Enter the world of parenthood and everyday is filled with its own set of challenges.
Our current/upcoming topic that is a HUGE decision...preschool. Now the parenting begins and the playing is left till after school. Kai will be 3 in April and ready for his first year of preschool this September. These days, it is not only where to send your child, but at what age as well. There are some new "junior kindergartens" that take children as young as one. In essence it is a childcare facility at this age, yet they still have some structure to their days (as much as you can give a one-two year old!). The topic is on the table because over the next few weeks, registration begins!
We began our thoughts on this pretty quickly after Kai was born. The reason being, most of the good schools (yes, even preschools) have waitlists for years! If you can believe it, some actually register your name the minute you find out you are pregnant. A little excessive, I think yes! But to each their own.
We were originally thinking of sending him to a Junior kindergarten a few days a week starting this past fall. It didn't pan out for a few reasons and in the end I have been happy it didn't. What's the rush to send your baby to school so fast!? They have their entire lives to be there. Come the fall, I think he will be ready, and so will we by then.
Now for us, the decision is where...and why! Sienna follows Kai around everywhere. She loves to sit and read, and yet she loves to stick her hand in dirty diapers...yes discgusting! But she is a big factor in our equation of Kai and preschool. With Kai going a certain number of days/mornings a week, Sienna will still need to have a place to be. Currently, when I am working, the kids are with our part-time Nanny. She is fantastic and the kids love her, but realistically, we cannot afford to employ a nanny and pay for school; and so, our thoughts are leading us in the direction of a junior kindergarten where Sienna can be on the same "campus" as her older brother. The two of them can have the same schedule, and this in-turn makes a happy mom :-)
Here are some of my thoughts and "foreseen debates" that we are, and will be, dealing with:
- How many days a week
- Time of day (morning or afternoon)
Cost
- Preschool and part-time nanny
- junior kindergarten for both kids
- Preschool and daycare!?
Cost
curriculum
-Location
-Cost
For those of you who don't have children yet, or you do but you have not gotten to the stage of looking into preschools, they seem to charge an equivalent rate to University. Since the children are 1/4 to 1/2 the height of a grown adult, the tuition is reflected by 1/4-1/2 the price! Not really, but I figure, pretty damn close! So if we are shelling out this amount of money for our child's education and learning, I want to make sure that we are getting the most value for our dollar. Preschools are private and therefore you must pay...I can see another debate a few years in the future, private or public!?
We have looked into CEFA (Core Education and Fine Arts), and they offer some amazing things at their schools: from uniforms all the way down to meal planning. This is a Junior kindergarten. And here, the days are full from 9 to 5 if you want. Great for a working 9-5 parent, but not necessary for me...but maybe this is where the kids can go on the same 2 days a week and no more would be needed!??
Or do we go to preschool...there are some amazing ones in our neighbourhood: from Montessori programs to French immersion.
Wish us luck and please send thoughts, suggestions and advice...it is all welcomed and appreciated!
"It will be gone before you know it. The fingerprints on the wall appear higher and higher. Then suddenly they disappear." ~Dorothy Evslin
Monday, January 31, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
"Do the Potty Dance"
The time has come, to potty train Kai. He will be three is April and, well, quite frankly, I am tired of changing diapers. We began this process in the fall and he was actually doing really well...and then he reverted. Through reading as well as hearing through other people, I have heard this is a normal thing and that "when they are ready" they will let you know. Well, I think he is ready!? He asks occasionally to go to the "toi-yet" and we try to remind him that if he does he gets to have a treat. His choice is usually some Smarties. But not even chocolate tempts him some days. So our war against Kai's diapers has begun.
This morning, I took off his overnight diaper and put his pants on...no diaper. I came home the other day with another bag of the pull-ups training diapers, but even these don't tempt him enough. He somehow knows that he can still pee in these...and so commando it is!
For Christmas we got him some new big boy underwear "just like dad wears." he loves wearing these, over his diaper, because he knows he has to keep them dry; so today, they are going on!
It is just past 8:00 and so far we have made the trek to the potty three times...positive start!
We still have at least a few more months of diapers in our home with Sienna not quiet there yet; although, she already lets me know when she needs a new diaper and then runs to the toilet...already ahead of Kai in some ways. I am hoping this is a strong start for her and potty training.
