drag

i'm sitting at work well past my work hours and doing nothing in particular and the one an only thing i want to be doing is going home. back yard+kaspar+garden hose+a cold drink+dinner... i'd much rather be there with him and not here sitting in a mildly warm and airless office. but, my computer busted last friday. and this morning i spent endless hours frustrated trying to fix it myself, but had to admit to defeat and call the computer doctor. so here i am. waiting for the computer to be fixed. biting my lips. wanting to get out. boredom.

language

Finally, the one morning that Kaspar decides to sleep like a normal child, the sparrows wake me up at 5:30 am. What gives? Yes, I’m slightly grouchy, but I’m getting it off my chest as we speak. And the hot cup of tea should do it’s job, as well.

I’ve kept meaning to write (for quite some time now) about Kaspar’s ever so improving language skills and the funny pronunciations of names he comes up with, but I always get sidetracked by something else. So This is the day, I’ve decided.

It’s been about two months since Kaspar began repeating names of people and showed great interest in calling people names even when we look at pictures in our photo albums. The first were the simple and easy ones “mamma, dada, gamma, gampa, omu, opu” (I will try my darn best to spell them the way he says it, not the way it’s spelled!!!) those were pronounced relatively close to the actual word. Even “Amada, Jamie, Loly, Henny, Kish and Atida” were quite understandable. (Just in case you did not guess the last few were Amanda, Lorry, Chris, Astrida) Up to this point it was relatively easy to get the drift. Most of the time he just opted out of using the letters that he could not pronounce but the general gist of the name was very understandable. He even gave himself a nickname - “Kabīts” would be the way I’d spell it in Latvian. In English it sounds close to “Cabby”, which is what dad has begun to call him now, but most of the time Kaspar very clear with the “ts” ending. Especially when he’s trying to introduce himself to people.

The most interesting combinations in his pronounciation and immagination began to appear when we arrived in Latvia and began to meet people with names that are three syllables long or even longer. I kept thinking to myself – if I do not write these down now, I’ll never forgive myself. As time goes on and Kaspar changes, I’m sure I’ll forget these. So here is a nice little selection of the most interesting. Because most of them are Latvian names, I will write them out in the following order – Kaspars pronounciation in Latvian (My best translation to English) and then the actual name in Latvian (and again my best translation of the name in English). To have a good laugh you have to say some of them out loud! Onku Pāu (Uncoo Paw) – Pāvilonkulis (Uncle Pavils); Pakučš (Packuch) – Patriks (Patrick); Madmems (Madmamms) – Madlena (Madeleine); Feigot (Faygott) – Feliks (Felix); Midzamoo (Midzamaw) – Mirdza More - that was Kaspar’s nick name for our neighbour, a grandmother figure of mine, who always gave him what he asked for and let him water her plants over and over again until they practicly drowned in water.

And if trying to figure out his language was not enough, then we also have the absolute obsession with everything red. It might have started with fire engines, I’m not sure… but ever since he’s learned his basic ten colours, everything “red” in the world is more exciting then any other colour. So, when we drive, it’s almost like playing “punch-buggy” with every red car that appears on the horizon. Don’t you even think about not participating…

back home

We’ve returned to Toronto and had quite the first day back. I must admit that walking out of the airport late at night and feeling the cool breeze bring up goose bumps on my arms made me very happy. There is nothing worse then returning home to a smoggy, steamy, overheated, dry and hot city! Early in the morning we went for a walk along the lake (because Kaspar woke me up at 5 am!) and even though I was wearing a sweater, I wished I had brought myself a wind breaker, too. However, as the day went on, it got warmer and warmer and by late afternoon CBC radio was warning us of temperatures in the high 30’s and an upcoming storm in the evening. By the time the sky started turning dark we were more then ready for the storm. Kaspar had spent the entire day in the yard playing and I had tried my best to water the drying out plant beds with our ever so poor water pressure. The storm was a welcome change. We stood on our porch watching the wind pick up and the sky darken. A short while later we hid in the house and closed all the windows, because the wind truly did begin to feel frightening… we watched the wind chase garbage and tree branches down the street and then the heavy rainfall began.
It lasted no more then a good hour, but electricity went out and did not come back until well into the night. We were forced to be very inventive with our dinner plans as the soup I had made earlier in the day did NOT taste good cold. So, Kaspar and I invented this great little contraption and about 30 minutes later we had two plates of relatively warm soup on the table. There is nothing quite like necessity and a little pressure to get ones creative juices flowing…

even though...

