Maple Leaf Mommy

G-Girl's skills in drawing have made a real improvement over the last little while.  Here's two of my recent favs.

I drew the outline for the requested Cat-O-Saurus, then she added spikes and whiskers.  She also drew his many little cat brothers, and one big cat sister to ride on his back.  I was pretty impressed.



This is G-Girl and her little sister.  She added the Big Capital G next to herself and then the little g  next to Baby G.  I thought the whole Big G little g thing was cute for her to come up with on her own and I was wowed that she managed to make recognizable letters without me modeling them.  Too bad she drew this on the back of the F is for Frog letter tracing sheet.

I began reading chapter books at bedtime a little after G-Girl’s third birthday.  We started with Winnie the Pooh.  I wasn’t sure if she was old enough yet, or if it would keep her attention, but she LOVED it.  The serial, cliff hanger nature, the I wonder what will happen next aspect, and the waiting to read the next chapter tomorrow, has her completely hooked.  When she’s dragging her heels at bedtime I only have to say, “Well if you want time to read you need to hurry up and…” to get things moving.

After Pooh Bear I tried Peter Pan, but got no further then the second page before she told me to put it back.  So then I grabbed The Wizard of Oz.  Again, I worried that it would be above her level of comprehension, but she listens raptly, asks questions and really seems to get most of what’s going on in the story.

She cracked me up by using her stool to sneak the book down from where I store it atop her bookshelf to look at the pictures and see what will happen next.  She got so excited to see from the pictures that the Tin Woodman was going to make an appearance later in the second Oz book. 

She refers to the Oz books, all of them, as “DorothyToto”.  Each night she excitedly exclaims, “It’s time to read DorothyToto!!”

She had a pretty amusing conversation with her Dad after we moved on to the second Oz book where she told him, “We are reading DorothyToto! Except… there is no little girl…  and no little dog.”

I love books dearly and I am so happy to see her excited about them.  I hope I’m not ruining the experience for her by jumping ahead too fast.

So, I’m wondering…  Am I crazy for reading chapter books to a three year old?
I’m also wondering once the Oz books are done what the heck I’m going to read her next.

Things you do not want to hear from your preschooler:

But I don't need to clean up, we can just step right over it!

I'm just putting my tongue on all of the furniture. But I'm not licking, so it's OK.

I've been thinking about putting a blanket on this chair and then climbing up on it.

I put the stool on the chair so I can climb higher! (Yikes!)

I wasn't hurting the baby... I was just trying to bounce her.

Come here kitty! I just want to love you!

You don't have a baby in there any more but your tummy's still HUGE! (Yeah, thanks kiddo.)

Daddy!  I went poop!  It came right out of my poop hole! (Or any variation on this, when exclaimed VERY loudly across a restaurant).

I peed on the floor, but it's OK because I already cleaned it up... with your laundry.

Mom look!  The Cat is sharing my breakfast!

I have a great idea!  You nurse the baby and I will go in your room and play with the stuff I'm not supposed to touch. And then when you try and lay her down I will ThunkThunkThunk down the stairs. (Well at least she's honest.)


And yes, the above are all actual quotes from my G-Girl.

The other day a full-sized container of formula randomly turned up in my mailbox.  I happened to open the package in front of the G-Girl.  She had never seen formula before and was intrigued.  She deduced it was “baby-stuff” from the packaging and asked if I was going to give some to Baby-G.  I felt bad about throwing out a full tin and planned to donate it to the food bank, so I left it sitting on the coffee table.

I explained to her in what I thought was a fairly rational tone that some mommies can’t make breast milk so they give this to their babies instead. But it’s not as good. Babies should have mommy milk.  No, I’m not giving any to Baby-G, I think its yucky stuff and I have plenty of mommy milk for her.

The next morning G-Girl and I are heading downstairs to watch some TV.  I had to grab a few things to carry down, so I told her to go ahead and I’d be right there.

I hear a piercing scream and I start racing for the basement while yelling out, “What’s wrong?”  “There’s yucky stuff down here! Oh nonnononono!” followed by more shrill shrieking.  I get downstairs and I can see nothing obviously wrong, so I ask her what kind of yucky stuff.  “It’s baby poison! It’s going to hurt Baby-G!  You can’t bring her down here!”

Oh geesh. You’ve got to be kidding me.  She had seen the can of formula still sitting on the table and flipped right out.  I guess I over did it when trying to explain why formula was bad.

She also later told me that “Some mommies hate their babies, because they are bad babies. So they give them the yucky stuff.”  Which I swear is NOT what I told her. I do think she finally got it, after I explained it to her another two or three times.

