Florida 12/16

From Tuesday to Tuesday we were in Florida visiting with my parents. We left with more than enough time before our flight, being all packed with no other plans I thought we may as well head to LGA early. Since we parked off the airport we had to take a shuttle to our terminal... Which was Emma's first "bus" ride!!

Unsure....

But excited!

Decent into Sarasota 

A visit to Siesta Beach the next morning

A bunch of this this visit :-)

Did some Christmas crafts while we were there. Christmas tree cutouts and decorating pine ones with CoCo.

Myakka River State Park trails 

Emma's first boat ride, an airboat on the Myakka River

The next day we spent some time with Jordan, and Emma got to meet...

Moose!! Emma couldn't get enough of this friendly little rat. 

So happy seeing my daughter and close friend bonding :-)

The morning after this was Tuesday, and nearly time for us to head home. 

A trip to our favorite park after breakfast, Emma and CoCo riding a creature. (Emma may have said it is something other than a Caterpillar but I don't remember) 

One last hug and tote for Pilot... What a good cat!

SRQ airport was a breeze to go through.. We had a lot of space waiting for our flight and got comfy once on board. As soon as the plane started moving, even before getting to the strip, Emma said "I'm just resting!" sitting straight with closed eyes. They stayed closed until landing!

Looking more comfy, and very tired after a very full visit.

Best day ever

The subject is misleading. These "best days" keep coming! Yesterday however was absolutely perfect. We took a trip to the Bear Mountain Zoo, called Trailside wildlife refuge. The sky was like a blue topaz gem above, sun shining on the golden leaves making them glow. 65° with a pleasant breeze. Had the zoo nearly to ourselves! Quiet enough to stop and chat with the keepers as they carried out the morning work. Saw red foxes, a porcupine, a opossum, birds of prey and many other native animals that are unable to be released into the wild.  Just when I thought "this is a good trip!" It got better: breathtaking view of the Hudson bathed in fall foliage, the sun flecking us through a lacy maple, the impressive bridge reaching across the river and the light like glitter on the water. I felt absolutely blissful standing there, taking it in. Emma eventually pulled me back to reality and we continued our walk through the zoo. She was a little confused by the huge collection of native bird and rodent taxidermy and I dodged the question, "are they real or pretend animals?" She was interested in the animals skulls and we could see the difference between a rodents teeth and that of a carnivore.  

After our visit we had leftover soup and bread sitting at the foot of a mountain with great dark clouds rolling in over the top and growing right before is. We finished lunch just as a ran shower started and made the drive home, both satisfied with our spontaneous outing. 

And the only pictures I got from the whole day, because my phone battery was completely used up by the time we arrived, were these from the scenic overlook off the side of the road. We stayed for about ten minutes watching cloud shadows ramble over the mountains, a cargo train sliding along, and a hard working tugboat pulling a barge. Stunning scenery. Way out in the distance I pointed out an eagle, thinking it was the white tail we were seeing as it flew along, and Emma and I jumped for joy! I didn't have the heart to tell her once I realized it was just a gull!

Eagle or not, it was a fantastic morning we shared. 

Growing Creativity

Emma has been rhyming a lot lately and singing songs... And usually they are songs that make sense and with real words! Occasionally she will fill in the end of a line with some repeating mumbles that happen to rhyme, but yesterday she impressed me with a full stanza relevant to what she was working on. 

Which was this lovely nest for her ducks:

"Daddy duck came in one night,

Laid in his bed and looked at the sight.

Mommy duck had a room beside 

his where a baby duck was lied."

So sweet!

And this morning Emma played with her food.. using plastic sticks from edible arrangement fruit to stick into a melon slice, turning it into 

-someone jumping through puddles 

-a plane, a running plane 

-a plane with a fanned out tail

She also said the plane has an extra wing so if one falls off and breaks it has a new one. A little knowledge of nature sneaking in there, I think- she's fascinated that spiders and crabs can grow new legs if they lose one. 

On the 16th we will be heading to Canada.. Can't wait to fly with this girl and explore airports again, then spend ten days with beloved family. Gotta take it all in and be present in the moments spent together. 

Winnipeg, September 2015

Queen of the sky

We had such a wondeful visit to Winnipeg Sept 16-26. Emma flew like she does it every day, loved watching plains and carts at the airport, and was patient and pleasant the whole trip up. 

