Sleep - it does a family good

"Yesterday was plain awful!
You can say that again.
Yesterday was plain awful!
But that's not now, that's then."

I have been singing that line from Annie most of the day today. Bennett and I had a horrible day yesterday. There's no need to re-hash it in detail, it was just bad. Lots of tears, lots of yelling, lots of frustration. He was hungry, he wasn't hungry, he was tired, he wasn't tired. I was exhausted.

He started to get droopy around 5:30, but I worked all of my magic to keep him awake until he had a chance to eat dinner, and until it was a reasonable hour to go to sleep. We lasted until 7:30, just long enough to see Brian for a few minutes after he got home from work. We read one super hero comic and the littlest super hero was down for the count.

He woke up this morning at 8:15, when I woke him up to go to school.

Today, he's been generally peaceful, playful and cheerful. He's remembering his manners. Quiet time happened without much fuss, except here near the end when he told me he was wet from the humidifier. I went to check on things and not only had he turned the humidifier over on our wood floor, he'd dismantled one of my necklaces and unbent an earring that were on my night stand. I knew it was too quiet up there!

Here's hoping for another good night's sleep and happy boy tomorrow.

I can't believe it

But we are one minute away from having our first ever fully successful QUIET TIME! Nearly two full hours of Bennett playing upstairs by himself while I laid on the couch trying to pick a photo for our Christmas card, updated our blog (just a little), read a chapter in my book and drank a cup of coffee. HUZZAH! He only asked me every thirty minutes if quiet time was over. Usually, he's asking every two minutes. Gotta go let him know he survived!

Week in review

I realized the other day that I've not been very diligent about posting lately. My apologies. Funny and sweet things are happening all the time - I just forget to jot them down, and then I forget to write about them!

The biggest news is that we got a new dishwasher!! I am so excited about not having to hand wash every single dish. My dry hands are thanking us as well. It was delivered yesterday and the men who made the delivery and handled the install were very sweet and let Bennett help them! He was so very excited to see them show up. The second they walked in the door, he nearly screamed, "Hi guys! Lemme go get my TOOLS!" and then he scampered downstairs and returned moments later with his toolbox ready to go to work. Thank goodness one of the guys was a grandfather. He showed Bennett what needed to be done and even invited Bennett to use the official screwdriver!

Bennett was so proud of himself and how he helped!

Over the weekend, Oma and Grandpa brought over a temporary rink they had bought for Bennett to use in our backyard. Bennett helped set it up on our deck. We are anxiously awaiting the weather to remain cold enough to maintain a frozen surface!

On Saturday evening, Brian had a departmental holiday party to attend, so Bennett and I had a Mama Date. We went downtown to see the lighting display in Victoria Park and then had dinner at Campus Hi-Fi Diner. It was super chilly, so we were absolutely in the Holiday Spirit!

Running around the live tree on the bandstand

Creepy four year old looking Baby Jesus in the nativity

I believe this is as close to Santa's lap as we're getting this year!

Merry Christmas! We'll have to go back and redo this shot with Brian included.

No more diapers!

It seems our little baby is growing up! For the last couple of weeks, he's been begging us to sleep without a diaper. We've been hesitant because he wakes up with a very full diaper each morning, since he sleeps like a log from 9:30 to about 6:30/7:00 each night. Last night, he took off his diaper at 9:00, fell asleep, and stayed that way until 7:00 this morning, when he hopped out of bed, scampered to the potty, peed and came back to snuggle with me for a few more minutes. DRY AS A BONE!!!

Hallelujah - let's hope this keeps up. I'd love to be done contributing those things to the landfills.

School II

The tour was great! We loved it and even talked with the director about enrolling Bennett in January if possible. She was very positive and encouraged us to complete the application paperwork and find out what our obligation to The Lab School was regarding withdrawal.

Brian and I had a very long conversation about the pros and cons (really, not a lot of cons!) and decided to bite the bullet. I dropped the application off at the Montessori school this morning, and then sent an email to the admissions contact letting her know that we were serious, and needed to move quickly due to a deadline of November 30 for letting TLS know that we were going to withdraw. She called me within half an hour to let me know that Bennett was accepted for a January start!

Such a relief to know that we don't have to think about school for him again for a very long time. I have a very good feeling about how much he's going to like being in such an enriching environment. I'm also encouraged to think about how we can use Montessori ideas to organize and enrich our home life too. Yay! This is a great birthday present, this sense of peace.

