Adoring Adara...And Other Pursuits

Photographer or Music Teacher

2012-02-09T21:01:00.001-05:00

Tonight at Bedtime Adara was talking about how she wanted to be a music teacher, which I was thinking was the first time that she'd mentioned wanting to be anything at all. Then she reminded me that she'd wanted to be a photographer but had changed her mind for now. The photographer thing came up over Christmas when I suggested to Grammy that she lend Adara her digital camera to play around with for a while. Here are the results.

Not bad for four years old, eh? Really, though, with two theatre people in the family, neither music teacher or photographer is really floating my boat. How about stock trader or computer programmer? No? Oh well, fine then, be what you want to be kid! :)

Memories

2012-02-04T20:49:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love when I see a photo of a friends kid on another mom blog and they're wearing something that Adara once wore. It immediately takes me back to that moment and time with her, to whatever age and stage she was at. I compare her at that age to the child currently in the clothes and think happy thoughts about both of them. It doesn't even have to be something that was Adara's to begin with. There are a series of sleepers that have passed back and forth between my friend Jenn and I and I love them just as much each time that I see them. It's like your life, briefly matched to the life of someone else that you love. Perfect.

Singing Bird

2012-01-29T12:58:00.000-05:00

Adara loves the website for tvokids. It has some good videos and some great little games that she can play herself without help. So, while we limit her screen time, I would rather that her screen time was spent playing a game which she actually has to interact with rather then just watching. It helps her with hand/eye coordination, letters and numbers and computer literacy. This is all true, it's also what I tell myself to make myself feel better when my kiddo is playing a computer game so that I can make dinner in peace.
One one of the games on tvokids, there is a little singing bird. When Adara clicks on him to play one of his games, he sings a cheery little song "I'm clicking and learning, and surfing and singing...". It is a very cheery, happy little song that reminds me that she's learning and makes me feel better. Which is, in fact, why I think that bird is there. I think that that bird is specifically in tvokids in order to make parents feel better so that they'll let their kids go on the website. That weirds me out a bit, but I still like his little song.

Growing up girl

2012-01-21T21:29:00.000-05:00

Someday she will stop sucking her thumb and not need to take her cows everywhere with her. But hopefully not soon.

Poppa. That's all.

2012-01-14T21:25:00.000-05:00

Quiet Christmas moments

2012-01-10T21:26:00.000-05:00

This holiday was pretty awesome. I had two full weeks off. Which means lots of time to play board games, watch movies, eat good food, visit with friends and even fit in a mommy's spa date. Kinda perfect really.
Adara finally learned how to play the complex little domino game that my family plays on holidays, Mexican train. That was a major victory and she spent the whole day before her big cousin arrived perfecting it so that she would be able to play to his standards. Success!

Feminism and the Modern Mamma

2012-01-09T10:40:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking a lot this weekend about feminism and being the mom of a gorgeous blond little girl. There's been a series of things that have brought this to the forefront.

First up, Adara's new soccer class. She's in the 4 to 7 year old age group this time which is much more serious and actually uses soccer skills. She's the only girl in a group of eight kids. When I asked her after her first class this weekend if she noticed what was different and what the same between her and her team mates she talked about shirt colours, kicking ability and how much they did or didn't whine when kicked. No mention of gender, so I didn't mention it either. She held her own although there was one seven year old who had a killer soccer kick, hard hitting and fast. As a side note, moms, what do you do when one kids skills are so far ahead that it's actually a bit dangerous for everyone else? Not his fault at all and he's a lovely kid who doesn't shoot at people's faces, but this kid has one serious boot. Thoughts on that?

Second up, we were making a cake and decorating it with our new cake decorating kit yesterday. Adara and I like to bake together, it's our thing. We like mixing and making a mess and decorating. We don't actually eat most of it, we give it away since none of us has a huge sweet tooth. So, after making and decorating the cakes, Len was cleaning out the icing bag for me. He hasn't had much time with Adara lately so I suggested that he go play with her and that I'd clean up. To which Adara responded with "Yeah mamma, it's your job to clean up this big mess, Dadda and I are going to go play". I was trying decide whether to react to that or not, when Len did, gave her heck for telling me to do all of the work and asked her to apologize. She did and we went on with the afternoon. Now, if she and I had been playing and she'd told Len to clean up, would we have reacted the same way? Was it the traditional role models that set us off or the bossy pants tone?

And finally, this morning she says to me "Sometimes girls can be scientists, right?" To which I said "Yes, your cousin Lana is a scientist, you can be too." But why the "sometimes". Girls can be scientists all of the time. Why "girls" and not just "Sometime I could be a scientist, right"? What does that mean.
Thoughts on this moms?

Dancing Queen

2012-01-07T21:18:00.002-05:00

Here is Adara this morning at Highland dance lessons. She is doing a series of steps known as "pas de bras" or in kid language "jump the pond, show your sticker (which in on the inside of her sock), squish the frog". She's been pretty pleased with herself about how well it's been going. After seeing a performance by this dance group in the summer at the beaches celtic festival she was pretty sure that she needed to know how to do that. So, we enrolled in saturday morning dance class.
But, here's the secret, I love doing saturday dance class. It's in the lovely beaches, a mere 5 minute drive or 20 minute bus from our house. I don't have to stay for the whole class if I don't want to and it's a lovely walk to a local tea shop that's not a chain and has amazing croissants of all varieties. It's across the street from a wicked breakfast place where a friend occasionally meets us after class. Plus I get to watch my little piece of business own it in the dance studio. Perfect.

Said by my four year old, early one morning

2011-12-22T14:28:00.000-05:00

"He's no match for me. He's a ninky dinky boy!"

Ok then.

Iatse christmas

2011-12-16T21:01:00.003-05:00

So, last weekend was the event of the year IATSE Christmas. So, for those not familiar this is Len's big work christmas kids party. Len's a stage hand, so one can imagine they go all out!
A track with motorized kids bikes. Two bouncy castles, a blow up train, breakfast for two hundred, a gift from santa, another take home bag of treats.
Plus this year, a magic show, dog show, bird show, 2 clowns and an aerial acrobat.
Oh right, and the snowing. In the opera centres rehearsal hall. Over all 200 hundred people. These people know how to throw a Christmas party! Adara was very able to navigate it on her own this year. During the magic show, she wandered off by herself. Len and I watched and giggled to ourselves from across the room as she siddled up to an eight year old boy that she'd been playing with earlier. And he let her. She watched much of the magic show cuddled right up to the eight year old and his ten year old friend. How does she get away with this?

This year we followed up iatse christmas with another friends Chanumas open house. It was very popular as their was a new dog plus a bevy of kids to play with in a large basement.

This weekend my friend Tracey's party (no other kids, but a cat... we'll see) and her good friend Emmas birthday. Plus, 2 batches of cookies and pie crusts to make in preparation for heading home to my parents place.

It sounds like we're too busy, but we're not. All of this "extra stuff" is what gives me energy and drive for my long weeks at work. After a terrible end of day at work today, Adara and I made a craft and had a very boisterous dance party for two. Perfect.

Remember us?

2011-10-28T21:05:00.000-04:00

We're here too. She's just cuter and someone always has to be taking the picture. Thanks to our friends Mark and Laura's wedding we got out kid free for a summer wedding, so here we are lookin' good.

Swimming

2011-10-22T21:02:00.000-04:00

Adara had been doing wonderfully over the summer with swimming, getting really comfortable in the water in her life jacket and without. So, it was time to set her free. Last year we did guardian swim which meant that I was in the water holding her all the time. The problem is, I never take my hands off her. The thing that's funny about swimming is you have to sink a little bit to learn what the opposite is. So, we signed Adara up for one on one lessons. We went for our first lesson and Adara was immediately comfortable. At the first lesson, the lovely lifeguard, Anya, let Adara sink a bit. She didn't like it, but now she certainly knows what's needed to stay afloat!

To my Four Year Old Adara

2011-10-16T07:43:00.000-04:00

Hello Bella, Happy Birthday. As you laid on my chest asleep last night, I had some time to think back on four years. What a ride! At the risk of exposing my bias, I think that this past year was my favourite yet. You've become cunning and witty, bossy and charming, analytical and athletic. You are a whole little person unto yourself and heaven help the person who crosses you.

