Author: Pam

There is alot of this going on:

Since it seems that cold weather has arrived in New England as well as in Manitoba, I thought that you might like to curl up with a story. Ollie by Olivier Dunrea is part of a series of books that L and I enjoy. We have read them before but this time Ollie took on a new meaning for me.

L and I had a great time at the Children’s Museum with some of my co-workers. He enjoyed driving the ambulance and crawling into The Darkness. “The Darkness” was a curvy tunnel that led into a climbing structure. L and 2 boys that he was playing with there were having fun until L pretended he was a tiger and stalked them out of the tunnel; one boy was still laughing but the other started crying. L and I had to talk about being scary. L also enjoys putting things together. We spent a fair bit of time in the magnetic shape section and with dinosaur bones that clipped together.

In the towns around here people will frequently put good used items that they no longer want beside the curb. I picked up a tricycle for L across the street yesterday. I have tried to pick something up in the past but L kept telling me that it wasn’t mine and he carried it back. So being a little wiser I picked it up while he was watching TV.

He doesn’t quite have the hang of pedaling yet, it is a little hit and miss if he will get the coordination right.

What would learning to ride a bike be without a few spills. He was so busy concentrating on his feet that right after I took this picture he bit the dust.

After awhile he gave up concentrating on pedaling and got excited about how fast he could make the tricycle go if he pushed it.

I’ve been doing some sewing. L is stretching out and so I decided to make him a new winter blanket, this will also free up the smaller blankets for the baby. The point was not to experiment with a complicated design, but to choose something that would get finished. Space is a premium around here so it felt good to use up some scraps , some pieces from my fabric stash and 2 of Lowell’s flannel shirts that he doesn’t wear anymore.

With school starting the Parent drop-in Center is open again. L enjoys playing with all the toys so we have added that to our weekly activities. Inevitably hanging out with that many kids means that we brought home a cold/stuffy nose. This cold has given us some good days and some more lethargic days.

A few weeks ago Lowell introduced L to the computer and mouse function. Now playing games on the computer is as much fun as watching TV; PBS kids actually has some great educational games. Unfortunately for him computer time replaces some TV time. He is actually getting really good at controlling the mouse.

Lowell’s classes are in full swing. He is again feeling the pressure of too few hours in a day. Hopefully once most of the administrative details are worked out for his own course there will be more time for that dissertation.

When Aunty I was visiting she was instructed to take lots of pictures of L for Grandma F; so maybe it is time to give an update on L. The past 2 weeks have had some hard days to be 2 years old in them. Mom and Dad insist on continuing with potty training, won’t let L watch as much TV as he would like, nor will we play with him as much as he wants. Last week when I took him to the garden, I carried him kicking and screaming to the car, when we got to the garden he refused to come out of the car. I decided that the car was a safe place to be if he wasn’t with me in my garden plot, it would be within sight and not too far away that I couldn’t hear him call. Thankfully today after the same beginning he cheered up and had lots of fun digging and pulling weeds.

L has rediscovered his LeapPad, interacting with the games instead of just listening to the sounds that different buttons make. When he is not wanting to play toys at least he has found something to entertain himself with. He has also remembered how much fun it is to play with markers and a hand-me-down book that you can wipe clean and redo.

L is loving the corn on the cob again this year; eating and shucking it.

We enjoyed some Moroccan food at a restaurant last night for Lowell’s birthday. However Lowell had to wait to blow out his candles and open his present until today since L fell asleep at the restaurant and slept until 5:30 this morning. Thankfully Lowell was okay with no birthday surprises this year; we had cheesecake yesterday anyway and when L gave Lowell his wrapped present he announced “it is a new watch for you for jogging”. He had already told Lowell on Friday that we had bought him a new watch.

We said goodbye to Aunties I & E today. With all of the excitement over I think the three of us are pretty flat. Yesterday we headed to Vermont and visited the Precision Museum and then watched some glass blowing at Simon Pearce Glassblowing.