Things moms say...

As a mom, do you ever stop and listen to the rule you are implementing to only think...did I really just say that? And mean it?? I have caught myself saying..."Please don't shoot babies", "Please don't hit in the face, body only", "Please don't shoot yourself in the eye", "Of course it's ok to hit daddy, just not girls", etc. When did these type of ludicrous things start coming out of my mouth?!? When I had a toddler that became obsessed with Toy Story! He basically runs around pretending to shoot from the pretend laser gun on his arm or makes something into a sword. The worst part is it is virtually impossible to not laugh, to the point of tears, when something goes down! Yesterday we were at Gymboree (where somehow he became the oldest child at the play gyms) when he was yelling about zurg and buzz and trying to shoot all the babies...hence "Please don't shoot babies" came into play. This is such a fantastic age and I'm loving the little caveman behaviour although it may be mortifying others around us!

Countdown to Disney!

Too young? I don't think so....but many people feel the need to tell me that a 2 year old is too young to go to Disneyland...at which time, I generally tell them we also went when he was 18 months and it was amazing. Generally that shuts them up! Everyone has an opinion and I (try to be) open to it but the "Happiest Place in the World" is open to all ages!! I guess it really depends on what you are expecting from the trip. Will he remember it? Most likely no. Do I care? No. When we went to Disneyland when Connor was 18 months I wasn't sure what to expect but since we were in California visiting my sister we figured we'd detour for a few days and check it out. Chris had never been and the last time I had been was when I was about 6 so we went. It was amazing. I think Connor screamed in excitement for 3 days and was thoroughly worn out on the drive back to San Francisco. There were actually a lot of rides open to little toddlers...and we went on most of them!The only thing I want to get from the trip is to watch my baby be amazed and excited. Is there anything that could make a family vacation any better? (Corny but true!) This time what I am looking forward to the most is the look on his face when he sees all the characters he's grown to love! So the countdown continues...16 days till Connor and I fly down to California (Chris will already be there)!!

To shoot or not to shoot?!?

In today's society everyone seems overly sensitive to violence. I am not saying that I am an advocate of violence by any means but I also think that this is something that has become too sensitive due to all the horrible things we hear on the news. The problem is those horrible events tend to have deeper rooted issues than a child that played cowboys and Indians (I'm not sure if you can call it that anymore?!?). I played cowboys and Indians and I always wanted to be the Indian (Native American?) and shoot people with my pretend bow and arrow. My brother and I also stole a crossbow that we found in the basement and shot pencils up into the trees. Smart? NO! Normal childhood stupidity? ABSOLUTELY! That is not to say that I wouldn't absolutely forbid my child to grab the crossbow and go running out into the bushes (I'm sure my mom is really happy to know that we did it!!LOL!!) but I also think that if he did that there wouldn't be anything abnormal about it (assuming no one got hurt there would just be a horrified momma!!). I am a fairly average girl and because I'd fit in the "girly" category most people don't know that I love shooting ranges, have my gun licence, and have always loved martial arts and yet there is nothing violent or abnormal about me. Generally Connor watches Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Toopy and Binoo on TV. Recently he's become obsessed with Toy Story. None of these are violent by any means BUT he has picked out Zurg as a favorite in Toy Story and takes the little guy and runs around shooting all his other characters and then, a lot of the time, kisses them better and keeps playing. I think this is the normal development of a little boy (perhaps less the kissing better!) and I'm not in a rush to stop it. Some people completely disagree but my mother never made it a big deal of my odd games or strange movie choices and I plan on taking the same approach. He is the gentlest child at his Gymboree class and likes to give all the other "babies" (i.e. anyone younger than him) toys for them to play with so I have zero concerns over him being violent in any way. I just find it interesting that everyone is so anxious to stop little boys from playing games that they've played for years. There was an article in the paper this week that discussed sharing and gentler TV shows resulted in calmer less violent children...I have always been a gentle, caring person, and yet at 4 years old I was obsessed with Conan the Barbarian. I'm sure many of you disagree with me but I just don't see the correlation and think that violence stems from the surrounding environment as opposed to TV choices or games. Every child needs to experiment and play and I worry that by stopping our boys / girls from having their games we're making them more curious about it rather than preventing violence outside of playing. I don't want this taken the wrong way...if Connor was to exhibit violent behaviour towards another child I would be mortified and the behavior would be addressed but Zurg shooting buzz doesn't fall in this category in my opinion.

