One of the many things heard around here this morning that made me laugh. The boys have a futon down flat in their play / tv room. Apparently, the floor was a swamp teeming with alligators. DS2 is on the futon, DS3 is on the floor. DS2 “Oh no, oh no. You’re in the alligator water”. DS3 (jumping onto futon) “whew. I escaped.” DS2 “but you’ve got an alligator hanging off your butt”.
A fun getaway with a remarkable after-effect June 21, 2007
I must try really hard not to procrastinate indefinitely a real post on our trip. For the moment, it will have to suffice that it was a 4 day wonderful getaway to visit DH’s sister. It served well to remind me yet again of how much easier life is with a 7 year old and two 4 year olds vs… well, vs. anything that came before in the parenthood-of-three phase of my life.
The point, at the moment, though is just that right now, at 10:45 DS1 is still sleeping. (Of course, I’ve felt compelled to check for breathing about 8 times already.)
I, myself, slept till after 9:00 when DS3 – aka Mr. Earlybird – strolled in. Nine o’clock! That is, like, the before-kids equivalent of sleeping past noon.
Toronto in June June 20, 2007
My first trip to Toronto was for Christmas in ‘98. The next time we went was last October. Both trips were a lot of fun but really just made me want to visit in June because I just knew it would be awesome in June. Sort of like Vancouver. Where I am still trying to get back to.
So, this year we finally did it. And it *was* totally awesome. Flights were uneventful other than a delay in Detroit which worked to our advantage because our incoming flight was late and without the delay I think the likelihood of our bags joining us in Toronto on our arrival would have been rather dismal. Also, without it there would have been no time for potty breaks for the small people – I really prefer to avoid attempting to assist a 4 y.o. in that broom closet of a bathroom found on most planes. Also, I had a deal pending which makes me crazy when I am up in the sky and out of reach. I managed to close it on the ground in Detroit in the boarding lounge. Oddly, this happened in February on our return flight also. It stresses me out. Totally. Oh, and best of all, the short delay meant missing rushhour in Toronto. SIL and BIL had some really good food waiting for us – he is a bit of a foodie which was all the better after subsisting on snacks all day.
The next day we took a ferry over to Center Island and spent a good part of the day at the amusement park – Centreville, I believe. The weather was just spectacular – exactly where I like it temperature wise (mid-70’s to low 80’s), clear, sunny… just perfect.
The first ride we all went on except for SIL – and I understood her fear of it 3 seconds after I got on – was this gondola thing. I rode with DS1, BIL with DS2 right in front of me and DH with DS3 in front of them. Well, 5 seconds into it I think I’m going to puke. There is one little bar across the front of this thing and it’s about 2 feet out. All I can think is plenty of room for a squirmy 4 y.o. to slip out. In fact, I feel like puking again just writing this. The whole time I am attempting to appear calm and reassuring to DS1 who is only slightly freaked out beside me and distracting him with the great view as we go higher and higher above the ground. Meanwhile, all I’m really doing is watching DS2 (the one who can’t sit still for 30 seconds, generally) like a hawk, ready to shriek out like the maniacal, control-freak mother that I am to BIL to hang onto him should I see him move in any way.
Then we went over the water. I couldn’t decide if this was better or worse. Softer landing so a chance of avoiding instant death. Good. But, of course, there is that drowning thing. Bad. Finally, we all had our feet on land again. I was never so happy.
All of this makes me realize how much my risk tolerance has swung from one extreme to the other. Louise (name changed to protect the guilty :-D ) and I did many things that were, arguably, risky. It barely ever occured to us to think what *could* happen. Now all I see is the risks. That sky-diving thing on the Life: To Do list might have to wait (till my next life), I’m thinking.
The rest of the rides were fun. DS2, who is the fussiest eater on the planet, was completely devasted when he was too short to ride one of them but DS3 (his twin who is significantly bigger and taller) was big enough. We’ve been getting significant mileage out of that at mealtime. Although, the effect is wearing off now – a week and a half later.
The kids also went into this maze of hedges. It was cool. Well, it was cool for them – they seemed to enjoy it and DH went running through it with them. I enjoyed the park bench at the front entrance with SIL. And the breeze and the view. And the peace and quiet. Then we found the playground to make sure they expended every little bit of energy they had left before we took them back home.
The next day we took them to High Park. Dang. That is one big park. We had a great time on the lawns with some toy helicopters, a crazy ball and some bubbles that SIL / BIL had gotten for the boys. It was so wonderful (like, really really wonderful) to be in a park in summer with beautiful weather. I told DH that is what summer is supposed to be. He doesn’t seem to think the tradeoff with cold winters is worth it. Before heading back, we let them wear themselves out at this really cool castle playground and then took them on the trail through the woods back up to the parking lot.
That afternoon we headed out to suburbia somewhere to meet a bunch of inlaws I’d never met. Actually, I don’t think DH had met most of them either. Or any of them. They were wonderful people and we had a great time. Sometimes you meet people who are instant friends.
The boys had a blast also. There were some big cousins there who took the boys down to the gym and let them “workout” on the exercise equipment and lift weights etc. So, that was just the bomb, as far as they were concerned.
That was a first for me, actually. Letting them go off and play, unattended in someone else’s house. It’s a wonderful feeling of getting my life back and realizing how much easier the boys really are now. It helps to have responsible big cousins about, too!
