Patience, of the Popcrate Variety!

I used to hate making my kids wait...until i realized that I'm supposed to be teaching them stuff not just doing everything I can to avoid screaming and whining.   Now I like making them wait...wait just long enough to test their patience but not invoke high pitches. 

The son Niko learned to poop on the toilet when he was 8 months old.  More recently he learned how to talk.  So now after I help him sit on the toilet, he says "Tay Mama, tay!" (Stay Mama, stay?).    See I thought staying was washing dishes, making Gabriela's lunch, and renewing the library books while frequently yelling, "hey Niko, how's it going?".   Niko tells me it's something different.  He takes the black popcrate that we use as a stool for getting up the bathroom sink, from under his feet at the front of the toilet and slides it over to the wall so that one side of the popcrate is against the wall and other other is inches from the toilet and him.  " it der" (Sit there) he says to me and so I sit down and then get up, sit down again lean my head against the wall, stand up, pace around until he tells me to sit down, I about start whining but turn to him instead and ask "Are you done yet?" and then sit down.  Anyways this morning was my second on the popcrate learning patience and that's where I came up with this blog's (new) title: Patience my love.

Winter Camping !!!!

January 7th- Winter Camping in Pinery Provincial Park, Ontario, CANADA

6 degrees C    !!!!!

 even the kids are disconcerted

WILD animals : ) 

Hello to all! We were honoured this year to be in Ontario for Christmas!
Niko (2 yrs) and Gabriela (5 yrs) had so much fun acting out the nativity with our creches under our Christmas tree that we decided to make a live nativity.  Alas, Niko has been walking around the house all week saying:  "me....heep!"  which means: "I get to be a sheep in the nativity! Yipppeeee!  (thus our greeting: heep and good will)

We thank our darling cousins/nephews Eily (horse) and Gabe (Jesus) and our friends Emma (angel), Charlotte (star), Eben (sheep), Rhea (angel) for sharing in the live nativity.    

And, we thank the Good Lord for perfect nativity weather (the sun was shining upon us) and another exciting and year of milestones and challenges in Canada. 

Esther, Matt, Gabriela, Niko

here a few more of the stars: