Christmas!

Oh, my goodness: a photo turned out*!  May your day also have a moment of grace amidst the chaos.

* Paul took it and made it look good.  I cropped out, as much as I could, the clutter and mess.   

Squashing it!

Emma is not amused.  But at least I didn't drag her to a pumpkin patch (apparently it's a thing -- see below), though it probably would have been pretty fun with/for James. 



Anyway, her little friend was from my parents' garden; they gave it to me about a month ago saying it was a yellow zucchini.  It is not.  I didn't notice until I cut it open to make a zucchini loaf.  Time to experiment: Baked butternut squash it is!  It's pretty tasty... though can one really go wrong with butter and cinnamon?

In other non-news: still no MUS caught.

Fatima's Finds

Pears are on sale, so yes please. I went through the pile and found these three beauties to try: 

Honey Belle 

Organic Bartlett 

Packham from Australia 

And, a big bag of kale (cue more new recipes)!  

Circles and Rowboat Toast

Reading in the morning: 

He's eating all the circles?!  

Yep.  That's classic Cookie Monster.  

Eating in the evening... with another awesome version of "Row Row Row Your Boat": 

The "Friends"

I'm pretty sure James doesn't know their names, but he knows there are cool toys in their backyard!

He tells me he wants to play with his "friends", and we walk over to Sukh and Harpreet's.  The family is very welcoming.  They (thankfully) seem happy to see us.  And then I set James loose.

The kids are a bunch of monkeys: They climb up the slide, and hang off the structure, throw things down, throw things up, slide down head first... I make noises about how it's dangerous, but don't try to stop them.

James takes Thomas around and around the track; climbs the steps to the slide and actually slides down... and in comparison, seems kind of tame... maybe because he knows I'm watching?

What does seem spectacular is that there is no fighting over any toys, though James does grab things out their hands.

One of them asks me: "Do you have many toys?"

I'm sheepish: "Not like yours.  And not in our backyard.  Sorry."

Coming over to our place to play would be completely anti-climatic. Though if they can fun blowing dandelions, there's plenty of those.

Brolly Good Time.

Some people really enjoy the rain.  Especially if you can play with an umbrella (Yes, Grandma, it's from IKEA) and splash in the puddles.

He tried to spin it.  I immediately thought about Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin floating in their umbrella boat.  

Open... Close... Open... Close...

OK, it's James's turn with the camera and Mama's turn with the umbrella.  Left and below: the best of 50+ shots.

James: Really?  Well, see you in Zurich.

I take it back.

If only I could convince James that he'll regret it too :P

"I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger."

It's a jungle out there.

Look!  A flower!  One of the dollar store daffodil bulbs bloomed!

I've had so little luck with daffodils; this one I planted last year and ignored seemed like a long shot -- but woot!  Like last time, 1 out of 5, another little yellow one (under 30 cm tall).  Hopefully it comes back (last year's didn't).

Look, it even attracted a bee!

Um... oh.

That's a little bee, and a little white spider eating it.  I showed it to James.  He's fascinated (possibly the same white spider we saw on the porch the other day?).

It's a bug eat bug world, I know, but I'm still a little disgusted.

I generally try to stop James from killing bugs*.  But today I saw a red lily beetle and immediately plucked it up and stomped on it.  James looked at me questioningly: Ladybug?  "Nope, this one eats Mama's flowers, so we don't like it.  We like ladybugs."  I wonder if he's confused.  I feel slightly hypocritical...

* Mosquitoes, though, definitely get them before they get you.













A couple of days later: the bloom's faded, but the spider's still there.

2019-06-12 - Update: After looking at a bunch of spider photos (Why?!  Why did I do that?!), I think this one is possibly a small female goldenrod crab spider.  Shivers.

Now, and things to look forward to?

From Fatherly "51 Moments of Parenting That Are Absolutely Terrible"

• Realizing that something smells terrible and the only way to figure it out is by sniffing your kids’ asses and clothing as though you were a truffle hog.
• When your kid gets up at 4 a.m., thinking it’s real morning and is energized and stoked to get the day started.
• When your kid becomes obsessed with putting on their own socks and, even though they can’t do it, they’ll yell at you for trying to help until, an hour later, they ask you to fix their crooked sock.
• When your toddler has a Level 10 meltdown and you desperately want to know what happened but you realize that it’s impossible to understand what set them off, let alone translate the angry language they’re speaking.
• Understanding that parenting is introspection, and that, while it’s great to have a better awareness of yourself, you will constantly see your faults reflected back at you.
• When your hand becomes the go-to place for your kids to spit out food they think is gross.
• When it takes 15 minutes to walk 50 feet because, Oh, look there’s a stick, and Oh, there’s a stoop to sit on, and Oh, is that an ant?
• When your kid crawls into bed and wants to sleep so close to you that their head is on your pillow, they’re breathing on your nose, and their hair is in your mouth.
• When you have to repeat same routine every single morning on every single day — to remind your kid to eat their cereal, brush their teeth, get dressed, put on sneakers, put their dirty clothes not near the laundry basket, not adjacent to the laundry basket, but inside the laundry basket. Every. Single. Day.
• When you’re hit with an inevitable health emergency of a child that makes you realize how fragile their life actually is and how very little control you have of sustaining it.
• When you understand that your kid is simply emotionally limited, but also knowing that you can’t help but see them as a spoiled, no-good, terrible little adult with sociopathic tendencies.

Time to Art!

Jaclyn's hit a prime birthday!  Where does the time go?  

To celebrate, waffles and pancakes and art!  

Breakfast for dinner?!  Peanut butter and blueberries?!  

Yes, James, birthdays are magical!  

After the delicious meal, people were ready to clean up and do some art.  Well, except for me and James.  My allergies were acting up, and he was ready to run.    

  

 

Catherine took us outside.  James did laps and I tried not to be too uncomfortable.  Ugh, pregnancy and seasonal allergies are not fun together. 

 

Back inside -- the dining table had been transformed into a group crafting / art area.  People were drawing, painting, sculpting... I was so impressed with the level of talent.  

Catherine managed to get James to sit still and draw / colour for a bit.  

But not for long!  

Happy birthday, Jaclyn.  Thanks again for inviting us to celebrate with you.