Month: April 2020

Because of COVID19, I have had Sierra in the house with me along with Ezra during my parental leave.  It wasn’t what I was expected but I suppose everyone says that about this situation!

But there have been some interesting moments and I feel that Sierra has started to bond a lot more with her brother compared to the evenings and weekends she was limited to before.  Sometimes when we leave them alone they end up playing together.  When I say playing, I mean that Sierra decides to take a ball from him, or grab him when he’s trying to crawl.  But there are other fun times where she plays peek-a-boo or shows him new toys and he laughs.  It’s pretty amazing to see a bond form between these jokers.

Sierra has developed quite an imagination over the past year, no doubt fueled by the adventures that her parents bring her on.  Whether it’s looking for pirates on our walk around the block, or jumping onto her parents bed which has magically transformed into a boat surrounded by shark infested waters, she revels in the land of imagination.  Perhaps not so coincidentally we have also noticed an increase in her lying to us about certain things like brushing her teeth or other things.  I sometimes wonder if the concept of lying is tied to a great imagination.  In theory, we encourage a world where things aren’t really there, but she is made to believe that they are so perhaps lying is the same time of game in her head?

When she likes to help out, she helps out well: she helps sweep the floor and pick up toys.  We were also noticing she was trying to figure out how to open the baby gate down the stairs so I decided I better show her in case she figures it out one day and leaves it open.  Unfortunately that experiment failed miserably as she proceeded to leave it open twice over a span of a week and was punished for it but continued to do so.  In the end, she currently has to ask one of us to open the gate from now on.  As some wise man said in relation to his grandchildren getting in harms way…”Not on my watch!”

Sierra is transitioning from nap times to quiet times.  If she is being nice, then we offer her the choice.  If she’s being mean, then it’s nap time.  We have also noticed that she herself decides to go for a nap during quiet time.  Why not, if that’s what your body is asking for?  Quiet time has been a hit or miss.  One time I came into the room and she had marker all over her hands and feet and then she mentioned something about drawing on the floor!

A typical COVID19 day for her has transitioned to waking up and going downstairs to watch TV.  As I type this she is excited to watch Thundercats ROAR which is a new Thundercats parody cartoon which is quite funny.  It’s really neat to see her interested in things I have interest in.  I also saw her with all my boxed Thundercats toys out on the coffee table.  Part of me gasped, the other part of me thought “Well, why not?  She likes these toys.”

All in all, there are frustrating days with her where she leaves little things on the floor for Ezra to get a hold of, and then there are great days where she helps take care of her brother.  Probably pretty average for a soon-to-be four year old.

Sierra helping me take down the Christmas lights.  I refuse to take them off if there is still a foot of snow on the ground.

I spied outside the patio door to find this daredevil around the outer edge of the deck!

It’s still spring which means that there are some sunny days that still require being wrapped in a blanket on the front porch.

Sierra doing some repairs on the handrail down the stairs.

There’s not many opportunities in the house to play drums considering someone is usually sleeping!

Wow, it’s really strange to see this video from April Fool’s Day.  I will still working!  As I type this it’s already been a month I have been on parental leave with the two kids so it’s seems like a lifetime ago that I had the laptop set up on the kitchen table.

Sierra came back from a walk and noticed that someone had put some fishies on our window for April Fool’s Day!  I believe I witnessed two little friends on bicycles put these on the window.

While I work from home, I also take some time out of my day to teach the future labour force of Canada how to type.  I showed her a picture of my pal Mr. Clive and showed her how to talk with him online.  He was nice enough to reply with some emoticons like smiley faces.  She was quite excited whenever my colleagues would write back after she typed her name.  She’s getting pretty good at typing her name…Vero said she even typed it on her own the other day!

Poisson d’avril!

Enjoying the swing set

Doing some repairs to the tricycle

Taking in the sights of Vars from the top of the rock

Here’s Sierra helping Maman make muffins

Sierra stumbled on a DVD of Lavaleville and I told her that Maman was on it!  She was quite excited to see Maman in a ‘movie’.  I ended up digitizing this and putting it up on Youtube if anyone is interested in seeing Vero in a play.

Muffins are fun!

This year we couldn’t go to any sugar shacks but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy some crepes and maple syrup!

The end of an easter egg hunt

We were quite fortunate that the Easter bunny came to visit our house this year during COVID19.  Turns out he’s an essential worker!

There was a birthday that was celebrated in our neighbourhood so a bunch of a cars lined up for a parade.  You can’t see it but Sierra has a kazoo playing in the backseat.

Getting some lessons on how to play Rain Rain Go Away

I can’t remember if this photo was before or after she complaining of getting water inside her boots!

She was definitely complaining after this puddle!

