A Walk in the Park...

These pictures are pretty angelic really.  Not really the truth of the whole experience...  Admittedly.  But I hope my children remember going to the park and pretending to fish and climb trees and chase each other rather than the panic I felt in my brain that 1) Maggie would run into the lake, 2) Gabriel would fall in the lake while pretending to fish with his fishing rod made of a tree branch, 3) The dog would meet another dog and go ballistic toppling our stroller and dragging it and its contents all through the park, 4) One of the three of them would run into the busy road only meters from where we were standing, 5) One of them would eat goose poop, 6) That the stroller would topple over (dragged by the dog chasing another dog) walking a narrow stretch between the road and the lake, Maggie would topple into lake while Gabriel would run into the road and I would be the one with my face down in goose poop unable to stop any of it from happening.  What do we call this condition?  Mama-brain-induced-catastrophization? 

When did I become such a nut-job anyway?  But, when did taking three dependent bodies out for a stroll in the city's park become such a chaotic venture.  This is what I get from reading too many books or browsing too many of those precautionary articles on facebook.  Tell me, mamas, does anyone else go a little bit freaky when taking their multiple three-and-unders and/or dogs out to new places?

Anyways...... Here are some lovely pictures from my littles at the park today who are so deeply fond of each other and who, despite my constant precautionary commands, will hopefully remember it as a wonderful (safe) time. And can we just talk about how green and beautiful the grass is getting here!  I love it!

Hasta la vista, Cold & Flu Season!

This has got to have been the longest, hardest, most intense flu season we have ever had.  And, yes, we have young children, but I mean, come on!  It seemed like every time someone came to visit, we thanked them with the gift of being sick.  I think at one point, we had three grandparents taking antibiotics at the same time!

My daughter had a cold so long, I was beginning to wonder if it was just pervasive allergies.  Her nose was running like a slimy icky river of goo for months on end and near the end her chest was so rattly, I had to finally take her to get looked at and have a chest xray done.  You know those infant ones where you have to clamp them into this huge plastic clamp with their arms squeezed over their head.  Honestly, how can a parent not be traumatized by watching them do this?

Even my husband, who has taken all of one sick day of his entire 10+ years in his engineering career, didn't escape.  He was so intensely sick for two days, he threw his back out from all the heaving.  And my husband doesn't get the seemingly frequent "man-cold."  This was for real.  He barely moved from his bed for a WEEK.  And by barely, I mean he took 52 steps in an entire day--to the bathroom and back to bed.

Man, it's been a doozy.  And it's nearly May.  It's the time of year you want to sit out in the garden and soak in the sunshine.  And yet, we've been hit with another flu!!  Poor Gabriel was knocked flat off his feet with a high temp and slept all day and all night whenever he wasn't awake being sick.  Which, if you know him, is nothing short of amazing.  He napped on the sofa with the vacuum going, he fell asleep outside in the sunshine...  I felt terrible for him.

I just have to say that I was so glad it was so nice and sunny and we could at least sit outside and play and read whilst being stuck at home.     

Not sure if it's been living in big metropolis like Toronto surrounded by so many people and their wonderful germs covering every surface--door handles, taps, countertops, railings... or nursery school or taking the subway to work, or two toddlers who touch strange things and then put their hands in their mouths seconds later despite your frantic and panicky pleas to "don't touch that!!!!!!!  No, no, no.... don't put your hands in your mouth!!!!!" Sigh.  A loud and audible sigh.  But whatever it was it was not a winter/cold&flu season I ever want to repeat...

So, Flu Season, we are SOOO over you!  You can leave now.  And don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from our day stuck at home in the beautiful sunshine. And if anyone, with small children, has managed to stay healthy this winter, please share your secrets!

Sunshine and Giggles and East Coast Friends.

Hello friends!

Hope your weekend was warm and sunny and lovely wherever you are--that the snow has or is melting, that the sunshine came out to brighten your weekend.  After days of cold weather this week which made us dig out our hats and mittens and winter coats all over again, it warmed up a bit this weekend and made us wonderfully happy!

We spent a morning in beautiful downtown Oakville close to the lake with it's lovely little shops, bakeries, bistros and down square.  We admired the flowers which Gabriel said were "so bew-eee-ful!" turning his palms upward and outward from his body, a soft look on his face.  We threw rocks into the lake and played at the park taking in all the sunshine. 

