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Sierra’s 24th Month

Vocabulary so far:

-Maman

-Da (Dad)

-Yaya (Sierra)

-More

-Mine

-L’eau

-Main

-Ba (Balle)

-Bain

-Pac (Parc)

-Tedo (Teodore)

-Bas

-Pas (Non ou “je ne sais pas”)

-Dodo = auto

-Nana (suce)

-DooDoo = ChooChoo = the train every time it passes in Vars

Sierra is loving, loving LOVING the summer that has arrived here.  She is fairly patient when we put bug spray or sunscreen on her.  I think she knows it means she’s going outside so she doesn’t put up too much of a fuss.

Speaking of putting up a fuss, it’s like the world has ended whenever we need to bring her inside, much like every other kid in the world.

I am quite excited that we finally picked up a bike trailer to roll her around in.  It’s a two seater so it’s great for her and a cooler of beer if need be.  So far we have gone out a few times around the neighbourhood.  I don’t want to go too far down the road in case she doesn’t like long distances.  I don’t think she likes her helmet though.

This was taken immediately after a spaghetti supper where I proceeded to be staring at Sierra’s sitting on a chair (generally we bring one that straps in but thought she might be able to handle a real chair) and then watched as she fell onto the floor headfirst.  Ouch!  I was not impressed with my parenting ability that night.  She seemed to be running around well but we woke her up every once in awhile that night to make sure she didn’t have a concussion.

She was loving the car that they had at the playground at the school.

We were invited over to Mike and Angele’s house for a BBQ.  It’s quite amazing to be going to some events in the neighbourhood.  No need for a car, just a stroller and a cooler of beer!  Here’s Vero having fun with the trampoline.

Sierra sure loves her yogurt.

Sierra sure loved this baseball game!

Good times at the drawing table

I went to the Bon Jovi concert with my friend Marie-Annik and some of her friends.  It was a wild night hanging out in Kanata before the show and the drive over there.  But let me tell you…Bon Jovi just can’t sing anymore.  It’s…really bad.  I don’t think I’ll be going to see him again anytime soon.

Even though Jon Bon doesn’t have the voice he used to have, they still put on a decent show. 

Talk about a blast from the past!  Back in 2003 I was helping run a youth e-consultation/advisory board at work for the youth.gc.ca website.  The group was called the Canadian Youth Connection and each month, in return for youth giving us answers to various questions we sent them, we would send out 10-20 prizes to random youth and wait and see their reactions.  I definitely remember the reactions of people saying “I picked up a parcel and it was a director’s chair!  Awesome!”  I found this director’s chair in the hallway at work a few weeks back and it brought back some great memories of working on that project.

My regular walking partner was in Mexico for a week so I recruited my friend Marijo to try and find the longest route we could within the building (it was raining outside).  I have to say we were both surprised at how far you could get using hallways…we ended up in a hotel a few blocks away!

Fun times with Maman.

This is the moment I dread the most when weekends hit…the moment when Maman brings out the berries for Sierra to eat.

Marie-Claude and Jean-Francois moved to a house in Wendover.  It was quite the day of moving boxes but I’m glad we got it done in one day (or at least I did.  Maybe they had to return for a few items).

There was a windstorm all across Southern Ontario (one where it blew off a portion of the shingles on Troy’s roof!) and this is the result in the park!  Luckily we only lost two shingles in the process.

We got to babysit Maelle one evening which is always entertaining because she shows us her latest gymnastic moves. 

The month of May is really nice for campfires as it’s warm during the day and cool at night.  I’m pretty sure we scared Maelle pretty good with our ghost stories.  I have to remember that she’s only six years old the next time and refrain from talking about killer clowns.

We went to a chip stand in Embrun for Mother’s Day.  It was actually a really good setup…small tables for little people like Sierra, some bathrooms and some great poutine!  I would highly recommend it.  If only I could remember the name! It’s the one on the way to Mike and Melanie’s if that helps?

Niam niam.

When Grand-Papa comes to visit, it’s play time!

We had an early birthday cake for Sierra while Grand-Maman and Grand-Papa were here before their trip to Spain.  In posting this, I just realized she had the same exact reaction on her birthday.  Maybe she thinks the candles are too bright?

Big fun times with big boxes

Ah, the joys of unwrapping a box larger than yourself

Sierra showing everyone how sliding works

I would like to think she looks this excited during the bicycle ride as well!  I’m not too sure about that considering I hear her yell out “Maman!” all the time and she tries to take her helmet off.

I have to say that this Schwinn trailer is quite amazing.  I don’t even feel any drag behind me on the bicycle.

Hanging (or is that smothering) Dad.

Sierra was not a happy camper that we had to go to Embrun to drop the car off at the garage.  Luckily Dong Seng was with us and we gave her a fortune cookie!

Etienne insisted we had a beer along with our caesar.  I can’t say it was a bad idea.  Sidenote:  the poutine at Pele Mele is fantastic.

Hot Maman heading out on the town!

 

 

 

 

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Sierra’s Second Birthday Party

The weather was predicting bouts of rain on a Sunday morning and we feared the thought of a lot of kids running around inside the house going stir-crazy.  But the Gods of Rain held off for a day and all was not lost!

We decided to have a brunch from 10am-1pm.  1pm is generally Sierra’s nap time so we figured it would time nicely.  As you can see, the kids were making good use of the coffee table.

I swear this breakfast looks like a pirate.  The pancake pirate patch is a nice touch. 

Vero helping out Sierra with blowing out the candles.  It is still a foreign concept to her.

When rain is in the forecast, load up some Super Mario Bros.

So here’s the thing I didn’t realize about kid’s birthday parties.  When gifts come out, it’s like zombies going after a brain…utter chaos.  I’m not even sure Sierra is actually in this photo.  I’m not even sure if she got to open up an actual gift.  I think the entire event was a little overwhelming for her!

Oh there she is!  Still looking a little overwhelmed at all these gifts being given to her.

The aftermath

Marie-Claude demonstrating a very important skill that all kids need to learn.

I’m not even sure what Felix is playing with here?  Is that a fishing rod?

Trying out the new lawnmower.

Poor Sierra was handling the crowd of people too well so she escaped with Mom outside quite a bit.

After everyone left and Sierra had a nap, we spent some time outside learning the art of blowing bubbles.  Rob and Janice gave us Jenna’s old picnic table which is a great new addition to the deck!

We also tried out this water tower that Grand-Papa and Grand-Maman picked up for her birthday.  I couldn’t stop laughing at how most of the water ended up on Sierra and not on the toy.  How did I not foresee that happening?

So on Friday, I had a few tasks to do and one of them was to pick up a helium balloon.  I went to the Dollar Store at work here but I didn’t plan out the rest of the day an I realized I was heading out for a few pints after work with the team so I had to bring the balloon to the pub!  At least I didn’t lose it!

But by Sunday the balloon lost it’s steam and I had to recruit Marty and Vero to pick up another one on their way over!  But in the end, Sierra was scared of the helium balloon!  What are the odds?  It wasn’t until after everyone left that she was interesting in this thing and started having fun with it.

Having everyone over was fun as always but I have to say that I think we made a parenting mistake in having a large amount of people over for her birthday.  She’s always very shy when anyone comes into the house and it takes awhile for her to warm up to someone.  Multiply that by 30 humans coming in and I think it was a little too much for her and she was hanging around Mom for the first two hours until she grew accustomed to the new norm.  Ah well, we’re new to this parenting thing, how were we supposed to know?  I’m sure there will be no long lasting effects *insert ominous music here.*