The week in pictures

Awww.

Between getting ready for xmas and playing with our new digital SLR camera (photo above) and my new hobby (left: hand-sewing - here's a yeti and the girl bunny for Jessica), there is no time to sit at the computer so here it is, a week in pictures starting last Friday.

Daddy's 30th birthday! Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and you were definitely Grandpa's girl.

Helping mommy make caramel popcorn. And snacking, too.

And gingerbread cookies - you love, love, love sprinkles - and 'helping' mommy and daddy.

ALL the presents - and a very excited girl who never once tried to open a present early. Except one on Christmas Eve - the big one to the right was a wagon from Grandma and Grandpa.

Santa brought Lily an easel. One side for chalk and the other for those big roles of paper. We've almost gotten our money's worth already. Errr...Santa's money's worth already.

It's hard work opening SO many presents. Takes alot out of a little girl...

Christmas was at home this year so we spent it with Nana and Uncle Nigel. (The guy in the black is Lily's Daddy - in case you couldn't read. That was a gift last xmas...)

Since we're not working until after New Year's, we've spent a lot of time playing. Being silly and staying in our pajamas ALL DAY, watching movies and chillaxing. Just how we like it.

Except for a little party last evening where you were in your glory playing with Brynn and of course, Creeson. And eating strawberries and watermelon to excess.

That's been our week. Cheers to New Year's!

Merry Christmas!

Santa's already been to our house...

Cutest. Shoes. EVER.

I doubt you'll even fit into these next month, but how adorable are these shoes? Perfect xmas party attire.

Practising your bowling moves. Little do you know I've had a bowling set stashed in your room for the past month...just waiting for Christmas.

You were so pleased to get to see Creeson there. You dragged him around by the hand to show him all the games. Too bad he was too sleepy to even crack one smile the whole time.

And this is the best picture that does not illustrate the intense fear you had for this man before I put my body in between you and him. But he sure gives good presents!

'Tis the season to be busy

Fa la la la la, la la la la. While you are so adorable and say the sweetest and most bizarre things, I just have not had the time or the desire to sit in front of the computer at night and write it down. Instead, the nights have been full of writing xmas cards, you sleeping, reading magazines on the couch and some baking. And one night your dad and I cleaned the basement a bit.

This is an example of something I'm trying to fill my evenings with that isn't on the computer. This is my first attempt at making you a stuffed kitty, whom you seem to love.

Your days are full of plugging in the xmas tree lights, dancing to CDs, playing computer games and putting in DVDs to watch. I don't know why it surprises me when I come downstairs and you've taken out one DVD, replaced it with another and are sitting on the couch against a pillow with a cup of milk. I guess I just don't see you as such a big girl yet.


Like I said, things are busy and fun. It's been extremely cold so we were lucky enough to get outside one day - even though you were very angry that you couldn't take your mitts off. That was after we decorated cookies, of course. How fun that was to do that with you. I iced, you sprinkled - and ate them. Then mixed three kinds together for the most...interesting looking cookies. We'll have to make more soon because we ate them all already.


You are crazy for monsters - mommy monsters, baby monsters, kitty monsters, Sesame Street monsters and the movie Monsters, Inc. And skeletons, too. You are fascinated by the fact that you have a skeleton in you.

Mmmmmmm...all kinds of sprinkles. And nana's blush on one cheek.

And it's xmas party time. On Friday night we went to the FCC kid's xmas party at the science centre. We tried to sit on Santa's knee, but it was apparently much better when we were talking about it. You would not get closer than this:

But the rest was fun, lots to see and do. Lots of kids, babies and babies-to-be there. Tomorrow afternoon is the SGI kid's xmas party so it's a weekend full of Santa. Thankfully we finished you letter to him today since you won't sit on his knee. Should be fun because Creeson will be there!

And we did a family portrait a couple weekends ago for the photo we'll send with cards. Awww, you've got my chin. And your dad's personality and demeanor. More and more as time goes on...

Computer skills

I don't know if the dogs were to be organized by colour or size - but I didn't listen to Zoe's instructions. Fortunately, you knew what was going on.

You have mastered the computer games on the Sesame Street website. Last night while supper was cooking, you wanted to "play Elmo games." And for the first time ever, you did it by yourself. Not only did you make a perfect jack-o-lantern, you organized dogs according to size, then by colour.

This was the second face. The first was a perfectly traditional jack-o-lantern face.

