The Kidlet Chronicles

Tantrum

Ooh boy, the kidlet had a doozy today.  She was playing nicely beside my computer desk, then all of a sudden I looked and she was hitting poor Harley on the head repeatedly.  I told her to stop, she didn't.  So, time out time (no kitty abuse in this household, nor ignoring your mother).  I picked her up and took her into our room (because if I put her in her room, she pounds on the glass of her french door and we're afraid she'll stick her hand through it one day) and closed the door.  I also have to physically (gently though!) put her somewhere because she would NEVER go for a time out on her own - not in a chair, a corner, her room - nowhere (are there kids that will?).

Oh, how she screamed.  Here is a small sampling of what spewed forth from my precious babe's mouth:

"YOU'RE A BUM BUM!"

"I'M GOING TO FLUSH YOU DOWN THE TOILET!"

"I'M GOING TO THROW YOU IN THE GARBAGE!"

"YOU POO POO!"

"YOU ARE NOT NICE!  I DON'T LIKE YOU!"

And so forth.  I eventually went in there and gave her the option of playing quietly in her room or staying in our room because she was not saying very nice things and needed to settle down.

"I DON'T LIKE THOSE IDEAS!  THOSE ARE NOT GOOD IDEAS!"

"I'M GOING TO RUN OUT THE DOOR IF YOU LEAVE IT OPEN LIKE THAT!" (I was standing in the doorway)  "I can run FAST!" 

So I closed the door quietly and let her be miserable a while longer.  Went back in to pretty much the same response.  She wanted to play computer.  I said no.  Cue more screaming.  She said she was sorry and could she now play computer?  Um, no.  She wanted to watch tv.  That wasn't going to happen either.

It must have been a half hour of screaming, if not longer.  She is her own worst enemy.  Apparently, I was the same way.  Sigh...

Finally, I brought her out to the couch to talk with her but she continued to beg and plead and whine and scream about playing the computer.  Then my Dad called and while we chatted, she continued to whine in the background the whole time.  Finally, she asked to go outside and as soon as she stepped foot outside, she was totally back to her cute, fun-loving, happy self.  We played outside for about 45 minutes, then Dean came home and I came inside to clean up the kitchen and she started crying again because she was 'lonely outside' and wanted someone to play with her.  Eventually she tired herself out and came inside and all was well with her world again.

Now me?  I'm exhausted.

Monday it is

I went for my laser eye surgery consultation this morning at the London Eye Centre just down the street.  After sticking my chin and forehead on various machines in order for them to 'map' my eyes, I was then given an eye test.  Argh how I despise trying to read those letters - this one? or this one? this one? or this one? - most of the time, I can't tell the difference or my eyes start watering and I end up not being able to see ANYTHING.  That happens a LOT.

Anyhow, the optometrist guy said that the fact that I wasn't noting too many differences between the samples was a good thing.  Okay, if you say so.  I could barely read the bottom line with either eye no matter what (especially P, which looks a lot like F when it's teeny) but both eyes together I could.

Then he put some numbing-but-stinging drops into my eyes to check, um, something.  I wiped at my watering eyes with a tissue and the tears were BRIGHT YELLOW.  Ewww.  All I could think of was that yellow guy on Sin City - it was THAT yellow.

After all the testing, I sat down with the Education Director to go over the procedure and any questions I had.  Nope, no questions (because everyone I've talked to has already answered them), except do I get a discount because of the bajillion people I know who have gone there, including my Mom and my cousin?  The answer - yes.  A whopping $250 off.  Oh well, better than nothing.

Since I'd already been wearing my glasses for 2 days (3 now) and I'd have to wear them for a total of 7 pre-surgery, I was hoping to get the surgery done as soon as possible.  Imagine my shock when he suggested Monday.  Why sure!  Absolutely!  Where do I sign?!

I came home, wrote the bosses and let them know I was taking next week off (I've learned that if you ASK, they are more likely to say NO, not right now, can you do it later, etc). Mom is already coming Monday to look after the kidlet so now she can look after the kidlet AND me, and Dad has offered to come help me Tuesday.  I've sent a request to my sister-in-law and father-in-law to see if either of them can help me out Wednesday if needed, as apparently recovery (i.e., pain and discomfort) can last 2-3 days.  So I think I'm set.

