Bec's Happybox

Exhausted

All this week I am doing some very high-energy music activities with 80 kids at a daycamp at my church each morning.  Basically, I'm a performing monkey for two half-hour sessions.  It's surprising how much planning and headache and energy goes into just 30 minutes of singing.  It's difficult because the kids range in age from two to 11, and it's hard to keep them all engaged for that whole time.  Actually, "engaged" is a bit ambitious.  If they're not climbing the walls, I consider that a success.   

Oh, how I long for the times of old, when children would sit still and listen and learn.  Instead of, for example, lying on the floor, running around, and heckling me. 

Afterward, I get to go home and take care of my own kids for the rest of the day.  Today, this left me completely fagged. 

Tonight, I will not stay up late burning CDs for every child in the camp.  Instead, I will go to sleep at ten pm.  Maybe even nine.  Then maybe tomorrow I won't be dead on my feet at 3pm.

Oh, and also, I finally took M'hijo for his first shots, which he should have had when he was eight weeks old.  Oops.  It will take three visits over the next three months to get him caught up. 

Today, he got two in each leg.  He cried a little and fussed, but really, with the size of those legs, it's like bees stinging the Hulk.  It didn't take long for him to recover, and then he even smiled at the nurse who had performed the vicious deed. 

M'hijo's Tips for Babies: Keeping Tabs on Mama

Babies, it's 4:30 am. Do you know where your mama is? 

You may think she's just in the other room, asleep in bed with Daddy, but CAN YOU BE SURE?  Of course you can.  Just follow my instructions and you'll be certain to know where your mama is at any time of the day or night. 

Step one: Well, obviously, you've got to make sure you wake yourself up during the night in order to keep tabs on mama.  Sure, it might be nice to sleep six, seven, or eight hours, but that's a luxury diligent babies can't afford.  We need to be vigilant!  So, wake up!

Step two: Now that you're awake, it's time to make a little noise.  It doesn't have to be a full-fledged wail YET, just some babbling, or maybe a little of that rather annoying moaning sound that sounds a bit like a whale. 

Step three:  You may already have a visual on mama at this point and if so, skip to step five.  If not, it's time to take it up a notch.  How loud you want to go is up to you, but feel free to wail, scream, and shout if necessary.  Personally, I don't find that I need to take it that far, but then I've got my mama on a pretty short leash. 

Step four:  Now mama should definitely be in visual range.  She may be making reassuring sounds, patting your body, rubbing your head, or she may have even picked you up.  How to proceed from here is really an individual choice.  Do you feel comforted by a visual identification?  Is a little cooing and patting enough for you?  If so, well, I guess you can go back to sleep at this point but some babies, and I definitely place myself in this category, really enjoy the complete surety of what is known as the Milk Test.  Basically, you need a little taste of mama's milk to be completely certain that she is, indeed, your mama.

In order to get mama to subject herself to the Milk Test, it's necessary to fuss a little.  If she's picked you up, squirm in her arms.  Say "Unh, unh!"  Wrinkle your brow.  Shake your head from side to side.  If she hasn't even picked you up yet, just keep up the wailing from step three until she does and then start kicking.  You can take the rather extreme step of digging your nails into her arm, but this is a little coarse and rather unseemly for gentlebabies, so I try to avoid it if at all possible.

Step five: Mama has now either brought you into the study and settled into the laz-y-boy for the Milk Test, or, if she's feeling tired, she's brought you onto the bottom bunk of your sister's bed, set up the Milk Test and is now trying to get back to sleep herself.  By all means let her sleep while you conduct the test if you wish. But if you're in the mood, it's okay to move around or make little noises to prevent her from sleeping.  She's too tired at this point to get annoyed, so you basically can kick her belly as much as you want and nothing much will happen.  Once the Milk Test is completed, and you feel certain that yes, that is your mama, and not some vile impostor, it's time for a little nap.  How long of a nap is again, an individual choice, and mine range from 10 minutes to four hours.  Just know that whatever you do, it's fine.  You're a baby, and you're the boss.  Don't let mama forget it. 

Cycling Update

I have another flat!  Oh joy!  I'm so happy! I'm so happy I might stab myself six times!

Tobias says "More opportunities for you to practice".  He is a sick individual.  Tobias says "The shop will charge you 15 dollars for that!" He is a cheap bastard.  Tobias says "Each time you do it, it will take less time."  Tobias is a bad person. 