And this morning, you must have been practising in your dreams because your click and drag skills blew us away. You click on 'next game' instead of whining, "different Elmo game." You listen to instructions - and then you follow them. Today you matched animal tracks and clicked on the white socks on a clothes lines so they dropped into Elmo's laundry basket. I never thought my 27 month old 'baby' would ever be so talented... Well done!

Let's pretend...

This playing with toys thing is pretty new for you. You'd seen toys, held them, fiddled with them to find out how they worked, but you were never really into them until a few months ago. Maybe not even that long since you got a bunch for your birthday that weren't really that exciting until maybe September. Now it's very important that we "play toys" at every opportunity.

You pretend that we have tiny, little kitties or little Elmos or sometimes little babies that we can hold in our hands. "Oh, so cute!" you always say. And we always play doctor. "Hurt, mommy doctor" and you'll lay down on the couch for an examination. You like when we listen to your heart with the stethoscope and you like to give needles. And every sticker we find is a "ban-aid" - except on the weekend it was a sticky circle of velcro that unfortunately got stuck in my hair and came out with a nice-sized clump.

Last week, there was this little retro kitchen at Costco that we could barely tear you away from. I asked you what was for supper. "Food" you told me. Like duh, Mom. You quickly threw in "noonals" to further satisfy me. Since then you've been doing a lot of cooking in the kitchen. Mostly buttons, pen lids and ribbon, but ummmmm, are they tasty!

With Christmas coming, we are about to be hit with an onslaught of toys from all directions. And I feel bad. You are two - how can you possibly play with that many toys? And what are we going to do with them when you and any siblings you might have grow out of them? I have a lot of guilt, so I'm just hoping your new love of toys sticks around for a while... Time to start you an RESP to divert good intentions with better ones.

A questionable palate

Guess what's in the glass. C'mon, betcha a million dollars you won't be able to guess what lovely meal is stewed up in that glass before you read any further...

Last night we had salmon for supper. Wild salmon caught in the Japanese Sea. You'll usually have a couple bites of the salmon, maybe some rice. But last night, well, it was a little different.

You began by begging for the onions Dad was sautéing for rice. Okay. So, we gave you half cooked one - and you ate it. And wanted more. So we put a couple more on a plate before closing the lid to cook the rice - and you gobbled those up, too. You even said yummy.

When supper was finally ready, you were excited to sit at the table. At first, you picked at your basmati rice with onions and corn with snow peas. Then I put some salmon on your plate, mixed it with some rice and fed it to you. It was all good until you saw the dish the fish was cooked in. You climbed onto my knee and proceeded to eat no less than the skin of one portion of salmon. Fine. It was silver and shiny, sticky and fatty and the canned varieties come with skin and bones inside. I gagged a little while you ate it - and loved it - but then you just got carried away.

Oh, the joys of watching an artist at work. Creative juices and all.

You had a little shot glass of prune juice - we used the shot glass to make sure you knew it was a 'special' drink - and then you started getting all gourmet. A little rice, then a little salmon, then you'd drink it down. More juice to top it off, then you'd drink it again. Mmmmm. But then you got really fancy and layed the limp snow peas across the glass and sprinkled corn atop your pièce de résistance. Ta da! And there we had the most disgusting thing you've ever eaten - and drank.

Satisfied after her meal. Notice the leftover fish skin in the bottom left of the picture.

But I think that salmon skin had calming properties because you didn't wake up last night at 2ish like you do every night. You didn't wake up until 5:50 a.m. saying, "Morningtime, Mom. Get up. Get up now. Come play toys with Yilya."

Kinda miserable

Since coming down with your cold last Tuesday or so, you have been miserable. I've been miserable and stressed out and Dad's grouchy because he has to deal with us. Our schedule in the last couple weeks has been almost three times as busy as usual which is a dramatic and unwelcome increase. We're homebodies. We like to be at home doing nothing. It's what makes us happy.

Last night you had had it. We were on the computer playing Elmo games when you lost it. You started yelling out your demands, crying hysterically. With no chance of consoling you, I walked away. I went upstairs to make you some warm milk while you yelled at me from the bottom of the stairs, all the while doing angry bum drops on the hard floor. Still bawling, you came upstairs and started pulling at my leg. When I asked you to calm down, you again became hysterical so again I walked away. You threw yourself on the kitchen floor and for no less than four minutes you kicked and cried and yelled. When you found the energy to come into the living room to find me, you finally let me pick you up. I got you to take a few deep breaths, took you downstairs, shut of the light, wrapped you in a blanket and held you. Ten minutes later you popped your head up and said, "Yaya feel better now." Well, thank god because that was horrible.

