Feeling the sun

Posted on August 17, 2017 by heatherlauraclarke

I had a lightness to my step as I walked back down the sidewalk, crossed the driveway and looked for where I’d parked the van.

I felt happy. Tingly with excitement.

After seven years as a work-at-home mom, with either one or two kids at home with me while I work, I’m about to have two children in elementary school.

I’m not good at math, but two children in elementary school equals zero children underfoot for six hours each weekday. It equals about 30 hours a week for me to work, all alone, without a peep from anyone except Annabelle. It equals 30 hours a week to breathe and be a professional and savor the silence and get things done, or, maybe, get absolutely nothing done.*

*Nah, that’s not likely. Even my hobbies are productive.

And so, today, on this sunny Thursday morning, I did something I’ve wanted to do for more than seven years.

I signed up for a pottery class.

For two and a half glorious hours, one morning a week for three months, I will learn and experiment and try new things and create with my hands. I’ll leave my phone on Do Not Disturb (set so I can get phone calls from the school, but not emails and social notifications) while I get deliciously messy and clay-covered.

I might want to bring an apron, she said. (Yayyyyy! I’m going to sew a special pottery one!) And a notebook, for writing down what I did on a certain day or what techniques I want to try. (Yayyyyyyy! I LOVE notebooks! It’s like going back to school except without the social studies and teenage-girl drama!)

I’m bursting with anticipation and it feels strange. I can’t wait. I really, really can’t WAIT. When was the last time I couldn’t wait for something? When was the last time I looked forward to something so special that was just for me?

I’m going to throw a pot, guys. Is that what you say? I’ll soon find out.

What’s the “right” bedtime for kids?

Posted on August 16, 2017 by heatherlauraclarke

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Try talking about your child’s bedtime on Facebook and you may see squabbles that break out in the comments section.

There’s a now-viral chart floating around social media about what time children should go to bed. It lists different wake-up times and then you can find the corresponding bedtime, according to their age.

Many parents think the times in the chart are ridiculous and unrealistic, and get defensive for putting their kids to bed much later than the “recommended” times. It says if a five-year-old is waking up at 6 a.m., they should be asleep by 6:45 p.m. Let’s hope that five-year-old’s parents have installed blackout shades, because during the summer that bedtime is two full hours before the sun goes down.

Our kids have always had especially early bedtimes and we protect those bedtimes fiercely. It started because our eldest is a person who — like me — really, really needs a good sleep.

He’s a morning person and naturally wakes up early, but his internal clock doesn’t take into account that he may have had a rough sleep or a later-than-usual bedtime.

If he’s habitually waking up at 7:05 a.m., he’s getting up at 7:05 a.m. whether he’s rested or not.

We pushed his bedtime up when he started Primary because that first month can be really exhausting (on the whole family). We needed to be up at 6:30 a.m., so we started enforcing a 6:30 p.m. bedtime. Twelve whole hours he was expected to be in his bed, asleep.

And you know what? It was perfect.

We’d head upstairs at 6 p.m. to brush teeth, put on pyjamas and read stories. The lights were out by 6:30 p.m. and he fell asleep almost immediately. Sometimes he’d wake up just after 6 a.m., but he got almost the full 12 hours he needed. On the days he didn’t get a good sleep, everybody knew it; he’d be weepy and hysterical over absolutely nothing by 4 p.m.

According to doctors, kids who are between three and six years old need 10-12 hours a night and kids between seven and 12 need 10-11 hours.

But that’s our son. Let’s talk about our darling daughter.

She does not follow the rules of the famous sleep chart that’s all over the internet …

Continue reading in my weekly parenting column, The Mom Scene …

Love is all around

Posted on August 15, 2017 by heatherlauraclarke

1. You get to include their photos!

With a couple of clicks, their shining faces are looking out from the pages of a real book. My kids think this is magic, and so do I.

It’s also fun to use a recent photo whenever I make a book, and then I can tell — based on their ages in the photo — when I made it. Ah, memories.

2. Their names are all over it.

Usually, I make separate books for each kid, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could put both names in a single field — and it still worked perfectly.

3. It turns it into a game.

Not only are their names IN the story, but they’re also sprinkled through the illustrations — on nametags, signs, etc.

Our daughter can’t recognize many words yet, but she loves that she can point out her name and her brother’s name.

4. There are more details to customize.

I was excited to see that I could add the name of our town in Love is all around — something I hadn’t gotten to do in any of our other Put Me In The Story books.

It was cute to see “The Truro officer who helps change a flat,” and it makes it much more meaningful than just “The police officer …”

5. It will hit you right in the feels.

The part about the sad little boy at school (too sad to play!!!) and the little girl who sits down beside him and makes him feel better? SO FREAKING SWEET.