Candiac Mom

Kira's graduation from preschool

2011-06-21T00:03:00.007-04:00

Okay, so it's not like an "official" graduation. She's not finishing a degree or any government-regulated curriculum for that matter. But what a proud day it was when my beautiful daughter graduated from preschool!

My daughter's preschool nurtured her in a way like no other school could have. I still remember when she started, how she would cry her way through a box of tissues each day for 2 weeks, and then how painfully shy she was for the entire first year there. Kira has just completed 3 years at les activités préscolaires de Brossard, and she has blossomed so much in those 3 years! The teachers there - I can't say enough about each and every one of them... they are enthusiastic, creative, artistic, and pour so much energy and love into their jobs every day!

This past year, Kira was blessed with 3 fantastic teachers: Marlene, François and Sonia.

Marlene prepared her class for kindergarten through the "Ateliers des Petits" program. Kira so enjoyed everything she learned from Marlene, and especially grew fond of mazes, crafts, and "playing teacher" at home. You can always see how your child is being treated through her role-play, and when Kira would come home and play teacher, I just knew that Marlene was treating her with respect, kindness, and great attention.

In her second year with François as a teacher, Kira was finally able to be comfortable and outgoing. While she cringed at public performances last year, she was one of the loudest singers in school music shows this year. François is a professional musician and composer, and what a joy it has been to play his CDs in our car each morning on the way to preschool! At the end of the year, the class gave an incredible musical production, from which I hope to post pics soon!

François was also Kira's gym teacher. Omigosh, what fun! The group always came out of class hot and sweaty, with big smiles on their faces. Kira was so proud in the fall when she did her first front roll, and now she is full of tricks and confidence to try new things!

Kira's teacher for "Club des Champions" was Sonia, a delightfully happy mother of a student at the preschool. Sonia's experience as a teacher and familiarity to the students as a mom of their peer, helped her to establish herself quickly when she took over a class at the end of last fall from Lucie, who left for other professional pursuits. Here is Kira with Sonia (above), and Lucie (below):

And so now for the graduation photos! Here is just a small selection:

Milestones like these make me such a proud mama!

Expo Agricole in Saint-Hyacinthe

2010-12-05T00:34:00.003-05:00

At the end of July every year, there is an awesome festival in Saint-Hyacinthe called Expo-Agricole. Seriously, I've been raving to friends about it since I tried it out last year for the first time. If you have young kids you simply MUST schedule this in your summer itinerary! Mark took the day off work to go as a family this year, because I couldn't stop raving about it. And, I'm happy to say he wasn't disappointed. :)

We went on the opening day, which was a Thursday. There were a lot of daycamps there, so it was actually quite packed. However, having the extra set of hands there made it so much easier for me, because - for example - while Mark took Kira to the lineup to get her face painted (see previous post for the beautiful result), I could take Calvin to the lineup for the mini-train ride, and both kids could avoid the lines for the activities they didn't so much care for.

What makes this fair stand out? It's incredibly well organized, and there is a huge variety of activities. It's clean, there are lots of accessible toilets (very important as a parent of young children), and it is spacious. If you get there early enough, there is ample free street parking. If you don't arrive early enough, the residents are all out with signs offering parking on their lots for $10. There are several rides even for the toddlers (Calvin went on rides on his own even last year, at 1.5 years old!). Oh, and the price is right: $15 per person, which includes access to all the rides. Even the airbrushed face painting was free!

Last year I packed a picnic, but once the kids saw that there was pizza for sale, I ended up buying them pizza and lemonade, and lugging my big backpack around all day. This year I packed lighter, knowing I'd spend a bit extra on lunch and treats, and it simply made things less stressful and more enjoyable.

Along with the usual ferris wheel and traveling fair-type rides, there were some interesting ones like this boat that the little kids could control with little hand cranks:

There was a petting zoo (pictured above) and several buildings full of prize-winning livestock, including horses, cows, sheep, pigs, miniature ponies, chickens, reptiles, and more!

Several tractors and farming vehicles were on display, and these took up a lot more time than we imagined they would, as the kids were climbing on and off every model of tractor on the lot!

Definitely worth the trek, folks!

HomeStart / Premiers Pas Daycamp

2010-12-03T21:10:00.001-05:00

A definite highlight over the past several summers has been the Premiers Pas / HomeStart daycamp. This daycamp is held each summer over a period of 6 weeks (3 days a week), and it is for parents to participate alongside their child(ren), aged 0 to 5 years. The camp is subsidized by the government and as such, is made affordable beyond belief! This year the registration fees were $40 for the family, for 6 weeks inclusive! I know, unbelievable.

The counselors are resourceful, bilingual, energetic, and selected for their love of children and capacity to entertain and plan an exciting camp that is inclusive of babies up to preschoolers. We enjoyed spending time there, and outings included local pools, the Jean-Drapeau beach, the Old Port of Montreal, and the library.

I have been attending this camp since Kira was less than 2 years old. Honestly, there are not many options out there for organized activities for toddlers during the long summer days. I hope that some of you South Shore mums and dads will consider this daycamp and supporting a wonderful organization that helps families in need of social support. In doing so, you will meet an administration that is caring and devoted to the best interests of families.

Kira's face canvas

2010-12-02T20:00:00.001-05:00

I love how Kira is so into face-painting these days! She has always been an artistic girl, and this summer she was always happy to provide her face as a canvas. Here are just a few of the painted faces Kira sported this year!

Here is one from the Mums & Tots Easter party, painted by a fellow mom:
At the CHEO (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario) Teddy Bears' Picnic in Ottawa, in June:
At Premiers Pas / HomeStart daycamp in July:

Expo Agricole in Ste. Hyacinthe in July:
And for Halloween, she wanted an angel painted on her face, by yours truly:
Loving this phase tremendously!

Highlights of summer - Calvin's happy place

2010-12-01T21:54:00.001-05:00

As I've been away from blogging for several months now, I've missed out on blogging about the most awesome summer we had this year! So, here I am in December, posting about months ago...

It's kind of fun actually, looking at photos from the summertime. I can't believe how busy we were all summer long, and having a great time outdoors almost every day!

One of the cool things about flipping through hundred of pics at a time is that you can quickly see particular themes emerge. Clearly, Calvin was happiest in the sandbox. Whether we were camping, hanging out at a local park, at daycamp, or in our own backyard, Calvin just loved spending time in the sand! In fact, from May through September I kept a bag of sand toys in my trunk each and every day, at the ready. Here are some pics of Calvin in his happy place:

Meet the (preschool) teachers in Kira's life (so far!)

2010-07-14T22:54:00.000-04:00

I really lucked out when I found out about Les Activités Préscolaires de Brossard. What a fantastic preschool that my daughter has attended the past 2 years! I can't even begin to express how pleased I am with her experience there.

Kira started preschool when she was 2 months shy of turning 3 years old. I was ready and pleased to put her there, in a predominantly French-speaking environment, with new friends her age. She was in a class called Mille Pattes with teacher Marie-France. I remember standing below the classroom window outside, hearing her scream and cry, and was reassured by an experienced mom: "Don't worry. Marie-France is the best for dealing with the little ones. You'll see, it breaks your heart now, but she's going to be just fine!". It took about a month for Kira to warm up to the idea of preschool, which she attended 3 mornings a week. As the months passed, she enjoyed it more and more, and came home with new songs, crafts, stories, and a lot of role-playing. I don't know how many times I had to play the student while she was my teacher.

PJ Day in December 2008:

Here is a shot from her first Christmas show:
And at the end of the year with Marie-France:
This past year we put Kira in for 2.5 days a week; that is, one morning and 2 full days. A big step that my big girl was ready for. And once again she had amazing teachers!

Her morning teacher 3 days a week was the talented François (aka Musicabouche), a musician with a gentle heart, and a comedian with a big smile all at the same time. What a fantastic male role model to have! Kira's favourite CD is one of François', and every time she listens to it, she says: "I feel like François is right here with me!"

Kira was also lucky to have the craftiest teacher in town, and by this I mean arts & crafts! Tina's classroom is the envy of all teachers when it comes to artistic displays! I've got a bag full of art projects that I'll keep for a lifetime thanks to Tina! Here's one of them, a big princess with Kira's face cut out and inserted in the cut-out!

Tina watched over Kira and a big group of children during "Club des Champions", an extension of lunch hour that included lots of outside playtime, bug-catching, silly fun, and of course, arts & crafts!

I'll be posting more about this preschool in coming months, with photos past and present. Calvin is about to discover the joys of "Les Activités Préscolaires" in a few short weeks! Whee!

If you live on the South Shore, be sure to check out this wonderful preschool!

Impromptu parties

2010-06-18T01:29:00.007-04:00

I love when my kids get along and play well together. What parent doesn't love to hear a little laughter between their little ones as they play in the other room? Most recently, my kids have started holding their own parties in the living room while I do my household chores. Crafting hats and accessories out of paper, and using a lot of imagination for the guests and themes, here are a few random pics from 2 recent parties held in honour of Ms. Sheep and Mr. Giraffe.

The mommy connection

2010-06-10T01:30:00.000-04:00

When we're over-tired, feeling like a zombie, frazzle-nerved, or simply hormonal, who can we rely on for that little bit of sanity to make it through the day? Other moms, of course. Friendships are what carry us through the day.

I'm the kind of person who seeks out friendships, and when I make a new one I come home happy as a schoolgirl ("Mark, I met someone new today, and she has BFF potential!"). When I knew I would be leaving my office job to take mat leave, I was afraid of losing that important circle of friends and not being able to make new ones. So, at my last prenatal class I handed out cookies and a slip of paper with my email address on it. Happily, there was a sizeable group of us who met up regularly all year! I then became a breastfeeding support mom through Moms for Milk, and met several beautiful and empowered women who shared several of the same values I had on motherhood and family life. I'm still friends with some of these women, although my children's lives have led my own into different circles.

Luckily, I still have wonderful friends through several outlets, who I see on a regular basis. But let me focus on the mommy groups today.

Although the membership changes year to year, one of the constant sources of my sanity comes from Mums & Tots of Brossard. We meet twice a week for this playgroup, which offers an opportunity for free play, crafts, stories and songs each meet. Duties are shared and rotated amongst the membership. There is always coffee and snacks to greet us. And fellow moms who want to share, ask, vent, or simply hang out. I remember when I was one big, hormonal mess, somehow hauling my 4-day old Calvin and 2 year old Kira up the stairs, bawling my eyes out to the most understanding and compassionate group of women (who were silently thinking: "Whoa, she went off the deep end!"). And here we are 2 years later at a monthly MNO (Moms' Night Out), a great source of sanity (and martinis!)

The Mums & Tots connection helped forge what became a monthly outing for those of us moms who would see each other regularly at drop-off at our kids' preschool. On Mondays, our children attended preschool from 8:30am to 10:45am. Just long enough for a stroll, a coffee, and some good conversation at a nearby Timmy's. So, once a month we made it an outing and a good reason to put off what little cleaning or chores we would manage in that short a time anyway! Thanks, Karen, for getting that ball rolling! :) Unfortunately, I was never quite organized enough to take a photo of that lovely group of ladies, which should go below this blurb. :(

When Kira started ballet last fall, I started talking to a fellow mom Michelle, who like me, was biding the 45 minutes of class time going through sales flyers. We ended up chatting (and once even managed to go out and do a bit of shopping!) during that time, and I must say I'm happy I got to know her. Well, this season the group of hallway moms grew to 6 of us who now take turns making and bringing a pot of coffee and/or treats, and who fill that 45 minutes with awesome conversation! Here's a pic of the little set-up we have going. We now have to make sure the treats are done and put away before the children come out of ballet class.

Finally, I'm just throwing in a pic of the Epicure team I belong to. Cara is my Leader, and I am Helen's leader, so we are a little chain of Consultants trying to make a go at selling spices and cookware while balancing motherhood and other commitments at the same time.

Thanks to all you wonderful women who make me feel like I'm a great mom when I'm having a bad day!

Busy at work and play

2010-04-25T16:03:00.004-04:00

I was lamenting the first lawn mowing of the year, because it marks just the beginning of a long season of lawn mowing whether we like it or not. Today was actually a perfect day for it, though - sunny with a little breeze. I also find lawn-mowing to be rather therapeutic once I'm into it, so it ended up not being so bad. :)

This is the first year since we had kids, that Mark and I could actually get a fair amount of work done outside. Up until now, one of us would have to mind the kids while the other worked, so we'd end up taking turns. Today, as I was mowing the backyard, Mark started Kira up on weed-pulling from our planter box on the back deck, while he worked on repairing our fence (Calvin held the screws for him and dispensed them one by one).

Of course, to do any significant amount of weeding, you need to wear a tiara!

Once I finished mowing the backyard, I helped Kira plant some seeds (I took the kids on an "outing" to the gardening store last weekend when it was miserably rainy out). She wanted to watch her plants grow, but I had to warn her that it could take several weeks before we see anything!

Meanwhile, Mark started pruning the trees. Calvin helped collect the fallen branches. Here he is, sporting his new & cool shades to do the job:

Off to continue on the front lawn, where we managed to mow, prune, and weed some more. The kids had to run across the street (with Mark or I, of course. No heart attacks, please!) to talk to the neighbours, and they needed a little popsicle break for all of their hard work. Oh, and Kira also needed a wardrobe change by then:

Sure it takes double the amount of time it would normally take in our pre-kid years, but there's far more entertainment value in yard work with the kids!

Butterflies galore at the Botanical Gardens!

2010-04-23T14:13:00.008-04:00

After several years of wanting to catch this exhibit, we finally made plans to see the Butterflies Go Free! exhibit at the Montreal Botanical Gardens. The kids and I met up with one of Kira's ballet friends and her mom. It was a perfect spring day, somewhere around 15 degrees max, with a little breeze.

Due to a labour dispute, the Biodome and Insectarium were closed, but no matter. The exhibit and the gardens filled the day. Here are some miscellaneous shots from the indoor exhibit, followed by a little video of the butterflies! Beautiful!

Butterflies snacking on a plate of fruit. :)

Cocoons, some with butterflies emerging!
And here is the video that only partially captures the beauty of butterflies:

I was surprised to see how crowded it was. Then again, Montrealers are great about converging to special activities and events, and as said, it was perfect weather! We lunched outdoors and then took a walk through the Chinese Botanical Gardens.

This is the last weekend for the exhibit. Hope you can catch it, and if not, there's always next year!

Ecomuseum: awesome outing yearround!

2010-04-06T00:54:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to blog about the Ecomuseum for such a long time! Luckily, in postponing this post, I've amassed a nice collection of photos over the various seasons at my all-time favourite "regular" outing.

The Ecomuseum is a beautiful retreat in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. It cares for a wonderful variety of wildlife, and its focus is on education and protection of animals in a natural habitat. We started going there last summer, when I discovered it online somehow and was intrigued. We've gone 5 times since then, and have enjoyed it immensely each time!

For $20 a visit ($12.50 per adult, $7.50 for children 3 to 15 years, free for children under 3), we've made a full day outing of our trip to the Ecomuseum each time. In general, we arrive in the morning, set out on the trails for about 1.5 hours, stop for lunch (there's an indoor lunch room, or outdoor picnic tables so you're set no matter what the weather), then go downstairs to visit the reptiles, fish, and nocturnal animals for about a half hour. A 10am to 2pm outing is perfect timing here! The bathroom is equipped with a change table, and there is a stepping stool at the sink for young hand-washers. The staff are friendly and courteous. And the experience is always a bit different. Oh, and they are open every day of the year except Christmas Day, so it's a great place to plan an outing any time of year.

Here are views of the pond during the summertime and the wintertime:

We have seen a snowy owl (particularly beautiful in a snowy environment), a red fox, crows and ravens, a lynx, coyotes, a black bear, caribou, otters, butterflies in the butterfly garden, turtles, porcupines, turkeys, deer, and more! And on each visit, Kira has a new question ("Do bears have tails?" "How do fishers catch porcupines?") and walks out with new knowledge about the animals she saw that day. Calvin on the other hand, just enjoys the nature and the walk.

This winter we went to an Animal Apprentice workshop for 3 to 5 year olds, and it was a very enriching experience. Kira got to prepare food for the animals, along with the other participating children. The animator was excellent, and made her talk interesting and relevant to this age group. She separated the children into groups, which - with the help of the accompanying parents - made "toys" out of food for various animals to claw or peck or poke at to get to their snack. We discovered just how clever ravens are when we went to hide our group's "toy" in the raven's enclosure. We went for a long walk along the trail, while Jennifer our animator, shared all kinds of facts and interesting tidbits about the animals we were visiting. We fed many of those animals from the food that we prepared during our workshop. And upon our return to the warmth of the indoors, we were treated to more reptiles and animals that the kids got to meet up close. I highly recommend this experience for all nature and animal lovers!

