The "Loaded to the Brim Summer" of 2015

This has been one fullllll summer. The organizing was in full swing through June. Last summer I had both of the kids enrolled in half day summer camps for a few weeks through the city. This year, there didn't even seem to be time (plus Robin was already too old, and the activities I choose tend to be those where I'm not trucking the kids to more than one different drop off).

So far we've been to the Grandpotter's cabin at Falcon Lake, bought a Honda Fit, gone to Folk Fest, went to Thunder Bay for Dan and Kristin's wedding, celebrated Robin's 7th birthday at the lake, spent a minimal amount of time back in Winnipeg; also Ken and Yvette are coming out to visit and bringing Brigitte, Hugo and Gustav.

Let's see if I can log this in. Ready. Set. Go.

Robin is done grade 1, Ollie is done preschool, and Sydney is 22 months old. Summer begins.

Sometimes I've added entries to this blog to write a story, and sometimes to log the notes that I keep on my phone. As the kids do something I find interesting or astounding, I make a note of it in my phone. Then I forget for many months to put it in blog format. So here is some of the notes I've taken since about August 2014:

August 2014

Olivia: Are we going to Vancouver TODAY?

Me: No, we haven't packed yet. We're packing today and going tomorrow.

Olivia: I want to go TODAY!

Me: But we wouldn't have any clothes! We would get there and have to go naked!

Olivia: That's okay. I LOVE being naked!

Me: We also wouldn't have any stuffies.

Olivia: Ohh… Okay, we'll go tomorrow.

 

September 2014

Griffin was very sick, so we had a touching conversation that was touching yet morbid in a way that could only have come from children:

Olivia: "I hope Griffin doesn't die."

That set me off after holding in the emotions. The tumor on his tonsils was large and grotesque, bleeding when the vet took an aspiration. Olivia sat on my lap, and we all let some tears go. Then Jen's cousin's child Nate walked in.

Nate: "Has your dog died yet?"

I smiled a little at his bluntness and said "No"

Nate, not losing a step, said: "When he dies you could make him into something. Like a coat!"

Olivia: "No, a blanket. Blankets are more brown."

Nate: "You could make him into a winter coat"

The adults had a good laugh about that. After a few minutes, we all calmed down. Then Olivia chimed in:

Olivia: "Can we cry about Griffin again?"

 

September 2014

Sydney by her first birthday: 8 teeth, took 12 steps! Hair starting to curl. Said Mama and Dada (not sure which came first), chhhhssssss for cheese.

 

September 2014

Sydney's sign for drink has become lazy. It is now like saying drink with her mouth closed. Kind of a grunt.

 

September 2014

After The Great 11 Degree Debacle of 2014 (in which we awoke one February morning to find the house at 11 degrees; after Hydro was called to check on a possible gas smell, it was determined that while our furnace was no spring chicken, the true culprit was Olivia, who had been playing with an unmarked light switch that turned out to be the furnace shut-off switch), we knew we were going to need to replace our furnace sooner rather than later. So it was not exactly a surprise this fall when as the temperature dropped, the furnace did not kick in. With frequent fires, a couple of space heaters and some extra clothing (yay knitting!), we muddled through for the couple of weeks it took to get the new furnace installed.

Yesterday was the day. The furnace installer arrived and set about disconnecting our old furnace.

Upon removing the exhaust pipe from the old furnace, he encountered… a shower of rocks. Not a small shower. A large shower. The furnace exhaust was completely blocked with pebbles that looked remarkably like the pebbles edging the brick pad in our backyard, where, coincidentally, the exhaust exited the house.

“I've never seen THAT before,” was the furnace guy's comment. “I took some pictures to show the guys.”

“I found a couple of dead squirrels which crawled down a furnace vent once. This is weirder.”

This had Olivia's fingerprints all over it. Upon investigation, she quite readily admitted that why, yes, she had in her methodical little way fed rocks one by one into that pipe that sticks out of the house. It had something to do with fairies, though I could not quite get the full story there.

