Back to Running. Some Nike+ Apps Tested.

Spring is taking its sweet ass time to arrive, so I bit the bullet and went for my first run in my neighbourhood yesterday. It was not too cold, hovering around zero degrees celsius. I made sure I was appropriately dressed with my MEC merino wool turtleneck, long pants and fleece mitts. I probably could have used a hat, but I warmed up eventually.

I would love to be able to run in the winter, but I can't. Most of my issues stem from my Raynaud's Syndrome. As I have mentioned before, it takes a while for my body to warm up. My fingers are usually white and numb for the first fifteen minutes of the run. Sometimes, I will be fine starting off the run, but because it is cold, my fingers start to lose circulation, and they become white. Even though I am doing vigourous exercise, like running, it will take 15 minutes for my body to realize maybe I am not cold afterall. My fingers will almost instantaneouly lose blood flow, but it takes much longer for them to warm up again. I have the same issue with cross country skiing, but then I have to worry about my toes too.

My second issue with winter running is finding a safe running route. I tend to run on side residential roads, but I have to use sidewalks, walking paths and cross a highway. Some parts of my route are sheltered from direct sunlight. There is about half a metre of snow on the footpath I use to get from one neighbourhood to another. I modified my circuit accordingly, to avoid the worst of the snow. Fortunately, the roads and sidewalks are clear. I need clear sidewalks to safely cross the highway. There really is no good place to run outdoors near my home when there is snow.

The final issue with winter running is what to do when you do warm up. For some reason, I do not mind running in hot summer weather. I usually run first thing in the morning to avoid the worst of the heat. However, I still prefer running on a hot day to running on a really cold day. I draw the line at zero degrees. Even if I am dressed warmly, my body heats up, and then I have to decide whether or not to take off the mitts and hat, or suffer the increased heat. Taking off the mitts usually leads to cold hands again. So, I am constantly fiddling with my mitts during the run. Today, it was sunny, and a tad warmer, so I suffered some cold initially, and left the gloves at home.

For four months of the year I have to find another way to keep fit. Often, I let things slide (or sag) in the winter. December is my lazy month. By January, I decide to get back on the exercise wagon. This year, I was shown an app by a friend. It is called Nike Training Club. It is like a personal trainer in your phone. I downloaded the app to my iPad, and was pretty good at doing three to four workouts a week.

I liked the timed routines and that you could select the difficulty based on your fitness level (or motivation). The routines are also divided into categories depending on what you are looking for: getting lean, toned, etc. most of the exercises are similar in the different routines. The use of weights, addition of jumps or duration of a particular exercise is what differentiates the routines. Some of them are not as good as others. For example, one routine had a two minute rest after the five minute warm up, but then no other rests.

I thought since I was synching my information with the Nike+ website I would be able to transfer my routines to my phone. This was not the case. I think if I had chosen to save the routines it would have worked. I had over 750 minutes accumulated on my iPad, but I had to start from scratch when I downloaded the app to my new phone. I was running out of space on my iPad, and was not able to update the app.

The new update gave calorie counts for the rountines. Turns out each of the routines I was doing only burnt about 150 calories. Kind of disappointing, but I was noticing results from the routines. When I started the exercises in January, my legs and arms were sore from the squats and pushups. As time went on, I felt less sore. I must have been building some muscle and increasing my strength. I heard muscle loss is an issue after 40, so whatever helps to keep up the illusion of being younger.

For running, I downladed the Nike+ Running app. Both apps link up to the same Nike+ account. I had created an account because my iPod Nano has a pedometer associated with Nike. I rarely used the pedometer as it interfered with my podcasts. I decided to use the Nike+ Running app on my phone, and continued to use my iPod to listen to my podcasts.

Yesterday, the phone was having issues with the GPS tracker. It said I ran about 6.5km, but could not map my route. It tracked my pace and indicated when I was running faster or slower. I am not sure how it figured out the distance I ran. Today, the GPS tracker was working. It showed a map of where I ran, and it roughly followed the roads. It calculated the distance I ran at 6.8km. I drove my running route and it came to 7.2km. I was able to recalibrate today's distance, but not yesterday's.

