Weekend at the Market

Samara's aunt Anna was visiting from Montreal this past weekend, so we thought a Saturday outing to St. Lawrence Market would be fun, especially since Toronto was hosting a busker's festival there as well!

So after some breakfast to fuel up, we wandered around to watch street performers & buskers (the aerial acrobats had Samara's attention...I think mostly because of the white balloon!), as well as stopped by to sample some cheese and pick up some groceries for dinner that evening.

Before leaving, Samara was treated to a soft cone ice cream that she loved!  She nursed it all the way back to the car and barely made a dent in it.  She eventually had to say good-bye to the ice cream and gave it one last kiss before getting into the car.

Anna cooked up a storm for dinner, and we ended a very fun day with a lovely meal in the back yard, with the sun setting.  Thanks for the great visit aunt Anna!

Dinner at Ceili Cottage

Fridays are special.  They signify the end of a school week or work week, so kids and adults alike look forward to Fridays.  We are no exception.

This past Friday, we took Samara to dinner at the Ceili Cottage in Leslieville. It's a nice Irish pub...absence of animal references (e.g., the fox and hound) in the name of the pub was a good sign!

We sat on the patio on a sunny summer evening and enjoyed the atmosphere.

Cottage Weekend with Grandad & Nan

We took Samara to see her Grandad and Nan at the cottage this past weekend.  The weather was much better than we thought it was going to be, and a steady breeze off the water made the heat and humidity quite bearable.

We set up a tent so that we could have a family nap - Samara was excited by the idea, but didn't really manage to get to the nap part.  So she took her nap inside the cottage, leaving the tent for Mer and me.  After what turned out to be a 2 hour nap, and a little snack to get our energy up, we were ready for a ride in the newly acquired Doral, which was powered by a 90 hp motor.  

As you can tell from the video, it can really move!  Samara loved it, but also enjoyed the kayak (with Mer), some skinny dipping (no photos as I was sleeping then), and just hanging out on the deck.

Wish we were staying longer, but we had to say our good byes and say our thanks to Grandad and Nan for inviting us up and showing Samara such a great time.

Cuzzins

It was my cousin Phillip's birthday, so the entire Kim/Lee clan met for eats, treats, and gossip deets.  

The baby makers (Mer and Diana) were seated on a reclining couch, with foot rests up, while Samara sat like a demure lady in between.

Samara and Charlotte seemed to enjoy catching up with one another ;-)  Unfortunately, we had to dine and dash in order to get Samara home for bed, but it was great to see everyone!

Morning Musings

For the last while, we've had a bit of a morning routine in the house - as I imagine most households with children do.  Nothing out of the ordinary, but a well orchestrated dance of mom in the shower, dad gets breakfast on; mom gets Samara, dad gets in shower; mom gets dressed, dad dresses Samara; mom packs Samara's stuff, dad gets dressed; we all leave the house together.

Well we decided to break up the routine today so that Samara and I could take things a bit slower.  Here are some memorable bits:

Wake-up
This morning, Samara woke up and called for Mer (who was in the shower), but rather than yell out "Mommy!" as usual, she kind of sang out "Where is mommy?", varying her cadence and intonation with each line. 

Hard to convey through text, but it went something like this (I was standing outside her door giggling):
"Whhheeea is my mom?"
"Where is mah-meeeeEEee?"
"Where IS my mumeeeeee?"
"To-getha"
"To-ge-tha?"
"Together with my mom"
"Mom?"
"Mommy?"

Oddest conversation to have before your morning coffee (this really happened):
Samara:  "Appa, when I am older, then I will be the daddy and you will be Samara!" 

I've heard her say similar things to Mer and always thought it was a thoughtful and caring thing to say - kind of like, 'when you get older, it will be my turn to take care of you, mom and dad'

Me: "that sounds great monkey".

Samara:  "Yeah, I will be the Appa.  I will have a peee-nis and you will have a va-Jie-na" (she always places the emphasis and extends the "gi" in "vagina").

Me:  "Hmmm, well I don't think that will happend"

Samara:  "Yes, daddy, you will have a va-Jie-na"

Me:  "Okay, sweets, let's get dressed"

Samara:  "Va-Jie-na!" (as she ran off squeeling)

Swimmin' in the Lake

We had the good fortune of visiting our friends Dave & Lisa and their brood (Jake and Ben) at their cottage.  Samara was nervous about heading into the lake at first, but after getting in, she took to the water like...fish to water...nice.

Music Video

 

While we were in Maryland visiting Catherine and my nephews - Hoseok & Michael - Samara discovered that Hoseok, had a kid-sized guitar.  

She started to play with it, and while we're pretty sure she won't be up for an MTV or MMV award, here's her first music video!

The Incredible Growing Woman!

Here are some shots of Mer as she's progressed through the pregnancy.  Samara and I think she looks pretty great!

Kissing Bandit

So Samara was feeling particularly affectionate one day last week. She was giving out kisses like it was a liquidation sale!  

She has 2 types of kisses:

1.  Normal kisses - these are either kisses given by Samara to you on the cheek, or on some occasions, where she will offer her cheek for you to kiss instead. 

2.  Special kisses - these are great!  This is when she takes a hold of your face, neck, hair or whatever she can get her hands on, and firmly plants one right on the kisser!

The crazy hairdo was courtesy of Mer.

Little Bean

So this is "little bean" at 20 weeks.  In case you aren't sure what you are looking at, the profile of the head is shown, with LB's left hand just under her chin - you can see the thumb is up, with her fingers curled.  LB and Mer are both doing great.  LB's been very active with lots of kicking and moving around.

 

Samara's Personality

As parents we know that Samara has an entire lifetime ahead of her in which to develop her personality and self.  However, the monkey continually amuses us with the things she says and does.

Take for example the photo above.  I was taking a nap this weekend, and I must have been tired because unbeknownst to me, Samara decided that my back side looked like it would make a good reading chair, so she got her book, got set up and snuggled in for a read.  If it weren't for Mer taking the photos, I would have never known.

Here are two snippets of conversation that also stand out in my mind, from this past weekend:

#1 (when I arrived to the cafe that Mer and Samara were, and sat down):
Samara:  "Appa, you look diffent when you wear your hat"
Me: "Really, should I take it off?" as I took my hat off.
Samara:  "Appa, you look bettuh with the hat on"

#2 (I recently taught Samara how to make farting sounds by blowing on the back of her hand or forearm.  I was on the second floor calling for her to come up for a diaper change.  She wasn't interested, so here's what happened):
Me:  "Samara, can you come up now?"
Samara:  "No thank you daddy!"
Me:  "Okay, then I guess I'll have to burp and fart by myself in your room"
Samara:  (sound of feet running on hardwood) "Wait for me Appa!  I want to buhp and fawt too!"

Wall Flowers

Hello world!  This is the first official post on Samara's blog, so there may be some growing pains as we figure out what this blog thing can do ;-)

We put some plastic flowers from Umbra on Samara's wall this weekend. She helped put them up, by handing me the flowers and telling me where they should go.  We put one up, then stepped back to take a look, then Samara would run and leap onto the mattress and laugh.  This process took much longer than it would have taken me to simply slap these suckers up, but it was soooo much more fun!