september's coming

despite the fact that september is still 7 months away, a quarter of my lifetime, mom and dad are having to make decisions about my future.
do they send me to a montessori school where i had great fun with a magnet, but got in trouble for calling their sphere a ball. i'd have to go four afternoons a week if i'm offered a place after our interview.
do i go two mornings a week to the progressive learning centre, where they'd teach me to read and write, but i have to be able to use the bathroom fully independently?
do i go to a parent participation preschool three mornings a week where they have diggy bobs in the sandpit, toy trains and cars - all of which were conspicuous in their absence at the other places - but mom(or dad) would have to do duty days and find someone to look after ollie while they're at school with me. they'd also have to find some other time to teach me numbers and letters, because i'll be far too busy playing while i'm at school
if anyone has any sensible thoughts on the matter, do let mom and dad know

punkin

for the unenlightened, 'punkin' is the sport of indoor hockey in the sopwith kitchen. while i can say 'hockey' perfectly well, for some reason i find 'puck' much harder. it generally comes out more like 'punk'. anyone for a game?

currently...february

currently watching on tv: curious george - but we're on to the repeats now
currently watching on dvd: 'rocket' - wallace and gromit's grand day out; andything with fire engines
currently reading:'my fire engine'
currently playing with: anything that's ollies
currently wearing: curious george PJs
currently eating: pate & crackers
currently weighing: 35lbs
currently measuring: 94cm tall
currently in trouble for: throwing things inside (especially near Ollie), kicking dad when he's changing my diaper, deliberately throwing food on the floor, deliberately tipping water out of the bath ....... and other things!!

2 hours to post a letter

sometimes things in canada take longer than you might expect. the postal system is a good example. the postman (letter carrier) only comes when he feels like it, which in the average week is probably 3 or 4 times - never on a saturday, and usually at some point between 10.30am and 3pm. even so, how can it possibly take two hours to mail a letter? well, this wasn't just any letter. ollie and i were applying for new canadian passports, and rather than waiting in line at the passport office for six or more hours, mom decided to mail our application. the envelope needed a stamp, so off we went to the post office....... we could have accomplished this in about 20 minutes, but there were one or two things to look at on the way

currently ...january

i can't believe it's been a whole month since i last updated you. here we go:
currently saying: "sorry mommy, my fault"
currently playing with: diggy bob puzzles from aunty catherine at christmas
currently happiest when: with mommy
currently eating: blueberry waffles and maple syrup "dip" whilst sitting on a stool at the breakfast bar
currently sleeping:in 'Joel's house' - a double bed with rainbow canopy roof
currently waking: too early for dad's liking. after 6.30am is good.
currently wearing: diggy bob PJs under my clothes. new green shoes.

manners maketh the man

mom and dad have been consciously modelling good manners recently by always saying 'please' and 'thank you' at appropriate moments.

i've discovered using these words leads to much praise and a few giggles from mom, which has to be a good thing. i think that might have been because i wasn't using them quite right. for example, what i now know to be a 'chocit cookie' i thought for a long while was called a 'thank you', which is what mom always said when she put it into my hand. understandably therefore i'd point to the place where they're kept and ask for a 'thank you, please'.

now i know better, i can ask for a cookie very nicely, and i always say 'thank you joel' when someone gives me something. i can't quite understand why this still makes mom laugh.

A, B, C .....

since my friend Maddy has already learned to count really rather well, we thought i'd try and master the alphabet. my counting skills leave a little to be desired. back in august i could count to three quite nicely, but since then it's all got a bit confused.......one, three, eight, six, five, six, EIGHT!!
I'm doing a bit better on the alphabet. i know "J for Joel" and can even write it in the sand at the park. I know "M for Mommy" and "P for Pig" but i can't quite understand why it's "A for Plane" and "O for Baby". can anyone enlighten me?

a bit TOO adventurous?

so there's a couple of inches of snow on the ground, it's sub-zero, and dad's really tired after his event last night - but it's saturday and it's not raining so we're off on a family adventure.

mom had it all planned out - we'd drive to the skytrain station, catch the train to downtown, and then get on the sea bus and go across to the north shore. somewhere along the way there (or back) we'd pick up dinner and be home in time for bed. great.

mom got ollie ready, packed the diaper bag, collapsed the stroller, found the train tickets and did mom stuff while dad changed my diaper and went out to put the car seats back in the car. all was going well - we'd found a parking space very near the skytrain station, and we were walking down to catch the train. suddenly i had a problem........my trousers were around my ankles....and it was VERY cold. once he'd finished laughing, dad came to my rescue: pulled my trousers up, tucked my top in and we were on our way. not long afterwards we were all on the train and i was scrambling into the single seat at the very front - the one reserved for junior drivers. suddenly mom says to dad " do you see what i see?" Uh oh - my trousers had fallen down again. dad says " oh dear, joel's pants have come down again" (very canadian these days, is dad). mom says "yes, i realise that, but more of a problem is the fact i can see a bare bottom". there then ensued a debate about when exactly i last had a diaper on.....did dad forget to put one on when he changed me at home? was i wearing one when my trousers first fell down? is that why my trousers fell down? is there a diaper on the street somewhere? while dad was mulling this over, mom suggested that now might be quite a good time to rectify the situation.......

once we'd got the whole clothing thing sorted out, we went on to have a great adventure: i got very excited on the train, on the boat, on the escalator, watching a busker, seeing a helicopter, watching a seaplane land......and having jam on my toast at Bons where we went for dinner (except we ate breakfast - at 2.95 including tax for bacon, eggs, potatoes, and toast how could we not). hey - i even got a lollipop as we were leaving. what a great day out.