The broken boy’s family edict

November 30, 2011 By

For the first few days after Bode busted his wrist, he was pretty miserable. And who can blame him? He was in a lot of pain and sleep was minimal so he required a lot of extra TLC.

But then the kid started working it.

By nature, he’s very sweet and easy going but after a few days of getting doted on, we saw a new side to Bode.

Bode: “Hadley, get me some water.”
Hadley: “I don’t want to.”
Me: “Hadley, can you please get your brother some water?”
Hadley: “FINE.” (Empathy ain’t her thing but she reluctantly brings him water.)
Bode: “You did it wrong.”
Hadley: “EXCUSE ME?”
Bode: “You’re supposed to put the ice in first, then the water. Not the other way around.”

Hadley almost busted his other arm.

Bode’s little sabbatical has also confirmed what I’ve suspected: he can be lazy. If given the opportunity, he would sit around all day playing the Wii and watching TV. But because he has me as a mother, he’s constantly on the go.

But last week was the exception and I let him laze around as much as he wanted. Hadley got bored with the routine after a few hours (yep, she’s my kid). But 11 television shows later (Hadley counted), Bode was still going strong.

He also came to me with an announcement. “When we go upstairs I’m going to tell you the new rules.”

“What kind of rules?”

“For my arm.”

I grabbed a notebook after sensing his urgency. So here they are:

Bode’s Rules

1) I can’t run to keep up with you.
2) I can’t spent too much time watching TV or playing too much.
3) I can’t go fast on a bike. I have to go slow.
4) I can’t go too far in front of you on my bike.
5) I can’t cross my arms. (This was reemphasized when Jamie asked him to say family prayers that evening. He agreed but said NO ARM CROSSING.)
6) No fighting this week.
7) I can’t go in the shower. I can go in the bath but you have to put me in.

After listing off his regulations there was a long pause, after which I asked, “So what CAN you do, Bode?” Which prompted another list.

Things I Can Do

1) I can eat.
2) I can go down.
3) I can go up.
4) I can jump.
5) I can sit.
6) I can see.
7) I can walk.

“What about picking up your toys?” I asked. “Can you still do that?”

“Yes,” he said finally. “But only softly.”

It’s gonna be a long few weeks.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Health, Humor

And the party continues….

November 29, 2011 By

Yesterday, Bode finally got patched up at the orthopedic surgeon’s. Here’s a tip for you: if you’ve ever going to break anything or get deathly ill, don’t do it over a holiday weekend because no one is around to fix it.

I had to wait until Monday to call the surgeon to schedule an appointment. Now, this was after spending several sleepless nights with The Boy as he wailed and thrashed around. We just wanted to transition to the healing process so when the scheduler told me they couldn’t fit him in for another week to get a cast, let’s just say it didn’t go over well.

The squeaky wheel wins. They “miraculously” found me an opening at a location up north.

When we arrived, I had Bode help me fill out his paperwork, which was about the funniest thing I could have done. When I queued how it happened, he replied:

“I stood on the crate and den I fell.

He was the youngest in the orthopedic office by about 60 years so everyone fawned over him, especially the staffers when they offered him a cookie and he brought me a heart-shaped one. The kid’s a charmer, even when in pain.

I’ve never broken anything so it was pretty fascinating to watch the casting process. Bode was in good spirits. In fact, I can’t get him to ham it up for the camera even in the best of times!


Stay tuned tomorrow for just how much the kid is working it.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Health

You know it’s a dark Black Friday when…

November 26, 2011 By

….getting the stomach flu is not the lowlight of your day.

On Wednesday night, we had the missionaries over for dinner during which time Bode complained of stomach pain and spent the rest of the night writhing on the toilet with diarrhea. By the next morning (Thanksgiving), he starting to feel better and we thought it had blown over until I was lying in bed that evening and started to feel It. I spent pretty much most of the night in the bathroom, only to have Hadley succumb by throwing up all over her bed this morning.

Yes, it does get worse.

Today was the only day Jamie could hang the Christmas lights and so I assisted him in hauling our big, heavy boxes down from the attic in the garage. I moved the cars onto our driveway and when I came back into the house, Bode was crying hysterically. I raced up to his room to learn he tried to open the blinds to his window by standing on a crate but it had tipped and he had crunched his wrist. Badly.

