Hockey Moms Unite!
Published January 31, 2009 @ 16:02 in Being Mommy, Kids Activities
I am a hockey mom. When did that become such a negative? Sarah Palin didn't help matters with her joke about the bulldog and the lipstick. In the past it was the hockey dads that beat up on the coaches and the refs.
COME ON CANADA! There are millions of us "hockey moms" out there. We are the ones ensuring that the kids have eaten and are rested before they get on the ice. We are cleaning their equipment and airing it out. We are dressing and undressing the kids. Cheering for them, win or lose. Sitting in frozen arenas for hours, and driving all around the city.
I have never heard a hockey mom say anything bad about her child, another player, a coach or a ref. The only time I even heard a "hockey mom" yell at the ref, it was her husband and she was trying to draw his attention to an injured child on the ice.
The soul of our country is hockey. It is not an evil sport. The participants are not crazy mutants. It is a fast, fun game involving a lot of skill.
I know my kids won't make it to the NHL. Out of the 400,000 + kids currently playing in the GTA, I think fewer than 7 will ever even make it to a farm team. The same way teaching your child to ride a bike won't get them into the Tour De France, playing hockey isn't just about one day playing for the Leafs.
Don't ask me what I expect my child "to get out of" hockey. They are learning to skate, puck handle, play on a team, and be a good sportsman. It is great exercise, fun, and entertaining. They get to meet kids outside of school and make new friends. I think any organized team sport is a great experience for any child.
Please keep the disgust out of your voice when I tell you that I am taking my kids to hockey. Yes, I am a hockey mom. If you have a problem with that, I just might deck you.
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Playing Hookey
Published January 30, 2009 @ 15:10 in Kids Activities, Loving Daddy, School
This afternoon I took my kids to see "Hotel for Dogs." I am not going to say much about the movie, except that it stars Emma Roberts, Julia's niece, and Don Chettle and it is much better than "Bedtime Stories."
Son One has been sick all week. While well enough today to get out and about, he is a little tired and I didn't want to inflict him on his teacher in that condition. I also know that kids pick up most of their viruses from other kids, so I want to make sure he is 100% before sending him back. I wish all parents would just keep their kids home when sick... but that rant will come another day.
Daddy is always the fun one. He plays with them all of the time. I am the one who worries about what and when they are eating, how clean their are, if they are where they need to be when they need to be there, if they have clean clothes, if they have snacks, books, etc. Basically, I am the nag and the boring one. I do all of the behind the scenes work, but get little of the glory. Then Daddy comes home from works, wrestles with them for half an hour, and he is the King (Daddy does a lot more, but it doesn't help my argument here to include the details.)
Today I decided to be the fun one. We had nowhere pressing to be and nothing important to do. Instead of heading home for the afternoon, we played hookey and hit the movie theater. They each picked a treat and we relaxed along with about 10 other people watching the movie.
Life gets too busy and hectic. We rush from activity to activity. School, hockey, gymnastics, dance, soccer, skating, speech, family visits, Beavers, doctors appointments, playdates, birthday parties and so on. It seems endless.
Today we slowed down, skipped our normal routines, and instead had a few hours of family entertainment. Now it is time for a nap.
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Mommy gets a time-out
Published January 30, 2009 @ 08:59 in Being Mommy, My Rules
A few weeks ago I gave myself a time-out.
I never had much success with time-outs for the kids. Maybe I wasn't consistent enough (the expert answer when any of their advice fails). I gave them often enough - usually for an offense committed in front of another adult who would surely judge my mothering abilities if I didn't discipline. I just never found time-outs particularly effective.
Until now. Time-outs are the perfect answer for me! When I am stressed and yelling and can tell that I am losing control for no good reason, I tell the kids that, "Mommy needs a time-out" and I go to my room.
I am thirty-four. Therefore, based on traditional time-out calculations, I get 34 minutes to myself to think about my behaviour. So it was 4:30 pm, and I told the kids not to come find me until the clock read 5:00. I climbed into bed and turned on Oprah to decompress.
4 minutes later, Son Two arrived. "I already broke the eggs for my omelette."
I guess four minutes is better than nothing.
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Ballerina Girl
Published January 29, 2009 @ 16:09 in Being Mommy, Kids Activities
Today my daughter had her ballet class. She gets to wear pink tights, a pink leotard, pink ballet slippers, and a pink chiffon skirt. Last week she got a pair of leg warmers. It is adorable! The girls run, jump and dance around to music for 30 minutes. There is nothing sweeter.
