Mommy's little helper

He may be little, he may not be able to communicate all that well...but he can fling laundry like nobody's business!!!!

I had a helper today. Whether I needed or wanted help, or not. He's like my little shadow lately. Can't go anywhere without the little man tagging along. I'm ok with it....until I turn a corner and the crying starts.

"Mommy, if I can't see you, I'm gonna cry"

Oh Mr. Mister. What am I going to do with you?

So I got help with the laundry. He's really about taking items OUT of a bucket, or OUT of a basket. Hasn't learned how to put stuff BACK yet. But I think he's on his way to figuring that out. Today though, it was all about how fast he could get those clothes onto the dirty floor. Those are clean, wet clothes I was throwing in the dryer.

And these are clean, wet, now covered in dog hair clothes lying on the floor. And as fast as I was cleaning up after him, he was just as fast if not faster, taking them back out again.

Faster than the speed of my camera. Busy busy busy.

And pretty darn cute cute cute! And now for the 4 millionth time....back to flinging clothes out of the dryer!!



Today was a beautiful day. Not too cold out and the sun was bright and cheery. Since the Big Guy was home, Lil' Miss and I decided to leave him to babysit the snoring Mr.Mister during his morning nap and take a quick visit down to the park.

The park was deserted. But fortuneate for us, it had snowed about a cm the previous night and the playground was covered in untouched snow. FANTASTIC! That meant that Lil' Miss got to be the first person down the slides covered in snow. Nothing like snow bunching up in front of you while you whip down the slippery slide! Next, a little game of hide and seek.....but there really are only so many places to hide in a wide open playground. It kind of turned into a game of 'TAG! YOUR IT!', which is fine too. Then we turned our attention to the giant field that surrounds the playground....all pretty much filled with untouched snow!

HOHOHO!
I tried to intoduce Lil' Miss to the art of following each others' trails in the snow. She kept cutting corners. So I grabbed onto her and pushed her along in front of me until we made a GIANT HOHOHO!
But that quickly got boring, so we moved onto making snow angels.

 That is always a big hit. She made a snow angel family with her (she had curly hair), mommy, daddy, a little friend of hers AND his daddy.

 By this time Mommy's feet were getting cold, so I figured we should head back and check on the Mr.Mister AND the Big Guy. I assumed they were probably both still sleeping...
So we headed home and proceeded to roll around the front yard a bit. Tasted the snow to see if it was different from previous tastings...

And headed inside. To two sleeping boys.

There was a little man who lived in a shoe....

He had this big sister and he didn't know what to do.

She loved to play and play hard she did,

And then one day, the little man

Ended up with THIS lid......

But he's kind of an oblivious sort

And now I've run out of rhymes.

Yes, Lil' Miss insisted that he wear this hat. But he didn't really care. It kind of matched the shopping cart he was pushing around.

You really can't be fussy when you're trying to learn how to walk. And there is just something about this shopping cart that is so....appealing...(I think it's the wheels. Mr.Mister has a bit of an infatuation with wheels. Must be a boy thing)

And lucky for him, Lil' Miss moved onto Kona after Mr.Mister put up some resistance....



A Picnic.

Sometimes when mom doesn't feed you lunch, you have to take measures into your own hands. It was Lil' Missus turn to make lunch today and she decided it was high time we had a picnic. It was a big production.

The table was laid. Both Mr.Mister and I were invited. As you can see, Mr.Mister is beginning to just help himself. But at least he sitting nicely. Lil' Miss is preparing us peanut butter with a little bit of jam sandwiches.

Mr.Mister is enjoying his sandwich, but he also thinks the grass is greener on someone else's plate.

He has literally tossed his sandwich (and a multitude of other snack items) off his part of the table and has decided that cutlery is where it's at. Lil' Miss is being very patient with him, but he's not very cooperative.

Mr. Mister has moved on and now Lil' Miss is preparing her mommy some lunch. She believes a lunch should contain a tasty sandwich and colourful vegetables. A well balanced meal can get you through the day. Of course for dessert, there were cookies as well. Because every meal MUST end in a treat!



