Look it Up ...

Bob and I were discussing the future of bound books with a college professor friend of ours. With the availability of so much on the internet, there seems to be no use for "old-fashioned" reference books like the thesaurus or an encyclopaedia. In fact, The Oxford English Dictionary will no longer publish new print editions, only online versions. So it's no surprise when students these days need to be taught how to properly reference sources when writing essays and papers.

Knowing this, however, doesn't make it any less frustrating for the parent helping her 10-year-old daughter with homework when translating comes into question.

"Mommy, I need to go on your computer to do my French homework."

"Why don't you use my French-English dictionary," I said, pulling out the one I've had since high school.

"No!" Uh-oh. Here comes the protest. "It's too confusing. I just wanna do it online!"

"How can it be confusing? The front half is English to French, the back half is French to English."

"But, there's too many words!"

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Dog Tired ...

Our 10-year-old daughter Neva has many friends at school and we've become aquainted with most of their parents. We were talking in the schoolyard the other day with one mother when her daughter approached and asked about their neighbor's dog.

"You can go to dog training with them tonight," our friend said. "And we can take the dog for a walk when we get home from school."

"No don't take him for a walk now," her daughter protested. "He'll be too tired for training and he'll sit on the Chihuahua again!"

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Home Sweet Home?

We have been house-hunting the last few months and this past weekend we found one we liked enough to go back a second time. Since the house was vacant, and our agent is a good friend of ours, we brought the kids with us. They ran excitedly through the house, designating rooms as "mine", "yours", "office", "TV room".

Next was the backyard where they ran laps around the perimeter, testing out its kid-worthiness. The shed would hold their bikes, the garden could go here, a swingset there.

Finally we showed them the "secret" entrance to the loft, through the closet in the master bedroom. This was the height of excitement and they could no longer contain themselves. They started to run around and bump into each other. This turned to falling on each other, then tickling and wrestling and, finally, kicking and screaming.

Once I got them separated and downstairs, one at a time, I told Bob it was time to go. He asked, "Well, do we like the house? Is this the one?"

"It must be," I said, "they seem to fight in it just like home."

We'll let you know how we make out with the house...

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

"As Time Goes By" ...

As our kids grow up, we often think of times gone past. "Remember when...?" we wistfully ponder. Here are a few things I miss about my kids "younger" years:

I miss the lamb-like cries of a new born.
I miss the toothless, full-body smile of a four-month-old.
I miss the sumo wrestler thighs of my six-month-olds.
I miss sleepers. With feet. Is there anything more lovely than hugging a baby in a one-piece sleeper?
I miss the newly-walking toddler who drags the favourite stuffed animal behind them.
I miss how stacking tins of tuna can amuse them for an hour.
I miss how they readily ate every new food I offered.
I miss how perfectly they fit in the contours of my body, feet tucked into my tummy, when snuggling in bed.
I miss their peculiar "dialects" as they learned to speak. Like how Neva used to say "all by my Neva's self". Or when Milo, at two, would call Willa "La-la-beela". And how Willa always said, "that feel me better".

Now the lamb-like cries have been exchanged for ear-splitting shouts from the hormonal pre-teen or her saucy 5-year-old sister. The newly-walking toddlers are now riding their two-wheeled bikes faster than I can keep up. If only tuna tins were as enthralling as the 24-7 cartoon channel or Super Mario. New foods only push out old favourites, as if there is a finite number permitted in the repertoire. And don't get me started on chubby thighs!

But every new stage has its own rewards, like Neva's sincere and hearty laugh when she's with her best friend; Milo's toothless grin when he lost his two front teeth not too long ago; now I get to watch Willa learn to read, Milo whiz through math and Neva put her creative imagination to paper. And, best of all, they all still like to have me lie down with them at bedtime and climb into our bed early in the morning.

I know in 5 and 10 years' time I'll be lamenting the loss of the days I'm living right now. So here's to the present. And to snuggling with your kids -- at any age!

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

October is Breast Cancer Month

Last Sunday was The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's 18th annual Run for the Cure. In 56 communities across the country, more than 170,000 people ran, walked and wheeled their way to raising $26.5 million for Breast Cancer. Among those people were me and my girls. I first participated 10 years ago when Neva was just a toddler. It was a way for my mothers' group to get together and give back, but at the time breast cancer hadn't touched any of our lives yet. In the years since, I've met more women than I care to count who have been diagnosed with, suffered through, conquered, survived and succumbed to breast cancer. One of those was Bob's sister, 8 years ago.

So Sunday morning, Neva, Willa and I dressed in pink, donned our Run shirts and joined thousands of others in a downtown park to beat a disease I hope never effects my girls. And as I wondered who to include on my "I'm running for..." message bib, I decided I'd run for those closest to my heart. My message:

"I'm running for MY GIRLS: the two I gave birth to and the two who nursed them and their brother for 6 years!"

