into a new class that they’ve just set up. One with eight kids instead of 16, and the teacher was one of Amy’s original caregivers when she was on the infant side, so she knows her. The daycare had to apply for a licensing variance, and it was accepted.

Friday was her first full day in her new class. It was a bit of an emotional drop-off, both for me and for Amy. She wanted to go into her own class and started crying when I took her into her new class (the doors are unfortunately five feet away from each other). I had gifts for her old teachers, women I truly care about, and I was feeling sad about the fact that they would no longer be part of Amy’s day.

I ended up leaving her with one of her old teachers, and she was going to take Amy to her new class. I left feeling a bit teary, but then got into work mode and mostly forgot about it. Early Friday afternoon (right before I went into a meeting), I got a call from Elliot’s daycare saying they had a space for Amy, as soon as I wanted it. The plan has always been to get Amy into the same daycare as Elliot, but I wasn’t expecting it to happen this fast. The timing really was terrible — if they’d called a couple of weeks ago I could have just left Amy in her old class, given my month’s notice, and then moved Amy on November 1st. I did call Amy’s daycare to see if she could move back for a month, but it would affect too many kids. It was a long shot.

So Greg and I were left with a few choices: don’t take the spot, and cross our fingers that another one would come up in the next six months (which is the timeline I was thinking of), take the spot, and transfer her on November 1, or take the spot and transfer her now.

Since we really want the kids in the same daycare, option 1 wasn’t really an option. Option 2 isn’t really fair to Amy — she’d be going through two transitions in a period of a month, and that would be hard on her. So we’ve decided to go with option 3 — move her now. It means we pay for two spots for her for a month, but in the end it’s just money.

We’ll be able to do a slow transition with her due to Greg’s current hiatus from work, which is good, we’ll be back to doing one drop-off, the kids will be in the same daycare, and the daycare is a few blocks from the school that Elliot will attend next year. So it’s all good…but I’ve been feeling pretty emotional about the whole thing.

I feel sad leaving the old daycare. We moved Elliot because he wasn’t happy, but they are a great group of women, and they truly care about our children. And it all feels very abrupt. I picked Amy up on Friday not really knowing for sure if it was going to be her last day. So I didn’t really say good bye. Nor did she, but in the world of a two-year-old, I think that only matters to her mother. Not to her. And then on the way home she kept telling me how happy she is in her new class. (I actually know she was a bit weepy in the morning, but most of the day was good.) I feel like I’m wrenching her away from a woman she knows, into a brand new place where she knows no one but her brother. And yes, that is what I’m doing, but better to do it now before she re-attaches herself to this teacher.

And I guess another part of it is that, despite the fact Elliot is doing well at his new daycare, I don’t have a warm fuzzy feeling about it. Yet. Greg has been doing most of the drop-offs, so I haven’t interacted with the teachers much, and whenever I do drop-off Elliot is pretty tentative (he’s not when Greg drops him off). But that will come. I just need to spend a bit more time there.

And I can’t forget what I told myself when we moved Elliot. If Amy isn’t happy at this new place, then we’ll do something different. But I’m crossing my fingers that this works out.

speaking of dogs

It’s Yoshi’s birthday today. He would have been 12. I’ve been thinking of him a lot the last couple of weeks — Greg makes me a calendar every year for Christmas with some of the pictures he’s taken over the year, and one of September’s pictures is of Yoshi sunbathing on our patio. The calendar is in our kitchen, so I see it every day. Hence the frequent thoughts. When I flipped the page to September and saw Yoshi, I couldn’t help but think that he was alive when Greg put the picture in there. That said, time does have an amazing ability to heal. I obviously miss him still, but the ache isn’t nearly as strong.

We have had the pleasure of dog-sitting two dogs over the summer — one for about 10 days and the other for three weeks. It was lovely having a canine presence in the house, and I know Greg and I will be able to heal a bit more once we get another dog. The problem is, I cannot imagine having a puppy right now. Not with a two-year-old and a four-year-old. I know it’s doable, but given the choice, I choose not to do it.

The other obvious option would be to adopt an adult dog again. This is more appealing to me than getting a puppy, and given the right dog I’d adopt him/her today. The problem is I am not quite ready to start looking.

And so we remain dogless, for now. I am half hoping fate will intervene and the right dog will land in our laps. And if that doesn’t happen, then I’ll start searching, when I’m ready.