Swim Time!

Okay, so a day or two back, I sympathized with the plight of the younger of my two boys, following a diminished level of enthusiasm, on my part, for the loss of his first baby tooth. And fair enough.

But today we'll look at one of the advantages to being the youngest.

On Wednesday, I accompanied Sontoo's Kindergarten class to the indoor swimming pool here in town. I had a blast and I'm pretty sure Sontoo was glad to have me along. It was my first time being a parent helper at one of these events.

You see, when Sonwun was in Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2, I never got to go along on these outings as I was not allowed to bring Sontoo. But now I can. And I am really sorry I missed the chance to do this with Sonwun.

It's one thing to hear his stories after school, and watch him for a bit at the playground, but it's another thing to see him interact with his fellow students and his teachers for a whole hour in a swimming pool.

I thought it was pretty cool that he didn't cling to me the whole time. In fact, most of the time I'm sure he forgot I was even there. Little Mr. Independence ditched me the second the water slide opened. I remained on rope duty, ensuring none of the little ones made it to the deep end. 

It was fun, relaxing and I got a chance to get to meet some of Sontoo's classmates and some of their parents. My Time-Talking-To-Adults quota hasn't been even close to full over the last several years. So, very welcome.

Really wish there was more to this story. You know, some hilarious or brilliant way to close. Something that will make you think, ponder and perhaps find blah, blah blah.

Have a good Thursday.

Caught up on Blogtober

You know, blogging ain't what it used to be, and I think I know why.

It's about the mind. And mine is less focussed than it used to be. Too much stuff in my face in the morning. TV news is on. Kids are wanting to show me stuff, too many windows open on the computer. No wonder I can't think straight.

And I guess that's what Blogtober is all about. By forcing ourselves to write daily (or as close to it as we can), we can figure out why we stopped blogging daily. I mean, I had a good run going for a while, when I first started. It was easy, the subject matter came easily. Ideas flowed. It was cool and I liked it.

But enough about that. (Shuts down distractions.)

So Sonwun, the elder, came home last night intent on hitting the streets for Unicef. Fortunately, I had resisted an urge earlier in the day to toss his pledge sheet in the garbage. Yay me.

I guess the whole competition (the class that raises the most gets a fabulous prize) works for kids his age. Fair enough. Unicef has been at this for many years. I'm sure they know just how to suck the maximum amount of money out of school children and their victims.

One more negative. I just don't like this approach. Kids hit the streets and basically beg for cash. They're not selling anything. They just take their sweet little faces to the doors of my unsuspecting neighbours and ask for money.

Now that being said, I was proud of Sonwun. It's not easy to go door-to-door asking, essentially, strangers for money. Especially if your father's rolling his eyes and muttering the whole time.

But he did it. And he raised $47 for the cause. What's more, he filled up his pledge sheet and was hoping the teacher would give him another one today so that he could continue raising money tonight.

I admire his bravery. I admire his commitment. 

Still not wild about these folks using my kid.

Have a great Tuesday.

(See? One screen on computer, TV off, kids locked in their cages. So much easier to blog!)

yay

10 minutes until the end of Blogtober 7th. No pressure.

Um, let's see. Oh, right.

Sontoo lost his first baby tooth today. Yay, excitement and all that stuff.

I feel a little bad, cause there just wasn't the same fanfare for him as there was for Sonwun. When he lost his first tooth, at the age of barely 4 I think, we pretty much threw a party. There was a video, high fives all around, a call from the Prime Minister . . .

Well, maybe not all of that. But it was very exciting because it wasn't just HIS first baby tooth lost, it was ours, as parents, as well. Sontoo's older brother has now lost at least 7 teeth (six naturally, one cause he was a little slower than the swing). So we're kind of accustomed to the whole losing a baby tooth thing. Sonwun even introduced us to the whole breaking-of-an-adult-tooth fiesta. But that's another blog.

The point is, I recognized, seconds after I'd helped the tooth out of his mouth, that it was just a chore now. Put it in the bag, set aside for tooth fairy, move on. I had to remind myself to take a picture. And I felt a little guilty.

With Sonwun, we had the video rolling before the tooth came out. We followed him to the mirror where he looked at his gap-tooth smile with awe. He was quite excited!

And I guess I console myself with the fact that Sontoo looked at the event a little like I did. He was a little matter-of-fact about it, didn't demand a photo, didn't suggest we call mom at work. But I still feel a little guilty.