And this is life with our "three-nager" who insists he NEEDS to do everything.  "I NEED to DO IT."  Right... sometimes we indulge him.

We were additionally blessed this weekend with six other bodies in our house!  Our friends from the East Coast--a personal childhood friend of mine--and her family of six came to stay with us on while visiting Ontario and they were the highlight of the month!  Gabriel and Magdalene were delighted to have little friends around the house to play with.  They all got on famously, so much so that we agreed that it would be splendid if they lived around the corner.  Gabriel woke up each morning asking "Where'd the kids go?" And anxiously waited until they woke up so he could play with them.  The kids really were amazing!  So sweet and played nicely.   It was a real absolute joy to have so many children around.  Meals were fun times of laughter and chaos with pancakes flipping, pizza nibbling, burger cutting, ketchup squirting, food flying, juice spills, gentle reprimands and coaxing to eat. It was sometimes chatter and giggles and outright laughter.  But hardly ever quiet.

 

Sweet Hannah, who is AMAZING with the kids and our dog Abe.  She was sort of our resident babysitter/dog whisperer!  Thanks Hannah!

 

And we got to meet the latest addition, Ollie who had his eyes open for all of 10 minutes all weekend!  What a sleeper.  We all adored him.

We had to take our friends to the huge park play structure at High Park their last day so the kids could run around before they would have to take their long drive back to the East Coast.  I don't think there was any doubt they would be tired.  (Here is Maggie, asleep in the swing).

After such a great time together, we were sad to see them go! It may not be in the cards for them to be our neighbors anytime soon, but I think we may have locked their next summer down for another visit to Toronto!   Thanks for visiting us and really making our weekend!  Gabriel has already been asking (at least 10 times), "Where'd Wesley go?"

Helpful Brother - Two Little Videos

I know, I know, dear family, you haven't been getting your fix of photos lately from us here in Toronto!  We are sorry!  But I have a ton of photos coming your way shortly from our incredible weekend with friends visiting from the East Coast.  But in the meantime, you will just have to watch a couple of little videos to tide you over.

https://youtu.be/PWKmUu10zlg

This is how our children walk now....  Hand in hand.  Him giggling and her chirping about everything she sees.

https://youtu.be/PmWa2_-ANWM

And....  how shoes are put on in this house.  Wrong foot, Maggie!  As if he knows.  Two feet, 50 percent change of getting shoes on the right feet, 100% of the time, they end up on the wrong feet.  It's just a toddler truth!

Enjoy and Happy Weekend!!  Be talking to you soon!

Hats and Pearls and Dresses, oh my!

Here we are, Maggie, just you and me in the mornings while brother is at school.  Just us and a box of dress up things.  It's never really too early to start digging into that box, putting on all sorts of costumes and pretending to go on big adventures.

I remember as a child rearranging rooms to make my bedroom a library, where I cataloged each of the books with homemade library stickers.  I would charge overdue fees to my parents.  I would take cups of flour and with a fan, blow fake dust all over them to make them seem old and mysterious.  (Not particularly something my mother was fond of).  I also took half of the downstairs and turned it into an art gallery of my collection of "Little Mermaid's Sisters" I had created by tracing a picture I had of Ariel and changing the hair styles and colour of the tails.

But we also loved to play dress-up, wearing old fashioned clothing with aprons.  We would mix clean toilet paper in buckets of water pretending to boil wool and then string it out on the split rail fence to dry in the sun.  We would try on our mother's dresses, our father's ties and put on silly glasses.  And we would get into the jewelry and shoes too.  And we would parade around in my mother's wedding dress, delighted as we got bigger and bigger each year and started to nearly fit it.  Boy, did we feel like we were getting more and more grown up in that dress.

Dressing up sure holds fond memories for me and I enjoy watching my children as they use their imaginations to be dinosaurs, train conductors, race car drivers and little mommies and daddies.  Maggie is just as happy covered in dirt and goop as she is with a string of pearls around her neck, whatever hat she can find around the house and various pieces of clothing--mine, her brother's, mittens, shoes, whatever.

