Old DC is closed (for awhile)

Calum is free! The Old DC is closed for the summer. He's a very happy boy, staying up late to paint Dora pictures and sleeping in (going to miss his cartoons). Yesterday I had some work to do so he had to go in to the office with Don and Dakota. He made it the whole day - and came back telling me he was going again tomorrow.

Not much new for us. We are trying to decide where to go for a bit of a break this summer. The girls are interested in camping but I don't know if Calum will like it. Calum's planning a big party for Grandpa's birthday this year though. There will be Spiderman icecream cake, umm....well, that's as far as he's planned. Once you've decided on the cake, nothing else matters.

Now I'm off to do some chores before Calum wakes up.

Not much new

Calum's got a new fish. He was inspired by Nicola. She recently got an aquarium so Calum wanted a fish too. He picked out the name and knew what he wanted before we even got to the pet store. This little guy likes bloodworms though, which I think is kinda gross. They are frozen and you have to put little bits in when he's hungry. You usually end up with a few on your hands and they are kinda smelly.

Today is Dakota's last day of summer school. Desiree still has to go till early August. Last night they both went to the fireworks. Don and I watched Calum play his Spiderman game for about an hour. He loves shooting webs and falling in the water. Earlier he was playing a skateboarding game with Dakota and was laughing every time someone fell down. Don and I think he'll love British humor so may introduce him to Mr. Bean soon.

Calum is almost finished at daycare for the summer - not soon enough for him as he's been telling me all week that it's closed and he can't go. They close in August. Don's taking two weeks off and I'm going to take a break too. We don't know what we'll do yet but expect time to go by fast. Hope you are all enjoying the sun today.

Some excitement

Calum and I have been keeping ourselves occupied. Yesterday we spent an extra hour at the Old DC playing outside with the kids. None of them wanted to leave and all of the parents were pulling them away when it was time to go home. After we left, we had to look for ladybugs and it was a good day - we found 2. We then went home and played in the backyard for awhile before going to the mall and the "park". The park is only the playground at a nearby elementary school but Calum likes it there. On our way across the field, a little girl came running over straight to Calum and gave him a big (picture a headlock) hug. Calum was surprised and a bit shy but as she walked away he kept looking back. Then another girl went running by saying hello and goodbye. Calum had to say goodbye to her too. I teased him about it later and he smiled - guess he can't help it if the girls already like him.

When we got home we found a raccoon on the back deck. It was happily napping on a chair so we rushed inside then tried to scare it away by yelling out the window. That didn't work so we resorted to spraying it with water. We had a good close up view of it though so Calum got to learn about why we leave them alone (big teeth) and why we don't want them in the yard (fight with the cat).

We had a restless night - much tossing and turning by Calum so we got up at 5am. By 6 he was hungry but only wanted pudding (I know, most important meal of the day, etc. but I was just happy he was going to eat something) and we had the wrong kind. We got dressed and made our way to the grocery store where Calum happily carried the basket (almost tripping on it the whole way) and got his pudding. He also stopped for a donut which he insisted on paying for with the change we had put in his pocket (he likes having some money on hand already).

Now he's at the Old DC and I'm back at work. It seems like we've already put a full day in but it's only just beginning. Luckily, Don will be home tonight so maybe Calum will sleep better.

Home movies

Lately, Calum has taken an interest in our home movies of him. Funny enough, he doesn't necessarily like the older ones but prefers the more recent movies. We took some footage on the weekend, not much, but enough to keep him entertained. He likes to watch it and even says his lines along the way - exactly as he said them on the day. Funny boy! If I want to get him to do something I only have to tell him "Let's go work on our movie" and he's off. Maybe by the time he's 5 he'll be directing his first movie. Don will probably try to convince him that tornadoes are interesting things to film.....he hasn't managed to convince the rest of us yet.

Calum and I slept in again today. It made for a much happier boy when we got to the Old DC though. I read a few quick stories, said hello to all of the toddlers, acted as their jungle gym for awhile (three kids on my back, one climbing over top and two jumping around me) and we made bugs with the play dough. Calum tried to get me to read more stories as I was leaving but settled in quickly when one of the staff started in on his favorite book about spiders. Looks like it will be a better day, if only I can get myself to wake up a bit more. Why doesn't Starbucks deliver?

The school year is almost done for the girls. The last week of school is approaching. They always try to convince us that it's not worth going - final marks are in, the teacher is playing a movie, no one else is going (seriously, no one), the teacher told them they didn't have to go......if they don't intend to do anything in the last week why even pretend that they are? It always takes a little getting used to though, having them at home again. When you work from home it's both a luxury and a challenge. Some days are easy and the work day flies by, others it's hard to ignore the laundry or the little distractions like the cat.

Hope you are all having a good week.

A busy weekend

Calum loves the outdoors. It's becoming a real challenge to get him in from outside. He's smart too, he knows how to trick me. When we come home from the Old DC, he walks up the walk then stops to show me something. It's usually a rock or a bug. When I stop to look at it, he starts motoring for the back yard. He's fast too. When we get back from running errands and get out of the car, he runs for his car (a battery operated quad - Thank you to Pam and Mickey) and insists on looking for sticks or bugs. Sometimes, I can get away with him just playing on the back deck but we always have to play a game where we draw bugs from his insect book then pretend the bugs are trying to catch us. Our neighbors must think we are nuts.