I find myself talking and writing more often about the G-Girl.  She's more vocal, and she does the funniest stuff.  It's easy to over look my littlest little, Baby-G.

She's sitting on my lap right now as I type this with one hand.  She smiles and bounces and waves her arms around. I offer her a toy and she reaches out for it and gurgles and coos.

I'm thinking 6 months is just the perfect age.  She's not a newborn anymore, now she's fun and interactive.  She sits up on her own, sort of, but she's not motoring around yet.  She is interested in toys now and can keep herself occupied for entire minutes at a time.  Which means I can now take a potty break without having to try and co-ordinate with nap times.

She is picking up some of the sign language and starting to sign back, if somewhat inconsistently. So far she has signed milk, eat, more, and daddy.  She seems to think the sign for milk also means mom.

She adores her big sister and follows her every move raptly. Pretty much anything that G-Girl does can set her off in a fit of giggles. At the best of moments, when I can get the two to play nicely together, it's awesome.  The rest of the time I just try and keep the big one from injuring the little one.

We've got the whole breast-feeding thing down pat.  I no longer have to take her off and relatch.  We can do this in our sleep, quite literally. No teeth yet, so I don't have to deal with her biting me. When we're nursing she likes to hold my hand or reach up and pat my cheek.


She loves music. When I rock her in the chair and sing to her she sings back.  Nursing and with her mouth full, she has this sort of off-tune Pooh-Bear hum.  It's disgustingly cute. 

Part of me wishes I could keep her at this age for ever... the other part is looking forward to moving on to that whole sleeping through the night thing.

Congratulations JtotheC (comment 6) you have won the Spitfire tickets. I will e-mail you soon.

Thanks so much to everyone who entered!

A couple of days ago we made some Edible Finger Paint.  It was incredibly easy to make.  It was also very easy to clean up after. And G-Girl had a blast.

I had read in various kids activity books suggestions for using pudding as finger paint.  I really prefer this variant because it's not sweet, and therefore doesn't encourage them to eat the paints. Also you end up with a better colour range.

You just need a couple of small containers, some plain yogurt and some food dye.  Place a scoop of yogurt in each container, add a drop of food dye (keep in mind you really only need one drop), and mix well.  Provide some paper and hand the "paint" over to the kiddos.

I loved that I didn't have to worry about the toxicity of the paints, and where they might end up other then the paper.  She got a little on the table and a little on herself, all of which came off quite easily.  There was even a dab I didn't notice until after it had dried up, and that came right off as well.

My mom gave us these tiny Glad reusable containers that were just the perfect size for this.  I was able to put the lids on and store the "paints" in the fridge and use them again the next day.  Overall G-Girl got at least two hours of enjoyment out of this, for pretty much zero cost.


The paint dries a little darker then it looks. Her paintings looked great when they were dry. The colours were really bright.

Let me know if you give it a try!

It's Not about the Crumbs! by Veronika Martenova Charles, with illustrations by David Parkins.

I love fairytales.  I have a fairly large collection of books of fairytales.  I also have a collection of non-fiction book about fairytales. I like reading books that compare different fairytales, or talk about the psychology behind them.  I also enjoy reading through collected folk tales from different parts of the world. 

I received a copy of It’s Not About The Crumbs! through LibrayThing's Early Reviewer Program. This simple childrens' book uses a linking story to bring together three different takes on the Hansel and Gretel story; all tales of small children who outsmart a witch or an ogre.  Three modern day kids have a small adventure of their own while sharing different versions of the same folktale. There is an African version of the tale (Zahra and Binti), a  European version (The Children in the Woods) and a Japanese version (The Ogre or The Oni and Three Children).

I do not believe in watering down fairytales. Among other reasons, I think they serve a purpose in helping young minds develop healthy ways to deal with fear.  I love that this book didn’t sweeten or clean up the classic tales.

On the other hand I was glad that I picked this up and pre-read it before reading aloud to the G-Girl.  I think the level of violence in this book would not have been appropriate for my three year old.  Then again, she’s not the target audience.  With the large easy to read type face and simple pictures I would guess this book is meant for early readers to read on their own.

I love that it’s a book aimed at young children that is comparing different versions of the same tale from around the world.  I think it’s a truly kid-friendly approach to multiculturalism. 

I didn’t think much of the cover art. I think the cover is doing this book a serious disservice. If I hadn’t received this free copy I would NEVER have picked this up because the cover looks like it’s for a bad kids’ mystery serial.