I read through the pamphlet the Education Director gave me.  Intro; treatment description; benefits (duh - no lenses/glasses); risks (not a fun part to read but for the most part, not too scary, well, except for the possible blindness due to an infection and therefore needing a corneal implant); transportation (um, don't drive when you're vision is whacked - got it); periodic tests and follow-up (more than welcome in my book); payment details (ouch); and then a space to sign my consent.

Then they have a description of the FOUR different types of eye drops I'll need to use (antibiotic - every 2 hours while awake (thank goodness I don't have to while sleeping)); anti-inflammatory (every 4 hours while awake), lubricating (frequently because dry = burning = ouch) and pain drops (every hour if necessary).  How am I going to keep track of all those???  I'll need a chart, I think.  Then there's the Tylenol 3s and the sedatives, so methinks I'll be sleeping A LOT. 

Post-op rules:  Take 3-4 days off work - check (even left it open that I may take the following week off as well if I'm unable to see the computer screen as some have mentioned).  Leave the 'bandage contact' that they put in your eyes afterwards alone (don't have to tell me that twice).  Use ice or peas to ease pain or swelling (I have neither).  Don't smoke (no issue there).  I'll be light sensitive for 2-5 days (hence the sunglasses indoors).  Sunglasses must be worn for 1 year post-op to block UV light.  No bathing for 5 days (mmmm.... stinky... guess I'll be sponge-bathing).  No makeup for 4-5 days (am I going to even be able to see well enough to put it on anyways?).

And that's that.  So I probably won't be updating for some time afterwards, unless I dictate a post to my parents when they're nursing me back to health.  Which I probably will if I can stay awake for any amount of time...

I can't wait for the day I can chuck out these glasses

Argh, another day of wearing glasses.  I seriously don't know how people wear these things day in and day out.  I suppose they have glasses that actually fit properly and that they can actually see through (i.e., smudgeless, scratch-free lenses, unlike mine) but still, the resting on the nose and ears thing?  The blurriness that surrounds them?  The slight vertigo?  I  mean, you have to move your whole head in order to see your feet!  And you can't wear sunglasses so I was squinting the whole way to the movie rental place and back because yay! it was sunny again today.

So tomorrow morning I head out to the clinic to do a smattering of tests to make sure I'm a suitable candidate for the surgery (which I'm pretty sure I am).  Hopefully they won't do that pupil-dilating thing that some optometrists do because I do have to walk back home and pick up the kidlet and can't very well do that half-blind.  Note to self: take sunglasses.

Hopefully I'll be able to set up an appointment for the surgery rather quickly because I don't know how much longer I can wear these stinkin' glasses.  Wish me luck!  No wait, save the wishes for the actual day of surgery.  I'm going to be FREAKING that day.

Frying eyeballs

Well, after years of waffling and cringing at the thought of the whole 'laser' and 'eyeball' thing, I've finally taken the plunge and booked a consultation at a nearby laser eye surgery centre.  I'm tired of wearing contacts, I don't take care of them as I should (rinse? rub? what's that?), and I'm tired of being half-blind when I stumble around to assist the kidlet in the middle of the night.  I mean, what if there's an earthquake and I lose my glasses?  What then?  WHAT THEN?

So Thursday morning it is.  But to prepare, for 48 hours I have to wear my crappy, ten-year-old glasses that I bought on our last trip to Thailand.  They're scratched, they're smudgy, they're not quite the right prescription (but close enough) and they make me sleepy and cranky.  Today is day 1 of wearing them and it sucks.  Walking the kidlet to school, I kept my head down, my bangs covering as much of my face as possible, and didn't make eye contact with anyone.  Yes, they are that hideous.  And they're crooked to boot.

