Since Last We Saw Our Intrepid Adventurers

A lot has happened since I last set aside time to write more than a tweet or four. This time last year the CoVid-19 vaccination was still a dream, something in the far future. We were facing the cold, dark winter stuck indoors, away from family, friends, and neighbours. 

But things have gotten significantly better! Claire and I are both fully vaccinated since the summer. Our kids still aren’t able to get the vaccine, so we’re still being cautious. While activities have been restarting, we’ve been avoiding any large crowds still, and especially avoiding indoor events. 

We have been around friends again since last Spring, going cycling multiple times a week and playing at the various playgrounds near us. As summer rolled around and the case numbers started to drop, we’ve even had friends visit our home, and been to theirs. We’ve kept our bubble small, but that’s been enough. The kids have loved having visitors again, and in some small ways, things feel almost normal. 

Last year, Ada stayed out of school for the entire year, doing daily Zoom classes instead. She loved it, often getting set up five or ten minutes beforehand. She loved doing her assigned homework and showing it off the following day, and while we didn’t let Connor disrupt the class, he certainly absorbed some of what was happening. When asked to be part of a preschool language study group over Zoom, he prepared homework of his own to present at the start of the call, much to the utter delight of the researcher. 

But this year, Ada started in-school learning full time right from September. Claire and I were a little nervous. Case numbers were likely to rise as kids grouped up again, and restrictions had already been relaxed. On top of that, this was our first baby, off to school after a lifetime of Daddy Daycare. On her first day, she waved goodbye, took her friend’s hand and said “Let’s be brave” as they walked through the door together. There were some tears, but not from Ada. 

At the end of the day, she came bursting out to tell us all the amazing things she had done. Her teacher for that first week was surprised to hear she hadn’t been in class last year, as she just slotted in to the routine. I was so proud. She’s loved going to school every day since, and her classmates love her. Apparently she’s the popular kid, playing with everyone in the class.

On the other side, it’s been great having Connor by himself for the first time. We’ve done a bunch of stuff just hte two of us, and his favourite is taking transit, something that we hadn’t been doing throughout the pandemic, so the last time we would have even been on a bus was when he was about two. We’ve taken trips on the bus, hte metro trains and the seabus, for no reason other than to do it. We’ve sometimes gone all the way to North Vancouver, just to get an ice-cream, turn around, and transit home again. He’s a cheap date. 

Claire injured her shoulder towards the end of summer and decided to quit her job to give herself time to properly recover. The future there is uncertain, but filled with possibility. While I’m certain she’d love to spend this time writing, currently she’s dusting off her crochet skills and creating hats and scarves, as she can’t move her shoulder much at all. That’s also why she’s not doing NaNoWriMo this year. 

I continue to provide childcare to a number of preschoolers, the newest of whom was practically a pandemic baby, and hadn’t been with anyone other than mum and dad before coming to me when mum started back at work. She settled right in and is a bubbly, happy, energetic addition to our days. It’s been great having all my “bonus kids” around, as it keeps us in a routine. When it’s just me, Claire and Connor, it’s too easy some days to just throw on YouTube and relax for the day. Which is fine now and then, but I get wrapped up in my own thoughts if I have too many quiet days in a row. I need things to focus my energy on. Though I’m fairly certain there are parents at the school who are very confused by the man that shows up with a random number of children during drop-off and pick-up, sometimes even a different number at each on the same day.

So that’s us in 2021. There’s much more we’ve done, but I’m keeping some stuff back for potential dedicated posts. Consider this a broad stroke overview. More to come. 

Education Through Games

My kids are big into their tech. 

It’s been fun watching my daughter develop her skills with my phone or iPad, and more recently, the Switch. Practically everything she can do she learned herself through trial and error, with just a little nudge from watching me. She knows the PIN code to access my phone and iPad and can get to the apps she wants and jump between them. 

When Covid hit, I invested in some good art programs and educational apps for her to discover. My favourite is a very colourful and engaging app to teach programming that builds in complexity at a very manageable scale. Ada really loves it. I watched her start by randomly placing the instructions until she got the little critter to its home, and move to understanding the effects of the various commands and place them correctly. As the game goes on, they add new commands she has to experiment with to discover their result. 

We still try to limit their screen time over a week, but some days they spend more time on them than others. At least it’s partially educational. 

