A Fish Out of Water: Canada

In January this year Shuma and I went back to Canada for a seven-week visit. While there we went to Jamaica as well, and originally Hideaki was supposed to join us there for a week, but he was unable to settle his vacation time to coordinate and ended up staying home.

It was a rare winter visit, my first one in about eight years, and I was expecting to hate the snow but of course with a toddler it was lots of fun. Lots of work, too, but I was able to pass most of that on to Baboo (the nickname my nephew gave to my father years ago, which has stuck).

The problem with southern Ontario is that it's not always snowy, and when there is snow it's often the wrong kind. We only managed one snowman. This one had a mohawk for some reason, and Shuma seemed to appreciate the novelty as he only half-destroyed it.

I was happy to see that Shuma still loved the baby swings. But have you ever tried to get a snowsuit and snow boot-clad child out of a baby swing? It takes several minutes and requires all the strength and brainpower of two adults. Luckily he is old enough for the big-boy swings, so he was encouraged to use those.

Before we left for Jamaica we took him for his first-ever salon haircut. He did not enjoy the experience and did his best to make it miserable for everyone involved. His special added touch was suddenly deciding, just as we were leaving, that he loved the place and throwing a tantrum because he wanted to stay. But the end result: non-straggly hair that doesn't cause strangers to say "What a cute little girl!".

You may think that all we did was play at the park, but we also worked. All that snow needs to be shovelled, and Shuma had to pitch in like the rest of us. Here his is pointing out the injustice of child labour:

Well, tough. Now back to work, that snow isn't going to shovel itself.

Luckily, the is not just a nuisance- it can be pretty too.

Indoors there was plenty to do, as Grandma had ensured the toybox was well-stocked.

No food pictures this time! Except I couldn't resist a shot of this alphabet pretzel Scrabble, to show what a twisted bunch I am related to.

Finally, here are some pictures taken by Sherry (Shuma's autie). First with Fluffles, one of those wonderfully patient cats that don't mind little kids. And then playing in the snow in the backyard: