Mish mash

Emily has had some true gems lately and with all the comings and goings to the cottage and back and me hobbling along, I just haven't been able to get much of it down or get much of anything done, really. So, this is a mish mash post of whatever comes to mind.

Emily started her new preschool playgroup last week. It's her very first drop-off program. She's going with her friend, Nevan. Since it is very close to our house, Pam brings Nevan and Celia (who is the same age as Hope) over and then one of us takes Nevan and Emily over to the community centre. Last week, the first week, Nevan arrived with his jacket on as it was pouring rain. He came in and I unzipped his jacket. He said: "Did Momma show you how to unzip coats?" I love the worlds these guys live in.

This week I took the two kids over to the community centre. I had them both go pee before we went into the preschool room. Nevan went first and then Emily. We were all in the same stall. After Nevan was done, Emily sat down and said: "Nevan has a different kind of gina."

You can't really argue with that.

Last weekend we were at the cottage with our friends Meredith and Ron and their kids Ella and Duncan. Ella is 18 months older than Emily. The first day at the cottage was great. Emily and Ella played well together, mainly playing with some toys that Ella brought. Pretty much only playing with one toy: Polly Pockets. Emily doesn't own any toys like that - no little dolls, no dolls at all really. She just hasn't shown and interest and I haven't fostered one but she was really into Ella's Polly Pockets. The second day got bad, fast. They became oil and water and the worst of it seemed to be about Polly Pockets, so much so that we banned the toy and I even at one point forbade the two girls to be in the same room as one another. Yesterday Meredith took the kids while John and I went to see the Order of the Phoenix (amazing friend, isn't she?). When we arrived Ella asked Emily if she wanted to play Polly Pockets. Emily said (and this is verbatim by the way): "That's not a good idea right now, Ella. I don't play Polly Pockets well." To see that kind of self-assessment in a three-year old makes me feel a bit immature really.

Emily's birthday is tomorrow. I'm making a Dora cake. I forgot my camera at the cottage (ugh!) so I'll have to rely on others to take photos, grizzly, horrifying photos of my attempts at a Dora cake.

The ankle is still bad. I've got an appointment with the doctor on Monday morning. Something just doesn't seem right.

I've got a heck of a lot of giant zucchini. Anyone got any ideas for that?

John and I spent a few days during July (mainly during one of our cottage trips) reading Harry Potter. Every night we would put the kids to bed and then sit up and read it aloud. It was wonderful. It will be one of my favourite and most vivid memories of this summer. Oh, and the book rocked. It was everything I wanted it to be.

So, I'm going back to school. Part-time anyway. I decided earlier this summer to apply to a certificate program at Carleton (where John is a prof and therefore where I get free tuition. Woohoo!) for teaching English as a second language. I got my acceptance this week and I'm excited. I'm less excited about the fact that there are very few courses available this year that I can fit into taking care of two kids full time. I'm starting with one course on Structures of English, which is a grammar course. I love grammar and this will probably be a lot of fun for me. So, I get to go back-to-school shopping! I like my job, I feel I already have a lot of eduction under my belt that can get me another good job, but I want a career change, or at least the option of a career change and I think teaching ESL will be a lot more family-friendly and community-minded than what I do now.

Hope's sleep is shit again. I'm not worrying about it too much but I am tired. Really, really tired. Don't know how to fix it, I'm just hoping it works itself out. She's become a real Daddy's girl. It's very cute. She reaches for John when he comes into the room and you can see him trying not to smile in total satisfaction because he knows I'm a little jealous. I'm pretty much over the slight jealousy and I'm enjoying it, too. I figure I can use this at some point to make him do all the night time wake-ups. Hah! Good one.

There, I think I've emptied my brain at least for now. I feel a few pounds lighter.