EDIT: I had to manually adjust the date so that this post appears as a November Post. The clock on my blog is still set to Ireland time, so it initially showed up as a December 1st entry. It’s still very much November 30th where I am, though. It also means that all previous posts show up as a day late, but I’m less concerned about that. 

Light It Up!

We chose to put up or Christmas decorations over the weekend. Normally, we wait until December 1st. But it's 2020. Every extra moment of joy is worth milking. 

It seems as though a lot of our neighbours agree. Our housing cooperative is looking bright and colourful on these cold, dark winter nights. 

My kids were very excited about the idea of decorating the tree, so they helped with that task. We didn't have a tree topper, so I took Ada in to a local store to pick one out. She didn't pick the one I did have liked, but I bought the one she picked. She was right, it looks great on the tree.

I also grabbed two extra strings of fairy lights, one more for around our living area and a new one for outside our front door. 

Our most recent upgrade to our Christmas assortment is a blow up, lighted unicorn that sits on our balcony and has elicited a lot of laughter in just two days. Either from the moment I plugged it in, and both my kids started taking to it like it was a friend that was patiently listening, or the number of neighbours that have looked up and just started laughing. 

I love Christmas, usually from December 1st. But it's 2020. Do the thing that brings you joy now and do it for as long as you can. 

Distance Grandparenting

One of the things about moving a world away and starting a family so far from our own childhood homes is that we can't share our kids with their grandparents as they grow up and blossom into the incredible people we know they are becoming. I know both Claire's and my parents would love to be able to take Ada and Connor at the weekends. For my parents especially, our kids are their only grandkids.

And likewise, we love sharing our kids with their grandparents, aunts and uncles. 

Thankfully, we live in 2020[1], not 1920, or even 2000. Social media is easy to access, and we can send photos and videos in an instant direct from a device we carry in our pockets. 

But, of course, it's not the same. Regardless, Claire and I try to keep our families in the loop with all the things our kids get up to, from the monumental first steps to the more banal first hair cut. 

Neither of us would think to give up the life we have here in Canada, but we also can't wait to get home to Ireland and spend a lot of time in the company of our families again. Maybe even abandon the kids with them for an evening and have a nice meal in peace. 

Oh, the luxury dream of a meal in a nice restaurant, child-free...

[1]- Let's not think of the pandemic that is stalling any of us from traveling to visit each other right now. 

Laying Tracks And Building Railhouses

I broke out my inner Adam Savage with the kids today. 

Thanks to rising numbers of cases of CoVID-19 here in BC, we've been asked to limit our interactions with people outside our immediate family for two weeks. This includes limiting time at playgrounds, so, once again, we're stuck mostly at home. 

My kids are taking these strange times wonderfully. They love spending time drawing, playing with their toys, reading books. But they also love playing with their friends, and they miss being outdoors. Normally a day rarely passes without some time at a playground, regardless of weather. 

Being home a lot more than usual, I've been trying to distract them with a variety of activities. Today's was the train set. We have plenty of track to build unique layouts and I really enjoy building them for the kids. 

But today I wanted to make it extra special, so I broke out the cardboard from the recycling bin, a scissors, tape and ruler and cut out some buildings for the tracks. The kids loved them. They're very basic and simple, and the cuts are less than straight, with no effort to hide the tape, but they bring joy. I liked making them, and I think tomorrow I'll try making a few more, maybe a bit more complex than a simple box. 

My Nightly Ritual

There's lots I love about being a dad. I could discuss my kids love of drawing, their imaginative play, their humanity and innate politeness, their joy, happiness and love of life. I could talk about playing board games with them, or watching them both learn how to use the iPad with little or no assistance. I could tell you the numerous times my son has turned to my daughter for help figuring something out and how she's responded by teaching him what she can. And maybe some time I will elaborate on those. 

But for now, I'm going to talk about my favourite time of every day with them. 

Bed time. 

No, not because they go to sleep and I get a few minutes of peace and quiet... Though now that I think of it... Mostly not that.

Our kids go to sleep by themselves. We help brush their teeth, and read them a few story books, then kiss them good night and leave. They like to read books in bed themselves, so we leave their bedside night lights on. 

