Tatiana's Wanderings

Leap Year Day issues! February 29!


After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 3:05 on a 407 to help with the kids... of course I just missed a 401! I still got to the station in enough time to kill time at both T&T (premium Shin Ramyun Black noodles, Palmolive Oxy Power Degreaser in an 887mL bottle - my limited Cantonese for "washing dishes" won again!) PLUS Tim Horton's where I got a cheese tea biscuit. Despite some shenanigans, I got to the apartment at about the usual time. Seemed like everyone had a cold and cough, especially Beckett, so I used his hoodie to wipe up his runny nose. Even I was getting one a bit later while reading stories to Hiero, so I used the frog blanket to wipe my own nose... it's probably not the worst thing, and I'm pretty sure they launder it anyway! When I got home, I had peppermint tea / Vitamin C / zinc / garlic.

Beckett just wanted me to get balls from his throwing them around most of the time, even when Barry called me at about 5:50 to try rescheduling a food shopping appointment AGAIN! That's fine - I just dealt with that the same way I dealt with Karen Choo calling me while I was talking to people in the car years ago, namely addressing the immediate situation while still being on the phone call. I didn't care what she thought then, and I didn't care what Barry thought if he heard "here's a boh-boh"! Later after a very early dinner of lotus soup / goji berries / kumquat / miso soup / noodles / vegetables / eggs, Beckett got a word book. I sat him in my lap and read to him, then spied a newer word book with textures. He seemed to like the OWL page at least. Showed Ayler and Hiero the contents of my wallet as I was looking for my scissors.

Later, I spied a Pokemon circle, and got some balls from way behind the couches, requiring me to move them! I got Beckett to say "please" a couple of times for that amount of effort, definitely. When he wouldn't just settle down and sleep, I was drafted in to help by just sitting by the crib to keep him company before he hopefully fell asleep. I told him that it was Auntie, got a fish cushion and the stuffed dragon from the floor to his crib, and also held his hand briefly. He didn't throw anything around - just moved them around and fell asleep within five minutes or so. Harmony thinks he just likes the company vs. being afraid of the dark - last night, she couldn't do anything much because he wanted her to sit around for two and a half hours! AIYA! I left at 7, which was SO EARLY that I got home at 8:05 on a 407. WOO!


Weird Owl Yankovic!




Shin Ramyun Black Pot-Au-Feu noodles!




Palmolive Oxy Power Degreaser dish detergent, 887 mL!




Cheese tea biscuit at Tim Horton's.




Lotus soup with goji berries. Miso soup with noodles, veggies, meat, and eggs.

Jon sent me a Facebook message at 8:50 AM to wonder if I could come over at 2:15 today instead because Harmony had to pick up Hiero from school and actually wanted to be on time, and Ayler wasn't feeling well. I assumed I had to hold down the fort there, especially when he called a few minutes later after I'd already sent my reply to ask if they were puking or loopy, so I agreed. Then Barry left me a voicemail, but I delete those, so I called him back to find out that he wanted to move grocery shopping to Thursday instead of tomorrow. What did they do - leave the messages and then run away within two seconds?! Sheesh!

Later, I had some New England Clam Chowder today for National New England Clam Chowder Day, right when Harmony sent me a text wondering if I could come slightly earlier. That's on the buses, not on me! After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 1 on an 401 to help with the kids, just missing the early C94 and the early 407. The 3 was seven minutes LATE at Marine Drive Station! GEEZ! I finally got to Jon's at 2:15 - so much for shortly BEFORE that time! At least there were no random two-minute stops along the route, wheelchair / stroller delays, or elevator shenanigans today!

When I got there, Harmony and Beckett left within five minutes, but Beckett did show me his Gorilla Munch cereal, which were indeed balls! He also showed me a huge yellow Blockbuster chip bowl and the blue tub, which he had fun with later. It was good to have some time alone with Ayler, who thinks that I won't get what he has because his dad said so. Haha, I wish germs and viruses worked that way! We talked about Fraser, Henry, racetracks, the school secretary, no nurses at the school, Harmony just driving to the school today (walking 30 blocks in the rain with a toddler in a carrier?!), my phone photos and calculating how many seconds were in a year by using the Calculator app, hand sanitizer, texting, oranges, what it meant when you vomited, water, and reading some children's Bible stories like the Good Samaritan / the Feeding of the 5000 with fish and loaves / Daniel in the lion's den. He wanted to teach Beckett about word patterns and especially the word "gun" since Beckett will repeat anything. Uncle Joe has taught him "hit your butt!" in Cantonese since it's funny.

Everyone else came home at 3:40 (thus ending our freedom to talk), and Beckett had fun with his toys and plopping into my lap to "read" the summertime book and the Christmas piano book cover because he saw "balls" (ornaments) on there. No wonder the piano had wings - there was Santa in his sleigh, too! I gave Hiero his birthday card, which he seemed to like - he also was enamored with the Creature toy I'd given him on Sunday. Hiero opened all the rest of his birthday presents - turned out that Mom had forgotten to write in the birthday card she gave him, but had also given them a pack of Ontrue seaweed in the regular flavor! He also got at least four Lego sets, a PAW PATROL puzzle set, a science toy, and Rain or Shine ice cream gift cards! His friend Leanne gave him three gifts - WOW! Beckett stood on top of a puzzle box (and wanted some grey robot toys - saying "MINE!" when they were Hiero's), and I accidentally squished the Lego STAR WARS box.

