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…