Update

Allrighty. Richard spoke with Emmett's principal. Wouldn't you know it? A helper for Emmett has fallen out of the sky. He can start school with everyone else.

This battle has been won.

I have a feeling we are just at the beginning of the war.

I sounds like my school division is run by a bunch of lazy bums. I spoke with a friend today who is in a similar situation. Our stories are virtually identical, just change the names of the school and the student.

I reserved a copy of The Well Trained Mind from our local library today.

And so it begins.......

......The battle to get Emmett what he needs.

I got a call from the Resource Teacher at Emmett's school yesterday. They want to delay his entry to school for at least two weeks. Reason? They haven't started looking for a helper for him yet.

WHAT? So, the forms I filled out, the meetings I went to, the conferences I had LAST WINTER were a big waste of time? I thought I did all of those things LAST WINTER so that there would be ample time to get Emmett's help lined up in time to start kindergarten with everyone else.

I shook my head, went to playgroup with a funny feeling in my gut. I talked about it with the other moms there. My instincts were right. This is not acceptable. Missing the first two weeks when all the social circles are formed is bad news. I phoned Richard I asked him to phone the school back using his Landlord Voice. (He is better at getting answers than I am when dealing with beurcrats) He got voicemail.

Later on in the day (after I found some second hand homeschooling curriculum to buy) I got a call from his teacher. She explained to me that they have been searching for someone who knows Sign Language and they are having a hard time with it. I told her with recent developments that probably won't be necessary. Emmett hardly signs anymore. We meet the teacher next week. Richard speaks with the Principal today.

Ugh. Is this just a taste of what having Emmett in public school is going to be? I am seriously doubting the wisdom of my decision to throw Emmett to the Public School System wolves now.

I still want those books, Wendy!!!!

(In happier news I am off to buy Char tap and ballet shoes right now. She is going to be soooooo cute in dance class!!!)

Emmett after his breakthrough.

Here is a link to the video I made of him before his breakthrough. You can really notice the huge leap he has made.

Changes.

It is the end of August. The past couple of mornings have had a real nip in the air. You can smell fall coming. I can feel a new surge of energy.

I love the fall. I love the smell of new school supplies. My fingers are itching to knit again now that my yarn won't stick to me.

Life is changing around here. Emmett had his last two therapy appointments this week. When school starts he will get his therapy there from now on. I have bought his school supplies and meet his teacher next week. Charlotte is going to preschool. We went to the store and she picked out new shoes and a backpack that she can hardly wait to use. Matthew turns one next week.

My life has been all about babies and toddlers for the past few years. It is time for me to switch gears. Some days I am excited about the changes and other days I am sad and wistful. I have loved snuggling my fresh new babies, looking into their eyes and seeing nothing but hope and promises. I wondered what they would be like, who they would be. The changes are coming faster now. They challenge me. The push me. They require more energy than ever. I am getting more sleep than I ever have, but it is not enough! I am exhausted by the end of the day!

How can they grow so fast??

Something amazing happened at Grandpa and Grandma's

So, guess who came home from two weeks with the grandparents speaking IN SENTENCES?????

I am seriously stunned. I am in awe every day that he has been home at what my guy has been saying to me. So many things have been on his mind. Today we went for a walk and he looked down at Matthew in the stroller and said "Matthew. Was in your tummy. Now he is out." I told Emm that he had been in my tummy once too and he said "Yes. Now I am grown up."

So many times a day I am fighting back happy tears.

Matthew's new room.

It is amazing what a little change in colour can do to a room.

Grandma is working nights.....

Everyone is home safe and sound. Taller, tanner and with gorgeous sunbleached highlights. Emmett's vocabulary has exploded since he left. It is astounding how much he can communicate now. I am stunned and in awe. Charlotte is her normal, hilarious self. She sang halfway home last night.
We visited my aunt's new house today. I shot this video in her backyard. Hopefully it won't be blocked at my mom's work, like Youtube is.

You Like Me, You Really Like Me!

Wendy, of Athena Academy has bestowed upon me this fun award. She thinks I am funny. I am very flattered and appreciate the blog-love. I will do my best to pass the love along.

