I love my son!

I love my son! I love the way his mind works. I love his childish innocence, but the spark of intelligence that lurks behind every conversation we have. I love his questions, even though I find them so hard to answer. His thirst to understand the world in his own way. What can I say, I’m madly in love with everything that makes him the neat kid that he is.

Last night I tried explaining cancer to my 5-year-old.

He asked me “Why do you keep going to visit Grandma, but we have to stay with Daddy’s parents? I want to visit Grandma too.”

I told him, “Grandma is in the hospital right now. And you have runny noses and coughs. I can’t take you to see her because she might catch your cold and she needs to stay healthy so her body can get better. But, you could probably come with me on Saturday. I think your cold will be gone by then.”

Then he asked me why she was in the hospital so I told him that she had to have an operation. He asked me why. So I told him it was because she had cancer.

“What is cancer?”

“Well, cancer is a disease that makes people really sick. Grandma’s cancer is something that is growing in her stomach that the doctor had to take out to help her get better.”

Then my son, my beautiful little soul, said, “Like when I was growing in your stomach and the doctor cut you open to take me out?”

I smiled at him and said, “no, not like that. Cancer is a bad thing that has to come out to keep her healthy. You were a good thing that I wanted in my stomach.”

I watch my son’s face, seeing the wheels turning in his brain, as he comes to his own conclusions.

“Oh!” he says. “Cancer is the opposite of children!”

Close enough!

Is this normal?

Okay, just got back from grocery shopping. I need 10 mushrooms for a recipe. I assigned that task to my 5-year old. Easy, right? Alex, here's a bag, please put 10 mushrooms in it. I get home and find that there are only 8 mushrooms in the bag. One is gigantic and 7 are normal size. Here's our dialogue:

Me - "Hey, Alex, you forgot two mushrooms!"

Alex - "No I didn't, you said 10"

Me - "But this is 8 mushrooms"

Alex - "I know."

Now I'm intrigued as to where we're going with this...

Alex - "I counted on you cutting the big one in 3"

... and my jaw dropped! Can't argue with that logic!

Sing a long time...

Well, I've been trying to post these for the past three nights. One I really want to post is about 2 minutes long and apparently WAY too big for Blogger... so I have to be satisfied with these shorter, slightly less adorable ones.

If you want to see the one that didn't make the cut, it's a rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and I did manage to put it up on Facebook.

Anyway, more fun with toddlers! :)

Peanut Butter and Pigtails...

And no, they're not actually related this time! :) Just a little Mommy brag!

Two firsts for us...

Connor made his peanut butter and jam sandwich (he'd live off them if I let him) all by himself. Love how he cut it "evenly" into four pieces.

And for the first time ever, I put Kirstin's hair up into pigtails.

It was ever so cute! :)

How to wear your kids out before bed...

... or "Faster, Faster, Faster..."

All you need for this trick is one squeaky computer chair...

I'm not sure why this entertains them so much, but it does! :)

My Valentine...

In honour of Valentine's Day, I've compiled a photo tribute to my Valentine for the past 16 Valentine's Days. Oh my, did I actually say that right? 16 Valentine's Days with the same guy? Surely I'm too young for that kind of stat? :)

Anyway, a couple of my facebook friends posted photos of them with their "Valentines" in their facebook statuses (statusii?) and urged me to do the same... okay, they probably weren't specifically meaning me... but I like to think so. It got me thinking about the kinds of photos that Cory and I have of each other. And it turns out, there really aren't that many. I've been so focussed on my children for the past 5.5 years, that I've neglected to immortalize on film, the person that's been in my life for half of it, and who's going to be around long after the children move out and find their own partners.

So, my Valentine's Day Resolution is to take more photos of my partner, and to immortalize the good, the bad, and the ugly in our relationship! Happy Valentine's Day, Cory! This is for you... (told you I was being cheap this year...)

Very early in our dating relationship...

We started seeing one another at the end of Grade 11, May 25th, 1993. This is us a few months later, age 17. Probably in the fall of '93, I think. Wow... I was young! Love it... maybe I'll use that for my facebook photo, hehehe


Here we are in the living room at my house getting the obligatory photo before we head off to the Spring Prom, 1994. The girl on the left is my best friend, Alison. She likes to take credit for setting us up... and used to insist I name our firstborn after her. I didn't think Alex would appreciate being called Alison, so I never kept that promise... :)

Our Grade 12 High School Graduation. Class of '94 (okay, maybe I am getting old). My Mom made my dress! Pretty talented, huh? So, this would be approximately one year into our relationship.