As our children play pretend and dress-up, I am keenly aware of what a huge responsibility we have as parents to be good role models.  Our children are constantly watching and mimicking us, and each other.  I hear conversations and see actions repeated weeks later, phrases and intonations copycatted. It really makes me think about how these early years we are investing in their lives are so crucial.  I know that they will grow up and be so very much themselves with their own personalities, set their own goals and make their own decisions.   And it starts so young, this assertion of independence.  But, while I can, I am enjoying the times when they look at us with their big adoring eyes and dress up in our shoes and clothes and want to be just like us.

To Do: Toronto with the Littles

From time to time, I get people asking me what to do in and around Toronto when they are planning their visits.  We've enjoyed living in Toronto and exploring this city so much.  But exploring with little people also brings it's complexities.  Most of the time I'd like to think we have been pretty successful, other times we have been left wrangling the littles into the stroller and then carseats through many tears in order to get home.  But having somewhere fun and kid friendly to check out makes it easier and worth it! So I have compiled a little list, with the help and reminders from my mama friends, of our top things to do in Toronto with the littles this spring!

1. Downey's Farm - North West of Toronto/Mississauga, is Downey Farms in Caledon and it is one of the best farms around the city and we've seen a few.  The produce is organic and besides animals that you can meet and greet, there is a separate area you can picnic and play, including a two sets of trampoline-like bouncy hills, one for the older kids and one for the younger kids. 

2.  The Toronto Zoo - I've never been but have heard good things and it is on our list to go this spring before it gets to busy as the weather gets nicer.

3. High Park definitely has a lot of options and a great place to spend a day, but only go on a week day and definitely go early.  They have an amazing play structure there but the space is big and if it's busy it can be easy to get separated.  However, there are also some great trails to walk along with the kids and a little mini "zoo" to wander through where you can see bison, buffalo, deer, peacocks and llamas.  Admission is free.

 
4. CUES - Children's Urban Enrichment Studio - is one of favorite play places on the west side.  Why?  Big windows, parking right out front on the street if you get there on time.  They are friendly and helpful, getting you in the door, coats and shoes off and put away.  Lots of options for playing--painting, music, trucks, dinosaurs, kitchen, workshop, run-free tumble space, baby area. 

5. The Toronto Islands - Last year we took the ferry from downtown Toronto to the islands.  It wasn't busy when we went in the spring and the flowers were out and it was beautiful.  Lots of space to walk, cute little houses to walk by, places to eat, bikes to rent, water to throw rocks in and an amusement park with little rides, etc.  And as a bonus, you get a great view of downtown Toronto.  I often think how neat it would be to live there....

6. Humber Bay Park - A fabulous place to grab an icecream or a drink and walk about the beach throwing rocks into the lake with the downtown view as your backdrop.  And a paved trail for biking, rollerblading (do people still do that?) and strollers.

7. Centennial Park Conservatory - When it's cold out or rainy and you need a little place to wander, this conservatory is a quiet place to take children.  It's warm and balmy and small enough you can't lose somebody.  There isn't much there other than plants, except one very loud bird who chirps out from time to time.  No food or amenities either, but a great spot to watch fish swim, look at beautiful, interesting plants and escape the weather.

8.  Red Fish, Blue Fish Cafe - Another place that looks really fun.  Perhaps very similar to Smock cafe with it's drop in craft place.  A good place to drop in if you are already downtown or are going to the Royal Ontario Museum. 

9. Marie Curtis Park  So many wonderful parks!  Our favorite has been Marie Curtis with play structure for both the littles ones and early school years.  A water park when the days get warmer and a beach to throw rocks into Lake Ontario when you need to take a little pensive quiet time.

10. Kew Gardens at the Beaches is another favorite for similar reasons.  Queen street East is right there and a good spot to have lunch (or wander through shops if you are kid-free).  The park has a lot of run-free space, a fenced in playground for different ages and the beaches are right there where you can walk along the boardwalk for miles with the stroller or with bikes.  I am sure there are plenty of kid-friendly restaurants in the area, but we love Juice and Java for it's menu (crepes, sandwiches, salads, wraps, omlettes, smoothies & great coffee).  They are pretty flexible with kid food options if you ask and there are books upstairs for the kids to read. 

Hope you come and visit us this spring and summer!  There are always lots of festivals and celebrations, none of which I shared here. 

xo from Toronto

Ps. If anyone else has suggestions of where to go (not overly crowded) while in Toronto with little people, drop me a line!