Easter 2008

Clara, Leo and I had lots of fun dying Easter eggs this year.

Items of interest from our home:

- Clara was evacuated along with all students from the CSDM on Friday at about lunchtime. Seems that the school board was concerned by the roof crashing epidemic Quebec has been experiencing this winter as a result of all the snow we've had. I picked her up at the BIG Catholic church on Rachel St. Three local schools were evacuated there, when my eyes got accustomed to the darkness inside the church all I could see was an ocean of chattering children - they were having a blast!

-The CSDM snow clearing operation took 4 days, so Clara only went back to school today.

-The toilet that broke while Marc was out of town was fixed by the two resident plumbers; Marc and Leo worked together to replace the handle. Leo found this fascinating and was caught on several occasions in the hours that followed the repair job flushing the toilet and lifting the lid to the tank to see what was going on in there.

-Unfortunately, the toilet repair somehow brought about another toilet problem, a leak in the tank. At the moment we are living with an empty tank and pouring a bucket of water in every time we need to flush. Needless to say Leo loves it, he watches the process over and over again and never seems to get bored. Yes, I know my boy is obsessed with a toilet!

-Clara brought home her report card from school today. It is glowing... so I am glowing too. I am one proud mother I tell ya!

-Leo and I embarked on a day long project to make cinnamon buns. All that kneading and rising... it took forever. And Leo's absolute favorite step of the process - when I gave him the bowl of risen dough and told him to make a fist and punch it down. He was thrilled with the way the dough deflated with his powerful punch.

Being unicorns on Friday afternoon after I picked up my evacuee :)

Notes from day two of my 3 day adventure as a single parent.

1- when Clara and Leo are well prepared for and excited about the plan for the day they are very motivated to get out of the house. We had the smoothest departure EVER this morning and it was at 7:30am!
2- Clara really enjoyed going to the service de garde before and after school today. It was her first time for both. I have a feeling she'll be asking to stay after school more often now.
3- Leo is such a BOY. At the cabane a sucre today I could not tear him away from the corner of the hall that housed 3 video games and a table hockey machine. NO ONE was playing any of these "toys" yet, a gaggle of 3 and 4 year old boys hung around and took turns sitting in the driver seat of the arcade games the entire times we were supposed to be dancing.
4- Leo loved the "eggs that looked like pie."
5- Dragging an exhausted, sledded-out 5 year old and a newly woken up and unhappy 3 year old home is a little like hell on earth. They both cried the entire way from school to home. I just kept pulling the sled and dragging Clara along beside me. It was not a pretty picture.
6- Dinner of whatever mommy can find in the fridge while sitting on the couch watching cartoons is a big hit in our world. Clara kept asking if I was joking as I delivered small bowls of raw veggies, cold chicken, grapes and almonds to the couch and called it dinner.

A very full boy having his head stroked by his buddy Max

Notes from day one of my 3 day adventure as a single parent.
1 - It takes exactly one hour to drop off Clara at school and Leo at the halte garderie and get back home. Both of them arrived at their destinations on time despite the mountains of snow we climbed.
2- The toilet broke. Yep. It still flushes... if you take the lid of the tank and reach in. Great timing I say.

I think I am just about ready to get back to my blog. This winter has been HARD. I can't quite put my finger on what exactly tipped me over the edge, maybe it was the lice, the illnesses (mine and Marc's were the wost this year) or maybe it is just the pure intensity of being a pedestrian through a snowy and at times very cold winter. Whatever it was I hope to be on the other side of it now.

Today was the first day of "spring" break. Now I know why it is called semaine de relache... there is not much particularly spring-y about the weather... temps are mild but the snow, oh the snow. We spent the day mostly at home with a quick jaunt to Shreters for some new winter boots for Clara. I was worried about having to find decent winter boots this late in the season but thankfully one phone call later I had the last pair of Kamik Kids Snow Dogs in size 1 on hold for me at more 50% off their regular price - yay me! The rest of the day was a whole lot of imaginative play for Clara and Leo. They used face paints and made themselves into cats, they built a huge cat house using overturned chairs and blankets, they abandoned their kitty personas and became a prince and princess about to be married, and then they were tired and hungry and played themselves whining and begging for dinner to be ready.

Well, I hardly have to say anything after posting these pictures do I? As you can see, Leo is now just like his Papa, in his own words "Now I have just a head. Mommy cut my hair and threw it in the garbage."

I imagine, based on my previous posts it is obvious how Leo came to this new transformation. The battle of the lice is still going on in Clara's kindergarten class (it sounds like just about every kid has been treated at least once in the last 3 months). Even though she seems to be clear (my fingers are tightly crossed), I did see one bug in Leo's hair on Monday. Marc and I had already agreed, at the first sign of lice, Leo's head would be shaved. There is no way that he'd EVER accept the lice treatment and regular combing that is required to get rid of the little pests. So out came the clippers! It turns out I only saw two lice and no nits at all while shaving - I know not to assume I saw everything but I am encouraged that my vigilance paid off and we caught the problem before it got out of hand.

So, it turns out I am in love with my little buzzed boy. Leo's eyes are so big and bright and his eyebrows and forehead are so expressive without the distraction of the surfer hair. Of course, I'm also mourning his blonde silky locks but that is what hair obsessed Moms tend to do in this situation (or so I've gathered), but I'm mostly over it. Marc on the other hand, is infatuated with Leo's new style. He can't get enough of Leo's soft round head. I've caught him gazing at his boy over the breakfast table, there seems to be something special about the bond of hairlessness that I will never understand... at least I hope.

Clara also loves the new coif and is in fact jealous. She has asked to get her head shaved as well. Although I'm not all for it, I'm also not against letting her do it if she really wants to. It certainly would make my life easier if we had minimal hair to worry about and inspect. So, Clara and I have made an agreement, we will discuss the radical haircut again in one week. If she still wants to cut it all off and she shows a clear understanding of the permanent consequences then we'll do it. The fact that she will be the 3rd little girl with a shaved head in her class makes it a bit easier to deal with, of course that is another reason she wants to do it in the first place! I guess I'll be posting an update in the near future... stay tuned.