Parenting Without a License

Logging in *edited*

Sorry for being MIA but let me tell you -- technology is great when it works -- but when it doesn't it's enough to make you want to pull your hair out.  My computer -- which isn't old at all, although maybe three years old is old by computer standards -- has been a total bitch lately. We had a complete hard drive loss, and decided to pay to have it fixed. But in the months since that has happened it has become slower, and slower. It couldn't handle an email with a photo, I couldn't even get on silly applications like Facebook without it timing out.

So after way, way, way too much debate on the subject, we decided to become MAC people. In the past ten days or so, the only online stuff I did was via my Blackberry, so if I couldn't type it quickly it didn't happen. We bought the new machine on the weekend and it was amazingly quick to get everything set up and running. And easy. But of course this is a whole new operating system with a whole new way of doing things, so I expect a big ol' learning curve over the next little while. I hear that AppleCare will become my new best friend. But so far what I've been doing has been pretty easy.  

So what's going on here?  Terribly exciting stuff (note the sarcasm). But I'll fill you in nonetheless:

• My husband took me for the first weekend away we've had together since Sam was 9 months old. It was so nice. We went to Victoria for a long weekend. Doug's sister generously offered to drive down from Edmonton to watch the kids. Of course we left on the only weekend it was actually nice here and it was cold in Victoria!  But it didn't rain and we walked and walked and walked. It was so nice to just hang out together and sight-see. We should do that more often.    
• The weather. Oy the weather. We have yet to emerge from winter. It snows all of the time. It's rarely above zero. I am so sick of it, I cannot even tell you. Calgary is usually an up and down place. We have Chinooks that bring us warmth in the middle of winter and yes, we occasionally get a spring snowstorm. But we've had a grand total of three days of nice weather, after a brutal winter. And I am SO ready to put the snowpants away -- if it weren't for the 10 cm of fresh snow on the ground right now.
• I am off next weekend to Ottawa for my dad's 60th birthday. I am looking forward to seeing them again, and to showing my friend Angela the city (she's joining me!!). I wish I could bring the kids for dad's sake, but alas, they don't get an airline pass like I do (my dad also retires this year -- but luckily I still keep my pass). 
• Tess had me cut her hair off and -- well -- I am not a fan. A bunch of her friends have been doing the chin length bob and she's been driving. me. nuts. to cut it all off. I didn't see the harm -- it would be easy for summer (should it ever come). So we went to have it cut to her chin and my first hint of issues to come was that it took 45 minutes. Her hair is so thick (the hairdresser kept saying she had adult hair) that when she just bobbed it, it was a giant triangle. So they had to layer it under so it would, supposedly curl under. Well, her hair is also wavy so it does not want to lay in a bob despite the layering. It is a pain -- to be honest!  She LOVES it. Like adores it. She loves that she has no tangles etc. I think I am going to work on encouraging her to go back to shoulder length.  But this girl knows her mind. 
• I've had some great new opportunities crop up with my consulting business. I am thrilled. It was deadly slow in Feb/March and I was starting to worry I'd be a victim of the economy. But just as things were looking bleak, a great new client approached me and so I am doing some new, interesting work.   

Well thats' all for now. I'll try to get a real entry in later this week! 

OK Emily -- here's a picture. I had to lightly flat iron this to get it lay smoothish!!!

A little knowledge...

As background -- Sam has a new BFF named William. They want to spend all of their time together -- kind of cute. But Sam had to inform WIlliam that he wasn't his only best friend, that Miranda is also his best friend.  When he came home he told me of the conversation that ensued:

Sam: Mom, WIlliam asked me if Miranda was hot.

Me (choking on my tea): So what did you say to him?

Sam: I had NO idea what he was talking about. So I asked him and he didn't know what it meant either. But he said that some girls are hot. What does that mean?

Me: What do you think it means?

Sam: I dunno. But you know how girls wear skirts all the time, is it because they get warmer than boys?

Me (more choking): Um, no. Actually I think it's a silly, and probably pretty adult way of asking if she's pretty.

Sam (looking more confused that ever): Well, I guess Miranda is pretty, but why would William want to know that?

p.s. -- I just realized that entry I linked to about Sam and Miranda's friendship is almost two years old!  Well, it is still going strong, even though now that they are in school they only see each other one or two times a month. Yesterday she was over and they hung out and rode bikes and chatted all day long, never more than a foot or two apart from each other. While she didn't come to his "boy" birthday party, itw as important to him to have a special birthday dinner out with her family. Here they are playing one of those first grade clapping games (with her little brother watching on).

A time and a place

Anybody who knows me -- knows I breastfed my kids. I find the very idea that someone might find breastfeeding offensive to be absolutely ludicrous. I have nursed my kids in public countless times. And no, I did not put a blanket over my kids. But you get good at it -- someone might get a peek at my tummy, but that's it. 

That being said, I do think that there is a time and a place for everything. And breastfeeding in a public pool seems unnecessary, and yes, unsanitary.

This story has been all over the news here. Basically this woman wants to breastfeed her toddler while in the pool. Not at the side, not in the chairs -- in the water. And the city has balked at it. So she planned a "nurse-in" and the city reconsidered.

But honestly -- I am appalled that they reconsidered. No other food or drink is allowed in a public pool. And why would you want/need to breastfeed in a heavily chlorinated pool anyway? Your child could easily swallow that water.

I know I leaked like crazy while breastfeeding, and I am not alone in that phenomenon. Babies come off the breast and the milk goes everywhere. Babies spit up frequently after eating. Why on earth does this need to be done IN the pool?

Of course this story has brought out all the nut cases out there. There was one guy who even said that women who breastfeed in public have been "scientifically diagnosed" with exhibitionism and all they want is attention. Give me a break.

I don't think this is about getting a peak of breast -- you see more in many bikinis. But it's about doing things that make sense, not just doing it because you can.

What do you think?