Check out the website: http://montessori.on.ca/Home

He's be in the half-day Casa program, five mornings a week.

School

Brian and I went to an information session for the local Montessori School last night. I was ready to pull Bennett from The Lab School right then and enroll him in Montessori. We have a tour of the school today. I imagine it will be hard for me to honor our commitment to TLS afterward. I really love the way Maria Montessori approaches learning.

He understands similes

We were all snuggling the other morning and someone let out a large toot. Bennett popped up all grinny and said, "You're like a tuba!!"

Ice Time

Today, Bennett had his first "on ice" hockey experience. He smiled the ENTIRE time!

For the last few weeks, Bennett and I have been traveling to Stronach Community Center on Saturday mornings for a class called Music Menagerie. It's a chance for Bennett to play with some instruments and other children. It's held in this huge community center that also houses two large ice rinks. It became our routine to watch the hockey players after class was finished.

One morning, we got to class a little early and were able to watch hockey before class. We saw something we hadn't seen in previous weeks - a Parent Tot skate time. It was kind of an open skate sort of thing and it's free! Every Saturday morning from 9 - 9:45. I told Bennett that as soon as Brian was finished writing his current grant, he would love to come and skate with Bennett.

We finally got to go today. Brian told me that Bennett didn't complain one single time - not about the cold, not about his equipment, not about falling down over and over. His only tears came when it was time to go home. He cried and cried and cried. But then we stopped to watch a little more hockey and he stopped crying. All afternoon, though, he just wanted to go back to the "arena". So, we arranged for him to play a little more in the backyard. Thank you to Oma and Grandpa for the equipment - Bennett loves it!

Right after getting on the ice for the first time!

It's a little slippery . . .

This PVC thing is crap!

Dad is the best support.

Ready? Steady . . .

And he did it!!

Here's a little video:

The "Ugh!" you hear from me is not about Bennett. It's that lady, and her very poor timing. Ugh! And the quality is poor because I was zooming in from behind the glass.

And finally - hockey on the back deck, after he patiently waited for Brian and me to clean out the gutters.

His Halloween costume hood makes a great hat!

Granna Left Today

We tried our hardest to block her - but it didn't work. Boo hoo!

Jack-o-Lantern

Last week, Bennett and I carved a pumpkin together. Really, I carved and he watched. He helped design the face AND he even put his hands inside. I was taken back to my sophomore suite on Main Hall when Amber and I carved pumpkins for our seniors together.

Here's what we created!

Helping cut the gooey strings

Scooping goo

Boys love goo!

Digging for more goo

Before carving - a fairly perfect punkin!

Weekend Update

(Apologies ahead of time for the length of this one! Trying to keep Brian abreast of the happenings at home while he's away in New Orleans (tough life) for a conference.)

Saturday:
Bennett remembered when he woke up that he was now THREE years old. Yay! In the morning, we went to music class, called Music Menagerie. It's very fun to listen to Bennett try to say 'menagerie'. The last two weeks, I've had to sit in the class with him even though it's a kids only affair. His "teachers" have been very gracious and patient with him as he works through the separation thing. Yesterday, though, he walked in like a champ and joined the group. It seemed as if he didn't even notice I was gone. The teacher gave me a thumbs up as I slipped out the door. I enjoyed a little quiet time to read my book club book.

After class, we watched the big kids play hockey for a while (class is at a large community center with two ice rinks). Then, we came home and had lunch before trying for a nap. It didn't happen, but I enforced the two hours of quiet time rule - much to Bennett's chagrin. He was very unhappy and kept asking me (every five minutes), "Is Quiet Time over yet, mom?" No. Finally, at 2:45, he was let out of his prison of toys and we had a little snack before heading to Adventures on Wonderland. This place is awesome! It's just a huge indoor playground with lots and lots of climbers and a couple of ball pits, a small arcade and even an area with bounce houses that Bennett didn't even find. In addition, there's laser tag, but he doesn't know what that is yet. We were there for at least two hours before we had to leave to run a couple of errands. Thanks to no nap, he fell asleep in the car about five minutes from home. Great! And it was not even 6pm yet. I was terrified that he'd stay asleep and wake up ready for the day at 4:30am. Thank goodness he woke up after being at home for a little bit. He went down at his usual 9:15. Then, around 1:30, he joined me as he usually does and slept in my bed until 6:30. He wanted milk and fell asleep again until NINE!!! Holy cow. That hasn't happened in a very long time. I certainly enjoyed my sleep in.