The app creates badges and gives you comparisons. If you log into Facebook and choose the Facebook cheers option, you will hear cheers when one of your friends likes your status. This app also gives you an estimate of the amount of calories burnt while running. According to Nike+ Running, I burnt 450 calories during each of my runs.

No wonder I lost weight last summer. I was running almost every day. This is another reason to get back to regular running. I burn three times as much in roughly the same amount of time as one of the Training Club routines. Although, running is not helping with the muscle loss issue. I suppose I could throw in a routine twice a week for a well rounded fitness regime.

All in all, I liked both of these fitness apps. They are both free, but sponsored by Nike. In this day and age we are always tweeting our status or monitoring our progress. Everything has become a bit of a game, with achievement levels. These are just two more ways of keeping yourself motivated and enaged while getting fit. Check out the links below to get more information.

http://www.nike.com/ca/en_ca/c/womens-training/apps/nike-training-club


http://nikeplus.nike.com/plus/products/gps_app/

 

Posted with Blogsy

Mother Nature is Giving Us the Cold Shoulder This Year

Last year, around this time, my family and I went to Ottawa for a few days. My husband was supervising a group of students on an art field trip. I was not working full time, so I took my daughter out of school for the week, and we drove to Ottawa to meet up with him. I used it as an excuse to visit with my cousin, my brother in-law, and some family friends. Our hotel was paid for, so we did not need accommodations. I barely got to see my husband, but the kids loved the trip.

The weather was drastically different from this year. During our stay in Ottawa at the end of March 2012, the temperature rose to the mid 20s. Above zero. People were walking around in tank tops, shorts and bikinis (my cousin lives near the university). I had not packed clothes cool enough for my children and they were often complaining of being too hot. They wanted to go swimming, and were surprised to see the pool they used the previous summer was still empty. Our trip to the Érablière felt out of place because there was no snow. No maple syrup taffy!

This year, we are only just beginning to see grass at the edges of buildings and around trees. My yard still has about a metre of snow on it. We are expecting warmer temperatures this week, but also more snow. It is the last week of March, and we had warmer weather at the beginning of January this year. Winter refuses to end.

I am looking forward to running again, but I still find it too cold here, in Sudbury. Although, if the temperature stays above zero, I might be able to tough it out soon. Most of the roads and walkways are clear. We had a short warming period around the second week of March. I might be able to leap over piles of snow on the sidewalks, and have a clear path on the roads.

I am looking forward to the disappearance of the snow in the yard so the kids can go out to play without destroying their clothes or coming back inside totally soaked. We are at the in between stage right now. It's the transition between winter and spring I hate the most. No more sliding, at least not safely or cleanly. The ground is soggy, so even when the snow finally disappears, it will end up being muddy if the kids play too hard. They can't really run around or play with their summer toys. I suppose we could get out the bikes.

I know I am not alone in wishing for this winter to finally end. If we have to spring our clocks forward, the least we should be able to expect is a warming trend, and an end to the snow. In about four months we will be complaining about the heat, but that is four months away. I want this snow gone. I want to see my daffodils and tulips. I want spring!

Posted with Blogsy

Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory

This year, March Break weather in Ontario was not the greatest. Unlike last year, which was gorgeous, this year, winter decided to hang around. By Wednesday of the break, it was snowing, even in southern Ontario. This was the day we decided to go to Cambridge from Oakville to visit some friends.

My parents live by the lake, and their neighbourhood has its own microclimate. There were flurries, but nothing major. Part of our visit was going to be at the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory, so I told the kids to put on their shoes instead of their boots. After driving through a blizzard on highway 401 West, we arrived at our friend's home to several centimetres of fresh snow. The kids stayed inside to play, but it was funny to think we could have still needed our boots.