I have spent the last twenty four hours reminding myself that (a) we are lucky to not all be dead of carbon monoxide poisoning, (b) she truly didn't know that this was a bad idea (though she sure does now!), and © the furnace was on its last legs anyway, and I did not spend $5000 on a new furnace because my kid filled the exhaust with rocks.

 

September 2014

Robin and Olivia's good friend Rupert is a big part of our lives, so I wanted to remember a discussion I had with Rupert about nightmares. Rupert had three nightmares in one night. Noelle and Rupert told me about the dreams. He described the dreams as follows:

Dream 1: "I'm with Mommy and Daddy and then they just disappear."

Dream 2: "There's a bad guy and he's sucking the energy out of me."

Dream 3: "Couldn't remember."

My solution I told to Rupert. "When you go to bed, think about how you can add things to dreams if you want. If mommy and Daddy disappear, you can just "pop!" them right back. If a bad guy is sucking out your energy, then you can make a giant sun appear and give you energy, so that the bad guy sucks up energy until they pop!"

Rupert listened without critique, just accepting that this was the solution. Noelle said that I knew what I was talking about, I was a scientist.

Later that night while putting the kids to bed I got a phone call. The caller ID said Noelle and Lindsey's.

Me: "Hello?"

Rupert: "Hi Andy."

Me: "Hi Rupert. Uh, what's up?"

Rupert: "I remembered what the third dream was. A ghost took my mouth away and I couldn't talk."

I thought 'damn this kid's creative!'

Me: "Well, what you have to do with a ghost is pop a vacuum into existence. Then you just suck up the ghost and you'll get your mouth back."

Rupert: "OK. Thanks Andy."

And that was that.

 

September 2014

Robin "did you know we're drinking Terry Fox milk?!?!" Picture advertising Terry Fox run on the side

October 2014

The kids started to take highland dancing seriously, and we are going to keep it going. Never knew my love of Scotland would lead to my kids highland dancing.

 

October 2014

Spreading Griffin's ashes, the kids argues about who should carry Griffin, but at least they didn't argue about how much of the ashes to spread.

 

October 2014

At dinner time, we played the animal game for the longest time. It consisted of a person thinking of an animal, then each person around the table takes turns guessing, with the person who is "it" giving hints each round. After months of playing that, I thought they were ready for the 20 questions game. The idea being that a person thinks of something, then the people each get to ask a yes or no question, or else guess what the person is thinking of.

Robin's turn.

Dad: "Can you wear it?"

Robin: "No. Wait! You could take off its skin and wear it, I think!"

Dad: "Uh, ok. Sydney, do you have a question for Robin?"

Sydney: <blank stare>

Olivia: how old is it????

Daddy: "Once again, it has to be a yes or no question Ollie. And it's Sydney turn. Sydney, what's your question for Robin?"

Sydney: ...

Daddy: "Sydney, do you have a question?"

Sydney: "... MONKEY!!!"

Everyone laughed.

Snow owl was the animal. I don't want to wear that.

 

October 2014

Ollie is saving the gum on her dresser until she is five.

 

October 2014

Sydney is saying "no way" VERY clearly at 13 months, along with:

Dog

No

Ya

(A horse says) neigh

Down

Up

Drink (dunk really)

More

Chssssse

November 2014

Olivia wants Dad to tell the toot story every night now. It's basically I tell a story where I had to toot really bad, I hold it in until I'm alone, then I toot. There are embellishments in the story.

 

November 2014

Have to distract Syd when putting the bananas into the shopping cart. Or else she will hate me. At Superstore Olivia gets a cookie for free from the bakery. She gives breaks off a piece to give to Syd, then quickly eats the rest before Syd has the chance to ask for more.

 

November 2014

Ollie just asked "how do you make a cheetah out of toilet paper?" I had no answer for that.

 

November 2014

Robin started talking to me about it not being fair that Ollie only has to go to school for half the day yet she has to go for the full day. I tried to explain that there are different responsibilities for different kids at different ages. This turned into robin telling a theory about how small children have only one machine in their heads for paying attention to things, but you get another one when you turn two, another when you turn three, etc

November 2014

Sydney screaming "D!!!" at you in the morning is looking for vitamin D. They are tasty little tablets with a dinosaur on them or something.

