Monday, February 8, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
The Case of the Missing Potty
****UPDATE****
The potty piece has been found! Well actually Hunter found it under his puzzle pieces in a toy bin. I guess I didn't dig deep enough!
____________________________
This is beyond odd.
Today Hunter yelled to me, "Mom, mom come see. I peed in my potty!" I hear this every time he uses his potty, and I go right over to grab out the little inner pot and dump it out into the toilet. So when Hunter gave the yell late in the morning I went over to do the routine.
Except the inner pot to the potty wasn't there. Odd, because I know I had dumped it already that morning and so had Matt. I had to take the entire potty to the sink and wash it all out. I searched the upstairs of our house and could not find the pot. Matt was at work, so I gave him a call; he was just as perplexed as I was.
When Matt came home a short while later we both scoured the house. Cavan has been launching everything he can grab through the stair rails to the floor below. Checked there and nothing. Checked the garbage where Hunter usually tosses items and nothing. I went through all my cupboards, the freezer (we have a bottom door one and Hunter thinks it is his own personal fridge), behind the sofas, the tub, the shower, under my bed, the closets, the ball tent, the crib.... NOTHING!
I have no clue where the damn thing is. And taking the entire potty to the sink is not fun. Thankfully he took a huge crap earlier this morning before we lost the inner pot. This is just nuts. Where should I check next??
The potty piece has been found! Well actually Hunter found it under his puzzle pieces in a toy bin. I guess I didn't dig deep enough!
____________________________
This is beyond odd.
Today Hunter yelled to me, "Mom, mom come see. I peed in my potty!" I hear this every time he uses his potty, and I go right over to grab out the little inner pot and dump it out into the toilet. So when Hunter gave the yell late in the morning I went over to do the routine.
Except the inner pot to the potty wasn't there. Odd, because I know I had dumped it already that morning and so had Matt. I had to take the entire potty to the sink and wash it all out. I searched the upstairs of our house and could not find the pot. Matt was at work, so I gave him a call; he was just as perplexed as I was.
When Matt came home a short while later we both scoured the house. Cavan has been launching everything he can grab through the stair rails to the floor below. Checked there and nothing. Checked the garbage where Hunter usually tosses items and nothing. I went through all my cupboards, the freezer (we have a bottom door one and Hunter thinks it is his own personal fridge), behind the sofas, the tub, the shower, under my bed, the closets, the ball tent, the crib.... NOTHING!
I have no clue where the damn thing is. And taking the entire potty to the sink is not fun. Thankfully he took a huge crap earlier this morning before we lost the inner pot. This is just nuts. Where should I check next??
Overprotective Parenting
This morning I loaded up CBC on my computer and watched last weeks Doc Zone called "Hyper Parents and Coddled Kids". Was that ever an interesting show! I recommend all parents go and watch it. The gist of the program was how Generation Y, or the Entitled Generation, has had their hands held by their parents throughout their childhood and now into adulthood. As kids they have very little freedom and free play since parents are in a constant state of fear for their kids getting hurt, lost, etc. There is the peer pressure that parents must enroll their children into as many activities as possible as well as the best schools and to ensure their children are the highest achievers in those activities and schools. Now these coddled children are growing up and unable to cope with the stress of real life. They believe (as their parents have instilled in them) that they can have, do, or achieve anything they want in life, but this isn't so! This generation is now having kids of their own and throwing birthday parties for 1 year old's with a price tag of $4000 (and the parents said this was mid-range).
I reflected on my own upbringing; I think I am on the cusp of this overprotected generation. I see it in a lot of people I know the same age as me, and I am thankful that my upbringing was the way it was (for the most part!). I don't think my parents held our hands too much and they definitely gave us a lot of freedom!
As children my brother and I roamed our property with bb guns, and then later .22's. My mom always told us to stay out of the house unless we were broken or bleeding! We were towed behind quads while riding car hoods, we drove quads way to fast when we could barely reach to shift with our feet, and we loved playing with matches! Now I find it hard to picture letting my boys do the same!! We were only allowed to be involved in one activity at a time. Winters it was Girl Guides for me, and summer was soccer when I was young. There was only one choice in school- nothing fancy for us! We wore hand-me-downs, thrifty store clothes and the ever classy Kmart or a step up to Zellers clothing.
I noticed the Entitled Generation when in high school. I saw my peers get brand new cars for their 16th birthday, whereas my parents paid for half of my beater. Then into University where many parents paid for absolutely everything for their precious kids. I saw the consequences of this as those who had been given everything struggled once setting out on their own. First they had no concept of money. They would spend before they had ever earned, racking up huge amounts of debt. Second they had no concept of making sacrifices and hard work. What? Move away from my home town to somewhere else because there are no jobs? Psshhh, no way! Now these people are in their thirties and struggling to make ends meet and many still having to turn to their parents to get bailed out.
Now I know that some people honestly hit hard times and need to approach their families for help, and those are not who I am discussing here. I am talking about those that are rescued by their parents before they have a chance to learn from their mistakes. They need to flounder and find their feet if they are to learn anything at all.
