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!

I Can Not Think Of A Clever Title

Today, Bennett and I had a GREAT day together! It's like we finally got our groove back, man.

Last night, Brian and I had a long talk about Bennett's bed time routine and the morning, etc. We decided that we'd change things up a bit by getting up earlier than usual. Hopefully, the result was to be an earlier bedtime for the little guy so that Brian and I could spend some time together in the evening before crashing.

Last night - Bennett went to sleep at 10:00pm, woke up at 3:45 for some milk and snuggles but went back to sleep in his own bed. I was in my bed by 4:04am. Nice! That's the shortest middle of the night wake up we've had since we moved. Then, our alarm went off at 6:30. I decided to hit snooze (just this once) because we hadn't heard anything out of Bennett and the first morning of an alarm-fed wake up is brutal, right?

Six minutes later, I got out of bed, Brian started waking up and I went down to make a cup of coffee and brush my teeth. I actually got to read a little before I heard Bennett's feet hit the floor around 7, which is when I was going to get him up if he didn't do it on his won. Brian had gone down to the basement to work out as planned, so Bennett and I got to read books, have some milk and breakfast and play together.

After the morning stuff was taken care of and we were all ready for our day - Brian went to work, Bennett and I headed out for a play date with our new group of friends. As before, we had a great time. I am really enjoying getting to know these ladies and I LOVE that Bennett plays so well with their children! Of course, he asked one of the mothers to read story after story to him. I guess he was tired of my voice?

We came home, had some lunch and he sacked out for his nap at 1. I woke him up a little after three and we went back out to run a couple of errands before coming home to play again. Then, miracle of miracles, he ate ALL of his dinner without fussing. He even laid his head down on the table a couple of times and told me he was tired. I let him know he could go to sleep soon. We just needed to wait for daddy to come home.

Brian came home, he and I had a nice dinner on the back deck while Bennett entertained himself. When we were finished, Bennett told us he was ready for bed (ACK! It was still ten to seven!) so we came in and started winding down. A little Hall & Oates, a little milk, potty time and books. We turned the light off at 8:30, but I think we'd just missed the window. He wiggled and flipped and sang and talked to me until 9:15 when he finally zonked out.

We'll try again tomorrow, for sure. I'm happy that this routine is working out!

September Snow Play

We went to a play date this morning at our favorite park. Next to this fave park is a community center with an ice rink. Today, while we were there, the Zamboni got emptied in the parking lot. Mayhem ensued of the three year old sort.

Snails

We are pulling up ALL of the periwinkle that has overtaken the flower beds along the sides of our house. In ten square feet today, I found these. And this is only the small percentage that I collected.