A Happy Mother's Day

Sundays are never relaxing, but this one at least had bits of fun.  

Paul reminded me how much he and the kids are glad I am/was not this Troubled Bird: 

And then after many of the Sunday chores, they took me out to Kind Ice Cream*.  The long line was surprising to us, but not to some daycare friends we saw on our way out.  

 

 

* I was not surprised that this suggestion was from Emma, who'd sweetly/not-knowingly pulled "A Homer" (with regards to Marge's bowling ball).   

 

 

Go!

It's Emma's first day at daycare.  

I wasn't sure if  we were going to get both James and Emma fed and out of the house on time* even with waking and starting the process earlier.  

*  8:10 AM.  It's sometimes a literal drag just for James. 

But, Emma seemed excited?  OK, we did have to chase her a little to get her dressed, but then: 

One look at me as I waved goodbye,  

And she's pointing the way, "Go!"  

Does she know what's going on?  No.  Not likely.  

Paul says at the daycare she was just curious, looking around when he left... and that was that.  

As (some have) predicted, she's probably handling it better than me;  I'm the one that needs/needed a "transition day".  

No more excuses.  I might be a bit worried ("I hope she's OK.") and sad ("My baby's growing up."), but I must also tackle the to-do list.  GO! 

At least he's consistent?

Yesterday morning: 

Me: "Oh, no your finger is bleeding.  Have you been biting your nails again?"

James: "No, Emma came in at night and bit me."

This morning: 

Me: "Oh, no you're wet."  

James: "No, Emma came in at night and pee on me." 

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Tall tales, Emma-blaming, and lying are supposedly, for his age, "a sign of intelligence", but it's so tiring and frustrating.  I'm reading the articles* and trying not to get too worked up.  Paul's take got me to laugh (until I wanted to cry again): "At least he's consistent."

* How to Discipline when your Child Tells Tall-Tales, Fibs and Lies and 8 Seemingly Innocent Child Behavioral Problems Parents Shouldn’t Ignore

Happy Fire-Chicken Day!

James: My fire chicken is broken!  

Paul: ? 

Me: The direct translation for "Turkey" in Chinese is "Fire Chicken".   

Paul: That puts Stravinsky's Firebird in a new light. 

I am so thankful for our health and our family and friends.  May your fire-chicken be moist (unburnt) and your apple crumble not exploded (will post about that later).  

Christmas!

Oh, my goodness: a photo turned out*!  May your day also have a moment of grace amidst the chaos.

* Paul took it and made it look good.  I cropped out, as much as I could, the clutter and mess.   

Circles and Rowboat Toast

Reading in the morning: 

He's eating all the circles?!  

Yep.  That's classic Cookie Monster.  

Eating in the evening... with another awesome version of "Row Row Row Your Boat": 

(Get things) Moving Sale

"Whatever the counter-offer -- take it!"*

Dad and Mom didn't want me to host a garage sale -- they just wanted me to get rid of things / give it away.  But, sometimes you can't even give things away (e.g. perfectly good box spring and mattress).

Anyway, I also had Catherine, who's awesome and over the week prior cleaned and rearrange everything, and just made it work!  I was so grateful and impressed.  I think she could/should do it as a business ("Arrange and run your successful garage sale!").

The morning of, Paul and James pitched in too.  Paul placed out the signage (reused from the sale with Erica... which did make a few neighbours wonder if we were moving away).  James with um... rearranging things?  We kept him around long enough for him to get an offer on his guitar, which thankfully he didn't take.  But then with him at my parents, I was able to really get serious about getting things out of the house  (Oh, you're interested in X, I think I have some in the basement...) and posting some of our nicer items on kijiji as advertising.  

Catherine and Clint held the fort throughout.  Paul and I dipped in and out.  

It was less party and hangout atmosphere than last time.  But we did get to know Clint a bit better.  He's so good!  At first I thought he was just great at sales and selling, but then it became clear: he's just really nice and likes / is interested in people.  Someone would be looking at one of his antique chairs, and then all of sudden he was walking over to their car to look the person's self-published book on minor league hockey. 

Anyway, though I sold most items / volume (thanks Claudia, Chris, and Steph for visiting and buying things), Clint made the most money (quality over quantity).  

At the end of it, Catherine took a trunkful of stuff away to charity, and says she'll be back later in the week to take away more.  Thanks so much, Cath - you just might save me from my hoarding ways.  :P    

* What my Dad told me he left on my voice mail... which I never got.  So now someone else has a recording of my Dad yelling advice in Cantonese.
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Update: Unfortunately, someone decided to complain about my car being parked too close to the intersection (not parked in garage because of sale), and I got a ticket!  So money-wise, net zero.  Ugh.  

Knock on Wood / I'm the Fool

Those dead branches on the Mountain Ash are doing some good: they're attracting more wildlife.

Today: "Dit-dit-didi-dit-dit..."

Followed by massive giggles for the bird that hits his head against the tree (AKA: Woodpecker, Downy?), and the Mama who tries to imitate the sound (though sounding more like Morse code).

Paul was momentarily fooled today by the announcement of the UTP (Toronto and Texas) merger.

Not so much fun for me.  Year End sucks the potential April Fools fun out of everything.  Olivia did try a morning opening gambit, declaring to me and Lorena, "There's no work to do today."  (May have been more effective if it was Lorena who said it to us, if cruel :P).  Though, it's probably best not to playing jokes at work. 