Sunday: After sleeping in a bit, we had breakfast together and went for a little hike at the Sifton Bog. I had not been to a bog before and this was really neat. It's really just a wetland that has a wooden walk way through it. We saw lots of evidence of wildlife, but didn't see any actual animals. When we got to the "bog" pond/lake thing, Bennett just wanted to fish with Daddy-o and jump off the dock into the water. Thank goodness it wasn't all that cold - but still, it wouldn't have been good fishing.

After we left the bog - it was off to Wal-mart (I know, I know) to look for a couple of things. We went down the Halloween aisle to look for decorations and I made the mistake of turning into the costume aisle. He chose a devil costume. Not a bad choice at all considering that the ghost costume (which was his original choice) had a full face mask and I'm not so into those for little guys. We were able to "return" the costume at check out because it was "defective". It didn't have a cape and everyone knows that a proper devil has a cape. We decided to go to the fabric store to look for patterns and then buy fabric to make our own devil costume. I'm very excited to get to work on this and share the results with you all soon!

Then, it was off the the apple farm. We went to Appleland (which normally has u-pick apples, but had to import the apples from Quebec this year due to a weird weather thing in the spring) and had a good time riding the train and picking pumpkins and digging in their sand mountain. Then, we went to Oma and Grandpa's for dinner. Yummy lasagne with apple pie for dessert. After a quick dip in the hot tub, Bennett and I said our goodbyes and headed home. Since there was no nap again today (he woke at 9, no way I was going to get him down at noon for a nap!) he fell asleep on the way home. Again, about five to ten minutes away. I was able to get him transferred into his bed but he woke up when I tried to undress him and put on a diaper. UGH! We were up for another hour before he finally zonked out at 8:30.

Now it's time for me to pass out. Two long days in a row. I'm quite thankful he has school tomorrow morning as I have two major errands to take care of: a chest x-ray for my immigration physical and registering the Volvo with Ontario plates. I'll be so glad when the "business" part of this move is completed!

Red Pajamas!!

Last night, Bennett was very sad because I had given his old, small red footed pjs away. I told him that I would find some more today. Seeing as it is his birthday, I decided to take him shopping with me so that he could only blame himself if he didn't love them. This is what he selected:

Spiderman!!!

 

He only knows about Spiderman in an idea way . . . he has heard other kids talking about Spiderman on the playground. So he's "played" Spiderman, but he doesn't really know what Spiderman does. I don't mind . . . he is wearing these pajamas which is more than we can say for any other set that he has! He's been sleeping in just a diaper lately, which is part of the reason we think he's waking a night. When he comes to our bed, his little feet are FREEZING!

When we went shopping for these, we went to a small specialty kids store first, Mexx Kids. He walked up to the saleslady and said, "We're looking for red footed pajamas." She walked him to the area where they had the boys pjs and showed him all his options. They each had some red in them, but he kept saying, "That won't work." WHAT?!?! When we left that store, he looked up at me and said, "Mom, that disappointed me."

We found exactly what he wanted when we looked at Sears. Yay! We're still taking bets on whether he'll stay in them for sleep time.

Happy Birthday, Beanie!

The Band

Many nights after dinner, Brian and Bennett have a dance party in our living room while I work on the dishes and trying to clean a little. Tonight, as I was washing dishes and Elton John was playing in the background, the littlest member of our family comes dancing into the kitchen with his guitar strapped to his chest. He holds up his right hand in the universal "STOP!" sign and says, "Mommies aren't allowed in our band. They aren't allowed. Only kids." And then he returned to his stage. All serious and stuff. When I came out to retrieve my computer, he reminded me that mommies weren't allowed, but changed his mind as I was walking away. "It's okay mommy. Mommies are allowed now. You can watch."

