Dinner with the Bellamys

Look at that sharing! Although Emma did try to climb into the front with you and you pointed to the back seat and said "Emma"...
But in the end you guys made it work. You are too cute together. When we arrived Emma held your hand and you went off to explore her toys. You played peacefully thoughout and when we left there was a big hug with the two of you. A burgeoning friendship for sure!

Your first day at school! Well kind of...

This past Friday you and I went to Aspengrove School to have an observation day in the JK-3 class. We got you dressed to look the part! You were adorable.

We made the drive into Nanaimo and you said "school!" all the way. We met with Mrs. Reay when we got there and she took us over to the building where the younger ages are. We went to observe Mrs. Reynolds' class since that is the one we are interested in putting you into in September 2012 (it is half full now).

You were so curious about the other children and the toys in the classroom. They have all sorts of things and the children are just able to wander around to different stations which are set up for playdoh or crafts or a water table. There was a little lap top and a fishing game, etch a sketch, a million things that were new to you. You were able to jump in and play right away.
After an hour or so I began to feel as if this might be something you would benefit from earlier than 2012. At that time you would be 3 and a half. Just watching you made me feel like you would really enjoy this new environment earlier even if it were just 2 days a week.

After snack time we went to meet Kate Lloyd who is in charge of the 4 preschool rooms. There was an opening for Tuesdays and Thursdays in the JK-2 room starting in September. I would prefer those days since Fridays are "our" day and Mondays are your day with Daddy. I don't want you there when you could be with us. But during the week might be a good thing for you.
We went to look in the JK-2 room and Natasha was there, we saw Henry (Kat's little guy) and Daniel who we saw at Claudio and Leslie's Superbowl party, the Saunders' little guy. How fun!
The ECE teachers were very attentive and with a class size of max 16 and 4 instructors I think it would be a great environment for you.

Daddy and I will talk about it and we will see what we come up with! Can't wait to see you in the school colours!

First snowfall of the year!

We had a big snowfall in Nanoose last week and you couldn't wait to get out and play in it! We got you all suited up and you waded through the snow and really enjoyed eating it. You would throw some up in the air and loved that too. We'll have to get you into skiing (I think next year), you seem to love the cold and didn't want to go in even when my fingers were freezing!

Yum!

Afraid of the dark!

I have to tell the saddest story just to get it off my chest. Last night Daddy and I were getting you ready for bed. We have quite a routine at bedtime. We give you a bath, and lately you've been really into turning on the cold water ("COLD!") and splashing it on yourself and Daddy (Mommy hides). You scream with delight when you splash Daddy and see his reaction and scream with exhiliration when you get splashed with it! I always try to turn the water to warm but you protest for more COLD!

We dry you off and put your cream on, jammies on and then we go to the nursery where you say "Bubbles!" You and Daddy go and fill up the humidifier and watch as when the tank is replaced the bubbles come up. Then we do "Jump" where Daddy lies on the floor (and sometimes you tell him exactly where to lie) and you stand on his chest and jump off. Sometimes you come up short and end up landing on your bum on Daddy's chest and you get a kick out of that too.

Then we read a book of your choosing and last night it was The Busy Little Mouse. So the book is about the little mouse going around the farm and meeting all the farm animals. The last two pages are about the little mouse going to bed, resting his head, blowing a kiss, turn out the light, and the last page says Goodnight. We looked at your face and you had the hugest pout on, and you just stared and stared at the page.

This was such a strange reaction for you, I didn't know what to make of it. I put the book aside and you insisted that I read it again. I started at the beginning but you flipped all the way to the last 2 pages and so I read, the little mouse goes to bed, rest his head, blow a kiss, turn out the light, goodnight. Then you just broke out in tears and turned and clung to me sobbing!! I couldn't figure out what had happened. I sat with you and tried to console you for a while and then it dawned on me....you're afraid of the dark! It was the line "turn out the light" that you were reacting to.

We used to have a little Grobag egg which is illuminated and told the temperature in your room but it conked out about 3 weeks ago so we took it out of your room. Then you had this aquarium attached to your crib that lights up but I thought it made too much noise and that maybe it was keeping you up so when it ran out of batteries a week ago we didn't replace them. You had really been protesting our leaving you at night this past week but I didn't put 2 and 2 together! So poor little baby had been having a really hard time this past week with the room being much darker than you are used to. It is so frustrating that you can't tell me these things.

I had Daddy replace the batteries in your aquarium and we turned it on and put you in your crib. We talked about the fish and crab and bubbles for a while and you didn't protest when we left, you were just fine with it. UGH!

So that is how we discovered that you are afraid of the dark. I looked up some info about fears at this age and the dark topped the list. Poor baby. Anyways, all is well again and thank goodness we read that book!

The Aquarium!

This weekend Daddy and I took you to Vancouver to go to the aquarium for your second time! This is you in the car while daddy paid for parking and you are pretending to drive and saying "Woo-woo!" This is the face you make when I say "give me your cute face."

You and Daddy outside before the fun began.

There was a real difference in the way you responded to being at the aquarium from the last time only 6 months ago. I originally thought we might do things once a year as a tradition but now I realize that we could do new things more frequently than that since you change so much in such a short time. This time you were saying "fiss" and "hark" for shark when you saw them. You were just fine with the big sharks and really big turtle but there was one little silver fish that scared you to death! You kept clinging to Daddy and shouting 'No No No!" Just that one little guy though...

On the ferry on the way home we couldn't keep you away from the arcade room where are the "cahh"s are. You wanted to sit in the seat and pretend to drive for the entire trip. Boy are we in trouble when you figure out that money makes it work...