quick Joan update...

Just a quick one, before we head off to Golden to save our broken van, so everyone knows what's up with Joan.

We finally got her EEG done on Monday morning - after two cancelled attempts to get out to Calgary. Third time's the charm, I guess. It was supposed to be routine, with nothing showing up, but something actually turned up. There was in fact a bunch of electrical activity around the stroke site. Not as much as many other kids, but it was there regardless. The neurologist explained that they've discovered a correlation between this activity and kids who have behavioural issues, social delays and even speech delays after their strokes -all of which Joan has. They've found that if they can quiet it down with anti-seizure medicine, they can sometimes tame a lot of those issues. The kids are calmer, do better in school, and often shoot forward in language development - though in others, it does nothing. It just depends. The theory goes that that electrical activity, which continues around the clock, may be interfering with sleep, which causes the brain to essentially be tired and less able to learn and process during the day. Before he had also told us that a constant rumble of activity like that kind of confuses the brain, making it harder to learn.

SO, now we start the process to see if we can do anything about it. The next step is a multi-day trip to Calgary early in the new year. She'll be assessed by a pshychiatrist, who specializes in pediatric strokes. He'll do a rigorous "neuropsych" test to determine exactly how her brain thinks, and what parts are effected and how. Then, she'll be strapped to a portable EEG, which she'll wear right through the night, and into the next day. Then they look at the readings, and if that activity is still there, they'll prescribe her medication to tame it down. Then, we go back in three months to repeat the entire thing to see if she's made larger gains than normally expected in that time frame, in an attempt to make the assessment as scientific as possible.

Generally, he's pleased with her progress, and everything looks good. We brought up sleep, though - she has a horrible time falling asleep - sometimes, she bounces off the walls for hours. Even if there's no stimulation, she'll just lay there and talk to herself. She's obviously not getting enough sleep, because she always has puffy dark circles under her eyes. He said it's extremely common in kids with any sort of brain injury. He told us that most of his stroke patients take melatonin, and recommended we try it too, to see if it helps her. It's the chemical released just as you fall asleep, so it would boost her own production. We were a little leery about it at first - it sounded like he asked us to give our kid sleeping pills. But apparently, it's not like that. Apparently it's totally safe, not habit forming, and you just get it over the counter or at the health food store. (and it's cheap - bonus!) He told us to give it a couple weeks, to shift her sleeping pattern. We tried it last night, and it was definitely an improvement. Within a few minutes she was dopey and actually asking to go to bed. She still stayed up and played with Dave for a bit, but nothing like normal. They giggles under blankets, instead of tearing the room apart. This could be a good thing!

So really, an awesome visit. A whirlwind visit, but awesome. Unfortunatley, we didn't have time to visit Mike's sister while we were there. We got in late, because we couldn't leave town until after the kids' church pageant. We were luicky enough to find a hotel that had a full two bedroom suite in it, with a pull-out couch in the living room. Thanks to winter rates, it was the same cost as a normal hotel room. That way, everyone who was allowed to sleep could sleep soundly, but Joan and I, who had to be up in the wee hours, so she'd be sleepy enough to sleep for the EEG, could be up without disturbing anyone. Thenext morning we had to bolt for the hospital, then because the test came back positive, the neurologist appointment was extrmemely long - it was 2 before we could even leave the hospital, and we wanted to get as far through the mountains before dark as we could, so we had to really run. In the end, we wound up getting home at midnight, because we had a breakdown in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service, near Golden. Thankfully, a guy with an 8-poassenger van behind up was watching us sputter to our death, and he pulled over to help. He gave us a lift to Golden, where, (thanks again to Alice) we were able to rent a car to get home. (We had enough money in cash and debit, but not on a credit card, and there was no TD to take our wad of cash and put it on the card for the required hold.) So today, we're off to the parts store, then back to Golden to return and pay for the rental car, fix the van and head back. It'll be a full day, so I better get outta here!!

Lots more soon. Mike's grandma is visiting, so I have lots of new pictures. I'll put them up soon. (She wisely skipped our whirlwind trip to the hospital, and was here safe and sound through the whole ordeal. I'm sure she was glad for that!)

it's a boy!

We cut Dave's hair! We were so sick of people mistaking him for a girl, we had all his beautiful hair chopped off. It took us a while to get used to it. We didn't recognize him for the first day or so. But now, I kinda like it.

A quick update: John has been getting into trouble in school. His teacher has been off sick for a week and Mme L, a teacher who takes no sh*t from any six year old, has been left in her place. She's a teacher who likes rules and discipline. John is...well, not like that. They've been butting heads, to put it mildly. He's frustrated that his classmates think she's fine, and have been calling them dumb and poopyface because of it. She's reported him to the principal. She's come out to talk to me. John had already confessed everything to us, so I already knew, which seemed to surprise her. He got a pretty stern talking to from his dad last night. Hopefully, it will help.

Joan met her new physiotherapist yesterday. They really hit it off! She said Joan's balance is actually pretty good now. She's very functional, but needs work on the higher level things, like balancing on her affected foot and walking on very uneven surfaces. She heard from her speech pathologist, Lucy, that she loves horses, and had already put her down for riding therapy in the spring! She said she's an ideal candidate, and it works wonders in getting kids to use two hands.

Even she was very impressed by Dave. She had set up a tunnel game, where the kids had to grab a beanbag animal, crawl through the tunnel, then throw it in a red bucket on the other side, and repeat, until all the beanbags were in the bucket. Dave did a couple, then grabbed the red bucket, pushed it back to the pile of bean bag  animals, loaded them in, completely by-passing all the obstacles, then threw his hands in the air and said "all done!" before zooming off to find a new game to play. The physio thought that was pretty clever of him.

Joan had her first show and tell a few days ago. The theme was things from nature, so John let her borrow a lump of amethyst and a large pink quartz. All the kids loved them, and when the teacher asked where she'd gotten them from, she said "the planet gave them to me."

Here's another funny from Joan. Dave has been fine-tuning his parts of the body, and I was holding up my fingers to show him finger vs thumb. Joan, who has recently become obsessed with family structure came along, and pointed to my first three fingers. "That's a mommy, that's a daddy and that's a baby."  I pointed to my pinky, and said "Is that the baby's sister?" "No, Mom." she said snottily. "That's just a finger."

SNOW!!!

Sorry - the photo of Dave is on hold for these - We got snow! The kids spent most of the day playing outside. They are mighty tired now. I think it'll be a very early night for all!

 Dave, outfitted PROPERLY for the snow. The snow started falling yesterday. When John got home from school, he wanted Joan to go out with him. So he suited her up, helped her put on her boots and mitts, zippered her coat, and off they went - totally forgetting about poor little Dave. I guess he didn't remember snow from when he was one, so out he went to follow them. In bare feet. It didn't last long.

