Freezing Rain

 I know this was several weeks ago, and I am far behind with posting the blog, but these photos were worth dragging up and looking at again.  We had a spectacular freezing rain earlier this month.  It was inconvenient, and made driving dangerous (and of course we had to take Seamus to the Emergency Room for a bleeding ear infection on a slippery Sunday morning), but the freezing rain left the most charming icicles, icy branches, layered flax, and made each tiny blade of glass a frosty, shimmery glove.  You almost felt sorry to walk on the cruchy grass (do the blades break or just the ice?), only it was so satisfying to hear it scrunch beneath your boot!

You can see the ice on the back door, looking like a textured glass, nestled comfortably atop the poppy head like a snug hat, and shimmering in the sunset light on each stubbly corn stalk.

Winter in Manitoba has its perks.  Pesky, yet pleasing, perks.

 

 

 

I Just Can't Get Over It.

My baby's a big boy - sitting at the table!

I apologize for the redundance in the last few posts, but I am intensely hung up on this new development.

Listen for these words:

happy

apple

up please

all done

And as Amanda pointed out after seeing this video, listen for that sweet little sigh after he takes a big drink.

Seamus Says, continued:

Meal time is pretty different with Seamus in a big boy chair, sitting right at the table.  He needs real dishes, he can see everyone else's plate and wants what we're all having (Instead of bananas and yogurt, this guy wants a bowl of butternut bisque! Try letting a one-year-old feed himself bisque!). This weekend Seamus has had a terrible ear infection (maybe it seems more terrible to me since his ear is draining so much - it is literally dripping! - and before he got tubes we couldn't see the pus and blood when he had an ear infection).  Even so, he's been a delightful dinner table conversationalist.  Last night he asked for, "More macca pease", which means, "More macaroni please!"  Full sentences!

A couple of weeks ago, right after we got back from California, we were all in the car and Seamus held his arms out to Derek and said his first full sentence, "I want my Daddy!"  Of course it sounded more like this, "I wan I Daddy".  I was impressed he got the personal pronoun correct!  Then he started saying phrases like, "Get down, Dog!"  which sounded like, "Geddow Daw!"  I don't remember Luke talking like a baby.  He seemed to enunciate and speak in full sentences right from the start.  I was so proud of his speech and thought that babies who spoke baby-talk were somehow inferior.  Now I have a child who speaks baby-talk, and I think it's the most adorable thing when he asks for his, "Soo-soo" (soother).  My how we change.  Thank God we can love our children right where they are!  And thank God I can learn to be less judgmental of other children and parents the longer I parent.

I was keeping a list of Seamus's words, but in the last few days I've sort of given up because it seems like every other minute he's repeating something someone says.  He's not quite the adorable little toy you show off to your friends and family while they're standing in the doorway wishing they could just leave but knowing they have to wait while we prod the baby, "Say buh-bye! Say buh-bye!"  He won't yet repeat on cue.  But Seamus's little morsels of conversation are so enjoyable, surprising, and precious.

The boys are sharing a bedroom in the basement now, just below Derek and my bedroom.  So each morning I wake up to Seamus humming, "Ay-ay-ay-ay", just like Luke used to do when he was waking up.  Then of course, Luke starts ungraciously shouting, "Go back to sleep, Seamus!!"  But sometimes, these days, I get to wake up to Seamus's perky little voice saying, "Guh Gor-ging!  Guh Gor-ging!" (Good Morning!).  And then Luke still shouts, "Go back to sleep, Seamus!  I'm trying to sleep!"  Sigh.  It's a beautiful life, isn't it?

Seamus Says:

Here enters the humorous beginnings of what I know will be as wonderful, delightful, silly, obnoxious, imaginative, naive, and endearing as Luke's famous Luke Says posts....our Seamus is really talking now!

Sitting around the dinner table, Seamus begins to cry and kick and holler while the rest of us are bountifully bemused.  I hand him his cup.
"Na-oh!" which, for those of you deprived of one-year-old dialogue, means No.  You never knew No had two syllables?! You learn something new every day.
I hand him his pizza.
"Na-oh!"
I hand him some lettuce and a crouton.
"Na-oh!"
I hand him a grape.
"Na-oh!"
Are you all done?
"Na-oh!"
And the Na-oh-ing devolves into crying and thrashing around in his chair.
"What in the world can he want?" I ask the room at large.
"Just ignore him," is Luke's very sensitive and tender advice.
"See if he wants an entire slice of pizza instead of cut-up bites," is Derek's suggestion.
After very short deliberation (we are after all still operating under the screaming regime of an unhappy toddler), we try the entire slice of pizza idea. 

The success of that idea was highly applauded by Linus, whose unique perspective achieved only the most positive reviews from under the table.

In frustration I wash Seamus's hands and face and release him from his high chair only to have him clambering at my leg.  We try again: boy in high chair, one of everything on his tray, juice at his elbow, and the caterwauling begins again, "Na-oh!"

Since we refuse to subject the entire family to the shouting resulting from this misunderstanding, the best idea we can come up with now is to put him on the floor and clean up dinner.  As Derek and I postpone the cleaning up a moment longer, Seamus climbs into the chair between us, at the head of the table, and consequently directly in front of the entire pizza, scooches around until he's rather comfortable and nonchalantly reaches for a slice.  "Is that what you wanted?" Derek queries, "To sit at the table like a big boy?"

Immediately, succinctly, "Yep," Seamus says.

Snow, SNow, SNOw, SNOW!

This snow is a great one for playing in.  It's sticky to make snowballs with, it's not so deep you get stuck in drifts, and the weather's not too cold yet (only around zero Celsius) so you can stay outside for hours at a time!  This is Seamus's first snow that he can actually play in.  And fall on his face in....dear poor baby!

Luke really wanted to ride his bike in the street, but I drew the line there.  There's far too much slippery ice for bikers to be safe on the roads in this weather.  However, after Derek cleared the driveway, Luke rode to his heart's content.  You'd be surprised at how difficult it is to pedal a bike with snow boots on! Luke always rises to the challenge.

 

A Little More Sunshine

Luke and Ally go way back, so even though Ally is uncomfortable with most children, she puts up with Luke's hugs and sweet, "I love you Ally"s.

Who doesn't love working with a pickax that's bigger than yourself?

Considering sprinkler problems in Auntie Sarah's backyard.

Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors!!  Grammy's fondest wish.

Picnic in the Reedley Park.

Trying to catch minnows.  This boy was undressed as soon as he saw water.

Everybody loves you John-Mark, you can stop being so adorable.

To wade or not to wade, that is the question.  Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous name calling (lily-white legs!!) or bare legs against a river of troubles, and by opposing, end them.

She's got it, she knows it, yeah yeah yeah.

We all thought we were rolling up our pant legs so they wouldn't get wet.  We didn't take into consideration the splashing four-year old who, every few minutes, came running up to us through (his) hip-deep water.

We later figured out that the poles went inside the tent...what kind of ridiculous tent-designer designed a tent you have to be inside of to erect?!

Seamus's turn on the family heirloom rocking horse.

Luke says, "I wanna show you my skateboard tricks, Plain 'Ol Grammy!"

*LOVED*

VERY bold.

For sure it was warm enough to slip and slide in California, while in Manitoba there was confectioners sugar scattered all around...it was sugar, right?