Hockey Update 22 Feb 2009

Today's game was a great one, hard playing all the way. Everyone on Galen's team played well and put constant pressure on the opposing team, winning in the end at 6 to 4. Galen had some great play at the blue line and was the most aggressive he has ever been as a defenseman. All 6 goals involved an assist, a sign of the developing team play.

Sushi!

Galen has been a rather limited eater in our experience. He would eat only crackers, bread and cereal products if we let him. His favorite foods are grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries.
Surprisingly, he has one exception - he loves sushi and not the california rolls but sashimi - the raw fish kind.

We have a reward system in the house - a way to recognize when the kids do something really great. They help out around the house for a long while, they are super nice and considerate with each other or friends... Basically when they are really, really good. We let them fill up a container with poms for each good thing they do and when it's full, they get a nice dinner and small reward. They filled their bowl last week and asked for a change - dinner out. Specifically sushi dinner.

Drew and I had dinner out at a nice sushi restaurant in town recently and took the kids back to our new find on Wednesday.
Galen ate: seaweed salad, edamame (steamed, salted soy beans), salmon sashimi, surf clam sashimi, crispy salmon nori rolls....
Raynham ate: edamame, salmon and red snapper sashimi and a bit of rice. She basically ate a huge amount of raw fish for dinner.

The servers were Japanese, young and kept coming back to stare at my children, stuffing their faces with raw fish. Both were using chopsticks, Galen very successfully. I don't know why they love sushi but I am very glad.

They even ate green tea and red bean ice cream for dessert. Both ice cream flavours sound weird but are totally, completely delicious. The red bean ice cream doesn't even appear on the menu but our server was so taken with the kids, he brought us some to taste and more when we discovered how good it was. Guess they looked like adventurous eaters!!

Better than a Planarian

February is an interesting time with Galen. In the last three years we have detected a pattern that essentially boils down to Galen going freaking nuts in February. He can't sit still in class, his school work starts to suffer, he cries over small things, he can't stop himself from spontaneously leaping, and he is extremely hyper. No amount of attention or exercise helps. We now warn his teachers when February is coming so they won't be surprised. What I've concluded is that in February, Galen is only slightly better than a Planarian. Planarians are very simple worms, with very small brains, that have sometimes remarkable responses to light. At one point there was an entire scientific journal dedicated to folks who ran light/memory experiments on these little buggers called the Worm Runner's Digest. In February, the planarian part of Galen's brain responds to the increase in daylight. The first response of his brain is a massive release of special hyperactivity hormones which make Galen completely bonkers. These same hormones simultaneously shrink Galen's brain to the point that most times he has the listening ability of a retarded cat. Since this is all hormonally driven, there is nothing his parents can do except wait for the hormone levels to come down, which is usually by mid-March. By this point, Galen's father needs to be heavily sedated...

Oh, how I love you!

Bet you thought this would be a lovely story about how the kids have shown Mom and Dad the love. Its not.....

Raynham's family art, part 1:
fingerprints from each finger, atop a stick to mark 5 members of her family labeled:
Joanna, Andrew Dad, Galen, Nana, Me
(not sure whether I'm sad that poor Papa was left out or whether I lost the title Mom. Nana - at least you are loved in this one)

Raynham's family art, part 2:
"Look mom, I drew a picture of us! There's me, I'm riding a bike! There is Galen and you. There is Daddy. He's crippled and you are laughing at him!"

Raynham's family art, part 3:
"Mom, you know that picture I drew of us? Look at Daddy, he has a big fat belly. You are laughing at his belly"
(Honest, I don't laugh at Andrew in the way my daughter suggests)

Raynham wants to get a hit:
Ray - "Mom, do you think we can make Daddy go away? I mean go away forever and ever? And NEVER come back. Cause then you'd have to stay home with us and I'd see you all the time. I'd like it if you'd stay home with us."
Mom - "Ahhhh Don't you think you'd miss Daddy if he went away? You'd be sad"
Ray - "Maybe. But then I'd get over it and you'd be home with me!"
Mom - "Well, even if Daddy went away, I'd still have to go to work"
Ray - "Hmm. Are you sure?"

