We are hopefully nearing the end of our week of "goo". The cold Clara and Leo caught came with some lovely eye goo, not fun for the under 4 crowd let me tell ya. Leo woke up two mornings in a row with his eyes stuck shut. He was pretty freaked out to say the least. In fact it got so bad that he ended up with a real honest to goodness eye infection and has the antibiotic ointment to prove it. Ask Marc about poking his son in the eye, he does it twice daily at the moment! Clara is less gooey but more sickly - she's had random complaints from ear ache to fever to stuffed up nose. I see the end in sight though (thankfully) but the mountains of laundry all this goo has created will likely hang around a bit longer.

I committed the cardinal sin of parenting yesterday and regret it profoundly.

I threw out a broken toy without telling Clara about it first.

Ralph was a wind up bath toy that paddled his arms and swam. He was a gift from Papa T. Ralph was played with heavily for many months but recently he resided in the bottom of one of our toy bins. Yesterday, after the bin was tipped over and emptied, I spotted Ralph lying on the carpet with only one arm attached. Without really thinking about it I picked him up and tossed him in the kitchen garbage. Clara was busy playing, she doesn't even take Ralph in the bath anymore I thought to myself.

Many hours later I was drawing a solo bath for Clara which is an unusual event these days. She requested bubbles since Leo would not be there (he was terrified of bubbles last time we tried) and then I saw a lightbulb go on in her head. She dashed out of the bathroom and said she was going to get the PERFECT TOY. I froze. Seriously, I didn't know what to do. I considered playing dumb and concluding that Ralph was lost for now, but in the moment I decided I had to tell the truth or risk being be haunted by my actions.

I followed Clara out to the living room where she was maniacally digging through the toy bin Ralph had been in. I started slow, I told her Ralph had broken this afternoon and I had thrown him out. I was regretful and apologized while she cried. But instead of getting better and calming down, Clara started heaving, sobbing, and sputtering "I love Ralph". This was grief like I've never seen before. At this point I would have dug through the garbage to give her the pieces of Ralph but as luck would have it last night was garbage pick up so Ralph was outside on the sidewalk in a pile of black garbage bags.

I knew she would need closure of some sort to get over Ralph. She was sobbing and shaking and completely grief stricken. We opened the front blind and sat in front of the window. I held her on my lap and asked it she wanted to say goodbye to Ralph. She did and sat and cried and said "bye bye Ralph" over and over. We were a pitiful sight, I know this because Marc got home in the middle of our show. We told him what had happened and to be completely honest I was just about in tears at this point as well. We talked it all over and eventually the shaking subsided and the sobbing turned into a catch in her voice. I promised to never throw away her toys without talking to her about it first and we decided that we would see if we could find another wind up bath toy for her to buy with the money she earned rolling pennies with her Papa.

Whew, what an emotional evening. I don't look forward to the day one of her fish is found floating in the tank....

This morning was our first day back on "schedule", Clara was slowly getting ready for Carrefour and Leo was doing something to bug her. She shoved him or hissed at him or something and he started to cry. I really wasn't up for a teaching/learning moment, I just wanted to get out the door so I skipped the "you hurt/scared/freaked Leo out" discussion and encouraged her to go get dressed. I assumed Clara would be happy to ignore her misbehaviour but she surprised me by going over to her little bro who was no longer crying and hugging and APOLOGIZING to him of her own volition!

Yeah, she hisses at him regularly... weird I know but it seems to really work for her in the heat of the moment. Hey, if it means there are no tears in the end, I am very comfortable with that form of expression!

Here it is, a little late but cute none-the-less :) Leo helping Patricia and I sing Jingle Bells on Boxing Day in Bromont.

Click on this and check out crazy Clara B. this evening!

I can't share a picture of what they are doing now but it is easy to visualize. Imagine a lot of skin running around in a blur of pink, there is tickling, and wrestling and of course the required high-pitched squeals. Clara and Leo are running around naked (Leo is wearing a diaper) post bath and are having a blast. This, despite Leo inhaling more water than I care to think about while he practiced blowing bubbles in the bath. I am happy to report he pretty much mastered it before he got out of the tub.

Last Sunday, Marc prepared us a delicious steak dinner for the four of us celebrating the end of a very fun Christmas holiday. Here he is with Clara who, by the way, is very excited about drinking juice in a wine glass!
Earlier in the day Clara and Leo went sledding on Mount Royal. As expected Clara was exhilarated by the wind in her face, Leo on the other had was just plain freaked out. He spent most of the time trying to keep his balance in is puffy snowsuit and boots at the bottom of the hill.


Here is Leo with the latest object of his obsession - his baby.

Who is that good lookin' cowboy at our house?
Last week Clara and I had a most enjoyable tea party while Leo napped. She poured, stirred, sipped and nibbled. It was a very special time for us... there is nothing like girls bonding over tea.

Happy New Year... yes it is January 4th but hey it is still my first post of 2006. Wow, 2006 - it seems impossible that this year Clara will turn 4 and Leo will turn 2... oh yeah and that Marc and I will be turning 31! I know it is cliche and everyone says it but time really does fly when your kids are young.

I've been having trouble maintaining Clara and Leo's blog at the regularity I once was and I have a few excuses to share with you all.
1) There is so much to blog that I am overwhelmed and end up writing about none of it.
2) I'm working on getting a life again :) Between the early mornings at the gym and my new knitting hobby I find myself in front of the computer less in the evenings.
3) Auntie Dorothy is not checking in everyday so I don't feel like I have my "audience" waiting for me!
4) The new camera and new computer setup are not quite organized to my liking as yet. Uploading pictures and then posting them seems more difficult and thus more overwhelming so see reason #1.

My excuses aside I must note that Leo is in love with the baby doll. He took it with him everywhere over the holidays. He hugged it and fell asleep in the carseat every night we were out late. Now, he not only hugs it but he also kisses it and pats it on the head and just yesterday I saw him giving his baby water from his sippy cup. What a sweet little boy I have!