Most recently, we went back to the Ecomuseum this past Saturday, for the first time with Mark! I was so excited for him to experience it and to see why I kept raving about it. Being Easter weekend, it was packed! But we had a wonderful time and perfect weather for this family outing. We even stayed in the area afterward, and went for a long walk along the river. We enjoyed ice cream, supper, and each other's company.

Participating in research at McGill University

2010-03-31T12:13:00.000-04:00

When Kira was just about one year old, my auntie informed me about the McGill Infant Development Centre and how they kept a database of infants and children for their studies on cognitive and language development. Coming from a Psychology background myself, this interested me immensely and so I registered Kira without hesitation. She was called in shortly afterward to participate in a study on language perception. She watched a video where voiceless actors would act out a scene. I can't remember the exact details of the study, except that she was enthralled by the video presentation and was not old enough to verbalize what she was seeing and processing. We left the study with a new onesie for Kira and a certificate of participation. :)

Fast forward to three years later... I received a call just weeks ago from the MIDC, asking if I would like Kira to participate in yet another study calling for 4 year olds. "Yes! Absolutely!" I volunteered my daughter right away and got excited about the prospect of taking part in another study with Kira. As I played with Calvin in an adjoining room, I could watch Kira's participation on a tv screen - without sound the first session, and with sound the second session (our sessions were one week apart). My kids walked away with stickers, we got to go on an "outing", and without their knowledge of it, we were able to contribute to research.

Here are a couple of photos. They aren't great quality, but just to give you an idea of the set-up from were I was watching, in the top photo you can see Kira playing games with the first research assistant, and the bottom photo is the panel of equipment used for the observation / recording of the session.

If this type of opportunity interests you, please consider submitting your child(ren)'s information to the MIDC using the link above.

Calvin at Gramofun

2010-03-30T00:19:00.005-04:00

I finally had a chance to register Calvin in his own daytime activity with mommy, now that Kira is in preschool 2 full days a week. I chose a course in Longueuil called Gramofun, which is a fun introduction to music for babies and children aged 0 to 5. We had an energetic instructor in Julie, pictured above with Calvin.

Calvin started the class off quite apprehensively, as he didn't quite know what to make of the environment. However, as the weeks passed he became a little bit less reserved and more participatory. Every time we'd park the car across from the building where the classes took place, he'd say "That's my school, and my teacher is Julie." I think he really enjoyed having a school experience to himself, having heard about Kira's school so often. And of course being my son, when he had his pick of instruments it was all drums all the time!

Here are a few photos and videos from one of our classes.

Here is a bit of free dance which Julie incorporates in each class. She brings different music each week for the kids to move to.

As always, I met a great group of moms and kids. I was happy to be registered along with my friend Anny Pier and her children. Anny Pier and I met during a season of Cardio Poussette when our older kids were just babies! And I met a new friend Isabel there too, who introduced herself to me after recognizing me from reading this blog! Wow, how rewarding is that!

Sugaring off!

2010-03-28T22:23:00.007-04:00

Time sure flies and I can't believe it's been well over 3 months since my last blog post. Good intentions... well, you know what happens when life grabs you by the horns!

Our latest outing was the Cabane a sucre. I got to spend some quality time with Kira, since this outing, organized by her preschool, allowed for one parent per registered child. I was so happy to spend this time with Kira. I honestly don't get enough time with just one child at a time these days!

I spent the week before this outing building it up, so Kira was quite excited about going to the cabane a sucre! As we were shopping a few days before, we were stopped on the way out of Loblaws by a reporter / photographer who asked if we had been to the sugar shack yet this year. Check it out in our local newspaper, Le Reflet!

I didn't know how to dress Kira that morning, so I put her in a fleece top and raincoat / rainboots, while packing a winter coat in the trunk just in case. Lucky I had that, because it turned out to be a frigid morning! At least the rainboots helped protect her feet from the mucky ground.

We went to La Goudrelle in Mont St. Grégoire. It's a huge, industrial type of sugar shack, but you don't get much choice when it's with a large group, particularly a school group. What makes it an event for me is part tradition, and part company. And this group of moms, kids, and teachers was fantastic. I swear I'll blog about the preschool very soon... the teachers there are incredible, generous, enthusiastic people, and the moms are great company as well!

We started off with a visit to the animals. Kira fed a goat, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera to snag a shot. Off for a walk in the forest to see the pails of sap hanging off the trees. And before you know it, a little sing-song and onto the horse & cart ride!
Once we felt cold enough that our toes were ready to fall off, we headed inside for some song & dance...

and then the feast! Now, this is not great fare for a pescatarian like me, but as I said, I went for tradition and company, and I had the best of both!

It all ended with the "tire" of course, where the kids (and us moms!) got to roll popsicle sticks in maple syrup on snow.

Since I didn't post about our sugar shack outing last year, here's a pic of my kids enjoying their "tire" last year! Wow, time certainly does fly! :)

Ten years ago today...

2009-12-30T23:03:00.000-05:00

Today is the 10th anniversary of my father's passing. It's hard to believe that 10 years have passed already, and although my grief is more bearable today than it was in the first years following his untimely death, my heart still aches for him many days.

I wish he could have met his grandkids. He would have loved to see how smart and cheeky they are. I think of his stern face and how mine must look when I discipline my kids. And I remember the special and unforgettable moments that still make me smile, and hope to create similar ones for my children, for it is those memories that live vividly in my heart.

My dad comes to me in my dreams quite often, and he is always smiling. It's as if to reassure me for the guilt I feel when I think of how much more I could have done for him in his lifetime, especially as an adult. I wasn't the easiest child to raise, and quite often it was his stern and severe side that I would see growing up. Once his job of raising me was done, though, he turned into a real teddy bear. :)

Here is the last photo taken of our little family, all together. This was in the summer of 1998:

I miss you, Papa, and I thank you for your wisdom, your strength, and your charisma. Thanks to you, a fiery temper, a big laugh, and musicianship will continue along for generations to come!

Kira Kira, Ballerina

2009-12-12T23:02:00.007-05:00

Before I gave birth to Kira, I always imagined having a little girl who was a little bit of a tomboy. I'd put her in soccer and hockey. She'd always be dressed sporty with pigtails and her ball throw would be the envy of all girls. Well, Kira was born dainty and has remained wired with "girly" from a young age. We knew this from the first time she closed her eyes and dodged a ball, despite our efforts at every opportunity to get her engaged more in sports. She's always been cautious, artistic, and dainty. And so in the great Nature vs. Nurture debate, I must say that in Kira's case there seems to be a big argument for the Nature side...

Kira started to show an interest in ballet most recently, and having placed her in part-time preschool for the past year, I felt she would be ready to take a class without mommy present. She loved her costume from the moment we bought it. All pink, including the tutu.

Her teacher Megan is young and full of energy and enthusiasm. The classes are 45 minutes long, and there are 5 children in this pre-dance class.

Most recently, we were invited to attend Kira's dance class open house, where we could see how they had progressed from the beginning to year's end. Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy, Daddy and Calvin all went to cheer her on! Here is Kira stepping across the room in great form:

And a few more photos from the open house:

It was such a joy to see Kira with her classmates in this little presentation. We're so proud of our daughter, and if she decides to pursue ballet or any other girl-associated discipline or sport, so be it. What is most important is that whatever she does, makes her smile and have fun.

mmm, apple butter

2009-12-11T22:43:00.003-05:00

Whenever I'm in the kitchen Kira asks me if she can help. There was a frantic week recently when I wouldn't let her near me as I worked hard on preparations for an Epicure demonstration (see 2 posts ago) a cookie exchange, and to get some goodies ready for her preschool fundraiser. However, I caved at the end as I made apple butter, since I was using the apples she and Calvin picked earlier in the fall and that I had kept for this purpose.

Once a year, the apple peeler comes out and Kira helps me turn the crank on the peeler to get the apples ready for 3 hours of simmering with some yummy spices. Here's Kira with a peel taller than her!

And our delicious apple butter. This batch made 8 jars which apparently, were sold very quickly at the preschool bake sale. :) They raised $1500 in 2 days - awesome!

First snow

2009-12-10T00:43:00.004-05:00

Well, I don't think it was actually the first snowfall of the year, but at the end of November we woke up to a wintery-white ground outside. It quickly melted, but it put Kira in such a great and happy mood that morning when I took her to school. All she wanted to do was touch it and play with it.

I took Calvin out to play with the snow as well, but he wanted nothing to do with it. "CO-O-OLD!" was all he could say as he shivered and whined. Just wait. He'll be on a toboggan and featured in one of my posts soon! :)

Spices and cookware, anyone? Selling Epicure Selections

2009-12-06T00:43:00.006-05:00

I've saved this post for quite some time, mostly for lack of photos. I always try to have photos to illustrate my posts! :)

My days and nights are full as a stay-at-home mommy and while I don't have the urgent need to make a salary, I felt that I should keep busy with something that is just for me, and that could reap a little financial reward to boot. This also saves me from having to pay for Mark's gifts on his credit card, haha!

I had researched several options and even tried a couple of ventures in the past couple of years, including a stamping supplies business (retail), and a line of botanically based beauty / health products. Neither was a match to my lifestyle or expectations.

In January of this year, I decided upon Epicure Selections. I had been a customer of the product line for a couple of years and enjoyed what it represented: a woman-owned, family-operated, Canadian business selling spice blends that are without preservatives, low-sodium, and with a full range of products and resources for healthy living. The product line is sold through home parties or catalogue orders placed by individuals / groups. And, I'm happy to say that it is good quality stuff, that my family uses it all the time, and that I've received positive feedback from so many customers already!

To date, I haven't demonstrated at many home parties. I've focused on open houses at my own home (where I feel I have the freedom to prepare more than the average demonstration), and have taken batches of goodies to the various social groups I belong to. A few individuals have been kind enough to accept samples to pass along in their office lunch room / cafeteria. I've also had the opportunity to participate with several other Consultants at the Montreal Women's Show, a huge venue with thousands of passersby.

This Christmas I made a few gift baskets using the Epicure products. Sorry, this photo is a bit dark...

Most recently, I had a table of my own at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal's annual Craft & Bake Sale. I spent a week preparing for it, and here are the results in pictures. Thanks Martin, for taking these pics!
What do you think? Anyone up to hosting a tasting party? I'll make it worth your while, and I'll be so thankful to you for giving me a bit of time out of the house.

Butterfly birthday bash - Happy 4th, Kira!

2009-11-16T22:05:00.008-05:00

My days are numbered where I can actually have any input into the themes of my kids' activities. By next year I'm quite sure that like all other kids her age, Kira will be wanting to have princess-themed everything! So, I wanted to try a theme party that was girly but not sponsored by Disney or Nickelodeon. Kira loves butterflies, and it's even part of her preschool's theme song ("Papillon bleu"). I also thought back to last year's beautiful butterfly cupcakes, and immediately thought of putting butterfly wings into each girl's loot bag. Voila, a theme was born!

Now that Kira is starting to make real friends through playgroup and preschool, making a guest list was a real challenge! We wanted to invite everyone, but ended up narrowing it down to just girls. Otherwise, there would have been 20 kids invited for sure! With the 8 girls who arrived, plus their siblings, plus the parents, we had 25 guests in our house. Wow!

The party was scheduled to last only 2 hours (it actually lasted 3), and I wanted it to be action-packed! As the girls arrived, they started up a tissue paper butterfly craft.

Food was served from early on, beginning with simple hors d'oeuvres and ending with a buffet of: lasagna, 4 choices of homemade pizzas, chili, chicken nuggets, mini hot dogs, salad, and drinks. Mark worked on the incredible menu - what would I do without him? This is the only photo of the food I could find, which hardly does the feast any justice:

I hounded our local party store for 2 weeks to make sure I could get a butterfly pinata. Haha, I know you're thinking "psycho party planning woman!" Well, could it be more beautiful and colourful than this? Success! The kids loved it, although it was seemingly impossible to break...

until finally the loot poured out and it was a grab for candy, chocolate, stickers, and confetti! Too slow with the camera... here is the end of the pinata grab. I'm still finding confetti around the house 10 days later.

Have I mentioned my friend Antonietta lately? She designed and made this gorgeous cake, all chocolate inside. Seriously, she is the best cake maker this end of town! Everyone helped blow out the candles.

We rushed through the gift opening and then let everyone hang out and play until they were ready to leave. Here's an impromptu princess parade that made its way up the stairs, led by mom Penny. Gotta love these moments!

Thanks to Ly-na, Karen and Heidi for sending me photos. I didn't manage to snap too many on my own that day. Here's an awesome shot of the gorgeous mommy and daughter pair, Karen & Kailyn.

Hey, would you believe that when I ventured downstairs to clean up after the guests left, the basement playroom was tidy? You moms rock! Thank you!

Whew! Made it through another year. I hear that from the 5th birthday onward, the parents drop the kids off and pick them up at the end of the party! Yikes! Gotta start planning! :)

Baby Calvin is no longer a baby! Happy 2nd!

2009-11-15T22:02:00.008-05:00

I had to change my blog description the other day because I no longer have a baby and a toddler. They are a toddler and a preschooler! The days are long, and yet whenever a milestone hits, it seems like the time is just flying!

Calvin celebrated his 2nd birthday a day before his sister's 4th, but his party was the following week (after the dust settled from Kira's birthday extravaganza). The party was held during a weekday when Kira was at preschool, so I could focus all my attention on the birthday boy and his guests. We had four 2 year olds and their moms over for the glorified playdate, which included hanging out, playing "together" (actually, ignoring each other while playing with their respective toys - haha! Gotta love 2 year olds), and eating. It was also an excuse for me to hang out and see the moms, some of whom I hadn't had a chance to see in awhile, or to talk to for longer than 3 minutes at a time. Since Calvin didn't have a clue that it was even his birthday, I didn't feel the need to organize a big bash. So instead, I selected kids who were all within weeks of Calvin's age - cool, dontcha think? ;)

Oops, I didn't snap any pics of the kids playing. All these shots are at the table (the only time they were all in one place, really). Daddy made a special guest appearance when he dropped in during his lunch hour. A definite perk to working 5 minutes from home!

Once again, Antonietta did an awesome job with the cake! I requested car cupcakes, and look what I got! These are CHOCOLATE cars (white chocolate filled with fudge! How sinful is that!?) on top of vanilla cupcakes. I asked for vanilla cupcakes thinking that would make less of a mess than chocolate. Haha, who was I kidding? These are 2 year olds!

Here are some more random shots of Calvin's guests.

Thanks to all of Calvin's friends for coming to our home! I hope you'll all be lifelong friends! And, may this year be one of "terrific two's" (and not "terrible two's") for you and your mommies!

A fall trip to Ottawa

2009-11-05T22:26:00.007-05:00

We try to make the 2-hour drive to Ottawa every few months to see my mom, and hope that in between our visits she will come and see us. Considering how close we live to each other, we somehow only manage to see each other about 6 times a year. This is due in part to the fact that my mom makes periodic trips to Japan that last anywhere from 1 to 2 months. My mom adores her only grandkids, and she gave herself the name "Oma". Sounds German, doesn't it? :) Well, my mom hates the word "grandma" or "obaasama" in reference to herself, so she came up with Oma ("oh" means "big" or "grand" in Japanese + "mama" which of course means "mom"). The kids took to it quickly, and although they don't understand much Japanese they love our visits to or from Oma. This is mostly because they are so spoiled by her attention. :)

My mom was never a hands-on kind of active mom. She would colour, read a book, or play Japanese card games with us. But you would never catch her throwing a ball, playing hide-and-go-seek, or even high-fiving us for that matter! So, it's really cute watching her with the kids because I know they're going to try to make her run around, pick them up, sing, etc. She just laughs it off. Here's Oma looking on as the kids colour a bit:

Here are Kira and her daddy relaxing a bit. Kira is watching cartoons on the media player, while Daddy watches his show on his new iPod. Both of them are wearing headphones, completely oblivious of the outside world and Mommy snapping this photo:

During our weekend in Ottawa, we took some time for ohakamaeri (visiting the grave) of my dad. I can't believe this December will mark 10 years since his passing already. His ashes are buried at Beechwood Cemetery, a gorgeous place with a team of botanists looking after a fantastic garden. The walkway leading to my father's grave has a little bridge overlooking a pond (filled with fish in the spring / summer), and lovely scenery in all directions. From my father's grave you can see through the trees to Parliament Hill. The cemetery is so well-kept that it is now an official tourist site, which is a nice distinction to have I suppose, but I also think those spirits living there just want to be left in peace with the occasional visit from their loved ones.

I take the kids to see my dad's grave at least once a year. This was the first year that Kira had questions for me. "Is your daddy in here?" "Is he in Heaven?" "Why did he get sick?" "What's his name?" It was a bit difficult getting into it all and answering all of her questions, but at the same time I was happy that she was curious enough to ask all these great questions about a man she never met. At one point I felt a lump in my throat but when I looked up and saw my mom watching, I found the strength to smile and keep talking about my papa and how he would have loved to have met Kira.