Well Peeps......

I'm baking cakes tonight. And that means I just don't have the time to do more than this.....

 Yeah, Lil'Missus face probably looked very similar earlier in the day (I'm making chocolate cakes!!)

 And something similar here happend earlier as well. Lil' Miss laid out her camping stuff by Mr.Mister's crib, stocked herself with her favorite books and proceeded to read him stories...not sure if he was listening as intently as he is in this picture though....

 And Lil' Miss gave the Mr.Mister a goodnight kiss before he hit the hay.....

And now they're both sound asleep....I hope....



While I waste more time on the computer when I should just be finishing my cakes. Ok. I'm off!

Walkin'

Yes, sometimes we do venture outside in this chilly weather. I actually wish we'd go out more....but Mr.Mister does not like going outside and when I force him to go, we always end in tears (reference previous posts....). But now that I've said that, I think I'll try taking them out more often and perhaps just taking them both for a W-A-L-K (which is how we refer to such acts in our house lest two very sad puppydogs hear us and go nutso on us thinking they might actually get to sniff something other than just the backyard.) On this particular day it was chilly! And windy, which made it even more chilly! But the sun was shining bright so it really was beautiful out. As one can see, we do not have a lot of snow left.

 I am waiting patiently for another fresh snowfall before Christmas. I can say that because I'm still on maternity leave and I don't have to drive in crappy weather if I don't want to. Of course that is all going to change in about a month and a half....yeesh. Ok, let's move on from that thought....

I wanted to show y'all that dancing is just a part of Lil' Missus life right now. She is a dancer at heart and when she saw the ice on the road, it was so exciting...she ice danced her way down the road.

Careful there little girl...ice is slippery!

I do think that SHE believes that she's an accomplished ice dancer already. I keep telling her she hasn't learned how to skate yet. She doesn't believe me. She just gives me this exasperated look and says....'Oh Mom!'. I'm really hoping that when we finally do get her on the ice IN skates, that she actually tries and kind of enjoys it. But we haven't even gotten that far yet.

And let's not forget about Mr.Mister. He might be in the dreaded puffy suit, but he's looking happy here. Like I said, we haven't done much walking with the stroller lately, but before we kind of peetered off, we did alot and he has always enjoyed riding in the stroller. So aside from the torture suit, he should be having a good time....right?

Well, he was having a good time. Until we stopped briefly at the park (because if you really think we can get passed the park without stopping....or even NEAR the park without stopping, you're thinking crazy). I told Lil' Miss she could go down the slide 3 times. It got stretched to more like 7 or 8 times...and then Mr.Mister let it be known that he had had enough. No, I wasn't taking him out just to listen to him cry after I put him down on the ground in his immobile suit. I left him in the stroller, guarded by trusty guard dog Polly. And if he starts yodelin', it's usually easier to get Lil' Miss to head on home. She's pretty sympathetic to Mr.Mister's cause (cause she's such a good big sister!). And so ended our uneventful day.



Just doin' some shoppin'.

Ah yes, must be family day Sunday (If you guys haven't already figured out, these posts aren't technically in order. I really dislike downloading my camera everyday, so I wait until I have a couple of days on the camera, then I do a download and blog post. But really? It doesn't matter.)

And what better thing can you do on family day Sunday than go shoppin'! We hit United Cycle. I have not been here since they renovated the store. It is HUGE! No word of a lie. It is a pretty spectacular sports store. I really think they have everything you could possibly want. Ok, they're not quite like Coast Mountain Sports or Sport Check....they're different. But different in a good way. They cater to actual sports, not outdoorsy stuff where a seriously not outdoorsy person can go and buy outdoorsy stuff, play dress-up,  and pretend to be something they're not. Hockey? Got it. Cycling? Got it. Ringette, lacrosse? Got it. Team Canada gear, jerseys? Got it. Figure skating and gymnastics apparel? Oh yes, they've got it. And that brings me to the first part of the story.