Sunday was Father’s Day. I gave DH his Tom Petty racing thingy. He was suitably excited. We’ll do that in the fall sometime when it’s a lot less hot. We spent that day at the waterpark somewhere out of town. Of course, waterplay is always a big hit. This is a great water park. The boys even went down some of the biggish (but slow) waterslides (with me to catch them at the bottom. It was “super cool” in their words. There was also a lazy river and a wave pool. Reggae music over by the big swimming pool. Watching the boys dancing around in the lazy river launching area to the music was some of the best entertainment I’ve had. Too bad I was too paranoid to bring my camera or video camera to the waterpark.
The last day was lower key. We went down to the waterfront, spent a little time letting the boys play in a green space. Took a harbor cruise that was nice but really, realy cold, on top so we went on the lower deck and watched through the windows. Lunch on the waterfront, let the boys each buy a little souvenir with their Canadian spending money from Grandma. Of course, I did this one at a time while SIL / DH plied the other two with M&M’s outside. I want to pull my hair out if I go into one of “those shops” (you know the ones, where the merchandising is just a disaster waiting to happen at the touch of a 4 y.o.) with more than one child at a time.
That evening, DH left me to get some quality me time and took the boys to a great little park just up the street. I just love that lifestyle of being able to walk to anything. Of course, that comes with living in a condo with no yard to which to send the testosterone factories boys to play. Since that would be complete mental-breakdown-making for me, that lifestyle shall have to wait.
I had a short nap (bliss) then coffee at the Second Cup (dare I say it – better than Starbucks). Again, just a hop, skip and a jump up the street. Actually, it probaby best that I don’t live a 2 minute walk from large vanilla lattes. That would have a significant and negative impact on my wallet and my efforts to not grow out of my clothes at the same rate as the kids. Then I walked over to watch the kids play at the park. DH looked at me like I was crazy showing up when I was on an official mommy break. But it was so nice out and I was glad I went. There was a merry-go-round at the park. Something you *never* see here anymore. The boys had such fun on it. They were playing that it was a train and cracking me up with the geography bit. They were going to Alaska, Missisippi, Jamaica (on a train – imagine that!), Texas, Kansas, Detroit etc. etc. Of course, DS1, being the entertainment director that he is, was orchestrating this.
And that was pretty much it. The flight home was uneventful. I enjoyed a moment when a woman walking behind our crew commented on how I was “surrounded by such handsome men”. The boys slept most of the way which is generally my goal.
So, SIL and I have decided that it would be an excellent idea for us to make this an annual thing. I wonder if I could get a guarantee of the same spectacular weather each time…
They’re not bounce balls?? June 12, 2007
I’m sick today so DS2 was in his pajamas till just now. I finally got ’round to telling him he needs to get dressed. First, he tries “I’m hot in this so I just want to be bare.” When I nix that, he strips off his pj’s and follows me into the bedroom to get clothes on.
He stops midway and says “Hey, I felt my balls.” I turn around and sure enough he’s squeezing the heck out of his testicles and keeps talking about finding his balls.
“Look, I found my balls. See? Someday, there will be bigger balls in there.” Puzzled look, “but how do I get them out. To bounce them.” Me “you can’t get them out, they just stay in there”. “You mean they’re not bounce balls?”. Me: “no, they’re not bounce balls. They’re body balls. They just stay there. Actually, they are called testicles. But they’re shaped like balls.” Him “I knew you were going to say that”.
The most tormented lizards on the planet June 10, 2007
live in my yard.
The boys, DS2 in particular, are completely fascinated by them. Of course, this fascination is very much the hands-on type. They are constantly catching them and collecting them in pails and trying to feed them whatever they think lizards should eat. One day, they tried to give a captive lizard (although, I’m sure they think of the lizard as a guest at their lizard spa in a bucket rather than as a captive) a Starburst. Because everyone knows that reptiles (or are they amphibians… whatever) just love chewy, sugary lumps of corn syrup and artificial coloring.
Just now, I had to rescue one from the inner workings of a toy that shoots a stack of glow-in-the-dark foam circles. I’m 100% certain the lizard did not appreciate my efforts nor understand that I was, in fact, rescueing him from a horrible fate (for both him and the toy. Toys with lizard guts inside of them get retired to the landfill.
What is that saying about “boys are … the hope of the future with a frog in its pocket”. Or lizard in its toy. Whichever. I guess I should make sure I check the pockets in today’s laundry
Home Decorating – an interesting touch June 5, 2007
The boys have these things we call spaghetti balls. They are just a ball of fettucine-like strings coming out from the center and made of that sort of slimy feeling jiggly plastic like material. So, I’m getting dressed and I come out to find a whole bunch of these orange and blue slimy strings hanging from the ceiling in the front entry.
Turns out, that if you tear them off the ball and throw them just right, one end will stick and hold on the ceiling. hmmm. This reminds me of the time I walked down the hallway and found several Magnetix straight pieces adorning each of the 16 corner edges without trim. Clearly, someone had discovered that there’s metal pieces hiding under the paint on the corners.
Nothing like having a 4 y.o. give you a script June 1, 2007
I’m in the office and I hear DS2 coming up the hall to say goodnight. Then nothing. So I say “DS2, you coming to say goodnight?”. Silence. Then, “mommy, when I say ‘boo’ you say ‘AAAACK!’.”
A moment later he jumps into the doorway and yells “Boo!” Of course, I follow the script I was given. And he laughs like it’s the funniest thing ever and he just scared me for real. 