The Butterfly Conservatory is a wonderful place to visit, especially in the winter. The temperature inside is always 26C, so it is like a mini trip to the tropics. In Sudbury, we have the butterfly gallery at Science North. It too is climate controlled. It is much smaller though. The conservatory in Cambridge takes up a fairly large area. There is a nice walking path,and a waterfall. They have some birds along with the butterflies, and a pond full of fish.

The kids loved it. I enjoyed it as well. I think butterflies are one of the most amazing creatures, ever. Imagine going into a cocoon shaped like a caterpillar, and coming out shaped like a butterfly. Biology is so cool. The guides were there to show you the new butterflies emerging, and help answer any questions.

There was also a bug feast going on for March Break. My daughter did not quite catch on, and was disgusted that the caramel corn servings all had fried crickets in them. She ate the salt water taffy, with ants, but only because they were ground up, and she did not realize she was eating ants. My son wanted the lollipop with the scorpion inside. We did not buy it for him.

The only drawback I found was the same drawback I have experienced at other museums or nature centres. Often, there are single, older adults who do not like loud, excited children. If they have chosen to come to a place like this during a school break or the summer, they are going to have to accept that there will be rambunctious children around. Do not come to nature centres, science centres, museums during busy school break times if your intention is to have a quiet, relaxing time because it will not happen. Even the best of parents will have difficulty calming their children when they are seeing new things for the first time.

Now, if I were to choose between the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory and the one in Niagara, I would go to the Cambridge one again for sure. It is free for teachers, if you have you professional card. Also, you can re-enter the gallery as often as you would like. At Niagara, it is one tour around the gallery, then out you go. They are probably busier, but I like the option of being able to stay as long as I would like.

If you think there is no point going during the summer, the temperature inside the gallery is always 26C, so if it a particularly hot summer day, the gallery will be cooler. We visited the Niagara Conservatory on the hottest day of the summer last July, and it was a relief to be inside.

In Sudbury, we are limited to the smaller butterfly gallery at Science North, but it is still a nice change of scenery. Science North is also free for teachers, and children under three. If you are looking for a way to chase the winter blues, hanging out in a warm greenhouse with butterflies is always a great way to do it.

My daughter really wanted a butterfly to land on her. She was running around with her arm out, so one would land. Despite her colourful dress, she was just too busy, and they kept flying away from her.

http://www.cambridgebutterfly.com/

http://www.niagaraparks.com/garden-trail/butterfly-conservatory.html

http://sciencenorth.ca/science-north/exhibits/index.aspx?coll_id=7

 

Posted with Blogsy

Our Crock a Doodle Experience

Last month, we did a family trip to Blue Mountain. It was a hit, and I hope we can continue do to this throughout the years. Aside from skiing, swimming in the pools and skating there were other family oriented activities in The Village. One of those activities was painting pottery pieces at Crock a Doodle. Unfortunately, we visited the shop on the Sunday of the long weekend, and they said anything painted that day would not be available until 4 pm on Monday. We were leaving Monday morning, so we did not paint. My daughter was extremely distraught over this decision.

Fast forward to March Break in Oakville. I looked online to find some pottery places in the Oakville area. There happened to be a Crock a Doodle in Oakville, about a 15 minute drive from my parents. There was also another pottery place 5 minutes down the road, in downtown Oakville, called Crackpot. Both places were offering two hour morning camps for $25, but my daughter was more interested in just painting something herself. She had her heart set on a moon with a person (she must have seen one at Blue Mountain), so we went to Crock a Doodle because I figured they would have a better slelction.

They did not have any moons, but my daughter settled on a little unicorn. The piece was only $12, and it was detailed enough it took us about 1.5 hours to paint. They give you a selection of paints to work with, and you can spend as much or as little time as you would like painting your piece. Some of the larger items can be pricey, but Christmas globe ornaments are $10. If you were to buy a personalized ornament at a store, or craft sale, you would probably pay more than $10. Even the mugs, or cups and saucers were decently priced.

