The job of washing the kids has generally
fallen on my shoulders. Shortly after Claira was born she
was washed in a bucket. She graduated to the bath tub but
still required a lot of holding and we didn't want to get her ears
wet. As she grew up, she learned how to sit and bath time
became much more fun. Recently she figured out she could
splash the water and she thought that was awesome!
Claira started swimming classes when this
year and she seems to really enjoy it. It took her a long
time to figure out she could pick up the balls, but I think she
enjoyed the time with Mom. I got some time off work so I was
able to see Helen and Nara do a day time swimming class.
Claira started walking some time April and
with learning to walk, she has learned to squirm to get put
down. Until she started walking, she didn't really exercise
control over where she was going - she couldn't crawl and she
could pull herself up. Watching her swim, I suspect Claira
is just resigned that was is going to happen her, will
happen - she has no control.
Claira did look like she had a good time. After swim she
gets a drink and her nap after that seems to come early and last
longer.
Nara's Birthday
The local concrete plant has an open house
every year around this time and we decided it would make a great
start to Nara's birthday. Nara has always liked cement
trucks and other construction machinery and the chance to see it
up close seemed pretty attractive.
There were three cement trucks lined up
so kids could climb in and "drive". The horns on the trucks are
still working and almost every kid wants to honk the horn.
That is loud. Nara had hearing protection, but she still had
a tough time with all the noise. We played more the with the
yard equiptment, but Nara wasn't really having a good time so we
decided to head home a little early.
After the cement plant, we came back to our house and played with
Nara's toys. We fired up the BBQ and made hot dogs for
lunch. The kids explored Nara's and Claira's toys while Nara
looked on somewhat in horror.
Nara really wasn't so sure she wanted
other kids playing with her Toys. She was better once lunch
came (she didn't have to watch) and she ate her lunch slowly.
Finally the cake came and Nara was really happy. Nara really
likes cake.
After cake, Nara went to bed for her afternoon nap. She
crashed hard and slept for a long time.
Happy Birthday at Grandma's House
On Sunday we went to Grandmas house so
Grandma could serve cake and give gifts. On Sunday's Nara
has gynastics and swimming (make up class) so with a late lunch
and even later snack we didn't make it to Grandma's until quite
late in the day.
We had sushi for dinner (one of Nara's
favorites is Tamago) and there was cake for desert! This was
an ice cream cake from La Casa Gelato. We picked up a
chocolate strawberry cake which seemed to make everyone (but
especially Nara) happy.
Nara did better blowing out the candle this time.
We tried to not make a big deal of the
gifts. Nara was really happy with her umbrella (Helen
figured it would be a good gift because she is always interested
in our umbrella) and her new clothes for her doll. Grandma
gave her money for her education - RESP, here we come.
Claira Walking
Claira was a not a big fan of
crawling (or rolling over) but whenever she was at all
vertical she wanted to try and stand on her legs. Sure
enough, she started walking. I think she just wants
to keep up with her big sister.
Richmond Nature Park
Helen had an
appointment to get her hair cut (at Aberdeen Mall) so I had Claira
for a few hours. We decided to drive down the road to the Richmond
Nature Park.
It is still early
spring so I was suprised by the signs of life. The Bog Laurel
was quite flowery and the turtles (all pet store releases) we quite
active trying to find a place in the sun. Claira was just
happy to walk around.
Cherry Blossoms
I recently found myself unemployed so I had time to take pick up
Nara at day care and take Claira out for walks. We pretty much
missed Cherry Blossom season with our trip to Hong Kong, but there
are some late blooming trees near our house that still looked
good. I brought a camera on one of the walks to pick up Nara:
Boundary Bay
Thankfully the job search went well so we
decided to take a mid week morning off to go for a walk at
Boundary Bay. Boundary Bay is well known for birds in the
winter when they are avoiding the snow in the mountains, but I
wasn't sure how things would be in the spring.
One previous trips (on weekends) the
parking lot had thirty plus cars. Today there were only
three. In the winter there are "birders" with big lenses
everywhere. Today I only saw bicyclists. Given the
lack of the traffic, I assume the location would be pretty dead
but I was wrong - there was lots of details to see.
The dike has a stream running on one side
and wetlands on the other - lots of good habitat for a variety of
animals. The dike is built up quite high so you often get a
view down to or eye level on pearching birds.
Boundary Bay is really known for it's large birds of prey -
Short Eared Owls and Northern Harriers. Both were out
today.
Happy Birthday Nara!
