sugar baby

listening to love and theft. dil put it on this morning before he left for work. i heard it from the bedroom - it came into the last bit of dream that i had been clinging to. the dream was about summertime and there was someone in it that i haven't seen in a while. now i'm replaying the album. one of my favourites.
sylvie is sitting next to me chewing on some bananas and cheerios. she is such a little hairless monkey. she clings to me the same way the baby chimps cling on nature of things. if i had armpit hair she'd try to hang by it, i'm sure. as my dad said yesterday, "you two have certainly bonded!" that is a nice way of saying that she follows me around pulling on my pantleg and crying to be picked up, even when there are four other people in the room acting like clowns and trying her get her attention. it is just a phase - the boys did the same thing - but it is exhausting.
her favourite word is "hat". her favourite toy is a little keyboard that plays a samba beat. she loves brown bear and spot and down by the bay. she sleeps at night with raffi (her giraffe) and ellie (her heffalump). she loves to sit with the boys when they play game cube. she holds a controller. she also likes the telephone and the tv remote. she has the best smile in the world.
jake is also going through a challenging phase - i think it is called puberty. we are the same height now and he is very strong - maybe stronger than me, although i still have weight advantage of about twenty pounds. he is soooo moody. and awkward. and he breaks my heart with his angst.
sam is... sam. he is so much a gemini that it makes me a believer in astrology. i never really know what he's going to do or say next. the wind changes direction and so does sam. what do they say about the weather - if you don't like the weather, wait for five minutes and it will be different? something like that. (i'm balls at remembering catchy little sayings). anyway, what i mean is: he is violently depressed? wait five minutes and he is the happiest boy in the world.
oops, banana break is over.

shady grove

listening to an album called 'songs for little pickers'. sam is dancing (read:jumping around like a ninja), jake is reading, dyl is giving sylvie a bath.

next week is march break! the boys, the girl and i are going to camp out at my mum and dad's house for a few days. i can't wait to get out of the city - it is feeling cold and dirty and monotonous. being spoiled by the 'rents will be nice too! no doubt after a few days of the country, i will be very grateful to come back. dyl is stuck in the city but getting rid of us noisy and demanding people will probably be a pretty fabulous vacation for him :-)

*bad news*
we lost butterscotch last week. he had been missing two days when kimber (our across the street neighbour) came and told us that he was lying in the alley beside her house. terrible. i haven't cried that much in a long time... and then, i had the horrible task of telling the boys that their kitty wasn't coming home. they took it very badly at first; it was pretty heartbreaking to see/hear/feel them mourn. we slowly pulled ourselves together as we talked about him, even managing to smile as we remembered some of his crazier and more adorable antics. we made a little shrine-type memorial for him in the living room - we each drew pictures of him and laid out a few of his favourite things (cat nip mouse, kitty treats, a piece of yarn). sam wrote a little note on the back of his drawing that said: "there are many colours of yellow... butters was all of them". that night we had a little feast in his honour - pancakes and butterscotch pudding. we must have done something right because no one's had any nightmares (except me, but that's because i actually saw his little stare-eyed corpse.) Anyway, RIP, yellow cat. You were a good little pal and i miss you!