Things I never thought I'd hear myself say, or, heck, would think I'd need to say:

"Stop wiping your feet with your underwear."

::sigh::

Three is an interesting age.

Some of you may know that Ros came back from our Sault Ste. Marie holiday with more of a souvenir than we were counting on: a cast on her left leg.

See, we were visiting a cousin of mine who has two little girls, ages 3 and 6. The three kids were running around, having a great time. Then they disappeared into the girls' bedroom. No problem, we thought. It's a kids room. It's kid-proof. What we didn't know is that there were Bunk Beds.

Next thing we know, I hear a thud, Don hears a gasp, and we've got a hysterical little girl who's fallen from halfway up the bunk bed ladder.

We hied ourselves hither to the Sault hospital, where they told us that there was no break visible in the x-ray, but that little kids' bones don't all show up in x-rays. And they recommended a cast, just to make sure. And told us we should see our doctor when we got back to have the cast removed and to do a proper check for a break. Oh, and they wouldn't give us a report.

So when we got back home, and got in to see our doctor, we found out that a) they don't do full casts in Toronto anymore, b) we need a report from the original hospital to get into the Sick Kids ortho clinic and c) it's going to be two weeks till we can get into Sick Kids. Yikes! (My PSA for the evening: If an emergency room ever tells you that you don't need a report, insist on it anyway.)

Anyway, today we had that much longed for appointment, they confirmed there was no break and took the cast off. And it only took the better part of three and a half hours. (Actually, by Sick Kids standards, that's not too bad. I had to get my back checked there every year, and we were usually lucky if we got out in six hours.) Ros was pretty brave, though she freaked out when they cut the cast off. Not, she told us later, because the saw was scary, but because they made me lay her down and hold her so she couldn't see what was happening, and she wanted to watch. (That's my girl. *g*)

She's a bit wobbly on the foot, but that should disappear soon. And judging by how loopy she was (she spent ten minutes before story time doing downward dog and then walking down the hall in that position) she's happy to be able to move again.

So for posterity, here's a few shots of Ros in the cast, and the cast itself:

( This way to the cast )

Whilst I was off skiving in far off Laurel, Maryland with my friends, Ros was having a big weekend with Daddy.

One of the many adventures they had was to take in the Beaches Jazz Festival. Don reckoned he'd take Rosalind for the music (she adores jazz) but it turned out there was a kiddie carnival set up that Ros was far more interested in. She spent all her time in bouncy castles and on various rides.

( Here's the photographic evidence. )

Don't worry, this is my last post for the evening.

These pics are all from a visit to Springridge farm, a berry picking farm that also has a ton of stuff for kids to do. After some initial hesitancy, Ros threw herself into it all.

They had this fake cow that the kids could pretend to milk. All the kids there seemed to love it, and Ros was no exception.( Ros milking the fake cow )

Here's Daddy helping out with the milking( Ros and Daddy and the cow )

The farm has this giant covered sandbox, complete with real, defunct tractors for the kids to climb on. It was a big hit. ( Ros and Mommy and the digger )

This one was taken from on top of the giant hay bale mountain the farm has constructed. ( Wistful Ros )

They'd set up these giant culverts for the kids to run through. Ros thought they were a hoot and I got three fun shots of her in one.( Runny Ros )

You know those things were you stick your head through them and someone's supposed to take your picture? Yeah, those things. ( Well, Ros wanted to try it out. )

Ros is currently obsessed with horses, so one of the big attractions of the farm visit was their pony rides. At first, faced with a real live pony, she was having none of it. But after a few minutes to think over the situation, we couldn't keep her away from them. She went on three pony rides on three different ponies. ( Ros on a pony; Daddy escorting )

Here's a few pics from Ros' third birthday party. We had it in our local park for the second year running. A grand time was had by all, though unfortunately due to the municipal workers strike the splash pad wasn't open.

First, a pic of the coolest cake ever. A friend at my company worked her way through uni in a bakery. When I casually mentioned I was off to order Ros' birthday cake, she volunteered to make one. Since Ros loves the Olivia books and cartoons, she made the cake with Olivia on it.( The awesome cake )

And here's Ros with the cake. Ros is still more excited by the idea of cake than the thing itself, but she had graduated to eating the icing. And she loved that it was Olivia on the cake. (She insisted she had to have the piece with Olivia's ear.)
( Ros and the cake )

Here's Ros waiting for the guests to arrive, and noshing on a rice krispie square.
( Ros and snack )