....walking in a winter wonderland....

And last but not least....

John - feigning boredom on a BC ferry during our epic trip to Dryden.

I don't think I have nearly enough time to discuss everything with John here. But that's why I'm doing this - try to catch up as much as possible, then it'll be easier to get it out bit by bit from here on. Just a warning - I've been using Mike's little notebook computer. He doesn't use it for work anymore, But it's very frustrating, because it's so freaking tiny my fat fingers are all over the place, pressing things they shouldn't be pressing. So if you see strange symbols or really bad typos, that's why. The bad spelling - that's me, unfortunately. Hopefully my old editor doesn't come here! LOL! 

John's been doing great! he was having a hard time with a boy at school. They were getting into fist fights and everything. The teacher said they were both at fault - sometimes John would antagonize him, by calling his books dumb during library time - which resulted in a big fistfight in the middle of the library. The teacher was trying to just keep them apart. We managed to get John to cut it out on his side, by trying to convince him to find something in common, or make a point of saying something nice to him. He didn`t like the sounds of that, so he decided by himself to just stop saying anything at all, which is just as well. But the other boy was still slinging names, so the teacher finally kept him late one day to discuss with his parents, and since then things have been much better. She`s even gotten them to do stuff together, like being partners in gym, without it coming to blows! They still don`t much like each other, but they`ve learned to be civil, which is all we really cared about on our end. 

It`s really been a lot of adjustment for John. He`s a big talker. I`ve never seen anyone who can talk like that! It`s a talent to be able to dish out such a constant stream of words about anything, everything and nothing. I guess this particular talent resulted in one of the kids at school telling John to shut up, even though he was saying all nice things. I told him that not everyone in his class is used to such a busy household and so many people talking all at once (many of his classmates are only children or just one of 2 and many to older moms, so I imagine they live in pretty quiet homes). So I told him to try not talking so much, and to just listen to how much others talk, and that will tell him how much noise other people are comfortable with. I think he took it to heart - he seems to be having a much happier time at school and making friends easier these days. When he gets home, it`s a whole other matter entirely! But we`re used to the chaos, so it`s alright.

The only time it becomes a problem is over dinner, because he`ll completely gab away the whole mealtime. We`ll all be done, and he won`t have had a bite, because he`ll be so busy talking! We have to remind him to take bites. And during TV. We`ll be watching, and we`ll think `what is that annoying drone in the the background?`And it`ll be John, just chattering away during the whole show. Or if it`s something he doesn`t want to watch, he`ll start counting, to see how long the show is.

To give him a little more of a social outlet at home, we started `family game night`. it`s not a designated night - it`s whenever we all have a bit of time free. He likes Uno and Life best. If he had his way, EVERY night would be family game night. It was so cute, the last time we played Life, we was getting really upset, because Mike had so many kids he needed a second car, I had one, and he hadn`t gotten any yet. He was so happy to finally land on a baby spot, he jumped up and down and yelled ``I have a boy! I have a boy!``. It was cute.

He has lots of fun when the babysitters come, because he can usually squeeze in a game with them, too. He taught our teenage babysitter how to play Uno, so they play cards together. He managed to convince Sophie to play chutes and ladders and Connect 4 with him. His ranking of our babysitters is largely dependent on how willing they are to play board games with him, after the middle kids go to bed. We have one sitter who loves taking care of Tom more than anything - she`s firmly in last place.

We just went through Remembrance Day, and John was very moved by it. He asked for his own poppy, and wore it faithfully every day. After school was over, he`d tuck it away safely so it wouldn`t be lost. he asked lots of questions about all the wars - how they started, why they happened. I told him as much as my high school education would allow. Mike filled in the blanks at night. I wound up telling him all about Hitler and the Holocaust. So when he got to class, Mr Joe, the music teacher, asked everyone what they knew about the wars. Most didn`t know anything. Some knew that the guy the school is named after was a local fighter pilot. But John was able to tell his class that ``a very bad guy named Hitler killed lots of people``. Apparently Mr Joe, who`s one of his favourite teachers, was really impressed and told him that was a great answer. John was so proud of himself, he talked about it for days, and thanked me several times for telling him who Hitler was.

Anyway, I`d better go. All the kids need me. I`ve promised Joan a chocolate if she can pee on the potty, and she`s trying right now. It worked once. I`m seeing if I can get it to work again. Dave needs a cuddle, and Tom is about to wake up to eat, so off I go! I have a new picture of Dave to post next- it`s a shocker!

a time for Joan...

This was taken in Dryden this past summer, while we waited for a fire-eating show to start.

Joan. Out of all our kids, probably Joan is the one going through the most changes right now. She started preschool this year, with a little preschool in John's school. They teach them a little french, like french songs and counting in french. So far, she's doing well. After just a couple days, she came home and was using the french for her numbers. I can tell they're working on letters right now, because she's able to name a lot of them, where she couldn't before. She loves going. When I drop her off, she always does a twirl around the room. And now all of her services have kicked in, so she's going to get tons of stimulation for the next little while.

We had met Danielle, her new OT before summer. But now that Joan is in school, that's where she'll get services. The plan is for her to sit in and assist on all of Joan's Friday classes, which is awesome. She'll be working with the teachers to show them ways of helping her with all the usual OT things - dressing, playing, crafts, self-care. The teachers seem happy with the arrangement - they get a little extra help generally, and they can get an expert's input on how to help her adjust. It should make her school time significantly more productive.

The latest excitement has been Lucy - her new speech pathologist. Joan LOVES Lucy! She gets so excited when we go to see her! So far, they've been doing mostly assessments, which Joan normally doesn't like. But Lucy is good - she scatters little rewards throughout the test to keep Joan focused. Like, she'll give her a puzzle to do, and give her a piece after every few tasks. All of her assessments came out wit a delay, but they were all so painfully mild. Like, normal starts at 85, and she got 83. They were all about that close - expression, comprehension and speech. Every session, we get games to play until the next session, to focus on something very specific. This session, we have to work on the K sound, and sorting pictures of objects into like piles. It turns out, she can't make any sound that requires pulling her tongue to the back of her mouth. Who knew? She's getting better tat it, though. She can't make a K yet, but she's managed to make sort of a weird gurgling sound.

The last two pieces of her team have very recently fallen into place - we meet her new physiotherapist next week, and the division that handles preschool liaison just called today to say hey. They're the ones who can provide an aide in the class, if that's what the teachers need.

I'm also working on getting her a referral for the local therapeutic riding stable. Kids with behavioral issues can just go, but because she's physically disabled, she needs a doctor to refer her. It's not as expensive as I thought it would be, and it's apparently really good for balance and hip strength, which are two things she still needs work in. They have an open house with rides and farm animals on Dec 5 that we're planning to take her to.

