Daddy Powers?

Putting the kids to sleep is a task best left to the pros. In this case, the pro is Kate... My strengths are mostly making pillow forts, spontaneous dance parties and making the kids laugh.

One night, I had the kids to myself and had the task to put them to sleep. I planned ahead. I made sure that I got them extra tired that day. I think we played a game of "see how many times you can run around daddy in a minute", then try to beat it. Top-notch parenting.

Naiya was a breeze, she was so tired after an afternoon at the park she passed out almost immediately. At the time, Cal wasn't walking yet, so getting him tired was a little tougher... He wanted to keep playing. I tried to put him in bed but he refused. He stood in his crib and yelled for me. I was there pretty quick because I didn't want him to wake Naiya up.

At this point I thought WWKD (what would kate do?). Snuggling! ok, I can do this!

I grab Cal and his favorite blanket. Got him all wrapped up and start to snuggle him... At first he is all smiles and thinks we are going to play some new game, then it slowly dawns on him.

'Wait a minute... what are you doing? Are you trying to put me to sleep??'

For some reason, he just can't fathom the idea that I will put him to sleep, so he wiggles out of his blanket and tries to pry my glasses off my face. He succeeds. As my glasses hit the floor, he looks back at me for approval.

'that was a good throw!'

Determined I carry on rocking him and trying to calm him. He does not approve. He tries to wiggle out of my hold but I will not let him go. He keeps getting more and more agitated. He is starting to let out small squeals of disapproval. I begin to panic... WWKD?  WWKD???.

... SING!!

Sidenote: I am a terrible singer... If my nasally voice is any indication of my vocal capacity, you will get an idea of the range I have.

I start to sing "over the rainbow", like I have seen Kate do a million times. Cal stops moving... he's relaxing! Its working!! Cahlen slowly turns his head toward my voice and we make eye contact. He gives me a look that spells out "what are you doing to this song?", then he immediately starts to laugh... at first lightly then hysterical laugher! I stop singing... he's still laughing. As Cal's laugh continues on and on, it extinguishes any desire I ever had to sing ever again... I watch him slowly fade. He's laughing himself to sleep. slowly. and eventually he's out.

Mission accomplished I guess.

Mommy powers

It's 11:07pm and I have the thought "hmmm I'll go to bed at a decent time tonight." You know how superstitious people won't say things because they'll jinx them? This is one of those thoughts that if you even THINK it, you'll jinx it. I walk into our bedroom, and, damn, I forgot that Naiya fell asleep after reading books in our bed. Now for the dreaded move to her bed. Sometimes it's no problem at all, sometimes as soon as you touch her she screams and you have to postpone the mission, and sometimes, like tonight, you get to her bed, then place her down, then she screams. The problem with the last version is that when she starts crying, Cahlen wakes up. So now I'm trying to calm Naiya down and convince her that her bed is perfectly fine, and I hear rustling from Cal's crib, followed by a small whimper. Too late. Carlos hears the beginnings of this catastrophe and swoops in and grabs Cal. Phew...for now. An issue with reasoning with a 3-year-old who has just woken up, is disoriented, exhausted, and doesn't want to go to sleep because she's scared of having nightmares, is that they can not be reasoned with. The barrage of "no no no no no no" doesn't stop as she somehow wriggles half off the bed and into my lap (I'm sitting beside the bed at this point). That's it, I pull out the big guns: Over The Rainbow. I start humming the familiar tune and in less than a verse she's out cold. I call Carlos to bring Cahlen back in. As soon as he walks in and hears me humming he knows it's game over for the little guy - he places him in bed and calmly exits the room as if he's never been there. Cal whimpers once, rolls over, and is out. Mommy powers: 1, kids: 0.
If I have one piece of advice for parents, it's to pick a Mommy Lullaby and stick with it. Every night or almost every night until they fall asleep on their own (for Naiya, almost a year, for Cal, about 10 months) should do it. After that the kids will sleep when they hear the lullaby like Pavlov's dogs salivated when they heard the bell. It's f$%*ing magic.
Good night!

Going to daycare: Naiya's perspective in photos

The usual chaos in the morning (as we described earlier), was changed up a bit today when Naiya took my phone and asked to take pictures. A short demonstration ("hold it still, click the little circle, and wait") and Naiya the photographer began her documentation of the trip from home to daycare. She started with a photo of her brother, who was probably playing with something he wasn't supposed to.

There's the floor of our apartment. The beginning of the journey.

Then began the photos of objects.

A snack container.

Naiya's to-go cup of cheerios for the car ride.

The handle of her butterfly net.