Happy Valentines Day!

It is that day of the year again that you either love or hate...all the pink, hearts, cards, flowers...I personally LOVE it! So this year I decided that this art challenged mother would hand make all of the valentines cards for the kids at the day home. Connor loves arts and crafts so I figured I should be making more of an effort. As with everything I do lately, I ran out of time, and was up at 4:30 am this morning to finish everything. They are cute but I have decided that I will have store bought ones for back up if I endeavor to do this again next year. Below is a picture of what ended up being mommy arts and crafts as opposed to mom and tot craft time...

We started Valentines celebrations this past weekend with a Gymboree Sweetheart Party. Two year olds are so precious...I have yet to understand the "terrible twos" proverb. I am absolutely loving this age. The Sweetheart party was a bunch of children whose parents dress them up in ridiculous Valentines clothing (Connor had a shirt with a raccoon with an eye patch that said "Love Bandit"!!) running around in a love/heart themed party room. Fantastic! I love other OCD parents...most of the time!!

Hope everyone has an amazing day whether or not you are a Valentines day fan!

xoxo

Pictures

I decided to post a couple of pictures for those lovely ladies that read my blog and don't know me so that they can see my wonderful little man and know who is writing these odd blogs...

Exciting Restaurant Endeavors!

So you think that once your wonderful little baby stops having those massive explosive milk poops that you have a bit of a grace period before toilet training commences without major incidences occurring in restaurants or wherever else you may be that is inconvenient and embarrassing...think again...we were going out for dinner and then on to do a big Costco shop when we had a nice little adventure. I received a call from the day home one afternoon..."Sorry Laura, I forgot to tell you we're out of diapers for Connor. I have some back ups but could you please bring more tomorrow"...no problem, I didn't think anything of it. I go pick him up that night, run home to get Chris and off we go for dinner. Now, my day home always changes his diaper before pick up and I felt his diaper when we got to the restaurant and it was empty so nothing to consider, right?!? Think again. Connor is amazing in restaurants and is talking and playing on his leappad. We're in the middle of eating when he gets incredibly upset and starts trying to climb out of his seat. Thinking that he is cranky and just doesn't want to eat I try and talk him into staying seated to which he gets more upset. I pick him up confused only to get soaked. The diaper has completely leaked, his track pants are dripping and the booster seat is a full puddle. This is always fun and I always wonder how other people approach these situations. I grab my change pad, diapers and wipes and take off to a burger joint bathroom...not always the most child diaper friendly places...and am rewarded with a decently clean change table. I strip off the soaking pants and still mostly empty Huggies diaper and proceed to wipe him off. Now, what do other moms do with soaking track pants??? I looked around and improvised. Grabbed a bunch of toilet paper, rolled up the track pants and squeezed...at least now they aren't dripping, right? So after he's all dry and in a new diaper I take my toddler, pantless, back into the restaurant. Now, we are outside of Calgary at the Okotoks Costco because I like it better, but the problem is I don't know the town or where to get pants without going home. So as we sit there and clean the booster seat and attempt to finish our burgers we are contemplating what the next step is when we realize that we have the skating bag in the car with snow pants! Woohoo! Connor finished the night running around Costco in his snow pants...I'm sure some people wondered why our child was in snow pants and a t-shirt...but I'm also sure other parents out there would look and think...wonder what they went through tonight! LOL

On a side note...the reason the diaper leaked is because it was huggies and ever since Connor was born he has only been able to wear pampers. Perhaps it's his shape?!?! I would love for him to be able to wear huggies since that is what Costco sells but every time he wears them we have a nice little adventure! When I first brought him home I thought I was having these problems because I didn't know how to put a diaper on properly...after 28 months I am now secure in saying that it isn't me!!!