 

I went by myself with my daughter because my husband did not think our son could focus on the task. I saw some young kids there, and they painted plates or car or planes. It does not matter how you paint your object, it will get glazed and kilned. Someone broke a piece, and the owners were very easy going. They said it happens all the time. There were no angry parents or tears from the kids since everyone was laid back about the incident. I will likely bring both kids next time.

We were lucky to have rescheduled our painting date to the Monday, however. Blue Mountain has a fast trun around at one day, but most Crock a Doodle shops will have your piece ready within the week. I figured my parents would have to pick up the finished unicorn. Because we showed up at the beginning of the week, they were going to have our piece ready for us on Thursday. In fact, it was ready on Wednesday. The Oakville Crock a Doodle is normally closed on Mondays, but they were open for the March Break.

It all worked out for us in the end because we came home with a finished unicorn, even if it does look like it killed something and stamped in its blood. My daughter chose red for the horn and hooves. Lol.

 

I think I might want to check out Crackpot because they have workshops with actual clay, and the older kids can learn to use a pottery wheel at their camps.

http://www.crackpotstudio.com/

http://crockadoodle.com/

 

Posted with Blogsy

Writing Break for March Break

I would like to say we were so busy for March Break I did not have time to write this week, but that would be a lie. We were busy, but I also had plenty of time to play my new Angry Birds Star Wars game for several hours most evenings. I could have used this time more constructively to write for my blog, but I decided to take a mental break. It is challenging to write something every other day. I spent most of the week trying to come with ideas for subsequent entries. In effect, I was working on the blog mentally, just not physically producing anything.

This year, for March Break, we did our usual trip down to my parents, in southern Ontario. Essentially, we had a little "staycation", but still left our home for the week. We were busy for our stay near Toronto. My dad showed me the Globe and Mail article with ideas of what to do each day of the week with your kids in the Toronto area. Many of the suggestions were plays (like Potted Potter: all the books condensed into a short play) and shows like Disney on Ice (which we saw at Christmas). A couple of years ago we visited the ROM. This year, we checked out Wizard's World on Tuesday. It is an indoor midway/fair for families, only on during March Break.

There was one happening at The Better Living Centre at Exhibition Place in Toronto, and another located in Hamilton. For $25 your child got unlimited access to the rides. Most of the "rides" for my younger children (aged three and five) ended up being bouncers, but at $3 a turn and $8.25 entry fee it made sense to get both kids a ride bracelet. We bought the family pass online, and saved $6. There was an option for four unlimited ride bracelets, but there were only three big midway type rides for the adults, and neither my husband nor I had the urge to go on them. The kids were too small, even with an adult.

There was an animal show put on by the Bowmanville Zoo. I have mixed feelings about zoos, but I do appreciate it allows my children to see animals they would not normally see. The show was humane, and they did not make the animals do things they would not normally do in the wild, except wear leases and harnesses. We did not like the trainer doing a handstand on the elephant's head, but otherwise the animals were treated well. We did not pay the extra $8 for an elephant ride. And, for some reason, all the goats in the petting zoo were giving birth. They had three babies in the first three days. The show was finished off with a plea to help protect the animals' habitats and be conscious of our purchases, so we did not have to feel as bad about being entertained by wild animals living in captivity.

My kids enjoyed the other carnival rides. My son was crazy for the Orient Express roller coaster. Towards the end of the day, after the daycare groups had left, the operators were letting the rides run longer. He could have spent half an hour just riding the mini coaster. The bouncers were a huge hit, and many of them had short lines. The most time consuming rides were the bouncers with a time limit. Only five or six kids could go in for three minutes, so it made for long waits and very little pay off. I tried to encourage my daughter to use the giant slide or the bouncers with a circuit, as kids were constantly leaving and making the wait shorter.

Overall, it was an entertaining way to spend the day with the kids. It was only 3C outside and raining, so this was an active option for our children to spend the day indoors. Plus, kids were allowed to scream and run. It was acceptable. Everyone was there for their chidren to let off some steam. No dirty looks from older couples wondering why parents are not controlling their children or camp leaders are not controlling their charges.

