Seriously, I think I could start dedicating a day to an Ask MetaFilter Question o' the Day.  (I did ask a category for MetaFilter recently so that's part way there already!) 

This one was particularly relevant - what things does a new parent today have to know about/worry about that previous generations didn't? 

I linked to this from Facebook and posted it to Redit but thought I'd put it here for posterity as well since it's so good.  (And if I'm serious about a "Sentimental Sunday" recurring post feature, this fits right in!)

Gratitude.

(via Cathie From Canada)

Shea posted a hilarious anti-breastfeeding article pro-Nestle Fake Milk Formula to her Facebook status with the usual heavy response to anytime this type of topic comes up - from both pro-breastfeeding moms and those who weren't able to or aren't as worked up about the prevalance of formula in our society. 

It made me think, what are the most controversial topics you can bring up with someone to guarantee a good argument (or awkward silences):
- religion/atheism
- politics
- abortion
- euthanasia
- parenting
- breastfeeding
- social programs (pick one)
- economic programs (pick one)
- pornography
- sex
- gambling
- anything to do with races/gender issues/sexual orientation and all that fun stuff
- why the Leafs suck so badly (okay, nobody disagrees about this! )

So anyhow, that's a long way of saying that I hope Shea posts this article about the completely different attitude towards breastfeeding that exists way around the world in Mongolia (although if you did a study, I'm sure the attitudes in Mongolia are much more common worldwide than the typical North American way of doing things - baby breastfeeds for maybe 3-6 months if they're lucky or else mom says she just wasn't able to do it - which might be true but you shouldn't admit in the same article that you "didn't realise how much work breastfeeding would be" or mention that being able to leave baby with grandma and grandpa for a night out is a nice bonus as was the case in the article Shea posted to her Facebook.)

No, not another political post...just the funniest story I've seen online in a LONG time.

(via Reddit which has more on this subject in the comments for this post.)

We've put Pace into a few different activities since he was about one year old.  We did a few weeks of swim class (basically, "get used to the water while singing repetitive songs" class) while still in Weyburn last spring.  Over the summer, we did no formal activities (unless "Chase Pace around the campsite" counts) then, when we got back to Regina, we attended a toddler storytime program at the library (more repetitive songs but this time with actual books too! ) for a few weeks.  Now that's finished and we're trying our next activity - gymnastics - which started a couple weeks ago. 

I have to say, it's not what I expected - even though I wasn't quite sure what to expect ("Pace Hammond to the parallel bars...calling Pace Hammond.") 

I thought storytime would be mellow and quiet and "traditional" for lack of a better term.  Instead, it was fun and energetic and varied, even within the structure of each week.  Pace hardly ever sat still but the instructor assured me that this was fine and that he was hearing the stories, even if he didn't seem to be (watching him clap and jump in the right places during later weeks, even as he wandered around the room, confirmed this was true.)

I thought the gymnastics class would be an even better fit - a chance for the Human Motion Machine that is Pace to burn off a ton of energy, be active and not feel guilty when he didn't sit in the circle listening attentively.  I didn't even think gymnastics would *have* a circle.  How wrong I was. 

Okay, there's only a brief circle time at the start of each week's session.  But then, the gymnastics class goes through a "circuit" that brings to mind the Westminister Dog Show more than something enjoyable for active youths.  Then they go to a different circuit nearby.  Then you get a stamp.  Then the class is over. 

The first week, Pace wandered away from the circuit we were on to look at a nearby balance beam and I didn't hustle him back to the line-up since he didn't seem particulary interested in following the group anyhow.  But since the gymnastics class is held in a large warehouse with many classes happening simultaneously rather than the cozy confines of the library's program room, we were quickly sent back to our group by an instructor who noticed us standing near her group watching curiously.  (How dare we!)

