Another Beautiful Summer Day

I realize some people are lamenting these cooler summer days, but I love them. I would rather throw on a cozy hoodie to block the cool breeze than sweat in a humid heat and hide in my house out of the sun. Abi also much prefers these cooler days when I feel comfortable letting her play outside. She's going to love Autumn!
This morning she took Darla for a walk. Yes, Abi walked Darla (with a little help from me). She insisted not only that we take Darla on a walk (with her usual method of finding the leash and trying to put the Halti on Darla), but that she hold the end of the leash (while I held it in the middle at our short-leash knot). It was adorable. As an added bonus, Abi wasn't wandering off on the walk.
After the walk and some lunch for Abi, we drove out to New Hamburg to meet Connie at Meme's Cafe. Delicious! Abi had a well-deserved nap, and I had a wonderful lunch. Next we popped into Shall We Knit, a LYS conveniently located in New Hamburg. I picked up some sock yarn as well as some "leftovers" ends of Koigu for Abi's Leftovers Blanket. You see, I had this idea a couple weeks ago to use up my fabulous sock yarn with a pinwheel-style blanket. I imagined it would grow over time. I quickly ran out of leftovers... Buying a full skein or ball of yarn just for the blanket would defeat the purpose of a leftover blanket, so I either need to churn out more socks and wait, wait, wait to work on the blanket, or... Needless to say, when I noticed the small "leftover" skeins I snapped up a few. They are leftovers of a form (from winding skeins) - just not from my socks. By the end of the blanket I'll certainly have to buy full skeins because as it grows the circumference will be very large and leftovers might not make more than one round, if that. So far it has a radius of 10". If I aim for a 30" radius, that means I'm 1/3 of the way finished, right? SHHHH. No math please. Leave me alone in my deliberate fantasy.

After New Hamburg and dinner at home, we headed to Waterloo Park to join fellow knitters. While Abi spent 3 hours (!!!!!) playing on the slides, I knit 7 rounds on the blanket and used up one whole "leftover" skein. Granted, my knitting was slowed by the fact that I was walking around a play structure for 3 hours, but 7 rounds and a leftover skein in 3 hours is not a lot. Abi had a blast. While other kids and their families came and went, Abi played on - always excited by new kids arriving.

While Abi and I played, Robin was out Geo-Caching with a buddy after work.

Tomorrow we're going to visit a friend's new home. If the rain holds off I imagine we'll walk the dog, maybe play a little ball in the yard, chase Abi around... same old, same old.

Not just words

To follow up from the last post, I thought I would make clear that while there are some words that Abi says, there are far more that she understands and others that she signs.
One of those is bath. She loves signing for a bath lately. In fact, she's having one right now after asking for it. She still signs for nursing (her first sign), although she's more inclined to use her word (na-na-na) for nursing.
She also has a thing for feet. She doesn't quite say "feet", but she tries to and she pays a lot of attention to them - feet and shoes.

I've already shared videos demonstrating how she will find a cup and her food when asked (as well as on her own if she wants it). This applies to most things in her life - toys, food, drink, shoes...

Already she has a new word to add to the list "wa" for water.
I edited the last post to add "bubbles". We really don't know where that one comes from since she doesn't have bubble baths and she's only seen bubbles a couple of times. I think she just likes to repeat the word.

And you should see her soccer skills with a ball! She has some fancy footwork.

Abi's First Haircut

At last it is done. Abi has received her first hair cut.


Here comes the first snip...


And it is done. No turning back now.


Not too shabby for my first haircut.


Almost done...


The end result is a cute bob and now most of her hair is the same length instead of two very distinct layers far apart.


I think she likes it... I do.


Yes, I saved it. There is already a lock in her baby book.

Words

I recently realized that I haven't updated you on Abi's vocabulary. She started with:
Mama and Dada
Darla
No
Those are old hat for her now. She has added the following to her repertoire:
Yes (though she far prefers "no")
Shoes
Hat (often accompanied by patting her head)
Hot (sounds similar to hat of course, but you know by context)
All Done
George (which is much easier to say than Fenwick)
This
What's that? (more like "dat", but you know what she means)
Ball
mum-mum (food)
more
na-na-na (nursing; accompanied by sign for milk)

AUGUST 19 edit: Must add bubbles to the list. We have no idea where she got this one.

Next post - I gave Abi a hair cut.

