Feeling the Spirit of the Season

The seasonal spirit was in full swing at the NAC (National Art Centre)'s free Christmas orchestra concert on December 11th. Tavish began as a mere witness and evolved into a dancing, clapping, violin playing and singing participator. Guess that's the power of Christmas music for you!

MOMENT: Learning and Joining-in

Tavish seemed excited to learn the words to a new song and joined in where he felt he could. May the music infect you with the spirit of the season the way it did with our toddler ...

Urban Tree Farm

'Tis the season for Christmas tree picking. Fortunately for us (mostly for Tom and Tavish), we live just a short walk away from the Market where we could hunt for our very own Christmas tree without breaking our ... er, um ... their ... backs.

MOMENT: If a Tree Hauls in the City, Does Anybody Hear?

Tavish picked out our Christmas tree. His choice was obviously unassisted as it is the kind that is "the most expensive tree" they had, but it was small. Besides, what the heck? It's Christmas ... the tree of choice is not the place to Ba Humbug, right?

Caught by Winter

We had our first snowfall. It's officially unavoidable now, it's time to put the convertible away for the season.

First day at "School"

"One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child"

- Maria Montessori

Tavish with his new lunch bag - ready for the day!

MOMENT: Fearless and Tearless

There has been a great deal of build up and anticipation (read: anxiety for Mommy) for today and it finally came: we took Tavish to a "school" (Montessori ... elaborate daycare). I've had my reservations, mostly selfish but they were quickly put at ease today. What a trooper our son is. He confidently walked up to the school with his lunch bag slung over his shoulder (even though it only contained a snack for today), climbed all the stairs and went right up to "Miss Danielle". I held my breath to see what would unfold only to watch Tavish excitedly show her his lunch bag. We've been emphatically told that the goodbye is to be swift and brief. So, I asked for a hug which was given with an accompanying "bye Mommy". That was it. I turned and left. I didn't make it to the bottom of the stairs without tears welling in my eyes and falling on my ride to work. I watched the clock with anticipation: 'is he okay?', 'does he like it?', 'has he been there too long for his first day?' etc, etc. 


Tom picked up a happy toddler three hours later who came complete with a huge smile and reluctance to go. Oh, so he's fine? The note from his teacher read:


"Tavish had a great first day! Got several lessons (beads, drawing, cylinder block, chopsticks and others) Had a good snack. No tears at all and seems happy! Tomorrow he should be fine until 1:30. Thanks, Miss Danielle"

When we asked Tavish tonight, "would you like to go to school longer tomorrow?" he replied "no". I held my breath then heard the rest of what Tavish said "I want to go now". I hope this is the first of many firsts that are going to be this smooth, fearless and tearless (at least for Tavish!)

Tavish-o-Lantern

Halloween has been so much fun this year! Tavish's interest in 'ba-gum-pa-gums'a year ago remained and evolved - he proudly stated he was going to be 'a pumpkin` when asked, even before we re-introduced the holiday to him.

MOMENT: Carving, Creating, Parading and 'Treat'ing

There's been build up to this holiday involving themed crafts and colourful creating. I even got to work re-purposing an old orange sweater to turn our Tavish into a jack-o-lantern. Tavish and his construction-worker Daddy led the charge in their bright orange costumes at the second annual neighbourhood Halloween parade. Then he experienced Trick-or-Treating for the first time at the neighbour's. Grandpa Mike is such a good sport!

Hope your Halloween was as spooktacular as ours was. BOO!

Transition - Final Phase

It was time for a bigger bed for our bigger little boy. The assembly was a job for the Bedford boys - Grandpa Mike, Handy Daddy and Builder Tavish had a project ...

MOMENT: Handy Helper

Tavish was Daddy's Little Helper by providing entertainment, company and some more 'twisting'. He's all settled into his 'new' room with his "big crib". He can crawl in and out with ease but would find it difficult to fall out of while sleeping. Perfect. The final touch involved dusting off the ol' sewing machine - Mommy made a duvet cover! He's all set up and very excited about it ...

Seeing Seattle

Tom's sister and family moved to the Pacific northwest for work. We missed them so made a trip out of it! Grandpa Mike came too - the whole Bedford family was together again.

MOMENTS: Rain brings Rainbows

So many adventures were had. We hit up the Aquarium where Tavish touched and watched all kinds of neat things; we hiked through lush forests; enjoyed ferry rides with family; let Tavish take the wheel during our lunch visit to Microsoft; and enjoyed three boys playing and singing together as cousins. So, although being in Seattle in October means rain, the end of the rainbow accompanied us on a highway one day providing a nice reminder that if you want the rainbow, you've got to put up with the rain!