What are those you ask?

Well those, dear friends, are my feet poking out from under my ginormous belly. I can barely see them, I sure as heck can't reach them, and I wouldn't change a thing.

Yes, we Boyds are happy to announce that we are expanding our family. We are excited and looking forward to meeting the newest little member of our clan come Fall.

Grateful and happy,
The Boyds.

Something Different

Warning: If topics such as bird poop and/or toddler poop offend you this is your cue to move on to the next blog.

With that out of the way I'll start by saying that we potty trained Jake a year ago. He was just shy of two and a half. He didn't show any "signs" of readiness but I thought he was of an appropriate age and moreover I was ready as I'd ever be so I took the bull by the horns and much to my surprise Jake was trained before the week was out. He took to it really quickly and never looked back - to peeing that is. Poop was a whole other story. It took months, and when I say months I mean pretty well almost a whole other year before he built up the courage, or the maturity, or whatever it was he needed to build up before he confidently pooped in the toilet. Until then he waited to do his deed until he was safely tucked in bed at night with his pull up on. Around February I sat down with him at his little crafting table and we put together a sticker chart to motivate the pooping in the toilet.

There was about three stickers on it by the time he turned 3 in mid March. Maybe eight by April. Then in May something clicked in his body and brain and the stickers started flying onto the chart. By mid June we didn't even need the chart anymore, but I left it on the wall next to the toilet out of sentiment, or laziness, I'll never know which, and every once in a while Jake still likes to toss a sticker up there after a poop he's particularly proud of. Anyway, I thought I'd take a picture of it before I finally take it down because it goes very nicely with this next gem of a story I have for you.

And when I say story, I mean a story, written by Coral Vass. This book proudly sits in our child's library courtesy of Jake's fabulous Uncle Jon who visited Australia a few months ago and brought this home as a gift for my three year old. Ever since this hilarious, slightly graphic but a lesson in kindness nevertheless, book has become a favorite bedtime story around here. True, bird poop may seem a bit odd a topic for bed time but it brings a smile to all our faces every time we read it. It's funny, and there is a lesson in it about getting along, and being kind, and accepting differences - so it stays in the book shelf. And if you ever feel your child's library is in desperate need of a unique and fun Australian story then we Boyd's highly recommend this one. But remember, it requires an open and hardy sense of humor.

Go for it, try something different.

Stitches, Uncles and Gluten Free Cupcakes

Well, it's been a week of highs and lows. I prefer to get the lows over with if you don't mind.

Lows:

Picture this: Me walk/running behind my boy as he takes off down a path we've walked/run a million times before on his run bike. Us, pausing at a familiar slope in the path so Jake could have fun gliding down it over and over. Me giving him the "okay, this is the last one then we are going home!" warning, followed by Jake doing a header off his bicycle (yes he was wearing a helmet- thank goodness!) on said gravel path and ending up with six stitches - three on his forehead, and three on his chin. Over all he was a truly brave boy. Getting stitches, and worse yet freezing for those stitches, is not for the faint of heart, but while his dad had to sit down during the stitching part, and I held back the nausea, Jake lay brave and still (well, okay minus the freezing injections part) through our whole post accident walk-in clinic doctor's visit. I guess that's what a big yellow lollipop will buy you.

For the record he was equally brave and still when the stitches were taken out five days later - but again the Doc had lollipops and they talk louder than money to my boy.

I'd share the before photos but I don't want to gross anyone out, so here is the one-week-later photo.

He'll survive and only a few faint scars will remain to tell the tale of his first stitches. Of course those few scars had to be dead centre on his face, but I have mostly gotten over that. Mostly.

The incident certainly didn't stop him from going right on to do this a few days later:

I guess that's a good sign.

Moving on...

Highs:

Jake's uncle, whom we normally only see once a year because he lives kind of far away, stopped by overnight last weekend en route to a business trip. It was just our luck that said uncle happens to be the handiest man in the family and could conveniently help/do some home renos involving our crawl space in the back yard. He was basically here for about 24 hours but he accomplished much, including but not limited to making my boy very very happy. He loves himself his uncles.

Also a high, I made these:

It was nana's birthday and we were having a small surprise party for her at our place. It just so happened nearly half the people at the party (including the birthday girl) were either Gluten or wheat free, so I went to the library took out this and found this.

Just to say, and I am not tooting my own horn or anything, but they were delish. Kind of like two bite brownies but better because there are only four ingredients in them. Gluten free or not they are worth trying. And don't worry, they are meant to collapse away from the cupcake paper as soon as you take them out of the oven. My husband thought they were ruined when I first took them out looking perfect only to have them impale a few minutes later. Ha! what he didn't know his taste buds soon told him.

Final high:

You may have noticed that Jake got a buzz cut. To go with the stitches. He now looks like the guy from Prison Break - I'm just sayin'.

Our Boyd Summer Vacation

Right, so August beat me to it. This post has been pending since mid July and somehow I got caught up in this brilliant July we've been having and it sort of slid to the bottom of the priority list. Apologies.

Here it is now. We kicked off this summer with a down right perfect two week West Coast family getaway.

Behold: Bowen Island Boyd Family Summer Vacation 2013

We sat on the cabin porch every morning sipping coffee and watching sail boats idle by below us before we headed down to spend the day on the beach.

And we did this every -

single -

day.

We bought a dingy at Walmart. Best $20 we ever spent.

 The beauty of having a sociable three year old is that he makes friends everywhere he goes, which is nice when it means parents can lie against washed up beach logs drinking cold ones and relaxing while their littles entertain themselves.

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Besides the beach there was also many a fabulous barbecues on the porch,

Yes friends, those are indeed bacon wrapped sausages you see on the grill.

 Canada Day celebrations in at the local community field, where face painting occurred,

water balloon fights with visiting cousins,

and plenty sun stroke induced afternoon naps.

I love these guys.

Sometimes he's so big, and sometimes he's still just my baby.

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Ten days into our sun soaked vacation we switched things up by heading back to the mainland to visit Jake's great grandpa at his home in White Rock. There was still beaches, good food and company, but White Rock offers up one added bonus that Bowen doesn't have.

Wait for it....

It's coming....

Yep, that's right. Our great Gramps lives kiddie corner to some pretty well used railroad tracks, and Jake was in train heaven. This particular freight train had over 100 cars, and we admired each and every one of them.

I have to say, White Rock, BC, also delivers some pretty spectacular July sunsets too.

We even made it all the way to the border to take in the Peach Arch before we decided to turn back and head to vacation bliss:

Our good old Bowen beach.

That's a wrap friends. I'd say I'll post every day for the next seven days but I'm not up for that kind of challenge. I will post again before August ends though - this summer has earned it!