a hippie with a minivan

owww….

Last night I was making supper (buttercup squash and leek soup) and some of it spattered and burned my hand… I put my hand under a bit of water and continued to do what I was doing… my hand kept on burning though and when I finally looked at it I saw that it was already blistering…

omg… it hurt…

(the soup was good though…. )

I kept a cold cloth on it for about 2 hours and then decided to bandage it up… It was really red and I had two blisters forming… I put some honey on it… bandaged it up and the pain started to go away…

When I woke up this morning most of the redness was gone, the pain is mostly gone… but it is still there…. I need to finish some sewing for the hallow’een costumes… and I can’t move my hand freely…

I was also planning on going swimming today… we’ll see…

drawing and more…

In the last few weeks I have seen a big change in Xavier’s interests and the way he is looking at things…

First… He now sits down at the table and draws… out of his own accord…

Every few months in the past I would try to get him to do that and most of the time nothing came out of it… he would be frustrated that what he drew didn’t look like what he wanted to draw. I would get frustrated because I thought that he “should” be doing it and maybe even liking it but he wasn’t… I finally let go of that idea and just waited… The paper, crayons, markers and all of the other creative stuff were accessible he would use them when he wanted… or at least I hoped… and now he does… Our creative line that hangs in the kitchen was bare or full of old creations for the longest time and now it has all fresh stuff on it.. and there are now even a few drawings taped to the wall that Xavier put up…

Another big change in Xavier is eating… he is now trying foods that he has always turned his nose up to… Supper time has been a lot more fun and I love seeing him discover new tastes… Colin of course is going into the picky stage… but a weird one… he will eat Sushi and seaweed salad but won’t eat pepperoni pizza…

I go through phases of feeling that I need to do more than unschooling… I think a lot of it has to do with the lack of real-life support.. I truly believe that unschooling is the right way for our family though and as the kids grow older, because really even Xavier is still so young, I feel my confidence will grow.

For now… I am learning to relax, answer questions and let them discover… and though there are still many struggles to overcome for myself I love the path that we are letting them lead.

Beautiful weekend…

The weather here has been great this weekend… especially today…

The boys played outside while Simon finished doing some yard work and putting things away for the season… I was so looking forward to taking pictures this season and being cameraless has really been a bummer… I feel like I am missing out on so many moments without it… Hopefully I will have our new one this week…

Colin is feeling better and I have a feeling that it was fifth disease… and hopefully it was not a coincidence and Khéna just had a different presentation of it… When I was picking up a referral for blood work I saw the ped. and mentioned it to him and he thought that it was a very good possibility.

So, Next week I have to being Khéna for a bloodtest and I was wondering how I was going to do that with the 3 kids… Simon can’t take much time off work at the moment because there are two days that he will be taking in the next few weeks already…

so…

Today I asked my neighbour if she was free any morning this week.. and when she said that she wasn’t, I asked if she knew of anyone that babysits… and she mentioned the neighbours that we have across the street… So, I got the guts to go over and I got a great first impression…

My neighbour, is friends with the mom and the oldest girl is almost 19, has done the babysitting classes etc and is just really nice… she is open to babysit pretty much any evening and weekend and has the day off on friday so she could take care of Colin and Xavier while I bring Khéna for the tests… She is also open to spending a few hours with on the weekend while we are home… bringing them to the park or playing or something while we do things around the house…. which is something that I have been thinking would be great… I also love that she is so close….

It felt really weird going over there though… being the mom getting a babysitter…

I am not completely sure yet that we are ready to leave the kids yet (well… not Khéna yet of course) but I like knowing that we have the option availible if we need it…

Today…

Colin’s Torso a lot better today… still blotchy but not raised like yesterday…

However… his face and arms and legs are now like what his torso was yesterday…

I few good friends suggested that it looks like fifth disease… and it could very well be… though they do not have the “slapped cheek” or the usual presentation it would fit the timeline and the symptoms…

I need to go to the ped office today to pick up a referral for a blood test for Khéna so I might mention my suspicions to the secretary to pass on to the doctor…

I am going to be so happy if this means no allergies… but of course we will officially see that in a few weeks…