Even though I have no time to finish writing this one.... here are a couple of shots of Kaspar in search of the large Vienese snails.... in the church park near Talsi. The last picture is of him crying, because he could not figure out why the snail will not come out of the shell while in his hand. It only showed it's little antlers, when you put it on the ground and kept still for a few minutes. And keeping silent and still is a very hard task for a two year old!!!

summer

Summer has hit us pretty hard! All of a sudden the mid 20's tempetrautres climbled to low thirties and all I keep hearing from my mother is - "I told you, so!" I have to admit, she did warn me, that May can sometimes be very hot in Latvia, but I had a hard time believing it. I most definately regret not taking more then two tank tops with me! The last week has been spectacular. Hot during the day. Nights are nice and cool and now and then we get a break by receiving a true summer rain storm with blowing winds, pounding rain and heavy thunder that echoes through the house and makes all the dogs and cats hide under beds and chairs. Kaspar loves it! Thunder and elbows are a few of his favourite things these days. (Later on elbows... ) :-)

After the thunder passes and my mom's yard is well watered and the driveway is full of puddles Kaspar likes to go out barefoot and have a little fun his own way. Here is a great shot of him after the last storm.

planes and all that jazz

I've been flying almost yearly for the past ten years or so and not once have I experienced jet lag the way most describe it, but this year Kaspar WAS my jet lag. The first two nights after our arrival he was up for 4-5 hours a night and then his naps during the day would last for four or five hours to compensate for the lack of sleep at night. The first week here passed as though in a grey cloud for me. Only one night did Kaspar sleep through the night. The rest of the nights he was up three or four times a night. Tossed and turned for hours. Babbled incoherently all the words he could remember. Said "hi"and "bye" to all our neighbours (yeah, all of you there in Canada!) several times a night. Moo-ed like a cow, barked like a dog and kept telling me that Tania has two cats that like to say "miow". I felt tired for days on end and was walking around like a zomby most of the time. Oh, was it ever a pain in the butt!!! I tried everything I could think of and to this day I have no answer as to how best to deal with sleepless two year olds. If I ever fly again with Kaspar, I'll be sure to read a few books on this subject and be better prepared for what's to come!

holidays

Days and weeks pass and I cannot bring myself to sit down and write something. Our holidays are half way over, but I'm just beginning to relax and just the idea of having to sit down in front of a computer in some way repels me...

But at the moment, Kaspar is fast asleep. I've just done laundry, taken a long bath, painted my toe nails and even though I could be out in the yard soaking in the spring sunshine, I think I'll dedicate a couple of minutes to the blog.

Spring has been gorgeous here! Past couple of weeks the weather has shifted from cool/sunny to warm/rainy, but in general we have had more sun then cloud cover. As we arrived the black chokecherry trees had just began to bloom (Ieva - in Latvian) but over the last week everything seems to be in full bloom. Cherries are just finishing up, apple and pear trees and plums are painting the yards in clouds of pale pink and white. Lilacs are spreading shades of pink, purple and white over the fences, sheds and garages and the fields and fields of bright yellow canola are practicly blinding.

