Aurora Wells

There’s a lot of speculation when a child is very young about what his or her proclivities may be as an adult. He likes dirt: will he be a farmer? She likes motorcycles: will she be a Hell’s Angel? Speculation is rife. But last night, when we hosted an outdoor movie night at our house with Andrew-Bruce, Aurora may have given us a glimpse at her future self: movie addict.

She’s been in training for months; staying up later and later at night, watching as many YouTube and Sesame Street videos as Mommy & Daddy will allow, then begging for more; learning the Barenaked Ladies song, “Popcorn!” It all adds up. Last night Aurora sat on my lap in a lawn chair in our backyard and watched the entire film of Back to the Future, and when it was over, piped up in a loud voice, “More!”

I’ve been looking forward to this for months. Ever since Brian put up the siding on the garage, and Andrew-Bruce made a portable movie screen, we’ve known that our backyard would be perfect for an outdoor movie. We checked the sunset times, voted on a movie, cleaned up the backyard, made a set of paper lantern lights (back in June), put together a pre-movie music playlist, and Bruce picked up a new sub-woofer speaker for the awesome sound system he put together. The Internet voting declared a winner, and we were ready to go:

I had an excellent time, and I want to thank all the people who came to join us. There were a couple of glitches, most notably an animated short (Oedipus) that was much more R-rated than I remembered. Boy, it’s funny how your perspective changes when you become a parent. The “sex scene” that was so laughable the last time I watched it a few years ago made me absolutely cringe with all those kids in the audience. I apologize whole-heartedly to those parents whose children may have asked them on the way home, “Mommy, what was that potato doing to the tomato?” It was actually a relief when the projector bulb konked out mid-way through.

Back to the Future was a real crowd-pleaser, though, and I’m so glad I got a chance to see it with Aurora on the “big screen”. Grandma Gail flew up from California for the event, and I’m just sorry that Uncle Steve wasn’t there. He’s the one who took me to an L.A. cemetery when I was six months pregnant with Aurora to see Roman Holiday en plein air. Maybe that’s really where she got her start. Some moms play classical music for their unborn babes, I show classic cinema!

George McFly: Lorraine, my density has bought me to you.
Lorraine Baines: What?
George McFly: Oh, what I meant to say was…
Lorraine Baines: Wait a minute, don’t I know you from somewhere?
George McFly: Yes. Yes. I’m George, George McFly. I’m your density. I mean… your destiny.

Just like Woodstock, but without the mud… or the drugs… or more than one band. Actually, nothing like Woodstock, really. Every Thursday night in the Summer, Douglas Park has a concert for the kids, and this, the last one, featured our favourite singing teacher, Barbara Duncan. We love her classes, her folksy repertoire, and her earthy style of singing; deep and straight from the gut.

We played on the playground and had a little Bento picnic before the music started. For the first few songs, Aurora was content to just relax on my lap and watch the other kids dancing, but then Daddy arrived, and she started to cut loose a little.

(They’re not that close in height – Daddy’s on his knees.)

Hanging on the nearby bars was a new adventure, but the other kids made it look like enough fun to give it a try.

Most of Barb’s biggest fans look a lot like this. I think she would have stayed for the whole show if it had only been an hour long, but by then she’d heard the siren call of the playground nearby, and that was it for the music. See you in a few weeks at class, Barb!

Lately I’ve been letting Aurora pick out her own clothes more and more. Of course, when she asks to wear her “party dress” three days in a row, I am deliberately obtuse, and hand her something festive, perhaps, but decidedly not the pink ladybug dress that she’s obsessed with.

This week, a box arrived from her Great-Aunt Laurie, filled with fun new clothes from the Ojai second-hand stores (love it!). Aurora selected this outfit with its fancy embellishments, and was happy to model it with Bear, who unfortunately was forced to wear a pink tank top (”Oh, the humiliation!” Daddy cries). Bear didn’t seem to mind, though, and he was gracious enough to let Aurora do most of the sliding.

Please note: I have figured out how to link the small images with their larger versions, so please feel free to click on the photos to resize them. Now I’ll go back and fix the last few posts.

Yesterday Aurora and I trekked out to New Westminster to visit the Bartons and pick up a pair of little shoes that Sylvia painted for Aurora. They’re gorgeous! It’s hard to believe I’ve known this beautiful girl since she was not much older than Aurora is now. Thanks for the beautiful little sneakers – it’s a good thing Aurora is so dainty when she plays – I would hate to wreck them!

My latest obsession: Bento boxes. Aurora’s mealtime preferences have a great deal to do with presentation, and there is nothing like opening a cute little box and finding a happy, colourful assortment of treats inside. The trick is making veggies, grains and protein look like treats. It must be the designer in me, but I get a huge thrill out of the way these tiny pieces of food look, all fitted into compartments in a tidy little box.

I’ve been reading a terrific Mommy Blog lately, by another Vancouver graphic designer. Despite the fact that she actually works, she finds the time to make these crazy cute lunches for her boy when he goes off to daycare and camp. I don’t have many of the slick accessories she’s got (she’s been making bentos for quite a while), like molds, shape cutters and skewers, but today I did my best at a first attempt. One for Aurora:

Rolled tortilla & hummus slices
Raisins
Salami & cheese cut with leaf cookie cutters
Strawberries and blueberries

And one for Mommy:

Strawberries and blueberries
Mini pretzels
Rolled up turkey slices

No biggie, really. Most of the time was spent trying to find the tiny cookie cutters I hid away because I’ve only used them once or twice in the past six years. Unfortunately, Aurora only ate her strawberries, salami and cheese, and some of my pretzels, but it’s a start!

We have a magnificent houseguest this week, Prince Bombur of the Hammonds:

We are thrilled to be able to host His Greatness while his usual caretakers are backpacking, not least of which because it gives Aurora someone besides us to try to boss around. “Bombur, eat Bombur!” “Up, Bombur!” “Bombur down!” I have to say, he has earned my respect by being almost completely unaffected by Aurora’s demands. I feel like a wimpy pushover in comparison.

Last night was a particularly fine summer evening, and since Aurora took a rather late nap, we decided to take our taco dinner (in eight or so plastic containers) up to Queen Elizabeth Park for a picnic. We sat near the oak tree that Queen Elizabeth herself planted back in ‘51, when she was a mere Princess, and enjoyed a quiet repast near the duck pond. Aurora had fun chasing dropped feathers and wearing Mommy’s hat, on the smallest snap setting.

Then this morning we headed over to the Eastside, for a little visit with the Milleys. Ever gracious, they treated us royally to freshly baked mini blueberry muffins (how does Jenn find the time? does she sleep?), a blue teddy bear that Aurora can call her own when she comes to visit, and a trip to their neighbourhood park.

Three-to-a-slide? They get along better than three siblings!