This was Calvin's 2nd visit to grandpa Mori's grave.

On a lighter note, it was my second time taking Kira to see the Wiggles! I didn't manage to snag many great shots, but here are a couple of the stage, and one of Kira in her seat. Quite a production, but then again this is one of the richest entertaining groups in the world. I really enjoy the Wiggles. They all seem like down-to-earth guys, the tunes are cute and catchy, and these are real people, not folks in character costumes (like, for example, Barney or the Backyardigans).

Another quality visit to my hometown!

Coccinelle et diable!

2009-11-03T00:09:00.007-05:00

It was a week of Halloween for us. Our house has been decorated since the beginning of October, and Kira has been bringing home Halloween-themed crafts for the past couple of weeks. What a build-up to this wildly popular holiday! The above photo is Kira with her decorated pumpkin from school.

We attended a Halloween party at Home Start (Premiers Pas) in Lemoyne on Thursday, where the kids were treated to colouring, storytime, a pinata, and treats.

Driving home from taiko practice on Saturday, I was apprehensive about whether Kira would get a chance to trick-or-treat this year! The trees were blowing sideways, and it was raining. Oh no!

By 4pm the wind hadn't subsided, so we took the kids to a local mall to trick-or-treat indoors a bit. It was over quite quickly, but at least we could say we went in case the weather didn't improve later on! Here's a pic of the kids going around to various merchants.

Once at home, we shut our lights long enough to eat a quick supper, and then took a peek outside. No more rain, and only a bit of wind, so Kira was ready to go! We went with Kira's 2nd cousins Jillian and Spencer. Kira was so excited and wanted to go to house after house, but once her pumpkin basket was full I insisted we return home. Seriously, she can't possibly get through her loot before next Halloween!

Here are my dressed up munchkins waiting for trick-or-treaters to come to our house. Calvin had an awesome time plopping treats into people's bags. I can't wait to take BOTH kids out next year!

So, the kids got vaccinated

2009-11-02T23:53:00.009-05:00

We were sitting on the fence with the decision on whether to vaccinate or not. Finally, we decided to get the AH1N1 vaccination for our kids (and now we're sitting on the fence on whether or not we should go through it ourselves in a few weeks...)

I won't go through the details of our decision, since there are great divisions in personal beliefs which I completely respect each individual / family to make. We are periodic flu shot recipients as well, so it wasn't out of line with past behaviour, and we didn't do it out of panic regarding this pandemic.

I dropped Kira off at preschool and then drove by the vaccination site at 9am (the doors were scheduled to open at noon). There was already an hour-long lineup outside of the building. Yikes! By the time I picked Kira up, passed by my friend's house, and made it to the site with her, it was 11:45 and we were in a helluva long lineup. Here's a pic of the lineup just in front of us. Keep in mind, this is behind the building (so, in other words, the line extended all along the front and side of the building before winding behind it and to the view you see below):

Luckily, Kira could hang out with her friend Jaiden. As you can see in this past post, Kira and Jaiden are old friends! They amused and entertained each other, much to our (fellow mommy Vicki and I) amusement and amazement, for almost the entire 5 hour wait. Yup, that's right - 5 hours! Vicki and I packed accordingly and tried to stretch out our goodies and surprises, including Halloween loot, cheese sticks, juice, a media player, and a game console. The kids found imaginative ways to pass their time, including questioning big kids' vandalistic behaviour (why are they breaking the walls, mommy?!); running in circles; jumping over and through puddles; pulling and hanging off my knapsack while I'm wearing it; taking turns sitting in the strollers; making faces; telling jokes; etc... Here, our kids discover a pothole which they claim houses sharks that eat you up so watch out!

Here is Kira immersed in Jaiden's Leapster, a video game console for kids:

Calvin managed to fit in a 1.5 hour nap, and so did Vicki's almost year-old baby Zachary. The shots themselves were quick and almost painless. A few tears and cries in the moment were soon forgotten. Happy mom Vicki with Zachary here:

Success for another long outing! Yeah! Fingers crossed for everyone's good health this season!

Eccentric Kira

2009-10-22T00:51:00.006-04:00

My daughter loves to dress herself up in whatever clothes she finds. Quite often she'll layer them and put on a pair of shades. Here, she's walking her stuffed dog. Looks like the label "eccentric old lady" is in her future, don't you think?

Here's eccentric old lady with her grandma's cat this past summer:

And, here she is getting into her layers as I unpacked and sorted through a bag of hand-me-downs from her cousin Jillian last June (yes, almost a year and a half ago! That's June 2008):

In classic Kira style, there is a song and dance for every occasion. Here she is singing about the "sauce" (looks like eccentric old lady is going to be a drinker too!)

Happy 40th, Mark (aka Daddy)

2009-10-21T23:39:00.007-04:00

I had such an awesome time organizing a surprise 40th birthday for my husband Mark. I kept wishing I could share the excitement with my kids, but was careful not to mention anything to Kira, who was bound to slip out the news without even realizing it. Last winter (shortly before Christmas), after returning from a "grocery shopping" trip with her daddy, she blurted out: "Daddy, did you hide the surprise for Mommy? Where's the surprise for Mommy?" to which Daddy couldn't help but laugh.

So, much of the organization was done through email, or during Kira's preschool hours. The party was set to coincide with our 5th wedding anniversary weekend (a month before Mark's actual birthday, so he wouldn't suspect anything!). And, as a perk I was able to milk our anniversary weekend and plan stuff for the 2 of us! On Friday night we went out for a romantic dinner in Vieux La Prairie. On Saturday we went to the spa for an hour-long Swedish massage. And on Sunday, I took him out for lunch, where I informed him that I had reserved the entire restaurant for just us 2. Of course, that's when he started to suspect something was up...

We drove up to Sushi Yasu restaurant in Brossard. The parking lot was empty (Mark knows the cars of all of his friends and family, so this was key to the surprise being effective). After 15 minutes of trying to keep a straight face in the restaurant with Mark, the guests started to pour in. We packed the restaurant with 45 family and friends, including our prize-winning guests Doug & Licia Baylis, who drove up from New Jersey just to wish Mark a happy 40th.

More well-wishers joined us afterwards at our home. Success!

No birthday party would be complete without cake! I ordered this gorgeous cake (coconut on top tier; chocolate bottom tier) from Les Sucres Antonietta (ask me if you want a referral!). Nothing went to waste, not even the stars, as you can see. :)

Camping in with Mums & Tots

2009-10-20T21:45:00.006-04:00

Wow, it's been awhile since I've blogged. I honestly have no excuse. I could say I was busy, but what mom isn't? I'll try to get back into this, because I've accumulated some awesome pics, vids, and topics over the past months. As a result, you'll be seeing recent and not-so-recent photos mixed up in my posts. But that's all part of the game, right? If I post as often as I hope, good luck catching up with me! :)

Today, Mums & Tots of Brossard held its first Camping Day theme day, organized by our enthusiastic mommy member Janet. Here she is in full camping gear in front of a pop-up tent put up for ambiance.

Our moms are awesome and got right into the thème-du-jour. We rotate duties throughout the year, so the moms with duties for the day stepped up and brought in s'mores for snacks, and set up an awesome campfire scene craft (oops, I didn't take pics of these! grrr... you see, I'm out of blogging practice, clearly!).

During song / storytime, we gathered 'round a makeshift campfire (check this out!)

and "roasted marshmallows" (haha, what a riot! The kids loved it!)

Mums & Tots is wonderful co-op of fantastic moms and their babies / toddlers. Whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed with life, this group brings me back to reality and the fact that hey, I'm just feeling this way because I'm a mom. It's perfectly normal!

Celebrating Emily's 3rd birthday

2009-07-09T22:48:00.007-04:00

Summer birthday parties are always so hard to organize because of people who are vacationing, busy weekends and the like. My birthday is in July and so I have memories of my childhood birthdays being spent mostly with family. It was rare for me to have a party with my friends since they were all usually gone on vacations with their families. I shouldn't say this, but I remember trying my best to "fill" my parties by calling everyone in my phonebook, so often it would be a party full of B-listers. Not people I would regularly hang out with, but people who I knew at some level. Maybe they just felt sorry for me and came hoping for a good loot bag. But I digress...

Kira and Calvin were invited to celebrate their friend Emily's 3rd birthday on Monday afternoon. The timing was perfect because the party was geared to stay-at-home moms and our kids, so no having to negotiate busy weekend schedules. It was scheduled from 1pm to 3pm, and boy was it ever 2 hours of action-packed fun! Emily plus 7 of her friends. A bit of outdoor play upon arrival until the clouds loomed a bit too close.

The kids got settled in inside and got busy with the toys. Then came the cake. What an awesome idea for a birthday cake! Heidi made a flower out of cupcakes. Check this out! And no mess or hassle in cutting it, either. Brilliant!

Okay, now that we're all sugared up, time to open the gifts!

Mums & kids:

Oops, I'd better put a photo of my own kids in here! Sadly, this is the only one I managed to take:

Pin the Blanket on the Iggle-Piggle:

Okay now mommies, check out this loot bag! It includes a homemade colouring book with crayons, homemade play-dough in an awesome plastic sealed storage container, a homemade (okay, so it's kind of pirated, oops!) DVD of In the Night Garden, cookies with a homemade souvenir / thank you label, bubbles, and the pièce de résistance...

A homemade Tombliboo puppet (seriously, Heidi made one of these for each of the kids!):

What an awesome party it was! Thank you Heidi, for organizing such a fun gathering! And Happy Birthday Emily!! I'm sure she was pooped and elated by the end of the festivities!

Meanwhile, back at home Kira couldn't wait to dig into the play-dough and get creative!

A visit to the aunties (in Toronto!)

2009-07-08T01:15:00.006-04:00

We hadn't been to Toronto in years, so when the opportunity arose, we decided last-minute to make the trek out by car last weekend. We were actually supposed to spend the weekend at our annual family camping retreat. But with impending thunderstorms all weekend, many family members backed out and opted to stay at home with the assurance of a dry bed to sleep in.

We didn't want to miss the opportunity to see the kids' aunties Val (my sister in-law) and Gayle, so with an invitation to their home, we quickly decided to go!

With a nice supper break and leg-stretch, it took 7 hours total from door to door. With 2 toddlers in the car, there were some hair-pulling moments. All in all, though, not so bad. Calvin pointed out every "toot-toot" he saw. Kira was relatively easy to entertain with DVDs and drawing materials. I practiced driving Standard in our VW Golf, and actually felt that I got the hang of it somewhat!

The kids really enjoyed themselves. I don't know what else to say, really. Calvin had never been to Toronto, and he continued to forge a bond with his aunties all weekend. Val and Gayle were great hosts - very laid back and always positive. The kids went to bed at midnight each night, and Kira was only too happy to sleep in the big King bed between her aunties.

We also got to visit my aunt Kazuko in Mississauga (and her family, my uncle Terry and cousin Michael). I completely forgot to pull out the camera at the end of the night (uncle Terry and Michael joined us only a short while before we left their home), but here is a photo of my auntie taken by Kira. Kinda artsy, don't you think?

Kira also took this great pic of Calvin and I, which I'm loving!

The highlight of our weekend was our Saturday outing to High Park, where we went to with a delicious picnic prepared by Val & Gayle. Kira got to climb and play in a structure shaped like a castle, Calvin got to ride a "toot-toot" train, and most importantly everyone spent a beautiful day outdoors and enjoying the day in each other's company. Here are some snapshots from the day.

Thanks, Val & Gayle, and Ikeda family, for a memorable trip to Toronto. We'll have to make it there a bit more often in the future, won't we?

Baby signing time!

2009-07-06T23:41:00.002-04:00

I am so proud of the fact that both of my kids are starting out communication through baby sign language. Kira mastered at least 30 signs and for some reason I just never caught it on video! She started signing at around 14 months old, and it really helped her communication with me (she could tell me not only if she was hungry or thirsty, but if she wanted to drink water, milk or juice). Calvin delivered his first sign ("more") at 11 months and hasn't looked back. He can sign and verbalize his thoughts to me, which I love! Here are a few videos of some of his vocabulary. I just kind of threw words at him from the top of my head, so this is really just a sampling. I had to take a video though, before this stage passed like it did with Kira. These videos were actually taken in April. Since then, Calvin is verbalizing more and I'll try to catch some video of that too. :)

Some awesome signing DVDs are available through Baby Signing Time. They were recommended to me through my friend Rebecca, and my kids love them. Kira, who had forgotten all her signs, watched them over and over again for their entertainment value, and can now sign in American Sign Language again. Let me tell you, these are actual ASL signs, not just made-up gestures for babies.

If you're interested in taking lessons in Montreal and area, contact Amy at Talking Hands. She's a qualified instructor and a great resource person for mommies! If you're interested in babywearing and Elimination Communication (EC-ing), Amy is also your go-to person in Montreal.

I'm breathing a sigh of relief just because I actually finally documented and posted something about baby signing. Whew! That's one more action that makes my conscience rest a bit for the night.

Off to the park - yay!

2009-04-03T13:43:00.007-04:00

On the first spring-like day last week, I took the opportunity to take the kids for a walk to a nearby park. What would usually take 10 mins took us about half an hour because Kira wanted to walk. I couldn't deny her that opportunity, because despite a little bit of a wind, it was a gorgeous day, the kind we had been waiting for all winter long.

When we got to the park, we were the only ones there! So, it was Kira's kingdom. Of course, her all-time favourite thing in the world is swinging, so she was on the swing for quite some time. Calvin ventured over to the slide and I was pleasantly surprised to see him climb and slide down unassisted (see video below). He was so proud of himself. He kept doing it over and over and over again.

I didn't get shots of the other activities, but Kira eventually made it to the slide, the seesaw, the "merry-go-round" (I don't actually know what it's called but that's what she calls it), and the play house. It's one of the older parks in the neighbourhood (Jason Park in Candiac), but a gem of a place because there is lots of shade during the summertime, and a good variety of play structures.

Looking forward to a lot of outdoor play time this spring / summer / fall!!

Parents and Kids Fair

2009-04-02T21:27:00.006-04:00

Sometimes I really don't know why I do this to myself, but I made the decision to take my kids to the Parents and Kids Fair at Place Bonaventure again this year. I say this because I've been there before with both kids and so I knew what I was getting myself into. A crowded hall filled with mommies (some daddies), a million strollers, and of course, the many, many babies and toddlers. I was humming and haa-ing about it, ready to talk myself out of it, but then last night my cousin (in-law) Lisa called to say she would like to go, and a friend of mine e-mailed to say let's try to meet up. Friends and company are motivation enough, so I decided to go.

Last night was a blur because very little sleep was to be had. Somehow I got myself out the door by 9:10am with the car packed, nothing forgotten, not even my brain. Or, so I thought!

I parked my car a little bit far, under Place Ville-Marie. If you go, please make a note to park as close as you can to the fair, because the walk from PVM to Place Bonaventure was a really long one with Kira and I walking while I pushed Calvin in the stroller. [Note to self: toddler's pace is 5 times slower than my own. Duh!] I arrived later than hoped for, but still close to the 10am opening. Lisa beat me there. I made it just in time to dash under the lineup dividers (don't know what you call them - you know, the things that kind of hang there off posts to keep the crowds in their proper line) to pass Lisa some cash. She was about to pay admission and was missing 50 cents!

This was Lisa's first baby fair. She's expecting her first baby in 3.5 weeks. Here she is with my kids (this photo was taken around noon, when Calvin was passed out already):

Lots to see and do, mommies! Many, many exhibitors with everything from clothing, books, toys, pacifiers, slings, diapers (cloth and disposable), bottles, pumps, hair clips, photographers, RESPs, book clubs, information kiosks on breastfeeding and programs, etc. There was a food section that promoted organic food, yogourts, ice cream / sorbets, purées, rice crackers, etc. We made a brief stop there to snack. Lots of favourite stores such as: Mère et Mousses (they give you a coupon for 15% off), Bummis, Clément, Maman Kangarou, Béké Bobo. Some did smart marketing by attracting the kids to them! A shop named Anaya Enfants had a cuddly big sheep out to greet little visitors, and Kira was taken by her. She hugged the sheep about a half dozen times in all.

She was also very friendly to Santa Claus, which - trust me - is a first! Santa Claus was at the fair promoting the Village Père Noel in Val-David. Lisa turned to me and said "Hey, I recognize him!" I was thinking "Umm, that's Santa Claus. Everyone recognizes him!" but she swore it was the same Santa that she saw up at the Village a couple of years back. :)

A great diversion for kids is the sandbox. Kira took no time getting out of her socks and shoes to play in there. It was perfect timing because Calvin was in the mood for a nursing. Once she was in though, I wasn't sure how I was going to get Kira out of there. Luckily, after about 10 mins, she said: "Pee-pee, mommy!" [Note to self: Make sure to fill child with fluids when you want to get her out of an activity.]

