John pooped in his potty!!!!!

Woohoo!!!!

It happened yesterday. I was cooking dinner, and John scooted past, headed for the bathroom. Not an uncommon thing, now that he's peeing in the toilet. But a minute later, he came back, all excited, and squealed "Mom! I did it! I made poop! Come see!!!!"

And sure enough, in his potty was a poop!!!! Woohoo! Of course, then he treated me to the play by play: "I sat down and I squeezed and I squeezed and I squeezed until it was there!"

Until that moment, John insisted on pooping in a diaper. If he didn't have one on, he's insist that I put one on. In Edmonton, he got into the habit of pooping in a diaper, leaning over the toilet, which I thought was progress. But this was a huge leap! I'm so proud!

I think it was inspired by a little incident that took place as we headed out of Edmonton. I had put a diaper on him for the trip, and then, as I was packing the car, he pooped in it. We kind of had to get out quick, because the guy was already there to collect the keys, and he was wearing my last diaper anyway, so there wasn't a whole lot I could do. So he had to go to the car all poopy, and he absolutely hates sitting, let alone being strapped into a car seat, filled with poop. To make matters worse, I then had to haul him through a pharmacy to pick up more diapers, and he hates walking filled with poop. And then, I had to change him in the car, which was loaded with stuff, so he had to lay down on the driver's seat, while I stood outside, with the door open. Then I had to pull down his pants, exposing his nether regions to the biting -38 degree wind, while I wiped him clean. The whole time this was happeneing, he whimpered to himself "I'm a tough guy. I'm a tough guy."

Needless to say, it wasn't a pleasant experience for him, and the whole time I reminded him if he'd used the toilet, this wouldn't be happening. And lo and behold, the next day, he used the toilet!

It's helping that the dipers they had at the pharmacy were all wrong. They have Mickey and Minney Mouse on them, which he despises. He thinks they're too babyish. He's still in diapers at bedtime, and he makes me put them on backwards, because he hates the mice so much. Mike got a kick out of that one. He rightly said if you're old enough to have a preference, you're too old to wear them. But he's very close to being fully toilet trained. Unfortunately, he doesn't much like underwear, either. He says they're scary, because they're too different. But that's just a matter of getting used to them, I think. Not sure he's ready for underwear at nighttime, though. He's woken up dry now and then. I guess if I just go cold turkey on the diapers, he'll learn to hold it overnight, right? I have no clue.

Anyway, better go. Lots to do today. I have lots of errands to run, and I'm trying to get John to the YMCA in time for a preschool open gym time that sounds like lots of fun. He says he doesn't want to go, but I know once I get him there, he won't want to leave! I'll try to download that camera tonight, too. I haven't posted a picture in too long, and I have a whole bunch of them in there.

we're home to stay!

we're home, as in our Calgary home. To stay, as in, until the next temporary transfer. The last of the guys were sent home today - we found out about it last night. Sure is nice to know we're no longer semi-nomadic. At least for now! There was a certain charm to it all, though. Mike felt that coming home on the weekends made this place feel like a summer cottage, and he was definitely right. And it really makes this place feel a lot bigger. After living in a one room, 600 square foot bachelor apartment, this place feels downright luxurious. Like, we have a bedroom. With a door and everything. And a dining table that can seat more than 2. Imagine that!

Just as we were heading out, I got a call from the neurology dept at the Alberta Children's hospital - it was the admissions nurse collecting info on Joan. I'm going to assume they're doing the MRI. The nurse didn't know - she's just admissions, so she has no access to actual files. But she said we'll be getting either a call or a letter to let us know her appointment dates. MRIs are in pretty high demand, so they could very well be months down the road, but a hard deadline is always good. I'll keep you posted. I should be able to update more often now that we're home, with 'round the clock internet access. I even have pictures!

Oh, and the weather you've been hearing about is true - it got to -38 last night - that's even before the windchill. Not fun at all! Even with mittens, it feels like your fingers will fall off after a few minutes. The burn of frostnip is almost instantaneous. It hurts to breathe. It's a little warmer in Calgary. I think it was -29 as we headed into town, arount 11 p.m. I heard it was -32 in the day in Edmonton. The worst I saw it during the day with windchill was -47. And school was still on! Poor kids. Apparently, it's a blast of arctic air escaping over the mountains. They have a name for it, but I can't recall. Should pass by Friday. All I've got to say, is if I ever get the urge to move to Whitehorse, remind me of this week!

doc update

just a quick note, before Mike takes the laptop to work...

We have a doctor! Turns out they really DO have a serious doctor shortage here after all. But we got one, because of Joan's condition - his receptionist agreed we needed one urgently, so let us through.