We stayed with family and got to visit with nearly everyone I was hoping to see. We even got to see Uncle Sean and one of his bands play! 

Staying with my relatives, the Szymanskis was very comfortable for Emma and I. She enjoyed playing outside (especially making puddles!) or chatting with Misia. 

Flashback:

My dad and I brought Emma to Assiniboine park, breezed through the children's play area (highlight: tomato garden) also checked out the conservatory and walked through the English gardens. What a delight sharing that with my daughter and my dad 

Here is Emma and CoCo going on a ride in Kildonen Park. What a beautiful afternoon to be there! There's more to be done at Kildonen but Emma was wearing out. Next time.. maybe next time we will even visit the witches house. ^^

Emma couldn't get enough of this rock with a low area that held water just perfectly. So many opportunities for imaginative play! 

Cricket

...and Raven paw! Emma is still talking about these cats. 

Emma and Misia

Emma actually fell asleep on the flight from Toronto to LGA so it was a quiet time to reflect for me. It's so different every time in in Winnipeg. Different times in my life, as with my family and friends. People and places changing and growing. I love going and seeing what it is that's different; something on the outside, or is it something within me? Then, returning home, we fall back into our own rhythm.

(Not so effortlessly this time around but we're adjusted now!)

Vacation!

Last Thursday we left early and drove to Vermont, to a campground in East Burke.  We stayed for three nights, sleeping in a tent and cooking everything on a grill. Had plenty of time in a brook and with Emma practicing on her bike. She's getting good on that thing!! 

(not?) surprisingly, I don't have many pictures from the trip. We were busy and disconnected. The break from my screen was really nice. The disconnection from outside and plugging in to our family was what mattered. Hopefully without a million pictures stores on my phone I can still remember all the fun we had squishing in the mud at the brook, sitting down for a nice tea at the cafe, snuggling in our tent, and playing around our camp site. Anyway, we already plan to go back next year!

After this we headed down to NH to see Mimi and Poppop, cousin Denis, and Francis. Such a nice visit; playing in the yard, a morning lakeside, local ice cream and much more fun together. Emma's a lucky girl to have so much love surrounding her.

We returned yesterday, I worked today but Patrick doesn't return until Monday so you could say that the vacation isn't over yet! (That's what we're saying;-))

New reads

We came across a few new books while volunteering set up our fellowship tag sale and I wanted to share, because they are all already hits with Emma. 

The Kapok Tree.. Which I remembered as soon as I saw the cover. It was read to my 1st grade class during a field trip to the local library. Emma loves all the animals that visit the sleeping man, pleading with him not to cut down their tree. 

What an awesome story! It starts out with the a seed that by chance lands in a suitable place to grow and is overlooked by animals that may have eaten it. It grows for 200 years, changing shape and  residents who have made homes inside it, then eventually falls with a gust of wind. Still it is home to different animals. At the end we see all the new cactuses surrounding it, maybe ones started from its own seeds. Beautiful illustrations, a variety of animals (some new faces for us, haven't talked much about Dessert life yet!) and a good introduction to life cycles for young Emma. 

I couldn't resist bringing this home! It's never too early to read Black Beauty to York child, is it?! I loved the movie when I was young (and to be honest probably when I was 'too old' to be loving it but I was horse crazy and the movie was so endearing and not at all tacky..) but I never had the pleasure of reading the story myself, getting to know the characters through Sewell's words, using the descriptions to create my own imagery. Anyway since we're all for books and not so much for television and movies here I knew I had to share this with Emma. It's our new read-aloud snuggle-up chapter book since we finished Charlotte's Web. I love to stop after each chapter and talk about the characters and hearing what Emma thinks- about plucky little Merrylegs becoming friends with Black Beauty; that because of her upbringing, Ginger isn't friendly but still works hard and softens up with gentle treatment. With one read Emma knows what a crupper is and that she wouldn't hold still while being fitted with one (she is pretending to be a horse.) We are really enjoying this book so far!

I can tell Emma is going to be a book worm when she's a little bigger. What joy to be getting lost in literature! 

Today and tomorrow

Were busy inside and out. Summer is just around the corner (though it feels like it's here lately!!) and we are ready for some summer fun- yard parties, bbqs, swimming. Brings it on, we say.