And those lights are directly connected to my favourite thing. Just before I go to bed, every night without fail, I go into the kids bedroom to turn off the night lights. At that point I get to whisper "Good night. I love you" to each of them, and quietly tuck them in if needed. I get to see the strange and hilarious way they've fallen asleep, sometimes twisted around some odd way, often with a book lying across their face. 

It's the last thing I do every night. I'm tired, I'm sore, maybe I've had a bad day. Maybe the world is horrible. But every night, before I lay down and close my eyes I secretly tell my kids I love them. They never know. Some day I’ll tell them. 

Kids? Amirite??

I’ve wanted to be a dad since before I knew what that meant. I grew up in Ireland, the eldest in a family of four kids. Many of my cousins have four kids in their families. And then I fell in forever love with an amazing person who has three other siblings. Basically, I’d been conditioned to believe that four was the perfect number of kids in a family. 

Then I moved to Vancouver. 

Then I became a dad. 

I mean, a lot of other stuff happened too, but that’s not relevant to this story. 

Honestly, it could have ended there. One was enough. My life was full and complete.

Then I became a dad again. 

And that’s where it does end. For now. As much as I love kids, two of our own is enough. That’s how many we can fit in our car.  Kids are expensive here in Vancouver. And while they don’t exactly steal your free time, they do trade it in for unconditional love. It’s a good trade.

More to come. 

In Their Own Time

By definition, half the population will fall below the average for anything you care of measure. When it comes to infants, they are just all over the place!

Ada turns eight months old today, Monday the 23rd. She still isn't crawling, though she does scoot around the room sometimes, moving backwards by pushing with her arms. One of her friends at Family Place on Saturday mornings is older than her by a single day, but has been crawling since she was a bit more than six and a half months!

Claire has sometimes asked if we should be worried about any of Ada's developments, or lack thereof. I constantly reassure her that the longer it takes Ada to crawl, the better. At least for now, we can put her down with her toys, go make a hot cup of tea and come back to find her in roughly the same place we left her.

On the other hand, Ada is able to hold her own weight, standing for a few minutes at a time, leaning on the back of the couch, or against our legs. She's been a fan of tummy time since the week we brought her home, and her arm and neck strength is fantastic! She's been able to roll over since she was four months old.

Her dexterity is pretty good too. She can turn her stuffed toys and blankets around until she finds the tag, or move objects from hand to hand if we're changing her clothes. When I put here down on her change mat, she learned a long time ago that there's a marker by her head, and with a bit of stretching she can get at it. At first, she was only able to touch it with her fingers, but after a few attempts, she gained the dexterity needed to lift it out with her index and middle fingers. Since then, putting her on the change mat usuaally results in an immediate stretch, grab and play with the marker.

One of the things that every baby does is reach out their arms to be picked up when you offer. Every baby, that is, except Ada. Any time I offered to pick her up, she'd smile, but not raise her arms. She understands the sign for up, and has even signed it quickly when I sign it to her[1] but still won't raise her arms to me. I work with babies who reach out to me as soon as I walk into the room, but my own daughter expects mee to do all the work for her.

Until this last few days. Ada has just started to put her arms up when she want to be picked up. Today, in particular, she definitely rreached up to me to be picked up, and my heart soared.

Every kid develops in their own time. Every new milestone or phase is unique to every child. So when you see someone else's baby doing something yours isn't doing yet, I can guarantee you that kids parent is seeing the same thing in yours.

[1] The sign for up is, as you could probably guess, pointing up with your index finger. We've been signing lots with Ada, and she understands a few now, especially up and milk, but when I do up, her index finger will sometimes flicck out and point briefly. It's cute to see, and interesting to watch her learning that she can sign back at us.

Growing Secrets Exposed

Next March, Claire and I will be welcoming a new addition to our family. Here's an early preview!

This has been one of the hardest things I've ever had to keep secret. When Claire agreed to marry me, we agreed to keep it to ourselves until we had the engagement ring. When we planned how we would get married six months in advance of our holiday to the US in 2008, we agreed to not tell anyone beforehand. When we got married in Las Vegas, we agreed to not tell anyone for a week until we were back in the land of fast, stable wifi and we could Skype everyone.

But when we discovered Claire was pregnant at only six weeks, I almost exploded. I wanted to shout it to the world, but we both knew that was just stupid. So many things can go wrong at the early stage, so we agreed that the smart move was to not tell anyone yet. When we got the first ultrasound at 10 weeks, it was just a tiny blob of cells. We told immediate family, but asked them to keep our secret as well.

