Wordless Wednesday

How bout that weather, b'y?

Since we're still newcomers around here, I'm still getting used to the craziness of St. John's weather. Don't get me wrong - the prairies have their share of unbelievable weather - mostly the so-cold-it-freezes-your-nosehair type. I don't miss it.
I've never experienced weather like this morning. The timeline happened like this:

G was watching a TV show, I told her that as soon as it was over, we'd be going out the door to run some errands. I knew that it was chilly - about 3 degrees and when I looked out the window it was grey but not raining.
As the show ended, I started getting the girls ready. G wanted to know what shoes to wear, so I glanced up at the window and noticed it had begun to rain.
 I advised rubber boots and by the time she and M had gotten coats and boots in I looked out and saw that the weather had gone from bad to worse. The rain was pouring and there was now snow mixed in with the rain.
My errands weren't that important, and I wasn't looking forward to running to the car with both girls in weather like that. So, I informed G that we'd be staying home.
They took off their coats and M ran to her favourite spot- a chair that looks out the window. A window that now showed a beautiful sunny day.
I've experienced lots of things, but never all four seasons in less then 10 minutes.

Ability

At supper the other night, Paul was telling me a story about a father who is blind (a story he'd heard on This American Life by Ryan Knighton). G was listening and asked "What does blind mean?"
 Paul explained that some people can't see, then went on to talk about how some people can't hear, some can't walk and some can't speak.
 "I can do all those things!" G said.
"Well, there are some people in this world," replied Paul "who can't do all the things you can."

G contemplated this for awhile, then said "Some people can't fly like I can!"

Wordless Wednesday (sort-of)

Before

After

Early words

M has started saying a few words. Dada has been a popular one for awhile and she's a fan of Hi and Bye-bye. But her new favourite by far is the word Head. She loves to touch her head and everyone else's head.
"Head." She'll say.
"Head?" I'll respond.
"Head. Head." Tap her head, tap my head, tap her sister's head. At storytime she tapped every kid she could reach. Head. Head. Head.
Both girls were in the bath last night and I said to G "Tilt back your head so I can pour water on it."
"Head!" said M, patting her own head, then her sister's head.

Beach + Lobster

Last year at this time we had our first lobster boil on the beach. M was a wee 6 month old. Now she's a year and a half and would very much like to eat some lobster.

If she could just figure out how to get into it.

Exactly

And people wonder why I hate birds.

Trip To Fogo Island

We've now lived here almost 2 years and while we've tried to explore the island as much as possible, it can be a bit tricky. This weekend, however, we made it all the way to Fogo island.

Our friend, Sam Martin has been the artist-in-residence there for 3 months, so we had a great opportunity to go and stay with him and his fantastic wife, Samantha and their lovable dog, Vader.
The two of them have become our good friends over the past year and a half and are, sadly, moving away to Iowa. We will miss them so much, so it was great to spend some time with them before they leave in August.

We had a great time. The drive up went really well, aside from a three hour wait for the ferry. Luckily the weather was good, so the girls could escape from the car to run around.

 

M was desperate to get out. 

G found a bunch of spiny sea urchins on the dock and kept throwing them back into the ocean so they could be free. We decided not to tell her that they were most decidedly dead.

We searched for dolphins and whales as we rode the ferry. G was pretty sure she saw her friend Joey the Orca Whale (her imaginary whale friend).

 We arrived to Sam and Sam's great little saltbox house on Fogo. G was very happy to be able to play outside whenever she wanted. While G is in love with Vader the dog, M is not a fan of animals. She screamed and shook when he came near, so we spent much of the weekend sending both G and Vader outside. It worked out well for both of them.

We hiked up to Sam's studio, a modernist box in the middle of a bog. It's a big empty space with a desk facing a giant window - what a perfect place to write.

 We took a trip to a playground and four caribou walked by, looked at us for awhile then began to graze. It was so cool to see them right there!

 We saw a few icebergs in all their glory.

