Someone who helps sick animals is...

..according to D: a "doctranarian."

Our Classic Family Outing

D often asks "Is it a special day?" and says "I wanna do something special" by which she means that she wants to eat special food, or have guests coming over, or be given a surprise, or go out to a special destination (the pet store, a friend's house, swimming, a park in another neighbourhood, etc.). Our classic special family outing involves a combination of sushi (D's favourite food) + a park + ice cream.

Since summer is lingering here at the end of September, we decided to go on such an outing this evening. We brought some picnic stuff from home but also picked up some stuff at the market: a yummy cheese (Nuage de Bourgogne), a Pepsi, and sushi for D. Her regular order includes avocado, raw salmon, smoked salmon, rice, nori, and sometimes cream cheese. We took it all over to the park to play and eat, and then passed back through the marché on the way home to get some ice cream - chocolate in a bowl for D.

While we were sitting in the park, LePapa and I were talking about how lovely it is to be able to go on these special impromptu excursions. We have the luxuries of time, money, and clement weather (for now!). We also have fun spots and stores that we can so easily access on foot (with A in the baby sling and D in the stroller - or increasingly, walking beside the stroller) or on public transit. We have two amazing, healthy, portable children.

We are grateful.

Cinema

Yesterday D went to the movies for the first time in her life. Although we were quite strict about not letting her watch DVDs until she was 2, she has since become a big movie fan. On a typical day, she's allowed to watch a "short movie" (like an episode of Cornemuse, or a couple segments of Max & Ruby, for instance) when she gets up in the morning. On some special days (or when we're rather desperate to keep her occupied for some reason) she gets to watch a long movie (like Shrek, or Shrek 2, or Shrek 3, or Shrek 4, or Snow White. She loves Shrek. More on that in an up-coming post).

Anyhow, so yesterday we went to the 11am showing of The Lion King (not the 3D version). Baby A and LePapa came with us so that I could nurse A just before the movie started. D munched on popcorn while I breastfed. "My work is to pick up the popcorn if it falls on the floor and eat it!" she told us. A and his papa went to wander around for a while and D and I went into the theatre. I thought D might be alarmed by the darkness or by the loud sound, but she was unfazed. She was adorable sitting in her big theatre seat, her little body not quite heavy enough to weigh it down properly.

Things that surprised me:

• the amount of popcorn that D ate! I totally should have gotten the medium.
• the number of times that she said, "this movie is too long!"
• how easily I had forgotten that The Lion King actually has a lot of scary scenes and a rather mature plot (i.e. mean uncle guilt trips his nephew into thinking that he's responsible for his father's death). I think a comic princess romance might have been more appropriate

At one point I wasn't sure we were going to make it through to the end of the movie because D was on my lap and quite restless. Normally she has an impeccable attention span for movies but I guess this one didn't grab her as much. Still, it was fun to accompany her on a new experience. Her favourite aspects: the preview for the Puss-in-Boots movie, and playing with the arcade machines outside the theatre.

Our Little Hippo

We took D to the dentist for the first time this week and it was a fabulous experience. The dental hygienist (did I spell that right?) was so gifted. Right from the first contact when she came to find us in the waiting room, she was focused on D and talking to D ("Who did you bring with you today?"). She was super positive and encouraging and kept telling D to open up her mouth big like a hippopotamus (again - too lazy to spellcheck). When it was time to examine her teeth, the dental hygienist and Papa sat facing each other with their knees touching and D was lying on their legs. D seemed a bit shy but she wasn't scared and she was delighted with the big smiley face sticker that she got. For the whole rest of the day, she was eager to tell everyone that she'd been to the dentist.

And we were really pleased too. Mme Dental Hygiene showed us the most effective way to brush D's teeth and even taught us some stuff we didn't know about dental hygiene. For instance: apparently cavities are contagious, like germs. Really! In addition to being informative, she was also so affirming: she congratulated us both on our commitment to breastfeeding, and thanked us for caring about our children's teeth. (Okay, yah, A doesn't have any teeth yet, but still. We care about them already.)

We also found out that this was actually the very first time that our local medical and social services centre offered this dental clinic. In fact, it's a provincial pilot project. I'm thoroughly impressed with this initiative and I hope lots of parents will take advantage of it. Yes, FandtheF endorses the dental clinic! Come one, come all!*

*That is, if you have a preschooler and you live in my neighbourhood.

Gender Matters

We had just gotten settled into our seats on the bus when D turned to me and asked, "Mom, are you a she?" 

Me: "Yes. Are you?"

D: "Yes."

Me: "How about baby brother?"

D: "A he." (addressing her father, sitting on the other side of the bus) "Papa, are you a he?"

Papa: "Quoi?"

(I help to clarify the question. Papa answers in the affirmative.)

D: "Mama, before I came out of your belly, you were just a woman and papa was just a man."

Food for thought, eh?

Au Café

Friends of ours formed a collective and opened an awesome café that's an 8-minute walk from our home. It immediately became our favourite hang-out spot. D quickly learned that if she suggests an outing to this café, we'll likely agree and she'll get to order a hot chocolate and sometimes a croissant too. They serve her hot chocolate in a little espresso cup, which is super cute.

We were there today, actually. They don't have a change table yet, so I was changing A's diaper on their stage when a woman stopped to admire him. She remarked on how cute he is (yup!) and congratulated me. I was mid-diaper-change so A was entirely nude from the waist down. I was therefore quite bemused when the woman asked me if my baby was a boy or a girl. Hmmmm. 

Sexy Mama

We have become hardcore family bed co-sleepers since A's birth. This means that D goes to sleep in "our" bed and sleeps there all night long (as opposed to going to sleep in her own bed and then climbing in with us at some point in the night, which she's been doing for years. Yes, YEARS, I tell ya. She's all of 3.5 years old.). Inevitably, intimate encounters between husband and wife must take place...elsewhere. 

So there we were on the futon, somewhere around midnight, doing some smooching and just beginning to remove some articles of clothing when D gets out of bed and comes to find us. And she asks a very reasonable question: "Why did you and Papa decide to sleep on the futon?" Hmmm. Very-rare-moment-of-intimacy was over. 

Nothing like a sex-related anecdote to start off a mommy blog! That is: welcome!