Apple Picking

First Days of School

Day one was good, relatively uneventful but for the big event of starting school itself. Both Matthew and Renee walked in by themselves, barely saying goodbye and not turning back. Renee settled in and began to work, Matthew observed his surroundings and came home telling us one of the older kids, a good family friend, was his teacher. 3 dirty sets of clothes. All lunches were eaten.

Day two. Matthew discovered the hallway. He can leave his class, and run up and down the hall (pants optional), he can use to hall to go to other classroom with even more kids to laugh at his antics and egg him on. There are globes in every classroom that can be spun. Renee learned how to make snack, and came home determined to make dinner. She also discovered that Regina is a permanent feature at the school. Regina is fighting against all natural grandmother instincts and not paying Renee the attention she is seeking.

Day three. Matthew only wet himself once, visited the snack table several times.

Day four. Renee focused more on her work and new friends, and less on Regina.

And day five. What more is there to say?

Matthew's Movie Reviews

Matthew: "Panda Bear is my favourite movie"
Me: "What about Yogi bear?"
Matthew: "Yogi bear is my most best movie"

Blue Jays Game

We went to a Blue Jay's game this weekend, and the kids really enjoyed it. Especially the balloon animals and tattoos. Matthew watched the game with interest, Samuel looked for the ball and was very concenred about he batter who was hit by a ball, Renee kept looking for "the bird" (Blue Jay that came out between innings to cheer on the crowd).

Renee's Tattoos

Samuel's Tattoos

Samuel and Matthew at home plate after the game (they let the kids on the field after the games). Renee started to run the bases but when she realized I wasn't running behind her, she turned back to look for me.

Last Day of Daycare

Two and a half years later, Matthew and Renee have finished daycare. We've always been lucky in finding quality child care for our kids and DMCC was no exception. The staff was caring and loving, the other kids great. The warm feeling was evident from my first visit on a cold, cold January day with Matthew and Renee bundled in their car seats on the double snap and go.

A few memories:
- Renee always wanted to be in the room with the older kids. There were more boys than girls, and she was sometimes the only girl.
- There was a little girl, J, who was only 2 weeks older than Matthew and Renee. The funny thing is that she looked more like she could have been Matthew's twin with straight light brown hair.

- Matthew went through a bitting phase in the toddler room, it was horrible to have to signthe reports and look at the other parents, knowing that it was my son's teeth imprints on their kid.

- Matthew's 2 scars came while he was at daycare. One from a bite (possobly deserved, see above). The second from when he fell onto a chair while running to get a toy from another boy. Both incidents hurt the daycare staff as much as they hurt me, and likely more than they hurt Matthew

- True to her mom, Renee didn't like the Reptilia guest visit. Matthew on the other hand, had his picture taken with a snake around his neck.

- Both kids, but Matthew in particular, loved "water play"

- Both ate everything, and a lot of it.

- Whoever picked them up was often greeted by two faces looking out the glass door, jumping up ajnd down on recognition that we were there.

- the stairs up to the pre-school room were lined with pcitures of the kids doing work, and the outcome of the work itself.

- They had lovely mother's day teas, and gave us moms great gifts - pictures of the kids, cards with hand prints.

- Renee would refer to her "pre-school" friends. And had her first play date with the other little girl her age.

I knew that everyday I dropped them off they would be well loved and cared for. And what more can one ask for in a daycare?

Samuel's First Day of School

It was a perfect beginning of the year, welcomed back by his former teachers M and T, at 9 am the classroom was already in a quiet hum of activity and kids getting back to work. The report at the end of the day "it was great, we did only recess and no math" and "i kept you in a tiny space at the bottom of a shelf in case I missed you, but I didnt".

I (we) Would Drive 500 Miles

Three years after we left, we went back to DC to celebrate BBB#6 (the annual birthday celebration for the kids whose moms we met through the Breastfeeding Center of Greater Washington).


Twelve hours door-to-door each way, and the kids did great! They loved the idea of going as much as the reality of the trip.


A few highlights:

• We stumbled upon a lovely Italian restaurant in Williamsport, DiSalvos. It looked way to nice for our demographics, but it's courtyard and homemade pasta turned out to be perfect. The kids did great, entertained themselves, behaved, ate well.


• Samuel asked about who his friends were and who we were going to see. "I can't wait to see my best friend E, I miss E so much, I love my best friend E, what does E look like?". We met up with E and his dad for lunch, I think we overwhelmed them with Matthew and Samuel's non-stop activity while the 3 boys shared a booth for lunch. Matthew referred to E's dad as "E's Dad" the whole day. It later evolved to a variation of him real name and finally on the last day Matthew got his name right.


• We went to the zoo, not thwarted by the forecast of thunderstorms, we took no raincoats (they stayed in the hotel) and no umbrella's (those were in the car) and no extra shoes for the kids (those were at home). We saw elephants, sloth bears, red pandas, and a panda. Matthew was in heaven. The panda was serendipity, we were inside the panda building due to the rain but there was no panda to be seen, were about to leave as the rain subsided, and another zoo visitor called us back because the panda had come out. He, or she, just lay there, moving an arm once in a while. But that was enough.


