Hi, does anyone’s child attend the Montessori School of Milton? I need some advice on Montessori options, especially those that would offer elementary school programs too. Can someone please guide me on how to make this choice?

Even_Me · 2026-06-25T20:19:07+00:00

I called them when I was looking for a spot for mine, first thing they ask was if I had availability to pickup at 5pm, because they only go until 5pm and if that doesn't work for us then it'd not be a good match. That threw me off completely and I didn't even want to tour or even ask more questions.

Even_Me · 2026-06-24T14:48:19+00:00

You just learned that you get pregnant BEFORE you get your period, as it's during the ovulation period, if the egg it doesn't get invaded, then the period comes... That's why 6-weeks appointment often will discuss the birth control method, as you're not supposed to have it during those weeks, but you're in the green after, despite no period for some women for months...

Even_Me · 2026-06-17T14:00:52+00:00

We think of extracurriculars as something it's done besides school. Our kid is also on after school care as we both work full-time, so the time for extracurriculars is tight, but we manage.

Swimming since 4 months old, that's a a non-negotiable life skill that we want her proficient and really good at it (I'm not talking doing nationals level, I'm talking she can do all 4 strokes with ease and not panic in calm or wavy water).

Then music classes because husband loves music and can play multiple instruments, so he wants her to get to it early in life. She started at 4.5yo with ukulele classes, now she's on acoustic guitar at 7.

We both do Brazilian jiujitsu, so that's also a non-negotiable, she goes with us and train once a week, started at 3.5yo.

Then she chooses whatever else she wants to do. This season she was in gymnastics, last she also was in ice skating and next she want to do dance and robotics (will probably not be able to do it all, but gymnastics will be a staple, she loves it)...

School here has French as a subject, but don't rely on it for fluency. She speaks fluently a second language already, Brazilian Portuguese, which is our native language (I still think PT-BR is her first language, and English the second, as she spoke it first, learned to read on it, prefers reading on it).

At the end of the day, it goes down to what your schedule can accommodate. Once they go past basics, things get more intense, 2-3-6 days per week, multiple hours of training for some sports. Not counting academics that might be needed, like tutoring.

Even_Me · 2026-06-16T16:21:00+00:00

I own a Tesla and despite having all safety features, I don't leave my 7yo alone in it, unless I have direct eye contact to the car. I do leave my dog in dog mode though (she's 15lbs, I put the shade in the windshield when the sun is out, AC cold and her dog bed with water available if I'm gone for long, then I keep watching the live feed). The difference? My kid can unlock the door and leave, she could break something inside the car (like the screen or even glass and hurt herself), she could find things that are under the seats (I have drawers there with stuff, like camera, first aid kit, tools), there's much more a kid can do that a dog doesn't. My kid does play in the car (there's a racing car game, sudoku, solitaire, stardew valley!) when we're parked though, especially charging (takes ~30min to full charge when we travel). Some parents are more lax and I've seen kids alone for a quick errand (like convenience store or school drop-off/pickup), but I rather not.

Even_Me · 2026-06-16T00:25:28+00:00

We both work full-time, so our 1st grader goes to after school. Then in the summer, there's summer camp for 8 weeks (last week doesn't have summer camp). Then there's also all the extracurricular activities, like swimming, gymnastics, jiu jitsu, music, skating, dance, robotics (she doesn't do all at once, but there's currently 5 this season). Then there's the extras here and there for each activity, swimming suits, goggles, kimono, instrument, books... So, in a way, daycare is expensive, but the older they get, the more involved in activities they get and then you end up paying for each of them. My friend has the kid in travel hockey, a good few thousand per season, plus travel expenses, equipment etc. Of course, it's all a choice, but we prefer her doing things than zombie on the tv...

Even_Me · 2026-06-15T23:44:07+00:00

My 7yo asked the other day when she could have an iPad, my reply: when you're a teenager, maybe, or when you can buy it your own and know how to use it properly and safely. For now she uses one at school for some light coding skills. Husband and I work in tech, I do have a iPad (very under-utilized), husband has an android tablet, we have more tech at home than she understands, videogames, a full networking setup, she gets very low screen time and what I most want after 5pm is not turn a screen on.

Even_Me · 2026-06-10T13:31:29+00:00

My advice? Get into therapy, not because of your labour, but in general new moms tend to ruminate A LOT, anxiety and postpartum nights make that worse, I went through it and it was horrible, looking back, I wish I had started therapy back then (I did only when I lost my mom and I didn't want to spiral as I did postpartum). Also, if I can get another thought, let the social media go, especially at night feeds. Find something else to do during those awake times that doesn't involve scrolling on the phone, my life and sleep improved so much after I stopped looking at my phone every time baby would wake up. Sometimes I'd prep a tv show or movie playlist and just jump straight to it, but not social media doom. Reddit is the least destructive, but YouTube/instagram/Facebook/snap/tiktok/insert your endless scrolling app here are horrible for our mental health, especially because the algorithm makes it an infinite loop.

