Mia's Dance Moves

I’ve written a few times on my blog about the various musical aspirations I’ve had for my children. Toby was the first one to dupe me by PRETENDING to be a fan of Kanye while in the womb and then staring at me DUMBFOUNDED when I introduced him to real life hip hop music that wasn’t obscured by amniotic fluid. He then went on to prove to me that what kids ACTUALLY like are Raffi songs and Old MacDonald had a Farm. It took some getting used to, but almost 4 years into it, I now more often than not find myself bopping along to “Baby Beluga” for at LEAST 5 minutes after letting Toby off at daycare. It takes a while before noticing that I have regained control of my radio again.

OK FINE, that’s not the whole story. The truth is that a lot of times now I don’t even BOTHER to turn it off. Whoever WRITES these catchy songs for kids probably has a side job in Vegas because they draft the most ADDICTIVE and CATCHY tunes imaginable. After a few times you don’t even NOTICE how ridiculous the lyrics are you have so EMBEDDED the tune in your brain you just can’t suppress the urge to whistle, hum or sing it. Over. And Over. And finally HEARING the song again after whistling, humming or singing it to yourself all day long at the office is like finally scratching that spot on your back that has been itching all day long.

And then there was Mia.

Having learned NOTHING from Pregnancy #1, this time, Mia’s in utero musical selection had me convinced that she was a Drag Queen. (I guess the very fact that her default genitals are female immediately disproves my suspicion.) Mia didn’t seem to react AT ALL to music while she was a wee zygote. In fact, all of the addictive Raffi tunes in the world (and even Toby’s month long Frosty the Snowman kick) didn’t jolt her into a few kicks. It wasn’t until I was at the musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert that she proved that not only could she hear, but also that she LOVED that particular genre of music.

Since her birth I have PURPOSELY not brought out my Stayin Alive CD in the hopes of delaying the inevitable.

The real Mia is a serious little girl. It used to take a lot to get her to smile but she is realizing that life isn’t always so intense and has started grinning away mischievously and laughing loudly at anything and everything her idolized big brother does in front of her.

Just a few weeks ago, though, she showed us she could dance. At first we thought she was just shaking her head, “no” a lot, but then we seemed to put the pieces together and realized her very unique style of dance that was being demonstrated to us; head banging.

For the past while we thought her “head banging” was one dimensional – side-to-side in only the horizontal direction. But last night, when we brought out Dance Mix 2011 for our after dinner dance party, Mia’s dancing took on a WHOLE NEW LEVEL.

She started bouncing her head…

(Wait for it)

UP AND DOWN.

Now, I know this doesn’t PROVE anything - -I have been duped before and I will be duped again by my own offspring. But is this video not a PROMISING sign that MAYBE, just MAYBE I have birthed a child who finally APPRECIATES hip hop music?

I leave the question for you to ponder as you enjoy the uniquely hers dance moves of my sweet little Mia.

(Don’t judge me for owning Dance Mix 2011. It was a Christmas gift…from Santa.)

Rediscovering old hobbies

One of my favourite things that I learned in Thunder Bay was how to skate ski. I remember the serene kid-free weekends I used to spend up there, where my only plan for the day was to go skate skiing with Jane. We would meet at noon and take as long as we wanted, admiring the vastly beautiful landscape and the sweet behinds of the tall Finnish population of Thunder Bay as we tortured our lungs and legs with the great new sport I had discovered.

Towards the end of our 3-year stint up north I purchased a pair of skate skis in the hopes that I would continue to enjoy my newfound sport after my return to southern Ontario.

But alas, moving away from Thunder Bay I became busy with work and new friends. Before I knew it I had entered the first stages of parenthood; the symbiotic 9months of alien inhabitation that took over my body followed by the equally grueling 9 months of breastfeeding-not-sleeping-no-time-to-myself chaos that ensued. Needless to say, as my belly expanded with new life, so too did the cobwebs on my beloved pair of skate skis.

And then, just when life started to slow down a little we decided to do it all over again.

