March Break 2012: Monday

I'm not surprised that the girls are more interested in hanging around home during March Break than packing our week with outings.  By this point in the year, they're pretty tired of having to leave home most days in the week.  And while we do have some special things planned for later this week, Monday was an at-home day, made even more important because of Hope's slow recovery from Fifth Disease.

If you're wondering what the heck Fifth Disease is, you're not alone.  But you might be surprised to find out that you've probably had it.  Apparently 50% of kids have it at some point.  It's really common.  And really contagious.  It's characterized by a rash on the cheeks (which can spread elsewhere), earning it its alternative name of "slapped cheek".   It's called Fifth Disease because it is the fifth of the common childhood diseases in the category of ailments that have a rash and fever (such as chicken pox, measles, etc). For some reason no one has thought to rename it on the moleclular level as they have with the other diseases.  So, we're stuck with the clunky name of Fifth Disease. 

Hope's red cheeks... cleared up a bit from the day before.

Poor little one.... all red and snotty.

A bit hard to see here but the rash had spread to her arms a bit but looks more mottled than red there.

Anyway, it sucks.  Like chicken pox, it's a slow recovery. The fever hangs around for quite a while.  Lethargy, fatigue and cold-symptoms ensue.  Not fun for March Break.

Advil does wonders however in making sure that Hope has energy for at least a couple of hours in the day.  The rest of the day is generally spent cuddled under a blanket.

So, yesterday we stayed at home.  We had a breakfast of blueberry buttermilk (gluten-free) pancakes.  I made a big batch of chai.  We didn't get out of our pyjamas until noon, me included.  I started organizing all my Sparks and Brownies binders and files that I've been allowing to languish in piles on the floor around my desk. 

Finally, after Henry went for his nap, we headed outside where I started to organized the garage and the girls played in the driveway with the hula hoops and skipping ropes that have been missed through the winter.  Henry joined us for a popcorn picnic in the sun.

The barbecue was lit for the first time this year and we had warm homemade corn tortillas wrapped around tequila-lime chicken, peppers and onions. 

All in all, it was a great March Break Monday.

Today, we're riding the train to meet John for lunch.  Stay tuned for a rundown tomorrow about March Break Tuesday.

Conversation with Hope

 

Hope is sick. She's been sick all week which means she's spent almost the entire week in her pyjamas. Today the buses were cancelled due to Ottawa's seriously crappy January weather freezing rain.  This mans that Emily, who always insists on going to school on a snow day, has to be picked up at the end of the day instead of taking the bus home.  And this means that I prefer that Hope gets dressed.  And thus this conversation:

 

Hope: I wish I could play outside.

 

Me:  Wait, you want to play outside but you're not willing to get dressed to go pick up Emily.

 

Hope: I don't mind wearing clothes, it's just that I don't want my hands to have to put the clothes on my body.

 

Even in sickness, this kid is super awesome.

Christmas until now: a catch-up

Once upon a time there was a blog.  And the blog was happy.

But then the person who loved the blog ignored the blog and the blog was sad.

And then the same person needed the blog to build a house and to sit on its stump.

That's when things got weird.

Christmas.  Beth's visit.  New Years.  Back to school.  Brownies and Sparks starting back up.  It's January 20 and almost a month (!) since I last posted.  I'm not sure I've had such a long hiatus since I started blogging way back in 2006 but I'm noticing this trend among some of the blogs I follow.  Maybe we all just need a break from ourselves.

However I still need to preserve our family memories since my personal memory is abysmal and getting worse with age and the less sleep I get so here goes.

Christmas was lovely.  We had Christmas morning on our own and then we bundled the herd up and headed to Pam and Jim's for a great Christmas dinner that we didn't have to cook.  And Jim made awesome Pomegranate Cosmopolitans.

Here is a selection of  photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning:

Christmas Eve dinner before we got dressed up and headed to the Christmas Eve service at church.  We had our usual German dinner of sausages and sauerkraut.  This year we added scalloped potatoes.  And ended with the traditional boutentelle (sp?).

Emily begins unloading her stocking

Happy Hope on Christmas morning

As expected, Henry loved his book about buses

After a breakfast of Chelsea buns and fruit salad, it is on to the main event.  Emily was happy with her Spirograph from Santa.

Hope opening her Barbie camper.  It's seen lots of play since.

