We sold the house!

 I'm not sure whether I mentioned this before, but we moved before selling our old house. It  ended up being way more stressful than I thought it would be trying to move into this house while  also maintaining the old house and trying to sell it. We picked a terrible time. Home sales in Regina are down, there are more houses on the market than there have been in 10 years, and overall the prices  of homes is down about 10% since peaking, which happened very shortly after we bought our old house. 

 we also had problems that we did not anticipate. The basement was in worse shape than we thought, and we ended up needing to get some work done on the floor as well as getting bracing done.  The first estimate we got for getting the work done on the floor was $30,000.  There was no way we could afford that. The next estimate we got was  $2,000,  which although expensive, seemed far more reasonable than the first estimate. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for, and we ended up having all kinds of problems, including concrete dust  all over the house from grinding down the basement floor, and concrete in the sump pump pit.  Jeff spent so many hours cleaning and dealing with the aftermath of getting the floor fixed. It was kind of awful.

Then came the bracing on one wall.   Many homes in Regina end up getting bracing done on one or more basement walls, because the soil is volatile and  the weather is extreme.  This tends not to be good for basements and foundations of houses. We did not expect to have to get the work done, but the house was not selling and we figured that getting the work done might help the sale. We went with a reputable company, and they did  good work, but left a mess. One of the worst things they did was take a hose out of the water softener and not put it back. What ended up happening  was that water got all over the basement floor. So more cleaning for Jeff to do. It turned out that one of the guys involved in doing the work on our basement ended up getting fired because we were not the only ones to complain. They took a couple hundred dollars off, but it was a serious pain. 

 We started to worry that the house might not sell this summer, and around here it is really really hard to sell a house in the winter.   We dropped the price, twice. Then, last week: 

It was such a relief. Possession is not until the end of August,  and we sold the house for about 6% less than we bought it for. But that's fine. We wanted to move, and although it was expensive to do to so, I think it  was worth it for improved quality of life. Selling the old house is a huge weight off our shoulders, and a huge weight off financially as well.  Once possession is final, we will be able to afford  a few  things for this house that we have been holding off on but that will significantly improve  how settled we are  – a couch for the room that has no furniture for sitting on, blinds  that actually block light  for the bedrooms.  And then maybe I will actually post some photos of the new house :-)

Renegotiating sleep

Maren has been having some ups and downs. She is going through the typical toddler stuff of being upset when things don't go her way, but also not really being able to communicate exactly what she wants and/or not being able to understand why what she wants is impossible or unreasonable. Some photos of lunch yesterday - I can't remember what was upsetting, but I do recall that our attempts to console her were rejected, at least at first. 

We are also suddenly dealing with a change related to sleep. Basically, it has come down to needing someone to lay on the floor of her room, both during naps and while she is falling asleep for the night. Naps have always been inconsistent and challenging, but for a long time now nights have mostly been easy. And they still mostly are - Maren still sleeps 11-12 hours straight at night, without waking us up. 

But Friday night we had a babysitter who was to stay with Maren after bedtime so we could go out on a date - we haven't gone out for a nighttime date in almost two years. This was the second time we had this babysitter, and expected bedtime to be like normal - routine and easy. But it wasn't - 45 minutes of trying everything, Maren screaming, and then finally she went to sleep in her crib with Jeff in the room (she wouldn't even try to go to sleep in my lap, despite being obviously beyond tired). Then last night she fell asleep three times with Jeff laying on her floor, but the first two times woke up as he was sneaking out. 

We have heard that toddler sleep can be a nightmare, and are afraid of what we might be headed into, even though things are not so bad yet. Things that have worked for us in the past are not working now. I hope that this change is temporary, but I guess we will see!

Nooooooo!

 Maren suddenly has a new way of saying no. Not a new word, just a new intonation. She sounds much more grown-up and defiant when she uses this tone. She has also been having a bit of a rough time, with bad naps, inconsolable crying and tantruming, etc.  So our household has been a little bit tense as we try to figure this out, and try to help her through whatever is difficult right now. We know for sure that teething is a contributor, as she is getting  her canine teeth.  We can't be sure what else it is, other than the fact that being a toddler is terribly hard sometimes.

 As difficult as it can be on all of us, there is a lot that is still going well. Her nighttime sleep is back on track and she is regularly sleeping from 7 PM to 7 AM without interruption. This is fabulous.  And for all the hard times she has, she also has many good moments. We are lucky to have a child with a generally positive temperament. She tends to always interpret pictures of people/animals/monsters in books as smiling or laughing even when they are definitely not. There is a picture of a Tyrannosaurus Rex  about to eat a  triceratops in one of her books, and because the T Rex has its mouth wide open she thinks it is laughing.  I don't know when this will change, but for now I love it :-)

And of course a short video from this week that I captured candidly:

Pretend play

One of the most fun part of Maren at this age is the emergence of pretend play. She is verbal enough that we get to hear about what she is pretending.

Yesterday we were out in the backyard for a while and she kept pretending that she was caught in a net like Peter Rabbit when he was in Mr. McGregor's garden. This went on for maybe 10 minutes or more of doing mostly the same thing, but over time the story evolved a little bit. Here are videos that I took at the beginning, near the middle, and near the end of this particular play session:

Fun at the park

This past weekend was Canada day weekend, which means that today was a day off. Maren and I took a trip to the park this morning. She had lots of fun climbing up the steps and going down the slide by herself.

Today was my first time trying out putting Maren in a harness and detachable leash. Many people object to this practice generally, as they don't like the idea of a child being harnessed and leashed. But for me, it is becoming necessary if I want to go out with Maren alone. 

She is becoming more physically capable, and can now easily run away very quickly, and I can't chase after her. No matter what I do or how hard I try, I am not physically capable of keeping up with her. And since at her age no matter how much she wants to she is just not capable of doing what I ask of her or controlling her behaviour all the time, it seemed that the harness and leash option was the only option. I got one that extends to 16 feet, but that can be stopped/held at any point so that I can keep her closer to me if need be (for example on a sidewalk or close to a road). The harness is made specifically for toddlers, but the leash is a dog leash.

Trying it out today, I learned some things. First, I have to figure out exactly when to attach the detachable leash. She definitely can't do things like slide down the slide attached to a leash, but she can run away so quickly that I have to find the exact right moment to attach it. Second, she is actually really good at listening and controlling her behaviour when it's just me and her. But as soon as another family showed up at the park it was like I wasn't even there. She ran away from me so quickly that another child's grandmother had to run after her and bring her back to me. It actually terrified me how quickly she could get away, but it was also kind of reassuring that without distraction she listened really well. So I have hope that in the future things will get easier in that respect :-)

The last thing I learned is that I need to figure out how to conserve energy if I'm going to take her out alone. Even if I have her attached to me and I am not afraid of her running off, it is still exhausting to be out with her. I know that having a toddler is exhausting for anyone, but since I get physically tired out so much faster than most people it is especially difficult for me. So this I will have to figure out.

All in all not a bad experiment, and hopefully will get better with time!