Little R's nursery school progress... and lost Piggy

Little R's first day by himself at nursery school didn't seem so bad. Well, his second day was a little different.

We were almost in the school's driveway when Little R realised that I was probably going to leave him again. He backed away a bit as we neared the school's entrance. There were other children crying (I think it was hard for the kids because it was just after the winter holiday and a weekend). Although he was brave enough to let me take his winter gear off and replace his boots with indoor shoes, Little R grabbed onto me in frantic tears, "Mama, Mama!" He wouldn't go into the classroom. I had to pick up the sobbing 44 pound tot. Even then the teachers had to help keep him inside as I tried to back out of the classroom. It was painful, but I knew he was just learning, and his crying was a way of coping with his separation anxiety.

I went to pick him up at 11 AM. Before I even saw him, I could hear him crying. I asked Kyla if he had been crying the the whole two hours. The answer was pretty much "yes." She thought that were was about 5 minutes when he calmed down as he stared out the window, but he continued crying until I picked him up. He was so relieved, the poor little guy. He didn't have any snack, but he did manage to make a couple of pictures from bingo dabbers. The teacher said that half the time Little R was crying without tears. So, maybe it wasn't so bad.

Day three, I dropped off Little R as usual. DH picked him up, and the teacher told him that Little R cried for only the first hour then he was fine. The teachers were so very excited about this progress that they took pictures of him as he was doing arts and crafts!

Day four, as Little R and I crossed the main street on the way to the nursery school, I remembered that I had forgotten his bear at home! What was I to do? Going back to the house meant having to cross the main street again. With the high snow banks, no lights or crossing guard, and lots of cars, I didn't want to go back. I felt bad about it all the way. I told Little R that the bear was at home, and that he would have to be by himself at the centre.

I sat him down to change him out of his winter gear. He was still knowing of the fact that I was going to leave, but he wasn't in tears. He was a little anxious, and he tried pulling me to the exit twice, but I managed to leave him with one of the teachers. I felt so bad seeing him peering from the gate's top level. He was alone crying without his bear.

DH couldn't believe what I had done. He told me to drive (yes, for a distance so close I would not normally do such a thing) to the school and drop off the bear. I got there about 9:20 AM. I didn't hear any crying nor did I see Little R. I dropped off the bear with the high school volunteer, and left. I went back to pick him up at 11 AM. I noticed that his school bag had been tampered with. Perhaps Little R had soiled himself (he doesn't do this much anymore since he wears only cloth underwear and pants). Kyla told me that Little R had stopped crying starting from about the time I had dropped off the bear. And because Little R expressed interest in going to the washroom with the other children in line, she decided to change his pull-up diaper (thus the tampering of the school bag) even though he didn't need it. Little R also had snack that day. Wow! I was excited about this. Little R cried for only the first 20 minutes (without his bear), and continued the rest of his day taking interest in what the others were doing at nursery school.

Day five. As I changed Little out of his winter apparel, I sensed less anxiety and some shy excitement from the little guy. Once I put his shoes on and gave him his bear, we got up and made our way toward the gate. Kyla saw us and opened the gate. Before we could exchange our how-are-yous, Little R had already wandered into the classroom without any nudging. Then he started to show come anxiety, "Mama!" I had to leave.

I went shopping with Little S frantically at Superstore. I was rushing to get back in time to go pick up Little R. Well, when I put all the stuff into the car, I noticed that her pink pig (TY Piggy) was missing! First Little R's bear, now the lost pig! I called DH to go pick up Little R because I just had to go back into the store to find Little S's best friend. I went back to customer service, the cashier where I had paid, and retraced several aisles, but there was no sign of the limited edition Piggy ;( I think I was sadder than Little S. Although when I explained it to her, she also expressed emotional pain (Little S signs). I left the description of the lost toy at customer service then returned home.

When DH returned with Little R, DH explained that Little R really enjoyed circle time. DH saw one of the teachers go get Little R for circle time by saying "circle" and signing circle on his face. I'm glad that the teachers are so good with the kids. This was Little R had his first no crying day!

In my rush to get home in time to pick up Little R, I totally did not notice how or when Little S's Piggy got lost. I called Superstore yesterday morning to see if anyone had returned it, but the answer was negative. Perhaps there is still hope, but as the days pass, it's looking unlikely. I've looked online, and I've found one for sale on Amazon.com for $39.99 American. It's not the same; we can't just replace a pig she knew her whole life.

