Reading the “Every Child Matters” book by Phyllis Webstad on Orange Shirt Day

Week 159 motherhood with 3-year-old and 9-month-old: 

• October 4, 2023:  The week began with the Orange Shirt Day event held by EarlyON and the Family Day centres on September 28 to commemorate September 30th, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, to remember residential school survivors and those who never came home.  The event was held at Aaniin Community Centre in the east lot.  Indigenous Elder Dr. Hopi Martin led an opening and closing ceremony.  The kids and adults sat in a circle around the Elder as he talked about his own background and the meaning of Indigenous words and phrases.  There were some songs sung.  It was a thorough and elaborate celebration, so not all kids were able to sit through the entire thing.  EarlyON staff had set up numerous learning stations throughout the area for the kids to play and learn about this commemorative day.
• We all wore orange.  Grandma had her own shirt that was orange already (along with a windbreaker that happened to be orange too).  I bought an orange “Every child matters” shirt off of FB marketplace for $10 and the baby wore an orange onesie which I snagged for $2.  I wore DH’s orange technical shirt haha.
• It was unfortunately windy and got colder as the morning went on, so many kids and adults had on jackets and coats that covered their orange T-shirts.  Actually though, not as many kids and adults wore orange as much as I thought there would be.
• The toddler snacked on some Goldfish crackers (also orange!).
• Out of all the learning stations, the toddler was drawn to the reading area where she picked out 3 books for me to read to her that all had to do with orange shirt day and Indigenous living.  It was through reading her the book “Every Child Matters” by Phyllis Webstad that I learned the origin of the orange shirt and what she went through.
• A song that we heard them sing as we were reading:  “Land Acknowledgement Song” (to the tune of “The More We Get Together” song).

• “We know we are grateful for the water and animals.  We know we are grateful for the land that we share.  We promise to show love and take care of this land.  We know we are grateful for the land that we share.”