So I dragged encouraged Pace to get back in line where he walked across a crash mat, jumped on a mini-trampoline, strolled across a balance beam and...repeat.  (Okay, it's a bit longer course than that but you get the gist.)  The problems I have with this format are many: because it's done like a dog show, the kids don't get time to explore the stations that most interest them in any great length.  And even though the kids are all roughly the same age, there are some vast age and developmental differences so some two and a half year old who "gets it" for lack of a better term, is whipping along through the course while a kid like Pace who's only a few months younger, is taking his time and is also a lot more easily distracted by things happening elsewhere in the building (or the fact that the one slide they're supposed to climb up and slide down on the course has a house built underneath it.  A HOUSE!  That you can play in.)  

And I won't even get into the politics of parenting that are evident in the gymnastics class.  I was conscious of them at storytime too - the perfect parents with the perfect baby, all dressed in brand name fashions, mom wearing full make-up and dad with not a hair out of place glancing at Pace in horror as he attempted to scale the stack of chairs against the wall while Shea and I are nowhere within arm's reach of him - but it was a more subtle form of judgement at the storytime (and, as my preceding comments illustrate, I was not immune! If you're reading this, I'm sure all three of you are lovely people and we should really meet for a playdate sometime. We'll bring cookies and you can bring bleach to spray down the toys after each time the kids touch them.) 

But at gymnastics, the parental paranoia factor seems so much higher - partly because you're marching in a line-up with these people and it's so much more obvious which ones push their kids, which ones don't, which ones rush their kids, which ones take their time. 

There's always the pressure of being in a line of toddlers that's as organized as a line of cats - "okay, Pace, time to move on to the hoop maze - another kid's coming...okay, Pace, stop eating that hoop, that kid's still coming!" 

And it brings out a competitive edge in a lot of parents that isn't as obvious when you're sitting at storytime singing "The Grand Old Duke of York".  "C'mon Brittany - you can do it!  Look at that boy in front of you.  He did his somersault.  You do it now, c'mon you do it.  That's a girl, just let me bend your head forward for you, just a bit more, there you go!"   On top of it all, the instructors don't help things by being those chipper cheerleader-types that just kinda make you extra angry to off-set their "Hooray for everything!" attitudes. 

I don't know - it's probably partly because I'm out of my comfort zone going to a gym from a library (er, that sounds worse than I meant it to).  It's partly because Pace has just hit the milestone where he realises that he has the option to say 'no' and, if that isn't heeded, he can scream incredibly loudly and/or noodle by going as limp and flat as his body will allow. 

And, after doing the other two activities during the late afternoon (swimming) and evening (storytime) on weekdays, we had the brilliant insight that we should try a weekend activity.  "It'll be great - it'll get us up and out of the house every Saturday morning, we can run errands afterwards, it won't break up our evening so much like the weekday activities did."  A brilliant strategy - until you realise that every other parent within a fifty mile radius of Regina has had the exact same thought so the gym is a complete and utter madhouse on Saturday mornings with screaming kids running, jumping and cartwheeling everywhere you go.  Even knowing it would likely be a bit busier than signing up for a weekday class, we thought "Oh, Pace will like all the action and excitement."  And he does - to a point - but I think overstimulation is a real concern and I keep waiting for him to just seize up at some point - "Can't...take it...all...in." - then crawl into that house under the slide and never come out.     

At any rate, we've only got a few weeks left.  And then, it's time to pick our next activity.  I wonder if Pace would like something calmer?  Hmm, I wonder - does the city offer Toddler Tai-Bow?

They say you can't truly know your parents until you become one yourself...

And you thought there were a lot of book challenges around the world already!  Funny stuff...

"A girl I once caught reading Fahrenheit 451 over my shoulder on the subway confessed: "You know, I'm an English lit major, but I've never loved any books like the ones I loved when I was 12 years old." I fell slightly in love with her when she said that. It was so frank and uncool, and undeniably true."

(via MetaFilter)

Tomorrow's a day off for the working world but for me, it's the first day of a full week off before I begin my new job.  I'm pretty excited to have the week even though I know we'll never get done everything that we want to do. 