Kaspar is having a great time, because wherever we go there are kids and everyone has a back yard, sybolicly speaking, that is...(back or front - here yards are not always in the back of the house :-)). He's spending a lot of time outdoors, digging through mud and sand, watering plants and more often then not watering himslef pretty well, also. I just cannot believe that today is the 21st of May and sooner then I'd like, we will be packing bags and heading back home. For now I leave you with a few pics of Kaspar and I hope to write some more, soon. Now that I've begun, I might be inspired to do some more one of these days. :-)

dogs and such

On Saturday on our long walk through the neighborhood Kaspar and I dropped in on a friend, who lives close by and has a dog named Hector. It was a totally spontaneous visit, that sort of arose from Kaspar’s obsession with all dogs that passed us along the way. I’m starting to feel like my 19 month old is putting on the pressure - I want a pet! I’ll blame it on "Caillou and his furry friends".... :-)

However, we did have a grand time! They came out for a walk with us and finally came to our place for a visit! Kaspar was able to touch and pet and hug and bug Hector to his heart’s content. The rest of the evening was spent talking about Hector pretty much non stop. He's been nick named "ecko" with a silent "h" and the inability to pronoune the "R" I guess that's the closest he could come up with. I think he must have even had dreams about the dog in the early part of the night, because he jumped up and barked a couple of times, only to go right back to sleep right after. The impression a dog can leave on a little fellow like that, wow!

Kaspar has been initiated into the pop culture of Canada! Do you guys know this character? If you want to hang out with Kaspar, you better know him! Yup! Kaspar is crazy about Caillou.

It all began one fine day, when Steve took Kaspar to a Value Village to pick out some toys and found a video tape of Caillou amongst the bags of goodies. No, not a DVD, but a Video tape. We still have a VCR and keeping it has proven to be a wise choice, because it seems that many parents are getting rid of their perfectly fine tapes of kids stuff and switching to DVD’s. And we have stumbled onto a treasure of movies for a buck or two at the Value Village. Of course the rewinding is not fun. Neither is skipping through scenes. But, at least it’s a good reason not to watch the same tape over and over again without taking a break. Right? Wrong! The first Caillou tape Kaspar got, was rewound and played over and over again so many times, that even I seem to know the entire dialogue off by hart now.

It must have been a Wednesday or Thursday, when we first got that guilty video tape. It was all about Caillou and his cat Gilbert, but the best episode (Kaspar’s absolute favourite) is the part where Gilbert has to be rescued from the tree by firefighters and then Caillou goes to the fire station for a visit. Funny enough that coming Sunday we had made plans with Kaspar’s buddies Emil and Markus to visit our friend Mike’s work. You probably guessed - Mike is a firefighter!

The visit was an absolute hit. Kaspar might have been even more into it then Emil, who is a few years older and definitely understands the concept of a firefighter a lot better. Kaspar wanted to sit in the truck, kept asking to have it turn on, liked to move the excessively large steering wheel and cried his eyes out, when an hour and a half later we were trying to get him dressed to leave the place. If he had it his way, he would have spent the entire day there! In fact he probably would have been happy to stay overnight.

filling dad's slippers

Steve has just left for a short trip to Chicago with the band and Kaspar has been feeling more distressed then usual. At night he kept pointing at our bed and asking “tete? tete?” As soon as we came down in the morning, he found dad’s slippers and was wearing them all morning, taking his sweet time getting places, dragging his feet across the floor in the big shoes. I bet our basement neighbor was just thrilled… Kaspar is usually very good about not freaking out, when either of us leaves the house. He’s perfectly happy to just wave goodbye and get back to whatever he was doing. However, this time Steve left while Kaspar was sleeping. Perhaps that’s the reason…

we've been hit

Well. This is exactly the expression Kaspar was NOT wearing this morning. I made the mistake of showing him the snow first thing as we got up and he became the king of cranky for the rest of the morning. I suppose it’s sort of understandable, when you have to be stuck inside with your nose pressed to the window, while your parents are out shoveling the white stuff. Who said life was fare?

We were promised 10 cm of snow over night, but we woke up to more what seemed like 20 cm. And even that might be a conservative guess! In the middle of January we were complaining about lack of winter, well… we’ve finally been hit with winter. It took Steve and I a good half hour to shovel our paths clean, but it was a pleasant sort of shoveling - light, fluffy, clean, white snow.

