The Kidlet Chronicles

Summertime

29.4 degrees in here tonight.  I'm panting.

I've been kicking around, just haven't had time to post in, what, the longest time since I began this blog 4 years ago?   Oops.

We've been busy.  We both had last week off, so we did fun family things (Aquarium, where we saw the baby beluga; hike around Buntzen Lake with the kidlet in the backpack carrier because 'her legs were tired' after five minutes of walking; Crash Crawlies; family bbqs, etc.), then it was back to work this week (and daycare).  In my spare time, I've been scrambling with the final touches for my 20-year grad reunion on Saturday.   It's been a little bit of a slog but it seems to be coming together for the most part.  Knock on wood.  Hard.

Other than that, just been out and about enjoying the sunshine while it lasts.  A few pics of us swimming at my sister-in-law's last week:

I managed to get all my errands done today (had to go out twice to do so), including getting the kidlet's and my hair cut (long overdue on both accounts), so tomorrow we're off to a local lake to hang out for a few hours.  Bought some floatie stuff for the kidlet (70% off at London Drugs - got a wakeboard thingie for $5, fake Crocs for $7.50 and a floatie ring for .89 cents - sweet) so as long as the weather cooperates and it's as hot as it was today, it should be fun!

Little Miss Impatient

While waiting her turn on the trampoline at a friend's house yesterday:

"This is taking a long time."

"I'm just waiting my turn."

"How come it's so many minutes?"

"I don't want to jump with her.  I'll just wait my turn."

"I'm waiting."

"This is a long time!!!"

In her defense, a 2.5 year old was just sitting on the trampoline, her mother right next to the kidlet and not cluing in to her dwindling patience.  The other mom just kept telling the kidlet to hop on but the kidlet wanted it all to herself.  And so, she waited.  For a long time.  And looked quite miserable.

Poor kidlet.

Once the toddler got off (finally), the kidlet was on and off  for the rest of the day and didn't have to wait for anyone again.  And she crashed at 7:30 last night - AWESOME.

Adrenaline junkie

Today was the perfect day for an outing to PlayLand - slightly overcast but warm and NO CROWDS whatsoever.  We headed straight for Kids Playce where all the young kid rides are, rides that basically just go around and around and around.  There were boats, a carousel, dune buggies, motorcycles, helicopters, and flying elephants.  The kidlet excitedly went on each one in turn.  Some of the rides that deviated from the circling ones were one where the kids pretend to drive a car around a track (although from the look of concentration on the kidlet's face, I don't think there was much pretending - she WAS driving the car), an obstacle course thing with wobbly bridges and slides, the glass maze (which the kidlet bombed through in its entirety without having to backtrack once - I was shocked), the mini rollercoaster (which she loved and we went on twice), and the ferris wheel (which I panicked about initially but it turned out to not go that high so I was surprisingly okay - go me!  Tho' I still hung on for dear life).

After all of the above, we headed for the giant slide.  Three times we went down, the kidlet tucked between my legs.  After each landing, she'd excitedly stand up and start hopping about saying 'again! again!'.  After the third, I wanted a break, so we went to get some cotton candy (at the kidlet's request), which she had two bites of and decided she didn't like it at all.  I didn't so much either, so into the garbage can it went.

She rode on a couple of the smaller rides again but after the giant slide, nothing could compare.  So we went back but this time, I asked her to go up herself.  She grabbed the wool blanket, tucked it under her arm, and climbed the steps without looking back.  I watched as she awkwardly sat down on the blanket at the top of the slide, then pushed herself off.

The look of terror on her face was priceless, and me without my camera.  She looked a little unsteady as she came down but didn't turn sideways or fall over or anything.  Still, from the look on her face, I thought for sure that would be it.

Heh.  Yeah right.  She jumped up, gave the blanket to the operator, and begged to do it again.  So up she went again THREE more times (or was it four?).  By the third time, she started tentatively raising her arms in the air for the last two humps and squealing a little.  Most of the time, she was able to sit on the blanket then push herself off from the top, but there was once or twice where as soon as she sat down, off she went.  And yet, she wanted more.  But I finally convinced her to go eat some mini-donuts and have a break.

Mmmm... mini donuts...

