Kiersten’s Blog

For six hours of every day, Ashton feels like an only child.  Sure, he likes it, but he’s never been an only child before.  He doesn’t know what to do without his sister around.  London has always been really good at occupying herself with quiet activities, such as coloring or reading.  Ashton enjoys doing those things, but I have to color or read with him.  I’m sure London was that way at his age too.  I don’t mind it.  In fact, I enjoy the time that just the two of us get to spend together.  The problem is, Ashton misses his partner in crime.  He gets lonely with just me around.  He gets really excited when it’s time to pick London up from school.  Today I had to get Ashton up from his nap to walk down the street and pick up London.  He didn’t mind.  I told him what was happening and he happily took his pacifier out and left it in bed with his bear (both of which he usually takes with him when he gets up), all the while saying, “Lala, Lala.”  Then when we got to her classroom door and waited, he knew she was coming soon and couldn’t help but continue to say, “Lala, Lala, Lala.”  When she finally came out and hopped into the wagon with him, they hugged all the way home.  They were both excited to see each other.  And this happens every day.  With all the fighting they do, I’m glad they’re best friends.

If you’re a long time blog reader of mine, you’ll remember the story of the bike of Taylor’s that was stolen and then stolen back by Taylor.  That was almost 2 years ago.  The bike has since been smashed into our carport (because I forgot that it was on top of the car) so the front fork had to be replaced.  I just realized I never blogged about that.  There’s probably a reason.  The bike has also been ridden hundreds of miles to and from work, as well as a 50 mile ride with my dad and uncle on my dad’s 60th birthday.  This bike has a lot of history.  It seems, however, that its life with us may have come to a close.  Sadly, it was stolen again.  Taylor rode it to work on Thursday and locked it up.  Since I was near his work that evening, I picked him up, but we had forgotten to put the bike rack on top of the car, so we had to leave the bike at Taylor’s work.  That was fine.  He would just drive to work the next day and bring it home then.  The problem was, when he went to get the bike to take it home the next day, it wasn’t there anymore and there was no sign of a struggle; no broken lock pieces or anything.  Unfortunately that was Taylor’s main form of transportation to and from work.  I wonder what the odds are of him finding it and stealing it back . . . again.

When we moved into our house back in December, we did a lot of big things.  There was a lot of work to be done, and we did most of it.  There are still a few lingering projects that would be nice to do someday (like the kitchen and the bathrooms, even though we did paint the kitchen cabinets) but I can wait on those.  Except for that kitchen sink and faucet.  Ugh.  Anyway, it’s the little things we’re doing now.  Taylor has been changing out switches, outlets, and switch and outlet covers from those old off-white colored ones to brand new bright white.  Downstairs we had some really ugly brownish metal switch covers.  Now most of the switches are done and it makes a huge difference in the look of our home.  I’m sure nobody coming over would even notice, but they would probably notice the ugly ones that were there before.  That’s kind of how I felt about all of the touch-up painting we did when we had a break from the kids.  The little things really do make a difference.  I guess that’s how it is in life too.  Sometimes I forget that I don’t have to do big, extravagant things to make a difference.  It’s really the small details that count.  Oh, but thanks to Taylor, a big thing got done today too and our car is now parked in the garage.

Today in honor of going back to school, I really wanted to post one of the all-time greats of me and my siblings standing in front of the front door, wearing hideous back to school outfits and backpacks, ready for our first day.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any of those pictures.  None of them are digitized yet, so they’re in a box somewhere at my parents house.  So this is what you get today:  Two Canadian kids being indoctrinated on a visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  I think I was about 2 1/2 here and Alan must have been almost 4.

London just before leaving on her first day of school. Notice the flip-flops. We had to go buy new shoes after school yesterday since flip-flops are against the dress code and that's pretty much all she has.

I love kindergarten already.  So does London.  Today’s the second day and already it’s turning into the greatest thing!  Let me just mention a few of the reasons.

