A Christmas Gift

This is one of my very favourite songs from my very favourite Chistmas movie. The fact that it is set to Harry Potter is icing on the cake.

Wishing you and yours a safe and happy Holiday.

How many sleeps?

I am sick of Christmas knitting. I don't want to look at FIL's gift anymore. The yarn and needles are small and if I push myself I feel pain. I must resign myself to the fact that this will be a Happy New Year gift. Perhaps a Ukrainian Christmas gift. SIL's gift is on the home stretch but I am tired of it as well. What's a girl to do?

I chose the selfish route. I have two beautiful balls of new yarn vying for my attention. A ball of fiery Malabrigo and a ball of Fleece Artist Curlylocks in Rainbow Brite colors. According to the nice lady who sold it to me, the Fleece Artist has enough yardage to make a shawl. I am sceptical, but really a shawl that is too small easily turns into a triangle-shaped scarf. I cast on. I am using one of Yarn Harlot's Increasing Triangle Shawl recipes. It is going to be so purty. I will have to buy a sundress to match it since it will probably be summer by the time I finish it.

I tried to trim Emmett's hair yesterday. What an ordeal. I warned him first. "You need a haircut. We are going to cut your hair." He shook his head "No." I turned on his favourite TV show, Poko and positioned his chair in front of the TV. I got out the clippers and he disappeared into his room for a minute. He reappeared with a blanket over his head. I removed the blanket and wrestled with him long enough to trim around his ears. Thankfully that was all it took to make him look a bit more presentable. I am going to try to cut Richard's hair next, but we will do it at a time when Emmett can watch. I want him to see that Daddy doesn't scream and fight and that wrestling is not usually part of the haircut process. Richard promised to behave as long as I give him a cookie afterward.

We survived the Christmas Pageant. Despite the fact that only two kids and one mom showed up to rehearse the day before, it turned out remarkably well. I have many notes to make next year's better. The party afterward was great fun. Covering the priest in toilet paper and dressing him like a snowman was a hit, as was the gingerbread man decorating table. I get a couple of weeks off from Sunday School duties now, so I feel like a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. All I need to do for the next couple of weeks is keep the nursery supplied with colouring pages.

Two more Christmas gifts to buy and I am all done! What do pre-adolescent girls like these days? We have yet to put up our tree, but that will be happening in the next day or two. Even though I am not done my shopping and have not even begun to wrap gifts, I am feeling remarkably calm.

It's a good thing she is cute part 2...

Today is Tuesday. Tuesdays are for cleaning house. I started the morning by scrubbing the bathroom after my shower. After everyone got up I started putting away laundry. I stayed in Emmett's room to put away toys. He was in my room watching TV and Char was....where was Char?

I wandered around the house, calling her name. The bathroom doors were closed so I walked past them and down the stairs. No Char on the main floor, no Char in my room or in the other two bedrooms. Oh. No.

I opened the bathroom door and there was Charlotte sitting in front of an open cabinet. The tub of Vaseline was open on her lap. She was so, so shiny. Her hair had handfuls in it and her shirt was saturated.

I stripped her down and set her in the tub. I combed out as much of the goo from her hair as I could. I then tried to shampoo her hair. The shampoo didn't even lather. I tried bubble bath, then dandruff shampoo, then dish detergent. At this point she has been in the tub so long we are running out of hot water and she is almost hoarse from crying. Thankfully the layer of Vaseline has protected her skin from drying out at all--the water was just beading up on her. I take her out of the tub, towel her off and she snuggles in to me. She falls asleep on my shoulder (leaving a grease print) as I fire up all mighty Google. I also take a moment to listen to her lungs with my stethoscope to assuage any worry that she might have inhaled some Vaseline while she was styling her hair. She is nice and pink and the air was wooshing into her lungs.

This lady came to my rescue. After a nap and the hot water tank fills up again, we will try the cornstarch.

Stay tuned...

Crunch time.

To do this week:

• Wash, block and fringe step-MIL's gift
• Buy gift card for cousin
• Call friend who makes juice bag purses and buy two for cousins
  
• Wrap gifts to send to family Christmas dinner this weekend (aunt, uncle, cousins) not going to happen
  
• Make Pumpkin-chai mini loaves to take to in law Christmas dinner
  
• Wrap gag gift to take to In law Christmas dinner
• Find costumes and props for church Christmas pageant
• Finish Sunday School Christmas gifts (nine more to go)
• Finish Sunday School Christmas crafts (maybe??)
• Figure out a craft for Sunday School Christmas party
• Run Christmas pagent rehearsal. Only two kids and one mom showed up. WTF????
  
• Hem pants for Christmas party and In law dinner. Add fix Emmett's crappy cheap-ass winter coat....again.
  

To do before Christmas

• Seal birdhouse for Mom
• Finish FIL gift maybe for Ukrainian Christmas?
  
