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The great triathlon. I figure that managing a household is a bit like swimming. Whether truth about enzyte you're going forwards or backwards you are constantly trying to keep your head above the water. Working is a bit like running, then. While at work, it's important to pace yourself, keep up with the pack, stay hydrated and visualize your destination (ie. TGIF). I guess that makes being a mom something like cycling... up Mt. Everest. It's hard work, but the further you get, the more spectacular the view behind you becomes. Here's the thing: just because you can run a marathon doesn't mean that you could cycle the Tour de France or Swim the English Channel. Each sport takes different training and different muscles. So, I got the whole swimming and running thing down pat. Swim in the morning, run, run, rest, run, run during the day, swim, swim and rest at night. K. Got it. Then suddenly it's no longer swimming and running. It's swimming and cycling. At first it felt like I had ridden my bicycle clear off the pier and was frantically pedaling underwater trying not to drown. Now it's more like I'm cycling around the pool and occasionally jumping in to do a few laps whenever there's time. Well, although I haven't forgotten HOW to run, some muscles have been neglected for the past year and now I'm expected to start a triathlon next week, like, BAM! Ouch. Things are going to be pretty sore for a little while, which is to be expected. I think I'm up for it, though. Mentally, I'm there. They say that visualization is important, so I visualize myself prepared: got my goggles, fanny pack water bottle, vented hat and padded bike shorts on... and I look like a complete dork. Posted by Chelle at 9:05 PM Id I'd have known how quickly this year would fly by, I would have spent less time sleeping and more time... Hey! Hang on, me. Stop being hard on myself! I DID spend considerably less time sleeping than I ever have in my life, and more time doing pretty much everything a mom and lady of the house should do. In short, I don't regret a thing about my maternity leave, except that it's almost over. This brings me to the nightmares: I will my leaden feet to plod down the dark hallway, as that familiar syrupy wave of foreboding oozes its way down my back. The hollow clack-clack of my sensible shoes echoes on for miles and I am hyperventilating. It is the first day of school and everything is wrong. Class started an hour ago, thanks to some administrative decision made without my knowledge. Worse yet, the school has been completely renovated and somehow my classroom has now found its way down into the catacombs. Finally, I reach the appointed place. Room 13. Never a good sign. A dank smell emanates from the door vent. The hastily scrawled sign on the door reads "Mme. R. Tyrel". They have spelled my name wrong. Again. Sighing, I push open the heavy door. My heart plummets as I scan the front of the tiny, gray-walled classroom. What? Where is all my stuff? No fridge, no whiteboards, no overhead projector, no computer, no sink!? All my belongings are heaped in cardboard boxes in the corner. The cardboard boxes appear to be covered in graffiti. I step into my kingdom. By the flickering of a single prehistoric fluorescent bulb I realize that the whole room is packed with teenagers. The bad kind. They are greasy, unruly and rank with B.O. Slumped on, over and under desks, they leer at me like a pack of hyenas, baring sharp yellow canines. My heart races. "YOU're our new teacher? Hah!" says the ringleader, a lanky black-haired youth. I stare, mouth agape, amazed that his skin can sustain so many piercings. "Well, c'mon then," the glassy voice of the popular girl chimes in, "teach us!" Here it is. The moment of horror. I slowly look down at my attire, expecting to see the dark trouser jeans and red crew-neck sweater I so carefully selected that morning. Instead, my eyes fall upon the vast expanse of my own doughy belly. I am wearing a belly dance costume. A really, really tight, sparkly seafoam bedlah. With no skirt. All I can hear is a chorus of LOLs. That and the sound of my career imploding like a pop can in grade 8 science class. The shame. The shame!! So, can you tell I'm looking forward to going back to work? Posted by Chelle at 2:34 PM Here it comes, the countdown to toddlerhood! Evvy has taken her first steps already (as wobbly as all 3 of them were) and is slowly becoming more confident and adventuresome on her feet. She can "dance" to music and stand holding an object in each hand, something she likes to do for hours on end! She also knows how to crawl up stairs. Child safety gates to the rescue! This month her pointing skills have evolved. They started with a general wave in one direction, followed by a palm-up pinching position, as if she were examining an offensive speck of dust that had the audacity to drift in her direction (complete with very posh outstretched pinky). Then it was a hands-sideways open-palmed gesture that one would use for hailing a taxicab, and finally that index finger started bravely pointing the way to... um, well, sometimes I have no clue what she's pointing at, but I always take my best guess. Her favourite things to point at are: people she knows, other children, people she doesn't know but that smile at her, dogs, Mao, cats other than Mao, flowers, random things she sees out the window, boats (at Shuswap lake) and anything we have that she wants. "Mao" is by far her favourite person right now. She says his name CONSTANTLY. She is, however, kind enough to vary the tone and volume of her "Mao"s from "MMMMMMMMMMMAO!" to "maomaomaomaomao" (accompanied by pointing and waving). She can say other new things too, like "dah" for dog and "bah" for ball, but Mao wins it every time. She waves "hi!" "bye-bye" and "night-night" now and loves to clap. She will clap when excited about something but it's mainly for musical purposes these days. Grammy Friesen started teaching her Kodaly rhythms like "ti-ti-ta" and Ev will now clap happily and say "dit-dit-dah" along with it. I bought her a kids' percussion set for fun, just to see what she'd do with it, and hoping she managed to inherit some of the musical talent gushing through her genes on both sides. Thankfully, she loves tapping her little tambourine banging together cymbals and shaking her wooden maracas.Evvy also enjoys putting objects in to containers and taking them back out again. I bought her a cool birdhouse which provides hours of amusement. The highlight of this month was our trip to Shuswap Lake. Evvy spent lots of time with all sorts of family members and loved every minute of it, not to mention every scrap of attention she could get. Most of the extended Friesen family was there for a weekend, which was great because I rarely get time to visit with my aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids for more than a day at Christmas time. Evvy really enjoyed playing with her second cousins, Caden and Laine, both of whom were very patient and responsible with her. Of course, her time with Grammy and Grandpa, Uncle Mike and Jord was far too short. As for the beach and the water, we explored many fun things to do with a bucket and some rocks, but the water was too cold for a baby swim, so Grammy found a kiddie pool and we filled it up so that Evvy could splash around in it. Good times all around! Evvy did go in the boat, which was fine, all things considered. She showed no fear of the motor or the wind or the movement, but her lifejacket pretty much engulfed and smothered her into an unhappy mess. I think it will fit better next year. The rides to and from Shuswap were as expected. Some much needed rest stops and soothing needed to be done along the way, but we made it. The cat was, thankfully, very well behaved and Evvy did well on the ferries, holding her own in the kids' play area alongside older tots. In terms of eating and sleeping, Evvy is transitioning from two naps to one nap per day, usually starting sometime between 11am and noon, depending on how late she sleeps in. I use the term "late" loosely, as she routinely gets up at 5am, wanting a diaper change and bottle. She will then usually settle until 7 or 8, though. New foods this month include cucumbers, peas, tomato, melon, perogies and pasta. She has become somewhat picky of late, and likes to throw her unwanted food on the floor and say, with a very concerned expression, "uh-oh!" Her other strategy for getting rid of unwanted food is trying to feed it to whoever is around. "Da!" she will say, thrusting half-masticated morsels into your face. A polite "no thankyou" is usually not enough to deter her. Pretending to eat the tasty tidbit is the best policy and usually elicits a grin. There is so much more that I could say - this month has been a big one in terms of development. I do need some sleep though, so I'm off to bed preparing for my little sparrow to chirp me awake at 5 again tomorrow. |