First of all, I really do have some extra time to get things done.  Right now Ashton’s napping and the house is at peace.  Sure, it could use some cleaning, but where’s the fun in that?  I’m blogging instead.  I spent much of my free time yesterday trying to figure out how to get rid of ants and cleaning up after them.  Not so much fun.

Secondly, I love that I get to have one-on-one time with Ashton.  We very rarely get that so I think it will be a nice break for all of us.  I have all sorts of plans: story time at the library, trips to the park, walks around the neighborhood, maybe take a mommy and me class.  The possibilities are endless.  Yesterday we just played.  It was fun.

Third, I have six hours every day that I don’t hear ANY whining.  Usually in those six hours, I would hear six hours of whining.  Now, nothing.  No whining.  I LOVE it!!!  I’m sure she’ll be able to fit all that whining in before and after school, but I still get six hours of daily peace.  Did I mention that I don’t hear whining for six hours every day?

London working hard at her desk on her first day of kindergarten.

Another thing that is great in this whole kindergarten realm: we walk to school.  Today it took us about 6 minutes, which included going to the garage and getting out the stroller, loading Ashton in the stroller, folding the stroller to get through the gate (that isn’t even wide enough for a pregnant woman to walk through, I’m sure), and walking at a kindergartener pace for a half a block.  That’s right, we live a half a block from the school.  And it’s a good school.  People transfer from all over, just to go to the school that’s a 5-minute walk from my front door.  I love school!

London and her teacher, Mrs. Bradshaw, after a learning-filled day.

Now if you’re wondering, there were NO tears shed on either of our parts on the first day of kindergarten.  Big.  Fat.  Zero.  We were both very excited about this new adventure.  I remember how my sister, Jana, would cry every day when we left her at her classroom door.  Not so with London.  She doesn’t care when I leave.  I am more than happy to leave, although I’m sure I’ll volunteer.  I do want to be a part of her education.  Anyway, she had a great first day and there are many more great days to come.  Did I mention no whining?

Taylor and London start school tomorrow.  For London, it’s her first day of kindergarten.  All day kindergarten.  For Taylor, it’s his 3rd year as a full-time college professor.  As for me, I’m sitting here with a list of projects running through my head and dreaming about all the time I’ll have to work on them.  But not tomorrow because I have a parent orientation at London’s school.  And maybe not Tuesday because I have ant traps to buy and fabric to scout out.  And then Wednesday…wow, I’m getting to the middle of my week here and I already don’t have time!  So much for getting things done.  As it turns out, life will probably take over.

We were out of town yesterday so I wasn’t able to post my Flashback Friday photo  so you get it now.  I love this picture because it brings back memories of gardening.  When we lived in Alberta, we had a huge garden in our backyard.  We were expected to help with it, although I don’t know how much help I was as a little girl.  I loved it, though, and now that I’m grown, I crave a garden.  This picture was taken after picking lots and lots of beans.  Then we had to snap the ends off of them so that we could eat them.  This is Jana helping my grandma Whitaker.  Grandma must have been up for a visit at the time.

London went to the dentist on Friday.  Last year when I took her, she kept spitting the thing out of her mouth so they couldn’t get x-rays.  This time, that wasn’t the issue.  They got x-rays all right, and boy do I wish I didn’t know.  I’m not sure how such a small child with such small teeth would need so much work done.  It turns out that we need to force her to floss, I guess.  Or maybe I need to check and see if our water is fluoridated.  Or maybe it doesn’t matter now.  The damage is done.  She needs $3500 of dental work done.  It’s a good thing our insurance will cover a lot of it, although we’ll still have to fork out a pretty penny.  Apparently London’s four top molars are so decayed in between the teeth, that they all need to be cleaned out and capped.  It’s getting so bad that the cavities are close to hitting nerves.  Now, I have cavities every time I go to the dentist (remember this?).  In fact, I just went a week ago and have 2 more cavities, but I’ve never had anything even close to this extensive.  I can’t believe how bad they can get in four short years!  I’ve seen kids with caps on their teeth and wonder how in the world they got to be so bad.  Now my child is one of those!  We brush every day.  I just hope her permanent teeth are more hearty than her baby teeth.  And, speaking of teeth, remember that loose tooth I mentioned about a week ago?  It fell out today.  That’s right.  My four-year-old daughter will go to her first day of kindergarten on Monday, missing a tooth.  How is this possible?

