My SUPER Family

I do not wear makeup. Unless it is a fancy do. Then I’ll slap on some mascara.

Meh.

I can vaguely remember arguing with my dad back in high school about makeup. He hated that I wore it (mind you, I can think of a few eyeliner moments). I cannot remember when I stopped or why. Perhaps it has something to do with my DKA incident. That event changed me. I know it. I can feel it. Really deeply. But I cannot express it. The words to describe it are lost.

Anyways. I have been feeling a bit displeased with my appearance. My supposedly supressed and awkward relationship with my self-esteem was resurfacing. I know I have put on a few of the ol’ L-Bs over the winter months. And honestly, if I think about it, we called the realtor to begin the process last February, it has been a hell of a fucking year! But. I am not a hibernating bear. I have Type 1 Diabetes. So. I should be more mindful of my indulgences.

Today was a holiday where I live. Everything save the tourist hot spots was closed. And it was today that I decided, come hell or high water, that I was going to find a drug store that was open, buy a box of hair dye and attempt a DIY ombre dye job. What? Even I had to check myself on that one, it sounds so unlike me. Ha! I found one ridiculously close to us. I was pleasantly surprised. Surprised because shamefully we have not properly explored our new neighbourhood. Like I said. A crazy year. To our credit, we have only lived here for two and a half months, and they have been filled with Christmas holidays, the New Year, a new job for the hubby, fixing up the new house…

So back to my hair.

I had to brush my hair out (during this process I looked up in the mirror to find my darling husband hovering over me in a simian manner looking for grey hairs!) then section out my hair by quartering my locks, creating four ponytails. Mommy why you have four ponytails? You look hilarious! Thanks. Thanks very much. I feel really weird doing this and none of this is helping me feel less awkward but it did make me giggle.

Then I had to tie of the bottom third of each ponytail so I could dye it a lighter shade than my natural colour. Done. Wait twenty minutes. Done. Remove bottom elastics and put a wee bit of dye. You know, to blend it nicely. Done. Wait ten minutes. Rinse. Condition. Rinse. Dry and style as usual. That last bit is the final instruction from the insert verbatim. To me it doesn’t look much different. I didn’t achieve that wow change or whatever I was going for, but that is probably because a) I am frugal (or cheap!) and the box I purchased was on sale for $6.99 from its usual $11.99 price tag, b) I picked a shade probably 2-3 shades lighter than my own instead of the suggested 4, and c) I wimped out and veered away from the permanent dyes, apparently this will only last a few weeks. It looks slightly sun-kissed. It is absolutely NOT dramatic. Oh, it looks different. Don’t get me wrong it looks good different. Thanks honey. I giggle here because I know he means well.

Kudos to me for trying something. I am glad it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. AND, it didn’t go so completely wrong leaving me compelled to post it as a Pinterest fail.

Why does Superman’s family live in a snow globe?

I am not totally sure of the way in which Superman entered our lives. Though I think it stems from the purchase of a blue Superman t-shirt for the wee one a couple years ago. I mean, I know my husband was fond of the movies starring the late Christopher Reeves, but until that t-shirt entered our house I at least was super hero ignorant. My son found out that was Daddy’s favourite super hero that day. And so Superman also became his.

A few weeks ago we found daddy a Superman t-shirt. The wee one had to get it for him. Please can we buy that for Daddy? Please??? Sure. It could be his Valentine’s Day gift. But it didn’t last. We gave it to him that night! It sparked something though. I got a Superman t-shirt for Valentine’s Day. From the wee one. I seem to remember him asking his dad last week, did you get the right thing Daddy? The thing I told you to get? He said it in a back alley deal tone of voice. Odd. But then I opened it and was touched by the little guy’s thoughtfulness.