I usually open up his room first thing in the morning. But if you will recall, his deadbeat mother was praying to the porcelain gods.

Though Jamie was showing signs of the plague, he was the best of the worst so got to take Bode to his first ER visit.

That’s one milestone I’m kinda glad to have missed.

Several hours later, he was diagnosed with a buckle wrist fracture and we’ll have to meet with an orthopedic surgeon next week to get a cast once the swelling has gone down.

And then the fun begins.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode

This Family’s Week of Thanksgiving Gratitudes

November 22, 2011 By

I’ve been forthcoming about my “Bah Humbug” Thanksgiving attitude and I’m continually peeved that day has become an excuse to stuff our faces and watch football instead of making it a meaningful time of self-reflection and gratitude.

This year, I decided to do something about it.

I designated last week my family’s week to serve because I can’t think of a better way to express gratitude than to give back. I started with just a few things on our schedule and I was astounded at the onslaught of opportunities we were given.

It was a humbling lesson that when we look beyond ourselves and stop making excuses like “I don’t have enough money or time,” that there are so many people in need. And we, in turn, didn’t spend a dime, were blessed 100-fold, and feel closer together than ever. Last week I/we:

  • Visited a widow in our congregation.
  • Babysat four kids throughout the week, giving their mamas a much-needed break.
  • Volunteered with Hadley at the local food bank and helped prep for Thanksgiving baskets.
  • Gave a large box of Bode’s old clothes to a little guy in need (I’ve been holding off on donating them to the thrift store because I felt someone needed them and I’m so glad I waited).
  • Organized a large blogging event at Sephora and asked all those in attendance to bring a contribution to a mama who recently lost her husband. I was inspired by the many women who reached out to help, many of whom did not have much to spare.
  • Found a way through Haddie’s beautiful artwork to uplift and fellowship a man who has severe social anxieties. We have set a weekly goal to continue this service.

    • The culmination of our week was on Saturday when we volunteered to serve Thanksgiving dinner at the Irving Street Women’s Residence, a residential and support program designed to serve chronically homeless women. Volunteers of America recently implemented a family program where kids of all ages are invited to serve and I jumped at the chance because most community service opportunities are for older kids.

    I’m so glad I did because I gained a new appreciation for each member of my family.

    I get a bit teary-eyed thinking about Jamie (slightly out of his comfort zone) reaching out and entertaining these women. And yes, pumpkin stories were in abundance.

    I relished preparing our portion of the meal with Hadley and watching her pride whenever she received compliments on her hard work. She also made some of the most beautiful holiday cards we later gave to the patrons.

    I laughed when Bode volunteered to be the caller in BINGO and blazed through those numbers like a seasoned pro. As the youngest volunteer, he carried himself with a maturity beyond his years.

    At least to age 7. :)

    Our crummy year was forgotten as we uplifted and entertained these women so down on their luck. Many were mothers and grandmothers. Others were single and will probably only know loneliness. But we had one thing in common: gratitude for being brought together that afternoon.

    “I’ll never forget you guys,” one of the women promised as we said our good-byes.

    And this is one Thanksgiving we’ll never forget.

    © Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
    Filed Under: Family, holidays

    Why Hadley will be a supreme ruler

    November 17, 2011 By

    Hadley has had the exact same personality since the day she was born: spirited, fun and oh so stubborn.

    She is so headstrong and has a great ability to read people to get what she wants. This can be both a good and a bad thing. In fact, when she was just a few months old my pediatrician picked up on this and said it would be tough to parent her at times but it would serve her well in the boardroom later.

    Is this supposed to be a comfort?

    I love to snuggle and much to my chagrin, Hadley has never been a warm ‘n fuzzy kinda child. My resolution? Ever since she was a baby, I’ve always held her down and forced Family Snuggles out of her. This has become a nightly ritual as she giggles her objections to us.

    When she was 1 year old, she and I were bouncing around on my bed before bedtime when she stopped, plopped herself down on my pillow, put her arm out and announced, “SNUGGLE!” Shocked, I asked, “Did you say ‘snuggle?’” She nodded and repeated herself again. I didn’t hesitate a moment longer and dove right on in like an attention-starved puppy. With tail wagging.

