Spring Fling Wing Ding

I have always loved spring (I think most people do probably) and this year is no different. It has been a long winter, even with a February getaway to Mexico. I remember as a young girl how excited I would get for spring - in Fort McMurray the winters were long and dark and deep and spring came suddenly and with great triumph. The city had an annual river break up lottery where everyone would put money on when the river would break. A few years it sort of melted away without any dramatic announcement but most years it was violent and impressive. The sudden change in temperature coupled with ice jams and building pressure would often send huge (size of cars and even bigger) chunks of ice flying into the air and onto the banks. Those chunks of ice were so large that they often sat there, diminished but present, until mid July. I loved it. The loud cracking sound of the ice exploding could be heard from almost anywhere in the city, like a grand announcement that spring was here. Nothing like that happens here in Calgary - spring arrives gradually and often teases us by disappearing and reappearing a few times before it sticks. This weekend we went to Raymond for Easter and had a great time. We coloured eggs and took them out to to coulees where we rolled (well, were were instructed to roll them but to be honest, most of them were launched) them down the hill and then searched for the year's first crocus'. That felt pretty defined for me: it is springtime in Alberta.

To Paisley: Fourteen Months Old

Well, the biggest (and most recent news) this month is that you are officially walking! Yay! You are so happy to finally be able to go where and when you want and so proud of yourself. We went for coffee at a place called Coffee & Scream last week and that's where you started to walk. You had taken a few steps here and there but when I let you loose in the giant play area at the coffee shop you just stood up and started walking! I couldn't believe it! My friend said "Wow, Paisley is really good. How long has she been walking?" and I had to look at my watch because it had been about 5 minutes. Since then it has been all walking, all the time. You have this constant grin on your face and look so happy just to be vertical. As opposed to me who spends 16 hours a day vertical and just wants to lie down sometimes.



You are learning things at an incredible rate lately and every day brings a new adventure. Last month you conquered going up the stairs and now you can go down as well. Those two skills go particularly well together. You can open every kind of door or drawer and love to pull things out of the kitchen cupboards. Or at least you did until Daddy brought home one dozen large rubber bands and now the doors don't open. But they do make for excellent guitars. You laugh at jokes, have ticklish knees and will wave bye bye on command. You like to throw things down stairs or into the bath tub and I always let you. After all, it's fun.


The not so happy news is that we had our first fight this month. You and were hanging out in the bedroom playing around when all of a sudden you attached yourself to my nose with your teeth. Hard. I didn't want to scream in case I scared you and you bit harder so I yelled for your Dad to come. He came running in the room only to find his wife being mauled by a rabid toddler. He gave you a little pat on your bum which scared you and made you cry. I've never been so happy to have you cry because it meant you let go. I also started to cry. There we were, both bawling (me feeling my face to ensure I still had one) and your poor Dad didn't know what to do. So he laughed. Man did that hurt...the biting I mean, not the laughing.

You are no longer taking a bottle or any formula and are strictly on solid food. You like most things but don't seem to like meat. You're pretty good at letting us know what you don't like - if it goes flying across the room, you don't like it. You are a very good communicator. You point at things you want and scream or grunt until you get them. If you don't get it (because that thing you're pointing at happens to be a carving knife) you throw a tantrum complete with back arches, head banging and scratching/biting. It's an awesome thing to behold.


You are also down to only one nap a day now and it is working well for both of us. You seem to like having one long nap and it definitely gives us more time in the morning to get out and play. It also means that when you go down I can work at my other job as a writer. I have had a ton of work lately and it is sometimes a struggle to squeeze it all into your nap time, but I manage. I feel like we have both hit our stride and I'm happy with how things are going. You are a very busy girl who always needs entertaining and luckily, I am also busy and love nothing more than to make you happy. We are good together.

Love,
Mama