Another week of 'stuck'

This week was another week of everything being 'stuck.' It's such a multifunctional word that it was apparently worth keeping around. She added 'blue', 'applesauce', 'nice house', and 'night night' to her vocabulary this week. 

Nana and Bummpa came to visit from Alberta this week. They arrived on Wednesday afternoon and they came bearing gifts. Clothing (which Sarah promptly asked to try on), a cool glass with monkeys, bananas and sparkles floating in between the two layers, and a magnetic butterfly. She loved all her gifts, but the most interesting one was the bag it came in, of course! 

Sarah knew who they were, but she wasn't so sure of them at first. But within an hour or so they were playing with her and all was well. All it took was showing an interest in her stuffed animals and soon Bummpa had them all piled up on his lap. We all thought it would take longer than that. It just goes to show that you never know with kids!

On Thursday we went to the conservatory at Assiniboine Park. Sarah needed to run around and I needed to meet one of the people who works for me so she could sign her annual evaluation report.

Dale took Friday off from work and we went up to Lower Fort Garry. It was a beautiful day and Sarah ran around for a couple of hours without stopping. She had a great time going through all the buildings but she especially loved the cats who were wandering around outside. She followed them for at least 20 minutes.

Sarah enjoyed sitting on the little stool in the teepee.

A couple of artsy shots of the displays in the warehouse.

Dale, Sarah and a Red River cart.

We thought that Sarah would be tired from all the running that she did in the morning, but after our picnic lunch she was running around being chased by her Daddy again. There were a few school groups there having lunch as well and some of the Grade 5 girls were fascinated with Sarah. She even let one of the girls pick her up!

On Saturday we went to Fort Whyte in the morning and walked around the trails. Sarah always enjoys saying hello to the buffalo in the main building and this week she actually said the word! Dale and I went out to dinner that night with friends while Nana and Bummpa babysat. We had a huge thunderstorm that night and early Sunday morning. Surprisingly Sarah didn't wake up to either of them. 

On Sunday we went down to the Forks in the morning and out for dinner that night. While we were out to dinner at Boston Pizza Sarah got her first taste of wrestling on the TV and she really enjoyed it. She told us all about how the man 'fall down' (she didn't seem to notice the blood on the mat which is a good thing). She also enjoyed watching hockey as well. She really liked drinking milk with a straw from a cup. She liked it so much that she drank about twice what she normally does. 

On Monday morning Nana and Bummpa came to our last class of Kindermusik for the summer and then they left to drive home from there. Sarah is still (5 days after they left) asking for Bummpa as soon as she wakes up (sometimes she asks for Daddy). I think she really enjoyed their visit.

The week of 'stuck'

This week Sarah constantly said 'stuck'. Everything that wouldn't work the way she wanted it to was 'stuck'. The other popular word of the week was 'snack' except she pronounces it more like 'sack'. She's also mad about rocks right now which makes for some pretty slow walks around the neighbourhood -she stops to pick them all up and then she has to put them all back. She's also decided that a chicken is called a 'bok bok' and a rooster is a 'cocko'.

Sarah enjoys anything that involves fruit these days. She's not all that interested in veggies, unfortunately. Below is a picture of her berry crumble face and the grimace I get when I ask her to smile.

On Tuesday when Dale was talking to his Dad she got to talk to her 'Bummpa'. Much to everyone's surprise she said 'Bummpa' on the first try. She also pointed at the wall of family pictures in the family room and she told me which one was Bummpa. How's that for a memory! She hasn't seen him since Christmas.

Sarah loves working with megabloks. Her castle building skills are really starting to improve! Sarah and Dale do some building when he gets home from work most evenings during the week.

We saw our first hummingbird at our feeder in the backyard this week. It must be spring! This weekend instead of going camping like we used to, we organised and planted our backyard. On Wednesday I bought over $500 of perennials. While I was buying plants Sarah ran around and pulled some tags out of the plants (whoops!) and filled a watering can with rocks (a little less of an impact). She was filthy by the time I was done - dirt all over her face but the biggest smile ever. We washed up in the bathroom at the plant nursery before we left. On Friday night after Sarah was in bed, I did the planting. Wow. I bought too many plants, so luckily the nursery will take the extras back. That should help bring the cost down. I didn't plan to spend quite so much!