And spent a good amount of time on a sandy beach. G was happy to play in the sand, while M was desperate to run giggling into the ocean. She's a handful, that one! Had it been a slightly warmer day, I might have let her experience the cold of the North Atlantic just to keep her from doing it again.

She's a bit skeptical about that.

Cutie Marks

We watch quite a bit of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in this house. It's one of the few shows G watches. Paul and I like the show too since it's well done and has stuff in it for grownups too.
All that to say, we were sitting around the breakfast table talking about cutie marks - the little symbol in a pony's rump that is that pony's "special gift".
Paul asked G what she thought her cutie mark would be if she was a pony. She wanted it to be "lots and lots of animals!" and liked it when I suggested maybe it should be a paw print. She's got a big love for animals, that girl.
Next we asked what Daddy should have. She paused.
"Work."
While Paul was trying not to cry out of guilt for going to work every day, she moved on to me. "Mommy doesn't have one."
So, that's that. Depressing. Daddy = work Mommy = boring.

And now a story by a 3-and-a-half year old

So, this is the third in a series of posts, the first was when G was two years old , the second was seven months later, just before she turned 3.

Now, this one at 3.5. I heard the first line, then recorded and transcribed the rest, so a bit is missing from the middle, but I wanted to include the first line, since it was pretty cool.  Here's her story:

 

 Once upon a time there was a very old library, filled with very old books, but everyone wanted to go to the new library. 

...

Batman and Robin and Batgirl and the Librarian fought all of Equestria.

And they said

“No kings allowed! No Kings allowed!”

And then Superman used his powers to fight everyone! And he said to Batman “You’re bad!”

Batman said “I’m not, I’m a superhero!”

But the super-villian came and said “I’m not!”

So they fought the super-villian.

But Wonder Woman was still stuck in the dungeon! Wonder Woman was still a statue and she was in a big dark cave.

She couldn’t get out! There were dragons who locked her in a big room with SPIKES ALL OVER THE PLACE that was full of poison.

Then the librarian took all the books and put them in a big pile! It was really big! And she laid them on a big nest.

But something was wrong. All the superheros got hit on the ground, but not Batgirl.

Batgirl thought that we need to fight the Dragons and the giants and the dinosaurs and the gorillas and the crazy monkeys and the bad guys and the bad librarian and the... I can’t remember what it is.

And the diamond rock broke!! It was the surger! The surger was a cat and she was so beautiful and she rode on a donkey and she was so beautiful that everyone told great things about her.

And she said, "That’s enough! Stop saying great things about me!"

And then the knight cut the dragon with a BIG SWORD and used the antidote on the poison. 

The End 

The Questions

Mommy, what's the difference between a cheetah, a leopard and a jaguar?

Mommy, why do we have a Uvula?

Mommy, which My Little Pony do you think is the best?

Mommy, can you show me a picture of a jaguar?

What about a picture of a jaguar jumping?

I want a video of a jaguar jumping!

Mommy, can you please (actually, this is all one word - canyouplease) show me a video of a jaguar?

Mommy, can you be quiet?

Mommy, I'm hungry! Can I have crackers? A cookie? An easter chocolate? (no, you ate all those weeks ago).

Mommy, can I watch a video of a llama? What about an antelope?

Can I watch a video of an antelope eating a cantaloupe?


Moooommmmmeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Sigh. Yes?
I love you.
I love you too, sweetie.

(An average 5 minutes of my day)

Goodnight Moon: Babyproofed

I read the classic story Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown to M most nights before putting her to sleep. It's a fantastic, simple book that has stood the test of time and seems to do a great job of settling kids down.

After reading an article in some parenting magazine about babyproofing that took a room apart step by step, mentioning all the "your-child-is-going-to-die-from-everything" hazards in your house, I started noticing the things in the Goodnight Moon room that were somewhat...hazardous.

There was also a controversy several years ago when a new edition of this book came out that had photoshopped the cigarette out of Clement Hurd (the illustrator)'s hand in his picture on the back of the book.
I find it pretty funny that they felt the need to do that on a book that has a live mouse running around the kids room.