Mini Van Momma

It is official: I am now a mini van Momma!

I am pretty excited about this, although Paul is slightly concerned that this ages us, but now we can travel in comfort. Kaelen has more room to flail around, and doesn't have to look like ET did when hiding in the closet full of stuffed animals. Usually when on the road, the trunk is full and Kaelen has blankets and bags piled up on either side of him.

Kaelen loves the van and is always pointing to it to go and play in it. Now, I just have to pimp it out a little and then I will really be traveling in style!

Don't worry Paul, no one will suspect that you are getting up there in age and owning a mini van won't cramp your style. And; as you put it to Klatty just a couple of weeks ago, how much more "cool" can you get when you invite your friend to spend the day with you and your son? I will quote per batem: "Klatty, I can swing by and pick you up in my mini van and then we can head down to the mall to meet Barney".

You can't much cooler than that Paulie......

Besides, I am the one driving it and I happen to love it.....even if I ... er .... do have a few issues learning how to put the van in park and pulling the key out of the ignition. Did you know that the key won't come out unless the vehicle is in park? It took me .... ahem .... about 5 minutes to figure that one out yesterday.

Watch out Calgary, this is a rookie automatic transmission driver, cruising the streets; sometimes rockin to Eminem and sometimes to Barney.

Pimpin Out In Style

Okay guys, my cousin Brooke owns this swanky set of wheels and she also happens to be a single, 6 foot, blonde haired bombshell too boot. Unfortunately though, Kaelen seems to have the inside scoop on the privilege behind the wheel but hey; lets be honest, you can't get much cuter that him!!

A Letter to Kaelen on Mother's Day

I decided that I am going to write a letter to Kaelen every Mother's Day to share with him, what it is like being his mommy. It is a tribute to both him and myself and it gives me the comfort of knowing that Kaelen will know how much he means to me. Perhaps I will give him these letters if he gets married, if he has children, or if he happens to be experiencing a tough time in life.

Perhaps blog sites will still be around in 20+ years and he will have the opportunity to read this site...who knows.


May 14, 2006

Dear Kaelen,

Today is Mother’s Day, May 14, 2006 and as this is a day to celebrate Mothers, I thought that I would celebrate by telling you what it is like to be your mother.

Perhaps you will read this in 20 years from now or maybe later, but I want to be able to share with you what it is like being your mom. It is often too easy to forget the special times, especially as we share so many together and I know that there are so many more to come.

Twenty months ago, on September 9, 2004, you blessed your dad’s and my life. You certainly had your own agenda then by giving us a bit of a scare coming so early. Within seconds of giving birth to you, you have owned my heart. I swear that my heart doubled in size when the doctor told me that I had a son and you were placed into my arms and it was then, that I knew what love was really about. I felt like I had conquered the world; I felt happiness like I had never experienced before. You were so perfect, so small and you fit perfectly into my arms. I can’t explain to you how difficult it was to give you back to the nursing staff so they could take care of you, and especially when I was released from the hospital and you had to remain. Not for one second did I not think about you and miss you in my arms. I think the second happiest time in my life is when the nursing staff in the Special Care Nursery, told your dad and I that you could come home. It was like we had won the lottery. We were excited yet nervous but could barely suppress the urge just to grab you and run home to hold you and just look at you; and that we did. I used the excuse of Kangaroo care to justify holding you at all times, but in reality, it was that I couldn’t get enough of you.

I would literally count the hours by clock work, so I could feed you, cuddle you and be with you. As you started to grow, within two months, no one could tell that you were a premature baby. You continued on with your own agenda of gaining weight by the day, growing like a weed and watching the world around you. You were, and still are such a wonderful baby. My baby. My precious little boy. Before I knew it, you were celebrating your 1st birthday. All I could think about was: where did that year go? Part of me was devastated as you were growing up too quickly for me, guilty because Mommy was grieving and hadn’t the proper time to host the perfect party for you, yet another part of me was bursting with pride as if you were the first kid to have ever turned 1. You were barely crawling on your birthday, inheriting from your mother what we dubbed, “The Military Crawl”. Then I blinked my eyes and it was Christmas. We were both a mess; you with your teeth knocked around and mommy with another partially broken heart, but we had each other and your amazing Daddy. As a family, we got through it all together.

You started walking in February, being a bit of a late bloomer but as I stated before; you always adhere to your own agenda. You are just now trying to talk and you warm my heart every time you yell “Mum”. The adventures that we go on now are so anticipated by me and exciting for you. Your inquisitive little mind is always on the go and you are so insistent on trying everything. If Mommy vacuums, so does Kaelen; if Mommy does laundry, so does Kaelen; my perfect little helper. What ever Mommy or Daddy does, you want to try. With this brings so much laughter as you are so prideful of yourself when you attempt each challenge. You look to us with a big beautiful smile on your face and usually start clapping your hands or giving us “high fives” upon each success. Should you fail? Then you look at us, start smiling and yell “Boooo” with your pointer finger facing downwards.

Never have I once ever thought that being your mom is hard. I have loved every single moment and would never trade our experiences. I savour every moment and get impatient for our next moments together. Each smile, hug, kiss and laugh makes me fall in love with you a little more. I am so proud to be your mother and it is a priviledge that I will always honor for the rest of my life. Kaelen, you are a true blessing to me. You soothe Mommy’s hurts and inspire Mommy to be all that she can be as a Mom. I look forward to all of our new adventures together and watching you grow. Thank you for enriching my life and words can not do justice of how much you mean to me and how much I love you.

Love Always and Forever,
Mommy

To Show Affection, Give Them a Rock

Kaelen has an obsession with rocks. I am sure in the not so distant future, we will no longer have any rocks in our parking pad out back as Kaelen will have taken them all.

For Kaelen, finding the perfect rock is like finding the most perfect thing in the world. It is like he is subconsciously always on the look out for "The One". We can be walking down the street, playing in a park or in a parking lot and if he happens to spot "The One", he will move heaven and earth just to get it.

Quite often, "The One" will be accompanied by "The Second One". Once Kaelen has his precious rocks in his little hands, he will look up at you beaming with a perfect smile, and in his cute little way say "Wow". Sometimes these prizes are also accompanied with an excited stomp of the feet, especially when Mommy is exuberantly praising this most amazing discovery of Kaelen's.

You would think that Kaelen's rocks are precious to him beyond anything else; yet this beautiful little boy will eagerly bestow his treasures to those he loves. Quite often, he will secretly place his treasures as a gift to you without you knowing.

So, if you happen to come over to our house for a visit and Kaelen develops an affection for you, be sure to check in your shoes and/or purse after you leave. You just might be pleasantly surprised to discover that Kaelen has gifted you with one of his treasures.

And, who would have thought that a plain, old, dirty rock could end up being a rare and priceless gift?

With PHD behind your name, does this mean that you are smarter than I am?

Word to the wise: never have a premature baby. That, or ensure that you develop thick skin and poor hearing. There are certainly days that I wished that I had exercised option #2 for it would seriously cut down on the thrills rides taken on that emotional roller coaster.

Today, Kaelen saw yet another doctor. This time it was for his supposed speech delay problem. As this was a new doctor, I had to repeat Kaelen's health history, which as always, makes me feel like both an incompetent mother and hypocondriac.

Doctor: "So, tell me about Kaelen"
Mom: "Well, he is perfect. He is beautiful. He is my happiness."
Doctor: "Hmm...I see here that he was born 7 weeks premature."
Mom: "Yes, that is correct. And no, I can not explain why. There were no complications. It just happened without any forewarning."
Doctor: "Okay, tell me about his birth and life up until now."
Mom (knowing this is where I need to get detailed): "Well, he was born at 5.5 lbs and.."
Doctor: "Did he cry? Was he crying when he came out?"
Mom: "Err....I don't know if he started crying right away as I was terrified of the ramifications and was lying spread eagle on a table in shock that I just gave birth."
Doctor: "Did he breath on his own? Ever need oxygen?"
Mom: "As far as I know, no, he had no issues breathing and to this day never has."
Doctor: "Tell me about any doctor visits up until today"
Mom (with big intake of breath): "Kaelen stayed in the hospital for 2 1/2 weeks after he was born. One week into his stay, he had a CT Scan as he head was severely misshaped. Nothing came out of it. A week later he came home. He has been good ever since. A very good eater, social and outgoing little boy. He has seen many doctors because it seems that everything gets flagged just because he is a preemie. Specialists such as an optomologist for amblyopia, a neurologist for his head, a GI specialist for reflux, a pedia dentist for attempting to knock his teeth out, and now you for his supposed speech delay."

After elaborating in detail about all visits (20 minutes later), we finally get down to the supposed issue at hand.

Doctor: "So. Tell me, how many words can Kaelen say?"
Mom: "That I know of for sure, 6 -7 "
Doctor: "What are they?"
Mom (Excited as this is where we get to perform to show that this doctor visit is a big waste of time. Turning to Kaelen, in hopes that he will copy me): "We can say Bye Bye, Hi, Up, Ball, My Mom and Dada"
Doctor: " Nope. Mom and Dad aren't words."
Mom: "Excuse me? I am not sure if I understand, Mom and Dad aren't words? Why not?"
Doctor: "Because they are not."

Okay. The last time I checked, both of those words are in the dictionary. After another 20 minutes of this woman flapping her arms about and trying to get Kaelen to repeat her, she came to the conclusion that I should put Kaelen into speech intervention. Hmm...Perhaps mommy needs speech therapy because I am still perplexed that Mom and Dad aren't words....

