The New Look

Still me here, I just look way cooler.

At Home

Well, I guess the short version is that Oma got a great job in her town and I quit my job to stay at home. It was the right decision for all of us...except for the missing each other part.
It's a treat to be home with the kids. I have them both in the morning, and then Violet heads to school after lunch. Jem is in pre-school two afternoons a week, which is when I can work on my business.

I've been wanting to do some big projects with the kids; a giant paper mache spider for
hallow e'en, baking bread, taking little road trips. A big one on my to-do list has been to make a gift for Gavin, our little friend who is fighting brain cancer and is currently stuck in Sick Kids Hospital undergoing high dose chemotherapy. We knew he has lots of presents from friends and family, and were trying to come up with something different. Something that will distract him, make him smile and was easy to use if feeling icky and stuck in bed. It was Violet's idea to take pictures of the goofiest faces they could make and send them to him to help make him laugh. I so hope they do. We popped them in the mail today (so don't ruin the surprise!), but they turned out so nicely I have to share. I am so grateful for this time we have together and the beauty of my sweet children.

Spot on

Violet was doing an imitation of a cartoon character when I stopped her and asked "pretend to be me! What do I sound like?".
Violet, without missing a beat:
"I'm just drinking this Diet Coke!...Jesse, do I look OK in this?...Well, BYE! I've got to work".

It kinda gave me the shivers.

Star Wards

Star Wars has consumed the kids lately. I'm not talking about the prequels here, but the original films. It's made for some fun dialogue around here.

Jem: Mama, I'm being a Bouncy Hunter!
Me: I think you mean a Bounty Hunter?
Jem: No! I'm a Bouncy Hunter!
- - - - -
Jem: Mama, you be Darth Vader and I'll be Luke Skywalker
Me: Ok, Jem...but Darth is knitting, is that OK?
Jem: Darth can knit.
Me (Darth voice): Luke! Pearl two, knit two! Find the rebel base!
Jem: OK! I'll find the where the webels are! (runs off...comes back)
Jem: Darth, can you put your knitting down and fight?

- - - -
Violet: Let's be Han Solo and Leia and kiss and talk a lot!
Jem: Vi-O-Let!

Gulp

Tomorrow Violet starts senior kindergarten and Jem starts pre-school.

The Shadow

So you're just making lunch in the next room. Jem's playing in the living room. Violet is at dance camp. Then you see this...black...out of the corner of your eye. It's moving towards you! It's Jem! It's creepy! He's like a little figure out of a Japanese horror movie (accepting possible titles in the comments section) He's figured out how to completely envelope himself in his snuggly, and he walks around like this. But being Jem, he still has a lego gun in there.Summer is winding down. It's been one full of ups and downs, but mainly ups. School will be starting for UV and Jesse soon, and Jem will be starting at a pre-school for a couple of afternoons a week. I'm both looking forward to and sad about this - but it does mean one good thing - Oma will be back with us soon!

Now we're cooking....

With Nina, that is.

Comedy and Tragedy

Comedy first.
Violet's last days of JK are winding down, and there was a performance for the parents from the JK and SK classes. A few songs with actions, and lots of cuteness all around. I don't have to tell you how much Violet likes to do this sort of thing, so here is a montage. See if you can't spot the ham.
About halfway through I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned, and a mom behind me leaned in and whispered "Wow, Violet's really into this".

I thought bringing Jem with me would be a good idea, but he was very upset that he didn't get to stand up there with her and sing. I kept telling him "I'll let you go up when they're finished. Then it will be your turn". So, he waited as patiently as a two year old can wait. When the performance had finished and the kids were filing off to go back to their classrooms, I let him go up on the stage.
Now, the Tragedy:
Jem jumped up ready to sing, but then noticed everyone was leaving. The man with the guitar had left. And he was HEARTBROKEN. And then he did this:I laughed. Then I teared up. Then I took a picture before I rescued him. Have you seen a sadder boy?
Just in case your heart is breaking a little too, I present a photo taken 10 minutes later. We went to Violet's classroom, he was given a popsicle and got to eat it with the big boys in Violet's class.
All is well.

