Goodbye January. I will not miss you.

Maybe you have noticed from a total lack of blog updates that I have the January blahs. God, I'm tired of the stupid snow, the stupid cold and the stupid driving in the stupid cold and snow.

With my return to work looming ever closer on the horizon, I am starting to integrate the Papaya slowly into daycare. Every second week instead of Kieran going on Tuesday and Friday, they both go on Tuesday. Its nice to have one full day free of children, but on the other hand I still think its a waste of money to have her in daycare when I'm at home. I don't think I can stress enough that this child, who is almost 10 months old, is NO work. I swear, I could bring her to the office and plunk her beside my desk for 8 hours and she would be no trouble at all. Toss her a few Cheerios now and again and she's happy as a clam.

Kieran, also, is making great strides. He seems to be emerging from his terrible toddlerhood to becoming quite the little boy. I don't think I have blogged about it yet, but the child changes his own diapers. (Well, he changes from diapers to pull-ups and then stays in those all day...he can't actually get a diaper back on himself.) Sometimes he asks for help, but usually not. By extension, obviously, he should be toilet trained, but he has fluctuating interest in that department. And really, if you have a boy who changes himself, its almost like he IS potty trained.

His new found independence of course has a downside. Last week, he was changing his clothes 10 times a day. Every time I turned around, he was running off to his bedroom to find a new shirt or pants, strewing clothes all over his bedroom and filling his laundry basket to overflowing. This week, he has developed an irrational attachment to a Cars shirt my mom gave him and it took me two days to get it off him - including one night sleeping in it.

The biggest jump for Kieran though is that finally, FINALLY, I can take him shopping without it being a complete nightmare. From the day he was born Kieran has been terrible in stores. As an infant he could last 10 minutes before the uncontrollable wailing would start. I recall having a brief reprieve when he was around 8 months where he was relatively happy in his stroller but it was short-lived. Up until about 1 month ago he either wanted to walk (by which I mean run off to do his own thing) or be carried. He wouldn't sit in a stroller or a shopping cart and no amount of bribing, cajoling or tough love would make him do so. Now that the Papaya is big enough to sit in a shopping cart, he is happy to sit beside her. I swear its her Zen-like presence that settles him down. I may have to start referring to her as the Dalai Lama. (The Kaya Lam-a, perhaps?)

Speaking of children and shopping, I was trapped the other day at the grocery store, following the same shopping path as a father and his daughter. The little girl was somewhere between the ages of one and two. I first saw them in the bakery section and noticed him because he was holding out two loaves of bread and asking her which one she wanted. I thought it was a bid odd for a kid to have a bread brand preference but I came across them again a few aisles later and he was asking her to pick between two other items. She pointed at one and he put it in the cart, congratulating her on her great choice. Gag. Now, I'm all for empowering our kids, but really, Guy? How much power do want to your kid to have? Do you really want her feeling like the type of mustard you buy is her decision to make? And most of all, how much time do you have, because that is a painfully slow way to shop. I left him in the dust shortly after that but I presume he was going to be letting her pick all his groceries. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they are still there, standing in front of the peanut butter while she contemplates the virtues of crunch v. smooth. Then again, who am I to talk....my kid was wearing the same shirt he slept in.

Who Wants Lunch?

I was going to come and update this blog earlier tonight, but I got totally sucked into The Bachelor. I'm not sure why this always happens to me. I feel like I should be better than trashy TV, but apparently it's the complete opposite. I like to pretend that I stopped on the channel just to see what desperate crazies are vying for the Bachelor's attention this time but 10 minutes later I'm asking the PVR to record the rest of the season lest I miss a single dramatic moment.

Anyway, I hate winter and especially hate the fact that it keeps on snowing. But unless its actually snowing outside (when I'm more than happy to stay inside) I hate being stuck in the house, so I decided to take the kids over to the library/community centre today, which is usually about a five minute walk. So, I bundle the kids up, shake the snow off the stroller, load the baby in and make several runs back into the house for extra blankets, Kleenex and survival gear. We get 10 feet down the driveway and I immediately realize the colossal error I have made. The sidewalks, though plowed, are still snow covered and the stroller, apparently, does not roll on snow. A wiser woman would have returned to the house, but I had already invested a half hour in the whole bundling process, so I soldiered on. So, yes, I pushed and/or dragged the stroller, wheels locked, the entire way.

