Navigation

I've had enough of the dawdling. From our 3-year old. When will it end ?

The parenting resources I've been consulting recently advise one to take a break, if needed, to cool one's jets. I am taking a break now.

I've had enough of the whining. From our 3-year old. When will it end ?

Charlotte had an unfortunate spill in the kitchen, and wiped out into a cabinet. Her front-teeth made an impact, which resulted in immediate dental concerns. Took her down to the dentist yesterday, and the prognosis is good. Front-teeth a little loose, but that is to be expected anyway. Turns out she's got the big-girl teeth coming in right now, so those baby-teeth weren't going to be sticking around long anyways....

	Part of the new weekly routine is to head out on foot to our various destinations, all the while taking a very-leisurely pace. Wolfe is usually napping in the stroller, while Charlotte pokes along checking out all the interesting things there are to see along the journey. Last week, while on the way to story-time at the public library, Charlotte stopped in front of the Hotel Grand Pacific, and tried out the cement sculpture out front. She said "Daddy, this is like a slice of avocado!"
	And then we get down onto the Lower Causeway, and she wanted to jump up onto each of the light-standards ringing the harbour walkway. Every single one, except the bird-poop ones. And tell me how they looked like mushrooms!
	And then we get down to the Tobacconist on Government Street, and she had a great deal of fun looking at all the neat stuff in the window. Yes, it takes a while to get to most places, but that's OK....

I see last year, I was talking about our tiny one, and all the new words she was coming up with. Well, we've come a long way.....Charlotte has a lot to say about many things....and is quite clear about what she wants. Except when she is screaming. We try to convince her that screaming will get her nowhere, and that it would be better to use her words. However, we're in the twos still, and there has been a lot of NO NO NO, and NOT NOT NOT, and NAYO NAYO NAYO (a combination of NAY and NO) and screaming about whatever. GRRRRRRRR. The screaming drives everyone up the wall of course, so we're all managing the outbursts one way or another.

Haven't been too busy with the digital camera lately, but did have it out a few weekends ago. Charlotte likes to go into the front office and "see stuff"...like the mouse, and the phone, and whatever else looks fun. For some reason the mouse is always fun to grab and press....

You'll note she's dressed in pink here....she's going through some sort of pink phase with the clothes, in that most attire has to be pink. The routine with getting dressed in the morning is usually quite exhausting, and quite a chore. First there is the general resistance to getting dressed at all. Then there is trying to come up with something that she wants to wear. Then there is the struggle to get dressed. Then there is probably going to be a wardrobe change shortly thereafter. After a bunch of screaming. *sigh* I gather these are the simply the typical joys of parenting. It used to be a lot easier to get her dressed and out the door. No longer. Especially after a chorus of thrice-repeated "Mommy DO it, Mommy DO it, Mommy DO it!!!!". *sigh*

Not sure where she got that one, but Charlotte said this to me today, as we were driving through some brilliant sunbeams along Dallas Road. We've made heavenly bodies into a family of sorts for Charlotte, with Daddy-Sun and Mommy-Moon playing key roles in the day and night-time skies.....

Santa Claus was making an appearance at the historical Craigdarroch Castle today, so we went up there to meet him. Ho Ho Ho! He arrived at 11 AM and told all the kiddies a story, and then wanted to to meet all the children and find out if they had been good, and what they wanted for XMAS. Charlotte was the first to meet Santa, and she got a little teary-eyed upon sitting on Santa's knee. He gave her a candy-cane anyways as she retreated to the safety of Mommy's arms....she enjoyed running about the 4th Floor Dance Hall quite a bit more.....

Some sort of bad stomach flu going around down here. Charlotte up retching last night - a lot - repeatedly. She's not feeling all that great today. Very subdued.

Today was the day for the big challenge. Here are the results.

Charlotte is feeling a little under the weather this weekend. There has been a lot of nurnie today. Although she did not formally participate in this year's challenge, she was likely latched on at 11 AM, so she should likely be counted...!

Off to the James Bay Community Market. A fun Saturday morning thing to do. Charlotte and I did that a lot this summer. Now that the season is winding down, this may be our last jaunt down there. We all walked down there this AM - except for Poppi - who had to go to work.