Anyhoo, we're two minutes in to Blogtober 8. We'll call it a win. Have a great Tuesday.

Blogtober the 6th

Good Day and welcome to Day 6, Blogtober, 2013.

The good news is that I'm not camping. It's cold out there. 

Anyhoo, I'm sitting her at the computer, once again listening nervously to the noises in the house. It's 7:30 a.m. and the sounds coming from the kitchen. I'm trying to ignore them. I can't.

There are bowls banging, drawers opening, chairs sliding. It's Sonwun.

I'm proud of him. He's always poking around when I'm cooking stuff, asking why I'm doing what I'm doing. Asking to help. I try to accommodate whenever I can.

It started a few years back, when he demanded to pour his own breakfast cereal. That was okay for a while, and then he needed to add the milk as well. Yeah, a few major spills later, and he was climbing on to the counter to get bowls, for both he and Sontoo, filling them, adding milk and grabbing spoons. I began to understand why I had children.

And now, as I sit here, he's making pancakes. 

He's been making the batter now for about a year. He does it from scratch and he does it from memory. No recipe cards, no mixes. Cool eh?

And, this morning, he's gonna cook them, in the frying pan, on the stove, all by himself, for the first time. And I get to sit here and play on the computer. And think about where I put that fire extinguisher.

I love that he has, at least, an interest in cooking. He comes by it honestly as my brothers and I all love to mix stuff up, bake it, grill it, smoke it, sauté it and whatever else we can imagine. Comes from our mom, who is still doling out recipes and advice when I find myself in need.

Hot breakfast, cooked by someone else. Life is good. 

Waiting for inspiration . . .

It's 5 a.m. All is quiet. I'm at the computer. Waiting for blog inspiration.

I hear the soft pitta pat of one of the cats' paws on the floor. It stops.

I hear bruuurrrk bruuurrrk bruuurrrk bruuurrrk bruuurrrk bruuurrrk bruuurrrk blaaaaaaaaark SPLASH.

If you own a cat, you know this sound. There has been some regurgitation of last night's meal, maybe a hairball. Whatever it is, it's something you do NOT want to step in, in the dark.

Seconds later I hear the somewhat less dainty clomp of my Golden Retriever. I hear her making her way up the stairs . . . she stops. Slurp lick slurp lick slurp lick . . . silence.

It's 5:01. All is quiet. I'm at the computer. Blogtober Day 5 is complete.

Questions

So . . . October 4 and the Unicef envelope came home today.

Hmmm. What's the lesson here? We need to help those in need? We need to do what we're told? We need to bow to peer pressure?

I wanna be a good parent, I really do. And I think that means teaching my kids to ask questions. To understand what they're doing. 

When I was a kid, they handed out the Unicef boxes and we were supposed to take them around on Halloween and collect pennies. At the time, my understanding was that the money would go to little black kids in Africa. Forgive me if that sounds offensive. It's not meant to be. It was just my understanding as a child, based on the pictures we were shown. 

I didn't know how the money would help, how much of it went to administration and advertising, versus actual aid to those in the pictures. I didn't even know to ask the questions.

And now, in the package my son brought home, there is just a sign up sheet. Donate please . . . receipts will be issued for donations over $25. They ain't looking for pennies any more. 

I asked him what he was supposed to do with it. He said WE, his family, were supposed to pony up some dough. I hope he's wrong. 

I asked him what it was for. He told me it was for the people in Africa.

Sigh. 

I swear I'm gonna change the name of this blog to Cynical Old Grump. I know there are those who think it would be appropriate.

What am I teaching my son here if I just throw in some cash? What am I teaching him if I say no? I'll be honest. I lean toward saying no. Just because I do not like ANY organization to be endorsed by a school board, and then allowed to obligate my child to raise money for it. Without telling me why. We are all just supposed to follow the leader, be a good flock member, and throw in some cash.

Is there ANY due diligence taking place? Do we know exactly how much money is going where? My son does not. He does not know how much is being used to pay salaries of folks right here in North America. He doesn't know how much is being spent to advertise all the wonderful things Unicef does.

Maybe I just ask too many questions. 

Then again, maybe that's not a bad thing.

Well rested . . . still cynical

Got a decent night's sleep last night for the first time in a while. So hopefully this will not read, as much, like insomnniacal raving.

