The job on the bus goes up and down!

You know the song...the wipers on the bus go swoosh swoosh swoosh, the kids on the bus go wild, wild, wild, the driver on the bus goes crazy, crazy, crazy and the job on the bus goes up and down, down and down, mostly down!!! OK...so those aren't the right words, but they are the words I've been singing all week! For once, my own son has been as good as gold while the kids on the bus drive me insane! Maybe I'm not nearly as easy going as I once thought I was, or maybe the spring time air has done something to the brains of our next generation!

It all started down hill last Fri, when Harrison began melting down on my bus en route to the school to pick up my kids for their early dismissal. I had to pull my bus onto a quiet road, take him out of his carseat and rock him back and forth in my arms, whispering "ssshhhh, ssshhh...it's OK, Momma's here". The only technique that works to calm him when he floods with emotion like that. I finally get him settled, back into his carseat and we head for the school, now 5 mins late. The Vice Principal is waiting to read the riot act to the kids, as she followed us for several blocks that morning to see 1/2 of them out of their seats, facing backwards and moving around the bus...all of which I've told the kids to stop. We have a somewhat peaceful ride home, until an angry Mom at stop 3 starts shouting at me, demands to know what the delay is and accuses me of taking 1 1/2 hrs to get there! Let's see...we pull away from the school at 1:15pm, have 2 stops before this one and it's still only 2:13pm! 1 1/2 hrs...I failed math, but this doesn't add up! I thought we were doing well, and I told her about the VP talking to the kids and never mind the traffic in Calgary! She wouldn't accept any of that as a reasonable explanation, and yelled at me because I pick her daughter up at 8am and bring her home after 2pm and the school only gives them a 10 min break all day! Take it up with the school lady....I only drive the bus!!!!
We enjoyed a great weekend, but then there was Mon! Remember the VP reading the riot act on Fri afternoon?! Well, my kids didn't, so I wrote up 5 misconduct reports after one kid swore (the one sitting right behind Harrison no less) 2 kids hid garbage under/between their seat, others were out of their seats and one kid jumped over the back of the seat ahead of him! I actually got out of my seat at stop one, marched to the back of the bus to get their attention (a first for me) and told them all to get back in their seats PDQ!!! They looked at me like I was out of my mind...maybe I was at that point! Out of 5 misconducts, not one was signed or returned the next day, so they all got called to the office and warned that a formal misconduct (that goes in their school record) would be issued the next day if nothing was returned, and alas, that is what happened to all 5 of them! I even had one Mom write a nasty note saying that her son, his brother and a friend (the ring leader!) all deny he jumped over the seat, and she is believing them, NOT the bus driver! Can you believe it?! Does this woman think I have nothing better to do with my time, than write up bus misconducts?! Who are these parents?! Even after handing out 5, I still had to hand one more out yesterday for refusing to stay seated while bus is in motion!!! Don't these kids learn?! The kids asked me how many I've handed out, and my answer? "Too many!" Considering I made it through an entire school year last year without writing one...and this year I've lost count of how many I've had to write!!! It's now spring break and I don't have to see any of them for 10 whole days....hooray!!!

But what got me through it all, believe it or not is Harrison! He was SO good this week, and rubbed my back for me last night, held me so tight in his little arms, and said, "I'm sorry about the kids on the bus, I know it was just an accident...I love you my Princess!" How cute is that?! That's what he calls me now....his Princess! Smart kid!!! Thank you Prince Harry (what I call him!) for making Mommy feel like not only a Princess, but a Queen!!! You really are a special little guy with the biggest heart of any preschooler I know! Amazing isn't it, how just a hug from your own child can part the clouds, make the storm stop and make the sun shine to unveil the brightest rainbow in the sky!!!


Did you ride the school bus? Did you ever get a misconduct report? How did your parents handle it?

