Week of Money: Where Little Bun discovers other children are too loud for him

DAY ONE

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun snuggling me.

6:30 a.m. — I start working. Early meetings. Little Bun is snuffling a glass of milk at the counter and I have yet to make my tea.

8:25 a.m. — My tea finally gets made and I drink it as a break, ignoring all emails and calls.

10:25 a.m. — Knock at the door. What now? We literally have no one over, and no one comes into our home. Turns out, they are shutting off the water for a while, so please don’t do laundry. I am seriously just annoyed because we are both in meetings all morning and why could they not bloody send a damn email instead? OR TEXT US.

11:22 a.m. — Lunch time… but then they also cut the power, and decide to tell us over loudspeaker that they did so (unexpectedly). I want to scream. I am so annoyed I go and lie down and end up napping to not think about eating. Why could they not have loudspeakered this announcement instead of going door to door then? What good are these tools if they have to also annoy us.

12:23 p.m. — Turns out, my partner was already cooking food, and he intelligently threw my noodles into the old hot water to let them sit there and cook with ambient heat.

So he tells me my noodles could be ready. I THANK HIM PROFUSELY. “How smart Daddy is!“… and proceed to scarf them down (I am very hungry at this point, as I do not eat breakfast and only have tea in the morning).

The noodles did turn out weird but they were edible. They had a strange mushy yet firm quality to them. I don’t even care. I am hungry.

1:12 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap. I am working on documents.

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he bounces out of the bedroom and I snuggle him. I check his pages so that I don’t have to do it later. There was a story about a ship mysteriously abandoned with 10 people gone from the crew and the captain’s family. No bodies found, food half eaten, they were never seen again, boots still by the bed, no clothes or things taken.

Little Bun was supposed to pretend-write about the captain’s last day on the ship in the Captain’s Log, and he very cleverly writes this:

“This page is left intentionally blank” – CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS CHILD.

I told him I would not accept this answer. He wanted to just say his answer and I told him – No, I want it written because you’re practicing writing as well.

Also – the Es look weird because I am trying to teach him how to write letters with the tails down over the line like g, j, y and so on. I think he got confused and started doing the “e”‘s the same way.

3:40 p.m. — I take a short break to read a book and have a tea.

5:00 p.m. — Log off for the day.

5:12 p.m. — Dinner, dishes and Little Bun puts away the dried towels from yesterday, after wiping all the cutlery. We do the pots then – lots of wiping there, and at the end, I just want a break. I can understand that he wants to play and have fun but I do not have unlimited energy.

6:30 p.m. — We spend the night reading books and playing Stuffie Adventures – Biggest Stuffie becomes a video game character on the wall, and has to dodge things like pillows and so on.

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun snuggling me.

5:48 a.m. — Wow it’s early. Little Bun and I snuggle and then he runs off for his milk. I make a tea and sit there sipping it. I am up early enough to do banking stuff, blog, etc.

7:00 a.m. — I log off and start working.

10:25 a.m. — These words are pretty darn relevant today… particularly FUDGEL 🙂

 

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time.

1:00 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap.

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he bounces out of the bedroom.

6:40 p.m. — I log off not even realizing the time had gone by so much.

6:50 p.m. — Dinner, dishes and laundry. Little Bun is wiping down cutlery.

7:25 p.m. — I end up buying a few items for my mother – some more of this amazing body cream that really helps eczema and other skin related issues without perfume, smell etc.

It was recommended to me by my dermatologist. I don’t have issues any more with my skin, so I switched to concentrate body lotion (use that link to get 20% off) to reconstitute so there is less plastic, but if I ever need to, I would buy a tub of this in a heartbeat to fix it. I just don’t need it any longer, which is great.

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun snuggling me.

7:33 a.m. — I log in and start working.

10:25 a.m. — This is so cute. Little Bun is checking his father’s speech (in English) and I joke to my partner:

Me: is he working for you now

Partner: yes, I have to deliver a speech, he’s checking it for spelling etc

Me: 👀 I guess payment will be made in cake

Little Bun: Mommy it’s okay! I don’t need any cake. There isn’t any to eat anyway….

Me: HUSH CHILD. You’ll ruin it for all of us.

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time.

1:01 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap.

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he comes out of the bedroom and has his after-nap milk. His ritual never changes, and when he doesn’t get his milk, he gets really sad about it even if it gets substituted with things like yoghurt, which he loves.

3:40 p.m. — I am in meetings all evening.

6:30 p.m. — I finally log off, exhausted, and tell Little Bun I am not hungry, so I just have yoghurt.

7:25 p.m. — Isn’t this the weirdest candle you have ever seen? And for $340!?!?!? It’s a fried egg by the way.