A Nature Walk

This story was relayed to me at dinner tonight. It happened at school, but the teachers didn't mention it when I picked Bennett up. Brian knew about it because he was there. The first part of the school day is called, "Message Board." The teacher, Ms. Heather, talks with the children about what's going to happen that day. They discuss the teachers and other adults who will be present, as well as who brought snack and if there are any special activities or stations for the day. This conversation happened:

Ms. Heather: Children, we are going to go on a Nature Walk today!
Bennett: I bring a net! (said with enthusiasm, as is most of what he says)
Ms. Heather and other teachers: Oh? You want to bring a net on our Nature Walk, Bennett?
Bennett: To catch BUTTERFLIES!
Teachers: Ohhhh . . . what a good idea.
Bennett: I don't like them. (deadpan)
Teachers: ***crickets*** (and apparently they quickly changed the subject)

I do not know if Bennett was allowed to take a net on the nature walk or not. My guess is no.

It WORKED!!!

Bennett began Quiet Time well today - he played by himself for about half an hour before he began the slow creep down the stairs to be with me. At the hour mark, he was back upstairs (thanks to the gate placed at the top of the stairs) and crying because I'm so cruel to enforce a rest time. Not ten minutes later, I heard silence. A little worried - I went up to check on things and found this:

He doesn't like wearing pants to sleep. And he's learning to dress and undress himself - so I consider this a success! Also - he was sound asleep, on his own accord. YAY! I suppose our trip to the grocery store this morning wore him out. Strangely, the overhead light was on and shining brightly. So, mom - he can sleep in the light now. Double YAY!

Quiet Time Boxes

It would appear that the little guy has given up his nap. ACK! You can imagine my surprise when, on Thursday, at our usual slowing down time, he turns to me after snuggling on his bed for a while and says, "I'm not so sleepy any more, mom." WHAT!?!? This kid who is known for his two and a half hour, sometimes three hour naps? Just cold turkey quits? Doesn't even bother to hit the snooze button just one. more. time. Nopes. He's done.

Yesterday, I implemented Quiet Time. We tried to go down for a nap again - this attempt only lasted half an hour. I simply couldn't abide any more wiggling in that close proximity. When he told me he wasn't sleepy, I told him all about the awesomeness of Quiet Time. Mama gets to do some work and Bennett gets to play all by himself with whatever he wants. Unless Mama hears blood curdling screams, she won't even check on you. How's that for an awesome deal? The caveat was that Quiet Time has to last at least two hours. And hey, if he happens to fall asleep in that time - no problemo.

He played by himself for about thirty minutes yesterday. Then, he pooped. In his pants. I don't understand. We took a little Quiet Time break to clean out his unders and learn about the process involved (in cleaning, not pooping - he's got that down, y'all!). Then, he was on his own again for another twenty minutes or so before he started popping out of his playroom and asking, every five minutes, "Is Quiet Time over yet, mom? Did you hear the alarm go BRING?" That's right - I set an alarm. This kid does well with auditory reminders. Anyway - the point is this:

I had seen some ideas on Pinterest for how to keep your kid occupied during Quiet Time and today, I decided to try them out. After Bennett woke up at FIVE FREAKING THIRTY this morning (bring as sunshine, I might add - mom and dad, not so sun-shiney), I was certain that he would need a nap and that I'd get a chance to put the Quiet Time Boxes together while he snoozed. We went shopping in the morning to get the few supplies I didn't have on hand. I decided to raid his playroom for the majority of the innards. I just needed medium sized plastic bins with easy-open tops.

Of course, as is my luck, Bennett fell asleep in the car on our way home from Dollarama (Canadians really know how to name a store, eh?). He had a total of fifteen minutes nap today. Yay! Because he was awake, I chose to have him help me put the Quiet Time Boxes together. There are four in total and he was able to choose one to go up to his playroom with for Quiet Time. Luckily, because I had most of the supplies on hand for filling the boxes, it only took about fifteen minutes to assemble them. They still aren't labeled - but look: a compact way to hold four days worth of fun!

Quiet Time Boxes - plan to have 7 total

What is traditionally done with this sort of idea is to have one box for each day of the week. The child gets to pull down the box for Monday and play with the contents during Monday's Quiet Time only. After Quiet Time, the box and its contents go back in the closet or on the shelf or wherever they are stored. I haven't designated each box to a day yet, but will once I have all seven created. (There were only four boxes of this size at the store today!)

Box 1

Contents of Box 1 - Polar Bear Polar Bear by Eric Carle, one match box car (will add one more and a track of some sort), three keys and two locks (need to find the third lock!), a calculator (bought new today), Sesame Street coloring and activity book, crayons and white paper. There are also two neat books that are like reusable coloring books - they work with a "water" pen.