I definitely need to find her more things to do. Preschool is great, but it's only three afternoons a week. The rest of the time, while John is in school, she's in charge. Having a three-year-old in charge is not pretty. She calls Dave her best friend, and the two of them are total partners in crime! He follows her around and get into all kinds of craziness. I'll come up from putting in a load of laundry and find flour scattered all over the floor. I'll get out of the shower to find books in tatters, or great smears of peanut butter down the hallway. It's just bizarre how much trouble they can get into in so little time. It feels like they're just waiting for me to leave the room, and as soon as I'm out of sight, they get down to business. It's all preplanned. It started when they began sharing a room together. Dave used to be so easy to put to bed. Now they both stay up horsing around. I always thought it was John being the problem when he and Joan shared. But now he's the easiest to get to bed. I'm thinking it must be that common denominator or Joan. They take toys to bed, and sit up playing horses or puppies, or jump off the side table onto the bed. There are many nights we poke in to check on them before we go to bed, and the lights will be on, the furniture will be toppled and they'll be curled up together under one little blanket in the middle of the floor.

Now that she's talking in full sentences, her personality is really shining through. I thought John was a thespian. He can't hold a candle to her! She can actually cry on command. Only her own command, mind you. But it's still a site to see. Let's say she falls and hurts herself. She gets hurt. It's no fun. But in front of me, she just shrugs it off and moves on with her life. An hour later, in walks Mike from work. She'll come running up, in full tears, and start crying that she's fallen and hurt herself! And she did fall - an hour ago! She does it all the time! The cat scratches her - it's good for a couple rounds of tears. Falls. Spankings. Even if one of the boys hits her, she'll cry that she's hurt, to get him in trouble. Then another parent will come on scene some time later, and she'll turn the tears on again, as though it just happened! It's ridiculous! I feel like people must think I'm unfeeling, because she'll even turn it all on again for teachers or total strangers, and I'll just roll my eyes and tell her to cut it out. 

I've made her sound so bad! But she's actually a great kid. She's feisty, stubborn and opinionated, but she's also very sweet. She's my little helper, all the way. She helps me cook - she's good at tossing veggies in pots, or stirring or dumping. She's good at cheering up Tom when I'm too busy to look after him. And she cares about all her brothers. Today, Dave shoved her hard and almost knocked her down the stairs because she had something he wanted. So I gave him a tap on his bum. It was enough to upset him, but Joan was the one who started crying. "Why would you do that to Dave? He's my very best friend. You shouldn't do that to him!" It was pretty gut wrenching. I felt about 2 inches tall. But within a few minutes, they were back to scrapping it out, so all was well.

We've been doing curling every week this winter, and \Joan has been enjoying the parade of babysitters we've had though here. We have four that we've used so far - each one bringing something different to the mix. We have a teenager who all the kids love - especially Joan. Now she wants to have red lips and paint her nails "just like Babysitter!" She's a sweet kid, she can actually handle them just fine, and she's our 3rd's daughter, so we're happy to use her. But she's a VERY busy babysitter, so we have others we rely on. The very first one was Sophie. She's with an agency, and very expensive, but we get her now and then, because she's like a special treat for the kids. She's a British trained nanny, and got her ECE after immigrating here. She's freaking amazing, and worth the extra cash, but she's an extravagance we can't afford every week. Anyway, the kids were all asleep when we got home the first night she sat for us. When they woke up, Joan came bounding out of the room, with a big smile on her face. She saw me, and the smile instantly vanished. "Not you!" she screamed. "I hate you! I want that OTHER Mom!" She screamed for Sophie all morning long. I've never been happier to dump her in school as I was that afternoon! (Thankfully, she forgot about Sophie while she was at school, so Sophie has been allowed to return.)

I should probably go. I have to get dinner moving forward if \i ever want these kids to get to sleep tonight!

And now for something completely...Dave!

 catching a snooze with Ruf Ruf

"Cheese!"

Dave. Where to start with my little superstar? Well, he's now two! And he's a perfect example of how every kid is so completely different from his or her siblings. Not only does he have a completely unique personality, but he has a completely different skill set than the others at this age. At two, he talks in 3 or 4 word sentences. He knows his colours. He knows his feeling words. He shows empathy. He always says please and thank you. Sometimes, it's hard to remember he's so young!

He's always been left to fend for himself, and it seems to have served him well. That's not saying much about me that being ignored helps my kids better than attention. But for him, it's worked. Not only is he a master scavenger as always, but he's taught himself to change his own diaper. Instead of coming to me if he feels icky, he'll take off his pants, take off his diaper, roll it up, throw it out in the diaper pail and pick up a fresh one from the bathroom. THEN he gets me involved, only because he can't put the new one on by himself. I think if I switch him to pull-ups, he'll be completely self-sufficient. I did try briefly to potty-train him, but it didn't go well. It caused him some obvious distress, and at the time, he didn't have enough control to make it practical. But I think he's due for round two. I've caught him sitting on the potty for fun, and he's a bit of a neat freak - I think he'd appreciate feeling clean more than any of my other kids. He's probably not a neat freak, really - just as fastidious as a normal kid raised by a more normal family than us. I find him a bit compulsive about the handwashing. He hates feeling sticky. He doesn't like to be in PJ's outside of bed. He'll pick out his clothes for me, then strip so I can dress him properly first thing - right down to socks and shoes. He likes things just so, and will go out of his way to make things proper and peaceful. If he has a toy that someone else wants, and they're having a tantrum, he'll often hand it over, just to keep the peace. It's a nice quality, but it doesn't do much to teach the others, though. It means that when it's something really important to him, and he digs in, it's that much bigger a battle because they aren't expecting it!

We think he's pretty bright as well. Joan has been doing quite a bit of speech therapy lately (I'll get into that more in her entry). I have to take Dave and Tom to her speech sessions, and Lucy, the pathologist, is always very impressed with Dave and how quickly and easily he learns. It's probably not so much that he's so awesome, but more that she spends her days dealing with challenged kids, so he stands out in her day. She always winds up citing him as an example of what Joan should be doing, both in the level of his imaginitive play and the way he verbalizes. I'm not entirely comfortable with her doing that, because it can only hurt Joan's feelings to constantly have her little brother held up as an example.(Though it's still nice for me to hear he's doing well.)  Last time she marvelled at how "connected in" he is - that he's always watching and listening and learning. We were sorting dolls with Joan into a boy pile and a girl pile. Dave was off playing with a truck by himself, seemingly absorbed in his own game. He happened to see a little girl doll in a dollhouse, brought it over, announced "girl", dropped it in the girl pile, then went back to his own thing. Even during her assessments, we had to hold his hands, so he would stop pointing out the right answers in the book.