Hosted play today with friends, Emma's pals Esme, Adeline, Anna and James. So nice to see how these big little girls are beginning to include each other in their games, request to play with another, invite others to join them. Amazing what Three means.

Emma will be three next month. I need to get ready for that! (The day-of, not the actual being three part. We're flowing right along and expect more wonderful experiences and opportunities to flow right in) Emma wants (wanted) a lemon cake. Mama wants something light/on the healthy side. I think we can please both! Can't wait to make that special day all about her. Need to make a birthday bunting. 

I have been working more on the weekends and even had a few evening mixed in lately! Gaining clientel, interest.. Very happy to see some growth in my business. This means Emma is enjoying more 1-on-1 time with Daddy, and I must add that Daddy is on point with care, instructing, responding etc to Emma in this new stage. 

Emma's very open with the adults we see regularly and potential new friends. Comfortable staying with them if I leave for a moment. Carries on conversations with them and really craves a back-and-forth dialogue, gifts them things (Flowers to Rev. Karen ❤️) I think she prefers adults right now because we are .. More refined.. Less unpredictable.. More understandable.. at least that is what I'm seeing/my interpretation. Doesn't like baby talk or when adults make a fuss about her but appreciates conversation about relatable topics. 

Will be ongoing

Emma's most used phrases at 2...

AND ten months! Can't believe we're about to have a three year old girl here, folks! She's looking and acting older in the last few months and it's a hint of the big girl changes coming our way in the next year. Can hardly wait to see what's ahead of us. 

Lately I've been noticing some of the vocabulary and phrases Emma has been using, what sorts of things she loves to use, what she's testing out.. I wanted to get some things down here to share and for looking back on.

Starting with.. "Oh My Gosh!"

She can finally say the /sh/ enough that she isn't unintentionally shouting "oh my god!" And she's using this all the time and for everything. Imaginary games: "oh my gosh I'm being chased by a sea lion!" Real life: "oh my gosh, I'm taking a bath with doggy dog!" Anything that she thinks needs a dose of heightened excitement. 

"-perhaps?"

Unsure of something.. Like when I was trying to paint her a bunny and she says "a flower, perhaps?" Let that not serve as an indication of my painting skills! 

"What are you talking about?" with a different emphasis when she's genuinely asking and when she's really saying 'you're ridiculous!'

------cont.

"That's not right." Based on her Ranger Rick Jr. Magazine activity where you find what is wrong with the picture. She loves that game!

I'm going to tell you a story:

 I would say I'm relaxed in my parenting Emma. She and I are tuned to one another. She is free to go out into the world and interact with it as she feels necessary and I am there to support her and to guide her. I also might push the boundaries of what is acceptable exploration for a child in public in the name of her discovery. Maybe I'll let her hide in the clothes racks at the mall or gallop down the aisle at our grocery store. She can take her shoes off at the river, climb rocks at the park, wander off the trails on our hikes. She has always had free access in whatever house we lived in, and continues to learn and test the boundaries with that.

 Anyway, one day in early winter last year at the end of a bitter battle with my car's leaking tires that spanned many years, Emma and I brought the car to a discount tire shop. We were there early but there were still cars ahead of us and the wait was long. It was cold, gray, and windy outside and we seemed to be stuck in that 10-by-20 waiting hall, walls lined with display tires and floors messy with grime and dirty boot tracks. 

There we sat, we sat there, we two. We sat in that room- we had nothing to do. (name that book!) I went through the contents of my coat pockets: some lint, a few coins, a hair tie. Nothing of lasting interest. Emma had begun to explore the tires and we talk about the letters in the words in the descriptions on the labels. More time passed and soon Emma climbed into my lap then up to the tire display on the wall, the lowest row that sat on a ledge about two feet off the ground. The tires were lined up to make a neat but unintentional tunnel for a toddler. She poked in to have a look around, came out, looked above, in again, touched all around, her hands graying with the tire dust. This kept her for so long but soon she was on the floor inspecting the spacing between floor tiles and the way dust scatters when she puffs her breath at it.

