toothless in cornwall

The weirdest thing is happening in our house. Profound sadness is twisted up with overwhelming pride and wonder on almost a daily basis. Jennifer and I, I think, understand the concept of growing-up. We have been witness to this miraculous process for eight years. But, at least for me, it seems only recently to have become so obvious. Maybe the change is in us. We've been married for 11 years now, and we are very good at 'us.' With Jennifer home and my reasonable stability at work, maybe we've stopped spinning enough to be more aware. As I look back much of our early life seems a blur - tons of vocational upheaval, some medical scares and near constant scramble to survive - now, to be honest, by survive I mean given an affluent North American standard - not roll sod for shelter, get first crop in the barn or starve, survive. I feel secure in our home and our life together and maybe that has allowed for this change. Heck, maybe it's a very common mid-life stock taking, a kind of expected self and life reflective phase. Not sure, but what I do know is that everyday we see in our kids a pace of change that is breath-taking.

It seems overnight that JT can do complicated math and read in both french and english. I can already see in him the strong big brother that will be such a large presence in our house and in the lives of his parents and siblings. Lily is without a doubt the most active of all of our children at that age. Just so full of life - moxie, if this was a different generation; not talking but absolutely communicating clearly. And Matt, that sweet monkey, he is the catalyst to this realization. Apparently he was supposed to stay cute little five year old Matt forever. So caring, so funny and did I mention cute. The voice, the mannerisms, the heavy footfalls and constant pratfalls that seemed eternal, a constant in our house - a defining part of our full and wonderful lives. And overnight and all of a sudden he's growing up and changing. Realization of this amplifies the changes now more evident in his brother and sister. The little bugger lost his first tooth. And its killing me. I'm a little terrified. I know they are young, but for the first time I can feel that eventual loss. They are growing up and away from us. It's like I'm finally truly getting that one day they'll be out of the house and building their own lives. Admittedly I haven't been dealing well with this over the last day or so - but I decide and declare today, to strap in and hold on and get ready for this very disconcerting but wild ride. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Love you all,

B

Hockey, Hockey, Hockey!

I can't really skate backwards. Now given that I'm from Eastern Canada and a boy this is a fairly silly thing. Something beyond the pale. If I was from Georgia, I'd be one hell of a skater. But, alas, I'm not. And I come from good stock - Dad was a wonderful skater, and a talented high-school hockey player; Mom, also a good skater and a provincial champion curler - not hockey, but ice related. Even worse, I married and continue to associate with a figure skater. I take full responsibility for the fact that our two boys have had a limited interest in hockey. I'm not an avid hockey watcher; don't live and die based on whether the Leaf's win or not and have only played sporadically throughout adulthood. And none of this mattered until we moved to PEI. A valley kid that played baseball and basketball could hide easily in a cosmopolitan metropolis like Halifax. Stop laughing. A little mountain biking, a pretense to surfing, and viola, the fact that I didn't play three nights a week and talk hockey constantly was easily covered. PEI, is a different story. I stick out here, like a sore thumb. And now that JT is in school, so does he; or more to the point, did he - because this year, at the age of eight, he started Novice Hockey, with kids that have been skating and playing hockey with Brad Richard's young cousins since the age of three - four latest. To a kid they all skate better then me - let alone poor JT - just starting and already four to five years behind. Here's the thing, he could care less. He tries hard every practice and loves every game. The kids are just young enough that they have yet to realize that there are some kids that will play in the NHL and some that will watch. Even the ones that score four goals a game seem genuinely happy for themselves and unaware of the 'pylons' they so easily skated around on the way to glory. The parent-coaches are dolls that truly support all of the kids and at this point we couldn't be happier to have him in hockey. Even when it starts at 5:20 AM for power skating on a Friday morning. So think of us tomorrow, a Saturday, that will start at 6 AM, on the ice for practice at 7, game at 1:30 followed by the Santa Parade at 5PM. But don't feel bad. We are all actually really enjoying this. Heck I might even try to find an old fart's league.

Love from us to all.

...of pink-eye, antibiotics and wordless communication

“Are you concerned that she isn’t talking yet?”
“No. Is she obviously intelligent and happy? Does she have any deformity in her mouth or with her tongue? Is she vocal? Does she get her point across?”
“Alright already – no, no – it’s just the boys keep coming back telling me what Evelyn is saying.”
“Don’t make it a competition now.”
“I don’t, it’s just…”
“I know it’s time for her to start talking.”
And from her position in the kitchen at her booster seat covered in Yogurt comes, as if on queue, a bellowed, “Unh!” Lily would apparently like a sip of her Mom’s wine. She gets chocolate milk instead, but given the monstrous grin, the hug of the sippy cup, and the joyful babbling, I think a reasonable compromise from her perspective. And she is so obviously as smart as her disturbingly smart brothers, JT with his savant like ability with spelling and reading, his seeming ease with school and Matt’s near genius like math abilities and pure love of learning. She understands everything, engages in very serious humour and is as busy and independent as any 16 month old ever to grace the planet. The boys just spoke so early, I get it, it’s a little unnerving she isn’t speaking 100 miles/hour yet. All will be well, and the little monkey will speak. I’m sure someday, in the not too distant future, one of you lovely people will remind me of the day I wished for the floodgate to open.
Jen has both JT and Lily home today with pink-eye. Actually Lily, the little trooper, is battling a nasty cold, bacterial overgrowth in her ears AND pink-eye. And through all of this she motors on, wrecking the house one room at a time, repeatedly causing the rest of us to laugh and fall back in love with her. You have to see her dance. And have her run into your arms for a hug, or see,’cheesy face.’ Did I mention recently that we are truly blessed? Well if not – consider this public acknowledgment.
Prepare yourselves, because the season of horde like decent upon your homes by the attacking Nicholson’s is nigh. We’re coming. And we can’t wait. See you all soon.

Love

b

...the calm before

Checked and double checked the yard and house; secured that troublesome drain-pipe with a startling new and white bracket; now I suppose we sit and wait. We had a good day here. After a busy week we all awoke to a seemingly busy Saturday. But Saturday's are different. Somehow, being together and on our own terms lessens the stress and quadruples the potential fun. So off to the rink for JT and art class for Matt. We're new to the whole Rink family reality. So far, so good. No yelling at refs, or parents complaining about ice time, just 8 and 9 years old zooming around and chanting, 'go Lightning, go!" After returning from the rink, we headed downtown to pick up Matt - running some errands in the interim. We stopped by Canadian Tire and picked up a bit of road hockey gear; stick's for all and a really cool net. The whole family was able to get out and enjoy the pre storm weather. The kids were great. A little pizza and a movie and we'll snuggle down, lock-up and hope for the best. Don't get blown away and remember we love and miss you all.

Us