 

December 2014 - March 2015

The kids were sick ALL THE FREAKING TIME. I got sick every other week. It became maddening before it got any better. I swore to myself to get even with viruses some day...

December 2014

Robin likes get ice cream microwaved. Too cold otherwise (she eventually got over that when ice cream cones came around).

 

December 2014

Ollie [in tears, comes from kitchen to talk to us]: "Robin did something to me that I didn't like and I didn't do anything to her!"

Daddy: "What did Robin do?"

Ollie: "SHE LOOKED AT ME!"

Mommy: "Ollie, how did you know she was looking at you?"

Ollie: "I looked at her!"

 

January 2015

Olivia, with friends over, being kinda bossy. " So, you can't come in my room, unless you knock twice. Then I get to decide if you can come in."

Rupert "There's a dead lady bug right in the middle of her room. That's how well I know Olivia."

 

January 2015

Lost keys on the twenty steps to the car. Go crazy looking in ridiculous places. Kids start to laugh. I laugh too, thinking about the absurdity of it. Then finds keys in the snow once we are already late for school.

 

January 2015

Syd can speak in two word sentences in Jan at the age of 15 months.

 

February 2015

Sydney was done lunch. I said to her "are you all done or do you want more?" Sydney pulled her hand out of her high chair she was sitting in and yelled "SOCK!!!" as she held up her footwear that she had apparently worked off while I was turned around cleaning up. I laughed. She laughed. I laughed harder. So even with a runny nose and teething, kids can still be good fun... There, that's better.

February 2015

Robin said to Jen when I told her we were doing something exciting at the end of the week: "I wish Daddy didn't tell me about Friday because now I can't concentrate. I was doing math and I couldn't pay attention to the plus sign!"

March 2015

While in Phoenix for spring break, Sydney pointed to the sky and bellowed "ORANGE!" Since the sky was dark, and there were only stars and the moon, we were confused. She said it again and pointed to the half moon in the sky. The moon is an "orange" according to Sydney.

April 2015

Olivia: "does everything have a shape?"

Daddy: "what do you think?"

Ollie: "yes"

Mommy: "what shape is the colour blue?"

Ollie: "a square. Or it can be a triangle"

Daddy: "what about the sky?"

Ollie: "rectangle"

Daddy: "what about that semi truck?"

Ollie: "a square!"

Robin: "kind of a square with some other stuff."

Daddy: "that's called amorphous. The a means without and the morphous part means shape."

Ollie went on pointing out all the amorphous things. The nerd in me loved it in so many ways.

April 2015

Sydney has a thing about shoes, and wears them in the house whenever she can. Bigger people's shoes that is. And she is extremely deft at getting them on, curling her foot and then sliding it in.

April 2015

Some yogurt fell on Olivia's arm. She licked some of it off, then held out her arm to me and said "Dad, this is for you."

 

April 2015

At 19 months, I was playing the body part game with Syd, and when I asked where here knees were, she said "that's a knee right there." 5 word sentence. Geeze.

May 2015

There is a mechanical bird that the kids are seeing older kids play with. They made a plot on how to steal it once they were told they couldn't play with it.

 

Sydney is 1! ... and a half ... and a couple months.

As I was warned by my brother, time for things like blog writing getting sucked away into other things when you have three children. I still keep notes on my phone, but putting it all together takes a little time and concentration, both of which are in short supply.

Just today I wrote a note about Sydney where she said a five word sentence! I was playing the "point at your body parts" game, and when I got to the knee she pointed at it and said "that's a knee right there". In February, I was having lunch with a friend AJ, then we walked back to his store in the mall. Sydney and then left, and when she realized AJ wasn't with us, she said "AJ no walk." I said "What?" and she repeated "AJ no walk". She noticed AJ wasn't with us anymore, and announced it the best she could. Her little brain completely amazes me.