Just for info and so that you know that I am not mad - the first part of this was written about 6 weeks ago. I just aint had the time or gumption to write much since then. I will give you a tiny hint below when you reach the bit that is written now - in May....
March to April 2023
Release the hounds!!!!
Welease woderick!
Let them fly....
Whatever you might think I am on about, it's probably wrong. Or its right.
I am actually sitting at the kitchen table, with the beautiful radiation from the big ball of gas in the sky reaching its wonderfully warm tentacles through the window and onto the ageing saggy skin of my boney-looking hands. This is a good thing because not only does it mean the snow clearing is over for another 6 months to be replaced by cutting of grass that grows like the hairs on an old hooker's thighs. But it means that my poor aching head, tortured with the screams and shouts of my wonderful amazing and very loud children, will finally receive some respite between the hours of 5pm and 7pm as those tiny little sweet parasites can now venture into the big bad outdoors for more than 11.4 seconds without their fingers, toes and ears literally freezing and dropping off. Yes, spring is here and after 3 or 4 minutes, spring will be replaced by summer. If you do not live in Winnipeg and have never experienced the joyous delights of seeing 5-month-old discarded rubbish appear from under grey slabs of solid ice or the satisfaction of walking on hard pavement instead of slippy wet slush. The magnificent sight of diggers and dump trucks appearing like long-lost cousins, to randomly close roads and fill in the lake-sized potholes that have appeared on even the newest roads. Then, in my non-humble and completely biased opinion, you haven't lived my old son.
It is better than childbirth.
It's more exciting than putting your Uncle Arthur in a watermelon and wobbling him about. If you know what I mean.
Sunshine and Sweetpea can go outside again.
Winter. is. over. and. it. can. fuck. right. off.
(Cue wibbly wobbly time dilation scene from Waynes world and fast forward to the present day....)
Well, here we are again - in the present day. I am working in our upstairs office and can hear a certain 4-year-old girl downstairs singing her head off! Hannah is just so much fun when she is in this kind of good mood. She is still a 4-year-old and almost incapable of listening to instructions and is also permanently a millisecond away from a breakdown, but she is getting much better about these and they do occur less often and have less virility than they used to. She is our little girl but is growing up fast and like Oliver, I already miss her as she is now. She is doing great and making lots of friends at school. We often walk home with her and other parents as a gang of kids run ahead or ride ahead on bikes and play together on their way home. We have also started to have other kids come around our house for lunch as well as Hannah goes to their places sometimes to play with her friends. It's a different world than it's been for the past 3 years. The horror of Covid and being stuck in the house for days on end without seeing other people have passed us all by and those of us that had to deal with pent-up kids at the same time now have that extra special feeling of freedom. Its a joy to behold! Add that to an organised and mature (sometimes) 4-year-old who is able to go and spend time away from us with her friends and suddenly we have a few more minutes of rest each week. It's not much, but it's a start.
It won't be long till she tells us she is going out and will be back later, but for now, we help to arrange things with the other kids and their parents.
Hannah has also just started playing timbits soccer. This is a 6 week-organized soccer training camp for kids that run 2 evenings a week in May and June. Hannah has her own boots and shin pads and plays in the 'Yellow' team - who have nicknamed themselves 'The Golden Trophies'. She has been really enjoying the training so far and has done really well. It's a bit tough when they play a little game at the end though because she is so knackered after running around for 40 minutes and she is a year younger than some of the boys she is playing with, so they are bigger than her and faster, plus they have been playing for a year already having been in the lower level last year. This is Hannah's first year so she is still getting used to it. Its funny hearing her tell the coaches that it's a pitch 'not a field' and her dad has told he that - plus a few other English-isms that put her apart from the 100% Canadian kids. I am so proud of her when she says things like that.
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Here she is in training taking a shot, scoring and celebrating!
