Another night at the Ex!

Ayla seems to be enjoying "syncro" - a.k.a Synchronized Swimming. She had enjoyed two double periods on this over the past two days and speaks of this the most when talking about her day. She likes being the strong one so the other little girls sit on HER shoulder, you see. She was cold when she got in the car yesterday afternoon, so to the Ex she wore two layers of sweaters, two layers of sox, and then once she bought her little mouse hat, she insisted on wearing it all around, too. Before dinner Ralph and Ayla had one of their "serious" discussions about life events, which always makes Angie and I smile. I like that they seek each other out when they feel the need, I think it speaks well to their relationship, I hope they keep it up as Ayla gets older.
Mom and Ayla seem to be enjoying each other's company, as they browsed around the Ex last night, shopping and stopping to look. Ayla also bought a shoulder bag, which I love, it's very cute, and Angie's birthday present (not telling what it is!) and then ice cream and a beaver tail and donuts. And a water. Falling asleep in the car on the way home, with her mouse hat on and her double layer of sweaters, I couldn't help but think she had an excellent time at the Ex!

When things get tough...

When Ayla first arrived I had asked her if she wanted to scrapbook the month of August while she was here. She had said yes, so off we went to spend about $100 on scrapbook stuff. Well, lately she has not been scrapbooking, so I asked her about it. It seems she suffers from the same challenge I do - when you get behind and the job seems to be this huge project of mammoth proportions, the Lapierre procrastination skills kick in and become very well utilized. I told her that when a job gets to bee too big and you don;t feel like doing it anymore, ask for help. I am 34 and just learning this skill. I am amazed it was never taught to me when I was young. As I look at this perspective today and all the opportunity I would have had to practice it in school, I am amazed that my procrastination was never called out. That not finishing the work was bad, but isn't not asking for help a worse "crime"? I think back to this dumb project we had to do where we had to draw our neighbourhood map, the streets, bus stops, points of interest, stores, etc. I had done all this very well, the project was interesting, but after doing all this, the teacher then asked us to color it. Color it? WTF? Why would we bother doing that? So of course, I didn't do it. I was sick the day we had to hand it in. Terrible flu. Now, this was Grade 5, so by that time, you would think that someone would have caught onto my pattern of loosing interest after the initial part of the project AND procrastinating or not doing the work if I saw little value OR if the project seemed to be too long and hard. I wish someone had taught me the skills of negotiating down and asking for help with I was 10. It would have made my working life SO much easier!

Granny Has Arrived!

Well, Mom arrived safely last night after some excitement of trying to find her in the train station. Ayla was starving, she kept asking if we could go have a snack while we waited for Mom to get off the train. Then we get home and I am just sitting down in the backyard with Ralph and Mom and Ayla, sipping my Gin and Peach Juice cocktail and Ayla says, "Can I help you with dinner?"
So Ayla made a lovely grilled chicken Caesar salad, which we all enjoyed, and then we went off to the dollar store and then to the book store, where her granny got her a new Sheldon book of poems, as always quite funny. She then sat in a comfy chair in Second Cup and read her book and had a gingerbread cookie and drank her tea all so very grown up. I think Mom is enjoying having some time with her, and Ayla is enjoying the change in company, too. She wanted her Granny to come and listen to her bedtime story with her.
The cats are overall unimpressed with yet another person in the house, though Sally loves Mom and is constantly trying to get her to pet her. It's really quite funny. Ralph did not enjoy sleeping on the hard futon last night, though my back has not felt better in years! Only a few more days, Ralph!

Ralph's Notes

Ralph has been, for most of the month, a quiet observer and patient role model for Ayla. He mentions things to me quietly when we are alone. A few weeks ago he observed that she takes her pants off the same way I do, pants and undies come off together and then get thrown still "joined" into the hamper for washing. On Friday night when Ayla and Ralph left me at the restaurant for the "late shift" partying, he had sent her up to get changed while he put the cover over the bike. A few minutes later she came down and said, "Uncle Ralph, can you help me?" Her side zipper needed undoing, something Ralph helps me with all the time. He just had to smile. The little girl growing up makes him smile often, which is nice to see. He likes to tease her and I think he misses the days when she would just sit there and ramble at him about her day. Now she takes a bit more coaxing, something he's not yet accustomed to, but he's getting there. Last night was house cleaning night and she said she wanted to do the grass. I told her she was welcome to the job, and to get Uncle Ralph to show her where the lawn mower was. Well, she worked on the yard for well over an hour, and Ralph was very impressed by how well she applied herself. Of course, he was also a bit disappointed he had underutilized her mowing skills for the balance of the month...

And a lunch bag, too

"NO, Auntie Tanya, they look like purses, and we are not allowed to bring purses to school. I'll get in trouble!"
"Ayla, seriously?"
"Yes, Auntie Tanya, let's look for other ones!"
"OK."

Auntie Tanya and Ayla walk through the entire store, finding nothing, return back to the lunch bag section.

"Ayla, the teacher may say something on the first day, but once you show her that it is a lunch bag (see the insulated lining, when was the last time you had a purse with insulated lining?) they won't give you a hard time."
"You think so? I guess that makes sense..."
"OK, let's pick one."

And so, after looking at at least 4 different models and determining the thermosability and packability of various ones, we decided on a lovely pink and black plaid "Chihuahua Carrier" for this year's lunch bag.

I think if I actually let her buy something without testing it 14 different ways she would go into shock!

The Schoolbag

OK, it's official, we have purchased a schoolbag. I am sure Ayla will never shop for something with me again. After making her try on various schoolbags that had the "wheelie" capability COMBINED with the back pack straps, weighing the comfort of the shoulder straps, durability and replacability of the clasps, the room inside the actual bag, the singled off compartment accessibility, how the bag sat on there back and color, we left without one as blue jogging pants were the major shopping item. I told her that I did like the bag, but it was $70, so we needed to see how much we were going to spend at Old Navy first. After leaving Old Navy empty handed, we popped over to Jacob to see if they had anything reasonable. Everything was long and $35. "Oh Auntie Tanya, I wouldn't want you to spend that much on me for school!". As we then left Jacob, Ayla holding my hand and walking along, she asks, "So, are we gonna get the school bag?" Laughing, I agreed, so she now has a very practical and much loved school bag. Brown. With pink squares, of course.

The Horse Show

Tensions are high as we arrive... will Ayla get the Gold Medal she seeks, or once again, after her two week career in horsemanship, will Winston, her mount, fail her? Questions swirl through the gazebo as we wait for the riders to begin their paces. As the riders take their places next to their mounts, making final checks of bridle, saddle and stirrup, a hush falls over the crowd. The moment of truth has arrived. The girls mount, the crowd falls silent and the horses and riders parade in front of the gazebo, showing off their capability of making a horse walk and staying on it while it is doing so. Winston seems in high spirits, walking high and proud. The tension mounts, you can almost see it in the air. As Ayla brings Winston around the pylon and approaches the bar, the audience holds their breath. Will he stumble? Will she do her 2 point correctly or will the judges have to deduct points? Will he walk the straight line after making the "jump" over the bar or will he meander over to the water bucket? Yes! Yes! The crown jumps to their feet. Applause roars down as Ayla leads Winston to success. Her Aunt and Uncle, here all the way from downtown Toronto nearly faint with joy! Hurray!