A snowy day outside

This morning was a beautiful bright morning with light snow falling - a perfect winter day. We decided to get outside and take advantage of it. We bundled Ewan up, grabbed the sled and the dog and we were off. We were out for about 45 minutes and half of the walk was through knee deep snow, so we also got in some exercise. Sidekick loves the snow and ran through every snow bank and all over the golf course. Ewan just happily sits propped up in the sled laughing at the dog running around.

As we were coming up our street Alan and I turned around chatting to Ewan only to notice that he had fallen asleep and was hanging out of the sled! Once we got home we moved Ewan into his bed (yes, I am happy to say that when Ewan falls asleep you can move him, bring him anywhere, even take him out of a full snowsuit and nothing will wake him up). The best part - the dog was exhausted and slept in his bed for the rest of the afternoon and Ewan had a 2.5 hour nap - that has never happened before!!! So I did some food prep for the week, did some baking and watched Battle Star Gallictica - Alan borrowed 3 seasons from his brother - it is not a great show, but for some reason really addictive.

It was a really nice way to start our day off together - Sunday is the only day that we all have off to simply stay in our pj's and relax and we have been making a real effort to do just that.

PS. I have just finished planning my meals for the week and I am happy to say that I have made a new and different meal every day for the past 3 weeks all from the Family Dinner cookbook - I am still loving it :)

A Family Business

Last Friday, I unfortunately had all three of my daytime staff members away sick. I know they must have been really sick because I am very fortunate to have very committed and reliable girls to keep A Gym Tale going. So after the panic of having all three of them call me between 7:30pm Thursday evening and 6:30am Friday morning, and being exhausted from having Ewan up most of the night who appears to be getting four new teeth in - I knew I had to call in my support team. That team consisted of Alan and my mother in law, Frances, who both came in to help with Nursery School without any hesitation at all. Alan and Frances are both wonderful with the kids - Alan's excitement and enthusiasm is contagious and the children love his sense of humour. And Frances is just the most soft spoken, gentle, and safe person as only the mother of four and grandmother of four could be. 

Although at the outset it looked like Friday was going to be an impossible day, it turned out to be a really relaxed and enjoyable experience. The children were excited to meet Mr. Alan and Miss Frances and it was wonderful to get to spend extra time with family. With the three of us there all day, it also meant that Ewan was also spending all day at the centre. Surprisingly, he did wonderful as well. He loved getting to have his Mom, Dad and Gran with him playing all day and then he had a wonderful 2 hour nap behind the pirate ship!

It brought back so many memories of just opening up the business and working every day with Alan and having both of our families around helping out any way they could. Working as a 'family' business is definitely one aspect of the original A Gym Tale that I miss. However, it is also wonderful working with so many great girls and having such a well organized and structured business that does not all fall solely on my shoulders! 

Oh the memories!

Bringing my Son to Work

For the past month, I have been fortunate enough to have Ewan attending morning Nursery School as well as a Tuesday morning play group. The convenience of having my son with me and the opportunity to spend time with him and watch him grow and learn are some of the reasons why starting A Gym Tale made sense for myself and my husband.

However, along with those benefits comes finding the balance between meeting the needs of my family and those of our guests at A Gym Tale.

Within the Nursery School program, I have a wonderful group of children who welcome Ewan into the program and try to teach and play along with him, while at the same time understanding when he accidentally sits on their laps in circle time! Ewan is very content to wonder around and watch the children during free play - which is also helping him to become more confident in leaving my side. And throughout the songs and music portion, Ewan is learning to participate, sing and master the actions of a variety of rhymes and songs. As well, seeing all of the 'big' kids eating snack and chatting at the table also reinforces that he needs to be sitting, eating and taking in how the other children connect.

Unfortunately, with the Play Class, it has not been quite so smooth. And I must thank the parents for their patience and effort in helping me deal with my miserable child during that class! I was hoping for the opportunity to have Ewan socializing with children his own age, two of which are his cousins. However, the timing just isn't working. In an effort to have him nap only in the afternoon instead of 2 naps during the day- one of which tends to go over dinner time, he is just unable to participate for the entire class. And although I love seeing him perform all of the circle songs at the beginning, it is just too hard for him to make it to the end.

I am very thankful that my business allows for the opportunity to maximize the time I have to be with my family and I am also very thankful for the support of so many families!

Sooo sick....

Yesterday morning I woke up early at 6am determined to be organized for the week. Our childcare (my dad) called in sick so Alan was going to try and work from home with Ewan. I had both their breakfasts, snacks & lunch prepared as well as diapers and activities set out for Ewan and a makeshift office for Alan set up in Ewan's play room. I left for work by 8:15am feeling good that everything was organized and ready to go. After getting to the centre early and setting up for Nursery School - and prepping the transportation themed activities, I greeted the children and we began our school day. However, by 9:30am I started feeling a little queasy. I didn't think much of it, maybe I didn't eat enough breakfast. But by 11:15am  I knew I had to get out of the centre because I was going to be full on sick. I made it home just in time - to be sick from 11:30am right through to 7pm last night - non stop! I cannot remember the last time I have been this sick. I literally was not able to get out of bed, except to run to the bathroom, or do anything at all - not even hold my baby!

Thank goodness Alan was able to stay home and watch Ewan all day. And how lucky I am to have family around for extra support. My mother in-law was able to come this morning and watch Ewan for most of the day. It made me wonder what parents do when they get that sick and do not have any extra support available. I had to nurse Ewan in bed yesterday because my arms did not have the strength to even hold him - without help, I would not have been able to care for him.

I am so thankful that Ewan almost seemed to 'understand' that I was not well. Not once did he get upset when he couldn't stay with me. Usually if he knows that I am in the house he refuses to leave my side. A friend said she thinks children must have innate sense when the parent isn't well and to go easy on them.

Also, my apologies to those families that I had to cancel classes this morning with such short notice. My two supplies were sick and out of town, so I did not have another option. Hopefully you got to enjoy some free play on the indoor playground. See you all next week. Also, join A Gym Tale's Facebook page, I am going to start putting all updates on Facebook.

Well I am feeling a hundred times better now, so everything will be back to normal at A Gym Tale tomorrow!

Easter Weekend

What a wonderful long weekend - great weather, spending time with friends and family, and building a garden rock wall! Ok, so building the wall was not so much fun, but it did turn out really well. What started as a small raised vegetable garden, quickly turned into three garden beds, for a total of 50 feet! A little bit of a larger project than we had initially bargained for. Myself and my husband can barely move this evening without moaning and groaning. But we now have our very first do-it-yourself home renovation project under our belt. Now what can we do next....maybe a fire pit?!

Ewan also had a very busy weekend showing off all of his new 'tricks' to family and friends that we haven't seen in awhile. Ewan can push himself backwards on a few different types of surfaces, he can rip door stoppers right out of the wall, he can now stand up without his legs instantly turning to jello, he can bounce while standing, consistently wave, clap and bump heads when asked and talks non-stop, all day long! It is so exciting seeing him turning into a real little boy!! And with his 1st birthday less than five weeks away, party plans are well under way. Does anyone have any birthday party venue suggestions?!