He's an older guy, but he seems good. He's getting everything underway for us. He's a bit disgusted she wasn't sent to a cardiologist, but she's being sent to one here. They have a special stroke clinic, with a pediatric specialist on board, so they'll do the MRI. They also have a pediatric cardiology clinic here, so he's trying to get her there for an ECG. He said it's best to do everything through the children's hospital, because they know more about these conditions in little kids, so that's where he's trying to get her in. He didn't know much about the physio clinic, so he called the children's hospital while I was there, to find out how to get her in, and they said they'll take her. So now it's just a big transfer of files, and getting everything set up again. A huge, huge relief!

Anyway, better go. He said we'll know about timelines in about a week.

we're still here!

A quick post - it's hard to get online these days, but we're back in Calgary for a day, so figured I'd better log in to say hey. I have new pictures, too, but my camera is here, but the cord is in Edmonton, so that will have to wait, unfortunately.

I guess I'll start with the big news. We sold the house on Monday. We're not very happy - we JUST made enough to cover all the costs. We each have our own way of making it ok in our minds. For me, I just remind myself that we did roll a $25,000 line of credit into the mortgage just a few months ago, so it's like we paid off $25,000 in debt over and above everything else. For Mike, he finds comfort by remembering all the corroded, leaky pipes held together with electrical tape, which are now someone else's problem. The place was a real ticking timebomb. We had smoking outlets, sparking bare wires, wobbly toilets that wouldn't always flush, and a leaning porch, not to mention extensive water damage and a leaking roof dangerously close to collapsing in several places. But our big consolation - we can finally get on with our lives. We don't know anything about the guy who bought it, other than he's paying the full amount in cash, didn't bother with a home inspection, and he wants it February 14.

Back in the west, we're still in Edmonton - Mike just had a day off, and we'd forgotten some things, and needed to check in on the cats, so headed back to Calgary last night, and will probably go back to Edmonton tomorrow morning. This is all getting a little...gruelling. It's disjointing for everyone, all this travel. John can't keep track of where the heck we are.

Edmonton is...different. Neither of us like it. We both remember it as a very classy city, but it's not like that this time. Not sure if we've changed, or the city. They still seem to have the same job shortages, but there are lots of homeless bums skulking about. I keep thinking it's just our neighbourhood, but Mike says it's pretty rough all over the place. They're downright scary. One of them was sleeping in our lobby the other day. Our little unit is right across the street from a grocery store. John and I headed over the night we sold the house to pick up some ice cream to "celebrate", and as we were walking along, some guy came bursting out of the shadows and ran straight up to me. I actually screamed, and started running away. He looked a little shocked - I don't think he intended to scare me. But there are some things you just don't do to women - especially women with young kinds - in parking lots past dark. There's more of a mean streak in Edmonton. The drivers are rude, the people are cold. I really like Calgary - I'd recommend it to anyone. Edmonton - not so much. But it's not for that much longer. Heck, it might end any day now. I'm actually a little annoyed about what's going on with Mike's transfer. Just before they were dispatched, the company gave everyone a call to see what kind of living arrangements they were able to get. Shortly after, all the guys with families were told they didn't have to go - every guy with family except Mike. He's the only one who made arrangements to bring his entire family with him. (Their concern was separating families.) A few days ago, they called a big meeting. All guys except four were told they were being sent back to Calgary. Mike was one of the four. Why? Because he'd uprooted his whole family to be here. If we hadn't gotten the place we did, not only would they have let him stay home, but even if he was sent, he'd be home by now. Five days. Not six weeks, like planned - five freaking days. But the logic is, with only four guys remaining, there should be enough work for those four guys to stay busy. A week of 10 techs made short work of the majority of the backlog, but it's apparently still busy enough to keep a few behind. Telus is doing a huge advertising campaign in Edmonton, apparently.

The kids are doing well. John is really missing school. He keeps asking where the other kids are, and whether he can go to school. It's heartbreaking. But I've managed to find a mishmash of various programs he can go to in Edmonton - through the library and Alberta's answer to the Early Years Centres. Lots of sing-a-longs, puppet shows, story-times, open play times. All free drop-in programs. It's not as good as the best start prgram - nothing can match that program. But at least it's interaction with peers. Mike meets lots of young moms here, and he tells them all about John's school and how great it was. There's no reason they can't put more into early education here. It made such an amazing difference in John. His self-esteem alone really blossomed there. He ended that program so confident and eager to try new things. It was great.