Box 2

Box 2 - Four puzzle set by Melissa & Doug, theme Transportation, I Love You Stinky Face book (so cute!), Noise Putty (by far his favorite Christmas Gift from 2011), Dinosaur flash cards, a bag of Legos, a pack of stickers and some note paper from my days at Darlington School. All of these things we had on hand. The new part of this Quiet Box is a set of four small square "bowls" for sorting the Legos. This is the box he pulled for today. He only played with the legos and not for very long. I think he was just too tired to get the idea - he started being very silly with the sorting. I gave up. We'll try again tomorrow!

Box 3

Box 3 - His LeapPad, Who Sees You At Night pop up book, color wonder markers and paper, pipe cleaners, paper strips and two pairs of scissors. All of this, we had on hand. I just had to cut the paper strips and color wonder paper to fit the box.

Box 4

Box 4 - Two I Spy board books, magnifying glass (new today), Melissa & Doug lacing cards, bag of various sized pom poms (new today), four small square bowls for sorting, shoelace for stringing, jar of plastic beads.

Like I said, I have visions of putting together three more boxes, I would like to put in some dominoes, dice, a deck of cards, some tanagrams, more books, a felt board or book . . . you name it. What are some ideas you'd like to share?

I go in by myself, Mama.

Bennett had his first day of school at UWO Lab School today! Talk about first day jitters - for me! He seemed cool as a cucumber, which was a total surprise. He didn't eat much breakfast, which is a sure sign he's worried about something - but when it was time to load up the cars and get moving, he hopped right into Brian's car and said, "Bye, mom." as if I weren't going to the same place!

We got to campus, parked and started to head into the building. The little rascal was ready to run down the ramp into the front door all on his own! We reminded him we were in a parking lot and all walked in together.

Now, when we got inside the front door, I could sense a little cooling off on his part. However, he walked right into his classroom holding Brian's hand and found his cubby quickly. He hung up his vest and then followed his teacher to the carpet where they do the morning meeting called Meeting Board. I had elected to stay for the whole time today, simply because I had no idea what was in store.

After Meeting Board, Bennett took off to play without a backward glance. I found a quiet unobtrusive place to plant myself and did just that. I watched for about ten minutes, then got busy doing other things. Thank goodness I'd brought my calendar! I was able to get a little organizing done.

He looked for me twice, but otherwise, was fine on his own. After snack and circle time it was outside play time and he sent me packing. HUZZAH! I  do not think I can adequately express how thrilled I was to see him thriving without me. The last month has been such a struggle with separation anxiety, poor eating, rocky sleeping, general unease, that I was very worried about how this change might affect him. I guess he was just looking for some "normalcy". He must have really missed going to school!

When the morning was over, I went back to the playground to pick him up and he was grinning and asked me if he could please stay for a few minutes. I let him do so and then swooped him up for a hug. As we were saying good bye to the teachers, I told him that he could come back tomorrow - I haven't seen him smile that big in a very long time. Yay!

Keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow goes as smoothly as he tells me it will.

School days

We had planned to send Bennett to a lab school at Western which is much like the one he attended at UB. We were one day too late submitting our paperwork and he got put on the waiting list.

We learned that he was first on the list and there was going to be an opening in February when a current student returned to Japan with his family.

Monday, the director called to let us know that there was an immediate opening and it was there for Bennett if we wanted.

We wanted!

His teacher came by yesterday afternoon for the home visit. We drove by to see the outside of the building this morning after we dropped Brian at work.

He has his first morning at school tomorrow! I'll go with him and stay as long as he wants me too.

This morning when he woke up, his first words were, "Do I go to my new school today??"

I think that is a good thing.

Grumble Groan Bitch and Moan

If you can believe it, we're still not quite 100% settled here in the land o' maple. Part of our immigration process has been to import our vehicles. That's right - gotta pay a tax to bring your already paid for car into Canada. After paying the import tax at the border ($200+ per vehicle for us), we had 90 (?) days to complete the import process. The import process is this:

1. Pay taxes.
2. Get car inspected for RIV approval. ($35)
3. Get car's Federal Saftey Inspection completed. ($95)
4. Have emission test completed. ($35)
5. Pay for license plates and registration/title transfer. ($TBD)
6. Do a happy dance.

Repeat with second car.

