I am on to you, kid.

Early mornings before coffee, er, tea. The other early morning (it's late fall in northern Canada so it's dead dark and cold so when you wake up you think you are just sleep walking), the boy child (I don't know how this conversation was initiated because a) it takes at least two to engage and I was still asleep) started asking me how babies were made. (!!!)

I took my best incoherent shot and told him using real words - the penis and vagina, blah, blah, blah. He then proceeded to tell his other mom and his sister and God knows, probably the whole playground that morning before school.

I just hope his explanation wasn't like that game we used to play as kids where you sit in a circle and add an item to the suitcase and then turn and tell the next kid the whole list and then they are supposed to add something and it turns out at the last kid not to sound like anything it started as.

Anway, the moral of this story is I fear my kids will soon catch on that they can ask me anything in the early morning - sure take the car, all of my money and yeah, I will sign over the house to you - and get away with it.

Pokes

I have just come from an acupuncture session (In my house we call them pokes. Our kids have also been getting acupuncture for their health issues since they were 3 years old).

If you are wound too tightly like I tend to be (I'm like the lid of a pickle jar - somebody loosen this girl up already!), I highly recommend becoming a pin cushion. Somehow just by looking at my tongue at the beginning of the session my acupuncturist can tell exactly what I need and she is always dead on (I know, weird, hey?).

When I open my mouth she usually jumps back with a "Whoa, girl!! You need some serious attention!" (We are friends so I let her say things like that to me). Apparently, keeping everything inside emotionally tends to have negative consequences on one's mind and body.

I get needles that release my inner conflicts, a meditative 45 minutes in a dark room with lovely music and a heat lamp on my belly to unstick me emotionally. The whole thing is kinda like the feeling I get when I used to smoke weed but without the clingy fragrance.

Edukashun

Ah, we have entered the era of full day schooling in our household. One kid goes to one school and the other to another where she gets specialized support. It really is amazing to see the difference between the two environments. Granted one school program is in a clinical setting with physiotherapists, etc. The other school is a regular ole public one.

(Soap box time now)

No matter what kind of environment though, I find the teaching approaches to be amazingly different and it has nothing to do with being special needs or not. It is all about the individual teacher. Like any of us who work, you can immediately tell those who like and are well-suited to their jobs. It seems to me that if you are in charge of young minds (mind you this could apply to parents, too!!) you really need a certain attitude to engage and enthrall them.

I am sad to say that boy child has been labelled a problem by his teacher and little is done to support his special needs in the classroom (impulsivity, lack of focus, etc.). Granted he is a handful but it's the teacher's job from my perspective to be inclusionary of all of the kids in the class and not send those who probably need the most attention off to the principal's office. The goal here teachers - is to teach the kids, be a positive role model, and use your "twenty-five years of experience" to some good. Being open to new ideas and approaches would also be helpful. My kid deserves it as much as the other students in his class.

Girl child sweetness

Last night when we got home from an outing, me and the lovely L went into girl child's room to tuck her in. We accidently woke her up and in getting her settled back down, she asked for L to sleep with her (we take turns sleeping with the kids - one sleeps with the boy child one night, the girl child the next). Technically, it was my night to sleep with her and so I said that. Then L said, "But she wants to sleep with me." To which a sleepy little voice said, "Please don't fight over who gets to cuddle with me." Which of course made me want to cuddle with her even more.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming

Yes.

Yes, it has been 5ish months since my last post. Yeesh. Ow. Ouch. Oof. (sound of me beating up myself for not following through on the bijillionth thing).

My lovely partner challenged me to challenge myself to do something challenging each day. (This is today's challenge). Boy, sure are a lot of challenges, aren't there?.

Plus, my fabulous friend complimented me so highly on my writing and my blog that how could I not get back on the net?

My other challenging thing today? I have decided to quit caffeinated coffee. This be day one. So far, so good. I am on Earl Grey tea. I have had two cups and it is now afternoon. I am feeling no side/ill effects. Can't be this easy... I am also quitting my afternoon bottle of Coca Cola. Sigh.

I was talking to a friend on the weekend and she was telling me how good she felt after doing a really hard work out. She hadn't worked out in years and seemed very surprised at how awesome exercise really was. May have to take it up myself!