Other than that, the cycling has been pretty good.  Well, I like it, anyway.   M'hijo is unpredictable.  Last Saturday, Tobias pulled the trailer and the four of us rode to Willows Galley for fish and chips and then to Willows Beach to stare at the ocean.  (Because apparently we are tired of our own ocean and must look at the Oak Bay people's ocean.)  M'hijo was pretty happy the whole time we were out. 

Then, on Tuesday, I took him and Sahsez to church with me for a meeting and he was miserable.  He cried until he fell asleep, both ways!  And it's only a fifteen-minute ride! 

So our family's future on bikes is still uncertain.  Sahsez wants to make last Friday's trip up the hill to the student union building for pizza a weekly event, so that means more M'hijo-in-the-trailer this afternoon.  Will he scream?  (Rrobably) Will he sleep?  (Probably) Will I stress about him getting enough oxygen? (Yes) Will I stress about Sahsez riding in traffic?  (Yes) Will M'hijo mind his helmet?  (Yes) Will he notice all the toys I put in the trailer to amuse him?  (No) If he screams, will pedestrians look at me like I am the devil?  (Yes) Will people stare and point regardless of what M'hijo does, because even after two years, my recumbent is still an object of fascination (and possibly derision)? (Yes)  Will we take the long way home?  (Unless he is screaming bloody murder, yes we will).

Back in the Saddle

Hmmm, I think I almost feel that yesterday's trauma was worth it.  Last night I rode my bike out to the Haqshaq for a book club meeting and man, it was good. 

It's been a long time since I've done any riding, despite the fact that I used to be a daily bike commuter, and used to haul Sahsez all around Waterloo in a bike trailer during her toddlerhood.  See what happened was, about a year ago, my bike got damaged while parked and was unrideable.  I was pregnant and lazy and didn't get it fixed. 

A couple of months ago, we finally took Django into the shop and got her in rideable condition again.  But very soon after that, Tobias rode her to work and got a flat.  So she's been sitting in the shed for about six weeks, waiting for someone to fix that. 

Which brings us to yesterday, and the less said about yesterday, the better. 

But!  Last night! Was great!  I loved riding her, I didn't have any difficulty with the balance (recumbents are slightly trickier than uprights for balance), I didn't find it difficult physically, and, most exciting, I didn't feel nervous in traffic.  I thought I might after so much time off.  Also, the last riding I did was in Amsterdam, and in Amsterdam it's such a totally different experience, there's really no call for nervousness re: cars.  So I didn't know if I would revert to my old nervous Nellie ways.  I'm glad to say I didn't, even when we rode through the middle of the tourist district last night, doding hapless pedestrians, hansom cabs, regular cabs, and tour busses all the way. 

Today, I have no soreness at all, which I thought I might, given that my cycling muscles have been laying dormant, or so I thought.  I guess jogging and Tae Kwon-Do have kept me in good enough shape so that it doesn't matter that I haven't been doing those exact motions. 

The only sour note was yesterday afternoon, when Sahsez, M'hijo and I took another trip together, up the hill to get a slice of pizza and a root beer for Sahsez.  M'hijo cried the entire time.  It really sucked.  I hope that trip, and not the earlier one, was a fluke.  I'm planning on doing a lot of riding this weekend, so I guess we'll find out. 

New Recipes 50-67

Gosh, it's been a long time since I did a 100 new recipes update.  Doing 17 at once is a bore, and I'm sorry.  Let's just try to get through this together. 

Things I Will Never Do Again, Part II: Change my back tire

I thought I was going to either a) die, b) kill someone, or c) explode this morning while trying to replace the tube in my back bike tire.  Ever changed a bike tire?  Yeah?  Easy?  Yeah?  Well, ever changed a tube on a recumbent?  No?  It's nigh impossible, people.  I will never fucking do that again.  Ever.  I will happily pay the exorbitant labour fees at the bike shop, and suffer the blow to my ego that will surely accompany having to ask some bike shop punk to do this supposedly easy job in order to never have to go through that ordeal again. 

Afterward, my finger bleeding, my hands covered in grease, and all wound up in fury and frustration, I needed a cup of Earl Grey to calm me down.  Then I thought I might knit a few rows to further chill out but I couldn't do it with my index finger bandaged, and I didn't want to get blood on M'hijo's fisherman sweater so I had to give up.  It took a half hour to feel normal again.

