Little life lessons..

"Lunch time, Owen! Time to put the buttons away!"
"It's too much."
"Well, I did tell you it was a bad idea to throw them all over the kitchen, remember? I said, 'If you throw them all, it will be a big job to pick them all up.'"
"A big job."
"Yes, it is a big job, but I know you can do it!" This last uttered with a beaming smile. Owen seems less than convinced... (She's really going to make me do it. Boo.)

However, he gets down to it...

After all, if you don't take on the Big Tasks in life, you don't get the Big Satisfactions, either.

"Good for you, Owen! It was a big job, and you did it all by yourself!" Because we KNOW how important "I can do it byself!" is these days...

Look at that smile! The boy is proud of his job well done.

In process

You all have the finished product now. I thought you might like to see a bit of the process.

Officer? Officer, I can't see...

Super-Officer! (Copper-man?) Whatever you call it, THIS is how you wear your police hat.

Kindly loaned by my police-officer neighbour. Who has a HAT!! His unmarked car was a bit of a letdown, however. Even those flashing lights on the visor were sort of second-rate. Everyone knows REAL police cars have their lights on TOP.

However, the quick whoop-whoop of the siren was enough to convince them all that that was, indeed, a REAL police car.

THIS is how you wear your cap if it's a tad large for your head...

And THIS is what happens if you don't have a cute little pom-pom hat to wear under your police cap...

Introducing Willa

I think all of you know by now that we've started a new little one. Meet Willa. She's eight months old now, and will be starting full-time in January.

Astrid and Willa check each other out. Owen seems to be a little uncertain.

"It's okay, Owen! She doesn't bite. You just have to be gentle, see?" Astrid demonstrates proper baby greeting technique.

Maybe she needs to sniff my hand first, like the dog?

They all seem to like each other, and the older kids are being veeeeery gentle. We're off to a good start!

Forging Friendships

I never really did figure out this game, but it seemed to go something like this:
"You lie down, and I'll poke your tummy with a block."

"And then I'LL lie down, and YOU can poke MY tummy with a block!!!"

(Listen to me, the over-analytical adult. What's to "understand"? That IS the game, and a fine game it was, too! Kept them entertained for a good twenty minutes.)

They seem to be connecting these days, Owen and Astrid. Let the dancing commence!

Getting the Good Picture...

Isn't that easy.
It takes persistance. Dedication.
And a lot of luck.

Photo #1:
Grown-up: Sooooo mellow.
(All appearances to the contrary, no illicit substances were involved in the making of this picture.)
Child: Disgruntled? Offended? Pooping?
Result: Mediocre

Photo #2:
Child: Not bad.
Adult: Demented
Result: "Mommy? Daddy? Are you sure she's safe?"

Photo #3:
Adult: All right.
Child: Pretty good.
Result: Okay. C+, B-?

The quest continues...

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

They are absolutely not allowed to do this.
Not, not, not.

Buuuut... She likes it in there so well. Would it be wrong of me to get one for her? I promise I'd leave the door open!

Most of the time.

Nature Fascinates

"Look, guys! What's that?"
Etienne's sharp eyes caught sight of a fuzzy red caterpillar.

They loved it!

Just for looking at, mind you...

We don't want to have to actually touch it.

Some of us, in fact, were completely overcome... zzz...

Excitement!

Co-operative play

This game needed constant monitoring and instruction, but they really enjoyed themselves. Very cute.

Look who we bumped into the other day!

She seems to be loving her new "school".

Museum of Nature, Part 3: DINOSAURS!

The Museum of Nature, we call it. The kids don't call it that, of course. To them, it has always been, and probably always will be, "The Dinosaur Museum".

And a well-earned designation it is, too. The new dinosaur exhibit is gorgeous. Eliana looks just the teeniest bit uncertain here. It is dim in here, and they sure are BIG, those things!
It's blurry, but this picture provides a decent impression of the room. (Eliana seems to have recovered from any passing nervousness!)

"How about Astrid?" Dad wanted to know. Was she intimidated by the dinosaurs, did I think?
Um, not so's you'd notice, no...

Museum of Nature: Part two - PEEK!

But keep a wary eye open for those polar bears!

In this exhibit, we see polar bears patiently waiting by a seal's air hole, with an unfortunate seal about to pop above the surface of the water.

We don't see the bears actually in the act of dining.
(I am suitable grateful.)
The seal is at one airhole. The kids (with as much help as required) can pop up and be seals in another.
Fun!!

Museum of Nature, Part one

Busses are fun!
(They're even better when you have someone to hold your hand.)

Yes, the renovations are STILL ongoing! I knew the central tower had been a problem: the stone was too weighty for the foundation, and had been settling in an increasingly unstable manner. I didn't know this was their solution, and I rather like it. The new entrance is much more welcoming, too, and very much more practical for all the stroller traffic this museum gets!

And where there are renovations, there is Heavy Machinery! Since any trip with the tots is an Experience from the moment our toes hit the sidewalk, we're not about to hurry past the backhoe to get to the museum. We know how to stop and smell the roses.

Or diesel fuel, as the case may be.

Once inside, there are all sorts of fun things to see, do, and TOUCH.

Your children loved...

... .....Black Bean Felafels... .....

.........................................................................
Ingredients:

2 cups black beans, drained and rinsed
500 g ground beef
1 t chili powder
1 t oregano
2 cloves garlic
1 egg
3 t lime juice

(In my recipes, 't' = teaspoon, and 'T' = tablespoon.)

Method:
Preheat oven to 425F.
Mash beans till smooth but chunky. (Don't ask me: this is what the recipe says. What it means is you'll see a greyish paste, but there will be lots of black bits in it.)
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix with your hands, then form into about 24 balls, 3 cm across.
Place on foil-lined sheet and bake 15 minutes.

Now, the full recipe calls for frying some vegetables (onions, peppers), chopping some fresh (avocado, tomato), and putting it all together in a half-pita with a cream sauce made of yoghurt and cilantro.

Which all sounds very yummy, but also sounded way beyond the coordination capacities of your average two- or three-year-old! I just gave them to the kids straight up, along with some niblet corn and cooked carrot sticks.

With ketchup for dipping, of course.

A milestone for a young man

He didn't appear in any of the last set of pictures, but he was there! Etienne lives across the street, and has agreed to help with our wading pool outings each week.

(Isn't he a handsome boy? And gentle, too.)
After our water time, it was time to get dressed again. As I wrestled children out of soggy clothes and into dry ones, I directed Milan and Owen to the teens for dry diapers. Etienne expressed consternation: turns out he had never changed a diaper!

Well then. Am I going to rescue him? Not on your life. This is a Learning Opportunity. I show him how to orient the thing, and leave him to it. Mwah-ha.

Rebekah, she of years of diaper experience, stepped alongside. "You hold their feet like this, and slip the diaper like that...

Pull this side down and draw the tab up..."

And ...

VICTORY!!!

Another diaper-experienced teen is now on the babysitting market.
(I take only a very small commission.)