Potty training is something that takes time and patience. I know that I am partly to blame for Kai still being in diapers. I have not yet put in the right time to continue his success, and so today we are starting with the time!
Here is a list I found from babycenter.ca on potty training boys. To each their own I guess, because I already see many discrepancies for us here!
1) Wait for the right moment
2) Let him watch and learn
3) Buy the right equipment
4)Help your child get comfortable with the potty
5)Buy him some cool pants
6) Set up a training schedule
7) Teach him to sit first, then stand
8 ) Set aside some naked time
9) Celebrate his successes
10) If at first he doesn't succeed, try, try again
11) Raise the fun factor
12) Move into night mode
13) Ditch the nappies completely
I definitely agree with #1. After having reverted, this is a true fact. Just because you are ready to train them at a certain time, does not mean that they are ready to learn. So make the time when they have shown their own signs of readiness!
For us, #2 on the list is not an option...I think he has had enough "learning time" in that department! Maybe to watch dad may give him his benefits now, but for those of you that recall a blog I wrote awhile back about Kai noticing the difference between girl and boy...#2 is not an option for me!
#3...of course you need the right things to train, but for some that list is huge and for others, all you need is a toilet (check) and some big boy underwear! Kai never took to sitting elsewhere in the house to use a "potty" and I never really had an interest in emptying a crap filled kids potty into the real thing, and so, he sits on the porcelain TOILET.
#7 seems to have come naturally to him...i guess he has watched daddy do it. I have to admit it was pretty cute watching him stand to pee, while actually having to stand on his tip-toes to shoot in the bowl.
So, to each their own. Good luck to all of you training or soon to be! I am sure there will be more on this subject in the near future, but for today, i am staying positive, and Kai is staying dry.
This morning, I took off his overnight diaper and put his pants on...no diaper. I came home the other day with another bag of the pull-ups training diapers, but even these don't tempt him enough. He somehow knows that he can still pee in these...and so commando it is!
For Christmas we got him some new big boy underwear "just like dad wears." he loves wearing these, over his diaper, because he knows he has to keep them dry; so today, they are going on!
It is just past 8:00 and so far we have made the trek to the potty three times...positive start!
We still have at least a few more months of diapers in our home with Sienna not quiet there yet; although, she already lets me know when she needs a new diaper and then runs to the toilet...already ahead of Kai in some ways. I am hoping this is a strong start for her and potty training.
Potty training is something that takes time and patience. I know that I am partly to blame for Kai still being in diapers. I have not yet put in the right time to continue his success, and so today we are starting with the time!
Here is a list I found from babycenter.ca on potty training boys. To each their own I guess, because I already see many discrepancies for us here!
1) Wait for the right moment
2) Let him watch and learn
3) Buy the right equipment
4)Help your child get comfortable with the potty
5)Buy him some cool pants
6) Set up a training schedule
7) Teach him to sit first, then stand
8 ) Set aside some naked time
9) Celebrate his successes
10) If at first he doesn't succeed, try, try again
11) Raise the fun factor
12) Move into night mode
13) Ditch the nappies completely
I definitely agree with #1. After having reverted, this is a true fact. Just because you are ready to train them at a certain time, does not mean that they are ready to learn. So make the time when they have shown their own signs of readiness!
For us, #2 on the list is not an option...I think he has had enough "learning time" in that department! Maybe to watch dad may give him his benefits now, but for those of you that recall a blog I wrote awhile back about Kai noticing the difference between girl and boy...#2 is not an option for me!
#3...of course you need the right things to train, but for some that list is huge and for others, all you need is a toilet (check) and some big boy underwear! Kai never took to sitting elsewhere in the house to use a "potty" and I never really had an interest in emptying a crap filled kids potty into the real thing, and so, he sits on the porcelain TOILET.
#7 seems to have come naturally to him...i guess he has watched daddy do it. I have to admit it was pretty cute watching him stand to pee, while actually having to stand on his tip-toes to shoot in the bowl.
So, to each their own. Good luck to all of you training or soon to be! I am sure there will be more on this subject in the near future, but for today, i am staying positive, and Kai is staying dry.
Some things say a thousand words...
and to me that thing is photo's...
We have wanted to get some new shots of the family now for a few months, and last weekend, we finally did!!
