Such a Boy

If I was ever in doubt that I have a boy:

• he likes to burp and fart
  
• at the farm he was most impressed by the poo and the animals' bums
• there are toy cars all over the house
• he's learning the names of the different types of trucks and machines (as is mom)
  
• he corrected me and 2 others the other day when we said he had a nice toy car, he said it was a truck - he was correct.
• he likes playing and watching video games
  
• he wants to see the pictures of guns and wants to play shooting and 'fall down dead' games
  

If I was ever in doubt that my boy is very athletic:

• he likes to go jogging,
• he likes to play ball,
• he runs every where
  
• we HAVE to go to the park every day
• he doesn't like the climbers for 2 to 5 year olds, he likes the climbers that are for 5 to 12 year olds
• after spending the day at the zoo where he walked for most of the day, that evening he insisted we do the 3+km walk and not the shorter walk I had planned.
  

Denis doesn't walk the 3 to 5 km we do most nights, no he skips, jogs, hops, runs and spins along the way. And he I think he walks at least a half km more than I do as he goes backward and forward as we go along.

We take the stroller (the medium stroller as Denis calls it) but not for Denis to ride in for most of the journey. No he likes to push the stroller for most of the journey, and for some really strange reason we have to pick up and carry the stroller for some of the way too. I thought the evening walk was to help the little one relax so he gets a good night sleep, it just seems to make him more energetic .

How He's Grown!

I was looking at some photos today, photos from back in December. I had to take some photos of Denis for court. I needed a head shot and a full length photo. I can't believe how much Denis has grown. The pants he is wearing in this photo puddled on the ground have long been given away as they were too short. And even his face has changed so much.

I met a baby and now I have a little boy.

He likes it, really, he does!

On Sunday I left Denis with my brother while I took my sister out for a couple of hours. Denis loves to spend time with his uncle and my brother generously gave up some of his precious free time during report card and exam prep to play horse and tow truck so I could see our sister.

My outing with Kathryn wasn't that exciting, but she doesn't crave excitement, she likes simple things. We ate lunch at Tim Hortons and then shopped at the SuperStore.

While at the SuperStore I saw a Little Tykes swing. I thought it would be a great gift from Aunt Kathryn for Denis and a great toy for our backyard (maybe allowing me some time to actually work on the yard). I've been trying to build a positive relationship between Denis and my sister. It has been hard as she has been so ill, and we haven't had her home that often. When she has been at home Denis has quickly realized she needs as much care and attention as he does. Can we say Jealous.

When I came home, Denis was having a nap. I set the swing up in the backyard hanging the swing from a branch of the apple tree. When Denis woke up I took him outside to check out the swing.

You can see by the area behind Denis that the yard needs a LOT of work.
Denis loves being on the swings and his usual request is for a 'big' push. I promise you he wasn't asking me to get him out, he was asking for the camera.
And here he is not crying in panic, he is saying that the camera is his and that I should give it back to him.
Finally, he figures if I won't give him my camera then he will just ignore me. I swear that's what was happening.

It is near impossible these days to get a good picture of Denis, he thinks it is a game not to smile for the camera. The wacky thing is he smiles beautifully when playing with my brother's computer's mouse which he pretends is a camera and we have to take pictures with it. Typical, eh?!

Oh, and with him on the swing I did get some yard work done. Now if only Denis would be nice with Aunt Kathryn and not try to hit her or stomp on her broken ankle. Come on, can't I have everything?

BIG

Big seems to be Denis' new favourite word. Everything is big, and you can't say big unless you drop your voice down an octave and spread your arms wide to demonstrate.

Today we went to the 'big water' which means the swimming pool. This place is not to be confused with the 'big water' we went to on Tuesday, the Pond in Unionville where we saw geese and ducks. He also uses tiny and medium, but hands down big is his favourite word.

Now, having said Denis likes the word, I must mention that Denis has difficulty with understanding size deferential. For instance, this is Denis trying to get his old shoes on his uncle's foot. He'd outgrown the shoes and decided that they would be good shoes for Uncle John.
His solution to the shoe not fitting was to ask my brother to take his sock off.

On the weekend Denis was playing a game while sitting on my brother's knee. Eventually my brother said he was tired and that the game would have to end. Denis had a simple solution to the problem, he wasn't tired so Uncle John could sit on his lap. I just had to get a photo.
We'll have to work on his concept of size, we don't have to work on his self imagine as he sees himself as BIG!

Where My Gramma?

