Wafflebear

Beautiful autumn Sunday

2013-10-20T21:47:00.000-04:00

In the morning Anna drew pictures while Rowan did her homework.

Meanwhile on the other side of the living room Victor read Rowan's (french) comic book while Colin built with Lego.

The monkey bars at this park had been Anna's nemesis, so she had wanted to try them again with her new mastery. We decided this beautiful autumn Sunday would be a good day to do that. She conquered them!

And then Rowan had to give them a go.

And then Victor and Colin.

“Moose sighting at local park.”

Anna found a way to beat Caity at Tic-Tac-Toe.

After the Tic-Tac-Toe game there was collaborative drawing.

Meanwhile Rowan, Victor, and Colin did word searches at the other side of the table.

Monkey bars!

2013-10-16T22:58:00.000-04:00

Anna had to show off her new monkey bar skills when I picked her up from after-care (she'd had ballet earlier, therefore the outfit). She can do them now “leapfrogging” bars, where both hands are never on the same bar.

Victor felt obligated to show that he could do that too.

Morning art

2013-10-15T23:35:00.000-04:00

When I got out of the shower this morning there seemed to be a collaborative drawing session in progress.

Anna reading!

2013-10-06T21:47:00.000-04:00

After cleaning her room Anna wandered over to my office to hang out with me. I pulled out some beginning reader books that we hadn't done in a little while. Last time we'd tried these books Anna didn't have the self-confidence to push through them. But this time, she did it! She was so proud out herself that she immediately went and read the book again to Caity, and after that went read it again to Victor. Go Anna!

(Victor did not at all mind the distraction from cleaning his own room.)

Sisters reading!

2013-10-02T20:37:00.002-04:00

Caity and Anna reading together.

Choir

2013-10-01T20:57:00.000-04:00

Arriving at choir in the morning. They were both keen.

Picking them up at after-care, Victor really wanted me to carry his backpack. This is unusual for Victor, I can't remember him asking before. He promised it would make him go fast. Since time was tight to get to Beavers, I allowed that I would carry their backpacks so long as they were actually fast.

They were indeed very fast.

Except for when they went through this apparently mandatory hedge. That was not so fast.

Boat!

2013-09-30T22:03:00.001-04:00

Anna joined the group making boats at after-care. Apparently her boat won because it kept floating even after they'd put all the scissors on it.

Walk in the Park

2013-09-28T22:57:00.000-04:00

Caity, Janine, and I decided to take a walk in a nearby park. Janine had her camera and it seemed a nice place to take a few pictures...

Hmm, this is the only picture containing the photographer. I'm sure there was more than just the one...

Goofing around

2013-09-16T20:34:00.001-04:00

Sometimes Victor and Anna can be pretty silly.

Ok, maybe I need to put it differently. It happens, on rare occasions, that they are serious.

Off to pre-care

2013-09-11T21:22:00.000-04:00

I won't be letting Anna bring that stroller again. Which was actually the standard policy (no bringing toys) but she managed somehow to convince me. The deal was that she had to go fast and that I'd take it back home when we got there (she couldn't keep it at pre-care). But she was slower than she would otherwise be, and Victor decided that since Anna brought something he'd bring some Lego minifigures. He did not inform me of this decision and I did not notice that he was doing so. So we naturally spent many minutes after post-care looking for those minifigures which he was heartbroken that he had lost. Which he hadn't, actually... we discovered an hour later than they were in the one pocket he didn't check.

Catching up #1

2013-09-08T20:43:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it's only been a month since my last post. It's been so busy I had assumed it had been much longer! So a random assortment since the last post...

Eating out.

At a cottage party, Colin decided that I must go in the water. Might have had something to do with my tossing him into the water a little earlier. Victor felt that the cause was just and he should help.

Anna loved just bobbing around in this little tube and did it for some time.

Not sure what errand we'd been running, but by the time we were done Anna needed a nap.

Later than day, Anna shows off on her bike.

Anna having a tea party.

We went camping... Janine and I said that Anna could climb into our sleeping bag. So she slept horizontally across the opening.

Camping was awesome.

Victor built a Republic Gunship. And Victor really did built it: I help him slightly with bag #1 on the first night, it took a couple of hours. There were 9 bags. He proceeded to complete the next 8 bags over the next couple of weeks without any assistance at all.