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I wake up early, and not even 2 minutes later, I hear Little Bun come out. I rush into the hallway, and gather him into my arms, sitting down on the floor, holding him as he slowly blinks his eyes open to wake up. I kiss him excessively when this happens because I think to myself – one day, he will be a preteen and taller than me for sure, When will I ever get to hold such a tiny little boy again?

7:00 a.m. — I start my day.

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time.

12:57 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap and I am on calls, trying to be quiet. I am being told by my family I am too loud when I work, and I am working on it!

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he bounces out of the bedroom and into my arms. Then he has his milk.

3:20 p.m. — In light of the Oscar controversy, it reminds me of this:

5:12 p.m. — Dinner.

5:30 p.m. — As Little Bun is wiping down cutlery, and I am watching Love is Blind but the Japanese version. IT IS SO WHOLESOME. Way less drama than the American one, they’re much kinder / nicer, and I love how quiet they are.

I also start thinking about questions I’d ask if I were on the show, without seeing someone at all, and I start off with eliminating HARD NOs, which include smoking, excessive drinking / partying (not my vibe), any drug use, strongly religious / conservative types, and that about does it for Hard Nos.

I go through the rest of my list – close to his family but not excessively close would be a key thing to check in in-laws. I even add in what his interests are – Camping? I don’t know about this, how “into” camping are you…? What KIND of camping? Because I am not into insects eating me alive in a forest of any kind.

I decide to throw in some basic math like what is 20% of $200.. and Little Bun eagerly shouts out: IT IS $40!!! … (well, I guess on a dating show he’d do just fine then).

Little Bun suggests that I ask them a riddle, and offers me up a few to choose from to see what they are like.

At the end my partner side eyes me and says: With all of these questions, you are going to end up with NO ONE IN THE END!

And he is not wrong. I am pretty sure this will be the case in the future, or would be the case.

7:22 p.m. — We play Wordle, then brush our teeth.

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine of talking in bed about our great and not so great things, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun snuggling me. I throw an arm over him, and smell his head.

7:04 a.m. — I start working.

8:08 a.m. — I tell my partner I have my surgery booked in a few months, so I am taking a week off work to have the surgery and recover.

8:30 a.m. — Meetings.

9:45 a.m. — Oh this wallpaper is pretty in this bathroom. A fun pop of colour.

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time. I am in a meeting while at lunch because of being slammed on two teams.

12:55 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap. I log into the Homeschooling meeting to talk about the compulsory exams in Grade 6. OH PLEASE LET ME BE ABLE TO SEND HIM BACK BEFORE THAT TIME. I still plan on helping him learn what he needs at this age to hit the Grade 6 requirements (regardless, the exam is compulsory for every child, not just the ones homeschooled), but this is going to become quite exhausting. I am hoping once we move, the schools will be in a less dense area and we can send him to school.

2:50 p.m. — Up from his nap, he comes quietly out of the bedroom and has milk. He used to knock to go to the bathroom until we finally told him – stop knocking! JUST GO! …!! … because we were in calls and meetings all day. It made me realize that he is really a rule follower, kind of the way I was when I was younger. It makes me happy (as a parent) but also cautious that he isn’t a strict rule follower, and learns how to rebel or be critical about what the rule says as well. I will have to keep an eye out for this. I would not want an overly obedient child to be honest with you. It will not bode well for real life.

3:40 p.m. — I am looking at properties online of homes around the Montreal area as a break in between calls.

6:40 p.m. — Done for the day.

7:12 p.m. — Dinner, dishes and laundry. Little Bun is wiping down cutlery. As he does so, he tells me he has a Stuffie Riddle Quiz game I have to do before bedtime.

8:25 p.m. — In the bedroom, we do the Stuffie Riddle Quiz, which is: If an item is $10 more than another item, and it costs $11 for both, how do I solve for X?

I am too tired for this, and beg him for the answer.

He tells me: Well the equation is X + (X+10) = 11! So you just need to move the 10 over to the other side, that leaves you with X + X = 1. So X must equal $0.50 🙂

Me: I knew that. .. LOL

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY SIX

??:?? — Little Bun hops on me and snuggles me happily, whispering: MOMMY. DO NOT LOG IN TO WORK TODAY. It is the WEEKEND!

6:48 a.m. — I have decided that every week, because I truly dislike cleaning, we will spend one morning deep cleaning different things around the home, deep vacuuming, organizing, and the like.

7:50 a.m. — We finish our tea, milk, and I clap my hands – TODAY, Little Bun, we are going to GET STUFF DONE.