• This song was also sung at one of the EarlyON sessions we attended recently (the creative chefs one where the toddler made a cream cheese “sandwich”).
• The toddler then went to the “music wall” where there were pots and pans and utensils for the kids to make music with.  She wasn’t very interested and only watched me bang on some pots and pans before we wanted to head somewhere else.
• We then passed by a station where the kids were hammering flower petals on to a small cloth bag.  Someone handed us a cloth bag and a flower and hammer and we did some hammering before we joined the circle for the closing ceremony.
• All this time, the baby slept soundly in the stroller with grandma (she passed out shortly after the opening ceremony as it was her morning nap time).
• This year for Mid-Autumn Festival, we planned ahead of time to make priority to being able to go on an evening stroll with the kiddos with their lanterns.  DH’s relatives visiting from Australia gave them paper lanterns (one of which had dinosaurs on it) as well as we had an old one from DH’s parents last year.  DH made time to make homemade dumplings as well!
  • (We were actually inspired to go on evening stroll with the kiddos and the lanterns because we saw some kids doing so in the neighbourhood last year when we were driving home.  It was the first time I had seen kids in Markham in recent years do this and it was such a great tradition to honour.)
  • We set out a little bit after 7 p.m. with our lanterns to walk to the park.  The toddler was really excited and happy about her dinosaur lantern and held it the whole time and all the way to the park.  It was the first time that she walked there without complaining (it’s not a close walk for a small child).  The baby also held on to the stick of the lantern without dropping it for a while too.
  • After the walk, we ate mooncakes at home.  To my shock, we actually finished one whole mooncake together as a family in one sitting.  That never happens.  Usually, we will have leftovers because a mooncake is very dense and heavy.  The toddler ate like two slices before she felt full and stopped.
  • We also went outside twice to look at the big, round full moon.  It was nice to see it rise up into the sky.
• The baby continues to be more mobile and active.  She definitely has lost most of her wrist chub rolls by now.  When putting her to sleep, she likes to crawl up and scratch at the bed rail and bed posts now…  She also is super strong and her head butts are so painful.  She’s hit me in the head and jaw and nose.  She hit me twice in the nose this week and it felt so hard that I almost thought I was going to have a nosebleed.  Good thing I didn’t.  It’s like a concrete head slam.
• The toddler continues to play with the jenga blocks and can build more elaborate structures now.  Some of her magnetic tile creations look like the ones that are on the box — she builds houses with the square tiles and then puts the triangle ones on top like a mansion/castle.
• We had a belated Mid-Autumn Festival dinner with my uncles and aunts and grandmother and it is becoming tough to dine out with the two kids.  The toddler likes to walk around mid-meal once she’s full so someone has to company her.  And the baby doesn’t like to sit for too long.  The relatives also took a long time to decide on what to order, so there was at least 30 minutes wasted on waiting around (and for the kids, it’s no small feat to wait around with no toys).  DH and I alternated taking a child out to walk around the adjoining plaza.  I tried to take the baby to the washroom stall to nurse her, but she wouldn’t nurse because she was distracted and couldn’t calm down.  Even though I wrote in the past that I feel comfortable nursing her anywhere, I don’t feel comfortable nursing in front of family members sometimes.  I can nurse in the middle of a park or crowded food court or mall, but if people are right in front of me that I know and because I know the baby might not latch due to all the stimulation around us, then I’ll seek out a private stall or elsewhere instead.
• We were having brunch with DH’s family and the toddler loved eating the waffles as well as drinking the 2% milk in the little cups.  She loves it.
• The baby doesn’t let others hold her anymore.  When her grandfather and uncle and aunt tried to hold her, she cried and didn’t want to be held by them.  Stranger danger for sure.
• DH had a day off and we went to Leslieville for some food hopping.  We did well with dining out with two kids on this day.  I usually feed the toddler (she’s on my lap) and myself and DH holds the baby and feeds her once she doesn’t want to sit in the car seat anymore.  Once the toddler and I’m full and if the baby needs a feed, then I’ll take her and then DH will finish his meal.  He usually can’t multitask and eat as well as I can.
• It’s nice when we go to a restaurant that has a lot of things to see and places for the kids to go to.  We were at a Greek restaurant that had a lower level (where the restrooms were) with a large clearing area with chairs and pillows.  While I was eating, DH took the two kids here to play around.  And then we alternated.
• The toddler and baby had their first taste of gelato this week.  We had chocolate, lemon, amaretto, and hazelnut flavours.
• I signed the baby up for another Infant Massage class from the EarlyON program.  This time it was in Stouffville.  I liked how it was organized.  The facilitators had plastic mats placed in a circle formation in the room upon entering.  Each mat had a plastic bowl for placing our vegetable (massage) oils.  They had nice gentle music playing before and after the massages.  They had some baby toys in the middle of the room (so perfect for my crawling 9-month-old).  They also had worksheets for us like the other infant massage class.  The focus this week was on the legs and feet (which we did as part of the other class too).
• The instructions were the same as the other class.  Don’t massage your baby if they’re not in a state to be massaged in (hungry, crying, sleeping).  Ask for your baby’s permission to be massaged.  Rub the oils in front of their face so they can smell and see it.
• I was pleasantly surprised that my baby let me put her on her back to be massaged.  She doesn’t always like being on her back these days and I was fully anticipating to massage her legs and feet with her sitting up, but she let me massage one leg and one foot while she was lying down.  Yay!
• The other babies in the class were mostly 4 months old.  One was 3 months old, two were 2 months old.  I think 4 months and under are a great age to get a baby massage.  My 9-month-old baby wanted to sit up and crawl around once I finished one leg and she wouldn’t let me do the other side — which was completely fine too.  When we had a 5-minute break, I let her crawl to the middle of the room to play with the baby toys that the facilitators had brought.
• I liked that we ended off with a baby lullaby (it had to do with the ocean but unfortunately I don’t remember it anymore).  They said that they will sing a different lullaby each week.  The class is 5 weeks.
• It’s too bad that the library where the class took place doesn’t have as many toys and toddler-friendly activities as the other library in Thornhill.  That meant that grandma and the toddler didn’t have as much to do while they waited for the baby’s massage class to finish.  Oh, well.
• We had an uncharacteristically warm start to October this week and it has been so hot (above 25 degrees).
• The baby likes to stretch and kick so much that she is wearing a hole in her toes in her onesies!  Ahh.  One onesie had a huge gaping hole in the morning and by the afternoon, the other side was starting to wear down too.
• The baby has been wanting to stand and crawl up on us this week.  She likes to stand.  She doesn’t like being left alone and will cry and voice her displeasure whenever we set her down.
• The toddler is warming up to the baby and letting her touch her sometimes and giving her toys more often than before.  Eventually she’ll learn that this is her sister who she will be playing and interacting with as lifelong partners.  I hope they get along and are the best of friends.
• The toddler has regressed and doesn’t poop in the toilet or potty anymore. 😦 😦  She has been pooping in the diaper and then telling us about it afterwards.  Or even if she knows she’s pooping, she wants to poop in the diaper instead of going to the toilet.  Why?  Why!  So nevermind wet diapers… she definitely pees in them too.  When will we be able to successfully potty train her so she’ll be out of diapers?!
• We were at the Amazon warehouse and the toddler’s eyes are so sharp.  When we were browsing the skincare aisle, she immediately noticed and recognized the brand of eye drops that grandma uses and told us about it.  Wow.  Sharp eyes and very observant!