shoddy time, eh?

shoddy time, huh? my favorite past times these days truly are "a lot of making faces and blowing on small tummies to make a noise". i sure hope this does not qualify me for the shoddy time Olympics. and dressing up of pets is of no interest to me!(if you have no clue of what i'm referring to, please read comments on yesterday's blog!)

ugh. time flies. kaspar is out for the night (next three hours) , or so i hope. i'm about to hit the pillow, as well. we've had a busy day. after a hot bath, we both seem to be feeling a little light headed. i'm off to the bedroom with a harper’s in one hand and the new issue of weavings in the other. let's see which wins my attention!

a day in pajamas

i feel the pangs of guilt, tonight. i hate to admit it, but i've got to come clean. i will sleep better, if i do. here it is - i didn't take him outside all day! yes. it's absolutely, totally, completely awful. mean of me. selfish, in fact. that amazing and wonderful kid of mine was indoors all day. and it was +13 degrees out. he wouldn't even have needed his snowsuit. or the ever so disliked mittens. how could i? how dare i? i used the rain as an excuse. i used his need for sleep as an excuse. but they were only excuses for a much more selfish activity - working in the studio. i'm so sorry kaspar. i promise to take you out for two walks tomorrow (or one extra long walk) !

while i played bad mom (re: outdoor activities), we still ended up having a wicked day! after some wakeful hours last night, we both slept in until 9:30. kaspar woke me up giggling and we spent another hour in bed doing absolutely nothing. oddly enough, doing nothing with a baby, is really just that - doing nothing! have you ever thought about it? it's almost impossible to do 'nothing' with another adult. the rest of our day was spent productively working in our pajamas. since we never left the house, i simply failed to see any reason to get dressed. i truly enjoyed it! we got to try out kaspar's new toy - the authentic, vintage bouncy chair. he loved playing in that thing. thanks lidia! it seems that our kid knows a vintage, when he sees one! his two favorite toys to date are the bouncy chair and the wobbly chicken, also an authentic 1970's piece. so, while he contently played in his chair, i managed to get some work done in the studio. wow!

it's coming to 11pm. he's sleeping soundly. i must catch another hour at the bench, while i can. these sorts of days don't come by the dozen. i say a prayer of thanks and count my blessings!

tired

uh. hot coco. new daniel lanois cd. waiting for the phone to ring. ten pm. i'm tired. kaspar is sleeping. the dryer just stopped. i will retreat to the bedroom with a large pile of fresh smelling laundry in a basket. goodnight!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

what a spectacular day! it snowed and snowed and snowed well into the afternoon. the city is white. but polightly white. not at all overrun with snow. however, they say that monday we are to have +15 celcius. let's not think about that. all this snow has got me in christmas spirit. and kaspars and i have just had a spectacular day. i think our relationship is beginning to develop and we have both learned, finally, how to give each other some space. he's been so fun, today! just look at this picture. we took it at 8am while playing on his favourite matt. later we went for dim sum with our regular dim-summers tania and paul. what good little bites of unidentifiable food, yummy! the subway was a bit of a bore until kaspar discovered the bright adds near the ceiling. what a blessing. (and i don't usually feel that way about advertising.) then we had dinner plans with crystal and andi and lidia. more spectacular food! and by 7 pm kaspar looked a bit like a drunk baby - so very tired. he's been asleep since we got home. (knock, knock, knock... he better stay that way for the next three hours.) bless this fine little boy of mine!

today an important milestone has been reached, a one week blog-a-versary. i'd toast myself with a glass of champaigne, but i have not got a bottle handy. i hope someone out there does it on my behalf. i'm thrilled that this blog project has not failed!

and now, please forgive me, if some of you cannot read the rest... but sometimes i just have to write in latvian.

vienas nedelas pierakstitas domu kripatas. sniegs. tuvojas decembris. ziemsvetki. lai cik ilgi es ari nebutu nodzivojusi sini pasaules mala, sis laiks mani vedina uz domam par majam. bet, vai es vispar varu vairs tas saukt par majam? varbut vienkarsi sentimentalitate. latvija. riga. majas, kuras es uzaugu. bet sava zina tas vel arvien ir manas majas. tapat ka toronto drosi vien bus vienmer manas majas. si sadalita pasaule.