Today I planned to take both cars to the approved RIV inspection location and have the ten minute procedure taken care of. Likity split, both cars would be ready for me to take the Canadian equivalent of the DMV next week. Not so fast there little lady, said the service coordinator at Canadian Tire.

The Elantra was first to go in. Failed the Federal Safety Inspection because we needed to replace two belts in the Alternator. Also failed the RIV because we needed a module to ensure that daytime running lights were always on. Sure, we leave them on all the time out of habit. Doesn't matter. Canadian cars don't have them? Doesn't matter. If you purchased your car in the States and bring it to Canada - you must have an override switch installed in your vehicle to ensure that lights are always blazing. Great - there's another $250 in labor and parts. Sheesh. At this point, I'm thinking to myself that I don't even want to think about what the old Volvo might need to bring it up to code.

Five hours later, I was able to switch the vehicles and take the Volvo in for its turn. It passed the RIV inspection, passed emissions testing, but failed Safety due to a brake issue. We've got to replace the front brakes pronto or I can't drive it off the lot. Seriously? And the service guy wants to make me a deal to replace the brakes on the back wheels as well. I don't consider $600 a deal. We went with the front brakes. I'll have to find a volvo person soon and get the other things checked out. Of course, the guy who does the emission testing went home sick - so we had to leave the wagon overnight and will pick it up in the morning.

Moving is expensive, folks. Thank goodness one of us has a job. I can't even begin to imagine what a struggle life must be for folks who are moving across borders without a real plan. I sometimes feel like I'm struggling to maintain my sanity and I have a roof over my head, a husband and child who love me, and food in my belly. My thoughts go out to the refugees and immigrants clawing their way up.

And that's why you always wear a helmet

This afternoon, Bennett played outside by himself for a while as I cleaned up a bit inside. This is what I saw when a loud thud brought my attention to the kitchen door:

Oops! I falled.

I wasn't planning to keep those hosta anyway . . .

He got another haircut!

Last week, we realized that Bennett's hair had gotten a little out of control! We decided it was time for another trim. Every time we drive home from Oma and Grandpa's house, we would pass this kid's salon that looked a lot like a place I had taken him in Buffalo. I looked it up online and decided we'd give it a go. Rather than call to make an appointment, I decided to walk in and let Bennett get familiar with the place and the ladies who would cut his hair.

It turned out to be a great idea, as he didn't shed one single tear when we went back the next day for the actual cut. I'm sure it helped that he was able to watch Scooby Doo, but also, the lady who cut his hair, Kat, was fantastic! Check out the results

I'm big!!

Today, Bennett was invited to "ride" with the big boys on the court.

With the neighborhood bike gang

My Little Helper

This afternoon, I got ambitious and asked Bennett to help me make some cookies. He'd asked to make a gingerbread baby, so that's what we set out to do.

He helped:

Roll it . . .

Pat it . . .

Put it in my belly!

What's for dinner?

Tonight, I made sloppy joes and coleslaw for dinner.

Bennett is not so much a fan of veggies. He likes weird veggies like edamame, but not traditionally served things like green beans and cucumbers. He likes ceasar salad, too. Well - this kid is NUTS for coleslaw. When he found out that I was making coleslaw, he started salivating. He could barely wait for me to cut the cabbage before he started reaching for it.

After it was mixed and he had tasted two spoonfulls to make sure that it was okay, I put it in the fridge to cool. He turned to me in confusion and said, "Ma. Where's that huge bowl of cabbage? I want it!"

He ate two plates of coleslaw. I had to force him to eat three bites of sloppy joe for some protein before he was allowed any of the cookies we made earlier in the afternoon.

Future loves - the way to Bennett's heart is through his coleslaw. I promise to share my 'recipe' when the time is right.

Creative Indoor Fun

We are working on increasing Bennett's independence while we're at home. We created a playroom for him and he barely spends time in there without one of us playing with him. ACK! I'm also anticipating the end of his taking formal naps - and not looking forward to that.

So - I've been looking online for inspiration. I found a couple of neat ideas and made one this week!

Exhibit A:

Red Star Throwy Thing

The Star is made of felt and has rice sewn in between the two pieces. There are eight long ribbons sewn in to create a tail. This is a great little toy for catching and throwing and target practice too! Bennett has already started playing with this one as it was my prototype. Tonight, I finished the other three. See all four below:

Orange, Green, Blue & Red Stars

I am really proud of myself for making these. Not just because they were sewn by me . . .but because the only "pattern" I had to go off was a photo of a sold product on etsy.com. I conceptualized the construction all on my own. Yay! The only mistake was asking Bennett to help me with the funnel which put the rice inside the star pocket. I'm still stepping on rogue rice kernels! Will hopefully get to post photos of him using them soon.