But again this morning, you stood outside the bathroom banging on the door and crying while I showered. In a towel with sopping wet hair, I had to hold you close against my chest until you felt like you could go on with the rest of the day. Poor kid. I wonder if you're out of sorts because I had to work my last Friday off. That sure screwed me up. But this weekend will be wonderful - all five days of it. I have Friday off, Monday is a holiday for Remembrance Day and I'm using some overtime to take Tuesday off. So nice.

You are making much better sentences this week. You asked "Where is Daddy going?" instead of "Daddy go?" And the other night you stopped crying long enough to ask, "Why can't Yaya have booby right now?" even if you really don't want to know the answer...

Happy Halloween!

Cute as a bug!

We've been talking this Halloween thing up for weeks. Watching scary movies on t.v. (like Beetlejuice), drawing ghosts, goblins and mummies, and practicing trick-or-treating. You have been pumped - and then you came down with a nasty cold yesterday. One that kept us all up half the night because you were "having trouble breathing, Mama." Poor kid. So dad stayed home from work with you today and you guys took it easy; you were in fairly good spirits when I came home from work.

Spooky window to greet out little trick-or-treaters.

The goofy alien pumpkin. We even got a compliment on it from a five-year-old ninja.

After supper you cooperated while we got your costume on. When we put it on over your winter coat from last year, you pointed at your tummy and said, "fat." Just you and I went trick-or-treating. Your shyness got the best of you everytime someone would ask you something or tell you how adorable you were. And after every house you said, "Yaya's house now?" and I would tell you just a few more. We did the little circle of houses around us and your little jack-o-lantern bucket was full. When we got home, you proceeded to open as many different kinds of candy and chips as you could before I put it away to your great dismay. "Yaya can't see candy anywhere now." Well, another Halloween over, but we'll have chocolate for weeks to remember it...

Candy!

Lots and lots of candy!

Yaya know dat!

We just got home from a walk on what was a lovely evening followed by an unseasonable 25º day. You rode with a bowl of snacks and sippy cup of warm milk. The moon was bright, almost full. While we were making our way around a street with a park in the middle, a bright light flashed in the sky then shot down, down, down flickering red and white and brighter before disappearing completely. I said, "oooh, a falling star, or a meteor. Did you see that?" "Yaya saw the falling star. Bright. Up in the sky. Daddy see it, too? Way up high. Meteor. Mommy see dat?" Very impressive. Not something you see everyday.

As we carried on, you were sure to look out for me. "Mommy. Car coming. Careful. Okay, Mommy?" And sure to point out all the "fookey" stuff on the lawns. Spooky skeltons, punkins, ghosts. And right when we were passing the school, we saw a huge spider dangling from the lighted sign. As we talked about his web, you exclaimed, "Yaya know that!" Yaya know that!" The same thing you say when you hear a familiar song or hear a story you've heard before. It's nice that you amaze yourself as much as you do us with everything you know.

Moody

It's as if you decided you like to scream and you would do it as much as you could in a little space of time.

It was a weekend of intense ups and downs. While with Dad on Friday, you first displayed your fondness for the van by screaming to not go home whenever you neared the house. And did that again Saturday and Sunday. You were vehement that we not go home; the kicking and screeching made that obvious. But you were quite pleasant when we went out for supper after I got home from work. And still lovely for the 1.5 hours at the grocery store afterwards.

Then the nighttime hit and you were vicious. Demon-like is an appropriate description if only to describe your low, rumbly and loud screaming. And I can't forget the hair-pulling and hitting... It was a long night, unlike any for...weeks, anyway.

Saturday we stuck close to home, venturing out only to the much-hated movie store and for a walk before you made it clear that your fingers were freezing so we headed back home. You were in bed by 7:15 that night. Thankfully.

Brrrr. Way colder out than it looked. Poor little ladybug you were holding wasn't moving too quickly.

Sunday was good - except that you did not want to come home from the art gallery. Fortunately bribes work for a reason. They are awesome and with so much Halloween candy floating around, we will be in good shape with bribes for a long time.

Ta da!

Quite the performer you are, after you jump from the back of the couch down or exhibit other extraordinary skills you exclaim, "Ta da!" Obviously an extention of taking a bow. And another mystery as to where you learned that.

You even look like a performer, especially in this dramatic attire.