Kaspar is surprisingly into winter! Yes, we do get the long and cranky dressing to go outside deal, but, once he’s outdoors, he’s pretty happy to be just outdoors. In fact, last week, when the temperatures were well below zero I found myself feeling cold and wanting to go back in well before he was ready to even think about the indoors. Once he’s dressed for the outdoors, he kind of looks like a stuffed doll that’s about to burst at the seams. He’s almost the same height as he is wide. And then he’s got his great thick hat that makes his head look huge. It’s very cute!

The winter clothes for toddlers, I have come to the conclusion, are designed not only for warmth but also for protection of falls and accidents. Wise, indeed! The bundled up children tend to climb snow banks on roll right back down, run on ice and fall flat on their backs, go stomping through the snow, only to get a foot caught and fall face first into the snow…. Well, you get the picture! I bet tobogganing would be a piece of cake!

did you say music?

Kaspar's favourite room lately seems to be the computer room a.k.a. "Steve's studio". He loves to push all the buttons he's not really allowed to push. He loves to take apart the CD stand. The best part is taking the CD's out of the cases, if there is enough time, before anyone notices! And he loves to dance while listening to dad's newest mixes on the headphones.

Television

This picture was taken in December, Christmas day, at my cousin's place. Can you guess what these four are doing? Yeah ... the glazed over expressions, the blank look in their eyes, concentration in the faces... of course they're watching TV!



I'm very proud to admit that for the last 12 years since Steve and I have known each other we have managed to make do with a little 15" TV that was inherited from his parents and probably purchased in the late 70's. I love that little television set! It's nice and compact, with a decent receiver and fake dark wood paneling on the sides. However, yesterday we upgraded to a brand new silver coloured 20" TV, which Steve managed to get at some factory outlet sale (or something along those lines) for a whole 40$! Now we have a TV, that's large by our standards, but it does not show even half of the channels we can get with the old one. I guess they just don't make them as good these days. They expect that everyone will have cable, I suppose.

But Kaspar is absolutely thrilled with the new TV. He stands in front of it and spreads his arms wide and makes the "big" sound. He does not yet have a word for big, but he does have this sound, that I cannot possibly explain in words, but when he makes that sound, and you see his little face, eyes wide like saucers, arms wide... you just know he's saying "big".

Speaking of words… Kaspar is learning new words fast, but I might have to devote a whole blog to that. However, I am most amazed with the fact that he already knows 6 letters. Yeah! My mom must have started teaching him, but he's been picking up new ones almost every day. He now likes to sit at the kitchen table scouring Harpers or Financial Post or some other adult paper or magazine for letters he'll recognize. He knows the letter "M" as well as "m" - that's "mamma's letter. "T" and "t" stands for dad. (In the beginning he called dad - "dad", but recently it's turned into "tete", which is a slang version of the Latvian "tetis"). "B" (he only recognizes the capital) for baby! "S" -for Silvija. "O" for "omu", which is his own version of "oma". "A" for apple and "K" for Kaspar, but he does not say "Kaspar", that one is still too hard for him, I think... he only points at his own chest. It's funny watching him studying the pages of text and getting so excited when he finds one of the letters he knows!

My mother has this story, that's always been a little hard to believe! It's bout me, at the age of three writing a happy birthday card for my dad and being able to spell happy birthday only by being told what letter comes next. I've always had a hard time believing it. However, if Kaspar has got pretty much a fifth of the alphabet memorized at 19 months... he might not be far from being able to spell. We just have to work on his penmanship. Hi, hi!

pointalism

I've got this guilt complex about the blog now. Not only that... I often find myself procrastinating.... doing other stuff, when I could be updating the blog. Kind of like Kaspar, when he's about to be taken to bed. He'll walk to the bathroom a half a dozen times - first asking to brush his teeth again, then asking for lip balm or cream for his hands or another bath or simply pretend he has to go pee over and over again.

