because see…..this child, she loves your commercials….from the moment she saw them her eyes lit up and she quivered with excitement.  She now RUNS to the TV as soon as she hears the music.

Her favorite one’s are the Hippo one’s.

She YELLS when she sees the Hippo….

So we thought we better try to get her out to the Greater Vancouver Zoo so she could meet the star of the show….

And she did.
And it made her very happy.

In fact, she enjoyed her entire trip to the zoo.   She let out a HUGE yell at every single new animal she spotted.     Except for the Emu…him she turned and hurriedly made a run for me.

Can’t say I blame her really.

The inanimate were just as popular as the animate!
It was good but loooooooong (thank you overturned semi closing the freeway) and expensive day (pay parking? Really??), but worth it once a year I suppose!

When we decided to visit the Greater Vancouver Zoo yesterday, I packed a wack of snacks, including juice boxes and a couple of ‘special’ boxes too…

Getting Milk in the mail was cool for the kids.  The children in this family are milk junkies so discovering ‘milk-to-go’ was most awesome for them.

Now I grew up in the UK….we had UHT Milk as kids.   It came in little triangle containers at school.   The packaging and the UHT treatment replaced the tiny glass bottles that when it was REALLY cold pushed the lids of.

I don’t think I have thought about or heard about UHT or Ultra High Temperature Milk since coming to Canada and honestly didn’t think about how they process Organic Milk….until I got an email about the UHT treatment and the environmentally and recyclable Tetra Paks that these handy lunch time sized drinks are packaged in.

People claim that the Ultra High Temperature Milk tastes different than regular pasteurization, but my kids have not mentioned noticing this at all.  I think it is a bit sweeter, so perhaps us adults are more aware.

But it is this UHT treatment that allows the milk to be unrefrigerated and have a longer shelf life than ‘regular’ milk.    Hence the ability to have it packaged in these handy dandy sizes and great for school.

I know Caitlyn will be happy to have cold (freeze it the night before for cold milk for lunch) milk at school this year.  Though I have to admit I will have to search for the UHT milk at the stores…I do know that the Liberte brand 250 mL cartons are for sale  at Whole Foods and Starbucks.

Please Note That Under Full Disclosure GolinHarris Provided CC With This Milk Sample

As I sit here …there is a brief moment of silence. Tara is napping and I have about 30 minutes before heading to pick up the kids from their last day of Summer Camp. There they are celebrating with pizza and movies apparently.

The kids managed two weeks of the day camp this year. Adam enjoyed it a lot as the kids he had issues with last year were not there and Caity managed okay…..her enjoyment diminished with each day as she realizes that this is the lead up to going back to school.

Caity is very anxious about going back to school. I find this really sad. Not because I am terribly rah rah about school…but she seems to THRIVE at school. The teachers and students in Kindergarten all seemed to adore her and she got stunning report cards to boot!

But I really think the summer break is a tad too long and especially for people like us who didn’t have the kids booked up with parentless activities throughout. Adam and Caity were hanging with me and my mom when they weren’t running around with their friends and they get used to us being there for them any time of the day.

I think the thought that she will be out of touch for a FULL day is now really sinking in as a bad thing instead of just a fact and I feel terrible for her.

She is such an emotional little soul. A total firebrand…rage, joy, upset will speed through her system at dizzying speeds that I cannot keep up with.

We have been trying to ease her fears in that the school year will be eased into over time and that she will be just fine. And I do think she will be fine….once things settle down, but for now I have a clingy emotional little girl who is very relieved that today was the last day of summer camp…even though she grudgingly admits to enjoying it and liking the girls there.

It has been a low key summer. Again. No big trips, no big upheavals. Patrick working and me staying fairly close to home with them spending more time in ‘free play’ than organized activities.

We will pack in a few more day events in the next week and are slowly struggling with getting them back to sleeping at a decent time. Something that feels almost impossible considering the shock we are met with EVERY SINGLE NIGHT when we try to get Adam to start winding down and prepping for bed.

At least with it getting darker a tad earlier, we can lure them in a bit easier.

I am not sure how Adam feels about school.  He keeps his feelings to himself more so than his sister.  The most I have heard is about which teacher he hopes to get, and some mention of the friends he wants to see again….but nothing about how he feels.  I think honestly, that he is pretty ambivalent about school.