But first, I must work for my award.....
A. attached or single? Attached.

B. best friend? In order of seniority. First: Robin. We have been friends since the fifth grade. She knows everything there is to know about me and she loves me anyway. Next? Richard. He has seen me grow up from the insecure little pinhead University student he first met in the school pub to the mostly grown up woman I am now. We make cute babies together.

C. cake or pie? Pie! Preferably apple with cheese, please.

D. day of choice? Hmmm....well, there is Monday when I get to spend time with my crafty mommy friends, or Thursday when our sainted respite worker comes over so Richard and I can have time together......I can't narrow it down.

E. essential item? My glasses. I am completely helpless without them.

F. favorite color? Today? Green. Bright leafy happy green.

G. gummy bears or worms? Well, if you twisted my arm, I would say gummy bears, but neither are very tempting to me.

H. hometown? A Prairie town in Manitoba.

I. favorite indulgence? Deep fried cheesecake with berry coulis.

J. January or July? January. Under a blanket with my knitting and a big cup of coffee.

K. kids? Yep. Three. Unless I suffer a Critical Birth Control Failure, then who knows???

L. life isn't complete without? Love.

M. marriage date? September 21. We celebrate 6 years of wedded bliss this year.

N. number of brothers & sisters? One younger brother.

O. oranges or apples? Apples

P. phobias? Ladders, snakes, tornadoes, small spaces. Not necessarily in that order. Ask me about the heart attack I had while I steadied a ladder over our open stairwell so Richard could tape the ceiling for painting.

Q. quotes? "Never let fear and common-sense stop you."

R. reasons to smile? The doctors said my boy wouldn't talk. He can now string together a simple sentence. In English.

S. season of choice? Autumn. I love watching the seasons change. To me the new year starts in September.

T. tag seven peeps! Do I have to tag seven? Really? What happens if I don't???

U. unknown fact about me? It wouldn't be unknown if I typed it here, now would it??

V. vegetable? Corn on the cob

W. worst habits? I am a terrible housekeeper.

X. x-ray or ultrasound? Neither one bother me.

Y. your favorite food?Beef. An awesome cheeseburger or a perfectly medium rare steak, or my mom's pot roast. I loves me some cow.

Z. zodiac sign? Sensitive, psychic Pisces. I am a gifted Tarot card reader and I blame my sign. I married an Ares to keep me grounded.

OK, I am tagging:

Tara because she keeps me giggling.

April because she has a big heart and she is so very sweet.

Mommy Jo because her boys are so cute and I love hearing about their adventures

Neo Hippy Housewife because she keeps me from selling my kids on Ebay several times a week.

Nifty Nadine because we have the most stimulating conversations and I am curious to see what her answers would be .

How bout if you want to do the meme just post a link to your blog in my comments. This was fun to do.

What? Still Painting??

Well, the kids will be back in two days. Richard is still painting up a storm. We settled on a colour for the stairwell, (warm taupe) and just because we are crazy we decided to paint Matthew's room too (lime freckle).

Matthew has not been missing his brother and sister at all. Since they have been gone he has decided to practice walking. He isn't there yet, but he will pull himself up to standing on anything he can and will cruise along. His little personality has blossomed and he is really turning into a funny little guy. When we were at the paint store this morning he tried to flirt with a little girl there. He grinned at her, shook my keys at her and made silly faces. All of his best moves. She remained stone-faced. It was funny to see him trying so hard to impress this girl. Her mother and I had a good laugh over it.

Matthew has also started helping us with the chores. He is very concerned about Lucy being well-fed and is frequently heading into the pantry to make sure her dish is full. He also enjoys helping me load and unload the dishwasher. It is never too early to start good habits, I think!
I am really starting to miss Emmett and Charlotte. I bought Emmett's school supplies today and got a little pang in my heart. I had a friend over yesterday and when her two children had a minor skirmish on my living room floor I wasn't annoyed by the noise, it just made me miss my crew a little more.

Two more sleeps.....must keep painting!!

I Need Your Help!

View of stairs from the front entry

View of stairwell from dining room

Kitchen yellow next to lilac powder room

Upstairs hallway (bonus question 1: where should we stop painting on the wall with the window?)

