Getting Old, Grade 5, Some Naked Fish and a Little White Stripe

Getting old, grade 5, some naked fish and a little white stripe, the week that was 37 in the life of the Carr’s

---

Grade 5
So far, Nathalie and I are enjoying the grade 5 curriculum, just about as much as you can helping with home work and through the eyes and ears of your child. Now, I am a realist, so I knew the hard stuff was coming, I just though we still had a couple more years. Over the last couple of weeks I have heard glimpses of content from Jordyn’s health class and let me tell you, it is no longer the food groups. Things like, “Daddy, today we saw a penis in class”, beg the question, how do you respond to that? “Ahh, that’s nice Jordyn, sounds like you are learning interesting things”. Jump to the dinner table this week, and somewhere between salad and Cannelloni, our little girl drops another P word, in the form of a question. “How old do you have to be to get pregnant?”

“Are you kidding me, PREGNANT, Jordyn you will not get pregnant until you are married and that will not be until you are 30, because that will be the first time I ever let you kiss a boy, PREGNANT are you crazy, stop that crazy talk”. The only problem was that this is what I said only in my head, because my mouth was full! Nathalie jumped on it, and in true Mommy, honest fashion, without flinching says “Well, a girl can get pregnant after her first period.” Me with my mouth still full, shaking my head in anticipation of the obvious next question. “When does a girl get her first period?” she asks, and just as calm and collected as the first answer, Nathalie replays “somewhere between 13 and 18”. I still liked my answer, but I guess Mommy had it right, because that was the end of that conversation, for now.

Reflections
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been in a very reflective mood. Perhaps because there are some changes afoot at work, and I have had to remember back about 11 years ago so I can talk about when my boss started working for the college. It occurred to me that not only was I in my late 20’s, and I had more hair, but I also had no children and neither did my little sister Janey, but she was pregnant. You see 11 years ago this week, little baby Chandler came into our lives and we are so happy he did. Chandler is what I would call an old soul, being smart way beyond his years, and leading the way by example, not only for his little brother, but also for his younger cousins – my girls. I sure do miss him, now that he is in Newfoundland, but I look forward to keeping in touch with him, now that he got a netbook for Christmas. Congratulations Chandler on your 11th birthday, and all the Carr’s send a boat load of hugs and kisses and can’t wait to see you soon.

Naked Fish
There is something to be said about trying something every once in a while you don’t like, to either remind yourself you don’t like it, or perhaps even to change your mind. This week, that’s what happened to me and my feelings about sushi. Nathalie is a big fan, and I have tried it in the past but just never acquired a taste for the naked raw fish thing. This week, I was asked to try it again, and although I am not running out to buy the “I heart Sushi” T-shirt anytime soon, I can admit here and now, that it was not as bad as I remember, so there is a lesson to be found in here somewhere. If you have something in your life that has always been a NO, give it a try someday, and it might change to a yes or perhaps at least a maybe, like me.

Ying Yang
This week as I often do, I solicited blog ideas from people that I meet who I know are regular readers. There are 4 or 5 people on the list, so running into any of them is not that hard really. So one suggestion was the incredibly odd weather we have been having in and around us theses days. Yes, I am so happy that the broken snow shovel we have has not need to be used much or replaced, but I can’t stop thinking that like any good fortune, the payback most be up around the bend somewhere. But for now, I guess we have to enjoy the fact that the mercury is on the plus side of things and forget about the yang.

The other idea, came from a conversation I was having with a couple of students. In the talk, one of my fourth semester students admitted that she is not very good about asking for help with her production. This lead me to a great solution, and it is this I wanted to share. I told her to stop calling in help. Lets collaborate, or share ideas or work together. That is not nearly as hard to do as admitting you need help. Sometimes I amaze even myself!

Animal love
While I love most animals, there are some I could do without. It is possible the reason is because I don’t understand them, but the truth is I just don’t have any time for the skunk. I may have not minded them so much, other than your occasional whiff of one as you drive up to Caledon, but the truth is that I had never come into close contact with one. But since moving to our new house, Bentley has been hit twice by this little black and white striped rodent, twice that is, until tonight, when we added another run-in to the list. Apparently, according to Google, the little buggers need to leave their winter dens at least one time to, you guessed it, empty their scent glands. Well, we are certainly happy that Bentley was able to help them with this task – NOT.

At least we’ve learned the following: a) As soon as you smell it, take/keep the dog OUTSIDE, do not bring him into the house, b) wash with a Hemp-based skunk removal shampoo immediately (again, doing this outside, no matter how hot or cold it is out there, c) after a thorough wash, spray the dog with Nok Out! (you can also use this on the curtains and any other fibers in your home that might have gotten a little of eau-du-skunk on it, and d) light candles, EVERYWHERE! Lastly, e) If you figure out how to keep the skunks out of the backyard, and out of the general area of your dog, ignore steps a through d.

In closing
I have cool children and I have talked about it before, but sometimes I just get back as much as I put in, and that is nice. While driving in the car tonight, the conversation centered around Julia’s classmates reacting to her Webkinz presentation as part of her Show & Tell and she was very proud of herself, and the fact that they liked it so much. In my usual supportive daddy fashion I said “Well Julia, you are cool!” and without a hiccup pause, she says “Daddy, you are cool too and you do cartwheels”. Thanks Julia!

Well this ‘cool dude’ is cartwheeling into the weekend, thanks for reading and have a great and safe week!
Jim

---