the boredom problem

I have told Sophie and Fynn that I am not a 3 ring circus, a dog and pony show, or a party entertainer. I am their mom. Sometimes they will have to figure out how to entertain themselves. I like what this blogger says about it: we can't expect them to stop saying "I'm bored" but we can expect them to figure out ways to entertain themselves.

We took them to Vernon today for a quick trip. Vic went in to Future Shop to pick up Sophie's birthday gift (the irony of my first paragraph) while I had him drop the 3 of us off at the Vernon branch of the Okanagan Regional Library. I wanted someplace for us to go that did not involve spending money or perpetuating Sophie's "mommy buy me-itis." The library works quite well.

When we got home they got to watch an Authur DVD that the library had. After that Sophie wanted me to construct some type of skyscraper she had seen on TV. While I love the show Art Attack I am not a freakin graphic/industrial/textile designer. I think somehow these shows are presented as easy things that parents can do with their kids when really they are shows that primarily are meant for entertainment. I told her she had a very nice sketch book that she could go draw in. That resulted in heavy pouting but eventually she realized that she better figure this one out on her own since I wasn't about to take on her skyscraper project. Later when she came downstairs in that glumpy way that bored kids do, I said, fine, we can work on some French homework. Not much to be bored about.

friday

Vic and I haven't skied in about 2 years. It is tough to do when Sophie and Fynn are at varying levels in their physical development. Sophie has tried a couple of lessons and seems a bit lukewarm about the whole thing. I think Fynn would enjoy it, but he is not ready in terms of his body size and strength.

So, we booked a day off work (legitimately) and went up to Silver Star with Bryan and Patti. The weather was great - only about minus 1 and clear visibility. Very small lines, too, since it was a Friday. Afterwards we came back home, picked up the kids from daycare, sat in the hot tub, and had dinner.

Here is Sophie making spring rolls with Patti.

torch relay

10 of us crammed into a corner office today on the 3rd floor of our building and watched the Olympic torch relay go by. It was pretty cool. The noise, excitement and general "over-the-topness" of the Olympics. Even in my sometimes cynical thinking about the 2010 games in Vancouver, it is hard not to get into the spirit when the torch goes by.

Speaking of torches, I went to my first Partylite party tonight at Barb's house. Some of the products were quite nice. Part of my goal for this year is saying "yes" to get-togethers like this. It gets me out of the house and around other women who are dealing with kids, work, and the usual stuff of life. Plus, there is always wine :)

olympic cookies

Today I noticed a sign on the daycare indicating that they would be taking kids to see the Olympic torch at city hall as it passes through Salmon Arm tomorrow morning. Hmmm, I thought. Sophie will be in Kindergarten. Do I let her miss a day and send her to daycare so she can go with the kids to see the torch. Yep. The whole torch thing doesn't happen very often and who knows when she will see it again.

I picked up these Pillsbury Ready-to-Bake "Olympic" cookies tonight and Sophie had fun baking them. We will bring them to daycare tomorrow as a special treat. Appropriate for the morning's events.

almost 6

Hard for me to believe but my little girl is almost 6. Today the sun was streaming in beautifully through our study at the front of our house. It has been the home of the Calico Critters lately.

keeping busy

I came across a Kelowna website yesterday that mentioned Enegy Plex. It's actually quite an amazing place that we've driven by many times. Being a Saturday, we try to plan something interesting to do with Sophie and Fynn. "Destination Saturdays" have become our thing. We figure that for the price of gas and the admission, we are saving money in that we are not skiing, snowmobiling, or doing other winter sports. Plus, we are staying active.

We had a lot of fun and will definitely go back to check out the other side of the complex which is a huge gymnasium area with larger trampolines, etc.

Later we had lunch at the mall and had a quick visit with Uncle Steve.

sparkles

Sophie's Kindergarten class has a gymnastics program. Once a week for about 45 minutes, a gymnastics instructor comes in and provides the kids with a fun session.

Sophie has been wearing her shorts and t-shirt but in Sophie's world shiny and sparkly is always better. A few of the girls have been wearing leotards so of course she wanted one, too. I understand Sophie's need at a young age to fit in. While we have pretty strict rules around not giving in to her desires for junky candy and every toy she lays her eyes on, if it is for a sports activity that she is showing interest in, we can live with that.

So, she is now the proud owner of a new gymnastics suit. It came with a matching scrunchie which, of course, made it all the better. Fynn has been receiving gymnastics "lessons" from his sister all evening.

ten for tuesday

1. I was up at 5:40m this morning to make it to Dana's Torture class. Yes, it is torture, but worth it.

2. I got my hair highlighted today. I couldn't stand the winter blahs anymore and my hair seems to love being blah. Feeling much better.

3. Fynn had his 3rd Lift the Lip flouride treatment today. This is the final session for the Health Unit's dental program. The dental assistant really showed me where I was missing plague on his teeth. Sorry, buddy. I'll do better.

4. Had my first mammogram today. I'm only 42, but they recommend you start at age 40 and my aunt has had breast cancer twice now, so it was a priority for me to do this year. The mobile unit came around. It was the easiest thing ever. I was in and out in 10 minutes.

