Family is Everything

It's true. There were many wonderful moments of 'family' on our Mcfayden Family Reunion Weekend in Nestor Falls. I will share only a few ...




MOMENTS: Children Caring for Children

Generally, the older great-grandchildren (Connor, Liam, Cameron, Logan and Paige) were running all over the place playing together while Tavish and Warren stayed closer to the adults. Although the child to child interaction with these two 'babies' was wonderful. When Logan arrived (the first other 'child' to arrive), Tavish toddled over, looked up at him and smiled. He just stood there, staring and eager to be involved in anything Logan had going on. It was followed up on our last night in town over dinner, where Logan hugged Tavish (smile) and they played together. Cute cousins. On the weekend, Tavish was sitting on my lap when Cameron came into the room and Tavish reached out for a hug. When I told Cameron he wanted to go to him, Cameron said "okay". I helped Cameron hold Tavish for a hug ... Cameron said "wow, he's heavy". The ended up sharing a chair for awhile and Cameron read Tavish a story. When Tavish looked up at Cameron while he was listening to the story, he spotted Cameron's hat and patted his head (hat). I translated: "that means hat". Cameron stopped reading when he heard that "oh, here you go" he said and plopped his hat onto Tavish's head. Tavish was elated. It was cute. When Cameron left he said "bye Tavish, I'm going to go and play with my other friends now". Aw. The adoration for younger children continued - Tavish was entranced by Warren. "Bay-bee". Tavish was always looking for a way to hug Warren when someone he knew was holding him. He was gentle and always patted the baby lightly on the back (or the arm of the person holding Warren, it turns out). He also stood at the side of the playpen when Warren was sleeping and would whisper "bay-bee, shhh". It's great to see all of these children being gentle with one another and enjoying being a family.

MOMENT: Shy Guy

I learned something about our little guy: he's friendly and responsive, but not always immediately and never when picked up prematurely by a 'stranger'. Huh, guess there aren't a lot of people who pick him up other than us usuals. So, when we passed through Nestor Falls on our way in from Winnipeg, he was overtly uninterested in going to anyone other than Grandma, Grandpa or Mommy. No Auntie Katy. No Uncle Merle. This was more obvious with more people over the weekend. There was no way he was going to sit quietly in the arms of anyone beyone the three of us. As the weekend progressed, Tavish extended his list of acceptable people to be picked up by. Uncle Murry had worked his way onto the list as had Auntie Katy, maybe others too. I love our family and how it keeps growing; it was wonderful for me to have my son among my extended family. After years of watching the other great grandchildren grow up at these functions, it was touching to see my son included in it. It had that: 'it takes a whole village to raise a child' feel to it. I didn't worry when he was out of my site, I knew he was okay. Everyone has their eye out for everyone, especially the children. It was wonderful. I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with a longing for my Grandma to be there with us. She would have loved every moment of it. I miss her, but it feels so good to know that she met Tavish and that her unconditional love lingers on through her family. A family that all cared enough to come together simply for the purpose of being together. Tom, Tavish and I are so fortunate to be surrounded by family on both sides and it is nice to see Tavish become less shy with family as time goes on.

Moose Madness

The excitement and wonder of all animals commonly found in Northwestern Ontario, and less frequently stumbled across living in downtown Ottawa, continued over the McFayden family reunion weekend in Nestor Falls at Uncle Merle and Auntie Katy's.



MOMENT: Me and the Moose

On our drive 'home' from Winnipeg, we stopped in for a quick visit with Uncle Merle and Auntie Katy. This is where Tavish groggily exited the van, only to spot a moose straight ahead. Okay, so it wasn't a 'real' moose - but it sure had the appeal of one. Tavish marched past everyone and over to the moose to point emphatically. "Would you like to sit on the moose, Tavish?" (insert, hand nod (yes) with a smiling "uh-uh-uh"). He loved that thing. Very cute. When we returned for our weekend, he was in moose heaven. Literally. My Aunt and Uncle have a collection of moose all over their place. There are at least 5 moose statues that Uncle Merle built that are visible from the highway in addition to the seemingly endless moose in their home: carved, stuffed, painted - you name it. There were a few that stood out for Tavish though: the stuffed moosed that was pushed around by Tavish in a mini-stroller, a cartoon statue that he often took pause to sit next to and pat, and - of course, the love-at-first-site moose that he could view from the inside. If only seeing a living moose was as easy to spot by looking out a window or going on a short boat ride like the loons were. Sigh. Guess we'll have to come back to these parts and take the little man out for a walk in the woods ... hopefully we can convince people to do that with him without a gun! haha.

