Save. Spend. Splurge.

Week of Money: Where Little Bun eats all the gummies

DAY ONE

9:30 a.m. — I head out for my appointment for the first shot of the vaccine. My friend told me to go on a full stomach so I eat before I go.

11:17 a.m. — I finally get out of the testing site after sitting there for 15 minutes, waiting for side effects.

11:25 a.m. — I try this yuzu cheesecake as a treat and am appalled at being scammed. I mean it says yuzu and tastes nothing like. It was just a fine cheesecake but nothing special. $6.99

12:00 p.m. — At home, I feel exhausted and end up napping.

3:00 p.m. — I wake up from my nap.

3:22 p.m. — Little Bun finishes his pages and harrumphs that there is no time to play with clay and upcycle. I long stare at home and tell him he’s the one managing his time and schedule, not me. He knows we don’t do anything until work is completed.

5:25 p.m. — I spy two really cool tops I have been eying for a while and buy them on eBay. $147.90

8:11 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $154.89

DAY TWO

7:01 a.m. — I log in and work for an hour, then log off for the day. My manager told me to start charging overtime, but in the meantime, for all the lost days, I have been told to “take the hours back”. I hand off work and cancel all my meetings.

8:15 a.m. — We scrub his pillowcase (he asked/insisted/reminded me because he wanted to have a clean pillowcase after his little nose bleed last night). I teach him how to apply soap, then use both hands to rub the fabric together to remove stains. These are life skills! And now I shall never have to wash a single stain of his again. *bliss*

9:30 a.m. — He works on his pages, and while I find the BrainQuest workbooks WAY easier than the Canadian Curriculum ones, he enjoys them more. Probably because they’re full colour, with less questions, and way easier.

9:51 a.m. — I spend the morning reading. I power through two books, finishing one – The WEIRDest people in the world, and getting lost in the beautiful story of the Lost and Found Bookshop.

3:00 p.m. — Exhausted, I fall asleep for a nap just before Little Bun wakes up from his. I move to the bedroom to nap, after setting him up to ready Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid.

3:47 p.m. — He comes in and wakes me up at the perfect time as I move out of an REM sleep cycle. He bounces on me, kisses me awake, I hug him and ask him what time it is. He tells me, and I get up. I know if I sleep any longer I will get sick.

6:20 p.m. — I have a headache. I take a Tylenol, it’s the after effects of the vaccine. Then the night is a blur, but he did make crossword puzzles for me to solve with picture clues:

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

9:10 a.m. — I go through my numbers and notes, making sure to schedule wire transfers to various family members.

10:25 a.m. — Little Bun’s choosing violence today. He really is.

Me: Here, do the cutlery

Little Bun: *whine* I wish I were happy right now

Me: *hard stare*

Little Bun: What? *uncomfortable / nervous*

Me: You know what I’m going to say right?

Little Bun: I don’t want to hear what you’re going to say.

Me: *long hard stare*

Little Bun: *clams up* *starts wiping*

—–

Me: Next – towels have to be folded and put away.

Little Bun: *whine*… *starts playing instead*

Me: *hard stare*

Little Bun: What?

Me: You know what. I’m waiting for you to DO YOUR JOB. Everyone has a job in the house. You have these specific tasks and you’re shirking.

Little Bun: *whine*

Me: You are CHOOSING this right now. You’re choosing to whine and complain instead of getting things done. You’re choosing to have this kind of night when we could be doing something fun instead, if you’d just get to work.

Little Bun: I don’t want to be near you right now! *starts folding the towels furiously*

Me: *leaves* And the next time I lay eyes on you, you better be putting the towels away.

11:03 a.m. — He is out, putting towels away. After he does that, he runs back into the bedroom, his mood completely forgotten/lifted. He tells me: OKAY WE ARE ALL DONE WITH WORK NOW LET’S PLAY!

Me: Not so fast. Time for a lecture.

Now, my lectures are pretty chill. I don’t scream or yell. I just use logic on him.

Me: What jobs do we do around the home?

Little Bun: Daddy has school, does groceries and cooks. Mommy works and does dishes.

Me: And you?

Little Bun: I do school, cutlery, towels and I vacuum.

Me: Okay, well.. you do detail vacuum with roo-roo (what we call the attachment for the vacuum) so that’s accurate.

Little Bun: YEAH!

Me: So you know why Mommy gets upset then right? What if Daddy decided not to cook?

Little Bun: We would be sad. And hungry.

Me: So you not doing your job, you can see how it makes us sad right? We would have no clean towels, no cutlery, we would eat with our fingers…

Little Bun: *giggles*

Me: Do you understand why your job without whining is important, now?

Little Bun: Yes. I understand. *sweet smile*

Me: Okay. *hug, kiss*

He is for sure going to do this again some day, but I will be right on him because I really can’t tolerate this kind of laziness and shirking of duties. He is a contributing member to this family. Period.