John is befuddled by the way the firetruck was attached to the box.  Hey Santa, next year take stuff out of the packaging before you wrap it, okay?!

By the end of the gift unwrapping, Henry was an old pro.

On December 29, Family Reyburn descended on our house.  Beth and Kate arrived from Texas and my dad and Donna from Gravenhurst.  We crammed into our wee house and no one got maimed.  We went tobogganing (Kate's first time) and made snowmen and went to the Nature Museum and made necklaces at Savvy Bead Company (one of the favourite activities we did) and went to A Gym Tale and Beth and I went to Spa Nordik on the coldest day we'd had so far this winter.  Next time we're taking toques to wear with our bathing suits and bath robes.  We also made a huge gourmet dinner on New Years.  Beth introduced me to the wonders of St. Germain Elderberry Liqueur.  All in all, it was an awesome visit.

Beth and Kate take the GT for a run

Emily, Hope, Kate and neighbour Anna pose with one of the best snowmen we've ever produced.

Kate works on her creation at Savvy Bead

Emily lines up her beads

Hope concentrates while she strings her necklace

Back to the routine come January 9.  And since the snow fell on Christmas Day, winter has been hitting us full force in Ottawa with temperatures each morning around minus 17.  I'm ready for a thaw.  The cold temperatures are giving us perfect skating conditions however so we're going skating this Sunday for the first time this year.  I'm really looking forward to it, as are the girls.

Henry turned 20 months old yesterday and he really deserves a post (or several) all his own.  He is everything that is perfect about this age right now.  Sure, he still has the occasional grumpy day (like today and yesterday) but mostly he is crazy fun to be with.  He is cute as all get out.  His hair is soft like feathers and curly like Art Garfunkel's.  He gives us coy looks when you ask him questions looking for a laugh.  His words are coming out faster and furiouser now.  He pipes in for the "HI!" part of the Dora theme song... you know in the last part: da-da-da-da-da-Dora - HI! - da-da-da-da-da-Dora - HI!.  He shouts out the HI! all on his own.  One of his favourite parts of the day is when I play puppets with his bear and lamb that he sleeps with.  He goes to sleep giggling away.  He calls out "Mama!" over and over again through the day when he wants me to see what he's doing, what's he's built, the trouble he's getting into, or if I just haven't looked at him in a while.  He loves playing in the snow, which is surprising given his age.  Emily and Hope didn't take to it until they were over two.  He refuses to get out of his sled when I'm pulling him around in it.  He is crazy-crazy about Kindermusik and starts the next level next week.  His favourite characters are Dora, Barney and "Toot", aka Thomas the Tank Engine.  While his allegiances definitely lie with John and me, he is totally enamoured with Hope.  He calls her name throughout the day if she's home or not.  Sadly for Emily, he refuses to say her name although he loves her to bits too.  She's dealing with it well but would love for him to give in and say 'Mimi'.  For now, it remains all about Hope.  Here is Henry's cuteness at work as well as the evidence of his fondness for saying 'Hope':

There have been some great moments with Emily and Hope from the last few weeks. While Beth and Kate and my dad and Donna were here, John and I and the girls played sleepover in the master bedroom.  John and I were on air mattresses while the girls stayed in their beds.  John has been known to snore now and again (that's called "glossing over the truth") and Emily is a light sleeper like me.  Here is the list that Emily wrote one day while we were all sharing a room:

Beth and I just about popped a gasket laughing so hard when we read this.  We did our best not to let Emily know how funny we thought it was.  I think we failed.  This gem is going right into her memory box.

This past week at Brownies we started to teach the girls how to hand sew.  They embraced it enthusiastically and Emily came home asking me to show her how to sew on the machine.  Two days ago she sewed a hot pad and Hope played around with different stitches on the machine.  As Emily sewed her first line of stitching on the hot pad I found myself saying: "Emily, Nana would be so proud!" and felt tears welling up in my eyes.  I was surprised by how emotional I was about it.  This was a direct connection to my mum and a deep connection between my mum and my girls.  This weekend each girl is going to sew a skirt for the Barbies.  I can't wait.

Emily had her first piano lesson on Thursday, another connection straight to Mum.  For the last year, I've been teaching Emily so this was her first lesson with someone other than me.  She loved every second and I was pleased to get confirmation that I've done well with her in the last year because her teacher (the wonderful Lynn) was really impressed with how much Emily already knows.

