We finally had a warm enough day (for us recently Asian living ones!) for an extended time outside. Yesterday we managed a picnic by the Ottawa River (about a 2 minute walk from where we are staying). Yeay!! It was windy, but warm enough for us to stay for a few hours. The girls caught my excitement...

Jasmin very eager to get underway! And Grace no too sure about the arrangement....


Of course, any summer outing cannot be fully enjoyed without kicking off the shoes!


At this boat slip, there is a small floating dock that we could finally get to (there was a lot of flooding this Spring). Grace was fascinated by the rocking motion in the waves, and kept scaring mommy with trying to walk... and jump... and spin...! Daddy caught her interest with teaching her to "fish" with a stick. Whew!

We ate on the shore: mommy wasn't too sure she could handle fielding and feeding two kids on the dock, even with Daddy's help. Can hardly wait till I don't have a broken back any more :o) After we ate, I expected Jasmin to fall asleep and Grace to play. the opposite happened - to begin with anyhow. Jasmin explored the sound of rocks shaken in a cup, and Grace lay with Daddy in the sun.

It was a grand day... Oh, another love-gift I got yesterday: as we were preparing to go out I kept hearing knocking on the front window. When we went to investigate - there was a pilated woodpecker banging on the window! Perhaps trying to get into the plants on the table??!! No time for a camera, but we did enjoy the very close look! It was much bigger than I ever thought they were.

This last week:

Jasmin is in a growing spurt, we think. She is always happy to eat and she can eat more than Grace often!

It's been a rainy week, so indoor play has covered all sorts of activities.... here Grace is teaching Bear to sing "ABC's" and watching the voice waves appear on the screen - or not as Bear didn't cooperate :o) She and Jasmin both are quite tickled with hearing themselves played back.

Grace began showing some strong signs of interest in the potty, so we gave it a whirl this week. We only managed one successful potty time the whole week though!! Still, both Grace and Jasmin were quite content to sit with mommy on and off during the day.
And a most wonderful birthday present: Grace played peacefully by herself almost all morning and into the afternoon with her teddies, lego, letter cards, etc. with minimal interaction from me. I think she is finally fully at home here. This means I finally get some time to tackle the long list of things that have been waiting till I can snatch more than 5 minutes at a time. it also means that I can be lying down most of the day to be pain-free for a rare date out for my birthday :o)

We've played outside a lot this last week. Unfortunately that means we don't have as many pictures...
Grace has discovered that throwing rocks into ditch water and the river is great fun, and would stay doing it much longer than I can handle being up and out. She always has a running commentary about each throw and rock, usually "splash!" is the only word we understand :o)

While mommy is in physio, daddy takes the girls to a nearby park, where they are learning to enjoy swings, slides, and see-saws. They always come back grubby and contentedly tired, so mommy is pleased with the arrangement!

On indoor days...
We've made ourselves known at the library close to physio.

We've discovered how to build with lego and then play with what we've made.

Both Jasmin and Grace have been fascinated by these bead toys, so we found a small one in a second-hand store for home...

And the favorite toy at the moment is...
a box of packing foam '8's! Grace talks about swimming in them :o) Today she had all her little teddies and toys swimming in the box. She was a bit disconcerted when she couldn't find one of them again!

Yes, Grace really has taken off with pretend play for the first time today. It was such a thrill to watch! I played with her a little at the beginning with a lego structure or two, and then she was off and running on her own. She put them all to bed, put them all in a shoe so they could go out for a walk, and sent them swimming in the foam pool.

Today was a no nap day, so they are both asleep early and mommy gets to finally have some uninterrupted time to sort out her new computer...

This Thursday I received a cancellation appointment for an EMG test. It wasn't a lot of fun (the first part is receiving electric shocks to different leg muscles to see how much response there is, and the second part is having a needle hooked to a computer stuck in those muscles and moved around to get the electrical readings from the muscles recorded!) But it was a necessary step towards a final decision on surgery. We received the results straight away, which was great - avoiding another wait and appointment. The results were the best possible short of saying there is nothing wrong: Only the muscles connected to the one damaged disk are affected, and there are messages getting through the nerve, so the disk pressure on the nerve is not cutting off the nerve use completely. The neurologist recommends surgery, and suggests that the sooner the better for complete recovery of the nerve functions, but it is not urgent.

