Daycare drama

Up until today, I have only had the most positive of experiences at our daycare. We LOVE the women in P's room to bits. They are the most caring, wonderful, giving people in the world and they get paid basically not much to do what they do. They send thoughtful gifts home to us on every occasion, give P. all the love I could expect from anyone besides me, keep a journal of photos, artwork and pictures she draws for us, and they follow basically all my quirky directions (feeding her prunes 3x daily by spoon-using special sunscreen, babywipes and diapers etc...) I love them.

It is a sad time for me, because September is when the babies (0-18 months) move up to the toddler room (18 m-3yrs) Phoebes will be making this great leap in just a few short weeks. I asked if she could be in the toddler room that is situated right next to her "soon to be old" baby room. The rooms share a potty and she would see her former teachers more that way. She is even getting to move with her 2 little bestest buddies, Julia and Leila. I was so happy.

Until today.

When I went to pick her up, the kids were all outside playing so I snuck into the school to pickup Binky the blanky and check Phoebe's poop log (yes, they log her poops for us)...anyways...as I am walking by her soon to be "new" toddler room, I hear a woman shouting at a child, "I SAID SIT DOWN NOW!". This got my full attention and I stood outside of the room to witness a young blonde teacher grab a 2yr old little girl by the shoulders and force her down to sit. The girl didn't fight it, but looked shocked.

NOT AS SHOCKED AS ME, THOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I must have had a appauled look on my face because I stood outside the room staring in for a few seconds before I made my way to get Binky and the poop log.

I contemplated what to do so I decided to go by the room again. At this time, the blonde bitch who yelled at and forcefully disciplined a child was explaining to the other teacher (who I am sure confronted her about her behaviour) "I asked her to sit like, 3 times!!!"

OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!! YOU DIDN'T JUST MAKE AN EXCUSE FOR YOUR POOR BEHAVIOUR INVOLVING AN INNOCENT CHILD, DID YOU?

Gong show mommy marched off to collect P. and then went right into the director's room to explain what had happened.

Thankfully, today was this "intern's " last day at the centre. I gave straight up feedback to the director that I did NOT feel comfortable with that woman being around my daughter and hoped that she wouldn't be returning to substitite teach at the centre.

She assured me she would give my feedback to the blonde bitch and that it was indeed her "last day"

I said "I hope so!", emphatically as Phoebes said her bye byes and we were off.

I mean, I know that kids can be crazy frustrating and that working with them all day is freakin draining and everything...but in my mind, there is absolutely no excuse for her behaviour. I don't care if she was having a bad day.

What are your thoughts?

Singin' in the rain!

So, we had some fun yesterday in the rain. Phoebes loves water. Pools, splashpads, showers, and rain! The only water she doesn't like is the bath, really.

Anyways, we got home from the mall yesterday and it was raining out. Phoebes wanted to run in the rain and we thought, oh what the heck, it is almost the end of summer-who cares if it is past her bedtime.

Here are some pics of her in the rain. So cute! I wish I could catch the sound of her laughter in these pics!

Another "venting" post

So, this is how it went down yesterday:

Wife: Goes to brush her hair in the bathroom in front of her sink and steps in a pool of "substance".

Wife: "what the ?#$5&@!"

Husband: "Oh, sorry, (toddler) peed on the floor"

Wife: "And you didn't clean it up"

Husband: "forgot"

seriously???

Drop in's

I have noticed lots of mom's saying to others, "just pop in sometime"...and I wonder, are they serious?

Who really likes it when people "drop in" to their houses?

Do any of you?

If I were to guess, the people who like drop ins are the regular Martha Stewart types that have the fresh baked muffins on the go all the time, and have a full face of makeup on, and proper clothing. (what I mean by proper clothing is an outfit, not lulu's or pjs). If you tell me that these people have all of the above going on and also work a full time job, I would probably puke in my mouth.

If you were to drop by my house right now, this is what you would find:

• Me, just up from my afternoon nap-braless and underwearless in my ratty pj's
• My hair half wet and sort of kinky from sleeping on it wet
• My face is splotchy from some of the picking, plucking and squeezing that went on when I passed by the magnifying mirror
• my house is a DISASTER. Dishes in the sink, toys everywhere, beds unmade.
• Really, I am a total gong show right now.

Oh, and fyi, I don't have any fresh baking or anything to offer you or your kids when you come by.

I bet you all wanna "pop by" now, don't you?

