Is it odd that I’m writing this on January 28th and Sierra still has three gifts she hasn’t opened? They just sit there on her table waiting to be opened. Something tells me next year she doesn’t need a lot of gifts?
We had the week of Christmas off with Sierra so it was full of fun activities (aka things to tire her out in the morning so she sleeps all afternoon!).
She has also been getting the hang of potty training this past month. I didn’t realize potty training translates directly to ‘the ultimate test of patience of a parent’. Some days I’m thinking she’s getting the hang of it and then other days I’m looking at how many times she has peed in her pants and thinking “Maybe I should try when she’s five years old?” She does know her routine though…pee, wipe, put everything in the toilet, flush, wash hands, collect a sticker and put it on your sticker board. I love how she generally picks the smallest sticker and then proceeds to put the sticker on top (or quite close) to the sticker she put on earlier.
Can I say that Sierra is much like her Grandmother and really loves puzzles? This is our go-to activity these days and it’s quite fun to watch her brain in operation. Every time we approach the same puzzle, it’s a different way of going about it. I’ve been trying to teach her the concept of making the border first but I feel that she’s finding it easier to just start with an object (let’s say a dragon’s face) and find another piece with a dragon’s face to connect it to. A few days ago I brought out a huge 36 piece monster of a puzzle which blew her mind but she’s really enjoying it and it’s an adventure each time she does it. I think the interesting thing about puzzles is that they get progressively harder no matter what age you are. 1,000 piece puzzle? No problem!
I figure I should write a little about her routine so it doesn’t get lost in the history books. I’ll write about a day in the weekend.
Typically on a weekend, one of us wakes up with her and she turns off her dehumidifier, grabs her water bottle and heads for the fridge to get the hummus and crackers. Then we go downstairs and eat. Lately I have been hopping on the elliptical and we watch Star Trek Deep Space Nine together. She’s pretty good with the show…she generally likes it until about 30 minutes into it and then says “Pas ca.” and I have to explain that I’m still going to watch it until the end. She gets a little fussy but hey, that’s life kid!
We generally hang out downstairs for a few hours until Maman wakes up and then we will go have some breakfast (generally crepes and fruit). I would say that if we don’t have any major plans made, we are ready and dressed by 10am and then we figure out what we are going to do with the rest of the morning…go to the park, go sledding, go snowshoeing, etc. Anything to tire Sierra out.
We come home for lunch and then Sierra has a nap around 1-2PM and generally will sleep until 4-5PM. Then it’s supper time which Sierra really likes helping with. After supper it’s bath time which is generally a struggle to get her into but as soon as she’s in, she doesn’t want to leave! Afterwards we get dressed in the PJs and settle down with a tv show. Lately she really likes Moana, 1967 Spider-Man, Paw Patrol and She-Ra.
I feel like we were in the novel Dune, but the complete opposite.
Vero did some research and found one of the best hills in town for a little kid. It was located in North Gloucester so one morning we headed out. I wasn’t overly confident that it would be in any shape to slide on considering the day before was an ice storm. When we arrived we saw a family try and scale up the hill and they gave up. The entire thing was coated in thick ice. At one point we were considering leaving and thought “No way. This might be the ULTIMATE sliding experience and we need to go down at least once.”
Guys, I’m not kidding here when I say this was a nearly impossible feat. It took everything we had to scale up this hill. Once we got to to the top I had to hold the slide in place while Sierra and Vero got onto the slide and even at that, I couldn’t hold it and they went flying down the hill! This was Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation speeds! I went down on my arse with the video camera in hand and you can see how fast they were going. IT WAS AWESOME! So much fun! Imagine having your own hill and it’s just a sheet of ice. In hindsight if we would have brought those grip things for the bottom of our shoes, we would have stayed there all day. In the end, we went three times. The second time I managed to go down with them (I almost fell off!). So much fun. While I went in there with trepidation, I came out thinking this may be THE event of 2018.
Ski Hill Park! Quite the appropriate name.
Over the holidays we had a homework assignment. We needed to take photos of what Sierra was doing over the break so her teachers would talk to her about her activities. Of course this one made the cut.
Felix and Sierra got to hang out one night as we had an excellent supper over at Melissa and Jeff’s place. I love how the TV was definitely on their minds as they posed for this picture.