I love having the ages and stages of the kids and their growth captured because they change so quickly. Kai and Si are pretty close in age, and although it can add A LOT of chaos, and pretty much guarantee crazy days, I love it so much. They are best friends. Kai really looks out for her and helps her out, and Si, her eye could not possibly shine any brighter for her big brother. And it is nice to be in front of the lens with the kids and Ryan too...I always seem to be the one left out of the pictures as I am always the one taking them, so a fun morning it was!
Here are a few from the bunch that capture our family. We played outside where EVERYONE became covered in mud, then moved inside to what has become one of the kids favorite places to play...and sleep, our bed.
Our photos were captured by Karolina Turek.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
15 Step Program
I came across this "program" the other day and couldn't stop laughing in how true so much of it is!
This is a great test for all of those want to be parents in a very humorous way.
I don't fully adhere to lesson number 7 as I have vowed to never own a mini-van and am still holding strong...but discustingly dirty INSIDE AND OUT, it is!
This is kind of one of those lists that you wish was around when you were contemplating child-bearing. But I do say that there are some essentials that have been left out. First read the published 15 step program, then I will fill you in on my additions...and my list seems to be growing, daily...no, by the minute!
The program is posted all over the internet and I am unsure who wrote the original, it may be "Mama Hippo."
Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.
Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their…
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child’s breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior. Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.
Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel….
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can’t get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)
Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.
Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out..
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?
Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this – all morning.
Lesson 6
1. Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a jar of paint, turn it into an alligator.
2. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only Scotch tape and a piece of aluminum foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle.
3. Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower
Lesson 7
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don’t think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don’t look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle Cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.
Lesson 8
1. Get ready to go out.
2. Sit on the floor of your bathroom reading picture books for half an hour.
3. Go out the front door.
4. Come in again.Go out.
5. Come back in.
6. Go out again.
7. Walk down the front path.
8. Walk back up it.
9. Walk down it again.
10.Walk very slowly down the sidewalk for five minutes.
11. Stop, inspect minutely, and ask at least 6 questions about every cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way.
12. Retrace your steps.
13. Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you.
14. Give up and go back into the house.
You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.
Lesson 9
Repeat everything you have learned at least (if not more than) five times.
Lesson 10
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is also excellent). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week’s groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.
Lesson 11
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
You are now ready to feed a nine month old baby.
Lesson 12
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you’re thinking What’s “Noggin”?) Exactly the point.
Lesson 13
Move to the tropics. Find or make a compost pile. Dig down about halfway and stick your nose in it. Do this 3-5 times a day for at least two years.
Lesson 14
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying “mommy” repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each “mommy”; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.
Lesson 15
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt sleeve, or elbow while playing the “mommy” tape made from Lesson 14 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.
Now, this post is probably not as laugh-out-loud funny to those that don't yet have children. This is over the top funny for those who do because we realize that there is significance in it all, and we have all experienced a variation of every number on the program in some form or another!
My additions based on personal experience:
Lesson 16
Never answer a phone call or attempt to phone anyone until it is after 730pm, before 7am or while in the car from your hands-free device while you are on your own. To talk above the screaming or fight with an infant over whom is holding the phone will only piss off the person on the other line.
Lesson 17
Know that any sense of SELF will be lost for at least the first 4-6 months of the child's life. You are their food source (be it bottle or breast, they can't hold the bottle!), their support (to sit, to move, to roll, to see the world), you are their comfort. So much of this can be the most amazing feeling in the world, and at the same time, it can be the loneliest feeling. You are the WORLD to someone who can't tell you how much they appreciate what you are doing...and with those long days and nights and little to know sleep, you would kill for any form of a life of your own...honestly even a 10 minute coffee break, or better yet, NAP!
Lesson 18
Well, you're gone from your life, so what makes you think your relationship with your spouse or partner will remain the same!?
Children are amazing. They bring so much into a parents life...and being a parent, you embrace the good and the bad, the ups and the downs. Sometimes, it just helps to know what to look for to try to manage it all a little bit better =)
And if this list is a deterrent to anyone thinking of children...honestly, why would we keep going back for more if it was all so bad! I would not be the person I am today, the mom I am, the wife I am, the women I am, without having these two amazing kids of ours in my life. They bring the love, the laughter, the strength and courage, the butterflies, the tears of joy and the smiles to my life. My life would not be complete without Kai and Si.