5. Daycare Board meeting tonight. Not much to say other than budget discussions.

6 - 9. Photos of the kids from Christmas.

10. Tomorrow should be a little gentler on my schedule. It is a bit crazy right now, but that comes with the territory. I purposely exert a fair bit of discipline into my daily Monday - Friday schedule. I make sure that if I don't need to be in a meeting, I don't stay around just to hang out or I'll pop out of my fitness class a few minutes early so I can get home to make sure that I'm not rushing Sophie out the door to school. She likes to be there with time to spare, and I can understand that feeling.

a really nice day

At around 10am Vic and I started to get serious about what we were going to do with the kids today. We ran through a number of ideas from Junglemania to Tube Town and none of them were quite right for a number of reasons.

We both agreed that H20 down in Kelowna would be a good idea. The drive is a little long (1.5 hours down) but there is nothing like a huge indoor water park that is extremely affordable to give us motivation to get going.

We packed a lunch so we could eat on the way down which cut down on costs a bit more. We had a lot of fun - the lazy river is great as it is a bit warmer than the wave pool. Sophie surprised us all by jumping off the 3 (over 9 feet high) metre diving board 3 times!

We then headed home and had dinner at Denny's followed by watching the rest of Sid the Science kid DVD. A good day all the way around.

crafting on demand

One of my parenting lessons that I've learned is that when Sophie gets it into her head that she needs to make a specific craft, I better find a way to make it happen. She's had this idea in her head that she wanted to make a clock. Old scrapbooking supplies come in nice and handy. The hands even move thanks to a brad. She was happy with her little project.

6 years ago if you asked me if I could wipe up a clock project on a Saturday morning I would have said, "huh?"

sid

Sophie wanted me to rent a video tonight. I was dreading the prospect of running a few errands at Zellers and then picking them up from daycare and then unloading them again to go into the video store so they could squabble over a movie (we still use the video store....not Netflix or RedBox, etc).

I saw this at Zellers and picked it up. I don't mind buying the odd kids video provided it is decent quality, educational (or else highly entertaining) and something they can watch again. We like watching Sid when we are down at Grandma's. The series encourages investigation and blends the world of Sid's classroom and home as his science lab. He does normal kid stuff investigation and isn't blowing up his dad's garage or anything crazy. A very good Jim Henson Company production. After a week of long days at work, errands, ballet, Tap, plus Sophie's Kindergarten class started a gymnastics series today, it was nice to have a quiet evening.

just your presence please

The modern parenting dilemna: how to control the avalanche of stuff your child gets for their birthday. Sophie's birthday is in early February and we still aren't quite over Christmas and she has been asking about sending out her birthday invitations for 2 weeks.

This year I did some web research and checked my conscience. After consulting Sophie, we agreed that this year we could try something different. We've inserted in her invitations the little note that she is holding in her hand in the photo. It says "instead of presents, we would be very happy to have your presence at Sophie's party. Sophie is saving up for a special item, so if you would like to bring a toonie, Sophie and her piggy bank would be thrilled."

I debated this for quite awhile. I know some etiquette books say that children need to learn how to give and receive gifts and by suggesting they not bring gifts (and just a $2 toonie) they are not learning this "skill." Plus, it may sound gauche to suggest a monetary figure. I beg to differ and I think those etiquette books were written 20-30 years ago when there was much less easily accessible "stuff." You can get a Hannah Montana barbie doll for $5! Toys are not that expensive anymore. Hence, we have too much stuff.

Sophie wants to buy a Build-a-Bear when we go to Disneyland in April and she is saving up for it on her own. I think this will be a good way to teach her the value of a dollar, savings, and hopefully lessen the burden that other parents feel when they have to go out and buy a present.

shall we tap?

Sophie started her tap dance classes this week with her teacher Natasha. It is a small class with only 3 girls. She seems to really have taken to dance - she has ballet on Wednesdays and Tap now on Mondays. I don't know how long this little love affair with the performing arts will last, but for now, it suits us just fine.

Here she is in her new tap shoes. Fynn also wanted to get in on the action. It seems the girls in tap are more into black than pink, so hence the black leotard. Since her shoes will scratch up our floors Vic bought some plywood today and is setting up a little dance area for her in our basement.

back at it

Ahh, we finally have our laptop back. What a pain in the neck, but we are thankfully finished with Vista and enjoying Windows 7.

I have a backlog of photos from the holidays, but here are a few from my nephew Travis' 5th birthday. He is a terrific little guy and he got a neat computer cake that his mom made for him. His birthday is on January 1st, so it is extra special.

a new year

We are safely back home after being away in Oliver for a week.
It was nice to come home, but we had lots of unpacking to do, laundry, and the final bit of our Christmas decorations to put away.

I'm going to give this a try this in 2010. It looks like a neat way to stay focused on being positive (something I have trouble with sometimes).

Our laptop problems are still not solved, so we are computerless for another few days, so just updating this from Vic's computer at his work. Hoping to do a new blog post with photos as soon as I can.