His eyes light up (he likes “getting stuff done”), and I give him a list of things we have to do – package some items, clean both bathroom vanities (deep clean), then sew a few items. I ask him which one we should do first. He ponders, and tells me to package items so we can get it out of the way.

8:22 a.m. — Items packaged and done!

8:48 a.m. — We start prepping to deep clean the vanities. We remove everything off the sink and then I hand him a sponge, and teach him how to wet it and scrub, with a bit of soap, then we work together, scrubbing the sink, around the taps etc, while I play some music in the background.

9:30 a.m. — Little Bun: “This is so much fun! I wish we could go to people’s homes and have them pay us to clean their homes. I could hire you to work with me, and we would be such a good team together to get all of this work done.”

(Well… if that isn’t the cutest thing I have ever heard)

Me: *cough* Well.. People DO pay other people to clean their homes, but baby, remember that this is just a bathroom vanity, and not the entire home. People do not get paid that much to clean an entire home, and we would have to work a lot faster and harder than this for the money. Also, cleaning homes is backbreaking work, and can be very hard on your body. But you are absolutely right that we make an excellent cleaning team, and every week we are going to do this, okay?

9:30 a.m. — We move on to the other vanity.

Little Bun: I LOVE CLEANING!!!!!!!! *so happy*

What he really enjoys, is “making a mess” by cleaning and soaping up the whole area, the mirror, and really scrubbing to get things off. I teach him how to slowly wipe the dust and grime away, and scrub, then soap it back up and wipe it all away.

10:11 a.m. — Then we soak all the soap dishes and scrub them clean.

10:30 a.m. — We slice my cleanser bottle open that was “empty”, and at least 2 weeks left of cleanser is in the bottle to clean out. I use these silicone covers for bowls to fit on top of these cut out bottles so that they stay moist and don’t dry out the product.

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time.

12:55 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap and I take a break and watch Bridgerton Season 2 (THIS IS MY FAVOURITE SEASON YET!)

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he bounces out of the bedroom, and helps his father practice his speech in English. He corrects him on pronunciations, speed, pace, and verbs. At the end he tells his father – “Daddy, you need to practice more“. They continue for the rest of the evening.

6:40 p.m. — Dinner, I decide on a whim to make pitas to eat with the beans I had planned for tonight. Little Bun helps me with the dough, and it turns out to be drier and more like a cracker than I expected, which I didn’t mind. We put curried beans on the bottom, a layer of basil pesto, and top it with yoghurt, which adds the sourness and the fat required. I LOVE IT. It ends up being one of my favourite bites.

It looks ugly but I promise you, it was delicious.

We also use these Tupperware bowl covers instead of plastic wrap, it’s reusable and smart:

Instead of these lids, you can use the same silicone covers above that I use to keep the cut open skincare products moist, rather than using plastic wrap.

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine of Wordle as a family, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun snuggling me. Hugs and kisses, he grabs his “babies” (stuffies) and comes out.

6:30 a.m. — I am watching the rest of Bridgerton Season 2, and love the finale of course. I LOVE THIS SHOW.

.9:30 a.m. — We head out to play at the park, and lots of kids are there..

Little Bun: *starts squealing*

Me: What’s wrong!?

Little Bun: WHY ARE THESE KIDS ALL SO LOUD

Me: That is the way it is.. all children are loud. This is just like at school, but only with a few kids, not with a whole bunch of them. You can be loud too! When you’re having fun.

Little Bun: I don’t mind being loud…!! But I don’t want THEM to be loud!

Me: Well this is what school is like. Children are loud, and they sometimes don’t listen.

Little Bun: *grumpy unhappy face* But what if I want to listen to the teacher and I cannot hear them? I want them to be quiet.

Me: Well.. this is normal school + kid stuff. This is not like homeschooling where everything is always quiet for you.

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time.

1:05 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap.

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he bounces out of the bedroom.

3:40 p.m. — My partner starts prepping for burritos tonight. Vegan burritos! He made beans, and a bunch of other things like pickled onions, brussel sprouts (I do not recommend these in a burrito) and so on. I make it NOT vegan by adding yoghurt on top of it because it is delicious with it. Little Bun eagerly spoons on the yoghurt as well.

5:12 p.m. — Dinner. I AM STUFFED. At the end of the meal we note that we are missing tomatoes, avocados and some sort of crunchy element like herbs or a salad inside. I do like it a lot and am completely satisfied. I really enjoyed the yoghurt on top.

6:25 p.m. — STUFFED. I AM STUFFED. I do all the dishes and let them dry, then we do Wordle as a family.

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine, and then we go to bed talking about what happened in the day.

Spent: $0

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Want more? Read all of my previous Week of Money Diaries.