Marc: Why do you insist on digging your toes into my flesh???
Leo: (keeping his gaze averted from Marc's, said nothing.)

Oh the things you find yourself saying!

Ack! Why do I so rarely have my cell phone on me when I go out?

Because my son loves phones and swipes it at his first available opportunity. He then roams the house saying "hello, hello, bye bye, bye bye" until he gets board and then dumps said cell phone wherever his little 21-month-old heart desires! Today I found it twice; first in a basket of clean laundry and then in the middle of my bed. If you try to call me on that thing, don't expct an answer, ok?

We took the metro to have lunch with Papa today. After eating we dropped by Papa's work and when Clara, Leo and I were getting ready to leave, Clara asked if we could visit Papa's office next. Hmmm I guess we still have a few things to clarify. At least she doesn't still think he watches movies at work all day!

On Friday night, six days before his due date, my gorgeous nephew and more importantly, Clara and Leo's very first cousin made his appearance!

The 'lil guy is just beautiful and has stolen the hearts of everyone in our home. He is still without a name but I am assured that an announcement will come within the next 30 days (or so).

So, on Sunday we drove to Ottawa to meet our newest family member. Both Clara and Leo loved him but, Leo loved him even more than I had anticipated. He pointed and giggled and said "bebe" repeatedly and touched and pointed out his cousin's nose, mouth, ears, fingers, feet, and toes every chance he got! Clara got to hold the new babe - even before I did and she was just so proud of herself. After much head stroking (the baby's not Marc's!), and gazing we said good bye to Auntie Patricia and Uncle Ashley. In the car on the way home Clara asked when we would be going back to Ottawa to see "my baby cousin" Awwwww.

First glimpse

Two very happy cousins

Some baby gazing in action!

The proud cousins with mama and baby

And not to be outdone, we became the proud owners (parents?) of 8lbs 3oz (or thereabouts) of zucchini straight from Ashley and Patricia's garden... they grow big babies and big squash!

Marc took the day off work to join Clara, Leo and I at Le Village de Pere Noel with our daycamp group. It was a perfect day to play outside; the sun was hot but the wading pool was wet ;) That place is perfect for the under 10 crowd, there is just so much to do! When I asked Clara what her favorite part of the day was she had a really hard time coming up with one thing that stood out above the rest. When pressed I think she said riding the horse was "amazing" but then she went on to talk about the train, the pedal go carts, the zip line, and more. Leo definitely LOVED the train rides, I think he rode the line at least 4 times. He also loved wandering around the animal pens giggling and saying "hello" to each llama, goat, and sheep he met.

"We're going to the tunnel!"

"hello" or more likely "allo"

When Clara is determined, nothing can stop her.

Relaxing in the paddle boat

Practicing her steering

Click on the picture to see Cowgirl Clara in action!

We took Clara to the same place two years ago, before Leo was born. I just found the pictures from that trip and I simply can't believe how much my girl has grown up! Here she is on boat number 4 in July 2004. Crazy, no?

Having trouble keeping up...

I've got about 3 or 4 half written entries waiting to be completed. I'll get to them - eventually. In the meantime here are some pics to show you what we've been up to.

Some kite flying in Mont. Saint Hilaire

Strawberry picking in Granby

Fun at the Agrignon Farm with our family daycamp

Although Clara was convinced that by 4 years old she'd be able to do the monkey bars she has now ammended her prediction and has decided that 5 just might be the magic age afterall.

In the meanwhile the big 4 years old has brought on a multitude of other accomplishments, for example, just a few days past her birthday Clara started screeching in her bedroom "I can do it, I can do it". She had turned on her bedroom light without the aid of a stepstool or holding a book in her hand to extend her reach (a pretty ingenious tool she'd come up with months ago). She got dressed without any help several times today - we went to the wading pool and the sprinklers so there were several opportunities for practise. Her art has also changed so much recently, the kid is colouring in the lines!

At 4 years old Clara is not at all the kid I would have predicted. She's loving, empathetic, and very in tune with her emotions, these traits have not surprised me. It is her shyness, introversion, and incredible imagination that have caught me off guard. Clara can have fun watching a crowd of rowdy kids her age (and older) and she might even think she wants to join in but the second the action gets too close she often becomes overwhelmed and backs off to find a quite safe place. Sometimes it breaks my heart to see her watching groups of kids at the park but then when the circumstances are just right, like this afternoon there she sits shoveling sand and sharing her trucks with 3 other preschoolers quitely, just playing together.