How did they know?

We need an intervention

Is there a Webkinz Anonymous group out there?

Cooking is SOOO not my thing!

I have now been on my own for 6 days, as Hilary and Liam are in BC visiting her folks. 4-5 times a day for the 2 weeks before she left Hilary would remind me of what was in the freezer, suggest meal plans, make sure I knew how to cook something.

And I poo-pooed her. After all, I'm 38 years old. I moved out of my parents place 19 years ago. Surely I could manage a full 9 days of making my own meals.

Turns out..... not so much!

• Wednesday: Grabbed a Sub from the mall
• Thursday: Picked up spinach dip and mini-pitas from the grocery store on the way home from work.
• Friday: I have no recollection of what I ate last Friday..... I think I had an avocado and the rest of the spinach dip
• Saturday: I did cook myself a steak and boiled some baby potatoes!
• Sunday: Went out for dinner with Hilary's cousin and his fiancee
• Monday: I cooked again! I BBQd a burger, shucked myself some corn and steamed some beans. a real meal!

So now I have Tuesday-Thursday to manage. I seem to recall Hilary mentioning something about lasagna in the freezer....

note to self: Look in freezer.

Nice is Found!!

Just before Christmas last year while I was out shopping with Liam, we came across a display of Webkinz pets. Liam had been asking for one for a while because EVERYBODY has them don't you know! I didn't really know much about them, and thought they seemed a bit pricey for such a small stuffie (family word for stuffed animals).

Well, Liam didn't want to buy just one that day, he wanted to buy 2: one for him, and an identical one for his 1/2 brother "C", to send as a Christmas present so that they could have the same ones. Now who wouldn't cave to that logic? We left the store with two Little Kinz black bears. "C"'s was wrapped up and sent off with a Christmas parcel and Liam's was named Nice. We adopted Nice on line and thus began our Webkinz addiction (and that is a whole other thread!)

As the first Webkinz, Nice was the leader, the favorite, the go to bear. He often accompanied Liam places and slept in the place of honour: next to Liam's tiger Ralphie on his blue blanket. A very coveted spot indeed!

And then tragedy struck. Nice could not be found! We tore the house apart, retraced steps, called friends and class mates. Nothing. Liam was obviously upset and we know our boy well enough that we could not pass off some sort of "Nice is hibernating" story and then run out and buy a new one. He would know.

Nice has been missing for several months now. Liam would bring him up occasionally, teary eyed but stoic. He would still play with the on-line version, but that would often spark sadness at the loss of the beloved stuffie.

Tonight Liam and Ralphie made plans to sleep outside in the tent. I got the tent set up, complete with a single futon for maximum comfort and then I added Liam's sleeping bag on top. As I was smoothing out the sleeping bag I felt a lump. A soft lump, a BEAR SIZED LUMP! I reached in and sure enough it was Nice! He must have gotten rolled into the sleeping bag the last time Liam slept in his tent up in his room. Liam was ecstatic! Nice didn't get his place of honour next to Ralphie on the blue blanket tonight. He is sleeping clutched in Liam's arms.

$5.95 and a broken heart

As parents it seems pretty natural to want to make your kids happy. And I admit, that there are times that happiness can come from materialistic things. I know I'm happy about a new shirt, new book or a new CD, so why wouldn't Liam find happiness in getting new things? The trick to this parenting stuff is helping him learn that happiness doesn't ONLY come from things, and that not getting a certain thing will not be the end of any happiness in his life.

This is a very difficult lesson for a five and a half year old.

Liam has a couple of websites that he plays on. NickJr, Webkinz, HotWheels. Most are free sites, other then Webkinz where you have to buy the stuffed animal in order to get the online code. Since he (and Hilary and I if truth be told) loves "stuffies" we have collected quite a few and play together as a family on Webkinz. But every now and then it's fun to try new sites, and that is how we stumbled across Disney's "Club Penguin" It's a fun, safe site: you get to be a penguin, wander around and "chat" with other penguins, play games to amass penguin money and buy things like pets and houses.

However there is a catch.

You can get a penguin and up to 2 pets for it with the basic free account. But if you want to do any more, like buy clothes, more pets, accessories for your house, you have to be a member, which costs $5.95 (USD) per month. Since we have already bought all the stuffies for Webkinz, and it's very similar in what you can do, we have said no to getting a "Club Penguin" membership. Sure we can afford six bucks a month, it's not going to break us. But we really want Liam to learn that a) he can't always get everything he wants b) money doesn't just come out of a bank machine - Mama works hard for our family's money and c) he can do all the same things at Webkinz, where we have already "paid" for the membership. He doesn't need another website to play on.

And it almost breaks his heart! He has asked several times if he can be a member. Usually while he's playing and he sees other penguins all decked out in the cool clothes and costumes. To his credit he has even tried to negotiate (something we encourage. When we say no to something if he has a very good logical counter-argument we have been known to change our minds) and has even offered to do extra chores around the house to make up the $5.95 it would cost for the membership.

It comes close to breaking my heart too. And I've come close to giving in... after all it's only $5.95, what's the harm!! But then I come to my senses and remember WHY we are saying no. So I hold him (if he's not too angry with me) and explain it one more time. And each time the upset is lasting for shorter amounts of time. Doesn't stop him from trying again, be he is slowly starting to see our reasoning.

ahhh... materialism... one of the harder lessons in life.

Feb 29, 2008 - Today's the day

that I kick back and relax with my family for the evening.

All too often our evenings are hectic: get home, make diner, homework, bath, play, tickle, fight, dance, get Liam to bed and collapse.

Well it's Friday night: We're going to eat dinner in the living room in front of the TV. There will be no homework, no bath - unless it's so Liam can play boats and re-enact the sinking of the Titanic. Dinner will be made (thank you Hilary, who is not working today!). We will still play (we have new webkinz cards for tonight) we will still tickle (this is a daily requirement), hopefully we will not argue and fight (not being rushed should help that along), we ALWAYS dance in the kitchen after dinner and once Liam is in bed hopefully Hilary and I will NOT collapse and can have a wonderful evening together!