Shifting Sands...

It's a good thing Mom and I are spending so much time together, because I am growing up...FAST!  

I, - who has never been interested in makeup (makes me gag), stuff on my lips (ditto), or dressup (unless pretending to be an animal) - took a different turn today.

I decided to set up my own barber shop in the bathroom, barring mom from entering at all costs.  I requested supplies - clips, makeup, hairbrush - and went to work.

I even wanted to put perfume on, while normally scented anything sends me into gagging fits.  I put lots on.

Shifting sands, Mom said.

I found the results pleasing, especially after adding a few wardrobe elements.  

Mom and I then did a play together (the audience was my invisible dog, Chiwowee, a chihuahua) about me being a motorcycle mama and mom being my kid who I took for her first ride on my motorbike.

SCP ... Guelph-Styles

Dad and I went to the Santa Claus Parade on the weekend, 

Guelph-Styles...  

It was a little early for starting to think about Christmas but we went anyways.  

December is carried out according to a carefully choreographed celebration schedule in our house.  The tree and other Christmas festivities may not begin until after December 1 (Dad's birthday) has been celebrated.  

After Dad has been truly feted, we can deck the halls and get the tree up.

After Christmas, the festive festooning of the house must immediately fold in preparation for MY big day, which comes up, after New Years, faster than one might expect;

 advance preparation is a must (learned the hard way in prior years by Mom).

Flashy...Like Lightning (McQueen)

These are my new shoes.  They are very flashy - literally.  

They light up all blue when I stomp around 

(even when I stomp under the table at the all-I-can-eat Sushi restaurant).

They are very, very cool.

(the other foot belongs to Uncle Anton - who is also very cool, even though I can out-eat him at the Sushi restaurant)

Progress Report

I got my very first progress report from the public school system yesterday.  Mom and Dad went to have a parent-teacher interview with my beautiful Mlle deBruyn.

I wasn't there, but apparently she said a lot of nice things about me.  Like I am very bright, curious and interested in learning new things, I participate very well in classroom activities and am a good role model for the JK kids.  She also said that obviously my 2-year stint at Montessori has put me in good stead for the rest of my academic career - but we already knew that.

This picture (and many others) are evidence that I have always been interested in books, reading and learning.  My repertoire of knowledge about dinosaurs is growing to be a bit encyclopaedic!

Speaking of Montessori, when Mom and I went to the Children's Art Factory on Friday morning it was practically a Montessori reunion.  Lots of my old buddies were there.  

There were hugs and we talked about how we all look older and some of us go to different schools now.  We agreed that we would invite one another to upcoming birthday parties so we could see each other again.  It seems we no longer need our parents to be our social planners.  

We can do that - and so many other things - all by ourselves now.

"Fair" Game!

Mom, Gran and I went to the Royal Winter Fair last week in Toronto.  

It was very fun, and we saw a lot of animals, doing different things.

Here are some highlights...

 Regular chickens

Feeding sheep and goats at the petting zoo.

Fancy ducks (look at their heads).

 Fancy chickens (look at their feathers!)

 Big cow bums (look at their udders!)

 Me and Mom petting a calf.

 2-week old piglets (look at those teats!)

 We also saw horse jumping contests, a super-dog show and more!

Thanks for the fun, Gran.  

I am already planning my Fair trip for next year!

Hangin' out at home

Dad I and I doing playdough.  

Dad is in disguise so you might not have recognized him.

One of our creations was coral.  

See more of my art and photos by clicking the "My Art & Photos" link at the top right of the side bar.

C'est l'halloween!

Yesterday was the big day and night...Halloween!

I wore my costume in the parade at school and didn't even mind a bit. I was singing a French Halloween song when mom came to get me and she got all excited because it was the same French Halloween song she used to sing in school.

(C'est l'halloween - mom gets excited about the strangest things.

But anyways, then we sang it together).

Then we came home and mom made the front porch all

spooooky-like with ghosts and our pumpkins and stuff.

After dinner (I ate none), Dad and I got suited up, met up with Ben (as per the plan) and headed off to haunt some houses. Dad looked really scary but I didn't mind, because it was just dad under the face-paint.

Mom stayed home and 'solded' candy to all the kiddos who came to the door. There was quite a bit of candy left in the bowl when dad and I got home, but now I can't find it

("Mom, are you all solded out of candy?").

Dad said I was very brave and it's true, I was.

Rockin' at Nan's

Same chair, same kiddo, different times.

Practice, practice, practice...

Mom and dad have been saying a lot lately that practicing and working hard on things is important, even when we feel frustrated. Like practicing my writing and reading, practicing on the monkey bars, that sort of thing.

Halloween, we decided, is another good opportunity to practice, for a few reasons. One reason is that I find Halloween very spooooky and I don't like looking at the scary things. So mom says going to the drugstore and looking, even just peeking at the spooky things is good practice for Halloween.

Another thing is that we have a parade at school in our costumes (well some of us do - that's another story), and I don't like people looking at me and I don't like things on my face but I am adamant that I want face paint for my black cat costume.

So we've been practicing face painting and I do mine myself, and as it turns out I like face painting quite a lot.

Winter Duds

Last Thursday on our 'home day', mom and I decided to go for an early morning walk in the forest to try out my new winter duds (coat and boots, c/o Jammie & Pappy). They are good quality items and kept me warm for an hour and a half, even though it was quite cold (we could see our breath),

and we were doing more inspecting than moving.

I took a number of pictures of things I thought were 'mysterious'. The forest did have a particularly mysterious feel about it, with the morning light, our frosty breaths and the fog over the river. Also it was pretty quiet - we usually see a lot of people on bikes, or walking dogs. This time we pretty much had the forest to ourselves.

As I took my mysterious pictures, I narrated, posing the meant-to-be-rhetorical questions about each item as I captured its image. They were meant to be rhetorical, so I don't know why mom felt she had to try and answer them.

(The questions added to the mysteriousness).

(me) "Bark. Bark is mysterious. How does it grow that way on trees?"

(mom) "Is all bark mysterious?"

(me) "Mom, this specific bark is mysterious". Click

"Rocks. Rocks are mysterious. How do they form?

What are they made of? How long has this rock been here?" click

"Moss. Moss is also mysterious because how does it live on rocks and bark?"

click

"Falling leaves are mysterious.

How do they know when and where to fall, and what colour they should turn?"

click

"This is a very mysterious tree.

How come it is growing sideways?

And why does it look so mysterious?"

click

This is a picture mom took of the heron on the misty river. Can you spot it?

We were pretty far away. click