I took the girls for haircuts over the Christmas holidays and you'll note from the video above that Hope had all her locks cut off.  She's now sporting an adorable short cut that I absolutely love.  She's really happy with it too.  Hope continues to be my even-keeled, loving, cuddling, soft-hearted, reliable, hilarious and fun-loving girl.  I can now add budding reader to that list.  I'm so impressed with how her reading is coming along and thrilled that she isn't struggling with it.  And unlike Emily she seems to have much more patience for sounding out words and working at it until she gets it.  How refreshing!

Kudos to you if you've lasted this long.  I think I can count on one hand those of you who are still with me.  But this gets me mostly caught up and hopefully back in the blogging saddle.

Two big days

The first big day this week:

Both Emily and Hope were very excited for their first day. Emily couldn't wait to see everyone and find out who her teacher would be. By the end of yesterday she declared Grade 2 to be the "best thing ever!" (although the protests I received trying to get her out of bed this morning would make you think the opposite). Hope was beside herself with excitement about starting full-day kindergarten. She started with just half her class and had a great day.

However.

She was back for her first "real" day today with her entire class (after having yesterday off so that the other half of her class could transition in). We arrived at the kindie yard to find every manner of helicopter parents milling around with their kids, many of them videotaping their kids... doing what? looking confused? waiting for their teacher? Now that makes for some riveting home movies!

Anywho, Hope didn't have any idea who these people were, she only saw one kid she recognized and, to make the whole situation a lot worse, her teacher wasn't in the yard. The only teachers were a myriad of ECE teachers that she didn't know. She went in, became a deer in headlights and burst into tears. And this is a kid who was jumping out of her pants to get to school every day last year and never cried once.

I stayed with her as long as I could, delivered Emily to her yard (where Miss Sympathy kept asking me what Hope's problem was... I do not see a career for her that would require a bedside manner of any kind), and then raced back to Hope to fulfill my promise of seeing her again before she went inside. I was happy to find that Mrs. B was outside, the bus carrying all of her regular classmates from last year had arrived and she was holding the door for her class. I caught her attention, blew her a kiss, wiped away a few tears (my own, not hers) and came home.

Parenting can really break your heart.


But, now onto the second big day this week:

Where does a newly-turned five-year-old want to have her breakfast? Cora's, of course!

John was able to clear the decks yesterday to celebrate with us over breakfast. Emily however was at school. "Not fair!"

Henry didn't give a rip that it was Hope's birthday. Just leave me to my melon, woman!

Last night we celebrated with Emily and dear friend, Anna, along with spaghetti and cupcakes. The big party happens on Saturday.

Not sure if she really likes birthdays though.

Most of yesterday was spent doing a few Girl Guide-related errands and then baking the cupcakes before we got Emily from school. As we left a local school where I went to hang a poster, Hope turned to me and said: "Um, I think you're forgetting something." Me: "What?" Hope: "I think you're forgetting that it's my birthday because we're just doing regular stuff." Priceless. This followed a not-so-gracious response to her birthday gift in the morning, which was one Barbie (she got her big gift, a scooter, in the spring): "Well, I was hoping there would be a lot more Barbies in this bag. Oh well, I'll get more from my friends this weekend."

This kid is a classic (and although it was pretty funny, I did also have a talk with her about greediness and graciousness).

T-ball rundown

It was cold out there, folks. The wind was whipping. The skies were grey. The ground was soggy. In fact, the ground was nowhere to be seen.


Being the tough and seasoned players that they are, the team pulled together and threw together a makeshift diamond right next to this pond, using car floor mats as bases and fueling themselves with spit and gumption. It was a tough game, the crowds were surly and the scoring was high. After two innings, the game was done. Even though it had been a hard slog, the two teams met at the pitcher's mound to shake hands.

And eat freezies.

All right, so Sports Illustrated is unlikely to call me anytime soon. But it's good enough for 4-year-old t-ball.

The day really turned out great after a pretty rough start. Hope walked in to meet her team and get the photos done in a nearby arena and after finding out that her coach was a man, she promptly sought shelter behind my legs. She came out only after a lot of prodding by me and then broke into tears and stayed in tears until the end of the photo session thirty minutes later. She wasn't able to pull it together for her individual photo but she was able to sit through the team photo albeit with the biggest pout that you ever did see. The photographer told me that we'd try the individual photo again after the team photo because in his experience (and I gather that he's had a lot) that usually works to bring reluctant kids around. He was right. She even smiled.

