Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. Today is the day that I finally announce that Dave has been away marking standardised tests since Sunday evening. He is back tonight. I purposely omitted this information from any previous posts as I am pathologically fearful of murderers, thieves, stalkers and the like (too much Littlest Hobo as a child). Thus, I was convinced that if I mentioned that my husband was away we would immediately be bombarded by the underworld sometime during the husbandless night. Alas, we have made it. I have the presence of our 100 pound Golden Retriever, Sammy, to thank for my restful nights. Something about his size allows a girl to rest easy. Sammy sleeps at the front door leaving the back door unguarded. Last night I had the wise idea of placing the kids' life-size German Shepherd stuffed animal at the back threshold. I know, you can laugh, but it does look very real and not unlike the Littlest Hobo.


2. Despite the canine necessities, we made it through the week quite well. I had a gr. 9 student come in every day from 3:30-5:30 to play with the kids and babysit so that I could get out for some exercise and make supper in relative peace. The kids have loved her presence - especially her exceptional hide-and-seeking and her card playing abilities. We have had absolutely no TV this week and the kids haven't even noticed.

3. The funniest and most frustrating part of Dave's absence was that my children seem to turn on me at suppertime. It's almost like when a classroom of children suddenly realise that the teacher is just a supply teacher with no back up from the Office. For example: Ben actually bit Hannah at suppertime. This sort of thing has never occurred before. Ben is normally very placid and easygoing. However, Dave's absence seemed to have brought out a nastier side in this little boy. I sent him to his room and he kept coming back and peeking around the door. The older two couldn't stop laughing. I told them to stop as their laughter was clearly disabling my discipline. They looked at each other as if they had just recognised their new found authority, glanced at me and said, "But it's sooo funny." Clearly Mommy's admonitions carry little to no punch.

4. Swimming lessons have been going swimmingly despite the near frigid temperatures of the air and water, the necessity for hot baths following lessons and the poster in the swim shed with the signs and symptoms of hypothermia.

5. We had a great visit on Wednesday night with my first cousins and their children. Our children refer to their second cousins as their cousins as we have a real lack of any first cousins in this country. They get on wonderfully with these cousins and always look forward to their holiday visits. After a supper of hotdogs and homemade fries, the kids went swimming in the river and took turns wearing lifejackets and swimming to the raft. Their oldest cousin (9 years) acted as the incredibly encouraging swim teacher: Fabulous. Fantastic. Wonderful swimmer. Great job. It is wonderful to watch these kids grow up together. Also, the need to share lifejackets reminded me of when all of us mothers, as children, had to share skates one Christmas as children. I do recall wearing one boot and one skate at the same time. Apparently, I also taught one of my cousins to burp on that long ago excursion.
6. Aside from Joseph's shoe fetish (he insists on wearing footwear at all times and even goes to bed wearing rubber boots), he is similarly obsessed with balls no matter the size or weight. In fact, his most used words are shoes and ball. Consequently, his eyes lit up when he caught sight of the croquet set at my Aunt and Uncle's house and determinedly carried two croquet balls (quite heavy) down to the beach. Thus, Joe and I made it to the beach a good five minutes after everyone else. We had several drops of ball no.1, followed by picking it up and losing ball no.2, followed by dropping ball no.2, picking it up and dropping ball no.1... I need not elaborate.
7. The alarm clocks are working fabulously and the children stay in their rooms until 7:15. I am regularly greeted by knocks at the bedroom door accompanied by, "We waited until 7:18..." Praise God for small victories.