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.
Tag: Elliot
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.
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.
not ready for tomorrow
Tomorrow is Wednesday, which means I have both kids at home. I have to admit I’m not looking forward to the day. I think it’s because we don’t have plans. Amy was feeling pretty sick today with a cold, so I thought it would be better if we just lay low tomorrow. But I find the day drags when we stay home the whole day.
There’s also laundry to put away, a house to tidy, meals to prepare and more laundry to do. But I think my day will be easier if I just ignore that stuff (except maybe the meal part of things) and focus on the kids. When I try to get household chores done I often end up frustrated because I get pulled in different directions.
Maybe we won’t even get out of our pajamas…
the material girl screwed up my travel plans
My sister is going to be at my Mum’s for a very brief visit on her way to NZ, so we planned a trip to the mainland this coming weekend to see her. Elliot, Amy and I took the ferry over today, and Greg’s going to join us tomorrow evening. So take note: there’s a two-to-one child-to-parent ratio happening here.
We went to preschool this morning, then left Oak Bay at about 11:30 for the 1:00 ferry. As I approached the highway sign that displays the ferry information, I barely scanned it, confident in the fact that we’d have no trouble getting on the 1:00 ferry.
Wait (squints her eyes), does that say “1 Sailing Wait”?? Not possible. Yes, possible. And underneath that, additional information saying that the 3:00 was already 58% full. Cheepers! There goes my Macdonald’s stop. And OMG, what am I going to do at the ferry terminal with two kids, in the rain, for almost three freakin’ hours?
I briefly wondered why it was so busy, but then remembered tonight’s Madonna concert at BC Place. If I hadn’t remembered, I would have realized some concert was happening once I got on the ferry, based on the fact that 95% of the ferry passengers were dressed to go clubbing.
So, what does one do for three hours at a ferry terminal in the rain with two kids? We went to the bathroom (with three of us, that took a bit of time), we got hot dogs and chocolate milk (with the amount of people there, that also took a bit of time), and we played with the touch screen TV and learned a bit about British Columbia. But most of the time was spent sitting in the waiting room watching the big trucks drive into the ferry terminal. Thankfully Elliot loves trucks and Amy doesn’t care what she does at this point in her life, as long as she’s fed.
It really wasn’t that bad. And the actual ferry ride was fine. There weren’t a lot of two and three-year-olds going to see Madonna, which meant there weren’t a lot of kids in the play area, which is always a better situation for Elliot. He actually played with one little girl, Emma, for quite a while, and Amy enjoyed watching all the movement.
We arrived safe and sound (but tired) at Mum’s, had the ultimate comfort food for dinner — homemade mac and cheese and homemade bread — and the kids were in bed before 8:00.
And I’ll be in bed before too long!
i feel like curling up into a ball
A child this young should not have the power to make me feel so frustrated, exasperated and insecure as a parent. But he does.
We’ve been having bedtime issues with Elliot over the past month or so. There are ups and downs, but the downs are really bad. Like me getting mad enough at his screaming to scream back in his face. Like me being in tears several times now when I’m finally done putting him to bed.
I have tried posting about it a couple of times in the hopes that I’d be able to see things more clearly and figure out a solution, but I haven’t actually completed a post yet because there seems to be so many things I want to say. As well, publishing a post opens the door for advice…and I’m not sure I want to hear it. But as with the conversations I’ve already had about this, I can ignore the advice I don’t like, and act on the advice I like.
The basic issue is I try to leave the room and he starts crying, and I find it very hard to leave him crying, so I don’t. I usually leave for a few minutes, come back and see what he wants, and eventually he is happy. I rarely have to go in more than twice, but it’s stressful as hell. Not every night is like this — some are still as smooth as they used to be. But a growing number are very bumpy.
The stress comes from the conflict I’m feeling. I know he’s pushing the boundaries, seeing where I’ll push back. I know that, yet I let him push. I don’t let him push in other areas of our life, so why here? Why can’t I just put my foot down, leave the room and not come back? It’s because hearing him call out to me, crying, is excruciating. I don’t want him to ever think that I won’t come if he needs me. But that’s just it…he doesn’t really need me.