Adam tends to be more fatalistic about things.  He will face the ‘worst’ rather than see the bright side of a situation.  He tends to give up rather easily instead of thinking of solutions to an issue.    The other day there was a ‘miscommunication’ between himself and a friend.  He walked up to me and said that was it and his friend would not be playing with him anymore.  He explained to me what had happened and when I suggested that he go and apologize, he looked quite surprised that that would be a solution…which it was.

The boys mind works in mysterious ways.

We WERE supposed to be working on Summer Journals, but that has been a  bit of a bust…bad parent me.   And they haven’t done huge amounts of reading…but what I have seen of reading and crafts,  and so on  doesn’t look like they have deteriorated too much.

Instead the school will have to deal with semi feral, over video stimulated, sun  burned kids who will be horrified at the thought of sitting longer than five minutes at ANY task and are hungry all the time.

Good luck.

For the kids sake, I was happy to be asked to review some more LeapFrog products..especially their new LeapFrog Explorer.

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“Offering far more than a traditional handheld gaming platform, Leapster Explorer is also a portable hub for dozens of downloadable Leaplet™ Learning Apps, including e-Books, videos, game apps, and flash cards. And the Camera accessory turns Leapster Explorer into a personal photo- and video-recorder. Not only can kids learn with their favorite characters with Leapster Explorer in hand, they can expand the fun in LeapWorld™, our safe, online learning playground. ”

Being that my kids are already playing with Nintendo DS’s, XBox and Wii, I am always a tad skeptical about any electronic products that promises FUN and Education to my sophisticated kids.  My kids have been playing with electronic toys from a young age…granted there is not much in educational merits behind the games they play BUT the games did help my son with his reading.

I will also say that this was almost a very negative review due to the fact that I found myself getting very frustrated with the whole production of downloading software, uploading keys for ‘Leaplets’ and “free games” and then trying to find a game that would hold BOTH kids interest….for me it was way to much fritzing around on MY computer for the sake of THEIR toy.

I realize that there are indeed many parents out there who love the idea of the connectivity between the LeapFrog toys and the online products. I believe that many DO believe the educational merits and check their kids progress on the games. Not to mention the freebies that kids can download and play on the computers too.

However….I am not one of those parents. I am glad to see my kids get something out of a product. I am glad to see if it grabs them and makes them think instead of turning them into video drones..but I don’t want to work with a toy myself for this.

Sooooo….I have been very skeptical about this product.

Therefore I waited a bit before writing a review.  In that time, I have to say that I have been quite impressed with how much the kids actually HAVE been playing it AND now pestering me to hook it up to see if they can get any freebies etc.

I have not bought any actual games for the system…just the one game through their STARTER LEAPLET DOWNLOAD CARD.  That was a counting game called Dice Ahoy and I am sure will be the beginning of terrible gambling issues down the road (JOKE).  Out of the limited choices, this  seemed the most age appropriate for my 8 and 6 year old.   That and the fun they seem to have had creating their Explorer Pet seems to have held their collective interest which alone impressed me.

The counting game was great…one or two players can participate and there are two choices of game play.  Oh yes…that is the one really good thing about this machine!  ONE will do for multiple kids!   You can have three id’s created on the system AND a guest ‘badge’ too.  So each one can have their own PET and keep tabs of their scores, etc.

So really…all you have to do is referee whose turn it is with the system and there you go!

I think again, for parents who are dubious about video game systems like the DS’s, the LeapFrog systems are great.  The games are age appropriate for kids who haven’t been playing more complicated games, and the ease of use, and nice graphics does lure them in so they don’t realize that they might POSSIBLY learn something while at play.

Even Tara has had much fun with it.

And speaking of Tara, LeapFrog sent along an age appropriate toy for her too!

The Cook and Play Potsy has been LOADS of fun for our busy little girl.  There has been much ‘stirrings’ and noise making with this one.

Tara is only a year,  but she has grasped the fun behind this one……the songs, the noises, the easy to grab lid and spoon have been great fun for her.   Putting things IN and OUT of a pot that makes music is probably close to nirvana for a one year old.

This toy has been used pretty much every day since we received it.   I like the way it feels…I like the heft …it doesn’t feel cheap or breakable.   It can take a beating.   I like that it isn’t huge and that the ‘vegetables’ can’t get easily lost either.

