A Fun Sick Day

Tuesday I kept my guy home.

We had both been up most of the night before because of his new hacking cough. I know how those first day of colds are - they are awful. So when I suggested staying home with mommy for the morning, he jumped at it.

We had a busy few hours. We coloured, we made dinner, we talked with Papa on Skype, we had a tea party complete with my grandmother's fine china and snacks (you can't have a tea party without snacks you know) and we made goop.

Goop, which I remember making with my aunt when I was a child, is actually a science  thing, or so I discovered by reading A Girl in a Boy House. Non-Newtonian liquids, or goop, was a hit at our house Tuesday, and we played with the cornstarch and water mixture for some time.

We then went outside where we played on the slide, went high on the swings and then came inside to make the requested chicken noodle soup. It was an action-packed morning. Not bad for a little boy too sick to go to daycare.

If You Know or Have a Boy

If you have a boy - whether it's a grown man or a little guy you are raising - then you need to read Raising Boys in a New Kind of World by Michael Reist.

My mom gave me a copy of this teacher's book for Mother's Day and by the time I read a chapter, not only was I hooked, but it gave me several ah-ha moments, both for dealing and understanding my son and my husband. It also made me a fan of same-sex schools.

I am only a quarter into the book, but some fascinating details:
- Boys are a year and a half developmentally behind girls.
- Most boys are thimble listeners, which becomes a problem when their mothers - or their teachers - are not and saturate them with information. The boy stops listening and misbehaves.
- Boys do not like eye contact. So telling your boy  to look you in the eye to ensure he is listening actually causes your boy not to listen.
- Boys like space. Boys who are "disruptive" should actually sit in a horseshoe shape at school so they can look into space in the middle and should near a door or window.
- Boys like to move. So when you are talking with your son, or a teacher is talking to a boy student, allow the boy to walk around and not look at you. They are listening, they just need to do so in a different way.
- Boys have a fight or flee response, which is why when women are angry and want to talk it out, men will retreat. So it's actually best to leave our men alone after a fight and let them have cooling off period.
- Boys zone out where nothing is said or thought for periods of time. (He mentioned women, on the other hand, go to sleep with a problem and wake up with a solution.)
- Men like lists and are not able to multi-task. Women know this, of course, but we often forget it when dealing with the boys in our lives. The author mentioned that the Internet was created for men and likely by men. With the Internet you can only do one thing at a time. Even drop-down menus only allow for one task at a time. He said if a woman invented the Internet, you likely would have multiple screens up at once, doing multiple things.

Visit www.michaelreist.ca/books/raising-boys-in-a-new-kind-of-world for information about the book and its author.

Seven Years of Bad Luck

Good thing I am not superstitious.

...And I broke down

I don't believe in ironing.

I believe clothing should not wrinkle and when it does, I believe in the de-wrinkle function on the dryer or the hang-it-up-in-the-bathroom-while-you-shower method.

If something really requires ironing – say before a wedding –  I am often with my mom and, since she is ironing, any way, I add a piece or two more to her pile (or she is disgusted and just does it).

But recently, I have noticed a number of my articles of clothing were looking a little too wrinkly, even for me.

And last night I broke down and ironed.

I think I might need lessons. 

Dear Blog,

Dear Blog,

I have neglected you these last two months and for that I am sorry.

Life has become quite busy, both at work and at home, and I am having trouble finding time for you.
I do miss you. I miss the interaction with other bloggers and I miss the comments you generate.

But do I miss you enough to continue? Sometimes I think yes and other times I think no.

I see your value, the importance of you. I miss the commitment of not only writing, but also reading. I enjoy the reading, the learning what other people are thinking and how their lives unfold. I find it fascinating to get that inside of people’s lives.

But the time, dear blog. My time with my guy is limited and I want to spend every free moment with him. My time at night is even more limited and do I choose my husband or do I choose you?

So for now, dear blog, I believe I will try to pay you – and others – more attention, but I don’t think you’ll get as much love as you once did.

I do hope that is OK.

LisaDay