Friday Five

1. I've been sick. Not the throwing-up kind of sick, nor the kind of sick that the doctor can give you a prescription for. Just the kind where my nose drips constantly, my head aches, I'm exhausted and I can't think straight. I've been off work since Wednesday. I'm practicing what I preach by staying home instead of infecting others. My Puritan work ethic is having a hard time with this. And then I'm home, with Chris, and I see him doing laundry or cooking or cleaning and I keep offering to do it, and he says "You're SICK. Sit down, I can do this." And I'm kind of at a loss. Also, yesterday and today, both Gwen's parents are at home but she is at daycare. I wondered later if her caregiver judges me for this, but then I decided I don't care*. I have to pay for the spot regardless, Gwen might as well go have an enjoyable day instead of listening to me blow my nose 1,839,605 times an hour.

*I should mention that Gwen's caregiver is not at all judgmental. I am just a guilt-riddled worrywart who thinks way too much about what other people think of me.

2. On Tuesday night we had an enormous dump of snow. I'm pretty sure this is the biggest snow I've seen since I was a kid. Gwen stayed home from daycare, mostly because it would have been too unsafe to drive her there. Now, would it make me a bad person if I went and played in the snow with my kid when I had called in sick to work? Or would it make me a bad person if I kept my kid inside all day instead of letting her take the rare opportunity to play in a huge amount of snow? Hmmmm.

3. Today is Chris's last official day of employment. This means that his ROE should be arriving soon, and we can finally get things in process to apply for EI and determine if he is eligible for any re-training funds. He has one more test to do at SetBC, then he and his employment counsellor will decide what line of work he wants to pursue. It's been a challenging six weeks and in many ways it feels like it's been months since we got this news. Now at last the waiting part is nearly over and the next part - where we find out just how hard it's going to be, and for how long - is about to begin.

4. Gwen is crazy these days. Everything is "Hey Mom. Hey. Hey Mom. Hey Mom. Hey!" so I finally taught her to say, "Excuse me." She caught on fast. Now it's, "Excuse me Mom? Excuse me Mom? Excuse me? Excuse me Mom?" Sooooo much better. The other day I got home from work (this is before The Sick) and she said, "Hey Mom! It's so awesome to see you!" She is also in swimming lessons again. This is the last level that is parent-attended: that means next time, we turn her over to the instructors and get to sit by the side of the pool, warm and dry, until the lesson is over. I can see that Gwen is already far more competent than at her previous swimming lessons, though she is still pretty disinterested in staying focussed and obeying the teacher's instructions. When she is into it, though, it's pretty awesome. She can do a pretty good back float, a terrific back glide, and last night for the first time she figured out how to blow bubbles. It was pretty cool to see the light go on and her finally understand the instructions we'd been modelling for her since her first lessons at 8 months old. She is also doing totally awesome with her pottying.

5. I've been catching up on uploading photos to Facebook and it has made me realize how many awesome stories I still have to tell here. They've been in the back of my mind, all these incredible adventures I had in the summer and fall, and I think I've sort of been saving them for a rainy (or snowy) day. A day when I had nothing else to talk about, a day when I needed cheering up. Those days are definitely here, but it's hard to find the time/motivation to sit down and do the damn writing. Now that I've mentioned it publically, though, I think the stories will come soon.

Hope you have a great weekend!