caught up
You may have noticed that I am now caught up in my Naruto watching. Am now waiting like everyone else for episode 211.
Hmm mmm umm… dum dee dum… la lah…
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sour… say sour
T eats a blackberry.
“Me like that.” Said while making a face, which means she doesn’t like it.
“What’s wrong with it, honey?”
“It’s too shivery.”
What a cute way to say something is sour… it makes your mouth and face ’shiver’ when you eat it.
Lately, she will come up to me and say, “What are you DO-ing, Daddy?”
Yesterday she looked at something and said, “Hmmm, IN-teresting…”
When she saw a Christmas tree lit up she said, “Stars!”
music
So when I went out to get my Cars DVD (which I still haven’t had time to watch yet…) I also picked up a couple of CD’s that I had been meaning to give a listen to: John Mayer’s Heavier Things, and Coldplay’s X&Y. These are now in my “in car” rotation, along with other notables like Diana Krall’s The Look Of Love and various and sundry children’s CD’s (Veggie Tales, Sesame Street, Sharon Lois & Bram, Pooh). There is a great ritual over who gets to choose the music for the car ride. For a while it was J in the morning, and T in the afternoon, with Saturday being a free for all, and Sunday was mommy’s day. Before that it was whoever buckles up first gets to choose. Anyhow, on one of the rare occasions that I got to choose something, I played a “grown-up CD” for them, Coldplay’s “Fix You”. I was expecting J to complain that she didn’t like it, but instead she listened intently and didn’t say anything until we got home. “Did you like it?” “Yeah Dad, I liked it!” It now has become her favourite big person CD.
Another time I had John Mayer playing as I went to pick them up, and left it on as we drove home. As we get home, I turn off the car, and T pipes up, “Me like that one, Daddy! Me love that song!” She now says that whenever I turn off the car when the CD is still playing, so I’m not sure that it’s just John Mayer she ‘loves’, but she doesn’t seem to mind it. At her age, J would cry and cover her ears if we played something she didn’t like! So we’re making progress, I think… 
Aaaaaaaaaaaahh…
9:23PM: the house is quiet. Bedtime is done, living room is tidied up, dishes are washed. This is a good thing. Reflecting on this day and yesterday, I definitely had moments of insanity. There were moments where I was really wound up, and there were more than enough times where I raised my voice or yelled. Too many times.
Dr. Phil talks about finding your kids’ currency. That is, you need to find the things that they really care about, so that if they misbehave, and those things are withheld, they matter to them. If you don’t know what it is, they you really have very little you can motivate your children with towards good behaviour. I often wonder with J whether the things I thought had currency with her, now seemingly don’t. The one thing she does still treasure is stories. If around bedtime she isn’t getting ready and dragging her feet, or misbehaving, losing the story is what gets her motivated right away. Last night T went to sleep early, because she had only a 30 minute nap. So I brought J up after saying goodbye to Dennis (thanks Dennis!!) and gave J her bath, and after we got dressed, wouldn’t you know it, she goes running down the hall, and crashes into their bedroom. Luckily I caught the door before it made a big bang. I grabbed J, hauled her out of there, and I said in my anger and frustration… “You just lost your story, little lady!”
Now, I don’t think I’ve ever said “little lady” before in my whole life. Who says “little lady”? Nobody talks like that. It was the strangest thing that came out of my mouth all weekend. J of course bursts into tears. I sat her down on our bed, and she’s crying, and she says, “Why did you use that voice? I’m sorry… do you still love me?” And I grabbed her and gave her the biggest hug I could, and said “Yes I love you. I aways love you.” We talked more about what made me so upset, and gave her a second chance to get her story back if she could show me good behaviour. So it was ok in the end. I wonder if the most important part wasn’t the discipline, but the “I love you.” It usually is.
one night down, two more to go
well, it’s 9:12, and I’m sitting down in front of my laptop with a cup of tea, brownie cookies, and ready to write. I’ve got a message to finish up tonight, made all the more pressing because I’m on my own for this weekend. Yup, that’s right, N is away at a conference in Calgary, and won’t be back till late Sunday night. So I NEED to finish this up tonight, or I’m not going to be very happy.
a photography update: I got accepted (finally) by iStockphoto. I’m ambivalent about this, because the return on the images sold is miniscule, but I’m proud that I got accepted after numerous attempts and a stern LAST CHANCE warning. If anyone has gone through the process, you know that they are very picky about quality and technical excellence now, so you can’t just submit anything. Anyway, between the time I first applied (May) and now, things have changed. I changed cameras, I inherited a strobe flash, I started paying attention to ’sharpness’, I calibrated my monitor (^_^) but mostly, I’ve learned more. I’ve learned to suck it up and keep trying. I’ve learned that failure is a great teacher. I’ve learned that when things come easy to you, you don’t appreciate how much there is to improve. I’ve learned that with hard work, I can become the greatest ninja in Konoha! (OK, too much Naruto)
ok, i’m weird. time to get to work! see ya!
