March 2009

Today’s song requires you to click through to YouTube because embedding is disabled on this particular one.

Go forth! Enjoy!

A while ago I bought all 3 boys books about puberty and sex and babies and all that other fascinating stuff. I learned a lot of things – not about those subjects, specifically – while I was trying to buy them.

The first thing I learned is that the “girls and puberty” section of the local mega-bookstore is HUGE. More than one shelf! Pink and sparkly! Varied subjects and varied styles (from serious to very lighthearted)! All sorts of interesting things to see and read and some even came with special sparkly pens! Self-esteem! Body-image! Sexuality! Flirting and dating!

And the boys section? Literally a hand-full of books shoved in a corner beside the girls’ overflowing stacks. Plain, nondescript books. No sparkles. No fancy pens. Nada.

The next thing I learned was that reading through the books is crucial if you want to make sure your own values are represented. Whoah boy, some stuff was.. out there.

For me, the important thing was that the book be balanced and not shy away from subjects – particularly for Oldest One. He will make up his own mind about his feelings on subjects like abortion, birth control, masturbation and homosexuality as he grows up, of course, but I wanted facts and not judgments from the authors in the meantime.

(I am quite open with my beliefs around here – on everything ranging from premarital sex to abortion to drugs to God – but I am also very cautious to remind all 3 boys that those are my opinions and that they are different from many other people’s opinions and that the important-est thing in life is to keep an open mind and learn from other people and make your OWN decisions about morals and values.)

Anyway.

I ended up finding a series by Robie Haris that appealed to me more than any of the others.

For Maymo, I picked up “It’s Not The Stork!” and for Middle One I picked up “It’s So Amazing!” and, for Oldest One, I picked up, “It’s Perfectly Normal!”

All 3 books, to me, are good starters and they all have similar information (albeit in age-appropriate presentations) and I was perfectly happy to hand them over to the boys. The two younger boys read some for bedtime stories (!) and have had fun flipping through them in their spare time – Oldest One took the book, gave me “a look” and has said nothing about it since.

(I plan to pick up “The Guy Book” for Oldest One in the near future because it got really high votes on Metafilter and it seems like a good, balanced read.)

Maymo, however, has now become vaguely obsessed with babies. He’s back to asserting that I’m pregnant (I’m not) and that the dog is pregnant (she’s not) and that the other dog is pregnant (she, also, is not). I finally had to tell him that the pets have all had operations so they can’t have babies – he was disappointed.

Coffee, too, had to once again explain to Maymo that he had an operation, too, so he can’t make babies with me. Again, disappointment.

Which has lead to Maymo informing me that his “first mom didn’t have that operation!”

A HA! Now we’re getting somewhere!

“My first mom didn’t have an operation! She made babies!”

“Yes!”

“Like puppies!”

“Erm.. Well, not like puppies, but..”

“I was a puppy in her belly and then I was born and now I am a boy!”

“Um, no..”

“And then 16YO and Oldest One and Middle One were born but I was first because I am the smallest!”

“Actually…that’s not quite..”

“And then my first mom said I could come and live with you because I had a babysitter first and when I grow up I will be a grandpa after I am done being a girl!”

Seriously, I would LOVE to be inside his head.

But the reason I mention the whole thing is because I’m really pleased to hear Maymo talking more and more about his “first mom” (he also calls her “My Mom-[her name]” which is how I usually refer to her, too) and starting to make some connections between being born and being adopted and how a lot of kids stick with their biological parents.

Prior to this, he was grasping the idea of his biological Mom, but he definitely didn’t understand why/how she was involved in his existence – kind of like talking about a distant relative. It’s really cool that he’s starting to understand “where babies come from” and how it applies to himself.

Of course, he has also asked me, again, to “make” a sister for him. Or to adopt one if I’m going to be all stubborn about not “making” one in my tummy.

I guess I should be grateful that he’s not asking me to ‘make’ him a puppy.

Oldest One: Want to hear something stupid?

Me: Sure.

Oldest One: I got in trouble in gym today because we were playing dodgeball and Mr. P said that I was throwing the ball too hard. I mean, it’s DODGEBALL.

Me: Well, dodgeball doesn’t mean you get to beat the snot out of the other kids.

Oldest One: But it’s DODGEBALL. They’re supposed to MOVE when I’m throwing the ball. It’s stupid that I got in trouble for throwing it hard.

Me: I get what you’re saying, but..

Oldest One: I mean, it’s not MY fault I’m awesome. Seriously!

1. I managed to pick up Maymo, bring him home (to pee), grab all our big water bottles, take them to the depot to fill, come back home, help Maymo make his lunch toast (that’s what he wanted!) and do it all before 1pm.
2. Hello, sunshine! (Go ahead, Sylvain, mock my love of Spring!)
3. Middle One made peanut butter cookies AND I remembered to not let him take any to school.
4. The beagle is asleep in a sunbeam, snoring like a lumberjack.
5. The way Coffee says, “Awesome Blossom” is more awesome than.. well, than an actual Awesome Blossom.

March Break is over and the kids are in school. In a few minutes I’ll be heading out to pick up Maymo from his morning at kindergarten and we’ll be back on our ‘usual’ routine again.

This was, without question, the easiest break I’ve had with the kids thus far.

The first March Break we had was really hard for me – the kids had few friends, I had little experience with the boys themselves, and we sort of muddled through the whole week in a state of discomfort all around.

Last summer was good, bad and good again – for much the same reasons. Lack of experience on my part, still being somewhat afraid to take all 3 boys out in public at the same time, and long-long-LONG days without any other adult conversation. The boys fought and made me insane.