This is Rowan, somewhere. No idea. Not sure how this picture got onto my phone, in fact.

This is Rowan, “trapped” in the basement.

Victor and Anna after the first day of school. This was the best picture I could get, silliness seemed to be in the air.

On the way to pre-care, aka Breakfast Club.

Victor reading while Anna was at a playdate with L.

It seemed to be contagious because later the whole crew was reading.

Anna the Gatekeeper requires all to pay a toll before entering.

Anna is still too short to drink standing on the ground.

It was a great day for biking today.

I added #1 to the title of this post because I'm sure it won't be the last time I need to do a catch-up post!

Screen time

2013-08-08T21:37:00.000-04:00

Fancy

2013-08-07T19:10:00.001-04:00

As I was showering, Anna came into the bathroom and asked, "Is this fancy enough?" I looked, and she was holding up a summer dress. "Fancy enough for what?" Then I reconsidered my answer, and said "Yes," which in my experience is usually the right answer to such questions.

But apparently my answer was not satisfactory, and when I came out of the shower she was putting on a shirt, and I discovered the reason for the question: Victor had decided that he was going to be dressy today, and Anna felt the need to match his sartorial splendor!

These are the outfits they had came up with. I helped them put on the ties they had picked, but that was the only assistance I provided.

Anna needed to show off this paper doll cat she had created with boots, sunglasses, and other accessories.

These outfits are perfectly sensible for "active living week" at daycare, right?

Disparate loads

2013-08-06T23:21:00.000-04:00

So Victor is carrying his backpack, Anna's backpack, and this other bag full of stuff Anna decided that she needed to bring home from daycare. And Anna is carrying... a desire to pick that flower?

Kittens

2013-08-04T22:46:00.002-04:00

After supper they played for a long time at being kittens.

Here Anna is hissing at Victor. I'll note that she does this at other times too, she thinks it is great fun.

Morning

2013-08-03T23:59:00.000-04:00

Victor and Anna let me sleep in this morning. This is what they were doing when I eventually came down. Some kind of show? Not sure.

My Favorite Things

2013-08-02T22:04:00.001-04:00

It was drama week at the daycare. Of course they had to have a show at the end. Here they're performing the “My Favorite Things” bit from The Sound of Music.

Reading

2013-08-01T20:22:00.001-04:00

Victor reading a book Rowan left behind, while Anna follows along.

Snack before supper

2013-07-31T20:51:00.002-04:00

On the way home

2013-07-18T21:15:00.001-04:00

On the way home from daycare. All I'll say about the dress is that Anna insisted upon it in the morning (in general she insists on picking her own clothes), and she has shorts and t-shirt with her just in case she decided that perhaps this hot summer day was not the best day for a long-sleeve black dress.

Picking up milk

2013-07-17T21:09:00.001-04:00

They need it to go with the ham.

Talking stick

2013-07-16T22:01:00.002-04:00

Anna suggested, after some back-and-forth interruptions between her and Victor, that people at the table should put up their hands to talk. I mentioned the idea of a talking stick, an item that is handed around and to speak, a person has to have the talking stick. Anna felt we needed to implement this immediately, you can see her with the “talking paper” here.

Bike ride

2013-07-14T21:48:00.000-04:00

We went for a bike ride today. It was a little hot (humidex at 40) but I figured we wouldn't go too far.

Our destination: one of the water fountains along the path. Anna was just barely not tall enough to be able to get her head to where it needed to be to take a drink. But that's ok, she came up with a solution to this problem. The picture doesn't do the leaking base of the fountain justice, there was quite a river running across the path, the pressure at the fountain nozzle was just enough so that you could drink without touching the nozzle.

Victor asked if he could start heading back while Anna drank (Anna was taking her time). I said yes, as long as he waited in the shade rather in the blazing sun.

Alpacas!

2013-07-13T21:59:00.003-04:00

We went to an alpaca farm (ranch?) today.

Victor had no fear and was feeding the alpacas right away.

For Anna it took some time for her to be comfortable, but before long she was staring alpacas down like a pro (and feeding them lots too).

Not brushing teeth

2013-07-12T21:52:00.000-04:00

Anna is building a castle. She has lots of time to do so because...

...Victor still hasn't started brushing his teeth! Admittedly, before I came up with the camera he wasn't doing this — for this picture I asked him to say “kumquat”, which apparently requires actions — but the fact remains that he hadn't started yet.