What the heck? Let's head across the river.

I got one post together today, might as well do another.

Last month, I was trying to figure out what to do with the kids one day. A few people had been suggesting going to the Canadian Children's Museum, located inside the Canadian Museum of Civilization. We have memberships to three other museums in town and I figured that there was no need to go to a different museum where I'd have to pay (I know...skinflint!). Well, I finally caved and drove across the bridge to see what the fuss was about.

Wow. The museum itself isn't all that big, but it's stunning how much stuff is packed (in an organized fashion, to boot) in the space. The whole thing is structured under a global travel theme, where the kids are given passports when they go in and they get to stamp it every time they visit a certain part of the museum. I didn't count the number of stamp stations but it might have been over 20. To hit the highlights, the kids:

acted out a scene or two at the theatre which was equipped with costumes and a stage with curtains

hopped aboard a Pakistani bus and a tuk-tuk

painted some pictures art at the museum's studio

played some Nigerian bongo drums

donned builder outfits and assembled part of a wall

went to a toy store and assembled some puzzles

sat down for a game of Parcheesi then stood up again upon seeing the long list of rules

created their own adinkra cloth pattern at a clothier's store

performed an Indonesian shadow puppet show

sat on a fake camel

crawled through a pyramid

used a working crane (!!!) to load and unload cargo from a boat

prepared and served fake sushi at a restaurant

delivered parcels to some of the storefronts in the museum

Yeah, if that looks like a long list, try doing it with two mobile chickens. YIKES! Max says his favourite part was the sushi, but he spent well over an hour working on that boat. Apparently, there were mops to swab the deck, but he only had eyes for the crane. Leo was deadly every time I let him out of the stroller. At his most devious, he had discovered a chess set on the ground (that I had yet to see!) and, one by one, was smuggling the pieces into our stroller. Eventually, I found some pieces, but then I had to find where they came from. Then the fun part was finding all of the pieces he had taken.

Thankfully, school had started by then so there wasn't much of a crowd at all. There might have been 25-30 people in there at any one time (except when this tour group of seniors/foreigners came through taking pictures of each other climbing all over everything...that was weird) so it was really relaxing. Summer must have been bonkers. By the time we got home, both kids were completely spent and I seem to remember scoring over 2 hours of simultaneous sleep out of them. Truth be told, that was worth at least three times the cost of admission :) :)

And now for the best part, the photo evidence:

Long overdue

Wow - I think this is my first post in a month. Thanks to Holly for holding the blog fort down in my absence.

I've been meaning to dedicate a blog post to Max's preschool adventures for a long time. Max started at Westboro Village Cooperative Preschool back in the first week of September. His class is made up of 20 kids who all turn/turned 3 years old in 2010. A couple of the kids have January birthdays, so they're almost 4. In fact, one of Max's classmates was also born September 9th! The class is fairly boy-heavy: the ratio is 6 girls to 14 boys. I don't think this has ever meant anything to Max as I'm sure girls only get icky after kindergarten.

The first week at school, the class was broken into thirds and each third got to go in on their own day to get acquainted with the classroom, the teachers and each other. The next week, it was all systems go for the whole class with preschool from 9:15-11:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. For a while, Max's selective memory definitely got in the way of my finding out about what went on in a typical day. I knew from drop-off time that the kids roared around in a gym (the preschool rents out space inside a church) with a pile of toys in the morning, but once they went upstairs to the classroom, all was a mystery. As in "What did you do today?" "I don't know". "Who did you play with?" "I don't know" or, better yet, "Nobody".

Given that the school is a cooperative, parents are expected to pitch in in a variety of ways, including providing in-class assistance as a "duty parent". At the end of September, I finally got to do my duty parent shift and answer a bunch of my questions about Max's day. The two classrooms are connected by a bathroom with a couple of stalls for the boys and girls. Each classroom has a few tables set up with a variety of different play stations set up. Most of the stations involve tactile play for motor skills development (everything from Potato Head building to Play-Doh to building block to dollhouses to a sandbox and water table to an arts & crafts corner). The two teachers typically staff the art area and the reading corner, leaving the duty parents to engage kids at other stations or help kids who just need a little nudge to get started.

