Miscellany

We are now officially 'into' stickers. After we ran out of stickers from Grandma and Grandpa I bought a 2 dollar booklet of stickers a few weeks ago and have been doling out a few at a time when Moses needs an activity. He loves putting them on his pants and his shirt and he likes it when I put a sticker or two on his hands.

He even enjoys the blank pieces of the sticker page that hold of the stickers together. (It took an unbelievably long time to figure out how to describe that sticker-web-thingy. It's hard to see the sticker-web-thingy on his light coloured pants but it's just below the smiley face.)

Moses has shown an affinity for my 'feather' duster lately. He calls it "Puppy" or "Bear" and it often accompanies him around the house. He's also in a banging phase and bangs EVERYTHING against EVERYTHING. Including the "Puppy/Bear". It looks like he's helpfully dusting but in fact he's BANGING on the poor paintings. Said paintings are now no longer on the walls for the time being.

This is how Moses holds a pen. Sometimes he chooses his right hand
and sometimes he chooses his left.

A note on our little observer: All toddlers are incredible observers--at least I think they are-- and ours is no exception. The fact that Moses holds the pen with his fingers and not his fist is one example of all that he takes in and sees. I watched my observer in action today when we were playing with a debit card and 'swiping' it. A few times after he swiped the card he 'typed' out 4 numbers. "One, two, three, four," he said and typed out a PIN.

Our first occasion for a band-aid.
I don't remember the culprit of the wound but the band aid was sure cute. Who better to accompany an 'ouch' than Curious George?

Moses loves to play "water sink." The sink in the bathroom is easier to reach but, if he asks nicely, the kitchen sink can have bubbles, and bubbles are hard to resist.

Lastly, (unillustrated, sorry) we are into pennies and we call them "ponies." Moses has one or two pennies to call his own and he loses them around the house frequently. When he finds it he delightedly says, "there you are!"

For the (visitor) record...

Last week Jeremy, Moses and I headed down to the U.S./Canada border to renew our visitor record visas (which is the legal document that allows us to live and work in Canada). Last year when we went through this renewal process via mail it took a ridiculous 9 months leaving us in limbo and not able to leave the country. So this year we decided to go on hearsay and head down to the border for a quick, on-the-spot renewal. The moral of the story: If you get one grumpy customs official that says "no way", say thanks, go to another check point, cross again and find a happier official. Visas: ba da boom, ba da bing. Canada, we can officially stay for another year!

And no trip into the land of the free and the home of the brave would be complete without a stop at Sonic along the way. Moses tried his first cherry limeade and didn't like it. More for me! :)

My Favourite Things

Moses has now been introduced to The Sound of Music, the musical where my parents got my name. He refers to the musical as Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do. We only watch as far as So Long, Farewell because there are significantly fewer songs after that, and there's that whole Nazi thing...Moses is only two. There's plenty of time for him to learn about evil and complexity later. :) But while we are watching, Moses is glued to the screen. He even patiently watches the credits at the beginning. When the ladies in black and white start singing in the abbey he identifies them. "Nuns," he says. And when the children sing the sweetest little smile tugs on the corners of his mouth.
Below he's seen watching My Favourite Things.

After about the third viewing Moses started singing along. His interaction is one really good reason I tell Jeremy we should be glad we don't have a swanky flat screen TV! It's hard to see because the screen is washed out but Moses strikes Maria's pose at the end of the song. Make sure your volume is turned up and after the third viewing or so,
you can start singing along, too!

And there you have it.

A little impromptu alphabet run.




Special thanks to Rachel Coleman from Signing Time, India Arie and Elmo for helping Moses get a jump start on his abcdefg's.

Those Crazy Rioses

A silly pre-bedtime ritual.