Creeson came over on Saturday night with a bunch of other people for supper. The two of you didn't really eat because, come on, there were toys to be played with, stools to run around, stairs to go up and down and popcorn to share. But you had so much fun, leading him around by the hand. The two of you get along pretty well. He frustrates you at times because everything he touches is "mine" but you'll readily give up a toy if it stops him from freaking out.

Here are the two of you during one of your few quieter moments.

Today was a beautiful fall day so after you napped for a mere twenty minutes, we went to the park - after we played with a moth in the front window. It was just gorgeous out there. I think we're both having mixed feelings about the nice weather ending and the cold taking over. This year you'll be a darling snow princess in a white jacket and boots. Until then we'll just enjoy it not taking twenty minutes to prepare ourselves for the outdoors.

Weeeeeeeeeeee!

And I really have to mention how proud I am of you for peeing on the potty. You haven't had an 'accident' in over a week, you pee sometimes without even telling us (we'll just find a pee-filled potty) and the other night at Wal-Mart you said you had to pee and you held it while Dad trekked all the way across the store with you to the bathroom. It's funny though. You take your shirt off before you take off your pants to pee so you always end up naked. Good luck getting those back on again. And for the first time ever, your diaper was dry the other morning. I suppose naptimes and nighttimes are the next frontier. At least you're saving us money on diapers!

Here you are perched on the bathroom counter. It's a rare time when you didn't immediately whip off your diaper before crawling out of bed after a nap or in the morning. You must have been delirious from lack of sleep...

Progress

You know, I never want to say anything when you seem to be leaving your old habits behind in favour of new, more pleasant ones. Because with our track record, talking about things makes them revert back, making me into a liar.

The most amazing thing over the last five or six weeks is your brand new interest in a little thing called FOOD. You like it. Enough to eat it in quantities that could sustain life. Last weekend for breakfast, we had bacon and tomato sandwiches. I gave you tomatoes, bits of crunchy bacon and toast with margarine which you picked at. But you wanted my sandwich, so I gave you the corner and you ate the entire thing. Maybe it was a fluke, must have been the mayo I thought, but on a whim a couple days later I made you your very own toasted tomato (sans skin) sandwich with mayo. Your reaction when I told you what it was? "Ohhhhhh, yummy!" You were thrilled. And after you swallowed each bite, you said, "Yaya have some more?" So, I know you're two and most kids have been eating all their lives, but this? This made Mommy so, so happy. When I called later, Nana said you ate every bite. It almost made me cry.

Tonight at supper it was more of the same. You ate Italian Wedding soup, some alfredo noodles, a Little Chefs pizza, a small slice of my pizza and a whole bunch of little bites of Jungle Buddies chicken nuggets. And then went on to butterscotch chips and some cookie dough.

I wonder if it has to do with being able to communicate with you better. The more you understand, the calmer and more mature you seem to become. I've been telling you that if you want to grow big like mommy you have to eat lots. And you say that all the time when you eat. "Yaya grow big Mommy." I also wonder if it helped that we discovered that your favourite food is white cheddar popcorn - the first thing you've ever eaten more than one day in a row with any consistency. That, my dear, was a breakthrough.

And sleeping. While you don't sleep through the night (never have - and until a couple months ago you didn't sleep more than two hours in a row except that one time about a year ago when you slept for six hours), you didn't come into our room until after three the other night and after two last night. That is big progress from waking ever hour or two. And if you do wake up or are crying, it seems like you've had a bad dream. Or just need a cuddle. And if I tell you to go back to sleep until the sun comes out, you do. Kinda. You wake up at 6 and while it's pretty dark still, you declare that, "it's morningtime! Get up, mommy."

I'm going to have to be a bit more on the ball now. Since I haven't been used to feeding you meals or offering you food on a regular basis, this is a skill I'll have to learn quickly. But I'm more than happy to do it.

Role model

We were in the kitchen tonight making cookies. You had gotten the can opener out of the drawer and after turning the handle a few times, put it on the floor. "Jump on?" you asked, when you really meant jump over. So you jumped over the can opener and proceeded to say, "sank su, sank su," while bending over, your arm bent at your waist and taking a bow with each thank you.

You must have learned that on t.v. because your dad and I sure don't do good enough stunts to warrant taking a bow.

One Thanksgiving, two turkeys

In the yard on what is probably one of the last lovely days of the year.

