Friday Flashback

Last year, Wiggle Man decided that egg holders were for sissies. So he just used his hands.



Nothing like showing up to church Easter Sunday morning with brownish, purplish hands. Wonder how he'll do this year....

Yes, Cheese

This evening, a war ensued in Wiggle Man's bedroom. Mommy Versus the Bookshelf.

Wiggle Man owns approximately 4, 500, 324 books. And, while I love his love for reading, I hate the messy bookshelf. So, there I was, slamming books on the shelf, and getting more and more frustrated.

Wiggle Man came walking in, singing: "Yes, Cheese....yes, cheese..."

It's how he sings "Jesus Loves Me." And it was exactly what I needed to hear.

Monkey Boots and Mud Puddles

This is what Wiggle Man and I did today:

We splashed.

We played with the ball. (Our version of soccer is...interesting.)




Wiggle Man made good use of his monkey boots.




Do you think he's enjoying himself?

Boats from the dollar section at Target make up Wiggle Man's navy.

Can you see Wiggle Man? He's sliding down his (wet) slide. He's wearing different pants now.

Splish, splash.

I think I really need my own boots now. Seriously, doesn't that look like fun?

Train Up A Child

In the way he should go



And when he is old, he will not turn from it.

What's that you say? Not quite what the writer of Proverbs had in mind?

Oh. Well, here's hoping for 2034!

WiggleSpeak

Are you ready for another lesson in understanding my toddler? I sure hope so, because I've got another edition of WiggleSpeak all lined up for you:

Taneenee: "Canada." The Olympics are on. Of course I'm going to teach him to say "Canada." And if I can find it, you can bet he'll be wearing his Team Canada hockey jersey to church tomorrow, too.

Morn: "More." Why he adds the 'n' at the end, I have no idea. But he does it pretty consistently, as you'll see in the next term.

Morno: Sometimes pronounced, "Ah-morno" this is how my child tells you "tomorrow". It's a ritual we go through before every bedtime. "Big choo choo amorno?" "Yes, Wiggles, you can play with your train tomorrow." "Pu-lay tunnels? Tracks? Trains? Morno?" "Yes, dear. Tomorrow you can play with your tunnels and tracks and trains."

Lolos: "Letters." Wiggle Man has been learning letters via starfall.com. He is forever asking to "watch lolos" with me. And how can you say no when your child is asking to learn?

Mama/Dada: This not only refers to the Rev and I, but also to any other adult male or female Wiggle Man sees. So if you should happen to pass us in Target, and he points to you and says "Mama!" (or "Dada", depending on your gender), don't be alarmed.

Red Treat: "Kit Kat." (Have I done this one already? I'm too lazy to go back and check old posts.) Anyway, it's red. It's a treat. It's a Kit Kat. (That should totally be their new slogan.)

Dada Treats: "Reese's Puff Cereal." It's Daddy's cereal, that he occasionally shares with the Wiggle.

Mama Treats: "Mommy's awesome homemade granola that is super yummy." At least, I'm sure that's what he's implying.

Cuddlebum

The night before last I was lying in bed, thinking about this post. It had occurred to me that Wiggle Man cuddles me almost the exact way he did as a newborn...except, of course, he's much bigger now. But the position is much the same: head on my chest (or shoulder, now that he's taller), arms tucked under, my arm under his bum.

This picture doesn't quite show how he cuddled; I'm not sure if I had him turned for the camera, or what the deal was. It's also a great shot of how I looked before I stopped nursing and the nasty hormones decided to bloat me up. Lovely things, those hormones.




Well, I got all nostalgic thinking about my big boy, and how he's still my cuddlebum, but only when he's tired.

Aww.

Then, as if sensing my nostalgia, he spent yesterday "cooking" all over his bedroom and the kitchen. Remember this? Well, apparently Wiggle Man got a hold of the pepper shaker, managed to open it, and sprinkled pepper everywhere. I'm not exaggerating, either. It was on his bed, his pillow, his train table, his easel, his books, his toys, and literally coating the kitchen table.

Proud of how I'm learning to deal with these little interruptions that life with a toddler brings, I calmly (no, seriously) vacuumed it up, having Wiggle Man help when appropriate. (I know. I'm so...supermom.) <---sarcasm alert.

Anyway, a few short hours later I sat at the piano. I looked down to see someone (read: Wiggle Man) had decided to decorate the laminate floor. With pencil scribbles. A lot of them.

Let's just say God is giving me ample opportunities to practise patience. And I sure need the practise. Now, let me go see what the little dear is up to--I hear thuds coming from the piano room.

Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness

That's what they say, anyway. So here's my little angel, getting his clean on.

I won't tell you what he was wiping off his face in this picture. I will tell you that whatever it was (and far be it from me to discuss yucky things on this blog) just may have come from out of his nose.