Flames Fan

Last weekend, on Sat March 17th, we took Harrison to his 2nd NHL game to watch his favorite team, the Calgary Flames (who else?!) play the Minnesota Wild. The last NHL game Harrison attended was when he was only 6 mos old! However, every time the Flames scored he screamed due to all the noise, so I had to take him out half way through the 1st period and we didn't make our way back to our seats until the last half of the 3rd period! It was a complete waste of time and money! It has taken me 4 yrs to build up the courage to attempt that again, but now that he is older, I knew he'd have an easier time handling all the stimulation, along with the fact that I was able to prepare him for all the noise and he covered his ears when things got too loud for him!
He was so excited and looked forward to it for a week! We sat in the cheap seats, or better known as the nose bleeds, so it was a long way up! We were still at centre ice and had a decent view, and Harrison was so thrilled to be at a real NHL game that he didn't care in the least! He had his hair cut that morning, and always gets it styled with colour spray or gel. In honour of the big game he'd be attending later, he asked for red spikes! She turned it into a mowhawk and sprayed the entire top of his head with bright red hairspray!!! He loved it! And he was the cutest Lil Flames Fan at the Dome! He had lots of compliments from fellow fans about his Flames jersey and his red hair, and got lots of high fives from onlookers! He had his own little fan club going on!
He had a lot of fun, and stayed right until the bitter end...and I do mean bitter, as the Flames lost that game 4-2. Harrison was only slightly upset by the loss, but soon got over it when he talked his Dad into buying him one of those loud game horns (as seen in the picture on his Dad's shoulders with the Saddledome behind them!) that you hate the parents around you for buying for their kid! I sent it home with his Dad and have banned it from my house! We had a great family night out!
Go Flames Go!!!

Loving Spirit

I feel like I wasn't fair and a bit hasty in my last entry. I sound like this cranky old mom, who has no patience for her kid. And that is likely how Harrison would describe me most days. I do love my son more than words can say, or than anyone other than a mother can fully appreciate. He is the light in my life, and so to redeem myself (and to avoid any unnecessary calls to Child Services!)I have made a list of all the things I love about Spirit! This was no easy task, as just yesterday morning he got out of his seat on the bus and grabbed the steering wheel, then stomped down on the accelerator just as I was taking my foot off the break while backing it up in front of my house, narrowly missing a parked car behind me. I was only slightly irritated! So making this list was quite the challenge for me!

What I Love About Spirit

Challenge~~keeps me on my toes
Curiosity~~he wants to know everything
Intense~~feels things more deeply
Enthusiasm~~he loves trying new things and is fearless about it
Affection~~he gives the best kisses and the tightest bear hugs
Energy~~he has lots of it and I have to keep up
Intelligence~~he is highly intelligent and needs to be kept stimulated
Passion~~he is extremely passionate about everything he does (all or nothing!)
Sensitive~~very in-tune with other people's emotions and feelings
Caring~~he has the biggest heart of any little spirit I know
Goal Oriented~~he knows what he wants and goes for it
Focus~~he doesn't lose sight of his goals
Success~~it's sweeter when we do succeed at a task, as we've worked harder for it
Smiles~~he doesn't give them out easily, but when he does the sun shines brighter
Zest~~he has an amazing zest for life that keeps us all inspired!

There you have the finer points of raising a child with Spirit! It is never easy, but it's rewards are met with a much sweeter sense of victory, and the small accomplishments deserve great honour! As the mother of a Spirited Soul, we spend more time feeling frustrated by the less than perfect reports from the teacher, our confidence is shaken by their strict personalities and unwillingess to change, and we are left exhausted at the end of each morning, wondering how we will make it to bed time without hurting someone. But then they give us the best hugs any mom could ask for, and they look deep into your soul with their piercing eyes, and ask you the most outstanding questions to come out of the mouth of a preschooler, or simply say "tell me what made you happy today Mommy" and then you know, this was no mistake, as you answer them with "you honey, you made Mommy happy today, just by being special little you!" And you realize there is grace in the world and plenty of little reasons to Love Spirit!!!