But, I guess I am still the fool: I believed James when said he would be "good" if I let him walk home...  And that that slide was would be the last slide...

And that he wouldn't stick something else from the ground into this mouth.  Ew. 

(I finally did strap him back in.) 

Music Is...

"Mama dancing."

Paul politely disagreed: "No, that's not mama's shape."

But this time I didn't mind. OK, not the most flattering of body shapes -- but that is my hair (and face?)... and it's almost like Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face with, you know, a few (dozen) more pounds.  And me in a book?  Got to love that!  :)

Music Is... by Brandon Stosuy, illustrated by Amy Martin is one of James's favourites right now. 

He gets Paul to read over and over this page: "cymbals that splash and ba-da-ba bass and rat-a-tat-tat drums on a rumbling stage".  I understand, it's super catchy, and my Cantonese translated version doesn't do it justice at all. 

Below is a page that makes Paul and me laugh, because of who James says the french horn player on the right is.  I can kind of see it.  Can you guess? 

2018 Calendar Boys

Happy year of the Earth Dog*!

An even shorter photoshoot this time.  James is already "crayoning-in" plans for December --  Paul seems a bit wary about that. And he didn't even see this video yet!  

Bad (on-purpose?) translation of one the most popular new year songs with dogs lip-synching.  Amusing and creepy, oh, the wonders of the internet!  

* Though this dog on the calendar looks a lot more like fluffy kitty.  How can we even tell sometimes with all the wacky dog breeds?! 

Rabbit of (Net) Negative Euphoria

Sure we had lots of Hallowe'en costumes ideas*, but James still fitted into the costume I got (*embarrassed face* before he was born) and so, he was a bunny!

* Maybe next year he'll be: Mario, Minion, Harry Potter, Waldo / Wally all mashed up!  

The full body fuzzy costume was perfect a cold trick o' treating night (we threw on jacket too just in case).  But it might be a little too warm for indoors.  It's probably why he's grumpy.  Oh, and being dragged back home for dinner instead of staying out to ring doorbells and visit houses and exploring... I know, I'm such a killjoy.  But hey, we did visit four neighbours and he got to pet 2 dogs.

After dinner, we put him to bed.  Other kids continued to come to our door until 9 PM.  I say "kids", but some were bigger than me.  For the entire night, we got about 20.

Though I didn't have that much time to get it together, I'd dressed up too!  I wanted it to work with James's costume so I considered famous bunnies and their friends and family.  I liked what I came up with (see below-below-below) though there was only a 1 in 5 recognition factor at work.  Their guesses: Mary Poppins, a time traveller...  Really could have used some time to find a teapot with a mouse... I told Olivia, that once again my choices were simply too "cold door" 冷門.  Oh, well.

(Above: "Let me out!")

(Right: "Mad" at work.)

I'm back!

... and surprisingly on time at 8:30 AM! 

Between good weather, a quick drop off with James ("Have-fun-I-love-you-kiss-kiss-goodbye!), I was at the bus stop at 7:51 AM.  Can I do it again (and again, and again...)?

The view on the commute.

I was overwhelmed by the warm welcome.  Figured since people didn't email me or respond to my photo updates that maybe they've forgotten about me... nope.  There were hugs and so many questions.  I didn't know what to say.  Most of my co-workers are moms so I figured they knew (the tough early months, the lack of sleep, the sad feeling of leaving him, being scared about coming back and knowing nothing, the peace of the commute [finally no demands]...). For the non-moms, how to compress it all into an interesting, thoughtful, sound bite that's not scary or ridiculous?  I end up going generic: "We're fine."

Olivia kept my plants happy.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.— ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Anyway, just so many things. 

Things I've forgotten:
- I wear glasses (for the computer).
- It's cold in the room (need more sweaters / more layers)
- Snacks!  (Need them to keep going)
- What it's like to have to share a bathroom and kitchen with co-workers

So clean and tidy - because everything is packed in storage.

New things:
- So many new people
- There's now a protocol for using the water coolers
- The Social Committee has completely disbanded and started anew 


Lorena's kind and starts me off easy.  My current tasks:
- Go through emails and read the Finance meeting minutes
- Go through the boxes of my boxed work stuff -- but they're currently in storage TBU (to be unearthed)

Paul picked up James, and both were waiting for me when I make it home (about 5:30 PM).  James whines a bit, but then we're all hugging on the couch and it's a great feeling... and then we're back to rushing.  James: bath, food, put to bed.  Then me: food, make lunches, pack... eventually, bed. 

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's the Year of the Rooster (Chicken).  My boys indulged me with a 10 minute calendar shoot :)

I read the Telegraph article "Chinese New Year 2017, year of the Rooster! What's your zodiac animal?" (sorry for the video auto-play).  The list of Chinese New Year's Day Taboos was particularly interesting.

I already know not to wash things, but didn't know it was partially because (#3) "People do not wash clothes on the first and second day because these two days are celebrated as the birthday of Shuishen (水神, the Water God)."

Number 8 "Crying Children" ("The cry of a child is believed to bring bad luck to the family so parents do their best to keep children as happy as possible.") is a little too late / unavoidable now (more about that later)...

I kept the tradition of a vegetarian lunch (corresponds to #13).  Well, mostly, I finished off James's lunch and that had some fish...

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This photo seems appropriate (Coconut and House Hippo from last-last Christmas (2015)).

 And, so does this: