Responsibility
Posted by ahechtenns On September 14, 2007
Well, I tried to teach R a lesson in responsibility, and she taught me one back…
We have been trying to walk to the mailbox every night while R rides along on her trike. She has slowly been improving, the first few times she stopped every few metres, and it was a V E R Y slow walk.  Today she did much better, only one or two stops on the way there, and acutally made it up a very steep hill with only a little help.  The ride home was a different story. With about 50m to go, she gets off her trike and runs to daddy to pick her up and carry her. (She knows not to run to me to ask that, but daddy is a softie)  I pick up the trike, and walk over to her and daddy who has already picked her up.  I decided that she need to learn that if she took her bike out, she needed to bike the whole way. My little speech went like this “Rebecca, if you want to ride your trike to the mailbox, then it is your responsibility to ride it all the way there and all the way back. Then she got on the bike, and pedalled a few metres. Then she gets off, runs to daddy, and whispers to him (so I can’t hear) “Daddy it is your responsibility to carry me”.   What do you say to that??
 On another note, R had her first real day of school today at ECEC (Early Childhood Education Centre) at the University. She did very well, and wasn’t sad when I left.  I was a bit sad though!  I really like the fact that this centre has all sorts of one way windows, so I can go anytime and watch her and see what she is doing. This also means I can usually get more answers out of her when I ask what she did at school. It’s great.
Relatives
Posted by ahechtenns On September 13, 2007
This is really an update on extended family, for those of you who know us.  P & L and the cousins are safe in Indonesia, despite the large earthquake there a few days ago.  They have posted pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/phil.enns.  V & B are still in Ukraine, and the above picture is cute Auntie V, who does pregnancy very well.Â
First day of school
Posted by ahechtenns On September 11, 2007
Today was R’s first day of ECEC (Early Childhood Education Centre).  Daddy and I both dropped her off. She protested a bit, but there were no tears. She had a great morning, spending most of her time in the craft room playing in the sand, with the constuction set, painting, and using lots of glue. She’s growing up!
Harvest and Friends
Posted by ahechtenns On September 10, 2007
We harvested grapes today, our first crop.  I am only a little thrilled, I want the grapes to grow over our pergola first for shade, then they can produce!! We also have TONS of tomatos.  We picked a bunch today, and our friends took them off our hands to make tomato sauce.
Our friends were over, and the kids had a great time playing dress up.  Check out the gallery for those pictures.
Chinese Lantern Festival
Posted by ahechtenns On September 8, 2007
We managed to get to the Chinese Lantern Festival this year.  We went early, and got some supper there. Afterwards, we just walked around for a while, then caught a show. The show started with some spectacular drumming.  R like it, but only with her fingers in her ears to dull the noise. Then came a dragon dance, then lots of Chinese Martial Arts demonstrations.  R is now very enthusuastically trying to imiatae the Martial Arts that she saw, it’s pretty funny.
 Once the sun went down, things were just beautiful. It was a pleasantly warm evening, and the small ponds that were by the displays were so still, they acted like mirrors.  R also had a chance to play on the big drum, which supposedly brings the drummer luck.  Here are the pictures
Interesting Tidbits
Posted by ahechtenns On September 7, 2007
Here are several interesting tidbits about our dear daughter
- R has named her two hands. They are called “Mary” and “Dahla”.  The other day she was eating popcorn from a bag and she says to me “Mary and Dahla help me eat popcorn. Mary holds the bag while Dala gets the popcorn to my mouth”.
- R loves perform her version of an Irish dance. She learned this from Dorthy the Dinasaur on the Wiggles.
- She isn’t sleeping much better, but she is sleeping a bit later in the mornings, between 7 and 7:30 usually
- She starts preschool next week, she is both excited and nervous
- She stlil loves tomatos, eats lots of them right from the garden
- She points at everything with her middle finger….not her pointer
- She can write an ‘R’ very well, but doesn’t really have an interest in writing her full name, although she can write all the individual letters
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Well they’ve arrived safely…
Posted by ahechtenns On September 5, 2007
We heard from Auntie L today, they have arrived safely in Indonesia, where they will be for the next 3 years. Things sound different but exciting. I hope they start up a blog soon.
Great Wolf Lodge
Posted by ahechtenns On September 2, 2007
We had a nice overnight trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls. Let me just say if you’ve never been, you’ve got to go, it’s awsome!! It’s a huge, and I mean huge indoor waterpark, with pools and slides for toddlers and up.  We were there with L&T, and their kids S&A. L is an old university friend.  It was a great time. R even got up the courage to go on the small water slides, thanks to A, who went on them with her. What a lovely time. R likes to open her eyes under water, so we got her a pair of goggles. She loved them.  Check out pictures in the gallery.
Will you marry me?
Posted by ahechtenns On August 30, 2007
R is really into the idea of “marriage”. I don’t know what prompted this phase but it sure if funny. We had all the cousins over for dinner, and during a (rare) pause in the conversation, my daughter asks the whole table “Do you guys like being married?” We all cracked up.  Wow.  So later in the evening the girls were playing dress up. R wanted to stay in the frog costume as the cousins were leaving.  She asks S, “will you marry me?” and then they played they were married, then she asked her older cousin K, will you marry me too?  So the picture is of the frog, and 2 married girls!
Finally all 5 cousins
Posted by ahechtenns On August 28, 2007
We finally have a picture of all 5 cousins together.  I took about 20 pictures, and my daughter looks totally goofy in about 98% of them. Sigh.