It's about time, I think.  With the amount spent on disposable lenses and solution, and the price a new pair of glasses was going to cost me, it's not that outrageously priced for the surgery.  And there's no time like the present (although I've heard winter is better because the sun is apparently ouchie on newly fried eyes).  So I'll have to wear sunglasses indoors and I won't be able to look at a computer screen for a couple weeks (yay, sick leave - woo hoo!).  I think the end result will be worth it.  Many people have come forward saying they've done it and only wished that they had done it sooner.  Mom got it done in the surgery's infancy - 15 years ago.  She went from coke-bottle glasses to nothing (well, reading glasses I think).  My eyes aren't too bad (-4.5ish), so I should be a pretty good candidate.

At any rate, I'm excited and apprehensive at the same time.  This didn't help any (well, the end result did but the details? Shudder).  The only other thing other than the smell of burning eyeballs, the pain, and the light-sensitivity is that apparently, I have to wear these crappy, blurry, scratchy, crooked glasses for a week before the actual surgery.  A WEEK.  So I may have to not go into work that week.  Definitely not.

A great day

What a beautiful day it was today.  I am definitely in my element when the sun is shining.  I've had a perma-grin on my face all day.

This morning, I joined my sister-in-law bright and early for a women's brunch held at her church, where we enjoyed the best quiche I've ever had (and I don't even like quiche) and were entertained by Carolyn Arends, who was a great speaker and a fantastic musician (vocals, guitar, keyboard).  And it was nice to spend time with my sister-in-law, just the two of us.

Once home, I took the kidlet down to the elementary school so she could ride her bike around the flat surfaces there.  She did quite well and after about fifteen minutes, she was turning and pedalling like a pro.  Man, do kids pick things up fast.  Then we came back and played hide and seek, and blew bubbles in the back yard.  Sunny day kinda stuff.  It's supposed to rain again tomorrow so I've been taking advantage of the sunshine whenever I can (with sunscreen in hand, of course!).

She had her bath, then I read her a few more pages of the Whangdoodle novel (greatly abbreviated by me because her attention tends to wane during the bland parts - we're about 3/4 of the way through it).  As the new routine goes (new as in the past week), the kidlet then reads by herself for 10 or 15 minutes until she says she's tired and wants to go to sleep.  I go in, kiss her good night, turn off the light, and she's out.  Plus, for the past week or so, she's given up sleeping with ANY stuffies.  Nope.  Not one.  They still sit at the bottom of her bed but she no longer requires one to sleep.  It just happened out of the blue one night when she asked if I could take the stuffy she was holding and put it at the foot of the bed with the others.  And that was it.

My little girl is growing up!

The kidlet's first bike

Finally, a warm day

Get this - I didn't have to wear my winter coat when I dropped the kidlet off at preschool this morning.

I know!  It was cloudy but warm-ish and by noon, the sun was out in full force and it was warm and aaaahhhhhhhh.

It's about freaking time.  And it's supposed to be hot all weekend.  ALL WEEKEND.  And it's a long weekend.  Awesome.

The kidlet and I played outside for a bit this afternoon where I tried to take some pictures of her because it has been FOREVER, but she was determined to not allow me one focused shot.

Well, okay, ONE:

After dinner, we walked to the elementary school playground and hung out for almost an hour (so. warm).  At one point when the kidlet was nimbly climbing the monkey bars (when did she start doing THAT?), she reached the top and said she was 'apprehensive'.  She told me it meant a little scared.  Then she stepped down a rung and proudly exclaimed that she was no longer apprehensive.

Alrighty then.

Another girl from her school was there so the two of them raced around while the Mom and I chatted politely (I've run into her three times in the last month and it's starting to freak me out).  Her daughter is six months older than the kidlet and was riding an awesome bike that I'm going to have to find.  I have checked out Toys R Us but I didn't want princess, Dora, tassle-overkill, etc. and I found that when the kidlet tested them, they seemed kinda rickety.  So off to Caps we'll go soon to spend a small fortune I'm sure but at least I know now what I'm looking for.

