my seven year old

You are seven now, Sebastian. You are a bundle of contradictions these days. So eager to be a big boy; developing your sense of humour, testing limits, trying out new interests and hobbies. And at the same time you are so tender and caring; kissing your sister whenever you can sneak one in, really loving the time you spend with younger cousins and friends, eager to help smooth things out when anyone in your family is having a hard time.


I feel so honored that I have gotten to watch you grow and develop all of these wonderful traits. I so look forward to all that is to come, especially since you assured me today that you are still "my baby". I love you so much! Happy Birthday!!

Halloween Fun

It's only part way through October but Sebastian has already been getting into the swing of things. He spent a couple of hours one afternoon doing this. He took most of the pictures himself, although Oscar did get in on some of the action.

Danger?

Visiting with GG (great-grandma!)

Ayla really loves to visit her GG. Unfortunately for GG, Ayla also really loves to drive GG around in her wheelchair. It can make it hard to chat when a three year old is spinning you in circles but luckily grandma has a good sense of humour (and balance). Everett is not so sure about hopping in her lap yet but was happy to wave from a bit of a distance.

my nephew Everett

The boy does love his cars! He was actually hugging it when he first fell asleep!

Tie-dying

Molly organized a great day where our coop met and combined tie-dying with playing at the park. We all had a great time and we got great results as well! The large item is the duvet cover for Ayla's blanket.

Homemade zipline

Kids For Peace!!

A parent organized a kids' peace group to mark the International Day of Peace. The kids met a couple of times to read stories about peace and make posters and banners. We then met on the "peace day" to march from the war memorial to the City Hall. Once at the town hall the kids made decorations to hang from a fence and listened to a story. We also observed a minute of silence. Sebastian really seemed to enjoy this day. This boy loves guns - playing with guns, talking about guns, making gun noises. He also talks about war a lot and has said that he wants to learn about war this year. I try to take all of this in stride and look at it as a learning opportunity. I try to fit in gentle reminders about what machine guns are used for in the real world (ie, not hunting deer or target practise), and remind him that there are real people involved in real wars. I do this and hope that it is sinking in, while continuing to let him explore the kind of play that really appeals to him right now. I felt very reassured that things are sinking in for him when I saw this picture that he drew:He told me that the flower means peace. And he also shared that he really likes x'ing and circling things :)

This all happened in September, it is now October and the kids still march around chanting "Kids for Peace" on a very frequent basis (ok, Ayla chants "Kids on Peace" but still).

Half boy/half monkey??

Olympics

In September, we had an Olympics day with our family coop. The kids tried different races and sports (100mdash, relay, long jump, discus/frisbee, rowing/pushing themselves on skateboards with hockey sticks, volleyball). The kids (and parents) had a blast!

bouncing, bouncing and more bouncing

A couple of neighbours bought trampolines this summer and one family in particular has opened it up to the neighbourhood. The kids ask daily to go bounce. I limit our visits a bit more than that, but we are still over there frequently bouncing away. It has been yet another way of bringing the kids of different ages in our neighbourhood together. "Aaron the neighour boy" as Sebastian called him for years, is 13 now and we didn't see much of him in the late spring and beginning of summer. He and Sebastian have spent many, many hours together over the last few years and I sadly thought that had finally ended this summer. Then the trampoline appeared and they had some common ground once more. Now that school has begun, we see him less again but they still have connected several times in the last two weeks. I love the relationship that Sebastian has with him and hope to see it continue in some form!

Ayla and Sebastian were bouncing away today so I took the camera over to take some pics. It began to rain so I told them to stay on the tramp and not hurt each other while I quickly took the camera home. Halfway back I heard Sebastian begin to wail. I ran the rest of the way and found him with blood pouring out of his nose and lip. He had managed to knee himself in the face and split his lip! He did this a week ago on our bed as well (I wonder if it has something to do with his legs getting all long and gangly :)

I love Ayla's hair in the last picture. If only my hair would bounce like that :)

Her own room

We have finally gotten around to setting up the spare room for Ayla. She is very excited about it and has been happy to make the switch. I still go to her when she wakes at night of course, and finish off the night in her room, but it has been so nice to finally be able to lay in bed with Oscar at night and actually talk to each other!

Ayla has been insistent on having pink and blue in her room and wasn't pleased when I told her that we wouldn't be painting the walls. Her reaction was nothing compared to the 10 min crying fit she had when I wouldn't cave to her demand to paint the living room pink!

I'm hoping to tie-dye a duvet cover for her soon and we need to put up some shelves but it is coming along nicely. We got a nice rug for her and some glowing stars and stick-ons for the wall. I found some beautiful felt decorations on line, thinking how nice it would be to have something natural on the walls instead of plastic. I then spent some time being realistic and admitted to myself that they are not really in our budget! She loves her baskets so we have been organizing some of her toys into them and moving them into the room for her. Now hopefully one day soon she will spend less time causing mischief in Sebastian's room! (yeah, I know, not likely :) )

Gymnastics

The kids have started another season of gymnastics. This is Ayla's first time going alone, I have to admit I was very nervous that it was not going to go well. I am happy to say that I was wrong. She handled herself wonderfully! It was incredibly busy and she seemed to love the energy. She bounced around (alot) but never ran off. She did manage to be first in line behind the teacher EVERY time they moved to a different station :)

Sebastian began his first session of boy's gymnastics. He had lots of chances to work on the handstands he's been practicing all summer. He also climbed all the way to the top of the very long rope. He was quite proud of himself for that, I think!

Oh, and the hairdo was all Ayla's idea! Something special for gymnastics :) She also decorated her legs with marker and insisted she leave it on so her teachers could see.

My lumberjack

Sebastian has decided to cut down one of our trees in the backyard (luckily one that is not very healthy and that Oscar is planning on taking down). He called me into the backyard one day and showed me this:
He then smiled and said, "I guess I got a bit carried away!" He then showed me the large pile of branches that he had also cut! Since then, he has cut down several more branches, all while perched high in the branches of a larger tree. One time I looked out of the bathroom window and saw that he was a good 2-3 metres higher than our roof. Had to close my eyes and repeat to myself a few times that he knows his own comfort zone and that he was safe. And then thankfully he soon came down!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Sebastian and Ayla were excited about their dad's birthday. Poor guy had to work, which meant Ayla wouldn't see him. So, they made him a cake and Sebastian also made him a special birthday chair. We celebrated the next morning with cake for breakfast! I have to say, he looks pretty good for 34!

Welcome Mariska!

summertime!

Today Sebastian finished his week of day camp. He went with a friend. It was his first all-day camp and he had a blast. The camp is a private one, run on a farm. He swam, canoed, saw the animals, sang lots of songs and did lots of hiking. They also have archery and mountain biking but due to the amount of rain this week, the younger group didn't fit those activities in. Sebastian was excited to ride the bus to and from camp and every meal he ate there was described as "the best ever!" He's already talking about next year.

Ayla got to spend time with her babysitter this week, in the mornings, while I got lots of cleaning and organizing done. She loved the attention of course. Today, it was just her and I. It's great to have that time with her, when things can be done at her pace, without her always feeling the need to keep up with Sebastian.