This documentary made me reflect on my own boys. What kind of men do I see them becoming? I want to raise independent thinkers, hard workers who are kind and honest among other attributes. I do not want to get sucked into the idea that I have to provide the best of the best to them in order for them to thrive. We have not fallen prey to the so-called educational toys such as Baby Einstein or the expensive clothing. I do splurge on books for our boys though, same as my parents did for us. We try to limit how many toys they have, however the grandparents are not quite understanding this and it frustrates us to no end. Our kids are not enrolled in so many activities that they have zero down time. Actually, my kids are enrolled in nothing that is organized at this point; we just attend our playgroup twice a week.
This is where I am extremely happy in our choice of communities. Living in Faro allows us to remain relaxed and stay out of the kiddie rat race. I will let my boys be rough and tumble, climb trees and play in the mud and will just have to ignore that raised eyebrow from the occasional person who thinks kids should stay out of trees and be clean at all times. They will be allowed to fail, to fall, to flounder so they can learn and grow from that experience. I am sure it won't be easy for me to stand back and watch them fall flat on their face, but I will have to remind myself that is how they grow! Hopefully how we are raising our boys will prepare them for real life.
I reflected on my own upbringing; I think I am on the cusp of this overprotected generation. I see it in a lot of people I know the same age as me, and I am thankful that my upbringing was the way it was (for the most part!). I don't think my parents held our hands too much and they definitely gave us a lot of freedom!
As children my brother and I roamed our property with bb guns, and then later .22's. My mom always told us to stay out of the house unless we were broken or bleeding! We were towed behind quads while riding car hoods, we drove quads way to fast when we could barely reach to shift with our feet, and we loved playing with matches! Now I find it hard to picture letting my boys do the same!! We were only allowed to be involved in one activity at a time. Winters it was Girl Guides for me, and summer was soccer when I was young. There was only one choice in school- nothing fancy for us! We wore hand-me-downs, thrifty store clothes and the ever classy Kmart or a step up to Zellers clothing.
I noticed the Entitled Generation when in high school. I saw my peers get brand new cars for their 16th birthday, whereas my parents paid for half of my beater. Then into University where many parents paid for absolutely everything for their precious kids. I saw the consequences of this as those who had been given everything struggled once setting out on their own. First they had no concept of money. They would spend before they had ever earned, racking up huge amounts of debt. Second they had no concept of making sacrifices and hard work. What? Move away from my home town to somewhere else because there are no jobs? Psshhh, no way! Now these people are in their thirties and struggling to make ends meet and many still having to turn to their parents to get bailed out.
Now I know that some people honestly hit hard times and need to approach their families for help, and those are not who I am discussing here. I am talking about those that are rescued by their parents before they have a chance to learn from their mistakes. They need to flounder and find their feet if they are to learn anything at all.
This documentary made me reflect on my own boys. What kind of men do I see them becoming? I want to raise independent thinkers, hard workers who are kind and honest among other attributes. I do not want to get sucked into the idea that I have to provide the best of the best to them in order for them to thrive. We have not fallen prey to the so-called educational toys such as Baby Einstein or the expensive clothing. I do splurge on books for our boys though, same as my parents did for us. We try to limit how many toys they have, however the grandparents are not quite understanding this and it frustrates us to no end. Our kids are not enrolled in so many activities that they have zero down time. Actually, my kids are enrolled in nothing that is organized at this point; we just attend our playgroup twice a week.
This is where I am extremely happy in our choice of communities. Living in Faro allows us to remain relaxed and stay out of the kiddie rat race. I will let my boys be rough and tumble, climb trees and play in the mud and will just have to ignore that raised eyebrow from the occasional person who thinks kids should stay out of trees and be clean at all times. They will be allowed to fail, to fall, to flounder so they can learn and grow from that experience. I am sure it won't be easy for me to stand back and watch them fall flat on their face, but I will have to remind myself that is how they grow! Hopefully how we are raising our boys will prepare them for real life.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
On The Go!
Cavan has been crawling for nearly a month, which is three months earlier than Hunter! He is a big fan of going along on his hands and feet and is picking up speed with each passing day.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Getting Back To Normal
Our boys finally seem to be over our bout with the plague. Two months of them alternating being sick has exhausted us!
Finally last night Cavan had a great sleep. Down at the usual time of 7:30pm, woke up twice during the night, and then up for the day at 6am. Beautiful! AND he had a two hour nap this afternoon in his own room!! This kid never naps for that long. He prefers two twenty minutes naps during the day, and never in his own room. I have my fingers crossed that tonight will be even better!
Hunter is going down before 8pm, however wakes up concerned about either tigers or monsters by midnights and crawls into our bed. We had him out of this habit a while back, but with us being so tired, we gave up for the last while and just let him sleep the rest of the night with us. Last night though he kept fussing and fidgeting in our bed. Then at 4am, he stood up in our bed and started screaming that he wanted pancakes! Seriously, he was screaming at the top of his lungs for pancakes. I sent Matt to the kitchen because I actually had a leftover pancake from breakfast. He came back with that and a sippy cup of milk. Hunter then refused the pancake he has insisted on, cuddled up with the sippy cup and fell asleep without even taking a sip. My kid is so odd.