Though he has his moments. He's figured out that if he pulls a stool up to a closed door, he can turn the knob and get in. But once he gets in, he closes the door behind him, trapping himself inside. For a while, he'd thought he'd beaten the system by taking the stool in with him, to use for his escape. But that only made it worse, because then he'd be trapped, with the door blocked by a stool! He didn't do THAT too many times. A few more inches and the problem will be solved. For now, he either leaves doors open, or knocks to be let back out. Sucks to be a big guy in a little body.

Dave got a treat - literally - at Halloween. He managed to weasel his way into his first trick or treating! The original plan was for me to take just John. But John didn't think that sounded fun - he wanted his siblings with him. We agreed to split the job 50/50 - I'd take John and Joan out, Mike would watch Dave and Tom at home, and if I needed help, he'd close up and come too. But Dave's been around long enough to know, if you want to do cool stuff, stick like glue to John. And that's exactly what he did. He was NOT leaving John's side, literally. So I relented, and off we went. Dave had no clue what we were doing. He just knew it looked like more fun than staying home, so he wanted in! We live in a semi-rural place, so we drove to a more concentrated community nearby. It's a new subdivision, filled with young families, living in well-lit homes, packed tight on brightly lit streets, so we thought it'd be better that hauling three little kids along a dark rural road. We weren't the only ones with the same idea - the streets leading in was packed tight with other families coming in as well. It made for a really fun night - we only did two small blocks of it, but we saw easily a couple hundred kids! I can't even imagine how much those people need to spend on Halloween each year.

Dave's reaction to his first house was priceless. He didn't know what was going on. He got a bucket shoved in his hand, and was told to follow John. So off he toddled up the steps. A lady answered, and dropped his first candy into his bucket. He let out this squeal of delight, then sang "thank you thank you thank you!" while doing a little happy dance on her step. It was so cute! Then, he was hooked! he ran from house to house with John, holding up his little bucket, like some sort of homeless street urchin. But he NEVER forgot to say thank you. At some homes, he said "Thank you much!" At others he got into his lion character, and he growled his thank you. He actually got double candy at a lot of homes because people thought his little thank yous were so cute. He wouldn't go up to a couple houses because they were too scary. "That spooky. I scared," he said. But a little pep-talk from John, and he'd be back at it. We only did about 20 houses. By then, the bigger kids were coming out so it was getting a little hairy, and they were getting tired, so we packed it in. But it was loads of fun!

Anyway, Tom is up and I just saw Dave wander past with a pair of scissors, so I think it's best I go! Joan's 15 minutes is next! 

Tom

This is the first in a series of four entries - one for each kid - to catch everyone up on everyone.

First up - Tom!

 Up on all fours!

 Being fed - Oatmeal and prunes. Yumm. I've never had to resort to prunes before. I little more effective than I anticipated. He even liked them - they made the oatmeal taste like raisins.

He can sit too!

Thing are going great with Tom. He's still a little guy, but he's growing the same way he always has- slow and steady. I keep meaning to stop by public health to make sure he's doubled his weight, but it's challenging to get multiple kids in and out again without help. The scale is in a room filled with toys, and the lobby has a fish tank all the kids like, but he's due for a check-up, so I'll get an answer soon. According to our house scale he's somewhere in the 16-18 pound range. 

We started on solids just before Thanksgiving, after a string of long, sleepless nights. He's now up to two large meal a day, and is going through a good spell - falling asleep around 10 or 10:30 at night, and sleeping through till morning. It's nice! I know it won't last, but it's nice. My secret weapon is this Greek yogurt I found. When John was a baby, I was given all these super-strict rules of when to tart certain foods, and other that were strictly off limits until certain ages. I used it for all of the kids.  Then Mike went in with Tom to have his last round of shots, and the nurse tells him not to bother! Apparently now anything goes. So instead of filling up my scrawny little guy on applesauce, I went out and found fattiest yogurt I could - it's filled with protein, fat, cholesterol. All the good stuff babies need. It's 10 per cent fat. I may as well feed him sour cream, except the ingredient list is literally milk, cream and bacteria, so it's way, way better. I got the idea at Thanksgiving, when he was lunging at my pumpkin pie. He didn't want the pie - it just made him grimace. But he managed to get his hands on my whipped cream, and chowed down! It was just cream, and apparently anything goes now,  so I let him have more...and more...He ate easily half a cup of whipped cream, then slept for 12 hours! Obviously, something he was lacking, so the hunt was on for a healthy substitute for whipped cream, and there was this yogurt. And he loves it! He gets all excited when he sees the container, and if I hold it near him, he'll lunge over and stick his whole face in! It's pretty crazy! I made a few mistakes with it, like feeding it too early, because he always has a nice long nap right after. If I do it too early, he wakes in the night. Now I feed him a big bowl mixed with fruit right at bedtime, and he sleeps, he's happy and he's growing!

He's doing pretty well with all his milestones. Not surprising, with so many sibling to watch. I really don't spend much time with him, compared to say, John at the same age. But he's constantly being stimulated, so he's always learning. He figured out all fours a while back. Now he rocks back and forth, which I know from Joan's physio is an important milestone that strengthens the hips, in preparation for crawling and later walking - a milestone she missed out on, unfortunately. Then, he learned to sit with assistance! He needed to hold the floor, but he could do it for a few minutes at a time before toppling over. He even learned, through necessity, to break the fall with a hand, then walk himself down to all fours. He's a very fast learner! I think he only bonked his nose twice before figuring out how to walk himself down.

Now he's working on unassisted sitting. We start with his hands on the floor, then I give him a toy to brace himself on....then he lets go! He's so funny. He's doing it completely on purpose - he'll lift both hands in the air, then give me this big, smiling "look ma - no hands!" kind of look, then plop his hands back down. Every day, he gets a tiny bit stronger! Most recently, he learned to creep! I credit Dave with that innovation. We were in the playroom, doing our sitting practice. But he was bored with it, so he moved to all fours, and was practicing lifting up on his feet and hands. I ache just watching him do it. I don't know how he can stay like that so long. Dave came along, and started to give Tom toys to play with, so Tom would drop to his belly to play. Well, he's just a baby, so playing with a toy means shoving it into his mouth, which didn't sit well with Dave at all. He did NOT like watching all his favourite toys getting chewed up by Tom, so he'd whip it away, yell "No play Baby!", and toss it back to the pile. I'd ask Dave to find Tom a new toy, and the whole cycle would start again. Tom's not at that point yet when he'll complain, but you could tell he wanted a little more power over the situation, so he tried SO HARD to get his little body to the toys just out of his reach. He never sis manage to get a toy - but he did manage to move himself! Unfortunately, it was backwards, away from the toys. But he seemed so happy to get anywhere at all, it didn't seem to matter! Within a few minutes, he even taught himself to pivot, and that was obviously LOTS of fun! He did backwards spirals with a big smile his face! He even managed to spiral backwards into a toy! if he could remember that moment, I'm sure he'd remember it as one of the greatest moments ever! 