The interior art is serviceable.  I don’t like the modern day pictures in the linking stories. All of the adults look fat and dopey and the kids look a bit goofy as well. In the fairytale portion there are some truly charming pictures. Apparently I don’t mind the same style of art when it is applied to witches, ogres and waifs lost in the woods.

Physically speaking, this book is a small thin paperback.  It is 64 pages of very large type which took me under 10 minutes to read from front to back.  The binding seems sturdy and the printing quality is good.

Baby-G is six and a half months old. She watches us eat with great interest. She likes to mimic the chewing motion.  In short, she's ready for solid foods.

With my first babe I did all homemade baby foods.  It just sort of happened.  I started by making some sweet potato mash, found out just how easy it was, and just kept going.  I always meant to go out and buy some "real" baby food, but never got around to it.  That's me; mothering by procrastination.

So with Baby-G, I figure I'll go the same route. All homemade baby food, but by conscious decision this time.

With G-Girl we didn't even use a real highchair.  I fed her in her Bumbo, or sitting on the wooden floor in the front room.  She had this wee chair that could attach to a dining room chair to turn into a highchair, but other then occasionally traveling with us to a restaurant or Bubbi's house, it didn't see a lot of use.

My husband and I talked about it and decided we wanted to make everyone eating together at the dining room table a priority, so for baby number two I went out and got a "real" highchair (used).

So here we are, I have a highchair, spoons, bowls, piles of bibs, and a babe that is ready to eat.  I even went out and picked up a sweet potato.   I just need to pump some milk and steam that sweet potato and we're good to go... but I've been putting it off.

No good reason.  No logical, conscious reason. I guess I'm just reluctant to move on to the next stage with her. So I've been dragging my heels.

Then in comes the sneaky avocado.

G-Girl and I were prepping avocados to make guacamole and Baby-G was sitting in the highchair watching us. My big girl asked if Baby-G could have some avocado.  My gut reaction was to say, "Absolutely not!" but then I paused for a moment, I could think of no truly good reason not to let her have some... so... Tiny bits of avocado. Feed by hand. On the spur of the moment.  There we are, babe's first food.   No bib, no spoon, no pictures taken. Another milestone quietly sneaks by.

Maybe next week I'll get around to steaming that sweet potato.

I'm getting the baby ready for bed and G-Girl is being a monkey, bouncing around and generally being a  nuisance.  I make an offhand comment along the lines of, "Be careful or you'll break your head."
 
She tells me, "I can't break! I'm made of wood." I look over to see that by her expression she is dead serious.

It occurs to me that while she knows all about her exterior parts, we've never really covered the interior bits.

I tell her that she is not made of wood.
She insists that "People, all people, are made of wood." 
"My head is made of wood. It's hard, see?" She says while knocking twice on her head. Okay Pinocchio.

So I try and explain to her that she is made of skin, and blood, muscle and bones.

After I'm done putting the baby to bed we head to the computer for an anatomy lesson. I show her some skeletons, some x-rays, a couple of videos I found, etc.

While looking at a picture of a skeleton she exclaimed "Oh look we DO have hearts inside us!" while pointing out the the pelvic bone.

When I'm showing her a skull she notes the teeth and asks if they are bone as well, cause they are hard, like wood.  She asks about her finger and toe nails.  I push the whole calcium is good for you, drink your milk to grow healthy teeth and bones thing.

She then went off on a ramble to tell me that "The other day when we were at the park there were sticks everywhere. Hard sticks. Made of wood. And long and skinny. And lying around on the ground everywhere. Just like bones." Right. Creepy.

I know what I really need to do is head down to the library and find a decent kids' book on anatomy.   Searching online for "teach preschooler body parts" just gets me a bunch of articles on sex ed. And not to be morbid, but searching "toddler bones" or "preschooler skeleton" is NOT turning up the info I'm looking for.  Once I figured out the keywords I needed were "skeletal system" there are lots of great pages out there, choke full of info.  It's just that it's all targeted at an older audience.  I don't want to try and teach her the names of all the bones in her body.  At this point I just want her to get the concept. 

If anyone's interested, here's a few of the better resources I found:
KidsKonnect: The Human Body
3D motion capture animated skeleton
Medical animation of walking skeleton
Kids Health: Your Bones

I'm also thinking of picking up this cool wooden puzzle that breaks the body into five layers.

 If anyone can recommend a good book or website about anatomy that is targeted at preschoolers I'd love to hear about it!

The Downtown Windsor Farmers' Market is held every Saturday at the old Greyhound bus station on 44 University Avenue East, in downtown Windsor.

