Filed under: Awkward Conversations, Drama, Dwell On Things, My Kids | Tags: elementary school, fitting in, peer pressure
I handled something badly this morning. The only excuse I have is that I was rushed, I’m horribly fatigued, and every joint in my body seemed to be screaming in pain. Then there was the annoyance of having already dealt with this last year with my older child — I hate repeating myself.
My two guys are 20 months apart in age and 1 year apart in school. Our school is quite small and their peer groups overlap. Ever since he learned to walk, #2 has wanted to hang with the big kids. For the most part, #1’s friends are cool with this and include him in their play but there’s always “That Kid” — you know, the one who uses that desire to belong to their advantage. Last year, he would randomly include or exclude #1 from playing with the group, cajole him (and others) into lending him toys that he would break or lose, or try to convince their peer group to exclude kids from “The Club”.
Filed under: Awkward Conversations, Drama, Get All Mushy, My Kids, People I Know, Things I Overheard | Tags: kids, overheard, running away, transition
Three years ago, H (my childhood BFF) moved to Ottawa.
It was weird and exciting, as we’d been pretty out of touch with each other’s lives for our 20’s — saving sporadic contact for weddings and congrats at the safe delivery of babies, etc. I was really glad to have the opportunity to get reacquainted and relieved that, despite the years of radio silence, she was still the same person I remembered.
What I didn’t anticipate was the connection she’d forge with my kids. My oldest was intrigued by the adult who didn’t speak down to him and taught him the basics of chess. My youngest fell head over heels in love, creating detailed stories about what they’d do when he grew up — always ending in marrying her.
With H moving to Alberta, I was anticipating a bit of fall-out — not from #1, as he easily rationalized it and decided he could talk to her on the computer or in email — but from my youngest, for whom going away is still rather mixed up with the “going away” that happened when his Grammie died this winter.
Nothing prepared me for what actually happened.
Filed under: Activism, Awkward Conversations, My Kids, Things I Overheard | Tags: environmentalism, Fit-in 15, greenpeace, kids, overheard
I incorporated some machine-dodging and crater-hopping into today’s Fit-in 15 entry and took #2 on some neighbourhood errands. While walking on Armstrong behind the GT Express, #2 spied some litter in the road and made the following comment:
Filed under: Awkward Conversations, Listen to Stuff, Make Lists of Things, My Kids, Random Geekery, Things I Eat, Things I Make, Things I Read, Watch Stuff | Tags: 1:12, BBC, Books, coffee, free stuff, Indian food, kids, LibraryThing, miniatures, overheard, Sweeney Todd
A little list of things currently making me smile:
- Free books — I just “won” my first two books through LibraryThing and am eagerly anticipating their arrival. I’m also having a great deal of fun randomly adding to my library from books that I own and books that I’ve read — it’s a pretty scattered combination at this point of library books borrowed and read, and stuff I actually own. When I tire of trolling the groups and people’s libraries, I review a couple of the things I’ve listed in my own. It’s fun and essentially no-pressure. I’m finding myself thinking about the fun I could have with a CueCat.
- Indian food — made two really yummy new-to-me recipes last night and had leftovers for lunch. So. Much. Yum.
- Miniatures — I used to collect them as a child, and made some too. I was poking around Etsy and found some things that lead me on a four hour trip down memory lane, reading some of my miniature design books and (kind of seriously) thinking about constructing a miniature building of some sort. I think I’d have a lot of fun with a miniature cake shop. Or green grocer.
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Filed under: Awkward Conversations, Get All Mushy, Holidays, My Kids, Random Geekery, Things I Overheard | Tags: bakugan, boys, Coraline, farts, kids, pyromania, transformers
#1 is having his “birthday party sleepover” with his best friend tonight, which means my house is at its testosterone max with four guys (5, 6, 7, and 42 years old).
After baking a Transformers (the original series, thankyouverymuch — watched it growing up) “Autobot” cake, arranging an outing to a cool animated and slightly scary 3D movie they all loved, winning a “fake farting” contest, being proudly decloaked by #1 as a “tomboy”, knowing that Bakugan are not robots (DH, you’re so uncool!), and taking them outside to light giant sparklers on fire (!!), I was banished at bedtime when all three boys declared they intended to sleep in their underwear.
Apparently, I’m too much of a girl.