We followed that up with hot chocolate (a bribe for that smile) and we headed out to the game and it was like a new kid was beside me. A new, old kid. The old Hope that I had been looking for a few minutes before. All smiles, laughs and excitement to try something new and exciting (but not too exciting - she's not a total thrill-seeker). She loved t-ball. I think it's going to be a great few weeks.


More photos of our first t-ball day can be seen on Flickr.

T-ball

Hope is starting t-ball today. She us UBER excited as this is her first year. She was supposed to play two weeks ago and then last week but all the rain this spring meant that the City of Ottawa couldn't allow players on the diamonds until this week. So today is her first (make-up) game and team photo. And guess what?

Yup, it's raining. And cold.

We're taking a giant golf umbrella and a big thermos of hot chocolate.

And great attitudes!

The March Break I'd rather forget

My last post was so full of naive optimism. Since then I have become a dark and brooding soul, ripe with cynicism, dark humour and biting sarcasm.

At least in theory. Truth is, I'm still my peppy and perky self. Now that March Break, otherwise known as The Week I'd Rather Forget, is over.

To backtrack, we decided to go to my dad's in Gravenhurst - about 4 hours from Ottawa - from Tuesday to Friday last week. We got out of town about an hour later than we would have liked... which was fully expected because we always get out of town an hour later than we would have liked.

The kids were asking to watch videos literally 2 kilometres from our driveway. I should have known then that this would become The Trip from Hell. We should have turned around at that very moment.

We stopped seven times - yes, seven - on the way there banking a 6.5 hour trip. We stopped twice to feed Henry, once for lunch, twice because Hope thought she was going to throw up, once because I drank too much tea, and another time for who knows why. Henry did not sleep ONCE during the trip. We had to completely reorganize seating because Hope's tummy was very jumbly in the back. WARNING, WARNING! Did we turn back for home? Nope. Did John say outloud "I forsee this being a total disaster" and I say "you are such a glass half-empty person!"? Yes and yes. Was that the foreshadowing that had this been a movie would have left the audience screaming DON'T GO IN THERE at the screen? Oh yes it was.

We finally get to the bumpy, curvy road going into my dad's house. (FORESHADOWING, FORESHADOWING!) We're literally 500 metres from his door when Hope's face turns white and then green and then she projectile vomits all over herself, her car seat and bits of the car. We had about 3 seconds warning which was enough time to stop the car and watch helplessly as she showered herself in Wendy's french fries and ketchup. Luckily, I thought, no one ever drives on this road so it's okay that we're completely blocking this single-lane road. Oh Sweet Jesus, will I ever learn?

That's when man-in-Oldsmobile drove up behind us.

As I'm holding vomit-covered Hope in front of me at arm's length, I'm simultaneously explaining to man-in-Oldsmobile that one of our children just upchucked all over herself.

The look on his face was a cross between disgust and pity.

I stripped Hope down to her underwear and she sat on my lap in the front seat until we got to my dad's door. Emily, always looking for the up side (her mother's daughter) said: "Hope you're so lucky!" I'm thinking Hope wasn't feeling so lucky at that moment as liquid lunch dripped off her chin. I'm all about the visuals, people.

Arriving at the house, Hope went straight into the shower, washing away all the bad mojo we'd accumulated on the drive up. Time to start fresh! Right? Right?

Wrong.

That night Henry was up SEVEN times. The next day Hope whined all day and then puked at the end of the day at which point we realized she wasn't car sick, she was just plain sick. John threw his back out. He is still walking crooked. Hope declared her bed "not comfy" (a declaration I heard way too many times that week from her) and Emily moved into bed with me, John moved to the futon, Hope moved to the bed Emily was in. I got up 6 times that night and the rest of the night I was serenaded with Emily's teeth-grinding. Henry scraped his knuckles to bloody on the sides of his playpen simply because it made a cool sound (so he tells me). On the plus side, I baked bread in the stone bake oven which was really fun and we went in the hot tub on the deck many times. Donna even served me a glass of wine while I was in there at one point (alone!). I think that was the highlight of the week for me.

The next day was the good day: tobogganing (no one puked! Hope was happy!), walk on the lake, hot tub. Bad part: visit to the Muskoka Wildlife Centre which should have been good but Hope whined the ENTIRE TIME. The rest of us thoroughly enjoyed the place though.