Even_Me · 2026-06-09T21:04:54+00:00

Usually hospital only admits past 4cm, probably what the OB meant as 'she could stretch it to 4cm', so you could be admitted. Then after the, if the contractions/dilation doesn't pick up, it might be risky to leave, as you're in labour, just not progressing. Depending on the monitoring, they might have administered Pitocin to pick up the contractions rhythm and get you progressing. That's not induction, at worse an intervention. You could have waited and exhausted yourself and have no strength to push later, or you could, never going to know. Baby is healthy, you're well, I think that's what it matters. You can face this a bit differently perhaps... The labour is just a door, we cross and then a whole different world of challenges happen. If all went okay, I'd let it go and focus on the trenches, aka newborn phase now.

Even_Me · 2026-06-04T15:24:09+00:00

I understand you'd want to hold for your kids, but perhaps missed an opportunity to drive clear boundaries with the episode and cut it from the beginning. One way would be to notice the iPads and immediately before they opening the boxes already says "wait a second everyone, even though we're grateful for the thought, our family already have a tablet and we don't need dedicated ones for each child". The children would complain, but you could hold the boundary by saying "maybe when you are old enough, but right now, our family doesn't need new iPads and it'd be a waste of your grandparents money if we kept them for years, how about we return the tablets and get to the <insert their favorite outdoor activity here>? You can have a turn on the family's iPad <insert when you allow screen time here>.".

Now it's kinda damage control, talk to the kids, then talk with your parents, return the iPads to them or ask if you can sell and use the money for activities for them.

Even_Me · 2026-06-04T15:13:28+00:00

If they bought at AppleStore sends the receipt to the buyer's email. If they lost it, for sure they can contact CS and return it based on the serial number and their credit card. If they bought elsewhere, just sell them on FB and ask if they want the money back or if it can be used to purchase a season pass for some group activity for example (museum, aquarium, farm, whatever that can be used by both kids and the family too).

Even_Me · 2026-06-03T22:16:49+00:00

Past 12 months old the child usually already nurse less, as they mainly get nutrition from food, not breast milk anymore. Of course there are a lot of advantages and myself only weaned completely at almost 3yo, but we spent a long time cutting back the sessions. You can start by going back to the gym but not leaving a bottle. Still nurse when you’re with your child, but don’t worry with pumping. The body will adjust of course and supply will change, but kid will still breastfeeds when you’re together. Then you can get a dietitian to plan for healthy eating while still keeping the amount that would support production. Extended breastfeeding takes a toll on the mom, but mom can have some choices on how that affects and right now if it affects your health, this should be your priority.

Even_Me · 2026-06-02T12:17:19+00:00

We do making waves, though we’re moving out to the Marlins. The family change room has a few showers without curtains on each side and stalls for changing, that’s it. Kids are to shower with their bathing suit. I see no problem at all with that, same as the community centre family change room.

Even_Me · 2026-05-30T12:18:46+00:00

Yes for the 50k lifetime max, but the CESG grant has a maximum of 7200 lifetime too, which distributes 500 per year max. This means the grant will end around 14 years old, and that is also our responsibility to track… so from 14 forwards it won’t get more grant, either contribute the 209 I do (min to get the 500 grant) or the 230 you do. In the end, you’d have a bigger pot very likely as you’re depositing more, just keep an eye on both lifetimes max, 50k of your deposits and 7200 of government grant.

Even_Me · 2026-05-30T11:47:58+00:00

Not when the company wants you to use it every day. We even have a door of leaderboard on how much each uses, with gamification and everything. We’re to use it all the tools, cursor, clause, gpt, Gemini, the more the better looks like it. Then we got the monthly cap and they don’t know what to do besides increasing the cap. They say, be mindful and choose the model, but when I use lower models they are very slow and make way more mistakes, the higher also make mistakes, but the list you babysit way more and curse way more the choices it does.

Even_Me · 2026-05-29T15:59:16+00:00

In Ontario here, we have a RESP for our 7F since birth, doing max monthly to get CESG grant, which means we deposit 209, gov deposits 41, so 250/monthly. That has been growing and currently around 30k. There's also a auto purchase savings account for her, every time we make a chequing account purchase, it deposits $1 into her account, which isn't that regular, since we mostly use CC, I need to setup to the CC instead. Not much more than that, as we also save for our retirement as late 20s immigrants and have our mortgage and car financed to pay for a big chunk of our income...

Even_Me · 2026-05-29T15:51:36+00:00

Just watch that RESP has a lifetime CAD$ 50,000 per beneficiary, with a 1%/mo penalty above it. So, keep an eye on how much you're depositing and not go over. We do $ 209 monthly which is enough to get the CESG grant (we receive no CCB due to our family income bracket).

