overheard

i've had my suspicions for a while, but now i know for sure who really loves me the most. we were all going out in the car one morning, mom driving in order for dad to drink his coffee. their conversation went something like this:

mom turns right down blenheim st
dad says "i wouldn't go this way"
mom "no?"
dad "there's roadworks all the way down to 41st ave"
mom "uh huh"
dad "you could try 33rd"
mom "mmmm"
dad " 16th and king ed are both bad too"
we stop at traffic light and i look out the window
joel " i see a digger, i see a digger"
dad "ohhhhhhhh...."

perhaps his coffee wasn't working yet?

Ocean cement open day

my favourite viewing of the moment is "mighty machines - at the cement yard" so you can imagine my excitement when i heard we were going to visit a real cement yard on granville island. sometimes you just have to let the pictures speak for themselves:






and yes, Ollie came too:

underwhelmed again......

every so often we all go on trip to someplace that's been recommended to us, and generally it's a bit of a let down. for example, despite visiting "kidzone" and "go bananas" we haven't yet found a soft play place that's a patch on what even midsomer norton has to offer.
however very occasionally we find something amazing - and that happened today. we all went to the aberdeen mall in richmond: to shop at daiso where literally everything is $2 ( about a pound), and for mom and dad to get lunch from the food court (vietnamese for mom and japanese for dad). the unexpected and totally wonderful bonus was the dancing mountains! (erm...they're FOUNTAINS, Joel) a sound and light spectacular. choreographed lights and dancing water all set to music
it was so good i was too distracted to eat my lunch - and demanded a return visit three days later.

hungry in the morning!

a couple of weeks ago i greeted mom before daybreak with the words "hi mom, hobbes is watching me have krispies". mom was up at 5.45am having just fed ollie and i think she was a bit surprised to find me sitting on my stool at the breakfast bar in the dark, complete with bowl of cereal. she was possibly relieved to see i hadn't tried to pour the milk on.

this morning i crept into mom and dad's room and told them it was time for breakfast. while mom staggered towards the kettle i opened the cupboard and pointed out the honey was gone. mom stared for a while in a confused fashion while i told her the knife was gone too. "gone where?" says mom. "i don't know" i say, leading the way into my bedroom - the last place i saw it. mom continues to follow, mumbling about how long it takes for the kettle to boil in canada. she retrieved the honey pot from my bed, and when she went to pick the duvet up off the floor we found the knife, too. hoorah.

mom made me some toast, but i didn't really feel like eating anything this morning.......

preschools revisited

so for now, mom and dad have decided where i'm going to go to school in september. on monday, tuesday and wednesday mornings i'll be going to wesbrook preschool

it's parent participation, so every once in a while mom or dad gets to come too, to check i'm not having too much fun. it's right across the street from a great park, so ollie will get to play too at going home time.

dad might have to rearrange his day off though. when are we going to play golf if i have to go to school on mondays?

something in the air?

there's something about making ridiculously long flights to england and being frantically busy on arrival. when we come home again its like my brain's been rewired in some way. the first time i went i started to eat solid food while we were there, and then to sleep through the night on our return. not to mention growing some hair, too.
the second time i pretty much learned to walk.
and this trip? i've finally got words and sentences sorted out. whereas mom used to point out buses and the like when we were out in the car, now i give her a running commentary: " i see a cherry picker. Ooh, another cherry picker. i see a yellow backhoe, there's an orange excavator. it's a dump truck. there's another dump truck. look mom, a crane, two cranes....."
i'm not quite sure why mom looks around at me as if she's going to strangle me any minute. isn't this what you're supposed to do when you're out in the car? it's what mom and dad have been doing for months!

BOTH!!!

all this time i've been cheated.....mom says "yoghurt or ice-cream", "banana or apple", "Bob the Builder or Thomas the Tank Engine" and i've been making agonizing decisions......until now. i've finally discovered the concept of "BOTH". it' a word i've been using quite a lot recently. sometimes mom looks at me a bit curiously, for example when i wanted marmite and marmalade together, but mostly this is working out unbelievably well. do i want mommy or daddy to read a bedtime story? Both. that way i get at least two stories. do i want to take a ball or a bulldozer to the park? Both, of course, especially if mom has to carry them from the end of the road.

talking of new discoveries, i had my first ice cream in a cone this week. it was SO good i've been asking for one every day, even when it's raining. in case you're wondering why that's relevant, mom makes me eat it outside. it tastes better that way apparently.