Monday, November 28, 2011

Here Comes Santa Claus


One lone photo of a little girl on court house steps from a lovely trip to Halifax. We planned the driving so that the bumble would sleep there and back and sleep she did. She was so patient with all the in-the-car-out-of-the-car-in-the-car stops and visits and thought that the hotel room was an amusement park just for her: two queen-sized beds for jumping on and one giant television for the watching of cartoons. 

On Saturday we bundled up back home for the Santa Claus parade. Watching the parade with her this year was so much different than last year. She had her first hot chocolate and first candy cane and tried to dance-run-bounce after the girls in one of the high school dance teams (thanks in part to the candy cane and hot chocolate). So much sugar, so much excitement and so much cute.

This year's sweet face:



Last year's sweet face:


Eep! So little.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Screaming Ducks 5 : Other Team 0

On Sunday we took Frances to her first hockey game. I think she liked it. She sat and watched for the entire first period and intermission. Possibly the longest she's ever sat still. And then she spotted Screech, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles mascot, whom she thought was a duck. 


She really loves ducks. Meeting a duck that could carry her around was definitely the best thing to happen to her since her birthday.


And one small but serious hockey fan.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Blerg. Gah.

Blerg. I think I am busy, I think, this is it. I have no more minutes and no more room on my desk. And then things get busier. And busier. Maybe it just feels like so much or too much right this minute because all I want to do after the middle of November is eat clementines, listen to Nat King Cole and make Christmas tree ornaments. I love this time of year a ridiculously lot. 

In that spirit we're trying to declare December a no-doing-anything month. No extra work. No extra volunteering. No extra anything that we don't want to do. Lots of walks. Lots of hot chocolate. Lots of baby snuggles. Lots of music with jingle bells. And hopefully lots of cookies and sleigh rides. We're trying. We'll see.

I feel like its been so long since I've put more than just a few photos up here. I feel like there is a lot I'm forgetting, but here's what I can remember: 

The little bear has started sleeping late. Like 6:30 to 7:30am late. This is heaven I tell you. The time change a few weeks ago brought with it a new level of sleep deprivation desperation and I decided to try to cut out nursing in the morning. The nursing that I'd been using for months and months to get the bear to fall back to sleep for at least another half an hour, because 4:45am? Really? It took two days. That was it. Two days and now instead of sleeping eight hours she is sleeping ten. Once she even slept eleven. Hindsight, hindsight, hindsight.

We had our first mini-snowfall yesterday. It was beautiful. The first few snowfalls are the best with their great big bouncy snowflakes. The perfect kind of snowflakes for little hands to reach for and admire when really seeing snow for the very first time.

Have you been listening to the news lately? Did you have a quick glance at the calendar yesterday to make sure it wasn't the first of April? I did. Hearing that the US Congress declared pizza a school-cafeteria-vegetable in response to pressure from the frozen food industry made me want to leave the planet. See you later ridiculous backwards planet I'm off to find someplace where common sense still has some pull. Gah.

Lastly, we brought out the paints a few days ago. It was amazing. There was painting on paper:


Painting on hands: 


Painting on bellies: 


And of course, painting on toes: 

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Pretty Pretty Poser


Pretend distracted (or so good at not looking at the camera).


Posing with meow.


A trip to the Fairy Hole trail. It was a nice hike but we didn't make it to the cave at the end. Partly, because the last thirty feet were nearly straight down the side of a cliff. 
And partly because of this:


Someone was not in the mood for hiking. And was not subtle about it.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

On The Farm

Frances is starting to string more and more words together. Like no, moo. This could mean a few things. No, you can't hold the book, the cow puppet has to hold the book. No, you can't share my apple, the cow puppet has to share my apple. Or, no you can't pick me up, the cow puppet has to pick me up. 



Also this week hugging and kissing. Everything. Cow of course, but also the non-cow, like shampoo bottles, elbows and sweet potatoes. After she hugs and kisses them you have to hug and kiss them too. It's only fair really. 

Thursday, November 10, 2011

The Bear with Less Hair

This little bear now has less hair. All week I had visions of little hands reaching up, trying to grab ahold of the deathly-sharp stylist scissors. But that didn't happen. Not at all. Instead she slurped on a chocolate milk, as still as still could be. 

I bought the chocolate milk in the morning and every time the fridge opened a small voice would ask duice, duice? By the time we got to the salon and in the chair she was so focused on (finally) getting the duice no amount of wetting, brushing, trimming and fluffing was going to pull her away.  


Before: waiting our turn.


After: trying to sneak away from the camera.

Also: 


Taking calls.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Pumpkin Love


The weather has turned colder here in the last few days. November is official and with it a sprinkling of snowflakes in this evening's weather forecast. We have had a beautiful fall though and maybe this means there will be snow for Christmas. It definitely means it's time for warmer clothes. Especially, since I feel like I'm already preoccupied with thoughts of the little bean's warmth. She doesn't have slippers on, is she warm enough? I only put two blankets on her when she fell asleep, is she warm enough? Should I have put a second sweater on under her coat? Is she warm enough? 

It's all so different than last year when she didn't have the dexterity to take off socks and shoes and sweaters willy nilly. And we've yet to try hats and mitts. I'm preparing myself for the fact that this winter her clothes removal skills (ha ha, see you later mittens) will outpace her understanding of cause and effect (why are my hands so cold) and just hope that the later catches up with the former before frost bite or first grade.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Boo




She learned how to say boo and kept her tutu on the whole night. I thought it would last a few seconds, maybe long enough for one photo. Such a good little ghost and surely a sign that she wants to be a real ballerina next year. 

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Weekend Winds


We woke up Monday morning to a neighbourhood torn apart by wind. Laying in bed Sunday night feeling the house shift and shake I was sure the roof was going to be pried off as soon as I closed my eyes. No I told myself. This is just a little storm; happens all the time. Not so it seems. Thinking of our friends this week who are thinking about their battered homes. 


We ventured out in Sunday afternoon's wind and rain to buy fireworks for Halloween. You can do that here - walk into a store and buy yourself some fireworks. Crazy times. The place we bought them from sold fireworks and belts and repaired shoes. Diversifying, you know. Many years ago they bought six of these bags. This one (reduced to ten percent of its original price) was on route to becoming new insole in alligator shoes. 
I am pretending that I rescued it. 


Before the fireworks it was the flea market. As much as we love this place, there aren't many (er, no) baby-family-friendly things to do when the outdoors is uninviting. Luckily, Frances doesn't mind hunting for treasures among the mountain of tables and it's only a few blocks from our house. These Russian Matryoshka Dolls may be our very best find yet. Beautiful. 
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