Left Coast Mama » Aidan

Vancouver International Children’s Festival

Gwen — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:48:23 +0000

There are lots of things that Anthony and I agree on when it comes to parenting, and at the top of the list is making sure our children have a love and appreciation for culture. We love music and our boys have been to many concerts especially our favourites Fred Penner, Bobs and Lolo, Will Stroet and The Kerplunks. I am pretty sure that we have seen all of them either at the Surrey Children’s Festival or the Vancouver International Children’s Festival as well as at MusicFest Vancouver. We love plays and have been subscribers to Carousel Theatre’s last few seasons. We even have date nights planned for next year as Arts Club subscribers so the boys can see that we get to go to plays as well.

Aidan and Quinlan dancing at the Grey Cup to the sounds of Bobs and Lolo

This year I am even more excited for the Vancouver Children’s festival because of all the content in French, and or bilingually presented. I love that I can share something fun with my eldest who is in French immersion. I love that we are exposing his younger brother to French culture and language as well. Since we have not had any field trips as a part of my eldest’s school year I have no problems taking him out on a weekday to see some of these performances.we are especially looking forward to seeing A la belle etoile.

I am also really excited to be going to see the reading of Pete the Cat in one of the first pajama series. Starting at 6:30 pm and running typically until 7 or 7:30 pm you can bring the kids in their pajamas, in fact it is encouraged. This is a great way to see a show and then head home to bed only to have to brush the teeth. I also hope that there will be some silliness of the likes of Pete’s shoes. I love my pajamas, I love my pajamas, I love my pajamas! I can’t wait for my sons to meet Eric Litwin because it is always amazing to be able to hear an author reading/presenting their work.

© 2012 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | No comments
Related: Aidan, children, family, Family Time, My Boys, outings, Quinlan, Theatre, Vancouver.

Life Goes [Somewhat] Back to Normal

Gwen — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 03:15:25 +0000

It is hard to imagine how we went from a mysterious pain in Aidan’s hand to two hand surgeries, one an emergency, to working on Lego with both hands in just over three weeks. How did a healthy boy get a Strep A skin, deep space, blood and bone infection all emanating from his left hand? There were no animal or insect bites, not cuts or bruises even. It is a mystery and because of the way it (the infection) presented itself things got a lot further than they probably should have. As Aidan’s plastic surgeon (the one who did surgery on his hand)says, “It is great to have interesting and unique cases in your career, it isn’t so good to be the unique case.” Things about how and when and how are still running through my head, and when I have a better picture I will blog the whole story. In the meantime here is an update on Aidan now.

Getting better in BC Children's Hospital

Things are going well and are getting back to normal. This week was filled with no school, but with lots of appointments. He has seen Dr. Cortemanche, the plastic surgeon twice for dressing changes. Aidan is healing well and the dissolving stitches are nearly out. We go again on Tuesday to get the dressing changed and hopefully to less bandaging. According to Dr. C the bacteria on his wrist bone was a different bacteria, so we are not sure exactly what that means though the treatment doesn’t change. Aidan is still on antibiotics and will be for at least the next 10 days or so. We will find out at his next pediatric appointment on the 23rd if he needs to be on them longer.

Aidan on the way out of the hospital on Monday saying "I'm free!"

I figure that the physio will be the longest road here. Aidan still has limited use of his hand and we have a lot of physio homework in between appointments. While Aidan has been off any pain medication since tuesday, it still causes him pain to move his wrist and his fingers don’t do exactly as his brain asks right now. This is to be expected and Aidan still guards his hand so much that we really need to work on getting him to move it voluntarily.

Back to betime routines.

As for getting back to real life, he had his piano lesson this Thursday while Quinlan had his ballet class. Since the piano was only a half hour it was a good start to getting him back into the swing of things. On Monday we hope to get him back to school for the first time in about 6 weeks what with the strike, march break and then hospital. I am not sure who is looking forward to him going back more, me or him. We still have a lot of doctor’s appointments and physio appointments and it is a short week with two early dismissals and a pro-d day, but he should be back for at least a couple of days. I think even Quinlan will be back to preschool as he is finally over (knock on wood) the norwalk virus he had. I may actually have a few minutes to do something all by myself.

Heavylift Helicopter construction

As we write, (well speak didn’t seem to work in this case, maybe read?) Aidan is putting together his Lego heavylift helicopter, finally. He has been chomping at the bit since the 25th March to put this together. It is quite complicated and he is putting it together (mostly) by himself. Quinlan is out for a bike ride and playground search with Anthony. Big sigh there, after nearly three weeks of sickness and Aidan being in the hospital Quinlan is vibrating with all the energy he hasn’t been able/allowed to run out. I am sure his behaviour will be much improved today with a real outlet other than mischief. I think Anthony and Quinlan have hit 5 playgrounds so far. I wish there were as many playgrounds on this side of False Creek.

