Evening Writer

November 2014

Without guidance, suggestion, direction, or requests - Tavish explores writing...

First night

Next night

MOMENT: Composing

Starting in the fall of 2014, Tavish really took to writing. He seems to enjoy copying things and writing his own words down. Now, almost a year later, he writes letters to us that he leaves in the hall. We really enjoy his authentic enjoyment for reading and writing...

Couch Jumpers

Phases come and go. This couch jumping phase really came in with a bounce and a thud!

MOMENT: Whee!

Tavish gets the cushions all set up and shows Keva the pile. She required little encouragement. They both like to dive right in!


* note: no child was harmed in this activity...on this particular day...

Squeaky Clean

October 15, 2015

Every adventure needs to be tidied up eventually ... these little adventurers even make splashing memorable.

MOMENT: Splash Time Ends With a Song

November 18, 2015

Royal Winter

Looks like we've unintentionally created a habit of checking out the Royal Winter Fair. I know that it's a neat thing, but this non-city native still thinks it's kind of entertaining that they turn an otherwise fancy place into a show farm for a week or so each year for city folk to not get out of the city! ha.

MOMENT: Animals Inside

It's a great venue for running around when it's cooling down outside, checking out some animals up close and personal, and getting a sample of the country without leaving the city...

Planting seeds to grow at home

Scale for two

Hello horse

Hello pig

And hello cow!

Gloves and Shoes

Tavish was really, really into soccer this spring. His after-school activity was playing in the "ball pit". It started innocently watching from a distance or sitting on the goalie net. He was, after all, in Junior Kindergarten. The only video I have of this 'scene' is from December when he was still a part of the action, but in an observer's role. He's in the foreground with his back to us in a black coat and toque...

The early days of watching soccer

MOMENT: Gloves Make the Goalie

Spring saw him step out of his observer role and into that of a player once the older kids starting inviting him to play. There was one boy who was an excellent goalie and, apparently, wore goalie gloves. We eventually discovered that Tavish's interest in wearing gloves came from this. At the end of the school day, he'd run out to Lucy so she could hand the gloves over. He loved it in there and he proudly wore his yellow gardening gloves to play soccer with them.  They were so well loved that they show their wear...

Best goalie gloves ever

One day, Tavish casually said "someday Mommy, I'd like a real pair of goalie gloves". To which I naively responded "I thought you have your yellow pair". Clearly, he'd made it awhile before someone made an obvious comment about his gloves because he came back with "but these aren't real gloves, these are gardening gloves" with a slightly sheepish voice. Aw. I sometime miss the innocence that minimal peer exposure allowed, but it was certain that the yellow gloves with the frogs had seen their final days. Grandma came to town and to his rescue. Here is our proud son in Canadian Tire with the real gloves already donned even before paying the bill. It was tough to find him without them for most of the summer...

Real goalie gloves

"Goalie" gloves, an very day accessory

One last story corresponding to Tavish's love of soccer and his sweetness. He stumbled upon a pair of hand-me-down dress shoes intended for Keva and tried them on. He liked the sound they made on our wood and tile floors. I consciously said nothing and drew no attention to them. He asked to wear them to school one day and although I'm perfectly comfortable with that, I know that our son likely wouldn't be (see above story of beloved gloves instantly abandoned after an uninvited comment) and they are several sizes too small for his feet. I replied by saying "they would be fun to have at school, honey, but I'm wondering how comfortable they'd be all day on your feet, let's have a look." Sure enough, he had bright red rings from squeezing his feet in there, so after a short deliberation, he opted to play with them at home instead. I proceeded to find him in our yard kicking the soccer ball all over the place (neighbours yard, alley) wearing these clicky shoes with his trusty gloves. Like all innocent and unexpected choices, it seemed all too short lived. I failed to capture this wonderful moment in time, but I took a photo to aid with the visual reminder of our sweet soccer player-who-could wearing whatever sounded and felt right at that moment...

The only uniform he needed at one time...

Century School

November 2014

Mommy got to do some Show & tell with my family at the School House I sometimes teach at. My kids are, hands down, the cutest early settlers EVER!

Gaelic Sing Along

My cousin, Andrew, discovered singing through his love of the Scottish Gaelic language of our ancestors. Turns out, there might be another family member who's drawn to the songs...

MOMENT: An t-alltan Dubh

In the fall, I dusted off some cds for the kids to put into a small cd player in the living room. At their leisure, they could chose what music they wanted to play to promote independence and, of course, music. Both of Andrew's CDs that we have were hits. Tavish knows which numbers from which CD he most prefers to sing along with. Feel free to sing along with Tavish  by checking out Andrew's music: http://www.grianmcbuttons.ca/index.html. This is one of the sing alongs I captured...