Lil' Miss spotted this stuff right away. She shopped for figure skating dresses, figure skates, a bag to put your figure skates in (these were totally cool. I wanted to buy one just because. They're a rolling case that you can pull, obviously, and sit on while you wait. And the fabric colours and prints. Desirable and cool man!); pretty much anything to do with figure skating, she was mesmerized by it. Same went with the gymnastics apparel. She pulled things off the hangers and thought she should buy them...pardon me....thought I should buy them for her.

She got so excited, it was pretty neat.
Now we were also at this particular store because the Big Guy had heard that Santa would be there, and his Santa chair was a big baseball glove. For any sports fan....this was really exciting. Problem was that, once again, Lil' Miss wanted NOTHING to do with Santa. The Big Guy signed both kids up for Santa's knee and the picture that goes along with it, but Lil' Miss would not go. Mr.Mister just got stuck on Santa's knee. He didn't have any say in the matter. But he was good. No crying, just staring in wonderment. Like 'who is this guy and why isn't he my mommy?' So after Mr.Mister did his stint on Santa's knee, we walked around a bit, trying to get Lil' Miss used to the idea of going and sitting on Santa's lap. It took a long while. We wandered through the figure skating section, then the gymnastics section, then over to the hockey section.....where the Big Guy took her to go hit pucks on their shooting range (this was pretty darn cool too.) She LOVED this.

 Her and dad, hitting pucks together. Not getting cold, no snow in the mittens...Dad was a happy camper. Lil' Miss, well she's got a pretty good slapshot.

All I have to say is, if she's aiming for you, LOOK OUT!

Then we strolled through the Team Canada gear section, then over to the bikes where Lil' Miss spotted a lovely pink princess bike that was 'perfect' for her. Or so she thought. The Big Guy tried to sell her on a blue bike instead. And that started a bit of a temper tantrum complete with crying. Ok over to the general apparel section. And a voice over the intercom saying that Santa was leaving in 10 minutes. Ok Lil' Miss, this is your last chance to sit on Santa's knee. No, she still wanted no part of it. So we walked back over to Santa, watched a couple other kids go through the routine...and get their goody bags afterwards. Well she thought that might be ok. And FINALLY she sat on Santa's knee. And the photographer just took the picture as soon as Lil' Miss looked at the camera. Gotta take those opportunities when they arise! There was a beautiful pink princess bike sitting beside Santa's chair. I think she asked Santa for a bike, because when she got off Santa's knee, she moved over to the bike and started to roll it away.
INTERVENTION!
Then we had to explain to her, through alot of tears and sadness, that she couldn't take the bike. She would have to wait until Christmas to see what Santa would bring for her. It was heartbreaking actually and Mommy had to do a lot of hugging....then bribe her with the candycane from the goody bag. Time to leave. Mr.Mister was getting really squirmy, he'd had enough anyhow. Mommy was getting tired of holding him (he'd long ago figured he should no longer be in the stroller) and Daddy might be spending too much money. In all fairness, I think we were there for an hour and a half. Time to head home.

Dance baby! Dance!

So, the following photos CRACK ME UP. I don't know where Lil' Miss gets her expressive side. But I certainly DON'T recall being this 'outgoing' or 'out-there' as Lil' Miss is. And as she gets older, the more she shines. Of course the good comes with the bad and she has certainly become very assertive and stubborn. Or maybe that's an age thing? I don't know. We have our good days and we certainly have our bad, but when she gets going in her creative ways, she can be hilarious.

So, let me premise these photos. They were taken just shy of a month ago when she finally got to open her birthday presents from her friends. (Hence what I say about good days and bad days. She went on a trouble-making rampage right after her birthday party and so she was not allowed to open her presents until she could show me that she could behave.) One of her friends got her a lovely hairband with purple and pink feathers. It looks sooooo cute on her with her curly hair. And I think she really really likes it. Anyhow, I asked if I could take a picture of her with her pretty hairband on and she gracefully posed for me.

Side note: I let her dress herself these days. For the most part she really does try to match her tops and bottoms. She's drawn to purple and pink, and she really does like to layer. Over all these aren't bad things...but she does come up with some weird combinations. I also love how she pulls her socks right up to her knees over her tights...even if the socks originally were not intended to go that high. And let's not forget that skirts are worn even if you are also wearing a dress. The more layers that twirl when you spin THE BETTER! So there!