Both my kids fell asleep in the van two minutes after we left for home. My husband and I were happy for the slience we experienced upon leaving the building. It is a fair with noisy rides and there is a constant din throughout the building. The city was quieter, and a relief at the end of a busy day, even with the traffic on the QEW.

Other things we did this week included painting pottery at Crock a Doodle and visiting the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory. Reviews to follow in the next few days.

http://www.wizardworld.ca/

 

Posted with Blogsy

Finally Bought a Smartphone

My friend Rebecca looked at me knowingly on Tuesday as I fiddled with the instruction packet. "Did you buy a new phone?", she asked slyly. Yup. I finally broke down, and bought a smartphone, even though I said I did not need one. I don't need one. Just because everyone else has a phone attached to their hands. Just because most people communicate through texts instead of voice calls. I still did not need a new phone.

Why did I buy one, then? My old phone still works perfectly well, although it does not keep its charge long. It is small, compact, easily fits in a pocket, and durable. I did not have to worry about scratching the screen. I did not worry if I dropped it. I still have not taken the protective plastic off of the screen of my new phone. I should also buy a case for it, just in case it leaps out of my hand. It feels so light and slippery.

I had been looking at new phones for a while, and I had said the only reason to upgrade would be to have a better camera. I am with Telus, and have been with them for six years. I have a prepaid phone plan, and I top up every 30 days with $10. Last month my balance peaked at $170. This is an indication of how often I use my phone. I did not want to give up that credit, so I decided to stay with Telus.

Telus did not have a wide selection of prepaid phones with which I could upgrade. None of the phones at their store or online had a front facing camera. Only one had a 5MP camera. I am not willing to pay $600 to $700 for a new iPhone5 or the new Samsung Galaxy. However, I had seen a phone for sale, $99, at my local grocery store. It is the Samsung Galaxy Fascinate. They had two left, and I bought both. One for me, one for my husband. He has been itching to get a phone to text with his coworkers.

I bought this phone because the price was right. The reviews were generally positive. It is not the latest phone, but it serves my purposes. It has two cameras, the rear one 5MP. I had used my husband's PSVita to Skype with my friend last weekend, and it was so much easier than messing around with the computer and hooking up the webcam. I was able to show her my house, and she showed me hers. I brought the game console to my kids. I bought a new phone for the convenience.

We could not justify upgrading to three year contracts at $50 per month per phone. Everyone jumps at this because they get this fancy phone for "free", but you pay for the phone after a year of service, and do you really need to have a data plan on your phone. Is it imperative to be able to access the internet all of the time? Smartphones usually can run off of a WiFi network. If you only need your phone for communication, you can save oodles of money on a prepaid plan.

My husband wants to be able to text his coworkers. For an extra $5 a month he can send 250 texts, and receive unlimited incoming. If he buys a $100 prepaid card, it is good for the year, and topping up before the expiry date means he keeps the credit. We can spend between $12 and $15 a month for our phones, as opposed to $50 a month, each.

I have disabled my phone's ability to use the cell network to access the internet. In Settings -> Wireless and network -> Mobile networks uncheck Use packet data. The phone will not use the data network. At home, my phone works off of the internet through WiFi. Elsewhere, it works as a phone. I can use apps that do not need internet access. I can make calls, send texts, and receive them. I changed the settings because somehow, when my wireless network was slow, the phone spent $0.03 worth of data usage. I do not want accidental overages.

What Canadians pay for cellphone service has been a hot topic this week. We pay the highest rates amongst industrial countries. I realize my $0.30 a minute rate is high, but I seldom use my phone. As I said, I have accumulated credit on a $10 per month plan. If we gave up our landline, I might look into a contract, but I still see the value in a pay as you go plan. If you need to get more texts, pay $5 a month. I still see no reason to have a data plan on my phone, other than being able to access a navigation service. My husband would need it, not I.