Eventually we hit a point where we were confident enough to start telling some friends, but even then, we agreed to keep it a secret until we had the 20 week ultrasound, as it would be something more tangible to show off.

Finally, thankfully, the time has come.

Last Monday, November 10th, 2014, at 8:30am, Claire and I went to the hospital for the 20 week ultrasound and spent a half hour with the doctor as she photographed and measured every conceivable aspect of our little Spawnling[1]. I got to be amazed at her talent for pattern recognition, as I watched the screen fade between "mostly grey amorphous blobs" and "mostly light grey amorphous blobs". Every now and then I spotted a hand or a leg. The head was easy to see, but once it was measured, I was lost on rest. Our future bundle of joy was being a bit of a pest though, resting it's hand on it's chin, covering it's chest, and making some scans difficult. Despite the doctors repeated thumping of Claire's belly, Baby[2] refused to move or shift position. At one point, she was showing off Baby's facial features, when Baby visibly turned from the camera, leaving us looking at a perfectly formed spine and back of head.

We did get to watch it kick, which was nice. It's still too small for me to see or feel from the outside, though Claire tells me it's already starting to give her some trouble. We might be watching a movie or playing a video game, when Claire will poke at her belly and shout "Keep it down in there!"

All is great with mother and baby. Claire is still swordfighting three days a week, and sometimes at the weekend too. She's having to go easy on some of the floor exercises, but part of swordfighting is knowing how not to inflict injuries, so she's not having a problem with the fun bits of swinging large metal objects at each other. I'm doing great, mostly just smiling non-stop and constantly looking at Monday's scan, then smiling some more. All our friends know about the baby by now, so I've started telling anyone that will listen to me on a regular basis, like the English guy that works in the comic store, or the lifeguard in the morning at the pool I swim in.

2015 is going to be an amazing year. I just hope I still get time to play boardgames!

[1] Claire started calling it the Spawnling from around week 8. It stuck pretty fast.
[2] There was some discussion as to wheather we'd find out the gender before the birth. In the end, we agreed to keep this one a surprise until the big day, as I want, and find out in advance for the next one, as Claire wants. What can I say? I like surprises!

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Making Babies Is Easy, Except When It Isn't

Discussions Of An Abstract Nature

Short one today, but here goes.

Yesterday I worked in the after school age program. It's a nice change of pace moving from the little ones up to a group consisting of six to eleven year olds. They are much more independent and capable, such that most of my day is really about just being there for ration and insurance purposes, but they rarely need me for anything specific.

The other major difference is the topics of conversation. Over the course of the day I discussed endangered species, hunting, conservation, Santa Claus, and eating bugs with one group, and later the formation and physics of black holes with a different child.

I love my job.

We're Like The Postal Service In That Way

Hail, rain or shine, we always take the children in the daycare outside every day, either for a walk around the community, or at the very least, to the program playground.

On the sunny or dry days, that just means wrapping them up against the seasonal temperatures, either layering on sunscreen, or sweaters and jackets.

But it's the wet days that are the most fun. Every child has boots in their cubby, but more importantly, they also have rainproof covering, affectionately called muddy buddies. These are, as seen at the link, one piece waterproofs, with elasticated wrists and ankles. They can be a bit of a pain to put on, especially if you have a group of eight children all asking for help, some having mastered putting on their boots, while others struggle valiantly to put their leg through their sleeve, a task that is as hilarious to watch as you can imagine. But once they are on and zipped up, once the ankle elastics are pulled over the boots to stop rainwater flooding their feet, they are awesome!

On my second day at work way back in May it rained the proverbial cats and dogs. My group were playing in the yard, all safely zipped up, splashing in puddles, riding trikes in the rain. They were also sitting in a pool of water about a foot deep. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this, but the other staff assured me they were fine. "The worst that can happen is that we change their clothes when we go back in. They all have spares. This is good for them." I was stunned, and impressed.

I've already seen some of the snowsuits that parents are starting to stock their little darlings cubby with. They look like the muddy buddies, but with a much thicker lining. I'm looking forward to seeing the toddlers struggling to play in the snow, their arms stuck straight out from their sides by multiple layers of insulating clothing, beads of sweat building on their little faces, as they slowly heat up from the inside. I've been assured that this too is just as funny as it sounds.