This is a great place to bring your kids!  The vendors are extremely friendly, and free cookies and other goodies have been scored by the G-Girl. She loves the live music.  We always end up spending a little extra time letting her dance and enjoy the tunes. Perry Noia the Scaredy Clown has a booth there every weekend, offering face painting and balloon animals for a small fee. The info booth also has giveaways for the kids each weekend, on the times we've stopped in we've received some really awesome goodies for the kids such as handmade wooden tops.


We haven't made it out every week, but I love it when we do.  It's small market.  On the days I've been there, there have been only 12-20 vendors.  As much as I'd like to see more variety, the small size is part of the charm.  I can walk around, see everything twice and be in and out in 10-15 minutes.

I love getting G-Girl involved with picking out our fruits and veggies.  She loves to choose what we get and she gets excited about eating them.

Vendors/products include: Fresh fish from The Fish Guys, fresh beef from Hylander Farms, lots of LOCAL produce, C'est Bon Gourmet Nuts, coffee, oatmeal and other goodies from Tooloa Cafe, gourmet dog treats, and homemade jams and jellies.


I do wish they had public washrooms available, as G-Girl seems to need to go each and every time we visit the market.

The closest public washrooms would be in the nearby Burger King on Goyeau.  Someone at the market's information booth told me to use the police station washroom, but I don't recommend it. It was really awkward when I went into the police station to do so.  They certainly didn't know the market was directing people to use their bathrooms.  I had to talk to two people, and sign in to get to the coveted lavatory.

My only other complaint is I wish they were open a little later (like say until 2 or even 3PM).


Join their facebook group for weekly updates on what is going on at the Downtown Market. Their weekly emails often include a list of vendors as well as what produce is in season and available.  This is also the place to hear about their "theme" weekends. 


VISIT THE MARKET:
8am to 1pm, Every Saturday, Rain or Shine, from now until October 30th.
44 University Avenue East, in downtown Windsor.

I went to the Grand Opening for Sweet Heart Diapers & More last Saturday and I won one of the raffle prizes... a pair of Spitfires tickets.  Turns out we won't be able to make it out to the game, so I'm offering my blog readers a chance to win them.


Here's your chance to see the back-to-back Memorial Cup champs for free.

WIN IT:
2 Tickets to the Windsor Spitfires Season Opener
Thursday September 23rd at 7:05PM, vs. the Plymoth Whalers.

HOW TO ENTER:
Leave a comment below giving me some feedback on my blog.  Tell me something you like or dislike, about the layout, the content, whatever. Don't be afraid of giving me your honest opinion.  I'm picking the winner randomly, not based on the contents of your comment.

Be sure to include your email in your comments because if I can't get a hold of you you can't win! 

EARN EXTRA ENTRIES:
- Email a friend and tell them about my blog, copying me on the email (mapleleafmommy@gmail.com). Then leave a comment below saying you sent out an email.  One comment/entry for each person you email.

- Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect, then leave a comment below telling me.

- Like Maple Leaf Mommy on facebook, and leave a comment below telling me. (Both new "likes" and preexisting "likes" qualify for this extra entry)

- Subscribe to my blog via email (see the box at the top left), and leave a comment below telling me.

- Grab my blog button on the left and comment telling me where you placed it.

Remember, one comment per extra entry.  The comment IS your entry.  I will be drawing a random number, and the corresponding comment number will be the winner.

GIVEAWAY RULES
This Giveaway ends on Tuesday September 21st at 9pm. Winner will be chosen using Random.org and will have 24 hours to respond to my e-mail before a new name is drawn.

You don't have to be local to enter but you do need to be willing to pick the tickets up from my home.  I'm doing this on short notice, so there isn't time to mail them out to the winner.

Be sure to include your email in your comments because if I can't get a hold of you you can't win!

Here's some of the mom things I didn't expected to find myself saying:

It's ok. It's just wet because your sister was chewing on it.

No, you do NOT clean things with the water from your mouth!

Why are you licking my walls?!

Your face goes no where near her bum!

Please stop pulling my hair.

No, you do not have to wipe the cat's bum with toilet paper!

This book is covered in pee, I'm going to have to throw it out.
(It's not just that I've had to say this, but that I've already had to say it three times.)

No I DON'T get lonesome if you leave me alone while I go potty.

No, you can't take my skirt/shirt/bra off.

Please stop poking my face/bum/breast!

This is not hair-hug time.

Put the giraffe down!

PLEASE stop pulling my hair.

You can't go to the front door unless you have pants on.

