My kids don't get sick often. I can boast that we are in the doctor's office little more than once per year, and for the usual inoculations.
Enter Kindergarten.
Suddenly, we are going from a relatively healthy environment to an incubus of viral plagues. Suddenly, it's not just a cold. It's a cold with an eye infection.
So here we sit, two little people snuggled up in jammies and The Cat In The Hat, slurping chicken noodle soup like it's going out of style and watching the rain bounce off the road.
It must be September!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Culinary adventuring
We took the kids to Dim Sum the other day at the revamped Fraser Street Flamingo, (fabulously redone, by the way) and decided to branch out of our usual comfort zone and order something different.
We have been watching a lot of Andrew Zimmern lately, and while sidestepping Bourdain's ascerbic comments towards Zimmern's eating habits, we are inspired by his ability to break traditional boundaries.
So we ordered the beef tendon.
I know, not overly unusual, strange or really exotic, but it was a dish we hadn't tried before, and a part of the cow I was very unfamiliar with.
And it was delicious. It was flavoured with a gentle chili sauce, and the kids each had two helpings. They loved it.
Big-A declared: "I love tendon, Mummy".
I think Zimmern would be proud!
We have been watching a lot of Andrew Zimmern lately, and while sidestepping Bourdain's ascerbic comments towards Zimmern's eating habits, we are inspired by his ability to break traditional boundaries.
So we ordered the beef tendon.
I know, not overly unusual, strange or really exotic, but it was a dish we hadn't tried before, and a part of the cow I was very unfamiliar with.
And it was delicious. It was flavoured with a gentle chili sauce, and the kids each had two helpings. They loved it.
Big-A declared: "I love tendon, Mummy".
I think Zimmern would be proud!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Kindergarten
My heart is breaking a little bit.
Big-A is off at all-day kindergarten, and he loves it and has taken to it like a duck to water, and he is super-enthusiastic about it, which is wonderful.......
....except Little-A keeps mooning about the house calling for his brother, asking me when his brother is coming home, and is it time to go get his brother.....
Ouch.
Big-A is off at all-day kindergarten, and he loves it and has taken to it like a duck to water, and he is super-enthusiastic about it, which is wonderful.......
....except Little-A keeps mooning about the house calling for his brother, asking me when his brother is coming home, and is it time to go get his brother.....
Ouch.
Friday, September 2, 2011
And the winner is...
Dear Gentle Readers,
I was thrilled by the responses I got to my Healthy Familes BC post, asking you what you as a family do for exercise! Some were funny, some were ambitious, some were pastoral but all proved that you are getting out there with your families/friends and moving, which is half the fun!
And the winner is.......
"Anonymous"! Your combination of bike riding and daily swimming outshone everyone in sheer volume of physical activity!! Please contact me in my comments section so that I can forward on your gift certificate!
And families, as we go into this Labour Day Long weekend and I start to feel the morning chill of Autumn and all that it brings, please keep getting out there with your families and friends and enjoying this beautiful place we call home!
I was thrilled by the responses I got to my Healthy Familes BC post, asking you what you as a family do for exercise! Some were funny, some were ambitious, some were pastoral but all proved that you are getting out there with your families/friends and moving, which is half the fun!
And the winner is.......
"Anonymous"! Your combination of bike riding and daily swimming outshone everyone in sheer volume of physical activity!! Please contact me in my comments section so that I can forward on your gift certificate!
And families, as we go into this Labour Day Long weekend and I start to feel the morning chill of Autumn and all that it brings, please keep getting out there with your families and friends and enjoying this beautiful place we call home!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
$250 Lululemon Gift Card Giveaway Closes Friday
Dear Readers,
Just a gentle reminder that the Healthy Families BC $250 Lululemon Gift Card Giveaway closes Friday, and I will announce the winner on my blog this weekend. See "Evenings with the Children" for the post, and how to enter to win!
Just a gentle reminder that the Healthy Families BC $250 Lululemon Gift Card Giveaway closes Friday, and I will announce the winner on my blog this weekend. See "Evenings with the Children" for the post, and how to enter to win!
Life, Death and Mortality
Our daycare had a field trip today to the Burnaby Village Museum. It's 40-years old this year and entry is free until they close for the season on September 5th.
It's a wonderful place, staffed by volunteers in period costume. It begs interesting questions from the children, and forces them to conceptualize a pre-digital life. Telephones work on a rotary. Cars get wound up before they can go. Metal is bent and shaped over an open fire, using a series of hammers and anvils. Movies are black and white and soundless.
We were in the movie theatre watching the Little Tramp shoot The Gold Rush: Big-A peppered me with questions. Who was this man? Why were the movies silent? I responded that they were very old movies, and that Charlie Chaplin was a man that used to write act and make movies, but that he was dead now as it was a long time ago.