All this post was inspired because of something else we did today that I just could never imagine being let do back home in Ireland. As it was a beautiful, cool, dry autumn afternoon, we took the toddlers outside after snack time, and stayed out there as the evening light faded. In fact, by the time we came back in, it was after 5pm and it was as dark as it was going to get outside. The toddlers had been outside, enjoying fresh air in a playground lit by soft lighting long after sunset. They loved it, and so did I.

Explain to me why this is seemingly not possible under supposed health and safety regulations in Ireland. It makes no sense! You are making us worse, not better, HSE!

Love What You Do, Do What You Love

There's an age old adage that says you should do what you love, but all too often in the world we live in, we are forced to take jobs that are less than ideal. I count myself as one of the lucky few that can honestly stand up and proclaim that I look forward to Monday mornings and the start of another week.

Back in Ireland my friend Aidan and I used to tease our other friends about how great our jobs were. He worked with animals, famously hand rearing a baby ostrich, while I worked with animals of a different type, preschool children, usually aged between three and five years. We both loved our respective jobs and were happy to tell anyone as much whenever we got together. There are few things better in life than absolutely enjoying your job and lording it over others who do not...

I've had my share of crappy jobs too.

I once got so sick of one particular job that I quit on the 23rd of December, right before the seasonal staff shortages. I had volunteered to work over New Years Eve and Day, as I don't drink and the worst I could be on January 1st was tired, a much better condition than many others. Of course I didn't know I'd be pushed to the point of quitting when I offered to cover those days in exchange for a few days immediately after Christmas.

But my shift on the 22nd pressed just the right combinations of emotional buttons to finally make me take the step of ending my time there after debating with myself for months if I should hand in my notice or not. I was scheduled to open on the morning of the 23rd, and I didn't want any of the staff to have to cover for me right away. Instead, I went to work, opened up as usual, wished everyone a "Merry Christmas" and rang my manager at 9am to tell him I was leaving in an hour and not coming back.

Probably not the best way to handle that situation in hindsight, but I hand no interest in working in that industry any longer, so I didn't need to worry about references or other technicalities.

And by God, it felt good.

Since then I've promised myself that I wouldn't stay somewhere I didn't like to be. That worked fine back in Ireland, but it caused me some apprehension during the move to Canada.

I knew I'd have to find a job from scratch. I realised that there was a legitimate possibility that I would have to work somewhere outside of childcare at first while things got settled, in a coffee shop or store. It was not something I looked forward to.

Turned out, I didn't need to worry.

While handing around resumes, one center pointed me to their governing organisation that looks after a large number of childcare centers in Vancouver. They talked to me, and very quickly I knew I wanted to work for them. Their ethos and mission statement sang to the very core of what I believed was an ideal setting to care for children. Plus, they would give me the opportunity to work with children in age groups beyond what I was used to in Ireland, starting from as young as six months, right through to eleven and twelve year olds, an exciting chance to expand my skills across a wider care base. 

Thankfully, something about me assured them that they wanted me to work for them as well. I started the day after all my paperwork came through, and have been working every day since May, apart from a few days holidays I took while friends and family visited, or the trip to Seattle.

I love working for the organisation. I've gotten to work in all of their centers, working with probably over 600 different children, not to mention all the wonderful staff and parents as well!

I lucked out, big time. I know I did. I wake up every work morning, excited about what lies in store this day. I suffer from the "Monday Blues" on Friday, and proclaim with joy "Thank God it's Monday" once the weekend is over.

When you find something you love, you keep it safe. I hope to keep this for a very long time to come.

Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Look!

A few weeks ago I was enjoying a cheese burger and chips in Supermac's when a father and daughter came in and ordered.The father then picked up the free newspaper from the counter and sat in the kiddies section, opening the paper and reading up on the latest reasons why we are all doomed to a meaningless existence void of any hope or joy.

