A Conversation To Remember

Me: Tomorrow is August 6. Grandpa (Hub) died 9 years ago tomorrow.

Allysa: Are you sure? I thought he died in April. Oh wait. I was thinking about Jesus.

Oh, how I love the way children think.

On Your 8th Birthday

Yesterday was my daughter's 8th birthday. Really? It's already been 8 years??!! And what a wonderful eight years it has been. To be fair, year seven was a tough one, and I hope this eighth year is a little easier for her than last year. To catch up, my daughter is now seeing a psychologist for severe anxiety and OCD. She is obsessed with lights (are they turned off?), germs and her need to be rid of them, water and electricity (her need not to waste them), and her need to have everything "just so". She's also developed rituals - she needs to "squinch" her eyes a certain number of times so bad things don't happen. She has to go to the bathroom before she eats so bad things don't happen, and lately if our plans change at the last minute, it is causes her extreme distress. And as a result of all this anxiety, her joints have been bothering her more than ever. So, the last few months have been very difficult for all of us. Especially her. If I think about it too closely I feel like curling into a ball in a small corner and crying for hours for her. It is too much to bear as a parent. Watching a child suffer with mental issues is heartbreaking, and as her parents we feel so powerless and confused. So, we take every smile and laugh as a victory and are here to give her all of ourselves to support her and help her fight her way through this. Her eighth year will be better.

Since there was no school yesterday, we spent a quiet day together as a family. We went to "close buffet" for dinner - my daughter's favourite restaurant (not so much mom and dad's!) and went to Build-a-Bear to let her pick out some new clothes for her new little dinosaurs. It was a wonderful day spent with my favourite people.

Here is for you, my dear girl, a little note on what I wish for you this year:

My darling girl,

For your eighth year I wish you happiness and health. I know you will continue to have the courage and strength to overcome the obstacles that may come your way this year, and I hope you remember now, as you always have, that we are always here to lean on.

I hope for you less worries this year than last. That your anxieties lessen so that you can feel more inner peace and less conflict in that little body of yours.

I hope for you more smiles and laughter than ever before. I hope that you find more confidence in yourself and realize how much stronger you are than you think. Only someone as brave and strong as you can fight through the difficulties you face each and every day. You are truly an amazing child, and I learn from you about what resilience really is.

I hope for you less pain. Less tears. Less confusion. Less anger.

I hope for you the feeling of freedom. Freedom from your anxieties. Freedom from ritual.  The freedom of spontaneity.

I hope for you the joys of friendship. The joys of opening your heart to others.

I love you so much. I am so proud of you. I feel so blessed that you are my daughter and promise to cherish you always.

Love, 
Mom

Good morning eight year old!

Pink balloons everywhere.

Trip to Build-a-Bear . . . 

to dress the mini dinos she got for her birthday!

Smartie polka-dotted chocolate dinosaur cake. Yum.

Happy birthday, sweet girl.

Just Old

Conversation at bedtime:

Daughter: Mom, when I'm an adult you'll be a grandma.

Me: I'll only be a grandma if you have kids.

Daughter: Yeah. So, if I don't have kids you'll just be old.

Hmmm. Guess she better have kids!

Cookies, Skates, and Sweaters

Ahhh, December. Who can resist the charms of December? More people smiling, Christmas lights twinkling everywhere you go, Christmas trees peeking through windows, and I swear, everywhere I go I smell gingerbread and cinnamon. I love December.

Here's our Gingerbread Day. We did all the classics (gingerbread men, Christmas trees, stars, candy canes etc.) and we did all our classics - dinosaurs! The house smells so good on Gingerbread Day. And we all had a bit of a sugar high.

A made this, and I told her there was no way she was eating it. Maybe we'll let Santa have this one.

We went skating! This is the first year that she's been on real skates (in past years she's used bob skates) and she's doing great! More importantly, she loves it. I am so in love with this kid.

Remember the letter she wrote Santa in November? Well, she heard back! The very best party is that someone at Canada Post took the time to hand-write, yes hand-write a personal message to her after the standard typed letter! And it was written in pink, which just happens to be A's favourite colour. Even her name and our address (which I've blurred out) was done in colourful and fancy letters! And stickers! They put stickers on the envelope! I can't tell you how excited A was to see her name in fancy writing, She loved it. Thank you Canada Post, and whoever it was that took the extra time to make Christmas more magical for a 7 year old girl.