Yes it's a poopy explosion, no you can't see it.

Shoelaces do NOT go in the cat's ears.

PLEASE STOP pulling my hair!!

Here is a classic toy you may not of heard of, Sophie the Giraffe by Vulli.







Born in 1961, her success is legendary in France. Made in the French Alps with natural rubber and non-toxic paint, Sophie has been safely cuddled and chewed for over 40 years!


Sophie was love at first sight for Baby-G. From the moment I took her out of the package and handed her over, the baby was entranced with touching and chewing on this toy. This is the first squeaky toy for little ones I have found that is actually easy for little hands to squeak.  You just barely have to push on her. The shape is just brilliant.  The elongated neck and the four long legs give Baby-G lots of places to grab and hold on to and the knobby ears and antennae are perfect for teething on. The overall length of the toy is great, just the right size.  When Baby-G drops it down near her feet she can actually reach and pick it up herself!



I love knowing that Sophie is made out of all natural rubber and food grade paints.  I love the soft almost warm feel to the rubber.

I have a feeling Sophie is going to become indispensable around our house and the next time I need a baby shower gift I will definitely be picking up one of these.  The only disappointment I had with this toy is that I didn't buy it sooner!

Where to buy:
Sophie the Giraffe retails for around $23.99. She is available across Canada at most baby boutiques, at Babies R Us and at Chapters stores.

Right now Babies R Us has Sophie available for $10 with a purchase of $75.  Take a look here for the details.

I was not paid or compensated for this post in anyway- I just love this product and wanted to share it.

After making sure two little bums are clean and that the juice cup is full, I'm doing what I imagine every self-respecting internet addicted mommy does first thing in the morning --checking my email.

Apparently G-Girl woke up crazy today, because she comes running into the computer room stark naked and starts yelling out:  "I need a bath, a real bath, right now!  Scrub, scrub scrubby!  I have 'tend stuff on me, and I'm naked and I need to crawl right into the shower!"  (As I happened to be in front of the computer at the time, the above and what follows is  a direct word for word quote).

I asked her why she was covered in pretend dirt and she answered all in one giant run on sentence: "My mousies tried to turn me into a flower.  They tried to put me all in the ground, with mud, and put me in a hole and grow me in with one foot.  Cause that's what flowers do, they have one feet, and stand in the ground. Trying to do the sunflower dance."

Oh Wow.... and was she ever worked up. I think maybe I didn't water down the juice enough this morning.

I tried to convince her that pretend dirt didn't warrant a real bath, but lost that battle. So that's how I was coerced into bath time before 8am, with a short lesson in botany to follow.

Now I have a confession to make, I don't use cloth diapers. A little while back we were having a hell of a time with G-Girl and potty training.  Someone suggested that we try cloth pull ups, as they both would seem more like big girl panties and also feel more wet and "yucky". I did some research online and decided to buy her some Super Undies.(More on them another time.)  The problem was, they weren't available locally.  They weren't even available in Canada.  Of the two online Canadian retailers that I found, neither had them available in her size, and they didn't know when they would be restocking. Dismal.

I found a local store willing to order them in for me. Sweetheart Diapers & More.  They had been an online retailer for some time and where now opening up a brick & mortar store just around the corner from my house.



Now, I have to tell you that I was a little leery heading into Sweetheart Diapers.  I worried... Their whole focus is to sell cloth diapers... if they find out I use disposables are they going to try and convert me, or make me feel guilty? Nothing could be further from the truth.  When I admitted that I didn't normally use cloth diapers, the owner was able to give me some much needed washing tips. She was pleasant, knowledgeable and personable.  When I stopped in again a few weeks later she even remembered my name.

I signed up for their facebook group, and I've been getting invites to all sorts of appealing events.  They have had free workshops on baby wearing and cloth diapering.  I was so disappointed I couldn't make it out to the first baby wearing workshop, but she assured me they'll be having another one.

This store is definitely worth a look. It's not just diapers. She carries a lovely selection of goods for babes and toddlers. They have tons of different wraps and baby carriers, swim suits, sun hats, baby blankets, hair clips, many unique made-in-Windsor items and of course cloth diapers and training pants too! 

If you need another excuse to go check out Sweetheart Diapers & More... This Saturday is their Grand Opening! (Saturday September 11, 10am-6pm).  Kids activities, prizes to be won, and sale prices!  I know I'm going to be finding the time to stop by.

The Citizen’s Environmental Alliance is hosting its yearly free day trip out to Peche Island.  I am so excited about this!  I have always wanted to visit Peche Island. 

