Pictures and Updates

I will now attempt to update on some of the things that have been happening in the last two months: in short form.

 I am now back at school in a new position. LPS (Learming Program Support). It's an interesting role because I don't have a classroom but float from room to room offering support to students with special needs, and hopefully helping their teachers cope better along the way. On my 'ticket' are all the students with MID (Mild Intellectual Disabilities) and all the kids who are using AT (Assistive Technology, or specialized computer programs to help them with their communication). It's a big job and my brain hurts a lot of the time, but in a good way. I'm also taking my Special Education Part III online which will make me a 'specialist' and also bring a pay raise. It's a lot but I'm managing to float along (if not write in the blog very often).

Rafa is also back at school taking Civil Engineering Technologist. While he wasn't thrilled with the idea of going back to school he is finding the program very useful and feels like he will be very marketable when he is done. We're doing a lot of 'tag team' child care to get homework done, but at least we're not in med school.

Deigo is back at daycare and loves it. It is nice to drop him off and have him run away to play, with only a few small looks back but no tears. What is sometimes less nice is the negotiations needed to get him to leave at the end of the day - but that is also a good sign. The daycare is housed in the school where I am teaching which couldn't be more convenient. He is bringing songs and stories home now, and it is wonderful to sit at the end of the day and 'talk' to him about what he has done. "Coby, push, no" (with a shake of the head) Whether this is he pushing Coby, or the other way around is not clear. My suspicion is that it is some of both. We are definitely approaching two.

After a long silence

We have been silent for a long time, and it is not because nothing has been happening - a lot has been happening, hence the silence. My new motivation? I recently found out that an old friend of Rafa's who is now in Australia is reading the blog. I really didn't know I had such a wide 'fan' base. If you have never left a comment would you today, please. It is an interesting thing, online blogging. I sometimes wonder if it is a phase or if we have created a whole new way of communicating with the world. It is a little like sending out a bottle into a giant sea....

Cottage Trip

Here is the video of our cottage trip:

Preserved

Blueberry jam - check
Strawberry jam - check
Peaches - check.

My son has taken to calling me 'yulia' when he can't get my attention. Sometimes I think he may be a little too smart.

Successes and Failures

We have had a couple of successes and failures here lately.

Inspired by this post over at My Girl Thursday I embarked on a journey to make my own bubble bath. I've been wanting to find a recipe that works for a while and the last bottle that I bought at Shoppers smells like gum mixed with toilet bowl cleaner and it a horrible blood red mixed with rotting grape juice color. I really have to find another option because we do consume a lot of bubble bath around here. So - I found a recipe and gathered my materials.

I shredded the bar of soap and left it to dissolve in water.

It didn't seem to be doing it so I put the mixture on some low heat and that did it. I mixed in the glycerin and put it in the bottles, expect for a little that I saved to put in the bath that night. When we went to mix in the bath that night we found this:

Semi solid gelatinous sludge. We mixed it into the bath anyway and didn't get any bubbles. Then we added the store bought bubbles and didn't get any bubbles. We have created the anti-bubble bath. Not what I was looking for. Failure #1.

The next is a failure and a success. Our dish washer has not been working very well lately, not really washing and leaving a film on all our dishes. My mother was even thinking of washing all of our dishes by hand to get them clean. So - I thought I would try changing soap to see if that helped. With a small package of phosphate rich chemical dish soap we gave it a try and got this. Can you tell which is the all natural soap and which is the phosphate?

The difference in real life is even more dramatic. Chemicals: 1 Julia: 0

And finally - a rousing success. I organized and finished staining the shed this week. I don't have a good "before" picture but suffice it to say that it didn't look this good. So I haved added a couple of years to an old shed before all the wood needs to get pulled off and thrown away. Overall I think my environmental footprint ends up about even. I am still on the lookout for a good, homemade bubble bath if anyone has any ideas.

A mother's milestone

I have passed an important milestone in my life as a mother. My baby is weened (this happened a month and a half or so ago and was, surprisingly, quite a non event)... but that's not the milestone I was talking about. I have emptied my underwear drawer and refilled it again. My cup overfloweth - or, actually, it doesn't. I am now officially a 36B. Rafa has volunteered to 'fix those up' the next time we're in Barranquilla but I think I will leave the little ladies as they are. It's nice to have you back, for my own personal use again.

Another long update

I need to begin to think of better titles. Perhaps - "Hot Summer Days". The fact is that I get way behind and then have to update in one big go. More bang for your buck that way. First, you have seen a bit of cuteness with a ripe summer melon.

Next - "a bushel of basil"... after washing and picking off the stem.