I would recommend this as a great birthday or Christmas gift for the 1 to 2 year old set.   It isn’t TOO loud and the small size is great for those parents out there with size and storage concerns.

If you haven’t noticed…August is winding up.  For the parental types of school age kids this mean the big gear up for back to school.

Or depending on where you live….this may have happened already.  Or for people like us…it couldn’t happen soon enough.

This is the time when my kids have not only forgotten the 3 R’s…they have practically forgotten how to dress or speak.  We are surrounded by semi feral dirty grunty creatures who stay up too late and the term ‘routine’ is just not anywhere in any of their now smooth and seamless lobes that USED to be young ripply brains.

I kid you not.  My kids are either naked or sleeping in the same clothes they played in all day.

I think, despite what I would define as a truly crummy and boring summer, this means that they have had fun.

The parental wing of the world wide web is FILLED with articles about back to school…from prepping kids, fashion, learning solutions, lunch solutions..you name it…they are talking about it.

One thing that the more ‘crunchy’ stores are touting  is reusable sandwich bags. Great.  They are fun and cute and one more thing to get lost OR if  you have my kids who FORGET to bring home lunches for days and then when they do leave me to have deal with half eaten old sandwiches in the plastic ziploc baggies that I just shudder at and throw away.  With REUSABLE ones you are asking me to CLEAN and TOUCH the GROSS and MOLDERING remains of sandwiches!!!  Seriously. How much am I supposed to love the planet.

The STATE my sons lunches come back to me is revolting.    I have tried fancy lunch bags.  I have a cool water bottle for him.  Then I bought a lunch box that has mini boxes and an ice pack.  It all gets lost and forgotten and when they do come back….ugh.  And nothing is EVER eaten cept the treats anyway.  Or maybe THREE pieces of broccoli.

The boy won’t eat.  Anything…..unless it is junk.   He will hold out for DAYS to ensure optimum emptiness in his stomach to fill with chocolate or chips or ice cream.

Come September, I get to do this times two.   At least Caity eats.  Mostly.

I can’t even get excited about back to school.  I mean yes YAY two kids in school ALL DAY.  That IS something to be boggled about.   However, the disaster that is the first few weeks at our school is not making me all warm and fuzzy.

See our school NEVER has classes or teachers set up for the beginning of school.  They say they have to wait to see how many kids actually show up for school including the late registrants, etc.

Add the mess that is the budget of the Vancouver School Board and who KNOWS what disaster will befall us this time around.

I really really think that we should (if we had the dosh) plan our vacation for the first two weeks in September.  That way we just bring the kids back to a class and teacher and that is that.   No roller coaster of who will the teacher be or will they split up the classes again and no two weeks of the kids learning NOTHING while they sit in classes with their teachers from the previous year waiting to sort it all out.

I am sure this sucks for the teachers too.

How can you plan anything for your class.  How can you get your supplies sorted out.  I can’t buy school supplies.   Last year they got one list from ONE teacher and then they changed everything and I had to reshop and organize for another DIFFERENT list.   And at our school we pay the school for supplies that they provide.  Then the poor school has to keep track of who paid what for which class.

A total nightmare.

We haven’t even heard if the annex is being closed for certain and I can only imagine the nightmare that working parents are going through now trying to set up before and after school care for their kids.

Seriously Chad, this is reason #45468 that non parents are probably QUITE happy to stay that way.

While my son has managed fine at school…I have had my battles.  I have had issues with the teachers.  I have attended meetings.  I have been ‘that’ parent.

I don’t enjoy it.

I am sure the teachers and the principal enjoy it even less.

This rocky start does no good for sensitive kids and their parents.  Heck…this sort of start to the school year is not good for ANY parent who is aware and concerned about the well being mentally and academically of their kids.

There has GOT to be a better way.

Looking at the VSB web site, I am horrified to see that Professional Days are all ready set up for some schools days after school starts.  I can only HOPE that it is due to the budget issues and  list of potential school closures.

However, I get the feeling that many other school districts handle the first few weeks of school a lot better than ours does…or at least our own school does, and this frustrates me so much.

Adam is going into Grade 3 and Caity is starting Grade 1 next month.   This will be huge for Caity.   She goes from the stupid short less than half days in Kindergarten to full days….what full days I am not sure as the hours may or may not be changing too.

