World Record Attempt

Last week, Sebastian decided to try for the world record in wearing the most t-shirts at once. He got to 23. The record is something like 120.

Ayla's Dance

Ayla had her last class of the fall today. We all enjoyed watching her in action.

A day at home

Sebastian asked to stay home today, so we cancelled plans for a hike with our family coop. He didn't leave his room until noon. Every time I checked on him, he was happily swinging off his bed while listening to his story on tape.

Ayla and I made bread together and then she washed cupboards. She then watched a video, while colouring and cutting pieces of paper. She has started to always keep her hands busy while watching videos. She made a cool little creation from paper, tape and staples the other day. She said it was a bird with one wing. It's been so interesting to watch this crafty side of her develop. Ayla is still quite active, but she is increasingly able to sit down and focus on an activity. When she decides that she wants to do or play something by herself, she can really focus her persistence and intensity on it. It's been great for me, I have to say, I can actually sit down during the day, and not have her automatically walk over looking for "nernies".

I got Sebastian to come down to practice piano, which led to the only conflict of the day; my frustration with Ayla interrupting, and Sebastian not putting in a sincere effort. After a few tears, it was happily resolved with group hugs and kisses (including Puck as he was laying on the couch shaking, poor anxious dog), and Ayla was able to keep herself occupied and Sebastian focused on what he had to do.

We had a walk in the woods with Puck and had a friend over to dinner. Sebastian and his friend are at the library watching Harry Potter and Ayla is in bed. She has been so tired lately, so no arguments about that from her. I've been trying to decide whether I'm worried about how tired she has been. She has just been draggy, and often visibly tired. Hopefully she'll perk up soon.

The boys are back from the library, so I better get going!

Running Update #2

I got in about 13-14 km this week. Oscar worked more and I had to go for a test one day with sedation, so I only got runs in on two days. But they were both great runs! I went to Preservation Park for the one run, and it felt so good. I ran longer and a bit faster than last week. Being in the woods make it so much more relaxing. I even got to see a deer. Oscar is off for 5 days this coming week, so I should be able to get lots of running time in.

Running Update

I managed to get in 26 km this week. A big improvement over the last few months! I'm feeling quite motivated, and have looked forward to each run. I've also found, as a direct result I'm sure, that I have been in a great mood, and quite playful with the kids as well. I'm sure they're appreciative of that!

I'm planning to keep a tally of how much I run each week here, which I'm hoping will help keep me motivated.

Halloween!!

Ayla dressed up as a princess. Sebastian decided to abandon his award-winning hedge knight costume (see previous post), and go as an .... assassin. Yup, proud parenting moment for sure!

They decorated all week and had a great time carving their pumpkins. Oscar was even dubbed "the best daddy is the whole world" by Ayla as they got ready to start. I'm sure I would have been labelled the "best momma in the world", except I hadn't gotten out of bed yet!!


This one is Sebastian's. He was getting frustrated trying to carve teeth so cleverly decided to go with some fangs instead.

Ayla designed two. I have to say that I absolutely adore them! She is very into sad faces right now.

Harvest Fest

The kids were excited to head to Port Rowan to attend Harvest Fest, a dinner and dance for families put on by the Lions club. Papa is a member and he worked hard all day cooking the meal. S, my niece, came up for the night as well.

The kids hammed it up for the camera before leaving.


Ayla danced the night away, mostly wearing her cousin's wig.


Sebastian mostly sat out for the dancing, although I did see him busting a few moves when the lights were down low! He had the thrill of winning best costume for his age group as well!

Ayla has been full of questions over the last few weeks about where the sun goes at night and where the moon is during the day and what is happening on the other side of the earth. I mentioned to Oscar that I was thinking about making a model of the solar system with her somehow. This morning he and Ayla decided to start on a paper machie model. Sebastian helped out when he got back from his piano lesson. They also started on some cool halloween decorations and a rocket ship.


Oscar and I found a neat little tower that Ayla created in Sebastian's room. She has been very creative lately, always cutting, gluing or building something.

Motivation

I just finished reading through the blog of a woman I was good friends with as a teenager. In August she completed a race called the Ultraman Canada. It is held over three days. The first day she swam 10 km and biked 145km. The second day she biked 274km. The third day she ran 83km (that's the same as TWO marathons - in one day - after the first two days - yah). She's 33 and has two daughters who are 8 and 6.