But I'm not telling.

More Places

The nice man at Wholey's let Wiggle Man hold a lobster.


He's thrilled.

Actually, he's distracted by the choo choo.

I'm telling you. Everywhere we went seemed to have a train somewhere.

7:17 am

It's 7:17 am.

And I'd like to go back to bed, please.

I woke up to find I could only breathe through one nostril (the left, for the curious) thanks to a forgotten dose of allergy medication last night.

Wiggle Man wanted milk. I managed to spill it down the front of my cupboards and onto my feet. Then, of course, the sippy cup I poured what milk did not end up on the floor into seemed to have a stuck straw.

Rather than fight the sippy cup, I took the opportunity to let Wiggle Man use his brand spankin' new Thomas cup.

He showed his appreciation by informing me he wanted "Green milkie."

As in, 'Nice try, lady, but bring me the green cup.'

As if.

Tastes Yucky

And it's pronounced "tast-es." Yes, two syllables. This from my Wiggle Man, who is also turning "yes" into a two-syllable word. ("Yay-ess.")

But I digress.

"Tastes yucky" is Wiggle Man's new Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Card. At least, he thinks it is. Trying to get this child do do something he does not want to do is invariably met with "tastes yucky."

Diaper changes? "Tastes yucky." (I imagine they would, my boy.)

Nap time? "Tastes yucky."

Picking up his toys? "Tastes yucky."

Of course, any food he doesn't want to eat "tastes yucky." That goes without saying.

However, this morning my little man awoke to a somewhat unsettled stomach. Let's just say there were some dry heaves, and some actual vomit, and leave the detailed description for my phone call to the pediatrician's office.

And what did my little man have to say after this ordeal? (Besides asking repeatedly for the blankies that were now "taking a bath" in the washing machine, that is?)

"Tastes yucky."

Yes, my son, it certainly does. Now let's go get those teeth brushed, 'cause it sure smells yucky, too.

Little Boy

It's happening before my eyes.

My little baby is becoming a little boy.

Now, this is not a sudden development--I've been saying this for a while now. But today has been one of those days where I seem to notice it more.

We went swimming this morning at the Y. Wiggle Man watched a man swimming laps and said, "Me try." So today, instead of his usual march through the water with a floaty on his back, he let me hold him on his stomach while he "swam." He went underwater. He let me put him on his back. He stood under the shower afterwards, instead of freaking out at the water hitting his face.

Tonight, we had cheeseburgers for dinner, just the two of us. He sat across from me in the booth, happily munching his fries. He used a napkin to wipe his hands and mouth. By himself.
He begged for his toy, and in true parental fashion I made him wait until he was finished eating.

Time is flying.

Cake Pops

This weekend, we had dinner with some friends. I saw it as a perfect opportunity to practise my cake decorating. (Plus, let's be honest--I was craving chocolate cake.)

Well, it was also the first chance I'd had to make a cake using Bertha, my new KitchenAid stand mixer. Well...I got a little excited, and used the wrong attachment on Bertha when making the icing. It was lumpy, no doubt about it.

I tried putting the cake together, anyway. I even got as far as putting a crumb coat of icing on it and letting it set up in the fridge overnight. But I just couldn't do it.

So, I took the opportunity to try something I've been wanting to try for a while now: Bakerella's Cake Pops. Check out her awesome blog for the actual recipe; I simply took my cake, scraped off the offending lumpy icing, and mashed it up with some nice, non-lumpy chocolate icing.

Then I formed the chocolatey goodness into balls (some were too big, in hindsight) and stuck them with lollipop sticks. My cake pops took a chill in the freezer to firm them up:

And then they took a bath in melted candy melts (Wiggle Man wanted "poopah" melts). I should have kept the melted candy and chocolate warmer; you can see this one didn't coat as well as the ones behind it.

And some dark chocolate. ("The chocolate coating makes it go down easier." Actually, these went down pretty easily, thank you Valerie.)

I ran out of chocolate and candy melts, so I thought I'd use up some white chocolate. I think the cake pops had been out of the freezer for too long and weren't as firm as they should have been:

Sadly, Wiggle Man and I had to eat this poor cake pop ourselves. Just to, you know, make sure they tasted ok.

Yup.

Wiggle Man was a little confused by the cake pops (he couldn't tell if they were ice cream or cake) but definitely enjoyed eating them. I wish I'd gotten a picture of him chowing down on his poopah cake pop.

Cake on a stick. What a grand idea. Thanks, Bakerella!

Catching Up

Well, I'm getting there. Caught up, that is. Between Christmas, New Years, visiting family, last minute rehearsals and life in general I have to be honest: I'm whooped. Beat. Exhuasted.