A rare quiet moment

We had a silly walk competition

Not sure if she will make it far on this ride

Two minutes later, she has to bring it back because it’s too hard.  I knew it!

Thanks to Uncle Rob and Aunt Jan there is some more music in the house

I have to get my weight training in somehow!

I have found a new card playing buddy!

Hanging out

Pyjama song and dance

Blowing bubbles has kept us all sane around here

I’m glad we have a kid who insists on doing some work around the yard!

Sierra’s Kraft Dinner song!

Sierra doing some fishing

 

 

 

More than ever, I am seeing a lot of chatter on Facebook about how we should ‘buy Canadian’ and ‘support Canadian companies’.

That’s a fantastic idea and for those who post these types of messages on their Facebook feed, I ask you to put your money (literally!) where your mouth is!

Let’s take a look at the gas stations around me.  I have the choice of Esso, Ultramar and MacEwen.  I always go to Ultramar because a) it has the cheaper gas compared to Esso and b) it has more pumps.

There’s a really neat website out there called Made in Canada which has a database tracking products that are Canadian.  It also does its best to show you what does that really mean…is it controlled by a Canadian company, is it foreign controlled but manufactures the product in Canada, etc.

Lo and behold, it turns out that the MacEwen right next to the Ultramar is actually the Canadian owned company!  So I suppose that I should drive the extra 20 metres and go wait for a pump to open at the MacEwen so I can support a Canadian company who also seems to purchase their gas from Canadian refineries.

In my case, I believe the price between the Ultramar and the MacEwen are the same so it is a no brainer.  I shall go to MacEwen from now on.

But if you are driving by a Canadian owned gas station one day and they have more expensive gas compared to the American owned gas station across the street, put your money where your mouth is and support Canada even if you end up spending an extra buck when filling up a tank of gas.

For the folks up in Kapuskasing wondering which gas station they should go to in order to support Canada, that’s a little more research.

Shell is a British-Dutch owned company.

Flying J seems to be an American owned company.

Is that itÉ. Also, why is my keyboard stuck in the French mode and not giving me questions marksÉ. This is frustrating!

I suppose someone in Kap can do the next round of research and figure out if these companies obtain their gasoline from Canadian refineries or not.  Until then, have fun supporting Canada!

• 4 cups water
• 56 ounce can crushed fire roasted tomatoes (or best quality crushed tomatoes)*
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 4 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 cups baby spinach leaves, tightly packed (or chopped spinach)
• 16 fresh basil leaves
• 16 ounces spaghetti
• 1 can of mushroom (your choice of size)
• 1 can of lentils (your choice of size)

Instant Pot Spaghetti

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the water, tomatoes and their juices, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, oregano, kosher salt, spinach, and whole basil leaves.
2. Ladle just enough of the tomato mixture into the Instant Pot to cover the bottom.
3. Break the spaghetti noodles in half. Working in batches, add the noodles to the Instant Pot in a fan shape so that they stack on each other, making as much space between the noodles as possible (if the noodles are directly next to each other they clump up — it doesn’t have to be perfect, just try to fan them out to make space).
4. Pour remaining sauce over the spaghetti.
5. Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes: Press the Pressure Cook button, making sure the “High Pressure” setting is selected, and set the time. Note that it takes about 10 minutes for the pot to “preheat” and come up to pressure before it starts cooking. (During cooking, avoid touching the metal part of the lid.)
6. Quick release: Vent the remaining steam from the Instant Pot by moving the pressure release handle to “Venting”, covering your hand with a towel or hot pad. Never put your hands or face near the vent when releasing steam. Open the pressure cooker lid.
7. Open the lid and stir, removing any clumps. Then remove the pot from the Instant Pot and allow to cool for 3 to 5 minutes for the sauce to thicken slightly. The sauce will thicken even more as it cools. Ladle into bowls and serve.

Note that this recipe makes a lot for leftovers.

The second time we made this recipe we added the spinach, a can of mushrooms and lentils.  It was great!  This concoction is very large in the pot.  Maybe next time I make it I should fan out some spaghetti, put some sauce, fan out more, put some sauce, etc.

My parental leave started yesterday when Vero went back to work.  So far she is able to work from home which is great!  I have Sierra and Ezra to take care of when she’s working so it’s a handful.  Not going to lie, I have been looking forward to nap time in the afternoons.

Here’s some important lessons I’ve learned so far:

• When the baby is screaming at you when you’re putting on his coat, it’s probably because his finger is caught and is so far backwards on his hand that it looks like it’s broken.
• When putting a baby into your backpack, do try and remember to attach the straps over his shoulders.
• After a hearty meal of kidney beans, asparagus and formula, don’t try and start to do bench presses using the baby because you will most definitely get vomit directly in your eye and all over your shirt.

