Flowers

Flowers are currently Helena's all-encompassing focus.  She discovered dandelions in a park three weeks ago, and since then there is just nothing better!  Really - today she practically fell out of her stroller because her mother hadn't strapped her in, which meant she could reach out and try to pick flowers while we moved along.

We went and saw the cherry blossoms in High Park this year with friends, and lucky for us, there were a few limbs that were very low.  Helena & Nora had a ball.

John brought home a few beautiful Gerbera daisies for me.  I love them but Helena may actually enjoy them more, since she has asked to smell them at least two dozen times! 

So this past weekend we went to the Allan Gardens Conservatory and surrounded Helena with flowers.  The flowers being right at her height made it simply perfect for her.

Yet her attention still regularly went to the dandelion she was carrying. 

German Whist

Anyone else feel like you spend A LOT of time on the computer? 

Or do you feel like your two-person games are BORING because you've played them so many times?

That's definitely how we'd been feeling, until we learned German Whist last week.  It's a quick yet strategic two-person trick-taking game, and it's fun.  Below are the directions but you'll have to figure out the strategy on your own!

Shuffle a 52-card deck.  Deal 13 cards to each person.  Put the other cards in a draw pile with the top card turned over.  The suit of this card is trump and will remain trump throughout the hand.

The first stage - the first 13 tricks - of the game is spent collecting good cards for the second stage.  The non-dealer plays first and traditional trick-taking game rules are followed (must follow suit; if you can't, you can sluff or play trump). Whoever takes the trick takes the face-up card on the top of the draw pile and the loser takes the next face-down card.  Then the next card in the draw pile is turned over and you do it again, with the trick-taker always playing first.  During the first stage it is unnecessary to keep track of who takes how many tricks so just combine them all in a pile.  The first stage ends when the draw pile is out of cards.

The second stage - the second 13 tricks - is all about taking tricks.  Whoever takes the most tricks in the second stage wins.

If you look closely at the two above photos, you will notice that your hand can really change from the first stage to the second.  That's part of what makes the game so fun!

As the loser of the above hand yet the owner of a new hairstyle, 

this photo seemed appropriate to include!

More than a Mommy's Girl

This morning John made pancakes, and one big pancake and one little pancake stuck together.  He gave it to me, saying "This is like you and Helena - attached at the hip."  Helena is definitely a Mommy's girl much of the time, and I don't mind.  

But she's not only interested in her mom.  A few days ago I came across her looking at this card that her grandma sent to us.

Each square is a picture of one of Helena's many facial expressions - she has a lot of them.  She was looking at the pictures and giggling and giggling!

So I got closer and saw who she was looking at.  Her dad!  Or the half of his face that was in the photo.

Yeah, she likes her mom a lot, but she likes her dad a lot too.

Earth Day

These days all kinds of buildings in the city that were used for one purpose are now being used for another.  Old churches are turned into condo buildings, arenas into grocery stores - today we visited a brick-making factory & quarry that provided bricks for MANY of the old buildings in downtown Toronto, but which has now been turned into Evergreen Brick Works, a community environmental centre, farmer's market, Outward Bound headquarters, and more.

An Earth Day celebration was being held, so inside there was plenty of delicious food to sample & purchase - we got apple beignets & pommes frites! - and fun kid activities like face painting.

 Outside there were plant beds of strawberries, parsley, garlic, beans...

...plus tea brewing on the fire in the chimney, pizza cooking in the wood-burning oven, and some circular structure that had fun windows to sit on.

It's fun to see how they're using the buildings to showcase nature but the outside trails are what's really incredible. Twenty years ago this place was a huge clay quarry.  Around ten years ago it was purchased to be seeded and made into a nature area.  Now there are beautiful trees, a big pond, grassy hills - a gorgeous escape from the city. 

Did you do anything special for Earth Day?

The Hunger Games

Last night John & I got to go out on a date.  We saw the movie The Hunger Games and then got a drink at Starbucks.  One of John's colleagues was working there, and she paid for our order...it took us back to almost ten years ago when we had our very first outing.  We had gone to a used bookstore and then headed to Caribou.  John's roommate was working and he gave us our drinks for free.  So much has happened since then, but free drinks are always wonderful!

Anyways, I personally thought the movie was very well done.  But so much was missed from the book because Katniss's thoughts weren't in the movie.  Thus, as is almost always the case, the book is better than the movie, and you should read it!

Helmeted Helena

Coloring

 

Prior to this week, she's loved pounding the bag of crayons on the table, but her life is different now.  Helena has discovered the joy of  Crayola. 

The magic really started when she learned to turn her TaDoodles upside down.

I taped her paper down and eventually put a second sheet to her right, but still...

any suggestions on how to protect my table from her art?

More lingo I've been learning

A number of weekends ago I went to a women's retreat for our church.  During one of the many conversations I had, the airport church came up.  With the title "airport church", I figured it was some church that was set up in the airport for travelers to visit.  After a few more verbal exchanges, however, this didn't seem right.  So I asked, "What's the airport church?"

Everyone looked at me..."The airport church?"...the stares continued as I nodded.  Suddenly -

"Oh yeah, you're American."

