Introducing our newest little Canadian girl. Doesn’t she look so happy to have her citizenship? Now we have to start working on that passport.
Category: Elspeth
First weekend in July
Not a very interesting title but it has been a long and fun weekend so that is the best I can do!
My two girls chilling on our boat ride with friends around the harbour in Midland. I thought that they may not enjoy themselves but I was surprised that both had fun.
Afterwards we went fishing. Katrine caught the fish while Elspeth caught only worms and weeds. She was disappointed but she will never catch anything if she keeps reeling in her line 20 miles an hour while singing Baa baa black sheep at the top of her lungs.
Then it was off to Saint Marie among the Hurons. Here is Katrine pretending to be the doctor whipping up herbal medicine.
Don’t you just love the pure joy on this face? All because Grandma was emptying the sand from her shoes. Absolutely love this photo.
Here is a photo that Katrine took of me. Don’t usually get that many flattering photos of me so I simply had to post this exception to the rule.Just some photos
Looking cute after having their animals checked out at the zoo yesterday.
Ever wondered how small Elspeth is? Fits into a bankers box along with a shoe box, play food and two stuffies with room to spare. This is her “choo-choo”. I love watching little kids play in boxes.
Finally built up enough courage to let go of the railing when she jumps down. Let the games begin.
Just a cute photo.Toddler Gymnastics Time
After those last few posts about Katrine’s dance, felt that it was time to bring you up to date on some Elspeth activities. For the last two months we have been going to parent and tot gymnastics in Markham. She has really been enjoying it. Especially anything that involves hanging (but none of those pictures turned out). Today was her last day. I expect that we will be (or maybe even she will be….on her own??) back at it in the fall.
Wild Toy Animal Clinic
Before the rain began this morning, we were able to squeeze in a trip to the zoo. Today was their animal clinic day.
Katrine really enjoys it and gets into it playing the role of concerned mother hen. We were not sure how Elspeth would react to it but took a chance that she would at the very least not cry there. Luck was on our side and she seemed to enjoy it also. Especially chosing the colour of vaccine that her Aleigh (a rare flat sheep) should be given and happily selecting bandages for her “boo boo leg”. This year Katrine chose to take Chimpy. Chimpy is also a rare breed – a chimp with a tail. Think that there may have been some interbreeding there.
Just thought that I would add one photo of the zoo’s newest project. This is right beside the gorillas at the African pavillion. It is going to be a rope course and I think that I will need to give it a pass. (I have a thing about falling from heights. Don’t mind the heights themselves only the potential of falling from them.)
We went, she danced, she trophied!
Another weekend, another dance competition. LOVE them! The sun, the pipes, the dancing and this time even sheep (much to Elspeth’s delight). Then throw in some dance friends and a picnic lunch and it makes for an enjoyable day.
Katrine danced well today. As a result, she took home a first, second, third and the trophy for her group. If you look closely at the photo of her with her trophy you will notice that it looks like she is in tears. Well, she is. If we go to another comptetion this summer, it will likely be her last as a Beginner. The next time she will have moved up to the next level and the thought of moving scares her. Why? Because she is scared that she is not good enough to win a trophy there. Made for an interesting heart to heart talk tonight at bed time about how winning is not the be-all end-all but merely the icing on the cake. The real prize is in trying your best and doing a good job. Did it sink in? Who knows, it is not like this is the first version of this conversation that we have had. We were proud of her though because she actually danced well today.
Elspeth? Well, as you can see she made a new friend and they played iphone together. Later she broke out the stickers. 🙂
And now what you have all been dying to see…my hair. It did not turn out as pink as I had hoped but here it is in it’s new pinkness. I know, out of character for me but it is only semi-permanent and I just wanted to do something fun that was only for me.
Into the Big, Big Girl Bed…sort of
When we originally got our referral for Elspeth we thought that we would just put her right into a bed with bed rail as she was a toddler. Then we met her and saw just how small she really was. Enter change of plans. Glenn phones his mom, she and his sister zip off to Ikea and bring home a crib/toddler bed combo and when we arrive home her room is home to two different sizes of bed.
This has actually worked well. Katrine has slept in the room with her, my mom has slept there when they have been down to visit and we have slept on it when she insists on waking us up at some ungodly hour. It has also been useful for just plan snuggling with a good book.
