Tatiana's Wanderings

Ayler called me at 3 to talk about Beckett going around with a blanket on his head (the same one that Hiero pulled off - and then Hiero was upset for five minutes), playing a six-page version of PACHELBEL'S CANON which took seven minutes to complete, knowing a couple of six-syllable words ("onomatopoeia" and "responsibility"), his doing online school tomorrow, Beckett's boh-boh and eggs, talking to his list of people (Uncle Joe / Auntie Wing Yee / Eric / Randal / Jeremy), his liking to talk (I can tell!), and their lunch of tuna melts. He said he goes outside and likes to play tag if he can, but plays CONNECT FOUR inside, and also reads books and keeps Beckett safe when he can. I told him that his pieces were nice (except for Hiero / Beckett crying - which he said "sorry" for later), and thanked him for playing... also when he played the Willowbrook Waltz.

He gave me his grandparents' phone numbers, said that he had reached me first before I called them, and described a magic trick he could do in person. I heard Beckett say "Auntie," so I told HIM that as soon as I can, I will go over there so we can hang out. Ayler asked how old the oldest man was, since the oldest woman ever was 122 years old. I looked it up: 116 years old ever, and a man was JUST awarded a Guinness World Record for being 112 years old. Ayler asked whether Jeanne Calment had been in good health - well, she did smoke a lot (being in France) and ate tons of chocolate, but other than that, I guess so. Ayler told me that he liked being creative and writing stories - awesome! I should tell him about my "goat royalty" stories as a kid around his age, haha.

He asked me whether I had allergies because of the cherry blossoms and spring; I told him that I did not, but I was apparently very lucky. Harmony had told him that I was born prematurely - I am a dragon like he is, which is why I gave him the red-and-yellow stuffed dragon that Beckett has in his crib now. Hiero is a Snake, and Beckett is a Dog. I told him that learning was a good thing, while he wondered if my clock did minutes and seconds - apparently, he tells Jeremy what time it is and counts it up!

He asked me whether I knew that his dad's "special sleep window" was 11:30 PM to 3 AM, since that's when Jon can sleep best. Haha, no! I do not currently have trouble sleeping, so that's good. He ended the call at 4:05 or so, during which I could hear Jon in the background, so he was home then. We can talk next on Wednesday after his online school and everything else - no, I'm not likely to be available before then at 8:45 AM! He told me, "I'm glad you're alive because then I can talk to you, and you can take care of us. If you die, my dad will be the oldest, right?" HAHAHAHA!


Nacho tombstone?!

After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 2:50 on a 401 to help with the kids. I would have taken the earlier 401, but someone took FIVE MINUTES to maneuver a wheelchair into that bus! I don't expect people to be extremely fast when it comes to that, but I always appreciate the actual wheelchair users who are fast and efficient movers when they see others are waiting! (she was... not, and held up everyone else) There went any extra time I had to buy lotion and dish soap at Shoppers! At Marine Drive, I actually managed to get a 3 within a few minutes, which was amazing! No incessant talker today, thank goodness. Finally got to the apartment at about 4:10 in the rain, and Beckett was sitting on the mat and waiting for me - so cute! I gave the kids some Mars bars and Coffin Crisp plus a Christmas card later on. Hiero confused a CARD for a CAR, asking me where the Christmas CAR was, hahaha! Harmony set him straight, though. (my phone had randomly saved photos of Beckett eating out of a pot earlier, hahaha)

Ayler and Hiero did origami / cut-out snowflake crafts at the table after one too many "no scissors on the ground" directives that got ignored, so Beckett and I spent our time rolling balls to each other / being distracted by "boh-boh" (the bling on my white sweater AND the pom-pom on my Santa hat, which he batted around at times) / "reading" books while sitting on my lap (he picked up "yummy" from me!) / his giving me his blocks and balls and emotion eggs / his saying "yeah" to my simple questions of whether HE would get the balls instead of me (but he didn't) / his knowing where my fuzzy purple winter coat was with all the big buttons. Harmony said that balls were his very favorite thing in the whole wide world, which I can believe! (LOTS OF ALLITERATION!) She'd taken him across the street since there was a Christmas tree with lots of ornaments, and he'd loved seeing all the "boh-boh!" He also wanted to look out the window, but was stymied by the Venetian blind being down, and thus blocking his view. His other window was blocked off by chairs and couches, but he managed to throw balls in that restricted area, which I of course got out for him.

We had pork and mushroom jong (sticky rice) with garlic, cherry tomatoes, gai lan, and water for dinner. Beckett actually ate more than usual, but Harmony thought that was down to the sticky rice, some of which did fall in his bib, but luckily did not smear or smudge on my Heat Holders socks! Ayler told me that he had a Christmas concert next week, and a winter party because his class had received a lot of points to go towards one. NICE! I asked if he was going to have ornaments, but he says no because it's not Christmas. That made sense, I told him. After they learned about butterflies and cocoons and the chrysalis, Ayler wanted to hug me! I said that he could hug me, paused, and added "only if you want to." He did! That was amazing!

Ayler and Hiero didn't like it when Beckett climbed on them, but he's so light! While Harmony was out of the room for a bit, Ayler told me that he gets screen time at school (as does Hiero), and his mom doesn't like it. I had to laugh, since I could see this coming years ago! When I left the apartment at 7:50 (so late!), Harmony said that Beckett had called me "Attie," and he called me that again while pointing to me. HE KNOWS WHO I AM AND WHAT MY NAME IS - SO CUTE!Hiero told me seriously that his school friend knows Punjabi and she wanted to teach him some language skills - good for them! Harmony wanted to know if I could come on Friday the 13th, so I said yes. As it turned out, I hope fervently that I used up ALL my "bad luck" tonight - I kept on missing trains and buses galore! EVERY SINGLE ONE! I got home at 10, which is pretty fucking late!