My job as a parent is to make sure my kids are filled with enthusiasm and confidence for tackling the enormity of school.

I just wish the system would stop making this so difficult.

For any Champlain Heights parents reading my site…Jump Gym is offering the fundraiser event to be ‘by donation’ for all Champlain Parents….I want to thank them for recognizing that many parents in this area  are on tight budgets when it comes to extracurricular activities …even those for a good cause.

When you think nobody else understands how you feel, the world of the internet and blogger opens your eyes to a myriad of people who have walked in your shoes.

Hence why mothers and fathers have loved the community that blogging has built for them.   People on the internet share what they have experienced, gone through, suffered, enjoyed and so on….there is someone out there that understands you and that alone can help a person who is in need of nodding heads and warm calm thoughts.

That is the good side of blogging.

There is a negative side too, but I am here to focus on the power of good that blogging can do.

Hence I was very interested when I was asked to spread the word and share stories for the people behind ‘The Period of Purple Crying.”

Purple crying describes the crying that you can’t seem to stop in a new born.  The crying that can send people completely over the edge…’shaken baby syndrome,’ in worst cases.  For the rest of us it means the unfun part of being a new parent that people tend to skim over.

The letters in the word PURPLE describe the properties of normal infant crying that are frustrating:

P for Peak of Crying — Crying peaks at around 2 months, then decreases at around 3 to 5 months;
U for Unexpected — Crying comes and goes unexpectedly, for no apparent reason;
R for Resists Soothing — Crying continues despite all soothing efforts by caregivers;
P for Pain-like Face — Infants look like they are in pain, even when they are not;
L for Long Lasting — Crying can last as much as 5 hours a day, or more;
E for Evening — Crying occurs more in the late afternoon and evening.

Tara did this.   We had the DVD.  I didn’t think we needed the DVD and had tossed it under the tv.   After all…THIS was our THIRD CHILD. WE knew what to expect….ha ha ha ha.

When the crying started up and we were walking and pacing and shoo shooing I just gritted my teeth.    What  I didn’t realize was that the crying was really affecting Patrick.  It was almost personal this time.  ANOTHER baby that had issues with sleep and settling?  What on earth were we doing wrong!??

He watched the DVD.    He then came and told me to watch it.  It helped him knowing that it wasn’t us.  That there wasn’t something wrong with our parenting OR with Tara and this was just something babies did AND stopped doing too.

Knowing there was an end made all the difference for him.  He was then able to help me struggle through this painful time of no rest no peace…etc.  And I knew I could cry and let go and have people who understood not only take care of the baby but take care of me.

I have spoken before about how the first few months of Adam’s life is really a dark blur.  That I was really suffering from PPD and just getting by.

And that on top of the shock of being a new parent.  Because lets get real here….you can read all the books.  You can talk to all ready parents and you can plan all you like…but you don’t know.

NOT how hard it can be…you don’t know YOU.  You don’t know how YOU will deal.  You don’t know how you and your partner will deal.

Shock, health issues, fear, lack of sleep all play silly buggers with your mind and your ability to even cope with the smallest things.

Add to that the extended family, friends, work, money…..well again…for some it is no problem.  Easy transition and easy babies…..everyone is different.

And that is where the silence comes in.

EVERYONE is afraid of looking bad.   Being judged as a lousy parent.  What do you mean you can’t hack it?   What do you mean you can’t breast feed? What do you mean you aren’t happy and glowing?

So some of us fake it.  Some of us grit teeth and suffer.

The Purple Program wants that to change.

The Purple Program is doing a knitting project for November 15th to help prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome.     All the knitters out there can work on little baby hats in PURPLE to be given out on Canada’ National Child Day.

PURPLE caps must be received no later than by November 5, 2010.

If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Pelto: melissa@limelitepr.com or call 778.786.1495

Please knit and mail your PURPLE caps to
BC Children’s Hospital:
c/o Claire Yambao
Provincial Program Coordinator, Prevent SBS BC
BC Children’s Hospital
4480 Oak Street, K1-209
Vancouver, BC V6H 3V4

It is all about breaking the silence.  It is all about support and understanding.  It is all about letting new parents know that it can be hard and we are all there to help.   It is all about making parenting part of a community again.