Tonight, while singing to me Oh Canada, you skipped the word God. When I asked you why you said it was a bad word. Worrying that my own leftist liberal tendencies might have got to you I asked why and you said "You know,when I say OH GOD!!! you say that that's bad. So God is a bad word". Ah, right. This is a level of subtlety that I was not expecting to cover yet. However in the past month we've covered "Where do babies come from?" (mommies and daddies, end sentence) "Will Daddy die?" (yes, eventually) and "Will Daddy die and come back as a zombie (said gleefully)" (not likely, but who can say, really?) It's been a pretty exciting year keeping up with you.

The major advances this year have been athletically and scholastically. You can hit a ball that's pitched to you pretty much every time now, can catch like no ones business, climb far too easily and outgrew the preschool soccer, you didn't want to "play soccer with those babies, they don't know what they're doing".

Scholastically, this was your first year of school. You seem to be doing pretty well although are seriously put out by the fact that this school thing will go on for the forseeable future. You've got your letters pretty well under control, can spell and write your name as long as no one cares too much if you do and can count to thirty. Not bad kiddo, not bad. Now learn to read. No, seriously, learn to read. You like stories far too much you need to make this leap now before I get laryngitis from reading out loud.

You also have shown serious aptitude for drawing, drawing dinosaurs, people and birds from all different angles and levels of action.

Adara, we love you so much. You are the light of my life and the thing that makes me step away from work when things are hectic. Surprisingly, you've become the centre of my life balance, the counterweight to all else.

I look so forward to the years ahead. As you lay on your tummy this past weekend ably working my old record player from the 1970's I thought "Wow. What a lot we still have to explore together". I can't wait.

Happy Birthday Adara

Thanksgiving rough housing

2011-10-14T20:48:00.002-04:00

Thanksgiving was at our house once again this year and was a gorgeous, hot, sunny day. Mom and dad came for the whole weekend and did swimming lessons with us and all. The rest of the fam came for sunday and Monday.

As you can see it, it got a little rough! Len made a crown roast of pork and fixings, dad took care of desserts and Kristen was the queen of wine and cheese and beer. Really, what more could you ask for?

Poser

2011-09-20T20:59:00.000-04:00

Adara has developed quite a penchant for posing for pictures lately. Here's some of my favourites. I have a feeling that the "poser" may become a regular feature here!

2011-09-09T09:25:00.002-04:00

Well, we are there far too quickly: Adara's first day of school. On a lovely, far too sunny september 9th morning we made the trek half a block over to school and still managed to arrive just in time!

Last night Adara suddenly decided to wear the mermaid dress that we'd had made for her instead of her ratty old dinosaur tshirt. I'm convinced that she did it to please me even though I said nothing about the dino tshirt being ratty.

This morning she wanted to know if she wore her shoes in the school or not and if that was "rude". Obviously she's been thinking about it. With a new backpack and lunch bag and an applesauce for snack, she was off. I can't help but feel that this is the beginning of it all. Dramatic, I know, but the beginning of all choices and chances and opportunities in life. However, she's just happy that they have trucks and a play kitchen to play with. Kristen, this one was a big one, it'd better be in my blurb book at Christmas, that's all I'm saying!

2011-09-08T20:50:00.000-04:00

Here's a couple of shots from our camping adventure the last week in august.
We all took the week off and headed to Highland Pines near Fergus, ON. We rented a wee cabin with no plumbing or anything to protect us from any rain, provide us with real beds and shelves to keep things tidy and easy to get at. It was pretty awesome, and thank heavens we were in a cabin as we had one evening and night of torrential rain, high winds, and three tornados circling us. No harm came to anyone but it was a wild night. We made two new little friends, Rachel and Brodie and their mom Jen out camping. So, the night of the tornados we had them, plus my sister and Liam, plus our friends Pablo, Carrie and their two little girls in two little huts. Quite a night, but I'm glad that we were all together.
Otherwise we spent the week looking out over an idyllic lake, swimming in the pool and playing in the playground. The only thing missing was a wee place to get coffee and tea. Making that over a campstove is time consuming!

Gluten free victory

2011-09-05T21:03:00.000-04:00

The other day Adara and I visited a friends house where they were making muffins. I was feeling bad that between her nut allergy and Len's wheat sensitivity, I couldn't easily do the same for her.
So, with the help of the internet, several substitutions for what was on hand and a bit of ingenuity, I bring you

MY VERY FIRST WHEAT FREE, NUT FREE BANANA MUFFINS! TA DA
Beat two eggs until frothy, add 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 previously frozen bananas (sweeter this way!)\, 3/4 cup brown sugar and tsp vanilla

Mix together

Then Add 1/2 cup rice flour, 1 and 1/2 cups corn flour, 11/4 tbsp baking powder, 1 tbsp pumpkin spice (or a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice to taste) and 1tsp salt

We baked them in a cupcake pan for 22 minutes at 350 degrees F

I am inordinately proud of myself as I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed about baking for wheat free and nut free. But now, I am off and running 'cause those muffins were darn good! Even my dad would have eaten them!

The New Dress

2011-09-02T20:47:00.000-04:00

Here's Adara's new dress made by an old highschool friend who I recently got back in contact with. Adara went online with me and chose the two fabrics for a dress. She's suddenly gotten dress crazy and we only had three, so the situation had to be rectified immediately!

Of Tornados

2011-08-30T20:55:00.002-04:00

Many friends and family have been asking how my home town of Goderich is after the F3 tornado that ripped through last week. My parents and their properties are fine. But Goderich is pretty destroyed. Every tree in the square was felled, the 15 historic buildings on west street were decimated and will have to be pulled down and several homes were levelled. Thankfully there were very few injuries and only one death. All of the major businesses and industries in town were also decimated including the grain elevators, salt elevators and volvo factory. I won't be posting any pictures here as it's pretty upsetting but there's plenty to see online. If you want to help Goderich you can go to the Huron Perth United way website or text UCARE to the number 45678 before thursday. Thanks for all your concern.

Of haircuts and the like

2011-08-25T20:58:00.000-04:00

For one reason or another, getting her hair cut has always for Adara been an outing with daddy. I've missed every single one of her haircuts. But, they seem to make such a fantastic day of it, that I don't begrudge them their outing! It always seems to involve some stops at cafes for cookies for some and lattes for other, a park stop or two and maybe even lunch. Here's the latest haircut outing.

2011-08-15T20:53:00.002-04:00

Well, here it is, and what a night of family and fun it was!

These are all the pics from our neighbour on union road, Laura's wedding to the love of her life, Mark.
It was a beautiful afternoon and evening in a gorgeous old church redone as a wedding venue/restaurant. The food was amazing, everyone was gracious and lovely and it was great to get to spend time with all the adults in the family sans kids for a night, as much as we love them.
Len and I had an amazing time and were only sorry that we had to head off as early as we did to return to the wee monkey in Toronto.

I wonder how long the night went on for everyone else?

THE PICTURE OF THE YEAR

2011-07-31T21:51:00.000-04:00

Each year at the Aunts cottage, Kristen has managed to get a picture of Adara that is in some way iconic or indicative of who she was at that moment. This year was harder because she wouldnt' hold still! Nontheless she got some good shots. I leave it to you to decide, which is the most Adara this year?

The new house

2011-07-27T21:34:00.000-04:00

For those of you who have been asking, here's a few pics of the new house.
The renos have been going like made. In the first three weeks Len oversaw everything and did all the demolition. We replaced the plumbing, electrical, checked for termites (none), waterproofed the basement, put in a new furnace and ducting, hauled old railway ties out of the backyard, painted, refinished all the floors and put in new stairs to the third floor.
We've decided to pause here for a while and enjoy the rest of the summer. The refinish of the basement will just have to wait.