See, the airport church - originally Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship but now called Catch the Fire Toronto - is huge and the original sight (now there are 10 locations in Toronto) is right next to the airport.  Ten years ago, when it was really popular, people flew into Toronto just to go to the airport church.  It seems like all Christians in Canada but especially in Toronto (or so it seemed!) know about this church.  So to have someone - me - ask what it is threw everyone aback.  But then they remembered where I'm originally from and how I haven't lived here that long, and it all made sense.

--------

This same scenario happened just last week.  Two friends & I are planning a triple bridal shower at the church.  The other two had already made up an agenda, so I was reading through it while we made final plans.  I came upon this:

6:40 Play table game
6:50 Take up game

I wasn't quite sure why picking up the game needed to be on the agenda, so I began to ask questions.  Here's the condensed version of a 5-minute conversation and an email that followed:

C: So how long do you think it will take to take up the game?
F1: Oh, around 5 minutes. 
C's thoughts: FIVE MINUTES to pick up some papers from three or four tables?
C: Oh, so this is a more involved game than I had thought.
F2: It's pretty simple.  It's just questions on papers with people answering the questions.
C: So...what exactly do you mean by "take up the game"?
F1: I guess it's teacher lingo.  I'd say, "Okay students, let's take up yesterday's homework."
C:  Oh!  I'd say, "Okay students, let's take out yesterday's homework."
F1: Well, if the homework was in their desks I'd say, "Okay students, let's take out yesterday's homework so we can take it up."
C's thoughts: What in the world?
C: So when we take up the game at the shower, what is going to happen?
F1: We're going to go through the answers of the game and see who got which ones right.
C: Oh, so does "to take up" mean to correct?
F1: (looking at me like I am out of my mind) Yes...
C: Wow, I was completely lost there.  It must be a Canadian expression.
F2: Oh yeah!  You're not from here!  I was wondering what was so complicated!

Just to be clear, "to take up" means "to review, to correct."

So here's a question for all of you readers (both American and Canadian) - did you know that meaning for "to take up"?  And had you heard of "the airport church"?

The Best Feeling in the World

A thought occurred to me a couple weeks ago, when I was missing my daughter, who was in Oregon.

I used to think that the best feeling in the world was when you were a kid and you got hurt or something was wrong, and you just ran to your mom or dad and they held you. You felt safe, like everything in the world was OK, like someone was there to take care of you no matter what and love you no matter what. I loved that feeling, and sometimes I really miss that feeling as a grown up.

But it's not the best feeling in the world. It's the second best. The best is being the parent in that situation.

I'm glad my daughter is back!

Helena & baths: a completely honest post

Over the last few days I've been working on a scrapbook of Helena's first year.  I've found myself referencing this blog numerous times, and it's been so much fun to think back on all those times with John & Helena.  So I am recommitting myself to blogging more often (something most bloggers seem to do numerous times!), and about all different parts of life involving parenting Helena and residing in Canada.  

So here's my first post after I made my resolution.  Yes, it includes pictures of me in a swimsuit, with morning hair.  So be it.

Helena has not been a fan of baths since halfway through our time in Oregon.  She cries and screams when she sees the water in the bathtub.  It was okay for awhile, but eventually one has to bathe, even if that one is only 14 months.  So two nights ago John & I put on our swimsuits and played in the bath tub while Helena watched from her Bumbo.  She smiled and watched.  After quite awhile she was wanting to play with the toys, so she tentatively stood up and came closer.  Eventually, after a bit of crying, she let me pick her up and hold her in my lap.  That was the bath for that night - basically just her bum and legs getting wet.

The next morning I played in the tub while Helena watched and John got ready for school.  

Slowly but surely she made her way across the room and into the tub to play with me.

Then she let me wash her entire body.  Success!

Back from Oregon!

 We may still be on Pacific Standard Time, but Helena & I are back in Toronto.  We had a great visit with my side of the family (minus three) in Oregon.

Meeting my nephew Charlie was really nice.  Funny how Skype made it so I felt like I already knew him a little bit, but after hearing him laugh in person, listening to him say "olive" for the first time, watching him run around with his stuffed animal Ridges, now I know how much more there is to him!  He & Helena got along pretty well, as long as they weren't taking toys away from each other!

It was also really nice to see Eric, Kari, and Emma.  It didn't take long for Emma to warm up to me again, and it definitely didn't take long for her to start loving her cousin!

We definitely stayed busy.  For a few days we headed down to Eugene and shopped for Katie's wedding.  My mom found a great dress for July 7 and Helena found lots of fun mirrors.

Other random fun things we enjoyed: getting frozen yogurt,

playing at the park,

reading books,

and playing with Eric.  For some reason Helena LOVED her uncle.  He'd walk in the room and her eyes would light up and then follow him around the room.  After dinner she'd regularly walk over and sit in his lap.  She'd very willingly have him hold her.  She just couldn't get enough of him!

Charlie is very good with a spoon, so good that he fed Helena oatmeal twice!  Check out his skills - he doesn't even have to watch what he's doing!

 

My mom waited at the airport with Helena & me.  We both were first flying to Minneapolis, but her flight left 3 hours later.  We had a tearful goodbye at the gate, after which Helena & I settled into the plane.  A few minutes later, a flight attendant came up to me and said, "Your mom is getting on the plane, so we've set you guys up in the last row."  WHAT?  The Delta crew members had seen our goodbye, found out my mom was flying later, and then arranged for us to fly together at no fee.  We were so excited and are still so thankful!  

Thanks for letting us visit, Oregon family!  We look forward to seeing you again in July!