Dancing at my parents' 25th Wedding Anniversary Party, January 1996. Note the "oh-so-stylish" Star Wars Tie. I evidently overlooked his terminal geekiness, mistakenly thinking he'd outgrow it by his thirties... we still have the tie, by the way, it's in his drawer beside the Bugs Bunny one...

Skip ahead a year to our engagement photo. Cory proposed to me on April 12th, 1997. We were 20 years old at the time.

The night before our wedding, at our Rehearsal Dinner

July 11th, 1998 - a day that will live in infamy... ;)

This is one of my favourite wedding photos. I just think it's pretty cool!

And from our 7 week honeymoon in Europe. We both turned 22 in Europe so we decided we'd spending our birthdays doing something special. On Cory's birthday we went to Shakespeare's hometown, Stratford-upon Avon, and watched a Shakespeare Play, ate at Othello's Pub, and toured Ann Hathaway's Cottage. On my birthday... we went to EURODISNEY!!!!

Zurich, Switzerland - the summer of '98

My cousin's wedding, May 1999

My University convocation, also May 1999.

At Alison's wedding, August 1999. We've been married for one year now, so no longer newlyweds, but an old married couple! Note the ageing process in action... ;)

Okay, this is the best photo of us from 2000. Ugh! I'm sure it's the camera angle that makes it so unflattering...

2001 - the day before my 25th birthday. Cory's been 25 for 11 days, so I guess that officially makes him a cradle robber?

Our family photo, Christmas 2001. We have 4 fur-babies at this time. Percy, Shelley, Dinah, and Willow. Life is almost complete... nothing missing...

July 2002, at Shauna's wedding (yup, I'm a bridesmaid, how can you tell?) Shauna, if you're reading this blog, I miss you! Phone me sometime! :)

October 2002 - this time my title is Matron of Honour (matron? Eech!) at Jenn's wedding. Jenn, same thing... if you're reading this... phone me! ;)

(okay, I know, phone's work both ways... I'll make the effort...)

Halloween 2002 -- not sure what we were thinking!

May 2003, during our family photo shoot at my baby brother's first University convocation (he's had two more since then, the big ol' geek... come to think of it, my older brother has two degrees as well... that means I'm the loser when it comes to educational acheivements - however I've been busy making grandbabies so that scores me big points!)

Eric, same thing, phone me sometime! :)

Which brings us to Christmas, 2003. You can't really tell, but I'm about 10 weeks pregnant here! Woohoo! The reason you can't tell is because I've just spent the last 6 weeks vomiting my guts out, so I'm looking rather sleek. Wouldn't recommend that particular diet if your goal is soley to trim down...

... cause eventually you start to gain weight. This is us at our 10-year High School Reunion, and me at 32 weeks pregnant, and feelin' fine!

That's Alison and Shane - this is May, 2004. We've been married for almost 6 years, they are going on 5.

We go from being a couple, to being a family. Here's our pride and joy, Alexander James - July 2004. I think he's one-day old, based on the fact that I'm out of bed and IV free, but it's our earliest family photo.

Early parenthood, fall of 2004. And this is where I start to focus on the kids and not on us.

Christmas 2004.

New Year's Day, 2007 - we add on to our family and are now a party of 4.

June 2004 - Mom's birthday and one of our few family photos of just 4 of us.

Cousin Tyler's wedding, June 2004 - the other photo of the four of us.

Enter Kirstin, Mother's Day, 2008. We become a family of five.

Our family, October 2008 -

a decade of marriage and what do we have to show for it?Our family, October 2009... we have 16 years of history together and three amazing children.

Happy Valentine's Day, Cory. I love you!

How to make dreadlocks in 10 steps or less...

Step 1:

Take one head of wispy, baby-fine, beautiful curly hair.

Step 2:

Sleep on it.

Step 3:

Add one Mom who is too harried to comb said baby-fine hair in the morning (as she can barely get her own combed to get to work on time) and add one Dad whose attitude towards hair combing is "If you're going out in public, and it's too warm for a toque... then we might comb it".

Step 4:

Smear it back and forth against the back of the car seat.

Step 5:

Add pancake syrup and massage gently.

Step 6:

What the heck, take a nap.

Step 7:

Add pasta sauce and mix thoroughly.

Step 8:

Don't forget to get into the toothpaste and apply liberally --- but quickly lest someone catch you at it!

Step 9:

Scream bloody murder when harried Mom attempts to wash it. Harried Mom doesn't wash it because "Is it really worth the fight, I'll do it tomorrow."

Step 10:

Add ice cream and rub vigorously.

And voila! You have created the perfect Friday night project... detangling the dreadlocks!

L'oreal Kids Tangle Tamer --- our kids' saving grace.

Wish this had been around when I was a kid! :)