When we got home, Hope hurled.

Next day... time to go home. The Griswalds pulled away. Drive home, 6.5 hours. Great lunch in Bancroft. No extra stops. Drove a beautiful route on the Opeongo Road. Had tea but didn't have to stop an extra time (still can't figure out then why it took us the same amount of time to get back as it took to get up there but whatev). NO ONE PUKED.

As much as I love going up there, sitting in the hot tub, playing in the snow, visiting my dad and Donna, someone will have to SHOW ME THE MONEY to get me to leave home for March Break for many years to come.

I need a holiday. Can we get a do-over?

Yes, of course there were some fun moments. If only there was less puke, more sleep, less pain. I have put some photos below to give you some moments (mostly good) from The Week I'd Rather Forget.

Hope and Henry sharing a puke-free moment on our first day in Gravenhurst.

Emily staying under the radar lest the Universe comes to get her, too.

A really fun morning of tobogganing. This was the first smile from Hope in a while.

Another smile! Tobogganing saved our trip for a while.

At the Muskoka Wildlife Centre. Lest you think Hope is looking for a dropped contact lens, she's actually refusing to move because she feels like stink.

Pretty much the happiest look she could muster.

Happy in the hot tub on the morning we were heading home. The hot tub was the other happy place. Especially for John's back.

No one wants to be laughed at when they're naked

This blog is suffering from not-so-benign neglect. And just when there are so many things to talk about. It's always the way, isn't it? Lots been going on, much of it blog-worthy. Before the goings-on are filed away in my grey matter, never to be retrieved again, I'm going to try to get a few posts up this week. Saying it here may actually make it happen. Here's hoping, anyway.

I have funny kids... very funny kids... but the funniest (although the jury is still out on Henry) is Hope. She makes us belly-laugh frequently, never due to effort on her part, and then she gets extremely agitated (read: stinking mad) if she thinks we're laughing because of something she said or did. Which we almost always are.

Evidence: this week she said something funny (again) while she was changing into her jammies and yelled at us: I don't like it when people laugh at me when I'm naked!

Which did not make us laugh less.

In the past couple of weeks she has reached a new pinnacle of funniness. I've managed to remember three good Hope-isms, using top-secret, tired mummy-brain techniques, so that I could get them down and then free up that brain space for things such as remembering library book day and where I left my hemorrhoid medication. This is important stuff people. So very important.

Laugh #1: Hope tends to take Henry's toys right out of his hands. Yanks them actually. I caught her in the act a couple of weeks ago and explained how even though he's a baby, you can't just grab things away from him even if you want them. You have to treat him like you treat other kids, blah, blah, blah. I walked out of the room and back in to see her with Henry's toy again. I asked her how she got it.

Hope: "I asked Henry for it and he said yes."
Me: "But Henry can't talk."
Hope: "Yes, he can."
Me: "Uh no, he can't."
Hope: "Yes, he can, Mummy."
Me: "But how do you know what he's saying?"
Hope: "I understand baby talk."

A minute later, Hope turns to Henry and says: "Henry, can I use that when you're finished?" (She leans in to his face and listens near his mouth as though he were a stuffed animal in one of her pretend games.) "You're done? Oh good. Thanks!" Yanks toy out of his hand.

Laugh # 2:
Hope: I got my chest skin stuck in this zipper today at school. [It was a decorative zipper on the front of a dress.]
Me: Why were you unzipping that zipper?
Hope: My hand was tired so I was giving it some exercise to give it more energy.

Laugh #3:
(at the dinner table)
Hope: Mummy, you forgot to give me the broccoli I asked for!
Me: Oh, sorry. I didn't hear you ask for it.
Hope: That's because I asked you in my head.

And just so Emily isn't totally left out...
I was changing Henry's diaper last week when Emily walked into the room and said:
Is there poop in that diaper?
Me: No.
Emily: Good! Because the last time I saw Henry's poop, it was terrifying!

That's what you get for referring to this as Virtually Stale

John just told me that "Virtually There is Virtually Stale." Hah. Funny guy.

Truth is there doesn't seem to be enough minutes in a day right now. I'm baking, freezing, andtaking orders for Sugarplum Fairy, taking the kids to their activities, changing diapers and playing with Henry, we've got all the usual church Christmas stuff going on, I'm still trying to get the Christmas decorations up around the house (that project stalled yesterday) and I haven't done anything about the 25 Days of Christmas project which has now been whittled down to 23 days at the most.