Monday though marked a change in the established sleeping protocol. Elspeth insisted on the big big girl bed. Pull out the rail. Switch over the pillow case and top blanket because she has to have her Dora and we were off….until she woke up crying at 3 am when she moved to the little bed and then back to the big bed. Yesterday she started out in the big bed but ended up switching to the little bed where she fell asleep crying. Today it was back to the big, big bed but the tears appeared when we first tried to tuck her in to the little bed. Sigh, she is truly an ox like her mom….either that or she shares some genes with my side of the family. (It happens because Katrine seems to have gotten my sleeping genes in that she rarely keeps the blankets on or sleeps in a normal position).
A fabu-tropious day at Georgina!
What a way to start our summer competitive season. I will let the photos tell the story but it was a great day. Sunny and warm but with ample shade and a slight breeze to make it comfortable. A wonderful group from Katrine’s dance school as well as my parents. Then an ice cold Iron Bru to round out the day (gotta have at least one over the course of the summer to bring back the memories of Scotland).
How did Elspeth like it all? She seemed to enjoy watching Katrine dance but I think that her favourite part was watching the mass bands during the opening ceremonies. Could we have another Scot at heart on our hands? Must be the effect of celtic name.
Oh ya, there was also some dancing done….
which resulted in 3 firsts and a third as well as Katrine’s first overall trophy for the Beginner’s 9 and under group. She is pretty proud that all of her hard work paid off and she finally won a coveted trophy. The fact that it is taller than any of the overall trophies (of which there is a grand total of 5 from 30ish years of dancing) that mommy won was icing on the cake.
The rest of the week
Got some good news this week. First our speech pathologist told us that if we brought Elspeth in today she would not be picked up. Yes, she would be classified as normal!! From 12-18 month delayed to on target in 5 1/2 months. Way to go Elspeth. They will call us around her third birthday to double check her articulation and sound production but unless something shows up there we are d-o-n-e! I have enjoyed the playgroup but welcome having another free day.
This morning our new Early Interventionist came to the house and did a brief developmental survey on Elspeth. In January she was borderlined delayed. Well, not anymore. Not in any area. In fine motor and problem solving she ranked near the higher end of things too. In two weeks she will be back to complete a sensory profile to make sure that we have not missed any sensory processing disorders. I am hoping that we will have more good news and some of miss E’s quirks will be the result of lack of exposure as opposed to sensory issues. 😮
And now for some photos that show despite being woken up at between 5:30 and 6:00 each day this week (likely will disappear now that Glenn is back from his conference), we have managed to squeeze in some fun.
Rainy Tuesday
We have a very happy garden again today. I am looking forward to great things from it. Particularly roasted potatoes with butter and chives.
Because of the rain, the girls insisted that they needed their umbrellas to walk to the bus. It worked fine in the morning as it was a light mist. Our trip post nap was not met with such enthusiasm by Elspeth once the rain began to pick up – didn’t even try to splash in the puddles. Poor baby. I think that some more walking in the rain is in order to help desensitize her.
This morning was Elspeth’s last play group. She has really enjoyed them, as have I. I can’t say that she has made any actual friends there but she is sharing and more aware that there are other kids around. She has also learned to turn to stand up for herself a bit by turning to me for help when another kid does something she doesn’t like. In honour of the last day, there was a sundae party at the end of class. We are on a break now until the fall.
Of course Katrine had an extra curricular today (free time…who needs it?) in the form of a dance class in Markham. Each time we go we drive past a restaurant advertising that they sell only noodles. Ever since noticing it, Katrine has been bothering me to stop at “her restaurant”. Boy does she love her noodles. Today I decided to surprise them by stopping. Even I got to eat. Someone was thinking when they opened the place. They carry rice noodles and clearly advertise in their menu that they can accomodate gluten free requests. A nice and unexpected surprise (I was planning on eating when we got home).
Elspeth had some apple juice with her dinner (another treat). I think that was the highlight of the meal for her. I should have known better. We get home, chat with Baba and then go upstairs to get ready for bed. Standing in the middle of the bathroom she pees all over the floor. So in exchange for my dinner of pasta and lack of dishes to be washed coupled with my ill advised choice to allow Elspeth to have juice, I had to wash the floor and do a load of laundry. Sigh. I really should have known not to give her juice. 😆