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Coming of (r)Age

Our children grow up in all different quirky and wonderful ways. Some milestones we embrace warmly -- the first steps, the first lost tooth, the first crush. Others we don't even like to touch with a ten-foot pole. Like, for instance, make-up.

This morning I was reminded it was picture day at school. No problem, I thought. I just did laundry yesterday and most of it was even folded. So everyone had good clean clothes to wear. All done, right? Wrong! Okay, Milo was easy: throw clothes at him and make it a race to see how fast he can get dressed. No different from any other morning. I suspect the same will be true when Willa goes to Kindergarten after lunch. However, not only did I have to send Neva back to change out of the seasonally inappropriate outfit she had first picked out, but I had to deal with the thorn in every "tween" mother's side: make-up.

She came to the kitchen looking like she had Fifth Disease, cheeks as red as beets. I did my best to gently tell her that you need to learn how to apply make-up before you can wear it and to please go clean up. I also did my best to gently tell her that I didn't think it was either appropriate or necessary for 10-year-olds to wear make up other than for play.

After she stormed from room to room, yelling about the likelihood that I'd never let her wear make-up, that she was going to look ugly in her picture just like every year, how I was the worst mother ever, and she wasn't even going to school anymore, the only thing I could do was pull her into my arms and love her. She cried. She yelled. She hurled insults. But we could discuss it all later, when everyone's calmer.

Sometimes you just need to hold your kid. And your tongue!

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Cookie Capers ...

We have a rule in our house: no sweets or treats until you've had a piece of fruit or a vegetable. For the most part the kids are good about following this rule, even to the point of letting their friends know when they come over. Going to a friend's house, on the other, is different entirely. They still know my rule, but if another parent doesn't care, my kids certainly aren't going to insist on a piece of broccoli before accepting a cookie. Would you?!

This morning, Willa was playing at her friend Marc's house. Marc's mom baked cookies with them and made macaroni for lunch. I picked Willa up after lunch to take her to school.

I just a call from Marc's mom. She was cleaning up after we left and noticed two cookies left on the plate of four she'd put out for Marc and Willa. She asked Marc if they'd only eaten one cookie each.

"No," Marc replied, "I had two. Willa didn't eat hers."

"Why not?"

"You told her she had to eat her apple first and she wasn't finished it when her mom came to the door."

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Back to School ...

We're half way through the second day of school and it is only now, as I sit here, that the house is finally quiet! Milo missed his first day of Grade 2 yesterday due to highly contagious pink eye. And Willa doesn't go to school in the mornings. But now that all three are gone, I think I can finally concentrate on work for more than 3 minutes at a time.

Working from home while all three of our children were home for the summer is challenging at the very least. While 7-year-old Milo kept himself occupied for long periods of time (if a very noisy time), our two girls seemed to be at a loss if they didn't have a playdate or an activity planned.

My youngest daughter, Willa, typically started asking if she could call a friend about 17 seconds after she'd finished eating her breakfast. It was like that every day for the 9 weeks of summer holiday. (No, really, I'm not kidding.) One day last week, I had to endure what seemed like hours of "who can I call now?" before she finally found a friend who was available to play that afternoon.

"Marc's coming over," she told her dad.

"Is that a good thing?" he asked.

"Yes! Cuz now I won't be following you and Mommy around all the time!"

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

A Story By Willa

One day there was a Dad walking in his garden. He was harvesting vegetables from his garden for his Granny. And then he went off and found a basket. And he found a big bad wolf in it. So he took the wolf out and put his food in. And then he went through the fireworks and he stayed for a little. When he was sitting down he found a ginormous toilet. [Here she snickers] So he sat on it.

Then he went off to the woods. And then he started walking again and found a college school. He went behind the college school and found a big ginormous tower. At the top there was a toilet. [more snickering] And he sat on it again. And then he started walking again.

At the end of the forest, he found his Granny's house. They were in the back. He went behind Granny's house and said, "They forgot about my birthday!"

When he sat on the toilet, they all jumped out and said, "Surprise! Happy birthday!" And they had a wonderful picnic birthday.

The End

Happy sweeping!

Willa Gunther, as told to Kathleen Gunther (Ed).,
Most Junior Writer in Residence, ContestHound.com

Swimming, Swimming ...

All three kids have been taking swimming lessons again this summer, something we believe is not a matter of sport or fitness as much as it is a matter of safety. Luckily, none of our three have ever had a fear of water, preferring to spend more time under it than above it listening to their instructors.

During one class last week, the instructor had the long rescue hook in the water, the pole touching the bottom of the pool. The kids were supposed to hold on to the pole and swim down as far as they could. At the end of class, Milo approached me on the pool deck, a suspiciously huge smile on his face. The kind of look that almost screams, "guess what's different about me!"