Camping glories

2011-07-24T21:44:00.000-04:00

For the first time in 22 years I went camping with my parents. With Kristens help we borrowed a tent trailer for a week away in Miller Lake. From the first moment that Adara saw it she was in love with the trailer. She climbed right up on her bunk, got out all her toys and was in seventh heaven, chatting away to herself in her "own little house" The campground itself was wonderful. It had a sandy shore, shallow lake, big inflatables for the big kids (and me!) to swim out to and climb on, fish to catch in a net (Adara) crafts to do in the rec hall, a great playground as well as ping pong, horseshoes and a great store. And glory be the store had wonderful tea with milk and honey for me to wander down and get while the wee one was napping and grammy was in charge. It's hard to over estimate how important a really good cup of afternoon tea is to me!
Hopefully Kristen or mom has some pics of Liam and Poppa and I climbing on the massive inflatables because it was a tour de force. I'll try to upload the video of Adara holding the fish that she caught (minnow) as well.

In general it was peaceful and easy and relaxing and fun and I can't wait to do it again!

Beach babes and boys

2011-07-19T21:40:00.002-04:00

Here's some great pics of Adara and her cousins playing on the beach and at the campground while we were away on vacation last week. We were up at Miller Lake near Tobermory and also near Kincardine at a cottage that my Aunts' rent each year. It was glorious to just be taken care of for a whole week! Thanks family.

Holidays

2011-07-02T16:40:00.001-04:00

Adara and I are off tomorrow camping with mom and dad for the week and visiting with family. We're really looking forward to it! Yesterday we did the traditional east york carnival for Canada day and then a lovelly bbq at a friends parents house. A really awesome day and the first Canada Day since Adara was born in which no one cried. Whoo HOoo! Small victories. Part way through the bbq last night, Adara just laid down in the middle of our hosts deck and went to sleep. Probably a good plan. Hopefully I'll have time for more posts and some pics when we're back.

Goodbye

2011-06-01T12:13:00.002-04:00

On Monday after six years, we said goodbye to our house and moved onto a new one. We loved our little "doll house" but it was time for new challenges and new surroundings. So, on Monday my valiant mom and dad came and joined us for the big move. After 10 hours of moving, it was done.

As always, I'm sad when I say goodbye to a home. I think of all of the good years that have gone by and the things that I'll miss. This is the home that I brought my baby home to. This is where we celebrated her first birthday and had a massive operatic backyard 60th birthday for our friend Bruce. Len and I went back together yesterday, cracked a kilkenny and walked around the house and yard, remembering and saying goodbye. Adara was a bit beside herself, truly overwhelmed by the whole experience. However, in another week or two we'll be into the new house which is being renoed now and she'll feel better in her lovely new bedroom.

So, for now, a sad goodbye to my first home. Good, bad and all, it was my home and I lived and loved in it.

Belated Mothers Day Post

2011-05-15T18:01:00.002-04:00

Mothers Day began with Adara waking me at a very leisurely 9 am with her gifts to give me. She gave me the card and bracelet, but in the end could not be parted from her beloved self painted treasure chest. She showed it to me, informed me that I was sharing with her and took it to her room. Len and Adara went off to swimming lessons while I organized breakfast. After breakfast we headed for Royal Bottanical Gardens and had a big walk. Post gardens, we came back to town and found a new little pub, the Ceili House on Queen East. We ate a beautiful charcouterie plate and had a beer with Adara lying on my lap the whole time. Quite lovely, really! Len also came home with a new yellow rose bush for me, which Adara and I planted at the new house yesterday.

We're here, just quiet

2011-05-03T17:50:00.002-04:00

Hello all, it's been a long absence as we've been managing many life changes at once. Most importantly, we bought a house (the last day that I wrote) and sold a house (last wednesday). As you can imagine this long delay between the buy and the sell resulted in a good deal of stress. But all is well now, and we move forward. Len and I had a thrilling "furnace shopping date" this am, as we prep for all the work on the new house. It was fun actually, to grab a cup of tea, and tour around looking at furnaces and flooring without the sweet babe chattering at us the whole time. :)

Me In New York

2011-03-04T21:12:00.006-05:00

Thanks to airmiles and my friend Heather being here on work and having a lovely hotel room, I've had a little New York mini vacation this week. I arrived on Wednesday and Heather and I did a lovely french dinner and saw La Cage Aux Folles while drinking a great slug of red wine out of an absolutely ridiculous souvenir sippy cup! (I'd include the pic but I promised not to embarass Heather and it's of her).
Then on thursday we did up SOHO, Tribeca, the Tenement museum, and Times Square as well as walking the Brooklyn Bridge. Walking the Brooklyn bridge was absolutely inspiring. To think that they built all of this in the late 1800's is absolutely astonishing. i totally want to find a novel about that, it's fascinating! The tenement museum was also cool. We saw some of the apartments in the immmigrant neighbourhoods which were in the state that they were found in after having beeen closed up from about 1930 to 1980. And then we went into one that they had recreated and researched the life of one of the families that lived there. It was an Irish family that lived there in 1890. Really cool!
We also went to a crazy chocolate boutique that does really unusual savory flavours. And we had doughnuts from a world renowned doughnut place. Heather had peanut butter and jam, I had pistachio. That was lunch

Today we headed out for shopping (new shoes, $50, thank you) and the Museum of Modern Art. Then Heather had to rest before her show so I struck it out solo. Before my family asks, no I did not get lost, not even once. I did Macy's, took in an impromptu street breakdancing show, the Empire state building, walked 5th avenue to see Sacs and Gucci and Tiffany's and the like, toured by Central Park and did two cathedrals, St. Patrick and St. Thomas.

At the churches I lit a candle for my sister and my mother in law as they are both Catholic and St. Patricks is the largest cathedral in the US. It was pretty amazing.
The Empire State building was pretty cool too, the vistas were amazing and I had purchased the audio guide so it pointed out each side of the building very clearly and what I was seeing. A really impressive way to get a sense of the scope of the city.
I have to say that the only dissapointing piece was Times Square. Many friends have described it as an overwhelming but exciting impression of lights and people. I think that after Hong Kong, Times square doesn't really strike me that way so much.
Nontheless, a super cool trip. I'm having a brief break now before joining Heather post show for one last jaunt and then home tomorrow.

Us on Fastforward

2011-02-25T21:55:00.003-05:00

This week:
2- days with no daycare, one with my provider ill, one with Adara ill
1- so far trips to the clinic to get Adara's ears flushed out. There may be another yet as she's still complaining that they hurt
2- grants written and ready to go in at work
3- trips to the city of Toronto licensing office to try and settle my works bloody public hall license. Kafkaesque in it's ridiculousness
1-house conditionally purchased (conditionally people, don't get your hopes up and don't get too attached yet, there's a road to travel)
1- trip planned to New York for me with my friend Heather next week. Thank the gods for airmiles and friends with hotel rooms. Perhaps unfortunately timed given the above mentioned conditional house purchase, but nontheless

= 1 exhausting and emotional week.

The tent

2011-02-21T21:48:00.000-05:00

Built with love by daddy, it took up our entire couch and much of the living room. It stayed up for three days and was much beloved.

New Boots

2011-02-16T21:38:00.000-05:00

I have been looking for new black boots since last March. I'm quite specific about black boots. They must be stylish and able to worn with jeans and dress pants, but also eminently wearable. I often find myself walking a half an hour or more in the city, either because I'm thinking about something or because the transit system has failed me and it's just easier to walk. My boots must have a heel, but not too much heel, must be fashionable but classic. I gave up last spring. Last week, I found these beauties. They are Josef Siebels which is a super comfortable, well supported brand of shoes that I've always wanted to buy but never been able to afford. They were onsale. For $85. Down from $285. Budget be damned these beauties were going home with me!

These are my old boots. I will still keep them and wear them because they're still functional and have a slightly different look then the new ones. Plus, I'm frugal. How frugal, you ask? These boots are nine years old. They are older then my child, house and marriage.
And you know what, I'm proud of that. I really despise our throw away society. Here's hoping that the new ones will give me nine years too. Meanwhile, I'm off to the cobbler to put my third pair of new soles on the old ones. Ta Ta.

Adara's quotes of the week

2011-02-14T10:22:00.002-05:00

Adara: "What wrong with you mamma?"
Me: "Nothing honey I'm just frustrated and tired"
Adara: "Why don't you go to bed"
Me: sigh.

