Rock Throwing and Dandelion Blowing.

May long weekends are always busy, so this year we mostly opted to stay home except for one big adventure to Toronto Island.  Instead we went for walks by the river, threw rocks (which we haven't done in a long time) and meandered down the trail slowing, stopping to pick handfuls of dandelions and blow the fluff off them.

The look on Gabriel's face and the level of enthusiasm for seeing the river after so long, was uncontainable.  He frantically went from rock to rock launching them with great gusto into the river for the dog.  He kept waded in deeper than he should, giggling and laughing.  I love how the simple things really get him excited.  The water and rock throwing is better than any icecream cone or tv show.  It's some sort of natural high for him, without the dreaded sugar crash afterwards.

Magdalene was all about the flowers.  I know, I know. Dandelions are weeds.  But for some reason I still kind of like them.  The city of Toronto and the the parks decided years ago to stop spraying to get rid of the dandelions.  Instead the let them grow unfettered along the sides of roads and in the baseball diamonds.  For some reason the bright yellow just seems so much cheerier to me and I don't have to worry about the kids running around inhaling pesticides, which makes me feel better.  And when the yellow flowers have all turned white, it's magic for toddlers, blowing dandelion fluff into the wind. 

I really think that was the best part of the whole weekend--just doing the natural things we often like to do.  Yes, we did other things, but this was my favorite part.  Nothing fancy.  Just simple.

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!

Don't Step in the Jam.

Oh man, this has got to be my favorite stage!!  Yes, my one year old has started getting very insistent about having her own way and I have a little threenager on my hands some days.  But Maggie has finally started sleeping through the night and I cannot tell you how much I am loving the three year old Gabriel who is actually eating and sleeping and generally much more happy again.

Perhaps it has something to do with really having found playmates in each other.   I live for the moments when I glance back while we are driving to find Gabriel holding Maggie's hand to try and stop her from crying.  The toys and snacks go back and forth as they share in the backseat.  I am a proud mama over the simplest gestures, like the first cookie offered to his sister before taking his own.  

Gabriel is making all sorts of connections which is really fun to watch.  He stares up at the pictures on the wall in our kitchen and declares: "Bumpa is like a Daddy.....  Grandpa is like a Daddy.....  ChouChou is like a Mommy..... Nana is like a Mommy " And then he points to a picture of Jordan as a baby and says "Daddy like a Maggie!"  It's that simple ability to recognize that people can be more than one thing--Bumpa is a boy, a Bumpa AND a Daddy.

And we have loved watching them develop their own sense of humour.   He'll point to me and say, "You Daddy?  You Maggie?  You Gabo?"  And then laugh.

                Me: Watch out, don't jam Maggie's foot. (Under the rocking horse)
                Gabriel: Watch out Maggie, don't step on the jam!

Maggie loves to get Gabriel going.  She'll crawl over to the dog bed, flop down on it and start pretending to tickle her tummy as an open invitation to get Gabriel to tickle and chase her.   Maggie is seriously walking now. No more crawling here!  And oh my goodness, all those beautiful garbled toddler words are flying out of her mouth.  Besides the obvious, are "hiding," "strawberry," and even little sentences like "Hi Daddy."  I am pretty sure it's all due to her older brother who never stops moving or rattling on about this or that.

Oh my darlings, you keep me laughing.  You keep me humble and make me proud.  You are my everythings.  And while I go to bed completely exhausted each night after what can be a long and/or tiring day, I cannot imagine how joyless my life would be without you.