I’ve been really bad about keeping my blog up to date. Hopefully I still have readers out there! October was really busy for us, though (mostly) a lot of fun too.
We spent Thanksgiving with my relatives in Langley. My mom’s brother, sister, and mother all live there. In particular, I’m very close to one of my aunts (my mom’s brother’s wife, follow that?) and my cousins. My aunt is like a second mom to me, and I’m far more like her than my own mom. She is much more open and understanding about our way of parenting as well. My mom and my sister drove up and met us in Langley.
Then we came back here, and a few days later my mom and sister came over here and stayed for a week. It was nice to see them, but my mom is a bit of a stressful person to be around. She has major mood swings and will sometimes get angry for seemingly no reason. She also seemed to feel the need to micromanage Meredith and was constantly telling her to be gentle with the animals (even if I was standing right there petting the animals with her and she was fine). She also liked to call Meredith a “drama queen” (even when there were very obvious reasons why she was upset) and rolled her eyes when I picked her up or hugged her when she was upset. I’m sorry to say it, but it does make me glad not to live in the same city. Now that I have my own daugher, I also find it sad to think that she was so disconnected from us that she thought we cried so much for no reason. Sometimes I don’t know the reason, but the majority of the time there’s a very obvious reason, be it teething, stress from traveling, etc. My sister was also labeled a drama queen (and still often hears that), and yet my mom will storm off (for no reason that we can figure out!) at times and expect someone to follow her and ask what’s wrong and sympathise with her.
It was great to spend the time with my sister though. I consider her to be one of my best friends and Meredith adored her and at times actually wanted to be with her more than with me! *sniffle*
Halloween was fun. I was visiting with a great friend and her son. It’s so wonderful to spend time with parents who have similar values to me, and her son (who is older than Meredith) is such a sweet kid and in a really fun stage too. We went through baby clothes (she is pregnant) and it was almost enough to make me want another soon-ish. But I’d like to wait a little longer in case my milk dries up or Meredith weans herself while I’m pregnant as children sometimes do. I haven’t got my period back again yet anyway. I don’t want them to be too far apart though!
I got home, and to my surprise a really great friend from Calgary was here, just for the day. Turns out WestJet was doing a special for anyone with the last name Web, Sweet, Candy, or Orange. They could fly for free just the one day, so he came out to visit us. We went to a Halloween party just for a couple of hours, then came back here to hand out candy. I dressed Meredith up and took her out just for about 20 minutes, around our co-op and a little bit next door. She had a great time. Many of the people let her pick out a candy from their bowls, and she would put it in her bag herself and then reach for another and most of them let her have another too. I will have to post some pictures tomorrow if I get a chance. We actually didn’t end up with much candy though because I put a lot of it into our bowl to give away when we got home again. I kept a few things for Kris and I to eat and we let Meredith try a little as well.
Meredith is teething again. I thought she might cut the tooth on Halloween, but she didn’t. It looks really sore this time around. It’s quite swollen and red. Lots of nursing and a little bit of Gumomile seems to be keeping it tolerable for her this time though. She still has her teething necklace too. I think that combined with the traveling and having guests has made this month a little bit stressful for her, and at times very small things can make her very upset. I think it’s often a build up and the small thing that seems to have caused the problem is really more like the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak.
Regardless, I adore the stage she is at right now. She is so much fun, and I just love everything about her. She loves to help out, and will help with laundry, dishes, putting things away, or any other little jobs we give her. She is picking up a lot of signs and has made up a couple more of her own, and her spoken vocabulary seems to be expanding as well. She definitely knows what “no” means, and though she’s never said it yet, she will shake her head or nod when we ask her questions. I love that I can ask her things and she can tell me the answer now. Sometimes there is still some guessing involved, but it makes it so much easier.
Anyway, I am going to try to update a little more often this month, even if it’s just short. It should be a slower month for us, though we will be helping a friend move at one point. I hope everyone out there who celebrates it had a great Halloween!
Related posts:
That’s so fun that they flew people with spooky names for free on Friday! What a neat idea. Glad you had a fun Halloween though – don’t eat too many chocolate bars!
I think Meredith and I got along so well because we’re around the same maturity level (“ohhh look! A swing!!!”) and I can totally empathize with the drama queen thing.
She is so funny with the nodding and head shaking – especially when she knows she’s being a bit cheeky and she gets this big smile – so cute!
I miss you guys already!!
Okay- so much to comment on!
It must be so hard to watch your mother behave like that towards such a small loved one.
It was a real shocker to me to live with my mother for 6 months while dh was doing job training. It was like I was transported back to being a child myself to see my mother try and shame, guilt or coerce my daughter. I felt so angry and protective of my daughter. I’m lucky that I feel comfortable telling my mother what I think in the most blunt of ways without fear of retribution. We don’t get on well together but we don’t fight either. Please don’t think I’m comparing our relationships- just running with some thoughts I had when I read your posting.
What did Meredith dress up as for Halloween?
That is so funny about West Jet! I can’t believe they did that. How cool. It must have been nice to see your friend like that!
Do you ever wonder to yourself if teething will EVER end? (Says the chick who’s baby was up all night last night!)
Alice, we miss you too! I love her head shaking, especially the little grin, though she’s starting to get the hang of nodding now too. You’re too funny about the maturity level, ha!
Annie, wow I can’t imagine having to live with her for 6 months! I would definitely have some really clear boundaries in that case. I did say something a few times, or just got Meredith out of the situation. As much as I’d like to continue the relationship with my mom, Meredith is more important, so if I hurt Mom’s feelings, tough. I totally get what you’re saying about feeling angry and protective. As Meredith gets older, I know I’ll find myself having to say something more and more often to her. She hated it when her mom would try and parent us, so I have a pretty easy way to point out how annoying it is. She hates being compared to her own mother.
Meredith was a lady bug indoors and a dragon outside. We have a wizard costume too that sort of went with the dragon. I’ll post up pictures today. And it was so great to see our friend! What a surprise! He still had to pay taxes but $70 for 12 hours in Victoria was worth it to him.