And then there were two!
Life is all relative.
I can remember having my first child and being stunned at the grocery store when there were no clerks to help carry my groceries to the car. After all, I had a baby with me. Who could be expected to cope with a baby?
I would notice mothers of more than one child and be appalled that sometimes their kids would seem to wander off or that the mothers were not paying attention to the children one hundred percent of the time. I have learned in life that close minded thoughts like this are a little like karma: it is guaranteed that they will come back and bite you in the ass when you least expect it.
Now, as the mother of three boys, trips to the grocery store generally involve at least one child. And I lovingly remember how much more pliable a baby is than a squirming toddler. And when we are out as a group, I can only hope that I can keep the kids corralled (sic?) in one place and not breaking bones someplace. It is a little like Linette Skavo from Desparate Housewives, except that I lost the sexy undergarments somewhere along the line ... er, and the will to try to tame the masses. Three kids can wear you down.
Flashback to this weekend:
I lost a spouse to the Canadian tradition of hockey tournaments. Out of town with the eldest at a hotel (bless their souls) filled with other seven year old hockey players and their dads. It was an exhausting weekend of sitting by the indoor pool and reading a book. An exhausting weekend of rating the abilities of seven year old boys to make farting noises with their underarms. Gratefully, my son was not the winner of this competition.
And my weekend, of just two boys was delightful. We went train riding. Literally.
There is a light rail train in Ottawa called the O Train.
Understand this: it covers a total of about 10 kilometers going from "close to downtown" to "closer to downtown" over a series of five stops. It is not expensive and the total trip is less than 10 minutes, assuming you don't ride back and then repeat the cycle four times.
There are photos coming as soon as I can get the from the laptop to the blog, a seeminging easy thing for most bloggers. Decidely complicated when helped by six additional hands. Anyway, I digress. The challenge that I find with three boys is that there is a six year gap between the youngest and the oldest. The almost eight year old is bored of anything that does not involve 1)friends 2)technology 3) food. Preferably all three at the same time.
BTW - Here is the map of the path taken by the train:
It was an absolute hoot. My four (and three quarters) year old brought a friend and we changed seats at every station. We talked about the tunnels. We checked out the connections between the cars. We went over an "ocean" (who would have thunk that Ottawa had an ocean) and we were pretty sure we spotted a whale. It is amazing how life is seen through the eyes of children. There were people on the train there that take it every day (it is the equivalent of a subway) and never see the wonder that these four year olds were able to see.
And, of course, there were snacks. The one bit of advice that I would give is that jello jigglers are NOT a good train snack, despite the assurances of people under three feet tall.
I can remember having my first child and being stunned at the grocery store when there were no clerks to help carry my groceries to the car. After all, I had a baby with me. Who could be expected to cope with a baby?
I would notice mothers of more than one child and be appalled that sometimes their kids would seem to wander off or that the mothers were not paying attention to the children one hundred percent of the time. I have learned in life that close minded thoughts like this are a little like karma: it is guaranteed that they will come back and bite you in the ass when you least expect it.
Now, as the mother of three boys, trips to the grocery store generally involve at least one child. And I lovingly remember how much more pliable a baby is than a squirming toddler. And when we are out as a group, I can only hope that I can keep the kids corralled (sic?) in one place and not breaking bones someplace. It is a little like Linette Skavo from Desparate Housewives, except that I lost the sexy undergarments somewhere along the line ... er, and the will to try to tame the masses. Three kids can wear you down.
Flashback to this weekend:
I lost a spouse to the Canadian tradition of hockey tournaments. Out of town with the eldest at a hotel (bless their souls) filled with other seven year old hockey players and their dads. It was an exhausting weekend of sitting by the indoor pool and reading a book. An exhausting weekend of rating the abilities of seven year old boys to make farting noises with their underarms. Gratefully, my son was not the winner of this competition.
And my weekend, of just two boys was delightful. We went train riding. Literally.
There is a light rail train in Ottawa called the O Train.
Understand this: it covers a total of about 10 kilometers going from "close to downtown" to "closer to downtown" over a series of five stops. It is not expensive and the total trip is less than 10 minutes, assuming you don't ride back and then repeat the cycle four times. There are photos coming as soon as I can get the from the laptop to the blog, a seeminging easy thing for most bloggers. Decidely complicated when helped by six additional hands. Anyway, I digress. The challenge that I find with three boys is that there is a six year gap between the youngest and the oldest. The almost eight year old is bored of anything that does not involve 1)friends 2)technology 3) food. Preferably all three at the same time.
BTW - Here is the map of the path taken by the train:
It was an absolute hoot. My four (and three quarters) year old brought a friend and we changed seats at every station. We talked about the tunnels. We checked out the connections between the cars. We went over an "ocean" (who would have thunk that Ottawa had an ocean) and we were pretty sure we spotted a whale. It is amazing how life is seen through the eyes of children. There were people on the train there that take it every day (it is the equivalent of a subway) and never see the wonder that these four year olds were able to see.
And, of course, there were snacks. The one bit of advice that I would give is that jello jigglers are NOT a good train snack, despite the assurances of people under three feet tall.
posted by y-vonne at 5:06 AM
3 Comments:
I am always amazed at how you manage to enrich your boys lives with various experiences. Most working moms would opt to stay home and let them do whatever. And by the way, the "then there were two" still managed to turn into "then there were three again"...or is my math off?
We LOVE the O-Train!! And to think, you'd have to pay big bucks and stand in line for that much excitement at an amusement park, but with my transit pass and Simon under two, we only have to pay fare for one!
What a simple, fun way to spend the day with people under 3 feet tall! I loved this post, mostly because although I only have two boys (4.5 and 2.5)... I can relate to so much of it.
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