Yes, You. Loyal readers. We have one more weekend until the kids get home. We have one more place to paint to finish up. My problem? I don't know what colour to choose. This is where you come in. I need some advice, please!

I want to paint our stairwell. Here is the thing: once we start painting I think we need to continue it all the way down the upstairs hallway.

So far we have a chocolate milk colour on the living room and dining room walls, lilac in the powder room and front entry, and yellow in the kitchen.

Should I use one of the colours we already have? I think a purple stairwell and hallway would be too much. Do I use the yellow? Should I continue with the brown, or will that get too dark? What if we lightened the tone? I don't know what to do! Look at the pictures and tell me what you think, please!

Death of the Yardsale?

I did all the right things. Three ads. One in print and two online. I highlighted items of interest in the ad (maternity clothes! baby swing! dishes!). I sorted the clothes by size and gender, pinning sets together. I matched shoes and socks. I made sure everything was clean. I posted signs on my street and tied balloons to my trees.

I sold more stuff to friends the day before the sale than on the day of the sale and that isn't saying much. All told, for a week of sweat and toil I made 95 dollars. I won't break that down into an hourly wage because that would be too depressing. On the upside, my house is decluttered and my clothes are sorted so I can try to resell them. My maternity wear and key items are already online and selling. Donations have been made to the local women's shelter and second hand store. (Hint: women's shelters go nuts for baby carseats)

I am wondering two things: Do people wait for garage sales to pass because they know they can poach the leftovers on freecycle now? Has eBay killed the yard sale?

All I know is, I have learned my lesson. From now on all of my yardsales will be held on the internet.

Do you think that the fact that my baby gear didn't sell is a cosmic sign that we really should have another baby?

Everything you need to know.....

.....You can find out from a waiter.

What? What is that you say?

Richard taught me this early in our relationship. He treats waitstaff in restaurants like gold. He is kind, polite and tips well. When he jokes with female staff he never ever comes off creepy or skeevy. He told me early on in our relationship that waiters know everything.

I have seen the truth. When we visited Nova Scotia and PEI a couple of summers ago we befriended a great waiter at a sweet Irish-style pub across the street from our hotel. If we wanted to know where the best sights were, where to shop and where to eat, we asked him. The lovely lady at Cora's Breakfast and Lunch told us where to find the best lobster dinner on PEI. (New Glasgow Lobster Suppers, if you are curious)

Anyway, Richard proved himself right yet again.

Yesterday I went to the paint store to ponder my options. I had green on my mind. A bright, leafy sagey green for my living room and dining room. I picked up the paint chips and then moseyed down the block to my favourite coffee shop. I had left one of Matthew's bottles there the previous week and needed to pick it up. It wasn't busy so I chatted with the owner about our decorating plans. I showed her my colours and told her about the other colours in my house. She pointed out that lilac, yellow, and green would make my house look like and Easter egg. She then drew my attention to the fact that one of the greens I picked out looked kind of like a colour you would see in a hospital. I looked again. She was right. I picked out a colour usually only seen on surgical scrubs. I couldn't get that image out of my mind. I went back to the paint store. I bought a gallon of something called Pink Peppercorn. It is the colour of chocolate milk.

I tried a test patch on my dining room wall. You can see the lemony yellow next to it and it is lovely. It reminds me of sunflowers. My kitchen does evoke an Easter egg when you see the lilac and yellow together, but I can live with that.

So, if you ever need advice on anything, just ask the proprietor of a coffee shop or a waiter. Rest assured they will be right.

EDITED TO ADD: The lemony yellow I am talking about? It's in my kitchen. I realized that I didn't mention that. So. Kitchen: Yellow. Front Entranceway and Powder room: Lilac. Living Room and Dining Room: Chocolate Milk brown.

I told Richard that the coffee shop owner picked the brown and he didn't look surprised.

Freedom! (Sort of)

Well, I packed some bags, loaded up some kids and drove down the highway to a predetermined rendezvous point. We met Grandpa and Auntie. We ate some fast food. I gave Emmett and Charlotte to Grandpa and Auntie. They are off to have wild adventures for two weeks. I am now the parent of an only child. (For two weeks)

What have I done with my sort-of vacation so far?