That was the first meanness I've ever seen from any of the kids towards Tom. Generally, they're really great with him. They especially love his tummy time, because he's at their level. Dave brings him things, and he and John show him things and teach him how to play with all the toys, even though he's too young to use most of them. Joan is his mini-mom. She's always eager to feed him, and is right there whenever he's getting bathed or dressed or changed. I'm sure they'll turn on him once he gets big and gets into their stuff. But until then, he's well protected.

Anyway, better go! Next up is Dave!

a month or so in pictures...

Ok. I have no time, but I feel bad I haven't posted anything here in so long. So here's a tidbit of our life, in picture form. By no means a comprehensive post, but it's better than nothing! Enjoy, and look forward to more - hopefully soon!

 Tom and Joan, in costume after trick-or treating.

The kids check out their stash after Halloween. We didn't get a single kid at our house, but I took these guys to Rose Valley, and it was AWESOME! Tons of kids, every house decorated. If we're still here next year, we'll all go out together - I feel bad for Mike that he missed all the fun!

hunter John

 After John got his soldier costume, we had a herd of deer in our neighbour's yard. So John got on his camo, and decided to "hunt" them. Dave kinda gave away his cover, but they were so tame, it didn't matter. If you look really close, you can see one of them through the clearing.

 stalking his prey

This is what he was hunting - they were all in our neighbour's yard.

Dave's B-Day

 Thee are some shots from Dave's 2nd birthday. This was on the menu - bugs in a blanket, AKA, wieners
 wrapped in dough, with fry legs.

 The Ruf Ruf cake John, Joan and I made! Joan helped make the cake itself, John helped decorate. We think it turned out pretty well!

 Blowing out candles!

Opening a present from Grandma and grandpa Walchuk. it was two cool cars, which became instant favourites. I'll post more gift pictures soon.

 My little helper Joan, giving Tom a bottle.

 The kids were playing together in the bush and discovered burrs. They came in completely coated head to toe in the things, so John, in his wisdom, gathered them all up into a ball. Then Dave put it in his hair. It took a long and painful bath to get them all out.

 The ever-protective John, building Tom a fortress. Not sure he appreciates it, though.

A little cuddle time, between Joan and her favourite baby.

let the mess begin!!!

Sorry I haven't been up here much. We're having some technical difficulties with our laptops - only one power cord for two laptops, and one is required for Mike's job, so I get left without during the day. And I just don't have the energy left to blog at night. I'm on the main computer now, which in treacherous, with all the little fingers itching to press all the shiny keys. And I have no pictures on this computer right now. But Joan is off singing Frere Jacque to Tom, and Dave is playing, so I have a couple minutes.

BUT - we hit a milestone today, and I just had to share! Tom has been very fussy lately - unable to settle and has been sleeping poorly at night. I'll feed him and he's just never really satisfied. In desparation, I almost gave him a bottle of formula just to fill him up, but thought no - he's almost 6 months old. He might just be ready for food! It had been a few weeks since I tested his tongue reflex, so I decided to retest with a jar of carrots - the only baby food I had sitting around the house. (We generally make our own baby food, but usually keep a small stash of the commercial stuff, too - it travels better, because it's sealed, and is good when time is short and the baby needs to eat right away.)

I wish I had a video of his reaction! It was like he instictively knew it was for him. He immediately started squirming and grunting, and reaching for the jar. I opened it up and he started making these really wierd squealing noises, and when I put a spoonful within his reach, he grabbed it and rammed it fullspeed into his mouth, swallowed and opened up wide for more! He ate half the jar with great ferocity, but grimaced with every bite from the taste. All the while, Dave was trying to stop me, screaming "No Mom! No!!!" He's always so eager to share his food with siblings, including Tom, and has had it drilled in that the baby isn't allowed to eat. And of course, there I am feeding the baby- the ultimate no-no. But I'm really excited! That pesky reflex is long gone, and now we can start a whole new chapter - just in time for Thanksgiving! (An excellent arguement to add sweet potatoes to the menu, I think.) I'm going to the store to pick him up some cereal now. Maybe now I can spend my nights sleeping, instead of endlessly feeding a starving baby!

more tom pics

Tom was being cute again this morning. He's actually not looking at me - he was entranced by Joan's tiara (she's right beside me). I had to move it around to make it look like he was looking the right direction.

I was actually trying to get a picture of him doing this funny thing he does. If I'm behind him, because he can't pivot yet, but still wants to keep an eye on me - literally - he will arch his back and tilt his head all the way back, and just watch me upside-down. He does it all the time, but today, he started to to do it, but just rolled over instead. Probably more effective in the long run, but not as funny to watch.

Although it's Dave's birthday, his party isn't until tomorrow, to make sure Mike can make it. He's got assignments and mid-terms on the way, so was planning to spend most of tomorrow at school. But unlike work, he can quit studying anytime he wants. Last night, he made it home just in time to tuck everyone into bed. Tonight will probably be another late night.

some Tom pictures!

I took some new pictures today - I'd lost my camera charger, and my camera had been dead since halfway through our last trip to Dryden. I've scoured the whole house, and finally broke down and bought a new one. I found our nursing pillow/baby seat while cleaning the garage (we can fit cars in there now!) and thought Tom might enjoy it. He loves it! But he slithers out after a few minutes and tries to explore the floor instead.

Can't pull out a camera without attracting an audience! The rest of the boys decided to get in on the action. Joan is right beside me, too busy chowing on homemade mac and cheese to care this time. I'll try to get more pics up soon!

phew!

the first full week of school is done. Phew! We're all still getting into a new routine, and getting over the school year's first cold. It was pretty mild - we've had the kids on vitamins and early bedtimes, so no-one had it bad enough to miss school or work. They all passed it on to others instead. Mike especially - he had it the worst, and spent the week breathing and coughing on people's phones, keyboards and remotes. Nice. Joan just got a little bit of it, and her school has the same good hygeine policy Renfrew did - she takes off her coat, then makes a beeline for the bathroom to wash her hands, before she's allowed to do anything else. She's settled into school really well, and she's even picking up french! I took Dave to the library one day while they were in school, and we got a bunch of books, including counting books. She's been able to count to 10 for a while now, and and can read most of her numbers. As we were looking through, I would say the number, and she corrected me, with the number's french name! Pretty impressive with just two classes under her belt. I think now we're going to give her a shot in french immersion. Her teacher said that most studies show that kids with language delays actually benefit from learning a couple simultaneously. Not sure if that's true, but so far, so good. And she'll have John to help her out. He thinks it'd be cool for all the kids to do french immersion, then they could all talk together in french and we wouldn't understand them.