As I understand it, Peche Island is always open to the public, but you need a boat to get there.  I know it’s full of trees and pathways.  I also read that there are ruins from Hiram Walker’s summer house out there.  I am so looking forward to exploring the island!

I’ve talked my mom into going and I plan to bring G-Girl and Baby-G.  I think this is going to be the perfect kid friendly outing.  A boat ride, beaches, trees, trails, and a picnic. What’s not to love?

I’ll be sure to write about our adventures, but I wanted to post about this ahead of time to give you all a chance to plan to come out.

So who’s joining me on an island adventure?

(Peche island Day ~ Saturday September 18th, 10am to 3pm, click here for more info).

EDIT:
We were unable to attend because I didn't have a life jacket for the baby.  They didn't have any infant sized life jackets, so we were turned back at the boat.  I was so intensely disappointed. I meant to come back and blog about it but was simply inarticulate with blah.

I stumbled upon a food blog that I rather enjoy, Framed Cooks.

What I love about this blog is that the majority of the recipes are simple 30 minute dinners.  While I love to cook, I don’t have the time or the patience for long and complicated right now.   The author is also a photographer and includes mouth watering photos with each recipe.

The one recipe that I tried from there so far, I loved.  You take Pillsbury crescent rolls and turn them into burritos.  The sweetness of the crescent roll dough matched with the spicy taco meat was just ridiculously good.  I tweaked the recipe a bit, so here’s how I cooked it:

1 can of Pillsbury Crescent rolls
1/2 pound of lean ground beef
1 packet of taco sauce
About 2 cups of shredded cheese
Optional: refried beans, salsa, guacamole, veggies, etc.

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line cookie sheet with tinfoil.
2.  Brown the ground beef in a skillet and then follow the directions on the taco sauce pouch (add water simmer etc).
3.  Open and unroll dough.  You need to separate the dough into 4 rectangles. Where you would normally separate it into triangles, pinch the seams together and smooth them out.
4.   Spoon ground beef onto the rectangles.  I used about two tablespoons per rectangle.  Then top each with a generous handful of shredded cheese.
5.  Roll up the burritos.  Start at the narrow end and carefully roll them up.  Then pinch the ends together to seal. Place seam side down on cookie sheet.
6.  Bake for 20 minutes.
7.  Top each one with a little bit more cheese and then put back in the oven until melted.

The original recipe called for two cans of dough, I used one. This made 4 burritos, two each for my husband and myself, which was more then enough food.  The G-Girl wasn’t home for dinner the night I made these, but as she still pretty much eats like a bird there would have been enough to go around. My husband LOVED them. They were quite filling.  They look smallish when you’re preparing them, but they plump out a bit while cooking.  I did have a bunch of taco meat left which I mixed with some refried beans to make a dip. 

I think next time I make these I will try adding refried beans to them.  It would be easy to customize these.  I’m thinking put some salsa, black olives and avocado in mine, while letting my husband have just plain meat and cheese.

You can find the original recipe here:  Framed Cooks, Crescent Roll Burritos

To me “shop local” means more then just looking for local produce in the nearby chain grocery store.  It means more then shopping at the local farmer’s market (which I do so love).  It means supporting the little guy.  It means choosing the local independent store, over the nearby big box store.

Recently, my parents closed down the family business.  The business my great –grand father began over 50 years ago.  The business where my dad worked for thirty-some years.  One of the main factors in deciding to close shop was my dad’s health.  He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure a little over a year ago.  However, that certainly wasn’t the only deciding factor.  They just weren’t doing that well.

They sold office furniture.  High end, quality, office furniture.  Over the last 15 years or so, as more big box stores cropped up something became apparent. A small independent retailer cannot compete with a big chain like Staples, Cost Co or Wal-Mart.  You are pretty much guaranteed to be able to find a cheaper computer chair at your nearby chain store.  What you won’t get from a chain store is the same level of service that you get from the Mom & Pop place.  You also probably will end up settling for a lower quality product.

When someone bought an office chair from my Dad’s shop, if the mechanism went, or they needed new casters or whatnaught, they could come back into the store and get replacement parts or possibly a repair.   If someone lost the keys that went to the lock on their file cabinet, my dad could help them out. You could also custom order just about anything in the store. He worked with designers to match fabrics and wood samples.  A lot of the items in his store carried that little “Made in Canada” sticker.  His stuff might have cost a bit more, but part of that was the fact that he was unwilling to carry inferior products. 