From Reddit: For the first time since January 10th, 2006 (which was also a Tuesday), the Vancouver Canucks will finally host the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7 PM PST. The Canucks played Toronto tonight at 7, and lost 4-1. UGH!


Random stuff from the family: Novelty HOT FLASHES socks from Hatley, Ontrue roasted seaweed in Wasabi flavor, a pink "XXL" Xi Fu Fen pajama set (more like Small), a light brown Rice Balls (actual brand name) sweater with purple stars from Korea, and a 52mL tube of Colgate MaxFresh Knock Out toothpaste.


From Julie: When you're washing the dishes and the water hits a spoon! WATER IN YOUR FACE AND ON YOUR CLOTHES!




Snowflake art on the bedroom door!




Hiero insisted on having a green heart on the bathroom door! No double-sided arrow, however!




Ontrue seasoned and roasted seaweed in Wasabi flavor! Thanks, Mom and Dad!




Red bling shirt for Christmastime!




White bling sweater for Christmastime!




SANTA HAT TIME!




Thanks for the Hatley socks for my non-existent HOT FLASHES, Jon and Harmony...




A Rice Balls brown sweater made in Korea... thanks for the Engrish, Mom and Dad!

I had to do laundry today on the THIRD FLOOR, and had to go back down to my suite to grab actual cash money! UGH! The Canucks played Edmonton tonight at 7, and won 5-2!


Mushroom soup!




What did the buffalo say to his son when he left for college? "Bison."




Julie M. sent this ENTER SANDMAN lullaby to me! Son: "Daddy, I can't sleep." Me: "Don't worry, son. I'll sing you a lullaby, Hush, little baby, don't say a word, and never mind that noise you heard. It's just the beasts under your bed.... In your closet and IN YOUR HEAD! EXIT LIGHT! ENTER NIGHT!"

The 401 did not show up at the bus stop when I left at 3:30, so I was stuck waiting 20 minutes for the 407 and two 401 buses which all came at the same time. I still managed to get to the house at 5, despite a text message from Harmony way earlier asking if I could be there at 3:45, which I didn't even get till I left the house. Technically late before I even thought of making my way outside... hahaha! Good thing the 3 Downtown pulled up when I'd made my way to the bus stop, and there were NO further delays on my way over! I had to stop into Kwong Chow to pee, which I wouldn't have had to do if the 401 had showed up when it was supposed to!

When I'd made my way quietly into the living room, Hiero greeted me with "Look at my balls, Auntie!" HAHAHA! Thank goodness he meant his yellow origami balls which he'd made and displayed on the table! He showed me some more cardboard buses and Mark III Skytrains plus a cow "headband" which he'd picked up at the PNE this year. Ayler was hiding Beckett's toy balls among some books, then was concentrating on his connect-the-dots book for a while. We had bean soup, frozen grapes, pork chops, and blueberries for dinner while discussing Christon's wedding. Apparently, someone stole Jon's extra four boxes of leftovers! WHAT?! Some auntie had stolen a Bible from Jon and Harmony's wedding centrepieces - WHAT?! She gave it back once she realized it was real, but STILL!

Later, Beckett played the piano with his feet as I held him in my lap for better mobility... that was funny and cute! Yes, he climbed on me and laughed when I put the soccer ball on my head, less so with the baby pop-up toy. Ayler didn't get to sleep till 10:30 last night, but it had been the first day of school today, so anxiety and questions were normal. Hiero took quite a while to eat dinner, while Beckett seemed happy to flip pages of various books on the mat. Later, Beckett climbed on Ayler's back, and Ayler said that he knew Beckett would pull his hair. Close enough - he instead was gumming his hair and chewing on it! I guess he really is teething from last week into this week.

Since someone had a tantrum, I left at 8 on the dot. Next week should be fine. I actually got on a 3 Marine Drive that was NOT annoying and did NOT stop anywhere random for a while! There was a girl who wanted to let the bus driver know that she'd be getting off with her stroller, but if I could barely hear her above the traffic and bus noise while seated across from her, I'm surprised that the bus driver could! I'm glad that I have NG lungpower and strength! Since the bus didn't stop anywhere, I was able to get a Brighouse train pulling into the Marine Drive station. I still had to wait a while at Brighouse Station, but I got home at 9:30 on a 407 - PHEW! Harmony had mentioned that Mom had emailed us about my birthday dinner. I'll think about that tomorrow, since I'm much more interested in chilling and relaxing at home for the rest of my night, haha!


Hiero thought I should be a cow with this Mobile Dairy Classroom thing that he picked up from the PNE!




From Jim Can't Swim: Anjie Galsworthy?! BAD SPELLING OF ANGIE!

Today's date is a palindrome: 9/1/19! I went out shopping at 5:05 on a 407 at London Drugs. I got more 48 chewable Pepto-Bismol tablets, 400 Mead index cards, two GOODY toothbrush holders, and NEW on-sale Ruby Cocoa Kit-Kat chocolate bars before coming home at 5:55 on another 407.


NEW Ruby Cocoa Kit-Kat chocolate bars!




Labor Day is a great opportunity to reflect on what you failed to accomplish this summer.




Dr. Trent Artichoker?!




From Reddit: Brookelyn Farthing?! BAD SPELLING OF BROOKLYN! Also, the reporter's name is CRITLEY KING?!

It's International Bacon Day today!


Jonathan Anomaly?!




( So many bad names! )