Holiday Monday Morning

My Garden  

My garden is growing so well this year; I was out there this morning pulling some weeds and could not bealive my eyes when I saw little itty bitty cauliflowers.

 

First Harvest

Used them in a potato, radish, cucumber salad.

Home Made Wood Blocks

We had about 3 feet of 1" quarter round left over after some repair that we had to do to our back walk out.  Basically one of the structural beams gave out - thanks to my dad we now have 2 new structural beams.

I did not want to throw out bran new wood that is perfectly fine - but it was really to short for anyone to use.  I decided to cut them down in various lengths and sand the ends - voila blocks.

And that was my morning; making blocks, gardening - now I am listening to Digital Gunfire while getting lunch ready and blogging.  C Monster is outside enjoying the fresh air with Papa.

Looking Forward To

Seeing my friend Kim and her little ones at the park this afternoon.

Second Birthday

Christophe's second birthday party went off smoothly yesterday. Although Pierrette had my iPhone pictures to post the other day, I've only just finished processing the SLR photos this afternoon.

He had a good time playing with all his friends, including Ella:

And he had a good time, as always, with the music time provided by Eva:

There are more, available on Flickr (the photoset and as a slideshow).

Music Class for babies and toddlers - Music for Life

Once again Christophe and I have enrolled in our music class with our good friend Eva. This is her 3rd session I believe and she is doing something right because each time we pass her house Christophe wants to go in whether or not the class is running that day.

Sometimes I wonder if he is getting anything out of it because he will sit for half the class then take of running - but that is the great thing about this setting Eva is OK with that. As long as your child is around music that is all that matters. However when we pass by her house and Christophe starts crying because he wants to go to class and I told him their is no class today - I know he must be getting something out of this.

I have been to various baby music classes and circle times but their is something special about Eva's classes, I think it's her kind hearted nature and awesome mothering that comes true in her classes. Each class is structured with it's own theme and follows a basic outline. We sing some songs, we play instruments, we dance to Eva playing the fiddle them we sing some more songs. Christophe particularly likes the fiddle and dancing. I think that is because of his spirited behavior.

Last session I met a few of my blog readers there and it was great; hopefully I might see a few more of you again this time around.

Oh almost forgot one of the best things about Music for life is the cost per class is probably one of the best deals you will find in Toronto.

Toddler music classes

Next month we will be starting music classes. I am really looking forward as the classes are though by a good friend Eva that lives close by to us. Since Christophe is already used to her I think he will have loads of fun.

Eva has recently started a new home business called "Music for life". I think the classes are going to be great, if you live in the east end of Toronto - Riverdale, Little India, Upper Beach Area you should check out her website. Eva is one of those people that when you meet for the first time you are like this is someone you want to get to know, she is very relaxed and well balance and has this amazing never ending love for her daughter.

Movie Mondays

We do not have many plastic toys for Christophe, but this one is a hand me down and it's way too cute how he dances to the music each time to take it away from him...

I find he is also getting a lot better about putting things in his mouth.

I can stand

This is a few months old now...

Christophe was standing on his own so I ran to get the camera; we tried that day to get him to do it again but failed. Christophe can now stand alone from 5 mins to 30 mins depending on his mood.

Toy Thursday

Christophe is now 9 months old and we though he would need a few 9 month old toys to help stimulate his development.

My parents recently got him NooBoo Pound a Sound from Manhattan Toy. He seems to find it interesting and each time he triggers the sound on the toy; he is like were did that come from. (He does not seem to understand how to make the noise deliberately but he will get there.) I just love the crazy colour and prints on the fabric.We decide to get him the Peek-a-boo barn from Melissa & Doug. So far he seems to like to chew on it more then anything else. When I close and open the flaps it seems to intrigue him; again he will get there eventually.
Images from: Manhattan Toy website and Melissa & Doug website.

Music for kids

This is something I have been meaning to blog about for a bit now. Christophe loves music and we always have something playing in the background. I also make sure we do some music time every day; sometimes we sing fun little songs for him; other times we dance to music; or even sometimes we play with instruments. Whatever it is we do we usually have a minimum of 30 minutes of music time everyday.

Christophe has a Rain Stick, Cage Bell, a few maracas, some jingle bells and a harmonica. I think that is pretty good for a 7 month old. Of course all music play is supervised as some of these instruments could be dangerous if left unattended. Once he turns one I want to pick him up a few more instruments from Plan Toys: Xylophone, Drum and Castanets.

As for Music CD's some of our favorites are:

New Orleans Playground
French Playground
A Pas de Velours
Cajon for Kids

We are always looking for new music I would love to know what your favorite CD's are.

References:
Photograph - Amazon.com