Preschooler Blues

I just need to vent! (as I type this my kid is screaming bloody murder from his bedroom, refusing to go to bed!) No big news to report or fun tales to tell, I just need to get it out of my system in writing! My son is driving me crazy! Why is it that preschoolers need to argue with everything you say? And how has he become this expert negotiator? It sneaks up on you over time I guess. It starts slowly and before you know it you've fallen into the trap of defending your position and negotiating NO to a 4 yr old! How does this happen? I used to be so smart (I think), rock solid in my beliefs and firm in my parenting. Now, I don't know if I'm Dumb or Dumber, I don't remember what my beliefs are (do I even have any?) and the once firm lines of parenthood have become blurred!

I can usually tell by 6:30am what kind of day it will be, by the way he wakes up, and how much screaming of the words "NO bus!" I have to listen to as I drag him out the door! And that is how it starts...followed by "no carseat" (both in the car & on the bus!) "don't fuel the bus today", when we get home it's "I don't want to get dressed" and "no pee", then the BIG struggle at our house these days "don't turn the TV off", most of the day all I hear is "don't do that, don't touch that, don't move that, that's mine, I want that, I need that", followed by "no bus" again in the afternoons with a lot more kicking and screaming for dramatic effect, "no sit down and no carseat" again and lots more screaming! The only way I can get through the evenings is to give in and let him watch a video while I cook supper, but am once again faced with screaming and a fight when he has to turn it off to come to the table to eat. He is a good eater, however he refuses to ask to be excused from the table and thinks it a fun game to jump down and take off with a dirty face and hands, and all the better if he can wipe them on the wall to further aggravate me! Although he loves his bath, I am still met with a struggle and he starts "no bath, no bath". Once in, the first thing he says is "don't wash my hair tonight". He climbs out before he's been soaped up and soaks the floor, then runs naked out to the living room to drip dry on the carpet (this drives me insane). As soon as he sees me eyeing him up with the towel, he takes off running and shouts, "no pyjamas". After I catch him and get him ready for bed, he gets to choose 3 books to read, but immediately starts to negotiate for more, then ends up in a snit because I won't give in, to which he crosses his arms, pouts and says, "too late! NO books!" I tell him "fine, then get into bed" and those are just fightin' words around here! He goes crazy and starts screaming "no bed, I don't like my bed, yours bed, yours bed, please I'll be good Mommy, yours bed!" I make him get into his own bed and after getting out of bed 15 times, and him screaming until I am in tears (no exageration), he will eventually scream himself to sleep, but this can take up to an hour. Bedtime is definately the most stressful time of day for me.

By now I've had all the arguing I can take and just want the day to end. I'm exhausted and ready to blow a gasket myself, and so I don't handle it with the patience this time of day requires. I'm beat from working (both out of and in the home) dealing with him and doing this alone, with no one to share the burden with. Then I feel guilty as these are adult problems, that he did not ask for, and therefore should not affect the way I deal with him. However, I am only human and not perfect. At times like these, I long for someone to talk to, to cry on their shoulder, to have someone listen and sympathize, without judging me or my parenting, or my child's rotten behaviour!!! I also know that is not realistic either!

As well as the constant arguing, he refuses to listen to anything anyone tells him! If I say "please don't do that", he goes out of his way to make sure he does it, right in front of me! (this too drives me insane) It's not just me however! My sister took him for a day and had her eyes opened! She brought him home and she looked like she'd been to battle (only I can appreciate that she had!) and in no uncertain terms told me how miserable my kid is, how everyone shook their heads at him, and glared at her as he misbehaved all day, then told me how exhausted she was! I sympathized with her on the outside, but rejoiced on the inside thinking, "it's not just ME!" His preschool teacher has described him as "out of control in the classroom", he gets at least one time out per week (remember he's only there 3 afternoons/wk) and has been asked to leave the classroom for throwing a giant screaming fit! I have a feeling I'll be on a first name basis with the principal next year in Kindergarten! It is no wonder I find so many gray hairs on my head these days!

I am left wondering if all preschoolers are this defiant, difficult and argumentative, or is it just mine? What am I doing wrong? Why do we fight so much and butt heads all day, when no one else's kids seem to be like this? Was I like this? Oh probably!!! As my mother tells me, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!" My only hope now is that he will have at least one child just like him when he grows up, and I'll get the last laugh!!! (if I'm still laughing!)

Signs of Spring?!