Joan's doing great. She's lots of fun. She's learned to point, which makes communicating a little easier. She's even starting to talk! She's said "No" "Up" "Yeah" and "Eat". I'm trying to get her to use her words more, but it's slowly coming. Just wish she could crawl! Her hand is getting stronger, and she uses her right arm a lot now. But she's not making huge progress. Tomorrow's big job is getting a doctor for her. It's tough without internet, and we had no phone in Edmonton until Tuesday. I met one at a clinic I really liked who was taking patients, but Mike didn't like the sounds of him. (This person will be Mike's doctor, too, so yes, his opinion matters). I had taken her in for what looked like an earache, which turned out to be nothing. He gave her a thorough look, and said her murmer was quite loud. He was really excited to talk about her stroke, and knew all about the condition. He said we might run into problems later, if she's not actually a lefty genetically. Not sure if that's true - no-one else mentioned that, but the therapist did say she may need help with writing down the road, so maybe they're just trying to spare me the worry by not telling me the full story. With all the lefties on my side, it may never be an issue anyway.

We took the kids to see the mountains just before we left for Edmonton. John slept the whole drive there, but the dropped jaw he had when he woke up surrounded by big peaks was priceless. He was speechless for the first few minutes, then finally whispered "It's big." And everyone who knows John knows it would take a lot to render him speechless!

Well, I had better go for now. We have a number for Edmonton now, and when we get back there, I'll e-mail it around. It's hard to keep track of stuff when some things are here, and other things are there. I'm REALLY looking foreward to ditching our two spare homes!

a day at the park

We had a quiet saturday afternoon, so I finally took the kids out for a walking tour of the neighbourhood parks. There's three within a block of our house. Unfortunately, the big one was fenced off - I'm assuming for the winter, due to liability (it belongs to our neighbourhood association). But the two smaller ones were open. Joan slept the whole time, but John had fun, even though he was the only kid there. He took turns on the swing with his imaginary friend Invisible John. (Man, does that kid need a social outlet! Unfortunately, every program in this city that I've seen so far requires potty training. He's almost there. He's in underwear all day now, and if we're home, he uses the toilet to pee, but not to poop. But he wet himself on the way home from the park, without even realizing it until it was too late, so the away-from-home training isn't going quite as well. But it should be soon! Hopefully, we can be done by the time we get home from Edmonton, so I can enrol him in something fun. There's pre-school programs here through the city's recreation dept - once a week type things. There's "pirate adventure" sessions, or crafty ones, or sporty ones, or space themed ones. Lots of things to choose from that I think he might like. I'm going to try to get him into something like that, at the very least. The spring session starts just after we get back.)

John's favourite part of the outing was finding a box of toys marked "free to a good home" sitting outside our neighbourhood community centre. He took a few cool things, and even chose something especialy for Joan, which I thought was very generous of him. My only worry is that now he'll come to associate the parks here with new toys. "The closed park is my favourite park. That's where the toy box is!" he said as we got home.

But anyway - thought you might appreciate some pictures! (Don't be alarmed by no hat. He didn't want it, and took down the hood himself. We supposedly had a little chinook this week, so it's mild - for now.

Riding "the wild animal"

His first time on a tire swing! He thought it was really cool, and told Dad all about it that night.

He liked this, too. But not for long. I think it made him feel sick.

The view from park 2. Our house it just out of view - we live at the base of this big hill. This is actually a leash-free dog park. Some people use it as a sledding hill, but there's an even better sledding hill (no dog poop) just a couple blocks away, with an outdoor skating rink, too. But John was too tired to see it on this outing. Pretty big hills for a little guy. He was pooped by the time we got home.

And just because she's so darned cute, a picture of Joan, taken just before the big move.

we're alive!

Don't have much time - kids should be up soon. But we FINALLY ave the internet up and running, so thought I'd quickly pop in and say hi.

Well, we're in Calgary! The move was stressful, to say the least. Once we added everything up - flights back and forth, u-haul, gas, gas and more gas, we figured out it would have been the same price to hire movers to take everything from point A to point B - and probably much less stressful. If we move back to Ontario, that's how we're going to do it, or so we think now. The packing part was still hard on the kids. At one point, just a couple days before Mike arrived, I was busy packing, and Joan was sitting on the bed nearby. John came up and sat down beside her, gaver her a big hug, then said "Baby, you're my best friend in the whole wide world. Mom is really busy today. Too busy to play. So this isn't play time, or story time. This is work time. But remember, everyone loves you very much." I felt so bad when I heard it, because i think it was less John reassuring Joan, and it was John reassuring himself.