And if I didn't look silly enough on the way TO the library, the terrain so slippery that the stroller occasionally erratically veering of course and into a snowbank, I'm sure I looked even more ridiculous on the way home, after I had stopped at the grocery store and picked up a bunch of things. The store near me charges for bags, so I filled the stroller basket and then loaded the rest of my things into a cardboard box, which since Kieran was walking, I placed on his little bench at the back of the stroller. Well, no sooner are we back on the sidewalk when, naturally, he collapses in a heap of two-year-old randomness and refused to walk another step. I tried to force his bluff by walking away but when I looked back he was lying dramatically on the sidewalk 100 feet behind me and I knew he was not going to be cajoled into walking the entire way home, so I had to drag the laden stroller back to his rescue.

Anyway, Kieran wants to be carried, which is obviously not going to be possible without any traction on the stroller, so there I am on the sidewalk emptying out my cardboard box and trying to fit all my groceries into every nook and cranny on both the stroller and myself. By the time I was on the move again, I had vegetables stuffed down my jacket and in my pockets, chicken (regretfully on sale, so i was stocking up) overflowing the diaper bag and cartons of eggs, cheese strings and a two litre carton of juice piled ON TOP OF THE BABY, while I pushed the useless stroller the long way home, since, oh yeah, all my regular shortcuts have been plowed into oblivion.

The entire trip took us almost two hours. Luckily, Kieran was happy to settle in with Wall E while I unearthed the groceries from my pants. Best outing ever.

First Blog of the Year!

I fear I have neglected this blog over the holidays because, well obviously, I HAVE neglected this blog. With the December craziness, followed by the Christmas and New Year's travelling and, best of all, a wee hard drive crash to start off 2009, it's been a bit hard to keep up.

I'll start with Christmas...which was wonderful. It's a refreshing change not have to think about work AT ALL over the holidays. Usually, thanks to the World Junior Hockey Championships which always start on Boxing Day, my Christmas is almost always tinged with cranky emails from Russian (or Swedish, or Finnish or Czech) broadcasters.  Even if I chose to ignore the emails, it does not change the fact that the messages are there polluting my inbox and may or may not explode into TV armageddon like it did in 2004. But, although rife with drawbacks, maternity leave does at least give me my actual holidays back, which is quite nice. 

We spent the holidays at the Galvin All-Inclusive Resort in picturesque North Andover Massachussets. It is truly a wonderful place, where meals are planned and often prepared in front of your very eyes using the finest ingredients. The resort is all-you-can-eat, open bar (with bartender). There is a pool table and hot tub. In the backyard is a large outdoor pool, which although seasonal, usually includes frozen margaritas poolside.  With onsite babysitting, plenty of parking, and a tax-free Target nearby you cannot go wrong at this resort. If required, you can also request a crib and age appropriate child gear to be waiting and assembled for when you arrive. The resort keeps its own subscription to People magazine. And, perhaps best of all, there is also a fairy-being who lives in the house who will clean, do your laundry,  change your child's diapers and sometimes even change your sheets ALL without being asked. All that is missing is a mint on the pillow and couples massage and, I'll bet if you asked nicely, you may get that. 

Sadly vacation must end and we must return to the real world, which does not include anyone doing our laundry, but does include lugging all our stuff back into our wee bungalow in the suburbs. Our house, which is small at the best of times, is even smaller when we have a Christmas tree straddling our living room/dining room and a whole raft of new children's toys that must be put somewhere. But I think we did a pretty good job. The toys have all been tucked away and the kids are back in their respective rooms where, at least, they do not wake each other up. (A small, but important blessing). 

Still, I'm sad the holidays are over. I would call 2008 a very good year - after all it did bring my beloved baby Papaya who is getting more adorable by the minute.

2009 will bring my return to work and with it, the added burden of two kids in daycare and all the rigamarole that goes with that (I'm dreading the thought of getting myself and two kids -three if you include Eric- up, fed and ready to leave the house.) Eric's band is doing extremely well and is steadily moving onto to bigger and better things, which means the pay is better (yay!), but I see him less (boo!). Still, I'm quite sure we will manage. Our lives may be a tad hectic, but it all seems to work out. 

So, for the first blog of 2009...I'm feeling optimistic. 

Cheers!