The daughter decided that sitting down to wait for food was much too boring and looked around for something to amuse herself. She was only two or three years old, and it didn't take long for her eyes to fall on Supermac's attractive looking wet floor signage. Google has failed me. I cannot find an image that even resembles the signs Supermac's uses. So here's a quick sketch:

That's a terrible picture. Blurry, poorly lit,
out of focus, asymetrical and the wrong colour.
But it does have the important details.
Edit: Dave found it- 
http://bit.ly/bd75Gq




This little girl stood in front of the sign for a few moments before her eyes lit up. She turned, putting her back against the sign, spreading her legs apart and stretching her arms out sideways from her body, mimicking the plastic man. But she still wasn't happy. She looked side to side at each of her arms, then turned her neck further to look at the yellow sign behind her. Realizing what she needed to do, she pointed her right index finger up and her left index finger down. Smiling brightly, she looked at her arms and the sign again, now happy with her work.

Turning, she called her father: "Daddy, daddy, daddy! Look! Look what I did! Dad! Daddy. Daddy. Dad."

Without looking up from his paper, her father replied dismissively: "That's lovely dear."

The little girl put put her arms down and returned to the table to start eating the chips that had just arrived.

I pray that, when I have kids, no matter how busy I am, I will never ignore my childrens calls for my attention. Those moments are fleeting, and will never happen again. They are unique and special, and as a parent, they are all yours if you want to enjoy them.

Reason 6,438 For Why People Should Need A License To Spawn

This is insane. I mean, yeah, it's kinda cool to see, and the baby seems to be enjoying himself, but it's still not acceptable! The poor animal is scared to death.

College, Children, Colds and Customs

It's been an unusually long time since my last update, and so much has happened since then that I know I can't squeeze it all into one post. So instead, lets just grab the highlights, and I'll expand on other matters over the next few days.

College wrapped up on the 30th of May with my final exam. All in all, they went well, though that last one has left me puzzled. With three hours and only three questions to answer, I felt I was finished with some time to spare. I wrote enough on each, and there were a lot of the class that left before the end, so I guess I wrote more than them! I stayed for the full three hours, though by the end I had to resort to doodling on my question sheet to pass the last ten minutes. I'd have to say that only about half of the 98 strong class were left at the final bell, and some were still writing. It unnerved me to see so many getting extra answer books to write more, but a few I spoke to only wrote on one side of the page, or skipped every second line, or whatever, so I'm not too worried now. Still, out of all the exams, I'm very happy with what I did write, so all that's left now is to wait for the results.

As soon as I was out of my exam, I was in to work! I started in the preschool that I've been in and out of on the very next day! And I couldn't be happier! I love working in the setting and get on well with both the adults, the children, and their parents. The parents were just as happy to see me as the children, which is always a confidence boost! I missed seeing the kids while I was studying, and being back there is just great. There is nothing I dislike about my time there, and it is the only job I've ever had that I look forward to on a Sunday evening, and dread the arrival of Friday afternoon. Worse, tomorrow is the final day of term, and one I am not looking forward to. For some, it will be their final day in preschool, as many of the current group will be moving on to Primary school next year. Thankfully there are more than enough returning to guarantee that I'll be popping up now and then when I get the chance in the 2007-2008 school year.

On the other hand, being around young children does have some minor drawbacks. In the last few days I have developed a killer head-cold, complete with pounding head-aches, a nose that thinks it should be flowing like the Nile as a standard, a sanding drum lining my throat, a cough that threatens to eject that previous issue from my neck at high velocity and eyes puffed up like I've just finished up a Bette Midler movie marathon! I've gone through a 24 pack of Uniflu Plus, a packet of extra strength Halls lozenges, a packet of blackcurrant Halls Soothers, and now I'm working through pharmacist recommended Merocets lozenges for "dry, tickly sore throats". And I'm only feeling marginally better. The honey in my tea is yummy, though.

Finally, my freedom from college and the short days in the preschool (I'm home by one o'clock every day) has given me time to catch up with some customs I've been thinking about, as well as make progress on ones I stalled on. Over the coming weeks, I should have more and more done, so keep an eye on my Custom Action Figure set to see how things go!

So that's just the highlights. I'll post some of my doodles from that last exam I mentioned, a review or two and some more stories of illness and hallucinations!

Until then, enjoy your Friday! Remember, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is out this weekend across the world! Expect a review if I feel healthy enough to type out my utter love of Marvels newest cinematic release! Yes, I am preempting my feeling toward this movie, but I'm like that... easily pleased!

Need Cheering Up?

This baby will make make you smile. He has such a cute laugh, but at times it sounds like he's struggling to breath! At least he's having a good time.

Also, don't mess with this little lady. She would totally kick your ass butt.