Our trip home to Dryden was delayed by a day to try to get everything in the house squared away. It was three households all going in separate directions, so it was a bit chaotic. But somehow, we managed. And of course, everyone was sick as dogs for the trip. Only John seemed to escape it. I lost my voice. Mike threw up. Joan had a fever. It was all pretty miserable. Mike spent 80 per cent of his time in Dryden in bed, before heading to Calgary at midnight, Christmas night. But they made good time, and arrived the night before my flight even left.

Everyone's fears about John acting up in the u-haul were unfounded in the end. John was so excited to finally see dad after three months apart, I think he would have gladly travelled in a cardboard box with him, just to be able to stay close. He loved the truck! He drove back to house in it with dad, when we first picked it up. Mike said he squealed "the truck is awesome! Yay!!!!" And threw his hands in the air.

Those few days between picking up dad at the airport and leaving on our trip were the happiest I'd seen John in the whole three months prior. I had dragged both kids into the terminal to pick up dad, at 1 a.m. - not the smartest idea. John melted into a wailing puddle on the floor. Another mom helped me out by taking Joan, while I got him to a chair, where we waited for dad. By the time dad appeared, John had fallen asleep, so Mike picked him up to carry him to the car. But he woke up - in dad's arms. I wish i had a camera to capture that smile! it was one of those uncontrollably happy grins, from ear to ear. We were worried that there would be some residual anger against dad once he came back, but it didn't materialize at all. In fact, i became chopped liver. He was constantly elling me and Joan to go away, because he wanted dad all to himslef. "Just me and just dad. Not you and baby!" was the line I heard over and over. One night, Mike and john were cuddling on the couch, and John looked up at dad, and pointed to dad and himself one by one, before cuddling back in - a little secret affirmation of "just you and me". It was very cute.

The packing of the truck was a little stressful. John flip-flopped between being stressed that all of his things were vanishing into the truck, to being worried that other things weren't being loaded fast enough, and might get forgotten. It was a very good idea to have movers for that part. We were able to spend time with the kids, John in particular, reassuring him that everything was really OK. But after the movers left, the real stress started. We had a bit of last minute packing and loading to do, but all of John's things were in the truck already. So he just wandered around, searching for things, getting increasingly agitated. At one point, he went to Mike, all sad, and said "I can't find my games or my toy trunk or the tv." So Mike broke out his laptop, and he and the kids watched Charlie Brown Christmas together. It cheered John up, and kept both kids out of my way, so it was a good thing.

The final load onto the truck was the worst part. It was 3 in the morning. The kids hadn't slept, but Mike was getting ready to go. So we were loading up the last few things. John, who was massively overtired and somewhat confused, was almost hysterical. He sat in the den on our luggage, rocking back and forth, screaming over and over "DON'T FORGET ME!!!!! WHAT ABOUT ME!!!! ME!!!ME!!!" It was heartbreaking, and no amount of consolling could convince him that he wouldn't be left behind. The first time he smiled all night was when I buckled him into the truck, and hugged him good-bye.

Mike said he was asleep within about 5 blocks, and slept to Sioux st Marie, as I recall.

Mike drove all the way through, just taking naps as needed. John was wide awake for one of his naps. He explained that he needed to sleep, so John was going to need to be quiet. And he was! he sat in the space between Mike's knees, and quietly read books. For two hours! Apparently even the second leg went well. Mike was pretty worn out by the time he got to Calgary - he was travelling with a flu after all. And John didn't sleep quite as much. But he was a good traveller. Even John travelled well. On the first leg, she slept in the taxi to the airport, then again for the entire flight, then the entire trip home from Winnipeg. Or so I think she did - i was asleep the entire time too. The trip to Calgary wasn't quite as smooth. She screamed for the entire trip to Winnipeg, and only slept for half the flight. But all in all, a good little traveller.

Christmas in Dryden is kind of a blur, to be honest. We were sick and exhausted. It was definitely nice to stand still for a few days. John had a great time with all his grandparents, and still talks about making great-grandma Evans' bed move. He shows me all of his toys and tells me exactly who gave him each one. Unfortunately, he seemed a little confused by the whole thing, even though we'd explained it so many times. At each house, he'd ask "is this our new home?" When we told him no, he was actually pretty eager to hit the road in search of our new house. He was asking to get back into the truck before Christmas even came. it was sort of sad in a way. I don't think he enjoyed it as much as we hoped, just because he was in limbo and confused.

Even when we got to Calgary, it took him a bit to settle down. We spent a couple nights at Mike's little place, then we moved to the new place - so that's two more places. Just after we got everything into the new house, he asked me "when do we got to the next house?"