Dave is having a rough time with all this school. He comes with us to drop Joan off, of course, and runs off to the carpet to play with the other kids. Then, i have to drag him kicking nad screaming back to the car to go home for a boring old nap. He hates it. The teacher said he reminds her of another sibling from last year - while her sister was getting settled in each morning, she'd make a beeline for the painting station, whip off something as fast as she could with the few precious moments she had, and then mope out the door. But she got her turn - she's in the 3-year-old program this year, and I think we'll make sure we get Dave a spot in there for next year. Poor guy - he needs a little more fun in his life!

We had another epic shot day with the kids yesterday. I don't know if public health nurses get a per-head bonus, but there's a nurse here who actually requests my kids. We do them all at the same time, one after another. Mike structured his day so he could go with me. I got to do play-room duty, while he took each kid in turn for the shots, which I really appreciated. He'd drop one off in tears, and the others would bristle while Dad chose his next victim to enter the dreaded chamber of sharp pointy things. John and Joan are FINALLY caught up - fully immunized as far as Health Canada allows for free. Dave has his 18 month tetanus or something to go, then he's done until kindergarten. Thomas is on schedule, so he's back in another 2 months, like a normal kid. He got his specs done, too. He's still a little on the small side. He's only 14 pounds, and 24.5 inches long. He's the 10th percentile for both height and weight, and 50th for his head circumfrence. So he's little, but he's growing steadily, is within the normal range, is properly proportioned and is meeting all his milestones, so he still has a stamp of approval from the healthcare system. So far, anyway. he's doing quite a bit now, which is why they weren't concerned. On his tummy, he rests right up on his elbows most of the time, so he can look around, and can lift up on his hands for short periods. He can roll over both ways, and is trying so hard to sit up! he hasn't figured out the tripod thing just yet, but he does lots of crunches trying to sit up, so he should be strong enough soon. He's found his feet and is social and happy. He can creep a little, but it's hard for him. He's an effective non-verbal communicator and makes lots of interesting sounds. He can pick up toys and manipulate them. He's taken a very active interest in my food. He watches me eat intently, and grabs at things. But I tried feeding him a little, and that pesky tongue reflex is still there, so he's not there physically yet. They say to wait until 6 months, but John's doc said when that reflex is gone - the one where they just push everything straight back out with their toungue - that's when to start. 

Anyway, I've got a busy day. better go!

Joan's in school!

I'm so happy for Joan - I snagged her a spot in preschool! It's the one right in John's school, which is pretty convenient. I always thought it was a french school, but on the cover of John's newsletter, they placed an ad, saying they still had spots, and that it's english, but a gentle introduction to french immersion. So she'll learn a few french words of everyday things and learn a few french songs, but it's not like John, where the teacher just babbles on completely in french. How he understands it, I don't know. Her class is perfect - it's for 4-year olds only, and is focused on K readiness, so they have a more academic curriculum than daycare, and they're willing to overlook the lack of potty training. I just have to send her in pullups, and if she poops, I have to go change her. They admitted they hadn't had a special needs kid in a while, but were really open to figuring out ways of helping her keep up, and having her therapists come in and show them stuff. The age cut-off is Dec 31, so she'll be the youngest kid in the class. It'll make everything that much harder, but it will help her in the end, we think. We hope so, anyway. We figured we'd better get on this, because in BC, next year is her K year, and she needs help getting ready! Thankfully, BC is getting all day everyday K starting next year. She'd qualify for it anyway, with the diability status. But now we don't have to fight for it, or jump through any hoops - she'll just get it. And hopefully, this will give her a little leg up once she gets there. It's a big load off my concience! And I've already let her therapist know - she was so excited! In BC, preschools are required to work with the therapists, and they put together an IEP of sorts, so the teachers help support the therapy every class. I'm looking forward to next year - John and Joan will both be full day every day, and Dave will be old enough for half day preschool! It'll just be Tom and I. Though by then I'll probably have a fifth. So it'll be me, Tom and let's call him...Quincy...or maybe Quinton.

As soon as I had confirmed her a spot, I told Joan that she'd be going to school again. She was so excited! She zoomed off and asked John to get her pink backpack off the bookshelf. He did, and she put it on herself. Then she ran back to me, threw up her arms and pronounced "OK! I all ready a go!" She was pretty upset when I told her it wasn't until the next day. She refused to take her bag off until bedtime. And first thing the next day, it went right back on!

John's really excited that she's in the same school as him. He keeps asking if they can meet at recess to play. He was sad when I explained that the preschool has a separate playground, because the kids are so little. But he likes the idea of her being just down the hall from him, nonetheless.

John's enjoying school so far. His teacher is new to the school, and it's only her fourth year as a teacher, so she's fairly young. I was worried out her with John's tendency to walk all over soft teachers, but after John's description of his first day, I think she'll be alright. She laid down the law! It sounds like she spent most of the day drilling in the classroom rules, and the consequences for not following them. His old K teacher WAS moved up to grade 1 in the end, so I'm glad he got the new teacher. He likes it too - he says it's good to do different things and do things in different ways. She has her BSc, but her Bachelor of Ed is in art, drama and music, so she could be an interesting teacher. We'll see!

Mike started school yesterday, too. He found a couple courses that fit really well around his work schedule. He hasn't said much about it yet -  most of the conversation around the table revolved around the kids' days, so his day didn't get a chance to come up. But I'm sure he'll talk about it tonight - he has another class today. I think one is fluids, and the other is electricity and magnetism or something - both Physics.

Anyway, better go! I'm making cabbage rolls for dinner, and they're a little on the time-consuming side. 

a funny story...

I better tell you this one before I forget.

John had asked to make muffins yesterday. We had all the stuff, and they've been eating like horses lately, so I said sure. We made a double batch of everyone's favourite - pineapple carrot - then I decided to try something new - chocolate beet. It sounds incredibly gross, but it was actually really good, if you could get the vision of thick, blood-coloured goo out of your head while you ate it. Unfortunately, John couldn't, and he could only handle eating one. "They're so disgusting...but they're delicious!"

Anyway. One of the indredients was cocoa powder - something I don't bake with too much. John was intrigued, and wanted to know what it was.
Me - "It's cocoa. It's to make things taste like chocolate."
John - "I like chocolate. Can I try some?"
Me - "Well, it's a powder, so it's not really for eating. You just mix it with other stuff, to make other stuff more chocolatey."
John - " I like things that make things chocolatey. Can I try some?"
Me - "It really doesn't taste good. It just changes the taste of other things."
John - "I like things that change the taste of other things. Can I pleeeeeese try it?"
At this point I'm like, why am I fighting? So I handed him a spoon and let him have at it. He scooped up a huuuuge heaping spoonfull. He put it in his mouth.....and immediately gagged and ran screaming like a lunatic around the house with his mouth hanging open as he clawed at his toungue. That's about right, I thought. He eventually stumbled into the bathroom, and flushed his mouth out in the sink.