Forgive me that I'm a little slow on this, but here is a glimpse into our Christmas morning.

But first, remember this? My little man, cheering for Christmas? I thought you might be interested in seeing his actual reaction upon waking.

WiggleSpeak

Now that Wiggle Man is busting out with words and phrases all over the place, I thought it was time for more WiggleSpeak.

Drum: Anything that can be turned over and made into a drum. Any kind of bucket is especially drummerific.

Drum Store: Walmart, thanks to the two "drums" we've purchased there.

Mmmmm, tasty!: Well, that's pretty self explanatory, but it's pretty hysterical when he randomly blurts that out in the grocery store, pointing out what he'd like me to buy.

Ply-0h: Play-Doh, which is Wiggle Man's (current) favourite creative outlet. He especially likes to make pancakes.

Cheese-boos: Wiggle Man can has cheezburger?

In addition to his own dialect, Wiggles has some interesting quirks that I thought would be fun to share. Like the fact that he often "brushes" my hair with a thermometer.

Or how he collects all the pencils from the pews in church. (Amazing what a toddler can get into while he waits for Mommy and the Rev to be ready to go.)

And then there's how he dances when he imitates Mommy exercising. Perhaps one day, if you're good, you'll get a video of that. (The imitation, that is. No one should have to endure a video of me exercising.)

You'll Learn Things You Never Knew You Never Knew

My family is here for Christmas. And, in true Canadian fashion, we headed out to go shopping on Boxing Day.

For my American readers who may not be aware, December 26th is Boxing Day. There's a historical basis for the name, but these days it boils down to the Canadian equivalent of Black Friday.

It's also the beginning of the World Junior Hockey Championships. Which I cannot watch on tv here. At least I can online. 16-0 Canada over Latvia, by the way.

But I digress.

There we were, at Target (of course) because Wiggle Man needed more diapers. My brother looked at me, and in all seriousness asked if the weight range on the box of diapers was the amount of...poo...a diaper could hold.

(Only in he used another word.)

Think of it. 22-27 pounds of poo.

That must be some baby.

Snow Fairy

I bet you didn't know I had magic powers, did you?

Picture it: Rochester, NY: 1998. A young Canadian girl arrives at college in the fall. A speech is given to the incoming freshmen, warning us not to expect snow days. This is Western NY, after all. They know how to handle snow there. That year, so much snow falls that even the experienced WNY road crews can't stop school from closing three times.

Picture it: South Jersey, 2002. The same young-ish Canadian girl arrives. Everyone says something along these lines: "Canadian, huh. Well, you won't see that kind of snow down here." That winter, a blizzard so intense comes through that our lovely Canadian heroine was trapped in her house for three days.

Picture it: Virginia, 2009. The same, not-as-youngish Canadian girl arrives. The same comments follow: don't expect the kind of snow you're used to up in Canada.

With that, I give you pictures of this morning's snowfall. You're welcome Virginia. (And the rest of the East Coast. Apparently my powers grow stronger.)

Cracker Barrel Conversations

Wiggle Man: Pancakes? Pancakes come?

Me: Yes, honey. The pancakes will be here soon.

WM: Pancakes? PANCAKES?

(curious stares from other patrons)

WM: Pancakes? Pancakes? Pancakes? PANCAKES?????

After the arrival of our waitress, or Bringer Of Pancakes as she surely must appear to Wiggle Man, this was his response:

WM: Pancakes come! YESSSS!

At this point, my job is to cut half of his pancakes into tiny pieces, which Wiggle Man will eat until he bores of the tiny pieces. Then he just picks up half of the pancake and goes to town.

He's Got The Spirit

(Oh yeah)



The Christmas Spirit



(Oh yeah)



C'mon let's hear it:

WiggleSpeak

It's time for yet another installment of WiggleSpeak. This is your chance to learn the nuances of communicating with my two year old. You're welcome.

"Ummmmmm-TAY!" (Ok.)

"Pul-LEASE?" (Please.)

"Das." (Thanks.)

"SEE!" (See you later!)

"Red treat." (Kit Kat. Cuz it's red, and it's a treat.)

"Bickey." (Mickey Mouse. Not to be confused with "bookie" which everyone knows means milk.)

"Pee blankie." (His blankets he sleeps with. When his diaper leaks, they smell like pee. Then we go through the whole washing of the pee blankie ordeal.)

"Hey." (An elaborate game involving our guest bed, pillow throwing, and tickling.)


Hopefully this goes a long way towards helping you converse fluently with toddlers. At least, with Wiggle Man.

Iron Chef Wiggle Man

Wiggle Man is easy to amuse. Even watching this video of himself laughing was enough to put him into fits of laughter.

Because why spend money on toys when you already have salt and pepper shakers and a Lazy Susan?