I'm not actually stressed about these things and how busy I feel. I still have time to help Emily with her homework, bake with Hope, tickle Henry and cook with John.

However it seems what has fallen off is the blogging. Something had to give.

I'll try and get here when I can but the reality of having your own baking business is that early December is mildly CUCKOO.

I must tell you about one small glimpse from my week though. This week was the last in the current gymnastics session for the girls. And the last week means that parents/siblings are invited in to watch the class, take pictures and see the routines that they've worked on. I went to Hope's class on Tuesday morning. Three and four-year-olds jumping around and hanging off ropes and tumbling and being generally chaotic. It was great. Hope is an amazing listener, she is extremely focussed on her task and her teacher and she is extremely persistent. If she can't accomplish something the first time, she tries until she does it. And without getting frustrated. That's pretty amazing for 4 years old. These qualities aren't true just at gymnastics. I've noticed those things in her for a while. They'll serve her well.

Yesterday we went to Emily's class. Hope was with me. Henry (all 23 pounds) was on my back in the Ergo baby carrier. By the by, my back is still aching today after having him in there for that hour. Emily's class had actual routines (sort of) that they worked out and performed together. There was floor work, beams, trampoline, etc. I've been to a few of Emily's classes but not for a few weeks. John has been taking her. I was WOWED at her progress. WOWED, I say. The child can do a full round-off and cartwheel. I have never successfully done a cartwheel so don't even ask about a round-off. She has almost mastered a handstand. I was really taken by her grace and athleticism. I knew she had athletic tendencies but it was amazing to see how after a few short weeks, her skills were really honed and she is so comfortable in her body, how it moves and what she can do with it.

Right now John would tell you that she does not get that from me. At which point I would do a double flip and drop him with a flying kick to the crotch. How's that for athletic, honey?

Faces

Look at these kids... are they not the cutest?

Hope will have your back when you need a laugh

Today was a sad Sunday. We lost a member of our church last night, Leonard, after an accident two weeks ago. Leonard was a big yet gentle presence and friends with everyone. It's a sad day. He was a fixture for Children's Hour, a program I'm heavily involved in and so his death not only touches all the adults in the church, but the kids too, making it even more heartbreaking.

This is what was on my mind for most of the day. The rain and cold matched my mood, although I did really enjoy the day, snuggling, talking and playing games with the kids. That always makes for a good day but I needed a bit of cheering up nonetheless.

Enter Hope.

For those of you who are feeling the same right now, this is for you. Warning: there will be descriptions of girl parts. If you're not comfortable with that... well, you probably wouldn't be visiting this blog anyway, now would you?

Back to Hope.

We had started our nightly routine which we've dubbed "naked time." Naked Time is mainly for Henry who I strip and lay on a blanket on the floor where he squeals and rolls around and poops on the cream-coloured carpet when my back is turned. Hope has joined in the fun recently, minus the pooping, stripping naked and running around before her bath or until someone tells her to "put your jammies on for Pete's sake!"

Actually, it is sanctioned. By me, anyway.

So tonight. I'm sitting beside Henry ensuring, hopefully, that the poop hits the blanket this time, and Hope walks in, stops beside me and starts squeezing herself. Down there. Her labia. Squeezing.

Me: Hope, do you have to pee?
Hope: No.
Me: What are you doing then?
Hope: I'm doing the Squeeze Dance.
Me: What's the Squeeze Dance?
Hope: I squeeze like this... [squeezes herself twice]... then I jump like this..... [leaps like a ballet dancer] and then slap my knees.

And that is when my mood was lifted as I snorted and chortled and guffawed my way into a sunnier place. That kid is awesome.

Wiggles here we come!

I am so, so, so excited to report that I am the winner of tickets to The Wiggles (and if you don't know who that is let's just call them Australia's most successful export), who will be playing at Scotiabank Place this Wednesday! I won the tickets through Dani's blog Postcards from the Mothership and to say I was (a) shocked and (b) deliriously excited to win would be an understatement of epic proportions. I may have used some mild profanity when I wrote Dani back but she said that my enthusiasm made her day, so I'm glad that my slight potty mouth could put a smile on someone's face.

I was likely more excited than even the girls who are two of the biggest Wiggles fans the world has ever known. I videoed their reaction while I told them the news:




Possibly the best part is when Emily ensures that she won't miss the ENTIRE day of school. Phew, that could have been the WORST.