So much to give thanks for - mostly the constant amusement of living with a moody two-year-old. In no particular order, here some of the bizarre things you did in the last couple days:

• Ate one ice cube before and four ice cubes after supper - then refused your last two bites of ice cream in favour of ice.
• As we were driving away from the cabin, you got sun in your eyes. I told you to just shut them and go to sleep - AND YOU DID! Of course, the payoff was that you only slept for fifty minutes and were miserable the rest of the day.
  
• Had to "hurry, hurry, go pee" during supper. Two minutes after your dad took you pee, you said "pee again, Mommy" but when we got downstairs you just tried to lure me into your tent to play.
  
• Sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star like a metal singer.
• Eat. And ask for more. You even got really excited about the tomato sandwich I made you for breakfast.
  
• Love to talk about when you were a "tiny baby in Mommy's tummy" and how you'll grow "big like Mommy."
  

It was a turkey-filled weekend. We had Nana, Nigel and Jessica over on Saturday and spent Sunday and Monday with Grandma, Grandpa, Ryan, Leslie and Jared. Oh, and Mojo and Gimli. You had been talking up going to the cabin for a week. "McDonald's farm there. Gimli - walking, walking kitty there. Toys there!" I think it lived up to your expectations. We even walked along the lake in the sand where we saw what must have been raccoon footprints and beaver-chewed sticks.

On guard, kitkey.

It's a short week, just three work days for me. When I told you tonight that I was going to stay home with you on Friday you said, "Mommy stay home with Yaya. Daddy go work. Nana go work, too." You've got the world figured out, don't you?


Metal Queen from Really Silly Lily and her mama on Vimeo.

Weekend report

Sharing leaves with Mommy.

Another weekend over. Another new week to begin. This week will be a long one, too, with neither me or Dad home on Friday. But it was a nice weekend. You and I started it off by taking a walk around the neighbourhood on Friday morning. Actually you, me and puppy. It was so lovely we went to a grass park where we played hide and seek, hid in the spruce trees, layed on the grass and played in the crunchy leaves. As we made our way home, you found a cozy piece of driveway where you and puppy and your pile of rocks sat until the man on the riding lawnmower at the church about three houses away started coming in our direction. You started to panic, grabbed puppy and what rocks you could quickly grab and said, "Oh no. Gonna get puppy, rocks. Let's go, mommy!" Pretty much the same thing transpired when your dad brought out the vacuum on Saturday - except this time you had to protect your bowl of popcorn.

Look wayyyyy up.

Saturday morning brought the arrival of our long-awaited king-size mattress. So Dad put together the base/headboard we got when we were in Calgary while I drew outlines of your (always) naked body with a Sharpie onto packing cardboard. Then the real test began - we layed down for a family nap just after one and didn't wake up until 4:15! Now we know that Nana isn't drugging you to keep you down for so long since you finally did it in our presence.

You get the best ideas - like sitting at the end of someone's driveway so that you can put down your little pile of rocks (right) and have a rest.

Anyway, it was our plan to go to Montana's for supper but no one told us there was a Rider game and all their fans needed to eat out beforehand, filling every restaurant in the south end. We did manage to squeeze into Pasta Prima which was good because you always order, "Noonals, peez" anyway. And it was good. I think we don't go there because we prefer booths so you can roam back and forth while still being contained. But to our surprise, you almost sat in your chair with a booster seat the entire time. And like you always do, you ate your penne alfredo like we don't feed you otherwise. Then you had two big bites of my chicken pesto pizza and half of your strawberry ice cream. Out in the van, you wanted to end all the eating with a piece of gum because you love to chew gum and you chew it well.

Today we were up at 6 and at the grcoery store just after 9. Every time we get groceries, you seem to make your way to the bakery door to wait for someone to give you a cookie. Today it was chocolate chip and marshmallows. While I'd never imagined you could put little marshmallows into cookies, it was awesome. And as always, I usually have to go it alone while you and your dad look at/play with toys. Not that I mind... And tonight we took Skye for a brisk, fresh walk. You ate a whole container of popcorn, your favourite snack, a little box of Smarties and a whole sippy cup of warm milk. Because it gets dark so early, you are convinced that it is very late and you must get your bedtime rituals underway much earlier than we would have decided. You were in teh tub by 7:30 and asleep in your new double bed by 8:30 - which is much nicer for the three of us to read stories in without someone laying half on the floor.

And you fell out of our new, big bed late last night. I remember hearing a thud followed by a wahhhhh. When I looked, you were kinda bent backwards with your legs flat on the floor and the rest of you ninety degrees smushed up against my night table. You didn't remember it today so it couldn't have been too traumatic. I suppose I'll pad the floor tonight in anticipation of you crawling in.