One last tip, said in the words of Rita Rudner: "My husband and I have decided to start a family while my parents are still young enough to look after them." Thank you all so much! We are so fortunate to have our family around for support, love and help. We appreciate it and we know the kids do to!
Here are a few more quotes:
Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone
It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself. ~Joyce Maynard
The one thing children wear out faster than shoes is parents. ~John J. Plump
This is a great test for all of those want to be parents in a very humorous way.
I don't fully adhere to lesson number 7 as I have vowed to never own a mini-van and am still holding strong...but discustingly dirty INSIDE AND OUT, it is!
This is kind of one of those lists that you wish was around when you were contemplating child-bearing. But I do say that there are some essentials that have been left out. First read the published 15 step program, then I will fill you in on my additions...and my list seems to be growing, daily...no, by the minute!
The program is posted all over the internet and I am unsure who wrote the original, it may be "Mama Hippo."
Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.
Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their…
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child’s breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior. Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.
Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel….
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can’t get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)
Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.
Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out..
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?
Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this – all morning.
Lesson 6
1. Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a jar of paint, turn it into an alligator.
2. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only Scotch tape and a piece of aluminum foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle.
3. Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower
Lesson 7
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don’t think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don’t look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle Cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.
Lesson 8
1. Get ready to go out.
2. Sit on the floor of your bathroom reading picture books for half an hour.
3. Go out the front door.
4. Come in again.Go out.
5. Come back in.
6. Go out again.
7. Walk down the front path.
8. Walk back up it.
9. Walk down it again.
10.Walk very slowly down the sidewalk for five minutes.
11. Stop, inspect minutely, and ask at least 6 questions about every cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way.
12. Retrace your steps.
13. Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you.
14. Give up and go back into the house.
You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.
Lesson 9
Repeat everything you have learned at least (if not more than) five times.
Lesson 10
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is also excellent). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week’s groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.
Lesson 11
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
You are now ready to feed a nine month old baby.
Lesson 12
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you’re thinking What’s “Noggin”?) Exactly the point.
Lesson 13
Move to the tropics. Find or make a compost pile. Dig down about halfway and stick your nose in it. Do this 3-5 times a day for at least two years.
Lesson 14
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying “mommy” repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each “mommy”; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.
Lesson 15
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt sleeve, or elbow while playing the “mommy” tape made from Lesson 14 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.
Now, this post is probably not as laugh-out-loud funny to those that don't yet have children. This is over the top funny for those who do because we realize that there is significance in it all, and we have all experienced a variation of every number on the program in some form or another!
My additions based on personal experience:
Lesson 16
Never answer a phone call or attempt to phone anyone until it is after 730pm, before 7am or while in the car from your hands-free device while you are on your own. To talk above the screaming or fight with an infant over whom is holding the phone will only piss off the person on the other line.
Lesson 17
Know that any sense of SELF will be lost for at least the first 4-6 months of the child's life. You are their food source (be it bottle or breast, they can't hold the bottle!), their support (to sit, to move, to roll, to see the world), you are their comfort. So much of this can be the most amazing feeling in the world, and at the same time, it can be the loneliest feeling. You are the WORLD to someone who can't tell you how much they appreciate what you are doing...and with those long days and nights and little to know sleep, you would kill for any form of a life of your own...honestly even a 10 minute coffee break, or better yet, NAP!
Lesson 18
Well, you're gone from your life, so what makes you think your relationship with your spouse or partner will remain the same!?
Children are amazing. They bring so much into a parents life...and being a parent, you embrace the good and the bad, the ups and the downs. Sometimes, it just helps to know what to look for to try to manage it all a little bit better =)
And if this list is a deterrent to anyone thinking of children...honestly, why would we keep going back for more if it was all so bad! I would not be the person I am today, the mom I am, the wife I am, the women I am, without having these two amazing kids of ours in my life. They bring the love, the laughter, the strength and courage, the butterflies, the tears of joy and the smiles to my life. My life would not be complete without Kai and Si.
One last tip, said in the words of Rita Rudner: "My husband and I have decided to start a family while my parents are still young enough to look after them." Thank you all so much! We are so fortunate to have our family around for support, love and help. We appreciate it and we know the kids do to!
Here are a few more quotes:
Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone
It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself. ~Joyce Maynard
The one thing children wear out faster than shoes is parents. ~John J. Plump
Monday, January 17, 2011
What's next...