My friend Ly-na was there selling her beautiful hairclips through Angel Lily. If you have a little girl, check out this website and Ly-na's stall at the fair. They're affordable, adorable, and best of all they actually stay in the hair! And if you subscribe to her e-mail distribution list, she's got great promotions all the time!

Just next to Angel Lily is Baby Burrito, another mom-run business by a fellow Candiac mommy. Lianne is a talented designer who produces everything from slings (both my kids lived in slings until they could walk - too bad I didn't know about Baby Burrito back then!), to blankets, changing pads, sleep sacks, hats, and "kimono" (well, actually they are more like jimbei, but that's the Japanese side of me talking, haha!). Beautiful, earthy designs, and organic fabrics available for some products. My kiddos were lucky enough to take part in a recent photo shoot at Lianne's home,which you can read a bit about in her blog. Funny how the whole referral system works, because Tanya (awesome photographer and mom) referred my kids to Lianne. Meanwhile, Tanya was referred to Lianne by Ly-na, who I referred to Tanya for photos last year. Confused? Anyway, let me just say this: the referral system works! :)
Here is Lianne showing Lisa how to wear a sling.

My only big criticism of this event is the many, many stairs everywhere which make it a pain get in and out of the hall. Although there are supposed to be Scouts there to help, I didn't see any. There was a shortage of ramps or signage to stroller-friendly routes. [Note to mommies: If you go, take an umbrella stroller over the classic stroller, in case you want or need to carry it up some stairs.]

We were out of there by around noon, which was perfect. It was getting to be a real zoo in there. I'm not one for navigating through crowds. Stopped by the food court for lunch, where a chocolate milk box cost $1.50 and I had to get 2 of course, because Calvin insisted, and then when presented with it, didn't drink from it. [Note to self: Don't forget to pack beverage from home.] Kira got tomato sauce all over her white top. [Do I really need a note to self here? Really now, how smart was that of me to leave home without bibs and to dress my child in white?] By the time we left to go back to the parking lot, I felt both sorry for and proud of Kira, who walked the entire way without complaining. What a trooper. She passed out soon after getting into the car, and Calvin fell asleep minutes after.

If you venture out to Place Bonaventure this weekend, I hope some of my little notes help you out! Write me back a note / comment if you go!

Mother Goose Rhyme Time

2009-04-02T00:07:00.005-04:00

Above is a photo of Kira holding Mother Goose, and sitting with Marie-Lyne and Laurel, the 2 animators of Mother Goose Rhyme Time. Sadly, we took part in our final session just last week. But we fully enjoyed this experience! (Calvin would have been in the shot as well, but he kept running over to me while I tried to take the photo. Toddlers - what can you do, right?)

When I was pregnant with Calvin, I was fortunate enough to have found a fantastic activity here on the South Shore, that seemed like it was created just for my little Kira! Sponsored by the South Shore Reading Council, it was held at the time in the basement of a beautiful little church in Lemoyne. The venue has since changed (to an elementary school in Greenfield Park), but the environment remains a wonderful one to actively engage little bodies and minds in a joy of reading, learning, playing, and singing together.

Mother Goose Rhyme time takes place once a week on Thursday mornings, and it is an English-language activity. Its popularity has grown tremendously and so there is a waiting list to join / participate. Each day upon arrival, the atmosphere is down to earth and relaxed. The babies / toddlers engage in some free play, and the mommies chat. Then we start with a welcoming song where a stuffed Mother Goose is passed around as we learn each others' names. There are rhymes, chants, songs (sometimes with descriptive actions, sometimes with baby bounced on our laps), and the occasional stand-up or jump-up song. This is followed by some free play, some healthy snacks and juice for the little ones (tea is even served for the mommies!), and an opportunity for the babies to engage with their mommies, with other babies, or with toys / books. Then an animator tells a story which is then re-told by us moms (to encourage the oral tradition of storytelling, not only through books). And finally, some marching songs, some lullabies, and goodbye to all. All this in 75 minutes!

This activity is so well-organized, engaging, and fun! And best (and most incredible) of all, it is completely free! We were surprised to be presented on the last day of the session, with a bag full of books for each child, provided by the Born to Read organization.

I've been reading daily to Kira since she was an infant and to this day, she love, love, loves books! Now that she's 3 and a half years old, she felt a bit out of sorts in this room filled with babies, so I opted not to join again for the coming session. However, I am filled with gratitude for having had the opportunity to take part in this activity with both of my kids. Calvin is 16 months old now, and although he doesn't realize it yet, this experience is going to continue to shape him in a positive way. If he grows to love books even half as much as Kira does, I'm destined to raise 2 scholars!

Zenshin - Arashi Daiko's 25th anniversary celebration

2009-03-31T23:54:00.002-04:00

I'm proud to be involved in an activity that precedes mommyhood and that continues to be a passion in my life. I started playing taiko (Japanese drums) as a teenager, and have performed with 3 groups to date. I am currently a member of Arashi Daiko, which I joined at the beginning of 1998 right after moving to Montreal. What a fantastic group of people, and what a joy it is to play taiko with this group! I feel so privileged to know these members who collectively and individually, are so kind, generous, and genuine. And everyone is such a hard worker and shares this passion for taiko! I could go on and on, but I'll save details for another blog post.

Over the past several months, Arashi Daiko had been hard at work preparing for our 25th anniversary concert which took place March 13-15, 2009. As a community-based group, we are all volunteers with no paid staff, so we take care of all the administrative tasks as well as performance-related duties. So on top of 10 to 15 hours of practices each week (Friday nights, Saturday mornings and afternoons, Sunday mornings and afternoons), our members looked after equipment maintenance, ordering new equipment / instruments, designing and ordering the posters, t-shirts and programs, arranging for hall rental, sound and lighting technicians, video recording crew, costume designer, etc. We were writing / receiving over 60 emails a day in the weeks leading up to the concert, about all these matters, and this on top of the regular administrative duties we deal with in terms of communicating with the public, teaching Sunday classes, finding ways to advertise, maintaining the budget / accounts, etc. This project was a fulltime job on top of a fulltime job.

Here are the members making the kasa to be worn in a group dance piece, "Hana-awase", arranged by member Kayo Yasuhara.

I actually don't have any performance photos since we hired an official photographer and flash photography by audience members was prohibited. I'll try to find some to post at a later date (new costumes and everything!). But let me tell you, it was a great experience and we are so grateful to have had a fantastic backstage crew who ensured that everything ran smoothly from start to finish. Here is the happy crew:

After 3 consecutive days of concerts and the gazillion hours we put into the show, we were all spent but exhilerated. The following weekend Arashi Daiko's performing members along with our partners / families, went to a beautiful retreat called Jouvence (that was referred to us by my auntie) in Orford (Eastern Townships). We stayed in 2 beautiful cottages, and we spent time all together, sometimes in smaller groups, sometimes alone. The food was yummy and the hospitality wonderful. Mommy friends, talk to me about it because it was very baby / child friendly and the kids had an awesome time! Our members took advantage of the setting to spoil ourselves with massages, hottub / sauna time, nature walks, snowshoeing, toboganning, lounging around, etc. Here's a shot from the broomball game that some of the members played in. This was taken just as Michio was scoring a goal! The game had to be suspended when Yumi gave Sandra a fat lip, but that is a whole other story...

So now we are back to a mere 5 hours a week of scheduled practices, and gearing up for a busy spring / summer schedule that is already filling up. We are ready for this season, since now we are playing at a new level, with new repertoire / arrangements. Most importantly, we're breathing together and we are in tune to each other as to when it is important to be serious, and when to let loose and just enjoy each other's company.

Long time no blog!

2009-03-01T23:32:00.004-05:00

Oh my, have I ever fallen off the blogging trail! Well, it's been over 3 months since my last post and so much has happened that I can't even begin with the catch-up! So, rather than go to past events I'll try to keep things in the here and now and just update you on where things are at with life in this busy household!

Calvin is now a pretty confident walker. He took his first steps in January, and within 2 weeks from that point he stopped crawling altogether. It's extraordinary to think of how quickly it all happens. He's quick to climb up the stairs and can go down as well (although I'm always there with him just in case). He's still signing a lot, and can even say a few words (mama, dada, down, up, book, ball, bonk-bonk, Dora, backpack, more, knock-knock). He screams a lot out of frustration, and generally always craves attention. He's a really poor eater in general, but I'm sure I'll find some time to get into that for an entire post. He's also still a really poor sleeper and as a result I haven't had more than 4 hours of straight sleep in close to 16 months! The upside is that he's generally a very happy and sociable little guy, and he's continually developing and learning new things. Here's Calvin discovering a new and amusing sound he can make. He thinks it's hilarious and is getting Daddy and Kira to respond.

Kira's development never ceases to amaze me. She is enjoying school immensely and she loves to role-play when she gets home (she's the teacher, of course!). Her vocabulary is constantly increasing. Today when I thanked her for something, she replied with "My pleasure!". She is getting a little bit better at sharing with her little brother but there are definitely a good deal of power struggles between Kira & Calvin. Kira is still a little entertainer at home. She sings with her microphone or guitar, or if without a prop she will dance without hesitation.

We're starting Kira's March Break this week, so I will soon have a few new adventures and stories to tell without a doubt! Sorry for the pause. Looking forward to getting back into the blogging habit!

Kira celebrates her 3rd birthday

2008-11-23T13:59:00.006-05:00

With all of the festivities for Calvin's 1st birthday, I didn't want Kira to not have a special celebration of her own. After all, she turned THREE this year (she likes showing people THREE with her fingers) the day after Calvin's birthday. In future years I can see the birthday weekend being a crazy one for the kids since they have them back-to-back. I'll try to make sure Kira makes friends ONLY with other children who have a sibling 2 years younger, haha! :)

Since the weekend was going to be crazy-busy with Calvin's festivities (see my previous post), I decided to host a party during the daytime for Kira's friends who are also children of stay-at-home moms. 7 moms came with their little ones (some with 2 children), so we had a full house! I served up simple fare for lunch (toddler finger-friendly), and the kids had fun playing in the basement playroom, eating lunch (and CAKE!) and finally, a bit of time in our backyard to burn the last bit of energy before passing out in their cars on the way home ("YAY!" say all the mommies). Kira had so much fun, and I was happy that we could spend that special time focused just on her.

Although I didn't serve it until the weekend, I prepared a birthday cake for Kira with her favourite Dora the Explorer. It was my first ever decorated cake, so I'm quite proud of it:

Here are some of the hit toys that Kira received, in case you have a toddler turning 3 and want some good ideas:

Aquadoodle (a lot of kids get this even from 2, but now that she's really "drawing", she has a greater attention span for this activity).
play food and a shopping cart (to go with her play kitchen). Pretend-play is starting with a vengeance!
board games. She now has a bingo game, a Chutes & Ladders, and Candyland.
a "laptop" computer. V-Tech makes a really great laptop that comes complete with mouse that you can control, and 30 learning activities / games. She isn't quite into that yet, but she loves to pretend to "work" when mommy and daddy are on their laptops.
dolls. Lots of role-playing and pretend play going on. Love it!
books. Kira has always been a book-lover so we can never go wrong by getting her books. She likes to "read" them to us these days, in "French"! I'll post of video of her "French" one day soon. ;)

Now that the birthdays are over, time to start preparing for Christmas (yikes, did I really just say that?!)

Calvin turns ONE!

2008-11-20T21:22:00.012-05:00

Wow, did the year ever fly by. How and when did my newborn suddenly turn 1? I can't believe how quickly the year shot by, and to imagine at the same time that Kira is now 3... but more on her later.

Here's my wrinkly newborn Calvin. This photo was taken 10 days after birth, by photographer extraordinaire, Tanya Zaleski (yes, please ask me about her, because I will totally recommend her to you for preggie, baby, and family photos!).

Celebrations officially began on the Friday, when we took a little cake to Mums & Tots of Brossard (the playgroup that my kids belong to) to celebrate with the kids there. Unfortunately, there was BARELY enough cake to fill the many, many kids who were there on Friday! Here's a photo of the gang. Oops! Should have taken a much bigger cake, huh?

We hosted over 50 people over the weekend to celebrate Calvin's 1st birthday. Well, keeping with tradition we had to have a family bash, and if you haven't followed up on my past posts, this is an ever-growing family! All attending Takedas counted, there were just over 30 family including several babies and kids. With tremendous help from my sister in-laws Val & Gayle, there was a fantastic cake (see top photo - this cake was made by Val and decorated by her and her dad) and cupcakes (they're the colourful ones to the above right). I had ordered cupcakes as well, before I knew that Val had prepared her own - oops! Here's a photo of the cupcakes made by my Antonietta, who is a mom at Kira's preschool. She recently started her own pastry business - check out Les Sucreries Antonietta. Desserts galore! I didn't manage to snag a photo of all the hors d'oeuvres, mostly because as soon as they came out of the oven they disappeared. Val & Gayle had prepared spanakopita, meat pies, egg rolls, veggie rolls, and sausage rolls. In addition to that, we served salmon and chicken teriyaki, crabmeat tortilla rolls, munchies, gosh, I can't remember what else!

We were quite exhausted after this party, but there was one more to follow on Sunday. We invited some friends (mostly with kids of their own), and once again it was a full house. It was nice to be able to meet with friends who we seem to have so little time to see these days! Unfortunately, Calvin was quite tired and so he napped away half of th party, but it was great having so many people celebrating with us. We changed around the menu a bit and had make-your-own temaki sushi. It was a hit, needless to say.

For both of Calvin's parties, we had asked our guests not to bring gifts or if they did, to bring second-hand or creative gifts. We were pleased to have received some very thoughtful gifts for Calvin, including:

drawings and cards that were hand-made by children
a second-hand Brio train set
a craft book (crafts to do with your kids) that was never used because my cousin has a house with 3 "non-crafty" boys
a Little People set that my cousins had wrapped up for their own boy, but he got the same thing from someone else, so they kept and passed it forward to us!
second-hand clothes

We love that Calvin received such creative and thoughtful gifts because he has everything he needs already. Thanks everyone!

Halloween '09

2008-11-19T13:49:00.007-05:00

The above pumpkins were carved by Mark. The one on the right was actually taken from a drawing that Kira made. Mark transferred it to a pumpkin and carved it out. :) Here's a better look at the pumpkin art by combined daughter / daddy combo. Makes me giggle every time I look at it:

This was Kira's first year trick-or-treating. Mark took her out while I stayed home with Calvin, handing out treats. Here is Kira in her ladybug costume. Getting that costume was an ordeal in itself, since I found it online and had to ask my friend in the US to order and pay for it for me, send it to me by post, and then I forwarded the funds to him (the company didn't accept orders from out of the US, or payment either!). Thanks for the favour, Cliffy! You contributed greatly to making my daughter the cutest little bug out there! :)

Meanwhile, Calvin wore Kira's costume from a couple of years ago. Isn't he an adorable little ducky? Calvin got a lot of attention just from staying home and hangin' around by the front door. Groups of mommies and kids commented on how cute he was, and one mom even took a photo of my little poussin with her cell phone!

We counted just under 200 treats given out at our doorstep. Not a record, but a busy night nonetheless!

A weekend of Wiggles and babies

2008-11-18T22:10:00.008-05:00

A belated welcome to the newest baby in the Takeda family! Jacob Takeda was born to parents Bryan and Tara on September 12th. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 6 oz. We paid a little visit to him and his cousin Tyson (who I wrote about here) during our recent trip to Ottawa at the end of October. Jacob and his mommy are above, and to the right is Mark hanging out with Tyson.

The highlight of our trip was Kira's first concert to see her favourite group from her favourite show "in the whole wide world", The Wiggles. Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with the Wiggles, they are 4 men from Australia (the highest paid entertainers in Australia - even higher than Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe!) sporting colourful shirts, who make their living entertaining the preschool crowd. They sing, dance, and generally act silly. And they're a hit with all the 2 to 4 year old kids I know! The show did not disappoint. During the pre-show, Kira kept asking "Where are the Wiggles? Where aaaaare theyyyyy?" until they came onto the stage in their Big Red Car. For 90 minutes, the Wiggles (Sam, Anthony, Jeff, and Murray) delivered a high-energy performance with all of their popular tunes. I must say, mommy had a blast as well. I'm not posting any photos of the Wiggles due to copyright issues, but if you want to check out who they are, here is their official site.

