Moose Thank goodness for DS. The school is putting in the proper effort. We were just talking the other day with other about the school system here and its grand to have a wide scope of children in a class but the support structure is not there. You can't have 32 students in a class and expect that all the kids are getting what they need out of school. Anyhow, I could rant about this topic because I feel it is seriously failing from Pre-school to Post-Graduate degrees, but you'd all get bored. Glad the light at the end of the tunnel is casting the light you need.
Dog I hope my FB comment wasn't to crass. It sort of came from a line I heard on Weeds when the lead character was managing a Maternity store and a woman came in and said, when handed one of the bumps you can put on to try maternity wear, "Oh my. I can't imagine 6 month belly", and 'Nancy' says "Ya, wait till you see six month ass". It was just a very funny scene.
Camping was so much fun and DD loved it. Our campground had a pool, hot tub and manmade lake. Needless to say, I was in the hot tub, lots. DD and I hung out at the beach too with all her new beach toys. Next year I'm bringing a little fishing rod because they stock the pond with trout for eating. How cool! The little town, Coombs, has fun little touristy things too, like Parrot World, (lol self-explanatory) The Pie House, all pies, all kinds, the market is fab full of fresh, organic and cheap fruit and veg, baked goods to die for... well, its cottage country up there, lots of Americans and Chinese visitors too, but clearly someone has some taste for the good life but not costing like you'd expect. DH and I even contemplated going up there for a day trip and big shop. It would almost be worth it. Its only 1 1/2 hour drive away too. The mountains were still snowcapped so you can tell we are not having the weather we are use to here. I've posted some new pictures to FB. Someone told me there is a way to share photos on FB to people who aren't on FB so I'll have a look to see if it works. Our new tent was bigger than we thought once we got it fully up! HUGE!!! LOVE IT! When we go by ourselves we'll be able to set up our little table and cooking stuff even and DD can have her own 'room' too. Well, we'll definitely be getting her, her own sleeping bag. She is such a bed hog! lol
The thing with spending such much close time with your friends and their families is that you start to see where the seams get thin, so to speak. I didn't see it, but a couple of the other parents did, but C, one friends stepDS, who is 10 and the epitome of an over-programed child, (lovely boy though, really, just lots of changes and no real time for him to be 10) was caught shaking and fish hooking his little brother to get him to stop crying, who's almost 2 but is currently undergoing MIR's to find out why he is barely sitting up, let alone standing, and when I heard about it, the light went on, because the doctors are baffled and can't find anything wrong. Things have only become minimally better since they realized he needed glasses. C is left alone with Z a lot to 'watch' him. Anyone that saw it are wrestling with telling J, the mom, because they have so much on their plates already. They're worried that C will get in trouble instead of having explained to him why not to it. But anyhow, he shouldn't be babysitting at 10. HIs mother is getting remarried too this weekend and is pregnant, so C must be in a weird place, being shuffled 50/50 between parents.
The other thing is more of a bitch about one of the moms but I don't want it to sound bitchy, iyswim. I got up and put on oatmeal with blueberries for DD and the other kids and there was plenty for parents too. I put on big thing of coffee and plate of cut up fruit, juice out, breakfast stuff, you know, get the kids fed then the rest is butter. She gets up with G, her DS, 22 months, and gives him a big cup of milk. That's fine, but then she hands him the plate with the cheesy puffs on it from the night before. He ate a couple, cried, she gave him a piece of banana, he ate it, cried, she gave him a packet of craisins, he ate and whined. I told her there was oatmeal for him and she said, 'Oh ya, we'll get to it'. I was watching her, because I was sitting down having coffee and breakfast with DD and some of the other kids, and I can say, I'm not entirely sure what she was doing most of the time. She finally sat down with her mammoth travel mug, that emptied the big coffee I made, (whatever, you can make more, but come on, really, you don't need to fill the cup just because you can, it was like a 3 cup coffee mug!) She got herself some oatmeal, but by then, G is not interested, he's beyond eating, he's clingy and super whiney, then starts the opening of pre-packaged food to feed him, none of which he really ate, just nibbled. That's how she fed him the whole time, which means he never really ate, and was cranky the whole time. He spends most of his time with the Thai Nanny, who is extremely efficient but not so friendly, but G is use to the extreme routine. At least start his day with proper structure. Other things were like, she only took him for a walk in the stroller; he hardly walks, but that might be because he is always wearing these horrific platformish shoes, so he can't feel how to walk and she never walks with him; carries or puts in stroller. He wasn't even in his bare feet when we went to the beach and she wouldn't go into the pool because there was some kids in there. Weird. I don't know. DH said it was like having a kid was an accessory for her, and it almost seems like that. Not that she doesn't adore her LO, I think she has come to depend on her nanny so much, she is out of her element when left on her own with G. Her DH is RCMP and is extremely over protective of G too. The most protective parent I have ever watched. Anyhow, I love these people but when they're sitting in front of you complaining, and you know what the problem is but it would be/could be, a touchy subject once breached, what do you say? Well, my new approach is to keep my mouth shut. I've also found out that I'm the rock star mom in our group, () so I don't want that to be a point of contention, iyswim. It was a fun camping trip anyhow. Actually, I had to laugh too because all the kids were sick by the second night, but the previous night, (we weren't up there yet) all the kids shared R's bath water and he had an ear infection, but they were all talking like, 'how did that happen?' Funny.