• Made breakfast with minimal screaming and no refereeing of wrestling matches.
• Cleaned Emmett and Charlotte's room. It has been a full 20 minutes since I put all of the toys away and they are still on the shelves.
• I downloaded videos of the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra and geeked out uninterrupted.
  

What's next?

• Choosing a paint colour for the living room and dining room. Summer picnic? Topiary green??
• Choosing a sewing project to work on during nap times.
  
• Possibly planning a yard sale.
• Knitting. (Yes it is August. I can knit. My house is blessedly cool, even without air conditioning)

It is too quiet in here.

Losing my Religion?

I was raised in the United Church of Canada. I went to Sunday School, sang in the Junior Choir, took Conformation classes. I married into the Anglican Church of Canada. My babies were baptized in an Anglican Church. I taught Sunday School at an Anglican Church.

I didn't grow up in a family that put a lot of focus on religion. I saw the Bible on our bookshelf (King James version) but I never saw my parents read it. We celebrated Easter the secular way, with the Easter bunny and chocolate. We went to church on Christmas because my brother and I were in the pageant. The Nativity set my mom made in ceramics class came out every Christmas to decorate the fireplace mantle.

I always thought Christianity was pretty simple. God created the Universe and everything in it. Jesus died on the cross to save me from my sins. Easter and Christmas were celebrated every year with special foods and gifts. Be nice, share your toys and go to Heaven when you die.

Then I grew up. I went to other churches besides the one I grew up in. I found out there are many flavours of Christian out there. Every church has it's own set of rules and own way of interpreting the Bible. Some churches think gay marriage is ok. Some churches want the women to wear headscarves and long skirts. Some churches ordain women and some do not. Some churches baptize babies and some churches baptize adults. Some churches believe that you need to be Saved to get to heaven. Some churches believe you are saved by Grace. Who is right? Am I right? Are you right?
Some people use the Bible as a template for how they live. Have you read it lately? Have you noticed how many inconsitancies there are? How do you know which rules to follow?? The Ten Commandments are a good place to start, but do I have to put four tassels on the corners of all of my scarves? (Deuteronomy 22-12)

Where does Science fit in? I used beleive that God formed the Universe. He set in motion the wheels of Evolution. Or did he? Is the Christian story of Creation the right one? The Aboriginals have a really interesting and beautiful story. All cultures and religions have their own take. Who is right? Why should I believe that I am right? The Big Bang Theory makes much more logical sense to me.

I am trying to figure out where my questions are coming from. Do I just not believe in God anymore? Or is it that I don't have any faith in organized religion? I love the idea of church. Being a part of a community of people who share the same beliefs is very comforting.

I really need to figure out how I feel so I know what to teach my kids about life. I can't just tell them the answer is 42, can I?

Carnival of Kid's Health

I submitted a post I wrote a while back to The Carnival of Kid's Health.

Why don't you go check it out and see what the other moms have written too?

Didja miss me?

I've been visiting my parents this past week.
It was a long day today traveling so this post isn't going to make much sense.
Here are some random tidbits from the past week:

• My sweet friend Robin and I tried to cruise Main Street like we did in the Olden Days, but it wasn't quite the same in a minivan full of kids.
  
• Emmett and Charlotte played for hours with my friend Tara's kids, which was great because then we had lots of time to catch up.
• While visiting Robin's farm we realized that Emmett is an Indoor Kid as he begged to be left in the house while the rest of us donned rubber boots to tromp through the mud to look at her livestock. Charlotte couldn't wait to get dirty. I see agriculture in her future. (Robin would be so proud!)
• Charlotte didn't want to come home today. Grandma's place is more fun.
• Slide is being dumb and not letting me change the caption for the first picture in the slideshow. It should read: A little hike to blow off steam.
  

This made my day.

The sky is cloudy, the world is grey. I don't want to fold laundry.

This is frickin' genius.

Go. See for yourself.

Slow down, Part Two.

Emmett and I had an actual conversation today. I think this is the first time we have conversed. It was very short and very simple. Yesterday Emmett fell and scraped his knee. I asked him if it still hurt. He said Yes, then reminded me that he fell yesterday and cried.