I went to the kidlet's observation day at preschool on Tuesday where the teacher said she was 'advanced for her age' and as stubborn as they come.  So nothing has changed in the 'attitude' department, I'm afraid.  The teacher said that the kidlet will sometimes get mad at her, run into the kitchen and hide for twenty minutes before finally emerging and making up.  Regardless, it seems like the teacher gets a kick out of her (thank goodness) and they seem to be able to manage their way through yet another of the kidlet's phases.  She now loves to say "I don't like girls" or "I don't like boys", depending on who has ticked her off (usually me).  When she gets mad at me and says she doesn't like girls (guess that's better than the 'I don't love you' of months past), I say that she's a girl and she clarifies by saying she doesn't like BIG girls.  So I say okay, leave, and within a minute she starts to blubber that she does love me.  So that part hasn't changed.  Emotions are so tough, aren't they?

Earlier today, she came up to me out of the blue and said:  "When I'm 10 like you are, we won't have to hold hands when we're on the street anymore."  After laughing at the thought of being 10 again, I said that I wanted to always hold her hand no matter how old we were and she said, "But Mom, only when I'm 4 and 5.  I wish I was 5."  She can't wait to be 5 for some reason and here I am thinking she's growing up too fast already. 

Happy Friday!

What a gorgeous day today.  The sun was out and it was actually (dare I say it?) WARM.  Alas, it's supposed to rain tomorrow but today was fantastic.  Love the sunshine and long overdue.

The kidlet did awesome at gymnastics, which is making me second guess not putting her in the for the summer program.  But I think she could use some branching out - try some different things in the summer, then maybe back in gymnastics in the Fall.  There are so many activities to choose from though.  Swimming is a given, but then what?  Dance?  Music?  Sports?  Aiyee.  I don't want to overschedule her so I'm going to have to decide on one more.  Still, not easy.

After gymnastics today, I took the kidlet to A&W for lunch, and since there was a Mexx store conveniently located in the same complex (ahem), I went shopping for ME.  I wasn't sure what I'd find - it varies in that place - but I found about a dozen things or so to try on, of which I bought half - a few tops, a dress skirt and a casual skirt.  I wanted to try on more but the kidlet was getting tired and whiny after spending nearly an hour in there (because I'm one of those shoppers that has to go through each section, each rack of the store in order to see everything before even trying anything on) so I had to call it a day.  I may just have to make a trip back though - I need some more bottoms to go with the new tops.  And I was so happy to find so many things I liked in one place - that happens, like, never.

I'm in desperate need of new clothes so any time I find anything that looks nice and fits (not always easy to find both with my body type - a tall pear), I buy it.  At least now I have some nice shirts to replace all those crappy old t-shirts I've been wearing.  It was money well spent.  Yes it was.

I've been meaning to start a workout routine again but as soon as I decided to start it, I got sick with this dang cold, so hopefully next week.  Time to tone up for summer (yes, had all winter, but I'm like a bear - don't do much in the winter).  It's almost bathing suit season.  Groan....

And now, on my rocking Friday night, I think I'm going to call it an early night and go to bed and read.

I am not getting sick. I am not getting sick.

My throat is sore.  I'm hot then cold and a little bit clammy.  Time to pop the Cold F/X again and hope for the best.  It worked like a charm the last two times.

Regardless, I still puttered around cleaning today and this afternoon I took the kidlet to Deer Lake Park for a walk.  It had stopped raining but it was still overcast so I knew the trails would be relatively empty.  I just needed to get out and spend some time with nature - it's been a while.  We used to go for hikes all the time but it's been years now.  A walk is a good place to start.

The kidlet was a bit disappointed that the only forest animals we saw were ducks, Canadian geese, various birds, and slugs.  Still, she pretended to take a picture of every slug we saw (and there were many) and I think she enjoyed just being out as much as I did.  It's so peaceful, quiet, green.  All I could hear were the birds singing or chirping, or the Canadian geese honking as they flew past, hovering just over the lake.  We stopped and watched a man flyfishing off a little dock, then once he left, the kidlet and I pretended to fish.  We caught clownfish and sharks and tuna and zebra danios.  I'm sure the odd person who walked by wondered what the heck we were doing but we didn't care.

