Wild in the City

First skate

Since the Olympic Games have begun, our son has been asking to go ice skating. Partly because he saw figure skaters, speed skaters and hockey players on TV, and partly because we went to Robson Square where the Olympic mascots were giving a show on ice three times a day. Zak ended up going many times. Sometimes more than once a day. Our boy loved it. I think they know the show by heart at this point.

So yesterday we headed to Robson Square again to see if they rented skates small enough for our boy. The smallest ones were exactly his size! We suited up, spent 10 minutes adjusting a helmet to our boy’s head, then jumped on the ice.

Stumbled, I guess, would be closer to the truth. How do you teach a 2-and-a-half-year-old to skate? I can skate pretty good, although I have certainly lost most of my agility on ice, but I couldn’t for the sake of me teach my boy. I was trying to tell him not to walk on the ice, to keep one foot on the ice and push sideways with the other, but either he couldn’t understand what I asked, either he just couldn’t do it. I guess as soon as he felt a loss of balance he would walk to stay upright. He still love it, so we had a great (although short) time. After half an hour of going around hanging for dear life (to us or to a specially made stand), he was ready to put his shoes back on. And to be honest, we were ready to: our backs were hurting from trying to keep him vertical.

I don’t really care how good he did, I just wanted him to have fun, and he liked it, so the objective is reached. Zak will see if he can find cheap, used skates as the skating is free - only the rental is not. But I would really like some advice on teaching a toddler to skate. Anyway out there knows how to do it?

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Snot and cough…

My two boys are sick. Their noses and eyes are leaking, they’re coughing up their lungs… So far I have resisted the disease, but I’m crossing my fingers!

Last night I had my prenatal fitness class so I got home late, and I had promised our boy I would go give him a kiss, but he was already asleep, so I didn’t dare go. But just as we were going to bed, hours later, he started coughing again and again, and he sounded so miserable that we thought I should go check up on him. He kinda woke up, extended his arms for a hug (thinking I had just come home, I suspect), and I could see the snot glisten on his face (the arms of his pajamas were all crusty when he got up in the morning - too much info, I know). I asked if he was ok, and he weakly said “Yeah”. He was so pitiful! Then as I was leaving I heard his little voice asking “Maman, can you turn the music on please please?” So I started the lullaby CD we always play for him at bedtime, gave him one last kiss (checking to see if he had a fever at the same time) and left.

Of course, between the two coughers, I barely slept. Not to mention that my mind was racing because we just bought tickets for a trip to Quebec, and I was thinking of everything we would have to bring. And Zak’s cell phone rang at 5:30. So I’m exhausted, and since I’m really hoping I won’t catch their cold, I am off to bed now.

Good night!

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In case you didn’t know yet…

I’m pregnant!

I have been postponing the moment I would talk about it on this blog in order to tell everyone first, but I have decided to give up. I have told most people, but there are some I just haven’t been able to get in touch with and I have been aching to talk about it, since really, there is nothing else worth talking about when you’re pregnant, is there? So now you know…

I am at 14 weeks, due August 30. Our boy will be 3, which is what we wanted initially. So far everything is going well. I was really tired in January and felt a bit sick a few times, but it was really not that bad, and now things are much better.

I want to enjoy this pregnancy because it is my last. Unless things change tremendously, we will not have another child as two is already probably more than we can afford in Vancouver.

Our son is not exactly excited about the news. Of course, he’s still young and since my belly doesn’t show much yet, it’s very unreal to him. But when we said we thought I had a baby in my belly, his first reaction was “No, you can’t!” I asked him why, and he replied “Because I came out!”. I guess he still wants to be my baby. He has been very cuddly and often asks me to rock him like a baby. I oblige - it’s not a big sacrifice!

So you can expect to hear about my belly a lot in the next six months… Now that the Olympics are over, there won’t be much else to talk about!

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My little monster…

After raising a wonderful little boy for two and a half year, we have now been given a monster for the past few weeks.

It started around Christmas, with all the sleeping issues caused by late nights and visitors. But it never quite came back. Our son wouldn’t nap anymore. Or when he would, he would then get up 20 times after we put him to bed, until 9 pm, and since he would still wake up at 6 am the next day, he was exhausted. So we stopped the nap, and for a few days it worked beautifully, he would sleep from 7:30 to 7:30 and be reasonably rested. But it didn’t last. Now he wakes up at 6 or 6:30, and he still won’t sleep when we put him down for a nap. We have been trying to put him to bed earlier, but we’re having a really hard time getting supper ready, then eaten early enough to put our boy to bed at 7, especially with my crazy Olympic schedule. So he has been exhausted for a few weeks.