Merry Belated Christmas?!?

So this is my delayed Christmas post! Christmas was amazing this year. Although Connor doesn't fully get the concept, he definitely got the hang of opening presents! From the neighbourhood Christmas party I brought him to at the beginning of December it was evident that he was not a fan of Santa...no matter how positive we tried to portray Santa...he was just a scary fat man in a red suit that Connor would prefer to avoid at all costs. On the way down the stairs on Christmas morning we thought we would tell him that Santa had come with presents for him...the response was "No Santa, no presents" followed by extreme agitation and pointing back up the stairs. For a child that does not like "night, night" this was extreme! We told him it was ok and Santa wasn't there which did seem to provide him with a bit of relief. When we got to the bottom of the stairs and his tent with his new blanket and robot were there all set up he went flying to it without any of the previous hesitation. After spending a bit of time in there incredibly happy with the new find and reminding us on occasion "no Santa" we proceeded to the stocking. He thought that was pretty amazing as well and would pull one toy at a time out and squeal before moving to the next. After that we spent from 8:30am till about 3:30pm opening presents...each present had to be unwrapped, taken out of the box, fully assembled, looked over, and all buttons pushed before moving on to the next one. We did try and take breakfast and snack breaks, although they weren't tolerated for long! Here is the issue...take the two annoying Christmas kids from each house that took charge of wake up duty, put them in a house together and give them a toddler to spoil...it was bound to be a long haul of present openings! It was fantastic, but my husband was covered in paper cuts and gauges from all the toys he was made to assemble during the day! Those boxes are beyond child proof they're almost parent proof! You need scissors and knives to get at them...we are still recycling the boxes since we can only flatten and get so much in our bin every week! Hmmm...how do you know you went overboard??? Is it the excessive recycling or not being able to walk through the house without stepping on something for weeks (Don't worry, with working I enlisted the help of a cleaner that comes every two weeks so we don't live in a pig sty!)?!? So to sum up, Christmas with a two year old was amazing and rewarding and everything I had hoped it would be...and it was nice that my husband decided to do away with the budget and get me a Gucci watch!  ;-)

And yet another long blog break...

I think it was the last post I did that I apologized for the long absence and this has been even longer...I haven't even been able to read some of the blogs of the lovely ladies that read mine and who are anonymous so I can't even send them a quick email letting them know that I'm thinking of them!! All of us got the flu in November and it lasted four weeks...let me just say that having the flu is awful on a good day but having two babies (the little one and the 33 year old one), trying to not take too much time off work, and keep everyone fed is a mothers worst nightmare! LOL! It was bad, but not that bad! With being sick and then Christmas I just haven't had a minute to myself. So needless to say I have enough stories to post 20 blogs! My plan (fingers crossed) is to post a few short blogs so that they actually get finished!

I read a FB quote this morning that got me thinking about children and blogs...
"Before you were conceived, I wanted you.
Before you were born, I loved you.
Before you were here an hour, I would die for you.
This is the Miracle of Life"

Happy Friday and more posts about the turmoils of working motherhood to follow shortly!

Time constraints of life!

