Random Tuesday: I Blame The Weather Edition

Okay, so I think it is Tuesday. Although these days I cannot be sure because my timekeeper of the week, Stinkerbelle’s many classes, have rapidly been drawing to a close. How will I know what day it is if we are not swimming, I ask you? Or if we don’t have to go ignore a teacher doing crafts? It boggles the mind.

But it’s even worse because the weather has turned decidedly foul, which prompts me to stay indoors even moreso than usual. And when I am out, the crazy abounds, so even if I KNOW what I am doing and what day it is, I am still WAY cranky from all the Stupid People out there with me.

And, as you can see, this all brings the ranting, which is decidedly random. It’s going to be a heck of a week. I can feel it. Well, no I can’t, because my EXTREMITIES ARE CURRENTLY FROZEN OMG WHAT THE EFFING EFF IS WITH THIS WEATHER.

*ahem*

Yeah. So. Tuesday.

• We’re now officially done our swimming classes! Huzzah! Well, until January, anyway. But the end of this session means the end of when my child is classified as a DUCK. See, they’re got these classifications in Tiny Kid Swimming Classes — Ducks and Tadpoles and Killer Whales and Moray Eels and Lobsters and doG knows what else. And my kid has been a DUCK since… well, since EVER, actually. Duck covers age 1-3 or something. So now, with Stinkerbelle turning three in the spring, we get to move up to Sea Turtles! Or Pelicans. Or Piranha. Something. ANYWHOOO, do you know what this MEANS?!  This means: the beginning of the end of ME HAVING TO WEAR A BATHING SUIT IN PUBLIC!! HUZZAH! This mom is terribly thankful for this. As is much of the public at large in the Rec Centre between 10 and 10:30 on Mondays and within eyesight of me.

• You know how I said… Oh wait, it was in comments on a post. Let me start again… Stinkerbelle has this thing about clothes. She does NOT like to take ANY of her clothes off (except socks) unless it is a SPECIFIED TIME. So, bathtime? Good. Taking a sweater off when its warm in a room? BAD VERY BAD. The inverse to this rule is, if ANYBODY makes ANY move to leave a room that she is in, she must GET DRESSED IN ALL HER OUTDOOR CLOTHES IMMEDIATELY AT ONCE NO EXCEPTIONS OMG NOW NOW OR I WILL DIEEEEEEEE. So, now that it’s OMG FREEZING WINTER, this phenomenon has been amped up in the extreme. Because now? There are mittens and hats to add to the equation. So today, in an appointment, it was time to leave, so she was all about the PUT EVERYTHING ON NOW. But I was talking to the therapist at the time. Now, normally, when Stinkerbelle is done being wherever she is, she does the “Rude Toddler Dismissal” of shouting BUH-BYE sixty-eleven times at the top of her voice and waving goodbye while standing between me and whoever I am talking to. But today, with the winter gear? She started handing mitts and hats and whatnot to the therapist to help her put them on. NIIICE. My kid has cornered the market on Rude Interruption.

• We’re going home to Nova Scotia for Xmas holidays. Well, they had a storm last night, pulling down trees and power lines and leaving Grammy and Grandad and much of their region in the dark. Which is fine, because it was 12 DEGREES. BDH threatens not to go to Nova Scotia if there is no snow for Christmas. I threaten never to leave there to come back home again if it’s toasty warm 12 degrees. (HI GRAMMY! No don’t worry, she can’t see you — they have no electricity right now.)

• We had a lunch date with the Occupational Therapist today so she could watch That Baby eat — or, rather, NOT eat. We’re making headway in this whole eating/speech thing. They think she has an issue with tongue lateralization — meaning that her tongue does not know how or maybe when to move food from the middle of her mouth to the sides and back. And because of that, she is not chewing. Well, she chews some, but not tons. Anyway, we’re plugging away at it, and have some exercises to do. But we have to sort of get our heads wrapped around the fact that this is going to take awhile. Last night I almost lost it when she held half-chewed fruit in her mouth for HALF AN HOUR. I had to walk away from her. I just couldn’t deal anymore, after an hour and a half long meal of maybe half a cup of fruit and veg. In the cold light of day, you feel like SUCH a failure, for making meals a battleground, for asking your child to cope with something she clearly can’t, for losing your patience, for being selfish and wanting your own time at the end of a long day. It is hard. Nowhere NEAR as hard as what we could be coping with, and for this I must always try to keep it in perspective, but STILL. It’s a challenge.

• Remind me sometime to tell you about the awesome delivery man we had last week. The one who went out of his way to lower his voice when he came to the door with a package, saying, “I think it’s from Santa”, who offered to put it in the garage so little eyes would not see it being dropped off, who was full of joy and good cheer and wanted to be sure he didn’t ruin any Christmas surprises for our little one. Oh, wait — I guess I just did. There are some good people out there who are full of little kindnesses at this time of year. It was awesome.