Christmas holidays, while fraught with the over-tired, over-excitedness of the kids, are generally managed because Coffee’s home, too.

This time around, we breezed through the break. The kids had friends to play with at home and elsewhere, a sleepover was had, Oldest One went to a dance, we made it to the bookstore, the kids built a fort, they spent some time playing xbox/Wii.. and there were no knock-down, drag-out fights.

I had to tell the boys to “cool off a bit” once or twice at most. We had some small bits of angst over chores and attitudes.

But, otherwise? EASY PEASY!

And on my side, I was completely enamoured with the freedom to do the things I wanted, without watching the clock – no need to worry about getting people anywhere on time, be home at a specific time, or even wake people up in the mornings.

While the boys were playing, I did some baking, some cleaning/organizing, read some library books, hung out with Coffee, enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air.. all things I absolutely love to do in the right quantities.

For the first time ever, I wasn’t counting down the days ’til the boys would be back at school. I wasn’t stressed out. And, if you had called me this morning to say, “Hey, no school this week!” I’d have happily accepted it and passed the message on to the boys.

I’m actually feeling somewhat happy about the impending summer vacation months.

1. Oldest One’s BFF’s mom calls me to give me gossip about the boys. It’s good to know someone else is also looking out for him (not that I’ll tell HIM that!)
2. I made bacon in the oven today. I prefer that method to pan frying or using the grill – less cleanup with less grease flying around the kitchen.
3. Coffee bought me a food processor (yay!) and a new toaster (4 slices instead of just 2) and, perhaps the best part of all, a chocolate wiener dog to eat. Sweet!
4. This was, without question, the easiest “break” from school that I’ve experienced with the boys. No major fights or arguments or stupidity from anyone, including me.
5. Making lists of things to do – from rearranging the solarium for the summer to organizing things to grocery lists. ALL GOOD.

Earlier today I planned out our menus for the week. Do you do that? I read somewhere, recently, that less than 10% of families plan out their meals ahead of time – which makes me wonder how the hell people do their grocery shopping at all.

We plan everything out, including school lunches and snacks, and we make a big list and then one of us (usually Coffee) makes a single trip to buy groceries. (He goes to multiple stores, but it’s still just once per week.)

I get kind of excited about picking out recipes for the week. Is that weird?

I usually ask one of the kids for a meal that they’d really like (this week, Middle One selected “meatloaf with mashed potatoes and vegetables because they’re really good!”) and then I toss in an easy-make recipe (usually Tuna Noodle Casserole because all 3 kids will eat it without complaint) and at least two vegan or vegetarian recipes.

This week we’re having:

Saturday – Homemade caesar salad, homemade phyllo-cheese puffs and BBQ’d chicken (I love spring weather for BBQing!!)

Sunday – Stirfry with rice (Coffee makes it)

Monday – Tuna Noodle Casserole (easy night!)

Tuesday – Red quinoa, pan-fried tempeh and broccoli

Wednesday – Thai Coconut Corn Stew with Garlic Bread

Thursday – Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables

Friday – Pizza (always!)

Saturday – Curry (Coffee makes it)

For the kids’ lunches, we’ve pretty much standardized our weekly plan:

Maymo takes a morning snack to school consisting of a piece of fruit (usually an apple) and water (no juice allowed in kindergarten), crackers and cheese or, if he’s really lucky, a cookie.

When he gets home, he eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a banana most days. Quite often he’ll ask for MORE FRUIT and then polish off another banana and an apple or grapes. Then he’ll ask for cookies. Or another sandwich. Or more milk.

Middle One usually takes a sandwich, fruit and a drinking box to school. He sometimes takes cookies and/or pudding, but often prefers to take a smaller lunch (so he has more time to play!) and, every day when he gets home, he eats a huge bowl of vanilla yogurt, a small bowl of peanuts, and a small bowl of raisins (again, his choice).

Oldest One usually takes a sandwich, fruit, yogurt, drinking box, pudding, cookies, cheese string, crackers.. and comes home “starving” nearly every time.

I try to keep a few extra boxes of pasta and some cans of sauce in the pantry (for days when the planned meal doesn’t happen for some reason) along with a few packages of frozen perogies and heaps of frozen veggies.

How do YOU decide what you’re eating for dinner? Do your kids make their own lunches or do you make ‘em for them?

1. It’s the weekend! Coffee’s home!
2. My gut is feeling better today after feeling really, really, REALLY unwell.
3. I had the best sandwich EVER for lunch. It involved Bacon Salt and Tofurky. Heh.
4. Fresh new library books to read!
5. The robins are.. insane. They’re pretty much swarming our house and property and making their pretty twittery noises and.. Man, I LOVE SPRING.

1. SPRING HAS ARRIVED! ALL HAIL SPRING! YAY SPRING! EEEEEEEEE!!!!
2. All 3 kids left the house for a few hours today. It’d be really quiet if I wasn’t blaring my music and dancing around…
3. There are 90 kabillion robins in the trees around my house. It’s like they KNOW what today is!
4. Friday! Friday! Friday! Friday!
5. Compiling the Ultimate Music Playlist for use while making dinner or playing Tetris. I love our music collection!

Does the date on the calender really matter? Normally I’d say “No” but..

IT’S SPRING, PEOPLE!

SPRING!

I CANNOT CONTROL MYSELF AND I MUST SHOUT THIS FROM THE ROOFTOP (erm, if I had a ladder, I mean, I’d climb up there and shout it) BECAUSE, FINALLY – FINALLY! – IT’S SPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!!!

OH YEAH! YEAH!!! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!

Springy spring spring spring!

SPRING!

If you need me, I’ll be incoherently babbling and giggling all day over here.

(Make your own warning label here!)