Dinner Madness!

Get the bib, sit the kid down in the highchair with a plate of kiwi bits. Sit. Get up, get the sippy cup. Sit. Get up, get a washcloth, wash the kid's hands. Sit. Get up. Kid doesn't want kiwis, wants grapes. Get up, cut grapes. Sit and have a sip of coffee. It's cold. Get up get more coffee. Kid wants more grapes. Cut more grapes. Sit. Husband can't find the cheese. Get up, find the cheese. Sit. One more sip of lukewarm coffee.

How did I get here? The other day I was so distracted trying to cook a meal and entertain my two year old that I practically ate a plastic wrapper. No more insanity meals! Here's are some habits I lost along the way while making purees and multitasking:

1. First of all, make all meals with love. Love choosing it, washing and preparing it, combining colors and textures, experimenting with it, and tasting it. Serve it as if it was art.

2. Involve anyone else who wants to love making this meal, especially the kid.

3. Set the table. Place EVERY thing you might need; including a pitcher of water and glasses, serving utensils, condiments, napkins, bibs and washcloths. Bring lots of food to the table so that you don't have to get up for seconds.

4. Make it look nice. I've been using candles, tulips, and bowls I made in pottery class.

5. Invite other hungry people. We invited the toy rabbit today for tea and toast.

6. Give the kid a snack before dinner and that's it. No more until we sit down even if the kid screams. I prepare one easy back up meal option like fruit, yogurt or leftover noodles, but I no longer cook a whole other meal just for the kid.

5. Like the expression says: Bring something to the table. A smile, a funny story, something you are grateful for, a found treasure from nature like a nice rock or a leaf, a joke, a compliment, or a blessing.
 
6. Everyone helps to clean up. Even the kid.

For more wonderful suggestions to make meals more enjoyable for everyone, read "The Family Dinner-Great ways to connect with your kids, one meal at a time." by Laurie David.

Daddy's Fish Stew in Grandma's dutch oven. Yum!

Put Your Stick in my Wheels!

If you haven't been down to Grandview Park since they renovated it, take a stroll down and you might catch a bike polo match. As stated in the Georgia Straight, it's the first court built to bike polo specifications in the world, and with the new seating, you can enjoy a strong Italian coffee in the sun and watch players expertly maneuver their bikes to make a pass. Bike polo is not a new thing, the East Van Bike Polo Club have been playing there since 2006,  but it was new to me when I was there yesterday. It was pretty exciting to watch and I really like the fact that there seemed to be a nice diversity of male and female players. Takes some major skill. I'm sure they've heard this a millions times, but I really don't know how they don't put sticks in each others' wheels. Pun intended.

Word Gets Around Skateboarding

I have no idea about the world of skateboarding. I have vague childhood memories of kids with feathered hair and K-mart boards with red roller skates wheels. The first time I saw a half pipe, I was super impressed, I must have been 5 or 6 years old. Later,  in high school, my younger brother picked up the sport, and his scab collection was impressive indeed, not to mention one or 2 broken bones. Some guys I knew, watched Tony Hawk videos and groaned a lot when skaters took a face plant on the sidewalk. Like it's funny to get kicked in the groin.

Then some people got mad about the destruction of public property and pestered city officials to "deter" skateboarding and build skate parks. Architects took Anti-Skate Detailing 101 to graduate. The benches are splinter-less, yes, and I don't see skaters anymore. Where did they go?

Despite clearly being an outsider, I still enjoy that long "wheely" sound which comes down our street every once in a while. Skaters probably favor it for it's nice long, slightly inclined downhill slope. When the weather's nice, a bunch of skaters gather across the street at Akwell's and film some maneuver on a ledge over and over again. Other skaters stand around and watch. It's a favorite spot. It's like it's the only off-skate park ledge left in town, and the word got around. They come often on warm nights. Seeing them again yesterday felt like the good weather was going to stay.

Rainy Day Tulips

Another rainy day afternoon...

Date Night? Yah, Right!

I'm too tired, you're too tired. I'm crusty with oatmeal, sidewalk chalk and caked-on noodles. You've got dark work-circles under your eyes. We're both wearing the most comfortable, least attractive jogging pants we own. You need a haircut. I need a manicure. I want to lay on the couch with a bag of cookies and you want to surf the web with a beer. Okay. Wait. We have to connect. Remember me? The woman you choose to marry? No? It must be the pants. Apparently we're supposed to organize a date night. Do you want to plan a date night tonight? No. Too tired? Me too.