In fact, recently I have noticed some returning movement in my leg, which is encouraging. Unfortunately with the improvement comes the return of pain... One of these odd instances when more pain means things are getting better not worse!

We are now waiting for a date to be set for surgery, hoping that it will be early June - or even earlier, if God so gives! - so recovery will be nearly behind me when our first "Fall" plans (August 15th onwards) are due to begin. Meanwhile physiotherapy is continuing, with a new bent: to prepare me for surgery and the fastest possible recovery.

Notes

Grace explored finger paint yesterday. It took a while for her to feel free with it after weeks of confiscated markers for coloring on herself!No pictures! Private work...

Jasmin has 6 teeth now! They all came in a once... and we only had red cheeks and a runny nose - no drool or extra fussiness. But then, perhaps it was lost in the shuffle of crossing the world and settling in Canada...

Jasmin took her first steps today. Two steps to her NiNi. Not sure who was more excited and proud: Jasmin, mommy, or NiNi :o) She has kept trying all day, so her number of falls and bumps are on the increase. Not long now before she will be following big sister Grace!

I saw the neurologist this morning. One more step closer to surgery this summer. Some good news though: once the decision is finally made for surgery, the wait is short (usually 10 days or so) and the normal procedure is actually day-surgery! The recovery period is 4-6 weeks of absolutely no lifting, but after that the road to normal life is fairly smooth. The hold up now is that with the extensive testing I am showing weaknesses in my leg that are usually associated with different disks than the one my MRI shows is prolapsed. So, in the next few weeks, I will be getting electrical impulse testing to discover just exactly where the disk/nerve damage is. Then I will be referred to a surgeon who can actually set a date for surgery.

Grace is 2 today!

We celebrated on Saturday, though, so we could enjoy the whole day as family. We went to the Science Center for the afternoon. After initial hesitation and awe at such a huge new place, the girls had a great time! And of course we had a great time enjoying them enjoying themselves! Perhaps more photos to follow, but here are 2 priceless pictures of them mesmerized by a display. NiNi and YeaYea had a wonderful party prepared for Grace when we got home. Grace was intrigued by the party "horns" and worked at blowing one until she finally made it unroll. Her main communication of the day was "That was fun!" and "Look at this!"

Grace wasn't too sure about her cake... It was a big show with big sparklers, after all. Jasmin thought it was great though!

Grace had no problems with the cake once the sparklers were gone! It was made of her favorite - ice cream!I think the only picture where the girls are both looking! See the small mike? We had my parents on Skype with a webcam so they could be a part of the celebration.

Grace is 2! Thank you God for a fantastic two years!

Breakfast Faces - while jet lag was still wearing off...


Grace is loving the deck - especially all the birds that are coming to the feeders already. I'm glad for all the different kinds - she can't name them by anything but color: finches, cardinals, grackles are all easy for her!
Exploring the properties of a screen door...
The main activity of mommy time these days...
This was an attempt to induce an afternoon nap. It failed. Grace squirmed industriously in order to keep awake - for 2 hours! She can make it until 5 o' clock, but then just about anything causes a melt down -- but she falls asleep in minutes! Not the best trade off, but a week of enforced nap times without naps hasn't succeeded in persuading her to sleep.

A happy note for everyone who's anxiously thinking and praying about my back... I have an appointment with a neurologist on May 9th! Currently, I am not in a lot of pain any more - but there is a fair bit of muscle weakness, and I'm supposed to avoid all the activities that made it hurt before! Physio is consisting of simple exercises to keep muscle tone around my hips and abdomen. They are not trying any direct treatment of my back because everything that has been done so far only triggers more pain.