Cute kid quote of the day

You could say that our youngest has done some age-inappropriate TV viewing as a function of being the little brother who just happens to be in the room.

Alister, 2: "Vampires kiss the horsies, right? The ghost scares the reindeer. I know dat Scooby-Doo."

Cute kid quote of the day

Cameron, upon learning that the Christmas money from his Grandpa is actually for his RESP:

"What?! I don't want to waste a whole hundred dollars on my university!"

An honest Christmas letter

I'm a bad person.

Well, maybe not officially. I donate to charities and treat my friends lovingly and adore my family. But when it comes to writing Christmas cards featuring pictures of my kids on Santa's lap (or at least in coordinating sweater vests), I'm an abysmal failure. If I can remember to get some new camera batteries today or tomorrow, I may still achieve a late-breaking email Christmas card, but between you and me, the odds on that are about 20 to 1.

So when I go to the mailbox these days, it's with a mixture of delight and guilt. I love that some of my friends and family have it together to design and print fun Christmas cards - my favourite bears pictures of a whole family making funny faces.

But my personal experience is that as life has gotten busier with more children and more Christmas concerts and some of life's terrifically poorly-timed complications, I've had to pick a few things to do well (this year we baked hundreds of cookies) and let some of the other slide.

Yet it seems there are always one or two families we know who manage to do it all, and if things aren't going wonderfully in all aspect my life, I find their newsletters make me feel a little inadequate. I hope everyone who hasn't given up on me for my poor Christmas-card record will keep sending me their newsletters, while also allowing me to have a little fun with them.

You know the newsletters I'm talking about, right? You took your kids to Disney World. They climbed the pyramids at Giza. You finally got your kids in swimming lessons at the same time. Theirs are flying through Suzuki violin. Your weekends were spent shuffling kids to playdates and birthday parties while just trying to acquire some groceries. They car-camped their way across Canada, or juggled cottage invitations and music festivals.

Their family activities inspire us to get a little busier making memories with our children and not to get so caught up in our to-do lists and responsibilities that we forget to design the family life that we want.

Nevertheless, just once I'd like to read a Christmas newsletter that starkly outlined somebody's really bad year. Because they happen to all of us, so why not share?

So here's my part-truth, part-fiction sample honest Christmas letter:

Dear treasured family and friends,

Hope this finds everyone well and looking forward to a happy holiday season.

It's hard to believe we've arrived again at the time of year when I sit down to pen this Christmas newsletter.

Actually, I've taken my laptop to bed with a giant box of Kleenex. Everyone in the house has had a cold since Labour Day.

The kids are well otherwise, though. While our eldest didn't quite learn to ride his bike this summer, we're sure his baby brother's overachieving performance on the tricycle, along with a dose of peer humiliation about his training wheels, should ensure he'll master the pedal brakes by 2011. Our big boy has also adjusted better to school and is no longer saying things like, "Maybe I'm just slow." We slept in on Parks and Rec tele-registration day so we've been a little light on extracurricular activities this fall.

Our toddler is still hooked on his pacifier and bottle and won't go near the potty, but we're hopeful to tackle these in time for him to start nursery school because man the nanny care is getting expensive. Happily,his all-white food palette has been expanded to include the occasional baby carrot and spinach-disguising fruit smoothie.

As for the extended family, my brother has disappeared into an oil patch since the death of our father a year ago. But we're able to glean a little about his life from the pictures of him partying with his friends that we see on Facebook. My sister has had a bit of a rough go, but this latest diagnosis should help and perhaps keep the rest of us from getting committed.

A little light has come into the life of at least one of us. My husband has finally stopped sleeping in the basement and has moved into a second-story apartment next door. Now that winter solstice has passed, the seasonal affective disorder should subside.

We're both enjoying our work. Well, as much as that's possible under the threat of lay-off.

Wherever you are this Christmas I hope this letter finds you well and looking forward, as I will, to new beginnings in 2010. Oh, and 2009? Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.

Merry Christmas!

Brandie and the boys

Kids talk about Santa

"What if YOU were good, but for example, your brother was on Santa's bad list?"

"I still have a few days to prove that I was good and get a present, right?"

"Don't worry, I asked for [coveted expensive gift] from Santa."

Got some of your own? Please add them in the comments?

Parenting tip of the day: Measuring fever

Oh, what a flu season it has been so far, the usual fall colds and other school-season viruses accompanied by pandemic flu H1N1.

Today's tip comes from thermometer makers Thermor Ltd., but seems like a reasonable idea.

Since body temperature varies from person to person, get a base body temperature of everyone in your family when they're feeling well. This way you'll have a more accurate read on what defines a fever for each person, and you'll be more likely to catch on when a virus is in its most contagious stage.

(As a side note, apparently thermometer sales have been up along with sales of hand sanitizer.)

Parenting tip of the day - Make like a daycare

I arrived a few minutes early for the holiday concert at Cameron's after-school program the other day. Sitting in the Grade 1 and 2 room while we waited, again I found myself marvelling at the wisdom of early childhood educators and how much we can steal from them for our parenting.