With the holiday in my rear view, "cleansing" commenced, schedules being ironed out, I sit here trying to plan my "what's next" for athletic endeavours for 2011.
2010 was an amazing year for new athletic feats for me. I learnt how to road ride, competed in the Oliver Half Ironman (my first triathlon EVER), ran my second marathon, it was a successful year. And now, with nothing set in the near future, I am feeling competition withdrawal. I need to set some goals!
You see, I began to really like this competitive side of things when I was pregnant for the first time with our son, Kai. My dad offered out a trip to New York if my husband or I ran the marathon...and so, once Kai was born, I started running. My first marathon and my first taste of competition (since my high school days of track and dance). And then, there was pregnancy number two, Sienna. While pregnant, I decided I was going to do the Oliver Half Ironman...never having done a tri before I figured, why not: go big or go home, right!?
And now, NO I AM NOT PREGNANT AGAIN, I would like to set some goals for 2011 and see where my athletic endeavors can take me this year.
Some things I am throwing around, but haven't yet committed to are:
The Dirty Duo Ultra Trail Run, Vancouver BMO Marathon, Oliver Half Ironman, The Ride to Conquer Cancer, Gran Fondo and the NYC Marathon. Yes a feat to carry out all considering I have a family at home AND that fact that they all cost money to enter. So I am trying to decide out of all these thoughts floating in my mind at the moment, which ones would give me the greatest satisfaction in not only completing but in training for.
Any of you out there have advice on you past races that you would like to pass on? Why was it your best and why should I do it!?
I have this problem when it comes with exercise. I truly love to workout, but HATE doing it if I don't have something to work towards. I feel like I am just running in a circle or pushing weights up and down just because; and then...it gets boring. My advice to those bored with their set routines, or starting fitness as their New Years Resolution, set a goal. Whether it is to walk a 5k or complete an Ironman, it does not matter, just set something! When there is an end goal in sight your mind seems to work on an entirely different level (well, mine does at least!) ; and the best part about it all, is the way you feel when you cross that finish line. A true high, like you can conquer just about anything!
On that note...maybe I should make The Ride to Conquer Cancer a must for this year. Anyone in??
One last note: my experience has been that when you have people to train with, it makes the journey to the end more exciting and memorable.
"Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes." ~unknown
"Arriving at one goal is the starting point of another."~John Dewey
"It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help."~ Epicurious
2010 was an amazing year for new athletic feats for me. I learnt how to road ride, competed in the Oliver Half Ironman (my first triathlon EVER), ran my second marathon, it was a successful year. And now, with nothing set in the near future, I am feeling competition withdrawal. I need to set some goals!
You see, I began to really like this competitive side of things when I was pregnant for the first time with our son, Kai. My dad offered out a trip to New York if my husband or I ran the marathon...and so, once Kai was born, I started running. My first marathon and my first taste of competition (since my high school days of track and dance). And then, there was pregnancy number two, Sienna. While pregnant, I decided I was going to do the Oliver Half Ironman...never having done a tri before I figured, why not: go big or go home, right!?
And now, NO I AM NOT PREGNANT AGAIN, I would like to set some goals for 2011 and see where my athletic endeavors can take me this year.
Some things I am throwing around, but haven't yet committed to are:
The Dirty Duo Ultra Trail Run, Vancouver BMO Marathon, Oliver Half Ironman, The Ride to Conquer Cancer, Gran Fondo and the NYC Marathon. Yes a feat to carry out all considering I have a family at home AND that fact that they all cost money to enter. So I am trying to decide out of all these thoughts floating in my mind at the moment, which ones would give me the greatest satisfaction in not only completing but in training for.
Any of you out there have advice on you past races that you would like to pass on? Why was it your best and why should I do it!?
I have this problem when it comes with exercise. I truly love to workout, but HATE doing it if I don't have something to work towards. I feel like I am just running in a circle or pushing weights up and down just because; and then...it gets boring. My advice to those bored with their set routines, or starting fitness as their New Years Resolution, set a goal. Whether it is to walk a 5k or complete an Ironman, it does not matter, just set something! When there is an end goal in sight your mind seems to work on an entirely different level (well, mine does at least!) ; and the best part about it all, is the way you feel when you cross that finish line. A true high, like you can conquer just about anything!
