Waiting for Monday

why is it that when you're not ready for an event it sneaks up on you really quickly and there aren't enough hours in the day, but when you REALLY want a day to come soon, it takes forever?

Take next Monday for instance, we've been waiting for next Monday since last Tuesday....and after all this time, it's STILL only Saturday. How is that possible? I've played my drums a hundred times, eaten everything in the fridge, played more soccer than you'd have thought possible, watched Pingu right through at least four times (I've been a bit sick and miserable - that's the parents' excuse for letting me watch DVDs all day, anyway)

Today i'm 18 months old, and mom and dad have been in canada for three years. that makes them eligible for a nice blue passport like me. but anyway, i digress....

What's so special about Monday? Hah! Now you've got to wait until Monday to find out, too. Hoorah. Now we're ALL waiting for Monday. I feel better already. Thanks for sharing in my suffering.

phrases dad never thought he'd use

"now we don't throw toast-racks, do we?"

i surprised dad with my python-style surrealism. we were playing in the lovely sun-drenched (ish) family room, and i tipped my tortilla chip crumbly bits all over the floor. it was a good thing, cos the floor REALLY needed a sweep. so dad asks me ever so politely, "please joel could you go and get your dustpan and brush" i toddled off, leaving mom and dad looking at each other going .. "wow, did he really understand that?" (i understand WAY more than they know! and just because they don't understand my 3 fluent languages, doesn't mean i don't understand their two: english and canadian)

anyhow, i toddled off to the kitchen where i store my dustpan and brush for playing and occasional sweeping. they would be really impressed if i brought it back and helped. but just for laughs i found the chrome toastrack and brought it back ceremonially with a large grin on my face, to much giggling from the 'rents. the throwing incident happened later - i like throwing things, especially noisy, bouncy things.

and into April

April Fool's day and mom finally gives up on her fantasy of buying a quarter share in a Whistler apartment. In fact, she gives up on moving house at all for another two years, so that gives us a bit of time to finally finish the renovations - ready for the next owners to enjoy.

We grabbed a moment when mom was feeling a bit better to go out on a family shopping trip. dad wasn't brave enough to take me on his own to buy my first brand new pair of shoes. i suspect he was worried he would have got into trouble from mom about the price of them.

More of a bargain was my first set of drumsticks. they were free :) they comprise a set, not because they match, but because there are three of them. it's always good to have a spare around the place. i can now set up my drumkit on my own: my colander cymbal (made by dad), my empty icecream tub stool, and my various empty pots and pans that comprise my drums. after setting my guitar or keyboard playing a tune, i bash along quite happily, and generally in time.

My sporting talents are being refined daily. As well as being a mean football player, i can throw a frisbee, make an attempt at getting the ball through the basketball hoop, and my climbing skills are unequalled. i do look a little bit bashed up though, particularly this week where i ran into the side of the house. Brown woodstain rubbed into the huge graze on my forehead. sorry dad, no photos this week thanks

and March?

We rather limped through March as a family. We had to cancel our weekend away at Manning Park with Jules and Gerhard, as mom wasn't well enough to look after me in the cabin , and i'm STILL not big enough to ski with the others. Maybe next year?

We did manage to make it to Gerhard's surprise birthday dinner party though, and to Lissa Horman's birthday party. Lissa's party was outrageous! I had a nap in the earlier part of the evening, but surprised the grown ups by getting back up at 8pm to play party games. There were about 25 adults all unravelling toilet rolls as fast as they could. I could have done a far better job, having had lots of practise, but i wasn't allowed to play. How unjust is that? Maybe they thought i had an unfair advantage? However, at least mom and dad won't have the nerve to try and stop me next time i do this at home. will they?

mom's birthday coincided with mother's day back in england, so we should have had two reasons to celebrate, but mom really wasn't feeling too good. She managed to blow out the candle on her breakfast birthday cake, but didn't eat it until much later.

i had a somewhat difficult month, not knowing what was going on from day to day. Becca and Hailey came over to play one day, then Rox and Katrina. Shawna came over a couple of times, and i went to Darlene's house most wednesdays. playing with Judah and Tracey was kind of fun, but he's a bit bigger than me, as were the kids in Dee's house. All in all i found it a bit distressing, and let mom and dad know at the time i knew i'd have their undivided attention - the middle of the night.

