She’s looking fine at 39, the wonderful woman who blessed the world with my presence. Ok, well even if you don’t like me much, she’s still awesome.
Here’s Nik and Mom at last year’s birthday celebration, I believe.
Love you, hope you have a great day, Mom!
Well after reading Court’s blog about no content for a while, y’know what with that whole work thing getting in the way, I thought I would take a minute to contribute one of my rare posts. Now, let’s see what EVER would I post about? …Right. Kids of course.
Here is a little taste of the young sweetness that I’m gratefully surrounded by.
Let’s start with our little ham Cael:
Cael and I were talking and cuddling and he decided after a while that he wanted to head downstairs and play with some toys while I folded laundry. Before going downstairs he paused on the top step towards the basement and says, “I love you forever mom.”
To which I reply, “I love you forever too, Little Man.”
“No like I REALLY love you, like forever and ever when we are dead and in our Heaven Suits!”
Kay, so now I’m REALLY curious. I have to find out more about this. So I say, “Heaven Suits huh? What do our heaven suits look like?”
Cael looks at me like ‘Are you kidding me?’ and says, “Y’know, they’re like blue dresses and we have that circle thing on our heads.”
What can I say at this point, I should have known what this heaven suit looks like obviously, seems that everyone does according to Cael. So I simply replied, “Oh, of course. I love you in my heaven suit too.”
Then there is Quinn:
Quinn is a more serious sort. Not too serious, just a “one mood” kind of guy. He’s so easy going and takes everything in stride. He loves to be loved up, and expresses himself conservatively, which is a bit of a contrast to his exuberant younger brother. When he does throw you a bone though (and it happens often), you definitely know he means it and wants you to know how he feels. So with that in mind, I’ll share with you the bone he threw me recently. He was in bed one night and I was tucking him in . I was kissing his face and then proceeded to nibble on his ears while he giggled. Then he says, “Mom, please don’t nibble on my ear.”
He was giggling so I was confused by the request. “Why do you want me to stop nibbling on your ears Quinn?”
Insert throwing of bone, “Because I can’t hear all the beautiful things you have to say.”
Well guess which one of us turned into a melted puddle. I’ll give you a hint….not Quinn. What a doll.
Our sweet and ever growing up Jordy:
Last, but certainly not least, I have to share something about Jordy. You may recall before how I was mentioning what a big person she is. Well that continues on a daily basis. I learn from her a lot. We all do. She’s got an old soul and a heart of gold. The thing I guess I’m most grateful for is that she still wants to hang out with Mom sometimes. We had given her a lot of room with managing her own workload, at her request…and it didn’t go as smoothly as it could have. She said later, it’s better when we are on her about this stuff. What kid would say, “yeah, you were right, I need you to help me.” This kid would. We are pretty proud of her. It is March break and she is staying in Cornwall until Thursday. She asked me before she left, “Mom, can we do something just me and you on Thursday when I get back?”
Music to a mother’s ears to hear her teenager choose to spend quality time with her.
This is one proud mom, signing off for now. I’ve got some Green Rice Krispies to make and some Shamrock face painting to do!  I love March Break. I can’t wait for summer holidays. 🙂
Well the weekend was a good one, warm weather (for March in Canada anyway), very little in the way of commitments, and lots of nice family time. We had a movie night with the kids on Friday, and some goof off time on Saturday before heading to a little party for cousin Ange that evening, whom we haven’t seen in quite some time. Anyway, all was well, lots of fun and food until some combination of roughhousing and wrestling gave Quinn a nice gash on his head, requiring a swift trip into the Emergency room for a cleanup and some skin glue to close it up. He’s a tough kid, and barely made a fuss when the nurse and doctor cleaned his head up. So tough in fact that he was ready to head back to the party afterward, in spite of asking Nikki to drive slower on the bumps since his head hurt.
Anyway, it gave me some perspective on how as I age the same things keep happening, but with notable differences. In the past, there would have been a party, certainly. There probably would have been a head gash of some sort, resulting in a trip for stitches. The cause back then more often that not would have been a McGregor/Robillard altercation of some sort, instead of a Vallentyne/Boileau in this case. Still, in both cases back to the party none the worse for wear and ready to keep going (whether that was a good idea or not). This time we decided to take our leave before further injuries added up, but just like before, the van was full of sleeping limp bodies by the time we got home. Unlike the past, this time I carried a large percentage of them inside the house and put them to bed. That is simply not done to a sleeping McGregor, for many reasons. Ask around and you will find that it does not matter which McGregor you are trying to carry, it is not to be done.
