Flying through the Holidays

We're in the car and Laika is kindly doling out little treats to Tineke.  You can't give her the whole container or it will be dumped.  All is going well.  Then Laika starts shouting, "NO Tineke!  Bad Girl!  Bad Girl!"  I say, "Oh Laika, don't yell at her.  Just don't let her get it.  But we don't say 'Bad Girl'.  We don't call you Bad, or Leif or Tineke Bad.  You are not Bad.  Sometimes we make Bad choices, but we are never Bad.  Tineke is not a Bad Girl, she is just making a Bad choice.  OK?"

Laika listens somewhat patiently and then says.  "Ok mom.  But NONE of that is important right now.  I'm trying to solve a PROBLEM right now."

We're at a restaurant and for dessert the kids get a choice of Chocolate, Strawberry or Vanilla ice cream.  Laika chooses Vanilla.  About halfway through she decides, "Next time I will definitely be getting Chocolate."  I say, "But I thought you preferred Vanilla?"  She licks her spoon and replies, "Well.  I prefer FRENCH Vanilla.  This is just plain Vanilla.  It is not quite as tasty as the French kind.  So I will not be ordering this again."

And lastly . . . we are leaving Butchart Gardens after having seen the Twelve Days of Christmas display.  We are noticing the 12 Drummers Drumming as you exit the Garden.  Laika starts loudly whining and hyperventilating.  She is about to cry.  We don't have a clue what has instantly upset her.  "I didn't get to see THEM!  I didn't get to see THEM!"  

"What didn't you get to see Laika?"

The 11 Vipers Viping!  I didn't see the Vipers!"

Well.  We all missed those.  Maybe they'll add them in next year.

Christmas Day 2009

OK here are a bunch of lovely photos taken on Christmas morning.  Thanks so much to my wonderful husband for setting up flashes and capturing these moments so vividly.  I am running on reserve battery power and am in bed - so, not going to say much.

Just that we had a wonderful Christmas!  There is nothing like watching the kids get so excited.  They had been waiting for this day since November 1 (when they could no longer be excited about Halloween!)

Jingle Bell Rock

 . . .  Leif and Laika and I are playing on the carpet and listening to Christmas carols.  Jingle Bell Rock comes on (Brenda Lee's version).  Leif and I start singing along and Laika does a bit of a little dance.

Then she sits down on my lap and says, "Why is this even called Jingle Bell Rock?  It's not really rockin' music."

Gingerbread Curse

The Chef at her preschool came down and made Gingerbread people with the children.  Laika worked so hard and so carefully and gave him pink and purple eyes and a white jellybean mouth.  When I picked her up her eyes were shining with excitement and she had to sort of bite her lips because she was smiling so hard.  I loved it.  We put her coat on, she picked up the gingerbread man and then he fell to the floor and smashed into fifty pieces.  She fell into my arms and cried so hard that she didn't make a sound.  We went back in to the preschool and her teacher gave me a sample gingerbread man that the chef had made.  But it wasn't the same.  It all felt so familiar.  As we left the preschool Laika reminded me that last year on Gingerbread day the exact same thing had happened.  It is a curse.  Luckily we got THREE more opportunities to make gingerbread people this Christmas.  So the ending is happy.  We've all eaten a lot of little gingerbread men with smartie buttons this year.

Now, here is a story from Laika.
It is called "The Princesses of Wonder"


Once upon a time there was a princess named Nina.  Nina was a very nice princess.  She lived in a pink beautiful golden castle.  She played and played with her bunnies and little stuffies.

Then once, there was a mean Queen.   The mean Queen had this potion that was delightful.  But if you pour it on your dress, you become a monster!  But the princess’s molecule thing makes her back into a princess.  She bought it from the toy store.

And then, once came another lady.  And she was very nice.  Then she started to marry her!  But she forgot!  She couldn’t marry her yet, she was too little!  She was just a baby!  She was only one!  So what could she do, she wanted to marry her now, but she couldn’t.

So then she was in a nice crib with her mommy.  And then there was another lady who wanted to marry her mommy!  Then another lady who wanted to marry her mommy.  Then her mommy did get married.

Then her daddy came out and said, “Wo ho ho!” and then he said, “Anita! Wouldn’t you like to go on a walk together?”

“The baby is asleep, so not right now.”

The End

We're Smurfing to a new Home!

Glamour Shots of this Old Place All Cleaned Up

That's my biggest excuse for taking so long in between posts. Trust me, I feel horrible about it, because so many things have happened.

Let's take yesterday for example. We had ice cream sandwiches for dessert. As Erik and I were relaxing in the living room Leif comes running in, yelling, "Mom! Dad! Emergency! Someone pooped on the bathroom light switch! Quick come see!" Faster than you can lower your eyebrows and say, "Eriiikk . . . . " Laika fessed up. "It's not poop! It was my sticky DQ fingers. It was all my thault!"

Anyway. In September we saw an open house in our beloved building, but this home has 3 levels, 3 outdoor spaces (solarium, balcony and patio) and 650 additional square feet. This is our dream come true. But we didn't want to act too quickly, so we took our time and considered other options for a few weeks. Well, long story short - we made an offer and got our house all spiffed up (thanks so much to Auntie K and my mom for all of their hard work! - oh and dad too!) we rented a storage unit and cleared out an obscene amount of toys along with three van loads of miscellaneous junk. All the work did pay off, and our place sold on Saturday after being listed for a week and a half. The little twist here is that the buyers are also the sellers. We couldn't bear the thought of leaving this wonderful area, and neither could the other vendors, who just needed to downsize and lose the stairs! So. We have a little while to dream and plan, as we don't actually move until the beginning of February.

Other news:

Tineke is practicing a lot of words now, and though I would not call this talking, it is that very sweet pre-talking where it's more of a chant. She waves and says "Hiiiii!" She calls Erik "DaaDeeDaaDee"or my favourite, "Daa Eee" and follows me around with the "Mammmammammammamamamama" that all mothers of toddlers are familiar with (I don't want to say it drones on and on - drone has a negative connotation, but it is used a great deal, and generally when I'm not living up to her expectations). She tries to say Laika's name, and though I can't translate it on the keyboard it is recognizable. Our favourite though is "Tickkle tickle tickle" She says this when she's getting tickled and oooh. It is cute.

Halloween Happened:

Leif continues to have issues regarding dressing up at school. It has always been a stress for him! Pajama Day at school! Weird! Who are all you hippies? Backwards day? No way. Halloween? Only on Halloween night, outside trick or treating. This year it was the PA announcement the day before during which the principal said something along the lines of "Looking forward to seeing you all dressed up tomorrow!" So Leif decided that he could not go to school. He WASN'T dressing up, and he also wasn't going to be the ONLY one who wasn't dressed up. This is a battle that I've fought before (and won by the way) but on that dark, rainy October morning I was fine with it (more PJ time for me). Leif stayed home. But that's the last time. On Halloween night we had a great time. The Vampire, Bo Peep,and their pet Dalmatian.

The Paw:

Oh, and Tineke now has a little paw for a right hand. She pulled a chair over and somehow the top of the chair hit her on one little finger nail. I think she is going to lose the nail. The important thing is to keep a bandaid and antibiotic on her sore fingertip. This is a tall order and requires bandaid, medical tape, baby sock up to wrist, girly sock up to shoulder and then shirt on top to hold it all together. It is cute how quickly she's become used to her paw. She picks things up with it, wipes her eyes with it, waves with it. So adaptable. Poor little tiny finger. That's enough updating for today! Goodnight.