Category Archives: Parenting

We reached our fundraising goal! Now, let’s go higher!

Posted on August 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

I am thrilled to let everyone know that Blake and I have reached our goal of raising $5,895 for Renfrew Educational Services! Thanks to everyone who’s donated and to all who have been so supportive of our cause — we couldn’t have done it without you.

Bennett won’t be there, but I hope he and his sister will be proud. I know they’ll be excited to see our pictures.

There’s still a month left until we start our climb … who knows how much more we can raise? Maybe $1 for every foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro ($19,341)?? Dare to dream!

Wildlife encounters at Elbow Falls

Posted on August 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

As we were walking down the pathway toward Elbow Falls in Kananaskis Country this past weekend my daughter spotted a cougar. Thankfully, it was not a live cougar (neither the mountain nor urban variety), but the pelt of one (the mountain kind), head and all. A volunteer from Bow Valley WildSmart wore it around her shoulders like a stole to get families’ attention and thus educate them about “living smart” with wildlife.

Q: What’s better than petting a cougar pelt?
A: Sticking your hand down its throat.

But we weren’t there to learn stuff so I marched the kids over to the waterfall-viewing platforms.

Bennett looks longingly back toward the cougar.

OK, now that’s a waterfall. (Avery deemed Elbow Falls too “lame” for a photo with her in it.)

After we observed Elbow Falls from every vantage along the trail (according to Avery Elbow Falls is kind of “lame” because it’s not bigger than our house), both kids wanted to wander back to the cougar. Lucky day! There was also a grizzly bear pelt available for petting, manned by a volunteer from Friends of Kananaskis.

Truthfully, Avery and Bennett were more interested in stroking both pelts’ soft fur, touching the grizzly’s sharp claws and sticking their hands down the cougar’s throat, than learning about playing dead should they encounter a bear in the woods.

Bennett vs. grizzly claws. Though he’s loathe to have his nails trimmed, I still think the griz would win.

Besides, I like to think I’m fairly “wildsmart” — I never leave bacon or gutted fish out at the campsite, only vegetables and open jars of peanut butter. Kidding! The volunteers handed out brochures with wildsmart tips — good information about what to do during wildlife encounters when hiking or camping with kids. The only problem was I then had to explain some things to my children, who had just spent 10 minutes petting and playing with what, in their world, equated to life-size cougar and grizzly “stuffies”:

Avery: “So if we see a cougar on a hike, you have to pick us up for our protection?” Me: “Yes.” Avery: “But then how would you fight back if he attacked?” Me: “Um, I’d hurl you at his head like a human cannonball.”
Avery: “Aww, bears are so soft and cute. I wish we could cuddle them in real life.” Me: “They don’t like being cuddled.” Avery: “Not even the baby ones?” Me: “Well, the babies might like it, but then the mommy would maul you and feed you to them.” Avery: “What does ‘maul’ mean?” Me: “Nevermind.”
Avery: “I’ve seen coyotes by our house. They look like dogs and always run off.” Me: “They may look tame but they’re wild and dangerous.” Avery: “Then maybe you should supervise us when we’re playing in the yard.” Me: “Nah, just pick up your brother and yell at the coyote. If that doesn’t work throw Bennett into its head like a human cannonball.”

But seriously, Elbow Falls is a hugely popular day-trip destination and many picnickers may lack knowledge about handling human-wildlife encounters. I think it’s great Bow Valley WildSmart and Friends of Kananaskis are taking the initiative to educate visitors about sharing nature safely with the critters. Plus, they kind of saved the day with their pelts: for kids, wild animals trump wild water any day.

How an overflowing toilet = gratitude

Posted on August 8, 2012 | 3 comments

Last week Blake and I attended the annual Chromosome 18 Registry & Research Society conference in San Antonio, Texas. In between strolls along the lovely River Walk, a visit to special needs amusement park Morgan’s Wonderland and a quick stop at The Alamo, we got caught up on the latest Chromosome 18 research and met children and adults with the same condition as Bennett (18q-).

Who needs an iPhone while waiting for guacamole when there are fish and ducks to watch?

I left the conference feeling both hopeful and thankful. Hopeful, because we met a young man with 18q- who just graduated from high school and will be attending college in the fall. We also shared a taxi back to the airport with a woman with 18q- who lives independently and travelled to the conference by herself. And thankful, because Bennett is doing so well in spite of his challenges. He walks and runs, feeds himself (however messily) and is talking better every day.

But it’s still hard, as I discovered yesterday. His behaviour hasn’t received the memo that, since he’s potty trained and all, he’s a big boy now.

I came home from working on my laptop (I’d hired a babysitter for the day) to discover that Bennett had flooded the upstairs bathroom. I’m not sure if he’d been trying to flush another pair of Nemo briefs or what, but when the water in the commode didn’t go down he’d evidently continued trying to flush until the toilet overflowed and the entire floor was covered in water, according to a bystander’s testimony (that would be his sister). At any rate, water was pouring down through the ceiling into the pendant light above our kitchen island just like a faucet, the upstairs hallway carpet was soaked, the babysitter was abashedly apologetic, and there was Bennett, asking me, “Are you angry Mommy?” Good question.

Was I angry when he accidentally called 911 during this year’s Stampede Centennial and a police van showed up at our house (for the record, I was in the backyard drinking margaritas with a friend. Can you blame me?)?

This is what shows up in front of the house when your four-year-old calls 911.

Was I angry when he somehow programmed our house alarm to go off when I answered the phone?

Was I angry when he caused our friends’ garage door to overheat and stop working from repetitively pushing the button to make it go up and down?

The answer: yes, and no. I get frustrated that no matter how many times I tell him not to do something (“Quit flushing the toilet!” “The telephone is not a toy!” “Don’t play with the alarm keypad!” “Stop pushing the garage door button!”) he lacks the impulse control to change his behaviour. On the other hand, I am glad he is physically capable of doing all those tasks, even if he overdoes them. I am thrilled he recognizes my emotion as anger and wishes me to be happy instead (“Mommy, be happy?” he asked me earlier this afternoon). I am hopeful that one day he will learn that those are inappropriate ways to “play” and that instead of laughing delightedly at the swampy bathroom floor, he’ll stop mid-flush, run downstairs, and tell the babysitter that the toilet is overflowing.

In the meantime, I will practice deep breathing and call some drywallers. In the grand scheme of life it’s a very small thing: wet towels, wet drywall, perhaps a bit of mould. No biggie. He didn’t burn down the house. No one got hurt. As I learned last week in San Antonio, it could always be worse … gratitude.