During the week Dale and I also moved dirt from the backyard raised beds to the front lawn to do some top dressing. We had extra dirt, so it seemed like a good thing to do.

On Saturday morning at around 8 I looked up from the breakfast table to see a bunny rabbit in my perennial bed. Horrors! I went haring (pun intended) into the backyard in my PJ's to investigate. We found about 8 baby bunnies in behind the shed. It was worse than we thought! We weren't going to be able to plant until we got some rabbit proof fencing up. So...the neighbour over the back (Mike) had some extra chicken wire left over from when he proofed his yard, so Dale set to work. What a picky and painful job, but he got it done and it appears to be working. Dale also went to the store and bought some supplies. Busy day for him! Sarah and I went to get groceries and played in the backyard with the ball. Not surprisingly, she didn't really want to play with the ball - she wanted to plant and water.

On Sunday we planted out the tomato seedlings into pots. Sarah was a big help as you can see from the pictures below. Apparently dirt tastes good - something every kid knows.

While Sarah napped, Dale and I planted the veggies bed with beans, peas, cucumbers along the back and carrots, hot peppers, leeks, borage (just for fun), green onions, sweet peppers, and strawberries. We're going to plant watermelons, but we're just waiting for them to sprout inside first. We planted out the lettuce and radishes as well in a separate bed. I planted nasturtiums, morning glory and calendula in beds along the patio so we'll get some flowers growing up as well. In the picture below the veggies are in the bed in the foreground and the perennials are in the background.

An artsy shot of the lilies that we planted.

Sarah disappeared in the afternoon after her snack for at least 1/2 an hour. I could hear her talking away in her room so I didn't disturb her. When she came out to the kitchen I went into her room to see what she'd been doing. She had her Navy bear and her monkey set up on the chair so they could read a Curious George book. It is certainly not lost on her that Curious George and her monkey are the same kind of animal.

On Monday, after two beautiful sunny days, it rained. Yuck. Oh well - we now have a garden that can benefit from some rain! Free water as far as we're concerned. So we went down to the Forks in the morning for an outing. Sarah was pretty sure she was going to wear her Daddy's shoes - not her own!

Below is a video of Sarah trying to put on her new crocs that we bought while we were at the Forks.

the week of 'peese'

Sarah continued to work on her words this week as well as her eyeteeth. They're all almost through but not quite. On Wednesday she said, 'book', 'bowl' and 'pooh' (as in bear). She's also gotten very good at saying 'please (pronounced 'peese') without prompting. Please has helped with the shrieking when she wants something. Now she points at it and then says please while she does the sign (rubs her chest) at the same time.

I had a nasty cold all week so we didn't do too much. Sarah and Dale haven't started with the cold yet and I'm crossing my fingers that they don't. I still have the remains of the cough. Yuck. 

On Saturday I went to the spa. Dale and Sarah bought me a spa package a couple of months ago but I couldn't get in until this weekend. What a great Mother's day present! Dale and Sarah went to the zoo and apparently they spent most of the time there on the slides - Sarah's new favourite thing to do. When I take her up to the park she runs straight past the swings to the slide - the higher the better as far as she's concerned. I bought a stool for the bathroom so Sarah can wash her own hands and a little seat for the toilet for her as well. She's showing some interest in what goes on in the toilet these days so we thought we'd get a seat to make her more comfortable. I found a Winnie the Pooh one, which she likes very much. 

When I got home from the spa, Sarah woke up from her nap and on the table was a bouquet of flowers and a homemade card with a piece of crumpled up paper inside. The extra piece of paper inside was especially from Sarah. For some reason she insisted that it had to be part of the package. Dale made dinner (salmon with a mole rub cooked on a cedar plank on the BBQ, salad and brown rice with berry crumble for dessert). Yummy!

On Sunday morning Dale went to get Sarah when she woke up (6:30...she's getting earlier!) and brought her up to our bed for a visit. She looked at me and said, 'hi, you'. A bit later in the conversation we thought she said 'bonk' because she hit her head, but no...she informed us that, 'I said book'. Her first phrase. We had pancakes and bacon (no bacon for Sarah, though!) for breakfast and while we finished breakfast Sarah did some stickering. We bought some static cling stickers from the dollar store and they're a big hit. It helps that they're Winnie the Pooh of course.