Boundless bouncing

Some days I get tired just looking at you. You have been jumping for four days. Sometimes you get sad and say, "Crib go?" We tell you that you are a big girl now with a big girl bed and that we took apart the crib because you slept in it for less than five hours - in your entire life. But we do have the mattress and it is a wonderful springy platform.

You jump on the bed, on your crib mattress, the mini trampoline, on the couch, you jump down each stair on your descent, you jump up the stairs holding our hands, you jump in the pool. You even "super jump" off of the kitchen counter into our arms. Sometimes we have to jump with you. Sometimes you lay on the trampoline and I jump with a foot on each side of you to bounce you. Sometimes you jump three feet forward and hit my body with blunt force.

You are all about jumping. It is how you burn all your calories and never gain weight.

Not an action shot.

Pop culture

You woke up this morning at 6:00 when Nana phoned to tell us the power had gone out. While we lounged in bed to delay the inevitable day, you reclined against your dad pointing to and naming his parts. "Arm. Sleeve. Chest. Boobies. Neck. Chin. Mouth. Eyebrow."

And the thing below Dad's eyebrow? "iPod."

Now I (almost) know my ABCs

Now I (almost) know my ABCs from Really Silly Lily and her mama on Vimeo.

In training

For lack of a better term, you have been in training to use the toilet. Maybe six or more months ago, we bought a potty and put it in the bathroom. The reaction to it was rather dismal, even violent if we suggested you use it. So, we never mentioned it but we read books about the potty and they were by far the favourites for awhile.

One day about three or four months ago you wanted to use it. You peed and I jumped up and down and clapped my hands because I was so proud. And watching me clap and jump and praise you was reserved only for those times. And you liked that part so much that you would sit on the potty and say, "Jump. Clap." Nana would have to jump and clap and Dad would have to jump and clap. The look on your face was one of such extreme pride.

It's been pretty good and only getting better, too. You probably make it about three-quarters of the time now. When you are totally distracted or just plain tired, you'll have an accident. Or like when you were playing computer games with Nana last week and you peed while sitting on her knee! Usually, you'll say, "Pee! Hurry, Mommy, hurry. Pee!" So we scoop you up, run really fast and get you there just in time. It's easier for you to know when to go when you are naked. (In reality, that's most mornings after you take off your pajamas and diaper.) I don't know why it's easier when you are without pants. And if you have a diaper, you'll pee in it without a second thought. Mysteries of life, I guess.

Fortunately (actually it's quite unfortunate) you rarely poop so we never worry about not making it to the toilet in time for that. And that's a whole other story... One I probably won't tell.

I always sing that awful Pull-ups song from the commercials, "I'm a big kid now!" Oddly enough, it's beginning to be true.

Tidbits

Lately you've been shunning everyone - especially Dad - in favour of mom and only mom. A couple examples:

"Say hi to daddy." You respond with, "Hi Mommy."
"Can Daddy have a kiss?" "Kiss Mommy!"
"Do you want to play choo choos with Daddy?" "Play with Mommy!"

And my favourite from the other day after work... You were chillin' on the couch with mommy when dad came from the kitchen where he was making supper and sat beside us. You gave him an angry kick and screeched, "No – go make noodles, Dad!" Put him in his place.

Last weekend I was cleaning out your closet when I found this size 2 snowsuit - fits perfect with lots of wiggle room. It made me happy that we don't have to buy one this year. You, on the other hand, were absolutely crushed that there was no snow - even though it is nearing the end of summer. Soon enough, kiddo.

Sometimes you try and feed us whatever it is that you're not really eating. You reached an offering across the table at your dad and said slyly, "Come on, dad." Quite the coaxing; you should be a little salesperson.

***

This morning we threw some peanuts out for the two squirrels that had ran across the power line and down into our yard. Later we were eating peanuts in bed (while Dad painted the bedroom the third different colour in a week). Since you liked peanuts, I was trying to make the connection between those and peanut butter. I said, "I like peanut butter on bread and toast." You said, "Me, too, Mom." Though you didn't mean it and I couldn't get you to accept the offer of a pb&j sandwich, it was one of the first times you said 'me' instead of 'Yaya'.

***

You have been fairly obsessed with Canada flags, which you pronounce Can-a-day flags. You see them everywhere. On licence plates, on houses, on stores, on books. The cutest are the "tiny baby Canaday flags" which only need to be smaller than you.