Charlotte likes the jewelry vendors - her favourite, as they have so many pretty things to clutch and grab. Mommy has recently taken to doing a bit of bead-work at home, as Charlotte really likes her bead bracelets. I like the coffee vendor - my favourite, as I usually need to grab a coffee as soon as I get to the market in the morning. I heard from the coffee vendor that there was a really great live music act at the Market last weekend. Today they had a fellow playing some steel guitar - very cool.

The market scene down here is very hip - when the sun is out, and there's somebody down there playing acoustic guitar, and you've got your fresh flowers and veggies.....you know....it's a very enjoyable summer-time scene.

A very special day indeed! The big celebration was down at Toddler Time. I took a vacation day to joiin in the fun. Nana came down from Cowichan Bay, leaving Grandpa up at the store - poor Papa! Momo and Lance were there too, and Justine made a yummy homemade carrot cake with cream-cheese frosting.....good stuff! There was lots of good fun down at Toddler Time - Charlotte put on her favourite heels and dressed up a little bit to play with Mr. Potato Head.

On the way home, we did a fine bit of dawdling along. Charlotte wanted to hug a tree, and build a tree, and look at flowers, and plant a garden, and all sorts of fun things.

After getting back home, we had a little tea party while the crew was upstairs putting in Momo and Poppi's new wall-bed. The creativity continues down here with how we are maximizing various spaces....

Su-Su-Sussudio!

We've been talking about the studio a lot lately. Mostly because it is such a big project, and we all need to chip in and get it cleaned out. Right now it is an art studio in waiting. Because I like to butcher words, I've been calling it a "dudio", as in; a place with dudes. Well, there are no dudes in there these days. Just boxes and boxes of stuff.

Harumph.

Well, because it's a studio, and Justine and I grew up in the 80's we've been using that great 80's word "Sussudio", from the Phil Collins track - oh what fun! Well, Charlotte thinks it is fun too - so now she says "Sussudio".

I feel so good if I just say the word
Sussudio I just say the word
Oh Sussudio I just say the word
Oh Sussudio I'll say the word
Sussudio oh oh oh
Just say the word

So, when we ask Charlotte to say the word, she says it.....and I got to find a way to get her in an audio clip on here....

She also says a lot of other stuff, believe me. And not just counting to 10 and doing the alphabet, and singing Ring Around the Rosie. Apparently she had to correct Momo on something this weekend, after Momo thanked Charlotte for letting her "use" something. Charlotte corrected Momo that she didn't "use" it, she "borrowed" it.....

Lance signed Charlotte up for Baby Picasso up at theAGGV this weekend, so that was a fun activity for them to do together on both Saturday and Sunday morning. Turns out that we now have another artist in the house that is comfortable working with paint. We have some new art proudly displayed on the fridge....!

The nice summer evenings lately have allowed a bit of a change to the usual evening routine of bath/story/bed with Charlotte. Sometimes after bath-time, Charlotte and I head out with pups for a walk down along the waterfront. This past Thursday night, it was quite a nice evening, so we strolled along the harbour from Fisherman's ending up down on the Lower Causeway.

We seem to attract our share of attention, although not nearly as much as that guy who juggles the flames. Lots of folks like to stop and give Oscar some lovin', and he responds as if he gets none of that at home. A quite jolly American visitor down by the Laurel Point Inn saw me coming with a loaded stroller and the pup in tow, and exclaimed that we would fit right into a Norman Rockwell painting....! Uh, ok?!

There's been some very extravagant boats parked down at Ship's Point lately, so we went down there to have a look at "Kisses", before turning around and coming back home. Charlotte sometimes falls asleep on the walk back home, so then we toss her into bed upon our return.

Got a few pics the other night, but whipping out the camera is always a challenge, as Charlotte wants to "Hold camera, Hold it, Hold it!!!!" The sunsets last week were quite nice, with lots of pink and orange in the sky - we've got lots of long views to the horizon down here, so we get lots of sky into the sunset view, which makes them look quite dramatic. For a more technical explanation of what is colouring the sunsets these days, listen to this MP3 clip from stardate.org.

*sigh*

A bit yucky out there today, part sun, part cloud. No play-school this morning, so we headed off with Charlotte in the stroller for downtown. Got coffee en route, and stopped in at Scallywags to check out shoes. Last time at this store, Mommy went in for sneakers, Charlotte saw the yellow crocs, and really liked those, so Mommy got those instead. This time we went in for anything but crocs, but came away with the 2 pairs seen here. Charlotte absolutely loves her crocs.

more...