I apologize for the absence...it is kind of sad when you realize that someone with a newborn is managing to update more than you are with a 2 year old! It has been nonstop for the last couple months and I'm on the border line of getting the flu...I think just from exhaustion! I've felt like I'm about to get sick with a bit of a sore throat, tired and achy for probably a month now but I don't know how to slow down. It seems like the busier I get with work the more I try to make up for it with my toddler. I know most people require the two income household these days but I think from growing up in a home where my mom was always at home with us makes me feel like a failure sometimes. I know that is ridiculous because I also have career ambitions and was very academically focused for most of my life until Connor. As I work through lunch to ensure I can get enough done not to be late to pick up my handsome little man, rush home with him to make dinner and play and then spend the rest of the night cleaning, playing, bathing and bed time (which is still a long process for us) I feel like I should be able to do more for him. I should have time to take him out playing or something. My weekends are jam packed with as many kids activities as I can manage with grocery shopping and the other chores I have to achieve before its back to work on Monday. He's getting so big so fast and I feel like I am missing it!!! I keep being told maybe it would be better to work a couple days a week but there are a lot of flaws with that too. 1. The price of the day home for full or part time would be the same, 2. I'd like to get some debt paid down so that with baby #2, whenever that happens, I can stay home if I so chose without money dictating my decision, 3. I'm a little selfish, I don't want to sacrifice on a bunch of things...I want to do trips and take my kids to Disneyland and join all the mom and baby classes that my heart desires, 4. I may be a little OCD because I want to be good at it ALL!. I want to be the working mom that can sign up for all the neat classes, bake fun things for the holidays, keep the house perfect but not freak out when kids pull out every toy and spread them throughout the 2,100 square feet house...isn't that what the world seems to expect from moms? Be able to be the ideal mom, house wife and employee???

Calgary Toddler Fun

I've talked to some women that don't know where to go with their toddlers...Calgary is full of places designed for the little beasts so I thought I would list a few and what I thought of them...

1. Gymboree - This will always be at the top of my list for toddlers because we spend so much time there and you can bring other children with you (up to age 5) for a family class if you have more than one child. It’s great for very active children as well as more mellow kids. You can go to a play and learn class or a music class and open gym time is great to get rid of some of their pent up energy!
2. Zoo - we purchased an annual pass and find it a great way to get outside. Connor loves to make various animal sounds and just finds it amazing. I always pack snacks and drinks and either bring the stroller or the wagon depending on whether I think he may want to nap (less so now that he two but he frequently napped in his stroller at the zoo when he was younger).
3. Calgary Corn Maze - Went there a week ago for the first time and I wish I had known about it before. The place is great; it has playgrounds, petting zoo, tractor train rides, as well as the corn maze (I was told that you should wait till their older to take them in because it can take quite a while but the rest of the place was enough to entertain Connor for a few hours)
4. Calloway Park - Great place to take a toddler in the summer as I was amazed at how many rides they have for the little ones. Connor is a little crazy so flying around on rides resulted in lots of giggles and "weeeeee"'s! (I also would bring drinks and snacks with us and always brought the wagon with the cover because it is hot with very little shade)
5 - Tommy-K-Play - Fantastic for a toddler but until they are probably closer to 4 (depending on the child) you will need to wear something comfy and climb around with them because some of the spots you will need to lift them up for them to keep going. It is basically a large climbing apparatus with tunnels, slides, etc. They do have a toddler play area but it doesn't contain many toys and the battery powered toys are not usually working.
6 - Mom and baby coffee shops - These are all across the city! It is a great place to meet other moms and have a coffee while your little one explores wooden kitchens and playhouses.
7 - Swimming classes - There are classes all around the city at different times (so good for working parents) for all ages. Connor has taken two sets of lessons now and loves the pool.
8 - Sportball classes - We have registered for Sportball starting in November. So I'll have to update on this then but it is basically a ball sport introductory class covering 8 different ball sports including soccer, baseball, basketball, etc.

I know there is a lot more out there but this is what we have done with Connor (or will be doing soon).

Busy, busy, busy....

