Transition March Break

Isn't life full of changes and surprises. We all grow up; it's part of life.

But, boy does things changes quickly take places in our household! So, here it is in a nutshell: Starting Monday, March 22, Little S will be going to a school full time. Little R will continue with his worker in the morning, she will take him to school but will stay at school for extended care. I will be dropping Little S off at her new school, then I will go to my new place of work. After work (that will be a different post on the Greening Days blog), I will pick up both the kids, take them home, eat supper, spend some time together, do the sauna and take showers, put the kids to sleep, make break, lunch and suppers for the next day... go to sleep, start all over again Tuesday.

I need to catch my breath now.

Friday morning, DH and I dropped Little S off at her new school for an hour. She was fine up until the point we started making our way to the exit and the teacher was bringing her to another direction. The poor thing was sitting at the snack table away from the rest of the children when we got back. She was so overjoyed to see her Daddy when we got back to pick her up.

I think that Little S will enjoy her new place of growth. There are many things she will stimulate her learning with there. A couple of the teachers will speak to her in Spanish, and I have begun to speak more to her in Spanish too - actually, what I'm working toward is just using my language, French, Spanish, Cantonese and some Mandarin with her. I should not use English - or use it as little as possible with her since she'll be getting that from everywhere else. In any case, the teacher there said that they will also learn some of my language to use with her sometimes.

My top concern with the school is there diet. We do not want Little S eating certain things that the Canada Food Guide promotes such as cow's pasteurised milk and milk products. This will be a toughie. But, if the catering company cannot accommodate, I will request that I not pay for food so that I can provide them for her. Now, the only thing is, I don't want her to feel that she is not part of the group because she can't have their ice cream cake or their milk - I'll just have to make things that look similar to the other children's treats. I know that the catering company's slogan is "a healthy choice," but I've come to realize my definition or standard of "healthy" is always different.

My second concern with the school is what they used for cleaning. Apparently, it's bleach. Chlorine. Yuck. Unfortunately for the teacher, I did not hold back my disgust. She explained that Health Canada had certain regulations (and I sarcastically commented "to poison") to keep things clean and sanitary. Anyway, the teacher also mentioned that they sometimes just clean with vinegar and water on the children's snack tables... I hope that this is the case.

Before the Friday, we had guests Wednesday and Thursday. Little R pushed some of the kids and screamed a lot, but everyone still seemed to have a good time. We walked to and from the park with the kids - looked like I had a daycare :) They children loved going up the apparatus and sliding down, swinging and just enjoying the outdoors.

Now, it's time for more change. E cat scratched Little R in the face (I'm not quite sure what Little R was doing to him - but often, he's quite rough with the cats), so DH put up an add to look for a good home for the cats. I really would prefer not to hand over my cats to someone I don't know. I want them to live a good life, be fed well, see light, be pet and be happy. Here is the ad if you know of someone who really loves cats: http://oshawa.kijiji.ca/c-pets-to-give-or-donate-2-Male-Cats-brothers-Need-a-Loving-Home-W0QQAdIdZ192151499. If at all possible, maybe we can teach the children to be gentle and just keep our furry friends.

Alas, many changes, many changes... but that's part of growing up.

Friday at Poo Corner

Yesterday was the Friday of the this March Break, the last day that I got to be "full time mother" with my children. I wanted this special time to be memorable.

I took the kids to Friend D's house. Little R went to the toilet several times while we were there, and unfortunately, he also went (but no toilets were around) during our walk home.

So, when we finally reached home, I took all his clothes off of him. Then I had to put my daughter to bed since she fell asleep on the way home. Then I wiped the little guy of his urine then proceeded to get some clothes for him. While I was still getting some pants from his dresser, I heard "plop plop." "Oh, no!" I thought, he's throwing rocks or something heavy into the toilet!

Oh, but as I emerged from his bedroom and spied into the hallway, I saw a couple droppings of doo. Then into the bathroom I peered: he was standing innocently with poo smeared on his hand in front of the toilet as if peeing.

Amazingly, I did not yell, I did not fret - I just made sure there was no poo to step in where my feet met the floor. Oh, there was a huge amount of poo in the toilet, but cleaning the boy was my first concern. Into the shower I plopped him. Scrubbed him I did... twice! And then a third time.

Yuck, my hand was yucked by the poo between his buttocks - but what could you do? He had to be cleaned!
He thought it was a funny as he took his toy boats to play. I really hope it wasn't what he wanted - imagine pooing so you could get showered.

So I managed to scrub him. I then dried him off with a towel, and lay him in his bed. My next concern was the poo on the floor. Of course while I was inside the bathroom ripping some toilet paper, I heard the guy running out his door directly in front of the droppings... luckily, I got to him first! I picked up the poo (with toilet paper), I did... next, I had to inspect the other parts of the house. Well, in my DH's apartment, I found (smelled) the poo residue he had some smeared on the comforter on top of the futon. So that I had to wash next... when was husband going to walk through the door?

And I think the little guy was still naked throughout all of this cleaning done by me. So, what did you think of this story? Should I write him a bed time book to remind him of our last day together during March Break?