Tonight I got pissed off enough to just leave him (after a bedtime routine that was difficult from start to finish — usually the pajamas, books and brushing teeth part of it is no problem, but not tonight). Greg actually suggested I go back to the door (not go in) and see what he wanted. If I’d been on my own I probably would have just left him. But I did go back, and when I opened his door he was happy as a clam. He wanted to “see Amy”. Translation: he wanted me to come back. And I did. Again. Greg clarified afterward that he didn’t mean for me to open the door. He just wanted me to stand behind it and tell Elliot it was time to sleep.
And maybe that’s the happy medium here. Yes go back, to appease the stress of leaving him, but don’t open the door. I guess I’m not convinced that will be any easier. But it’s probably worth a shot.
It’s all a bit of a shocker…for two years we’ve had the best bedtimes. Something I’ve been proud of, and something Greg and I have benefited from, as we’ve had some pretty relaxing evenings after bedtime. Now it’s draining. I often get anxious before I put him to bed, which I’m sure he picks up on. And I analyze. Continuously. Further drain.
I’ve tried talking to Elliot about this (of course at a much simpler level, and not in the heat of the moment) and he seems to understand at least a small part of things. Today out of the blue on the way home from daycare he said “there be no crying at bedtime”. Of course saying and doing are two different things. And he is only two.
I know there are going to be some rocky times, but I want to feel like most of the time we’re on solid ground. And right now I don’t feel that way. Right now I feel like things could get worse before they get better.
Not the greatest feeling.
perhaps not the best location
I took the boys for a walk yesterday afternoon to our local off-leash dog park. I let Yoshi off leash at the entrance, and Elliot was in the stroller. As we walked into the park, a woman in a blue uniform asked me if Yoshi was my dog. She was holding a German Shepherd on leash, and there was a guy standing down the path from them a bit. I replied yes, and she said they were doing some police dog training. I went to put Yoshi on leash, but she said to just keep going, which I translated to “get out of the way”.
Ten meters down the trail Yoshi did his regular poop in three different places, which meant I had to stop and pick it up, knowing they were still waiting for me to get out of the way. A couple of minutes later they left the park.
I was glad to see them go. To me, an off-leash dog park is a very inappropriate place to do police dog training. Especially when I’ve got my toddler with me. Even if the dog is well-trained, I don’t want my son seeing the dog attack a person. Elliot would have no way of knowing they are just “training”.
first night away
Tonight’s the first night Greg and I will spend without Elliot. Gramma graciously offered to take him to her place for today and tomorrow to make it easier for us to get ready for camping. She’s got a lot planned for him – this morning a play in the park, a visit to her office, dinner with the ladies tonight, tomorrow a visit to Jumping Jiminy’s, then hopefully a big long nap before we pick him up.
We said goodbye this morning when we left for work, and it felt pretty normal. It’ll be this evening when we go home that I think I’ll feel a bit strange, and probably tomorrow morning as well. But we’ll be busy packing (after hopefully a sleep-in, pets willing), so I probably won’t be dwelling on it too much.
And I know he’ll have lots of fun with Gramma.
so what to do?
Today I dropped Elliot off for the afternoon at RC’s, in preparation for him spending three full days there next week when I go back to work. I had a massage, but that only took 45 minutes, and after that I realized I had a good hour on my hands. What to do? (My soon-to-be-PM will probably wish I did some work during that time, but she’ll have me at her fingertips soon enough…)
I was right by the mall, so I ventured in. I got some vacuum cleaner bags (how exciting), and then wandered around aimlessly for a bit. I didn’t feel like stopping in at Starbucks, and I didn’t feel like sitting and reading. So I decided to shop, with money I don’t have but will soon be earning. That’s what credit cards are for, right?
I bought myself a stupidly expensive pair of Skechers, and I love them. They go well with a couple pairs of pants I bought a couple of weeks ago with more money I don’t have. Good thing I’m going back to work.
Anyway, it was an odd feeling, having the afternoon with no plans. It was enjoyable, but it felt a bit weird not to have a purpose. Elliot’s going again tomorrow afternoon and Friday, and tomorrow I think I’ll go for a run with Yoshi. I may as well enjoy this leisure time while I have it!
And Elliot did awesome while I was gone. He had a good lunch, slept for almost two hours and barely noticed me when I came back three and a half hours later. I think next week will be much harder on me than him!
time change
So this time change thing just seems like a waste of time. Sprout missed his morning nap, and Yoshi is wondering where the heck his dinner is. The cat, however, seems to be managing just fine. I guess when you sleep for most of your day, time just doesn’t matter.
How do you explain the time change to a pooch and an eight-month-old?