Adara singing quietly to herself this morning "I am a mystery, a little, messy mystery..."
Yes, yes baby girl, you are.

This week in snow

2011-02-12T21:32:00.001-05:00

It's been pretty intense. Tonnes of snow and bitter cold winds. On the upside Adara loves the snow. Earlier this week it was a lovely -1 out and beautiful flakes were falling from the sky. Adara and Len played in the backyard while I made ratatouille for dinner. They came in after it was in the oven, a full hour later and then only because Len insisted. She also loves helping me to shovel and clear off the car in the morning. If only it wasn't so darn cold this week. You'll also notice that the every popular kitty hat/balaclava is riding again. Thanks Viv!

Kindergarten Registration

2011-02-09T21:24:00.002-05:00

We registered Adara for kindergarten last week. Before the appointment she was very concerned that we "not leave her there". However once she got there she was more concerned with when she might get to play with all of the kids who were outside tugging each other around in sleds. She knew all her colours and shapes and could open the jars and lace the pictures up and do up the zippers, etc. It was quite fun to watch out of the corner of our eyes as the school representative put her through her paces. We realized how well she takes direction from everyone but us!

Oops!

2011-02-02T09:51:00.001-05:00

Adara fell into the toilet last night. All the way in, just folded in two like a little jacknife and fell in butt first. She was trying to go on the potty like a big girl and didn't want my help at all.
After pulling her out and drying her off and drying her tears, I began to laugh helplessly. I couldn't help it, it was so funny to see her little feet stuck up in the air and the surprise on her face. Soon she was laughing too and then we just laid on the floor of the bathroom and laughed and laughed. I believe that this is one of those memories that will make me laugh despite myself forever. I will be on the subway some day, years from now, laughing about my blonde angel falling in the toilet.

Social Life

2011-01-21T11:56:00.002-05:00

This winter Adara is developing her own social life and hobbies. She's enrolled in dance class on saturdays and gymnastics on sundays. Dance class she does on her own, which is the first time that I haven't had to be in the room for one of her classes. A definite change and it's interesting to try and gather from her after how the class went as parents aren't even allowed in the class. She is very proud of her galloping skills and will show them off, hands jauntily on her hips, to anyone who asks. Gymnastics, she's not so into, but loves the opportunity just to jump around.
For Len and I it's a move towards the world of a preschooler. Classes and events, teachers and schedules. It's nice to see her reacting so well to authority figures and we hope that this will be a good lead into her school years.
It does make me a bit teary, though!

New Years Day

2011-01-03T16:35:00.002-05:00

We had an old school New Years Day here at the Fry/Stannard household: one like I used to have post university. In the morning I got up and played with the kiddo while Len and I prepped a big brunch for friends. Homefries, bacon, poached eggs, toast, champagne and orange juice and Heather brought fruit salad. Several friends and some kids came around 10, ate some food, drank some champagne and then the scrabble began. I handily defeated my two guests and husband. They sulkily (or not so sulkily) went home around 1pm, just as Lisa arrived. We redid the brunch thing for her (she had stayed out much later the night before then the rest of us), more champagne and orange juice (now fresh squeezed by Lisa herself) and another round of scrabble, at which I got hammered. Then, Lisa, Len and I took down the Christmas tree and I made up a lasagna for the family. Lasagna was consumed in front of the tv for a perfect end to a perfect, lazy New Years Day.

Christmas Tree

2010-12-23T12:33:00.000-05:00

A few weeks back we finally got around to putting up the Christmas tree along with the help of my good friend Lisa.
The carols were on the stereo, the hot chocolate (and wine) was out along with the dark chocolate. It was a red letter evening.
As always, Adara was a big fan of the box that the tree comes in. It's a great little house.

And I, after a lovely and lengthy evening of tree decorating and imbibing found myself sleeping in front of my gorgeous tree. Some traditions never get old!

Preparing to Skate

2010-12-20T12:38:00.005-05:00

The first time skating requires a lot of planning and preparation. The new skates from Auntie kristen, Uncle Greg and Liam had to be tried on. The helmet had to be adjusted and had a face plate added. Everything had to be sharpened. It was all very important.
In the end Adara was thrilled with her first skate, but my back was nearly broken by the enterprise!

Baking Cookies

2010-12-05T15:33:00.001-05:00

Adara and I have been doing a little cookie baking lately. So far we've made vanilla sugar cookies and peanut butter, toffee cookies.

The lovely Dennnie bought Adara her own apron which she loves to wear as we go to our mixing and arranging. She's so darned determined to crack the egg on her own though! Do you guys remember what a victory that was the first time you succesfully cracked an egg?

2010-11-28T15:38:00.002-05:00

Another IATSE Christmas

2010-11-28T15:19:00.003-05:00

Len's work (the stage hands union) alwasy does a party for all of the kids of the members for Christmas on a sunday morning so that all of the members can attend. It is an affair to remember, taking over three of the Canadian Opera Company's rehearsal halls it's so large. So, this morning, we got dressed all pretty to go...

We got there and got ourselves some bacon (and eggs, sausages,pancakes, coffee, ham, potatoes, etc.)

The event was massive as always, with a acrobat/balancing act this year, two craft making tables, three bouncy castles, a blow up train and...
The electric rider track. This was the highlight of the party! Adara was so amazingly adept at steering around all of the other kids that the operators and other parents were commenting. Particularly remarkable since there wasn't another child under five years of age even attempting navigating the ring on these bad boys.
And then, we got our faces painted, got a gift from Santa (last this year, and she was without a complaint for the enitre 45 minute long wait) and called it a day.

Walking Baby

2010-11-09T21:34:00.000-05:00

I have to say that I'm thrilled that Adara and I had our first trip out to "take baby for a walk" a few weeks back on a lovely sunny day. This was the first time she asked, so i made sure that there was room in the big stroller for both "baby and baby and baby stroller" in case they got tired and off we went. She walked a very solid six or seven blocks before giving into exhaustion. I loved it as I have such strong memories of walking my babies up and down the street.

The Great Ship Alvie

2010-11-09T20:08:00.002-05:00

Tonight, Pirate Captain Adara and Pirate Mamma built a ship. A great and mighty ship!
With a bold and brave flag!

And many passengers carefully tucked into their beds with their babbas in the below ships...

As well as on the fore deck. We can't wait for Pirate Captain Dadda to come home and see it!

Celebrating out west

2010-11-05T16:01:00.000-04:00

Adara got to celebrate her actual birthday out west with Len's mom and dad, and cousin Jericha and Aiden and all the aunts and uncles.

The Fairy/Pirate, Dragon/Cowboy

2010-11-03T21:13:00.003-04:00

Halloween with Adara was an interesting event requiring much inventiveness and creativity; but we were up to the task!
For weeks Adara had been saying that she was being a transformer. So, lazy mom that I am, I had established that such a costume existed at the store. Then she returned from out west saying that she would be a fairy as she'd been playing fairy with cousin Jericha. Fine, she'd returned with a new fairy dress and wings, so all good, nothing required of us. On saturday when we had a toddler halloween party, I realized that she'd envisioned a fairy wearing wings and nothing else. Hmm... that wont' work. So, I suggested fairy pirate as obviously pirates must wear pants and boots and hats and things. No problem she loved that. We dressed her in jeans, a shirt, her tall brown boots with the pants tucked in , her pirate hat, fairy wings and fairy wand. All good.
Then on sunday, 5 minutes before trick or treating she announced that she would be a cowboy. What? I don't have anything resembling a cowboy costume except the same brown boots and a neck kerchief. This was no costume that anyone on the street would recognize, she was going to be dissapointed. So looking desperately around the room I yelled "how about a cowboy dragon?" She loved it and so we were off. jeans, jean jacket, neck kerchief, her cowboy hat (because it has a lariat tie), ever popular brown boots (thanks auntie Kristen!) and the dragon tale (thanks Gretel of Fancy Pants Kids). A cowboy/dragon. The neighbours loved it and Halloween was saved for annother year! I shudder to think of what next year might bring!