For now, I am limiting the games and apps I download onto the phone. I have an iPad already. I do like the option of downloading Android apps. My husband was joking we would need a separate bag to carry all our electronics. PS3, PSVita, iPad, iPod nano, Nintendo DS, digital camera, HD video camera and now a Samsung phone each. None of these belong to our children. We have not broken down and started buying them gadgets, yet. Bad enough we have all these things for ourselves. Although, I only bought the phones. I won the iPod, and the iPad was a gift.

This is the problem of a society that has little delayed gratification. Oh well, if you can't beat 'em...

http://www.androidbugle.com/2011/07/samsung-galaxy-s-fascinate-4g-review.html

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

School Field Trip, to Dynamic Earth's Dino Exhibit

I have not gone on a school trip with my daughter's class this year, until today. I was able to bring my younger son, as long as we met the class at Dynamic Earth. I asked if I could bring him. I figured there would probably be some liabilities if we took the bus, so I suggested meeting them at the site. The teacher graciously said yes, and invited my son to participate in the class activities as well.

None of the other guardians brought their younger children. They all have family at home, or nearby, who can watch them. I did not want to pay for a babysitter, plus I wanted to bring my son to see the dinosaur exhibit. I had offered to pay for him, but we were covered. He was very well behaved, and was doing a better job at sharing and listening to me than his older sister!

This is going to be the last year of worrying what to do with him if I want to help out on field trips. He will be starting school in September, and I will be able to volunteer to help out his class when they do their multiple trips out of the classroom. This year, my daughter's class has mainly been doing trips to the municipal library, and I have tried to be there at the same time, but just to say hi. My son is two years younger, and it would not work for him to do the class activity. The teacher had said as much at the beginning of the school year. So, I run in, say hi, and continue on with our own library visit.

Last year, many of the parents would bring the younger siblings along on the field trips. Most of the kids were in strollers, but I was not the lone parent who brought a preschooler along. For the most part, my son was well behaved. At the beginning of the school year, he was in a stroller too. Towards the end of the school year, he would choose to walk, and was a little more challenging to control. If the field trips were on Thursdays, I did not have to worry because he was in daycare. Otherwise, I would have had to paid for babysitting to not have him with us.

An issue did occur in May, however. We were walking from the school to the Dairy Queen. My daughter had become clingy, and I was carrying my son. My daughter walked in front of me, while I was carrying my son, and I tripped. I walk around this area frequently on my own with the children as we live nearby. I am aware of the surroundings, take great care, but it is a little scary because we have to cross a busy highway. We were on the sidewalk when it happened, close to our destination, but I completely lost my balance, with a child in my arms.

Of course, I tried to fall on the "free" side, and lift him away from the ground. I almost succeeded. I scraped my wrist, tore a pants pocket, and bruised my hip and shoulder. Unfortunately, my son's forehead hit a tiny rock on the sidewalk. Blood was streaming down his face. He was crying. The teacher was tending to us. The ladies from the insurance company came running out. But, the students were calm.

I felt like a complete idiot, and was shaking from the adrenaline. In the end, we cleaned him up, and he stopped crying after two minutes. We stuck a bandaid on the cut, and it healed with almost no scar. At the Dairy Queen, he was in good spirits, and because he was wearing red and brown, no one else realized he'd hurt himself.

The class had another trip to the pharmacy a couple weeks later, and I chose not to participate. We could have walked from home, and met them there, but I felt I had already created too much drama on the last trip. I am never sure how the teacher feels about having non school kids along, or if there are legal issues.

As a teacher, I would not have an issue, but I know it would mean the parent is only watching their child, plus the younger sibling. If a teacher does not want younger kids attending, she should specify at the beginning of the school year, or specify an acceptable age rage. I will no longer have to worry about this. We will not have any issues when I volunteer in my son's class because he is the younger sibling.

Like I said, he was well behaved today. He listened to my instructions, and we were able to avoid any incidents between him and his sister. She was having a harder time listening to me, and she was close to causing a scene. I watched my son, and sometimes her, but let the teacher deal with most of her discipline. The parents were all good at speaking to any of the children who were not listening. However, the students were polite, happy, and well behaved. There was not much management needed to keep them in control. It was a successful field trip.