Just before the concert, I had the chance to reconnect with an old high school friend. We hadn't seen each other since we graduated from high school, so this was a reunion after 17 years! My friend Jane gave birth to beautiful twin girls earlier this year. She and Jim have their hands full with Samantha (Sammy) and Jessica (Jessie). Just wait until they start running around! Here's Jane & family:

And, here's Jane and I with our combined kids, 17 years after high school:

What a fun visit! Hopefully we'll do a better job at keeping in touch so the next time we meet won't be when our kids are getting married! :)

The long walk home

2008-10-31T22:01:00.009-04:00

The other day when I was out for my stroller workout, Kira fell asleep as she often does, for the duration of the workout. She woke up refreshed and ready for a stroll herself, so I let her out. Most days, I let both kids out of the stroller near the end of the workout, once we've parked the strollers and we're working with resistance bands, mats and stretching. I like to give them the benefit of breathing the crisp air, and walking / crawling around on the grass.

Well, what usually takes me 10 minutes to walk to the park with the kids in the stroller, took us ONE HOUR on the way home, because Kira had to pick up all kinds of things, and was she ever taking her time! But, I made a point not to rush her or to get upset. I just let her explore and sometimes coaxed her to move a bit more forward along the path home. Meanwhile, Calvin enjoyed the scenery from the stroller, and nodded off about halfway home.

First, Kira had to kick some leaves. Then she walked through a path of leaves while they crunched under her feet. Then, she picked up I don't know how many leaves to feed them to the birds ("Heeere, birdy, birdy, birdy!"). I found all of this rather amusing and I reveled in the sweetness, the innocence, and the adventure of it all. Once Kira remembered that I was still there, she proceeded to pick up sticks, leaves, and flowers and pass them to me as gifts. Then, she had to pick up every single dandelion in sight to blow on it.

Of course, she had to play peekaboo too, behind these enormous trees along the path home (Jay / Laura, this is right next to your house!).

After an hour of walking, we finally got home for some hot chocolate (well actually, Kira insisted on chocolate milk while I indulged in the hotter version) and cookies. I can't remember if Kira had a good night's sleep after this outing, but I sure can imagine that she had some vivid dreams as a result. :)

Here's a photo of the beautiful gifts Kira picked for me on the way home. I may not have kept all of those leaves, sticks and flowers, but I will keep the memory of this and all our walks throughout my life, my precious girl!

Sleepy Mikayla

2008-10-31T16:01:00.004-04:00

On August 15th, the Takeda family welcomed its newest addition, Mikayla Miya Belanger. Here she is with her mommy, Stacy. Mikayla weighed in at 7 lbs. 15 oz. and is already 2.5 months old! (See how I was mentioning how behind I am on my blogging?)

Now, the most amusing thing to me about Mikayla is that, despite the fact that I see her mom twice a week for our stroller workouts (you can read about that here and here), I very rarely get to see Mikayla awake! In fact, I wonder if there was even one workout when she was awake?? So, I had to ask permission to snag this photo, which was actually taken by her daddy Shawn on a beautiful fall day only a couple of weeks ago.

Stacy's sister Ali (who I've also recently posted about here) also joins in on the workouts twice a week. Ali's baby Hunter has grown so much already, it's incredible. And he's the happiest baby on the block until the end of the workout, when he and Calvin start up a chorus of "WAAAAH!!" for the entire 15 minutes of our mat work / cool down. Luckily for me, as soon as we move for our walk back home, Calvin quietens down, but by then Hunter's just had enough of sitting in the stroller. I think he'd rather be bootin' around somewhere, on his hands and knees. Too bad the weather is getting a bit too chilly to hang around outside and let him crawl on the grass! Here are my kids with Hunter during a happier post-workout moment.

Stacy and Ali have 5 kids between them - wow! I admire them constantly for their closeness to their extended family. Oh, and did I mention that Stacy and Ali are married (& common-law) with half-brothers? Isn't that just the coolest thing in the world? So, their kids share pretty much the same grandparents from both sides (with some exceptions in there that are too complicated to get into). Now, that's so amazing!

Apple picking x 3

2008-10-31T00:29:00.009-04:00

We've been to the same apple orchard 3 times this fall! But, we love Vergers Denis Charbonneau in Mont St. Gregoire, because it's so family-friendly, and this is an important factor when you have a baby and toddler in tow.

Our first visit of the season was with Kira's preschool. About 25 parents and their kids ventured out on a bit of a damp morning. However, the weather was actually quite perfect in retrospect. It wasn't too chilly yet, and because it was early enough in the fall and the weather was a bit speculative, our group pretty much had the place to ourselves. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera but no worries. We were back at the orchard the following week with my kids' playgroup, Mums & Tots of Brossard. During this second outing, we also picked pumpkins. Here are the moms and kids on the tractor ride (I decided to jog alongside with Calvin in the jogging stroller):

I couldn't resist popping Calvin into a crate full of pumpkins for the fall photo opp!
Here's Kira with some of the kids from playgroup. And, little Calvin sitting in front, heehee:

Calvin hard at work, biting into that apple!
Surprisingly, what interested Kira more than picking apples was seeing all the animals. Here's Kira with Jaiden, and a closer look at the rooster (there were also sheep, bunnies, peacocks, and goats). If you didn't see the video clip of these 2 during a play date earlier this year, click here.

Our final apple-picking excursion was with the dragonboat team I belong to, Isshin, and members of the taiko community in Montreal. The weather was once again, fantastic. I must say, we really lucked out on that front. As I crouched near a branch filled with apples, Calvin picked one out and proceeded to eat it for the next half hour until he passed out for a nap. I love the ease of carrying him on my back in the mei-tai (another Etsy purchase). Whenever I sense that he's tired, I throw him on my back and he eases into slumber. Plus, my hands are then free to deal with Kira. Oh, but I could ramble on for a whole other post about the benefits of baby-carrying. I might just do that, if I find the time. Meanwhile, I'm a month behind on blog posts...

Mommy gets a haircut

2008-10-15T22:22:00.004-04:00

This is not a furry animal - it's my chopped-off hair!

Pampering myself doesn't happen often enough, I tell ya. I hadn't had a haircut in a year, since I was 8 months pregnant with Calvin. And getting myself to a salon didn't seem like it would ever happen. Thank goodness for Rima, a fellow mommy and member of the playgroup I belong to here on the South Shore with my kids. Rima isn't a hairstylist by trade. She cuts hair as a hobby, and has been doing it for years on friends and family. I don't know how she does it, but she always looks glam and great! I forgot to take Rima's photo but maybe I'll be able to add it to this blog post afterwards.

Here I am, all sad and weepy before the cut:

Within 20 minutes, I had bangs and a short cut. Calvin seems to like it too! I think that's because I was actually able to nurse him while getting my trim. Now honestly, what salon lets you do THAT?

Thanks, Rima! If you do house-calls, maybe I can refer some new clients your way!

Loving the outdoors

2008-10-14T23:21:00.006-04:00

I'm so lucky that my kids are nature-lovers! At the same time, they consistently fall asleep when in motion, be that in the car or in the stroller. So, whenever we're out for a walk (or my stroller workout - see my previous post) and I think "Hey, I'll let my kids out to play a bit", one of them is asleep. It's difficult therefore, to make a lot of plans in advance. I often have to plan as the day goes, depending on what's going on in the backseat of the car.

Last week, I went for a walk with Ali, Stacy and our kids. We went for a nice 1 hour stroll, but of course during this entire time all our kids were fast asleep. Go figure. On the way home, just as we reached my street, Kira woke up. I felt sorry for her because she missed a great walk, so I offered to take her to the park. We (just me and my kids) turned around and went to the park, where we spent an hour or so, and we had the entire place to ourselves! I'm not sure why, but once the leaves start to fall the moms don't take their kids to the park anymore. Yet, at the first sign of spring it's full.

Kira's apparatus of choice has always been the swing. Here she is, shaking and laughing on the swing. I love her giggles!

Meanwhile, Calvin isn't walking yet, so I sat him in the leafy grass. I have to watch him carefully whenever I put him down, as he's prone to eating whatever is on the ground around him.

Hopefully the fall weather will continue to be pleasant for a few more weeks. We're looking forward to at least a few more park days before toboganning season sets in!

More stroller cardio!

2008-10-14T00:33:00.010-04:00

In the springtime, I wrote about my cardio-poussette classes which I took at the Récré-o-Parc in Ste. Catherine. You can see my blog post here, where I talk a bit about Cardio Plein-Air and the awesome program they have for people trying to gain back their pre-pregnancy shape.

This season, I'm taking the class once again, but in Candiac's Parc de la Promenade. It's a 10 minute walk from home, which is a perfect warm-up to the class. This is the first time since I started taking the class (when Kira was a baby) that I have a different instructor. I wasn't sure how it would be since I was so used to Geneviève previously, but I'm SO happy with Marie-Eve because she gives the course a fresh edge, and she's great at pushing us hard! She has new ideas that work to get us working out together and yet independently. She's also good at explaining things to us, albeit quickly in order to maximize our time together to get the most time for us to work out!

Bonus this season: I'm taking the class with 2 of Mark's cousins, Ali and Stacy. We all have babies born within months of each other. Ali and Stacy are sisters. I wrote about Ali's baby Hunter in a previous blog post here, and I'll have to give Stacy's baby Mikayla a headline soon too! It's nice to finally know some people in my class, although I must admit I'm not here for the socialization so much as for the workout...

We typically start with a bit of introduction of names, a brisk walk and a bit of stretching, then some aerobics to get our hearts pumping and our bodies warmed up. Then, we do about half an hour of various exercises while one the move, including lunges, squats, and imitations of basketball, skiing, and skating while pushing our strollers. The workout is as challenging as you make it because you can choose to push yourself harder (and go deeper / lower / farther), or not. Marie-Eve always asks us at the end of the workout, how much we pushed ourselves on a scale of 1 to 10.

My favourite part of the workout comes right after the stroller stuff, when we park the strollers to go for a little jog up and down the steps leading to the river. It's scenic and a nice jog for a bit of resistance (going up the steps). I could do this for 10 minutes except I'd probably get too dizzy. :)

After checking our heartrate for the last time (we check it periodically to make sure we're within our target heart rates) we work on muscular training with resistance bands and some abs / push-ups / plank on the mats. Here's Ali being cheeky when she sees me with the camera (notice how everyone else is focused):

Here we are with the resistance bands working on biceps. Marie-Eve is in the forefront:

Finally, a bit of tai-chi to end the session. Ahhh...

Gotta love blasting the post-baby gut, and being able to do it in the great outdoors!

Running for a cure

2008-10-13T00:07:00.006-04:00

The month of October is flying by and I have so much to blog about! Before I end up too far behind, let me tell you about a run I took part in last weekend.

I don't know how many years I've been taking part in the CIBC Run for the Cure now. It must be at least 5 or 6 years. This is the cause that I've taken up as my annual commitment to do something concrete about. So, I register each year, and collect pledges. Then I set out to run a great 5k and hope for good weather. This year the weather was beautiful, somewhere around 12 to 15 degrees, with a very light breeze. I was lucky enough to have 2 friends join me for the run simply for the sake of joining. They weren't registered runners, just 2 awesome guys who wanted to support me in my run, support the cause, and enjoy a nice jog on a beautiful weekend! Introducing...

Jason, my personal trainer. This guy would go for a run with me on any given day / night at the drop of a hat. Running is part of his lifestyle routine (albeit not a religious one - I'm glad to know that he has good and bad weeks like us all!) and so it was never difficult to organize a few half-hour sessions with him. I need this kind of motivation because without someone pushing me out the door, I have no motivation to get my butt in gear with the 2 kids in tow, to run. Thanks Jay, for your encouragement all the way! Here we are somewhere near the beginning of the run (that's why I still have a smile on my face).

Mikio, my motivational guru. I kid you not, a few years ago when I was running the CIBC Run for the Cure, I distinctly remember that the only reason I finished the run without stopping (and believe me, did I ever feel like stopping when we started going a little bit uphill!) was that I could hear Mikio's voice in my mind saying: "Keep going, don't stop! Overcome yourself!" In fact, about half an hour before I had begun the run, Mikio called me to chant that mantra to me on my cell phone. After several years of wanting to check out the event in person, Mikio was finally able to make arrangements this year to come out and join. Not only did he run with me, he did it backwards while taking photos all the way! Mikio is a natural runner, so 5k didn't even make him sweat. Here he is showing his form, running with a smile after the 5k was all done.

What made this year's run so special was the additional company I had - my kids. Kira and Calvin were angels as they were pushed in the jogging stroller. I think they enjoyed the scenery of buildings and people, balloons, and pink everywhere. I'm sure they enjoyed the breeze on their faces (okay, not so "fresh" air because this was in downtown Montreal) and their simple presence urged me forward. Together, we raised over $400 for the cause, and the run raised over $28 million across Canada! Here's to finding a cure for breast cancer in our near future!

Mama's little helper

2008-09-16T21:45:00.008-04:00

I'm thrilled to have a new helper in the kitchen. It all started in the wintertime when Kira "helped" me bake cookies, by cutting out cookies and putting sprinkles on them. We continued this activity several times at home just the 2 of us, or when other kids came over for play dates. Here we are in February, baking Winnie the Pooh and friends cookies.

As the months progressed and Calvin began demanding more of my attention, Mark took over baking duties with Kira, and they prepared various versions of Rice Krispy squares, much to the delight of everyone who devoured them.

Over the past 2 weeks, Kira has taken on a keen interest in helping with all kinds of food preparation. In fact, when I was starting to bake a cake the other day, she ran to the bathroom where we keep our stepstool. Mark brought my attention to the squeaky dragging sound approaching. Kira was bringing the stool over so she could observe / help, and I gladly welcomed her participation. As a bonus, I let her lick the beater paddles. Much more enthusiasm ensued a couple of days later, when I baked muffins and she got to lick the spatula. Thankfully, her enthusiasm wasn't limited only to sweets. Here is Kira last week, helping me bread the fish I prepared for supper. Doesn't she look like a little pro?

And remember the 20 pounds of tomatoes we picked at the organic farm (see previous blog post)? Well, here's Kira squishing tomatoes with a "tomato squisher" (aka potato masher) to make a pot of tomato sauce (this yielded a lovely 4 jars of sauce which will hopefully take us into the fall / wintertime).

Kira is not mama's helper only in the kitchen. As you'll see in the video below, she's (sometimes) keen on "helping" feed Calvin. It's quite hilarious, really. Sometimes Calvin is frustrated when the food doesn't quite reach his mouth, or when Kira takes too long delivering the spoon to his mouth. Sometimes I lose patience and take the spoon from her when I see food dripping off the spoon or off of Calvin's chin. But for the most part, when Kira wants to help, I try to let her. And I see her continuing this role-play with her dolls. Watch as Kira cracks up when she gets cereal on Calvin's nose by accident. Calvin doesn't get what's so funny...

Tomato-picking at the organic farm

2008-09-08T22:09:00.006-04:00

My husband's cousin Jason (who lives around the corner from us) is a member of an organic farm co-op. Every week during the crop seasons (spring through fall), he goes to pick up the vegetables and fruits in season. Each week is a pleasant surprise, as you never know what veggies you are going to get. While Jason and his family went on vacation in August, they offered their weekly pick-up to us. So we went to pick up a delectable variety of 17 kinds of fresh, organic veggies and fruit. This included common vegetables such as tomatoes, garlic, and melons (4 kinds!) as well as some unrecognizable varieties which we simply didn't know what to do with. I totally forgot to take a photo of the collection, so I'm actually attaching one from Julie (Jason's sister) to show the cool variety that a weekly batch offers.

Last weekend, the farm offered its members the opportunity to invite friends and family to pick tomatoes. Jason invited his 2 sisters and us. As I carried Calvin on my back (poor thing, he was full of mosquito bites on his face when we got home! I couldn't see his face to shield him from the critters) we all headed into the tomato bushes to pick a yummy variety of ripe tomatoes. While we worked on our tomato-picking, Jason's daughter Jillian picked some yellow cherry tomatoes (are they called cherry tomatoes if they're yellow?) which we all ate during our labour. It was incredible how quickly we could fill a box with 20 lbs of tomatoes! 20 pounds, yes!

Here's Kira picking tomatoes. She'd pick all kinds: ones with bruises and holes, ones fallen off and laying on the ground, ones that were not quite ripe, and of course some red and perfect ones too!

"Here Julie, do you want a yellow one?" (Julie nodding politely as Kira puts it in, then pitching it as Kira looks away...)

That night, we ate tomato sandwiches, and Mark made chili. This week I'll be making a ton of tomato sauce, and freezing the rest. What a fun outing! Thanks, Jay!

Planting a tree from Lisa & Mike

2008-09-07T15:14:00.006-04:00

Last month, we were thrilled to be guests at Lisa (Kira & Calvin's 2nd cousin) and Mike's wedding. It was a fantastic ceremony at La Ronde, if you can imagine! What a fun environment, for 2 fun-loving and down-to-earth people. It was a real family affair. The photo above was taken by Lisa's cousin (& photographer extraordinaire) Megan. We enjoyed ourselves enormously, and wish Lisa & Mike a wonderful future together!

