My head is spinning. We have had so much going on, visitors, events, milestones…. Let’s see if I can dig up any stories from my oooh, so tired brain. Last Friday we were at our friend Judi and Steve’s house. They were celebrating that Steve emigrated to Canada 30 years ago. The party was great, in true Judi style she pulled out all the stops and rented a Chip’N’Fish truck for the evening. It was a suiting way to pay tribute to a Britt turned Canuck. The kids had a great time, Charlotte was dressed to the 9’s and they were all a bit wild and crazy, but didn’t seem to frustrate anyone too badly. When I got home with the kids one not-so-funny thing happened, and one quite funny thing happened. But most notably it all happened at once. Of course!
We got home, Charlotte and Robbie were sent to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Charlotte listened, Robbie did not. After I hung up my coat I went into Robbie’s room to hustle him back into the bathroom when I saw him holding his (willing) baby sister’s head. She had her mouth wide open, and he was squirting sunblock in her mouth!!!!!!! AAAA! ROBBIE!!!! STOP!!!! At the same moment that I screamed at Robbie, he cried because I was tearing the sunblock away, Mae cried because she’s a baby (and that’s what they do), at the exact same moment I hear screeching coming from the bathroom. Charlotte was hysterical. I couldn’t understand what was wrong, all I understood was ‘Sugarbugs’ and ‘her tooth HURTS’. Too add to the excitement, apparently running around frantic makes teeth hurt less, I chased her around the house, and calmed her down somewhere near the kitchen, I didn’t know what to expect… a growth, a sore, even a strange life-form crossed my mind. But instead what I found was a wobbly tooth. I clapped and cheered that not only did my little girl have a loose tooth, but there was no alien growing in the crevasse of her mouth. Whew!
My aunt Brenda came for a visit, followed a few days later by her daughter Margaret and Margaret’s friend Dina. Saturday was Margaret’s 19th birthday, so we took her to the Lower Deck, a very memorable bar in NS. We, and most importantly Margaret and Dina, had a good time celebrating Margaret’s birthday. And as a bonus, the band that was playing was Gin and Juice, and they had picked up our friend Brennan MacDonald to play with them. The band was great, but Brennan was awesome! He wished Margaret a happy birthday and sang some Rankins for her… Whoo Hoo little did he know she loves the Rankins!
Between the two nights of celebrations, we managed to squeeze in boat rides, beach trips, a wedding shower, lobster supper, hiking, kayaking, more visitors from England and another aunt from SK is to arrive very soon…But that is not all, Charlotte lost her tooth after a couple days , the kids got their invitations from Cinderella, Buzz Lightyear and Tigger for DisneyWorld. Charlotte decided she wanted to learn to drive a 2 wheeled bike. She picked it up pretty fast, although is a big shaky on the whole stop and put your feet down concept. She tends to break hard and tip over. Also Thursday was Charlotte’s final day at daycare. She is now moving to a new center that offers after school programs, she’ll be there for a few days before school starts on Sept 6. So the long and short is that Charlotte has been hitting milestone after milestone, each one causes me to beam with pride and at the same time choke back my tears. It is great that she is growing and maturing but why so fast??? Sniff, Sniff
Robbie lately has been challenging us. He is a sweet kid, but his strong impulses cause some concern. The daycare is really struggling with him, that to me is concerning as they have had a fair number of 3 year old boys come through there, but Robbie has them pulling their hair out. We are working with him, and have a few theories ranging from boredom, poor speech development, to not enough 1on1 attention. I think autumn and the consistent routines will help, so for that reason I am glad summer is drawing to a close. Robbie can have two type of impulses, the type that is really funny, and the type that is not (like hitting, spitting, spraying sunblock, etc). The funny impulses are certainly a trademark of his, and I don’t want to squash those. Maybe contain or control them, would be good though. For example we were at the rehearsal for a wedding the kids (and Mike) will be taking part in on the weekend. Rehersals and weddings for that matter, are pretty boring for kids. So I was expecting some running around, and craziness, which always puts me on high alert. It wasn’t until we got there that I realized the wedding is on a roof top patio. I’m sure the railings are up to safety code, but I can guarantee they are NOT up to Robbie code. Oh my nerves! So the time comes for Charlotte and Robbie to walk the isle. Charlotte is of course walking slowly, perfectly, princess like, with her toes pointed and everything. This is the one place diddle-daddling is a plus, so she was great. Robbie, started off fine, then somehow lost a shoe halfway down the isle, he laughed and giggled but at least attempted to keep walking, at which point he noticed a pigeon and decided that he was going to chase it. So arms out wide he was gone, yelling and screaming at the pigeon (nerves fraying even more). Pigeon gone, excitement and giggles over, people got back to business and doing their thing. As a plus, I finally have Mae somewhat restrained with treats, because she is as crazy as the other two these days. Then I notice a little ring bearer, about to whip down his pants and ‘water’ the flowers. Oh my NERVES!!!