Dakota and I took Calum to the driving range for the first time this past weekend. He was fascinated with the concept but wanted to start throwing the golf balls onto the range rather than hitting them. He was pretty upset when we finished our buckets. Guess we actually better find a club his size though because it was pretty funny to see him try to use ours.

Desiree got a job. She'll be working at the Whitespot up the street from our house. Dakota still isn't on the work schedule for this week but I suspect with the nicer weather she'll be filling in for other people pretty soon. We've got some new pictures to post soon.

Hope you are all cheering for the Canucks tonight. Even the toddlers at the daycare are talking about it.

Morning meltdown

I made the mistake of agreeing to play Calum's favorite XBox game this morning, Star Wars Lego II. He loves the game, and I have to admit it's a lot of fun. However, when it was time to get ready for daycare he had a meltdown. He wanted to keep playing "Luke!" Then I tried to get him changed and he insisted he wanted to wear his very dirty Luke shirt. I had to frantically search for his other Luke shirt and convince him I'd wash his favorite before I could get him changed. Luckily, the mood didn't last long. As soon as I told him it was raining and we'd need his spidey boots and umbrella he was ready to go. Now, getting him into the daycare and away from the puddles was another matter.....toddlers really remind me of teenagers. Calum's certainly no meek little boy. He knows what he wants and he has me wrapped around his little finger.

More from the Old DC

I generally spend at least 30 minutes a day at the Old DC. Calum, and all his friends, like me to read them stories in the morning. They are each allowed to pick out a book for me to read, which is fine when there are 3 kids but some days there are 7 or 8. They all try to get me to read 2 or more books too. I don't really mind though, it's a great way to start the day and to meet all of the other kids.

They do some funny things though. One girl likes to do somersaults (she's not even 2 yet!), 2 boys like hockey and you have to make a big deal over their hockey jerseys, 1 little guy is quiet but likes to attach himself (limpet fashion) to your leg, 1 likes to jump (as does Calum) and they all spontaneously break out into the "Wheels on the Bus" song. Calum really likes a few of them and they greet each other as soon as they are in sight. He also likes the babies. At the end of the day, when there are just a few kids left, they usually have the infants and toddlers together as they do the end of day chores. Calum loves to show me the babies. He smiles and laughs as though to say "Aren't they strange".

Don, Calum and Dakota will be back soon. Don found another great Craigslist buy. A new zoom lens! Expect more pictures next week. Desiree is out at a Modest Mouse concert (no, that's not a kids concert) and I was finishing some work. Going to go enjoy the last few minutes of quiet before they all get back.

Hope you are all having a good start to your week.

Where do the days go?

Things have been busy. We've got some easter pictures to post but I haven't managed to download them yet. I'll post them next week. Calum has been doing great. He's really starting to talk and is a real character now. He certainly knows what he wants. Today, he was having fun imagining that he was fishing on a boat. The boat was his little tykes climber and his fishing rod was the broom. We've never been fishing with him so it was pretty neat to see that he is a natural.

After a bit too much attention from us all, he went off to our room today and closed the door. I, of course, opened it and told him he could play in the room but had to keep the door open. He said "OK. Bye". I tried to ask him what he was doing but he just kept saying "Bye." I left him alone for a few minutes then went to check on him. He was eating chocolate, lying on the floor and suddenly started saying "Luke!" Guess he was imagining he was part of the jedi order or something.

He's got quite a sense of humor too. Today he kept trying to get a reaction from me. He put on his shoes and told me he was going to the Old DC. I made a big deal out of it, begging him not to leave his poor mom, but he actually started heading for the door. Guess he was missing all of his friends today. Then he realized he'd get some attention if he had a cough. A few times he put on this pathetic little *cough* for Dakota and I. He may be getting a sore throat but I can tell you that cough was a fake. Funny boy.

Good news for Dakota. She spent her after-school hours doing some training last week at the new Smart Foods store. She's been wanting a job for awhile and is very happy she's now old enough to do things other than babysitting and paper routes. She's trained as a cashier and is currently on call.

Don, Desiree and I are busy too. I am finishing up most of my major projects and thought I might have some rare quiet time for awhile. However, it looks like there will be some wrap up work for the next quarter and more work for my Band. Also good news for me because it looks like I may be making a trip or two up to Merritt over the next few months.

If you haven't looked yet, go to Grandpa Bains blog http://www.radioado.blogspot.com/ to see new pictures of Coy. He's growing so fast.

Better now

Calum's ear infection is gone and he was back at daycare. I saw them all out playing today and noticed Calum teaching Julia how to throw stuff. He seemed very enthusiastic about it and Julia joined right in. They were both waving their arms at each other and jumping up and down. I hope that they didn't hit any of the other kids.

Don got Calum the complete Spiderman DVD set (the old 1967 cartoons). He loves it but keeps wanting to change the DVDs. At least now we won't have to worry about getting up early enough to catch it on tv. Got to go pick him up from "the Old DC (daycare)". We call it the Old DC so he will look at it as a special club - only the lucky kids get to play there. He was very excited about going to the Old DC this morning so I hope he had a good day.