I don’t know about you, but spring is in the air around Ottawa. It’s quite rare that we have consistent above zero temperatures near the end of February. Perhaps we’ll be out on the bicycle by mid-March!
Sierra is loving life outside and enjoys going on the slide as much as she can. I think it upsets her when we do arrive from the daycare and we go straight indoors because it’s too dark/cold outside. But for the past week it’s been neither so we get to have some fun outside with her for a few minutes before heading inside.
Speaking of having fun outside, I have to say the hot tub has been getting some good use in the past month. I have to say that I don’t really care to venture out in -20 degrees unless a friend is with me goading me on. But when it gets to -5, no problem convincing me to sit in the tub and stare at the moon!
The daycare that we drop Sierra off to has someone come in to give little notes on how Sierra is doing. Today’s note said something like “She likes to play independently, but also tries to have fun with the other kids as well.” I noticed the same thing when we were at a birthday party last week. She likes keeping to herself and playing with some toys. Granted, it all comes down to the age factor as well…the kids at the daycare are at least a year older so they are able to run around a lot easily. But it does gives us a glimpse into what sort of person she will be.
At this point, we don’t think she has any allergies at all which is completely different than a year ago. We are very happy with everything we have tried in the past month. She even ate some peppers and didn’t react at all. We do notice a little rash that appears on her legs and little feet from time to time so we’ll have to keep an eye on it. Perhaps it’s a form of eczema.
She babbles a lot more these days and it almost seems like she is forming sentences of non-sensical words. She does has a few key words for items: Aye is yes. Na na is her soother. Maman is pretty well everyone she sees! It’s funny…she knows I am Dad, but she doesn’t call me that at all. I wonder where kids pick up different words for items?
She has always loved to hear music and starts bopping around in her carseat when a good tune comes on the radio. I’m starting to now get her to choose the album to listen to. I typically show her the Arcade Fire ‘Everything Now’ album and she says “Aye!”. She really the tunes Everything Now and Put Your Money on Me.
We bought a new sleigh off of Kijiji. Turns out that it was our neighbour selling it! We are enjoying it so far but unfortunately the back runner cracked when Sierra fell off so I’ll have to see if that’s salvageable at this point. I have to say it’s getting impossible to bring her for a walk on the street with this thing considering the lack of snow! Luckily we have trails near us.
Vero and Sierra going for a lap around the track we snowblew in the backyard.
Was I telling you all about my new parka? It is the cats meow but near of February, it’s impossible to wear outside without sweating off 20 pounds!
Oncle Claude and Aunt Mary dropped by for a visit and Oncle Claude taught Sierra a new way to be entertained.
While it takes Sierra a few minutes to warm up to people visiting, she hit it off instantly with Aunt Mary!
We thought it was hilarious that she wanted to wear the scarf like this for her ride.
The learning tower is in good use each night around suppertime. Here Sierra is helping out Maman with some muffins.
We thought this was a hilarious sign on the bus.
Mom and Dad came down for a visit for a few days to help finish off the suspended ceiling in the bathroom. Surprisingly the renovation went off without any major complications! We must be finally learning. This is a photo of us enjoying a spaghetti supper at the Vars school. Sierra sure loved her spaghetti but Dad and I had to scoop up a whole bunch that she had left on the floor!
Mom and Dad made this table set for Sierra. Here’s Dad and Sierra building some puzzles. Sierra is pretty good at them…you can ask her to find the cat and she’ll find the pieces and put them together.
This photo reminds me of Vero and her friend Vero.
Vero and Mom took Sierra over to the Vars carnival while Dad and I worked on the bathroom. It was a pretty cold day so there weren’t too many people around. All the more room for Sierra to play!
Sierra sure loves the swingset.
Grandma taking Sierra for a ride.
Sierra practicing for the inverted Skeleton competition for the Olympics.
We just happened to be downtown during Winterlude so we walked around and enjoyed the balmy weather.
It was a great day to check out the ice sculptures because it was during the middle of the week so there weren’t many people around.
I thought this was a neat use of lost mittens.
I love going to check out the ice sculptures each year. It’s pretty incredible what they can accomplish!
Check out the beer glass Mom and I found at Michael’s!
Not to be outdone by Mom’s future Christmas gift!