• Make one or two more dishcloths for MIL?/s>
• Finish wrist warmers for SIL (half of one go go)
• Buy battery for another Christmas gift
• Help Santa find stocking stuffers for Richard and rugrats<

Miscellaneous
<

Don't catch stomach flu that every other member of the family has caught, including the dog.

Cook, clean, laundry, etc.

Bang!

We are sitting in the living room. Emmett has a slice of cheese in his hand. He has nibbled it into the shape of a gun and is pointing it at The Backyardigans. Tangent: we have never given him a toy gun, we don't play with guns. How does he know to do this??? End Tangent. I am pretty sure he just said "Bang".

Emmett's first word is Bang.

No kidding.

They

"They" say a lot of things. They say things that undermine your confidence and judgement. They are particularly vocal when it comes to raising children. They like to make charts and schedules and if You don't measure up to the expectations then You are are suddenly scrutinized and comments are made. I have learned to ignore them most of the time.

I turn a blind ear to comments regarding my kid's size. (Yes, they are very tall for their age. I put Miracle Grow in their breakfast every morning.) They don't say much about Emmett's speech since They don't spend enough time with him to really notice. He is quite skilled at making his needs known and those who love him are skilled at anticipating his needs and reading his signs so it is not immediately obvious that he doesn't speak. If comments are made, They are easily quieted with a quick "No, our therapist says he is not Autistic. Hey! Did you hear the Jets left Winnipeg?"

They do notice the diaper sticking out of the back of his jeans. They say that a child should be potty trained by 3-1/2. DVDs about potty training are on the way. I have the potty, the Spiderman undies, the bribes, (Smarties are the currency of choice in this house)and the 3-1/2 year old. I have the 3-1/2 year old who fights the potty and shakes his head no at the Spiderman undies. My insecurities about my mothering abilities start sneaking in, their voices whispering.

I call a good friend. She is a breast feeding counsellor. She is good at telling Them to back off. She reminds me that They don't know Emmett. Emmett knows when Emmett is ready, not Them. The whispers are quieting down.

I'm Sorry.

I am sorry if I created undue excitement with the title of my previous post. Emmett is not saying any words yet, but he has made great strides in the recent past. I think he is starting to get a handle on his motor planning difficulties. His vocabulary of signs is increasing, he is more willing to do the actions along with the little songs we sing (Slippery Fish is a favourite) and he is making more varied sounds. There are actual vowels and consonats peppering his babble now. I am ever hopeful we will be conversing soon.

We survived two birthday parties today. Emm was burned out by the first one and at the second one retreated to the basement to enjoy some toys alone, but Char got right into the spirit of things. During a game that involved dancing, she took off her shirt and ran right into the middle of the circle to show off her moves. This will cease to be cute when she is fifteen, maybe sooner. I think I am going to have to learn to say no to invitations if there are two in one day--Emmett just can't handle the excitement. I think he takes after his father that way--he stayed home for the second one to enjoy a quiet house all to himself. I took a few notes that I will have to remember for next year's parties. Cheryl, the host of the second party set the bar pretty high with her cool games and thoughtfully personalized treat bags. Charlotte found the crayons particularly tasty.

Well, I have two sleeping children, a husband out of the house and a girl movie in the DVD player. It is time to get out my knitting. Good Night!

Polygamy, Dr. Phil, Emmett's First Word

Have you ever had a dream that makes you feel exhausted when you wake up? I went through the wringer last night. This will sound psycho, but I need to get it out.

Here goes...
The dream started out pretty boring, Richard and the kids were there and we were going about our every day life. Things got wierd when two other women showed up with their kids. Richard's other wives. In this dream life he had convinced me it would be ok to become polygamists. So, now there are four adults and assorted children (I only ever saw Emm and Char clearly--the other children were shadows) going about their daily lives while I am feeling more and more sad, confused and jealous. I am crying--maybe for real, but in my dream I am in anguish. I confront Richard. I ask him to make a choice: Me and our children, or the other wives and their children. He chooses them. I am now a mess. I can feel my brow furrowing and my jaw and head aches but I cannot wake up. The dream goes on with me wondering what to do with my life now that I am alone with the children. I don't know where to begin. I am crying. Suddenly the channel changes and I am in a gymnasium with Dr. Phil and children all around. There is a foam pit like the ones in gymnastics classes. The kids are flying into it and Dr. Phil is berating me for something but I can't understand what he is saying. I am telling him I want to homeschool my kids. His words make no sense. Emmett is standing beside me watching the kids fly into the foam pit. Out of the blue he says "Jump! Jump!"

It took a long time for the clouds to clear from my brain when Emmett woke me up this morning. I was sad and tired and upset. I have been feeling a little disconnected all day. What do these dreams mean? It's been a year since we have had the TV cable cancelled.
I haven't seen an episode of Dr. Phil in many months.

Am I going crazy????