How to humour yourself through childcare (or Why I keep getting the impression I have sweet skills)

* Disclaimer: If reading about stuff that kids do bores you, skip this entry. Plus it's about other people's kids...even better, right. ;) * haha

So. I haven't posted in a while, because I'm in school and that keeps me busy/insane/hermit-like/pick an adjective. Heheh. Besides school, mostly what I do is look after kids and spend time with friends who have...wait for it...kids as well. It's a good thing I don't mind the little rotters. Hahaha, just kidding, I really wanted to use that word in here somewhere. I felt like throwing in a good Roald Dahl word. Hope you enjoyed that one. ;) Tee hee.

I have come to the realization (or epiphany, if you prefer) that working with kids is starting to give me a complex, of the I'm-the-coolest-person-ever sort. I have decided this is due to two factors: a) I'm not a mom myself and therefore am not plagued with the insecurities that come with that role, like am I messing up my child for life with everything I do or don't do (which I hear can exist for parents and boy does that sound fun), and b) it's just me and the kids for the most part, so when I can come up with cool crafts and stuff to do it makes me feel remarkable and clever and I have the urge to congratulate myself out loud because I'm amazing. Mainly because I can do things that a four-year-old can't. You can see how this can be a little bit misleading situation.

What this translates into is my craftiness (pun slightly intended) when working with the kids. Once a week I watch two girls from one family and one from another, all together, which means I have a baby, a toddler and a preschooler. Fun times, I assure you- particularly when it became quite clear that no two of the three are really interested in the same sorts of activities for very long.

However, because I have been working with kids since I was one myself, and because I like to have as much fun as possible with the kids and help them discover cool things and also impart what I like to think is knowledge from a vast store of random information (my odd sort of brain), this often means that I inflict some sort of craft idea on the kids. (Not really - don't be alarmed.) Don't worry - I let the kids do whatever creative sort of thing they like when it comes to crafts, but sometimes I throw in a few ideas of my own, most of which, admittedly, stem from my own craft-laden childhood. I can still vividly remember an apple-seed craft me and my brother did with my mom when I was about five, probably because after that my mom didn't have a ton of time to do crafts with us. It was so cool and involved some sort of mobile and apple cut-outs or something.

Anyways. I digress (again). A few weeks ago, I decided that it was about time we made some paper airplanes around here. So that's what we made, from the large book of construction paper and some paper-clips. It was a lot of fun, and of course we repeated it the following week. (I didn't say I was always original. Anyways, kids like repetition, right?)

Yesterday, though, I reached a new height of coolness (in my mind, at least). After some half-hearted colouring and a couple of stickers, the girls seemed bored (although I can't be sure why, since for me, stickers were oh-so-entertaining till an embarrassing age, no doubt), other measures needed to be taken.

The brain-wave: origami frogs. The kind that jump. I think we (okay, I) made about ten over the course of the day, grace à youtube- first the normal kind, then the kind with separate back legs, which worked much better. I had a blast (and I think the kids enjoyed it too). We had them leaping off the table, jumping onto stuff- it was heaps of fun.

Hm. Okay, that was a little anti-climatic, I admit it. However, I just wanted to make the point that I am still capable of doing cool crafts (phewph, haven't lost the touch), albeit easy ones that everyone has done at some doing. Still, you can't go wrong with paper crafts that move.

With all that, though, it can be exhausting taking care of other people's children, no matter how wonderful they may be. You always end up wanting to do things your way and can't always have that liberty in other people's houses. Not that I want to open up my own daycare. That's a whole other ball-game and a huge commitment. I suppose all this is good experience; by now it's coming out my ears, I have to say. But that's okay.

Well, back to the books for me. It's been a fun/rabbit-trailey study break.

Nos vemos, mi amigos y amigas! Ciao! :)

This is what procrastination looks like...

Yup, I'm half tidying the apartment, half doing homework, and half thinking of a million things. I know, three halves don't make a whole, but that's what my brain feels like right now.

So. I did it. Finally.

That's right. I hauled my hiney outside and went for a run. I'm not entirely sure when the last time I ran was, but I think it's safe to say it was in 2011. Usually I have a fall slump where I kind of don't run regularly and tend to pick it up again in December/January. Which is weird, since I love running in the fall, but it doesn't happen that much. At least this year I was biking to work from July - October. Not bad, considering I only used to bike twice a week and only in the summers the year before.


I'd still like to train for a spring race, so if I want to do that, I need to get my mileage up. (I prefer kilometers, but not sure if 'kilometrage' is a word, heheh.) This morning, I went for a modest 6 km run, and it felt mostly good except at the beginning when my right knee was declaring mutiny.

Here's a few things that I really enjoy about running or that surround the activity of running.

A nice little hamstring stretch just after a run is a wonderful thing.

A glass of chocolate milk following a run is also pretty great. Miam. And maybe some eggs with spinach and cheese and rye toast.And coffee with some vanilla sugar:) Hmm...you know what they say - some people eat to run, and some people run to eat - which one do you think I could be? ;)

Reflective stuff to wear. It's cool.

That's pretty much all I have to say about that for now. :)

Something I'm thankful for (in the sense of trying to maintain it as an attitude) is the fact that I get to study French. I was worried that I wouldn't like it, but it turns out I do (most days). Not only that, but I get to interact in French at least twice a week, and that's something I never even got to do living back home, even so close to Ottawa/Quebec. I'm grateful for the members of the francophone community I get to encounter. It's been vital to my vocabulary, although, granted, most of that vocabulary revolves around kids and stuff about kids, but that's the job. ;) It's been so great to have that base of French as a child, because you really do use more and think more in French than you realize, and it's an unequivocal blessing to me. Maybe I'm biased, but I think it's one of the best languages ever and I hope to keep learning and implementing it.

Okay, back to studying adverbs and another chapter I haven't really looked at. ;) Woo!

Bonne semaine à tous! xo