Poor Dad! no love for him these days and now he's looking over his shoulder...... Good thing he has a sense of humor. He tells me he hears this stuff all the time. Yikes!

hockey update 15 Feb 2009

Galen's third play-off game was today, against the toughest team to beat. However, their ringer was a no-show and Galen's team won 6-1. Good work along the boards for all our players and good defensive play from Galen, particularly keeping the puck onside by holding the blue line. Galen's team is one tie and two wins so far in the play-offs with 3 games left to go.

Say hello to our new family member

Meet Harley the rabbit, who we adopted this weekend from one of Joanna's students. We offered to take her for 4 weeks to see if she would fit in as Galen was unsure. Less than 48 hours later and Galen is smitten and Harley is now official. She is still settling in but has started to explore the house. Last night I found her upstairs admiring Joanna while she slept. She appears to have a thing for Galen as he is the only one she has sat and played with for an extensive period of time. Oink the guinea pig was so excited to meet Harley that he actually moved. Twice. Wonders never cease...

How I will survive French Immersion

Galen is in a French Immersion program at his school, meaning that nearly all of his schooling is in french. He is picking up the language rapidly. Too rapidly. I took very little french and nearly all of it is gone. Every week he gets a list of 10 new words that I have to read to him and he has to learn to spell by listening. Tests each Friday. My pronunciation sucks, but we do this exercise each day before Joanna gets home. Much frustration on my part. Add to that we get a different book for him to read to us each night and frequently find words even Joanna does not know. Two of these were not even in French-English dictionaries and were scientific. I had to work them out from the latin, of which I remember more than french. Nonetheless, I struggle to pronounce words correctly for Galen and we often have to figure out new words. Thus comes in my new friend: The Online French Tutor. Not only will this tool translate, it will also say your words and phrases in near perfect french! I'm saved! I just worked out Galen's ten words and wrote them out phonetically so as to be ready for tomorrow! Yahoo! Now to see if I can get it to say swear words...

hockey update

Play-offs started last week, with Galen's team playing to a 4-4 draw. Today Galen's team won 9-2. Next week they take on the tough team. We'll see how all that fore-checking training pays off. Come join us at 7 am for the game! (just kidding)

Never cry wolf

Today on the walk to school we had a conversation about crying wolf. Raynham was putting on a show about her sore tummy, when in actuality it was fine. I wanted to get the message across that telling stories about important things was not a good idea and told my two children the story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf...

"Three nights the boy cried wolf while guarding the village when in fact there was no wolf. The villagers were very upset with the boy for waking them up and scaring them. The fourth night he heard a noise in the forest and discovered a ferocious wolf about to attack the village. He ran to the village yelling about the wolf, but no-one came out of their homes to help, not believing the boy. And the wolf attacked and killed all of them."

You can email me separately about my blunt story-telling style, but I'm dealing with Galen and Raynham here. Raynham was not impressed by this story. Why didn't the boy attack the wolf? Because it was big and fierce. That is not good enough, "I can take him", states Raynham, "the boy is just lazy, he should attack and kill the wolf! That's what I would do!"

Throughout the debate that ensues, Galen is entirely quiet. Finally I ask him what he is thinking. "I'm thinking they should have fired him after the second night." That's my children for you. Raynham blames the death of the villagers on insuffient aggression and Galen on managerial incompetance. Sigh.

Is that gas? As in natural gas?

Imagine my surprise when I walked the kids home from school today (Raynham having spent the afternoon at a friend's) and all I can smell at the doorway is natural gas. As far as I can tell, a large icicle fell from the roof and cracked the meter at the side of the house. The gas is clearly coming out of that crack. Off go the kids to the neighbours while I wait for the trucks to arrive...

Insane JK Parents

Today was the day to register Raynham for next year's Junior Kindergarten class. The doors opened at 8:30 for Registration. I was there a few minutes after they opened, put my name on the list, filled out a bunch of forms, and then waited to be called. Within 30 minutes I was called, registered, and out the door. Really easy. Why then were some insane mothers there lining up outside in the cold starting at 7 am? One and a half hours early in -7C weather! The reason is that JK is part-time, with a morning session and an afternoon session. They desperately wanted their pumpkin in the right time slot. I arrived slightly after the opening and was only #24 on the list, well inside the range to guarantee the afternoon slot I wanted. I didn't need to be there 1.5 hours early. Ah, but there was more to it. I overhead several demanding a specific teacher in a specific time slot based on what they heard from other mothers about the quality of the teachers. They wanted to be that early to be first in line to start a campaign to get Pumpkin the best possible teacher. Yikes!