Proud about Pee

You may recall me writing about Elimination Communication some time ago. (I tried to find the old post, but can't locate it.) You may also remember the cute picture of Abi sitting on her potty, or maybe on Corey's toilet (did I post that one?). Incase you don't remember, Abi has been peeing and pooping in a potty (or bowl or toilet) for over a year now. I don't recall right now when we started and I can't be bothered to look it up. It's been a long time, enough said. We practice what is called Elimination Communication. This does not mean that Abi is being "potty trained". In fact, she won't need to be. Rather, it means that as parents we are aware of when Abi has to pee or poop and we provide an opportunity for her to do so in a container. (This is called "catching" in EC terms.) It is so much easier than changing a dirty diaper! Since we are out a lot, Abi was really only part-time ECing and otherwise wearing cloth diapers. However, as summer came along and Abi had more opportunities to run around diaper-free, she quickly took to using the potty all the time. At first we only had the small red potty and I was always bringing it up and downstairs with us. It is very portable and came camping with us. Abi did so well using the potty camping that I barely used any diapers and even when I did put on a diaper (for sleep, meals, rituals, etc), she often did not use them as she prefers to use the potty. This summer I bought her a classic wooden chair potty for the living room. Once that was set up, there was no diapers necessary at home most of the time. When she has to go, she walks herself over to the chair and does her business - even if I'm not nearby. If she does start to have an accident, she will stop herself and move to the potty. (Spills are easily cleaned on the laminate flooring.) This was all well and good, but the real indication that she is almost done with diapers was when she awoke from a nap while we were downstairs and went pee and poop in her potty all by herself. We did not even know she was awake until we heard her crying. (She was sleeping diaper-free on a very large change pad on our futon on the floor.)
Needless to say, I am very proud of her. And I am very pleased to think that she will soon be done with diapers!! No "potty training" for us.

In unrelated footage, here is a cute video of Abi exploring a slide. At first she was going down feet-first on her belly (just like she goes down the stairs), but she quickly shifted to sitting up. Unfortunately, now she also tries to go down stairs this way, and if you hold her hand on the stairs, she will try to slide down them on her bum.
Abi on the slide:

Busy Week

I thought family would be curious to hear about all the fun we've had with family and friends this week - even though we're still mid-week and there is more yet to come.
Abi's Aunty Corey arrived Friday evening for a long-weekend visit. Saturday we went to a local water park. [pictures coming from Corey; check Flickr later] Sunday we went for brunch at Boa Nova with Corey and some cousins as a belated birthday celebration (for Corey). Monday we drove out to Port Dalhousie where Abi had her first ride on the carousel.

We also met up with Abi's great-grandparents and great-aunt as well as some friends while we were there.
Later that day, Abi's uncle Ian arrived with aunty Melanie. We found a local geo-cache that evening and Tuesday we visited St. Jacob's for breakfast and a tour.

Ian and Melanie left Tuesday afternoon.
Wednesday we took Abi to the Toronto Zoo.

Tomorrow Abi and I are visiting my Aunt Rita and cousin Natassia. Friday we have a fire-pit party with friends... and Saturday I think we'll sleep. All day. Unless we have plans.

More updates to come - there have been many exciting developments for Abi.

Twos (2)

2 - the number of new molars Abi is cutting on her bottom jaw. (For a total of 4 molars)

2 - the number of days until Aunty Corey arrives!

2 - the number of people visiting Abi from BC on Monday.

2 - the number of cats who live in this house and who are getting along okay.

2 - the number of cats who keep visiting my sliding screen back door, presumably looking for either Fenwick or (sadly if so) Monkey.

2 - the number of times I had to drive downtown to pick Robin up from work today. (I got lava cake as an apology.)

2 - the number of fairy dolls I have made .

2 - the number of times I have to knit the heels (and then feet) of each sock in this pair.


2 - the number of odd socks I've knit so far and don't plan on knitting the other half of the pair for quite some time.


2 - the square root of the number of little girls who will be very excited to receive their toys from Aunty Mandy (plus a dragon for their mom).

2 - the hour I will probably go to bed at.

2 - the number of shoes one usually wears, unless you are Abi and insist on wearing only one shoe around the house and stomping with it.

2 - double the number of hours Abi napped today (recent trend due to teething).

2 - the number of children's clothing consignment stores remaining near me now that Angel Worn is closing in 2 days.

2 - forty less than the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.

5 Years

It's been five years (and a day) since Robin and I were married. I've been told that's quite an accomplishment, but it doesn't seem hard - so I guess that's a good sign that we'll have many more anniversaries.

We're not really the type to celebrate anniversaries, but we did have a fun evening picnic in the park (with Abi) and then going to see Transformers (without Abi).

Abi had fun too, while we were at the movie, playing with a kitten and kids.

I also wanted to share some of her art with you. A few weeks ago she found some pencil crayons and this leftover poster board and she began to doodle. Fortunately she has an innate desire to put crayon/pen/pencil to paper rather than on walls, furniture, etc. (Granted, paper includes books). I have some videos of her colouring that I will eventually edit and share. Today I pulled out her baby paint/markers and let her build onto her art piece.