My friend Kate and I shared the bushel - grown locally and organically. We made pesto (of course) and for the record a bushel of basil (plus a bag of parsley donated by Sue Cole's garden) makes 28 little containers of pesto. The whole thing (basil, oil, peanuts (cheaper and I can't tell the difference) and containers) came to about $83. Works out to less than $3 per container. Not super cheap but definitely cheaper than the store. And more delicious if I do say so myself.

"A project long in the waiting." We had this bedspread at my mom's for as long as I can remember. It was in the shack for a long time. I always liked it, partly because I recognized the incredible amount of hand work involved and partly because it has a nice 'weighty' feel to it. Problem is that after so many years it was full of holes. This week I took it apart and saved the good bits. More on this project as I decide what to do with them. I think I will put them all back together again into a smaller throw.

And finally, "Today's meal."

On the plate from the garden, picked today:
-cherry tomatoes
-cucumber
-kale
-potatoes
And... organic, locally grown, homemade pesto. Lovely.

A Long Weekend of Music Festivals

Saturday: Blue Skies

Bajhan and Phalo (disclaimer: no promises that I spelt either name correctly)

Requesting grapes from stangers

the gift of a harmonica from Valerie - big hit!

Passed out in a borrowed tent.

Dancing on the hill.

Sunday: Canadian Guitar Festival

Diego, Dad and Daniel - music and men

Picnic lunch.

Swim Break.

Thanks to Ivan who gave us this folding kids chair yesterday. Also a big hit!

Dancing. Just at the end he notices the pile of dirt and asks for "just one" of the sand toys. Did you catch it?

A busy but wonderful weekend, paid off today with a 2 and a half hour nap - hence the blogging update. Does anyone else feel like this summer has been particularly and wonderfully long? There are 4 weeks left!

Projects

We recently found a wonderful beach escape near Kingston, however this escape comes with many mosquitoes and very little in the way of shade. I am imagining long days on this beach but without something to cover us from sun and bugs it isn't going to happen. Jennifer on the Roof faced a similar problem recently and found a great solution but I had a little extra time.  So: I jumped into a new project, which I managed to complete in two days, not without a little bit of pressure from my husband who wanted the deck back. I have been eyeing up sun shades for the beach in Canadian Tire fliers but wasn't at all convinced. So: thanks to a lovely woman named Kate and Freecycle I had a old tent, destined for the landfill, delivered direct to my door. A broken zipper, not really waterproof anymore, but with lots of wear still in it.

I cut it up, shortened the poles, reworked the fly and created this:

Which can also be rearranged to look like this:

or this:

Money spent: $0
Materials: $2.00 in thread and velcro that I already had lying around.
Distance traveled: 0 km (the woman who dropped it off travelled but one of her kids was coming into town anyway so I don't think it really counts.)
Taxes paid: $0
Man hours: well lots, probably around 7 but I happen to have an excess of that particular commodity at the moment as I am on summer vacation and this sort of project ranks pretty high on my 'I had a good time' list as well.
Tents saved from the landfill: 1

Not bad really. The advantages to recycling: 1. My very own design which is way better than the "Tire" version. This sun shade is fully vent-able, fully adjustable, it can be shut up for bug free naps or changing or opened right up with the flaps spread out for hot days with extra shade. 2. The great satisfaction of doing with my own hands (rather than small hands in Vietnam) and lowing my carbon footprint. 3. The fun had by Diego as we put up the tent, measured, took it down, attached the flaps, took them off, ran around, inside and under.

I'm pretty proud of myself - and ready for long days at the beach; equipped for space to picnic, nap, change, rest, sit and stare at the water. Anyone want to join?

A year and a half

Dear Diego - you are a year and a half now; you and your personality get bigger every day. You climbed up in this chair, got out the book, and got busy entertaining yourself. We are loving your new independence, not only for the new freedom it offers us. You are such a good communicator. Last time I made a list of your words it looked like this:

"Bye Bye - in English, with wave.

Mama - the same in both languages, handy. Refers to mom and dad interchangably.

Papa - usually only when reminded, definitely refers to Rafa

Da! - this is both of us when mad, upset, hungry, tired, etc.

Pa pa - with sign, to distinguish from papa, Pajaro=Bird

ato - Zapato = shoe

eta - Galleta = cracker

New sign: fish thanks to Brown Bear Brown Bear. We also get a pretty reliable growl for just about all animals and a bit of akaka for monkeys."

I am going to try to make a new list - but this will likely be the last one because you are learning words so quickly that I won't be able to keep up.

Signs:

sleep, more, food, fish, help, open, spoon, fan, bird, bath,

In English:

Hi, Bye, truck, miiiety (Mighty Mechines), dudududu (Elmo), Wi (Wiggles), goldfs (goldfish), blueberries (this one you learned in a moment when you first tried this perfect blue fruit), up, down, more, tidy up, yea, no,

In Spanish:

Papa, Mama (you know the difference now), iego (Deigo), gayee (Galleta), mas, nombe (no hombre), pied, uno, apato (zapato), goal!, si, no, apa (papa), eche (leche), aa (agua), omba (bomba)

People we know:

I (Ivan), uye (Judy), ama (grandma), aedy (Saide)

We also get all kinds of animal noises: moo, baa, eeee (monkeys), bowwow, miao

Two way communication is still a little miracle to me. You are so creative at combining all your different ways of communicating to get your point across. I am so looking forward to our conversations together.