But it's been a few days now, and he's starting to settle in. When he says "let's go home" he still feels the need to explain exactly which home he means. "Not our big house. Not dad's apartment. Let's go to our new house!" He and joan share a room here, and he's actually loving that. he hasn't been in our bed since we got here. He has all of his toys in there, and his bed, and his "reading chair and reading light", which is one of the big comfy easy chairs from our attic. It's in there for story time before bed, and he really loves it. I find him in there reading quite often. During the move, he escaped there regularly. If things got a little hairy, he'd announce "I'm going to my room! GOOD BYE!" And off he'd go, and he'd shut the door behind him.

But little does he know, his life is about to be turned upside down yet again! Oh joy. Mike's first day back at work, he got a call from his manager.
"Hey Mike! How did the move go?"
"Oh, it was stressful. But it sure is great to have the whole family together again."
"Oh Mike, I feel so bad for you."
"No no, it's really great. We're finally together. Things are fantastic!"
"Ohhhh Mike."

And that's when his manager broke the news that the entire team is being transferred....to Edmonton....for six weeks.

The pay is the same, and he gets the per diem again, but he has to use it for accommodation while he's there. It will barely cover a hotel room, so really, it's just regular pay. But on the upside, it's all the work he can handle, so it's crazy overtime, which is big money.

The big downside is the family. We just got together. John is just starting to unwind about dad being gone, and is getting used to him going to work each morning and coming home each evening without fail. We're not sure how he'll really cope with another six weeks apart. So we've decided, if we can, we're going to go together. it's not like I have anything holding me here, and John's not in school. My task for today is to find us a place to live. It apparently starts January 11, so I don't have much time. And it could last six weeks, like they say, but it could also dry up after 2 or 3. On the upside, this comapny also does a lot of work on Vancouver island. So he may get transferred there at some point, so the kids and I could have a long tour of the extended relatives, without Mike missing any pay.

Mike was talking about the predicament to one of his coworkers, who said "Welcome to contract work." So I guess this is the norm. They used to shuttle them around with Bell, too, but it was always, always voluntary, and they provided free accommodation AND a per diem, and all the overtime they could handle, so it was a sweet deal. This...not so much. But I guess that's why he gets paid the big bucks.

it kind of sucks for me, too. I'm just settling in too. I like Calgary. I had heard it was a grumpy city, but I don't see that at all. In fact, it's easily the nicest city I've ever been in. It took me a while to put my fnger on what makes these people so different. I thought at first that they just provide excellent customer service. But that's not it - regular people on the street are nice, too. I think it's that they don't have that high-strungedess of Southern Ontario. I thought Hamilton was mellow. And compared to Toronto, it is. But here, it's at a whole other level. People here are so...relaxed. They're polite. People coming down the street smile at you, look you straight in the eye, and say hi. If you're stuck in a line, they'll tell you a story about their life, or play with the kids. Mike says it's like a really huge small town, and it really does feel that way. We're all Calgarians, so we're all like one big family. I had to run some errands the other day, so I had to take the kids to a mall. John was a little overwhelmed by it all. There is SO much money here - a bit of a culture shock coming from Hamilton. Everything in this city is dripping with wealth, including the shopping malls, which are filled with cool decorations and bright shiny things. John kept getting away from me, and when he did, someone would stop him, and direct him back to me, telling him to stay close to mom. I thought that was kind of neat. When we stopped for lunch, I had people offering me their seats, even though there were lots of empty tables, just because they thought their seats would be more convenient for me. If Joan dropped something, someone would pick it up for me, without fail. One guy actually left his lunch, and walked halfway across the food court to pick up a book at my feet, that Joan had dropped. "It looks like you have your hands full." he said, and turned around to go back to his lunch. Mike happened to call when we were just beside the doors to leave, so John was hovering by the door. About six people passed him, and each one said "watch your fingers." It was drilled in so much, that John started saying it to the people passing him. One of the people was this total surfer dude, with the long hair and everything. John told him to watch his fingers, and actually opened the door for him, and it was a pretty heavy door. The guy said "Whoa, you're a strong little dude! You must have eaten your Wheaties today!" John looked so proud! Even the drivers are polite. I haven't done much driving here yet, so I wasn't sure if I was allowed to turn right on a red. So when i was in that situation, I thought I'd better just sit tight, and if people honk, I'll know I can turn. Well, about eight cars lined up behind me, and no-one honked, so I figured, must be illegal. But I asked Mike about it, and sure enough, I could have made that turn. They were just being polite. That's just so...Calgary.

Anyway, better go. I hear little feet fast approaching!
I'll update again soon, now that I have internet!