And while I'm posting cool YouTube videos, this and this are just awesome! Not related to kiddies, but fantastic to watch. Makes me wish I didn't give up learning piano years ago.

And one final addition (promise): A GoogleVideo clip of a lazy cat. Again, it just makes me smile, but I think that's partly down to the guys voice.

In My Day...

Wow! UCC has changed since I was last there. Not just physically, but also what seems to have become acceptable. Again, "acceptable" both in terms of actions, as well as the intelligence level of the student body. Allow me to explain. Lets start with the physical changes.

Well, rather dramatically there is an entire new building; huge, shiney and with lecture theatres to boot! The Brookfield Complex is sweet. Very cool to be in. And the restaurant is very nice. Great food, cheap prices. Though I was talking to someone who was complaining about the prices, but I think that's because I'm still stuck in non-student prices mode.

Also new is the current addition to the Boole Library. The biggest problem with this is, that it's not done yet. This means that you can be in studying, or photocopying when a piercing drilling sound vibrates through the building, causing everyone to look up in annoyance. It's not going to be even done in time for any of us final years to care about it enough to put up with it.

Right, on to what has become acceptable, starting with actions, though this flows nicely into the intelligence issue also.

A little anecdote:
There is a particular girl in my class who was the first to sit beside me and talk to me. This was nice because I'm a repeat, and none of the other students know me. Also, the fact that I'm working mornings means I'm missing out on tutorials, the perfect time to learn about the others or get to make some associations. Anyway, I digress. This girl sits next to me and then proceeds to talk throughout the class. Sometimes to me, sometimes responding to things the lecturer says. Sounds ok, right? Only if she doesn't get heard by the lecturer, she repeats herself. Over and over. Until she gets attention. And she makes stupid comments. Really stupid. Like she catches two words in a sentence and calls out an answer. Rarely, so far has she even been close. Then she misses something in class and gets the lecturer to repeat herself one-to-one. She fell asleep in a lecture, completely distracting the lecturer. She was in the front row!! Seriously, how is this acceptable?!? All this: one person! And she answers her phone during lectures! Not to hang up or say "shhh. I'm in a lecture. Ring in an hour". No. She spends 5 minutes whispering making plans for a trip to Galway at the weekend. Gah!

How does someone like this get into 3rd Year Early Childhood Studies? And this girl of even less attention span than me wants to be in the UN!! If that happens I'm moving to one of those countries that didn't sign whatever bit of paper made the UN. I don't care if it looks bad now, it'll be better than UN countries in a few years if she's their quality standard!

Inteligence is dropping rapidly. I realise I'm no high level to aspire to. I may be a smart guy with a decent IQ, I just don't have the attention span to match. But I try to pay attention in class... this time. I have sufficient respect for the lecturers not to disrupt their class. The levels of sheer ignorance and lack or respect for others displayed by students in my year is staggering.

I'm not really sure where this is going. It's not really supposed to be a rant. It's more of a description of what I see. Obviously my own views strongly influence what I've written. It's not exactly an impartial description of how things have changed.

Just take it as a short essay, poorly written, lamenting the lack of repect among the youth of today. I'm only 26 (and two thirds) and I'm appalled at people just a few years younger than me. Was I that bad? Is it an age thiung? Will they get better in just three or four years? Would you let people like this look after your kid? You tell me.

Back In College

So I apologise for not updating my blog lately, but I've been super busy. I started my third year work experience last week. I'm working in a preschool with children ranging from late two's to four year olds.

And I love it!

Every minute is awesome. Every tiny event is a joy to see. All the developement, all the practical examples of that boring, boring theory. I love working with the kids and the adult staff, of which there are only two others!

But, boy is it tiring. I get home, usually around 4 and go for a two hour nap. Then up and have dinner, cooked for me while I am unconscious, and I'm back in bed and out like a light before 11 most nights!

There's just no time for posting. Which is a pity, because I have to write a daily diary and I thought I could start a blog about it, so it's obvious if I fall behind. Plus, there might be a few people interested in reading it. My diary for college has to be 100% confidential, so no names of children, adults, area, school, anything. So I don't see the problem with posting it on a blog. It would allow people to make constructive observations about the theory and practice, and help me in better understanding events through a fresh pair of eyes.

Yawn... Maybe I'll start that this week... or next...