Before heading home, I saw the Scrambler, which used to be my favouritest ride.  And it was part of the kids area so I didn't have to pay more to ride it.  The kidlet was a bit apprehensive but once it started going, then REALLY going (I forgot how fast that thing whips you around), she was laughing her head off, holding her little arms up, shrieking with glee.  I just tried to focus on not getting nauseated (damn equilibrium).

We had to pass the slide on the way back to the truck, so the kidlet went on it a few times again.  Dang, I wish I had had my camera.  She looked so little on that thing, it must have seemed so HIGH for her, she FLEW down it somewhat awkwardly, yet she couldn't get enough of it.  We may have to return later in the summer just so I can get some pictures of her!

Working for a living

You know, I don't know how the full-timers do it when kids are involved, and I only have one of them.  Monday through Wednesday are a blur of waking up at 6am, getting the kidlet and I ready for daycare and work, leaving the house at 7:30am, dropping her off, catching the bus to Skytrain, Skytrain to downtown, work work work, reverse for the way home, stepping into our home at 5:30pm.  And then I have to think about dinner???

So yeah.  Monday - hot dogs.  In the microwave.  Tuesday I think I managed to make pork chops, rice & veggies but we didn't end up eating until 6:!5.  Last night.... Kraft Dinner.  Bah.

And I'm sorry but by the time dinner is finished and the dishes are done and the kitchen is cleaned up, I'm way too exhausted to play.  So I fart around on my computer and the kidlet farts around on hers or plays make believe with her dinosaur figurines.  Then it's bath time followed by bedtime, where the kidlet plays/reads in her room quietly before finally asking to go to sleep which can range anywhere from 8:!5 to 9:00.  So much for daycare pooping her out.  The ladies there told me that she's a 'very busy little girl' - and that doesn't stop when she gets home.  She goes goes goes until boom - she finally asks to go to bed and crashes within a minute or two.  Right now it's 8:42 and she's still reading.  No wait, she just crawled under my desk.  Sigh... now she's back in her room.

I'm hoping to get a better grip on those days, make better dinner meals (she always has healthy lunches and breakfasts), spend more time with her, but right now, I just don't have the energy.

So I try to make it up for my days off.  Today we went to visit my sister-in-law for a couple hours where the kidlet harassed the poor dogs, tomorrow I'm thinking of taking her to PlayLand, Saturday we may go visit Heather in the morning then have a family BBQ in the evening and Sunday, we're going to the baptism of a friend's two toddlers (although we will probably skip the church part and just head straight to the house). 

Um, no wonder I'm exhausted.  I'm hoping to find some 'me' time soon.

I finally took some pics of the bedroom makeover:

Definitely need some curtains and a new dresser (the one above is an antique from my Grandma and just for storage - the other one we use for clothes is an Ikea white melamine thing), but hey, it's a start.  And I sleep SO WELL in it all.  I love it!

Bedroom makeover 2008

Since the duvet cover & shams I ordered from Sears were just want I wanted, it was time to paint the bedroom.

I spent hours yesterday spraying, scraping, spraying and scraping some more to get the wallpaper border off the wall.  It must have been there a couple dozen years or so because it was STUCK.  What a mess.

I also swung by Benjamin Moore and picked up a handful of brown paint chips.  As it's hard to tell from that 2" chip, I did some googling for some rooms with the different colours (not much), then finally decided on a somewhat darker brown because hey, it's a bedroom - it's supposed to be dark.

So today, I spent another several hours (poor, neglected kidlet) painting two coats (I played with her in between coats so I'm not all that bad).  And it's done!  Yay!

But.

The colour isn't quite what I had expected.  It's more on the terra-cotta orangey side of brown rather than the chocolatey brown I was hoping for.  It's definitely a warm brown and nice in it's own right but it doesn't really match the duvet cover and shams, as they're kind of a grey-brown (who knew there were so many shades of brown???).  They would have looked nice against a dark chocolate brown but I was too chicken to paint the room that dark.

I keep lying on the bed, staring at the walls, and ugh, it's just not doing it for me.  AHHHHH!! 

I'm hoping that once I get the shams and duvet and sheets and everything on the bed (still the green bedding right now), get some new night lights,curtains, and push the bed back against the wall, it'll look better.  At least, I certainly hope so because I don't particularly want to paint again for a looong time.