"What?" I asked.

"Do you notice I'm extra wet today? That's because I had to swim to the bottom of the pool!"

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Stuck ...

I find myself wondering sometimes whether kids forget to plug their brains back in when they wake up in the morning. After a good night's sleep, my 7 year-old son Milo was getting dressed when from his room, I heard him calling for help. It wasn't a pained cry but more of a "what have I gotten myself into?" one.

We met halfway between my office and the bedroom and I was struck dumbfounded by his predicament. It seems that he had pulled up his pants as high as he could get them without having unbuttoned and unzipped. They were stuck around his thighs. Laughing, I suggested he undo the button, but to no avail. They were too tight. Okay then, how about you try to pull them down, I offered. Still too tight.

As I was busily trying to explain to a very frustrated Milo that we weren't laughing at him but rather at his predicament, I just couldn't find the right words. Meanwhile, there he stood, pants stuck halfway up forced to listen to me toss out nothing more than "word salad".

It wasn't until my wife Kathleen came to his rescue -- and pulled his pants down for him -- that his suffering ended. Turns out that maybe my kids aren't the only ones whose brains are not up and running first thing in the morning.

Now, where's my coffee?

Happy sweeping!

Bob Gunther
Webmaster, ContestHound.com

Innocent Until Presumed Guilty ...

Bob was taking apart the old computer to retrieve any reusable parts. He thought it might interest the kids to see what a computer looked like inside so he called them all to come see.

Milo took one look at all the parts all over the floor, some of them (deliberately) bent out of shape, and said, "I did NOT do that!"

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Teacher's Jar ...

I don't know if it is customary where you live but here, we give our children's teachers a little gift to thank them for putting up with our children and not running away in a mad frenzy months earlier. Some parents give gifts that can be used in class next year, while others give something the teacher can pamper themselves with.

This year, our oldest daughter Neva, with the help of Mommy and her little sister Willa are making "Do-it-yourself" Muffins. To me, it seems such a great idea that I thought I'd share it with you. You simply pack all the dry ingredients in a mason jar, add a tag that lists the wet ingredients the receiver needs to add and cooking instructions.

Now we can't take credit for the idea, it in fact comes from a book called Gifts in a Jar: For Kids by G & R Publishing. You can find it at Amazon.

Amazon.com
http://www.contesthound.com/jump/link.php?id=6270

Amazon.co.uk
http://www.crazycompers.co.uk/jump/link.php?id=6271

Amazon.ca
http://www.contesthound.ca/jump/link.php?id=6272

Happy sweeping!

Bob Gunther
Webmaster, ContestHound.com

Chairwomen of the Bored ...

It's less than two weeks before our kids are home from school for the summer. Maybe we're getting a little taste of what it might be like this year as both girls are home sick today. It's interesting that once they decide that they indeed are sick, they become rather easily bored. I certainly hope today doesn't foreshadow the holidays.

Our oldest, Neva, has already done some reading, played on the computer, had a couple of snacks, watched TV and she's only been out of bed for a few hours.

Willa has done pretty much the same but she has liberally peppered her down time with countless questions ... "Can I go outside?", "When's lunch?", "Do I have a fever?", "When's Mommy home?"and on and on.

Kathleen would say that I'm the same way when I'm sick. It's a funny helplessness that comes immediately after being officially labeled as "sick" by Kathleen. As with the kids, I too get bored and eventually, almost miraculously, start "feeling better", at least enough to start doing things for myself ... really, I do ... honest!

Happy sweeping!

Bob Gunther
Webmaster, ContestHound.com

Winter Break or Winter Broken?

It was quite an adventure, our first big family trip. The kind where parents earn a merit badge for survival. It started the week before, when Willa was home sick with a terrible cough and then a bladder infection. I got a sinus infection, which made packing a laborious task. The night before we flew out, we drove through a wee snow storm, complete with cars in the ditch and a tractor trailer spun the wrong way on the highway. Then Milo threw up his entire dinner all over the van ("Happy Meal"? I don't think so!), and our two-hour drive became a four-hour one. Luckily the flight the next morning was uneventful, even exciting, and we arrived in Florida safely and on schedule.

Despite the weather being, well, not entirely Florida-like (it was cold and windy), and despite Neva getting Milo's flu mid-week, we did have a wonderful visit with my mother. We celebrated Willa's 5th birthday; Neva and Milo lost teeth and were visited by the American Tooth Fairy; the sun shone every day but one; we visited the Salvador Dali Museum and the Clearwater Aquarium for rescued marine animals; we had lovely weather the last 2 days; the kids did get to "swim" in the ocean the day before we left (it was freezing) and we had one good swim in the pool. Best of all, there was no snow, no computer, no work and no morning rush!

I can't wait to go back next year!

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com