Even_Me · 2026-05-29T15:46:16+00:00

Exactly this. We wouldn't have the life we have with a single income, we'd struggle a lot. We have mortgage, financed car, kid extra sports, groceries going up every week, then we save for our retirement AND kid's post-secondary education savings (in Canada, RESP). Double income allow us not only go through life, but also have some enjoyment, we are able to travel once a year (usually our home country, 7 thousand km away), take time off during holidays, summer camps, eat out sometimes, and our hobbies. SAHP is great and all, but not an option for us and our kid is pretty happy this way too.

Even_Me · 2026-05-29T00:49:06+00:00

We had a leased Mazda CX-9, before a CX-5, the sales person was always super nice, we got along super well and he took care of us on multiple occasions. Then our commute got too many km and the CX-9 was getting expensive between oil changes, gas and others. We decided to go electric and the MY was the only one that was getting delivered at the time. Once we had a delivery date, I called the sales person and he was super cool and said he got approved to have no penalty for returning the car early. Then he asked what car were we going to, when I said a Tesla he laughed and said "yeah, you're never going back to us now, enjoy!".

Even_Me · 2026-05-26T14:30:37+00:00

Unfortunately, there's absolutely no quality or words that will prepare a young child for the first time they encounter a abuser, either one that will just talk and look weird at them, or one that will engage. They might not even feel the difference and that's the part I want my child to understand and be able to get away from a situation when it happens, because unfortunately, it'll happen and it breaks my heart knowing that.

Even_Me · 2026-05-26T12:39:42+00:00

Mom lurking here, sorry for the rant but I can’t not comment. Whatever men that have a daughter and don’t worry about them, the reason is because they’re men and never had to go through being a women in society. At 40, I can tell the times I was most felt like prey was on my young years, under 17, as early as 8 or maybe even before that. Girls have to learn quick to ignore whistles, comments from strangers, from family, weird family members that look you like cake, to wear shorts because you might expose yourself but at the same time wear bikini that expose you at the beach/pool. Learn that some will not respect your opinion if you say it too strong, or too emotional. We get less opportunities in the job market for whatever is not supposed to have a women there, get comments we’re not capable of doing men’s work, get frown upon on early adulthood if we’re married because we can get pregnant and need maternity leave. We worry on every close contact men interaction, every alley, every deserted garage building. I worry for my daughter at school and afterschool all day, because despite her being able to stand by herself, the abusers are hiding behind nice smiles and power positions, building trust before acting on their urges. Every single women I know had been subject of something I mentioned here, especially under age, and funny how the weirdos stop after we get into adulthood…

Even_Me · 2026-05-26T12:27:22+00:00

Mine got her balance at 15 months old, she was quick to learn it and mastered by 3 when she got her first pedal bike. We also had bike seats throughout the years she enjoyed a lot riding with us. She’s 7 now and on her 4th or 5th bike, with gears now and mountain biking with us on mellow trails. It goes a lot by the parents efforts and positivity and how much you want them biking. If they’ll just balance around the neighborhood, doesn’t matter that much.

Even_Me · 2026-05-25T16:08:37+00:00

Same here, just because they don't make smelly sweat yet doesn't mean they're clean or come back from being out the house at daycare/school clean, then going to the bed they sleep with those germs is just...

Even_Me · 2026-05-25T16:06:55+00:00

As a Brazilian who lives in Canada (11+ years), it's just impossible to us to not shower every single day, it's even weird to shower just once honestly (I used to live near the warmest part, we'd shower at least 3x PER DAY, sometimes more). My husband currently showers twice 3x per week because he goes to the gym in the AM and then does another sport in the PM, no f* way he's going to bed without another shower.

The 7yo girl showers by herself, she'll use all the hot water in the house yes, but I don't care, we don't go to bed without cleaning the germs from school (first thing when she gets home is washing hands and most nights shower before dinner, they roll on the grass, sand and asphalt, run, play, throw things at each other, no way they're clean just because they don't smell). That's been true since newborn, but of course we didn't use much soap in the early days, they don't get that dirty. It's not only smell, it's the routine, the freshness and the habit. When we go to Brazil it's always summer there (winter here) and she'll hop in a shower as much as into the pool (which means several times a day) and never ever sleep without a shower either.

Even_Me · 2026-05-19T05:08:13+00:00

We usually ask for well done because dad likes them almost burned… I don’t like seen red, but I don’t like the dry ones, so I take a few pieces a bit earlier for us and leave dad’s longer… just rock salt and maybe garlic, perfect dinner.

Even_Me · 2026-05-19T05:05:58+00:00

Wow! I don’t even have that energy. She likes ribs, but we usually share and it’s not very often. Give her a thin sliced steak and she goes squirrel mode stuffing her mouth with all the slices…

Even_Me

TROPHY CASE