We are getting all dolled up for the matinee of Jason and the Argonauts put on by Carousel Theatre this afternoon so expect a review soon! Yay for things hurdling back to normal.

An Update on Aidan and Quinlan

Gwen — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 04:49:13 +0000

The Aidan and Quinlan update: (I will post the whole story soon.)

Quinlan got sick this morning on the way to preschool. I am hoping that it was just the antibiotics, wait, no since we have a number of days left, I am hoping it was a quick virus that will be gone soon. No more puking today though he did take and almost 4 hour nap. I think this is pretty understandable because he has not been napping well and has been up hours past his bedtime several days in a row. After all the crap this week and a half I decided that I could not take apart the car seat again and hand wash the cushioning again, so I left it in the rain until I could convince myself to toss it. Luckily a friend had an extra car seat that she dropped off. It was after she dropped it off that I had a brainstorm about where Anthony might have put the straps to Aidan’s old car seat. Yay! It actually fits Quinlan better than hi did anyway.

Aidan is doing better, though last night he had a very bad headache. The doctors did a pretty thorough neurological exam and it didn’t seem related to his infection so it looks like 7 was when he had his first migraine too. Boo. At least the morphine for his hand helped his headache go away as well.

Today Aidan did really well with physio and he is now without the resting splint. He was able to spend time in the schoolroom and got a chance to play air hockey. He also had some of his friends come to see him and he really enjoyed spending some time with kids his own age.

The only downside today is that the IV finally wore out. Aidan is now sporting an IV in his foot which is about the only solution right now. So while it is good because he can use his right hand again, it is a lot harder to move around.

We think all the departments are on the same page now, and if the blood tests on Friday are good he should get out Saturday. If they are not quite up to snuff he will need to spend a few more days.

With Quinlan’s illness things changed a bit and he needs to stay away from the hospital for a couple of days. As long as there is no more vomit he should be back to preschool on Thursday and in to visit Aidan in the afternoon. He was quite upset that he didn’t get to see his brother today. I think this is the first time ever he hasn’t seen his brother longer than a few hours. Even if Anthony or I have been away, Aidan has always been there for Quinlan. No wonder he doesn’t like going to sleep at night.

Aidan and Quinlan Review Aesop’s Fables

Gwen — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:00:37 +0000

After seeing the play on Saturday both Quinlan and Aidan wanted to review Aesop’s Fables. Quinlan was unsure about what to say, and as always Aidan almost never runs out of words. While Quinlan was in theatre class Aidan and I took to various parts of Granville Island to film. The first location was appealing visually, but it got to be very noisy especially when the train of about 8 garbage, recycling and compost dumpsters rattled along by. This is why half the video is take in the slightly less noisy play boat behind the kids market. In between Quinlan’s and Aidan’s theatre classes we filmed the rest of the video. Quinlan got a great kick out of being and out of the video.

Carousel Theatre Presents: Aesop’s Fables

Gwen — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:25:59 +0000

This afternoon (well yesterday now) we went to see the opening of Carousel Theatre’s production of Aesop’s Fables. Directed by Carole Higgins and starring Mishelle Cuttler, Kayvon Kelly, Melissa Oei and Mike Stack, Aesop’s Fables is a brilliant short play. From the moment the stage lights went up to the question and answer period at the end the audience was actively engaged in this lovely piece of work.

Mike Stack, Mishelle Cutter,Melissa Oei, Kayvon Kelly

In Aesop’s Fables we meet Harriet, Wolfie, “and I’m Syd” and Barry, the newcomer to the group, a rag tag bunch of players who travel by caravan and stop to make music and tell stories to audiences all over the place. Using their magic transforming caravan, they play musical instruments and imagination to tell stories and teach lessons to their young audiences. Adapting four of Aesop’s animal tales; The Tortoise and the Hare, The Boy Who cried Wolf, The Lion and the Mouse and The Wolf and the Jackdaw, the four use song, dance and the audience’s imagination to entertain and learn important life lessons.

Yay! Carousel Theatre has done it again. Aesop’s Fables is another fabulous production from all accounts. The sets are bold and beautiful with a bright red and gold caravan that converts to a small stage and lanterns hanging everywhere. The lights enchant the forest surrounding the caravan and set the stage for the stories.The costumes are colourful and imaginative and the head pieces bring the characters in the stories to life while still giving us a clear view of the actors underneath. The actors have awesome chemistry with each other and bring the audience in as the fifth player, or maybe even as a flock.