As I mentioned above today was Family Day. It was first introduced back in 2008. We always try to do something as a family on this long weekend though it isn’t all that different than our normal weekends we generally have a pretty good time the three of us. Anyways. The little guy asked to have a camp out. So we did. We spent all of Saturday next to a construction paper camp fire taped to the TV unit watching movies. Then Daddy threw some sausages on the BBQ. We noshed on those, followed by some indoors S’mores and the sixth installment in the Harry Potter series.

Sunday the wee one and I hung out while Daddy went to work for a few hours. We rearranged our front room. Cleaned the house. Made a pie. It was a very domestic-esque day. Then we had a nice, proper Sunday supper. It was lovely. We did a lot of lounging this weekend because we all feel on the verge of a cold. Well and I have been up for the last 5 nights straight with his nibs because he is having growing pains and apparently just missed me. He knows exactly what cards to play and how – cheeky.

This morning was rough. We all woke up feeling blech. But still I wanted to dye my hair…yeah. Anyhow. So once I was done playing beauty shop we all donned our Superman t-shirts, parked ourselves firmly yet comfortably on the couch and watched Superman: The Movie. We popped some popcorn, threw a frozen pizza in the oven and prepared for our afternoon of film. For those of you familiar with the movie you will know that it begins on Krypton. And so prompted the first wee one question, in what was likely to turn in to an inquisition, why does Superman’s family live in a snow globe? Krypton appears as an icy planet inhabited by an incredibly advanced humanlike race. How can Superman be an alien if he is a human? I want him to be a human BEING! Ah. The logic of children; I casually glanced over at my husband with a look of feel free, this one is all yours in my eyes. More questions followed. One of my favourites being, why are they calling Superman’s dad ALF? They aren’t sweetie. His name is Jor-El. Oh. Well, it sounds like they are saying ALF!

I had never seen the film. That is I had never sat down and watched it. Start to finish. No commercial breaks. I had caught a collective hour or so over the years. Always on TV. Usually a weekend afternoon. All in all, it was pretty good. It took a bit to get going for me. I wasn’t surprised when the wee one started asking questions while wandering around lost during the first 45 minutes. But overall we both enjoyed it (we already know Daddy did). Even though I may have nodded off for the ending and so I still have not properly seen it all. Until the next time.

What’s that you said?

The wee one is hilarious. He is so chatty. Much like his mother. And he has changed so much in recent months. Aside from the inch he’s grown since we moved in at the beginning of December. His reasoning and rationale is different. He is more fluid in his self-expression. His printing dramatically improved. He speaks SO well. There are moments when I cannot believe he is already 4 years old. Other times I cannot believe his is only 4 years old.

Given his age, and dare I say his gender, he has a tendency to half-pay attention at times. Usually if there is an obvious distraction in the background. And in these moments he occasionally misses something you have said to him or asked him to do. He has the same response for everyone (though he gets the best response from my mom, Grandma, because she can’t help herself but giggle when he says it), what’s that you said?

Today during my dye job the boys were playing Monster Jam on the ol’ XBOX. It was the wee one’s first self-purchased video game. He used the money my aunt sent for him for his birthday a couple of weeks ago. It was his choice. He was thrilled. And, he has proven to be pretty good at it. Today he unlocked a truck all by himself! He was so excited he screamed, jumping up and down on our bed.

I had finished up my hair. Did the dry and style as usual bit they tell you to do. Which was pretty basic for me. I dried it. It is pretty long. I am not sure if I have a style. I popped in to see how they were doing and my husband tells the wee lad to stop playing and look at Mommy’s hair. Without missing a bit, the wee one manages to barely look up, keeps racing his truck and says, oh it’s nice. My husband pipes up, now, now; stop playing, pause the game and look at your mother. She looks nice and you should say something nice to her. I am puttering around at this point. I wasn’t going to beg for a compliment. Okay, okay I will Daddy. I am just on my way out of the room when I hear, Mommy, your hair looks really pretty. To which I respond, what’s that you said?

And behind me there are only giggles.

It was a good day of family.

It usually is.