Well, DH tried to replace the pig with an elephant that he picked up from Mastermind today after we had returned the mandoline. Little S doesn't seem very fond of the grey and pink plushy. I just hope somehow the original pig returns to her.

The Final Return of the Mandoline

Yes, we have finally returned the mandoline! After DH's failed attempt, about a week and a half ago, to julienne potatoes with the mandoline, I sent an email to Stoke's customer service that we were going to really return the item for store credit. Today, the mandoline is finally out of our house. I don't know what exactly will happen to it from this point forward, but I did ask in my email if they would be able to recycle the mandoline since it was mostly of stainless steel. No response so far.

After returning the mandoline, we decided to go eat in the food court. I think this is about the 3rd time I forgot to bring eating utensils with me for eating out. Well, I had packed away a pair of bamboo chopsticks with me in a bag, but because I don't eat out often (this being the third time - and it has had to do with either buying or returning a mandoline), I didn't know where the pair of chopsticks were anymore. So, unfortunately by the end of our meal we had to throw out two styrofoam plates, a pair of wood chopsticks, its paper wrapper, a foam cup with a straw, two plastic forks and two plastic spoons. This is what happens when I don't plan on eating out and then happen to eat out.

How can we reduce the waste in food courts? Well, I've seen at the One of A Kind Show at Christmas merchants using compostable utensils, plates and bowls. As well, there were also waste stations with three comparments: organics (for compost), recyclables and waste. I know that we live in a fast fast pace society, but I think that with some small steps we can reduce waste. Little things that we can do are to bring a reusable drink/coffee cup to the café (in the latest newsletter my diaper service advised that Tim Horton's gave a 10 cent discount when you bring in your own reusable cup), bring our own utensils and damp cloth napkin (instead of a paper one). In fact, even if we did use paper napkins (just enough of them, no more), they could be composted afterward.

Well, with the mandoline returned, I hope this means I won't have to eat from that food court any time soon. The next time I go back to the kitchen store it will be to look for a good knife sharpener.

My mother-in-law's gifts

We just had a little first birthday party for Little S on the weekend. Although there was a tonne of snow that just kept coming down and coming down, most of our guests (including my in-laws who had to drive 4.5 hours) still made it to celebrate the occasion with us. It was great to have everyone here.

I remember one time before Little R was to be born, my colleague-at-the-time pointed out that I had a control issue because I stressed my concern that I did not want certain things for my unborn baby's "shower." I really did not mean to sound ungrateful. It was wonderful that people were thoughtful and wanted to give gifts, but there were just things that I (for my children) would prefer not to receive. Well, my colleague explained to me that people are nice to get you something; don't complain. You can't choose what people give you. Also, I requested that people NOT use gift wrap/bags... or rather if people did want to wrap things up to do it with used newsprint. That was when I was called a control freak. I stopped pushing my beliefs, had my party, grinned and thanked everyone.

There was a lot of wasted paper (I don't even know if that was recycled because I didn't take care of the clean-up), cellophane, etc... I guess it really was my fault for not voicing my concern. It was politeness that caused so much waste. Or perhaps I could have politely requested a greener party... but that was my control freak issue. I wasn't even supposed to know about the shower.

People who have known me know that I do save wrapping paper (it takes me a littler longer time to precision unwrap a gift). I don't know how much I really complain about waste, but those closest to me probably do roll their eyes at me or over the phone.

Well, there is hope. In all my talking about conserving energy, reducing waste before recycling, I see that someone has been listening to me. My mother-in-law is a very generous woman who loves showering people with gifts. She also liked wrapping them so that when you opened the gifts you would give off a surprised reaction. She loved seeing the reaction on your face. Her gift giving "addiction" has seen much improvement in the last three years. She has really impressed me with some green actions: setting up a compost, reducing her recycling by not buying bottled water any more, giving vintage gifts (I still can't sell this one on DH, though) and wrapping gifts creatively.

For Little R's first Christmas my mother-in-law (M-in-law) wrapped our gift in a bath towel. she thought that it was pretty clever. I was genuinely impressed that the towel could be reused again and again after it was unwrapped. Just recently she also decided to give all her grandchildren savings bonds for their education. This is just very smart. There's virtually no waste with this, and the money will grow. Now for Little S's party she wrapped a vintage music box in a set of 4 orange place mats. How practical! And this also helped her throw in a gift for us. She also wrapped a wonderful peek-a-book that featured Little S in a small lace tablecloth.

