(Black) Friday Update!

(American) Family Thanksgiving Dinner

It is Black Friday today - something that has taken new meaning since being in the States. There are, apparently, a whole lot of deals I'm missing out on today (and we are very close to some MEGA shopping).  I'm OK with that.  What that also means, however, is that yesterday was American Thanksgiving - a very big deal here!  So we got on board and had our own little family turkey dinner.  As you can see, Juniper and I put on fancy dresses and "jewels", we decorated the house, and we now have enough leftover turkey to last for the next decade or so. Here are some of the decorations:

I love these… leaves and other seasonal nature items stuck between mactac.  Brilliant.

A turkey.  Obviously.

Annnnddd… another turkey. Turkey crafts are very popular this time of year.

Our myriad of centrepieces.  I arranged the obvious berry branches one, but Juniper was the creative genius behind the other three.

And here are a few other shots from the week:

On the dock at Sphor gardens

Snack time (Spohr Gardens again)

Collecting items for the centrepieces (Beebe Woods)

Pausing by the mossy tree (Beebe Woods)

"Our Squirrel Army is Watching You". Odd, and more than a little creepy. (Beebe Woods)

Some of the older beech trees have faces carved into them in Beebe Woods.  I'm curious if is this was pre- or post-Game of Thrones.  Still - it is more than a little disturbing.

Manning the submarine at the Children's Museum

Juniper's favourite part of the Children's Museum:  getting to dress up as an "astronaut firefighter"

And finally: what is a post these days without a couple of potty-time pictures?  The latest buzz around here is that Linden now officially a toilet pooper.  No diaper pooping in weeks. You have no idea how this improves our general quality of life.  And though he still requests privacy every time he sits down, he makes two exceptions:

Group potty time.  Linden always claims the toilet, but Juniper is happy to sit on the potty and read to him.

Helping teddy learn a thing or two

And that's it for this week.  Happy end of November!  

Friday Update (and flashback!)

Sharing snacks at the park

Today I bring you a few snapshots from this past week, but I'm also posting some all-but-forgotten gems from the summer and early fall that were scattered on various devices (ours and other people's), and only just rediscovered. Enjoy!

This past week:

Climbing up the tunnel slide...

… and bombing DOWN the tunnel slide (despite repeat warnings to go feet-first)…

Something hilarious in the front yard

Bob reads a story on mom and dad's quick layover en route to Ecuador

From the Archives:

Pit-stop on our epic road-trip from Wood's Hole to Fredericton.  We did it all in a day!

Sharing a moment with uncle Brad (Fredericton, July)

YOHO!  (With Erin and Zack, August)

Farm fields

 Juniper spent a weekend all by herself with Theresa and Scott in Sackville.  She had sooooo much fun!

On a nature hike with Scott and Dan (and Theresa) (Sackville, August)

Contra-dancing (Sackville, August)

Juniper sets fuzzy and furry free (Falmouth, October)

Friday update!

Juniper's first (pre)school photo!  How adorable is she?

We attended the party of the year last weekend - our next door neighbour Walden turned 4, and there was non-stop fun.  Cases is point:

You should see the selection of BIG TRUCKS that Walden has to play with. Clearly the fire truck is the best one of the lot.

Juniper shows off her party dress

Model pose. Tree climbing is key at Walden's.

Juniper's first time getting pitched a ball.  She was actually surprisingly consistent at hitting it…

Last Sunday we bravely (fool-heartedly?) made a trip to IKEA.  Folks, Sunday is NOT the day to go to IKEA. Anyway, we came home with a couple of key items: a workbench (a late birthday gift for Linden from Deborah and Yvon), and this big tickle trunk which I envisioned as a way to organize all of the costumes and dress-up items.  Result?  THe workbench is a huge hit, but Juniper has so far been monopolizing it.  She LOVES it.  The "tickle trunk"?  Every morning, it gets promptly emptied, costumes and other knick-knacks strewn about the floor, and used in ways you would never have even imagined.  It is a house, a bedroom, a boat, a train, a hiding place… I'm not even sure what else.  What I do know is that it has increased the mess, rather than solved it. Sighh…..

The tickle trunk: I think it must be a bed here

So many things to fix, so little time.

Not sure what this game was, exactly, but it necessitated taking every possible quilt and blanket out.

Yesterday, Linden and I joined Juniper and her classmates on a field trip to a cranberry bog.  It was a hoot! Linden was surprisingly quite focused on the task at hand, and managed to pick a good number of berries (with a little help from mama).  Juniper, on the other hand, was more interested in finding the squishy ones, and "popping" them in her fingers. Or laying in the bushes.  Or finding wet areas to test the durability of her Boggs. And she also declared that the cranberries we collected were not for baking or decorating (I had envisioned maybe a popcorn-cranberry garland in the near future), but rather for "experiments". She has not yet clarified what these "experiments" shall entail, but I'm a little nervous.

Cranberries!

Linden carefully picks...

… and then examines his treasures.