I love my little nerd.

Happy birthday to my 4 year old

My sweet Hope, you've had a great year and you've changed a lot. This year we clearly saw you go from pudgy toddler to big girl very quickly. It seemed it happened all in one month. You thinned out, you started using words like "nearly" and "appropriate" and other words I didn't even know you knew. Your speech still needs a little work, particiularly with your s, sh and j sounds, but I love how you sound. Our neighbour in Waterloo said you sounded like a cartoon character and she loved to hear you talk. Most people have the same reaction, loving to hear your voice and character come out when you speak.

You did so well in Waterloo. You made lots of friends, handled the moves easily and absolutely loved preschool at St. John's last year. You were enthusiastic about just about everything and you and I really enjoyed our days together on our own. You were and are such a great companion for me. We played lots of games and did crafts or went to the farmer's markets or had playdates or went for bike rides.

You still make us laugh constantly and we can always count on you to be in a great mood. You have so much empathy and love... it just bleeds out of you. For example, I made a dog's breakfast of your birthday cake on Tuesday. The icing just wouldn't cooperate to write Happy Birthday Hope. I was really mad about it and sorry that your cake wasn't how you wanted it. You said: "It's okay Mummy. I love it just the way it is. You don't need to be upset. I love it."

You completely melt my heart, just about everyday. I love that you still love to hold my hand when we walk. I love that you absolutely must kiss Daddy and me before bed. I love that you always want to sit beside me.

You are growing into a big kid now. And you seem as perfect now as you did when you were born. I love you Hope!

New photos of Henry

Yes, yes, I know... this whole photos of Henry thing is getting a bit played. Thing is that it is pretty much all I have time to post at this point although I have lots of other things I want to post about. Finding the time with three kids, one who is brand spanking new, is the challenge. So, here is a great photo we got of Henry and Hope a few days ago:

This year's letters to Santa

Since Emily started "writing" to Santa I've been posting her letters here, mostly for me to remember what she asked for. What? Sorry but I've known the deal for a while now.

This year Emily wrote her own letter with me telling her how to spell things. Hope dictated to me.

Emily's letter:

Dear Santa,

I love you, Santa. I love senior kindergarten.

I saw you this summer at Santa's Village.

For Christmas this year I would like the pink necklace, a stuffed Santa, a magic kit.

Love Emily Rose

PS I would like a watch also and a stuffed princess chair.

Hope's letter

Dear Santa,

How do your reindeer fly? I'm 3 and my mummy is writing this letter for me.

For Christmas I would like a castle with a dragon and a prince and a princess to go in it. And a queen to.

I would also like a game and a play iPhone.

I would also like the blue necklace I saw at Santa's Village.

Thank you!

Love Hope

Up to her elbow

Hope is in a bad habit of waking up every night in the middle of the night and getting me out of bed. Often it is because she's had a bad dream or just a dream she wants to tell me about. She always needs to pee after I get up there. We tried every trick we can think of to get her to go to the bathroom by herself but none of them has worked so far.

To make it more annoying, John and I sleep on the main floor; the girls' rooms are upstairs.

Last night she woke up and called me up because her arm was hurting she said. I think she'd been sleeping on it for a long time and didn't have any feeling left in it. I took her to the bathroom, put her back to bed and went downstairs and climbed back into my own lovely warm bed.

Five minutes later, just as I was falling back to sleep she called me again.

Me (from bottom of stairs): What's the matter, Hope?
Hope: I just can't stop picking my nose, Mummy!

And this is what I am dragged out of bed for at 3:00 am. Parenthood is so glamorous.

Post Halloween lazies

I shouldn't in fact suggest Emily is feeling lazy. What she is actually feeling is sick. She has another terrible cold. She does have a fever, but not a high one. She does have a cough, but I don't think she has H1N1. Although without a vaccination I'm sure she would get it. I'm sure because she has had about 4 days since school started when she hasn't been sick with something. Her new school has not been kind to us germ-wise. And it is for this reason that we're getting vaccinated tomorrow by our family doctor here. Waterloo has issued vaccine to GPs so we're not required to stand in line for hours, thank the good Lord.