And so here I find myself, SIX YEARS post Thunder Bay, in the irrational excitement of Mia’s soon to be first birthday, eagerly fooling myself into thinking that I have life under enough control that I can finally rekindle the friendship I had with my skis last century.

My mission was ALMOST FOILED by an unexpected scheduling change at work and an impromptu snow squall, but I forged ahead and completed my mission.

I was the only one at the ski hills that day; apparently the “southern skiers” are easily deterred by bad weather. I scoffed to think what the tall Finnish Thunder Bay-ites would think of the feeble resolve of us lowly southerners. The ladies in the shop were QUITE pleased to finally have a customer on this particularly blustering minus 20 degree day and even offered some free trail advice.

And off I went.

Resuming the long lost sport of skate skiing after an unplanned 6 year hiatus is similar to going into labour for the second time; after two contractions it all comes FLOODING BACK to you and you suddenly REMEMBER as if it was only yesterday.

THIS.

SUCKS.

It is a GOOD THING I was all alone in the woods this week when I “rediscovered” the sport. Even then, I was SO BADLY out of shape and SO BRUTALLY unprepared that I was EMBARASSED.

It’s like the time old conundrum “If a tree falls in the middle of the woods, does anyone hear it?“ only changed up a little to read, “If Alyssa skate ski’s TERRIBLY in the middle of the woods and no one sees should she be embarrassed?”

The answer is yes.

In anticipation of the snow storm I had put on leggings, tights, pants AND show pants along with a long sleeve shirt, sweater, hoodie and bomber ski jacket, complete with scarf, ski mitts, hat and neck-warmer.

I looked like I could take on the abominable snowman but to put me on a pair of slender skate skis and ask me to sleekly glide through the woods was ludicrous.

And so I trudged along, huffing and puffing with my nose running profusely, every pore of my scalp sweating so much that my big ski hat kept falling off my head and an audible GROAN escaped my lips with every painful stride.

It was a LONG 2 km but FINALLY I made it back to the lodge without dying. As I stepped back in to the safety of the ski chalet a cloud of evaporating sweat ERUPTED over my head which told everyone there just how out of shape I was. But I forged on through the last few steps of utter embarrassment and managed to get to my car and out the driveway without a second glance.

I am proud to report that my skate skis are no longer covered in dust and cobwebs.

I may not be able walk without the telltale limp of a timely beating of unfamiliar muscles, but I am proud to say that Alyssa the Skate- Skier is back on the tracks. I may be the slowest one out there but hey; I do my Thunder Bay peeps proud…. I think…

2011

And alas, the year I thought would never arrive (and then never end) has done both of the above. I see 2011 off with a sigh and a smile as I am left with a potty trained 3 year-old, a busy toothful 11 month old, a rambunctious dog and a brand new coffee maker. Life is good.

This time last year, life was a big question mark. I riddled with questions about the new person about to enter our lives – when, where and how they would arrive and, most importantly of all, WHO they were.

And now we know. She turned our lives and our hearts upside down and is now hard at work at doing the same with our house. We have wooden construction pieces strewn all over the floor, a partially decorated tree with countless broken ornaments scattered at its feet and bite marks on the wooden furniture. But we also have the sight of her huge smile to wake up to every morning, the sounds of her and Toby’s laughter entertaining us after dinner and the smell of her sweet baby-ness as we snuggle her to sleep at night.

It all seems so simple when I write it on my blog – “it was tough but now it’s better” doesn’t quite apply to babies OR toddlers. There are still many moments when I want to pull my own or one of my children’s hair out. There are other moments when the Tina Fey scenario – drinking a diet sprite alone in a motel room – still sounds like absolute bliss. Some days the hours go by so quickly I don’t have time to breathe; other days 20 minutes in the playroom with both kids seems to last for hours.

I don’t expect any of that to change in 2012, but I feel a bit more prepared for what lies ahead than I did this time last year. I greet the New Year with crossed fingers for healthy children and for the supposed 99% efficacy of our chosen method of birth control.

Wishing health and happiness to you as well in 2012! Thanks for reading along on our journey….

See you next year!