The Kidlet Chronicles

Christmas Chaos

Sadly, no snow for Christmas this year.  Snowstorm after snowstorm last year, one which left us stranded in Seattle for two days when we were supposed to be lounging on the beach in Hawaii, but nothing this year so far other than a light sprinkling.  Bah.  Christmas just doesn't seem the same without snow.

It's been a whirlwind couple weeks since I last posted.  December 17th was our 16th wedding anniversary, and we went to the go on the Christmas train and see the light displays at Stanley Park with the kidlet in tow.  I've never been before and although taking the kidlet may not have been as romantical as it could have been, it was a fun family evening that I enjoyed just as much.  Besides, we did the romantic dinner thing last year in Hawaii. Once every few years is enough for me.  I'd rather buy a new pair of shoes... is that bad?

We did the whole the package thing with dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and at both locations (the train and the dinner), we managed to beat the crowds by about twenty minutes.  No lining up for anything - sweet.  And other than the kidlet hurling in the middle of the night (she raced into our room, said she felt like she was going to throw up, raced into the bathroom, and made it to the toilet just in time - awesome), it was a fantastic night all around.  I love it when things just come together.  Unlike today, but will yap about that later on.

That Friday the 18th was my company Christmas dinner/dance, which I took my best friend to.  We got all gussied up (I even wore earrings - I KNOW!) but neither of us brought a camera (too big to fit into our clutches).  We did manage to find someone to take one picture of us, one slightly yellow, blurry photo, and that was it.  Total bummer.  When one spends that much time attempting to prettify, there must be LOTS of pictures for posterity.  You know, before we get all old and wrinkly.  Or older and wrinklier.  Whatever.

I had last week off (yay) but still took the kidlet to daycare so we could finish up shopping on Monday.  Tuesday I had my division's Christmas lunch.  Wednesday we went to the in-laws for lunch and prezzies for the kidlet - a bunch of chapter books and a colouring pad with crayons, all of which she loves.  We got a coffee press and some coffee and some coffee/sugar coated almonds that were way too good.

Thursday we went to the sister-in-law's place for the kids to exchange gifts.  The kidlet got a bunch of Olympic paraphenalia (including all 3 stuffies... sigh...) and some money from her great grandma.  Thursday night, we left cookies, an apple and a glass of milk for Santa and a bowl of water for the reindeer, all of which were almost gone by next morning.  We let her open one present of our choosing that evening - a Bone graphic novel that she had also been begging for.  She was so excited, she read it for about an hour before bed.

The kidlet woke up in the middle of the night and crawled into bed with us and went right to sleep without a word.  THANK GOD because I wasn't keen on opening presents at 3 in the morning.  She woke up at 5:55am but I made her wait until I had the camera ready before we let her race into the living room.  Santa had left her a sled, Beta and Gamma (the other two dogs from UP that she didn't have but begged for to complete her 'set') and a wrapped DS game along with magazine, bookmark and a Disney t-shirt in her stocking.  She nearly crashed into the Christmas tree she was so excited to see the dogs there.  It was so cute.

We got her a magic kit (that has such cryptic instructions that even I can't figure them out, but what do you expect for $20?), a Create Your Own Storybook kit, a blank journal that she's using for a scrapbook (like Ellie on UP, only the kidlet is pasting all kinds of things in there (I stopped her when she tried to paste a mitten on one of the pages) instead of choosing any kind of 'theme'.  I bite my tongue and let her do what she wants because it's her book.  Although she did take an old photo of Dean and his sister and pasted it in.  Now I have to find a way to scan it as it's our only copy.  But she's loving the 'scrapbooking' concept.

I got a digital picture frame from the kidlet and Dean got a movie, because he rented a drum set for the month and we figured that was more than enough to be his Christmas present (ka-ching).

I think that's it.  Some clothes as well.  We took it easy this year as last year she got so much stuff she didn't even end up playing with half of it.

We went to Mom and Dad's around noon and the kidlet got another DS game and the movie Up with a little Dug stuffy.  I got a bunch of OXO Pop canisters that have made my pantry SO organized that I want to buy a bunch more, a new rice cooker, a chopper, a couple new towels (desperately needed)... Dean got an egg poacher and a gift card to Timmy's, which he's already been using.

We spent the night, and my uncle brought my granda down the next afternoon so we got to see her for a bit.  We came home by 5pm Boxing Day and were absolutely beat.  Don't think we did much on Sunday except nap and tidy up a bit.

Monday we went to buy snow boots for all of us so we could use them today (there was a sale! so we saved money by spending money!) and I went to Heather's for a bit to exchange gifts with her and visit - that's 3 times I've seen her (4?) in the last month - we're setting a record!  Yippee!

