Magnolia Coasts: May 2014

Saturday, May 31, 2014

A Couple of Milestones over the Week.

Over the past two weeks, Gabriel has delved into the world of "reading" and has all but mastered the alphabet. Jordan and I can barely believe it. We keep asking him to show us like we don't think it's real, surely he's forgotten! His excitement is tangible.

I would just like to note on this video that learning the alphabet was mostly HIS initiative. Learning letters started one day when someone put his name on the side of his sippy cup. He immediately was interested. After he learned numbers, I put some alphabet cards up on the wall in the kitchen and figured I might start with "A." Before I knew it, the whole thing had taken on a life of his own. Combined with a game on my iphone called Alphatots (one which he has played relentlessly while at the doctor's office, in the car on the way home while I try to keep him awake or just a few minutes here and there when I need to get something done), over a period of two weeks, Gabriel learned the entire alphabet, minus a letter here and there ("Hotdogs," instead of "H" or "Zebra" instead of "Z," "Umbrella" instead of "U"). Isn't technology AMAZING??

It wasn't more than a week and he was literally running down to the kitchen wall in the morning after just waking up to tell me that he knew three more letters. We then moved each letter he mastered to the wall in the sunroom where he would proudly rehearse them. He is delighted to show anyone who asks and now sees letters everywhere he goes, including the overhead of music at church, where he exclaims quite loudly and with all the excitement a little body can muster, "Ay!"

*I also highly recommend Tallytots which teaches kids their numbers.

And, not to be outshone, here is a video of Magdalene's first little giggles. I guess she is not nearly as much of a fan of the elephant noise. Yet.

http://youtu.be/R60mlO1smPc

*Just in case you are interested, the vintage-looking flashcards are called "Animal Fun" by Junzo Terada and you can get there here.

**And thank you to all of our family who, while visiting, indulged Gabriel in his quest to master the alphabet. U will always be for Umbrella and H for Hotdogs. ;)

Octopus Mama.

The other day, we were awoken by our toddler at 5:45AM. (Gotta love two year old sleep regression). It was no wonder that we found ourselves out for a walk (and bike ride) at 8:00AM. We had a whole morning to walk with nothing planned for a toddler who is too cranky to deal with life these days.

So there I was, standing in the park at 8:00 am with an unused baby carrier hanging down from the waist, carrying a flaying overtired toddler in my arms, a restless dog tied to the stroller, an abandoned bike perched precariously from the handlebars, rocking a stroller with a baby I hoped so dearly would not wake up. Where were my other six arms, that's what I wanted to know??

I am feeling the need to graft some arms onto this tired body of mine--one to hold my son, one for my daughter, one to wrangle and pet the dog. One for the troubles and worries and fears in my son's life, one for the restlessness in my daughter's. One for my husband too because I love him and want to hold his hand sometimes. And if an octopus has eight, I'd need one for cooking and dishes and laundry. And, do I dare ask for one arm for myself to put on make-up and drink warm coffee rather than my cold cup of coffee hours after it's been brewed. Somehow I sort of think that still wouldn't be enough.

But for now... I only have two and they are starting to get pretty buff. Fatigued but strong.

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Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Picnic at Marie Curtis.

Hot weather and sunshine and taking holiday time calls for a picnic in the park and that's exactly what we did on Monday. We packed up that little basket we got for our wedding several years ago with all sorts of goodies to snack on for the morning. I think that picnics are just the best thing about nice weather. As long as it's nice out, why spend another minute inside than you have to.

We had every intent of playing in the splash pad a Marie Curtis, but I guess that, despite the hot weather, they haven't yet opened for the season. So instead we tried to fly (unsuccessfully) a kite that my sister brought back from Indonesia, ate lunch and then played in the playground. Gabriel chased after the kite, shouting "tite, tite!" while Maggie slept in the stroller in the shade of the big old trees along Lake Ontario. Mostly, it was just a beautiful way to spend together by the water and in the park.

Gabriel has been learning some letters lately, and Monday's letter was "U" like "Umbrella" so he brought my umbrella with us. As it turned out, it was sort of handy for Magdalene while we lounged in the grass.

These chubby little arms and smile are just too much! Magdalene is just really starting to show so much personality.

Hard to believe that it is still only May! What are the chances we'll have great weather like this all summer? Picnics, parks, splash pads, pools, bike rides, camping, here we come!

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Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Walking in the Sun at Kensington Market.

A couple of weeks ago, we felt pretty lucky when my brother and his wife called me up to see if they could come spend their very limited holiday time with us in Toronto! And my sister flew in for the week too. So on top of hanging out with the littles, we tried to show them more of the city while they were here. And Kensington Market, with its food vendors, vintage clothing and jewelry, fresh flowers, fruits and veggies, was pretty much the perfect spot to take them on a sunny weekend day.

We walked around taking in all the sights and sounds and smells, had a lovely late, late lunch before popping in and out of little shops checking out some fabulous clothing while Magdalene slept in the stroller. The old houses are so colourful, there was live music playing, bubbles floating through the air and bunting and clothing flapping in the wind. The street was full of people out enjoying the day too. Apparently there are a number of celebrities who fly in specifically to come shop at Kensington Market, so that's kind of fun.

As we were leaving the market, my brother exclaimed, "Well, that was just the best day!" And I have to agree that we all had a pretty good time, sitting having lunch, chatting and catching up, doing some looking around together. Over the years, we haven't been able to spend as much time together as we would have liked, so it's pretty great when we do get to see each other these days!

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Monday, May 26, 2014

Buddies at The Beaches.

Over the weekend, the sun was really shining and we were just so very happy to get out there and make the most of it! We jumped in the car and took off for The Beaches again, this time meeting up with Jordan's childhood friend, Jon--with whom he used to run around in the woods shooting films. Jordan was the star, Jon was the producer/videographer, a talent which developed into a career. family. We got some middle eastern cuisine from a place on Queen and sat out in the sun to enjoy before checking out the local fire station, then walking the boardwalk with Jon and his family along the lake for miles, before finishing off the day with some icecream.

It's pretty neat connecting with friends that you haven't seen in about 15 years or so, meeting who they fell in love with and their beautiful families. It was especially nice when, despite the age gap, the children really seemed to like each other.

The boardwalk and beaches down there are so lovely. The area, with the old stone homes, has got to be one of our favorite areas--good shopping and places to eat, beach and parks to play at, miles to walk and the perfect view of downtown.

Yummy, yummy Shawarma food--kebab pitas, pita chips and sweet baklava on Queen.

We are all about dandelions in this house since Nana showed Gabriel how to make the heads pop off. The novelty hasn't worn off yet.

We were pretty fried after a whole day in the sunshine. But we are absolutely loving this streak of beautiful warm Toronto weather. No complaints here!

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