Prisoner....of love.

Jem: here Mama (hands me his snuggly), you can snuggle my snuggly if you like.
Me: Jem, thank you! Do you know what my favourite snuggly is?
Jem: What?
Me: It's you! My little Jem is my favourite thing to snuggle.
Jem: I'm not your snuggly, I'm your prisoner.

Babes in the wood

The gun issue.

I always had a vague concern that if I ever had a boy, he would love guns, and then what would I do about that? I knew I was never going to be that mom who gave her kids fake guns for toys. Oh, and also my kids were not going to watch TV, and we all know where that went…down the Disney drain!

But one morning there was sweet little Jem sitting at the breakfast table making a gun out of a piece of toast, then out of Lego, my tripod, out of ANYTHING. Since that day, he’s had a weapon in each hand as soon as he toddles out of his room in the morning. Violet has watched exactly the same programs and read the same books as Jem, and has never had even a remote interest in weapons (unless it’s a means to irritate him).

So, I was worried. I stressed about how to break this fascination. I cringed when the mothers in the park would raise their eyebrows when my little boy held up a stick and says “see my rifle?! I’m gonna shoot things!”. Just like I used to do.

One day I asked him "what comes out of guns?"and he said "shooting juice!". We talked about it and talked about it- guns hurt and kill people, and I don’t like them. It changed nothing. I have decided to stop worrying about it, since oddly enough it has nothing to do with killing and hurting. I'm not actually sure what he thinks he's doing when he shoots something.

There’s nothing I can do except lay the rules about where he can point his weapons, and decline to play guns with him when he asks. It’s a bit sad, because my stance makes him try to endear guns to me, “See Mama, this is a nice gun! I’m a nice bad guy! I’m not going to shoot you in the face!” So sweet.

I'm saying "I" a lot because this doesn't bother Jesse whatsoever. Jesse makes him Lego guns.

When he’s older his Uncle Max can teach him about hunting and responsible weapon ownership, but for now I’m just going to let him play.

Peace out.

Late breaking news.

Last night, about 20 minutes after I had put Jem to bed...

Jem: MAMA! Mama! I need you!.....MAAAMAAAA!
Me (running into his room): Yes Jem, I'm here!
Jem: ...I like popcorn.

Jemmies & Violets

I feel like I've been posting a lot about Jem lately. He's at a stage were pretty much everything that comes out of his mouth is cute. He's been trying to convince me that we should plant some "Jemmies", since he discovered that Violet has flowers growing in the garden named after her. I asked him what Jemmies looked like, and he said "yummy white flowers, and yellow too". Speaking of yummy (vegetarians, avert your eyes!), what's a boy to do when his fork is sticky and his hands are covered in sauce? EAT WITH HIS FACE. Violet continues to evade answers about school and draws pretty much non-stop. We're trying to keep her motivated to keep practicing her reading, but if she decides she's not going to do it, she's not doing it.
Violet is always planning her next birthday party. Every time we walk by the cake section of the grocery store, she says "oh! I want that one with the clowns...oh, no, I want the one with the princesses....no! the pink roses one...Mom, can I have the one with the little ice cream cones on it again?". Now that her party is actually in sight (only two months away!) she's been training me on some dialogue that will come off as witty banter between us during her birthday party. I've forgotten exactly how it goes (because one has to tune out some of the birthday talk around here to stay sane), but she gets to say "nope-ity, nope-ity, nooooo!" at the end. I'm sure it will be funny, and I'll make sure to learn my lines for the important day.
Here she is trying on a dress from Libby for Max & Angies's wedding this summer, where she will be the most enthusiastic flower girl anyone has ever seen. She looks so grown up!As soon as I rustle up the video of her performing for Jesse's high school's talent show, I will post it. She was amazing. She sang into a microphone in front of 800 people, danced, and blew the crowd a kiss when she was finished. A true performer.