Mishelle Cutter, Kayvon Kelly, Melissa Oei

Aesop was the perfect first live theatre experience for Quinlan. While he was a little apprehensive when the house light went down, as soon as the stage lights were on he was fully immersed in the play. Quinlan was happy to be part of the action when asked and transfixed the rest of the time. Aidan has seen a lot of plays over the last few years and this was one of his favourites. When the play ended he was shocked because it seemed so short as he was so engaged in the action and story ark. Aidan would have been thrilled to see these players do as many more stories as they cared to tell. If you asked him I am sure he would have been happy to jump up on the stage and help them. As it was it was hard enough to keep in his seat as he was so engrossed in the play.

As Aidan says in his soon to be released video review, go see Aesop’s Fables, it is awesome! It runs from February 17-26 at Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island. This is the first of Carousel Theatre’s productions that has opened up the weekday matinees usually reserved for school groups. Tickets are $15 for ages 3-17, $25 for students and seniors and $29 for adults. Call the Carousel box office at 604-685-6217 for more information.

All photographs are provided by Carousel Theatre and are taken by Tim Matheson.

© 2012 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | No comments
Related: Aidan, Family Time, Firsts, imagination, outings, Quinlan, Theatre, Vancouver.

Year of the Dragon {Sponsored and Contest}

Gwen — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:57:03 +0000

I am not sure if you know this but Aidan and Quinlan will try almost anything as long as it is presented to them on a chopstick. This year they were not only excited about having a great meal, but also about making a great New Year’s celebration. That it is the year of the dragon just makes this new year even more special to them.

Aidan decided that this year we need to kick up our celebrations a bit. A chance to make decorations and party are always a good idea to our boys. I think, why not? We should celebrate as much as we can in this life. So the 23rd January was the beginning of the lunar new year and we went skating with Aidan’s beaver troop. We didn’t have time for our New Year’s feast so we put it off for a little later in the week. We made lanterns and dragons and ordered our wonton soup, spring rolls, noodles, and ginger beef.

Here in Vancouver we have a meeting of Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns day with something we like to call Gung Hagis Fat Choy. I like that it is a big multicultural soup. I want Aidan and Quinlan to be part of that big multicultural soup. I want them not only to be willing to try new foods, but speak new languages and learn about different cultures.

*******

I am a big fan of anything that makes dinner time easier, especially if it gets my boys to try something different. I am not adverse to having a little bit of dip to help my children eat what is healthier. I make oven baked breaded chicken that is much healthier than chicken nuggets and my boys gobble them up with a small bit of VH Sweet and Sour Sauce.

I was given some Garlic Hoisin Sauce and some Garlic Rib Sauce as well as some Sweet and Sour Sauce. I like the flavours and while I wouldn’t use the Hoisin sauce too often because of the sodium content, to make an occasional dinner it is fine. I used the rib sauce on a pot roast and it was fantastic. The vegetables took on the flavour of the garlic sauce and the roast was nice and tender. I am looking forward to making a few of the recipes from the VH site, especially the Orange Sesame Brochettes and the Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken.

As a part of this blog tour one of my readers will win a VH package of Sauces and Steamers. All you need to do is comment on this post what sauce or steamer you would like to try. Comments must be received by 8 February 2012. I will email the winner for details and the coupons will be mailed to you.

Disclosure – I am participating in the VH Chinese New Year Celebration program by Mom Central Canada on behalf of VH. I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Farewell 2011, Hello 2012

Gwen — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 07:14:30 +0000

Like the last few years December has gotten away from me. I was so busy writing Advent letters and planning for surprises and trying to get something that might actually be a surprise for Anthony that it left me with little other time to write. Of course we have also had two bouts of intestinal illness go through the family as well.

Christmas was wonderful in many different ways. The best was Quinlan’s reaction to Christmas morning. He got up pretty early but we managed to keep him in our room for a few minutes so we could get upstairs with him and give the surprise guest a few seconds to get up as well. When the boys saw Grandpa sitting at the dining room table they were thrilled. When Quinlan saw the cookie that Santa took a big bit out of he was absolutely flabbergasted. I tell you I wish I had been awake enough to have my camera set up for his reaction as it was classic. He had the biggest round eyes and open mouth, and the hand to the cheek as he exclaimed “Santa ate the cookie!” Once Quinlan saw the presents under the tree there was absolutely no turning back. It was all we could do to open our own presents. I have never seen anyone open presents so fast in all my life. He was so excited that he even “helped” Aidan with the opening of Aidan’s presents.

Having Grandpa John come to stay for 5 days was fun, but went really quickly. We were able to have a small family get together on the 27th, and I am so glad we decided to have the turkey then and not on Christmas day.

There have been a lot of great things about 2011. The start of preschool for Quinlan has been a highlight. He loves school, and ballet and swimming. Aidan is growing up so very much. He is getting so grown up and he is so interested in learning about everything. It was especially acute during our road trip. Aidan was so interested in figuring out about everything. He found out about so many of the parks and their geological features. He got to look at the night sky and actually see stars.

