Saturday 31 December 2011

Farewell 2011

Our party starts a lot earlier now that the boy counts down to the new year with us! But with thai food, some noise makers, balloons, fun hats, and champagne (with mocktails for the boy), who needs to wait until midnight to have fun?

Happy New Year (courtesy of his sparkly headband)

Thursday 29 December 2011

Walking in a winter wonderland

Winter has finally arrived in our neck of the woods.

Hubby taught the boy to yell 'Mush' as I pulled his sled

Wednesday 28 December 2011

Stars on Ice, sorta

The boy got skates for Christmas and is so excited to learn to skate (we start lessons in a few weeks) so he can be just like his Dad! Since hubby is off work this week, we decided that today would be a great day to head over to our local outdoor rink and let the boy get his first feel of being on the ice. Although since it was the coldest day of the year so far, I'm not sure what we were thinking. But the weather didn't deter the boy at all, he absolutely loved it, and is already talking about going back tomorrow and the day after. We spent nearly an hour outside with him either holding him up, or carrying him around as we skated, leaving us with stiff and sore backs! But it was a great day and a lot of fun for all of us. Hopefully when the boy is playing in the NHL he'll look back on this day with fondness

Future Canada WJHC player


Friday 23 December 2011

The night before the night before...

The boy is looking forward to Christmas with such excitement and glee, that it really helps to make the whole season. Seeing his joy as we looked at lights, or decorated the tree, or wrapped presents really helped to make me excited for it as well. It made me stop and enjoy the season, rather than just thinking of all the things I needed to get done.

It's a great feeling, rediscovering the joy in a season, and appreciating the little things. I'm glad he helped me shift my focus from worrying about what still has to happen to revelling in what is happening.

So no more worrying or stressing for me, I am officially in small child mode and am going to squeeze every last minute of fun out of Christmas. And if that means that there are some dirty dishes, or the laundry piles up, then that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. So enjoy your holidays, take the time to smell a Christmas Tree, throw a snowball, and put aside the chores while you appreciate it all.



Tuesday 20 December 2011

You won't like it.

Around our house we have a silly little joke between hubby & myself if we're eating something really good. One of us will turn to the other and say "this isn't very good, you won't like it. You should let me have it." We did this once around the boy and he was quite concerned that what we had wasn't good, and that we were going to give up our food and not have anything to eat.

We had to explain to him that we were just joking, and it really was good. It took some tries, and the first few times we said it to the boy he got quite upset. Suddenly though, something clicked in his head and he thinks it's hilarious. Of course this means that like anything else small children find hilarious, he repeats it at every chance he gets. In fact, today he even tried to 'convince' me I wouldn't like the shortbread we had just baked!

While it gets tiring hearing the same jokes over and over again, I love that he's developing a sense of humour, and is using it to make not just me laugh, but also to make himself laugh, sometimes for what feels like hours on end. I figure this is good prep for years of bad jokes to come. And quite frankly, any joke that doesn't involve bodily humour is o.k.  with me

Friday 16 December 2011

Christmas Market (A boys eye view)

After reading my friend Lindsay's post about her visit to the Toronto Christmas Market, I knew it sounded like something the boy would love. Since it ends this weekend, we headed out today along with my sister in law, niece, and nephew to check it out. If you haven't been, and you're in the area, you should try and get there before it ends. Especially if you're feeling a bit grinchy. The market really helps to infuse you with some holiday cheer.

It's held in the Distillery District in Toronto, which is a great place to begin with, and then add in booths selling food (poutine, schnitzels, pretzels, oh my!), Carol singers, an evergreen maze, a carousel, and Santa, and it is amazing! Not only did I love it, but the boy had a blast too.  Getting ready for bed tonight, I asked him what his favourite part of the day was, and his answer? Riding the carousel and taking pictures. Yup, that's right taking pictures! 

The boy took his camera today to document the outing. He uses my old (very old) Kodak digital camera and he loves it. We found an decent sized memory card for it, so he can take about 400 pictures on it before we have to clear the card off, which is a great help given that some days he snaps 10-20  pictures of me doing the same thing! He's getting a lot better at it, his thumb isn't in them nearly as much any more! It really is cool to see things from 3 1/2 feet off the ground, and so I offer up a few of the boy's shots of the Christmas Market.