Mom and Dad made us a Newfie ugly stick! Supposedly if you go and listen to some music in a pub in Newfoundland, chances are, you can find a few of these lying around that you can use to make some noise. Pretty neat idea!
A smiling competition.
Yes, this was the best picture out of the forty that we took.
Hey, you come to this website to get some life tips once in awhile…here’s one for you. If your Mom makes you some slippers that need to be thrown into the washing machine and then into the dryer….have her actually read the instruction instead of suggesting that we just boil them for awhile and stink up the entire house!
Etienne and I checking out a new path around the Ottawa river at lunchtime.
Once in awhile we have a bee show up in the house that we just can’t seem to get rid of! At least Sierra seems to enjoy its company.
Sierra going to town on this chime xylophone.
Mike and Melanie were nice enough to invite us over one Saturday afternoon for a campfire. Maxime and Sierra had some good times out in the snow. I managed to really bang up my knee that day when jumping into the snow…Ottawa has this wicked type of weather which leaves layers of ice in the snow. So basically when I jumped in, it felt like my knee hit an ice rink. It’s still oddly sore a month later when I kneel down. I guess it’s just repairing itself?
Kids having fun.
I’m not entirely sure how Mike managed to position himself like this in the snowbank but it looked hella comfortable!
Sierra telling Vero and Melanie a story.
Max and Sierra were enjoying the wagon ride.
Time to start using a fork kid!
It’s rare that we manage to snap a photo of each other!
Sierra had a great day at daycare for Valentine’s Day.
Probably the first time we ever gave Sierra a candy. She seemed to like it! Num num!
I now have competition for the St Hubert sauce that Vero decides not to finish eating.
Sierra helping us put up safety straps on the dressers. She really loves working with tools and understanding how they work.
Sierra and I enjoying a drink after a hard day of work.
I have no idea why she does this, but I find it hilarious that Sierra is mesmerized with these plates that appear in department store floors! She always stops for awhile to investigate them.
The long walk home.
My colleague Yoon asked me the other day “Can we bring our kid into work on Monday?” “No, why?” “Because it’s family day and the daycare is closed!” Vero and I didn’t even clue into this considering public servants in Ottawa don’t get family day off! Luckily I was able to take it off. Sierra and I started the morning off taking a walk in the woods which was quite the trek considering we had to blaze a trail ourselves! She’s also getting to the limit of what this backpack carrier can handle. I had a good laugh when I noticed she was licking my jacket.
After having a nap in the afternoon, we sat down and played with the play dough that Grandma had made us. Still as salty as a I remember!
Mark the date and time. Sierra now really likes TV. Specifically, she loves watching Full House.
We went for a birthday breakfast for Jona’s fourth birthday. Man, that kid got a lot of awesome toys I want to play with. Unfortunately for him, he burnt his fingers on one of those candles that sparkle. You know how it has that piece of steel near the bottom? Yep, he went for it. While everyone felt bad at the time, I managed to get it on video and we are going to look back and think how awesome it is that we captured that moment. Hey, it’s like the old saying goes…it’s not a party until someone burns their flesh!
You can’t go for a walk in Vars without stopping at the swing set.
Seriously, how awesome is this photo that Vero snapped?!
I managed to go downtown to see The Dears at Club 27 (home of the old Zaphod’s). No Mistakes in Space (killer name!) opened and they were quite great! The Dears, of course, did not disappoint. It’s cool to see them in play in a small club like this…they last played at the National Arts Center so I had no idea if they would stick to that size of venue or not. I went there alone but stumbled into Evan and Erica along with Erica’s parents so that was a welcome surprise. The show was great, the crowd was great, everyone was having a great time. I especially enjoyed how there is really no backstage so they band has to weave through the crowd to climb onto the stage!
Another grand event in my fortieth year! I finally managed to go to Di Rienzo’s for a sandwich! Let me tell you…it was immense. I could only eat half of it. I couldn’t comprehend how much meat they put on this thing for $7! It was a great eat and great value, but I have to say I like the bread selection more at La P’tite Epicerie down the street for my work. But that’s not to say that Di Rienzo’s is bad. I would go back any day! It’s a sandwich institution!
Even though it’s not the most in focus photo, it’s the one with the most spirit!