Running Out Of Hands

So … after snack this morning, A says to me “Mom, there’s something stuck in my mouth”.  She’s standing at the sliding mirror doors for our front hall closet.

Okay.  I go up to her and peek in, at first thinking it’s a bit of one the crackers she’d eaten, but it doesn’t quite look like a piece.  I ask if I can put my finger in her mouth, and she’s fine with that.  Feeling it, I realize …. it’s a tooth.  A tooth!!!

She hasn’t lost any teeth, so this was a complete surprise!  And then … the thought … “is this normal?”.  Of course, I don’t actually say that out loud.  Neither of her front bottom teeth seem loose with a quick inspection, and the tooth is sort of behind her bottom right “baby” tooth.

Naturally, I call my DH.  Who I know is on course for work, but hey, this is important.  He’s stunned, and we decide I’ll call the dentist just in case.  Our dentist is amazing with kids, even though he’s not technically a “kid dentist”.  I speak to the secretary who informs me that he’s away this week but they can see A on the Wednesday of March Break.  Hmmm … my sister and her boys are dropping by then, so that won’t work (it’s a three hour drive for them).  So it’s the week after that which I book.

But, thankfully, the secretary has been in the field for years.  And she tells me that it’s more common than I think.  And that if the “baby” tooth falls out on its own, then the one coming in behind will slide forward into its rightful spot.  Usually.  After hanging up, I give a better inspection to those front bottom teeth.  Low and behold, the front right bottom one is a little loose.  My girl is smiling at this point – it’s a big thing, and others in her class have lost a tooth already.

But my baby girl!  She’s supposed to stay as my baby girl.  Those are her milk teeth, and they’ve done so much for her!  And it’s a step in growing up.  Who said she’s allowed to do that?

My eyes misted over then, just as they’re doing now.  My little girl.  The one who made me a mom.  I love her so.

My daughter, A, asked me this just now. And it’s a good question, actually.

She asked it while K was twirling naked in my bed with some Chinese Iron Balls. While not technically an instrument, they do make music when shaken. Or banged together. They’re for relaxin your hands while spinning both in one hand.

But I also have a wooden recorder (from my MIL), a harmonica (I got in my Christmas stocking years ago), an accordian (I took lessons when I was ten and my parents bought me one), and a guitar (high school music class, again bough by my parents). So I guess I DO have a lot of instruments. But they weren’t bought by me! I just keep stuff

And honestly, the only instrument I can still sort of play is … the accordian. I wouldn’t mind taking classes agai one day, but it’s not exactly he most popular instrument to teach!

But hey, it’s my DH with the most expansive instrument. He bought an electric drum set maybe two years ago. He and two neighbours started a “band”, and they have a band practice once every week or two weeks. Or sometimes once a month

Too bad I’m not that good at any instrument. I have enough to teach my kids. It’s still fun playing them though!

Tomorrow is the last day of our recent community centre swim programs.

(side note – why is it that if I slouch on our bed, the baby monitors crackle with interference, yet if I sit up, they’re fine?)

I’ve been enjoying the one-on-one time with K even if he’s getting to be a crazy kid in the water. DH takes A and R to their classes since she’s in Preschool D and he’s in Preschool A and they’re at the same time. It works out well since he goes out with them after and I get to get some stuff done whil K naps. Whether it’s house stuff, programming stuff (oh, I actually have some Carnival web work to do!), sewing or sitting on my butt reading … or even napping Actually, I have a few things to do that could be done tomorrow while K naps:

1. Tidy so our house looks okay when our neighbour comes to babysit between 6 pm and 11:15 pm. We’re going out for a friends birthday dinner. Our house is relatively tidy, but she’s our neighbour and hasn’t been in our house before. I guess it’s vanity on my part in a way.

2. Work on a canopy for R’s crib. Yes, he’s 3.5 and in a crib still. He fets in and out on his own just fine, and i always have the rail “down”. We’ll be getting bunkbeds soon to go in the room he and A share. But he’s in the crib for now, and a while ago I tied a sheet at the top, all four corners, to be a “canopy” above him just for fun. He loves it, but I want something more … well, less feminine than a flower sheet. Plus, it’s held on with hair elastics! I have a nice dark green sheet we never use, and he’d like it as the “canopy”.

3. Knit a cat toy for A. I found a pattern on The Lion Brand website for a toy cat to knit. A saw me looking at it, and she keeps asking if I’ve made it yet. I haven’t even started …

So my day could be quite busy. And, since I know I’ll be out later than my comfort time, I know I either need an early night tonight or time to nap tomorrow. The thing is, the tidying part is quite important to me.

So on that note (“ding”), I’ll sign off now.

Happy Weekend to anyone that stops by!