On that note...maybe I should make The Ride to Conquer Cancer a must for this year. Anyone in??
One last note: my experience has been that when you have people to train with, it makes the journey to the end more exciting and memorable.
"Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes." ~unknown
"Arriving at one goal is the starting point of another."~John Dewey
"It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help."~ Epicurious
Friday, January 7, 2011
Private Parts
It's the things that come out a child's mouth that can truly brighten your day. Children seem to make all the sense in the world and at the same time, no sense at all! They are so innocent and yet so guilty. And one thing that is for sure, they are VERY honest...and at the best of times, those honest moments lead to a smile, a laugh, and maybe a much-needed conversation.
Kai is quickly creeping up to 3! Hard to believe that in April I will have a three year-old. And with growing, his vocabulary as well as questions are starting to fly out of his mouth. I thought a few recent ones had to be shared. I hope they brighten your moment as much as they did mine.
A few days before Christmas, I was in my closet getting dressed to head out. I had our nanny that day, and the kids were both with her...until I heard a pitter-patter of feet running up the stairs. Kai was going to hang out with me until I left, apparently. So I started to get dressed. The next thing that happened...
"Mommy...?...You have no pee-pee!??"
Oh my gosh! Before I could respond with any form of an adult like answer, I burst into an abundance of laughter. And with the laughter came another
"Mommy...?...You have no pee-pee!??"
And after the second time, he ran out of the closet, hoped on the chair in our room, and continued watching cartoons.
This left me with many thoughts in my head. The first being, I guess shower time and dressing time is over in-front of my two and a half year-old son! The second was, wow what a great observation. And third was how maybe next time something like that happens I should have a prepared answer opposed to a morning ab workout :-)
He hasn't said anything again since, and he hasn't asked, but I have said "girl" and "boy" a lot more often and using his sister as an example to being different then he is. It is a funny thing, private parts and kids. And with both a son and a daughter, it is amazing how different they are in observation. Sienna is almost 16 months and I swear has noticed differences since the time she could walk, around 11 months. I have this time frame as a note because it was when I would be changing Kai's diaper that I would hear her little feet making their way down the hall in enough time to attempt to grab Kai's "privacy" as he would call it, before the diaper was put back on. Yes, she made us both laugh with this attempt, but also made be realize that she was being very observant of the differences. Until lately, Kai hasn't given any thought to his own "privacy," as Sienna will always try to grab her's as I change her diaper. Kai's form of self discovery lately has been with toys being shoved down his pants! What!?? Oh the things they do!
So my lesson, to answer more questions for my kids and to maybe read a few more books on the subject of girl vs boy.
December 16th brought another moment for me when I had to take Kai to the Doctor's office. We had a morning just me and him, which was so nice because that really doesn't happen very often. We went to Starbucks where he enjoyed a hot chocolate, that I am sure was 50% whip-cream! Then with his backpack back on his back, we crossed the street in time for his appointment. On a side note, Kai never thought much of his backpack until his amazing Uncle came over to visit him one day, and he was wearing his backpack. Now, Kai will not leave the house without one. So now in the waiting room, with a CLEAN diaper, I am trying to keep Kai entertained as we await the arrival of the Doctor. And then, just as I began to smell something, Kai came out with a comment:
Kai is quickly creeping up to 3! Hard to believe that in April I will have a three year-old. And with growing, his vocabulary as well as questions are starting to fly out of his mouth. I thought a few recent ones had to be shared. I hope they brighten your moment as much as they did mine.
A few days before Christmas, I was in my closet getting dressed to head out. I had our nanny that day, and the kids were both with her...until I heard a pitter-patter of feet running up the stairs. Kai was going to hang out with me until I left, apparently. So I started to get dressed. The next thing that happened...
"Mommy...?...You have no pee-pee!??"
Oh my gosh! Before I could respond with any form of an adult like answer, I burst into an abundance of laughter. And with the laughter came another
"Mommy...?...You have no pee-pee!??"
And after the second time, he ran out of the closet, hoped on the chair in our room, and continued watching cartoons.