There is a saying here in Alberta, that only a true Albertan can appreciate, and it goes like this..."if you don't like the weather, wait 10 mins"! How true, how true, how true! It was 14C on the plus side just yesterday, and they did promise it was going to drop below freezing overnight, with a possible chance of light flurries, but nothing serious and probably not until later in the day! This is how much snow we woke up to this morning!!! What a rude awakening!

Does this look anything like light flurries?! It took me half an hour to get to my bus, then I had to clean all the snow off of it before setting out to pick up my kids, and we were 45 mins late getting to school!!! Here is a picture of my neighbour's van with snow piled up on the top of it, to give you an idea of just how much fell overnight!

So, when we finally made it home after our very late school route, we had our work cut out for us, shoveling all that snow! It was wet and heavy, the kind that doesn't shovel very easily! It gave my arms a much needed work out, so no complaining! Luckily I had my little helper out there with his Spiderman shovel!

We tried to make a snowman, but it wasn't quite wet enough to stick together the way you need it to, to get that perfect man made of snow! So we gave up and went inside for lunch and, well....a nap! All that work makes a little guy (and a Mom!) tired you know!However, when I came home from work this afternoon, it had warmed up considerably, the sun was shining and melting the snow (remember what I said about waiting 10 mins?!) making it perfect for snowman building! Now, my only problem was that Harrison was at his wall climbing class (remember my adrenaline junkie kid?!) with his Dad, and would return too late to finish building our snow friend. Not to worry, Mom had nothing better to do, and never breaks her promises....so I got busy and finished work on H2 before H1 got home!!! I think he turned out alright, if I do say so myself! It was worth looking foolish over (a grown woman out there building a snowman all alone!) to see the look of delight on H1's face when he saw his friend standing and smiling with his friendly grin on our front lawn!
And so for now, we remain thankful that spring is still around the corner, and not completely upon us, so we can enjoy the snow for a little bit longer, and our new friend and neighbour H2, who has made himself quite at home on our front lawn!!!

Water Baby

Here's my water baby enjoying his special day at West Edmonton Mall World Water Park, when we went for the weekend in the middle of February!

He had so much fun running, jumping, splashing and swimming in the wave pool! And the best part is that it wore him out! I discovered, that all it takes is 5 hrs and $70/day and you too can have a well behaved, calm and tired child! Not to mention hungry! He gobbled up an entire order of child size ribs at Tony Romas's, fries, a drink, his dessert and even had a taste of my ribs! Poor little guy was starving after a day in thr pool!

He also tried several waterslides! He enjoyed the child size ones for the independence and confidence it gave him. However, he enjoyed riding down the adult ones for the thrill of it! He's such an adrenaline junkie! His favorite ones were those that are pitch black inside, so you can't see where you are going! He looked terrified when he came off them, but he immediately asked to "go again, again, again!"

Harrison has loved the water since he was a baby, and is turning into quite a good little swimmer! In fact last week at his swimming class, one of the other mom's, whose daughter was terrified of the water, couldn't believe how comfortable Harrison is in the pool, and said to me, "your son is a fish!" Before that lesson, Harrison had told me that he was going to be teaching the other kids how to swim until the instructor got there! My Mom and I had a good laugh over that! The kid can swim, but NOT that well! Then, thanks to the little terrified girl sitting on the edge of the pool, the instructor made them all put on life jackets, which I knew was a huge mistake, since all that did was give my (not terrified and now overly confident) little man free reign of the pool! The instructor couldn't keep him with the rest of the class! All Harrison wanted to do was jump off the side with no help, then swim away from all the kids that couldn't keep up! I could see the instructor getting frustrated, and all you could hear was him repeating, "No Harrison, don't jump. No Harrison, stay here. No Harrison, come back." Needless to say, he hasn't brought out the life jackets since, eventhough that same little girl won't get off the edge of the pool or stop bawling her eyes out!!!

Life as the mother of a fish!!!

Do you like swimming? Or are you like me and prefer to relax in the hotub! Do you like waterslides? What/where is your favorite place to swim...pool, lakes or the ocean?