sorit kaspars mani pamodinaja isi pec sesiem. es atveru acis, bet vel arvien savas atminas kavejos sapni, ko pat pilniba neatceros. es sedeju uz jumta, savas majas, riga ... un debesis bija baltas, tik baltas, sniega un saules pielietas. ari seit snieg. peleciga, sniegaina, samtaina diena. pagajusi nedela kops esam divata majas ar kasparu. miers mijas ar nogurumu, nogurums ar garlaicibu, garlaiciba ar nepadaritiem darbiem un darbiniem. rit svetdiena. pauze mana nedelas skrejiena. vismaz pedeja laika, manas mammas iespaidota ari es censos svetdienas nedomat par darbu. ja nesanak nestradat, tad vismaz censos nedomat. ha!

a complaint or two

the tag in this picture might just seem like a tag and nothing more, but, we were so excited when we found the sweater at the local second hand shop. if you still have not noticed - on the bottom, in the small (and a bit blurry) lettering you can read "made in latvia". how cool is that? what are the chances that a couple of latvian girls will find the one sweater in the junk shop that's made in latvia. but here's the beef. the tag reads 100% wool. and 100% wool should felt. however this sweater did not do even the mildest bit of felting, no matter how many times it got dunked in hot and cold and hot and cold and hot water again and again and again. how can it be? have the latvians deceived us? or should the blame lie with LLBean? oh, i was so very disappointed! i cut out the tag to remind myself of this sad event and threw the sweater away.

i was going to write more and upload a daily picture of kaspar, but something is not working. maybe i'm allowed to post only one picture a day. perhaps. i never read the fine print, when i signed up for this blog. or maybe it's our computer. by now, i'm convinced that our computer is possessed. ever since i can remember this computer has had problems. we can never stay connected. modems don't work. routers don't work. it keeps disconnecting. we're on a first name basis with the support staff at ica (our dsl provider). it's really quite frustrating. i must remember to look up exorcists in the yellow pages. maybe someone specializes in electronics. or computers. it's our last resort!

food... did someone say food?

just look at this kid! green and slimy - yum! he loves it. it's not as bad as it looks. mushy avocado still tastes like avocado. kaspars loves food. loves spoons. loves eating! it's enough to waive a spoon in his direction, when the mouth opens, arms and legs flailing he's ready to jump out of his chair in joy! even though the canadian pediatricians association tells me that babies should be strictly breastfed until 6 months, i've decided to rebel. i was glad to find out that my doctor approves. it seems that our child is as tall as an average 7 month old and weighs just a hair under 16 pounds. so - food gets the green light. it all happened so quickly, wow!

the day is dragging at a snails pace. it's only 4pm. i'm ready to call it a day. i wonder how kaspar does it? babies must have some strange hormone or gene or some energy reserve that enables them to be awake at all hours of day and night, regardless of the amount of sleep they are getting. he's not an anomaly, i've been told. i wish i was a baby!

hm. it keeps snowing. it's beautiful. especially from a second floor window of a nice, warm home. i wonder how we will accomplish the task of shoveling the sidewalk and stairs. hm. something to think about. and the park will be out of the question, tomorrow, i suspect. oh well, c'est la vie. (i told you i might write in french one day!)

mornings and noise

noise in the mornings should be banned by law. this morning kaspars woke up bright and early. 5am. we chilled out in the studio for a bit and had some oranges and tea. more precisely, he had the orange and i - the tea. but at 7am, when we were both more then ready for a morning nap the street filled with orange and yellow trucks and traktors. they started hammering and digging and making quite a racket. sleep was a write off. we went for a walk in high park with our favourite neghbour. gorgeous fall day! tomorrow it will snow. so said the weatherman. i look forward to it. these past few days our street has been slowly transforming. one by one the dads come out to decorate the houses for christmas. a few days ago our neighbour across the street was out with his kids putting up little red lights. it's a nice time of the year. waiting. preparing. the christmas rush and business hasn't yet begun. i look forward to christmas this year! i'm starting to like this slow pace of life. thanks kaspar! p.s. here he is. looking oh so very smart. books and swings. he seemed to dig both, today. :-)

