Jane Goodall

Nature Girl-
I think that you should look up Jane Goodall. She was a scientist and conservationist who studied primates. I'm listening to an old interview with her and she is talking about her childhood. She sounds so much like you! She lived in a sea side town and had a tree in her yard that she liked to climb. She says that her dog taught her about animals and how they have personalities and feelings. She took worms to bed with her when she was a toddler - just one and a half - Her mom told her the story - and she did this because she loved them. She travelled Africa with her mom to study chimpanzees...

Thank you

I want to thank everybody who replied to the daycare post in any way or who has listened to me over the past few weeks while I come to decisions about Willow and care. Some of you called with hugs and advice, i received thoughtful e-mails and replies and many long chats were had over coffee. I feels so lucky to be surrounded by so many wise, kind and thoughtful mamas. Willow and I will be transitioning slowly over the next two weeks ( and beyond :) ) and I'll keep you posted.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Kathy

Daycare

Willow starts daycare on Monday if all goes well. Right now she's napping and I'm trying not to think " Go in there and have your last nap time cuddle".

There will be weekends
and holidays

and she's going to love it. Her buddy F is there. The food is apparently great. It is NOT a preschool. She loves other kids. We'll have evenings to swim and eat dinner and cuddle.

This has been the best time of my life so while I'm sure she'll do great, I'm sad. Just right now.

But my mom says if the decision doesn't seem right after a month, I should go with my gut. And I will. I think that I am doing this for all the right reasons because it's best for Willow and will allow me to see the other kids even when they are having fun at camp during the day. No more missing all my Nature Girl time.

If you have any hugs post them ( I' talking to my moms mostly! ) I could use one.

I know it'll be another adventure. I'll be ready -- soon : )

"I Love the bath!"

Why is that toddler so quiet?

So at7:45 I start putting together tonight's dinner - I'm on a slow cooker kick these days:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Pepper-Steak/Detail.aspx

I have to slice the meat, chop the onions and peppers, measure out the liquid odds and ends and Willow is playing independently. Awesome. I decide to tidy up a bit, fold laundry - the pile in the room is ou of control and threatens to overtake the bed. No photos of that here!

Willow is quiet. Oh so quiet.

Mischief is afoot for sure so I go see what the little booger is up to. When I walk into the kitchen this is what I find:

Saturday morning painting with Wild Thing's favorite colour. It ended up all over the walls and a bit in the floor. Shhh.. don't tell!



After a quick tidy up, we headed out to visit Auntie Emily at the bakery and pick on some croissants for breakfast. See if you can spot Willow in the picture.



A special treat - apple muffin that wasn't quite right to sell - or as I called it " the red dye special"




Uncle Mike chats it up - Willow starts her escape.




All our favorite Ottawa folks are there - and Auntie Emily is sitting still!



Auntie Jehnny - master BBQ er. Burgers, hot dogs potatoes and cool shades.


This small yard is awesome - Mike even has an apple tree.



And the "Windoor" is great for us hobbit sized folks to get in and out.


Time to eat - yummy eh Dad?



Common guys - lets go to the park!



Sliding...




Crawling..


Climbing...


Tagging???



Dad and Emily get in on the action.

Labour day pictures

Often helpful when it comes to cleaning, Willow, shown here being stubborn, doesn't usually make much of a mess.

Unless her mom breaks out finger paints. "Uh, I'll just let you clean this up, 'kay, bye."
"Head on collision with a rollerblader." does not mean anything to someone less than two. So we made her walk on the grass instead of the bike path.
Willow and dolly contemplate how this soft-shoulder business is for chumps.
Daddy promises something exciting lives under the bridge. Could be trolls, could be ducks.
"Dug! Dug!" No, not 'dogs' but...
DUCKS! Willow got the 'loves ducks' gene from her mom.
Daddy may look like he's waiting patiently but really he was just tired. Notice the tour boat docked in the background. They're about as exciting as being stuck in line at the bank on your lunch hour. The crew locks up the life jackets just to keep tourists from bailing overboard after the first hour of brain-gouging monotony.
View from the mouth of the canal. You can see the national gallery, and that spiky thing on the hill to the left is the statue of Bruce Lee. Cut off on the extreme left is the bridge to Hull, so nothing much lost there.
Daddy helps collect some rocks. As I've said before I don't understand why baby clothes have functional pockets; all they do is collect breakfast scraps and earwigs.
Willow enjoyed riding standing up, like the guy strapped to the front of the Lord Humongous' car in Road Warrior.
Future occupation: cirque de soliel. Possibly Mythbuster.
Willow discovered this balloon left behind by a recently departed Ottawa U frosh crawl.
"Look daddy, I'm a frosh: I stagger when I walk, I barf without breaking stride and I'm attracted to breasts."
You may notice from the extremely low camera angle that I shot this on my back in the grass. Willow is thinking "Why are you so lazy, daddy? Get up and carry me some more!"
"That's okay mom. You have the raisins, I'll just keep lookin for the good snacks."
"Hey, there's a lovely bit of dirt over here!"
"Get moving chumps! Happy Labour Day!"

Willow's new most favourite thing!

Willow completely digs the beats. Her fingersnapping is getting much better when she rocks out.

The cozy shack series

aCozy shack pudding
perfect light
toddler of many faces

Willow rockin out to Peaches. That's my girl!!!

Happy 4.0