Adara's Birthday, Very Belated

2010-10-31T15:54:00.002-04:00

Here's Adara's birthday as celebrated in our backyard on thanksgiving and then, at Liam's request, at Casa Loma in Toronto.

Gratitude

2010-10-10T08:56:00.002-04:00

We've had a pretty hard couple of weeks here between massive work being done on the house, jury duty for me and a lot of difficulties at work. It's been challenging and we've been tired.

That being said last night when the drywall dust was finally cleaned up, the laundry done, Adara's birthday cake prepped and everything cleaned up, I was happy. It is a cliche, but we are lucky. I was at the Mayors luncheon for the arts this week and the incomporable Molly Johnson was singing here song Lucky. If you get a chance to check out the tune on itunes, do. It's a swinging, glorious anthem to how lucky she is to lead the life she does. And you know what, us too. We are surrounded by brilliant artists and craftsmen all of the time who's job is to use their knowledge to bring joy (or sorrow) to the masses on the stage. It's a wicked cool job and the only thing that I ever wanted to do, even when it's not going very well this week.

Meanwhile, I have these two gorgeous ones to frame my days. Adara is joyful and excited right now as she learns to count and learns her letters it's like every day she can't wait for one more discovery. There is no anxiety to her learning, it's just plain discovery.
So, today with the whole family (except for Greg who is in Afghanistan) coming, we are filled with gratitude.

Daddy/Uncle Time

2010-09-28T20:49:00.000-04:00

Jury Duty (advance notice, I'm whining here people, whining)

2010-09-25T15:04:00.002-04:00

So, I went in for jury duty as called at the beginning of this week. Everyone I know who had been called sat and worked on their laptops all week waiting to be chosen for a jury and was sent home. So I was expecting that and thinking, "Ok, I can still launch my eight show season from the jury room, this is doable". But no, not for me. I got put on a jury pretty much right away. Which means that all this week from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm I'm in the courtroom listening to witnesses. At night I'm racing home, spending time with Adara and then trying to get my real job done. I'm completely overwhelmed and Len is working crazy hours too. I haven't cried this much from stress since university. I get that this is my civic duty and all, but all the rest of the jurors are just being jurors, not running a company too. Anyways, that's my whinge for today. It will all be done on tuesday or wednesday if we can agree on if he's guilty or not. Then, back to regularly scheduled programming.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-22T13:47:00.000-04:00

Royal Bottanical Gardens

2010-09-20T16:38:00.000-04:00

Last week I was looking for a fun family labour day activity that took advantage of being outside. I found it in the Royal Bottanical Gardens in Burlington.
Len and I thought that maybe we'd get to wander for an hour or so and see a couple of the gardens.
An hour and a half into a thus far picture perfect day we headed out to hike 1.2 km from one garden to another through a marshy area with Adara in the stroller. It was amazing! We got to see all kinds of birds on the way and people gave us seeds to feed to them so that they would come and land on Adara. And they actually did land on her hand.

We saw a muskrat and a hawk and countless chipmunks, cardinals, blue jays and chickadees. Adara got to pet a lot of dogs. The day was sunny and gorgeous and pretty much perfect. To top it all off after three and a half hours of wandering the gardens, Adara was still in great humour. So, we sat at a tea house under a big umbrella as it started to rain and had a lovely lunch and glass of wine while she coloured. Pretty much my ideal and perfect day.
So, what does one do when they find the perfect family outing? Buy a membership of course! Anyone want to join us next time?

Adara's fashion sense

2010-09-16T20:34:00.002-04:00

Adara has a quite distinct sense of fashion. She prefers bright coloured shirts with graphic images of boy like things like dinosaurs or planets or robots. She in fact choses these shirts almost every day. She absolutely refuses to wear dresses.
Except in this case, where she was bribed with candy because I just had to see this gorgeous dress on her. The bribe held, she wore it all day. Thanks for the gorgeous dress Auntie Kristen!

Adara and Griffin

2010-09-07T21:02:00.000-04:00

Will either end up married or bloodying eachothers noses, the jury is out.

They had all these amazing moments of quiet imaginative play together. They played Doctors and Vets and Mom and Dad and a lot of Dragons.

But in the end, ya gotta go for the classice, Pirates! These hats were the end of the week, as the pirates sailed off into the sunset.

Jumping

2010-09-06T20:57:00.000-04:00

From jumping on the bed, to jumping in the jolly jumper to jumping with an Auntie, jumping never loses it's charms.

The adults

2010-09-05T20:56:00.001-04:00

Yep, we were there too!

Attack!

2010-09-04T20:48:00.000-04:00

An extremely popular game at the cottage was ATTACK! in all it's forms. From the ever popular hammock attack with all of it's vagaries, to more direct forms of attack it was a great use of kid energy.

Mostly I admit that it was used for evil. Ie: All of the tired adults suggesting that the kids attack Rafa as in these pics.

Fireside

2010-09-03T20:44:00.000-04:00

Here's Adara's first campfire. After sitting by the fire for about 10 minutes and collecting crab apples for "stew" for another 20, she declared herself tired. Stumbling into the tent set up for Liam's privacy, she watched the fire out the front flap for 5 minutes before falling into a very contented, fully dressed sleep.

Quiet Cottage Moments

2010-09-02T20:38:00.000-04:00

In case it seems like there wasn't any, here's some quiet cottage moments.

Located on Rice Lake near Cobourg, our cottage was a gorgeous lake front property with two docks, two hammocks, a swing, and a ridiculous number of random outbuildings, boats and motorized vehicles!

We enjoyed gorgeous sunsets, quiet moments on the end of the dock. We taught Liam to play euchre and backgammon, the boys watched a kung fu movie, the girls drank wine and Len even got in one nap on the dock.

Sadly, Adara chose this moment to cut all her naps, so the quiet was pretty intermittent, but present nontheless.

Us

2010-09-01T21:08:00.001-04:00

Yep, we're this sad. We are the only cottaging family to fail to get a beautifully posed in front of the lake family photo. We forgot. Even though, a photo for everyone for Christmas was on my list. Yaou see, my friends Julia and Jenn are really awesome photographers so I was going to steal their skills and skip the pro photographers costs. Except that I forgot. Entirely. So, this is what we have, a very accurate family photo. We're too darn busy to take a pic for you folks, we're shuckin' corn!

Diego and Liam

2010-08-31T20:31:00.000-04:00

My nephew Liam who was at the cottage with us, is a really cool kid. From birth he's been laid back, funny, curious about the world and not a huge talker unless he's asking questions about how things work.

Julia and Rafa's son, Diego is quite similar. Gesturing with only his eyes and head he quite adequately conveys his desire for food or toys or cuddles. He's a sweet and good tempered kid wiht a curious mind.

Not surprisingly, Liam and Diego banded together during their week at the cottage. In the face of awesome but out of control toddler wildness, these two were engaged in a quiet little week long conversation.

Cottage Frisbee

2010-08-30T19:36:00.000-04:00

The frisbee came out this week. I've gotten substantially better at this as an adult. As a kid, the whole concept totally escaped me.

Clearly the concept is not foreign to Adara.

Our gorgeous cottage kids

2010-08-29T21:13:00.002-04:00

We spent all of last week at the cottage with my university friends Jenn and Julia and their families. We rented a three bedroom up near Cobourg, for all eleven of us. Yes, that's right eleven. Len, Me, Adara and our nephew Liam, Rafa, Julia and Diego, Jenn, Steve, Griffin and Corben. For those who are counting that's four under the age of four.
Len really noticed all of the new things that Adara got to experience, so here's a list of Adara's cottage firsts
1) First time picking a fresh apple off the tree and eating it. And the 2nd, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh too. She was a big fan of this activity.
2) First bonfire
3) First time falling directly into a bonfire. Thank you so much Steve for the quick grabbing hands and Oh Good Heavens My Heart, was that actually sparks in my baby's hair! She's totally fine, not a mark on her.
4) First time sleeping in a tent. We tried when she was eight months, but she didn't sleep at all
5) First time falling down the same flight of stairs twice in the same hour. Yep. Also fine, no damage
6) First time sitting on a dock dangling her feet in the water

For Liam, who is ten, I think that that might have been his first slingshot. (sorry Greg and Kristen, we had to have it) And wow, was it cool, I could have played with it all day. A sweet rubber part, with a leather pouch for holding the ammo and an arm guard for stability. Really sweet.
Toy wise, there was also a bevy of foam airplanes, some new bubble blowers, some wicked cool pirate hats (to be seen later this week) and some really unfortunate balloons. I had no idea that a couple of balloons could cause half an hour of crying, wailing, toddler chaos as everyone tried to claim their favourite. Let me tell you when the kids went to sleep, those balloons were quietly popped and disposed of!
For the adults, there was some great cards played, some kung fu video action and a lot of beer and wine. Len and I also fit in some very quick antiquing in Hastings.
So, that's our cottage week. Stay tuned all week for photos and more details.

