Birthday # 1

Not sure why darth vader made an appearance on Seb's birthday. I thought he was being confined to Hallowe'en and the birthday party. But we did finally watch the original Star Wars movie that night.

the cake? It was a special request of chocolate with coffee icing.

his big gift? a bright blue bike with gears and brakes. His Gramps is jealous because he didn't get one of those until he was 12 or so.

all round buddies

Now here is a great pal! He reads, he plays games, he is happy to head to a Tintin exhibit with you, he even likes the odd bit of fancy pants dressing (think of that top hat on opening night of Billy Elliott).

Grandma loves stripes (part 2)

Our girl is digging her numbers at the moment. Counting by 10s, doing basic addition, etc. So here is a colourful and stripey numbers snap.

A Ukelele lesson with Uncle Trefor

It's happening right now! I can almost hear the music from here.

And no surprise that one kid just wanted to strum away while the other patiently tried to focus on some instruction.

Globalisation is weird

I just did some 'Black Friday" shopping on line from eastern Ethiopia. True it's not as sweltering here as I had expected, but it's still weird to skype the family to check on sizing for the new winter boots....

Seems like I can't upload photos from here (hence the delay in birthday snaps) but just picture a bright teal jacket and matching boots for a certain 5 year old.

And if you are coming to visit, we will have a new set of crisp sheets and a cozy fleece blanket to snuggle under.

Don't wake me if I am dreaming

I wrote this the day after Sebastian's birthday. It turned out that I was dreaming. That reality shock sent me into a funk of blog withdrawal which some of you noted. But as a parent, you have to take the good and the bad, right? You dear reader/viewer/observer however can take only the good. So here is our happy scene...

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Waking up to gratitude is one of the best feelings I have ever experienced. It was Seb's birthday yesterday. We hadn't done the wish list this year and once again, I started to feel anxious that we hadn't got him 'enough' stuff or the 'right' stuff and he would be disappointed. His party had been postponed and then his grandparents delayed their visit. I was not sure how this would all play out.

Saturday was a very busy day with him rushing around all afternoon and ended with a sleepover at Jack's. He had a wonderful and fairly calm day on his birthday and was thrilled and vocally appreciative about all his cards and presents. I was floored. But wait, it got better.

This morning, his dad and I awoke to the sound of a door creaking (it was a 'biological hour' later than usual because of Sunday's time change) and Seb slipping in. He proffered a card. I thought he had my birthday wrong. Finding my glasses, I see that it is addressed to his dad and me. He had worked on it in bed last night and again this morning (this boy needs LITTLE sleep). This is what it said:

"Thanks for my birthday and all the presents, Mum & Dad. Love Seb"

More books to hanker after...

Here are some oh so serious topics that are handled in an oh so enjoyable way:

Time....
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/books/just-a-second-steve-jenkins-review.html?_r=1&hpw

And anyone seen the GG children's winner yet? Looks like a must-read (own?) too.
History......
http://www.tundrabooks.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780887765407


Hadn't seen this (http://www.bookcentre.ca/files/Great_Reads_Holidays_2011.pdf) before but if anyone is needing a recommendation and they are Canadian to boot!

Good thing we all got book certificates for our birthdays, though I fear that one will want to purchase the bland Geronimo Stilton series. Ah well, (sigh) there is always the library (that seems to be fighting off cuts to hours but not programming. Sigh again).

Careful what you wish for, indeed

Unfortunately the tables got turned. Last week, my love said that he needed a day off. Take a sickie or put in for some time owed because he was feeling run down and overwhelmed by the domestic to-do list.

The next morning, a colleague hailed him at the streetcar stop and offered him a lift to work. Just 2 blocks from work, they were rear-ended at a stop sign. No damage to the car but both of them got jolted forward and back. Pretty darn quick my love was sore.

So it was been a trip to the doctor, plus heat pads; then a day of terrible pain, followed thankfully by slow healing.

That makes both of us the same year...

Be careful what you wish for...

My love has long cautioned me to be careful what I wish for....

And now we have a Reader - with a capital R. When he is hooked, he reads anywhere, walks while he reads, goes to sleep late, lingers in bed

What makes for a good evening?

the children were happy bunnies last night. Sophie had had a playmate over in the afternoon and then Seb had his bud Zachary over after school. He handled the fact that I had double-booked him and thus could not go to to the school's fundraiser, a movie he had already seen, with relative grace.

They got to pick 'kid food' for their supper (fish sticks, carrots and rice).

Zach went home and Seb & I went to snuggle in our new reading nook. I read his new fave series (Lemony Snicket vol 3) while he kept popping up to go downstairs and make yet more buttered raisin toast (a new found skill - working the toaster oven). After 40 minutes, Sophie ambled in to join us (with her own toast and fruit b/c she had announced that the fish gave her a headache...). She found her own little spot (by definition, the nook is not big) and started to copy out words (her new found skill). I gravitated to my book on the e-reader, but Seb wanted a turn. So he found his notes and started to research the Titanic (from a free book he downloaded).

At 8:55 we realised that the kids were supposed to be bathed and in bed. I then took to the bathtub, joined first by Sophie and then by Sebastian. At which point their dad shows up and starts to impersonate the Cat in the Hat under said towel. Raucous laughter ensues.

Very happy, our squeaky clean munchkins settle into bed and are soon asleep. Yes, it was a late bedtime but what a joyful family night. It's good to cling on to those memories when the other sort happen!

And besides, I got to cuddle up with my love and watch another episode of our favourite tv series. After it was done (around 11:15), I polished off some work...

Disney Princesses

I know I don't have to bang on about this issue to you lot but this photoshopped version is spot on and funny - in a sad kind of way...

Some things are forever

Both grandmothers tried to keep various toys and outfits from our childhoods. One has a huge basement and only did one major move since becoming a parent, the other had a parents' attic but moved oh 6 times.

After a busy Saturday, we had a slow Sunday morning. Seb was intrigued by the contents of a trunk that lies behind the sofa. In it, he found these colourful measuring rods. They are an ingenious and fun way to help children learn to manipulate numbers. He caught on immediately and was doing addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions of sorts.

Sophie? Well, she doesn't have the same grasp of numbers and so this may really help. She loves to group them and adores to be asked math questions. It's just that she usually gets them wrong, even the easy-peasy ones. She also in this adorable phase where she must count out every number to be sure that it is still there.

Despite being under strict orders not to treat them as toys but a game (i.e. it loses its fun if you lose its pieces), I hthink the children will have many hours of fun with these bits of wood.

We have been so fortunate thanks to our elders' 'tucking away' habits; this particular time, it's "Thanks, Grandma."