A was in the shower with me, and R and K were in the tub.  I decided to put underwear on K after he wanted to pee (no, he didn’t actually pee, but he likes to pretend/think he does).  He looks so cute in underwear, too!  He, at almost 20 months, has more of a bum than R does at 3.5 years.  A kept trying to squirt K with the syringe of water, but he doesn’t like that.

He looks so cute in underwear   He hasn’t pee’d in them … yet.  I’ll put a diaper on him soon (he’s sitting behind me on my desk chair right now).

Snuggles!

He put a little lion in the jug and filled it with water.  He was puzzled as to why the lion didn’t just come out.  It did, eventually.

Today started out tough – I didn’t feel like being a mom today, which sometimes happens – but we got to be outside for about two hours this afternoon. It was 4* C! No snowpants for A and R but I had them on K. Even with the tonne of snow we still have on the ground, the driveway and sidewalk were dry.

A rode her bike too (it wasn’t up too high in the garage for me to easily reach), and it was nice to see her on it even though she’s too big for it. R wanted to ride it too. While he was, A asked to ride the other one we have that’s the same size but has no training wheels. I let her I held onto the seat and one handlebar, and she did great! One of our neighbours kids was home from school due to an appointment, and she came out expecting to have no one to play with. She was happy to see us and even helped A try to ride with no training wheels. It was so neat to see! That girl is a great kid and A loves playing with her So we played and played. Sometimes I like it when there are other kids to play with but not moms with them. I get to spend more time perhaps one-on-one with one of my kids instead of chatting. Don’t get me wrong – I like talking to adults! But sometimes it’s nice to play too

Dinner was pretty much done except for cooking the chicken, so that was nice. And they behaved well! Yay!

Right now K is pretending my slipper is a telephone. “Beep beep-beep” he says, and then holds the sole to my ear. Now he’s trying to step into them with his little feet. I love the age he is. I love my 5.5 and 3.5 year olds too, but baby’s and toddlers are just so sweet to me.

An that’s all my rambling for now …

Can the screaming/screeching stop?  Can the constant door-closing stop?  Can all the colds and nobody-sleeping-through-the-night stop?  Can’t we just play outside in the gorgeous weather without worrying about somebody’s cold getting worse?

I’ve decided to keep A home from SK today.  She coughed a lot last night and woke early, plus her right eye is still red.  I was so hoping to get groceries today with just two kids instead of three.  That’s part of why I didn’t go yesterday, even though Mondays are my usual “grocery days”.  But, alas, we get to go.  Me and my full entourage.

However, I’m not bathing my children today.  They got cleaned yesterday, and since A’s next school day is Thursday, I’ll give ‘em a scrubbing tomorrow instead.  I’m going to hop in the shower (hopefully on my own, but I might have to have K in with me to keep him contained) and then we’ll head out soon to No Frills.  And yes, I know there are no capital letters in the name (ie. no frills), but it just looks weird in a sentence.  They open at 8:30 am, so I’ll shower, snack them up and then we’ll head out.

At least it’s sunny today and supposed to get to 2* C.  That’s nice.

I also need to think of a craft (or two … or three) to do with A and R today that’ll stop them from asking for the television.  It’s tough when we can’t/shouldn’t play outside.  We did yesterday afternoon, and we might today as well.  But it’s risking us staying sick longer.  Sigh …

I must do that again. Soon. Like tonight, I think. I got to bed just after 9:15 pm, so I was likely asleep by 9:30 pm. A woke up at some point coughing, but I didn’t get up – DH did. K woke around 5:20 am, and even though I didn’t really want to, I let him nurse. It was in the hopes that he’d go back to sleep. It was a gamble that paid off

Unfortunately, the kids and I seemed to be at a disconnect the whole day. They weren’t happy and I wasn’t happy. And even though A woke with a bloodshot eye and a lingering cough and K still has slime coming out of his nose, we went outside in the afternoon.

We just HAD to, man! We had fun (though A would say otherwise) and R was far enough away from me most of the time that his whining over small stuff wasn’t as bothersome to my ears. We sledded down stairs nearby since they’re covered in snow. It sounds crazy, actually, but if I could show a picture, you’d understand. There’s maybe ten deep but short steps, and with the packing snow … it made for the perfect little hill to sled down.

Then dinner happened. And they didn’t want it. DH didn’t like it much either (though he won’t really admit it). Oh well [sigh].