Now, go to one of these big box stores and buy a chair.  6 months or a year later when you have a problem with it… try and bring it back and see what happens. I have to admit I haven’t personally tried this, but I’m pretty darn certain they are not going to be able or willing to help you.  They are going to try and sell you a new chair.  That’s their job.  They are there to sell you more new stuff.

It ties in with the send-it-to-the-dump-and-buy-a-new-one consumerism that seems to be the main stream way of life now a days.  Personally, I’d rather spend more on a quality product that is going to last, then buy the cheap one and replace it within two years.  For the most part you are going to find that higher quality product at an independent retailer. 

So I’d rather go with the little guy.  I’d rather support the small independent retailer, not just because I like to see money staying in my community, but also because I know I’m probably going to end up with a higher quality product and better customer service. I’d rather buy my produce at the farmer’s market, but I’d also rather buy my kids toys at Teach ‘N’ Toys , get my internet access from MNSi, buy my toddlers cloth training pants from Sweetheart Diapers, and the list goes on.  I’d rather support the little guy, so when I need him next time, he’ll still be there.

I'm nursing Baby-G to sleep and G-Girl is supposed to be downstairs reading.   G-Girl pops into the room to ask why there are two rolls of toilet paper in the bathroom.  I'm a little miffed at her for waking the baby, so I give the classic mom "There just are." answer and she heads back downstairs.

Here's where it gets interesting.

G-Girl heads back downstairs and decides that she needs to get that second roll of toilet paper off the back of the bathroom counter.  So she scoots her stool over and tries to reach for it.   At which point she remembers why she was in the bathroom in the first place, and pees all over.  All over the stool, all over the floor.  She then panics, steps off of the stool, slips in the puddle of urine and lands splayed out on the bathroom floor.  She didn't hurt herself, but she did land smack dab in the middle of her puddle of pee.

I hear a bang and a scream.  Toss the baby in the crib and book it down the stairs to find G-Girl laying in a puddle.  I make sure she is ok, and then ask where the water came from.  She tells me it's her pee.

I'm stressing out because my husband is on midnights this week and is currently trying to sleep while all this yelling and chaos is going on.  The baby is screaming her head off, because I abruptly broke of nursing and ran out of the room and my toddler is soaking wet and covered in pee from head to toe.   Yes, this was definitely the low point of my day.


Later G-Girl drew a picture and explained to me that she had drawn herself, covered in polka dots with hundreds of feet.  She went on to explain that she very much wishes that she had more feet, because if she did she wouldn't trip, or slip in water and land on her face.  And that was the high point of today for me.

Princess Stinky-toes and the Brave Frog Robert by Leslie Elizabeth Watts (author/illustrator)

My G-Girl just loves this book!  She asks me to read it almost daily.  As it is really meant for an older audience, it’s a bit on the longish side for her 3-year old attention span. So we tend to read it in two sittings.  There are also many call backs to familiar fairy tales which go right over her head at this point.  I'd guess the ideal age for this book would be around 5 years old.

I was excited to notice that the author/illustrator, Leslie Elizabeth Watts is Canadian. She has illustrated over ten books for children and has won several awards. She was born in Weston, Ontario and now lives in Stratford Ontario. 

Synopsis: Poor Princess Lunetta has been promised to a dragon.  On her tenth birthday she is slated to become a dragon feast.  She makes friends with an enchanted knight in frog-form.  Frog Robert comes up with a plan to save her from the dragon.  For an entire year the Princess will refuse to bathe.  Thus, Princess Stinky Toes is born.

Illustrations: The illustrations are cute; bright, colourful and silly. There are many silly facial expressions. The illustrations are full of small details. For example, once the princess has decided to give up bathing the pictures show details such as flies hovering around her toes and spiders and small critters living in her hair.  The G-Girl finds the fact that there are mice and bats in the Princess’s hair riotously funny.


Story:  I can take or leave the illustrations, but the story is where this books shines.  It’s not dumbed down at all. The author is not afraid to use big words and she has a lovely descriptive style.  For example the witch never simply speaks, she cackles, she screams, she shrieks.  (Which helps living things up when reading it out loud, as it’s easier to “get into character” with such great descriptions).  The story take elements from some classic Fairy Tale such as Cinderella and Rapunzel, twists them up and adds them into the mix.  The result is both amusing and enchanting.

Durability:  I have the paperback copy of this book and I’m sorry to say it’s not terribly well bound.  If you’re thinking of picking this up, I’d look for the hardcover version.


The G-Girl says this book is “Good!”.  She says her favourite part is at the end when the Princess looks in the mirror and sees how stinky she is.