I think its a standard North American answer to "How are you?" - "Good but busy!". Our lives just seem to disappear. I envy Europeans and the more laid back attitude on life. I can't seem to get half the things done that I need to do and I'm a fairly organized person. How do others do this work/parent thing? I get to work at 7am (so I can handle day care pick up), usually end up working through lunch (because we're busy!), rush out at 3:45 to get to the day home at 4:15, go home, cook dinner, run after a toddler playing or swimming or at Gymboree class, and then hopefully cuddle him to sleep at 9:30. Somewhere in there I do laundry, the dishes and all your normal household stuff. Now we are into birthday season for my prenatal class so I have one or two birthday parties a weekend for the month, plus Halloween and the Gymboree party as well as Connor's 2 year photo shoot. I need about 5 more of me to handle this!!! But I'm not alone so how the heck do you women do it without getting cranky by Friday!?!?! Maybe I'll pack up my family and move to Europe and see if I can adapt to the lifestyle?!?!?!

Birthdays

A lot of time, and even more money, goes into kids birthday parties. I spent a lot of time finding the best jungle themed birthday decorations, ordered a custom cake, booked Gymboree as the venue, bought numerous drinks and snacks and ordered WAY too much food from Pizza Hut. I tend to go overboard on everything I do and the birthday party probably cost me $700-800 by the time I was done. So when 5 adults and 3 kids cancelled the day of (two people a couple hours before and everyone else AFTER the party started) it is infuriating! That is a lot of people to pay for meals for and have them no-show. I have no problem with people cancelling the day before but any later than that I just have no patience for when dinner is involved. For the Americans out there...how do you do it?!?! That would definitely be a culture shock for me if I moved to the US where, as I understand it, RSVP's usually aren't done.

Besides that, the birthday party went amazing. Connor's favorite teacher ran the class, my best friend ran around helping ensure everything was organized and remained on time and I think all the kids (that did attend) had a blast. I have to say that I truly love kids birthday parties! The look on Connor's face as people sang to him and his enjoyment and "wow, wow, wow" over the presents was priceless. So, regardless of my complaining, it was a success!

The problem is that even with attendance mishaps...I'm already thinking about what I can do for next year...

Swim Lessons and Urinals!

Swim Lessons and urinals...you would think that the two would be separate topics, wouldn't you??? I thoroughly enjoy watching my husband go out of his comfort zone...which I'm sure he appreciates! Swimming lessons started on Monday and all seemed to go fairly well, minus the fact that Connor would see other things he wanted to do during the lesson and I could occasionally hear him give his dad hell for not letting him go do whatever it was he saw. Most of the lesson was smiles, so successful. At the end Connor played in the kiddie pool for a while and had a great time. When he decided that climbing in and out was the best part is when it was time to go. Chris causally asked if I wanted to take him to get him changed...no, thanks! So grudgingly Chris and Connor disappeared into the change room. I was waiting at the doors for them to emerge from the change room...when they walked out I could immediately tell something had happened. Chris had a lopsided smile on his face and was looking guilty and Connor was grinning ear to ear and looked very pleased with himself. Apparently while Chris was changing Connor ran around the corner...so he pulled up his shorts and went after him, only to find him elbow deep playing in the urinals. The looks on their faces were priceless and all I could say as I started to giggle at Chris's now mortified expression was..."did you wash his arms?"

How do germaphobes handle being parents??? I admit, I was bad in the beginning and I still have my limits but the things toddlers eat, play with, handle...at some point don't you have to shrug and go with the old age "what doesn't kill them makes them stronger"??

Terrible Twos? I think not...at least not yet!

Connor is 2 today! I'm so excited and definitely going overboard. I never thought I could love a little monster so much and want to do everything and anything in my power to spoil him rotten! I'm working through lunch to get home early so that I can go to Toys R Us again...can a kid really have too many toys?? (OK, maybe don't answer that!) Everyone talks about the terrible twos and yet I think that this is the easiest stage yet. Perhaps because he was an infant that wanted to be in arms continuously or because it took him a while to sleep through the night or maybe I've just learned to relax and trust what I am doing (most of the time). So far 2 is by far the best age!!!! I'm loving the communication...even the "No, no, no!" finger waggling that has started (thank you again toopy!).