This left me with many thoughts in my head. The first being, I guess shower time and dressing time is over in-front of my two and a half year-old son! The second was, wow what a great observation. And third was how maybe next time something like that happens I should have a prepared answer opposed to a morning ab workout :-)
He hasn't said anything again since, and he hasn't asked, but I have said "girl" and "boy" a lot more often and using his sister as an example to being different then he is. It is a funny thing, private parts and kids. And with both a son and a daughter, it is amazing how different they are in observation. Sienna is almost 16 months and I swear has noticed differences since the time she could walk, around 11 months. I have this time frame as a note because it was when I would be changing Kai's diaper that I would hear her little feet making their way down the hall in enough time to attempt to grab Kai's "privacy" as he would call it, before the diaper was put back on. Yes, she made us both laugh with this attempt, but also made be realize that she was being very observant of the differences. Until lately, Kai hasn't given any thought to his own "privacy," as Sienna will always try to grab her's as I change her diaper. Kai's form of self discovery lately has been with toys being shoved down his pants! What!?? Oh the things they do!
So my lesson, to answer more questions for my kids and to maybe read a few more books on the subject of girl vs boy.
December 16th brought another moment for me when I had to take Kai to the Doctor's office. We had a morning just me and him, which was so nice because that really doesn't happen very often. We went to Starbucks where he enjoyed a hot chocolate, that I am sure was 50% whip-cream! Then with his backpack back on his back, we crossed the street in time for his appointment. On a side note, Kai never thought much of his backpack until his amazing Uncle came over to visit him one day, and he was wearing his backpack. Now, Kai will not leave the house without one. So now in the waiting room, with a CLEAN diaper, I am trying to keep Kai entertained as we await the arrival of the Doctor. And then, just as I began to smell something, Kai came out with a comment:
Sunday, January 2, 2011
To another year of love, laughter, tears and joy...goodbye 2010, hello 2011.
With 2010 now two days in the past I sit here reminiscing it in its entirety. With the question being posed, "was 2010 a good year," and "what was the best part" I am still dumbfounded in how to answer these questions. 2010 brought me much adversity, tears, laughter, love, joy and hope. Without the downs I know that I would not be where I am today nor be the person those struggles turned me into being. I thank the downs and the struggles for developing me into who I am today and allowing me to find the strength in myself to prove that I can do it.
January 2010 started with a bang, in Maui to be exact...how could that go wrong! Celebrating the New Year with my husband, our two kids as well as my in-laws, Maui is a tradition that we enjoy every other year. For that, we are very thankful.
Coming home from this family vacation we returned to my in-laws home to live where we had lived for the better half of the year. Awaiting our new home build was a feat that found us finding an inner strength and new-found sense of self and family as we entered their home as a family of three and exited May 2010 as a family of four. Through our living situations and a new baby, once we found peace in our own home, we found struggles in our marriage. I know through having had Kai, that babies change you. They change what you previously lived for, but they also change your relationship as you know it with your partner. And yes, this happened with my husband and I. But the second time round, with Sienna being born, we had a different adversity to add to the normal, living in a home that wasn't ours, with a one and a half-year old and a newborn. Our distance from each other set in to a more noticeable issue once we were on our own grounds.
After all of our excitements surrounding moving into our new home and accomplishing our goal of the Oliver Half Ironman, we began facing our issues as we delved deep into who we are, who we are as a couple, and who it is we want to be: individually, together and as a family. Our findings are and continue to be ironically similar! It is funny how communication is such a simple daily thing and yet in a relationship often times is the first thing to go and where the breakdown begins. Ryan and I aren't new to the world of being together. We have been together now for eleven and a half years, married for five and a half. Yet when our story together began, we were young; throughout the years we have grown and changed, much of it together and surprisingly, much of it alone. This is where the communication has come into play. We were feeling alone. Alone yet always surrounded by one another or one of our children. Ironic isn't it. You can feel alone and sad and yet be sitting beside the one person you wish would understand you most. And so we talked...we talked ourselves through sessions of therapy, evenings at home, phone calls and texts. And now we keep talking, but there is a primary difference, we talk because we know the other person wants to listen and is receptive to hearing the other ones thoughts. Be it a negative or a positive, that's why we are together; to help one another through the good and the bad "through sickness and health" and simply put, because I love him and now I know, he loves me too.
I am hoping that this blog won't pose a "negative conversation" between us now! Lol. I write this because I am thankful for the months, the years, of ups and downs we have faced because here we are at the beginning of a new year stronger than we have ever been. I know that most people face adversity in their relationships at some point or another, and through my experience, there is hope and there are options...but you have to be open to listening. Communication is an amazing world and for us, it works.