Another sunny day, what luck. It is finally shorts-weather, and we're getting ready to head out for play-group down in the Village. And what a treat - we have NANA in the HOUSE! Yes, there has been so much excitement with greeting Nana this morning. She is wearing her "little balls", that "don't nurnie".

Charlotte is applying the nurnie-test to most things these days. For example, little cows DO nurnie. Little boats do NOT nurnie. Very good. Another test is the "Baby-test", where we get her to figure out who is the baby of who. For example, Corey is the baby of Nana. Justine is the baby of Momo. Oooooooooo! This is major.

Charlotte likes to go to the powk just up the street. We call it Charlotte's Park. She can't quit say the "r" sounds yet, so she calls it the powk. We're up there several times per day, as it is just a 2 minute walk up the street.

Lots to do in the neighbourhood of course.....on Saturday morning, she was up at 0600, so I eventually got up and had her and OTP out by a little after 0700. We walked from Ogden Point to Clover Point, enjoying all the sea-side sights. OTP managed to make it thru the big doggie zone without too many problems. We went towards Cook Street Village, and went to the powk next to the Lawn Bowling Club. Lots of fun on the swings and slides. Then over to the Petting Zoo to see the young goats bouncing around. Back down through James Bay, and Charlotte went to sleep around 0910. Still sleeping when I got home around 1000, so she must have had a tiring morning. Nice and warm out for us on Saturday......quite a bit more chilly on Sunday....

We got out on Sunday morning as well, early for a walk. This time, Mommy didn't sleep-in, and came with us. We came home around 0900 for our usual Sunday AM routine - homemade pancakes and Sunday Side Up on KPLU. We went out for a car ride through View Royal and Langford, during which Charlotte had a big nap. We went back to the powk when we got home, and took this shot here.

Wish I had pics of this one. But she's been down at the local petting zoo in the park lately. Handy having a petting zoo for kids right in the neighbourhood. Yah. Anyhoo.....we've been into the recent stampede of all the baby goats and all that. What fun! But, apparently something upset her at the petting zoo the other day. Could have been the aggressive displays of nursing ? Who knows....?

The word "Canada" is quite a mouthful. Charlotte can pick out the flag from a distance. And we tell her that is the flag of "Canada". She so wants to build the vocab rapidly these days. And her mouth can't quite wrap around the whole word yet. She says "Kayka"....

Charlotte has lots of words these days, and is so eager to talk talk talk all the time. She can't actually say "tiny" but she puts her index finger and thumb together real small as she says "tie"....which is close enough! She knows "big", and likes to say it as "beeeeeeeeeg!". These days, she likes to point out body parts like "han", "toe", "elbow", "knee", "eye", "nonie", and "tortie". The nose has become "nonie", and "tortie" means "tail", like one you would find on the body of a dog, or lion. I especially like that she has picked up the word "rhino", as that is a good word to have in hand.

The girls were shooting pics at home the other day, and Charlotte was tripping around in her blue dress, looking very cute....

For some reason, I have not unloaded the camera lately, so here we are in the back-office unloading a pile of recent shots. I thought of showing you all the turkey-carving from that XMAS week, but I'll spare all you vegetarians out there that site. See what a sensitive blogger I am ?

Anyhoo, here is one of Charlotte trying on some nice new duds at XMAS time. She knows about getting gifts. Especially from Nana. I had to put some batteries in the toys this past weekend, and I dug her out a hand-me-down toy keyboard for her to plunk away on. She had never seen it before, and looked at it, then said to me "Nana?".

Not sure why I did not blog-a-lot during the XMAS break. Just flaked out a lot. Now I am getting back in the zone. Maybe I'll back-date this one just for one.

It was finally nice to listen to Suze Snowflake, and the whole rest of that damn CD in the truck DURING the XMAS season. As you know, that track used to help Charlotte manage in the truck somewhat, but listening to that track all summer was a pain. At least during the holidays it was a little more in stride with the times....

Anyhoo, Charlotte still hates going out in the car. We're wondering if turning around her seat will help. Let's hope so, because most car rides are just a miserable ordeal with her. Unless we strategize properly.

