Much To Do

With the weather getting better, my diligent spouse P, and our preschooler, Lanes, have been enjoying the various parks in our neighborhood. Invariably, when they come home, I am regaled with enthusiastic tales of monkey bars, bicycle races and encounters with new playmates. I find it very amusing because before she goes to the park, she is always 'so tired' after the both of us walk downhill from school in the afternoons.

On the super sunny days, the entire exercise takes longer than it should because she and her friend from play school stop to blow on every dandelion they see, comment on every marking on the pavement, and squeal with delight at every dog that they pass.  With the help of gravity and little legs, they almost roll down the hill and her friend’s mom and I are usually found shrieking behind them, warning of crossroads and doggy poop. 

Lanes, who never listens to a word that comes out of my mouth, has taken up some sheep herding tendencies and does a good job of lassoing her younger companion at the appropriate times, often quoting my lectures to her (don't go there, that's a driveway, stop at the lamppost, no means no). If only she could help herself when we are alone, it would be helpful because the other day I saw a long red rodent type tail scurrying into the bushes as Lanes bounded ahead.

By the time we get home, we are both tired, hungry and two shades darker despite the liberal splattering of sun block I apply on both of us at the beginning of the day.  My mother, who would rather us lead a bat-like existence (instead of just being bats) in terms of avoiding the sun, would be mortified (I can't wait to video-Skype her--naughty me)!  Needless to say, when P comes home from his temp job, we both look a bit rough around the edges, but when it comes time to go to the park, Lanes rushes to the door all bright eyed and bushy tailed.

When they get to the park, she tends to dilly dally and without fail, no matter what park they go to, a little boy always comes up to her and initiates either a bike race or a game of catch or tag or whatever kids call it these days. Lanes runs after her cheeky park friend, screaming ‘daddy, after him!’, and poor P dutifully skedaddles behind them. 

He has decided though, that he will definitely have a tough time dealing with boys when Lanes is a teenager and that she will always be his little girl. So whenever she goes to the prom or whatever it is kids will be doing by that time, I’ll have to give him a laxative and a few drinks and chuck him in the closet until she comes home. That’s the plan for now at least. That being said, I’m most likely to find an excuse to go to college with her. Poor child.

The exciting thing we did this week was that we went to Shannon Falls in Squamish, BC.  The drive there was beautiful and after we looked at the awesome waterfall, we had a picnic lunch on the grounds. When we were done eating, Lanes gasped with delight as a little dog bounded towards us. His family was happy to stop and let us pet their four legged darling.

The doggie’s  family consisted of a mom, dad, a little boy perhaps Lanes age or a few months younger, and a little girl of about five or six.  P and Lanes were talking to the humans, but as an avid dog lover, I found myself highly engrossed in petting the little furry friend and  as I was asking Lanes to let the dog smell her hand before petting him, the mom in the family laughed and said ‘your daughter is petting my son!’.

I looked up to find that this was indeed true. Our little flirty gertie Lanes was gently rubbing his arm and offering him food because he was hungry! His parents thought it was funny. P looked a little constipated.  Meanwhile the little girl had her arm around Lanes’ shoulder. But Lanes does prefer to play with boys. Oh well. We exchanged pleasantries and shared some of our peanuts with them (after checking for allergies) and then made our way back to Vancouver.

I had taken an allergy medication and was drowsy all the way back, which was a shame because we could have explored more stops if I had all my wits about me.  Lanes had also fallen asleep with her mouth wide open after our little excursion. P, alert since he was saddled with driving, thoroughly enjoyed the view on the way back, so a good time was had by all, for the most part.

This week I had one of my notorious dreams about one of my grandparents. I say notorious because whenever I dream of them, I am invariably given a warning of some sort. This time I dreamt my maternal grandmother came to see me and she was not looking happy and warned me about my health. I proceeded to faint (in my dream) and came to (again in my dream) to find P had been dressing Lanes in mismatching clothes, which to me was more horrific than my fainting spell.

When I told P about this dream/warning from beyond, he took it to mean that I should finally go to the clinic and find out about those tests I took in March/April. I usually have to be taken to the doctor kicking and screaming, but P, freaked out by my dream (which he claimed was from my eating sour cream and onion chips pas midnight), decided it was time to go. 

I was not amused, but I had been having headaches and terrible back aches of late and thought it best to just go and figure everything out. I was also afraid that they would throw my test results out and I would have to go get another ultrasound from the cranky technician who accused me of not drinking water (which was true).

When I did get to see a GP, she decided to refer me to a specialist. I was not keen on yet another visit to the doctor and I guess that showed on my face and she quickly jotted down ‘looks bothered’ under comments. I was having yet another ‘Seinfeld’ moment in my life.

It reminded me of the episode where Elaine was at the doctors and he wrote down that she was difficult and she tried to get him to change it or steal the note to change it or something like that, which no doubt resulted in her getting barred from his office and that of his colleagues. Why do these things only happen to me? I debated grinning maniacally and looking  happy to see if she will change it but I though that my earn me a referral to the psych ward instead.

That about is our week in a nutshell. I must sign off since Lanes is sniffling and I think she is getting a cold. P claims he actually wants some exercise today and he wants to go off for a walk—I’ll make him climb the hill for laughs. I continue to struggle with my driving lessons, although this time my instructor was in a good mood and said ‘Fail!’ only once if at all. We delighted in finding new ways to make the driving test even harder, but then I realized that is not in my favor. I’m bright that way. More musings from BC next week...