Once she was dressed for the day, Sarah showed off her newly found ability to rock in her rocking chair. When she's not rocking in it, the big white bear that we bought last week lives in it with a hat that was originally meant to be a warmer for the bottom of a casserole dish. It just goes to show that with a bit of imagination things can take on completely different jobs.

Then we went for a walk in Assiniboine Park. They've turned on the water fountain in the Leo Mol garden, which Sarah thought was pretty fun. The water lilies aren't out yet, though. When we got to the duck pond Sarah got very excited and pointed, 'ducks,' she said. When Sarah and I were at the duck pond a week ago she couldn't say 'duck,' but she remembered the place and could now say the word, so...she did!

After the park we went to the pool for Sarah's swimming lessons. Again she didn't want to do what the rest of the class was doing, but I was partly at fault. She kept looking at me instead of doing what the class was doing. Oops. I got some great pictures, though. 

the week of bye bye

It continued to be quite cool and windy this week so we didn't spend a lot of time outside.

Sarah learned to work one of her toys this week. It's one of those toys that has a bunch of balls inside and you can make them spin if you push down on the plunger on the top. Sarah can't operate it using her hands, so she found an innovative method - she sits on it.
  

Dale flew late two nights this week - Wednesday and Thursday - and Sarah missed him terribly. She kept wandering around saying,"Dada?" When I was doing the dishes after dinner on Wednesday she had to entertain herself, so she piled a bunch of her toys onto the couch and crawled up to hang out with them. She's getting louder and louder when she's playing - often she screeches and shrieks. When we tell her that she's too loud she shushes herself. It's pretty funny.

On Wednesday morning Sarah and I went to the gym. I got half way through my weights class when the sitter came to get me. Sarah had been crying on and off for 45 minutes and she just wasn't going to stop. We are now officially into separation anxiety. Great. She wasn't interested in being left at the daycare at the Military Family Resource Centre on Friday morning either. I sure hope this phase is short lived.

On Thursday night I had to work so we got a sitter in from the coop to bridge the time between when I had to leave and when Dale got home. Sarah met Sheri when she arrived and immediately went into shy mode so I put her to bed and then went to work. One of these days someone else is going to have to put her to bed but I'm not sure how we're going to get there.

Dale got some new uniform clothes this week, so Sarah tried on his toque...and played peekaboo.

On Saturday it was windy but sunny - nice when you're out of the wind. The Lindenwoods (our suburb) garage sale was on Saturday morning so Sarah and I took the wagon and went for a wander to see what we could see (and buy). I took $60 with me and we found a plastic picnic table for Sarah, the bear and chair in the picture below as well as some clothes and a few toys for Sarah. I got a hand grinder for tomatoes and apples, a pressure cooker and a box of canning jars.

  

Dale stayed at home and tried to sell a few things. He sold his old bike and almost sold my old sewing machine... He got all the yard work done in the front while he minded the store. Good concurrent activity! While Sarah slept in the afternoon Dale worked in the backyard and I transplanted a bunch of seedlings. I hope they're going to last in little pots inside for the next three weeks before we can plant them outside. 

We bought a new folding clothes dryer for outside this weekend as well.It's called the Wallfix and we bought it at Canadian Tire for about $150. Here's their website if you're interested. http://www.brabantia.com

Sarah has now mastered hello and bye bye. So much so that she says bye bye continually! She also started saying 'okay' (sounds like oak-ee), 'pickle', 'duck', 'stuck' and 'hat' this weekend. It's hard to keep up with all the new words that she's trying out!

Today I went to Chippawa for the Battle of the Atlantic ceremony and parade. It was -3 and snowing when I left home and we did the entire parade outside (about an hour) while it snowed. It was so cold that I lost all feeling in my hands and I was getting shooting pains up my arms. Good times. I warmed up again after a few hours.

Dale and Sarah went swimming. She apparently wasn't interested in following the class at all - just like last week. She always wants to do her own thing. After Sarah's 2 1/2 hour nap (she always sleeps a lot after swimming) we went for a quick trip down to MEC so Dale could spend his gift certificate from Gwyn and Tim on freeze dried food for his canoe trip with Scott this August. It's amazing what they're coming up with in freeze dried food these days...he's looking forward to the ice cream, I think. :o)