Oh My, Valentines!

Okay, so my Aunt Peggy's scored big on the boys' list. Big-big-BIG. A small package with big punch arrived late last week, and the boys opened it to find everything their little hearts could desire: candies, talking-giggling Valentine's Day cards, and... POKÉMON CARDS! It was a very happy end to an otherwise grey day.

BIG THANKS to Aunt Peggy from the boys! What a great surprise!

The pictures from the past few weeks haven't turned out so well, but above are a couple from that evening. (Leo was not happy that he was covered a bit in the last one, but it was the last on the memory card, and I think it's funny, so...) They spent the whole evening "playing" Pokécards. I was laid out on the couch with the stomach flu, so they brought the game over to me, and explained their take on all of the new cards. It was a lot of silly-happy-little-boy fun.

On the actual Day, we all woke up at pretty much the same time. The boys came in to wake us up, and did some silly-happy-little-boy moves on, over and under our covers and legs and torsos and so on. Until suddenly: up jumped Jean-Philippe, and trailed the little ones behind him. A few minutes later, I galumped up, myself, and followed them into the kitchen, the scent of freshly brewing coffee leading the way. It took me a drowsy minute to get it, but when I did, I saw that the house had been covered in Post-It notes. A home-sized Valentines Day card!

That wasn't the end of the celebrations, though! A big, afternoon-long lunch had been planned with the family to celebrate Pépé's 70-something-st birthday. The big 'uns ate and drank too well, as always. And the cousins showed off silly-happy-little-kid-tricks to one another and glued themselves to cartoons, not really showing themselves at the dinner table until somebody mentioned "cake"... ho! ho! Needless to say, we rolled our way home afterwards...

We Sick

The boys, several days ago, in the midst of several artistic and otherwise ventures. Leo wrote 'Tomi' with the blocks, and Tomi said, "Thank you, Leo! That's so cool! I like the way you did that!"

It's been a rough week. First my computer went down, thanks to a download that went awry. Then I got the stomach flu. Then Leo got the stomach flu. And my flu persists, despite yesterday's optimism about the subject. And I think Tomi's coming down with it, too. But he seemed alright this morning. So he's at school; Leo's in bed (after having watched Jungle Emperor and Over the Hedge); I'm huddled over my work with cramps and worry; and Jean-Philippe's peddling my theatre ticket off to friends and hoping for the best. Ugh.

There have been some bright spots on this greyish day, though.

First, there was sleepy little Leo's wake-up twittering.

"Mom! Wake up! Then we can be the first ones up, after Daddy! I'm the first one up! I'm never the first one up!"

Then there was our sweet little Tomi's chirruping, as he got ready to go to school. He was extra chirrupy today. And chirrupy on a school day is rare enough; but when one of them knows that the OTHER is going to stay home from school?! Never. Until this morning, that is.

And then, as Leo sat out a bout of you-know-what on the toilet, I suggested I read him a book.

Leo "No, I have lots of stories. I will tell you a story!"

Mom (settling down on the bathroom floor) "Great! I love your stories!"

Leo "Hm. Let's see. There are so many! Which one would you like?"

Mom "How about if you choose?"

Leo "Okay, I will tell you the story about the snowball who went to the sea."

Mom "Great!"

Leo "Uhm... Okay, but there are some 'bad words' in the story."

Mom (raising her eyebrows a bit, and not a little intrigued) "Well... If they're a part of the story, you can tell the story anyway, and we'll talk about the bad word parts afterwards."

Leo "... No, I will tell you another story. There are lots of stories without bad words. How about... The Mouth Who Couldn't Find Its Body?"

Mom "Sounds like a great one!"

Leo "Okay, but how about if you tell it?"

Mom "Alright. But you can help me, okay?"

Leo "Okay."

And so we began. And a pretty good story we came up with, too!

Bubbles & Weenies

Tomi & Leo, preparing for a walk - Wormy has been lost again, so Goo-Goo and Ennen Cat have been extra-cuddled of late...

Even on the tired days of falling eyelids and fizzling nerves, all it takes these days is a giggled phrase or a soft, caring look and a wee hand on the shoulder from one of our boys to take away the sting of the day and send us into la-la land. They bubble, they glow, they let us know every day, in one way or another, that we couldn't have done without them.

The other day, for example:
It was a cold, grey Sunday. But the four of us were utterly content all day, separately and together, doing this and that and the other thing. Mid-afternoon, Jean-Philippe and the boys were bundling up to go outside and kick the ball around. I was zipping up Tomi's jacket, when Leo zoomed by, crying out, "I'M THE PEE-PEE! GOING SO FAST! WHO'S ON MY TEAM?!" Tomi laughed and said, "I'm the caca*! Go-ing-rea-lly-slo-o-ow!" But there was still the question of teams. We all changed teams several times before the family's male contingent got out the door. There was a brief moment of genial ganging up. I think I ended up being on Leo's pee-pee team, though. Not that he noticed. He was too busy zooming out the door and down the steps to the makeshift soccer field, below. I could hear them screeching with delight for the next hour or so, as the bread baked and was brought out, and the Leftovers Soup bubbled away...

p.s. The day was brought to a lovely close with the impromptu visit of a couple of friends, followed by a not-so-good concert (Of Montreal) and a friendly debate (with the friends who weren't enjoying it, and followed me out to the bar for some fresh air - heh! heh!), concerning what, exactly, it was that we didn't like about it.

* caca = poop