I wonder if every parent has experienced this feeling of - what's wrong with my kid? I had that exact feeling, when last November out of the blue, Kaspar began to draw. No it was not that he was drawing per say, but rather that his drawings consisted mostly of little miniature doodles, dots and points. Pointillism. I had never seen a sixteen month old kid drawing like that. Most kids take a pencil in their fist and just draw a continuous line, gesture like shapes that cover most times not only the piece of paper, but also the table or floor beneath the paper. Not my kid!
Now, here is the strangest part... In the very beginning my faint attempts of asking what he was drawing (at that point he was not really talking yet) were actually gratified with an answer. He brought me over to the window, pointed at the gray sky and made little squeaky, squally noises. The gray sky was full of birds flying high above us. It took me a moment, but I figured it out - the noises he was making were the same as the noises we had heard the seagulls make at the park the previous day.
Now we communicate freely! If he sticks his nose against the paper and tries to smell it - it'a flower. The noise of a fire engine - an obvious one. The hand motion of throwing something against the floor, followed by a thumping sound - ball. And who said you need signing classes for kids. They invent their own signs. You just have to be patient enough to decipher them!

For Christmas, Kaspar got a large box of markers, pencil crayons and these paint sticks that are more like very oily and wet crayons (all washable, thanks to very wise gift givers!) Even though I try to watch him, he's discovered ways of getting to the markers on his own. Occasionally he hides a marker, while we draw and pulls it out later, when I'm not watching. He's a sneaky, smart little fellow! He'll draw with the marker, make some marks on the table or the chair, then pull me over to show them to me, yet, as he's wisely pointing them out to me he'll say "NOOOO!" in his most honest and serious sounding voice, and shake his head just like I do, when I'm telling him not to do something.

Now that several months have passed since those first few weeks of drawing, Kaspar has begun to draw like all kids do. He scribbles, and draws large and often goes over the page. But, if you ask him, what the little birds look like in the sky, he still goes back to drawing dots on the page. I love watching him and interrogating him about what he's drawing. :-)

boots

i love this picture &
kaspar loves the boots.

liar, liar....

Yeah. I’m a liar. I’m glad someone called me on it, or else you might not have seen the next entry until the following month or something. My brain is not in the “blog” mode yet. I actually forgot that I was blogging again….. an then of course, we’ve been on a trip and I’ve been feeling sick and all that jazz……

Kaspar has been thoroughly spoiled this holiday season, because everywhere we go he’s got play mates galore! It’s hard on us. Well, not the days with the kids, but the following days at home. Then we become the play mate substitutes. For instance, yesterday he took my hand, pulled me down onto the floor, I thought – ok, let’s play. However, he had something else in mind! He wanted me to crawl under the coffee table so that he could look at me through the glass from the top. Yeah. This was shown by not so gently pulling my hair in the direction of the coffee table and down. He’s devised a way of communicating, that involves a lot of physical contact, yet leaves him off the hook for having to speak. Smart little fellow!

Well, I took a few days off work after a nice mellow New Years’ eve with some friends and a hundred oysters (yum!). We went to Ottawa for a visit with friends of ours who are here for the holidays from Latvia and Kaspar hung out with Rudis & Inguss for a day. Here is Kaspar and Rudi just hanging out right after Rudis’ christening.

Then last week-end we attended a marvelous wedding for our friends Julija and Zanis ( and here is Zanis blog, which I found by fluke one day, while looking up info about orchid care ) The wedding was so spectacular that afterwards I felt like I had been on a holiday. I was involved with making wedding rings for them as well as doing the flowers, which all added up and kept me rather busy day and night the few days just before the wedding. Steve ended up picking up a lot of slack and Kaspar missed me, and clung to me like a little koala, when I did show up at home. At the wedding though, he was a doll. He was so happy to be amongst a crowd that as soon as I put him down, he’d dash through the legs of people and out the door, into the long hallway of the Latvian center and down and up the hall… It was hard to keep up, considering the high heals and my inability to sneak through people’s legs and under people’s drinks.