Even though drop by's aren't really conducive to my lifestyle, I would still love to see you so gimme a shout and we will make plans! xo

Cellulite is the new "cute"

Customer Service Props

I am constantly complaining about customer service. Either I am just a stickler with high expectations, or I am totally jynxed most of the time.

Because of this, I would like to give props to 2 businesses that have offered us amazing customer service lately.

We went on our first vacay since Phoebe was born (sans Phoebe and overnight) and stayed at this amazing boutique hotel in the T. and had dinner and saw a concert.

While at the hotel, we were given beyond the expected service-given a free umbrella to walk around Toronto with, free cappucino machine (to name a few).

The room was impeccable as well.

The best part of the service at Le Germain in Toronto was that after we had gotten the beep out of dodge and were on our way home, I realized that I didn't have my lifeline (aka Blackberry)

Total gongshowmommy fashion dictates that I freak out and call the hotel to tell them of my discovery.

The were very nice, offered to send the custodial mgr to the room to check for it and that they would call us back.

In the meantime, I found my BB in my suitcase and was so elated forgot to call back the hotel (my bad!).

About a half hour later, they called us and said there was no sign of the BB in the room. I thanked them and explained that we had found the BB and not to worry.

Then about an hour later, we get another call...it was the hotel. They had a blackberry returned to them by a Taxi driver and just wanted to confirm with me that I had the correct one? Are you kidding me? as if ! this NEVER happens to me.

It wasn't my bb, but that is okay. It goes to show how much they value their customers.

Le Germain-Toronto

I was so thankful to them that I am writing a huge satisfaction email to them and posting on their website my good fortunes with them.

Enjoy the following pics and website. The hotel was dreamy.

Another spot we recently went to was Boston Pizza here in London. Unlike most restaurants they catered to us having a baby and what I call a "limited window". They were amazingly quick with everything. It was a great experience.

Any of you guys have any good or bad customer service experiences lately you would like to share?

Gong show vacay

I guess it wouldn't be me if I didn't have bad luck even on vacation!

I need to preface this blog by saying that I never get to go away for pleasure. This was the first time in 17 months that George and I went out of town OVERNIGHT-without Phoebe.

It was supposed to be a much needed and enjoyed vacation...and for the mostpart, it was...I guess...

We had an amazing time on Wednesday at our amazing hotel (Le Germain)-we used a bunch of points we had collected on our MC so that we could stay there and it was great! there was an amazing tub and rain shower and the room was so modern (I got inspiration from that hotel for our basement and bathroom reno!)

Then we walked around King St. and looked in some design shops and found the perfect light fixture (we have been looking for YEARS) to replace the fugly one in our hallway leading to our basement. So exciting!

We then had drinkies on a patio and then returned back to our hotel for a nap and to get ready for the Kings of Leon concert at the Ampitheatre. It was a fun concert-not as good as the one we saw in London, but very fun!

We then went to Ultra Supper club where we sat in the bottle service section (but didn't pay bottle service-we were such scrubs) and watched their midnight fashion show for Coach. It was so much fun and so different than the bars here in London. Not that I really go to the bars in London anymore: )

So, all in all, the first part of our vacay was good. Then something must have happened in the cosmos that caused everything to become a gong.

Things that were gong shows on our trip:

• Toronto traffic
• Ontario place-gongs didn't have our tix at will call
• Both our cell phones died-no chargers
• I lost my lifeline (I mean my Blackberry)
• We forgot to arrange a sitter for our dog-had to call in the troops to help out!
• it rained, didn't have an umbrella
• iphone app for finding a breakfast place failed and took us out of the way by 4 km, and to a place that didn't exist. Gongshowmommy was hungry, bitchy and had major blisters from her sandals
• George had a work EMERGENCY while we were on our way home. Had to hit Toronto DVP traffic to go to Concord to pick up a cable.
• George ate cous cous by accident. He can't have wheat
• Skunk at home sprayed 2 of the workers doing renos at the house. They thought it may be in the house afterwards because they couldn't find it!
• Yia Yia backed my car into her garage door and caused some damage.

Yeah, it was a gong, but in the large scheme of things, I am beginning to realize that even though the gongs listed above were stressful at the time, they are really just the "small stuff" and I shouldn't have let them put a damper on the vacation.

It is great to realize this once everything is over, eh? I need to start working on realizing this when these types of things happen-so it doesn't get out of control.

Way easier to say than to do, I know.

Even though I missed P. to bits while we were away, I still need another vacation from my vacation.