Since she's a bit older now, we went nuts and got helium balloons for the party. (My PSA for the day: Balloons and hot dogs are the leading causes of death for toddlers. They're far too easy for little ones to choke on.) Ros and her buddies had a great time knocking them around.
( Ros and pal play with the balloons )

I've got a bazillion pics of Ros running away from the camera, and every so often I get one I really like. This is one of those times.
( Ros running! )

Ros has gotten fearful of a few things in the last year (big people in costumes; fireworks) but she's still a little daredevil when it comes to climbing structures in playgrounds. She's recently started hanging off the monkey bar-like things they have these days. With Mommy close by, of course.( Ros hanging around )

I've been swamped with various things since we got home from Vancouver, so I've been sadly neglecting this journal, but I'm going to make up for it by spamming you with a few pic posts.

This first batch is two pics from two different friends. The first is from one of the families we travelled to China with, and it's of Ros on the 8th day we had her. It's shocking now to look back and see how tiny she was. ( Tiny Ros Here )

The other pic was taken by a friend of Don's when he was visiting last month. The change between these two pics is astounding. She's definitely not a baby any more, and you can definitely see how she's going to look as she gets older. ( Click for smiley Ros )

Ros had a great, if exhausting, time in Vancouver. (She never admits to being tired, but she told us almost every day in Vancouver when she was tired and ready to go to bed. Benefit of lots of fresh air and activities.)

Don's sister lives in Port Moody, mere minutes from an ocean inlet. Our first full day we went for a picnic on one of the local beaches. Ros got to try out her new Crocs for the first time, and had great fun throwing rocks into the water. (Mommy and daddy won't let her throw rocks except at a beach, so she always makes the most of it.) Here, she's accumulating some rocks to throw.


And here she put a good wind up on one and let it fly. (I'm pleased I managed to catch the rock mid-flight.)


( More Vancouver pics this way )

Wow, it's been too long since I posted here. To break that, an anecdote and a pic.

Yesterday, we were in the car on a shopping expedition when Ros starts singing a song neither of us can identify.

Daddy: What are you singing?
Ros: Bubblecan!
Daddy: What?
Me: I think she she said "Bubble can"
Daddy: What?
Me: Yeah, I have no idea

Ros continues to sing, and we finally realize what the words are.

Ros: Obama Obama, yes we can!

Which is pretty funny considering she's two. And Canadian. Clearly, one of her preschool teachers is a fan of the President of the United States of America. *g*

On to the pics:

First, just 'cause I love it, Ros with a blue tongue. This is what comes of eating scarily coloured candy.


( More pics this way )

A big Happy Chinese New Year to everyone on the flist. With any luck, the Year of the Ox will be a darn sight better than the outgoing Year of the Rat.

To celebrate, here's a few pictures from the Chinese New Year banquet we attended last weekend. First, Ros and Mommy hanging out at the table:


( More pics this way )

When she was little, you could barely keep a hat on Rosalind. Lately, she not only wear 'em, she likes putting them on and insisting I take pictures of her.

So here's a collection of some of the results of that fascination, starting with the hat (and scarf) that started it all.



( More hats this way )

Happy New Year to everyone on the flist.

I've been negligent about posting new pics of Rozzie (it's been a bad year) so to make up for it, I'm going to spam you all with a bunch of pictures from the past year.

Starting with Ros on Christmas day:



She looks so grown up here, it's scary. She's definitely moving out of toddler-hood and into being a little girl. (She moves to the PreSchool room at daycare next week. How did that happen?)

( This way for more pics )

Happy New Year Everyone! Hope it's a good year for you all.

For various reasons (a dead computer and general ennui being just two of them) I haven't posted here in ages. But the new computer is up, I'm feeling a bit more energetic, so here are a few pics of Ros, and one with Ros and mommy.

Ros loves saying cheese for the camera. Usually, she looks like she's grimacing when she does it, but this time we got a nice smile from her.


Ros posing in the sweater a friend of mine from work knit for her.


( Check behind the cut for a not too frightening mommy picture. )

Tomorrow, Rosalind turns 2. (Yeah, I can't believe it either.) So today we decided to have a party at a local park for her and a bunch of kids we know near her age. It turned out to be a fabulous day for it, the wading pool was open, and everyone had a grand time.

In celebration, a few pictures.

Eating chips with daddy. (Ros is almost too big for Don to carry her like this anymore, but he's enjoying it while he can.)


( More pics here )

This past Tuesday was Rosalind's second Canada Day. She was too young to even consider doing the fireworks last year, but this year we thought we'd give it a shot. She's a daredevil and always interested in new cool stuff, so we thought she might enjoy it.

