Fish Heaven

After I butchered the cleaning the fish tank job, 2 of the 5 fish started having problems. They did some creative swimming but ended up sinking to the bottom of the tank where they remained motionless. As fish go, these guys were very small, only slightly larger than a grain of cooked rice. The 3 orange fish seemed to survive fine but the two stripped fished called “Stripy” and his brother needed to be fished out of the tank with a net 30 minutes after the cleaning.

I informed the kids that Stripy and his brother had died and we needed to have a funeral for them. So we all went upstairs to the main washroom and I said a few words of “prayer”. I said something like…”Stripy and his brother were good fish (actually Stripy was evil, he always chased the other fish in the tank and tried to bite them, that’s why he’s the only fish with a name) and that it was a sad thing that they were now dead but now they’re swimming in fish heaven (at least Stripy’s brother is…). Then we flushed them away.

Juliette and Sophie took the funeral rather well but Nicholas started to tear up. When Juliette called him on it, he laughed at himself for being so silly (i.e. crying at a fish funeral) and kind of hid his face. Let’s face it; Nicholas is a sensitive kid that will cry easily. One day he’ll grow out of it but until then he can take solace that this trait, along with his frequently bleeding nose, he inherited directly from his old man.

Teaching Rhythm

Recently, we went to Niagara Falls for a 4-day family vacation. This involved driving from 7 – 11 AM in the morning, settling in at a fabulous indoor water park/hotel called the Great Wolf Lodge and proceeding to go down every slide we were tall enough to ride. Juliette is tall and brave enough to go down everything. Nicholas is tall enough to go on half the rides and has just enough nerve to follow through with it while Sophie is too short for every ride and even the pools/slides built for 2 year olds are way too scary for her. Sophie’s favorite form of entertainment is playing in the kids’ hot tub and dumping water on Daddy’s head as I pretend to complain. Even mommy got into the act by going down some “scary” slides with her big girl.
The second evening of our trip was spent drinking at the Keg and attending a Vegas style magic show with Tigers. It was while we were waiting for the show to begin that the kids were bored silly and looking for some distraction. We happen to have some small dinosaurs on hand and there was some dance music playing in the background so I proceeded to teach the kids the concept of rhythm. At this point, you’re probably thinking what do I know about rhythm and what do dinosaurs have to do with teaching it? The key is making your dinosaur dance. I demonstrated how the dinosaur needed to hop from side to side in time with the music and then asked the kids to give it a try. As it turns out, rhythm is a learned skill, and my kids haven’t completed acquired it yet. The rhythm lesson was just a mildly entertaining time waster for myself but it apparently melted my wife’s heart so I thought I’d capture here for us to read when we are old and gray.

Music for Kids

It's not everyday that I identify with a 2 year old the way I did this week. Sophie's caregiver this year is a young aunt and as a result, she's been exposed to stuff that not all 2 year olds get exposed to.

I was preparing dinner for the kids when I turned on the radio to Hot 89.9 for some background music when my favorite song started playing. The song is Low as performed by FloRida featuring T-pain (click the title of this blog for a link to the video). Within seconds of the first notes hitting the speakers, Sophie and I turned to each other and said with excitement "This is my favorite song!”. I then proceeded to crank up the volume and we danced with reckless abandon. Sophie's dance style right now is more interpretive while mine is 80s/90s white boy compilation. Nicholas joined in with his own version of break dancing (I think he'll enjoy his break dancing courses starting this Saturday).

It was a special moment that I'm sure the kids have already forgot, but it's something I'll remember for a while.

Sophie and Christmas of 2007

Sophie really wanted a dog or cat this year. She convinced her siblings that it was a great idea and asked for one every chance she got. We did our best to convince both sets of grandparents that the house was busy enough without adding a pet to the mix (which mom is allergic tow). This was not an easy thing considering how cute Sophie is at this age. In fact the single cutest thing I’ve ever seen was when Sophie took a Santa Clause hat, but it on Nicholas’ head and sat on his lap to request a minou from him (French slang for cat). It’s a scene that surprised us all and one that is permanently imprinted in my brain even now (3 months later). In the end Sophie received a furreal cat which drinks from a bottle and purs as well as a toy dog which barks, sits, drinks real watter and pees on command.