Three

Sleep deprivation is setting in. The head hurts. Full sentences are hard to assemble. I have a nagging sense of nausia. If I were to compare it to climbing a mountain, I'd be worried that I'm yet at base camp and failing health will be my undoing. Thankfully, no mountains to climb and a good day all round. Not only was there some genuine positives at work, but I managed to succeed in several of the measures of success that fellow parents are welcome to adopt and make their own.

The truth is that this was aided largely by our super-cool neighbours, Erika and Harley and their son Hudson. They had all three of us over to their house for dinner tonight. I even snuck in a cheeky glass of wine. Anna played with Hudson. Hudson was chuffed that Anna was by his house. Caleb tormented their dog in the absence of our cat. I strung together the occassional sentence between the two kids' demands and got to have dinner without having to clean up. Erika and Harley are gold. It makes me very sad they're leaving the hood to a new house and community in a couple of weeks. Spotting a silver lining, they're going to take a bunch of flattened but as yet un-recycled boxes off our hands.

As I lose the plot, here quickly are the measureables:

Melt-downs: 0. Three days and counting. My confidence is increasing. Only reflecting back on previous blogs keeps my ego in check.

TV-time: Anna at nursery and then at Hudson's and then it was mermaid bath time. No TV. In your face Walt!

Getting "out of the house": Done! Not only did I successfully get Anna to nursery but we went out in an unprecedented 'after school' excursion.

Eating well. That chili I prepared last night? Consumed by Anna today for lunch. Caleb went nuts with Oma, eating an orchard's worth of fruit and sucking back savoury, proteiny goodness too. Then, Erika prepares a home-made chicken noodle soup filled with fresh veg. The kids dined on natures bounty. My diet may be of some concern. I had the soup but otherwise it's been bad for me. There's no time. And then it's late!

Minimize sugar: It is possible that Anna had no refined sugar today. Everything homemade from scratch. I say possible because I know the girl. There is the distinct possibility she negotiated Wyatt or Luke's granola bar off them at lunch. Left to her own devises, she will find treats.

Teaching and creative out letting: Anna was at pre-school for crying out loud. If they can't do it, what chance do I have? We read lots of books before bed too. Caleb, meanwhile, has focused on gross motor skills and is officially a toddler. He now walks whenever he's not in a hurry....which is fairly often. If he needs to have it, it's still crawling at bewildering speed. (A parent recently was so impressed with his speed, they suggested me enter him in a crawling race at a local mall... I'm totally not kidding).

Getting something non-kid done: I'm blogging, aren't I? Which means I can ignore the laundry on the bed...

I've got to crash. Tomorrow morning is the first without Oma at any stage. Two kids woken, fed, potty-ed (that can't be a verb), dressed and in the car and off to care... and get myself cleaned and dressed. I'm still suspicious it isn't possible. Tomorrow will tell.

Day 2

I drifted in and out of sleep. Then suddenly, I was awake. Cripes. Caleb was crying. Had I somehow turned off my alarm and gone back to sleep? No. Caleb had chosen today to get up extra early. You know, get a head start on the day. I sat up. It was nearly painful. 5:45am? What? You can nearly set a clock to his 6:30 wake up. He'd even been to bed late the night before because of a late trip home from Oma and Opa. The crying wasn't "distressed", merely "is anyone there?" kind of noises. All my will got me to the bathroom. Once he's up, there's no going to the loo. A little foresight meant I had showered the night before. I shaved absurdly quickly-- the combination of a dull blade and my speed meaning I basically just Edward Scissorhands myself--while the kettle boiled for his bottle. Bleeding, but with a warm bottle in hand, I ran upstairs.

Caleb and I cuddled while he sucked back his milk. I dozed. And then with a start, I came to. Anna was singing to Chai? Seriously. Anna normally has to be dragged out of bed prior to 8am. It still wasn't 6. All 3 of us trundled downstairs for breakfast. Oma was taking the kids today, so there was no urgency to the morning whatsoever. Anna requested a bang egg (hard boiled egg) which takes time. That was okay. We had plenty of it. At 7:30am, when Oma arrived, the kids were dressed,we had sat for ages for breakfast, read books, gone potty, got re-dressed after playing with the banana became more fun than consuming it, and even turned on the TV (me noting that this was a sure sign I would fail at this little measurable today). I was still in my pj's and getting anxious about being ready for work. Oma arrived, I pulled myself together in 5 minutes flat and was out the door.

The work day flew by and suddenly I was back in the thick of things at home again. Let's look at measurable outcomes:

Melt-downs: Still 0. Unless you factor in the Flames. Anna teetered on the edge of one, but we rescued it with hot chocolate and cuddles.

TV time: pretty rough today. In addition to the morning TV, I know she watched WAL-E and I came home to Dora the Explorer. Oma explained that Anna had been pretty sensitive. Placating was necessary. I totally get it. Hell, I started it today.

Getting "out of the house": There was a 2.5 hour park visit. Awesome. It was lovely today. I could have used a 2.5 hour park visit.

Eating well: I checked off all the Canada Food Guide elements. Nothing you'd serve in a high end restaurant... or possibly in a diner. Still, basic nutrition was met.

Minimize sugar: Oma, being a grandparent, is usually more liberal than I am. I tend not to ask and focus on having a good teeth brushing session at day's end. The aforementioned hot chocolate was the only treat of note. Sadly, Anna left the mug on the coffee table (and I didn't notice), so even though he was only out of site for 30 seconds, I found Caleb smiling from ear to ear with chocolate all over his face, chest, trousers and standing in a sizable hot chocolate puddle on the floor. I think he likes hot chocolate. Luckily for me, he doesn't know how to ask for it specifically.