My first duty day was a Monday, which is Max's favourite day of the week. On Mondays, the kids only use one classroom while the second is used for music class. A dedicated music instructor comes in for the morning and sings songs, plays recorded music, introduces the children to musical notes (quarter, eighth, half, etc.) as well as the diatonic scale. I got to sit in on Max's class that Monday and participated in everything. I really like how the duty parents become a part of the children's learning experience. It's really cool to start reading a book to somebody and have 8 other pairs of eyes swivel and listen in, or start a crazy building spree where the kids can't wait to show you their latest creation.

The one hitch with duty days is that I can't bring Leo and so I need someone to cover me at home while I'm with Max & co. Mommy stuck around the first time, Nana had a fun morning with Leo the second time and next week, Auntie Melody will get a turn. Thank you to all the awesome caregivers - you make everything so much easier!

All in all, preschool has been great. I get to stimulate my punctuality muscles which had pretty much atrophied since May. Also, I get to spend a little bit of one-on-one time with Leo, including swimming classes on Mondays (roughly an 8-1 mom-to-dad ratio so unlike the weekends, it's the moms who have to wait around for showers after class...YES!). Finally, Max gets the socialization that he's been missing since leaving full-time care AND gets a gentle prep for REAL SCHOOL. Who knows, this might be the first step to a rewarding career with the police force.


Epilogue

As a complete non sequitur, I wanted to let you all in on a little moment the boys and I shared tonight. Both were pretty cranky today, due to a lack of sleep. However, just after dinner tonight, I noticed that it had started to snow. I grabbed both of the boys and walked them just beyond the lip of the carport to let them feel it coming down. Max immediately started to catch flakes on his tongue and Leo just hung on with this stunned look of amazement, opening and closing his hand. They both got a real kick out of it and so even if I have to stare out my window at the cm+ of snow on the ground, I can be warmed by the thought of grabbing a few flakes with the boys tonight.

When Daddy is away, Mama and the boys will play!

While John was Scrabbling in upstate New York, the boys and I had a wonderful weekend with lots of adventures.

On Friday, I had the opportunity to meet Max’s teachers at preschool and his hip-hop dance teacher. It was pretty cool to meet some of the people that are having such a wonderful influence and impact on his life lately. He has a mini-recital at his last hip-hop class on November 5th so we’ll hopefully get some video to share with you. In the meantime, ask Max to see his moves the next time you see him.

Saturday was a blur of activity with a quick visit to the weekend playgroup we belong to and then a great lunch and visit to Saunders Farm with our friends Terry, Georgina, and Terry’s daughter Madeleine (dad Gavin was in Lake George with John). We started this tradition last year and it was so lovely to do it again. I think the highlight of the visit was getting the front seat on the very fast tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch and having dirt clods fly up and hit us in the face. The boys loved it! We didn’t even bother getting off at the pumpkin patch; we just rode the tractor again so we could get the front seat.







What a difference a year makes – last year, Leo slept through almost the entire visit in a sling and this time, we could barely keep up with him as he explored every nook and cranny of the place. You should have seen his face on the tractor ride!

On Sunday, our dear friends Jen and James and their twin daughters Rose and Lily hosted us for a morning of “Mess Up Time”. Mess Up Time is a childhood memory of Jen’s that she wanted to recreate for our kids. We dug the seeds out of tiny pumpkins then painted with chocolate pudding and played with orange and green Jell-O. The kids got totally covered and had an absolute blast. I got in on the act and put pudding and Jell-O in my hair and on my face too which caused the kids to have many fits of giggles.







After all that, we spent Sunday afternoon at a birthday party at Starr Gymnastics – Max is beginning to be a regular at that place! We capped off the weekend with a quiet dinner at Nana’s with lots of reading and playing. Definitely an exciting weekend full of adventures.

Daddy rocks at "letters"

John will hate me for shouting this news from the rooftops but the boys and I are so proud that it must be done.