Surviving Spirit

As many of you know, my son has challenged me since he was a newborn. He hardly ever slept, and when he did it was brief and he would wake up crying and it took a long time to get him to settle. It left me wondering who ever came up with the expression "sleeping like a baby"? They obviously never met my kid!

I'd gather with other young moms and we'd talk about our babies, and as they spoke of bonding, shopping, baking and cleaning the house, I wondered what I was doing wrong. I was too exhausted to shop and too busy to bake or clean. He just wanted to be held all the time, but would only stop crying when held in the "right" position! I marvelled at how a 2 week old baby could already "know" what he wanted and how he wanted it!

There has been a lot of learning on my part over the last 4 yrs, as he trains me to get it "right", so we can avoid record breaking meltdowns per 24 hr period. I do believe he has set some records! I knew from early on that he was "different" from all other babies I'd met...and having spent close to 10 yrs as a nanny, I knew a lot of babies! No one else seemed to understand where I was coming from, which only fuelled my loneliness and made me feel even more isolated from the world. This lead me to peruse the shelves of the local bookstore in search of the miracle cure! Someone, somewhere, at some point must have had a baby like mine, and felt the same way as I did. Near tears and desperate for an answer, the words leapt out off the cover at me and gave me hope, as I read the title of the book that would save me from this pitfall of parenthood: "Raising Your Spirited Child". Right then and there, in the middle of the Parenting Section of Chapters, my life changed forever. I knew I had stumbled on something devine!


The book describes "Spirited Children" as still within normal (I use the word 'normal' loosely here) range of development, only they are MORE of everything. Where the normal child in a room will laugh, cry and play and blend in with their peers, the spirited child's laugh is the loudest, their cry is an intense scream or shriek that is not easily consoled and they are the child bouncing off the walls as they hit the ceiling. All of the latter describes my child perfectly! The book also challenges you to redefine the labels you've attached to your child with more positive ones. I now find myself telling people he's goal oriented, focused, determined, driven to succeed, spirited, full of zest for life, rather than stubborn, strong willed, difficult, bad or wild. This doesn't mean I have found a miracle cure, nor does it mean we no longer have our challenges! Much to the contrary, every time I think I've figured him out, he throws a curve ball at me, to keep me on my toes and to keep me humble!


Another important point it stresses is 'progress, not perfection'! This is so true when raising children with spirit, as you don't even have good days and bad days, for your day is seperated into smaller more manageable 'moments'. In any given day, we have good moments, which are amazing, then suddenly, you are forced to turn right instead of left on the way home from the store due to an accident ahead, and that amazing moment is gone, and you're listening to him scream (and I mean SCREAM!) from the back of the car that this is NOT the RIGHT way home! It's the small details in life that the "unspirited folk" pay no attention to, that will drive the "spirited souls" crazy! The tags in their shirts, the seams in their socks, needing all the hotwheel cars facing the same direction in the same order everyday, everytime you play, using the same spoon with the same pot to cook certain foods, having to serve hot dogs if that is what was promised, to avoid a riot from breaking out if someone suggests going to a restaurant for dinner. What they lack in flexibility, you are forced to make up for in patience! (all of the above examples have happened to me, so I am talking from experience!)


And so I wonder, who did I aggravate in a former life to be dealt this fate now?! It is an exhausting roller coaster ride that takes you to the top, then throws you over the edge, crashing you back down to the ground. All you can do is hold on and enjoy the wild ride, every twist and turn it dishes up, and take in those high moments when you are blessed with them, and cling to them when you are crashing to the ground. That these unfavorable traits in toddlers, once tamed will be excellent qualities toward being a successful adult. And tell yourself that what you are striving for is 'progress, not perfection'.

PS That last picture is Harrison standing on the steering wheel of my bus! (NOT while it is moving, while it's parked!) He stands on it and gets it to turn from side to side with his feet, like a ride! I'm not crazy about it, but it keeps him busy while I make entries in my log book!