Sorry for the absence...we went on vacation for two weeks. Will write more on the birthday party coming up this weekend, the toopy and binoo live performance we will be attending as well as camping with a toddler shortly...this week is insane so this is short and sweet!

Mommy Instinct

I always tell everyone...trust your instinct...ignore most of the advice you get and do what is right for your child. Well...I should have stayed home on Wednesday when I wrote my last post about how guilty I was feeling. On my way home with a birthday cake in hand for my husband, my cell rings and our care provider says that Connor woke up from him nap feeling worse and was it ok to give him some Tylenol. I, of course, said yes and hurried home (I was about 10 minutes away) cause she sounded really worried. When I got home he didn't even get up off the couch to great me...which is beyond strange...and when I went over to him he just looked at me with his huge blue eyes and his breathing was really raspy. I had a moment of panic. Picked him up and told her to grab his shoes I was taking him to the walk in clinic. Phoned my husband on route and told him to meet us there. It took about an hour to see a doctor who immediately sent us to urgent care with a letter of what he had seen. He wouldn't tell me what he thought it could be just that he's struggling for air and needs a chest x-ray. By the time I got out of the walk in clinic, Chris was waiting ,and the first thing I said to him was "We have to get to urgent care NOW. I'll explain in the car". The whole night was horrible. Breathing masks, medicine, inhalers, baby x-rays (which look like mini torture devices). Later that night they said that it was actually the best case scenario and was pneumonia. Being the best case scenario we could take him home. If there was the slightest change we were to go straight to the Children's Hospital. We got home that night absolutely worn out. You would think that after 3-4 hours of scream crying Connor would have passed out on the way home, but no, so we got his prescription and picked up McD's (instead of the rib birthday dinner I had planned). It was a rough couple days after that but now he is feeling much better, although hates the antibiotics and fights me on it twice a day. I'm still waking up multiple times a night to watch him breath. I don't know how long that will continue but I just need to sit there and watch him breathing to confirm that he is in fact ok. The first night after the warnings to keep an eye on him I don't think I slept at all and would watch his chest for a few minutes every half an hour. I should have trusted how badly I felt about leaving him and stayed home...there has to be something to this mommy instinct.

Heartbreak and Cuddles

There is nothing more heartbreaking than having to walk out of the door in the morning when your toddler doesn't want to let go and has been up most of the night ill. It is gut wrenching. Connor was sick two days ago and then his nose started running yesterday and he was up all night having trouble breathing through his nose which would wake him up. He thought he should get to watch toopy and binoo at 1am. Poor little man. Usually he is asleep when I go to work but I opened the bathroom door to mommy calls and there he was standing in his little monkey pj's with his rabbit in one hand and a sippy of water in the other looking at me like I had abandoned him! It was horrible and only got worse when it was time to go. I ended up leaving half an hour later than normal because I'd try and leave and he'd start to sob so I'd sit and cuddle him and tell him I loved him but I have to work. The horrible guilty feeling of leaving was only enhanced when I read my monthly update email from Pampers on 23 months that had a section on giving your child lots of love and cuddles when they aren't feeling well. Can't wait to get home for cuddles...