I always wanted to dance ballet. I loved the point shoes and the tutus. Ballerinas were so elegant - slim, pretty and graceful. I never asked my mother to sign me up for ballet - I knew my parents would find some way of telling me that I just wasn't "built" for ballet. I wasn't slim. I wasn't graceful. I never wore pink. It wasn't obvious that locked inside was a girl who loved tulle and wanted to dance on a stage en pointe.
In my mind my daughter will be accepted to the National Ballet School, and is on her way to becoming a prima ballerina.
Am I living vicariously through her? Of course! Maybe I should find myself an adult beginner ballet class and follow my own dream.
Or maybe I should just buy myself some pink tights, a leotard and a tutu and dance around the house with my daughter. It might be more fun.
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A youtube addict
Published January 29, 2009 @ 11:55 in Kids Activities
My daughter is a youtube addict. She discovered it at Nana's house, of all places! I thought grandparents were just about ensuring an addiction to sugar.
Every time she notices me on the computer (or "puter" as she calls it), she sits on my lap and begs for "three little ducks." Are you familiar with five little ducks? Find it on youtube, and you see six little girls dressed in yellow doing some simple choreography. 2 minutes and 3 seconds and she loves it.
Check out youtube with your child! There are some great animated nursery rhymes and kids songs. But I warn you - it is like crack to their little minds. And you really have to watch with them. There is a "Wheels on the bus" that runs over people, and quick links to very questionable material.
I have to admit that it is scary how comfortable my kids are with the computer, and how early their interest started. I assumed that I wouldn't really have to start monitoring them until they were preteens, chatting with friends. I know better. We keep our computer in our kitchen where I live, and I watch them with whatever they do. My husband and I have already agreed that they will not have computers and the internet in their bedrooms, and we don't have a camera on the computer.
Part of me is excited for them - that they have this amazing tool and all of this information at their finger tips! They can send stuff to friends, talk to family members on vacation all around the world, and play all sorts of games. They make books and movies for fun.
Remember Lemonade Stand and Miser? The commodore pet? Then the 64? Atari? Space Invaders? They've come a long way, baby!
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Eat your... VITAMIN!
Published January 29, 2009 @ 09:19 in Around the House
I am officially admitting it. I have a daughter who hasn't eaten a vegetable in the past year.
OK, so she does eat french fries, corn on the cob, and tomato sauce on her pizza.
At her last check-up, I asked the paediatrician about a vitamin supplement. She is growing, drinks her milk, eats lots of protein and carbohydrates. But I can't get fruits and vegetables into her most days. The doctor said I could give her a daily multivitamin supplement.
The pharmacist recommended a gummi one. Just like a Gummi Bear, but with a definite weird after taste. The first day she ate it without complaint. The next day she didn't want one, so I gave her a choice - a carrot, or a vitamin. She chose the carrot then walked around with a chewed-up carrot stuck in her cheek all morning.
I like fruits and vegetables. We always have a cornucopia of fresh produce on hand, and I try to give the kids lots of options. Maybe she'll grow into liking them. I don't want to make meal time into a war, so I try not to get too upset.
But until she starts eating better, I have to say everyone morning... "EAT YOUR VITAMIN!"
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Introducing... me!
Published January 28, 2009 @ 19:49 in Being Mommy
Hello and welcome to my new blog for Toronto Mommies. I am a Toronto Mom of three children. I have two sons, 5 and 6, and a daughter, 3. Life is fun and busy.
Honestly? Life is mostly crazy.
Tonight is a good night. 2 out of 3 were in their pajamas by 7 pm.
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How I Became a Mom...
Published January 28, 2009 @ 17:57 in Being Mommy
Almost nine years ago, I married the most wonderful man in the world. I was an independent woman, with an MBA, on a career track in a strategy consulting group. Our life was lavish vacations, dinners out, and a chequing account that never ran low.
For our first anniversary we went on a golf vacation. My husband got his first and only hole-in-one, and nine months later we had our first child.
Now I don't work, I can't do grade one math, I eat the left-overs off my kids plates, I am broke, and I don't even get to go to the bathroom alone.
I never wanted to be a mother. Growing up, I never played with dolls, imagined a big, white wedding, or even expected to be married. But I guess the great thing about life is that nothing works out the way you plan. Isn't it wonderful?
I love my children more than anything else in the world. I wouldn't change a thing about my current life (except a full time housekeeper / nanny / chef / personal trainer and a couple of million dollars in the bank). I had three children in less than four years, and become something that I never imagined I would be... A STAY AT HOME MOM!
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