    Now, lest you think I had converted her to Family Snuggles, think again. She laid there for her obligatory 10-second snuggle as if she was counting down the moments. She then plopped back up and announced we were:

    “Alllllll twue.” (through)

    In Haddie speak: “I gave you what you want so can you pul-ease stop attacking me, Woman?”

    Six years later, the girl still knows how to work it.

    © Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
    Filed Under: Hadley, Humor

    Our home’s crime scene

    November 16, 2011 By

    We’re the lazy people on our newspaper carrier’s route who request that he delivers our paper to our porch.

    It’s our nice way of not flashing our neighbors in our skivvies every morning by walking out to the driveway.

    Either our carrier has been slacking the last couple of weeks or we have a rookie because our newspaper has not be porched, but rather “sidewalked.” Meaning, he only makes it as far as the sidewalk in front of our porch. This has only resulted in minor public exhibitions but didn’t seem like a big enough issue to complain about.

    Until the dude took out our pathway light.

    Jamie: “Amber, please come outside.”
    Me: “OK, what?”
    Jamie: “Did you or the children do this (pointing to the broken light).”
    Me: “Nope.”
    Sherlock Jamie: “Just as I suspected.”

    He then started taking photographs.

    Me: “What are you doing?”
    Jamie: “Taking pictures to send to the newspaper’s circulation department as evidence. You will notice that the angle which the light was broken off corresponds perfectly with where the newspaper landed behind the rose bush. We have our man.”


    C.S.I., watch out.

    Or at least poor, lazy newspaper carrier.

    © Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
    Filed Under: Humor, Jamie

    How to do the mega resort, Dominican Republic-style!

    November 15, 2011 By

    For months, Jamie has been so overworked and burned out he has complained, “I JUST WANT TO BE BORED!”

    Boredom is not a common occurrence at our house and some quality R&R was our primary goal for our trip to the Dominican Republic.

    My mother-in-law Linda generously watched the kids (A BIG THANK YOU TO HER!) as Jamie and I spent five days having fun under the sun at the 1,366 room mega resort Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe, our compensation for battling it out over The Great Pumpkin on the Marriage Ref.

    We flew in on Wednesday afternoon and after a couple of hours of lounging on the white-sand beach the very next morning, Jamie proclaimed, “I am bored.”

    Apparently we don’t do boredom well.

    But we were just swell at a lot of other things:

    1) Sea kayaking, paddle boating, snorkeling, long beach walks, swimming and lots of eating at the resort’s nine restaurants. All activities were inclusive so we didn’t spend a dime.

    2) I become bilingual. At least I like to think I did. The other patrons at Barcelo were primarily Europeans and South Americans so we were in the minority.

    While most of the staff spoke at least some broken English, we occasionally had to crank out our espanol. We were frequently asked our room number–1323–and imagine my excitement when I realized THAT was something I could say in Spanish!

    “Uno…..tres………dos….tres!!!!”I carefully exclaimed.
    “You sound like a 4-year-old,” Jamie retorted.

    I credit Dora the Explorer for my prowess.

    3) I made some observations about our fellow patrons, who were so very different from our American neighbors.
    a) I don’t care how perfect your body is. Th0ngs are offensive and Speedos on men are even less flattering. I won’t talk about the 60-year-old grandma who opted to go topless. #StillRecovering
    b) No one there had tattoos. After going to Water World this summer, I realized just how pervasive American’s views of body art really are. It was strangely refreshing to see people’s bodies devoid of them.

    4) We hung out a lot in our hotel room. All the rooms at the Palace Deluxe were recently remodeled and we scored a junior suite, which had a generous sitting room, comfy king-sized bed with a pillow top mattress and even a hot tub on the deck. In the afternoons, we had a Harry Potter marathon. After nap time, of course. #Priorities.

    5) The weather was agreeable. I wasn’t thrilled for this trip because Denver’s weather is finally to my liking (read: brisk) and the thought of returning to my dreaded heat was depressing. Though the Domincan Republic was hot and humid, we had reprieves with rain and clouds. I only complained about the heat 12 times (a new record for me over a 5-day period).

