How Like A God
2006-08-10, 16:10

U R N X
U R N X
N I, I M N X
I C TV
I C TV
N I C U

I C U
I C U
N U R O K

U R N X
U R N X
N I, I W
I C A DVD
I C A DVD
N I C U

I C U
I C U
N U R O K

-- I C U by TMBG

If the Teletubbies are to be believed, toddlers love repetition. Unfortunately, I'm inclined to accede this as truth. Hundreds of viewings of Angus Lost notwithstanding (you know, I bet people with OCD would make great babysitters for toddlers), Laurana does like to hear and see things a number of times before she's satisfied. Two days ago, she asked to watch the DVD of TMBG's "Here Come the ABC's", and we ended up watching the video for "QU" I don't know how many times. Eventually I put it on a loop and it ran for about an hour. Mind you that this is a song that's about a minute and a half long. I couldn't say no, though, especially since she started singing along, saying "KOO-YOU" with utter glee.

She's really making the effort to learn words, actively pointing at things and saying "Wah deh?" as in, "What's that?" And she usually makes an effort to pronounce the word when you tell her what it is. And she absolutely has to try and do everything herself (saying, "I do it!"): getting out of her car seat, buckling herself into her car seat or booster chair or stroller, climb stairs, put on pants (she even insists that she can put on her own diaper; I keep telling her, "When you get big enough to put on your own diaper, you're not going to need them anymore," but she doesn't care), and just about everything else. The saving grace to this is that she usually knows when to give over and ask for help, or at least accept help when offered. And when she actually gets something done right that's relatively new, she says, "Did it!" Looks like countless times telling her, "You did it! Good job!" paid off in some sense of self-value and accomplishment. Hooray for good parenting.

Two more days, and we're off to Canadia, thank goodness. I am so very looking forward to the disconnect from the rest of the 'civilized' world. I really need to get my head out of the Internets tubes and forget that the world is generally a horrible place right now, and just go float on a lake for a while.

We're going to break our trip up there in two and stop over in Kitchener, Ontario for the night, which is about half way to the cabin. We decided that 10 hours straight in a car is too much for one baby to handle. Granted, The Boy wasn't too much older than this the first time we went there, and that was with the four of us and all our gear stuffed into a Chevy Beretta (not something I'd care to reattempt). The Boy was and is also much more laid back a kid, though.

It turns out that the Kitchener/Waterloo area seems like a pretty happening place. Turns out that the day we get there is the start of their first annual arts festival. There's a university in the area, lots of art, and hopefully some culture. I'll send a report if I'm not too zapped from the drive, possibly even from the hotel in town, as they've got the wireless Internets as part of the package.

I have to say, this is going to be quite an experience, three kids on the road. Granted, two of them are pretty self-sufficient now, but still, it's going to be three opinions to appease at any given time. Hopefully this time around there'll be more beach time. Last time we were at Bon Echo, it was dubbed in the province as the 'summer of disappointment', weather wise. I've been checking the weather there and so far things look pretty good. Normally we'd take the canoe over from he cabin to the beach, but I'm super-wary about taking the baby in it. I'm sure it's just my daddy brain on overkill, but still. And we may not be able to anyway, as there's five of us and we'd need two canoes. Personally, I'd rather pay for a week's pass and drive the short distance, so we don't have to worry about either killing the baby or making room for food and floaties and beach toys and such. Not to mention chancing getting the camera wet (a.k.a. destroyed). Too many pictures to take, and too little money for a new camera.

So I count the minutes until my workweek is done. It's hard to not be a clock-watcher under these circumstances.

-- End Transmission --