As a gift to each guest, Lisa & Mike gave a cedar plant. What a great idea - something that is great for the environment, serves as a souvenir of their wedding, and that will last a lifetime. So we made an activity out of planting the tree, and explained to Kira that the tree was a gift from her cousins. Daddy and Kira dug a hole in our backyard, and planted the tree. We can't wait to watch it grow over the years!

Baby legs and toothy grins

2008-09-01T23:16:00.003-04:00

I just felt I had to document my son's dimpled legs before he grows and I miss it. After all, soon after crawling comes walking, and then all that delicious dimpliness is gone for good!

Calvin has 4 teeth already. Gone are the goofy toothless grins.

My baby is growing so quickly!

Busy day!

2008-08-27T23:22:00.008-04:00

Today was a momentous day. It started early. I was so nervous that I woke up early, and had to rouse my 2 sleeping babies at 7am. It was Kira's orientation day at preschool! Unfortunately, I didn't take many good shots, but here is one of the 5 teachers at Les Activités Préscolaires de Brossard. Kira's teacher is a bundle of energy named Marie-France. This school has a fantastic reputation from every mom I've talked to with children there. I can't wait to see Kira blossom over the course of this season, and to be an active and involved parent in the school. I promise to take better photos for a future post.

So, the day started off with Kira making a great entry into the world of school. Then, we were off to Home Start's office, where we delivered close to $200 that Kira raised through friends and family as she ran in a mini-marathon fundraiser for the organization. Actually, the event took place in Lemoyne near us, but we had to leave town and so we took the marathon with us. Kira's sponsors all signed her shirt, and she ran across her (great) Auntie Sumire's lawn. Here's a photo of Kira crossing the finish line. For more photos, you can see my album here.

Finally, to cap the day, Calvin started crawling! Well, he isn't doing the classic crawl yet, but he can get from place to place in a forward direction now, and is thrilled himself with this new development! Now I have to be extra-careful watching these 2 kids as they continue to grow and explore their surroundings!

Kira's funny faces

2008-08-26T10:16:00.005-04:00

This post isn't really about any special occasion or event. Kira loves making funny faces these days. Here are a few of them, above. :)

She's also very much into repeating phrases, making up stories and songs. What a fun age!

Our first library outing

2008-08-15T10:11:00.007-04:00

Yesterday was our first visit to the Candiac library. Well, any library at all, really. There's an enormous amount of construction in Candiac these days, so the route was a bit rough. However, we pushed our way through the gravel-filled road (I'm thankful for my great double-stroller with big wheels!) and found our way to the library. Here are photos of the construction that greeted us on the way (above), and the library (left). I understand the building used to be a church. It's now beautifully renovated and very modern inside.

I hadn't been to a library myself in several years, so this was an exciting outing for me. Calvin got a free library card because he's a new Candiac baby! 2007 was Candiac's 50th anniversary and as part of the celebration all babies born that year received a letter authorizing a free membership for a year! So, both Calvin and Kira borrowed on his card (I'll get a family membership this year, and meanwhile we'll all borrow on Calvin's account, heehee!).

Now, anyone who knows Kira knows that books are the center of her universe! She could sit and read books for hours on end and would gladly do so if I had enough patience to sit with her (sometimes she'll amuse herself by pretending to read, which is also great fun to watch, and part of her imagination / language-building). So a library is like Kira Heaven! I don't know if she had ever seen so many books in one space. Kira was so excited, she kept picking books off the shelf, so I had to limit her pickings to 3 books (and 2 for Calvin).

We're looking forward to making a weekly jaunt to the library a part of our routine.

Hello, Tyson!

2008-06-24T23:23:00.006-04:00

I'm in Ottawa this week to visit my mom for a few days with the kids. Hopefully I'll have some time to post more on this short trip. With only 48 hours here, I didn't plan on doing much except spending quality time with my mom and meeting up with a long-lost friend. But I just HAD to make time to see Mark's cousin Cindy and her new little bundle Tyson!

Cindy had a long and hard labour - not the stuff of dreams, because nothing seemed to work to ease her pain, poor thing. Thankfully, a healthy and beautiful little miracle was the result. Here's a photo of Tyson, who was born at 8 lbs. 11 oz. His mom is making the slow recovery from a c-section, but otherwise is in good spirits and is a proud parent alongside her partner Seb. Luckily, they have the support of family during this adjustment period. Her mom (my Auntie Terry) was there when I visited, to help out.

Welcome to the family, Tyson! Can't wait to watch you grow!

To sleep, perchance to dream...

2008-06-22T09:29:00.005-04:00

What does it really mean to "sleep like a baby"? Well, here's what it looks like:

Awwww, melts my heart to see my babies in dreamland! Unfortunately, Kira rarely goes to sleep without a fight, and Calvin is up every couple of hours throughout the night. *sigh!* As a result, I'm often feeling in a zombie-like state, and haven't slept more than 4 hours straight since Calvin was born. I'm looking forward to brighter days when, hopefully both kids will be sleeping through the night.

We had an awful time with Kira's sleep from the time she was born, and we approached her sleep in all the wrong ways. As a result, we're working hard at establishing a good bedtime routine for Calvin. So far so good (he consistently naps at regular intervals and is down for the night sometime between 8pm to 9pm), except that he wakes frequently at night. Kira sometimes wakes up at night to pee on the toilet, but that's a welcome step in her development. She still fights us at bedtime unless we exhaust her with lots of running around and outdoor time. Both kids come into our bed around 6 or 7am for morning cuddles, and Kira almost always squirms out of bed to watch cartoons until Mommy and Daddy are ready to start their days. :)

Although I'm dying for a full night's sleep, I also wouldn't trade these times for the world because once they're gone, they're gone!

An outing to Funtopia!

2008-06-20T21:47:00.009-04:00

I took the kids to Funtopia for the first time today. Finally, a play space for kids on the South Shore! Kira had a great time, and she met lots of old and new faces there. She was hesitant at first, but eventually was climbing around everywhere and having a ball! Lots of climbing, crawling and sliding spaces. It's brightly coloured, clean, safe, and well staffed. Everything on the play structures is padded and lots of netting ensures no accidental falls. And as is typical in this type of facility, there is a strict no-shoes policy which keeps it clean and safe. Kira managed to charm my friend Jeanne into climbing, crawling and sliding with her. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on-hand to snap photos of that cute sight! Next time! Here's a photo of Kira climbing up the padded "stairway" to the upper play level.

There was also a room for babies and young ones, ideal for Calvin. However, because Kira definitely is of an age where she needs constant supervision, Calvin didn't benefit from the outing this time around. Maybe I'll be able to take him on his own if Kira registers for a class at le Petit Gym next door, this fall or winter.

The food was pretty good, and they had a varied and healthy selection (alongside other not-so-healthy choices). The prices were fair, but it made for an expensive outing because of course, you aren't allowed to take your own food and there were vending machines (tempting for kids - good marketing!) everywhere. My only complaints about the food might be that there wasn't a significant vegetarian selection (I ordered a smoked salmon sandwich and they had to check that they had smoked salmon in their kitchen before ringing it in, because nobody ever orders it! At least I eat fish; being a non-fish eater would have proven even more difficult.). The other difficulty was in the fact that I'm still off of dairy because of Calvin's bovine protein sensitivity. So completely not thinking, I ordered the smoked salmon sandwich but of course what was in there? Cream cheese! I felt too badly return it, so I scraped off the cream cheese as well as I could. I might talk to them about this for a future visit - maybe they'll let me take my own sandwich just until Calvin is able to handle dairy (fingers crossed that he'll outgrow the sensitivity soon!).

Kira somehow coerced me into climbing up the structure with her (imagine me doing that with Calvin in his baby wrap hanging off my chest) and that's when I snapped this shot of her running through one of the tiny "hallways" with a bunch of kids rolling a big ball in the same direction following her.

It was a nice way to spend an overcast day. Of course, I would still opt for a park or outdoor excursion on a clear day. We have to do everything we can to enjoy our short summer season!

Bathtime!

2008-06-17T20:38:00.010-04:00

Since Calvin's birth, Mark and I have divided a lot of the parenting responsibilities more than ever before. I'm so thankful that Mark has been working from home for the past year, and although this will likely soon come to an end, I believe he has enjoyed his quality time with the family as well.

Over the past months Kira has become Daddy's Little Girl in a big way. She relies on him for a lot of nurturing and asks for him constantly. She pines for Daddy when he's away on business trips, and his is the first name she calls when she wakes up in the morning. Mark in return, is a doting father!

One of the fun responsibilities we have evenly split with our kids is bathtime. I bathe Calvin while Mark bathes Kira. Calvin has always loved bathtime! If he's in a bit of a fussy mood at night, usually a bath will cheer him up. Recently, he's discovered that he can splash the water around with his feet, and so bathtime is messier and wetter than ever! I've had to move his bath from the countertop, to the floor (with a towel underneath). Here's my little kicker! As you can see, I tried to cover his privates but with every shoot he kicked the little towel off.

We have one of those deep tubs that is difficult to lean over. So, we've been delaying bathing Kira in the big tub because of this, and also because it takes a lot of water to fill the tub even a little bit. As a result, Kira is still in a baby tub, but he doesn't seem to mind. And, because leaning over the side of the tub is a challenge, Mark sits on an upside-down bucket that's placed in the tub.

Kira loves her bath toys and can play with them forever. She doesn't like having her hair washed but over the past several months Mark has made a game of it and creates a new "hair style" for her every bathtime. Here's one of those famous hairdo's.

And the biggest reward of all for us, is, of course, clean kids! :)

A beautiful day for taiko!

2008-05-30T09:46:00.006-04:00

On Sunday May 18th, I was thrilled to be performing taiko again after a 9 month break from performance. Near the end of my last pregnancy, I focused on observing practices because it was just too darned hard to move around! But boy did I ever miss releasing my energy into those taiko! It's really difficult to explain the release when you can put your spirit and energy into those fantastic drums.

The photos in this post were taken by Geneviève Demers, who is currently taking taiko classes at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal and who attended O-Hanami.

After the birth of Calvin, I took a couple of months to stay at home and adjust to the new family dynamics and routine (like there is ever a routine with a newborn in the house - ha!). In the new year, I started going back to practices again, and I slowly started to play again in February. It was honestly quite intimidating to play again, because everyone there is so awesome and in incredible shape! They had been going through some pretty grueling practices as well as working on new compositions, so I had a lot of catching up to do! Obviously, I'm still not there yet, and just hoping to be up to par in the coming months...

I committed to participating in 2 performances per month max, in order to balance my priorities of family and taiko. Back when I was single, taiko was my no. 1 priority in life! Seriously, I would do multiple practices and shows each week and revel in the (muscular) burn. Well, I'm still passionate about it, but I must admit that my priorities have shifted after getting married and giving birth to 2 beautiful treasures! There's less time to do anything outside of family time, because the kids are quite demanding at this age. But I don't regret it because time flies by so quickly with Kira and Calvin. Kira is already well into her "terrible 2's" and Calvin is sitting by himself! But, I digress...

My first performance back was at O-Hanami, a picnic under the flowering crabapple trees at the Japanese Botanical Gardens. What a beautiful setting, and a fabulous event to share the gardens and Japanese culture with the public! In addition to Arashi Daiko, Sandokai gave a kobudo demonstration. And, it was a perfect, sunny day with a few clouds and a light breeze.

Last class for Kira at Bébéssimo :(

2008-05-20T23:46:00.008-04:00

I've been meaning to write for quite some time about Kira's Bouge d'Art class at Bébéssimo. A few weeks ago was her final class, and I must say it was a sad one for me because it was our last class ever, at Bébéssimo.

You see, this wonderful space called Bébéssimo was the brainchild of Patricia Briand, who opened up the infant and toddler development ("discovery and enrichment studio" as it's referred to in the website) centre in a cozy little spot in NDG. She opened it for all the right reasons. First and foremost, she's a mom so she knows the importance of nurturing and developing our kids' imagination, creativity, and motor skills first-hand. She made connections with moms who agreed that there was a need for a space like Bébéssimo. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons that may be, Bébéssimo will be officially closing its doors at the end of June. Sniff, sniff! Kira has taken Baby Sign Language, Itsy Bitsy Yoga, Run Wiggle Paint & Giggle, and Bouge d'Art here, and we will sorely miss it. In fact, the day before our last class, I caught Kira on video telling me she was looking forward to going to Bébéssimo. I swear, I didn't coach her to say this. We arrived back home after a day of activity and before I could take her out of the car, she clearly told me where she wanted to go next. If you can make it out, she's saying "I want to go to Bébéssimo!"

Here's a great article from the National Post that talks a bit about the kind of unique programming offered at Bébéssimo: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=3ec136c5-cab7-46ab-9ba3-6474c5f89d7c&k=16103&p=1

Our last 2 sessions at Bébéssimo were for a class called Bouge d'Art. Melanie Fefergrad came up with this great program that includes song, dance, movement, stories, and arts & crafts. Melanie, if you're reading this, you've made such a fantastic impact on Kira! When it's time to clean up, she sings "It's time to tidy up, it's time to tidy up, please put the toys away, it's time to tidy up." She pulls out lines from songs like Miss Mary Mack and the Bubblegum song from nowhere, and asks "Where's Melanie?" And finally, when it's time to say goodbye she puts up her "tick-tock" fingers! What an impact a weekly 45-minute class has had on my child! Here are the kids mobbing Melanie for a sticker after class.

Here's an article about Melanie and her Bouge d'Art program: http://sweetspot.ca/content/view/5011/44/
You can now find her permanently at GymMini, in St. Laurent.

And, here's Kira with her prized bear that she made at Bouge d'Art:

I'm on the hunt for new places with quality programming for my little Calvin. Let me know if you're in the know! We'll miss our weekly jaunt out to NDG but will certainly find reasons to go by there now and again.

cardio to get the heart pumping!

2008-05-08T00:19:00.011-04:00

Last month I devoted the month to (a start to) getting back into shape. Despite the fact that I'm already back to pre-pregnancy weight, I have a bit of a body-image problem in that I don't fit my pre-pregnancy clothes and there is the post-baby gut that keeps hanging around. Don't get me wrong - it took 9 months to grow a baby inside me and so I don't expect to be back to my old form for a little while yet! But I also can't use that as an excuse to be lazy. So from the beginning of April I got myself motivated to get the heart pumping again.

I'm going to a cardio-poussette class twice a week. This is one of many classes offered by Cardio Plein-Air, a company that dedicates workouts to the outdoors yearround! I'm the only one with 2 babies to push in my classes, but with my stroller they're a breeze to push so I don't mind the extra weight. In fact, this stroller is so easy to move that it kind of runs on its own with a little wind - and unfortunately there are no brakes on it, so I can't lock it in place when it's stationary. The workout is led by Geneviève, a firecracker of an instructor who is always chatting, yelling, smiling, and keeping everyone motivated. I took her classes 2 years ago when Kira was born and I had such a great experience that I signed up for her classes again. She remembered us right away, and always gives a little conversation time to Kira. I'm also really impressed that she tries so hard to ensure that I'm comfortable by speaking to me in English, even though I try my best to keep up in French! Here's a photo of Geneviève, who reminds me a LOT of Julianne from "Dancing with the Stars" for her personality and athleticism.

What I love about this workout is that you can get from it as much as you want. Seriously, I've seen people push their strollers and chat to each other. Actually, this season's group is great. Everyone is friendly and there's pleasant chatting but people are also looking for a serious workout. Great spirit and energy - gotta love that! I'm in it for the WORKOUT! So, with the mindset to challenge myself, I'm getting a great workout in a beautiful park (Récré-O-Parc in Ste. Catherine) with a group of fantastic moms and their beautiful babies. We do about an hour of heart-pumping cardio, followed by abdominal training on the mats, and always something different or new with resistance bands, or using the benches and fences found at the park. Kira usually hops out of the stroller at this point, to stretch her legs and check out the scenery. Calvin usually wakes up at this point and starts bawling his head off along with half of the other babies. The workout ends with simili-tai-chi, and before you know it 75 minutes have passed. Now that the weather is getting nicer out, I think I'll opt to hang out at the park afterwards every so often, for a picnic!

Perfect day to test the bike trailer!

2008-04-27T20:32:00.010-04:00

We took the bike trailer for its inaugural hitch on the back of Mark's bike today during a family Sunday ride. We were planning on spending a good hour outdoors, but it ended up being FIVE hours because of all the little pit-stops we made. :)

What beautiful weather today! It was our last sunny, hot day for a little while and you could tell everyone was out to enjoy it! We left at a leisurely pace while the kids relaxed in the trailer. Both of them fell asleep at some point during our ride. Wouldn't you if you were bumping along in the sunlight, with a light wind in your face? To be a baby again, without a care in the world...

