Sitting Pretty

Eloise has a new trick...she can sit by herself...for about 10 seconds...and then gravity, and a round bottom, take over. It's a start though. She really seemed to like the feel of the cool grass on her bare feet. We'll work at improving her sitting stamina over the summer and before we know it she'll be cutting teeth, crawling, walking, going to school, graduating, moving away from home, getting married....oh dear. Maybe we'll keep her a little baby for awhile longer.

Grandmother Goose

Mum loves most animals, but most particularly cats and birds - any kind of birds. She lives in a first floor apartment with a patio and always puts seeds out so the birds will come. She loves to watch them as they fly around and eat the food she provides. Her cat, Munch, likes to watch them too, but she's not allowed out (luckily for the birds) so she just watches them through the window.

The other day in Winnipeg, we went down to The Forks, where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet and enjoyed the walk along the river bank. Mum got as close to the Canada geese there as she could, feeding them bits of her sandwich left over from lunch. I think she actually expected them to come eat out of her hand.

She taught her children to love and care for the gentle creatures too, and if it weren't for allergies I'm sure I'd have a pet or two in my home...budgies or a cat or two.

Mum's Birthday

I just got home this afternoon from Winnipeg where we celebrated Mum's 87th birthday. She can't remember having a birthday party before (she's had many!) so was very excited to actually be receiving gifts. I guess that's a small blessing of having Alzheimer's. Everything is a 'first', new and exciting. After her dinner (prepared by the best cook in the family, my sister Wendy) and the cake and gifts, she and my brother-in-law played cribbage while my sister, niece and I played Settlers. A nice little birthday party.

Faces of Childhood - Summer Edition

By the end of the day you can tell what kind of day it was by the look of the kids. Have you ever seen a dirtier face than Max's?? Or more freckles than Wyatt's (a neighbour boy who came over to play with the kids this evening)? Charlie's dirty too, but she has decorated her dirt with Barbie bandaids to cover the scratches she got out at her other grandma's house this afternoon. They were all happy and smiling and still having fun when it was time to go in to get ready for bed though...hopefully to have a bath first! Grammie and Papa left before the action began. We all had a good day.

Cards

I've come to enjoy making cards. The problem is, I hate to give them away. So when I make one I particularly like, I try to make two of it - one to give and one to keep to use as a model for other ones. Here's some I made last week.

Jar Album

I'm going to Winnipeg for Mum's 87th birthday on Tuesday. Over the years I've made her gifts that she really likes, from cross stitch to special scrapbooks. When I asked her what she wanted this year she said "Make me something I can brag about". Lately when I've called her she's mentioned that she's looking at my family picture and can't remember my kids names...all part and parcel of Alzheimer's. It bothers her though that she can't put names to faces any more.

I saw this jar album at a friend's home and copied the idea for myself. It was fun and easy to make and turned out really well. I put a picture of each child and his/her spouse on one side of the chipboard disks and put their name on the back, along with a list of their children. Then I fancied it up with lots of bling. I made a hole in the lid and threaded ribbon through and knotted it. The other end of the ribbon is attached to the first disk by threading it through an eyelet. That way, when the lid is removed, the whole string of pictures comes out. Very effective I think it'll be something for her to brag about for awhile.

Hula Hooping

Charlie has learned the graceful art of hula-hooping and was eager to show me her skills today. She does pretty good for a 4-year old and manages to keep it up for 10 or 15 seconds at a time. With practice she'll soon be as good as her Grammie used to be.

Hula hoops became popular in the mid- to late 50's when I was 9 - 12. I got pretty good at it - good enough to win a contest at a picnic for the soldier's kids at the army base we were living in at the time (Base Gagetown, NB). I could start twirling at my waist and move it up to my neck and down to my knees without losing a beat or dropping it. Of course I was skinny as a rail and straight as a poker back then so it was pretty easy going for the hoop.

I'm glad to see that hula-hooping hasn't completely died out and that one of my offspring's offspring is following in her Grammie's footsteps.

Way to go Charlie!!