Maybe it's the storm

I've been trying to publish a post tonight but I'm having no luck uploading my photos. There is one hell of a storm raging outside, so I'll blame the thunder and lightning for my Blogger problems. In the meantime, I hope everyone in Eastern Canada/U.S. is holding on tight and safe from the storm.

P.S. Who else is with me: are storms not the greatest?

Just wait until you see her face when she tries cotton candy

So we made good on our plans and braved the Canadian National Exhibition on opening weekend. Crazy? Yes. Ridiculous amounts of fun? Absolutely. But let me clarify that by *we* I refer only to myself, The Children, and my mum. Matt stayed home because 1) He has a chest cold, and 2) I am an excellent wife who encourages him to stay home and enjoy an empty house. Sometimes I am just that good.

While I value alone time as much as the next parent of young children, I think Matt actually missed out on a great day. He missed Alyce's repeated exclamations of "I won! I won! I love what I won!" Let's be clear that she didn't win a car or a trip to Europe. She won an enormous plastic fish. And then a whale. And then another whale (sometimes-and by sometimes I mean very rarely- getting spoiled by Nana is worth every tacky plastic toy). Alyce? A big fan of the midway.

Being the gracious three year old that she is, Alyce even shared her winnings when she had better things to do, like take Nana on the rides. Sweaty me (it was a billion degrees) and Shira watched from the sidelines as my sometimes timid Alyce launched herself toward the loud and sparkling rides. The child has no fear.

Here is a terrible photo of Alyce's favourite ride, the Ferris Wheel. I bring you this low quality photo to share with you something that I've learned: I no longer enjoy rides. You can see from this photo (with mum and Alyce ready to be the day's first customers) that this particular Ferris Wheel is tiny by carnival standards. You only need to be 36 inches to join the ride, but I was terrified. I must confront the reality that the roller coasters of my youth are no more. I am content to now sit on the benches and wait while Alyce the Adventurer tackles the rides. I gave birth to two children. I have nothing else to prove. 

Shira continued to keep watch of Alyce's treasures throughout the day. I felt a little bad for Shira, stuck in the stroller for most of the day when she just wanted to march around and chase seagulls. But she managed, as she always does, with sophistication and class. And a nap.

As you would expect, Alyce wore herself out with all that fun. Here she is in the middle of an exhibition hall, napping with her dolly. It was after lunch and we were all worn a bit thin. I needed to nurse Shira but I couldn't find anywhere to sit. I didn't want to sit outside in the sun to breastfeed, but all the benches inside the hall were taken. I stood there, Shira in arms, just staring at all the people. I said, loudly, I wish I could find somewhere to nurse my BABY. Still no one budged. I certainly wasn't going to head to the washroom to breastfeed her on a toilet, so I just sat down on the floor, next to a resting Alyce, and started to nurse Shira. She didn't care when I sat. She was far too delighted by my boob to care. After about five minutes someone got my point and offered me a seat. 

 

Finally, the face that I promised you. I took this photo after Alyce's first ever bite of cotton candy. It was everything she had dreamed. Maybe even more. She's thinking of becoming the spokesperson for the cotton candy industry. Maybe even a lobbyist. If you are even having a bad day, I suggest you come back to this photo. 

Overall, a great day. I'm carrying around so much stress about looking for work, and I was grateful to my mum for helping me to get my mind away from grown-up stresses for a day. We were tired, happy, full of sugar and all the better for it. I took this blurry photo last night, the day after our adventure, of Shira still clutching Alyce's winnings.  The cows, for the time being, have been replaced. Somehow she managed to breastfeed through this blanket of whales. She's nothing if not committed.

So what are my tips for taking young children to an enormous carnival?

1. Lots of healthy snacks to balance out the sugar.
2. Water. Water. Water.
3. Bring a stroller just to carry all your stuff.
4. Bring an extra sucker to get dragged on all the rides while you watch from below. Grandparents work well.
5. Enjoy watching your little ones' eyes open wide as they take everything in.

The rest of my weekend was spent at home. The night of the CNE I was in bed by 7:30. Sunday was spent cleaning and painting and (still) unpacking, followed by dinner at mum's. Now it's back to the reality of job searching. Wish me luck. And for you, I wish the most wonderful week!

Two cows named Ruby

I bring you this photo of my youngest for three four reasons:

• She insists on sleeping with two cows, both named Ruby. 
• Sleeping babies are delicious.
• Baby arm rolls are especially delicious.
• I needed a pick-me-up after a long week of not being employed.

All good reasons, I think. If you can think of any others, I'd love to hear them. I could probably come up with another hundred, but you probably want to stop going on about it already.

I hope all your Fridays are treating you well. Much love for the weekend!

P.S. We're braving the CNE this weekend. What are you up to?

Head in the sand

I'm having a tough few weeks on the job hunt. It's been three months of searching and so far nothing. I'll be complaining more about that later, but for now I wanted to show off how I distracted myself yesterday. Alyce and I escaped to Centre Island in Toronto with our friend Heather and baby P, and it was glorious. Heather and I were both very happy to spend a day walking, swimming, and eating ice cream (ahem, husbands). Originally I had planned to bring Shira, too, but in the end it seemed like a great opportunity to have an Alyce date. We need those a lot more than we get them. Plus, it was Alyce's first time 1) on a ferry, 2) swimming in a lake, and 3) having an enormous brownie and an chocolate ice cream cone in the same afternoon, and I wanted to enjoy that all to myself (except for maybe that last one).