Let's move on. We were taking pictures of her with her beautiful feather hairband in her hair.

For the record...I don't think we combed her hair this day either. Ooops.

Artistic Note: I took the liberty of getting all artsy fartsy with the following pictures in my lame editing program. Originally the pictures did not turn out all that well, but the poses were so great I couldn't just let the pictures go to waste. There were lots of 'blue speedos' (for those who don't know what a blue speedo is, it is stuff or something in the background of your picture that draws your eye away from your intended focus of the picture. So for example, my subject was Lil' Miss doin' her thang' but all the toys and the absolute mess in the background of the picture is a big distraction.) And the colours were all off too because I used a flash and just stuck the camera on automatic....so all this results in crappy pictures. BUT....let's have a look shall we (nice lead up, huh? Hopefully I won't disappoint).

She's dancing with her hula hoop here.

She was seriously getting really wild with the hula hoop.

And now she's intentionally posing for the camera. There are a few more crazy pictures. She kept saying "Mommy take another picture!" So I did. She was very easy to work with. And very skilled in her posing and hula hooping may I add! Yes, that Lil' Miss is quite the girl!!!!!

Luminaria

I made the Big Guy venture out on an outing after dark....with kiddos in tow!! Insert evil laughter here!!!! OK, considering that dark occurs at about 430pm here, it's not that tough to venture out after dark. I found out about this event that the Devonian Botanic Gardens hosts. It only happens one weekend and I was interested in seeing what it was all about. It's called Luminaria, and basically it's a stroll through their Japanese Gardens, at night, after they've lit it up with Luminaries. So basically paper bag with lit candles in side lined all the pathways in the Japanese Gardens. The task? To stroll through the garden and be amazed by the amount of candles that had to be lit.....and were still lit after several hours had passed.

There was also hot (ok warm) apple cider stations, carolers in strategic spots, fire pits at rest stations along the way, and lit up sprites and elves cajolling through the wandering peoples. It was pretty simple....but pretty neat. Weather wasn't too bad. I was cold by the end, but no complaints from the Mr.Mister (who was bundled up in his Halloween Moosie costume and snuggled into his car seat under mounds of blankets in the stroller)

or from Lil' Miss. Or from the Big Guy for that matter!

So we strolled, took crappy pictures, marvelled at the seriously massive amount of luminaries that were around, sipped cider, and listened to Lil' Miss chatter on and on about.....

The Reindeer. (This is a picture of the reindeer dancing.....to the carolers singing in the background) She figured that the lit up peoples strolling and cajolling through the crowd were reindeer. I think it came from her spotting one  that had a spiky mohawk toque on.....swirling in twinkle lights. Kind of looked like reindeer antlers. So reindeers they were. It was fun to play spot the reindeer. And then to see them all congregate in one place (a small gazebo on a hill) and that became the reindeer home. But once a reindeer walked passed us? She hid. And she was afraid. And she was also afraid of the dark. So as simple as it may have been for us adults, it was a bit of an adventure for a little kid. Especially one with a big imagination. And as patient as she was with us while we wandered along, I don't think she was too unhappy to leave.

Besides...there were too many twinkle lights on houses to be spotted as we drove home. Priorities here people, priorities!!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Can you guess what we did tonight? Yep, we decorated the Christmas tree. And as Lil' Miss would say...

"Mommy, it's beautiful!"

Yes it is.

We diverged away from my woodland forest theme this year. I decided that it would be easier to clean up plastic and yarn ornaments than all my woodlandy stuff. Because this year could be a crap shoot with the tree. So far I've survived (no NOT my tree...because in these instances the tree has not necessarily survived!!!!!) a crazy cat (for 10+ years now, and even in her old age she can`t stay away from that tree. In fact I believe she`s laying under right now), a wiggly snuffling puppy (the now dog really doesn`t care about the tree any more), a toddling 1 year old then investigative 2 year old (she LOVES the tree now) and this year I will have to survive Mr. Grabby Hands. Not sure how that scenario is going to play out. A strict regimen of supervision.....or a fence around the tree. The Big Guy mentioned the fence as a passing joke. I`m not joking, I`m taking that as a serious suggestion!!!!

