This evening Aurora wanted to bring her Duplo Toy Story guys to the bathtub again, so I asked her to help me. “How many guys can you carry, Aurora?”
“Two plus two,” she said, showing me two in each hand. “Mommy, how many is two plus two?”
“Why don’t you count them for me?” I asked.
“One, two, fee, four. Two plus two is four!” A look of absolute glee takes over her face.
“Yep, Aurora, that’s right. Math can be really fun.” 
How could you resist a face like this?
The rest of us just had plain ‘ol salad.
A couple of weeks ago I took my first time away from Aurora, left her with Brian for five days, and flew south to Long Beach for my 20-year high school reunion. It was a blast, not just seeing my old high school friends, which was great, but also that delicious feeling of being untethered, light and free for a while. I breezed through security and customs at the airport, read for a solid 2 1/2 hours on the plane, and didn’t have to worry about what anybody but myself wanted to eat. The night I arrived, my friend Jen, whom I’d only seen once in the past 16 years, slept over at my folks’ house, and we had a great time catching up. Since it’s Aurora’s blog, I’ll only post two reunion pictures, from the PACE family picnic the day after the fancy Queen Mary shindig.
Group photo at Wardlow Park, which inexplicably had 4 or 5 other large group parties that afternoon.
Kristiana and Gina, who each had daughters about 9 months after mine. Sorry Aurora missed Chiara and Andrea this time!
After five days I was happy to be together again with Aurora and Brian. We had some really hot weather for about five days, and I didn’t feel like baking myself at the park, so we found some cool indoor activities. Having a kid somewhat lets you relive your own childhood…
Where’s Aurora?
There she is!
And while I was in Long Beach, Grandma Gail found the old Rescuers story album that my brothers and I listened to over and over when we were kids. It’s hard to believe, but Brian’s record player actually still works (okay, it’s Brian’s, so maybe it’s not so hard to believe) and I was able to play it for her.
This read-along version is out of print, and not available on CD, so I’m going to have to find a way to import the audio file into my computer and burn a CD for the car (scanning and making a book is a lot more in line with my particular skill set).
Question of the day: What thing lately has sent you for a trip down memory lane, or what’s your favourite thing or activity from childhood?
We’re finally in the groove of summer, that 8- or 9-week period when the rain mostly goes away, and Vancouver’s weather, at least 90% of the time, achieves that perfect equilibrium; hot enough for swimsuits but not so hot you melt in a puddle of your own sweat.
Well, after passing the water park at Stanley Park a hundred or more times over the years, our friends Laura and Kate finally got us to the place, swimsuits on, towels in hand, to enjoy the water spouts, stream, cannons and waterfalls, not to mention the fabulous view beyond. The water was icy cold, but as long as you’re not immersed in it, it feels good on a hot summer day.
My girl looks happy to finally be free of the omnipresent summer hat for a few minutes.
Kate’s still wearing her hat, but it didn’t get in the way of her having some splishy-splashy fun.
Our favourite part was a faux-rock waterfall area, with small pools at various levels to climb around and through. Sometimes the best plans are the spur-of-the-moment ones.
Less spur-of-the-moment, but still very enjoyable, was today’s visit with the Mid-Main Mommies’ kids, at Kim & Max’s house. Do you remember these kids?
They’re looking rather grown-up these days, and most of them have younger brothers or sisters, too.
Ayden, Aurora and Kaiya playing with little Marlow at the pirate ship water table.
Avery wasn’t part of the original group photo, but she and her mommy Petra joined shorty afterward.
Olin was pretty wiped out, after staying up late to watch the fireworks last night!
Ayden’s pretty busy these days with brand-new baby sister Emily at home.
Kaiya’s baby sis, Annika, snuggles with mommy Laura.
Friendly little Sjoerd (but everyone calls him “Shooey”) gets to know Max’s baby bro, William.
Marlow (happy 1st birthday, dude!) is fascinated with the noise-making buttons Aurora is demonstrating. “Can I get in on this action?” I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture of Max this time. Better luck next time!
My first pics of the newest Wells sweetie pie, my niece Livia:
And by request for Grandma Shaun, a picture of her wonderful munchkins:
I gotta be brutally honest here: life here at Chaos159 is not all giggles and jellybeans. Although, I fear, there may be too much of the jellybeans. We’re having a real challenge in the eating department these days (the potty struggle is ongoing, too, but I’ll just talk about the food today). I wouldn’t bother to blog this, except that I have the feeling that I am not alone in these issues, and would like to hear some other war stories to bolster my resolve.
Has anyone else out there got a picky eater? I don’t mean your run-of-the-mill, I-don’t-like-brussels-sprouts eater. I mean a kid whose entire food repertoire includes only about a dozen healthy choices, another dozen less healthy ones, and those choices seem to get narrowed by the month. The situation is bad, real bad, and I admit that it is largely of my own making. When faced with a one-year-old who was not eating enough to make it above the 5th percentile in weight (and who later dropped down below the 1st percentile), I began to offer, let us say, more palatable choices. Like deli lunchmeats instead of unprocessed chicken & beef. Like crackers instead of whole grain bread. Like cheddar bunnies (the organic version of goldfish) and juice for an on-the-go snack instead of apple slices and water. Each little slip into less healthy territory added up, though, and now Aurora won’t eat anything but those more processed choices.
I think the worst part is that she simply won’t try anything new, or new in the past few months. Even though she ate fresh blueberries by the bucket last summer when they were in season, as well as cantaloupe, cherries, peaches, and a bunch of other delicious fruits, they are all met with lips clamped shut this summer. Brian and I shared the most awesome cantaloupe a few nights ago, and Aurora wouldn’t even put one tiny bite in her mouth. She used to pick and eat cherry tomatoes off our neighbour’s bushes last summer, too (of course I split them in half for choking prevention). I understood that maybe the fruit was less desirable once it was out of season, but now that everything’s delicious again, I can’t get her to give it another shot. And that’s just the fruit. Vegetables are even worse.
We’ve tried bribery and rewards to get her to try things, but according to all the experts that’s a good way to develop an eating disorder later in life. We’ve tried eating healthy foods in front of her and demonstrably enjoying them. My newest (and most painful) tactic is to serve only fresh fruit and yogurt for dessert. So far, this option has been met with hysterical cries of, “Where’s the REAL dessert?!?” Trying to limit her juice intake to only 1/2 cup per day, diluted with water, has resulted in constipation and dehydration when we rigidly stick to it.
So, until I hear any better ideas, I will try to be strong, and take the healthy path. According to the book my doctor recommended, I’m supposed to offer Aurora a variety of healthy choices at each meal and put absolutely no pressure on her to eat any of it. If she doesn’t eat it, just offer it again, and again, and again (they say it can take a lot of exposure to a new food before a child is willing to accept it). It certainly wouldn’t hurt me to cut junk food out for a while. I’ve heard that it takes three weeks to start a new habit or break an old one, so wish me luck for the next two and a half weeks!