Twinkle Twinkle Little Guy and Other Tricks

"Twinkle twinkle little guy"

"Ta-da"

Grandmama and Grandmamama

Finn and her Great Grandmother and Grandmother.

Finn and her Grandmamamama.

Paul and his Great-grandmother (We think Paul's hair might be inherited!)

Here are some photos of Finn and Paul with their Grandmother and Great-grandmother. Since Finn's grandmother is called "Grand-ma-ma", Finn's great-grandmother is now known in our family as Grand-ma-ma-ma-ma.

It now occurs to me that we should have taken a photo with Alex in it. Then we'd have a photo of four generations together. We'll have to do that at our next visit.

I remember when my family tried to get a photo of four generations with my Greatgrandfather (Clarence Smith), Grandfather (Owen), Father (David) and my brother (Jarrett). Jarrett was about 7 years old and kept mugging and messing up the shot. I'll have to try to dig up a copy of that photo.

Before and After

BEFORE

AFTER

Today was Paul's first (and badly needed) haircut. The pictures say it all.

Prorogies and Other Tasty Treats

I guess Stephen Harper has dodged a bullet... for now. Hopefully, he's learned an important lesson about what happens when you disregard the political needs of the country in favour of your own ideology. I think six weeks will allow myself and other liberal/democrats to assess the stability of the coalition government. (Cracks already seem to be showing over Dion's leadership.) What I'd really like to see is all parties working together on a budget that makes sense for everyone. I'm not too optimistic about that. We'll see if a coalition can hold itself together long enough to topple the conservative government in the New Year. I'd love to hear what my loyal readers are thinking about all of this.

It's not only the government that can't get its act together. I've posted some pictures of my failed Christmas photo shoot yesterday.

Memory of my Dad: My dad once paid to have my Grandpa Yamniuk's car fixed after a small accident because he said he didn't want to explain the concept of an insurance deductible to his 80 year old Ukrainian father-in-law. Wise move pops!

Another Parade, Counting and a Weigh-In

Finn Eating Snow during the group shot.

Finn and Paul - post parade.

Finn watching the tube.

Finn and L.B. getting a better view of the parade.

Walnuts being cute.

This posting is for the grandmas and aunties and everyone else who tires of my political ramblings! Alex and I took Finn and Paul to another parade. She really enjoyed herself. Mostly she enjoyed lying flat on her stomach and eating snow. In fact, I tried to take a group shot of all the kids (We met up the D.B. sr, D.B. and L.B. at the parade) and in each one... Finn was eating snow. Oh well.

Finn: Is learning to count objects. When she concentrates she will do a good job up to about 5 objects. That being said, she sometimes keeps counting even after she runs out of objects. (She can recite numbers up to 20 in English and higher than that in French). She can't look at 2 objects in my hand and tell me there are two objects there. For this reason I'm not quite ready to give her credit for understanding the concept of counting... but she might get it very soon.

Paul: Paul had his 4 month checkup today. He weighs 15lbs 12 oz and is 66.5 cm long. That means he is a pretty tall boy (90th percentile). Paul can roll back to front when he wants to now. He can sit for a few seconds... but needs help to keep his balance. Did I mention that he is really really cute too?

Memory of Dave: Nothing fancy. This time of year you'd have a great chance of finding him glued to the tube and hollering (loudly) at the football game. He'd probably be happily munching on mixed nuts and drinking a beer.

Did you Ever Have to Finally Decide?

Are you watching question period? What a corker! As you probably know... I'm an unrepentant lefty. So I should be thrilled with all these shenanigans... right? There is a part of me that loves the idea of a united liberal NDP party. I'd love it more if Layton or Ignatieff was the leader. All that being said... there is something about a coalition government grabbing the reins without an election that doesn't really pass the sniff test for me. This country elected a conservative government fair and square. The liberals and NDP could have formed a coalition during the election... but they didn't. It just doesn't seem right for the parties to grab control of parliament before Harper even tables his first budget. The parties should be working together to create a budget and economic plan that will work for all Canadians. If the Conservatives can't get enough support for a budget by January then FINE... the coalition can vote down the budget. It just doesn't seem to be in the best interest of Canadians to be faced with political instability right now.*

*I reserve the right to revise my opinion if Stephen Harper says or does something to piss me off.

What would my Dad say about all this? Let's just say he'd probably be watching golf... not question period.

Tomorrow I'll post some photos of the kids to help everyone with political indigestion to feel better.