Callum needs to go to school. I can't believe I'm saying that because a huge, enormous, globe-sized part of me thinks it is completely and utterly ridiculous that 3-year olds go to school. Even pre-school with their crafts and games. HE'S THREE YEARS OLD. Three year olds color and watch Franklin, they do not go to school.
The reality is that I've never spent any quality time with a three year old and I was oh so very naive.
Technically he isn't even three. And that little technical glitch is the sole reason why I did absolutely nothing about the whole preschool charade all summer. That and a little thing called potty training. I was convinced that there was no way in hell the kid would be potty trained by September and there was no way in hell I was going to turn myself inside out trying to make it happen and ruin my summer.
Color me an idiot because it appears that potty training? Nothing to do with me. One day Callum informed me he had to pee, and off to the potty we did go. For several weeks he was in underwear and while he would pee in the potty, that's where that ended. And we all know there is a little more to this bathroom business than peeing.
Middle of August and we're still not spending any quality time in the bathroom, if you know what I mean. I'm thinking that the quality time is a long time coming because I've heard the stories. I know how this rolls. Except in the middle of August there we were out camping and I had forgotten the potty and my little guy looks at me and announces "MAMA I NEED TO POO".
Voila. Potty trained. I'd be giving myself some serious kudos here if, well, I had anything to do with it but I clearly didn't. CLEARLY. You have never seen anyone as lazy as me when it came to the potty training. I'm talking a special kind of lazy. I'm talking I was thinking diapers until he was 4 seemed like less work than what I imagined went into potty training. I tried to talk Michelle into spending a month at my house and getting her to do it. My Mom was more consistent and proactive than I. This was my level of interest in this. We're talking lazy, people. I be a very special kind of lazy.
September rolls around and I'm starting to realize that I erred when I didn't make any effort to get Callum enrolled in preschool because man, I can't keep him entertained. I've had friends say "well, with Claire you really can't spend an hour painting with Callum" and I'm thinking an hour? AN HOUR? If an hour was all it took this wouldn't be a problem. Callum already spends 2-4 hours EVERY DAY painting, cutting, gluing, sticking, rolling out playdoh, you name it. The kid paints little model trains on his own, and if I'd let him have the glue, he'd be attempting to glue them together too. Of course he wouldn't glue them properly, but he'd spend 2 solid hours giving it a go.
He sits at the kitchen table and does all this without any input from me. Unfortunately, he is awake for 12 hours. It's the remaining 8 hours that are driving me crazy.
A good mother would sit down and teach him the alphabet. That's reasonable, I could do that, even enjoy doing that, but that would take what? 15 minutes a day? Then what? I do what I can to keep him entertained - daily field trips to the store, the farm, great-Grandma's, the beach. We'll be starting Kindermusik and swimming lessons. He's doing skating in November. Even with all that there will still be hours where the kid is bored and a bored 3 year old? A level of annoying I never did experience before. No matter what I'm doing, he's in my face. If I'm stitching, he's demanding that he stitches too. If I'm cracking an egg to make myself breakfast he's dragging a chair across the kitchen to crack an egg. For those remaining 8 hours, the kid is on my heels.
And the talking. Oh boy. The talking. It. Never. Stops. No one believes me because the minute someone new is around he doesn’t talk at all, but a few out there have experienced the talking and I know you’re nodding your heads vigorously right now and saying out loud “oh god, THE TALKING”. This is so very Steve; another soul who people think never says a word most of the time, but those people? Well, those people have never had to sit through Steve attempting to download pictures off the digital camera and listen to the play-by-play. The other day he was setting up his new race watch which logs runs that you then download onto the computer and the second he plugged in that USB cable he started talking…
Now I have to research preschools and see if I can get the kid in and if you’ll recall, the lazy in me isn’t pleased and is clashing with the part of me that isn’t sure how much longer she can keep her son entertained. Who knew that you had to research preschools, anyway? Honestly.
I try to support my local businesses as much as I possibly can, both to support my community's economy and because I believe that in many cases shopping locally has less of an environmental impact. That idea might be pie-in-sky but when I'm paying more for something I could get cheaper at Wal-Mart I need to tell myself something to justify it.