And then we had the "Mortality Talk".
"Why is he dead, Mommy?"
"Because he lived a long time ago, and now he is dead.
"But how did he die, Mommy?"
"I don't know, but he was old when he died."
"Will I die, Mommy"
(oh boy)
"We all die, honey - it's part of life. First we are born, then we live big long lives, then we die, and other new babies take our place."
"But I don't want to die, Mommy!"
(OH BOY)
"Honey, it's nothing to worry about - it's a natural part of life, and you are going to have a beautiful, big long life."
"I want death to shut up, Mommy."
"I understand how you feel, dear. Now who wants to go ride the trolley?"
I was not prepared to have the Mortality Talk in the middle of the Burnaby Village Museum, much less with a bunch of other parents around.......here's hoping I did well.
It's a wonderful place, staffed by volunteers in period costume. It begs interesting questions from the children, and forces them to conceptualize a pre-digital life. Telephones work on a rotary. Cars get wound up before they can go. Metal is bent and shaped over an open fire, using a series of hammers and anvils. Movies are black and white and soundless.
We were in the movie theatre watching the Little Tramp shoot The Gold Rush: Big-A peppered me with questions. Who was this man? Why were the movies silent? I responded that they were very old movies, and that Charlie Chaplin was a man that used to write act and make movies, but that he was dead now as it was a long time ago.
And then we had the "Mortality Talk".
"Why is he dead, Mommy?"
"Because he lived a long time ago, and now he is dead.
"But how did he die, Mommy?"
"I don't know, but he was old when he died."
"Will I die, Mommy"
(oh boy)
"We all die, honey - it's part of life. First we are born, then we live big long lives, then we die, and other new babies take our place."
"But I don't want to die, Mommy!"
(OH BOY)
"Honey, it's nothing to worry about - it's a natural part of life, and you are going to have a beautiful, big long life."
"I want death to shut up, Mommy."
"I understand how you feel, dear. Now who wants to go ride the trolley?"
I was not prepared to have the Mortality Talk in the middle of the Burnaby Village Museum, much less with a bunch of other parents around.......here's hoping I did well.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Lululemon Giveaway still up for grabs!
Dear readers, please don't forget to comment in my post here for your chance to win a $250 Lululemon Gift Card, courtesy of Healthy Families BC! I suggested they do a healthy lunches post in time for back-to-school: look for it shortly in their healthy eating section!
Pig Races, mini-doughnuts and back-to-school
Fall must be coming.
It's PNE time in the city, and time to sample those mini-doughnuts. I think I will stay away from the deep-fried butter, in favour of more traditional fare: lemonade and wiggle chips.
So far, the PNE has enjoyed a better-than-average run of good weather. Generally in past years, the last two weeks of August have meant rain for the fair - as we seem to have gotten all our rain in July, it's actually nice this year.
Buying my tickets, I am aware of how much my boys have grown - Big-A is exactly one inch away from outgrowing the Junior Ride Pass and getting kicked out of Kids Playce. Thoughts of him on the big coaster, grown-up Atmosphere and Dropzone scare me to death, as he is just going into Kindergarten. Thankfully, he is still more interested in driving the boats and going on the kiddie ride more than he is scrambling his brain on the Gravitron.
The PNE is an annual tradition for us, and one in which we devote a whole day to. We generally attend loaded with beverages, snacks, and lots of sunscreen so as to be able to stay the whole day. It's wistful in the same breath, though, as it begs thoughts of returning to school, and the onset of colder weather, crisper mornings and the return of the rain.
We are less than two weeks out for Big-A and his first big day at Kindergarten: although it is gradual entry at first, he will shortly be swallowed up into the school system, only to arrive at least twelve years later, as an emerging young adult with his own hopes, dreams and ambitions. But more on that in another post...
In the meantime, thoughts of the Fair, those mini-doughnuts, pig races and all that this Vancouver institution has to offer!
It's PNE time in the city, and time to sample those mini-doughnuts. I think I will stay away from the deep-fried butter, in favour of more traditional fare: lemonade and wiggle chips.
So far, the PNE has enjoyed a better-than-average run of good weather. Generally in past years, the last two weeks of August have meant rain for the fair - as we seem to have gotten all our rain in July, it's actually nice this year.
Buying my tickets, I am aware of how much my boys have grown - Big-A is exactly one inch away from outgrowing the Junior Ride Pass and getting kicked out of Kids Playce. Thoughts of him on the big coaster, grown-up Atmosphere and Dropzone scare me to death, as he is just going into Kindergarten. Thankfully, he is still more interested in driving the boats and going on the kiddie ride more than he is scrambling his brain on the Gravitron.