On becoming a snuggly

We left Jem's snuggly in Toronto, and only realized this calamity when we came home. His snuggly was one of my old maternity t-shirts, stretched out and worn, that he holds it to his face as he falls asleep.
Tonight I offered him another one of my t-shirts instead. I was nervous. Would he accept this substitute? He thought about it, held it for a while, smelled it thoughtfully, and said:
You gave me a t-shirt into my arms, and I feeled it, and I smelled it, and now it's a snuggly!
And he went to sleep.
. . . . . . . .
72 hours of sugar and sunshine (or, Easter weekend, as some might call it):
Violet ensures an even distribution of treats the Easter Bunny hid in the garden.

The booty in the basket.Cupcakes by Teta Peach, enjoyed by all.Jem eats the top off of everything first (even toast).and then bring on the crazy (I mean Violet, not my family in the background).

Deep Dark Jem

I've been terrifying the kids with the story that starts "In the deep, dark, forest...". They scream, laugh, tell me to stop, and then beg me to tell it again. It's good fun. We turned the camera on Jem and asked him for his version.




Transcript:
In the deep dark forest, there was deep, dark, house.
There was deep, dark, basement.
There was darkmantles*....everywhere.
There was spiders, crawling on the bones.
There was....a hair cutting place**.
There was a crow cutting haircuts!

*from the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual that he loves to read.
**Jem gets pretty worried even walking past a hair salon.

One of each

Jem crawled in to our bed one morning a few days ago. He was lying there for a while, then turned to me and said "Mama, I like you...you're....different".
Violet's job is to feed the cat, and she does it with enthusiasm. She'll often give Ruby her scoop, but then skip away, leaving the entire container of food on the floor. I was in the kitchen for this teachable moment:
Me: Violet, put the food away
Violet: OK! I'll do it!
Me: It's that when it's in the middle of the kitchen...
Violet (interrupting): LAME!

I'm bragging here

Look like anyone you know? Yes, this is me as a princess.

Violet is an artist - and I mean a 'crumple-the-paper-in-despair-then-throw-your-marker-when-things- aren't-working-out-with-the-mermaid's hair-and-declare-you-don't-love-anyone-anymore, "even you, Mama!" kind of artist'. I'm so proud. She's always drawing. She doesn't just make a birthday card for someone, she makes 6 birthday cards.
Some highlights from February:

She dreams of summer flowers in our garden.
Our family walking hand in hand. She likes to write the name of the subject about their heads. Her penmanship is so neat for 4 years old. That's an exclamation mark after Jem's name.
A girl goes for a stroll with her cat. Jem is not at all interested in drawing. He prefers to use crayons as drumsticks or weapons - his media is Lego, and is equally amazing in his own way, but that's a post for another day...

Well, this explains a lot.

Tucking Jem in bed last night....

Me: Goodnight Jem!
Jem: Mama, I have little robots in my ears.
Me: Oh, neat. What do they do?
Jem: They tell me not to fight.
Me: That sounds like a good thing.
Jem: But, they're broken....

Helmet head

Know what the problem with having sporty friends is? They make you feel lazy. Especially if you are lazy. I had lunch with a friend a couple of weeks ago. She has kids the same age as Violet and Jem, and she was discussing the skiing lessons, skating and snowshoeing that they were up to. It made me realize that we haven't introduced the kids to any winter sports. Oh sure, we randomly push them into snow banks now and then, but most of their outdoor time is spent running from the front door to the car.
No longer.
We have a magnificent park in the backyard with a skating rink.
So let's do it! Skates all around! Helmets on! Sticks on the ice!Violet was enthusiastic about skating (even though her skates were not pink!). Skating is a bit of a cruel sport for those with little padding around the bones, but she's a trouper.
Jem liked the hockey stick part the best, and never actually wanted to put his skates on. He spent most of the time trying to climb up the slide the wrong way. Good thing he loves to wear helmets.

So it was fun, and then we came in for hot chocolate.
We did it!
The question is, will we do it again?

...and warm wollen nittens

Me: Jem, what do you put on your hands when we go outside?
Jem: Nitts.
Me: Nitts, or do you mean mitts?
Jem: Nitts!
Me: What are mitts then?
Jem: Umm...they're sorta like nitts.