But. BUT. I DO plan on going to bed early tonight again. It’s the only way I can simulate sleeping in. And it felt nice

(I don’t drink coffee or tea, so imagine me with a hot chocolate watered down apple juice today)

This … was a busy weekend. It flew by! On Saturday Kenneth and I had our swim “class”, where he continued to demonstrate no fear. The goofball didn’t want to stay with me holding him!  And while the water isn’t deep, since I can kneel in the deepest part of the toddler pool, it’s still too deep form him to stand. I was exhausted after 20 minutes, so with 10 minutes left on the clock I went to the shallower area (it changes slowly, like a beach) and let him walk and jump around in the water. Which is just what he wanted. He laughed the whole time!

DH made dinner later that day, and I went outside with A in the backyard. We’ve had a tonne of snow, perfect for packing. R chose to play some games on the computer (PBS Kids website) and K was happy to watch him.

Well,  A and I made a HUGE pile of snow and I turned it into a tunnel. Part way through, R had had enough of being inside and wanted to join us. K did too, but of course. DH was shocked at the huge pile of snow I shovelled pathways in the snow for K since it was over a foot deep in some areas. I’d say it was a foot deep on average. Did he walk in them? No so I had to keep rescuing him. He also figured out that it was easier to get on our climbing thing since the packed snow gave him a bit of a boost.

We’d had lots of fun at this point, an even were singing in pretend microphones (A used a stick and I made a snow microphone for R, K and myself). We also used shovels for guitars at one point.

Did I mention that I’d had a headache the whole day? Well, I did, but this w as so much fun that I didn’t matter. All four of us were wet through by the time DH had dinner ready.

I had a DnD game in the evening too. So I went after I got K in bed. When I got to JW’s house at around 7:45 pm (I had to shovel the bottom of the driveway … again), the three of them were playing that guitar game on the Wii, and they convinced me to do one song.

We didn’t really start playing DnD until around 10 pm, since we gabbed most of the time. Those guys are like a bunch of women sometimes (LOL), buv I had a lot of fun. We also enjoyed the Apple Upside Down cake I’d made that day while K napped.

Then on Sunday, today, I went to a Pampered Chef party at a friends house. I haven’t seen her in person for about three years, so it was nice. Another friend that we both know from high school was there too, which was great. I ended up ordering two things, btw.

So it really was a busy weekend. And my headache is still here a bit. Definitely a night for going to bed early!

Can he not start sleeping through he night? (that’s about K)

Does she have to argue everything we say? (that’s about A)

Does he have screech so much? (that’s about R)

Can I not feel rested, ever? (that’s about me)

Can my body not decide it’ll let us get pregnant again? (me again)

Does getting all our snow stuff on have to be such an ordeal, regardless how calm I am?

Does getting all the snow stuff off have to be such a pain in the @ss?

————

At least a friend and I were able to go out Tuesday evening for a treat and some hot chocolate. It was nice to be out without kids. I have DnD this Saturday, which is definitely kid free and is always fun. Plus, it’s Friday. Which means it’ll be the weekend VERY soon!

So I feel like we’ve been inside for a very long time today. I guess I got used to going outside on school days in the morning and getting all that fresh air. K is napping right now – due to wake up in half an hour I should think – and I turned on the tv. I don’t want to, which I know means I shouldn’t, but if we go outside we’ll likely wake K and have to come back inside right away. Which is a wee bit of a pain with snowsuits.

Lest I feel too bad about the telly being on, we do plan on going outside after. Well, A really wants one of our neighbours over and won’t be happy if we’re outside and not in, but … too bad. We need to go out!

Plus, we made basket slides, spring garlands and cranes. The building kind, not the bird kind.

The basket slides are basically just a string (three actually) tied to a post on each end (we have some posts in our house) with a section of a straw threaded on. Then I pulled a different thread through the straws and attached each of those to a “basket”, which were the corners of a Shreddies box. We could then put Littlest Pet Shops and Playmobil people rides! Or whatever else they wanted to put in. K didn’t quite understand the concept, but that’s okay.

We then had lunch and Mr. K went down for a nap after that (remember, crazy man woke early this morning). Then A, R and I made our spring garlands. I’d bought some spring cookie cutters from the Bulk Barn on Saturday for only 79 cents each! I traced those onto some coloured paper and cut them out. Using some multiple-coloured cotton yarn and blunt needles, we each threaded the cutouts on. R had some trouble, but then I thought of getting a sponge and putting it on a plate for him to put the cutout on and pre-poke the holes. It worked quite well for him! A did great on her own and liked choosing what she wanted on hers, saying “it’s going to be so beautiful mom!” (hers is on the left, mine on the right, and R’s in the middle)

The cranes were some hair clips of mine that look like claw grippers tied to some more yarn. They liked figuring out what could be picked up and what couldn’t be. Then they gave whatever they could pick up a ride in the baskets

So … I’ve actually done a few things with my kids already. So I shouldn’t feel so bad about the tv being on. Right? Right?!? Okay, and the television won’t be on for very long. Promise.