This new year I am hoping to keep up with all the boys activities including theatre, swimming, skating, piano and ballet. I am also hoping to keep up with writing and photography for me. We want to keep up with our geocaching and keep going to events like the few that we took in this year. The Geo-monster ball and the best of the bad events were fantastic and really helped to give us the best caching year ever.

In 2012 I am going to try to get to Blogher in NY again. I won a conference ticket and as soon as I get the confirmation I plan to figure out the rest like hotel and airfare. I also want us to take the boys camping this year, it is about time we used the tent.

Those are my goals, simple and easy. No worries about losing weight or being a better person. I like who I am and I think that I will be much happier if I stop trying to change myself. All I want is to be happy.

© 2011 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | One comment
Related: Aidan, family, Family Time, goals, Gwen, Holidays, hope, My Boys, New Year, Quinlan.

Do You Believe in Santa? I do.

Gwen — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 06:54:24 +0000

When I was growing up we were poor. I look back now and I am not sure how my mother and father managed as well as they did. I think for the most part my brothers my sister and I did not notice how poor we were. We had clothes and we never went hungry. My parents never let us know, until much later, how close we came to losing the house. If there were nights when we had pancakes many days in a row we didn’t notice or for that matter care. Pancakes for dinner was a treat. I understand why we had regular milk mixed with powdered milk.

One year when my dad lost his job and my mother was at that point still home with us, things must have been quite bad. I didn’t know how bad things must have been. I remember being asked to help out a family at school. All classes brought all kinds of canned food for this family and we did as well. What I didn’t realize and neither did my parents that the family they were supporting was us. I remember the surprise and I admit a little excitement when there was a knock on the door. Our pantry, well the shelves on the stairs going down to the basement was filled to over flowing.

I am not sure if it was the same year, or another when there were three deliveries to our door. One was anonymous where someone rang and ran. I still remember that there was a huge Christmas colouring book that kept us well occupied. That year there was also a visit from a Santa’s helper in a Santa suit bringing wrapped presents for all of us. The most surprising was when the doorbell rang and Papa Smurf was at the door helping out Santa.

When we were better situated we were happy to help out other anonymous families who were in the same situation at Christmastime. Being a helper to Santa was a big part of feeling good about Christmas for our family. Even when we didn’t have much, we always found a way to help others. I am not saying this to brag, but it helped us to feel less guilty about having things when we knew there were other people in bad situations.

My back story is part of the reason I want so badly to get Aidan and Quinlan to understand that since we are in a better situation that we need to help as many people as we can. Donating to the food bank with money and canned goods is our biggest focus for the season. There are so many families who are not making it in BC, especially in the lower mainland. I want them to see that we are in a very good situation and it would be really good to help other people. Aidan really gets it. He has a philanthropic plan for the Aidan company already. Quinlan is starting to get it and by the time he is Aidan’s age he really will as well.

My hope is that by helping others my boys will grow up to be empathetic and enlightened men. That they will not look down on people for their monetary situations. That they will be generous human beings. I think we are on the right track.

Dear Aidan and Quinlan

Gwen — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:55:00 +0000

Today was mostly lovely. I am so glad that my two boys are such polite little boys. I am glad that you have fun playing outside. I love that you both have a huge imagination. I love that Quinlan, you love to swing as high as you can and pretend you are a bird. Aidan I love that you pretend to be Santa or the reindeer.

Aidan I know you will have a good time with your father at the Canucks game. I am sure you will be excited and happy to be at your first big hockey game!

Quinlan I was very happy to have dinner with you. I love how much you love to be out with me. It is so cute to hear you ask so politely for edamame.

I am so happy that I have two boys who are so generous. It was fun going through your piggy banks to get some money to give to the food bank. It makes me feel wonderful to have to boys who think so much about other people.

Aidan and Quinlan, I love you both so much.

Love and Kisses,

Gwen

Guess What We Did Today

Gwen — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:09:20 +0000

For weeks now Quinlan has been afraid of Santa Claus. He said he did not like his moustache at all. He did not like that Santa came into the house down the chimney. He was not sure about this Santa person at all, and he seemed to want to be as bad as possible so Santa would not come. Today that all changed. After preschool today we went to Oakridge to do some playing in the pit and a few walk bys of Santa Claus. The first walk by Quinlan said he seemed like a nice Santa and his beard and moustache were . . . ok. After the second walk by he thought that yes he was a nice Santa and maybe he might like to go see Santa. After playing a little longer Quinlan decided that it would be nice to visit Santa before we went home for a nap. Quinlan was very brave and after a couple of minutes he was on Santa’s lap and talking about eating vegetables and what he wanted for Christmas. This afternoon after picking up Aidan from school we were able to get the picture.

Ho, Ho, Ho