But I let Lil`Miss stay up way too late so she could help me decorate. 1030 pm came and went and I realized that I was putting tomorrow into serious jeopardy, so we cut the decorating short at about 1038 pm and set her off to bed...unwillingly, but not with a tantrum which is a huge plus. But I diverge.....

She did an excellent job of helping me out. She...
1.) commented on the twinkle lights as I plugged in the four strands of strung together lights all carefully arranged on the tree...that the top of the tree was not working. Had to get out my MacGuyver skills to fix that mistake without taking the whole tree apart and starting over again.

2.) helped to hold the tinsel garland as I swagged it on the tree. There was me on one end of the garland and her on the other end and I was by the tree and she was somewhere in the kitchen.
"Look mommy! It's so long!!!!"
3.) really wanted to put the star on the top, but I couldn't lift her up that high (the tree top touches our ceiling this year!!!!). But in the end she was ok with that (thank goodness...)
4.) couldn't wait to put a flashing snowman angel and cupcake ornament that her and daddy bought at Walmart a week or so back.
"Look mommy LOOK! I did it!!!!!"

5.) helped herself to the ornaments while I finished swagging garland. Just couldn't wait to get in there!!!
6.) Got her stool out and started putting ornaments on the tree. I have not moved ONE ornament that she placed on the tree. She did it so carefully and thoughtfully...I just left them where they hung.
Now our tree looks beautiful. It's a red and white combination with coloured twinkle lights and a woodland star on top. Each ornament is lovingly placed with thought and discretion....I really hope the whole tree lasts intact through Christmas. If I could have one wish right now...that would be it!. Oh and that if it does fall, it doesn't fall directly onto Mr.Mister and that he escapes unscathed....

Gingerbread Men

Well, not quite gingerbread men.

How about sugar cookies decorated to look like gingerbread men. Today was a cookie day. And it's high time Lil' Miss started pulling her weight with the household baking.

I started out with some reindeer. I did not come up with these on my own. I lifted the idea from a different blog....

http://thebakingsheet.blogspot.com/2011/11/christmas-cookies.html

and thought they were really cute, not to mention ingenious. Who would think to turn gingerbread men cookie cutters upside down for REINDEER! Not I. Anyhow I had to try them out and thought it might be a good opportunity to have Lil' Miss start learning all about decorating gingerbread men...takes me back many many many years to the local fall fair and decorating for competition. And competition was fierce!

Little did I know that as I started decorating...I would have a supervisor. She picked up my reference sheet and proceed to give me 'instructions'. Literally.

Lil' Miss: Mom, I'm going to read you the instructions!

Mom: Oh really?

Lil' Miss: Yes Mom, these are the instructions. First you need to do pink, then blue, then white and you need to make them go across, then do pink and white and blue.

And she carried on like this for about 5 minutes, reading the reference page and giving me instructions, while the Big Guy and I watched her in awe. Then the Big Guy asked if she was 23.

Lil' Miss: No Dad! I'm THREE!

Ooookkaaaayy........onto the decorating. It's funny, she was one colour off for each colour I had chosen to make the twinkle light string that hangs off the reindeer's antlers. But that's not her fault. It would be the fact that my printer is running out of ink and the reference page picture was really really weak. She saw what she saw and she saw pink, blue, and white, not red, green, and yellow.

Reading me instructions got boring after awhile and my instructor left me to finish the reindeer myself. Well, she didn't quite leave me alone. She got banished from the kitchen when she went and stole the spatula out of the icing container and ran to hide behind the chair where she proceeded to lick it. She tried to tell me she was being sneaky. But the green evidence was pasted all over her face. I told her she needed to go find something else to do.

But then it came time to decorate the gingerbread men.

Lil' Miss: I get to decorate even though I was bad?

