Mom blog: List for the first December weekend

Parental public relations
I am still reeling from the public relations gaffe of yesterday—not the pretend bomb at the ROM in Toronto (the “art” student should be studying life from inside the forensic system for a while as a thank-you for wrecking a charity gala), or the Australian firm that instructed its Santas to say “Ha ha ha” instead of “Ho ho ho” this year, but the situation I found myself in yesterday—three kids sick for almost a week and three report cards delivered home the day before interviews. Three kids, three different schools, all with parent-teacher interviews on November 29 afternoon and evening. Given even two days of notice, I might have been able to organize some semblance of order. As it was I feel asleep with a pillow over my face, fully clothed, as I was turning down the covers for Luka. No worry, I did wake up an hour later and stopped the partying of three kids looking at a PD day today, Friday. Will the fun ever end?

Ah, the first weekend in December
It is here, the weekend that Christmas really starts. And, as I mentioned,

Mom blog: Speaking sweet nothings in his sleep

My six-year-old Luka is the light of my life—alongside the equally brilliant balls of fire Tessa and Graydon, of course.
Luka is going through the stage where he doesn’t want to “give kisses” to anyone or anything but Angel the cat, the bunnies, and select stuffed animals.
No pressure.
I can live for a certain amount of time without my six-year-old’s kisses.
The saying of “I love you” has predictably taken on a little more significance.

“I love you,” I say.

“I know that,” he says, followed a beat later by, “I love you too.”

So, last night, about an hour and a half

Mom blog: Christmas cookie exchange

Finally I did something on the weekend other than cook and clean and run kids all over the city (all of which I still did, of course). I went to my first-ever cookie exchange. Yes, I had read about them in Canadian Living magazine, and I’m sure there must have been one in the hundreds of Martha’s mags that I have in the basement, but I’d never attended one. And it’s not for lack of baking. We have been baking and decorating “fancy” cookies since my daughter was three and I wanted to come up with a type of cookie she could really participate in. Those pictures of toddlers with flour all over their heads, faces, hair, arms and fronts may be cute but they made me cringe. I did not, and do not, like the thought of little kids hands, no matter how scrubbed, anywhere near something that might be ingested by anyone but themselves. Do I sound a little freaky?!?

Mom blog: Photo homage to fall

Thank You!
Such beautiful photos! After running photo contests for years, and being both surprised and horrified at what came in, I can say honestly that this one was a breeze. Excellent shots, good guesses on the resolution, and with snow and ice all over the dead leaves here, a welcome sight. Next time, I will give a little more notice and an incentive of some kind. I know a lot of readers are occasional readers, and that tons and tons of those never think to reply, but that’s OK. As you read and become more familiar, I just know you’re going to want to say hi!

On with the pics!

Mom blog: Enchanted movie review

Reminder
Please go through your digi pics and send me what fall means to you and your family. I’ll be posting them Monday, so you’ve got Saturday and Sunday! Use jacquelyn.momblog@yahoo.com
Our American neighbours are in the midst of Black Friday right now—Macy’s opened at 4 a.m.; some stores opened at midnight (that’s far more civil than 4 a.m.). Black Friday? What’s black about getting deals and making sales? Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929: worst day ever on Wall Street. Black Monday, October 19, 1987: largest percentage loss in the American stock market. But Black Friday? It refers to the colour of the ledger ink that this day’s shopping will cause—big sales, stores are in the black, poor sales and stores are in the red. Those Americans—thought-provoking names for everything!

And now, on with the review
My film-reviewing crew and I hit the theatre in the middle of a rainstorm Wednesday evening for opening night of Disney’s latest, Enchanted. All I knew going in was what I saw on the trailers on TV: a revisionist fairy tale

Mom blog: Ontario high school student drug use survey—parents, lock up your prescriptions!!!

P.S. (this is a prescript, as opposed to a postscript) Since I couldn’t actually post this posting until the afternoon yesterday, I’m leaving it up today, and will post anew tomorrow. If you can’t wait, the movie Enchanted was 5 stars out of 5, details tomorrow, and send your fall photos, which you now have all weekend to work on, since I will be posting them on Monday, to jacquelyn.momblog@yahoo.com!

Being the proud and terrified owner of two teenagers, I have been awaiting the release of the 2007 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, released yesterday by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. It is in its 30th year of surveying high schoolers, and this year 6,323 students from Grade 7 to 12 took part.

The good news
• Crystal meth and methamphetamine use seems not to be enjoying the rampant popularity it has in the States:

Mom blog: Photo call!

I was watching CNN Saturday morning (or listening, actually, while washing all the dang dishes because of that stupid, sulky dishwasher that refuses to work). Thanksgiving week has started for our American buds, and I was wondering, when did it become Thanksgiving week instead of weekend, or has italways been referred to as Thanksgiving week? We took down the Halloween decos last week, and bought LED lights for the front yesterday. Gads! Time moves quickly.

We had a fleeting Martha moment on the weekend (and it’s a sad thing: Martha’s mum passed away this weekend). One child was raking a quarter of all of Toronto’s leaves—they all fall on our lawn—another played in the leaves and

Mom blog: Fat-A-Thon

It’s no secret my son Graydon had leukemia, diagnosed at 8, chemotherapy until he was 11, off-treatment and a survivor for three years now. It’s no secret that it changed his life and our family’s life forever. We all carry the aftermath, him most of all (don’t get me started!).

Mom blog: Does it all come down to laundry?

I’ve been thinking a lot about laundry lately.
1. Could it have to do with my broken dishwasher—as I washed the umpteenth load of dishes this morning, I thought, “What if the washer breaks down and I have to do laundry by hand?”
2. Playskool’s new Rose Petal Cottage has been getting lots of play on CourtTV, during the show cause hearing for O.J. and the alleged get-my-stuff-back caper in Las Vegas. The little cottage has a little washing machine, and the ad shows a cute little toddler girl shoving clothes in the washing machine. Eeeyuk. Tea parties. Baking cookies. Not doing the laundry.
3. Because of the placement of said ad, I can’t help but think of the bloody glove every time.

Mom blog: oh no, the big truth.

Last night was that night every mother, and parent, dreads (aside from news of fire, accident, disease, kidnapping, poisoning, incarceration, unplanned pregnancy, OK, there are lots of things we parents dread).
Upon tucking into bed, 6-year-old son says, “I know where babies come from.”
“Yes, honey, we all do. From Mummy.”
“No, I know how it got there.”
“Sure, from a little collection of eggs—”
“I know how you MAKE IT!”

Oh God. I thought I had a year, at least, this time.

Then he clammed up. All he would say was his cousin Kevan told him (9 years old),