Maybe Kaelen is slower in picking these habits up; hell, he has been slow to do the other things like sitting up, crawling and walking. To my thought process, it would just seem logical that he would be slower at this too. I know that he is smart as his level of comprehension is amazing. And, judging from the 10 or so parenting books at home, he should be all over the map because he is a premature child. Some of his skills are a little behind, but he is also displaying traits of a 2 - 3 year old. That is why the consensus is that children will outgrow their prematurity traits around the age of 3. Did perhaps my family doctor and this latest doctor not read all of these books? I mean, the old adage is: Mommy knows best. Does this mean that I am smarter than the doctors? That I should learn to just believe in myself and my inner voice, knowing that my son is a healthy little boy?

For me, as irony would have it, the parting comment from this doctor as Kaelen and I were walking out, was that she just couldn't believe at how big Kaelen was. She just couldn't quit commenting that he was the size of a normal 2 1/2 year old child, yet he is only 18 months (corrected age). A feeling that I can't explain came over me. I wanted to snip at her and say "of course he is, because he is a healthy and normal little boy".

I know that it makes no sense, but that feeling gave me the confidence that Kaelen and I are going to be just fine.

You Know Your Kid Enjoys Daycare When.....

As silly as people like to discredit your feelings as being ridiculous or silly, I am sure that I am not the only parent who has feelings of guilt some days that their child spends their day in daycare. And, despite you knowing that your child is doing well (in fact spectacular) in daycare, the feelings still pop up every now and then.

What,you might ask, does a parent need to put their mind at ease? Well, here is one suggestion made by my ever so smart little boy:

Scene:

• Mommy arrives at daycare to drop Kaelen off.


• As par with routine, we knock on the door and let ourselves in


• Mommy places Kaelen's bag on coat rack and then sits on the entry stairs.


• Kaelen assumes position on Mommy's lap to assist with the removal of shoes, coat and hat.


• Kaelen places hat on small coat rack, while Mommy takes care of the rest


• Mommy starts chatting it up with Cathy (our daycare Angel)


• Meanwhile, Kaelen goes and opens the front door, comes back and grabs Mommy's hand


• Kaelen ushers Mommy to the front door, pushes her in the ass out the door, yells "Bye bye Mommy" and slams door in my face

Suffice to say, Kaelen enjoys his days at daycare.

Daily Routine Fun

Children love routine; especially Kaelen. For the past two weeks, Kaelen and I have created a new routine together. Just a Mommy and Kaelen moment and I hope that this one doesn't end any time soon. It makes me excited to wake up each morning to play our little game. Here is how it goes:

6:15 am - Mommy awakes and jumps into the shower.
6:50 am - Mommy is ready for work, opens the blinds to the house and starts calling Kaelen's name out loud.
6:55 am - Kaelen starts stirring but burrows himself into his nice cozy bed and pretends to sleep.
7:00 am - Mommy digs into the spare change jar and places 5 -6 coins on her night table.
7:02 am - Mommy crawls on hands and knees into Kaelen's room so she is eye level to a half sleeping toddler.
7:03 am - Mommy starts growling like a puppy, meowing like a cat or is quietly saying "Peek-a-Boo".
7:04 am - Kaelen pretends that he is sleeping but this gorgeous bright smile is on his face.
7:05 am - Kaelen places either his hands over his face or his blanket over his head to disappear from mommy.
7:06 am - Mommy starts looking everywhere in Kaelen's crib to find her baby. Every now and then she hears a giggle and finds a little toe to nibble on or tummy to tickle.
7:08 am - Kaelen scares Mommy by just appearing in his bed. Mommy yells out in fright and stumbles backwards.
7:09 am - Kaelen laughing, picks up his best friend Hippo and launches him into the air in hopes that Hippo will attack Mommy.
7:09 am- Hippo attacks Mommy with encouragement being shouted by a blood thirsty Kaelen.
7:10 am - Kaelen is ready to leave his crib and gives Mommy a super big hug and kiss.
7:11 am - Kaelen gets a clean diaper.
7:12am - Kaelen casually takes the dirty diaper into the bathroom via detour Mommy's room, sees what he is looking for and fires the diaper into the garbage and runs back to show Mommy.
7:13 am - All excited, with a big " O " formed on his lips and feet stomping in excitement, Kaelen grabs his piggy bank and runs into Mommy's room.
7:14 am - Kaelen methodically puts his findings into his piggy bank. Once he is done, he returns the piggy bank to the dresser in his room.
7:18 am - Kaelen is now ready to get dressed starting with socks first.
7:22 am - A quick face wash and teeth brushing and cat chase.
7:30 am - Still chasing the cat, but always into the kitchen because the cat thinks that she can escape outside.
7:35 am - Shoes, jackets and hats are on and we are out the door. Kaelen is off to his daily adventures at daycare while Mommy is off to work.

So, my question is: Can your mornings beat mine?