We had peas and macaroni in soup with some grapes, cherry tomatoes, and sticky rice while discussing last week's snow and other things. Ayler said the soup was salty, but it really wasn't - it was really bland and just what you might want if you were sick with tummy upset. Beckett threw cheese and some other things on the floor, but liked his cereal as usual - and smiled BIG for the Vitamin D tablets! I had some leftover cheesecake while the kids had some orange Jello which was rather liquidy in consistency! Hiero did some "home reading" with me - but I had to sound out words and make sure he knew what was going on. Beckett and I played with balls, the stacking blocks ("doggy!"), and the toy train which can zoom on the wooden floor. When I showed him my doggy slipper socks from Grandma Joan, he sniffed them and played around with the "ears" - silly kid!

Just as I was about to leave at 7:25 (with Beckett saying "BYE BYE!" in a serious manner a few times), Ayler vomited on the bathroom floor and surrounding floor area! Yes, I could stay even later because that had happened and Harmony had to do clean-up. She barricaded the area with a garbage can and laundry basket, while I made sure Beckett stayed on the mat. That meant he could read even more, relax with the blanket, look out the window at the lights, and call the new 3-D Glowing Planets "boh-boh"! When Hiero took things like the action figures away from Beckett, he cried - so of course I gave him some hugs and told him that his brother was terrible! Lately, Beckett has learned the word "help" and is using it in the proper context instead of just pointing at things and vocalizing - good job! He usually needs it to get balls out from under the couch, or to get balls out from small boxes and blocks!

Turns out Ayler requested that I stay to watch him eat his banana and drink some water while Harmony bathed everyone else. Sure, why not? We talked about applesauce, tuna NOT being part of the BRAT diet, the school having a janitor / custodian at least, my opinion that he should probably stay home, math, "my baby" being Beckett, Beckett's talking in his sleep (to say "please" and other simple words), and more things. I finally left at 8:10 (encountering an Evo driver who liked driving on the sidewalk...) and got home at 9:35 on a 407. PHEW! Extended Nephew Time on BOTH ends of the time spectrum!


Campbell's clam chowder and a Nature Valley granola bar for National New England Clam Chowder Day and National Granola Bar Day!




From Julie M. and Etsy: A dragon agate necklace!




VIGOROUS DRAGON AND LIVELY TIGER artwork at the hospital across the street - YAY FOR DRAGONS!




VIGOROUS DRAGON AND LIVELY TIGER, by Shirley Chiang, donated in 2015!




From Dragons: A red dragon with piles of books in a castle! INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

Vanessa wanted to get together yesterday for lunch at Mama's Dumplings, but I fobbed her off until Tuesday (when she'll have Cassidy) with an excuse once she wanted me to bus to Coppersmith Place: the Canucks-Sabres game at 1 AND my broken suitcase! She actually messaged me at 12:30 today to say that she's trying not to eat out much, and she has to have dinner with her mom and brothers (who won't be in town for Christmas) on Tuesday, so I got the hint there that she can't make it for this Tuesday. At least this makes my Tuesday much less hectic! PHEW!

Eric M. is still working on the 19th, so can't take me to the airport. He did help me via text message: Apparently, I should leave on the 9:07 407 that morning since domestic flights only need you to be an hour early, but I should perhaps be even earlier. I told him that I might as well build in time to get lost... No, not his suggestion of 8:45 PM the night before - that is even earlier than the anal people who show up to things an hour early and then blame a "late" you for being normal and on time because they’ve been waiting for an hour! Not sure what I'll do for breakfast on the day besides Starbucks coffee bottles - I'll definitely have to remember to shut down my computer and everything else! Actually, I just texted Deb and she says she happens to be off on the 19th, so can give me a ride in the morning - YAY!


Air Canada luggage allowance for suitcases, knapsacks, and bags! 21.5 x 9 x 15.5 inches for a Standard Article, and 13 x 6 x 17 inches for a Personal Article!




Help! We're trapped inside a fish bowl or Christmas snow globe, and we can't get out...




From Julie: Dwynne Farneson?! We both want to pronounce it like DWIN.




From Not Always Right: Grammartif macht frei.

The cleaners came again today at 5:40 via bus from New Westminster after rescheduling phone calls and texts to and from me and Harmony and them. They had a huge suitcase full of cleaners and stuff! After the couple cleaned the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen (and under the sink - outside and not inside?!), and living room... they found a dead mouse on a glue trap when I asked them to clean behind the couch! YIKES! They added that to their garbage bag, and took that out when I asked them to do so as they left at 6:55. I definitely gave them a cash tip this time in case I felt badly about it later on.


Half.com, Oregon?!




From 60 Minutes Australia: Tiahleigh Palmer?! Tia and Leigh are both okay, but TIAHLEIGH? Maybe it's the Australian accent, but it seems to be pronounced "Tialy."