Simon says

Each year I find that Remembrance Day is more poignant and more sad.  I think this is natural as I get older, build my own family and learn more about the horrors of war.  I am still generally vehemently opposed to war and military force and I believe that our leaders go to war for many ill-founded and self-serving reasons.  However, that does nothing to lessen my respect for those who serve in the armed forces and especially for those who have lost their lives.  It is an absolute tragedy that well meaning men and women lose their lives for often unapparent benefit.  I truly appreciate the way we are able to live today and I don't know how different that would be had a million people not died in world war one but it would certainly be extraordinarily hard to have lost a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan and to have ask the question "for what?".  One of my regrets is that I did not attend the 2003 demonstration in London against the Iraq war.  We sp...

Monday, November 10th, 2014 I'm taking pictures on our old iPod touch, generally the preserve of the cash strapped school kid, but relatively hi-tec in our one car, one computer household.  It takes rubbish photos though which is a particular shame today because our precocious children have only gone and created masterpieces.  At the risk of being one of those parents, I am particularly impressed by Felicity's offering on the left combining as it does a vivid colour palette and some admirable proportionality and depth of texture.  Toby has given away his height by only making it a third of the way up the paper. This was done at play group exposing me to minimal liability in the paint mess department.  I think playgroup is great for them but today there were 45 kids and adults there and it was a zoo.  Trying to keep an eye on both of them, especially Toby who is a compulsive climber, and attempting to administer snacks in that environment is just dra...

Sunday, November 9th, 2014 Friday was a quiet day with a playdate in the morning, a long nap for Toby and a brief expedition to the back yard in the afternoon.  We had to the pull the bathtub rip cord shortly before 5.  For those unfamiliar the bath is a get out of jail free card - whatever crazy mood the kids are in, the bath fixes them.  Change of scene, playing with water, the soothing prehistoric bond with amniotic peace... Who cares, it works. At the end of week one I have been telling those who ask that it has gone better than I expected.  I have reduced my episodes of snapping at Felicity to include only those occasions when she is beating Toby over the head.  And in turn Felicity has reduced her tantrums per day to very close to one.  Toby, while moderately high maintenance, is a simpler creature.  Feed him, hug him, make him laugh and he is happy.  The real challenge for me is maintaining that Zen-like balance of rejecting time constr...

Thursday, November 26th, 2014 Last night was one of those.  Toby woke up at 10.30pm and seemed to stay awake for the rest of the night.  I got up with him at 3.45am and that was it for me apart from 40 minutes on the living room floor, cradling his head with one hand and using the other to hold a cushion under my own.  Luckily I don't have to fly a plane or operate on anyone.  I did knock over two cups of tea today and I don't think I have aver knocked over even one before. To get things going on the photo front... yes, that bowl says DOG on it.  We have a picture somewhere of Felicity drinking out of the same bowl and it has been known for Toby to scare the dog off and then help himself to a sample of her dinner.   Felicity loves hills right now so I thought of the biggest, close-ish one and took them there this morning.  It was a hit.  Soooooo BIG!  And even the little guy perked up for an attempt.  The rest of day was spent...

This week is pretty much try everything and see what sticks.  Today Crystal bicycled to work leaving us with sole use of the family automobile.  We drove to the Hintonburg community centre where they advertise gym play.  Sure enough they have huge, full size gym with a few bits of equipment laid out and not very many customers.  We will come back when the weather is worse and we will bring some friends with us.  In the meantime they loved it.  Felicity dribbled a soccer ball (football) all over the gym and Toby pushed his popcorn wagon around.  Moderately surreal experience but not bad for $3.25. On the way home we stopped at the grocery store (supermarket), discovered Toby was asleep, carried on home where he promptly woke up, continued to another grocery store only to discover he'd fallen asleep again, bundled him into a shopping cart (trolley) where he enjoyed a whole orange pepper for the duration of our shop. Grandma and Nonno came by in the ...

Tuesday, November 4th, 2014 I've never swum with both kids on my own.  The swimming is the easy bit.  The changing room is the real challenge.  Dovercourt rec used to have a pack and play to put your youngster in while you get changed and organised.  I discovered this week 9 out of 10 when I was taking Felicity for swimming lessons.  It changed my life.  Today it was no longer there.  Toby is one or those one-year-olds who... walks.  They are either one and crawling towards their chosen method of self-harm or they are one and walking twice as fast toward the same.  Toby made attempts at the door, the pool and the toilets as the mountain of clothing and towels grew unchecked on the bench in front of us.  After 15 minutes of wrestling, re-enacting almost all the scenes from Munch's "Thomas' Snowsuit", we were ready.  Lockers were jammed with our worldly possessions and remarkably two children and one adult were all appropriately dr...

Monday, November 3rd, 2014 Half an hour waiting for a bus that comes every 15 minutes was an inauspicious start but things got better.  Kids love riding the bus.  Big kids do too.  The EYC is the Ontario Early Years Centre at Pinecrest.  This one is great.  It is set up a lot like a kindergarten classroom with centres for crafts, painting, play kitchen, toys, reading, puzzles and a ball pool.  They do 2 hour drop-ins several times a week and both Felicity and Toby get a lot out of it.  They finish with a circle and I'm planning to try the French Immersion version one week soon. Afternoons are harder because everyone is tired and getting the kidlets dressed and out the door again is purgatory but the alternative, staying in, is whatever is below purgatory in the pecking order.  So out we trooped for a go slow scooter to the grocery store. I think the clock change has thrown a spanner in the works.  At least it seems unlikely that someone...

Sunday, November 2nd, 2014 Some people call it Daddy Daycare, Stay at home Dad, homemaker, home economist, househusband, astrophysicist (well, maybe not the last one).  Whatever it is, it started today, Sunday, a day earlier than scheduled thanks to Mrs. Ferguson's impending report card deadline.  It's 2014 so Dad staying home with the kids is hardly going to raise eyebrows but nevertheless my anecdotal observation is that there ain't many doing it around these parts.  So it's me and the mums. One of my favourite places to take Felicity and Toby is the Agriculture Museum.  It helps that they let teachers and under-3s in for free but I think we'd still be tempted to get the family membership because it is very good.  It's good because it is has an outdoor play structure, indoor play area, small animal barn, demonstration kitchen and space to run and pigs.  As the kids get older it also has cows, horses and other bigger things that currently scare th...

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Today Crystal took Felicity downhill skiing on the magic carpet at Fortune while I did  a cross country loop from P10 to Champlain and back along the 1.

Friday, March 7th, 2014 P10 to Shilly Shally en famille.  March break began today with glorious weather.  It has been so cold that there is a lot of snow well into March.  Felicity got lots of 'skiing' in today and the effort of bundling a ton of equipment and two small people into the car was of course well worth it.  We took the nice camera today and got a lot of pictures:

Saturday, March 1, 2014 21k, 1h40m with Darius We keep getting more snow and it's still really cold. But skiing was great today. Did the 5, then Parkway to Mackenzie King, down the 15 back to the Parkway and then back on the 29 to Gamelin. A winter wonderland:

Sunday, February 24, 2014 Meg and Arlo rented Brown cabin as we have in previous years. We decided we could not pull off the overnight with our mini people so we went for brunch. Very icy after the thaw and re-freeze but beautiful and sunny. Lots of pictures today.