Disaster was averted, I got him into the bathroom. But I am certainly nervous about Saturday. To the point that I won’t be able to bring Mae. I’m disappointed about that, but I honestly need to be on top of my game for the FlowerGirl (who I hope doesn’t get cold feet) and the Ring Bearer who I am considering Super Gluing his zipper shut! Mae is getting older, and soon won’t be missing so much. A true sign of this, is that she is soon going to start daycare on Sept 6. We will be forever grateful to my mom for watching Mae over the past 12 months. It has been great for both of them, and they have a strong bond because of it. My mom is going to still watch Mae one to two days a week, but she’ll be in daycare the other days. It will be a good thing, Mae is getting to the point where she gets a bit bored and I think she will really enjoy being at daycare with other kids. She already thinks she owns the playground from all the days we've picked up/drop off Charlotte and Robbie. The staff all know Mae and she is familiar with them. This is giving me false hope that all will go smoothly her first day. Fingers Crossed.
Lastly, we can’t forget to mention Mike, he is about to start his own new adventure on Sept 6. A job came up with the Department of Health and Wellness for a Sports Consultant. At the same time Mike was feeling like he was ready to move on from Soccer Nova Scotia, so it worked out well. Don’t ask me exactly what a Sports Consultant does? I know it is an office job in the city, I know he is very excited and has big plans. So that is great.
Now if you’ve noticed the date, Sept 6, it will be a big day. Charlotte starts school, Mae starts daycare and Mike starts a new job. Robbie and I will hold down the fort, we know big days will come for us too. But I’m glad no other milestones are being hit on Sept 6, I don’t know if my emotional heart can take any more.
Here are some photo's. I forgot to mention that I took Charlotte Sea Kayaking for the first time, we were out for just over 2 hours and she really enjoyed it. I don't have any pictures because it is just too hard to take photo's and paddle at the same time. LOL
Robbie, hard at work helping Frank and Billy with the wood. One thing Robbie is, he is good at outdoor/manly type of work.
Brenda and Charlotte at Sandy Cove Beach.
Mae laying a big kiss on Max!!!
Robbie at Sandy Cove.
Mom and the kids at Sandy Cove.
Charlotte dressed for a party.
Heading to the Fish'n'Chip Truck
They found some salamaders.
Mae diggin into her Fish'n'Chips. I don't think she looked up once.
This is Herne Island. It is beautiful, quaint, and sometimes we really are the only people on the island. Amazing!
The kids made this cake for Margaret for her birthday.
Charlotte lost her first tooth.
There it is...
Presto!!! The tooth turned into money! One of each Canadian Coin.
Charlotte with her invitation from Cinderella
Robbie with his invitation from Buzz.
This really was a huge week for Charlotte. She learned to ride her bike wit no training wheels. She was pretty shakey at first, but it didn't take her long to get the hang of it.
