I don't think we're supposed to figure them out

Is it just me or are kids really really hard to figure out?

Miss K is great. She's happy, cheerful, very kind and loving, active, funny, basically all the things you want a kid to be. Overall she's a joy to be around and we love her dearly, but lord, some days a complete frigging mystery.

There's the fierce independence that shows in her when she insists on doing everything herself. It's a great quality and one I hope that she develops and grows.

But its tempered with the melt down in 3.2 seconds because she cannot draw a tulip, get the glue container open, or has a wet sock for any number of reasons

Honestly? The same kid that will insist on cutting up her own fruit (with supervision) for her lunch snack, who clears the table without being asked, who will feed the dog after supper cannot make the mental leap to take off her sock when it gets wet? OMG!

Then there is the more social side of things. Miss K is an introvert, always will be I think. She's got 2 parents who vary in their introversion, but passed along the trait to her nonetheless, it is there in her in spades.

We attended a family function over Thanksgiving weekend. True to form Miss K stuck rather close to me for most of the afternoon. There were other kids she knew there, she doesn't know them well, but they are not unfamiliar like the rest but still she would not leave my side to go and venture to play.

Fine. I've got no issues, she's too young to push into uncomfortable situations and if memory serves I was a lot like that too at her age.

Except on the flip side, this is the same kid who will flawlessly sing 2 songs learned at school in front of a room of 20 people without hesitation after the family dinner.

Drama queen to the fullest. 

Maybe she does get it from me. I'm more comfortable speaking to 1000 people in an auditorium than making idle small talk in a group of 2 or 3.

Weird how that is. Not something that i could have ever taught her. We don't go to places where her dad or I are particularly uncomfortable so she wouldn't see our quiet side come out, must be inherited somehow.

She seems to have settled in at school and talks about interacting with peers, so I know she's not hunched in a corner somewhere, but her fear and awkwardness in new situations with new people comes from her parents even though we have not in any way shown her examples of it

Odd, one of the wonders of the human mind, though I'm sure there are some very extroverted kids with introverted parents and vice versa. You just never know what you're going to get do you?

And far be it from me to figure the little suckers out. I guess that is why you love them. They're a miniature version of their parents in so many ways, but God put a big crazy twist in there somewhere and they just mess with your head a lot of the time.

I'm not sure if it keeps me young or just gives me more grey hairs.

Til next time…may your kid not have a break down because you gave them orange cheese instead of white

Thanks for Thanksgiving

It's been a while since I've written a post. No reason for not doing so, just haven't had much to say I suppose.

My day job has been busier so I suppose that is part of the reason, I would tend to post when I had breaks in the day, now not so many of those so less time for typing.

The weather is much more fall like now. We've even had some frost, which is a sure sign that winter is around the corner. Our raspberries are hanging in, never have I seen raspberries like these, they just keep coming and coming. It's fantastic. Even Miss K knows the difference between home grown produce and store bought. She now says she does not want store bought raspberries anymore.

Big C is on his annual moose hunt, an event he looks forward to every single year, but this year made a little tougher due to his already being away from home so much. He will have fun and unwind a bit, but maybe won't have quite the same joy in his heart as other years.

Thanksgiving is always a tough time for me. It marks the first time that our mudpuppy had a seizure, I was just barely pregnant with Miss K when she first went down.

it is tempered with the happiness that our new boy turns 1 year old on the weekend. There were times that I thought we would kill him, but he's survived us, and for the most part is a good dog, with huge potential, we just have to have the time to tap into it.

My dad is coming tonight for supper. It's a good and bad thing, I do like to see him and Miss K enjoys his company, but undoubtedly there will be the jabs about us not coming to visit, about this or that or whatever he feels isn't right with how we treat him. 

Maybe "treat him" isn't the right word, but his expectations and reality are not in sync. He compares our lives with those who are around them, how much time they spend with their grandchildren, what they do or don't do etc…and it drives us crazy.

You can tell him 100 times that they can visit any time they want but then you sense their frustration when we are not home or cannot observe their last minute request.

I figure in the average week when school is going on we have about 40-45 waking hours to spend with Miss K. A lot has to be crammed into that time, regular household chores, meals etc… and he fails to understand why we could not possibly have 4-5 hours for him every week.

I don't let it get to me too much, but at the same time it drives me crazy. He's got all damn day to wash clothes, grocery shop, clean and so on, and cannot possibly understand why we don't have the time to come and visit him on a regular basis. Granted we should probably try harder to get there, but temper your expectations a bit…you can come and visit while we're doing our stuff but that never seems to be good enough.

I've been doing ok with my positivity challenge. Not super, but ok. I've slipped to positive purgatory now and again, verging on the edge of a negative rant about everything and anything, but have kept it mostly in check.

It will be a nice weekend to spend some time with Miss K and the dog. Lonely without Big C, but lots to keep me busy. We've got painting to do and soon Miss K will be able to move into her actual room which is good. We got our vanity delivered yesterday, it looks fantastic, will be very excited for the first part of November when we can get all the fixtures in the ensuite…yay

It's our Thanksgiving this weekend, some time with family, some time alone, good mix of both, hopefully the weather holds and isn't too nasty for anyone with a house full of little children. (If its sunny you can send them outside!)

Til next time…thanks for reading...