Not only has she been "greening" by herself, she has also influenced her circle of girl friends to give vintage gifts as well. It is sheer hopeful joy when I see her cheery enthusiasm in greening her life-style. I'm very proud of her. I'm glad that my "nagging" (and I really don't think it's nagging) has found an attentive audience.

Cold, cold day, and wasted food

What a cold, cold day it has been. Today was not a good day for the furnace to stop working, but it did. Just before we bought our place there was a sewer back-up in the basement, and the furnace had to be replaced. So having a new efficient furnace should have given us peace of mind that it would function for many years to come. However, this wasn't our first experience with a failed furnace during the winter. Just a few months ago less than a month after Little S was born, the new furnace, in the place we were living in at the time, broke down. We were left without heat for a weekend plus a Monday. We learned then that nothing is infallible, even if it's new.

DH was away in Toronto for work, and I was left to take care of the children. I tried fiddling with the thermostat, but when the heat just didn't come on after I turned up the temperature, I knew that something was not right. I called the service for fixing the furnace, but I didn't want to actually order any service until DH was home to assess the situation for himself. Meanwhile my goal was to keep the children warm and fed.

Luckily, I knew very well some tricks for keeping warm (or fighting the coldness) from living in Mexico. Contrary to popular belief, it's not all tropical weather in Mexico. When winter hit, it was cold and chilly. I guess it only reached down to about zero celcius, but when there is no central heating, zero is the freezing point! Eating hot foods and taking hot liquids helped quite a bit. Aside from stuffing oneself with food and drink, I found it very helpful to do jumping jacks, punches and kicks into the air until I felt warm enough to sit down for five or even ten minutes. At night I would fill an empty water bottle with warm tap water (if it were still available - water was always an iffy thing in Mexico) so that my feet would have some warm. Also at night, don't sleep directly on the flat sheets; rather, use the blanket directly on you.

Today, I made Little S chase Little R. We went around the basement touching walls and other items again and again. We made a game out of it. This was quite the environmentally friendly way to "heat up."

Enough was enough, though. We live in Canada, and in Canada we have central heating for a reason: it is absolutely necessary! So, DH called for furnace service, as we waited, I knew I had to make something for supper.

So, out of coldness, I wanted to make something warming and comforting so that my family could enjoy a warm kitchen. Using the oven at this time would have made the most sense. We would turn on the oven and the stove for cooking and close the kitchen door. The kids and DH could play in the kitchen while I cooked and heated up the room. But DH did not like that Little House on the Prairie idea. So, I decided to quickly make polenta with a tomato sauce. I had made polenta several times, and every time it always went very smoothly. Perhaps I was over confident. Perhaps I was just overly quick. I somehow put in too much salt! When I tasted it, I was disgusted. I usually leave things rather plain, but because of some experiences with making bland bread, I've been more attentive to using "enough" salt in proportion the water content of the food.

I didn't not want to waste the food (6 filtered cups of water, 2 cups of cornmeal, a splash of extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkly of sliced olives and capers), so I decided to add more water and more cornmeal to perhaps neutralize the dish. Well, it was waste times two! The food was still too salty. My choices were either to subject my family to unpalatable food, and possibly poisoning them with excessive sodium, or to compost the concoction. It was clear to me that I had sinned. My DH's grandmother had told me countless times that wasting was a sin. I know that there are countless people in this world who live off of rations that might have added up to how much I had wasted this evening.

The guilt just keeps boiling up inside me. I must stop this agony. What resolution must I come to? The food is unpalatable; the harm is done. My children and husband still need to be nourished. I must continue on. The water, the cornmeal, and everything else will return to the Earth. It is futile now to lament, yet lament I do. I must bury this experience and use it to remind me NOT to over salt. Sometimes it takes great mistakes like this one to make one to stop and think. This is a lessoned learned. I have paid for this lesson with oversalted polenta, so this food was rather not wasted, but spent.

This is what I have resolved this cold cold day... and finally, the furnacing is working again too, after we paid the service guys with money and beer. I hope that it'll be be a warm night.