Does this sound slightly familiar? If you have kids it should. Here are some ideas that require little brain power, organization and are practically free. Leave the dishes and shut off the electronics for a moment and take a look.

1. Friday night gifts: Plan to exchange a gift every Friday night after the kids are in bed. Make a ritual out of it. Pour yourself a glass of wine, offer your gift and tell each other why you picked it. Gifts can be at no cost or you can set a price limit.

2. Mail some love: Buy a roll of stamps next time you are at the post office and keep it handy. Mail your spouse a "card". It can be a traditional card, a postcard, a picture, an interesting article, anything you want to mail. Include loving words.

3. Kiss in strange places or for strange reasons: You may make a rule together or keep the rule a secret, for example you could kiss your partner every time you see a person wearing a hat on the subway or every time your partner says "You're right."

4. Co-read a book, set a limit such as one chapter a week and host your book club on a weeknight. Serve cheese and crackers.

5.  Buy and learn a new board game.

6.  Invent a TGIF cocktail or mocktail together or surprise each other by taking turns.

Taking My Early TV Retirement

Remember when you would get yelled at for sitting too close to the t.v.? We sat close because it was easier to reach the dial to change between the 4 or 5 channels. Remember? Tak, tak, tak, that dial was hard to turn. Maybe I had weak kid fingers. Remember black & white shows, adjusting the antenna, beta tape players, and then vhs and video games? Do you remember the first time you got to use a remote?  As kids we were so eager to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings that sometimes we would see the image of the Indian Chief because it was too early for broadcasting. Do you remember that?

I grew up in Montreal in the '70's, and my mom would never let us watch more than one hour a day, and maybe two on Saturday mornings. There was a lot of wholesome "Passe-Partout" on French CBC and dubbed cartoons from Japan like Goldorak.  As we grew up my parents restricted what we could watch. My dad was super strict about shows like "Three's Company" and "The Love Boat". "Why can't we watch that?" we whined. "Cause I said so." he replied. Over the years, family t.v. nights included Star Trek, The Muppet Show, Murder She Wrote and MacGyver.

I am nostalgic about the old days of television. I miss the old shows: the real sitcoms like Seinfeld, Roseanne, The Golden Girls and The Cosby Show. I can't find anything worth watching. Now, I've turned to the internet so I can watch CBC documentaries when baby is napping. Our channel bundle is the smallest which apparently offers 100 of my favorite shows. I tried to find these "favorite shows" and could only find 16. When I called my customer service guy, he said: "Oh the rest are radio channels." Radio channels, what?

I just can't watch a 40 minute "reality" show peppered with 20 minutes of ads anymore. I cannot watch another on of my "favorite" reruns of Property Virgins, The Iron Chef and Survivor. Survivor? Again? They've survived. It's getting old.  I'm taking an early retirement from television. Every once in a while I watch old clips of childhood classics on Youtube and I smile.  Ah, Passe Partout!

Dirty Lanes

I love Vancouver lanes. It's amazing what you can find. It might be partly because my mother lives on the West side and she has to walk her dog several times a day that she can find almost anything in her lane. She has this weird knack for it. If I say, oh, I wish I had a coffee table, the next day, she finds a coffee table. It works for toys, books, furniture or plants. It's limitless. Her last find was a bag of mystery bulbs.  She planted them and now we have daffodils!

On my side of town, I don't usually find such treasures, it's dirtier, rougher. But I still find surprises. Here's what I found yesterday while trying to avoid the traffic on Kingsway.

Rainy Day Art

Rainy afternoons are great for painting. I took a picture of the construction bins outside of Gloria Cafe and had fun with my acrylics.

Dumpster Art

An artist painted this mystery man and pasted it to the dumpster. A free outdoor gallery.