    5) I achieved my life’s goal. On one rainy afternoon, we ambled over to the thatched-hut activity center overlooking the ocean and played games. We started with ping pong (Jamie killed me), then checkers (another win) but then victory was mine. Much to Jamie’s chagrin, the staffer passed out BINGO cards.

    Now, here’s my history with BINGO. Since we started taking cruises almost seven years ago, I’ve been dying to play BINGO and Jamie has turned me down. “It’s for a bunch of old people.”

    Now, he had no choice and begrudgingly played. And do you know what?

    I WON!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I could go pro.

    In the end, we had a fabulous, restful vacation as we reconnected in a meaningful way. This trip was such a departure from our regular action-packed experiences (in fact, my first trip to the Dominican Republic you can read about here was an adventure tour where we mountain biked, hiked and white water rafted).

    But our latest trip was just what the doctor ordered.

    And I have The Great Pumpkin to thank for it.

    © Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
    Filed Under: Humor, Jamie, pumpkins, travel

    Validation and the cutest little American ever

    November 11, 2011 By

    It’s no secret I was hesitant to enroll Bode in kindergarten because of the pressure I felt from my peers to hold him back.

    One of the reasons was I felt he was small for his age but at a recent pediatric appointment, I learned he’s actually in the 50th percentile (average) but he only seems smaller because he’s lumped with boys who should be in first grade but were held back.

    Go figure.

    The New York Times article about how delaying school could be a detriment to your child was definitely a validation for our decision to enroll him but it wasn’t until I volunteered in his class that I was pleased to see he’s in the advanced group with a bunch of girls.

    But then I got the biggest validation of all: his teacher called to say he’s the best reader in the class and will join the first graders for their reading time so he can be more challenged.

    My reaction was not pride but rather, relief. We had made the correct decision. I’ve fastidiously worked with him daily on his reading for over a year and our efforts have paid off. Lest you think I’ve gone all Tiger Mom on him, that is not the case.

    I’m much too lazy for that.

    Several of his classmates have made comments about his reading and we found out why at his parent-teacher conference. As an explanation for Bode going with the “bigger kids,” the teacher told the class it wasn’t fair for him to always give them the answers and that they need to work harder to catch up to him. Now, a lot of the kids want to go to the “big-kid class” and Bode has become the benchmark for reading literacy.

    In any other class, this strategy could significantly backfire with mean kids bullying him but it’s had the opposite effect and the kids think he’s cool. His buddy Timmie stopped us and admiringly said, “You know how to read, Bode?”

    If only brainiacs were always deemed popular.

    Now, lest you think Bode is some kind of child prodigy he’s not. But this whole experience has confirmed that as parent, we should regularly work with our kids and in the end, don’t push them too much (but just enough) and always listen to our gut.

    The gut that tells you to do the right thing. Not the one that tells you to eat that third chocolate cookie.

    There is, however, one problem. His teacher says she sometimes has a difficult time understanding him.
    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrJwwzRP5RY]

    I’m cutting my losses on this one. In his defense, this Canuck can’t pronounce half those words, either.

    © Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
    Filed Under: Bode, Humor

    Down for the count (and a killer Windex giveaway)

    November 8, 2011 By

    If the world seems unusually peaceful and quiet today, it is because I’ve lost my voice.

    Because I somehow manage to get sick 99 percent of the time I travel.

    Details of our Dominican Republic trip are forthcoming but this pic I took pretty much sums it up.
    Also, I don’t ever do giveaways on my personal blog but I just have to share a killer one we’re doing at Mile High Mamas. I teamed up with Windex to celebrate their 75th anniversary and we’re giving away oodles of Windex products, a video camera, $50 gift card and a photo album. Go here to enter!

    © Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
    Filed Under: Uncategorized

    My ’50s tranformation to pin-up: revealed!

    November 7, 2011 By

    A couple of weeks ago, I had the most killer mom’s afternoon out with some of my fellow Mile High Mamas: we were transformed into ’50s pin-up girls by Iman Woods!

    I’m talking about our hilarious, empowering and FUN experience at Mile High Mamas so be sure to check out the behind-the-scenes action.

    No lie: the stylist SEWED victory rolls into my hair.

    And if you’re in Denver: GO.

    For details, go here.

    © Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
    Filed Under: Uncategorized
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