He emerged about 10 minutes later, and said, "Well, that's one lesson learned."


Another little gem from John - It was my birthday, and John was excited about the cake in the fridge. As he was playing with Joan, he said "Joan, would you like to come to Mom's birthday party? She's turning 88!"

back - kind of

we're having some mild camera and computer issues, so I haven't been online much since getting home. But I've managed to rig something up, so I'll post really quick before I get swarmed with kids - they'll probably wind up getting electrocuted if they horse around here.

We are back from an extended multi-part vacation to Dryden, and we're slowly but surely recuperating. There were lots of tears from John on the trip home, but once we got here, all was well - he said it felt nice to be in Kelowna again, and he seems to be looking forward to starting school next week. For Joan, the obvious highlight of her summer was pushing great grandma evans' wheelchair - she talks about it all the time! And for John, it seems to be a tie between the fall fair - of course - and making cookies with grandma and grandpa Phillips - he's been asking me to make sugar cookies almost every day since he got back. I've been careful not to let him know that I have the cookie cutters, or he'd never let it go! He's talked alot about taking great grandma down for tea, too, and meeting Adrienne Ashton's little guy - they played together at the park at the start of summer. They clearly both had an awesome summer - Joan says she loves everyone. And there seems to be some sort of space/alien game going on, with paper telescopes that she's been very excited about. Lots of good memories!

But sadly, now it's back home to boring old us, and our boring old life. Though we had a birthday party for me - that was very ummm...exciting. Just buying the cake was an event in itself. Mike was been working full tilt, to fill the financial hole left by the vacation, to it meant me grocery shopping with all four kids - always an exciting time. We had a bunch of stops to make, and I had to use a card from Mike, so we had to hunt him down in the field, do some banking, and make a few other stops, so by the time we got to the grocery store, they were all already done. John had been given instructions to pick out my cake by himself, so he wanted one of those little tiny kid carts to do it. I told him no, because I had visions of 1) all three of them fighting over one little tiny cart, or 2) a convoy of three tiny carts, smashing into the ankles of strangers. Neither was an appealing option, so I said no, and explained why. He insisted. I relented. Big mistake. The inevitable happened, with much screaming ind wailing and tugging and shoving in the middle of the bakery. So I took a deep breath and gave John an option - either the tiny cart goes back, or the cake does. He chose wisely - he chose to keep my cake. As he was returning the kiddie cart, an elderly lady came up and congratulated me on dealing with the situation so calmly, and how wonderful that some people are still choosing to have larger families. She had come from a family with four girls, and had lots of good memories of growing up with so many siblings. I didn't want to be such a spectacle that people noticed us, but I'm glad at least one person thought the whole freak-out had gone well, because at the time I sure didn't! Unfortunately, they were ultimately still spent, so it didn't get much better. They weren't being bad in particular - they were just being themselves. But they were all just being themselves all at the same time, which can be a little overwhelming in public. I was in the dairy isle when it started to get to me. John was jabbering way too fast about something he thought was super-duper uber exciting. Dave was popping up and down in the cart, Tom was hungry and had started to cry, and Joan was twirling in circles. I guess I looked a little weary at the moment, because a man came up behind me - he was maybe 70 or 75. "I had four this age once," he said. "I know." Then he nodded sagely, and wandered into frozen foods. I gotta say, that really made my day. It's amazing how sometimes so few words can convey so much.

My party was pretty funny. Both John and I had totally forgotten to buy candles, so all we had was cake. Mike had to work until after dark, but he still made dinner on the barbecue. And he didn't let a lack of candles spoil anything. He got out some skewers, and tried to light them on fire instead. But when they wouldn't stay lit, so he dipped them with 151 proof alcohol that he had gotten for some flaming dessert or other. It lit alright...then ran down the skewers...then spread all over the cake. That stuff is like lighting gasoline on fire, so by the time it got to the table, the whole top of my cake was up in flames! It was quite spectacular, and the kids thought it was hilarious. Everyone howled. It was the best candle yet. Too old to fit all the candles? Just light up the cake!

Anyway, better go. I hear Dave is poopy, Tom is hungry and John wants to make muffins. Never ending excitement!

couldn't resist...

These are Mike's ginormous electrical gloves. Dave thought they were the coolest things ever, and just had to give them a try. (Mike had to teach a seminar on electrical safety at work, so he had to hunt down all the electrical safety gear he's supposed to be using on the job (we found it all very safely tucked away in the garage.))

We're getting set to make the trip back to Dryden. We had originally planned to leave Saturday after work. We may delay that to Sunday, if Saturday is a busy day. He's even pondering leaving Monday, so he can help me finish some stuff around the house - there's a lot that requires two people, and he's been working pretty long hours this week. But we'll see - we'll let everyone know when we know more.

pictures for John...

These photos won't mean much to anyone but John, so please make sure he sees them! He had a bunch of toys that you put in water to watch them grow. When we left for vacation, they all came out of the water, so we could see what would happen to them. The little guy in the centre was a big dinosoar that hatched from an egg. It shrunk way down to the size of the Green Pig while we weren't looking! The troll thinks he's cool. They've all become good friends.

These were Fish Eggs (just pretend). They used to fill this whole bowl!

These were his marbles - they filled this entire tray when we left! Now they're right back to the little pellets they started as.



So much for thinking things would be easier with just two! We're on a two week "break" at home, before heading back to Dryden to retrieve the kids, and get them back to real life. We had lofty goals of gutting our garage, finishing the kids' toy room. All these big plans. We've gotten a lot of work done, but mostly, it's been a lot of one-on-one with Dave, who gets bluer by the day, without his siblings to play with.

We can't remember John being this out of sorts at this age, but I guess if all you know is noise, chaos, and lots of kids running around, solitude would be tough, whereas solitude is all John knew until Joan came along. But I still wasn't prepared for the level of attention a little guy can take - especially one used to non-stop stimulation! Everyday, he asks where John and Joan are. He calls thier names throughout the house. When I tell him they're with grandma, he starts wailing her name instead. Last night, he walked into the livingroom, stood in the middle of the floor, and just started sobbing. "are you hungry?" "NOOOOO!" "Are you tired?" "NOOOO!" Did you poop?" "NOOOOO!" "Are you lonely?" pause..."no," he sqeaked. "Do you want John and Joan back?" YYEEEEESSSSS!" Do you miss John and Joan?" "YEEEEEESSSS!" and at that point, he shuffled out of the room, head hung low, and flopped on Joan's bed.

