Clowns?

James: "Clowns?"

Me: "Yeah, they block the sun!  So many things I would have done... But those dang CLOWNS got in my way!"  

James: <side eye>  

What Both Sides Now is supposed to sound like:

 

Noted, I must work on strumming, singing tone, but most definitely enunciation/articulation!  Though the motivation to work hard/and consistently at ukulele is starting wear a bit thin (I definitely picked too many things to try/to get back into at once), at least when I do pick it up is still fun.  

A discerning palate

James: "Look!  I found popcorn under the couch."

Emma: "I'm not going to eat it.  It doesn't have butter." 

Also currently on our play list: BTS's Butter

How I love thee...

Emma: "I love Mama a million, hundred-gazillion, thousand, billion-billion, thousand-"

James: "That's not a real number."  

A Happy Mother's Day

Sundays are never relaxing, but this one at least had bits of fun.  

Paul reminded me how much he and the kids are glad I am/was not this Troubled Bird: 

And then after many of the Sunday chores, they took me out to Kind Ice Cream*.  The long line was surprising to us, but not to some daycare friends we saw on our way out.  

 

 

* I was not surprised that this suggestion was from Emma, who'd sweetly/not-knowingly pulled "A Homer" (with regards to Marge's bowling ball).   

 

 

New Skill

Surprise!  James can beatbox!  

I'm so impressed (and tickled) that it doesn't bother me (too much) that his song features me being flushed down a toilet.  Emma does some decent backup "singing" too.  

Re: Food wrappers in James's bag

Here's to thinking positively... 

Go!

It's Emma's first day at daycare.  

I wasn't sure if  we were going to get both James and Emma fed and out of the house on time* even with waking and starting the process earlier.  

*  8:10 AM.  It's sometimes a literal drag just for James. 

But, Emma seemed excited?  OK, we did have to chase her a little to get her dressed, but then: 

One look at me as I waved goodbye,  

And she's pointing the way, "Go!"  

Does she know what's going on?  No.  Not likely.  

Paul says at the daycare she was just curious, looking around when he left... and that was that.  

As (some have) predicted, she's probably handling it better than me;  I'm the one that needs/needed a "transition day".  

No more excuses.  I might be a bit worried ("I hope she's OK.") and sad ("My baby's growing up."), but I must also tackle the to-do list.  GO! 

At least he's consistent?

Yesterday morning: 

Me: "Oh, no your finger is bleeding.  Have you been biting your nails again?"

James: "No, Emma came in at night and bit me."

This morning: 

Me: "Oh, no you're wet."  

James: "No, Emma came in at night and pee on me." 

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Tall tales, Emma-blaming, and lying are supposedly, for his age, "a sign of intelligence", but it's so tiring and frustrating.  I'm reading the articles* and trying not to get too worked up.  Paul's take got me to laugh (until I wanted to cry again): "At least he's consistent."

* How to Discipline when your Child Tells Tall-Tales, Fibs and Lies and 8 Seemingly Innocent Child Behavioral Problems Parents Shouldn’t Ignore

Happy Fire-Chicken Day!

James: My fire chicken is broken!  

Paul: ? 

Me: The direct translation for "Turkey" in Chinese is "Fire Chicken".   

Paul: That puts Stravinsky's Firebird in a new light. 

I am so thankful for our health and our family and friends.  May your fire-chicken be moist (unburnt) and your apple crumble not exploded (will post about that later).  

The List(s)

To get some buy-in, I'm piggy-backing on one of James's current favourite stories: The List* (from Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel).   We've made to-do lists after breakfast for the past week.  And, we'd sometimes check, sometimes cross off (sometimes both) the completed tasks as I nudge/remind/push him through them.  It sort of works?

Yesterday, while mapping out our day writing up the list, he said, "James is Mama's list."

To him: "I think you mean "James and Mama's list"". 

To myself: "Yeah, pretty much." Sigh.

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* A copy of the story can be read here.

The story read aloud:

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.   

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.

(Get things) Moving Sale

"Whatever the counter-offer -- take it!"*

Dad and Mom didn't want me to host a garage sale -- they just wanted me to get rid of things / give it away.  But, sometimes you can't even give things away (e.g. perfectly good box spring and mattress).

Anyway, I also had Catherine, who's awesome and over the week prior cleaned and rearrange everything, and just made it work!  I was so grateful and impressed.  I think she could/should do it as a business ("Arrange and run your successful garage sale!").

The morning of, Paul and James pitched in too.  Paul placed out the signage (reused from the sale with Erica... which did make a few neighbours wonder if we were moving away).  James with um... rearranging things?  We kept him around long enough for him to get an offer on his guitar, which thankfully he didn't take.  But then with him at my parents, I was able to really get serious about getting things out of the house  (Oh, you're interested in X, I think I have some in the basement...) and posting some of our nicer items on kijiji as advertising.  

Catherine and Clint held the fort throughout.  Paul and I dipped in and out.  

It was less party and hangout atmosphere than last time.  But we did get to know Clint a bit better.  He's so good!  At first I thought he was just great at sales and selling, but then it became clear: he's just really nice and likes / is interested in people.  Someone would be looking at one of his antique chairs, and then all of sudden he was walking over to their car to look the person's self-published book on minor league hockey. 

Anyway, though I sold most items / volume (thanks Claudia, Chris, and Steph for visiting and buying things), Clint made the most money (quality over quantity).  

At the end of it, Catherine took a trunkful of stuff away to charity, and says she'll be back later in the week to take away more.  Thanks so much, Cath - you just might save me from my hoarding ways.  :P    

* What my Dad told me he left on my voice mail... which I never got.  So now someone else has a recording of my Dad yelling advice in Cantonese.
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Update: Unfortunately, someone decided to complain about my car being parked too close to the intersection (not parked in garage because of sale), and I got a ticket!  So money-wise, net zero.  Ugh.  

Knock on Wood / I'm the Fool

Those dead branches on the Mountain Ash are doing some good: they're attracting more wildlife.

Today: "Dit-dit-didi-dit-dit..."

Followed by massive giggles for the bird that hits his head against the tree (AKA: Woodpecker, Downy?), and the Mama who tries to imitate the sound (though sounding more like Morse code).

Paul was momentarily fooled today by the announcement of the UTP (Toronto and Texas) merger.

Not so much fun for me.  Year End sucks the potential April Fools fun out of everything.  Olivia did try a morning opening gambit, declaring to me and Lorena, "There's no work to do today."  (May have been more effective if it was Lorena who said it to us, if cruel :P).  Though, it's probably best not to playing jokes at work. 

But, I guess I am still the fool: I believed James when said he would be "good" if I let him walk home...  And that that slide was would be the last slide...

And that he wouldn't stick something else from the ground into this mouth.  Ew. 

(I finally did strap him back in.)