Our favourite pizza in these parts happens to be a little local pizza shop out of Parksville that recently opened a second location in my community. This is pretty awesome for us considering we live in Errington which isn't exactly a booming metropolis. There are other pizza options in Parksville (Pizza Hut, Boston Pizza, Dominos, Panagos) and the local shop is BY FAR the best. There really isn't any comparison, especially considering out of the other options the only one I can actually eat is Pizza Hut, and while I can stomach Pizza Hut's pizza it will undoubtedly haunt me later so I’d really rather not.
Ordering from our local pizza place is entertaining too. Once I phoned for delivery and was told that the delivery driver, who was referred to by name like we might be friends, was playing volleyball that night and I'd have to pick up my order. Another time I was regaled with a story about how the guy taking my order went to a party the night before and was making out with some chick whose name he couldn't recall until the moment I said my own name was Amber. He was so delighted that I jogged his memory because he really wanted to speak with her again, and had her number but couldn’t remember her name. I did make sure he knew that it wasn't ME kissing him at the party.
These are both situations that I find charming about my local pizza place but would be thoroughly annoyed by if I was ordering from, say, Pizza Hut. I have no idea why that is, but I am willing to give the local guys a lot of slack.
The biggest issue I have is that the place isn't open on Sundays. Sunday is consistently the day I'd most like to order a pizza and I can't tell you how many times I've called all ready to order before I remembered that there will be no pizza to be had on Sunday.
But this weekend I was really annoyed. I called on Saturday night to order a pizza and didn't get an answer at the Errington location. I phoned a few times thinking they were just busy and couldn't get to the phone, then finally got fed up and phoned the Parksville location where I was greeted with a message informing me that they were closed for the entirety of the long weekend.
~sigh~
Why, local businesses, do you make it SO HARD? I can forgive being closed on Sunday even though I would prefer you were closed on Monday instead. But I can understand that many people might like to go to church or hang out with their families on Sundays and that could be deemed more important then me getting a pizza. I can even understand why you open late and close early even if I personally don't think that makes the best business sense. But why-oh-why wouldn't you be open on the SATURDAY of the LONG WEEKEND? WHY?
We went to White Spot instead, and my meal was horrible making me even more bitter I didn't get to enjoy a piece of really good, cheesy pizza.
"I colored, and play trains, and played with play-doh and Mama napped on the couch!"
"Really? Sounds like Mama is living a life of leisure"
Clearly my son and I need to sit down for a little "chat".
Feeling an obligation to blog even though I have neither the energy nor the desire to do so.
~
Claire has taken to climbing everything in site. And I do mean everything. I knew, in a vague-not-my-problem sort of way that this is what kids her age do but you see, Callum wasn't a climber. Callum sat in his little chair and read books. All mothers should have at least one Callum, it's only fair. Every day I will walk into a room and oh look! There's Claire standing on the kitchen table! oh look! There's Claire standing on the desk! oh look! There's Claire launching herself off said desk onto the couch and thinking this is the Best Game Ever! oh look! There's Claire trying to figure out how to climb the diaper changing trolley! oh look! There's Claire standing on the very flimsy TV table the TV is sitting on!
and so on and so forth.
Serioiusly, my nerves weren't cut out for this. I'm not the kind of Mom who watches her kids like a hawk. Honestly, I hardly watch them at all, they're just sort of there while I, you know, read blogs and update my facebook status. I have no idea how to child-proof a house from a kid who climbs everything.
~
During my showers the kids have taken to using my, um, womanly products, as showpieces in their mixed media art. While I appreciate their creativity I don't appreciate how costly this is or how embarassing it'll be the day someone walks into their room and I have either not noticed or have forgotten to remove said item from the wall where it was so carefully and proudly placed.
As previously mentioned, I'm not that good at child-proofing and for the life of me can't think of a place to put said products that is both convenient but out of a kid's reach.
~
Canning? Sucks. Just letting you know.
~
I finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and my opinion is don't bother with it as I suspect the movie will be better. Although it seems I'm in the minority on that if you read the reviews at Chapters.
~
Steve and I recently watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which I do recommend. I thought it was really interesting.