We watched people paddling their canoes in the lake and I told the kidlet we would take her canoeing one day.  She was pretty excited about that.  I haven't canoed in years either but loved to as a kid.

There were a couple houses nestled in the park with huge lots (some of it must be park land) and a view of the lake and I imagined living in one of the large old houses where it seemed that you were so far away from it all, surrounded by tall trees and long green grass and all kinds of birds.  And yet, you're only a minute from a main highway.  I'm sure the houses cost millions but it's always nice to dream.

So I'll be taking it easy tomorrow as Monday is my first day in a temporary position on the Corporate level (helping out until they hire someone to replace the woman who just left) and I'll need to have my wits about me.  But for now, it's to the couch I go.

Relocating the fish tank

So I've been obsessing over the state of the fish tank lately for some reason and over the last few days, considered getting a smaller tank, taking the fish back to the store and dismantling the whole thing, or prettifying the one we've got.  I also wanted to move it.  Just because it was bugging me where it was.

Why do I do this to myself?

Yesterday at the fish store, I picked up a 10g for $14 to use to transfer my fishies into while I cleaned out our 29g tank.  So this afternoon, after we got back from gymnastics, that's what I set out to do. 

I had no idea it was going to take me three hours.  Ugh.  My muscles are all owie now and I'm tired and the kidlet is SUPER WHINEY tonight and I'm trying to find my happy place.  La la la laaaaa!!

So first, I siphoned out enough water (without getting near the gooey gravel) to fill the 10g gallon that I set up on the kitchen counter by using our 5g bucket.  (So two trips for those that are as bad at math as I am.)  I moved the heater over to the 10g, then took the biowheel filter and raced across the living room, through the den and to the kitchen to get it going in the 10g as well.  I managed to make it to the kitchen without spilling any of the icky water inside but somehow when I got to the counter, it kinda slipped from my hands and covered a third of the counter in stinky fishy water.  And then I realized that it was too tall to fit on the 10g, so I had to set it on a plastic container to lift it up a bit.  Precarious, but it worked.

I siphoned out another bucket of water, then took out all the algae-covered plants and the bridge (much to our pleco's chagrin), then got the net and started to hunt for the fish.  It wasn't too hard but man, that pleco is fast.  Got them all, plopped them into the 10g, then it was just a matter of getting the rest of the water out of the 29g so that I could clean it out.

Got most of the water then got most of the gravel out and yet it was still FREAKING HEAVY to carry to the bathtub.  Hence the sore muscles.  Gave it a good rinse (nice green icky water - ew ew ew), then relocated the stand to the other side of the living room and placed the now-clean tank on top.  I put the rinsed gravel back in and noticed that now that I had removed the undergravel filter (haven't used it in ages), there was only about an inch of gravel in there (recommended 2-3 inches).  I hunted around the house/shed/garage for extra and we had none.  So I packed the kidlet up and drove to the nearest aquarium store where I picked up another 30lbs of gravel.  Again, rather heavy.

After putting in the new gravel, it was time to fill up the tank.  29g is a lot of water - did you know that?  I don't know why it always amazes me.  Anyways, between putting back the old water (so as not to shock the fish with brand new water throughout) and adding new water, it took a heckuva long time and many trips to and from the kitchen with drippy buckets.  I set up the heater and the filter again, then moved the fish (much easier to catch in a 10g tank with only a few inches of water left in it).  I put in a couple new plants and taped a background on the back (much nicer than looking through to the wall although it's REALLY tough to cut those backgrounds straight, so I have a little overhang on one side that's all choppy and hideous-looking (Dean will have to help me fix it with a razor or something).

Anyways, the tank now looks brand new and pretty and colourful and it's in a much better location in the living room.  But the tank is much too nice for our ugly fish.  Guess we'll see if the move kills any of them, see if the tank adjust itself again and maybe, just maybe, I'll invest in some prettier fish.  And try to maintain the dang thing a little better.

One thing though - the heater's suction cups aren't working and it keeps slanting and it's making me crazy - I've adjusted it a hundred times already.  They were clean, the glass is clean, it sticks and then it doesn't.  Argh... always something, isn't there?