You can see Mark and Kira in the above photo. Calvin's in there too, but I guess he's kind of slumped over to the side. Kira loves her new Elmo helmet. :)

First, we stopped at my friend Cara's to say hello and to pick up a couple of Epicure Selections catalogues. They have some really yummy stuff including dips and spreads, spices, hot chocolate, fondue chocolate, kitchenware, and environmentally-friendly cleaning solutions. Cara is a rep for ES, and is passionate about the products she sells. I'm looking forward to flipping through my catalogue before I drift off to sleep tonight!

As Mark led me through the bike paths in La Prairie, I wiped out while trying to bike up onto a sidewalk. Skinned myself all the way down the arm and face-planted on the landing. That's okay - no permanent damage. I ended up eating a bunch of gritty dirt, and the scrapes will disappear in no time. I'm actually more bummed that my beautiful bike is scratched.

Next stop, Cousin Ali. She heard us arrive, and she came over to greet us with her mom and baby Hunter, from the backyard. We hung out chatting for awhile all the while enjoying the fantastic weather that just wouldn't quit. Kira visited the 2 dogs in the backyard while I changed Calvin's diaper, a bit more chatting, and we were off again! (By the way, you can see Ali and Hunter in a past blog post - see April 10's "A New Cousin for Kira & Calvin")

Mark suggested we pass by Auntie Naomi's to see if she was home. She sure was, and we gave her a break from changing her tires and all the other spring chores she managed to complete before our arrival (she had already mowed her huge lawn and opened up the backyard pool!). Hopefully after we left, she took some time to relax into the evening. The above photo is of Auntie Naomi with the kids, on the swing. Kira had a blast going by the waterfront, singing songs, eating chips, and simply hangin' out. I didn't get a photo with Pattie, who was in and out during our visit as well. Naomi, Pattie and their kids just adore Kira and Calvin. We love visiting them!

Ah, welcome spring, and we'll be waiting during the coming rainy week, for your return!

Go Habs, Go!

2008-04-26T22:37:00.006-04:00

Need I say more?

I'll tell you why we lost Game 2 against the Flyers tonight. I must apologize. You can blame my son Calvin, because he jinxed les Canadiens by pooing in his Habs onesie. We were so excited to have him wear it during Game 2, but about an hour before game-time, disaster struck. The Montreal Canadiens' cutest fan wasn't wearing his teams colours and logo. We're sorry, everyone! He'll be ready for Game 3, when our team will need our hometown energy from afar, as they'll be playing in Philadelphia Monday night.

I saw in the latest Jean Coutu flyer that Canadiens flags were on sale this week. Mark looked while he was there yesterday, but they were sold out. We passed by today, but of course the sale had already ended. No matter. We just HAD to have one, so here it is! We're so proud to be Habs fans and are ready to bring the Cup home this year!

And as for Habs gossip, it seems more and more of the Canadiens players are moving to Candiac! Why? Because their new practice rink will be at the Dix30, which is close by, and Candiac is developing and growing by leaps and bounds and is the currently trendy place to move. My newest mission will be to find out which players have kids the ages of my kids, and to send my kids to the same school. No, I'm not really that crazy! Or am I? Heheh...

lovin' shoppin'

2008-04-25T23:12:00.007-04:00

Today, I went to 2 friperies - second-hand clothing stores. I can't believe the awesome purchases I made. Over a dozen outfits, a knapsack, a sunhat, a craft kit, and a gift set for new baby, all for under $100! I love second-hand clothing shopping for the kids. Honestly, they only wear their clothes for a season, so who can resist a bargain?

Here's a photo of Calvin taken just yesterday, in a cute outfit I got for him at a clothing swap:

I think I've been to pretty much all the friperies in this neck of the woods, and have picked my favourites according to not only price, but how child-friendly the shopping is (some have play areas for kids to hang out - Kira enjoys hanging out with the toys while I shop), and cleanliness not only of the store but of the clothes. My favourites are the stores where I can trust that without having to check, I can just KNOW that none of the clothes will have stains on them. Some store owners are vigilant about checking the merchandise and only selling top-quality clothes at great prices. You gotta love that!

If you live on the South Shore, check out these shops:
l'Univers des Petits: 55 rue St. Pierre, St. Constant. (450) 638-8787. This shop doesn't accept Interac. Cash and cheques (with ID) only, accepted.
Les Souricettes: 10-1 boul. Georges-Gagné, Delson. (450) 718-1881. New and used clothing for children 0 to 8 years. This shop is gorgeous, and lots of neat and affordable gift ideas.
Boutique Cocopelli: 392 Ste. Rose, La Prairie. www.cocopelli.ca. This store has a little play space for kids, offers workshops, and even offers a scale to weigh your newborn.

Yesterday I also received a package in the mail that I had been waiting for. I just made my first purchase through etsy.com, which I came to know of through a friend who sells her crafts there. Here's what I bought. I recently read an article that featured a carrier for a changing pad and diapers, and thought it was such a novel idea, because those are the basics that need to be carried, so why not do it in style? So, I checked on etsy.com and found a seller who carried some that she's designed, in beautiful fabrics. See above, my old "system" (Ziploc bag with the essentials) versus my new diaper / changing pad carrier! I love it and can't wait to flaunt it!

If you want to check out these nifty diaper carriers and other products, visit the site of Oh Boy Designs. And while I'm mentioning etsy.com, I'd like to mention my friend Tatsuko's store. She sells beautiful jewellery and paper goods with a Japanese touch.

Happy shopping! Hope you have as much fun as I did!

I need cooking help! SOS Cuisine to the rescue!

2008-04-13T15:49:00.006-04:00

I started the 5/30 Health Challenge (sponsored by Santé et Services Sociaux Québec) at the beginning of March. It ended officially on Friday the 10th of April, and it entailed a commitment for Mark and I to eat a minimum of 5 to 10 servings of fruit and/or vegetable per day, and to participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day for 5 days a week. We started enthusiastically by logging our progress and posting it on the fridge. However, as with all new year resolutions (March 01st was my New Year - read why in my first blog post!) our enthusiasm quickly waned and we lost focus. However, all was not lost. We became much more aware of our eating habits and we have been putting a lot more effort into eating fruits and vegetables every day. 5 servings is really nothing! Oh, and I have to rave to you about this really cool website that we learned about while doing the Challenge. It's called SOS Cuisine. If you sign up, they'll send you weekly meal plans (5 meal plans for the week including desserts!), a grocery shopping list (that you can edit according to what you already have in your home), and tips on how to prepare for the coming week. Best of all, it's a Quebec organization so they promote Quebec-grown produce, and they even advise you of where items on your shopping list are currently on sale, including listings from 6 major Quebec grocery chains. Are you sold? Check it out!

As for the exercise, I must admit that I haven't been doing it as regularly as I would have liked, but this month I'm committing to focusing more on my physical activity. My cardio-poussette classes started with perfect timing (March 31st) to make this month's resolution easier to manage. I'll try to dedicate a blog post entirely to this class in the near future, because I think it's an amazing way to blast the post-baby gut while spending quality time with the kids outside. I'm also starting back into the swing of things with taiko practices. Taiko is a big passion of mine, and I'm so glad to have that activity and the people I play with, in my life. But again, more on that in another blog post! In the meantime, check out Arashi Daiko's website to read a bit about taiko and Montreal's very own taiko ensemble. :) The other night I even took 30 minutes to simply stretch after an active day. That's something that's rare for us to take the time to do, but I just felt so much better after a nice stretch, and proud that I took some time to do something for myself. I think my muscles were thanking me the next day too, because had I not taken the time to stretch I'm sure the following day they would have been sore and aching! Finally, we're still continuing with our periodic family strolls. Kira loves the outdoors and I sure hope Calvin will grow to love it, too!

So, wish me luck on my month of committing to regular physical activity! It's already almost halfway through the month!

A new cousin for Kira & Calvin

2008-04-10T00:58:00.002-04:00

Last weekend we took a walk over to Mark’s cousin Ali’s home, to meet the newest addition to this large and continually growing Takeda family: Hunter Toshio Lacombe. Ali is Mark’s first cousin and she most recently moved here along with her partner Steve and their children Chase and Zachary. Hunter was born on Friday April 04^th at 6 lbs. 12 oz. What a beautiful baby! Here’s Mark with Ali and Hunter. Sorry that I didn’t get shots of the rest of the family. But, doesn’t Ali look great? And this was only 2 days after giving birth! Ooh, and look at Hunter’s teeny little toes!

Calvin's sensitivity to bovine protein

2008-04-08T22:11:00.007-04:00

I took my little Calvin to the gastroenterology clinic at the Children’s Hospital last Wednesday afternoon. After a month of exclusively breastfeeding him, I discovered green poo with little streaks of blood in his diaper in December. This sent me into a panic, and so Mark and I Googled the matter to see what we could find. We took Calvin to the CLSC the next morning, where the doctor informed us that it didn’t seem urgent. However, our web research suggested that it might be a sensitivity to cow protein commonly found in dairy products and beef, so we cut these immediately from my diet (well, I don’t eat meat anyway, so I really just cut dairy). Here are a couple of sites that were referred y a friend of mine. You might find them useful if this situation pertains to you or someone you know:

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/food-sensitivity.html#protein

http://www.mother-2-mother.com/cc-baby-A.htm

After meeting with Calvin’s regular doctor, we were advised to cut soy and eggs from the diet as well. This was really difficult, and believe me, you don’t miss certain things until they’re taken away from you! I suddenly got cravings for ice cream, croissants, tofu, and cream in my coffee! And of course, this affected Mark’s eating habits as well and resulted in a lot of creative cooking and label-reading. The good news is that I didn’t gain any weight over the Christmas / New Year holiday period, mostly because I couldn’t eat the great stuff at all the holiday feasts. L Every once in awhile a green poo would show up again and I’d have to think back to what I ate 24 hours before – inevitably it would be something that had dairy or soy in it that I inadvertently ingested. Then about 2 months ago, I ate something with eggs in the ingredients and no reaction. Hmm, let’s try more food with eggs as an ingredient. No reaction! A shopping trip to IKEA allowed the opportunity to have scrambled eggs (but no croissant yet!) with toast and a coffee for a buck! Last month as we were eating breakfast, Mark noticed that the peanut butter I had been spreading on my toast each morning for the past several weeks, contained soybean oil as the second ingredient! What! So for lunch that day I had a stir-fry with shoyu (soya sauce) all over it! No green poops from Calvin. Woohoo!

I’m currently off of dairy products still, and will continue to stay off of it for another 4 months as a result of the advice of the physician at the Children’s. I figure this is a small sacrifice to make for the health of my beautiful baby! He’s being followed up until the fall, and I have been assigned to a dietitian who will be following my progress as well. Here’s a photo of Calvin taken just today:

The appointment went well. It seems Calvin is getting over his sensitivities gradually, although his skin shows that he still has some sensitivities. Calvin has eczema, poor thing. I found this great line of products that works well with him, called Bug & Pickle. They make organic products for babies (and mommies), and they’re Canadian. I’m using the Baby Butter and the Head-to-Toe Baby Wash. Best of all, they smell so yummy!

I read somewhere that 5% of North American babies have bovine protein sensitivity, so this is actually a really common diagnosis that we don’t hear a lot about. It’s great having the support and counsel of the staff at the Children’s and I would highly recommend that any of you in the same situation get a referral from your doctor so you can consult this fantastic team!

Winter walks

2008-03-31T22:33:00.006-04:00

One of the pleasures of wintertime this year has been going for walks with the family. Whereas I used to push Kira around in her stroller everyday during the wintertime during her first 2 winters, I just haven't been able to get out as readily with 2 kids. It literally takes me an hour to get the kids ready for an outing when I'm alone, and then when I have one foot out the door either Calvin poos in his diaper, or Kira has to go to the toilet, thus delaying us by another 10 mins. In addition to this, when we're outside all Kira wants to do these days is walk herself, not be pushed in a stroller (she's two and a half so who can blame her?). It's difficult enough pushing a stroller through the snow-packed roads, and this on top of chasing a toddler? Arrrgh!

So, while there have been far fewer outdoor walks this winter than last, it's been quite enjoyable really, because now when we go for a stroll, it's all 4 of us breathing in the crisp, fresh air together. And although it's been quite snowy of late, the temperatures have been mild overall so there have been a few good occasions for leisurely walks. The photo on the right was taken to show how high our snow banks are! Our friends (especially those from outside of Canada) are always amazed at our snow!

Last summer I convinced Mark to look for and buy a second-hand double stroller. While I don't regret this purchase entirely, I am kind of kicking myself for the purchase we made because I think we paid too much for a stroller with small bald wheels that is cumbersome and huge. With the weight of 2 babies in it, some of the roads were almost impossible to navigate! Would you believe that we recently found a double jogging stroller at Costco for around $120? While it isn't a Chariot or a BOB (my dream jogging stroller!), I am SO happy with the investment because it isn't a huge one to make, I can push my 2 kids with SUCH ease, and this gives me added incentive to start jogging once the roads are cleared of snow and the jogging / cycling paths in Candiac open up. I was already calculating in my head as I announced to Mark during yesterday's walk, that if I use this stroller as much as I hope to, it will cost us less than $1 per use by the time we stop using it. I'll post more about the jogging stroller in a future blog. Just got great use out of it today, when I did an hour workout with it!

Here's my active daughter Kira puddle-walking. As soon as we let her out of the stroller, she went straight for the crunchy snow and the deep puddles. She enjoys puddles so much that she'll walk forward and backward through them... yikes, here I am hoping for a not-so-wet spring season ahead!

Revisiting Montreal

2008-03-30T00:04:00.009-04:00

We hosted a young family from Japan last week. Keiko (I used to tell people she's the daughter of the cousin of Mark's father - and then found out I could just say that she and Mark are second cousins! Much simpler!), her husband Toyoyuki, their 7 month old baby boy Shunta, and their friend Yoshimi, arrived on Sunday night. Toyoyuki has been studying English in Iowa since January, and is taking a vacation from his studies. He had been away from his baby for a month and a half. I can only imagine how much he missed his darling! The family decided to reunite in Montreal and to see the sights and spend time with their distant Canadian relatives during their stay. The timing was great because although there was plenty of snow, the temperatures were quite mild ... well, by our standards, at least!

Last Monday, we walked through the cobbled streets of Old Montreal. The tour started at the Old Port along rue de la Commune, and we stopped at Gandhi restaurant for lunch (Indian cuisine). We continued along rue Notre-Dame where we stopped into the Notre-Dame Cathedral, a must for every tourist. We continued to the Jacques Cartier Square which was nothing like it is during the summertime. Very quiet, but pretty nonetheless. We ended our walk at Marché Bonsecours, where of course we had to mention that we were married! Supper that night was at Shambala on St. Denis (Tibetan cuisine). It was a great day for vegetarian food, hehe!

We spent a very baby-centered day on Tuesday, starting at EM Café in the Plateau for breakfast. Mark's cousin Julie works there, and Julie's soon-to-be sister in-law owns this new trendy café. See how crazy-big my extended family is? On to Mums & Tots of Brossard for some time with other moms & babies. Keiko wanted to see how a playgroup is run here, so it was a perfect opportunity to do it and hang out with moms, babies and toddlers. The above top photo was taken there. Too bad there wasn't any coffee made, but no worries. Our next stop was Maman, Bébé et Café in NDG. We let the kids hang out in the play areas while we all had coffee, tea and snacks. The bottom of these 2 photos is a shot of Shunta and Calvin enjoying themselves and each other's company, with Yoshimi. Back to the Plateau to see how bagels are made and to eat some fresh, warm bagels at the famous Fairmount Bagel. Our evening ended at Byblos, our first experience with Iranian cuisine. We all really enjoyed it. A lot of spreads with bread like pita for me. Mmm, very tasty and worth another try. The ambiance was also very nice and laid back. Here's a photo of the appetizer spreads.

We had the day off on Wednesday, when our guests went to Ottawa to check out the nation's capital.

On Thursday, we met up with Keiko, Toyoyuki, and Shunta (Yoshimi was feeling ill and stayed in town to rest and recover) at a cabane a sucre. We invited some family and friends to make it a big gathering! There were even guests from Germany joining us for an evening of traditional Quebec culture. Unfortunately there was no entertainment that night, but the usual sugar shack fare came out: salads, soup, chutney, bread, pork & beans, omelette, ham, potatoes, pigs' ears, and a selection of sweet, maple-filled desserts! Oh, and of course the "tire" (maple syrup poured on snow, then rolled onto a stick to eat! There is definitely an English name for this, but I can't remember what it is!) I hope all our international guests understood that we only tend to go once a year out of tradition and that we don't eat like this regularly! :) Unfortunately the hall was too dark for me to get any good photos. Here is a photo of our friend Maiko in the gift shop with all that mapley goodness!