Don't get me wrong - he has fun most of the time! He's discovered a love of trucks. He likes to line them all up, and drive them through the house in pairs. Without siblings around to interfere, he has quite a well-developed case of what I call Toddler OCD. I don't know if it has a real name, but with the older two, it was like a switch went off, at about 22 months, when they started stacking things, with a scary level of compulsion. Stacking, or lining up in neat little rows, taking meticulous care to get it all perfect. Dave's been doing that a lot. With John, coupled with the fact that he barely spoke, I thought it was Autism, until I was assured by a nurse that it was normal. Then Joan did it. I was a little worried when Dave didn't, but now I see that's just because he COULDN'T - his collection would be dimantled before it could reach Toddler OCD levels. And because he's quite articulate, it all makes more sense. He's just sorting. He'll build a stack of bears over there...trucks over here...dinky cars somewhere else, all arranged in neat little rows, lines or circles. Then he'll show them all to me and annouce what the collection is of, before dismantling them to start all over with a new set of sorting criteria.

Despite his being lonely, having him alone right now is a good thing. He's in a huge "what's this?" phase. He wants to know the name of EVERYTHING! It's a pretty time-consuming phase. Books aren't about stories anymore - he wants to know what every little thing in every picture is. He's picking it all up really fast! He's learning colours at the same time. He can say them all, but gets mixed up on which is which, though he's somewhat consistent with blue and yellow. He knows most of his barnyard animals just from reading a little book twice. His favourite is the cow, which he calls "moo". And there's a picture of a pig biting a sheep's ear. When he first saw it, he said "let go!" Now whenever se sees it, he says "Hey! Let go, Pig!"

Mike taught him the difference between cars and trucks, and with "Are you my mother" he learned boat and airplane, and it's all mixed to create a little monster! He loves to sit in front of the big window and name all the things that pass by. We can hear planes, and because we can see the lake, he can spot the boats, and of couse the cars and trucks driving down the road. I think he's even getting high and low..."boat down low" he says. At first I felt bad for him that we normally have so little time to devote to such a bright kid. But I know that's stupid - the reason he IS so bright is the fact that he has so many siblings to learn from!

I think the only time we feel really bad for him is when he's playing hide and seek. We couldn't tell what he was doing at first. But he'll burry his face in the couch, or put his face against a wall. Then he'll say "Two Four Six...here come!" and he'll run around the house like a loon. After a few seconds of zooming around, he'll stop at another wall, and start all over again. If he ever manages to find himself, I'll let you know.

Tom is doing well - he's basking in all this attention! He gets more cuddles, more playtime, more feeding time, more everything! We think he's looking bigger, but we'll know for sure the next time we can get him on a scale - doc appts and shots all around when the kids get home! Yay immunity! He's definitely a lot stronger. As the first baby I've had who will happily sleep on his back, (the others were carefully propped on their sides, or *gasp* allowed to sleep on their tummies, for the sake of sleep) we've had to work harder at tummy time for him. We mostly just do it on the bed, like we did for Joan - the therapists all told us it's the ideal place, because you can be at eye level, so it's more enjoyable for all, and they can just splay out on the bed when they need a little breather. It's paying off - he can roll from back to belly now, and he can wiggle himself right out of his seat. It's that miserable stage, when they're compelled to get freedom, so they wiggle out. But once they're on the floor, they still can't do anything but lay there. When he figures out the belly-to-back maneuvre, and how to sit, he'll be much happier, I think.

I tried to get all organized and get a back-to-school list for John, but apparently, we don't need to buy anything. They'll be giving him everything on his first day (Sept 7 - the countdown is on!) and then we just pay a fee. I tried to find the name of his teacher, so I could let him know, but we won't find out until the first day, when the lists are posted outside. I hope he gets a good one. As of yet, his old teacher hasn't been assigned to a class, and a different teacher was in the kindergarten spot. I hope she doesn't just follow him up - I know he liked her, but I had some issues with the way she did things. It would be nice to have someone different.

Anyway, better go. Mike's working latge, so I have extra cleaning time today. I should probably make use of it. Or maybe I'll just play a rousing game of "car or truck" at the window with Dave.

Day 7

The night in Saskatchewan was our last on the road - and by far our worst. The mosquitoes were nothing short of unreal. No matter how fast we moved, the van was filled with them. Compounding the problem was the fact that the passenger window was stuck open. To try to keep them out, we had blocked the window with cling wrap. But it wasn't enough. We settled down to sleep with the hum of mosquitoes all around us. And it was hot and stuffy to boot. So it was too hot to be under the blanket, but if we took it off, we got eaten alive. The humm alone was enough to keep us awake, let alone the stffiness, heat, and blood sucking bugs swarming around us. We were going so crazy, we took the van, sleeping kids and all, for a drive with all the windows and the back hatch open to blow them out. But we couldn't close it down fast enough, or seal the window completely enough, to get rid of enoughof them to sleep. We had two choices - lay awake and suffer, or just hit the road. We chose the latter, getting on the road at about 4:30 a.m., after a miserable, sleepless night.

We rode into our next destination - Flin Flon - at about 6 a.m. It's a mining town, with copper and zinc I believe, and it looks a lot like Sudbury, with slag fields and stunted trees for miles around.

This is Flinty, the town mascot. The town is named after Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, a character in The Sunless City.

Flinty, in his trout-shaped submarine, which he uses to escape a bottomless lake (which actually has a bottom of gold).

The tourist office has lots of cool stuff, and a little campground. The kids liked the train.

The kids trying to get the gear to turn.

We only stopped to gas upin Flin Flon, then we pressed on to The Pas. We'd post a picture of the Manitoba sign, but there wasn't one along this route - not many tourists, I guess. Mike didn't believe me that The Pas would be largely native. I won that bet, hands down.

One of Mike's many, many futile attempts to fix the broken window on the road. The bugs were so horrible, we had to let the kids out to give them hope of escaping the swarms. But he could only work for a few minutes at a time, before being overcome. So we'd all pile in for a quick escape. The kids wound up covered in bites from all this. It was horrific. 

John found a baby frog on one of our roadside stops in rural Manitoba. It was the tiniest frog we'd ever seen! The kids took turnsd holding it before we set it free in the grass.

We took a detour north to Grand Rapids to get gas - the reserve had a Shell station. I also needed diapers, so we had to find a grocery store. All we found was a windowless steel building, like something right out of Nunuvut. It was pretty neat inside - a bunch of locals gabbing away. Way overpriced food. I'm going to assume they go to The Pas for groceries, because if that was really the grocery store, that town eats very, very poorly. There was very little real food. All the meat was frozen. There was just a few apples, oranges and peppers for veggies. The milk was $6 per gallon! My diapers were double what I'd normally pay.

There were actually some cool things there. There was a park that had the first railway line in western Canada. It followed an old 5km portage. It was originally a cart, which would have been pulled along by a horse.

It was a pretty rough place, and I felt very out of place. But we found a park by the river, and let the kids run around for a bit.

Dave is trying to give Ruf Ruf a ride

 Tom, having a stretch in the grass