Yesterday, Denis and I were watching Caillou on Treehouse. At the end of the episode there was a vignette where Ciallou tells about his grandmother. Denis was sitting on my knee watching when he turned to me and asked, "Where my Gramma?" Whoa, great way to make get me all choked up little man.

I told Denis his Gramma, who would have wanted to be called Granny, was in heaven. But I took him to see a picture that I have on the fridge of my parents with my sister. I pointed out his Granny and Granddad and his Aunt Kathryn.

Denis loves watching Caillou and he is learning a lot from the show. On one episode, Caillou visits a ranch where he feeds, grooms and rides a horse. At the end of the episode when he and his family are back home, Caillou's father pretends to be a horse. Since seeing the episode Denis makes a neighing sound and indicates that he wants either my brother or I to get on all fours to be a horse. We are then feed imaginary carrots and groomed vigourously.

I just got an email

I just got an email to say that Denis' passport has been picked up by the the courier company. It isn't ready for me to pick up, but the Consulate is finished with the passport.

How fast is that?!

Visa Interview

Today was Denis' US Visa interview.

I had originally thought I'd take the subway downtown to the US Consulate. However, I quickly changed my mind when I read the list of items that can't be brought into the Consulate (food, electronic car keys, cell phones, etc). I don't think I could stand to try traveling downtown for the day without my cell phone and I knew I couldn't find food Denis would easily eat in the area immediately around the Consulate, and with an 8:30 appointment, he'd be famished when we got out of there, so I drove downtown. At least I remembered that my main route south was under road construction and took another route.

Denis' appointment was for 8:30 and we were there in plenty of time and after standing outside in line for 15 minutes or so we were actually in the waiting room following security screening and 4 paper checks at exactly 8:30. The finally paper reviewer is in the waiting room, and the lady we spoke with was Russian speaking and very taken with Denis. She spoke to him and made him laugh. He was so happy he didn't want to leave her, but we had our number so we said, "Paka" and waved goodbye to her. Then the waiting and the fun started.

After the final paper review check you are told, "You can take a seat and wait for your number to be called". In security speak this means you must remain seated until your number is called.

Denis was becoming very agitated after about 30 minutes, so I took him to the window where we could see into the Consulate's parking lot . Oh my was that ever a no no. A guard quickly arrived and told me not to go near the window and that I needed to sit down.

Later Denis got away from me and ran to the entrance/exit of the room. I went after him and had another guard ask me if my number had been called, I explained that no, I was just chasing after my son, he told me that I 'must' stay seated until my number was called.

I didn't want to get us thrown out so I dutifully went and found a seat and held Denis on my lap. As you can imagine he was not happy at the idea of having to sit still. We'd been in the waiting room for about 75 minutes at this point. Now a 2 and 1/2 year old who is bored and who is being forced to stay seated will vocalize his displeasure. So what does the guard do, he comes over and tells me that the child needs to be quiet. Yeah, good idea,eh?!. Then to show how little he knew about children he pointed to a sleeping infant no more than a few weeks old and says, "That one is better behaved". I smiled and said, "Yes she is so much quieter, I'm envious of the mother" I actually was envious of the mother as I'd have loved to have held and known Denis when he was only a few weeks old.

Luckily at the 90 minute mark our number was called and we had our very quick and very nice interview with one of the staff of the Consulate. She told me her children were from Russia. The Visa will be processed over the next 3 business days and then I'll go pick it up closer to home. After all the waiting the actual interview was so easy it seemed anti-climatic. I had to ask if we were all done to make sure I was actually done, and yes we were done so finally we were out of there. I must say I said 'Thank God" when our number was called, I'm sure everyone else in the waiting room thought the same thing. LOL

Back to the car, I paid the $15 for the less than 2 hours of parking (why I hate driving downtown) and on our way to the park.

Soon Denis will have a Visa allowing him to travel to the US and next year we will attend Kazapalooza.

Oh, I was asked why I didn't get Denis the automatic citizenship. I was starting that part of my paperwork just at the time that the law was passed (2007). My agency was told that the Canadian Embassy in Russia wasn't equipped to process the new citizenship applications so I should go the sponsorship route instead. Who knew that I wouldn't travel for another 3 years. I am glad I went the sponsorship route as the 2009 change to citizenship would give children with automatic citizenship limited rights. A little time now is well worth the hassle if it saves Denis hassles in the future.

No Kazapalooza For You

Back in January I read about Kazapalooza being in Florida this year. It was in the minus 20's Celsius in Uralsk and the idea of being on a beach in Florida was so appealing.

Unfortunately I didn't apply for Denis' US Visa interview early enough to get his visa so we are not in Florida this weekend for the party.

Next year hopefully.