Friday was our relaxed day when we hung out at home for the most part. At night, we hosted a potluck supper with about 20 family members - a moderate gatherng by Takeda standards! Keiko and Yoshimi prepared some delicious chirashi zushi and the rest of the family members contributed towards a yummy and varied feast!
Everyone had a chance to socialize and to meet each of our guests. Baby Shunta got a lot of attention! What a cute baby. :)

Our final full day together was spent rather quietly as well. Our poor guests had barely got over their jetlag and their trip was coming to an end. So we had a late breakfast and relaxed a bit, and then they all went for some downtown shopping (the famous underground shopping is perfect for tourists who aren't used to our cold weather!) before we were to meet up for our final supper together. We heard afterwards that they barely had any time to shop, because they spent 2 hours at Loblaws! Heehee... then Mark recalled that we had done the same thing in Japan. What we think is so everyday mundane is actually quite interesting for visitors from other countries! There were about 20 family members gathered once again, this time at Mythos, a fantastic Greek resto that we discovered a couple of years ago. Wow, we had a lot of different kinds of cuisine throughout the week! Good food, good times. A great way to end the visit with our family from Japan.

The Manabe family and Yoshimi left us early Sunday morning (Keiko, Shunta and Yoshimi flew back home to Japan while Toyoyuki went back to Iowa to continue his English studies). Our house was suddenly quiet and Kira asked almost immediately, where baby Shunta had gone. We're hoping we can keep the memory of this visit fresh in her (and our) mind so the next time we meet, she'll remember that she has family and friends in Japan!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-20T23:29:00.006-04:00

Due to the fact that neither Mark nor I are religious, Easter has no religious significance for us, and sadly it's all about the Easter bunnies for us! I know, how commercial! But it's something fun for the children and really, our lives are so wrapped around our children these days! We've spent virtually the entire month of March gearing up for Easter, from decorating the house with Easter decorations, to the crafts we do at home with an Easter theme, to the little pop-up bunny toy I presented Kira with the other day (thanks to Dollarama for all of the above!). And most recently, we've attended 2 Easter parties - one at Mums & Tots, the other at Home Start (more about both of these great organizations in a future post).

The Mums & Tots Easter party was so much fun! I don't know how everything happened within the time span of 2 hours, but there was a yummy buffet of food (potluck), a gooey + messy = FUN craft of papier maché eggs, a pass-the-egg game with prizes, an Easter egg hunt, and loot bags with goodies including a book, a bottle of bubble soap (to remind us that one day spring will actually come and we might be able to play with this!), and other little gifts. Kira took a fantastic nap after all of that stimulation!

This past Thursday, Kira attended another Easter party held by Home Start, where she attended summer camp last year. Although she wasn't as much in the mood to join in the organized activities here, she sure had fun trying out a chocolate fondue for the first time! And bonus for mommy that Kira ate a LOT of fruit. Sure it was covered in chocolate, but she hadn't had so many grapes, bananas and apples in one sitting in a long time!

We decided that we would organize a little Easter egg hunt at home for Kira today. She did a great job and found all the eggs. Here's a photo of Kira making a sweet discovery.

My growing boy

2008-03-15T22:07:00.007-04:00

Time sure flies! I can't believe Calvin is already just over 4 months old. Where did the time go? And while I often feel guilty for carting him along to all of Kira's activities, I know that he's observing and absorbing every bit of activity into his little head. I wonder what he's thinking when he furrows his brows and looks so concentrated. For the most part, Calvin is easygoing and just a happy baby. He smiles with any amount of attention you give him, and is satisfied as long as you can figure out what his needs are (usually milk, or sleep). And what a dream of a boy to put to sleep! I can put him in his crib at night with his eyes wide open after nursing, kiss him goodnight, and he amuses himself and soothes himself to sleep generally without a fuss. I'm just hoping this continues, because I read only today, that it could change at around 6 months...

So, what are we doing differently with Calvin from what we did with Kira at this age? For starters, we're much more easygoing ourselves about our approach, and so maybe he senses this and that is why he's so calm. :) We aren't sterilizing everything Calvin touches. We don't panic just because his nose is blocked and he isn't breathing well (a little Salinex always does the trick!). We're not stressed about getting him on a schedule, and actually on this point he has done fabulously by putting himself on a very regular and consistent sleep schedule (feedings are on demand).

There are so many differences in the characters of our two babies that it really is impossible to put comparisons out there, the way most people expect us to. The sleep issue in itself is completely the opposite of our situation with Kira (she always has been and continues to be, difficult to put to sleep). He has loved his bath since day 1 and smiles the entire time he's in the water (Kira took awhile to adjust to bathtime - I don't think either of us enjoyed the experience until she was several months old). There are 2 things we are very careful with, and they are his skin (he has eczema) and my diet (he has bovine protein sensitivity and so I have to watch what I eat because it is processed into my breast milk). I'll be writing more about these issues after our medical appointments in the coming weeks.

One thing I am disappointed with is my inability to be able to go outdoors with the 2 kids on a regular basis. I can't take the kids for a walk without the entire family going together because: a) the stroller doesn't push well through our snowy streets and sidewalks; and b) Kira doesn't want to stay put in her stroller and it's impossible for me to push the stroller while she wanders off or fails to stay by my side. Mark and I go for walks when we can with our kids, because we feel it's important for them to get fresh air and to be used to all of the different seasons that we are so lucky to have where we live. Calvin isn't very aware of all this yet, and he screams when we bundle him up, but he seems to enjoy the outdoors and sleeps well after long walks.

Calvin's milestones? Let's see... he can push himself up on his belly, he regards his hands often and has started grasping things, and he "jumps" in the exersaucer. Oh, and he's mastered the art of "charming" with his beaming smile. He's inadvertently rolled over but I can't quite call this a skill yet. We're waiting for rolling and sitting in the coming months. Here are a couple of photos of my handsome little boy.

The importance of play dates

2008-03-15T21:17:00.011-04:00

Sometime between now and the age of 3, Kira should be learning about and understanding the concept of sharing. I can't wait for that moment when it finally makes sense to her! In the meantime, I'm trying to give her as many opportunities as possible to socialize with others so she can develop some meaningful social skills. When she's surrounded by adults, she knows she's centre-stage and loves to announce: "Look at me! Look at me!" as she entertains the masses. When she's with other 2-year olds, there is always a power struggle, a fight, and tears - if not from Kira, then from one of her friends. When she's with an older child (especially with girls), she follows them around and idolizes them. When she's the big girl, she's very playful and depending on her mood, can even play "mommy" to a little baby.

While my calendar continues to fill up with appointments, classes and planned activities for the kids, I try to set aside at least one day a week to give them a play date. Although I can foresee the spring and summer getting a bit too busy to have regular weekly play dates, I'll be trying my darndest to fit time in for this activity. Kira has enjoyed spending time one-on-one with friends that she hasn't taken the time to notice at playgroup, just because it's such a frenzy of activity and she is a relatively quiet girl who likes to explore an environment carefully before she becomes comfortable. So far, we've hosted 4 play dates here at home, and we've also been to a handful at other people's homes.

Kira's first play date was at Juliana and Olivia's home. Juliana is 5 years old, and being the older one in the house, plays the role of big sister with confidence. Her little sister Olivia is the same age as Kira, and being her "baby sister", she thinks of Olivia as a baby. So when Juliana heard that Kira was a "big sister" at the age of 2, she thought that was SO funny! A baby being a big sister - imagine! :) We were near the beginning of Kira's toilet-training adventure at the time, so naturally Kira was having waaay too much fun to notice the urgency of her need to pee until it was too late. Aside from that mishap, we all had a really fun time. The girls played with toys together, drew together, read books, and even started to play a board game! We mommies even found time to have an adult conversation while the girls amused themselves in the basement (ahh, the luxury of having an older child - can't wait!). Of course, Calvin came along for the ride as well, but he was busy sleeping or pooing most of the time.

Here's an adorable video of Kira with her friend Jaiden. Vicki and I were diligent in being sure to supervise the kids and be next to them at all times to avoid collisions, fights or other mishaps. However, when we were both in the kitchen chatting for a moment, Vicki looked in on them in the living room and found them entertaining themselves. Unfortunately I didn't catch it all since I was busy preparing lunch, but here's part of what was going on in there. I LOVE this video! By the way, you'll notice Kira's wearing her princess costume. Try as we may to shelter her from the world of princesses and Barbies, she loves dress-up and it's hard for her to resist our bin full of costumes (some given to us, hence the princess one!)

I'm dreaming of getting a swing set and sandbox when the snow thaws, so we can take these play dates outdoors soon! Swings, sandbox playtime, picnic and watermelons - all outdoors! And all the mess stays outside! Experienced moms are all scoffing at me now, because the mess can't possibly all stay outside, am I right?

Eat Well Expo

2008-03-14T21:09:00.001-04:00

Today, after celebrating Easter at a fabulously fun playgroup party (but more on that in a future post), I decided to take the kids to the Eat Well Expo (Expo Manger Santé), which runs until this Sunday March 16th. Of course, I had planned the outing in advance, and not wanting to be alone with the kids in a huge hall full of exhibitors and crowds, I invited my friend Mikio to join. Whew, I'm glad I did! Here's Kira with Mikio, being bribed to behave with some ice cream:

Amazingly enough, after a night of little sleep Kira managed to stay up throughout the drive from Brossard to the Palais de Congrès, and chattered away to me for the 30 minutes (!) it took for me to find a parking spot at the lot. Once we arrived and met up with Mikio (which was an ordeal it itself), we found the ticket outlet. Huge line-ups. I started to dread what I had gotten myself into.

The theme of this year's Expo is Children and Family Health. I was impressed to see so many exhibitors (more than 200 booths) with organic and ecological products to view, touch and taste. Had I been there alone, I might have taken more time to visit the booths and to read up on the products or to ask questions. But, with 2 babies in tow, the main goal today was to sample enough wares that I wouldn't have to prepare lunch upon arriving back at home. :) Ooh, lots of samples. Bread, chocolate, soup, jelly beans, sorbets, (dry and fresh) fruit, nuts, and more! Something like an outing to Costco but with narrower aisles and a greater selection. Oh, and skin products to sample on my dry, sensitive skin!

There were some booths geared towards moms, which was so nice to see. Also, it was nice to see that there were a few moms strolling around with their babies in slings or baby carriers. And the people in general were just so nice! It was nothing like grocery shopping during the holiday season (which I detest!), although it was definitely much more crowded. I think that every person who bumped into us or whom we bumped into, apologized kindly or smiled at my kids and understood. Amazing. Calvin needed to be nursed and nobody gave me a disapproving look (which sometimes happens in crowded public places - not that it makes me stop what I'm doing, but I do feel uncomfortable when I know there are looks flashing my way...).

For all of the positive aspects of this event, I probably wouldn't go again unless I were to take only one child (preferably the younger one), or to go alone. It was a bit of a hectic outing, and expensive too, including the hefty $16 for parking and $10 admission (children are free). But I had to try it, and it was fun! Kira had fun all the way until we left the Palais de Congrès. Here she is running through the pink "forest" in the building's main hall.

Okay, I promise to post some family photos and videos very soon!

Swapping for a cause

2008-03-07T15:52:00.000-05:00

Last December I was lucky enough to attend my first children's clothing swap. It was so much fun and so inspiring, that I decided to organize one for the playgroup that Kira belongs to in nearby Brossard. Well, actually there wasn't too much organizing to do, except to think of rules that make sense to make the event run smoothly and satisfy everyone. It was also decided that we would donate any leftover clothing to those who are less fortunate. We decided through the recommendation of one of the members, Ana Maria, to donate all leftover clothing to Le Chainon, an organization that helps women in difficulty with their basic needs (food, hygiene, healthcare, security, hygiene). Please click on the above link if you're interested in learning more about this local organization (the website is in French only).

The benefits of swapping are numerous. For one thing, this practice takes place in a lot of women's groups as well, and I've read about designer clothing swaps where women gather in the hope of being able to trade stylin' outfits so they don't feel guilty about having spent hundreds (or thousands!) of dollars on an outfit that was only worn once or twice. Of course, swapping children's clothing is for a much simpler reason: to trade clothes that will only be worn for a few months out of the year only to be outgrown and collect in a bin in our basement! My personal hope was to swap a selection of Kira's outgrown girly clothes for some new duds for my growing baby Calvin (and boy, is he ever growing by leaps and bounds! But I'll save that for another blog post.) Unfortunately for me, the majority of clothing contributions were for little girls 2 and under. The pickings were slim for boys' clothing, and so I ended up not taking anything. But this is a risk you take in a clothing swap! Sometimes you walk away with gems!

Here are some of the rules I posted for the event that you may wish to use as a guideline in case you are thinking of organizing a clothing swap for your own group or organization:

Set a firm swap starting time so you can get things rolling promptly.
Set the maximum number of items a person can bring (this becomes the max. they can take away of swapped clothes).
Ask that if people have any outfits with more than one piece (for example, top & pants), to please safety pin the ensemble together so they don't get separated when people start sifting through items.
For a kids' swap: Limit the number of onesies, sleepers and t-shirts to a minimum, as swappers tend to look more for outfits / "special" tops & bottoms. In fact, I would even suggest that if you have onesies, sleepers or t-shirts that you want to get rid of, that you package them in sets of 2 or 3 to make them more enticing!
Set up a box of giveaway items that are not to swap, but for people to simply take if they like (and not to count in the number of items they swap). Examples: socks (in Ziploc bags - ie: don't bring one pair of socks, but if you have several, put them in a big Ziploc for someone to take); shoes (relatively clean ones only); any other accessories (such as belts, hair accessories, etc.).
For a children's clothing swap, set the sizes (for us, it was 0 to 6X) and seasons (we said any season's clothing was okay).
You don't HAVE to take back as many clothes as you give. If you just want to clean out your kids' closets a bit, then just bring in clothes.
You don't have to take items only for your own kids. If you see something that might be nice for someone you know, by all means take it as part of your swap!
Once the swap comes to a close, if you would like to take any of the items you brought back, feel free to do so (maybe you have someone in mind to give them to). Otherwise, please consider them as donations to a worthy organization.

Kira and her incentives

2008-03-05T22:56:00.000-05:00

We're learning a lot about parenting as we go. Despite all the reading and research we try to do, things don't work out quite as well as we theorize they will and inevitably we end up changing our strategy a few times as we go. Hopefully we can learn enough from our experiences to "get it right" with Calvin, but then again each child has his/her own temperament and character.

Take sleep, for example. Kira started out going down for the night quite late, anywhere between 11pm to 2am. She was always such a light sleeper and I made the mistake of nursing her until she would fall asleep. I changed this after reading so many articles denouncing this practice. Then there were several months on end when I had to be stroking her head for her to fall asleep, and quite often she'd wake up as I tried to sneak out of her room. As she got older, this progressed to having to hold her hand. Things got better by the time she was a year and a half, but then regressed once she was transitioned to a big-girl bed (which we had to do because we needed the crib for the coming baby). Long story short, the thing that seems to work well for Kira has been incentives!

When we started potty-training Kira, we'd give her a sticker for every successful trip to the toilet. She still asks for a sticker every so often, but now she just knows when she needs to go, and we're smiling at the success of the milestone and the low cost of her reward (thank you, Dollarama, for selling 250 stickers for a buck!). We're also pretty conscious about providing healthy meals and very little junk food at home, so every yummy treat offered to Kira is like gold in her eyes. We tell her that if she eats a good meal, she can have a treat. The above photo is Kira with her coveted half-cookie that she received from Auntie Naomi last weekend, but we only let her have it today because she ate an impressive breakfast!

The funniest "incentive" we have to admit, is the vitamin. Kira gets a chewable vitamin every day. We started her on them because as with most 2-year-olds, every day is a different story on whether she'll eat well or not. So after consulting with her doctor, we decided to try starting her on fruit-flavoured vitamins. Whoa! Kira thinks they're candy! She begs for them all day long! So now her "reward" for taking an afternoon nap, is her vitamin when she wakes up! Here's Kira showing off her orange vitamin for a nap well-taken! :)

Our reward has lately been a better night's sleep, and a child who is a bit more willing to try new foods. Hopefully we won't have to resort to incentives all the time for Calvin, but we'll have to see what his character is like!

My New Year began today

2008-03-01T23:33:00.000-05:00

My New Year started today, March 01st. I just started a challenge to myself that Mark is joining me in. The Quebec government issued the 5/30 Challenge, which starts today. The Challenge is to eat a minimum of 5 servings of fruit and/or vegetable per day, and to take part in a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity per day, 5 days a week, for 6 weeks. I'm off to a good start. 41 days to go.

http://www.defisante530.com/defisante/en/index.html

I'm glad the Challenge started in March. I mean honestly, if it had begun in January I would never have made it, what with all the holiday gatherings and great food. I think March is the perfect time to start a resolution! We can actually look forward to springtime: the darkness outside is beginning to give way to sunshine.

I have lofty goals for this year, including keeping up maintaining a blog!