“Mom! It’s going to be hot outside!” Jake shrieked from the living room this morning, where the seven-day weather forecast was being shown on the “news”. “Look! It says it’s going to be sunny!” I had to explain the difference between sunny and actual heat, but the conversation didn’t really take and I have to admit that my children are dyed-in-the-wool Calgarians and will one day be possibly jogging in shorts in sub-zero temperatures. But it’s sunny! So what if my legs are purple and my knees are shot? The SUN IS SHINING!
I will admit the blue sky does look pretty.
This week is a typical one for January in Calgary, frigidly cold and windy. I seem to be spiraling into the true definition of insanity as I keep checking the online weather forecast, only to find that it is exactly the same as when I last checked it thirty minutes ago. Evidently I think that if I just refresh that forecast enough times, eventually it will be different. Meanwhile I’m constantly wearing a coat that looks like a comforter with a belt and a hood, and I actually ordered – get this – SOREL BOOTS. They’re cute Sorel boots, but still. I can’t wait for their arrival as my current winter boots are just not getting the job done. It’s fricking freezing , Mr. Bigglesworth.
In other news, Mark asked me last night what the word “sperm” meant. I’m glad I took a moment to reflect and ask him why he was asking, since the word was being used in conjunction with “whale”. That was close. Can you imagine the trauma? One minute he’s talking about his new favourite animal, and the next minute his mother is talking about reproductive systems? “And then when a mommy and daddy love each other very much…” “Gross! What does that have to do with whales?”
I’m not sure what’s going on, but since school started last week Mark has been permanently stuck on “chatter”. The child will not stop talking. Every single sentence starts with “Hey Mom!” and unfortunately that is repeated until I respond. “Hey Mom hey Mom hey Mom hey Mom”. Finally I will respond, remembering to be very kind in my voice and not at all show irritation because he is trying to communicate with me and I want to be a very good mother, even though he will not stop talking, and he will spew out a fact about whales, eagles, his toy tiger named Tigie and his imaginary trip around the globe, or Bakugan. Alternately he will completely forget what he was going to say, only to start over again in sixty seconds or less. It’s a bit tiring.
But it’s nice too. It’s nice that there is so much he wants to share with me, and I’m trying to remember to be present in the moment, even if the moment is filled with “Fun Facts” and pulling on layer after layer of winter clothing, eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Sorel boots.
Fun Fact: Did you know that killer whales are part of the dolphin family? I did.