At the risk of turning this blog into Cute Overload, here's another Pace-related clip.
There's an indoor playground in Regina called "It's A Blast" (think a typical McDonald's playground but, uh, super-sized) that's apparently the largest of its kind in western Canada. We'd known about it for awhile but thought he'd be too small for it. Nope, turns out that not only does he enjoy the toddler area (see below), he also *loves* the giant structure for bigger kids (as long as mommy and daddy are with him which we are since adults are allowed on the thing too! Or at least nobody told us to get off.) Shea's got the day's adventure fully documented (plus lots of other recent photos) on Flickr.
Oh, and the best part? Their pricing structure starts at 1 year olds. So Pace, who is 11 1/2 months got in for free! (Parents don't have to pay either so we got to use their business for free all afternoon. What do they think they are - a library? )
Shea got this off her mommy board and wanted me to do it. I got 68 and she got 92. ("Crunchy" by the way is what the kids call "hippies" these days. This quiz happens to be in reference to your parenting choices.)
...is what Shea said when she caught me feeding Pace chips while watching the hockey game last night. (At least she didn't catch me giving him sips of beer!)
Shea's on a mommy board (er, an online message board for moms if that's not clear) where they're currently having a discussion about "free range parenting".
This is the idea that you should allow your children lots of freedom to explore, learn and become self-reliant (ie. presumably the way that many of us grew up.)
From the MetaFilter thread I link to below...
There was a really amazing article out of England about a year ago
about the distances youths travel. Basically, the grandfather would
walk several Km to his favorite fishing hole as a child, and he never
fell in, never drowned, never died, never got raped or molested. Then
the father (the author of the article) as a child would routinely
travel several hundred yards away from home as a young child to visit
his favorite swimming hole, alone, or with friends...and he was always
fine, and that was the 60's/70's. Now this guy has a kid, and that kid
isn't allowed outside of his yard, and the author basically just
discussed the affects of quashing the exploratory and independent side
of young boys.
As evidenced by the story above, many parents today are a lot more protective, hovering over their children, fearful that a pedophile lurked around every corner or that children were fragile little creatures who can't cross the street by themselves, let alone go down the block to the playground to hang out with friends unsupervised ("Hey kids, time for a PLAY DATE!" )
On the mommy board, someone linked to an article that's causing an uproar in the States, written by a mom who let her nine year old find her own way home on the subway. I can't link to the discussion on the mommy board because it's members-only (er, which probably is more proof about the paranoia of new parents these days. When I was a kid, the Internet was about openness, dammit! Of course, ironically, being closed does allow people to be more open - the recent discussion about the mommy's sex lives post-pregnancy was very revealing. Also very disturbing since we know a few of the posters to the board in real life. Oh, and apparently half the new dads in Regina are on the verge of divorce from the sounds of it!)
Anyhow, I logged in to good ol' Metafilter to find that the discussion was raging there too. So if you're interested in the topic, have a peek.
Here's a bonus list... TEN THINGS I DID (OR WAS ALLOWED TO DO) AS A KID WHICH I'M NOT SURE IF I'LL LET PACE DO OR NOT 1. Drove vehicles on the farm and back roads without adult accompaniment or supervision. (Shea was instructed to tell the cops that she stole the vehicle if she was in an accident so her parents would still have insurance! )
2. Got left in the toy area of the department stores in Regina while my parents shopped. Often got "lost" when I got bored and went looking for them. 3. Left home at 9am on a summer day. Wandered all over town with friends doing whatever we wanted to do. Made it home by sun down at 10pm. 4. Rode my bike to a nearby lake (is 10km nearby? When you're a kid it is) on a semi-busy highway (especially in summer). Didn't wear a helmet (or knee pads or elbow pads.) The bike had no light. No bell. And very crappy brakes. 5. Rode a small motorcycle to a nearby friend's farm, traveling on a gravel road and crossing one highway (this is Shea's contribution to the list) 6. Swam in a dugout. ("A characteristic feature of the Saskatchewan farming landscape is the
dugout, a large excavation designed to catch the spring runoff from the
fields.") 7. Ate dirt. And small rocks. And grass. And leaves. And random berries off random bushes and trees. And probably worms. 8. Walked to school in -40 weather ("uphill both ways" - oh wait, that's our parents' tall tale, not ours.) Went outside at recess and played for fifteen minutes. When school was over, stayed outside playing some more. 9. Talked to strangers. Occasionally got in their cars and/or went in their houses and/or took food or other pro-offered items from them.
10 Ran with scissors (okay, I don't remember doing this for sure but I'm fairly certain I must have at some point.)
Flickr has added the option to upload short video clips. They've got some major differences from other video sites and appear to be treating the videos mostly as a way to complement your photos for the time being.
The goal is not to have people upload long videos or clips of
copyrighted material. To reinforce that, videos can be only 90 seconds
in length and 150MB in size.
I heard "Sliver" by Nirvana on the Regina community radio station this morning and it made me think of Pace's current trick.
He now understands that Shea sometimes leaves the room or isn't in his line of sight. He still doesn't understand that she always come back. So as soon as it happens, he FREAKS OUT!
It's to the point that the other day, I felt obligated to tell Shea, "just so you know, I don't start beating him as soon as you leave the room" when she popped out to the kitchen to get a drink.
(Man, I hope this is a phase and that it passes quickly!)
Yesterday was my one year anniversary with Southeast Regional. I was going to a post to celebrate the fact...but then I just went to bed early. The last year's flown by but I think that has more to do with Pace than the job. (Last night wasn't much better - Pace was up and down, waking up screaming, spinning and flipping all night long.)
Speaking of Pace, he's finally said his first "real" non-"da-da", "ma-ma" word yesterday. I've got a video clip of it up here.
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