I love that this story has a brave female hero that has a problem and solves it herself (with some help from a friend). As the Brave Frog Robert sums it up at the end “I admire your ability to be different under trying circumstances”, and isn’t that a moral we’d all love our little girls to soak up?


Overall we give this book an 8/10.


Where to find it?
I’m sorry to see that this is already out of print.  You can still pick up reasonably priced (around $10) copies via the Amazon Marketplace, or the Advanced Book Exchange (www.abebooks.ca).

For the Locals:
There are copies of this book available at both the Central and Riverside libraries in Windsor.

I think I pretty much have the blog set up now.  I even figured out how the heck to add navigation tabs.  (Trust me, this took many hours, and there was some swearing involved,)

My mom provided me with a lovely pastel drawing of a maple leaf which I scanned in and turned into my banner.

I think things look as presentable as they're likely to get.  Time to invite folks over.

I'm feeling quite proud of myself for coming up with this brilliant last minute lunch for G-Girl.

It's lunch time and G-Girl is begging for a peanut butter sandwich, but we're out of bread. So what do we have... How about a peach?  Or no wait, an apple.  Hm... what if I give her a dish of peanut butter for dipping?  What a minute, flash of brilliance, what if I take a yogurt cup and mix it with a table spoon of peanut butter?  Hey now we've got protein, dairy and fruit!  That's almost a balanced lunch, right?  She loved it.  I had to chop up a second apple, as she inhaled the first one. 

I'm sure someone out there has probably already come up with this, but for me it was one of those brilliant how have I never thought of this before moments. 

So here is my "recipe" for darn tasty instant peanut butter dip.
1 wee container of Astro All Natural fruit on the bottom yogurt
1 heaping tablespoon of smooth Peanut Butter.
Mix and enjoy.

I used Black Cherry,  but I'm pretty sure this would work with any flavour as it really got masked by the peanut butter.

So the baby's asleep, and I've got G-Girl set up on the couch watching Zoboomafoo.  I'm in and out of the room taking care of some laundry. She is sitting quietly is what appears to be a TV induced coma.  The phone rings, and I book it upstairs to grab it before the ring wakes the baby.  After hanging up on the automated voice trying to tell me how to fix my credit card troubles, I head right back downstairs.  G-Girl is sitting in the same place, raptly watching Zoboo.  I ask her, "How you doing?"  and she excitedly says "Mama I have crayons in my nose!"  Wha' the...?!

It was really a sort of heart-stopping moment for me.I'm in a panic, visions of four hours in the emergency waiting room dancing in my head.  I look up her nose and I can't see anything, but she assures me that there are little bits of crayon up there. Not just a crayon up the nose, a little bit from the end crayon up the nose.  Just great.  I grab some Kleenex and demand she blow, out comes Crayola green snot.  Lovely.

Thankfully after me prompting her to blow her hardest, on the fourth or so attempt out shot a little pyramid of green crayon.  Not such a little bit after all.  A good d4 shaped pyramid chunk.

What the heck is it about crayons that makes kids want to stick them in their noses?!

The crayons which, by the way, up until about a week ago I always quickly whisked away to atop the highest bookshelf as soon as we are done colouring.  I only wanted her using them under my supervision...  not because I ever imagined that she'd stick one up her nose, but because I worried about her doodling in her books or on the walls.

What boggled me about this is the fact that I never left her alone for any period longer then about 2-3 minutes, and every time I came back in the room she was sitting on the couch in the same spot, apparently unmoved. While sitting watching TV what the heck would prompt her to get down off the couch, grab a crayon out of the box sitting out on the coffee table, shove it up her nose and quickly get back in her seat?!

I only "discovered" blogs a few short weeks ago.  A friend sent me an invite to join a facebook group for Woman Uncensored.   From there I stumbled onto many other mom-centered blogs, and the strangely addictive blog giveaways.  In short, I was hooked. 

Though I was originally reeled in by the giveaways, I quickly became interested in the content.  As a stay at home mom, I have to admit that I sometimes feel like a prison inmate or a shut-in.  I know in my heart that spending time with my girls is the most important job in the world.  However, in my head I crave adult interaction and some sort of validation for the 24-hour on call duty I've taken on.

Reading the mom antecdotes and exploits on other blogs has given me an "ah-ha, me too!' feeling of companionship that's been lacking in my day-to-day.  And then there's the giveaways.  Did I mention I'm addicted?

I've run into surprisingly few Canadian mom review and giveaway blogs.  So, I'm thinking of starting one myself.  We'll see where this goes...