So now, with the start of 2011, I am looking forward to a new year filled with many new adventures, goals, love, laughter and fun. I know that there will be struggles, but I am beginning to look at them differently. Now instead of the struggles dictating my life, I am going to do my best to find the lesson in them.
2010 held many positives as well, don't get me wrong! Kai turned 2, Sienna turned 1, we had our 5 year wedding anniversary, we moved, I beat me husband in Oliver ;-), Maui, Mexico, Vegas, Italy, Arizona, Seattle Marathon, Christmas in our new home...MANY moments to be thankful for.
Thank you 2010 for showing me that I am stronger than I gave myself credit for; for holding amazing memories of our children and family, and for a year that came with challenges to make sure we enjoy 2011 that much more.
"Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it."
Mother Teresa
~Happy New Year~
Thank you to the love of my life for showing me compassion, understanding, patience and most of all, love. To an amazing 2011 with much to look forward to, together.
January 2010 started with a bang, in Maui to be exact...how could that go wrong! Celebrating the New Year with my husband, our two kids as well as my in-laws, Maui is a tradition that we enjoy every other year. For that, we are very thankful.
Coming home from this family vacation we returned to my in-laws home to live where we had lived for the better half of the year. Awaiting our new home build was a feat that found us finding an inner strength and new-found sense of self and family as we entered their home as a family of three and exited May 2010 as a family of four. Through our living situations and a new baby, once we found peace in our own home, we found struggles in our marriage. I know through having had Kai, that babies change you. They change what you previously lived for, but they also change your relationship as you know it with your partner. And yes, this happened with my husband and I. But the second time round, with Sienna being born, we had a different adversity to add to the normal, living in a home that wasn't ours, with a one and a half-year old and a newborn. Our distance from each other set in to a more noticeable issue once we were on our own grounds.
After all of our excitements surrounding moving into our new home and accomplishing our goal of the Oliver Half Ironman, we began facing our issues as we delved deep into who we are, who we are as a couple, and who it is we want to be: individually, together and as a family. Our findings are and continue to be ironically similar! It is funny how communication is such a simple daily thing and yet in a relationship often times is the first thing to go and where the breakdown begins. Ryan and I aren't new to the world of being together. We have been together now for eleven and a half years, married for five and a half. Yet when our story together began, we were young; throughout the years we have grown and changed, much of it together and surprisingly, much of it alone. This is where the communication has come into play. We were feeling alone. Alone yet always surrounded by one another or one of our children. Ironic isn't it. You can feel alone and sad and yet be sitting beside the one person you wish would understand you most. And so we talked...we talked ourselves through sessions of therapy, evenings at home, phone calls and texts. And now we keep talking, but there is a primary difference, we talk because we know the other person wants to listen and is receptive to hearing the other ones thoughts. Be it a negative or a positive, that's why we are together; to help one another through the good and the bad "through sickness and health" and simply put, because I love him and now I know, he loves me too.
I am hoping that this blog won't pose a "negative conversation" between us now! Lol. I write this because I am thankful for the months, the years, of ups and downs we have faced because here we are at the beginning of a new year stronger than we have ever been. I know that most people face adversity in their relationships at some point or another, and through my experience, there is hope and there are options...but you have to be open to listening. Communication is an amazing world and for us, it works.
So now, with the start of 2011, I am looking forward to a new year filled with many new adventures, goals, love, laughter and fun. I know that there will be struggles, but I am beginning to look at them differently. Now instead of the struggles dictating my life, I am going to do my best to find the lesson in them.
2010 held many positives as well, don't get me wrong! Kai turned 2, Sienna turned 1, we had our 5 year wedding anniversary, we moved, I beat me husband in Oliver ;-), Maui, Mexico, Vegas, Italy, Arizona, Seattle Marathon, Christmas in our new home...MANY moments to be thankful for.
Thank you 2010 for showing me that I am stronger than I gave myself credit for; for holding amazing memories of our children and family, and for a year that came with challenges to make sure we enjoy 2011 that much more.
"Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it."
Mother Teresa
~Happy New Year~
Thank you to the love of my life for showing me compassion, understanding, patience and most of all, love. To an amazing 2011 with much to look forward to, together.
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