I know that he can’t help it because he needs more sleep, but the results are so annoying that it’s hard to remain calm and composed. The phrase we have been hearing most often lately is “I don’t want to!”. He doesn’t want to walk, he doesn’t want to go pee, he doesn’t want to go home, he doesn’t want to eat,  he doesn’t want to go to bed… There is no reasoning, he has fits of crying for absolutely no reason, and my joyful little boy seems to have completely disappeared.

Of course, he’s also at the age when he would oppose us anyway, and he’s probably too young for complicated reasoning. But it used to be so easy! He used to at least want to please us a little bit. Now if I tell him not to do something, he’ll do it. Systematically.

I’m sure that sleeping well would solve at least part of the problem. But how do you force a child to sleep?

…

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Disapointment

After starting the Olympics on a good note with a great show last weekend, we wanted to go see another show on Friday. Lennie Gallant. He’s a folk singer from Atlantic Canada, very soft music, I love him. Well, he was playing at LiveCity Yaletown and there were so many people waiting in line at 3:30 - for the 7:30 show that we had to give up. The most frustrating thing was that the people in the crowd were mostly 18 to 20-year-olds, who most likely didn’t care at all about Lennie Gallant. They were there for the DJ at 9:30. I wonder if anyone listened to Lennie Gallant or even cheered. It left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

The line-ups are so long that it’s almost impossible to do any Olympic activity. Saturday we went to O-Zone in Richmond, where we were able to get in easily (we were there early), but there was really nothing to do. And you should have seen the line-up for Holland-Heinecken House! We had to wait in line to take the SkyTrain back (it took only 20 minutes, but still), the street are so packed downtown that it’s almost scary walking there with our son. Yesterday we did manage to see the Native Craft Village, which was nice, but not the Aboriginal Pavilion (the line-up was crazy). In the end, the only nice thing I’ve seen of the Olympics is the sunny weather and the buskers. They are good, free, and you can usually maneuver around enough to see them.

Last night we went to Granville Island to see a show by a Quebec group, Les Cowboys Fringants. The show was supposed to start at 7:30. The site is large, there is no security, so we were able to get in at 7:30. But it was the end of the previous show. All in all, a good thing, because their music was really good. Then they finished at 7:50ish, and the main group didn’t start until 8:30. We had already decided to leave at 9 since I work  very early and we had brought our son, who is usually in bed by 7:30. In the half hour of show I saw, the group didn’t manage to play any of their biggest successes. I guess they kept them all for the end. But I was really disappointed.

People are saying that the ambiance around the city is amazing, and it’s true, it’s pretty crazy. I have never seen that many people in the streets. But it makes it really hard to see anything, do anything or get anywhere. It’s just not really enjoyable. Maybe if I didn’t have a child and had nothing else to do but wait in line all day, I’d find it amazing. Right now, I find it slightly annoying!

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About national pride

It’s the Olympic Games. I do watch some sports, and I am definitely happy when Canada wins medals. But I can’t help but wonder why.

Why are people proud when a perfect stranger who was simply born and/or raised and/or trained in their country wins a medal? How does that reflect on us? Am I a better person because one of 33 millions other people who live in my country did good in a sport? I really don’t get it, on an intellectual level. It just makes no sense. I didn’t do anything to help him or her win. And his or her victory will not change anything in my life.

Of course, on an emotional level, I’m happy.

A co-worker objected that I did do something to help Canadian athletes win. I payed. With my taxes, I subsidized their training. But that is honestly a very tiny contribution. And I didn’t do it knowingly or on purpose. So I still don’t see where my feeling comes from…

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Go Canana!

Our boy is gong ho about the Olympics now. He has spent the last two days (one with Zak, one with me, as I had Tuesday off) walking downtown through all the Olympic installations, waving a Canada flag and yelling “Go, Canana!”.

To be fair, he does pronounce Canada right most of the time, but our friend’s son was saying Canana and now imitation has kicked in. The two of  them got lots of looks. I have to say they ARE pretty cute!

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