Spent: $0

DAY FOUR

8:12 a.m. — We are up early, I am having a tea, he is doing his workbook. He actually told me he was sad for weekends because he wanted to finish the BrainQuest workbook. I told him he could do anything he wanted, and each page he did, would equal an extra star in the Weekend slot. He perks up. He also wants to do extra pages so that he can make mistakes to get more stars for his chart, because once he hits 100 Mistake Stars, he gets a Trophy (I draw one for him). All of this is heading in the right learning direction for me, and I am quite pleased.

11:03 a.m. — As he is finishing his work, he tells me: I GET MORE MISTAKE STARS!.. this is becoming a real point of pleasure for him because it shows him that he is learning and the more stars he gets, the more he learns.

He checks my progress and when I pull a moue, he tells me: That’s okay Mommy. Just work MORE and you will make MORE mistakes and learn more to get more hearts!

What a smart idea this chart was.

12:33 p.m. — I head out for a walk after my endless morning meetings. It is really calming to do this and I am making a point to do this every week at least once. I eat a tart. $6.99

2:00 p.m. — Back home, in time for another (pointless) meeting. They are pointless because there are no decisions made and things go nowhere. Just cancel them unless we need to be shown the document on the screen or something.

3:32 p.m. — Little Bun is up. He asks for my phone and takes a picture of something he saw so that he can ask me what this is about:

4:15 p.m. — We are upcycling, we have dinner, normal bedtime routine. Nothing out of the ordinary.

8:45 p.m. — Time for bed

Spent: $6.99

DAY FIVE

8:45 a.m. — I am on a call where they are asking how much faster I can work. Well. I can’t. But I will bill overtime if they want.

9:15 a.m. — More documents and meetings. I suddenly get hit with a crazy headache from all the thunderstorms we have been having – when they come on fast and strong and the barometric pressure drops suddenly, I get nauseous. I am less sensitive if I do not eat chocolate, so I have avoided it completely.

10:20 a.m. — Little Bun works on recreating the structure of the atom of what we thought it was before and what it is now. This is NOT part of his Grade 2 curriculum, he just watched a video on Dr. Binocs and wanted to recreate it visually on his own.

11:07 a.m. — Little Bun is following the European Cup, and has been creating a chart of the games. He even notes yellow and red cards the players receive:

8:45 a.m. — The whole day passes by in a blur of working and schoolwork. Honestly, he has been lazy lately, Little Bun. He has been playing a lot, frittering away his time, and I don’t want to micromanage him, but he has to learn how to prioritize and stay focused. I know he’s only 7, but I marvel, looking back at my age and his, how I used to plan my days out with a calendar, time slots, homework, etc. It is much harder today I suppose as it is homeschooling and not actual school with deadlines, but still.

BUT.. I ALSO recognize too, that we are two different people. He is more of a dreamer, a gentle sort of curious soul, and I was more of a realist when I was a child. I have to let go of this parenting need to micromanage. If he wastes his time frittering it and playing, he will just keep building up his not complete pages and have to work the weekend to complete them, no shows, no iPad.

9:13 a.m. — This headache is killing me. I really need to lie down but I can’t until at least 10:30. I pop a Tylenol and hope not to vomit.

3:35 p.m. — The headache disappears after the Tylenol but then I have meetings all the way until 15:00 with only a lunch break… which I end up being on an impromptu meeting. Basically no breaks. Little Bun is working on his pages because AGAIN, he mismanaged his time and then tried to cry wolf when it was time to go down for his nap / quiet time, citing he couldn’t nap because he hadn’t finished his pages. Likely story. Just before I shut the door on his face I asked him: Oh you didn’t finish your pages? Would you like me to tell you why? Do you really want a lecture from me right now? … which makes him burst into a wail.

4:17 p.m. — I decide to buy some stuffed cookies. I try out the new Sour Cream and Maple flavour for Little Bun. $44.86

Spent: $44.86

DAY SIX

3:15 p.m. — Little Bun gets 6 gummies from me as a treat. This is what happened:

And I will.

6:50 p.m. —  And my partner stress cleaned the oven. Full scrubbing, soaking… It looks GREAT.

DAY SEVEN

7:25 a.m. — Working on his pages, he tells me: THIS ONE IS MY FAVOURITE SUBJECT! (Math)

I find these ones far too easy for him, but that is to be expected…

8:45 a.m. — He also did a lovely job on the pictures and colouring here. He just needs encouragement, he wants me to draw everything but I want him to learn how to draw and make his own mistakes:

9:45 a.m. — He also brings me a book to fix. I have to sew it and then sew it to the binding again, but I 10/10 do not recommend doing this unless you love your child. This was quite an endeavour.

9:45 a.m. — We also make “burgers” at the Stuffie restaurants.

That’s it. Those were the main highlights of the day. The rest of it was boring – laundry, dishes…

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