First, there's the incredible organization of a daycare room - toys tidily sorted in labelled boxes that the children somehow obediently return to their correct places. (This, I think, is largely because the teachers insist that one activity is put away completely before another is started.)

But the thing that really makes my jaw drop about daycare? The crowd control.

Cameron's charismatic teacher, Daniella, has an incredible "call and response" thing going on with her students. If they're not quite following instructions, she shouts out in friendly sing-song, "Nobody's LIS-TEN-ING." The kids then reply, "Ooh, aah, sssshhhhhh!" complete with actions.

Getting ready to leave the room for the gym, she called out, "WHAT DO I NEED?" to which the kids responded, "A straight, quiet line." "DO I SEE ONE?" she continued. "No!"

Given my sometimes dismal ability to get the kids out the door on time, I'm thinking I need to try this. (No word yet on whether it works on spouses. If you find out, let me know.)

Put a sling on it

Be sure to check out the latest parody on Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video.

This one has a message sure to please all the parents out there who are keen on "baby wearing."

Easy wrapping paper you can make with your kids

Here's a lowish-effort holiday craft you can do with your kids while, at the same time, personalizing the gifts you give this year. (The phrase "killing two birds with one stone" comes to mind but just doesn't seem either appropriate to the festive season or humanitarian!)

With simple potato stamps, my boys and I turned some plain kraft paper into cheap, eco-friendly holiday gift wrap.

We started this project during a weekend playdate. As we were about to begin, Cameron's friend asked if I could make a stamp of Indiana Jones on a motorcycle. After I explained that my potato-carving skills were limited to Christmas tree and star, we were underway.

You've may have done this before and it's pretty self-explanatory, but just in case you're wondering, here's how.

1. Cut a potato in half lengthwise. Using a small paring knife or similar, score your design into the potato's flesh.

2. About 5 mm into the surface, begin to cut away the area outside of your design. Your shape should now protrude from the rest of the potato.

(I didn't think ahead and actually take a picture of what this looks like as one carves the potato, but here is what our stamps looked like when we were done. A blue star for Hanukkah would also be great.)

3. Spread kraft paper out on wipe-able flooring, using board books or other weights to prevent it from curling, and keep a wet cloth nearby. Tempera paint is pretty washable, but obviously it helps if kids are not wearing their best threads.

4. It works better and wastes less paint if you use a small brush to cover the surface of your stamp with paint. To share the activity, one person (perhaps a parent, if you're keen on mess containment) can use the paint brush and pass it to the other to do the actual stamping. This is the glory job your kid really wants anyway. You can get 2 or 3 stamps out of one use of the paint brush, particularly if you instruct your kids to press down firmly and then use their fingers to compress different sides of the potato.

It should turn out imperfect but charming, something like this.

5. Let it dry for an hour or so (just to be sure) and you're ready to wrap!

With a little ribbon and some inexpensive gift tags (mine were $2.50 for 16 from Canadian Tire), this low-end, homemade wrapping paper looks pretty good.

(When Cameron was a baby, I painted his foot using green paint and used it as a stamp. It made grandmas and aunties swoon.)

Since I'm on the gift wrap beat today, it seems, here's a story I wrote for yourhome.ca on how to store gift wrap while trying to keep it nearby for the next few stolen moments.

Cute kid quote of the day

Cameron, 6, on a new kind of soup:

"It's not awesome but it's not the worst, either. It's my 10th favourite. No, my 11th. I haven't tried my 10th favourite yet."

Today's top news stories for parents

There is lots of education news on the site today that you won't want to miss.

1. Our top story is on Ontario's plan to complete an overhaul of school curriculum. Education minister Kathleen Wynne says the move is a response to years of complaint from both educators and parents that the curriculum is bogged down with a staggering number of "expectations." The idea will be to take the focus off of cramming in "coverage" of these prescribed areas and onto deepening understanding and developing research and reasoning skills. That could mean fewer details on the War of 1812, and more context on how and why wars happen. There is a passionate discussion happening in the comments right now. Please read and add your thoughts.

2. Demonstrating what this sort of learning could look like, we've got a profile of a classroom where the teacher spends less time going through curriculum checklists and more on big-picture thinking. She also keeps keeps the students active and on their feet to keep them engaged.

3. We also have an update on all-day kindergarten. While the Toronto District School Board and Toronto Catholic District School Boards have asked for extra time to sort out which schools will offer full-day kindergarten in the fall of 2010, Sudbury is the furthest ahead when it comes to actually implementing the program. And attached we've got lists of schools tentatively slated to have all-day kindergarten in Halton Public, Peel Public and Peel Catholic boards. Remember you can be sure not to miss a story on the Pascal report and the implementation of all-day learning by bookmarking our Early Learning page.

4. And if you've got a teenager interested in a career in criminology or law enforcement (or even if you're simply a CSI fan), check out this story on Humber College's new forensic lab, dubbed the CSI classroom.

5. Also, a bill was passed Monday that formalizes school board's responsibility for student achievement, but critics say it should have done more to prevent conflict-of-interest violations, like those that have plagued the Toronto Catholic board in recent years.

Lots to keep up with. Have a great Tuesday!