And even though Emily was suffering from her cold last night, the promise of candy as well as a dose of Motrin ensured that she was able to collect her share of loot. Hope did fairly well considering her legs are a lot shorter than her sister's. With still two streets between us and home, Hope declared that she had enough candy. Emily and our neighbours finished the route while Hope and I sorted through her things at home. Most unusual treats: pop. One can of Coke and one can of gingerale. That's what you call phoning it in for Halloween.

I sewed Hope's costume. It turned out rather well don't you think?



I made Emily's as well, a mermaid costume made out of duct tape, muffin cups and a garbage bag.

I'm all about the homemade costumes.

John is still in Ottawa and I'm pretty much done with being a single parent, especially when pregnant, nursing my own cold and Emily's. He gets home on Tuesday evening and I can't wait.

And that pretty much brings us up to speed on things around here. Time for tea and a mini-chocolate bar.

-- Post From My iPhone

Hope's first day at preschool

To say Hope was excited to go to her first day of preschool WITHOUT MUMMY would be an understatement of mythic proportions. The photo evidence:


There were no tears; I think she may have given me a token wave and then she was off. There was a tiny bit of hesitation when she went in the play yard and didn't see her friend Elias immediately but then she saw all the things to do and I think her hesitation changed to "what do I play with first?"

John did the pick up and the only small issue was that it wasn't me there and I had forgotten to tell her it would be Daddy picking her up. She seemed to recover quickly however.

And where was I? I was at Emily's school picking her up from her first day of SK. One thing I absolutely love about Emily is how she greets you when she is excited to see you. She reserves the best of these greetings for Omi but I got a pretty good one today. She saw me, squealed, ran at me and literally jumped onto me (which I was luckily prepared for). I started crying. I really missed her today and I was happy to see that she was so happy after her first day and that she was happy to see me.

She had a great day. She loved her teacher Mrs. K and her worries about not knowing other kids were quickly put to rest when Mrs. K introduced her to everyone and had Emily introduce herself. She was busy doing fun things all day including a trip to the library and gym outside. (They get gym everyday! Okay, so every other week they're only there for two days but still.)

She can't wait until Tuesday when she is back and Hope is already asking when she goes to preschool next.

I'm glad we're going to the cottage this weekend to keep them distracted!

Eating dirt

For the past two months, Hope has had this unfortunate habit of landing face first in playground dirt/sand/gravel with her mouth wide open. Usually during some odd dismount of equipment.

The first time, she came over and said "Somethin's crunchy!". I tried to wipe it out but it was essentially a poor finger sweep. I thought it was just a one-off. Apparently it was the start of a "thing."

Since then, every single time we're at a playground, Hope spends a good part of it with a mouth full of gravel. She now prefaces this by making a beeline in my direction, saying nothing, but with her tongue sticking out as far as it can go. (Photo evidence below.) Really, words aren't necessary for her to tell me what's wrong anymore. I know what the problem is every time. Since it happens EVERY VISIT to ANY playground ANYWHERE.

A friend here in Waterloo, Julie, finds it unbelievably funny and weird. Both are true. I usually find it hard to clean her tongue since I'm laughing so hard.

I now have a system in place to deal with the gravel-tongue. I carry a good size water bottle and pour as much water on her face as she'll tolerate. Still a bit crunchy in there but good enough to head back to the playground and fill her mouth with sand again.

Some stuff

I was looking at my calendar the other day and was shocked and appalled by how full it is getting between now and the end of June.  Some events are fun (trip to NYC for our 10th anniversary!), some are not-so-fun (yearly check-up at the dermatologist).  When you are planning a biggish move, time gets eaten up rather quickly.

In order to get all this packing business underway, I'm having a garage sale tomorrow (please, hold off rain!).  I've gathered up all our junk, er, treasures and will be perched in my front yard with a steaming mug of ginger tea yelling at those blasted neighbourhood kids to get off me dang lawn!  And of course nicely bargaining with the passers-by.  After that is all done and I've deposited the leftovers at the Salvation Army I'll be ready/forced to really start packing.

Two other updates:  (1) toilet training still kind of the same.  Yesterday wasn't great.  Today is way better.  The usual ups and downs.  I'm starting to realize (I'm a bit slow sometimes) that toilet training is truly a multi-week if not multi-month project of reminding and rewarding and cleaning up.  I've also realized something else:  it's my least favourite part of parenting.  (2) I think I might have Celiac Disease.  More on that later.  For now let's just say that wheat is ass-kicking me all over the place.