The PNE is an annual tradition for us, and one in which we devote a whole day to. We generally attend loaded with beverages, snacks, and lots of sunscreen so as to be able to stay the whole day. It's wistful in the same breath, though, as it begs thoughts of returning to school, and the onset of colder weather, crisper mornings and the return of the rain.
We are less than two weeks out for Big-A and his first big day at Kindergarten: although it is gradual entry at first, he will shortly be swallowed up into the school system, only to arrive at least twelve years later, as an emerging young adult with his own hopes, dreams and ambitions. But more on that in another post...
In the meantime, thoughts of the Fair, those mini-doughnuts, pig races and all that this Vancouver institution has to offer!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Evenings with the children
I love summer evenings. It's okay if dinner is a little later, food is more informal, and the windows are all open, letting the sounds of my neighbourhood filter in.
Most nights, Big-A looks at us and asks if we can go bike-riding on the street, as he needs his 'exercise'. Most nights we all troop out to our little cul-de-sac with helmets and bicycles and join my neighbours for a group ride.
This neighbourhood is something of an anomaly. There are thirteen children within a one-block radius, all under 8-years old. They all love to ride. It is quite a sight watching them zoom from one end of the block to the other: us parents getting our exercise by running/walking back and forth to check on one or all of them.
One of the block parents will bring out a snack: a juick popsicle or a juice box to cool our hard-working little ones down. We can all be found out there some nights until close to nine.
It's great neighbourhood camraderie, and great exercise.
What's your favourite exercise routine with the family? Post a story in my comments about what you do to stay healthy, and the folks over at Healthy Families BC have provided me with a $250 gift card to Lululemon to give away to the best story! Good luck!
Most nights, Big-A looks at us and asks if we can go bike-riding on the street, as he needs his 'exercise'. Most nights we all troop out to our little cul-de-sac with helmets and bicycles and join my neighbours for a group ride.
This neighbourhood is something of an anomaly. There are thirteen children within a one-block radius, all under 8-years old. They all love to ride. It is quite a sight watching them zoom from one end of the block to the other: us parents getting our exercise by running/walking back and forth to check on one or all of them.
One of the block parents will bring out a snack: a juick popsicle or a juice box to cool our hard-working little ones down. We can all be found out there some nights until close to nine.
It's great neighbourhood camraderie, and great exercise.
What's your favourite exercise routine with the family? Post a story in my comments about what you do to stay healthy, and the folks over at Healthy Families BC have provided me with a $250 gift card to Lululemon to give away to the best story! Good luck!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Gratuitous hair post
And now, dear reader, for a completely gratuitous post.
I got my hair cut the other day. No big deal, overdue for a trim, et cetera et cetera.
Except I ran into this stylist who managed to look at my mop of fine yet plentiful straight hair, and really look at it and say:
"You can have curly hair".
(Excuse me?)
I had a cowlick at the back of my head before I had kids. Two small boys later, and it was a certifiable wave. My mother warned me about this. She showed me chic straight black and white pictures of her high school years: parted in the middle with a gratuitous flip at the bottom pre-pregnancy - flash-forward to her thirties and it was all waves and curls.
Alex took me in his hands, cut layers, diffused, and I had a head of curls.
Oh. My. Goodness.
I always thought I was firmly planted in the straight camp - never dreaming I could walk over to the Curly Camp without a ton of product and damage.
Not so: I did it, my hair did it, and thanks to a really great stylist, I have hair that actually does something in the morning, and a bunch of possibilities given a bit of product.
Go figure - gratuitous indeed, (in the face of global realities)however I still have the power to surprise myself!!!
I got my hair cut the other day. No big deal, overdue for a trim, et cetera et cetera.
Except I ran into this stylist who managed to look at my mop of fine yet plentiful straight hair, and really look at it and say:
"You can have curly hair".
(Excuse me?)
I had a cowlick at the back of my head before I had kids. Two small boys later, and it was a certifiable wave. My mother warned me about this. She showed me chic straight black and white pictures of her high school years: parted in the middle with a gratuitous flip at the bottom pre-pregnancy - flash-forward to her thirties and it was all waves and curls.
Alex took me in his hands, cut layers, diffused, and I had a head of curls.
Oh. My. Goodness.
I always thought I was firmly planted in the straight camp - never dreaming I could walk over to the Curly Camp without a ton of product and damage.
Not so: I did it, my hair did it, and thanks to a really great stylist, I have hair that actually does something in the morning, and a bunch of possibilities given a bit of product.
Go figure - gratuitous indeed, (in the face of global realities)however I still have the power to surprise myself!!!
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