In the afternoon, we set off for the Beaches, just half an hour straight south of our house. First took Ros to the water playground in Woodbine Park. (Picture of the park by some random internet person I don't know here.) We thought she'd love it, since she has a blast at our local wading pool, however we reckoned without how much she hates getting water in her face, and this park is all about running through sprinklers. Still, there was no total meltdown, just mildly accusatory looks ("you want me to do WHAT?"), and all was forgiven once we got her changed out of the swimsuit and let her loose on the playground equipment.

Supper was Lick's homeburgers, followed by Ed's Big Scoop ice cream, which was enjoyed by all. Then we walked along the boardwalk on the beach and claimed our spot for the fireworks. Ros (increasingly tired, though not willing to admit it) played in the sand with her shovel while we waited for the fireworks to start.

The fireworks were a qualified success.

People started letting off small ones on the beach before the serious ones got started, and Ros loved those ones. Her eyes got big and she clapped her hands. That continued once the big ones started being fired off. But then, about a minute in she lost it and insisted on being held by mommy. She put a death grip on me and buried her head in my shoulder, and started saying "Too loud." We decided to beat a hasty retreat.

But that was not the end of Ros' fireworks adventure. 'Cause as long as I was carrying her away from the fireworks, she was totally watching them over my shoulder and yelling "Fireworks boom, boom!" every time one went off. But if I stopped and turned so she could see it better, she'd go back to burying her head in my shoulder. So fireworks are apparently cool, but they're best viewed when you're getting the heck away from them.

Because we're bad parents, we totally forgot to bring the camera to record the day. So in compensation, here's a few pics of Ros hanging out in her jammies and being her usual impish self.

"Me get into something? Surely you can see I'm completely innocent."


( More pics this way... )

I'm trying (as always) to be better about updating here. So here are some pics from this weekend of Rosalind being her adorable self.



( More underneath the cut )

It's been far too long since I've posted here, but we've just passed a very important milestone I couldn't let pass uncommemorated. One year ago today, we met our daughter, Rosalind MinLan Zvejnieks Marks.

This is one of the very first pictures we took of her, the very first day we got her. It was a traumatic day for her and it was a few days before she really relaxed around us, but it was still love at first sight for us.


It's been a whirlwind year. It doesn't feel like a year has passed, and yet it also feels like Rosalind has always been part of our family.

We, alas, were all hit by a stomach bug in the last few days so we missed the group celebration of Gotcha Day that our group had planned, and we didn't do much for the day itself except enjoy the fact that we all managed to eat (some) dinner without incident, but I had to put up a few pictures of Rosalind today.

Here's Rosalind today, getting ready to go out for a walk.


( A few more pics... )

I'm looking forward to celebrating many more Adoption Days to come.

Just got the best early Christmas present in the mail today.

Rosalind is now a Canadian citizen! How awesome is that?!

Considering we didn't bother writing the "please process this quickly" letter, settling for putting International Adoption on the envelope, it was done in record time, just over two months.

So we'll get to celebrate Christmas with our newest little Canadian citizen. Yay!

One thing no one tells you when you're about to become a parent is how much babies and kids love shoes. They do! A lot!

At first, Rosalind just liked playing with shoes. Then she started carrying them around everywhere. Now she's putting on Mommy and Daddy's shoes and wandering around the house.

So here's some shoe pics, for your edification and amusement.

Here we go, putting on Mommy's shoes. (Yes, I have huge feet.) Note the Amazon box Rosalind pulled out of the recycling bin on the floor. No paper is safe while she's around. On the positive side, she's also pretty good at putting stuff into the recycling bin. When she feels like it.


( More shoes pics this way... )

I took Rosalind for a haircut today, her fourth! (She has a lot of hair.)

Here's a pic from before the haircut, looking serious and stylish and like she's trying out for either The Beatles or Oasis. Or both.


( Post-haircut pictures under the cut )

Just put our exhausted little girl to bed. She had a great first Hallowe'en, as we figured she would. One of her favourite things to do is to walk up to the porches of houses in our neighbourhood, so to be able to do that and to have people give her stuff was the coolest thing for her. Plus, then she had all this candy she could play with. (Really, after the first few houses she just wanted to play with the candy. Not eat it. Play with it.)

Because I refused to get a princess costume, we got her a little pirate outfit. Alas, the hat lasted about as long as hats usually last for her, but we did manage to get one picture with it on.

May I present, the Dread Pirate Rosalind...


( Click for more Hallowe'en cuteness )