And finally:  ADVENTURES IN POTTY TRAINING.  If you are not interested in a discussion of poo and whatnot, I encourage you to read no further. Otherwise...

Reading a book, naked. Obviously the best way to poop.

So, Linden has really come a long way this week. He often announces 3 or 4 times a day that he has to poop, and I'd say half of those times he actually sits and produces the desired outcome. This is actually pretty huge.  The process, however, can be slightly tedious.  For instance, I'll relay a typical "session":

Scene: Linden has announced that he needs to poop. It is likely meal time, and I have just gotten him strapped into his highchair, put meals in front of both of us, and am sitting down to eat. But, devoted mother that I am, I get him down, leave my meal to get cold, and get his pants and diaper off. He is now sitting on the toilet with a book.

Tara:  How are you doing, Linden?  Any poops coming?

Linden: You MOVE!

Tara: What do you mean?

Linden: Go over there.  Move a minute.

Tara: You want me to move?  Why?

Linden:  Privacy.  Need privacy. (I kid you not - his exact words)

Tara: Are you serious?  OK, then. (I move out of just sight)

Linden:  I see foot!  Move foot! (I move my foot)

- sounds of grunting, splashing etc -

Linden:  Poop!  Poop!

Tara: Yay, Linden! (I pop back into view)

Linden: DANCE! DANCE!  YOU DANCE!

Tara:  (does a happy poop dance)

Linden: SING!

Tara: (while still dancing) Linden pooped in the toilet, Linden pooped in the toilet…"

Linden: Slipper off! (Once, while Clark was doing a happy poop dance, his vigorous efforts involved his slipper coming off.  Linden now demands this as part of every happy poop dance)

Tara: (sighing) ("accidentally" kicks slipper off)

Linden: (laughs uproariously) OK.  You MOVE.  Need privacy.

Tara: (moves out of sight)

-suspicious sounds coming from bathroom -

Linden:  See poop!  See poop!  THERE it is!

Tara: (coming back into view) LINDEN!  Stay on the toilet, buddy!  You need to stay on the toilet! (cleans up the now heavily smeared poop on the toilet seat and Linden's leg.  Puts him back on the toilet)

Linden: You MOVE.  Need privacy.

-repeat scene at least 5 times. At the end, give Linden a chocolate chip, and do a group happy poop dance with anyone who is around -

END SCENE.

See you next Friday!

Friday update

Happy Friday!  Here are some pictures from the week:

Here is Juniper a few hours after her first dose of antibiotics. She looks so sick when I see the picture now, but she looked like a million bucks at the time.

Using the art supplies from the Hallowe'en Fairy. Juniper planned for quite awhile before she settled on using her special canvas for her piece entitled "Fish".

Juniper has decided to start wearing scarves.  Specifically, this scarf - one of mine, which I have now just given her.  Juniper thinks she looks like our dear friend Judith when she's wearing it.

Pizza night!  Linden is given his own dough to roll for the first time.  He LOVED being big enough to make his own pizza.

Have a great weekend!  See you back here next Friday, unless I have some reason to post before then.

Videos, please!

I know.  I am going crazy with the posts. But these last couple of days with Juniper being so incredibly sick resulted in the very small silver lining of letting me sit for large portions of the day in the dark, and have really nothing else to do but catch up on blog stuff that I've been meaning to do for months.  Namely (and really, you have no idea how long this takes unless you've done it yourself), the following videos.  They are all montages, some of which have clips from as much as 8 months ago, but I finally feel as though I am current.  HURRAH!

And in that spirit of being current:

Juniper

For those who have been following the sickness posts from the last couple of days, Juniper finally (FINALLY!) seems to be coming out of it.  We took her to the doctor yesterday, and as it turns out, she has a raging double ear infection. She got some antibiotics, and within a few hours, the change was miraculous. She woke up from a nap, decided to get out of bed(!), walked downstairs by herself(!), and requested some soup broth with crackers(!). Then she proceeded to sit at the table with us for supper, engaged in conversation, and even led a group song composition about mermaids. Truly, it was a miraculous change.  So I have every hope that she is completely on the upswing.

When she is not sick, Juniper is busy being a 4-year old.  She reminds everyone how old she is whenever she gets the chance, because clearly being four is leagues more grown-up than three.  She loves setting the table, and considers it her job.  She also loves "helping" out in the kitchen - when I bake bread, she always kneads and then shapes her own tiny little loaf.  When I make muffins, she does most of the measuring and pouring and mixing.  When I cook supper, I try really hard to find a job she can do.  Clearly, however, she has her limits - the other day, she asked if she could help with supper, and I suggested she peel the carrots.

"Oh, peeling carrots.  I'm always peeling.  Peeling, peeling, peeling.  I need a rest sometimes, you know". And that was the end of that.

Linden

As you can see from the later videos in the montages, Linden has really begun to talk, which allows him to be incredibly opinionated and choosy about most everything.

Example:

Linden: "I go get water.  Thirsty."

Tara:  "Oh, Linden - why don't I get that for you?"