Mom: Yes, yes you do.

Lil' Miss: YAY!

And she got right too it. She told me where to put the icing so she could paste the treats on top. And between licking her fingers and decorating, she had a great time. NOTE TO SELF! LIL' MISS GETS HER OWN BOWLS OF DECORATIONS NEXT TIME. THEN SHE CAN DIP AND LICK ALL SHE WANTS.

When we were done I asked her if this was a fun project.

Lil' Miss: Yes Mom! You are my bestest friend EVER!

Well, you can't beat that.

Is there a Chef in the house?

If Lil' Miss is going to be a doctor, then I think Mr.Mister is going to be a chef. Why you ask? Well let me list my thoughts on this.

1.) He does like to eat. Although lately he's been getting a little fussy. I'm been having to pull out some of my mommy moves to get the food into him. Moves such as *use distraction - put the toy on his tray and let him play so he doesn't notice me shovelling the food in*, *the ol' switcheroo - pretend you're digging into the pureed fruit (which he loves) but really spooning into the supper stuff (which he doesn't always like) and getting it into his mouth before he notices*, *double dipping - spooning up the supper stuff, but dipping it in the fruit puree (dessert) and sending his tastebuds into a confusion frenzy and shovelling it all in before he can comprehend what I'm doing*, *the 'I give up' - taking him go out of the highchair, and letting him come back on his own because he sees me eating and wants to join in. He thinks I'm feeding him MY food as he's standing by my chair begging, but I'm really giving him HIS food*. Anyone who's a mom will know what I'm talking about.

2.) Even if he HAS finished his meal and makes the signs that say he's full, and I release him from the highchair, if he sees anyone eating anything afterwards, he comes in for a sample. Or multiple samples. He just plasters that goofy grin on his face and you can watch him as he wavers and teeters and he stands there, holding onto the couch/chair/your leg, waiting for you to give him a bite of what you're eating.

3.) He likes to get into the cupboards. Ok, this is typical baby behaviour but WHATEVER! Into the canned food/peanut butter cupboard he goes and before you know it he's off and running...ok off and crawling after the can of beans/tuna/marshmellow fluff he's pulled out of the cupboard. I once had the Big Guy ask me why the peanut butter jar was over by the playpen. I just said....'anything to keep the little guy happy'. And he was really happy that day I let him roll around the peanut butter!

So those are my thoughts on that matter. When you come to our house, don't be surprised to find that can of tuna, or maybe some tomato paste rolled into your shoe. Or if you need to use the bathroom and you find it occupied by several cans of beans or a can of peaches, just ignore it. You know that Mr.Mister has been practicing his culinary skills again. (Or maybe it's his hand/eye coordination skills that he's really working on? I don't know).

I have to apologize. I spent the evening at a scrapbook crop at the local awsome scrapbooking store. Sat with two nice ladies who chatted the night away. Ate goodies and cut up paper all night. Left Lil' Miss and Mr.Mister at home alone with dad.....and Mr.Mister got back at both dad and I by having a really big poop in the tub. Well, that doesn't bother me, I wasn't here to clean it up. But I know it disgusted Dad. I just laughed. Lil' Miss used to do that to me!

So anyhow, I think this post is going to go live a little late. But that just means there will be two posts for tomorrow/today. That's kind of special. Except that I'm going to make this one a little short because it's 100am and I'm tired.

I just wanted you all to know that these chocolates are evil! If you see them in the stores, run in the opposite direction. If you get sucked into buying them, you will eat them all in one night; resistance is futile! And if I find them again, I will be secretly stocking up on them and hoarding them and NOT sharing them with ANYBODY! I highly doubt I will find them again. I bought them at Walmart and this one the second last bag on the shelf. Having said that, I do keep checking for them, they are my new favorite christmas candy!!!!!

And on the note of Christmas favorites. I have yet to find Second Cups White Candy Cane Hot Chocolate. I've only check 2 locations, but both were sold out. I'm on the hunt for a can!!!! And that's all for tonight folks. Tomorrows (tonight's) post will hopefully be a lot more fulfilling!!!!