I mean, our list ranges from easy picks like "change that burnt out lightbulb" to more difficult ones like "completely kill all weeds and other unwanted pests that now infect our yard after what is, in many ways, two straight years of neglect." 

As for weed killing, preferably in a way that leaves no poisons that may also be harmful to Pace.  I grew up, not exactly on a farm, but close enough to that world (I was raised for the first couple of years of my life in the bulk fuel dealership my parents ran) that I've had my dose of poison and it's too late to worry about that.  But I'd like to try to protect him as much as possible.  And at the same time, I know it's futile because we basically live in a world that gives us cancer and all kinds of other crap, just because we live in it.  "Here son, have some Red Dye #49 licorice." 

Some other goals for the week?  Buy new shoes.  Decide if I'm going to be a bus rider or a car commuter.  Go into RPL and sign the papers to make it official.  Have naps whenever possible.  Change aforementioned lightbulb.  Kill aforementioned weeds.  Possibly buy a lawn mower if I can find a good deal.  Maybe get a book or two read.  Catch up on all sorts of loose ends I've really let lag in the past month - just the day-to-day basics of keeping up with regular mail, e-mail, etc. 

Although it's tough leaving Weyburn, Shea's happy to be back in the city I think.  I'm looking at the rough plan we drew up for the week and she's already got not one but two social outings planned!  (I have zero if you're keeping track.)

My parents are coming up for a day or three to watch Pace while Shea and I try to compress two houses worth of clothes, toys and other crap into one (which is really our main goal for the week if I'm being honest - pretty much everything else I listed above is lower on the priority list).  But with them here, perhaps Shea and I can steal away to such foreign delights such as a "movie" or a "brew pub".  That would be swell!

I have to do some inquiries about my pension and it's sort of surreal to have one after 10 years of no pension (one job paid us extra in lieu of a pension, one didn't have one.)  I don't really worry about my pension and I suspect a lot of people in my generation feel the same way.  At the same time, I had a grandfather who told me to start saving 10% of everything I made when I got my first job at 16.  I think I've kept that up pretty faithfully for the most part my whole working life.  That helps reduce the retirement worry.  (Someone asked if I got a bonus when I left SRL.  No, but I did get to cash a big chunk of my unused health benefits - they're on an ASO plan - and transfer that into my RSP.  So that was sort of like a bonus in some ways.)

Shea and I sold hot dogs for La Leche League today and I felt like I was back in high school selling food for the SRC again. 

Went to a bbq on Saturday and a friend said they knew someone who named their kid Revan...which is apparently the name of a Dark Lord of the Sith in Star Wars.  Two thoughts - a) Pace isn't so bad and b) man, I have some ultra-geeky friends. 

...and yes, the pun (such as it were) in the title of this post was intentional.  Good-night.

Today is my last day at work and it's hard to believe how fast the last year and a half has gone!

When we were debating which job I should take back in the spring of 2007, this job in Weyburn seemed to make the most sense in so many ways.  But one question lingered - where should we live?  Should we commute from Regina?  Rent an apartment in Weyburn?  Stay with Shea's parents during part of the week?  The whole week?

We'd always had a great relationship with her parents (none of those in-law horror stories you so often hear) but it's a different situation to live with someone five days a week for over a year compared to visiting for a day here and there or going on weekend camping trips or whatever. 

But ultimately, for our finances, we opted to live with them full-time during the week once I decided to come to work for Southeast Regional Library.  (For our sanity - and theirs - we did decide to go back to our house in Regina every weekend! )

And in the end, the year couldn't have gone much better.  Joan and Dennis have been beyond generous and helpful to us.  They've loved having their first grandchild right here for them and Pace has thrived with having his extended family in such close proximity.  They camp at Nickle Lake, a regional park just outside Weyburn, all summer so that's been great for Pace as well. 

It's going to be tough to say 'good-bye' later today but I have a feeling we'll see Grandpa and Grandma in Regina more than we ever did before.  And the trips to Weyburn won't stop either - we know already they have a comfortable bed for us!

Here's a little video I put together as a thank-you to them for all they've done for us...