I had these grand aspirations to update the blog on a weekly basis considering we are practising social distancing due to COVID19 but once again, a monthly update just seems to work better for me.

As I write this, I have just begun my parental leave for four months.  We are in a transition period where Vero hasn’t started back at her job yet and I am off of mine.  We don’t really know what Vero is getting herself into…rumour has it that she will either work from home or have to report to work a few times a week to help with filming during COVID19.  We shall see what happens.

If the first week was a shock to the system, we found that the following three weeks were easier to get into a routine.  Sierra has put a large dent into Disney+ in the mornings while I logged onto the network!  She enjoys a good mix of the old and new movies from Disney.  Currently she is liking Onward, The Jungle Book and Peter Pan.

Parental leave is definitely going to be different than I envisioned (but all our lives are!) and I will have Sierra for awhile longer as I’m not sure when the daycares will open.

Ezra himself is turning into a fine young man and in the past week he has learned how to crawl!  There were a few times where we grabbed the video camera to film him crawl only to have one knee forward and then he falls over.  But by April 10th he was motoring around at a good clip!  This is a whole new world to him and to us!  We have to get around to baby-proofing other things in the house now!  I think it will be an exercise in patience to live with Sierra and Ezra at the same time.  For example, I put Ezra into the playpen and only noticed afterwards that Sierra had decided to give him some non baby-friendly items to play with!  We will have to be vigilant in keeping an eye out for things that can hurt him.

With a week to go to my parental leave Ezra decided to be nice to me and sleep entire nights!  Vero was NOT impressed.  🙂  It seems that in the past week we can get him to go to sleep around 7:30-8:00 and he will wake up after 3-6 hours of sleep for feeding and then be fine for the rest of the night.  Vero did witness him sleep an entire night one time but that hasn’t happened again but surely it will!  It’s an exciting transition period for us.  Vero commented “We have our evenings back!!” when we realized that both kids were in bed at the same time.  Actually, they both seem to align their afternoon naps as well which is fine with us.  As Mom said to me years ago “It gets easier every day.”  I can’t believe this smiling crawling human being was a screaming mess four months ago!

This is definitely the period of parenting in which I care the least for…he is not happy in a jolly jumper or in the circle of neglect (aka the exersaucer).  He has found freedom which means motoring around the house which means we have to chase him all the time!

Sierra is pretty good at feeding Ezra

He was loving playing with this piano.  I had to take it away because I looked over one time as he was screaming and the thing had toppled onto him

I love how he remained sleeping after I came back from a walk!

Comfy seat.  I believe this may have been the first weekend of ‘social distancing in our backyard’.  For history: social distancing is trying to keep 2 meters away from others (this does not include family members of course).

Taking some sunshine in

Bahaha!  This photo is t-shirt worthy.  I always crack up when I see this one.

Ty and Dana put on a show on St. Patrick’s Day over video chat so Ezra wanted to dance

Sierra definitely likes holding Ezra these days

Even Fredo gets in the family photos once in awhile!

Nice walk in the Larose Forest before they closed the trails for the spring thaw

Godzilla coming in to destroy some blocks

I wanted to go for a walk one afternoon.  Here was Minute 1 of the walk.

Here was Minute 10 of the walk!  We had walked into a blizzard!  I’ll take snow over rain any day.

Vero went into town so we put a poll up on Facebook to determine which mask she should wear.  She ended up going with the black face mask.  I’m not sure why she didn’t take the Trooper helmet.

Playing hide and seek with Sierra

Mini-Mozart

This gives us a few minutes reprieve when we need it

We take a lot more walks these days

If he only knew how close he was to figuring out how to crawl!

Maman and Ezra

I wanted to go on the elliptical so I decided to see how he would enjoy it.  He definitely bobbed around but I think he was enjoying it

Two bottom teeth appeared out of nowhere!

If he could only figure out how to continue onwards!

“Hey ladies.”

He really enjoyed wearing my cap!

Poisson d’avril!

Bedsheets are always a kid’s best friend!

There was a birthday in the neighbourhood and I saw on Facebook that this root bear will come and visit during COVID19!

I predict this will be my future for the entire summer

Peek-a-boo deluxe

I saw this guy out near the swing set one morning!

Posing for a photo

It’s so nice out that we can eat outside once in awhile!  This is the perfect time of year…the sun is shining and THERE ARE NO BUGS!  This was taken with my new Iphone 11.  It was pretty great with its portrait mode.

The portrait mode uses software to figure out what to keep in focus and what not to keep in focus.  If you look closely Vero’s face is a little out of focus because it didn’t realize she was an object to keep in focus.

Airplane rides!

Vero had the smart idea of putting his swing on the actual swing set instead of the tree branch

I had a good laugh when I saw this bingo game!