Today we drove up to Seymour to go tobogganing with the kidlet's new sled.  Which ends up not being so great a toboggan on ice and slush.  Apparently there's been no new snow up there for weeks and it looks it.  It was too steep/slippery for the kidlet to go down herself, so we took turns.  Dean went and couldn't control the sled and ended up crashing into the snow piled between the two lanes.  I went with the kidlet and we went straight but so fast, we went almost all the way up the embankment on the end, started sliding backwards back down it, then promptly fell over and bashed my poor old body on the hard packed snow/ice.  My jaw felt crooked for a couple hours after, and my rib still hurts, and I have a bruise on my knee.  I was a little stiff coming up from that one.

Dean tried again, and again, had no control, and veered from side to side before coming to an abrupt halt.  I did it again and now prepared for the speed, got ready to not tip over at the end.  I mananged to turn us slightly before CRASH, we tipped again and this time, the kidlet bonked her head on the snow/ice (nice little red bruise there now) and cried.  Dean said it looked funny because we just sort of stopped and fell over, but I couldn't brace myself because I was trying to hold onto her, but ended up dropping us both.  BTW - this is my first time sledding EVER so cut me some slack.  Still, the kidlet wanted to go again.  Dean tried again and still couldn't get farther than halfway down.  The next two times I tried, we didn't go as straight so didn't go as fast and didn't tip over - yay!  I was getting the hang of it!  But by then, it was pretty much ice after all the sledders of the past hour and a half, and my legs were tired from trudging up the hill, so we called it a day.  And have decided to 1) wait for some snow and 2) get a simple boogie-board type sled that would maneouver MUCH easier than the sled Santa left for her (which is GREAT for pulling in the snow but digs in too much for tobogganing).  At least now we know.  Sometimes the simplest sleds are the best.

A month? Seriously?

Sigh... yet I'm not ready to give up the blog just yet.  And really, there could be some major changes coming in the new year that I will most likely be blogging regularly about, but for now, it's kind of the same old, same old.  Work, trying to consistently work out, cook and write.  Some key things that have happened in the past (gulp) month:

• the kidlet had her first playdate with her best friend (photo to come ) for a few hours one Sunday.  They had a blast and are so freaking cute together.

• we went to see Disney on Ice for the first time - I found the first hour pretty good with a lot of my favourite Disney songs; the second hour was a whole Tinkerbell segment and... not so much.  Although that was the kidlet's favourite part.  Who knew? (photo to come)

• I was writing up a storm, then got semi-sick and everything went to hell.  Still trying to pick up the pieces of my routine while being completely distracted by Christmas and our February trip to Disneyland.

• Yes!  We booked our flights to Disney for the kidlet's 6th birthday.  Wanted to get out of here during the Olympic chaos, plus we used points so the flights only cost us just over $100.  Sweet.  Still gotta find a room though, and book reservations, and plan plan plan.  Still - STOKED!

Our Christmas tree was up the weekend before December even arrived.  Most of my Christmas shopping is done.  And it was really easy this year for once.  We've now changed our strategy too - in past year's ALL presents were from Santa (don't ask me why) - this year, we've explained that we'll be buying her some gifts, too, 'cause Santa can't have all the fun!  And he'll be in charge of getting her the most important gifts on her 'wish list'.  She has been begging (no, really, BEGGING) for the two Up stuffies she didn't get when I bought her the first two several months ago.  She is SO concerned that Santa won't bring them for her, and has tried to convince us that if he doesn't, we should.  Yeah, this gets a little tricky.  But the kidlet should have more faith in Santa than that... ;-).

I have a question for you - do you put all your presents under the tree as you buy them, or do you wait until closer to Christmas, or do you wait until Christmas Eve?  We did the latter in year's past, just putting presents that were going to other people under the tree before that, but hubby thinks we should up the anticipation a bit for the kidlet (now that we're getting her a few) and put some under now.  I have one for her under there now, and she's already touched it, and she's eager as heck and thinks that Christmas is "sooooo far awaaaaayyyy".  She does seem to be okay with it, but I don't want to torture the poor kid.  But isn't patience a good thing to learn?  Anyhoo - polling you guys to see what the masses do.  I mean, up until this year, every single present was from Santa.  Then I was talking to some girls at work and they said only the one or two most important gifts were from Santa.  Well, that made sense. I'm pretty sure my parents did that for us as kids, as that's how I discovered the Santa secret - he had the same handwriting as my Mom!  Santa will fill the stocking too, methinks. 

Oh - and did any of you cheat and open a prezzie on Christmas Eve?  Dean's family did, we didn't.  He wants to, I'm not sure....