Charlotte likes to help out around the house. A little while ago she started helping unload the dishwasher - good girl! She's getting pretty good at opening drawers and cupboards, and taking things out. That is a lot of fun! She has yet to help load the dishwasher, because that would require opening the door and putting things IN, not OUT. Hmmm....what else does she do ? Well, she has discovered the broom, and the swiffer, and looks to push those babies around the room. No photos of that action yet, though...

Ok, now we are exploring some more options in ImageMagick, and even using the GIMP to have a whole lot of fun with some of the digital pics that we took last week. Lance is riding shotgun here on the Linux box, and chipping in with tips from the photoShop side.....

We used the -charcoal switch on the convert program, and then chucked it into the GIMP to 'invert' Charlotte.....we call this one the charcoal charlotte - duh!

Here are words that Charlotte' has learned to say, organized somewhat by category;
Family
Mommy, Daddy, Momo, Poppy, Nana, Baby
Animals
Doggie, Bear, Ah-Ah (bird), Kitty, Bee
Foods
Apple, Pie, Banana
Facial Features
Eye, Nose, Teeth
Household Items
Ball, Bowl, Hattie (Hat), amera (camera), Hammer
Requests
No Doggie! : as in, "Oscar, please don't do that anymore."
Up! : as in, "I wanna be lifted up, now!"
Words to describe Mommy
Hot, Pretty
Salutations
Hi, Bye

We went outside this morning for a bit of fresh air, and to see who else was outside. A few kids playing in the snow, and a few neighours shoveling driveways. We were only out for a short while before we decided it was time to go in for coffee. We had a brief power outage yesterday - only about 3 hours, or so. Quite manageable it was, as we had already pressed the espresso shots out of the Gaggia before the power went out. Today, the power stayed on all day, so no worries. Oh yeah, campus was closed and Justine was advised not to trek in, so we had a day at home.....

Our Halloween evening included a bit of dress-up, as usual. I broke out the bag of silly masks, hats, and wigs, for a few seasonal laughs. Charlotte got dressed up in her cow costume, and posed for a few pics.

Charlotte and I went out on the trick-or-treat circuit, visiting 4 neighbours, and loading up a small bag of treats that are going to be devoured by Daddy.

So today she took a small tumble on the front driveway, and scraped up her wrist. Only a small flesh wound. Mommy kissed it all better. But later this evening, she took a look at it, and was so upset by her blemish that she cried and cried. Oh dear!

Charlotte, it is ok, my sweet - the little blemish will go away.....

Huge massive I'm-scared tears. Yup. Not good. And she would not stop. And then she looked at the scratch again! Oh! Horrors! Dinner abruptly ceased!

Went out for a little walk today along the Gorge Waterway.

Charlotte started off in the stroller, but then wanted to give her legs a little stretch, and did she ever! She walked for several minutes, on her own, gasping and smiling as she toddled along. It was quite fun to watch her go, of course, looking so cute as she was in the red sweater and red cap.

"Hi Nana, it's me, Charlotte! I am down at my play-group in James Bay, but I thought I would take a moment to give you a quick call. And I mean quick, because there are so many fun play-stations down here that I keep getting distracted! I get distracted really easy like my Daddy sometimes....Oh - what's happening over there with Mr. Potato-Head! He looks like a dough-GAY! You probably heard that my favourite word these days is "doggie", but you say it like "dough-GAY". I use it whenever I see Oscar, or pictures of other doggies in my stories. It is really fun when Daddy shows me pictures of everybody, and I call him a dough-gay!

Tee-hee-hee-hee-hee!

See this nice train cap I have on! Yes, it is a real hit down here. Poppy picked it up at the model train show on the weekend. I couldn't make it out to the show because I was feeling a little cranky. I stayed home with Mommy and did some nursing and played with my books. I really like all my books. Especially the one with the fuzzy animals in it! There is fuzzy sheeps, ducks, cows and dough-gays in there! Heh! Ok, gonna go play some more....bye Nana!"

Charlotte is still waving quite a bit these days. Waving and pointing. Pointing and waving. It's all good. A new sound she's picked up is "yum". She likes to repeat it in rapid succession, like "yum yum". This is an especially appropriate sound when she sees us talking about something tasty coming from the refrigerator, or preparing something on the kitchen counter....

Hello Charlotte How are you? How are you? How are you? Hello Charlotte How are you? You are One today!