oh, boy

has anyone ever figured out what goes through a baby's head, when he screams for an hour straight, red face and all, no stopping, no break, just screaming on top of his lungs for a whole hour or more. i must have tried everything - change of pace, place, position, angle, light, music, silence, rocking, stopping, breaking, shaking, dancing, singing, quiet, talking, stroking, massaging, cradling, cuddling.... nothing helps. ever. kaspar has been like that three times today. yup. and i have no idea what to do. the latest shindig lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes until he was so very awake, that i dare not try put him back to bed. so... i finally have him sitting right here in my lap, grappling, trying to get to the keys while i'm typing this little note to cyber space. please forgive the typos :-) we've had one of those days. i'm exhausted. i wish that he was, too. not a chance, though. but, most of you out there hardly want to hear us complaining. so, how about the few hours, while he was asleep and happy? yes, we did have those! we ventured out in the cold wind and walked all the way to the value village on bloor & lansdowne. a friend was in need. she had to find some feltable sweaters (felting is all the rage right now!). so, we went out to help. and the few hours walking there and back, kaspar slept. i even managed to take a two minute shower, when we got home. short enough, that the hot water did not even reach me. my hair still smells like shampoo! but, hey... i showered. i'm thankful for the little things in life, today! and thankful for the rockin' find at the value village - a pair of real 'laderhosen' (did i spell that right?) for a two year old. yup. the shorts are real leather, green, with real bone carved buttons and an ornament with a goat carved into it (also bone) on the top, and a little bit of red detail (piping) right near the pockets. i think i should take a picture and post it. they are awesome. i hope he likes them, when he's two. i cannot wait to surprise his oma elke with the outfit. she's german. i bet she'll get such a kick out of it!!! i'll post some pictures now and then we will both be off to bed. i hope we can sleep. i hope HE will sleep. hold my thumbs (latvian style) or cross my fingers (canadian style) anything that might work. we will try sleep. xo. me.

a grand old time at the movies

i had heard of m4m (movies for mommies) before kaspar was even a flicker in my imagination, but today, thanks to michelle, we finally went to one. it was great! GREAT!!!! the film was a light comedie about a jewish american fellow (a sweet geeky lad played by Elijah Wood), who goes to ukraine to search for a woman, who had saved his grandfather from genocide. ok, well, genocide and war is no light matter, but i still stick to my description of comedie. there was this spectacular character - a young russian guy, who so much so wanted to be african american (he called it 'negro' and did not understand what was wrong with the word 'negro'). he was so very funny. so right on. his look reminded me of this latvian rapper "ozols". anyways.... the film is called "everything is illuminated". see it, if you get a chance. i recommend it. about the actual experience - no, babies crying in the film did not bather me one bit. maybe i'm just immune to it now :-) most kids fell asleep after a while. kaspars did, too, after jumping on my lap for a good first half of the movie. i do have one beef with the whole m4m thing, though. the flick is full price for mothers, but only 4$ for grandparents. yeah! 4$ !?!?! where can you see a movie these days for 4 canadian $? lucky grannies!!! oh. i was going to write more, but i got caught up searching for latvian music while trying to find that link for 'ozols' and now it's 12:48 am and i'm pooped. linking things in this blogging world can be a true distraction... ... ... goodnight.

another moving day

today was our final moving day. day 54 since we began the monumental task of moving 10 blocks or so north of where we used to live. we moved the last display case, swept the floors one last time and left the last set of keys for linda and mel (so glad to have friends taking over the old place!) how blissful. we are done. it almost calls for a bottle of wine :-)but that blissful feeling never lasts... just check out kaspar. if he gets truly excited and laughs for ten minutes, then the following ten he'll be crying. we both have that coming... steve is leaving for his tour with elliott brood. tomorrow. first thing. yikes. two weeks on my own with the little fellow. any offers for babysitting? our little chap has been such a charm the last few days. i've got a few milestones to brag about -last night he only woke up twice. yay! and in the morning we got to sleep in until 8:30. bliss! today he went 5 hours between feedings. a dream come true! AND he has finally figured out (after two weeks of tears and screams) how to get milk out of a bottle (sippy cup, to be precise) but, he has also figured out that a bottle and a boob have something in common and he'd much rather have the boob. oh boy! sigh. but how can i possibly get mad about it. he's so darn precious.well, before i sign off for the night i just wanted to remind everyone that elliott brood won 1st place on cbc's national playlist last week, so, i hope you are all voting for the song 'bridge' (and you're more then welcome to get your friends involved, too!) so that they stay on the list for the weeks to come. they are #7 on the list at the given moment. check it out. i think you can even listen to it on line. i'm so happy for those lads!