Weekend wrap-up

Sunday, November 9th, 2014

Friday was a quiet day with a playdate in the morning, a long nap for Toby and a brief expedition to the back yard in the afternoon.  We had to the pull the bathtub rip cord shortly before 5.  For those unfamiliar the bath is a get out of jail free card - whatever crazy mood the kids are in, the bath fixes them.  Change of scene, playing with water, the soothing prehistoric bond with amniotic peace... Who cares, it works.


At the end of week one I have been telling those who ask that it has gone better than I expected.  I have reduced my episodes of snapping at Felicity to include only those occasions when she is beating Toby over the head.  And in turn Felicity has reduced her tantrums per day to very close to one.  Toby, while moderately high maintenance, is a simpler creature.  Feed him, hug him, make him laugh and he is happy.  The real challenge for me is maintaining that Zen-like balance of rejecting time constraints, moving at the pace of the slowest and all the while being infinitely patient.  I'll let you know when I achieve this holy trinity.

For something a little different I went trail running with Dejan on Saturday morning.  Here, I am the slowest, freedom is more or less total and I worry only about me and my heart rate.  I can breathe in gallons of fresh air, feel the strain in my under used legs and refill that all important patience tank.

In the afternoon we took a family outing to Hampton Park.  Snow was falling and melting on the ground, Toby took great pleasure in lying down, flat on his back staring at the sky and smiling.  Felicity is addicted to slides and within 45 minutes we were all cold, wet and coated with a light dusting of wet sand.  These are the moments, outside of the 6-7am period, when I love tea the most. I can't remember if I had some tea when we got home but I thought I would mention that.




Sunday was a rare day of getting stuff done around the house and this means that for the first time in memory I feel more or less ready for winter before the first freezing rain or blizzard has arrived.  The lights are up outside, the car fits in the garage and the back yard is tidy.  These are tasks that are traditionally done when it is at least -10C and normally in the rain or snow.  So now we can be uninhibitedly excited about winter.  I even fixed the second smallest of our shovels, the one assigned to Felicity because this is the year when it all starts - meaningful use of child labour.  I know she is only two but there will be more than enough snow for everyone to have a bit.  Toby has a shovel too but his quotas are much smaller.

Thought for the day:  just over 6 weeks until Christmas.  How did that happen?!  

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