• We connected with many friends (but not all, so if we missed you we'll get you next time we come).


• Matthew, Samuel and Renee ate copious amounts of food at our friends S, L and F's house. It was lovely to see them and reminisce about our days of eating fish tacos.


• We had a great time at BBB#6. Samuel re-integrated with his friends, who he likely didn't remember, and had a great time. Matthew went for the calls right away and played non-stop. And somewhat uncharacteristically, Renee didn't cling to me. I loved seeing Matthew and Renee play with the kids who were babies or hadn't been born when we left.


• The building museum still rocks, although now you have to pay and they are much stricter about when you can go and how long you can stay in the building zone. Their lego exhibit was great, the buildings were amazing and the vast vats of legos for the kids, and adults, to build with was great.


• Samuel cried, tears and all, when we crossed the border on the way home. "I miss my friends so much already, why can't we live in Washington".

Seeing our friends was great. In some ways, it was as though we had never left, and picked up the friendships right were we left them. But there are a lot more kids than there used to be, and so many we had never met. And I got to celebrate my birthday with the most harmonious singing of happy birthday that any restaurant has ever heard. Having MNO with the MilkMoms was like coming home. I will be forever grateful to the Breastfeeding Center, for the influence it had on nursing my kids, on my parenting style, and on the seed of friendship it planted all those years ago.

Mexico shirts

Wearing the shirts Tocayo and Regi brought back from Mexico

Renee on the Big Swing

The little swings were wet, so I suggested the big swing

Renee - "No Mami, no"

Me - "Let's try it and if you don't like it you can get off"

Within two seconds of being seated - "Push me high, up to the sky"

After picture taken - "Put camera away now"

But I wanted to send Marc the picture, so I asked her to sing a song and then I'd put the camera away. "Twinkle, twinle . . . . wonder what you are. Now put it away and push me high"

Renee and the Railroad

We were invited to a train party today, at Richmond Hill Live Steamers where they build and operate real model size stream locomotives. The tracks are really long, have different switches and routes, complete with a church on the side of the railroad, a barn (which Renee referred to as her house 3 times), a central store, complete with dolls and plastic flowers. At first she hesitated from going on the trains with the elevated track, but then she saw the ones that run on the ground and she loved them. We wet on 3 or4 times, each ride was about 10 minutes long, going up to 10 km/hour, and each one a bit different. She loved it. Too bad the boys were still on their trip, they would have been in heaven.

Twoot twoot, all aboard

On the actual train (self portrait using blackberry)

Enjoying cake with the hosts of the train party

Fort Henry

(this is Matthew enthusiastically pretending to be in the Marching Band)

In Kingston

As part of their summer vacation, Marc took the boys to Kingston where we went to university and where we met 17 years ago.

Samuel drawing at Pan Chancho

At the eastern ontario train museum

On parliament hill

When I showed this to Renee she said "who's that guy with my brother?"

Bedtime books

The boys reading books with their Buba, on their "boy's vacation".

At Babby's Tea and Taking a Picture with the Phone

Marc, Sameul and Matthew are visiting Marc's parents, leaving Renee and me at home for some girl time. Lovely, with a big focus on all things pink, from paydough to cookies to clothes. But more improtantly, it's given me a chance to enjoy the company of just one kid, there aren't 3 sets of pajamas to cajole, teeth to brush and shoes to yell about in the morning. We talk over dinner, discuss where Daddy and "my brothers Matthew and Sameul" are, and wy we can't go pick them up, and that she doesn't like cats. I get a blow by blow of daycare, who went outside, who cried, who was cutting with the "skisos".

We went to a "tea" at my grandmother's and used the occasion to put on her new pink party dress. Renee wasn't keen on letting me take her picture though. She insisted on taking her own picture . . . with a land-line phone! Perfect opportunity for me to take her picture with my cell phone.

Setting the table for dinner

End of Camp Dance Recital

Samuel loved his new camp this year, Multi Sport in the morning, and Dance in the afternoon. He came home with a few awards for being the "best listenner" and "best helper", super proud of himself. And did some great art work too.

These are pictures from his end of camp dance recital. He was front and center. His t-shirt was one of his arts and crafts projects.

One Sunday at an Indoor Playground

There's a new indoor playground very close to our house. We had Matthew and Renee's birthday party there and go pretty often. The kids love it and it's never crowded. True to their personalities, Renee plays in the toddler areas and with the playhouses. Matthew donimates the big slides, and in a bit of role reversal Samuel followed him down. It's hard to get puctures of the boys, they move so fast.

The Generations

I'm catching up to releasing a bunch of posts I had sent to the blog and not put out. This picture is about 3 months old. My grandmother with great-grandchildren #7, 10 and 11. The kids adore her, and it's mutual. She refers to them as "mis chiquitos" ("my little ones").

Happy Birthday Matthew and Renee