As you might know, John has travelled to Lake George, NY for a Scrabble tournament in mid-October for the last number of years. He goes with a group of friends and they have an absolute blast no matter what happens on the Scrabble board. This past weekend was no different; he went down with some great friends for a guys’ weekend of playing the game that he loves, hanging out, enjoying “wholesome” American pub food, "educational" American TV shows, and more.

The big difference this year was that HE WON THE TOURNAMENT. He was ranked 28th of 28 players in Division 1 but he went 12-3 over three days and won the whole thing. The field included various former world and national champions, so this was no small feat. His rating has shot up and he is ranked in the top 75 in North America and top 15 in Canada. Not to mention the little bit o' prize money he brought home!

This win is especially wonderful considering that John doesn’t play nearly as much as he used to with our two niblets at home. Apparently, he’s still got it!

In the words of Max, GO DADDY GO!


Yes, this is an old picture:)

Hunks in the pool

I love the matching farmers' tans. Thanks to my friend J for sending me this photo and to J's mum for snapping it during a Monday swimming lesson at Dovercourt.

Thanksgiving and giving thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend here at Casa Stardom. Saturday involved a full day of fun at birthday parties and a street festival in Westboro. Sunday, we hosted a turkey dinner for family and friends and capped the evening with some games. Finally, Thanksgiving Monday was spent outside with family and at the park and we were treated to a wonderful lunch at the Newport. Life is good.

I meant to ask our dinner guests on Sunday to share something that they were thankful for but I forgot to ask in the flurry of dishing up. Instead, I’ll share some things that I am thankful for.

I’m thankful for my husband who still makes me laugh every day after almost fifteen years together. I am so proud of him for taking the plunge as a stay-at-home dad. He makes every day an adventure and I’m so glad that he chose me as his co-pilot.

I’m thankful for my beautiful, healthy boys. This past weekend, Max managed to crawl into bed beside me in the middle of the night without me even knowing and I woke up with his little sleeping body next to me. We definitely don’t want to make that a habit but it was pretty wonderful to cuddle him and watch him sleep. He barely slows down these days so getting a quick cuddle in is time well spent. Leo is on the run exploring everything and trying desperately to talk to us. His frantic run to the door every night when I get home from work for a big hug is something to look forward to.

I’m thankful for my family. We’re close-knit and crazy. Our brand of crazy doesn’t work for everybody but it works for us because we love and support each other no matter what.

I’m thankful for my other family, the Stardoms. We’re having an extended visit with them in November and I’m really excited to see them all. To share conversation and some shopping with my mother-in-law, to see Murray and Kathy’s new house and Kathy’s baby bump, to share some Winnipeg attractions with the boys, to see John’s dad and stepmum in Winnipeg for the first time in years and so much more.

I’m thankful for my friends near and far who add richness and depth to my life. For my friend Kerry who treated me to a crazy big Starbucks hot chocolate this afternoon as we discussed the merits of The Social Network and laughed like crazy when the barista delivered an “Iced Vente Iced Water with Ice”, a.k.a a big glass of ice water. For my friend Renee who shared Thanksgiving dinner with us and did a crazy pile of dishes so that my kitchen actually looked better after dinner than it had before dinner. For my friends Is and Greg who took me to their favourite brunch place in their new neighbourhood in Toronto last weekend for perfect waffles and poached eggs.

I’m thankful that our fridge and pantry are full and we're able to feed the boys a healthy and varied diet. Thanksgiving is an excellent reminder that so many people in our community are not as lucky and fortunate as us.

I’m thankful for my health. I beat myself up about the extra pounds I carry around on my frame but this body plays a mean game of ultimate and shot two babies out in pretty spectacular fashion. Kind of like Spartacat's t-shirt gun. I have work to do but I’ll get there.

I’m thankful for the little things too – a great new dress for work that I picked up in Toronto last weekend, pumpkin pie, great garage sale finds, getting a seat on the bus on the way home so that I can read a great book (just finished the first book in the Millennium Trilogy), fall leaves, sunny and crisp days, a funny podcast, catching all of the previews at a movie, and so much more.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving wherever you are and that you had a moment to reflect on what you are thankful for too.