Most of this was done by Abi, but I'm sure you can tell which brush strokes are mine. She actually finds these difficult to work with because she is used to holding a pencil and she holds a pencil quite well. Unfortunately, in this picture you can't see her pencil-crayon doodles - mostly below the painted area above the blue ball. Abigail was also quite colourful by the time she finished.

George and Festivals

It was feeling a little quiet around here with only one cat, one dog, and one one-year old...
so we are fostering one cat.
And only fostering!
This time we will not fail fostering 101.
No more adoptions until we move (i.e., not soon).
I have a very specific cat type in mind and I'm not telling too many people because I don't want you suggesting cats you know, as well-intentioned as you may be.
Anyhow, the specific expectations *should* keep me from wanting to keep any fosters. That is part of the intention; that and wanting a specific cat. I'll give you a hint: it's not a brown-caramel tabby.

Yesterday we took in George. He is a friendly, baby-tolerant, laid-back cat. Still getting used to relationships with Darla and Fenwick, but I'm hopeful that they will get along well.

Abi is enthralled by the new cat in the house, but fortunately she's not throwing herself on him like she does with Fenwick. She seems to know to keep her distance from strange animals. Recently we visited a friend with a lovely Rotti, but he was a little too big for Abi's liking and she was shy towards that baby-loving dog. I think if we'd visited for another hour longer, though, she was ready to crawl all over him and he would have been in his glory.

Abi and I spent a week camping near Sarnia at the Spirits of the Earth Festival. As expected, we had a fantastic time. It is a wonderful community of people. I loved laying under the stars with her, nursing while she fell asleep, listening to the evening concert; then wrapping her up and dancing around the revel fire.

Setting up camp - and then we were having too much fun to take any more pictures.

Watering a friend's garden in the new dress grandma sent.

This weekend was the annual local Beer and Ribs festival - Robin's favourite. We visited every day (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). My new favourite beer is Steelback red maple beer. Imagine a honey brown with maple syrup instead..... mmmmmmmmmmm.

It's a fun, busy summer - and there is much more fun and business yet to come!

cats

This afternoon, as I watched Abi snuggling (molesting?) Fenwick, I couldn't help but wonder what will happen in the future when it is Fenwick's time to pass over. Abi will not remember Monkey, and that is okay. If Fenwick passed away now, I'm sure Abi would probably forget her too. But I am hoping that at least one cat will live to old age, and if that cat is Fenwick (being the only one left in this house) then I imagine she and Abi will have developed a strong bond over the next many years.
When I was little, younger than 5, we had a cat named Patches. She had kittens. She was a calico. That's about all I remember, but I recall being fond of her - as kids are of cats. Just before my 5th birthday we moved to England and she couldn't come with us. We didn't get another cat (or any pet) until I was 12.

I have a book, for Abi, that I bought about a year ago titled Desser The Best Ever Cat. I break down in tears every time I read it. It evokes memories of Snuggles, Molly, Jenny, and Gryphon all at once. I haven't dared to open it today. It is a wonderful book and I would highly recommend it to any parent mediating the loss of a beloved cat to a child, or for yourself.

Like Desser's family, I think of us as "cat people". Normally I'm ready to open my home to another cat in need pretty quickly. This time... well, Robin says no. But we'll see. I'm in no rush, but if another cat is meant to be here, it will happen. After Gryphon's passing we said we wouldn't get another until Abi started insisting. So long as she has Fenwick, I don't imagine she'll be demanding another cat. But that was when we had two cats already. One cat... sounds lonely.

Already I find myself wanting to snuggle more with Fenwick, which is odd considering Monkey was not a snuggler and I'd been happy to have independent cats at this time in my life. Fenwick does enjoy the attention when she gets it. I wonder how she will change now that she is the only (and thus alpha) cat. Of late, she has become more confident around Darla. This was before Monkey's passing. If it wasn't for Monkey, however, Fenwick might still be hiding.

It's difficult to accept Monkey is gone. In part because she was so independent and I am not accustomed to her physical presence. In part because I didn't see her body. Until the receptionist at the human society compared my lost report with their found reports, noticed they had a DOA from my area, and suggested they might take my photo to the back and check - I had honestly not even considered that Monkey could be dead. I assumed she was wandering. That maybe she was at the humane society in a cage. That maybe a family had taken her in to their home. That she was playing in the bushes. I suppose she is playing - somewhere in the cat afterlife where there are no babies to avoid, plenty of trees to climb, and mice to chase. Monkey would be happy there.