At your last doctor's visit you measured 50th percentile in height, but dropped off the chart in weight. Tall and skinny like your dad, he was always like that too.

Our new favorite passtime is dancing. You have learned where the speakers turn on and where the ipod is kept and are great at requesting music - but you must have someone to dance with you. That's OK little man, I love to dance. We turn on the music and break it down in the living room and laugh and laugh. We have been laughing a lot lately. Your laugh sounds more and more like a grown up kid's all the time.  

You slept through the night last night - 9:00-6:30. That is happening more and more around here and we sure do appreciate it. Keep it up!

We are loving our summer off with you. It's all day playtime around here. You are going to miss having both mom and dad home when you go to daycare in the fall - but we are also having fun imagining the fun you will have playing with the big kids in the toddler room. You are definately a toddler now. If fact, you are not "toddling" much anymore. You balance and co-ordination are impressive.

You will play for a half and hour at a time kicking the ball around the deck. You are also beginning to play with toy cars and puppets. Your games get more complex as they get more independent. You are also beginning to watch other kids play very carefully, always learning.

We are going to have a great August. We are going to spend more time in the park, at the spash pad and in the kiddy pool. We are going to take more trips on the bicycle and swing in the hammock more. And I promise, when we all go back to work in September - we won't every forget this summer with you. Watching you grow and learn is really fun.

All my love: Mama

A whole lot of pictures

What follows is a whole load of pictures. We're getting behind around here. This one is just cuteness.

We went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago and met up with some friends who were in Canada from Spain. They were in Toronto so we met them there to save them the trip to Kingston. It was the perfect day for the zoo. It rained really hard in the morning and by the time we got there at noon the rain was gone, there were still enough clouds to keep it from being stupid hot, and most of the people had left or decided not to come at all. It was also nice to find out that we can do the zoo in a day trip - it's a long day but Diego sleeps in the car and it was nice to get home to our own beds at the end of the day.

Tunels - always fun.

This is Jose, Kai, and Jenn. Jenn introduced me to Rafa in Barranquilla (she was on year two of her contract when I arrived) and then moved to Spain.

Notice the newest member of our family. The Quinny. After three strollers I finally have one I like. I know, I should have just gotten a good one to begin with. I got this one second hand from a woman who had used it 7 times. Here's the breakdown. Stroller 1 (bought for $50, sold for $30) Stroller 2 (bought for $200, sold for $100) the Quinny (bought for $200) - So the quinny really cost me around $320 - which is a pretty good deal. If you ignore the hours of looking, buying, posting, selling, thinking, that were also included in the process.

New splash pad at the zoo - spectacular.

Mom and I bought a season's pass at Thousand Island's Playhouse this year. Which means that when there is a play she comes, spends the night, and then does her shopping the next day. It's a great deal, she and I get to go out and then we get a grandma visit. Here she is teaching Diego "this little piggy" - an instant favorite.

Another new favorite game - exercising with Papa.

Toronto FCC - here we come!

Football

Remember I said we had been watching a lot of soccer lately. Check out this series. Celebrating a goal by Paraguay.

Happy Father's Day.

In other exciting news - you will notice that Diego is wearing 'big boy' pants. We had a pee on the potty this morning and so far - two hours in underwear. No hopes that it is a definitive change but it is a signal of good things to come.

Blessings

First a picture from our last weekend visits.

Now a picture of a newest load of handmedowns. We are in line behind the last grandchild of a big family. Lucky us! It made me think about sharing resources and how important it is that we don't all go out and buy new stuff when we need it. Don't have a good source for getting rid of stuff or getting stuff? Check out the freecycle network in your area. We really don't need any more stuff people.

And finally - this spectacularness. Unfortunately - I keep forgetting that you can't turn videos around, the way to do pictures, so you will have to forgive the perspective. But this one was just too wonderful to let die. Here is Diego and Dad watching football (soccer) and celebrating a goal. Wait a second! The post video options is gone?! Can anyone help?

Birthdays

This weekend was my birthday - June 5 - 33 years old - older (or at least as old as) Jesus. I feel like it was a real milestone. We had a lovely potluck party. Very chill. The super exciting part were all the out of town friends who came to visit. Alex came early on the train and we had the whole morning to hang out. Laura and Craig came from Ottawa and Kendra and Len came from Toronto with their daughter. Several friends from Kingston came. It was lovely. Pictues to follow.