I feel like I have been following Ashton everywhere with a wet rag today.  That kid doesn’t stop making messes!  I get one thing cleaned up and he’s on to the next.  And he does it on purpose too.  Today started out early.  Luckily Taylor was home until 11 so that helped a lot.  We were up and eating breakfast by 7:00.  That’s when Taylor noticed the ants.  I made sure to mop before I went to bed last night, but I rarely mop the whole floor.  You see, our whole bottom floor is wood laminate so mopping the whole thing is quite the job.  Instead, I try to keep up by consistently mopping the dining room (at least under the high chair) and spot mopping everywhere else.  Last night I missed one small crumb.  Sometimes that’s not a big deal.  Other times, like today, the ants swarm.  The crumb was between the dining and living rooms and not far from the patio door, but that’s not where the ants were coming in.  I still haven’t figured out where their trail began, but it went around the rug in the living room and there was a pile up on the crumb.  Out came the Raid.  Taylor sprayed them down, but I get a little nervous spraying Raid with kids around, for 2 reasons: Number 1, it’s like an oil slick wherever that stuff is down.  It could send one flying across the room.  Not to mention, I don’t want it tracked all over my carpet.  And number 2, it’s toxic!  I don’t want that around with kids who eat things off the floor.  Did I just say that?  Yes, I have a child who frequently eats off the floor.  In fact, after dinner today (after throwing his whole dinner on the floor) I got him out of his high chair and told him to eat the rest of his dinner.  From the floor.  That’s the kind of mom I am.  And that’s my point.  It’s impossible to keep this place clean with my little hurricane running around!  So back to the ants.  Taylor took the kids upstairs and I mopped the entire floor.  Not with a mop, but with a rag and a bucket on my hands and knees.  Then I proceeded to do the bathrooms.  I figured I might as well.  Then I noticed that my shower doors looked gross so I spent some time on them.  I was surprised to see that it was only 10 a.m. when I finally got in the shower after all that cleaning.  But later, after swimming and afternoon naps, Ashton was up again making messes.  He turns his cups upside down, just so they leak out all over the place.  While he was drinking his milk, I followed him around with a paper towel.  It doesn’t help to contain the kid in a high chair either.  When he’s finished with his drink, he promptly throws it on the floor.  Today, of course, the lid came off and spilled everywhere.  At least it was only water at this point.  But really, doesn’t he see that the floor is clean for once?  I guess I better stop rambling and go clean the floor.  Again.  I wouldn’t want ants.

I broke my camera.  This is the 2nd digital camera I have ever owned.  My first one broke one day at the beach.  It opened up and never closed or took a picture again.  I replaced it because, well, it did a fine job, but I wanted something a little better.  I did some extensive research and finally settled on the cute little point and shoot that I have.  Or had.  Until a couple of days ago.  I guess I still have it.  It just doesn’t work.  We took it to the beach on Thursday.  I took pictures.  It was great!  We had a fun time.  But on Friday when I tried to use it, I couldn’t.  The lens opened, and never closed, never letting me take another photo.  I love my camera!  How could it have pooped out on me in just 3 short years of usage?  I took it to a camera repair shop where they told me that I had sand in the lens.  Of course.  They also told me that it would cost $68 to fix and that the fix would take 2-3 weeks.  2-3 weeks?!  I don’t have that kind of time to live without a camera!  I take pictures daily!  In fact, I haven’t been able to use the thing for 2 whole days and I’m already going crazy!  I’m hoping that I can find a screwdriver that will allow me to take the thing apart and blow it out with some canned air.  Maybe, just maybe that will be the solution to all of my problems.  If it doesn’t fix the problem?  I have no idea.  Until then, I’m sad and camera-less.  I already missed the all-important first ballet recital.  What am I going to do next Monday on the first day of kindergarten with no way of photo documentation?  I hope all the thing needs is some pressured air to get back into working order.