Quotable quotes

"I'm not drawing on the book, Mumma. I'm just stroking it gently with the end of my pen..."

Happy birthday, Granny Heath

Happy birthday, Granny Heath!

Hope you have a lovely birthday. Looking forward to seeing you soon. :)

Version 1: "The robot"

Version 2: "The Moving Target"

Moving URLs

We are going to migrate to a new blog in the next few weeks. We won't be publishing the new URL here, so if you are still with us and would like to follow us to our new home, email us and we'll let you know the new web address.

Magic

There is nothing quite so magic as feeling your unborn child kick your hand for the first time.

On being slammed

Emma slapped me today, completely out of the blue, with no apparent anger or provocation. She accompanied it with a loud and resounding "Slam!"

When I protested and told her not to hit me, she explained patiently, "I wasn't hitting you Mumma. I was pretending you were a door."

Aye, aye, aye...

Celebrating Mummy

Caroline has won a big award for work and we are in Kelowna (about 5 hours from Vancouver) for the award ceremony. We told Emma that we all need to dress up and be "spiffy" for the banquet tonight.

Emma as a result is in the bath and refuses to get out  - apparently, she needs a "long, long bath" because she's "not spiffy yet."  Hopefully, part of her definition of spiffy is actually getting dressed! :)

Not a good adult

(After lights out.)
Mumma: You're supposed to be sleeping, kiddo.
Emma (shrugging, looking absolutely adorable, with a "what can you do?" attitude): I'm just not a very good adult, Mumma. I'm supposed to sleep but I just want to play.

Today's lesson

If you're on a budget, never let a hormonal pregnant woman loose at her children's future school and let her bid on a baby basket in a silent auction...

Quote of the day

 “No, Mumma! Don’t wipe my face with the duck’s duvet.” 

(Stupid me thought it was a washcloth.)

The logic of three-year-olds

Mumma: Ow!
Emma: You stepped on my baby! (doll)
Mumma: Sorry, baby. .
Emma: Mumma, toys don't talk.

Damned if you do...

The problem with having a kid who is old enough to actually do stuff is that she's also old enough to say, "No, I don't want to."

Happy Birthday Mumma!

Emma and I had great fun tonight preparing for Mumma's birthday tomorrow. Thought I'd share this funny video that we made...I wonder if she will be this energetic in her teens!?!

We have literacy!

Emma just wrote her name for the first time. (and by that I mean you could look at it later and clearly see an E, an M, another M and an A  - she's been trying to do it for months, but it wasn't legible.)

I'm pretty excited and awed by the brain development that has to take place for a child to place abstract symbols on a page that have a meaning beyond what she designates to them...

The four raisins

On the days when Emma has cereal for breakfast, she's taken to picking out the raisins and saying - "There's one for Mumma, one for Mummy, one for baby and one for me, big sister."

Why does she do this, you are asking, as you hold your breath, hardly daring to believe the answer.

Because, dear readers (all two or three of you, our loyal and faithful followers)...

we are having another baby!!!!!!!!!!!! 

We will take our first baby steps as the parents of our newest little one around November 7.

Yayyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overheard conversation

Caroline and Emma in the kitchen using up old bananas by making banana bread.

Caroline: No, kiddo. We're not putting glue in the cake. Put it down, please.
Emma: But why?
Caroline: Um...Well... because glue doesn't go in cake. We don't eat glue. We use it to stick things.
Emma: (sounding disappointed) Oh. Ok.


(a few minutes later)
Emma: I can do it! I can help.
Caroline: Thanks, kiddo...No silly, we're not putting glue in the cake!
Emma: Oh.

Quote of the day

"I like nice dinosaurs. I like a nice T-Rex."

Seeing the world

If she had just said "Mumma, I want to go to the park," I might have been been able to resist. But no, she said, "Mumma. Can we go out? I want to see the world." What's a Mumma to do?

Science

Emma: Why is water slippery?
Mumma: (provides long involved answer about thin films of water, lubrication, friction blah blah blah)
Emma: But why?

(I should have just said "Because it is.")

Baby bear is cleaning up

Sitting on the couch working while my daughter sweeps and tidies up. I should feel guilty, shouldn't I? But I'm more interested in figuring out how to keep this dynamic as she gets older. She is choosing to sweep, believe it or not, but sadly, I suspect it is a phase.

Quote of the day: "Mumma bear! You give the best kisses!"

Kid after my own heart

Emma's book of choice for reading and snuggles in bed this morning - Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. She calls it "the tiger story." (At this rate, she'll be ready to critique the article I once wrote about it: - "Fiction is a Territorial Animal; The Booker Prize, its Keeper" - by the time she's 3 1/2)