I have been slacking off on my running over the last three or four months. I've been tired, busy, blah, blah, blah. The pounds have been creeping back on, to the point where I'm avoiding looking in the mirror. I'm am in awe of my friend, and feeling inspired and motivated. I've been toying around with the idea of training for another half-marathon this winter, and if that all goes well, and I stay injury-free, going right into training for a marathon in the spring. It's tricky to make the running clinic times with Oscar's schedule but I think I need to try to make this work. I really enjoyed the last one that I did, and I think I was happier then. Life is good now, but I think I really need that outlet. I'm a fairly laid-back person, I think the intensity of hard exercise is good for me, both physically and emotionally.

Anyways, I thought writing this down will make me feel more committed to this. I think I'm going to work out some running goals to work towards until January when the clinic begins.

Now...I think I need to e-mail my friend and thank her for the motivation :)

And she's off!

This was the only picture I could get of Ayla last month as she left for her first class of her "Mornings with Melissa" class. She was so eager to be off and to ride her bike there she could not possibly hang around for a picture!

Boy's Group

Sebastian has been participating in a boy's social group over the last year. It started initially as a way for the boys to meet each other and make some connections. This year it is being run as a series of coops. The first has been an outdoor survival theme. The kids put together survival kits the first week, learned how to build shelters and some lashing and frapping the second week (I forgot the camera that week, but the kids had a blast and really built a great shelter) and learned how to navigate using a compass this week. Sebastian has really enjoyed himself and is very excited about the plan for fire-building next week!

The kids also played a predator and prey game today and had lots of time to run around the beautiful woods and enjoy the mild day.

I'm back!!

Did you miss me? Anyone??

Anyways, I finally figured out a way to get pictures on here once more, so now I feel like posting! We had a great trip to a pumpkin patch on the weekend with Michelle and Everett. This was our second year going. We all had a great time, lots to do and the weather was beautiful.

Chewy

During the spring, we were out for a walk in the woods with our friends when we happened upon a baby squirrel. Puck actually happened upon him, I looked down and the two of them were sniffing noses! We kept him for a couple of days until we found a wildlife rehab person who look him (he had an injured tail). The kids (and Oscar and I) had a great couple of days with him. Chewy spent a lot of time with Ayla, to the point where he would repeatedly run up her leg when she put him down. Our friends visited often to check on him and then helped us take him to the rehab person.

Growing up

Ayla is finally gentle and calm enough to hold Mariska on her own (for brief periods!). She is very happy about this! Ayla is calming down in many ways these days. It's been very interesting to watch this happen. We can have longer conversations now and explore ideas in more depth. As we left my parents' place from our Easter visit, Ayla happily waved goodbye to them and then turned to me and said, "When are nana and poppa going to die?" That was really not what I would have thought would be going through her mind right then! We had an interesting conversation about death.

I then decided it was time to talk a bit about "strangers" and how to react in situations with both strangers and non-strangers that could be dangerous for the kids. Sebastian really does not like having these talks. He takes it all in but does not like to say much. Ayla found this to be a very interesting topic and was full of questions and was eager to offer up different scenarios. I felt good about the talk when we were done. I felt like she understood what I was saying and that I managed to help her to that understanding without scaring her. I felt even better a few days later she came rushing in from playing on the sidewalk. She said that a man was watching her from his van. I asked her if that made her feel uncomfortable. She said yes and I reinforced that she had handled the situation just right by coming inside. (The man was a neighbour who lives on a nearby street. He was at the stop sign waiting for the road to be clear. I watch her from the window when she's out :) ).

Ayla has such an outgoing and friendly personality. It is such a joy to watch her interact with people but it is also a relief to see that she is starting to become a bit more discriminating.

This picture makes me happy.

We love spring!!!

Our friends

We have known these girls their whole lives. Sebastian and M really are different in many ways but they are so familiar and comfortable with each other that they continually find new ways to connect and share their various interests with each other. Sebastian adores N, and she adores him, it's a win-win relationship. Ayla is really starting to find her groove with M and N and is becoming very fond of them (she's been extremely fond of their mother her entire life!). I need to work on getting shots of the kids together but I have some favorites of our friends!

Visitors from Calgary!!

My cousin Josie is down with her two children. We were so excited to go and visit with them. Josie and I spent much time together as teenagers, driving back and forth from swim practices. I love to spend time with her and it is just made all that much better as we now get to watch the kids get to know each other!

The only thing better than mud is...

mud with friends!!

Ayla wasn't interested in getting quite as muddy but found her own fun.





Hey, Platts-boyle family, look closely at the first pic of Ayla - do you think that's the net we lost down the river when we were playing with you in the river last summer??