Vegan Xmas meal

Little R's first day by himself at nursery school

So, already 4 people have already asked about how Little R's first day at Nursery School was after Tuesday's visit.

He seemed like he had fun, but he wanted to leave after he tried, without success, to grab a car off of another little boy. He ate snack at the snack table after washing his hands (he had the soy yogurt). He had 3 helpings! After that, he continued playing by himself. I tried to just be from a distance watching him play, but when he couldn't see me, he started running around in a panic. The ladies at the centre told him "Little R, quiet feet, please. No running in the classroom." The staff there are quite patient and very good, so I'm relieved that he's in reliable hands.

Today was his first day at the centre without me. We went there at 9 AM. There were lots of boys and girls with their mommies/caregivers in the hallway taking off their winter gear and putting on their indoor shoes. Once the boots were off and the shoes were on, Little R was ready to go in with his bear in hand... except, we had to say "bye-bye" first. He walked into the classroom, through the opened gate mind by Kyla (one of the teachers). Perhaps he just thought that he was going in to play with me, but Kyla stopped him and asked him to say "bye-bye" to Mum. Then he decided that he didn't want to go in alone. He grabbed my hand, but Kyla managed gently to have him let go so that he could go play with something in the classroom.

Well, this was it. He turned his attention away from me after we said "bye-bye", and I knew I had to get away. By the time I left through the two heavy front doors, I still hadn't heard him cry, so maybe all was well.

Nursery school is only Tuesday and Thursdays from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM September to June (like a regular school year). We were just lucky that a child happen to withdraw from the program, which freed up the space for Little R in January. Otherwise, we were on the waiting list to get in for September 2009.

I left our house at 10:50 AM to walk back to the school. I managed to arrive there 5 or 6 minutes prior to 11 AM while the children and the teachers were singing in circle time. The hallway was crowded with caregivers and mothers waiting for their preschoolers. It got even crazier when the children were released one by one as the teachers saw whose parents were waiting. Kyla said that Little R did very well for his first day. He cried intermittently between 9:30 AM and 11:10 AM. This meant that he cried for the first whole half hour, but did not cry for the last 50 minutes of the programme. I was very proud of him, and also very relieved that he didn't seem traumatised by the experience.

After most of the crowd managed to leave the hallway, I sat Little R down to change him out of his indoor shoes to his boots. I asked one of the staff to see if Little R had eaten snack. She was pretty sure he had, but asked another teacher. She came back out and announced that he had eaten 5 crackers! Not bad. I thought that the kids were having trail mix today, but crackers are okay too. The centre knows about Little R's vegan diet, so I'm pretty sure they're careful with what they give him.

A few things I think that the centre could improve on are using less harmful disinfectants. Right now I know that they use bleach. I'm pretty sure it's chlorine based, but I'm not sure. I should somehow make a suggestion for them to use vinegar. I would feel better knowing that my kids put their mouths on something that has been cleaned with vinegar than chlorine bleach. Little S slobbers on a few toys here and there when we drop in. Also at snack time, disposable spoons, cups and paper towel were used. I understand that it's a time issue as well as an expense issue that disposables are used, but perhaps I could suggest for them to use compostable plates, cups and cutlery as well as paper towels. Of course the compostable things are quite costly right now, but perhaps there's a perk if they buy in bulk. If our children can learn "green" habits, it would be a lot easier for them as adults to love their Earth. What better place, outside of the home, than nursery school to learn these habits.

On the way home Little R was very quiet, but did start to babble a bit as we got closer to our house. He was also playing with the snow by walking on it (like the higher planes of snow, but not the snowbanks) and using his mittens. He didn't seem too troubled by the fact that I left him at the centre to play with the other children for two hours.

As we entered the house, Little R kept trying to ring our doorbell (Little S was sleeping in her crib when I had left), so this was normal behaviour. So, he didn't cry or show other signs of distress. He ate as normal, but seemed a little more independent. For example, he would go into the living room to play while I prepared lunch. Normally, he would open my spice rack or the fridge. He even started practising his "hello." He puts the emphasis on the latter syllable.

To add to our delight, Little R didn't soil nor wet his pull-up diaper! He's been wearing underwear and using the toilet consistently for the months that we've been at his house now :0) This is good. Unfortunately, we still use the disposables for night time and long trips.

Well, he'll be back there next Tuesday... next report to come after that.