Camping

2010-08-15T21:37:00.001-04:00

While Len was away camping Adara felt the need to take part. So, why not?

The gauntlet

2010-08-10T21:30:00.003-04:00

Over the last week or so Len has been here and gone. This week I went out to put out the garbage in his absence and discovered this between me and the gate to the front...

Len has been working on digging a three foot deep trench, the whole 150 feet of the yard. It's to run the electrical to the shop and that's Toronto's bylaws. So, he's been working (yes, by hand) on this trench for about two weeks. Before he left this time he blocked off the remainder of the trench that was open to keep Adara and I safe. Which was a great theory until 7:30am when I was grabbing the green bin, hauling it over the sawhorse, around the wheelbarrow,narrowly missing tripping on the garden hose, stepping over the trench and opening the gate. All this in heels, while keeping half an eye on Adara who was waiting out front. I swear that this is my test of wills, I can pass his gauntlet, I can be his wife! Thank heavens I passed.

Tea Time With Mamma

2010-08-04T07:20:00.000-04:00

Gardener

2010-07-28T07:21:00.000-04:00

Adara received this little garden kit from our friend Dennie a few weeks back, after specifically requesting it from her a few weeks back! She loves it and has been wandering out to "do my gawdening" every morning. She moves some dirt around and declares the job done.

The Slesser Family Weekend

2010-07-19T21:08:00.002-04:00

Each year we gather at a cottage that my Aunts rent right on the beach near Kincardine. It's a gorgeous place, all and all of my moms siblings, partners, and kids come. It's a fantastic weekend of food, drinking, building sandcastles, swimming and playing bocce. This year was no exception, with Adara even getting right in the water this year. Thanks everyone, for a great time!

Zoo Trip

2010-07-08T14:10:00.003-04:00

Len, Adara, Aiden, Auntie Janice and uncle Ralph headed to the zoo today. Clearly petting the sting rays was the absolute best part of the trip as it's all that I've heard about since!

Auntie Janice, Uncle Ralph and Aiden Visit

2010-07-06T07:13:00.003-04:00

This week Len's sister and her husband Ralph and eleven year old son Aiden came to visit. They'll be here all week doing Toronto type things; today they're at marine land.

Auntie Janice arrived with a beautiful new dress for Adara and a dolly with a matching dress. This was a pretty big deal as we haven't been able to get Adara into any of her gorgeous dresses in weeks.

She literally wore this one all day. Aiden wasn't too thrilled about the picture taking, but got over it pretty quick. We'll see how the rest of the week pans out, potential trips to the zoo, cn tower and cbc are planned.

Todays adventure for Adara and I will be going to the big kids outdoor pool at Stan Wadlow park. I've always been (and continue to be) a little afraid of this outing. All of the pools in Toronto are incredibly busy and she's slippery and heavy and not tall enough to stand on her own. But, armed with water wings, we're taking it on today as it's once again expected to be 35 degrees here in Toronto.

Adara's Canada Day

2010-07-01T20:54:00.002-04:00

Canada Day in East York (our area of Toronto) didn't happen last year due to the garbage strike. So this year is the first year that Adara really got to partake in the festivities of Canada Day, or what we called a big party for everyone, as the whole Canada Day thing just wasn't getting through to her.
And partake she did!

She had her very first carnival rides including a merry go round that kept breaking and a great little train that she rode on all by herself with no concern whatsoever. She was completely thrilled with both the rides and laughed her head off the first time that she went on the train.

She also played her first carnival game and won her first carnival toy, a little stuffed oranage dog that she is absolutely in love with. The game was picking three rubber duckies out of a stream and you won whatever sized toy the most duckies said. I suspect that the carnival lady cheated on our behalf as all of her duckies said "small" and the toy isn't so small by carnival standards!

She also played in the big splash pad, danced with the Greek community, ate a whole hot dog by herself and an entire ice cream cone.

All in all it was a pretty great day with very little in terms of meltdowns. Happy Canada Day to that!

The night it became my Toronto

2010-06-26T21:11:00.002-04:00

Tonight, Toronto became my home as opposed to a place that I've lived for 14 years.

As I watch my city completely over run by hooligans determined to cause chaos and distract from true democratic process protesters, I am appalled, scared and upset.
Anarchist forces have entered the city and started attacking independent shop owners, homes and even the St. Lawrence Markets. These are non corporate targets that it serves no purpose to attack, they are not pro G20 nor are they the so called "fat cat corporations". They are citizens of my city who are simply trying to live their lives.

Len has been called back downtown to the security zone to take a show out that was supposed to happen tonight, because they are afraid that it will get attacked. As he went back into the thick of it Adara asked if "daddy would be ok or would he come home in an ambulance from the emergency". Appalling. This is not my city, nor, I would bet, are the majority of these demonstrators Torontian, or even Canadian. To top it all off Stephen Harper announced a week ago that he would not be providing any recompense for businesses that have to shut down (the Mirvishes for an entire week), or are damaged (St. Lawrence Markets).

Meanwhile, near my theatre, several police cars are on fire. This neighbourhood is notorious for very old wood buildings, all fully attached, and when fires start, it blows out an entire block. It happened two years ago. I'm hoping that my 180 year old theatre will survive this, but I'm not going down to check.

I never knew that I had any feeling for my city. It has been the place where I have worked and played, but I've felt no real connection to it. Tonight I am a Torontonian. I am furious at Stephen Harper for the complete lack of care he shows to Toronto on a day to day basis, and his decision to hold such a dangerous event in the direct heart of my city. As he has no votes in Toronto anyways, he clearly doesn't care what we think.

I realize that it's popular to hate Toronto. But this is my home. This is where I work and play, where my friends live and where my daughter was born. I am deeply connected to hundreds of people in this city and am fearful for them tonight. I never knew how much I viewed Toronto as an intensely peaceful, culturally vital, charitably minded community of neighbours. I wish my neighbours peace and good health tonight.

Games and Memories

2010-06-22T21:22:00.003-04:00

Tonight at bedtime, I was curled up beside Adara, tickling her back as we cuddled. She giggles, turns her back to me and says "Do Criss Cross" and like a bolt of lightning it comes back "Criss, Cross, applesauce, spiders crawling up your back". Except that I can't remember the rest, help anyone?
I think it's crazy that my two year old is already gathering this childhood bank of rhymes and stories.

Newfoundland

2010-06-12T14:18:00.003-04:00

Here's some shots from my recent trip to Newfoundland, to Cow Head which is in Gross Morne Park. I was there on work for the conference of the Professional Association of Canadian theatres, a national organization of about 150 theatres to which we belong. the PACT conference is actually weirdly like my major vacation each year. I get to spend five days completely immersed in talking about the issues and joys of creating theatre, attend sessions on that, explore the landscape, play some cards, drink too much , and this time even sing some karoake. All while seeing another part of the country; it's kind of like summer camp for theatre practitioners. Each year while I do this Adara has her big vacation with Grammy and Pappa and Len takes on some major house project while we're away. Grammy and Poppa and Adara had a great time, and Len accomplished a lot this year, all to be shared in future blog entries.
First up on the pics is the "boat of salads"! On our last night, the church ladies threw us a big lobster supper and this is how they serve up all of the salads that come with the lobster. Dinner came with wine too and they sang a beautiful acapella grace before dinner. It was gorgeous!
It made me think a bit about my grandpa slesser and how much he loved a church dinner and how he would have appreciated the newfie version of it. Come to think of it, my grandpa Fry who was a united minister probably would have dug it too.