The boys are so happy when they aren't sick! Destructive.... but happy. Hunter spent the day emptying out my cupboards and making me cake. The cake usually consisted of cans of tuna or tomato paste in a bowl and was baked in the cupboard next to the oven. He tried putting it in the real oven, and we had to have a little talk about that!
Cavan spent the day stealing the cans away from Hunter and trying to throw them through the baby gate and down the stairs. I hope my poor tile stairs survive these boys.
I have my fingers crossed that we stay plague free for a long time!
Finally last night Cavan had a great sleep. Down at the usual time of 7:30pm, woke up twice during the night, and then up for the day at 6am. Beautiful! AND he had a two hour nap this afternoon in his own room!! This kid never naps for that long. He prefers two twenty minutes naps during the day, and never in his own room. I have my fingers crossed that tonight will be even better!
Hunter is going down before 8pm, however wakes up concerned about either tigers or monsters by midnights and crawls into our bed. We had him out of this habit a while back, but with us being so tired, we gave up for the last while and just let him sleep the rest of the night with us. Last night though he kept fussing and fidgeting in our bed. Then at 4am, he stood up in our bed and started screaming that he wanted pancakes! Seriously, he was screaming at the top of his lungs for pancakes. I sent Matt to the kitchen because I actually had a leftover pancake from breakfast. He came back with that and a sippy cup of milk. Hunter then refused the pancake he has insisted on, cuddled up with the sippy cup and fell asleep without even taking a sip. My kid is so odd.
The boys are so happy when they aren't sick! Destructive.... but happy. Hunter spent the day emptying out my cupboards and making me cake. The cake usually consisted of cans of tuna or tomato paste in a bowl and was baked in the cupboard next to the oven. He tried putting it in the real oven, and we had to have a little talk about that!
Cavan spent the day stealing the cans away from Hunter and trying to throw them through the baby gate and down the stairs. I hope my poor tile stairs survive these boys.
I have my fingers crossed that we stay plague free for a long time!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Weekend Away
Usually trips to Whitehorse are not relaxing for us at all. We are in-out over one night and our time is just spent shopping and running errands.
This past weekend though, we opted to take two nights and do some fun things with the kids while in the big city. We went to the swimming pool twice and three times to the playroom. Matt went to see Ron James do his stand up routine with a great friend of ours. And we went on a horse drawn sleigh ride! The weekend was almost relaxing! Of course we still had to the do the usual shopping, but the kids were on their best behaviour. It was the best trip I think we have taken to Whitehorse since moving here two years ago.
I was even able to find everything I needed on my shopping list included a small steam cleaner. This weekend coming up I have a mission to get the smell of barf out of our sofas. Now doesn't that sound like a good time!
There were only two parts to the trip where I wasn't impressed. The first was when I realized I had forgotten my jacket at home. So I went to Walmart and bought a new one, wore it for the sleigh ride, and then promptly returned it! The second was my dental appointment on Monday morning. Fun times. And I have to go back again in just over two weeks for them to finish the work.
Oh! And we saw a beautiful Lynx on the drive home. Plus our kids were awesome on the drive home! Cavan only cried for 1/2 an hour while Hunter slept right from Whitehorse until we hit Faro nearly four hours later. What a great trip!
Hunter eyeballing Rocky!
Rocky- the most photographed horse in the Yukon!
All ready for our ride!
Mike getting Rocky ready for the ride:
Matt and Cavan:
Having a great time!
Giddy-up Rocky!
Hunter thanking Rocky for the ride:
This past weekend though, we opted to take two nights and do some fun things with the kids while in the big city. We went to the swimming pool twice and three times to the playroom. Matt went to see Ron James do his stand up routine with a great friend of ours. And we went on a horse drawn sleigh ride! The weekend was almost relaxing! Of course we still had to the do the usual shopping, but the kids were on their best behaviour. It was the best trip I think we have taken to Whitehorse since moving here two years ago.
I was even able to find everything I needed on my shopping list included a small steam cleaner. This weekend coming up I have a mission to get the smell of barf out of our sofas. Now doesn't that sound like a good time!
There were only two parts to the trip where I wasn't impressed. The first was when I realized I had forgotten my jacket at home. So I went to Walmart and bought a new one, wore it for the sleigh ride, and then promptly returned it! The second was my dental appointment on Monday morning. Fun times. And I have to go back again in just over two weeks for them to finish the work.
Oh! And we saw a beautiful Lynx on the drive home. Plus our kids were awesome on the drive home! Cavan only cried for 1/2 an hour while Hunter slept right from Whitehorse until we hit Faro nearly four hours later. What a great trip!
And people wonder why we live here...
Hunter eyeballing Rocky!
Rocky- the most photographed horse in the Yukon!
All ready for our ride!
Mike getting Rocky ready for the ride:
Matt and Cavan:
Having a great time!
Giddy-up Rocky!
Hunter thanking Rocky for the ride:
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