It's been ages since I posted so here's a pretty big one running through the highlights from the last little while. The above photo is from Saturday night as everyone was getting ready for this birthday dinner my brother's wife gave for my brother. Immediately before this we had been on the largest round of errand-running ever, which included both Myron and I getting our hair cut. Boyo has a pretty standard bowl-cut. I think it looks good on him.
Actually this weekend had an air of celebration about it. Friday afternoon I heard I was longlisted for the BC Book Prize. It is hard to know how excited to feel about this. Should you get excited about being longlisted? It's not like you've been shortlisted. You've been longlisted. It's different. You probably shouldn't get your hopes up, or even mention it in a forum such as a blog posting. You could jinx yourself. Anyway, the award is $40,000 and it's prestigious as hell and the news gave me this nice little warm feeling that persisted well past the moment the above photo was taken, when my brother's family and mine went to the Toronto Writers Centre to watch the Santa Claus parade.
Penny is now three-and-a-half months old. Have you ever seen eyes that were more blue? Everyone says she looks like me. She rolled over for the first time last week. Basically all you have to do to get her to smile is make kissing sounds. Speaking in a high-pitched voice helps too. You feel silly doing this the first couple of times and then you get a smile out of her and it's so rewarding you forget about feeling silly.
Above and below photos are from Halloween. Myron went as a runner. Natalie did the costume. He felt really proud of himself. I took the above photo at Myron's montessori school -- he goes to Westside Montessori School along with his cousins. He and Cameron think they own the place.
Oh, another thing that happened recently is that Myron is basically done with the potty-training. I would love to take some credit for this but it was Natalie who ran what turned out to be a fairly smooth operation. I never thought I would say this but it turned out to be fun. It is hilarious to hear a newcomer's perspective on something basic like what you do in the bathroom.
Typical Sunday afternoon in fall. The only sport I watch regularly is NFL football. I'm a fan of the Detroit Lions, who currently are 0-10 after yesterday's loss to the Carolina Panthers. The only thing that alleviates how depressing it is being a Detroit Lions fan is the fact you can watch them surrounded by your children.
OK, above and then continuing below is a series of photos we took a few weeks ago during a trip to the Niagara Escarpment to pick pumpkins. It was a tonne of fun because the pumpkins amazed Myron; he couldn't believe the variety of sizes and it was hilarious watching him agonize over which one to select as his.
You have to walk maybe a mile from the farm parking lot to the actual patch. This is quite a trick with a stroller and a toddler who is being potty-trained. I had a conversation with a helicopter pilot once and he was talking about the way helicopters actually can glide a pretty fair distance. He was supposed to pick out clearings as he flew so that he could glide the helicopter to the clearing if the engine failed.
Going far out in the country with a potty-training toddler requires a similar set of skills as the one being used by the helicopter pilot. The parent always has to have a spot in mind to make the potty-training equivalent of an emergency landing. And when you get too far away from your old spot you select a new one.
There was a hairy moment on our way back to the car from the pumpkin patch that I got a little too far from the nearest crash-landing site. I had to scoop up Myron and sprint to the nearest porta-potty. We made it in time, and I thought--Finally: A use for all that training in the summer.
Penny is now three-and-a-half months old. Have you ever seen eyes that were more blue? Everyone says she looks like me. She rolled over for the first time last week. Basically all you have to do to get her to smile is make kissing sounds. Speaking in a high-pitched voice helps too. You feel silly doing this the first couple of times and then you get a smile out of her and it's so rewarding you forget about feeling silly.
Above and below photos are from Halloween. Myron went as a runner. Natalie did the costume. He felt really proud of himself. I took the above photo at Myron's montessori school -- he goes to Westside Montessori School along with his cousins. He and Cameron think they own the place.
Oh, another thing that happened recently is that Myron is basically done with the potty-training. I would love to take some credit for this but it was Natalie who ran what turned out to be a fairly smooth operation. I never thought I would say this but it turned out to be fun. It is hilarious to hear a newcomer's perspective on something basic like what you do in the bathroom.
Typical Sunday afternoon in fall. The only sport I watch regularly is NFL football. I'm a fan of the Detroit Lions, who currently are 0-10 after yesterday's loss to the Carolina Panthers. The only thing that alleviates how depressing it is being a Detroit Lions fan is the fact you can watch them surrounded by your children.
OK, above and then continuing below is a series of photos we took a few weeks ago during a trip to the Niagara Escarpment to pick pumpkins. It was a tonne of fun because the pumpkins amazed Myron; he couldn't believe the variety of sizes and it was hilarious watching him agonize over which one to select as his.You have to walk maybe a mile from the farm parking lot to the actual patch. This is quite a trick with a stroller and a toddler who is being potty-trained. I had a conversation with a helicopter pilot once and he was talking about the way helicopters actually can glide a pretty fair distance. He was supposed to pick out clearings as he flew so that he could glide the helicopter to the clearing if the engine failed.
Going far out in the country with a potty-training toddler requires a similar set of skills as the one being used by the helicopter pilot. The parent always has to have a spot in mind to make the potty-training equivalent of an emergency landing. And when you get too far away from your old spot you select a new one.
There was a hairy moment on our way back to the car from the pumpkin patch that I got a little too far from the nearest crash-landing site. I had to scoop up Myron and sprint to the nearest porta-potty. We made it in time, and I thought--Finally: A use for all that training in the summer.
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