Today - gingerbread house time!  And maybe bake some cookies!  Fresh loaf of bread was ready this morning (so heavenly to wake up to).  Tomorrow the kidlet has a birthday party with her old best friend that moved at the end of July - and she is so excited to see her again and she hasn't seen her since then.

Oh, and PS?  We've all had the swine flu shot now.  So far, so good.  Still debating over the second one for the kidlet tho...

Work and swine

I logged 78 hours in the last two weeks.  I'm normally at 64.  Yeah, busy.  That doesn't even include the three nights of functions that occurred after work hours.

Needless to say, I did diddly squat today other than take the kidlet to her swimming lessons, went shopping (spent a small fortune at Mexx but it was a big 30% off everything sale), then played on the computer/napped for the rest of the day until I made dinner and did the dishes and started laundry after the kidlet went to bed.  Totally. Lazy. Day.  It was awesome.  But I'm still exhausted.  And I need to start working out again because ugh, the fatness feeling.

So last week, after a couple weeks of deliberating about the dang swine flu shot and asking everybody we knew, including the professionals, whether we should get the kidlet shot or not, Dean took her to the clinic on Wednesday and two hours later, it was done.  I wish it had been an easier decision to make - I was concerned about the vaccine itself and the adjuvant in it and the minimal clinical trials, about the true risk of the flu itself as there haven't been that many deaths in relation to the regular flu (and none of us get that shot), whether the whole thing was just a crazy media frenzy.  A lot of people are getting mildly sick and getting over it  But as the kidlet has pulmonary stenosis, mild as it is, she was considered high-risk.  And we had to weigh which would be worse - the flu or the shot.  On our cardiologist's and a couple doctor's opinions (one a friend of the family), we went for the shot to be on the safe side.  If that even is the safe side.

I'm trying to let this go as it's already done but can ya tell I still have issues over it?  Why did the roll-out have to be so crazy?  Why did I have to read all the nutjob opinions splayed all over the internet?

No side effects except a sore arm for the kidlet, which was expected thanks to the adjuvant.  Dean got the shot at the same time as well and he's okay.  I'll wait, if I get it at all, for the roll-out to the general public.

So I'm letting it go.... for 3 weeks when we have to get her the second shot (argh).  Then I get to go over this all over again.  Wheee!

Growing like a weed

Halloween was awesome and so much work.  Dean spent all day making the yard look fabulous (and I forgot to take a picture of it) and I spent all day baking, making dinner for the family, getting the kidlet ready for trick or treating, taking her, binging on candy, putting a sobby kidlet to bed, then falling asleep while watching a movie.  I think I fell asleep on the couch not long after the kidlet went to bed, so it was just after 9.  I'm so lame.

So much candy.  Tummy is not happy.  I still did a workout - a big 40 minute one on the treadmill with lots of running and everything - then came in and binged on more candy.  Then I wrote for 40 minutes and now I can't see straight and I'm not really editing so it will be what it will be.

But I did want to say that the kidlet looked awesome in her Vampire Kitty costume - see?  Face painting by yours truly.

I also noticed that her size 6 leggings are now an inch or so too short (sigh) so I measured her and she's now 45" - she gained an inch since June.  No wonder her legs have been achey.  That's 1/4" a month.  But she's still skeeny, so size 7 would be too huge in the waist.  Hmmmm...

Halloween is coming...

...just in case you didn't already know.  We've been busy preparing.  Friday I made sugar cookies cut out into shapes of tombstones, cats and skulls.  My first time making sugar cookies and despite having a heck of a time with the dough crumbling beneath my rolling pin (which I had to purchase since I've never owned one!!), I managed to get a dozen cookies out of half the dough and froze the other half and they taste so good I can't stop eating them.  The sugar binging has begun!

Then Saturday, I practiced face-painting the kidlet (see further down), carved our first pumpkin (no pics until they're all done - we have four this year!!) and decorated a corner of our living room with spiderwebs and spiders.  Last night, Dean helped her make the chocolate cookie house (it's not gingerbread!):

And the roof did NOT cave in.  Mommy has been banned from any future seasonal cookie houses.  Grandpa or Daddy can remain in charge of those.  Mommy will just help eat them.

Sunday, we popped by my parent's place to pick up the cape Mom had made for the kidlet - she's going to be a cat this year and her costume is really just a bodysuit with a skirt attached, so aside from me trying to layer her somehow underneath her costume, Mom made the heavy fleece cape to keep her warmer, so she's now decided she's going to be a vampire cat:

 

 

She MADE me make the fangs half red so it looks like she bit someone.  I'm still not sold on either version of the eyes but I get to experiment again on Thursday when the kidlet gets to wear her costume to school.

 And this was taken a month ago but here is the kidlet in her glow-in-the-dark jammies doing Wii yoga (it's still Halloween-ish!):

Six more sleeps until the candy!