Amber Strocel wants to do that…..Amber feels a book inside her and she wants it to be something that can be helpful to all future parents to be.   She wants us all to share our stories.    She wants us who have been there  to share the good the bad and the ugly.  The medical, the technical, the fun and the horrors of being a parent.

If you can and would like to help …please share YOUR journey with Amber.

The fab folks at Baby Bunch have yet ANOTHER giveaway from their cute and fun AND affordable baby gifts.

This time it doesn’t matter if it is a girl or a boy…these cute colourful rompers in their fun crayon box are great for boys and girls.

If you would like a chance to win a set (there are 3 rompers in each box) please leave a comment…share if you would like these for YOUR baby or as a gift.

On August 14th, I will RANDOMLY pick a winner from all you FAB commenters!!

When summer vacation was creeping up on us, mom and I chatted about any trips we could or wanted to do with the kids.

First on our agenda was to see my Grandfather.  He moved to Sidney on the Island and so I really don’t see him and barely speak to him via phone much either.   My bad.   Anyway, being that his birthday fell close to the end of school, we made it our first priority to take the kids over to see him.

This was important as his IS 95 and he hadn’t yet even met Tara.

I am glad we did the trip.

Second on our agenda was another Island trip but this time to see my mom’s mom’s cousin.   She was up in Comox.  I had met her years ago and my mom has visited more often and kept in touch.  I did the Christmas Card thing and that was really about it.

More recently what has been wonderful was her effort every Christmas to send a small package for the kids.  Kids she had never met.  She had also made the effort of knitting beautiful blankets for the kids. Tara has one on her bed and Caity’s own special ‘lovey’ was made my Isobel.

So indeed, we thought a trip up to Comox with the kids was indeed doable.

Then we got a simply awful email.  It was from her daughter.

Isobel had passed away.

She had been in Ottawa to watch her granddaughter give the valedictorian speech at her graduation. During her visit she fell and hit her head.   The next day she suffered a massive stroke.   She died on July 10th.

The kids never got to meet her.   We left it too late.

Caitlyn was so sad about it all.  It really affected her.  This was the woman who made her lovey.   Her ‘dee dee’ blanket.   She sunk into a total funk about death and her Nana.   To the point of hysteria.

Unlike her brother, Caity has been too young to really ‘feel’ the deaths that have affected this family.  She doesn’t really remember her ‘poppa,’  and while she does have memories of her nana (Patricks mom), she was too young to be fully impacted by her death.

She cries about the baby we lost…that impacted the children TOO much and his name comes up all the time and they tell EVERYONE one they meet that they ALMOST had a little brother.

Death is too close to this family.

The death of a distant relative who was kind therefore affected me greatly.

We hurriedly planned the ‘hows’ to attend her ‘Celebration.’  And then Tara got sick.   And that was the end of that.

While other distant relatives around the world have passed away and I have noted their loss….I really feel that I have let ‘something’ down by not being able to be there.

I suppose that this post is my way to assuage that feeling.  I feel cheated that we didn’t get to see her. I feel like I let her down.

Even though we weren’t close family.  And even though there was absolutely NOTHING I could have done.

I suppose the message about making sure you say all the things you want to say to your loved one’s NOW is key to my thoughts about Isobel and death.

I suppose making sure in your heart that those that are important to you KNOW they are important to you is part of my thoughts about Isobel and death.

I really don’t like how regret and whatifs are spectors of adult life.

I missed the last class of the first four week stint due to my stupid ankle.    This sucked because this was when Crystal was going to measure us all to compare our measurements from the first class.

I actually wasn’t that concerned.  I have already committed to another four weeks as I really like it despite knowing that I hadn’t lost weight…I felt better and clothes felt looser so I knew it was doing SOMETHING.

Well I finally managed to get measured again and wow….IMPRESSED.

I have lost a total of 10 inches from the various parts of my old tired body!

My body fat in % went from 31 to 26.7%.

I basically lost an inch in average all over.   NIIIIIICE.

And that was without any extra exercise or diet.  I did my twice a week and that was it.

It really shows you just HOW important moving your body is.

I didn’t lose any weight but to have that weight TONED down into more muscle than fat is GREAT.

Thank YOU Booty Camp Fitness.

I can’t WEIGHT to see what happens for the next four weeks.  I hope even with my now bum ankle that I can really push it.