Monkey Man

I haven't posted for a couple weeks because life has become ridiculous. I am beyond busy at work and working overtime so when I get home Connor needs me to make up for not being there. I need my vacation to get here NOW! I'm so close to crashing and I know I'm becoming less productive which makes it all the more disheartening. Connor is an active child regardless, but now that he feels the need to make every moment with mommy count, if I stop to wash the dishes or do laundry he climbs something. His room being monkey themed seems more than appropriate now. He is my little monkey and he has the best monkey impressions ever...so freaking cute! The climbing is getting to be a bigger problem though. I got home from work and after a bit of play time decided I needed to get the dishes done. I reached into the dishwasher for some plates, stood up, and he's sitting at the really high bar stool at the kitchen island!! A three foot drop to hardwood...I shrieked and ran around to grab him before he fell and he just gave me his little evil grin as if to say...did you think I'd let you empty that dishwasher lady??! He proceeded to climb the couch and balance on the arm well calling "mamma" in this little testing voice and then climbed over his highchair and was stuck upside down on that when I reached him. We moved into the playroom and I got distracted putting a couple of the toys away and when I turned around he was standing on the arm of the chair climbing over it onto a rocking horse giving me his little devil grin. It is unbelievable how fast they can appear on the top of something! He is also now moving objects so that he can get leverage to climb other items that he otherwise couldn't reach. He carried his little singing table into my bedroom and used the edge of my bed to climb onto it so that he could stand in the middle of it and reach the TV. Un-freaking-believable!!! There is no safe "out of reach" area now. Everything from the top of dressers to the table are fair game if there is something he wants. The best part of it all is that he's got the mommy manipulation down to an art! If he knows I'm getting mad he'll come over wrap his cute little arms around my neck, give me the best little smile, say "mamma" in a loving little voice and give me a huge kiss. Now tell me how you are supposed to stay mad at that?!?!? This is definitely the most work of any age I've encountered yet but also the most fun. He loves to be going and laughs continuously. It is amazing...and frustrating!

Family

Most of us have that one family member that creates angst and stress. When you are in the process of growing your own immediate family what is the best way to deal with these members of your family? Ignore them, push them out, embrace them??? I don't think there is a "right" answer. I think you need to approach it in a way you are comfortable and able to. There is no easy answer because even when you push the person out of your life to avoid the stress of the situation on yourself and your little one it is always going to be in the back of your mind. There comes a time in our lives when we need to be responsible for our actions, regardless of what life has thrown our way or what issues we need to overcome. As parents we need to learn to let go and let our children grow and develop into their own people which can be especially difficult when our children face more difficulties than normal. We all want our children to know they are unconditionally loved but sometimes conditions of that love has to be put in place for their greater good. I hope more than anything in the world that I will never experience that in the way I have watched others face. I think it takes a lot of strength to put those conditions in a relationship whether it is for children or parents. I am incredibly lucky to have a great support group of friends and sisters (as well as a frustrating husband;-) ).

Connor Care

I've received a few emails asking about what I have done about the day home situation so I thought I should write a quick post about it. My day home was permanently closed because the agency (right or wrong, everyone has a strong opinion) did not feel it would be safe for children until she had her problems with her ex sorted out. She is going to come to my house for the month of August as a nanny and then work on setting up her own private day home. She has been speaking to family services about the situation and wants to ensure that they are comfortable providing her with her license and has given them all the information. They feel that if there is no further problems since the last encounter than she should be able to open Sept. 1. Now if this was anyone else I would probably find a new day home but because she is one of the most open, honest people I know and I completely trust her with all of Connor's safety concerns I am willing to wait and put him in her private day home once it is started. I have been up every night for a week thinking this over and some people agree with me and others disagree but I would never, never, never do anything that I thought would put Connor in any sort of risky situation and I have to go with my gut feeling. I did not think it was possible to find someone that would love my child the way she does and that he would care about so deeply. I am so happy that she will remain in his life and remain his caretaker during the day because lets face it, if I have to work, he needs to be with someone that unconditionally loves him.

Gender confused rat???

Have any of you seen Toopy and Binoo??? Is Toopy male or female? This is a constant debate in our house as it is now Connor's favorite TV show and he gets quiet upset if the TV is on and it is not one of the many PVR recordings of Toopy and Binoo. He smiles, laughs and frowns at the episodes and it is impossible not to be mesmerized by him while he's watching! I don't see the appeal but obviously there is something to this gender confused rat and his odd little speech impaired friend that has all of these kids so enthralled! You know its bad when you have the theme song stuck in your head and you find yourself humming it at your desk at work. I would prefer it if Connor was still enjoying Handy Manny or Jake and the Neverland Pirates, but I guess I have to roll with the cartoons of his choosing instead of mine...