The good part of the process was M'hijo's seeming indifference to being in the bike trailer.  Today was his maiden voyage as part of the cycling world, and he didn't mind his helmet too much and was happy in the trailer provided it was moving.  When we stopped, he wanted to get out immediately. 

Incidentally, Part I of Things I WIll Never Do Again is fix the refrigerator, a task I suffered over for about two weeks last fall.  There's a reason people hire professionals for this work, I have discovered.  I did feel tough ripping out the back wall of the freezer and removing bits and pieces, though.  It was fun to go to the appliance shop and convince them that I wanted to buy a part, not hire them to come and install it for me, just buy it. 

But is that little thrill worth the emotional toil of this type of work?  A resounding no.  No, in future I will embrace both on-site appliance repairpeople and bike shop mechanics.  I'm not afraid of breaking a nail, but I am afraid of flying into a fury and smashing everything in sight, something that seemed not far off at about ten this morning. 

Two Kids = No Time

Today is day three of Sahsez' summer holiday.  Since she did two weeks full time at science camp right after school got out, her holiday didn't really start until this week.  So far it's going very nicely, and I love having her home.  I don't, however, find much time to blog, hence the lack of posts.  Hopefully I'll get a new groove going soon and fit in my blogging time again.  It's not like Sahsez needs a lot of supervision or attention, I just haven't been smart about my time, I guess. 

5.5 weeks of both my babies with me all the time.  Whee!

7

Today is Sahsez' birthday.  She is at science camp all day, so we're not doing anything special til this evening, when we'll all go out for dinner and give her her gifts.

Here she is at her kids' birthday party last Saturday.  I can't believe she's already seven. 

Happy Birthday, my baby girl.

I suck at sparring

Used to be, after sparring class, I would be so full of adrenaline and good feelings that I would always have a really great evening at home, get a good night's sleep, and still be pleased with myself the next day.  Not so much lately.  I have been getting my ass kicked, and last night was no exception.  I have several very small injuries today and I don't think I scored more than a handful of points last night, despite having about eight matches.  Boo.

In my Tae Kwon-Do club, there is a sort of elite sparring club-within-the-club.  It consists of  the people who consistently show up to sparring classes, and prioritize attending these classes over the other ones where we focus on forms and techniques.  They're pretty good fighters, and many of them have won medals for sparring.   If the club-within-the-club was Frankie's Gym from Million Dollar Baby, I would not be Maggie Fitzgerald (Hillary Swank's character).  I would be Danger Barch, the kid with a mental disability and delusions of grandeur. 

Lucky for me, Tae Kwon-Do has a really different philosophy from boxing, so it's unlikely that the other club members will do unto me as the boxers at Frankie's Gym did unto Danger (if you haven't seen the film, they beat the crap out of him).  In fact, the other sparrers are quite encouraging and helpful, sometimes annoyingly so.  You can only hear "Now, the mistake you made there was..." so many times before you start resenting the good advice.

I should say, the other adult sparrers are quite encouraging and helpful.  The kids just want to beat you down.  They're ruthless, and don't care (much) if they hurt you.  This is why I get nervous when it's five minutes till classtime and no other adults have shown up yet.  I don't want to get in the ring with an under-16!  They tear you apart! 

Certain members of my family seem to enjoy my defeat, if the smiles that greet me when I come home downtrodden are any indication.  "Get yer ass kicked?", certain members ask with barely concealed glee.  Apparently,  certain members believe that I could use a little more humility.  "I think Tae Kwon-Do is very good for you!", Tobias certain members have been heard to say.  And he wasn't talking about the physical benefits. 

Anyway, I've decided to adopt a new motto for life: "fail harder".  So far, I'm doing well at this. 

Summer Reading

To tell the truth, I've never understood why "summer reading" was such a big deal.  They're always talking about it on the radio and marketing people always seem to say "Here's a great choice for your summer reading."  Do people read more in the summertime?  I would think the opposite would be true.  I know that I tend to read more when the days are short and cold.  In the summer, I'd rather be outside doing things while it's light and warm.  I'm more inclined to spend time chatting with friends, drinking wine, you know, those sorts of strenuous outdoor activities.