buses, trains, and water-buses (repeat)

No trip to visit Popo and Grampa would be complete without a jaunt into Vancouver via bus and train. And then, for good measure, another short bus ride, and a water-bus ride across False Creek. My boy gets spoiled.  :)  In between, we visited a kids marketplace on Granville Island, filled with toy shops and children's clothing, poked our heads around some clothing and pottery shops, chased pigeons, and had lunch in the market. Fried fish =  yum.  We also happened upon a very old steam engine, from 1887, an outpost of the Canada Heritage Railway museum, and climbed aboard to ring the bell.

 

Roaring like a lion at the pigeons

In the toy store, Grandpa tried to interest Liesl in various stuffed animals and dogs, but she kept returning to this one dog, a pink-jacketed chihuahua.  She could not be dissuaded, and Bompy is a softie, and so he bought it for her. We've named it Lucky, and it's lucky indeed.

bike rack, aka climbing gym

salmon fish and chips for lunch

Seb getting to steer the water-bus.

Liesl's baby Poppy

Popo made a new party dress for Liesl's baby doll - the baby came from aunt Mary at Christmas, and has been named Poppy. We have a beautiful stroller for it (a Graco jogging stroller) from Grandma Raab, and a lovely outfit of green and pink pants and jumper from Great-aunt Adele's Christmas money.  Lucky Poppy. Liesl loves her baby.  (She also loves her lamb, which she calls Lambie, and which she refers to, strangely, as "my sister".)

visiting Popo and Bompy

We drove up yesterday morning from Portland to Surrey, BC, to visit mom and dad Avery (Popo and Bompy to my children). Seattle was a trafficky mess - bumper to bumper traffic going 10 miles an hour on a Sunday afternoon - but otherwise the drive was easy. The kids did really well, reading books, singing songs, eating snacks, looking at trucks and horses, lifting their feet over bridges, and napping. It took us about five hours, with one stop for gas, coffee, and restrooms.

We immediately went to the playground to burn off some energy, and then had some of mom's delicious food - roast pork loin, rice, squash, zucchini, Chinese greens. Aunt Dianna and uncle Rick joined us for dinner, and Seb played mousey mousey with Dianna, to his great glee.

Today we went for a long walk at Campbell River park, through a forest, along a river, and across a boardwalk that went through a marsh. There were lots of ducks and wrens in the area and we fed them birdseed. You could hold out your hand and the birds would alight on you briefly to eat the nuts and seeds. Sebastian was fascinated and very patiently held out his hand for the birds, hoping one would land on him - after a long time, one did come, which made him really happy.

There is a construction site next door to Popo and Bompy's house, with an enormous crane lifting lumber, lots of men working, and a big condo unit structure going up. Seb and dad have been watching out the window for long stretches of time, talking about what's going on. So for writer's workshop today, Seb made a drawing of the site. There's the crane, a forklift with operator, the three separate building units, and best of all, arrows showing how the chain of the crane is moving through space from one place to another.

Writer's workshop

During his stint in kindergarten, Sebastian had 'readers workshop' and 'writers workshop', opportunities to read books to himself and to draw and illustrate his own stories. Writers workshop was a real struggle - he didn't like to draw, didn't feel confident or comfortable at it, often took so long to get started that he was unable to finish, and in general just didn't seem to be getting as much out of it as he could have. Since early January, though, we have instituted our own writers workshop after lunchtime a few days a week, and he's made some really great strides in his conceptual approach to writing and drawing. Just in the last six weeks he's gone from mostly abstract squiggles and lines, to actually attempting to color within the lines and make designs in coloring books, to illustrating his own stories and experiences. It's been fantastic to watch.

coloring in the train, with attention to details

crazy striped cars

I love this pirate ship

It's me! :)

Red Mac, a truck from the Cars movie

the Max train and the local shuttle bus and the 20 bus

scenes from Harold and the Purple Crayon - the apple tree

Harold in the balloon, with moon

zoo, with giant turtle

a painting for Daddy - playing soccer together, and a setting sun

Sebastian and me, with flowers, sun, and blue sky. :)

Daddy and a cart full of luggage

trail off Burnside up into Washington Park - many steps, and we did indeed get higher than the six story apartment building on Burnside.  20 bus running alongside.

apple tree for mama, birds in the sky

Giraffe, and the 20 bus

Red Mac, with Lightning inside the truck

endearments

I liberally sprinkle endearments on my children - honey, sweetpea, lovie, cutie-pie, pumpkin - and lately they have been returning the favor.  Sebastian has started saying "Don't cry, my sweet potato," when I get frustrated or upset.  (It's a line from a book we have about Oliver and Amanda, pig siblings.)  And Liesl will say, "I'm coming, honey!" when I call for her. It's so adorable, and cracks me up.

Valentine's crafts

We spent yesterday afternoon making some heart banners for Valentine's day decorations. I got the idea* from Kiwi Crate Studios online and it worked out really well - the kids both had fun cutting, gluing, sticking, and glittering the hearts, and the banners look bright and cheery in our dining room windows.

(I should mention I'm the least crafty of people - disliked art class in elementary school, still cannot draw, and rarely have any spontaneous ideas for arts and crafts projects. :)  But I'm trying!  I love online sources of ideas, though - I need other people's imaginations and advice.)

A lot of parenthood feels very natural to me - I love to read, cuddle, and play outside.  I don't feel conflicted about my role as a teacher and disciplinarian, and cooking for my family is often a source of joy and pleasure. I love knowing that I'm feeding them good food, and I love watching them eat my meals and baked treats.  But there are moments when I feel very much like I'm pretending - pretending to be a mom, pretending I know what I'm doing, acting out a role that I don't fully inhabit. That's definitely how I felt yesterday - there we were, happily doing an arts project in the afternoon, a pot of black beans and a pot of rice bubbling on the stove, and I thought, "Huh. wow. I'm kind of like a stay at home mom. This is crazy!! I can't believe this is where I am and what I'm doing, and really, are hearts and glitter glue all that I've got? Is this really me, doing arts and crafts?"  But then I calmed down and reflected, and really, I'm really very happy right now with this situation. The children are happy and more relaxed, our home and assorted to-do lists are in better shape, we're eating better than we ever have because I have time to make everything, and Steve is feeling healthier than he has for years.  And I love our days together.  But making things is never going to be my area of strength, which is totally fine, and I think I'll continue to feel like I'm faking it when I do get a good project going.

hiking the Wildwood trail, with our trusty sticks

popcorn happiness

eating her burrito (took two hands! and a number of re-wrappings)

Too bright!!

In a sign that my children are already growing moss and becoming Portlanders, they both complained about the sunshine yesterday afternoon.  As in, "It's too bright! It's in my eyes! Don't like it!"  They're never going to be able to live in Arizona.  :)

the weather

It's late January/early February, and my children are playing outside. It's sunny, and warm enough (mid-50s) that they don't need jackets. Tell me again: why do so many people complain about Portland winters? Last I checked, it was 28 degrees and snowing in New York. And I'll bet if I checked the other places I've lived: Edmonton, Amherst, Stockholm, Beidaihe - it'd be even colder.

Gorgeous day here - breakfast at Petite Provence, hiking and playing at Mt. Tabor, farmers market, outdoor play this afternoon (biking, playing catch and soccer, playground, chalking).