Last weekend was our first trip to the cabin this summer. It feels so different this year because Ollie is out of his crib and sleeping in a big bed - he is also now so able to play with himself and with Hannah that a trip to the cabin feels like a little vacation again rather than the constant monitoring of the kids which we have had to do for the last 2 summers, There is a little play area with swing and slide, as well as a climbing frame and monkey bars and Hannah, goes there at least 456343253 times a day. She is now able to swing herself on the swing and her new favourite game is to hang on the rings and kick the shit out of the tree stump that is just out of reach. Ollie loves playing on the smaller swing and taking walks through the woods.
Back in the city and both kids are loving the nicer weather. Hannah is spending plenty of time riding her new bike, after outgrowing her little one. Ollie is very happy to walk anywhere and explore whenever he gets the chance. He does have a little bike too but is still getting used to it at the moment. His favourite thing at the moment is climbing anything he can - he is definitely fearless and just a few days ago, he found himself clambering about 8 feet high on a horizontal ladder meant for kids much much bigger than himself, but he did it and loved it. If he does fall, which he does sometimes, he is pretty quick to get up and carry on. Good lad!
A couple of weeks ago we took Hannah to a skate park (on her old bike) and she loved riding the 'mountains' and was actually really good. Ollie, true to type, spent his time mostly climbing things. They both love getting out and doing cool things, whether it's riding bikes, climbing, playing in Home depot on the tractors or spinning on chairs. They obviously fight sometimes, but they also have a lot of fun together
Just last night it was Buffy's last choir concert of the season and we took the kids with Grandma and Grandpa to watch. I expected to be bringing Ollie home early, but he did brilliantly and lasted the whole concert, clapping along after the songs finished and sharing a chair with Hannah for the last half hour. They also loved the free red candy which stained their hands and tongues! Then after the concert was finished our kids had to go on stage and try to give a concert of their own (Ollie does love singing and loves to belt out a tune in the back of the car!)
A couple of weeks ago it was mothers Day. The kids were so excited and did a great job making Buffy breakfast in bed and delivering it alongside a whole pile of flower-themed presents they had chosen themselves. Buffy had decided that she would like to spend the morning with the kids and visit the Snake Pits - about an hour north of Winnipeg, where thousands of snakes gather this time of year to mate (and get looked at by us weird humans) So we piled into the car and took a nice drive North. The kids (again) were great. Playing with the snakes and being really careful not to hurt them. Its times like this when I am so proud of our kids, they can be really grown up and great when they want to be (They can be arseholes too, but that's kids for you)
All in all it's been a pretty good 3 months since my last post. I am not going to 'Instagram' it as perfect though. Work, (especially for Buffy) at the moment is busy and the constant frustration and jealousy we feel when we hear of every other parent of every other kid we know, having the luck to have 2 full families (grandparents from both sides) offering free child care almost every day whilst we are obviously hampered by the fact we don't get that. We are constantly juggling work times and time off to be able to keep the house tidy, get the shopping done and get Hannah to soccer, swimming and dance class. Jon and Susan did take the kids overnight a couple of weeks back whilst we went to Joel's Lawyer theatre show and it was so nice to wake up for once without the kids. We are lucky though for the same reasons - We both get to spend much more time with our kids than anyone else we know. We are really close with both our kids - Ollie, especially at the moment loves to hug and snuggle and I would really miss that. Even when I am at work, I often work at home and get to teach the kids how to make coffee which they love because they get a chocolate biscuit afterwards!
It is hard and it is tiring and frustrating and I often hate myself for getting angry at the kids, but honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. We get to see our kids all day and spend time with them in good and bad ways. I will leave this post with one last story about Ollie, he just made e smile so much!
Just a few minutes ago Ollie called me upstairs to take him to the bathroom for a poop. He didn't have a poop, but after sitting on the potty for about 2 minutes, he stood up, turned around and with a big smile grabbed hold of his own knob ( Peeenis as he calls it) in his hand and made a long slow 'pssssssssssss' noise , whilst pretending to stand and pee in the potty whilst waggling his bum- 'Just like you dad' he said with a big smile!
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