Looney at the Lake

I have so many fond memories of summers spent on Footprint Lake. It is such a pleasure to see Tavish discovering so much of the beauty and fun that this magical place has to offer. Now I have even more fond memories here that include Tavish's childhood ...



MOMENTS: Birds of a Feather


Tavish is sticking together with the loons. Any loon, albeit the majority were in photo form. He discovered the coffee table book pictured above and truly enjoyed looking at every page. Every page. It was fun and only got better when Grandma said "Tavish, did you hear that? It was a loon!". Very cool. There he was with his nosed pressed to the formerly clean window watching the small family of loons swimming in the bay. Recognizing this new affection, we were sure to point out all loons when we were out in the boat. He watched with such interest and admiration. My little loon lover, I'm so glad that I brought him up here to discover some northwestern Ontario beauty.

Unfulfilled Expectations

Well, Tavish and I are on our journey 'home' for 10 days ... but it's not that straight-forward, of course. Our trip is all about being mobile and 'sleeping' around. We will never be in the same place for more than 3 nights. Here's the plan: 2 nights in Winnipeg, 3 nights at the cabin, 1 night in Nestor Falls, 3 nights in Fort Frances, 1 night in Winnipeg. GULP! After our sleepless nights in Maine (a yawn escaped me just typing/thinking about it), I was a bit anxious about this 'plan', especially since it would be Tom-less. Eeks. I had visions of screaming, increased nursing, bags under my eyes, desperate bed-sharing for hoped silence, and complete exhaustion for all. However, I'm pleased to report that after night #3, Tavish has far exceeded, surpassed and dismissed my expectations. Yay! (If you're reading this, please, please, please knock on wood right now ... seriously, I'm begging you.)

Here are a few "moments" from our trip so far ...


MOMENT: Assigned Seats

It has always been a treat to fly with Tavish, this time was no different. Again, I don't know why I found myself being a bit apprehensive about it - he has 'changed' in that he is older and more developed in his abilities, but he is the same kid. Anyway, he LOVED the airport in a whole new way. Planes out the windows = "oooooo", luggage vehicles driving around on the tarmac = "uh! uh! uh!" supported my emphatic pointing, and any other large vehicle = "vroom, vroom" as has become a standard. He thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it and was glued to the window of the airport, then the window of the airplane - taking in every detail of everything he saw, and seemingly the details of the information I contributed. Across the aisle from us was a family with a 22 month old. The poor little one did not seem nearly as excited about the experience. To summarize, there was a lot of unhappy 'sounds' from her for a long, long time. Tavish kept pointing over at her saying "bay-beee" and looking quite concerned. (aw) A young, single lady took the aisle seat in our short row. Poor girl. She glanced over at us with trepidation as she clearly tries to resist the 'flight' response to this scene and deplaning before it was too late. Mercifully (for her especially), the expectation exceeding started early on this trip. She was endlessly intrigued by his sign-language skills and became quite enamoured with Tavish by the time we landed. I think that, in the end, Tavish was successful in doing his part to keep the Canadian birth rate up as I am convinced that the 'poor' lady deplaned in Winnipeg being, at the very least, on the fence about swearing off children for good!

MOMENT: "Are we there yet"

Okay, it's true that this sentiment was uttered and wondered repeatedly on our drive from Winnipeg to the cabin, but not by Tavish. No, he was a treat. It was his all-of-a-sudden-impatient Mommy that moaned and groaned about the distance ... it was like I hadn't done this drive a bazillion times before, sheesh. Tavish quickly fell into a slumber when he got into the van (I felt compelled to follow suit) and was pleasantly self-entertained for over an hour when he woke up. When I opened my eyes (in the front seat), my Dad silently informed me that he was awake. I looked back to find that his traveling partner however, was not - Grandma was napping. I guess this encouraged Tavish to play quietly? (aw) Even after Mom awoke and was reading, Tavish continued to entertain himself quietly. It wasn't until we passed a huge motorhome that he made a sound: "bu-bye vroom-vroom" over and over again. Then, he and Grandma had a grand ol' time back there with laughter, giggles and all sorts of signs ("Kath, what does {insert sign description} mean?"). Very fun. He made it until about 5 minutes away from Merle and Katy's before he indicated that he'd had enough. I'd been antsy since I awoke ... I guess I should have set lower expectations for traveling with Mommy.