Yet another sweater for her. The pattern is Bulle and it is the funnest thing I've ever knit, and the cutest thing I've ever knit. It flew off the needles, and I wish I still had more to knit on it. It was that much fun to knit. The best part might be the pockets which are done in a different colour. Crazy cute. I used duplicate stitch to add a little dinosaur on the front. Thank you Staci Perry for an awesome video on duplicate stitch. Ravely details here.  I used Casacade 220 Heathers for this sweater which I also fell in love with. It is a lovely, soft wool.

Look what I got in return! I extend her wishes to all of you. Peace and love to you this holiday season!

Catching November

Oops. Got caught up in this thing called life and haven't been blogging! Here's a recap of the last couple of months.

First, our dear daughter has been suffering with an ulcer! The medication she was on worked quite well, and although she is still having minor tummy issues, she is doing much, much better.

In November:

I knit a simple cardigan for A with pink buttons. First time using Berroco Vintage yarn (DK) and I really loved it! Really soft and warm, blocks beautifully, and is machine washable to boot.

 This kid is growing! It's taking a lot more yarn to knit her a sweater than it used to!

 The holiday gingerbread house. I love the Smarties roof. 

A scarf for her teacher for Christmas! Blocked into a perfect "C". It's Piper's Journey and I have to say it was a pleasure to knit. Ravelry details here. I have to remember how good it feels to finish Christmas knitting in November.

See the little snowman? Our house got new siding because of the damage we got from the crazy hailstorm in the summer. One of the workers built this little guy on our roof and it gave me laugh. Love the long nose. :)

Found this tyrannosaurus rex Christmas ornament at Hallmark. A had to put it on her little tree we keep in her bedroom during the holidays. Very cool.

Well, that got A in the Christmas spirit, and so she sent Santa a letter a little early this year. Her printing is awesome! See? All the hard work paid off!

Back tomorrow with December!

Jurassic Halloween

Well, we are all ready for Halloween. Costume is ready (dinosaur, of course) and the pumpkin is carved.

It's the dinosaur from the Jurassic Park logo!

After we carved it we were thrilled with how spooky it ended up looking! Let's just hope that big head can hold itself up through Halloween.

Our little one is a little spooked this year with all things halloween. Everything seems to be freaking her out a little (to the point that smiley faces look creepy to her now) but the promise of candy seems to be giving her the push she needs to go trick-or-treating. Fingers crossed!

Happy Halloween!

Sprinkles and Stripes

Well, just in time for snow (yes snow! in the first week of October) I finished knitting my daughter's new hat and mittens for this year.

I was looking to do something different that I haven't done before. I always think it's great to teach yourself something new on a small project, so my daughter's winter gear seemed perfect. And, oh my, how cute they turned out.

First up, the hat. The pattern is A Most Bespeckled Hat. A lovely, easy, and ridiculously cute pattern for a hat that uses fair isle, or stranded, technique. My first ever, and I loved it. I used Cascade Ecological Wool for the main colour of the hat, and I used Malabrigo Worsted Merino, in Deja Vu, for the "sprinkles". Using malabrigo means that each and every sprinkle was a different colour, and absolutely adorable. I can't even tell you how cute the pompom turned out.

This may be the cutest thing I've ever knit. Ravelry details here.

For her mittens this year, I thought I'd try out stripes. I used the same yarn - the ecological wool for the main colour, and the malabrigo for the stripes. Again, they turned out so cute! As I did last year, I lined these mittens with grey fleece to make them extra cozy and warm. It gets windy here in Calgary, so lined mittens are a great idea. I used techknitter's instructions for lining mittens found here. Just be sure to make the mittens slightly larger to accommodate for the lining. Here is the pattern I used for the mittens.

 Ravelry details here.

A quick dash to the store to get a new winter coat and snow pants, and she was all set for the snowy (and chilly!) morning. Nothing like waiting till the last minute to find out your child has outgrown all their winter wear! We went from shorts and a t-shirt to a snowsuit all in 24 hours. 

I guess this is why stores here start selling snow suits in August.