We found a solution for April though - Lori lives just around the corner, with a couple of kids of her own, and she can look after me three mornings a week to give dad a break. He's looking forward to it

so what happened in february?

Seems there's been a serious lack of activity around here recently. This isn't because i've got nothing to tell you, nor (despite first appearances) is it that mom doesn't love me any more and has banished me from the house and won't let me use the computer. Actually she doesn't let me use the computer any more, and insists on doing all the typing herself, but i'm starting to appreciate that sending me to a childminder three mornings a week wasn't supposed to be a punishment. I'm actually starting to enjoy playing with the other kids now ( and stealing their banana) - so much so that sometimes i don't want to come home.

Anyway.....back to February. That seems a long time ago now. We went on our first real family holiday, down to San Diego for ten days. We spent three days staying in a little cottage on Mission Beach, and then a week staying with Mark Oestreicher . It wasn't perhaps as hot as it might have been, but i got to hang out on the beach, build a few sandcastles, kick a ball and watch mom and dad eat icecream. We visited just about every kids playground on the coast of southern california too. You can look at some pictures on our family website www.sopwithworld.com .

Following our sucessful visit to Sophie's Cosmic Cafe back in January, we risked eating out as a family several times while we were away. I had my first pub lunch, fish and chips down on the docks, fish tacos in Newport Beach and my personal favourite: the San Diego chicken pie shop. They brought me a little pot of jelly for dessert. Now that is seriously weird stuff. Chilly, gloopy, sweet, difficult to spread around the place....

Flying is a whole different experience when you're not going Transatlantic. No movie to watch. No dinner. But hey, after the first leg of our journey from Vancouver to San Francisco where we had very poor economy class seats, we did quite nicely, thank you. Two upgrades to Economy Plus and one into First Class completed our round trip. Mom and i were able to share our first class seat sitting side by side. Poor dad, nobody wanted to share with him.

What did i learn this trip? What makes mom happy is seeing a dolphin in the sea, sunshine, big beaches, crashing waves (particularly with the addition of icecream and / or sunset). And dad? A new camera makes him very very very happy. I didn't think it possible anything could beat seeing Top Gun fighters over Miramar, but i was wrong. Neither of them got into the whole getting up at 5.30am routine to make the most of our holiday though, even though i tried it every single day

happy easter from Joel

next step in my induction into the life of a PK (pastor's kid), dad woke me up early this morning .. how rude!! we headed down to the beach at 7am to baptise some wonderful people. then had a laugh in sunday school. thanks to christina who looked after me a bit better than dad - she fed me hot cross buns and water through a straw - dad had forgotten my breakfast. hot cross buns are lovely, i had 2 and a half. i danced like a crazy boy at the front of church - it was fun. i did some dotty colouring with some of my friends and basically spent all day eating food. happy easter to me.

why is church different today?

i don't get it. we went to a church FULL of people - great fun for a friday morning which is normally spent helping dad unload the dishwasher. but everyone was kind of quiet. shawna was playing some sweet music on a real grand piano, and we all sang along, shawna's lovely - we play great football together. so today i was in the mood for a party, but people kind of stared at me as i tried again to escape from the incredibly strong clutch of dad and bombed down the aisle at top speed with a hooge grin on my face. i giggled loudly as dad caught me and he looked apologetic. some real nice lady was up the front reading about pilots and barbers and jesus and then said loudly "juicey fry him". now i have a pet moose called juicey, and i do not want to see him fried even if it is a "good fry day".

i just don't understand, why is church different today?