 How much time had gone by? It felt like hours. That's time in a waiting room with a toddler. Next, Emma was standing beside a stack of tires that made a vertical tunnel nearly as tall as she is, patting on the side and telling me she wants to go in there. At first I told her we shouldn't play with that, but then I recognized the reality of that waiting room and the estimated wait time given that we had definitely passed and- hey, what wouldn it hurt. I would let her test out the tunnel and worst thing that could happen was the management asks me to stop, refrain, behave. Scooped Emma under the arms and plopped her down into the tunnel. And of course she loved it! This may have been our saving grace in the last few minutes of the tire change, which was drawn out due to problematic lug nuts.

Here she is! And I'm happy to announce that management had nothing to say against it, but they we're probably thanking me under their breath for keeping my two-year-old content through that long visit. I said Yes, and it brought some happiness. 

 But now I'm going to shift this story a little. After watching Emma bob up and down in the tire stack for a while with me holding the tires steady, focused on her, focused on that moment, I happened to notice the lettering on the side of the tire. EMMA.

That's what it said, her name. She was down in a stack of tires with her name on it. Right after noticing this a man from the shop came in and said he needed to take that tire to the shop for a car- he even apologized for interrupting. 

How many tire shops could be chosen by any person, with a child of any name, and any tendency toward or away from that sort of play, with enough freedom and encouragement from their parent to do something a little out of the ordinary? 

Sometimes, something gives a nod in your direction. I think if we shed the distractions, the bustle, the worry, the overthinking and planning and all the white noise... We open ourselves up to new opportunities, lessons, definitely- and maybe even to a sense that we are on the right track or just where we are supposed to be.

Here.

Now.

That's what I'm feeling lately. To tie this all into my life with an always growing Emma, the reason for this whole blog/diary keeping, I know that she is supposed to be here and that I am supposed to be here with her. She brings me back to Now again and again. And I'm making a conscious effort to take out everything that would keep me from the one thing that really matters: this moment. Not because I want this to bring on something better, but because this is it. 

Happiness is not the destination but the journey.

Spring changes

 We're so delighted to be coming out of hibernation and have the freedom of playing anywhere outdoors in just about any way again. There is nothing better than spending all morning in the woods or around the yard on a pleasant day, coming in for lunch and a rest before returning back outside for the rest of the day.

Emma has been enthusiastic about planting and helping to water seeds and bulbs we've recently planted- here's hoping all the tending is rewarded with some sprouts soon and many colors in the summer. Oh, and bees. Emma is shouting at every flying thing she perceives as a bee, "WE PLANTED FLOWERS FOR YOU, BEE!" She wants to see them gathering pollen, to not share their flowers with hummingbirds, and for them to make us honey. She is quite fond of honey!

The change in days seems to have unfortunately brought a change in nights. Emmas waking up once each night and insisting I sit while she falls back asleep. (This is where I am now, sitting on the floor until she stops fidgeting and gets back to sleep.) It's been difficult breaking up my sleep but I'm trying to stay patient and let her phase out of it as she has before. Soon, please, Emma!

So long winter!

  A zoo trip last Thursday brought us adventure and excitement on a chilly day. The sun tried to warm us through the cold wind but we found the most relief in heated habitats like the mouse house and reptile world. One benefit to going before the pleasant days of spring is that Emma and I were among only a handful of other guests. It was a relaxing visit where we could focus on the animals, some of which were cooped up all winter and were especially active. Here are a few pictures I snapped on our trip.. The tigers were our first stop and Emma packed a toy to share with them. They weren't impressed, but we had fun!

Peacock looking for a warm place to rest at the Reptile world. Sorry buddy!

We were inches away through the glass!! 

Running up and down this tunnel a dozen times 

A little friend cleaning up crumbs at lunch time.

We were the only two riders on the Bug Carusel! Emma had her choice of bugs and no reason to rush it. And she chose the same bug as she did last time, a Mantis. She named it Greenie.

This was our first outdoors outing since winter kicked off. It was nice to get out and spend more than a few minutes outside. Back at home we are busy with all kinds of activities and mischief.

Yes mischief. Is that possibly a party hat on Catrick?

...because here is his party.

And here is Catrick!

Given a bunch of random pieces and material to build with, Emma creates new designs for "playgrounds" each day. Playground is her favorite subject to build. Using these open-ended materials really leaves it up to Emma to turn it into something. It's not what it is but what it can be. And It's always changing.

Magic.