Next is all of the gorgeous landscape pics. I went on the most freezing cold, snowing boat cruise that one can possibly imagine, but it was beautiful. This was through one of the inland lakes near Cow Head

In Cow Head we all stayed at the shallow bay motel, and I had a great little cottage there, as did many of my colleagues. We played a few good games of cards, which kind of made me feel like I was in highschool again. I also found myself backing up a good colleague as he sang the B52's "Love Shack' one night for the local karoake. Questionable at 2 in the morning with all of your workers partners present, but an awful lot of fun!

So, as always, a great deal of fun. Next year is in Barrie. Now, why doesn't that sound as exciting as Cow Head? Oh well, I'll let you all know at this time next year!

New Clothes for Miss Fashionista

2010-05-28T21:58:00.000-04:00

Pork With Corn Kimchee

2010-05-23T22:00:00.000-04:00

Here's a nicely spicy way to eat your red veg.
1/2 small red cabbage, finely cut
1 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup Heinz chili sauce (this stuff is good, generally kinda useful)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp chili-garlic sauce
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 pork tenderloin
three green onions

Cook cabbage for 8 minutes in lightly oiled BIG frying pan. Add corn, chili sauce, chili powder, chili-garlic sauce and vinegar, cook for two minutes remove to bowl.
Sautee sliced up pork tenderloin in same pan until cooked. Mix the veg and the pork, top with green onions.

Daddy and Adara

2010-05-22T21:27:00.001-04:00

Tonight when I was getting Adara ready for bed she spent some time without a diaper on. There was a wet spot where a water bottle had spilled. I asked Adara if she'd peed on it. She said "No, but I peed in your closet". I asked when and she replied matter of factly "earlier". Ok, so let me go check that. Yep, you did.

First Pony Ride

2010-05-15T22:11:00.002-04:00

Adara's First Pony Ride happened today. We were coming back from a long play in the park and were ready to have lunch and a nap, Adara was mostly asleep in the stroller. When, out of nowhere, in the Free Masons parking lot there were Bouncy Castles, and Bubble Machines and bbq and, my heavens, ponies! All in an effort to get us to do the child id program. So, I totally support the child id program, and we tried to get her id'd, but there was a big line up and she was very two, very tired, and darn it folks, there was ponies. So ponies it was!

The New Toy

2010-05-15T21:51:00.005-04:00

The other night, Adara got to say up late, because of this...

This is Len's new super high efficiency battery operated (no cord) lawn mower. He was pretty excited. So, Adara woke up and I was watching Dancing with The Stars and he was assembling the lawnmower in the living room, so no one was going to be reading her another book in bed. So, she got included in the dancing lawn mower assembly. Bad parents,maybe? But, you know the more that I think about it, the more I realize that the memories I have of my parents are of when they broke the rules. The pancake fight at dinner time, a late night scary movie that I shouldn't have been watching with dad, clothes that my mother bought me when she said that she wouldn't. Rules, seem to be made to be broken.

I get by with a little help from my...

2010-05-06T21:20:00.002-04:00

Friends. Like all of you.
So, After being diagnosed today with strep throat for the third time in five weeks, I'm a little overwhelmed and beside myself. I don't know why I'm not getting better but it's sapping all of my energy.
Which, consequently, is sapping my energy for the food project. Len has lost all this weight and his blood pressure is coming down, so I want to keep going and stay on top of this. But I'm spent, and I have two entire heads of organic broccoli in my fridge, cause I didn't cook last weeks. So, a little help please? What can I do with this broccoli? I don't really like it just steamed, so any other options would be lovely. I'm looking for low salt, relatively low fat although some fats are good and preferably not too labour intensive.
Help?

Cognitive Leaps

2010-05-02T21:21:00.002-04:00

Two new big mental leaps from Adara in the past two weeks as indicated by these odd little conversations:
Conversation One
Adara (noticing that one of her crafts is ripped on the fridge) " My chicken is ripped, I need tape, do you have tape?" Me: "I'll get you some" Adara: "I don't know what tape is" and then a sweet little embarrased laugh.

Conversation Two (talking about the dog next door who we wanted to play with, but there's a big fence between us and their gate was locked )
Adara: "Mama, you should get a ladder so the doggy can come over and play"
I was kind of stunned, I didn't know that she knew what a ladder was even.

Just Playin' Around

2010-04-29T10:17:00.000-04:00

Getting Back On Track: Squash Curry

2010-04-23T21:44:00.002-04:00

fry a diced spanish onion in a bit of olive oil
Add one tbsp curry, 1/2 tbsp cumin
Add one can Patak's Balta curry sauce (8% sodium, I checked, yes I am cheating a bit here by doing a canned curry, but I had to jump back into cooking somewhere)
Add one diced Kambucha squash (crazy looking japanese squash, arrived in my food box a few weeks back)
Add three or four leaves of Swiss Chard
Cook 25 minutes or so on low heat and serve over rice.

Not half bad really, very filling. Len and I have both fallen off the wagon a bit this week on portion sizes, so back at that aspect tomorrow. We're also both looking forward to getting back to getting some exercise tomorrow now that we're feeling better.
On the menu for this week:
Salad Green with fried wild mushrooms and a poached egg on top
Swiss Chard, Tofu, Avocado and Cucumber Dragon Bowl
Somethin' with yams cause there's too darn many in this house... thoughts anyone?

The big girl bed

2010-04-17T10:11:00.002-04:00

Here's the promised pic of Adara's new bedroom and sheets. Len worked all last Saturday to pull of this transformation as the whole room had to be dissasembled including a massive bookshelf. Adara got to choose her own sheets and as you can see, the Dora and Diego sheets have been very popular. Adara spent much of an afternoon with the sheets wrapped around her wandering around the house. So far, so good. In seven days, she managed to wiggle her way back into our bed only once.

As to the food project, due to everyone being sick, we've fallen right off the wagon. I got strep throat last week, Len got a cold on monday, tuesday and wednesday when I was thankfully well; and then my strep throat returned on friday. I'm suffering pretty good this time as the antibiotic is pretty much attacking my whole body and filling me with aches and pains and body issues. I'm very much ready for this to be done!

Small Town, Big City

2010-04-08T14:05:00.002-04:00

Sometimes Toronto is like a small town. I'm home sick with a really ugly case of strep throat today. I've had to go out several times though to the doctors and pharmacy.
This morning while at the Doctor, I was answering work emails on my blackberry. A guy beside me leaned over and started asking a bunch of questions about it, so we talked for about 5 minutes.
At the corner store, I was purchasing a pathetic gossip magazine to entertain my poor fevered brain. The headline was "Sandra fights back". The asian new owner of the store was trying to sound out the headline but was having trouble. He asked me for help wiht his pronunciation. So I found myself in the corner store repetitively saying Sandra fights back. Which led to a very confusing discussion of what it meant. "Cheated" as in "cheated on his wife" doesn't translate at all well to the very literal chinese.
On the way home a guy was walking towards me in the rain with two bikes, one on each side of him. He crossed below me on the sidewalk, on the left hand side of the walk for him, nearest the street. He stopped to tell me that he'd done so because it was chivalrous and made it so I wouldn't be splashed by the water on the street. I thanked him.
All of these encounters are things that I would have said don't happen in Toronto when I moved here fifteen years ago. But they do happen all of the time. Toronto is like a small town, except that you don't know anyone. Strange, huh?

Kapow Shirt

2010-04-07T14:54:00.000-04:00

Adara has a favourite shirt. It's royal blue with colourful cartoon bubble words like "smash, kapow, bam" on it. She wants to wear it every day and hands it to me every night requesting that I wash it for tomorrow. It's vaguely infuriating but also very nostalgic. Do you remember your favourite item of clothing and your passionate devotion to wearing it every day? I had a light pink and brown calico dress that i was convinced made me look like Laura Ingalls Wilder. Then there was the red spring jacket with all of the very Michael Jackson zippers and pockets. And the purple figure skating dress that I wanted wear everywhere all of the time.
What was your obsessive clothing item?