By the way, the dinosaur exhibit at Dynamic Earth is small, but fun for the younger kids. For school groups, it is good because they have planned activities. I am not sure if you need a whole day, but a morning or an afternoon would make a good visit, and change things up a bit. The animatronic dinosaurs are loud, so be warned if your child is sensitive to sound. We did not have to pay, so I am not sure if it would be worth a regular admission. Many families around here have Science North memberships, so check it out.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Post Sleepover Frustrations

Now I understand where my mother was coming from all those years ago. My daughter was a terror the day following her first sleepover. Granted, she really was not responsible for how she felt the next day. Nor could she control the amount of sleep she got. My kids really do need their sleep. I thought it would have been manageable, as we have kept them up some nights, but they usually get to sleep in the next day.

The sleepover was with five girls, ranging in ages from five to eight years old. They were all sleeping in the same room, and some of them were sharing beds. This might have been a little overwhelming for my daughter, especially for a first time. The mom said the girls were up until midnight, and woke at 6:30am. I had to come pick my daughter up earlier (although I was on the way out the door) because she was so grumpy.

When I got her, she pouted, and grumpily said she was not grumpy. She just did not want to leave. The other girls were perky and excited. They were bragging about being up until midnight. One of the other mothers said her daughter often stays up late on the weekends. We try to get our kids in bed around 7pm. I feel guilty if they are up past 8pm. My daughter definitely needed to have more sleep.

By the time we got home, she was in full meltdown mode. I had been hoping to take her shopping with me. Instead, I brought my son, and left her screaming in her room while her father finished doing report cards. I was not able to speak politely to me, she could not stop crying, and she looked exhausted. Surprisingly, she did not have a nap while I was out. She probably would have fallen asleep almost immediately had she driven into town with me.

We were still dealing with the fallout of Saturday's sleepover on Monday. I put both kids to bed before 7pm. Hopefully tomorrow morning we will have our children back to normal. I decided I am not answering the phone for subbing, and we will have a somewhat relaxing morning tomorrow.

My daughter reminded me of Grumpy Bird, by Jeremy Tank.

 

Posted with Blogsy

First Sleepover

Tomorrow night, my daughter will be attending her first sleepover. This will be interesting. She has never slept anywhere else without us. I told her tonight I would not be able to say goodnight, and do our nightly ritual tomorrow. She asked why. Because you are sleeping over at your friend's house. Mommy will not be there.

I think she is very excited to be going for a sleepover. She has been talking about it for months now. I am not sure if she really understands the concept, though. I guess we will find out very soon. She usually sleeps through the night, and has never had bed wetting issues. There have been nights when the bedtime routine has gone out the window, therefore not having a routine at the sleepover should not be an issue. She is not prone to nightmares, so barring some complete disaster, I am sure she will be fine.

I do not think my first sleepover with friends was when I was five years old. However, my parents had left us with friends and family overnight (even went to Mexico for a week) from an early age. I remember not sleeping much at sleepovers, but that was also when we were older. My daughter falls asleep within 20 minutes of being put to bed. I wonder how late her friend will keep her up.

My mom always hated having me around post sleepover. She knew we did not sleep much, and I would be very grumpy. Often, she would threaten me with no more sleepovers if my attitude did not change. My children often have grumpy moods due to lack of sleep, or just general tiredness. I do not think my daughter's post sleepover mood will be something I have not seen before. She might surprise me, and be excited and happy about her experience. It might be something we would want to do more often.

Now I have to figure out what she should bring. Am I responsible for a sleeping bag, pillow and air mattress? From what I remember, we provided the sleeping "tools" for the kids that came over. Sometimes, someone would bring their own pillow, but that was it. I must not forget her toothbrush, a change of clothes, and maybe a brush. Her blanket and stuffed toy? I will have to ask her what she wants. My little girl is growing up. Sleepovers are for Tweens, not Kindergarteners!

 

Posted with Blogsy