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!!!