Then we got everything together and headed downstairs to the car.

Those stairs look a lot more daunting from her perspective...

Once we reached the car there were a lot of really dark photos on my camera and I think this was her collection of "my carseat" photos. Oh I didn't mention before that she was announcing every photo as she took it. "I took a picture of the bushes!" "I took a picture of my carseat!"

When I heard her taking pictures in the back seat on the way to daycare I thought there would be some cool photos out the window. I was mistaken, but not disappointed.

This was one of MANY "I took a picture of my skirt!" photos. At least 10.

There are the cheerios again. Her muse.

Admiring her sticker handiwork from a few months ago.

Self-portrait.

"I took a picture of daddy!"

The one photo of outside. She was much more interested in her environment within the car, evidently.

After a few blocks of complaining that the camera wasn't working, I managed to test it at a stoplight...with a beautiful photo of our steering wheel.

"I took a picture of my hand!"

She requested an appearance by my hand as well, so I complied.

Ah, the photo evidence of the tattling on Cahlen for eating his shoe.

Once we got to the parking lot of daycare, she wanted to get a picture of Cahlen. I was very impressed by this photo, taken with no help from me except getting Cal's attention.

The parking lot.

A lone cheerio on the pavement. Partially squished, and probably from us from last week.

Naiya's dash to daycare from the car was accurately portrayed with these dizzying photos of the floor in the lobby and the floor in the daycare facility.

My bare foot snuck into this one.

I finally had to take the phone/camera back from the little photographer, but snapped one of the artist before I put it away :)

I think we need to get her a camera.

Just another random evening

...I just went upstairs and got ready for bed. My perspective is boring. Read Carlos' post.


:P

Just another random evening

After a long day of visiting with (most of) the Garcia family in Barrie, we decide to take the “gentle” highway, 27, to attempt to avoid any mishaps (or, drunken people on the 401 during the long weekend). The kids are asleep in the back, and Kate and I are listening to the end of a Radiolab. As I slow down to make (literally) the last turn of our 1hr+ drive, we see a jeep on our left, about to make a left turn into our lane in front of us. However, we also see a white car heading towards us in the opposite lane, directly in front of the jeep. As the white car passes the jeep, the jeep drives directly into the passenger side door of the white car, which skids towards us into our lane and stops. We were almost stopped because we were about to turn right, but if we had been continuing on, the white car probably would have skidded into us. 

Kate: “Holy crap”

Me: “...really?!”

I finish that right turn and pulled over. Kate and the kids (still asleep and oblivious to what happened) stay in the car. I go over and ask if everyone is OK; a young (maybe 19-year-old?) girl pops out of the jeep (“oh my god I am sooooo sorry”) and a middle-aged guy is surveying the damage to his car. They both say they are fine. I tell the man that I saw what happened and can give him my name and number if he needs it. He obliges. The girl states “I don’t have my insurance with me” and walks down the road. The man writes down the jeep’s license plate. At this point I decide there isn’t much for me to do so I leave and take the family home.

We pull into our parking spot in the alley and hear Eminem blasting and female voices attempting to rap. Apparently our teenage neighbour is having a party in the backyard. He’s a nice kid - he asks everyone to be quiet and turns the music off so we can walk by with the kids. Once we get upstairs and settled I decide that I should go back and make sure the man isn’t screwed over by the girl in the jeep. I did not regret this decision...

I walk up to the exact same scene I left 15 minutes earlier. Both cars are in the middle of the intersection, forcing traffic to slowly divert into the bike lanes to pass by. I advise them to move their cars. At this point a bus has stopped completely and has its hazard lights on, adding to the traffic. The man chooses to ignore me and the girl “can’t find her car keys” in her giant expensive brand-name purse. She finally finds her keys, and her phone, and decides to try to call the cops and attempt to start her car at the same time. With a sigh of “not a good idea” I offer to call the cops for them. Now with the cops on the way, I wait at the side of the road. 

That’s when I meet Larry. Larry is an older gentleman with short grey hair, who is calmly smoking his cigarette and watching the events pass by. We chat a bit about what we saw.

Me: “It’s funny that we drove all the way from Barrie and almost got into a head-on collision a block from home”

Larry: “You from Barrie? My son’s in Barrie”

*insert small talk about Barrie*

The first car arrives at the scene: a tow truck. They’re like scavengers. He was going way too fast with his flashing lights going, and stops dead in the middle of the road. An eager-looking goatee-toting 20-something-year old guy jumps out: “Is everyone OK? Are you OK?”...clearly an alpha. Then he stops as if to think “this is my chance!” and decides to take charge of the situation. He scurries back to his truck to collect a fluorescent vest and a flashlight. Channelling his inner Chris Farley (picture Tommy Boy with a flashlight trying to direct traffic), he motions to the bus. The bus driver bluntly shakes his head “no”. Defeated, he turns off his flashlight and takes off his vest. 