Linden: "NO!  I DO IT!" 

Tara: "Ok, but not too much"

(sound of water spilling)

Linden: "Uh oh!  I CLEAN IT UP!"

Tara: (sighing) "OK, Linden.  Please take that water to your red table"

Linden: "No, I drink in kitchen."

In fact, he has developed some of his own catch-phrases. 

 For instance, if someone exclaims over something, Linden will loudly and insistently yell "WHAT?" "WHAT?" "WHAT, mama?" (or, sometimes, "What happened?" with his arms out to the sides in a stereotypical quizzical shrug)  Then, you'll say "oh, I bumped my head", or "oh, that water just spilled", he'll quickly reply, "OK. You be OK". (His equivalent of "there, there." No big deal." Quit complaining").

Or if someone is going somewhere, or has something he wants, he'll exclaim, "I come too too", or "I have one too too".  Always too too.  It is actually incredibly endearing, and I'll sometimes catch myself repeating it by accident. "Linden, I'm getting Juniper an apple. Would you like one too too?" 

Then there are the zingy one-liners that come at you multiple times a day:

"I DO IT!"

"Be RIGHT back!"

"Wait a minute!"

We are also nudging him towards potty training, though he is not nearly as enthusiastic as Juniper was at this age.  I think this is mostly because he cannot bear to sit down for more than 10 seconds at a time. Also, however, he just likes pooping in his diaper sometimes - to the point where he will blatantly lie about it.

Tara:  (watching Linden stop what he's doing suddenly, lean over and start grunting) "Linden, do you have to poop?"

Linden: "NO!  NO POOPING!"

Tara: "I can see that you're pooping.  Would you like to go to the toilet?"

Linden:  "No!  All done pooping!  All done!"

Tara: "Clearly you're not all done. Are you sure you don't want to go to the toilet?"

Linden: (stares off in the distance and pretends not to hear me)

-a few minutes later-

"All done!  Change diaper!"

Sigh.

Anyway, here are those videos!  I hope you enjoy them as much as we have been!

1. A hodegepodge from the last 8 months

2. A "musical moments" montage





3. Some birthday moments from the last few months

Hallowe'en

Carving pumpkins

I posted a couple of costume shots for my Friday moment, but I thought I might as well do a proper Hallowe'en post while the event was still fresh.  Plus, I'm currently on "Juniper duty", which means sitting here waiting for her to wake up.  She's been really quite ill since sometime in the middle of Hallowe'en night - it seems like it is perhaps a sinus infection of some sort, but it has really done a number on her.  She only sleeps for short periods of time, and then wakes up completely disoriented and terrified and feverish if no one is right there. So here I am, playing some blog catch-up.

"Scary" and "Silly". Co-designed by Juniper and Clark

Anyway, I digress. Hallowe'en.  The day itself was actually quite a hoot.  There was a party at Juniper's preschool, which Linden and I had been planning to attend, but Linden had thrown up the afternoon before, so we laid low for the day at home. (Yes, it has been sick, sick, sick time around here). Juniper, however, had a blast, and came home with a whole bag-full of Juniper-created Hallowe'en inspired art to decorate the house.

Insta-hallowe'en!

"Witch on Broomstick" close-up.  This one was my favourite.

One of two hanging spiders.  I have no doubt they felt instantly at home in our humble abode, and likely made a number of good friends right away.

"BOO!"  Juniper demonstrates her haunted house.

After naps and a quick bite to eat, our next-door neighbour Walden (and his mom Maria) came over for some group trick-or-treating.  Considering we are two of the three houses with kids on our block, there weren't that many places to go, but the 5 or 6 houses we did hit were enough to be completely and utterly enthralling for all three kids. It made me remember how exciting Hallowe'en had been back in the day!

Blurry action shot.

Afterwards, the kids dumped their loot, chose a couple of treats, and left the rest for the Hallowe'en Fairy to turn into art supplies over night. I must say, the Hallowe'en Fairy outdid herself, and there are some pretty awesome paints and canvasses waiting for when Juniper kicks this illness.  In the meantime, the Hallowe'en Fairy's trusty sidekick managed to make short work of the candy that was left behind, so all is well that ends well.

Linden quickly snatched a lollipop. He'd never seen so much candy in his little life.

And finally, in case you missed it on Facebook, here is a little video of the Hallowe'en excitement. As you can tell, they were both completely pumped. I suppose the silver lining of all this sickness is that both kids were able to enjoy one fun day feeling good!

Also, I didn't mention it in the post with the costumes, but Linden's Wizard duds are now in their third year of use (I made them for Juniper when she was two).  Juniper's flower is new this year - I made the petals and the leaves out of felt.  Then I realised that she needed a proper stem, so I whipped up that green dress.  I'm actually pretty pleased with how it turned out... it could have easily been a disaster, as I just loosely patterned it after something that she had in her closet. It's on the biggish side, which means it will be very good for this winter - I can easily put nice warm sweaters and leggings underneath.  And there you have it!  Hope you all had an equally magical all hallows eve!