Green Lettuce Restaurant

It's been difficult to find good take-out/delivery in Kensington-Cedar Cottage, but we scored when we called the Green Lettuce. Try not to get turned off by the unappetizing website , or overwhelmed by the 100+ items on the menu, or the fact that it's an Indian-Chinese restaurant. (it's the first time, I've heard this combination). We ordered as we would when eating Chinese, a dish per person plus rice. It was fresh and super delicious. They will also vary the spiciness just to your liking. YUM! Add a comment to this post if you know of any other restaurants in the area worth trying out.

Spa Dog! New business on the block

What do you do when you used to live on an Ontario farm surrounded by animals and find yourself stuck in an office job in Vancouver? You open Spa Dog! I met Hilary this morning, she's been open for 6 days now and she was very excited to show off her new shop. She sourced a lot of pieces for her decor from thrift stores and admitted she got addicted to it and had a lot of fun putting everything together! She was happy to tell me all about her organic doggy grooming services and pet care products even after I told her I didn't own a dog.

No fear. There are gazillion dog owners in the neighborhood and the proximity to Trout Lake makes this little shop a nice addition to the neighborhood. Fancy giving a trim and a blow-out to your pooch after a nice roll in the mud? Stop on by.

I have to admit I was a bit sad when I saw that the new business was going to be dog spa and not a sushi restaurant, especially when there is a cat hotel on the same block... but Hilary made a really good impression on me. She really cares about the impact of her business on animals and on nature. Wishing you a warm welcome and many shampoos to come!

Fun for Worms- Part 2

Two years ago I wrote about the lack of composting in our complex. Since then, no changes have been made by strata. The faulty fire alarm which wakes us up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason has taken priority. That makes sense. In the previous post Fun for Worms, I had found a composting container that you could install under your kitchen sink, but unfortunately, I couldn't bring myself to spending the money for it. I have found a more affordable solution: compost bags and a mom willing to share her compost pile! We fill about two per week, and freeze full ones until it's time to take them to mom's. You can pick them up at Canadian Tire for about $3 for 10. What about the stink factor? If you stick to fruit/veggie bits, egg shells, tea bags, and used coffee filters, it really doesn't smell and you can throw the whole thing into the pile! No need for messy ice cream containers!

East Van Sesame Street

I'm sure it's because of the lack of reasonably priced condos bigger than a closet situated on a quiet street that the complexes in our neighborhood are full of babies and kids. Brix 1, Brix 2, The Works, and Stories are packed. Every time a childless family moves away, a family replaces them. There are 40 units in our complex and I can count 16 kids. That's a lot! My neighbors and I joke that we live on Sesame Street (partly because we face the street and have no yard). It's also not uncommon to find parents still in pajamas, coffee in hand, sitting on the front steps and watching kids play on the sidewalk.

Our neighborhood is seriously under construction. There are two 2 bedroom condo complexes being built on Commercial Street ranging in the $550-560,000. Another coming behind Gloria Cafe on Stainsbury St. Next to the Works, the old Danica commercial building is turning into "East Van Boutique Condos". A huge complex on Victoria called the "Porter" with 192 units and 10 live-in artist studios is slowly pushing it's way out of the concrete pit. There is also the 8 new, 3 bedroom town houses across from the Trout Lake ice rink now priced at $738,000.  There are also quite a few new detached homes/duplexes/laneway houses being built all around.

It's seems it's all in time for spring. All in time for more pregnant couples living in their noisy Kitsilano closets to move our way! Come on over to Sesame Street, the more the merrier! We've got sidewalk chalk!

Breakfast Gratitude

I've been carrying simple notebooks with me. Some come with me in the diaper bag, some stay at home. When I have a moment, I write down what I'm grateful for. At breakfast I ask my husband and my son to contribute. My son contributes oatmeal often. It's a nice way to start the day. I also use these books to capture:

Art ideas that pop into my head and won't go away
Questions to which I have no answer
Doodles
Things I want

Places to go

It's fun. I recommend it. Do like DaVinci and get a notebook!

Refreshing

My husband asked me why I stopped writing. I just did. I've refreshed my blog page with a spritz of water and I'll try to continue. I guess it makes sense to get back to writing since we've both been reading "The Happiness Advantage". The author, Shawn Achor lists 5 things to make you happier.

Meditate
Exercise
Keep a daily list of gratitude
Journal about good things
Do random acts of kindness

So expect more of this in my blog. All this plus cool stuff about Kensington Cedar-Cottage. It's getting better and better.