I'm thinking of moving the computer. It sits beside the television right now. And the news is on. And I want to comment on everything I see. Like the commercial I'm seeing right now. Bunch of teens vowing to take a stand against violence. Super. They'll be easy to eliminate by those that have taken a vow of power, greed and wealth. You know, politicians, senators.

Sigh. So cynical so early in the morning. Maybe if I sleep well for a full week. I'm willing to experiment.

I think the computer would be better downstairs. There I can sit quietly, without TV, and muse about the hilarious things my children do and dispense my child-rearing wisdom; my political genius and my moral outrage. Those are the things that make blogging fun.

On the news now? Further attempts to destroy Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Apparently a friend of his, or someone he once knew, has been arrested for some drug thing. Ooooo. The reporter is practically drooling. It's kinda sad. Seems if you shook hands with his dentist's receptionist's, boyfriend's, mother's auto mechanic, you better watch out. Toronto media is watching you, hoping, dreaming, that when you pray in church, you don't kneel correctly. It'll be front page news.

I mean, so the guy is facing drug charges. If police were a little more on the ball, Justin Trudeau would be facing drug charges. I mean, the boy admitted to it. (A lawmaker breaking the law? Shocking!) That was news for a day or two. If he'd been a friend of Rob Ford, we'd still be hearing about it. But he's not. We're hearing more about some guy who drove Ford's car a couple of times. How screwed up is that?

It really is difficult to stay on a theme when the news is on.

Have a good Thursday.

Breaking the Rules of Interesting Writing

Must admit, it's kinda nice to get back to the routine of school season.

Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed an awesome summer vacation. Took the old family Prairie Wagon, hooked it up to the Manly Minivan, and headed west this year. Made some new friends, met up with some old friends; saw places we'd never seen before and a revisited one or two others. In a word, Awesome!

We also headed back over the Ontario border a couple of times, to recharge our batteries in the vacation paradise of our youths - the wife and I that is. It's all still pretty new to the boys. But they love it. And they especially loved our last trip of the year, 'cause we brought some Manitoba friends.

That particular trip was almost the perfect storm of camping. Good weather, good water temperature, good campsites, great friends, no uncontrolled bleeding, relatively few bears . . . good times!

Note to working dads here: "Vacations" are a little different for you, than they are for your stay-at-home spouse. "Work" for us is putting up with . . . check that . . . taking care of the kids 24-7. So it's not exactly a break from the office during summer time. It's just a change of location, a temporary transfer.

Now, where did this start. Oh, right, routine.

So, end of summer, kids back to school. Am adjusting to having my mornings "off" as Sontoo started Kindergarten this year. Kids are signed up for winter fun, including dance and judo. It's nicely spread out during the week this year, with Monday, Tuesday and Thursday being sports nights. Last year, everything was on Wednesday. Very inconvenient and not at all relaxing.

Ever feel like you're rambling and, if this wasn't Blogtober, you'd just hit the delete button. Enough said.

Happy Hump Day.

Blogtober 1th

Okay, it's October 1. Time to give in to the peer pressure from Keener Mom, and participate in the joy that is Blogtoberfest. 

I don't think it's a real thing. (Sound of googling) Okay, it's a real thing.

So yay, woohoo, let's begin.

It's 4:43 in the blessed a.m. and I've been up for about two hours. And I'm not happy about it. Been sleeping on the couch for a week and a half, as my mom's been visiting. Not complaining about that, mind you. It's been nice and it's over today. She's heading home.

I won't pretend I'm not happy to be getting my bed back, but I will miss mom. Sonwun and Sontoo like having her around and it's just been nice catching up, playing cribbage and just kinda hanging out. It's tough living so far from family, so it's nice to get together once in a while.

We capped off her visit last night with Christmas in September. Why? Why not? In the 12 years or so that we've been removed from family, Grammas and Grampas have faithfully sent gifts, but they rarely get to see the kids open them. Not fair. Part of the joy of giving, after all, is seeing the little faces light up when they tear through the paper and find "just what I always wanted."

While Gramma was out for her visit, she and Neomom took a trip to Winnipeg to do a little shopping and, rather than pay for shipping later, Gramma picked out Christmas presents for the boys. Then we decided she should see them open them. Thus, Christmas in September.

We cooked up a turkey, with all the trimmings and we feasted. I stuffed myself. Which is probably contributing to the insomnia.

Anyoo, gonna work my way into this Blogtoberfest slowly. So that's it's for today. Don't want to let all the magic happen on Day 1. 

Merry Boxing Day. And have a great Tuesday.