New Links

Well, I finally figured it out! I feel so stupid and so proud all at the same time! Seems like everyone else I know has links to everyone else's blogs but me! I could never figure out how to get those Links to appear and kept forgetting to ask...or was I just too proud to ask? Last night I had some time and it was a good thing, since I ended up needing quite a bit of it! It only took me 2 short hours to get it all worked out, but I didn't give up and I've got the Links posted on my blog sidebar (look to your left now and I'll bet you seem them!) and they actually work...I tested them myself, then had a friend test them for good measure!

So now, as loyal readers of this blog, I challenge you to click on one (or more if you are at work and looking to waste more time!) of the Links and check out a new blog. Now to be fair, it should be a blog of someone you don't know...which could be challenging, since most of my regular readers all seem connected and already have their blog linked to mine and to eachothers! I'll give you a hint: most of you have not been to my cousin Michelle's blog. She is a writer (I'm so proud of her!) and her first novel, titled "Mother Mexico" is at the publisher's right now, getting ready for it's release, and she has a lot of interesting information about it on her blog. It may even inspire you to order your own copy! She did not put me up to this...although I think I may charge her an advertising fee for this service!!!

Happy Blogging!!!

QUESTION: Do you click on the Links to read blogs of people you don't know? If so, how do you enjoy it and do you do it often? If you don't make a habit of it, why not? Will you today?

Making My House A Home

As promised, here are some pictures of the things you will find hanging up on the walls in our house, making it a home. Some would say you can learn a lot about people by snooping through their medecine cabinets or their cupboards! Feel free to come over and snoop through mine anytime, but I think you would find it boring! I much prefer to pour my heart and soul into what I can't hide behind cupboard doors! I think you can learn a lot more about people's tastes and personalities by the way they choose to express themselves through their decore. I think you'll find ours a little bit country...which should come as no surprise to those of you that know me well! I love pictures of the people that mean the most to me, and enjoy framing them as art and displaying them all over the walls for everyone to see! Here is a peek into the decore around here....


The group of four pictures hanging together were taken when my girlfriend Melodie and her 2 kids were here from Australia last summer. Our time together is so limited and precious, that soon they are gone again and all we are left with are the wonderful memories of time well spent with friends we consider family. So, we went to Sears and had portraits taken of all of us, that I had framed and now hang on my living room wall so we can look at them everyday and talk about our dear friends Down Under and although we miss them dearly, we will be reunited again in Sept 2008 when we go to Australia to visit them!!! There is a picture of the 3 kids, one of her daughter Alberta and Harrison laying on their tummies with their bare feet sticking up (my fave!) a group shot of Moms and kids, and one of Melodie and I. I miss you girl and wish you were closer so we could hang out and let the kids play! Soon....



And then there are my "Cowboy" pictures! How sweet are they?! The group of three hang above my sofa table (currently against a wall, not behind the sofa!) are various pictures of Harrison with his "Cowpoke Duds" on! Gotta love that hat! I'm a sucker for a guy in a black cowboy hat! The one in the wooden frame that says "I love my cowboy" was taken last summer at his first rodeo, when he rode his first sheep! He was leaning against the fence, watching the competition, just like the "real cowboys" do...tight wranglers and all! Yikes...watch out girls!


This is also a group of pictures of my future rodeo star in his Wranglers and hat, with a sign above it that reads "Welcome Friends". Not seen in the picture, but hanging up on either side of it, in my dining room above the buffet, are a horse and cow made out of barn style wood. Maybe the sign should read "Welcome to the country"!




And here is our "Great White North" tribute, for those of you no longer living in Canada...you know who you are! It is a snowman with a sign that reads "I Love Snow"! He is hanging on what I refer to as my seasonal wall...I change the hanging decoration to match the season. I have a "Happy Harvest" wreath that hangs there in the fall, my snowman smiles all winter, only to be replaced by a bunny wreath announcing the arrival of spring with the words "Welcome Spring" written on it. I will have to find a more generic one for the summer months, since I used to hang the "Welcome Friends" one in it's place, but that one suits the "country theme" above Harrison's wall much better!

These are only a few wall hangings, but I didn't want to bore you! I hope you have enjoyed getting to know our home through us! And remember....you are all welcome to come over anytime! Maybe just not all on the same day, unless you give me lots of notice!