What a truly Wonderful Day!!!

I just have to say... 

*sigh* What A Day... What a truly WONDERFUL day!!!

It's rare that a "day with my son" is as heart-warming as today was. Time "together" gets easily lost in the everyday grind of daily life. And I found myself feeling a little sad... But then my little boy surprised me with a beautiful moment.

While my darling boy and I were having lunch, the "Cups (When I'm Gone)" song came on the radio in the Tim Hortons. He looked at me and we both started singing it (we love that song). Then he stopped to take a bite of his bagel, looked at me so sweetly and said, "Mommy, I'm gonna miss you when I'm gone*..." to which i replied "Awww... Me too, Sweetie!" and we smiled at each other with the biggest goofiest grins we could make. 

It was such a precious moment. And it will always be OURS. I want more of those moments... So I think i'm gonna have to make sure i have more days like these.    

*(just to clarify... the "gone" bit is referring to when he sometimes goes to Nana & Grampa's for a weekend" :D )

Family: Wow! That's Some Imagination...

It may look like he's tinkering "under the hood of a car" or something but this little guy is actually using his toy wooden screws, nuts, screw driver and wrench to attach wooden pieces (from the Melissa & Doug Take-Along Tool Kit) in the handle/space on top of the stool. 

It bought tears to my eyes to see his imagination take off like this... For awhile there it was all about logic and "making sense" but it's nice to see him pretending and playing with his toys now. He even brought up his traffic cone from downstairs to make it look like he was doing construction! Lol! Yay!

But I think the most awesome (and frightening ^.^) thing about this picture was that just before he started doing this, he was looking through that "101 Things to Make & Do On the Weekend by Rob Beattie" book. He absolutely loves it! Of course, he did laugh out loud when he saw that there was a project for making a piggy bank... But he got really excited when he saw the scooter and go-cart... Eep!

:D

I LOVE IT!

Family & Food: Carrot Apple Morning Glory Muffins... YUM!

This morning at breakfast I said, out loud, that I felt like making muffins today. Kai looked at me and had the look on his face like that was the most beautiful words to ever come out of my mouth besides "Yes! You may have that cupcake!" :P He asked if he could help me. How could I possibly say no?

The two of us walked to the grocery store and I knew we needed some of the "heavier stuff" like flour and a 2LB bag of carrots so I brought my backpack. On a beautiful sunny day like today I really needed to get out of the house.

So we got the groceries, walked home, had lunch & while my darling little one was eating (s...o...   v...e...r...y...  s...l...o...w...l..y), I decided to start on prepping the ingredients. When Kai finally finished his lunch (after about an hour), he came over to help. He's a great help with this kind of stuff. I'm amazed how patient he CAN be. It's a bit of a shock sometimes. Especially considering how often he just "flies off the handle" when he gets frustrated with something (which is more often than not.) :P But he did very well and I'm very proud of him... And  the muffins? They are YUMMY!

^.^

The recipe came from an awesome cookbook by Julie Rosendaal called "Getting Started"
The book is cute, witty and the recipes are simple but classic. For instance, I had NO IDea how to make ribs in the oven until I read this book. Plus is has a several sections of information and advice at the beginning of the book. My favourite section is "Tips From Mom." I learned to make buttermilk  AND learned how to test if an egg has spoiled from reading this section.

It's my favourite recipe book full of great information and great recipes!

Family: Wow... A Nice Quiet Morning...*sigh*

Today was the kind of morning that I live for... It consisted of a GREAT "hassle & argument free" breakfast, cute & quiet conversation and (to top it all off...) quiet COLOURING TIME!

I love colouring with my boy. I get to sit and chat with him about fun things and in turn I get to colour. It's really calming in almost a therapeutic kind of way. We have LOADS of colouring books of all kinds. The flavours of the week are Cars and My Little Pony. I love that he adores both cartoons. He has his favourite Cars characters and My Little Pony characters and he also knows who my favourite character is (Fluttershy) and he whenever he sees a page , he saves it for me... (awww... *sniff*) 

While we colour he commentates on which colour he is going to use next and on what. He puts a lot of thought into it. Sometimes maybe a bit too much thought... Like whatever colour he chooses will alter the fate of humanity. But then he snaps out of it and yells out "I love ALL colours in the world!" then put his hand in the colours box, blindly chooses a pencil crayon and colours with reckless abandon. 

*sigh*

Family: Where is the time going?!?

Seriously... Time? How could you steal my baby from me?

My baby boy is now about four and a half years old. When the heck did THAT happen? Don't worry... These feelings are nobody's fault but my own. Serve's me right for browsing old forgotten folders on my computer's desktop and finding fun little videos of my darling baby boy as an infant learning new things, as a toddler being goofy and as a kid just plain having fun. There his is... My little one... Helpless... and totally dependent on me.

Now it has come to my knowledge that he has a mind of his own. He has his own opinion of the world around him. And sadly, only ever seems to need his mommy when he needs to be driven places or to kiss his "owies" better. He's growing more and more IN-dependent and I'm having a really hard time letting him make his own decisions and seeing where they lead him...

Basically... I think I'm just having a hard time letting go... *sigh*

Plus... as if THAT wasn't enough of a kick in the gut... :D

Today was the Mother's Day pancake breakfast  at Kai's preschool. Where the teachers cooked chocolate chip pancakes for everyone. Then afterwards each child presented their mom with a gift. A ceramic tile with their handprint on it and a huge card with their hand cutouts representing flowers.

The poem on the card reads:

"I miss you when we're not together,

I'm growing up so fast.

See how big I've gotten,

Since you saw me last?

As I grow, I'll change a lot,

The years will fly right by.

You'll wonder how I grew so quick,

When and where and why?

So save this card in a safe place, 

And take it out each year.

THe memories will come back of me,

When I was small and dear."

Talk about Awwwwww.... :')

Family: Sun!

The boy and I had an "ok" start this morning... Long story short we ended up settling our differences by having some quiet knitting time together... He was curious about knits & purls (or as he calls them: "Vs" & "bumps" ^.^) So we started him a pattern of 5 knits & 5 purls and he's recognizing what they look like as he's knitting them up. When he sees the Vs he knits... and when he sees the bumps he purls. It was so exciting to see the little lightbulb go off and his eyes just popped with the realization...  Then our delicate Mother/Son balance was restored :)

But then out came the sunshine! Woohoo! So we decided to get some fresh air. Today is the first time we've played outside this year. It was a bit chilly but we warmed things up by attempting a walk up the street but about half way up the street I remembered that a package was being delivered today and I REALLY wanted to be home to receive it. Sooo to make up for it we sprinted back just laughing and giggling all the way home... I never thought racing my son could be this fun! When we got home he was so wired that I had to quickly find the ball so he could start kicking it around. He's such an outside kid. That's his father in him... Sadly, not so much his mother (lousy allergies... and... and bugs.) :D lol!

Family: My Darling Boy Likes Knitting!

So as I've mentioned... For about a month now my son has taken an interest in knitting (Woot! ^.^) and he's consistently getting better. His tension is becoming much more relaxed and he can chat and knit at the same time. It's really cute.  So he knits little squares and rectangles and my husband or I will bind them off when he's done with them... So I collect these little swatches and maybe I'll do something with them later. But I had to keep this one for myself...

He asked me to bind it off and I asked him if he wanted me to make it into a cuff to wear on his wrist. He said "Sure!" Then I finished it and handed it to him and he said to me. "It's ok Mommy. You can keep it."

Awww... SWEET!