My #Son and I are at a Standoff

22 minutes and counting…

We drove to my man’s house for our usual Tuesday night where all the neighbourhood kids get together and play. As soon as my son got off the bus, he started asking to go back to school… “school please”.

We waited for my daughter to come home from her carpool from school then tried to get into the car…”computer please”, “school please”, “mommy please”.

That discussion took about 15 minutes.

We pulled into my man’s driveway and my daughter jumped out of the car to run inside and start playing with the kids who had already assembled. My man came outside to find me sitting on his front porch and my son in the car. Sometimes, this just happens. Takes him a few minutes to acclimatize from school to home to my man’s home. My man went inside to get chips to try to bribe him out. That didn’t work. So he got me my chai, and a snack.

I’m now set up on his front porch, with my laptop, my chai, some snacks and my son’s Elmo. Every couple of minutes, I go back to the car (I’m in plain sight) and ask if he wants to come in…”no please” and he pulls the door shut. About 20 minutes ago, I open the back of my sexy hatchback so he can have fresh air because it’s raining so I can’t just open the windows.

So, I updated both my blog Facebook Page and my personal Facebook with:

“My son and I are at a stand off…he won’t get out of the car for some reason. I’m sitting on the porch waiting…but I have chai, snacks, his Elmo, my laptop, stubbornness and patience on my side. He has Autism. I’m winning this one.”

I’ll admit that it’s also helping with the writer’s block I’ve been feeling for MONTHS now. I’ve been posting lots of videos on my Youtube channel but just haven’t felt the need/desire/want to write. I have taken video throughout the standoff, which I will post later on my Youtube channel but I wanted to share this with everyone RIGHT. NOW!

44 minutes and counting…

#WordlessWednesday – Daughter’s Playdate

My daughter and our neighbour’s son (aka my daughter’s “boyfriend”) had a playdate this week after school. Of course it included lying down in the grass, and pretending to nap. 🙂

 

Birthday (#InspireMe2014Challenge)

Today’s Inspire Me 2014 Writing Prompt is: When is your birthday?! We’d all like to send some wishes.

My birthday is October 10, which usually falls on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend so there’s always lots of pumpkin pie, which is just fine by me! In 2013, it was in the middle of the week. This year, it’s the Friday of the Thanksgiving weekend. Interestingly, I share my birthday with my mom…but no, I wasn’t “mean” and forced her to be in labour on her birthday. I’m adopted. My dad wanted a redhead and my mom and I have the same birthday – match made!

When is your birthday?

Love #Canadian #Winter Wonderland!

We had our first snowfall overnight. Where we live, we don’t get much snow that actually stays on the ground, but if you drive even 20mins outside of town, they get tons of snow.

My man mentioned this morning how awesome the snow on the trees would be as a backdrop for a photo shoot so, after we did kid drop off, I told him to get his hat, mitts and camera…and “made” him go take some pictures, just because. As a professional photographer, he rarely gets to take pictures “just because”. Ironically, I’m the one between us who is usually snapping candid photos of all of us because it’s much easier to quickly take my cell phone out and click a picture than getting his monstrosity of a camera out and taking a pic.

So, here are some of the pics I took…

          

     

Of course I snapped a couple of him doing the thing he does. I particularly like this one…he “caught” me sneaking a picture.

So of course, he stole my cell out of my pocket later on, and “returned the favour”…me with my chai. He also apparently clicked some pictures of me holding my chai and my cell phone too…much more “me”. I’ll post them on my blog when he has time to download them.

In about a month or so, we’ll all be complaining about how cold and miserable it is, but this morning was a beautiful Canadian winter wonderland and I’m glad that I “forced him” to go out and take pictures, just because…

#RemembranceDay

I was fortunate all 3 of my grandfathers survived WWII. So, at 11am today, I will be taking a few moments to thank them through prayer. I’m also sending a huge thank you to those who have served, who are serving, and will serve, along with their families who support and worry about them.

Lest We Forget!

Our Little #Polydactyl #Kitten

After the kids went to bed last night, I was sitting on the couch, with a movie on in the background and studying. Eventually our kitten, Patches, came to cuddle up beside me and fell asleep. I looked down and saw so much cuteness…

Then I realized I could get a great photo of one of his front paws…

Yes, that’s ONE paw. He has 8 toes on each of his front paws, and 6 toes on each of his back paws. Initially, we counted 7 toes on his front paws, but when I cut his nails the first time, I realized there were actually 8 toes. Never having had a kitten before, I don’t know if his activities are “normal” but I swear this kitten uses the extra toes as an opposable thumb. My daughter’s favourite game with him is to tickle his belly while he’s lying on his back, and he wraps his legs and “thumbs” around her arm. She’s able to pick him up by lifting his arm because he can hold on so well. He can also jump REALLY high, regularly from the back of the couch and almost landing on my shoulder while I’m standing up…and I’m a tall girl at 5’10”!

 

Our original cat is still getting used to him, but at least they can be in the same room. She doesn’t hiss at him until he gets a couple of inches away from her. We tell her to be nice, and I tell the kitten to stop being an instigator. He understands that word, right? 😉

My Own Version of a Car Care PSA

My kids are at their dad’s for some of the next week so Saturday around noon, I decided to go to my parents’ place for the weekend. Just like that. No preparation. No advance thought. Nothing. Made the decision, packed an overnight bag, and left. Still strange just thinking about it. With kids gone, all I took was my purse, cell, laptop and an overnight bag. How strange is that????

 

While I was there, my dad was very kind to check out my car for me. When I was a kid, he showed me how to check the oil and windshield washer fluid, which I still remember to do often today.

 

This weekend, he checked the “something” that was hanging down from underneath my car, where he found out that it needs some additional care from someone who is not lying on his back with a bazillion pound car precariously balancing on a mini ramp he created. I cleaned out the inside of my car…found those two kid-bowls that were missing! He also put air in my tires, showing me (probably for the hundredth time but I never remember) where to find the PSI number for my tires (it’s actually on the tire itself. Go figure!). He seemed happy that I knew where my spare tire is, and even better, how to get to it if I need it. I told him that the jack is a bit difficult to get to, but at least I know how.

 

Something I had never thought of was to check the air pressure in my spare tire. He checked it, and found out that it was pretty much flat. Not because there was a hole, it just had been lying there since the car was manufactured…in 2006. So ladies and gents, I ask that you take a few minutes to check the pressure in your tires AND your spare tire. You don’t want to be stuck with a flat on the side of a highway, with cars zipping past at 100km per hour, only to find out that your spare tire is flat too.

 

There’s my Public Service Announcement for the day. You’re welcome. 😉

Wordless Wednesday – Ummm…?

Am I missing something here?

And here…?

 

Wordless Wednesday – #Bacon!

Look what I found!!

Motivational Monday – Successful People

How do you define “successful”?