Look who moved out of the crib onto her crib mattress! We decided we may as well give it a shot and I have to say that other than her crying the first night and me having to sleep next to her on the floor, she has adapted quite well! In fact, we’re not even sure if she was crying because of the mattress or because we had her out late a few nights that week. Either way, it’s quite amazing that she pretty well sticks to her mattress and doesn’t roam around her room at night. I just assumed that would be an issue but she never really strays too far. If she falls out of the mattress she manages to get back in there eventually. I’m also liking story time a lot more now since I can just hang out on her mattress and read instead of trying to share the rocking chair with her. She insists that we squeeze together on the rocking chair built for one person!
Sierra quite enjoyed receiving an activity book in the mail from Nat.
Marie-Claude and Jean-Francois hosted a dinner for all of us over the holidays. The kids were loving the food!
The kids generally love putting on a play for us. 1) It gives them something to do. 2) It’s hilarious. In this particular play, Jona was tasked with kissing the princess.
I have to say a sight like this warms my heart. Sierra still is a little overwhelmed in the first few hours of hanging out with her friends. It’s only later in the night that she settles in and doesn’t want to hug our leg.
Sierra’s first time playing a Nintendo Switch! We were over at Oncle Yves place for a great January 1st brunch.
Yum yum!
Maman and Sierra testing out the new silicone muffin trays. They are fantastic.
It might be cold out but I can’t deny a walk down near the river where I can see Parliament Hill!
Having breakfast with Yoda before he gets packed up for another year.
Oh look, Sierra is being nice and letting Maman have a nap.
Yeah…nope.
This is in the washroom at one of my favourite spots to eat. So weird! So funny!
We got to go over to the Hill’s place for breakfast one morning which was fun times.
While it wasn’t Ski Hill Park, the Vars park had great sliding conditions! Sometimes an ice storm isn’t a bad thing.
I love how strong Sierra thinks she is.
Look at the beauty I picked up in the park!
Having fun on the swings.
Sierra imitating Dad. Look, she even brought out my guitar pedal!
I’m assuming we were watching Spider-Man before bed time.
Someone trying to steal Dad’s beer!
I love how Mina bought this new parka and said “It looked really good on the models on the website. Does it look good on me?”
It’s been a LONG time since Etienne and I could walk down by the river. It had flooded over a year ago and they were rebuilding the path.
Ellie’s birthday party!
I love how Ellie is sneaking some cake before it’s cut.
Sierra quite loved receiving a piece of cake the size of her face.
Batman decided to photobomb us.
Max and Sierra playing some cards over at Andre and Karilee’s place where they hosted an excellent brunch!
Did someone sneak chocolate into their plates?
Karilee has this book that her parents gave her when she was a kid with diabetes. I especially enjoy how the kids look like they all shooting up heroin.
What are those…vultures? Wild turkeys? Pretty rare sight for me!
The next day we saw a couple more and they were out on the ice!
Hanging out at Rob and Janice’s place listening to Jenna play piano. She’s been learning on my old keyboard and it’s still sounding great!
Yes, we love Star Trek in this house. I’m starting to watch Deep Space Nine again. The first time through I got through the first three seasons when it was on TV for the first time. This time, I’m finishing it all!
Sierra is really loving puzzles these days.
This year Vero’s family decided to give some money to get a new CT scan machine at the Hearst hospital instead of exchanging gifts at the annual Christmas gathering.
Big snowfall on the weekend!
Sierra pushing the snow monster!
Mia came over for a visit. I specifically remember that we didn’t manage to get a fire started this day.
Dance party!
Waiting for some Kraft Dinner.
Making some music!
Super proud Sierra with her new painting! She would show everyone who walked by her.
Tandréane came up for a visit. Sierra introduced her to the path in the backyard.
We were thinking of bringing Sierra to the Rideau Canal but the weather had whiteout conditions on the roads so we decided to drive down the road to Larose Forest. We decided to try out a new snowshoeing path which would bring us near a cemetery. I have to say that I preferred this path compared to the northern path near the parking lot.
No lie, going for a snowshoe trip with Sierra is a slow process. She doesn’t stay in this sled too long! But as long as she’s having fun, that’s what counts!
Tandréane was nice enough to carry Sierra for awhile. All I could think about was “Oh man, now Sierra knows this is a thing and we’ll have to do it all the time!” Ha ha.
This day may go down in the history books as the best snowshoeing day ever. The pine trees were swaying in the wind the entire trip and it was dead quiet in the forest. Beautiful!