This conversation took quite a bit of time. Emmett has to think very hard when he speaks. His words come out very slowly and deliberately. You have to listen very hard because most of his words are still pretty hard to understand. Yesterday he showed his dad his new Transformer and actually said the word. RIchard didn't catch it though because he said each syllable seperately, with a big pause in between. (It sounded like three words, but if you strung them together they mostly sounded like Transformer.)

Again, I am reminded to Slow Down. Emmett needs me to stop, look him in the eye and let him finish his thought. It is all too easy for me to put words in his mouth, to speak for him. This will not help us reach our ultimate goal.

Slow down. Breathe. Listen.

Slow down.

This is something I struggle with in my day to day life. When I worked outside of our home I was a nurse in a hospital. For part of my career I worked in the float pool. That meant that I only went where extra help was needed. My days were always busy. I had to keep one eye on the clock at all times lest I miss a medication, treatment, or vital sign. I settled on to a floor eventually but the pace didn't slow down. I worked on an orthopaedic surgical floor. My days were a whirlwind of prepping patients for surgery, taking care of them fresh from the recovery room and assisting with rehabilitaion. My watch was one of the most important things I wore. That, and my nursing shoes. (I didn't catch on to the Croc craze....don't get me started on those!)

When I made the transition to stay at home parent the first thing I did was take off my watch. Here, I don't really need it. If the kids are hungry, it's meal time. If the kids are tired, it's nap time. If the kids are picking on each other, it's go outside time. They tell me what time it is.

I still need constant reminding to slow down. Why do I hurry? There are times we really do need to hurry, when it is time for a therapy appointment, for example. Most of the time though, why do I care if Char takes 10 minutes to put her shoes on? The grocery store is open until 1100 PM. We will get there before it closes. She needs to do things herself. If you rush her she melts down. I need to remind myself that this is how she is learning. 10 minutes to put shoes on today means a child who can dress herself tomorrow. That is one less child for me to dress!

Emmett reminded me of this yesterday. I couldn't see his bedroom floor. There was kind of a funky smell in the air. It was time to really clean up. I had grand plans to tidy his room, vacuum and then meet my friend for our Tuesday walk. (see yesterday's post?)

Emmett does things his own way. His version of tidying was to make the room messier first. He decided to resort and refile all of his toys before putting them away. As I sat on his floor, my blood pressure rising along with the tone of my voice something inside of me snapped. I heard a little voice. It said: "Shhhhh. He's CLEANING." Why was I rushing him? The more I pushed him to do it my way the more he resisted. The more he resisted the more frustrated I got and the less actual cleaning happened.

I sat down. I sorted flashcards. I changed the sheets. I found three sets of dirty pjs balled up in various corners of the room. I opened a window.

Emmett sorted. He showed me various toys. He set aside a box for Charlotte. He found a place for the Matthew toys that had wandered in. He practiced using his new, ever growing vocabulary. I didn't get the vacuuming done. We went for our walk.

You know what? The tumbleweeds of dog hair were still on the stairwell when I got home. The house was still standing, even though I didn't cross that one thing off of my to-do list. I am going to have to vacuum again today anyway.

Do you believe in ghosts?

My friend April works at a college that is taking over the buildings of what used to be a mental hospital in our city. The land is expansive, the buildings grand and beautiful. Some of the buildings date back to the late 1800s when the hospital was known simply as The Asylum for the Insane. Then name changed a couple of times over the decades to reflect changing views on mental health. The facility was so large that it was largely self-sufficient. The people who lived and worked there even grew their own food.

Of course, there is a dark history and lots of ghost stories to go with the facility's past. As a nursing student I was able to read the files of some of the previous residents while on practium at a psychogeriatric facility.

The kids and I meet April regularly and go for walks on her lunch break. One day she discovered this lovely little park. At the time we didn't know it, but it is actually the hospital's cemetary. There isn't a single marked grave. The only hint as to what is in this park is a very small cenotaph. It is quiet and peaceful here and the view across the valley is stunning. Apparently only the very fortunate got buried here. There are former patients buried all over the grounds of the hospital.

This is the stuff ghost stories are made of.