The Food Project

2010-03-28T13:34:00.003-04:00

I'm taking a left turn from adoration of the babe to tell you about the other major thing in my family's life. The food project didn't start as a food project, it started as a series of blood pressure tests. Len was feeling really off all winter, tired and achy and listless. He started checking his blood pressure at the drugstores about two months back and it was up, really up. Thus began the food project.
To give some context, we didn't eat badly comparatively speaking before. Typically we were eating red meat once a week or less, vegetarian once a week and the rest chicken, pork and occasionally seafood. We were big eaters of sandwiches, breads of all of kinds and cheese, my goodness, do we all love cheese.
And then Len started feeling poorly and we all started looking for solutions. On the suggestion of several friends we started by cutting out wheat. In Toronto, this is a pretty easy thing to do as there are lots of alternative breads and crackers and such, so we thought, why not, let's give it a go. It took more then a month but Len's energy came back and he felt much better.
Next went the salt. We started looking at everything and cutting it everywhere. And from there it's just snowballed into a whole lifestyle change. More tofu, vegetarian three times a week, less sandwiches, way less cheese, more vegetables, less of everything. As Michael Pollan says in his wicked awesome book "In Defense of Food" "Eat food, not much, mostly plants". For those of you who haven't read it he means real food,not packaged, not processed, not with all of the fats replaced with oil.
So, some things have been unexpected. We switched the low fat cream cheese for a real organic gorgeous real whipped cream cheese, and the no fat yogurts for the more real stuff.
It's working. Len has lost probably eight to ten pounds, although there's no scale in this house so we don't really know. I'm down a couple as well. Len's blood pressure is just starting to get back into the normal zone. But more importantly, I'm excited and energized by this challenge.
Three weeks ago we switched to having organic fruit and veggie boxes delivered to the house. I am like a kid in a candy store! I can't wait to see what this weeks challenge is! Swiss chard, bring it! Watercress, wait until you see my watercress, roasted beet and orange salad with homemade orange salad dressing that I mixed with peach balsamic white vinegar. Kale, I can take it, keep it coming! Suddenly, the making of food has become something to dream about and imagine how creative I can be.
So, that's the start of the food project. In the next while I'm going to post an occasional description of triumph or failures and maybe even a recipe or two. I'm thrilled by what's happening at home and how it fits with my work and can't wait to share. As always, amidst pictures and stories of Adoring Adara!

What is it about spring

2010-03-25T14:58:00.005-04:00

In reading everyone's blogs this week it seems like all of our children got a lot older and bigger and made huge leaps ahead all at once.
Griffin is being registered for school (not daycare, thanks for the catch Kris, I've been sick all week and not so lucid)
Dylan is suddenly ridiculously tall, although perhaps it's because of the infrequency of Sarah's posts! :)
Cameron is adding more words and his little brother Jackson is walking
Emma is one.
Diego is demanding to go outside
and Phelan is four.
And yes, Dennie, Christopher is 19!

Craziness, all of your children made me feel old, yet filled with wonder this week. It reminded me that children make leaps ahead while adults tend to gradually progress. But, you know what, this last two weeks hasn't been any gradual progression for me. I'm really truly happy, inspired by my work and back where I belong.

Giddyup

2010-03-23T22:34:00.000-04:00

Eyes and Noses and Teeth, Oh My

2010-03-15T21:05:00.003-04:00

Well, it was a pretty eventful week of rest between one job and the next. Here's a picture of St. Anne's spa where I spent two lovely days with Heather.

I had a Thai massage, we ate great food, we hiked, we laid in various hot tubs, we drank and I kicked Heather's butt at scrabble in this empty, gorgeous,late night, old farmhouse. It rocked! Thanks to Len for making it happen and Heather for being my partner in crime.
And then, in my last twenty minutes at St. Anne's spa, I threw up. No idea why, had a sore tummy for the next two days.
So, the lovely Heather drove me home, where I found a baby and husband with colds. And, oh yes, a baby with pink eye too. Sigh, so much for relaxing. Adara was home with us Monday, tuesday and wednesday and Len ended up home taking care of both of us too.
By Friday Adara was better and so I spent a lovely afternoon at another spa, Body Blitz, as someone had given me a gift certificate long ago. I was relaxed and had lots of time to think and prepare for my new gig.
And then on Saturday, Adara knocked a tooth out. Well, not actually out, just at a really odd angle with lots of blood and four bite marks through the lip. We had an emergency dentist trip and he said "wait and see, it might stay in, it might fall out, don't really know". I'm making him sound unhelpful 'cause it's fun, but really he was very nice, saw us 20 minutes before closing and distracted Adara nicely with a choice selection of stickers.
So, that's my relaxing week, all of which led me to this today...

The lovely new building of my lovely new job. I'm pretty excited, all in all.

Tower Power

2010-03-11T08:30:00.000-05:00

This is Adara's new favourite game. She takes basically every toy in the house to create these massive towers of power. It's actually quite a lot of fun.

Finally, the pictures

2010-02-28T13:32:00.000-05:00

Here's the pics from Jenn's visit with new baby Corben and Griffin a few weeks back.

Lion 'O Mine

2010-02-23T20:50:00.002-05:00

Last weekend

2010-02-20T13:18:00.002-05:00

Last weekend was both valentines day and family day here and we had a great weekend. Len and I didnt do anything together for valentines day, unless you count watching figure skating on tv, which really, I think that you should! Adara and I bought Len a chocolate heart shaped sucker with a candy front at the grocery store. Unbeknowngst to me, while we were shopping she was merrily sucking away on it through the plastic wrapper. By the time that we got to the car, I elected to just open it and let her eat it. When we got home,she handed me the stick with a little piece of chocolate on it, and the heart shaped candy that was stuck to it and asked me to "leave it for dada's vawentines pwesent". So I did and Len had a good laugh when he got home from work at 2 am.
Adara and I also went out to Winterfolk festival. It was in a packed bar on the Danforth, but little miss was right at home. She trotted right to the front and sat down cross legged on the floor to watch these three women playing bass, accordion and hurdy gurdy. She loved it, as did I. I also loved the chance to be out having a sunday afternoon beer with friends.
On Monday the three of us headed out for breakfast (a leisurely hour long relaxing experience) and then to riverdale farms where they had lots of crafts to do in the activity centre.
All in all, pretty much my ideal weekend.

Owen Sound Weekend

2010-02-13T14:16:00.002-05:00

Adara and I spent last weekend in Owen Sound and haven't had a chance to write about it since.

It was a whirlwind tour with a brief stop "On the Roof" (my friend Jenn's place, her blog is linked on the left side of mine) and then at Kristens for 26 hours starting saturday morning. We managed to fit in building one snow fort, one couch fort, one hockey game, three meals, crockpotting one meal for later and a whack of conversation and cuddling.
Adara also had her first go at tobogganing which was pretty exciting as you can see from the shots. I was mighty proud of the snowfort; best I've built in years, I credit it to Liam's architectural skills.
So, anyhow, we were tired after all that, thus the delay in posting. Enjoy!

Knocked Flat Again

2010-02-01T21:25:00.002-05:00

So, I had been invited out tonight to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the St. Lawrence Centre for the ARts, a venue where my theatre company often performs. I accepted, expecting a couple of little appetizers and to sneak out before the show to get home to my warm bed. WEll,knock me flat, what a freakin' night!
From the fresh made scallops, to the noodle bar and mini steak and kidney pies, the food was stunning. And then, the show. Louis Pitre just took me on an absolute trip from the ingenue of Little Shop of Horrors, to the torch songs of Edith Piaf, a self written song about her fathers alzheimers and the Mamma Mia tunes that made her famous, Louis was a knockout. People were tearing up and then cheering her on. The true winner was Mamma Rose's song from Gypsy,"Some People". I freakin' love that tune! What an anthem to get of my but and make something good! And oh yeah, have a few drinks on the way, Woo Hooo!
Anyways, a rip roarin' night. Jenn, when you see Louise next please thank her for an amazing and unexpected night in the theatre.

Dressing Up and Messing Around

2010-01-24T13:33:00.000-05:00