Do you know what's magical? Watching a little one discover waves for the first time, standing next to her as her feet disappear in the wet sand, and giggling alongside her as she stands astounded by her own bravery in standing armpit-deep in the lake. Do you know what else is magical? Her falling asleep on the ferry back to the city, stealing one of her first naps in OVER A YEAR.

It was strangely quiet.

 

P.S. I had to sneak in one photo of Heather and baby P, mostly just to offer evidence of the world's squishiest baby legs.

Date Night

Just had a date with my husband (can I get an "Amen" for moving closer to babysitters family?), and in an attempt to come up with something very last minute to do, we ended up seeing Crazy, Stupid, Love. We both expected an decent movie, something that wouldn't annoy us too much, and ultimately just allow us to sit for two hours away from our house and The Children. But instead it was just perfect. I love movies that remind me how much I love being married to Matt. It was funny and familiar and complicated and sweet. I think you should see it. 

Yes, this post will fall under the category of "Bossy," but I'll make no apologies. I'm really right about this. Go see it.

Was it a good weekend? Did you relax? Did you eat some delicious food? Do tell.

A little heat, a lot of snacks

It's been a strange couple of days around here. I think the summer's heat has sparked Alyce's crazies, as I witnessed this afternoon while she cried, screamed, and whined for forty-five minutes. I think the meltdown was technically sparked by me not having arms long enough to reach into the backseat (while driving) and remove the clothes from her bear, but I suspect that it had more to do with just having spent a few hours in the sun at the zoo. Whatever the cause, I could go my entire life without listening to that again. But our time at the zoo was delightful, heat and all.

I should mention, though, that the two three-year-olds among us spent more time asking for lunch and snacks than they did communing with the animals. At one point Alyce just sat down in the middle of a very busy trail of people and declared it the perfect spot to have a picnic. I think the two hundred other people trying walk around us felt differently. In the end, we found some shade and some grass and had ourselves some lunch.

Speaking of food, Matt and I have reached the point where if Alyce asks us for another snack, we might just have a meltdown of our own (we're none of us perfect). Lately I've felt compelled to sit down with new parents, or even with people just thinking about having children in the future, and let them know that their life will soon be defined by the fixing of snacks. It's not that I want to warn them against becoming parents--no, no, having kids is my favourite thing to do--but I do want to offer some insight into the world feeding young kids. Here's just a glimpse, if you will:

6:00 am: For Alyce, offer breakfast of cheerios and milk, and peanut butter toast, not toasted. Throw in some berries. Give Shira her own bowl of cheerios and berries. Prepare mentally for the all the cheerios you will soon be cleaning up from the floor. Get some towels ready, too.

6:05 am: Spread more peanut butter on the non-toasted toast, since the Alyce has not eaten the non-toast but has instead licked off the peanut butter. (Repeat at 6:10 and 6:14). Replace bowl of cheerios and milk for Shira, because you know the first bowl is already on the floor.

7:00 am: Alyce asks for a snack. You tell her that snacks will come after she's dressed and brushed her teeth, and remind her that she finished eating breakfast 46 seconds ago.

7: 05 am: Alyce asks for a snack, again. Remind her again.

7:07 am: No, Alyce, not yet.

7:09 am: Seriously, Alyce, you will get a snack in a few minutes. Now please get dressed.

7:11 am: Offer (finally) Alyce a snack of fruit. She asks for mac and cheese instead. Remind her that it's not yet lunch time and that fruit is all I have. Watch her calculate the odds of actually getting mac and cheese before eleven. She accepts the fruit.

7:23 am: I am not kidding, she asks for another snack.


You get the idea. This goes on all day if we're not careful. This week we've been brainstorming some ideas to handle the constant snacking, and we've had some success with leaving a snack tray on the table that she can have access to all day. She's slightly annoyed by our insistence that the tray stay on the table instead of following her around from room to room, couch to couch, or in the bathroom, but she's managing. Somehow. She's also finding ways to cope with having to wait for me to bring the dinner from the kitchen to the table, a wait that she often finds unbearable (see top photo for evidence of her very difficult life).

If anyone has any suggestions about snacking and limits, please do let me know. I like to encourage a healthy approach to eating and I don't want to spend too much time trying to control food and meal times, but it can get a little annoying. How do you handle the land of snacks?

P.S. We came to the bed last night and found that doll tucked in our beds. We were both thoroughly creeped out. Thanks, Alyce.

Fifteen months

Hello, Shira. Yes. I know you're very big now.

But thankfully you are not yet as big as your sister, who seems to have grown a hundred inches overnight, when we weren't looking. You'll never be that big, right?

I'm know you want to be big one day. I see how you watch your older sister. You let her drag you around by the arm (gentle, Alyce, please,) bossing you around from place to place. You get irritated when she doesn't share the good toys, but mostly it's just a show. You'd give anything to play with her, even if that means you play with her reject. That's what having a big sister is all about.

Did I mention that once you were small, and that you fit in my insides? What's this business about you growing and walking and learning to talk? Thankfully you still look like this every night, and it makes your Mama very happy.

Happy fifteen months, my wee one.