Finally, in the morning there was still a hearty greeting of “Hey tough guy, how’s your head?”, only this time from Cael to Quinn instead of an exchange between any of my friends.
So, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Here’s to 8 years of marriage to the most wonderful and beautiful woman in the world. I love you baby.
A nice dinner out with my beautiful wife
Also, a very special shout-out to us since today also just happens to be Square Root Day, (3/3/09, get it?) which makes us (well, me) the Squarest people around.
Forgive me the parental gushing post that is about to be placed before you. Consider this your warning to skip away now before I load you up on an overdose of innocent sweetness.
It was family day this week and although the family was split up across the city during the day, I took it upon my self to scrounge up whatever Vallentyne’s were left in the house and head out for milkshakes and lunch. The scrounging only surfaced myself, Quinn and Cael. Perfect, this little trio is going to lunch! We brought dominoes, cards and played “I Spy”. When it was my turn, I told the boys the following, “I Spy with my little eye, something that is blue, there are four of them, and they are one of my favourite things to look at. They are usually with me all the time too.” Well this challenge just ROCKED Quinn’s world and Cael was hamming it up. Turned out that I had to give them the answer, which of course was their blue eyes.
So, last night I’m tucking Quinn into bed and I said, “I Spy with my little eye something that is blue, and is one of my favourite things to look at.” He smiles and says, “My eyes.” I said, “Yep! Good job!”
Well here is where the sweetness gauge gets cranked to friggin’ 10!
He says, “I spy with my little eye, something that is SOOOO CUTE, and I love it SOOOO MUCH that it makes me want to cry inside.”
I asked, “Is it your teddy bear?”
Quinn, “No. It’s you!”
Well mop me up and wring me out! There was nothing left of me but a big puddle. What a sweetie. Hopefully my little man will still feel that way in his teenage years 😉
Teenagers. WOW! They a different animal all together when compared to the whole baby/toddler/elementary stage. It’s incredible the difference in the kids, and I swear it happens overnight. It is a point where the young adults are realizing that they are (or should be in their mind) entitled to a few extra freedoms. It is a time when parents need to release the death grip of instinctive protectiveness that has been in our job description since their birth. Where and when do you find balance? I’ll tell you…every day. Every day is different, and every day you have to reevaluate your opinion on what is age appropriate, what they can handle, and what is out there to hurt them. Even if they can handle what they are asking to do…what dangers lurk that none of us have control over. The world is a dangerous place, and although we can’t live in fear…we must strike a balance. Kids often refuse to see the danger, and focus on how responsible they are capable of being. Two very different arguments as I know most parents will agree.
What have I learned from Jordy? I’ll can tell you, that she has turned me into a better person in her journey to adulthood. Why? Let me explain with a small and weak example (its just the only one I have at the ready);
Night before last Cael was struck with a painful ear infection. We had a rather busy day that day with appointments and skating and recreation activity. Tuesdays are insane at our house for kids stuff. I’m in line just before closing at the drugstore counter to get the prescription filled and Jordy starts a conversation about make up and what the other kids are wearing vs what she is permitted to wear. I look at her and say I want to keep an open mind, but I’m just drained for today, let’s throw mom a bone and shelf this one for later. So,…as any teenager would…the urge to continue is just too great…so it continues. We get into the house, Cael is crying for his meds, and I’m lying in bed consoling him while he whimpers. This is where I’m really impressed….Jordy comes in and kisses Cael, and cuddles him..she does everything she can think of to make him more comfortable. When I get up to get a Kleenex she follows me and says, “I’m sorry mom, I shouldn’t have bugged you when you had all this to deal with too.” WOW! Well done Jordy. At the risk of dragging this post on longer than it needs to be, I feel that she deserves even more credit that the above (weak) example.
Jordy has always been the first to say she is sorry in any situation. It’s never an “I need to make this go away so I’ll apologize” kind of sorry, or a sarcastic one either. I’ve never known any adult, or kid, give a more sincere apology than her. She will come on her own, look you in the eye and say she is sorry and exactly what she is sorry for.
She’s a bigger person than I’ve ever been able to be….and I thank her for the life lesson. I admire that in her, and there is no greater pride than to learn from your kids, and see that they have developed skills beyond your own.