Somethings You Just Can't Explain

My boys came running out of the computer room this afternoon, eyes brimming with tears, terror on their faces, "momma, momma!!" as they tried to wriggle behind my back, seeking protection. I could hear strange noises emitting from the computer speakers.

"What have you two gotten into on the computer?"

"Nothing!" my older son declares. "We were just watching cartoons and we found something too scary!"

A blood-curdling scream comes from the computer. What the heck were they watching?

Turns out they stumbled on some cartoon Michael Jackson parody and it Freaked. Them. Out. (It didn't help that the other cartoon characters were also terrified of the creepy Michael Jackson caricature popping up from behind the couch asking about the children; ha ha ha). The boys were horrified by the image of this ghostly, rhinoplastied presence with the inhumanly squeaky voice. I tried to comfort them by explaining that the cartoon was a joke, poking fun at a famous singer. But this only seemed to make matters worse.

I spent the rest of the afternoon fielding question after question regarding Michael Jackson’s career, childhood and decent into madness. Why did he make his face look like that? Why did he go crazy? Is he a good crazy or bad crazy? My five year old repeatedly wanted assurances that Michael Jackson lived no where near us and that he had no plans to leave his palatial estate in Dubai and come here to Vernon.

I tell you, explaining the mental stability of a former super star who disfigures himself, pays women to bear his children and may or may not sleep with young boys to a 5 and 3 year old takes a lot of creative, round-about explaining.

After all, I don't want to give the kids nightmares or anything...

5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do

Two weeks ago I saw this clip of Gever Tulley, founder of the Tinkering School, talking about the need for children to challenge their environment and earn a few scrapes and bruises in the process.



I couldn't agree more.

Why I Am Loving Living In A Small Town

1. When in line at the supermarket, people actually offer to let me go ahead of them when they see I'm wrangling 3 boisterous children with my left hand while balancing the cantaloupe, jug of milk and deli bbq chicken with my right.
2. I can drive my oldest to kindergarten, my younger son to preschool, my husband to work and get home before the babe realizes it's been a whole 20 minutes since she last nursed.
3. When we go to story time at the library there is actually room for my kids to sit and participate without having to elbow the smaller and weaker children out of the way.
4. People are actually friendly, no kidding, for really and truly, sincerely friendly.
5. A flock of quails meandered down our street... like they belonged there.

It's Like There's A Party in My Mouth And Everyone's Invited

My daughter is approaching 7 months in age. And the inevitable questioning about what she's eating and how much is she eating and how often she is eating have been dogging me for weeks. We haven't really taken the time to properly introduce solid foods yet. A few finger fulls of rice here, a mushy banana bite there... she's our third child. We're just happy she hasn't figured out how to download inappropriate web material yet. And frankly, the last few times we stuck food stuffs in her mouth she just made a funny face like we'd spiked her food with lemon juice and spat it out.

So the short answer to the how/what/when of solid foods is nothing, zip, nada. Thus far, her and I have found breast is best. That is until this afternoon.

Today my little girl discovered the delicious sensory symphony that is the Cheese Nip, and she is forever changed. Now, before you condemn me as a bad mom polluting her pristine and untainted child with processed snack food I just wanna say she was never pristine and untainted; again, she's our third child. The crud she's gummed off her brothers' dirty little boy hands has probably inoculated her against all major infections and exposed her to toxins best left a mystery.

But back to the Cheese Nip... I was myself enjoying a post-afternoon activity/pre-dinner snack of coffee and Cheese Nips, surfing the net with my little girl bouncing on my knee, when I noticed the look of great desire on my little ones face. She was watching so intently and longingly as I pulled a cracker out of the box, she followed the cracker, mouth open, droll spilling over her plump lip, as the Cheese Nip made the journey from the box to my mouth. What could I do? She clearly wanted one so bad. So I broke off a cracker piece and held it up to her mouth. Never with such enthusiasm has she pulled my hand to her mouth. She was clearly very excited by the opportunity to at last eat something she'd seen everyone else eat. When the sweet, salty snack first went into her mouth she looked puzzled. Unsure what to make of the weird crunching it made when her little teeth pressed on the flaky goodness. But then, her eyes lit up and her little legs began kicking. Once her taste buds registered the exaggerated taste of processed cheddar cheese baked into a refined wheat flour cracker her world of food sensations was blown wide open. She sucked and gummed that bit of cracker until it oozed out the corner of her mouth. Then she grunted for more.

It’s good to be a third child.

My Smaller Heart

I am now on week 3 of small town living and I am surprised at how much I am loving it!

Life has definitly slowed to a mellower, less insane pace here in Vernon. It's funny how you don't really realize how manic and harried life can get. We were definitly operating at a pace that no one was liking, but none of us quite knew what it was that wasn't working for us. In Vanouver I was sure I was doing all the "right" mommy things. I had my kids at good schools, had them in enriching after school activities, set up play dates and outings throughout the week. And we were all exhausted. It wasn't until we got here in Vernon that I realized just how over-filled our days were. How over-stimulated the kids were. How way too much coffee I was consuming. It's no wonder I was turning into the snarky, grumpy, your-gonna-have-fun-and-love-this-or-else crazy mommy my children were learning to tolerate.

Here, we know no one. We currently have no friends to visit and the one activity the boys are registered in is a 6 minute drive from home. And it is surprisingly peaceful. And the children are happy. And so am I.