Alone

This morning, for the first time since August 15th or so, I am sitting on the couch enjoying my coffee alone. Because Bennett finally slept alone. All night. And he's still asleep at 6:45 am.

Does this mean that we have finally turned the corner when it comes to his independence at night and his ability to be agreeable during the day?

Fingers crossed.

Terry Fox

One of Canada's heroes is Terry Fox. Terry was a young man diagnosed with Osteosarcoma when he was only 18. He had one leg amputated and as he was in the hospital, resolved to work to raise money for cancer research. To do that, he decided to run across Canada to raise awareness. He started in Newfoundland and made it to Thunder Bay, Ontario before he had to stop because the Cancer had spread to his lungs. He became an inspiration to all Canadians.

As an American, I had no knowledge of Terry Fox and his journey until I fell in love with a Canadian.  I don't remember the first time that Brian talked about Terry, but I remember the admiration that was in his voice as he told me the story.

Today, Brian, Bennett and I participated in the Terry's Cause on Campus at Western, where Brian works. Each year, the Terry Fox Foundation supports a Terry Fox day, where across Canada, people join forces to raise money for Cancer research. So far this year, donations have reached $2 million, CAD. I believe that I heard the folks say at our race today that the Terry Fox Foundation has raised over $500 million in the years it's been raising.

We had a lot of fun today, even though the race was a bit unorganized. We got to explore the campus a bit before the start, which Bennett really enjoyed. I am very proud of Bennett because he ran for the first ten minutes and then he hopped on his bike and pedaled the rest of the way. He didn't ask to be carried once!

Because we signed up to join the event late last week, we didn't make any efforts to raise funds. However, if you feel so compelled to donate, please do so here. We will be a little more zealous in our fundraising efforts next year, as we hope to make this an annual family event!

These photos are some I shot throughout the morning.

Lipstick?

Wasn't that the punchline to Sarah Palin's infamous joke during the 2008 campaign? I hate to refer to her at all - but I think I may have unofficially become a Pit Bull with Lipstick today. But not really, right? Do I seem like a pit bull?

We bought Bennett his first pair of hockey skates today.

I may very well live to regret this decision, but he looks so very cute in his helmet, knee/elbow pads and skates! Just look at him. He's ready to hit the ice, methinks!

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Look what I found . . .

Ick. It started to rain about thirty minutes ago. I ran outside to make sure that Bennett's bike was under our porch roof and grabbed a couple other toys that were strewn. When I came back in - something caught my eye on our stove as I was walking through it to get back to Brian in the living room. I doubled back and was horrified by what I thought was a prank Brian had deftly pulled off in the thirty seconds I was outside.

This is what I saw:

Dark blur above stove in kitchen.

I looked again - and turned on the hood light (so brave!) and yes, that's right. It's a mouse.

I honestly thought it was a cat toy for a minute. I had to look at it again and again to make sure. Then I went to find Brian and ask him if he had put the mouse there to make a joke. You see, on Wednesday morning, I insisted that I smelled something dead in the general vicinity of our kitchen. Sure enough, when I looked down into the space between our fridge and cabinet, I saw a medium sized furry looking blob that could have been a dead mouse. I asked Brian to take a look while I distracted Bennett elsewhere. Turns out - we had a dead avocado pit beside our fridge. He got rid of it, but that didn't explain the smell. However, I didn't smell the dead smell again. Weird.

Flash forward to this evening and of course I thought he'd pulled a prank. He's like that! No. He swears he didn't do it. The mouse must have fallen from the ??? We're still not really sure, but our best guess is that he was dead in the vent line of the stove hood and fell out of it today. He is VERY emaciated, which leads us to believe that he's been dead in that vent for a very long time because since we've lived here we have had lots of food within reach. However, we've seen no droppings nor have we seen evidence of mice in our food supply. I feel bad that this guy was all alone, but feel a bit better that his family isn't hiding out in the vent waiting to come and get me in my sleep tonight.

Front view - see those whiskers?

Brian to the rescue. Ziploc and stick at the ready!