Teaching and creative out letting: None by me today. I did play more mermaids during bath time. We had a new facecloth. Facecloths are mermaids. It was blue. We called it King Triton, which allowed me to "make storms" in the bath. We both got very wet. I'm not sure, however, that reinforcing all things mermaid is teaching Anna anything. The creative outlet may also have been mine.

Getting something 'non-kid' done: Achieved. But at what cost? It's 11pm, Caleb is in and out of sleep because he appears to be teething. I'm honestly no expert, but his cheeks are neon red and he's not sleeping soundly. In between cuddles, I've got several things cleaned, cooked a chili for a future night's dinner, got Anna's lunch ready, managed to iron my shirts (!), took out the rubbish, lost the cat, found the cat, and fed the cat. Had I not found the cat, I could have struck off feeding her which might be a solution for future, busier nights.

So Day 2 may have lacked the enrichment of Day 1, but it's still all systems go and the wheels are still on the tracks. Caleb stirs. Gotta go.

Day 1 of 14

Ange left to China last night for a fortnight. Being a work-trip, she is not taking either Anna or Caleb. This leaves me to my own devices with the kids for 14 days. It is slightly unnerving that I am also bumping up to 4 days/week at work this week too. But as they say in Vancouver, "why rain when it can pour?" They don't actually. I do.

Day 1 was entirely uneventful. We played at the Rec Centre. We played at the park. We played in the garden. We played at Oma and Opa's house. They went to bed. Apart from possibly being mermaid-saturated, there were no real hiccups, the kids were fun and I even had some adult conversation. As a parent who is vaguely aware of other parents, I tend to measure myself against those parents. Some of the "day success" measurable that really seem to surface for me are as follows:

• Melt-downs. How many in a day. And not just incessant whimpering over a chocolate Easter Egg kind or mild-but-insincere crying over leaving the park at a time perceived to be "too early". I'm talking screaming that makes you wonder if they might be doing permanent damage to their vocal chords, lying on the ground kicking, and flailing about like a fish out of water.
  Today: 0. Success.
  
• TV time. How much time is spent in front of the TV in a day. This is tough, because TV is the ultimate cheat with kids. Sadly, it doesn't do much for them and even a little bit too much usually leads to the melt-down described above. I strive for none but seldom achieve it. Damn the Disney Princesses series for that. I actually even give myself some internal rewards for giving in on TV but denying Disney.
  Today: 1.5 hours of Disney's Little Mermaid III, Ariel's Beginnings. A single movie with nothing else is a moderate success.
  
• Getting "out of the house" This probably comes from my parents and I am pretty forgiving if the weather is pants. It's critical to a successful day, even if you only make it as far as the garden.
  Today: The park. The Rec Centre with Erika and Hudson (our neighbours who rock). White Rock to see Oma and Opa and Tom, which included lots of time outside in the Wendy House. Top success.
  
• Eating well. In my mind this has a direct correlation to the quantity and diversity of vegetables consumed. Fruit is a close second. Chips don't count as potatoes and the greener the better when it comes to veggies.
  Today: Carrots, asparagus, potatoes (mashed), apples, bananas and strawberries. It would have been nearly top success if Anna had consumed more of what she was given. Still, not bad.
  
• Minimize sugar. This, of course, ties into eating well. However, with Anna, it is a category in its own right. The girl negotiates full-time from nearly the first word of the day for treats. Even going to bed tonight, she was negotiating for chocolate tomorrow. I'm suspicious it is her motivation for life at the moment and a little tiring. I feel particularly weak as a parent in this category. I have friends whose children have never had refined sugar cross their lips and some of the kids are nearly in kindergarten.
  Today: Biscuits (2, maybe 3), cupcake, chocolate granola bar (2). It seems like a lot, but that's a pretty mellow day for her. Moderate success.
  
• Teaching and creative out letting. This is where some parents take parenting to whole new level. You know: they have bowls of different textures (rice and flour and sand and cat food or whatever) and the kids just spend time "exploring"... or the kids get time to assemble a dinosaur that's been pre-cut by mum or dad--the glue sticks out, armed with glitter pens and bobbly eyes (where the hell do you get those things?) and pieces of fabric cut out from old clothes salvaged from a trip to the Sally Anne. The other parent comes home and the 2 year old has made their own "That's Not My Dinosaur" book. It baffles me. I'm best trying to teach them to hit a hockey ball in the garden. Not exactly a life skill. So, I struggle when I'm teamed up with Angela. Without her, I am hopeless.
  Today: Art was achieved. Anna made a horse thanks entirely to the good (and prepared) people at the Rec Centre. Total success. In fact, that combined with Anna's "why" phase gave me ample opportunity for teaching today.
  
• Getting something 'non-kid' done. This can be pretty random. It might be throwing in a load of laundry. It might be washing the dishes. It feels like a bonus, but actually it is a necessity. That's the kicker.
  Today: hoovering the kids bedrooms. I did it with them because you sure as hell can't do it when they're sleeping. Caleb enjoyed the hoover so much it was ridiculous. He rode the hoover while I zipped around his room and then, after we had finished, spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to turn it back on or simply riding it despite it being stationary. Success.

So, there you go. Day 1 chalks up. Two kids alive, healthy and in bed in freshly hoovered rooms. Now to bed for me so I don't tantrum on Day 2.