The carousel, giant sculpture & Christmas Tree (and parking lot)

A wandering Christmas Angel

The Carol Singers (and post)

Wednesday 14 December 2011

It tastes green

We love Charlie & Lola around here in our house, both the books, and on occasion, the TV show too. There's one book called I'm Really Ever So Not Well, where poor Lola is sick. When she tries to drink pink milk (her favourite) it doesn't taste right to her, so she tells her brother Charlie that it tastes green.

I've been battling a head cold around here for the last few days (I think I'd like to thank the boy for sharing it with me) and it's totally messed up my sense of taste. I couldn't even eat a clementine this morning without it tasting horrible. So when the boy asked why I was just having plain toast at lunch, I told him it was because nothing tasted quite right to me, in fact it tasted green. This set off a fit of giggles and then everything for the rest of the day tasted green to the boy. As long as he's still eating it, I really don't care what colour he thinks it tastes! 

Monday 12 December 2011

Glad I've got a hugger.

On the weekend there was an inflammatory article by Christie Blatchford published in the National Post, basically decrying the loss of manliness, and the 'sissyfying' of our boys. She recoiled in horror when she saw young boys hugging when they greeted each other. She wants a return to a time when men were men. When problems were settled by beating up the bullies, instead of talking about them. When men, and boys, just didn't hug each other.

As a mother of a young boy, I'm glad the boy hugs me. I will take a hug from him, any time, anywhere. Part of his night time routine has become calling out "just one last big snuggle Mummy" once we've put him to bed. It's often after I've already headed downstairs! But aside from thinking that doing another flight of stairs is probably some good cardio, I enjoy the fact that wants to hug me. And it's not just at home, I get good hugs from him when we're out and about, shopping, playing, at the pool, wherever. I know there will come a time when he won't want any kind of hug from me in public, so I'll take what I can get now.

I also don't want to raise a child (male or female) who resorts to their fists to solve problems. I'm glad the boy likes to hug, and not hit. There are too many women and children who are abused. I would rather the boy hug his friends and be considered 'fey' by Blatchford, than get confused ideas of masculinity telling him it's o.k. to hit. I want him to know that it takes more courage to talk to someone who is hurting you than to just lash out and hit them.

I'm going to continue to hug the boy, and let him hug me, whenever and wherever he feels like. I'm going to treasure every moment of contact with him, and encourage  him to be free with his emotions, and never be scared to hug his friends and family. It takes a strong man to be comfortable in his own skin, and not worry about being judged by people like Christie Blatchford.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

A Christmas-y craft

It was a dreary day today, so to help pass the time, I decided the boy should do a craft. He wanted to make something for his Dad's office, so we thought something Christmas-y would be perfect.

He loves cutting and gluing, so I thought a simple Christmas tree that he could decorate would work really well. I drew a triangle on some green paper, and divided it so he could cut it into strips. Once he'd cut it out, we arranged them from biggest to smallest and then he glued them onto some paper.

His favourite part was 'decorating' the tree with some stickers we had. He decided they were the lights and so had to keep turning them on and off. He was very proud of himself, and before his Dad could even get in the front door tonight he was having the picture shown to him! And the best part was it kept him busy, occupied and (slightly) quiet for a good 20 minutes - bliss!

He loved adding the 'lights'

Thursday 1 December 2011

Advent Calendar

It's December the 1st, so that means it's time for the boy to start his advent calendar. He was so excited for it, and has been talking about it for a while. If I was crafty, I  would definitely be all over the one my friend Lindsay at Little House Blog has made for her adorable little guy. Since I have two left thumbs, that's out of the question, but luckily we have my Advent calendar from when I was little.

The nice thing with this calendar is that all you have to do is hang it up! My mum bought it years ago at a Church Bazaar (you have to love those for fantastic hand made crafts) and it's a lot of fun for little ones. All you have to do is snap an 'ornament' each day onto the tree! I love the fact that it was a family tradition for me growing up, and it's now going to be a tradition for the boy too. Hopefully he appreciates it as much as I did!

I caught him peeking!