That’s when, let’s call him, Glen, walks by. About the same age as Larry and not as well-kept: long grey hair past his shoulders and an ever-receding hairline, wearing sweatpants clearly past their prime. He has a look about him that I can only describe as “crazy eyes”.

Glen: “Hey Larry what’s going on here?”

Larry: “Just a bit of a mess”

Glen: “Oh ya...” as he slows his stride and closely watches the cops arrive

Larry: “Is Bobby still at the bar?”

Glen: “Um yup they’re still there...Uh....I got to get going, this beer in my pocket is starting to fizz up”

I glance down at his pants and see foam coming out of his pocket and a slowly growing wet spot forming underneath. 

The cops are taking statements from the two involved in the accident. The second tow truck arrives. He parks managing to block the only open lane in the intersection, and gets out of his truck. Another goatee. Noticing that the other tow truck driver is talking to the man involved in the accident, he takes the opportunity to make his way towards the young girl and her car and try to claim his prey. 

As we stand there, Larry looks over and suddenly looks shocked.

Larry: “Holy shit, I know the girl”

Me: “You do? How?”

Larry: “She dated my son for a while. Poor girl doesn’t have a chance, she’s a horrible driver. She couldn’t parallel park to save her life. The other day she came up to me and gloated ‘Im going to be on a reality show!’”

Me: “Oh ya? Which one?”

Larry: “Canada’s Worst Driver! The new season! I swear, look it up, you’ll see her”

Me: “That’s fitting”

Larry: “You know what’s worse? Her dad’s a pilot!”

Me: “I...can’t even...the irony...”

At this point I see my opening to talk to one of the cops - he takes my name and number - and it’s getting late. I say bye to Larry and head home.

Half way down the dark alley I realize the short cut is a bit sketchy but I continue anyways. Closer to home I hear rustling in the bushes and two teenagers from the earlier backyard party scurry out, slightly adjusting their clothing. I shake my head in parental disapproval. They hurry back to the backyard. I ponder how to not make it look like I’m a random guy emerging from the shadows and following them home, as I follow behind them into the backyard. They’re spooked slightly but quickly remember they had seen me walk by earlier. I head upstairs to bed.

Me: “Kate, have I got a story for you...”

Our new blog

So after a few misunderstandings because of seeing things from different perspectives, Carlos and I decided we wanted to start a blog showing situations from our respective perspectives. Whether it's a regular morning in the Garcia-Fagan household, or one of our random adventures, we're going to start writing it down. So that's it! I'm excited to start writing again and Carlos is excited to participate in this little venture. Carlos will be adding illustrations at times too, so watch for those. Maybe we'll post some pictures. Well that's all from me for now!

Top o' the morning!

My mind chooses to ignore alarm clocks subconsciously. I don't do it on purpose. I really do try to get up in the morning. Lately I've just conceded to the fact that I will never be an early riser. I'll get up early sometimes, but I definitely won't be happy about it. This hasn't been the best of situations since I became a mom. Especially a mom to 10-month-old Cahlen who likes to get up at 6am, ready to start his regular day of eating, screaming, babbling, crawling, climbing, and other baby things (read: bodily functions). At least Naiya likes to sleep in.

After sleeping through 2, maybe 3, alarms I'll open my eyes amidst the beeping and radio personality conversations to see one of three things: 1. Cahlen screaming at my face as a "good morning mommy!" as Carlos swoops him in towards me; 2. Naiya standing stoic by the bed, calmly stating that she NEEDS milk; or 3. Carlos, exasperated after 2 hours of watching morning television and attempting to keep Cahlen from eating electrical wires, saying "really, Kate, it's almost 8:30."

Then the rush begins. The blur of Cheerios, baby cereal, squealing, morning cartoons, "I don't want to", diapers, tiny clothes, cold coffee, bottles, stifled swearing after a close encounter with a stray lego piece, and the inevitable rush back up the stairs to collect the forgotten car keys, all culminates in the slamming of the car doors with the kids inside. We both take a much-needed breath of silent air.

After the hand-off to the hard-working daycare staff, and the purchase of an unnecessarily large coffee, I casually drive back home to start my day of crunching numbers, reading, and writing up results.

I'll save the description of after work for another post.

Welcome to my perspective.