In spirit

Hey ladies,

I hear you'll be getting together for a night out tomorrow night and I just wanted to say that I will be thinking of you and communing with you all in spirit! I thought I'd take a moment to jot down a few little snippets that I would no doubt have shared if I could have been there to join you.

• You may have been following the tutu saga on Facebook. Little a. insists on wearing it some days and forgets about it entirely on others. Her aunt very kindly sent along a beautiful purple tutu, quite a bit bigger in order to avoid any quarrels between little a. and her tutu-loving friend E. So far, no interest on the part of little a. I bet it will take E. wanting to try it on to make this beautiful new tutu an appealing option for her.

• I think little a. is starting to say "I want..." which seems quite linguistically advanced to me. Unfortunately it is inevitably followed by babble, so I don't usually understand what she is actually hankering after.
  

• We've gotten into a pretty good rhythm during the week of going out in the morning, coming home for lunch and then a nice two-hour nap. When we lived in Montreal, I didn't feel the need to get out of the house so much, but these days, it seems like days go much more smoothly if we do. Fortunately, there are a plethora of different activities and drop-ins for us to choose from, as well as a very welcoming library with play area in the neighbourhood. Anyone else find that at this age, getting out of the house is a must?

I'm sure I could ramble on and on, but the most important thing to say is simply this: "I miss you guys!" Don't get me wrong: it's great to be out here and catch up with family and old friends (and escape winter for the most part) but I sorely miss our little circle of moms. I'm sure I will manage to create a similar network with time, but I have yet to really connect with any other moms of toddlers right about the same age of little a... so I am so glad that we continue to share our stories online.

Have a blast tomorrow night, my friends. You deserve it!!

Mamas' Coffee Night

I just wanted to post quickly to share something really simple with all of you. So simple I can't believe we haven't been doing it ourselves.

A friend invited me to join her and some of her other mom friends for 'Mamas' Coffee Night' last night, something they do every couple of weeks on a Sunday or Monday. We met at 7:30, once all the kidlets were in bed, at a mutually convenient coffee shop, got ourselves drinks and treats, and sat and talked, and talked, and talked... until they kicked us out at 10:00! It was so fun and such a great way to pick each others' brains about different issues and share stories. It made me wish we had organized such a regular get together while I was still in the neighbourhood with all of you.... but alas! So I offer the idea to you, and hope you will run with it, because I can already tell that it's something that will be good for my mental health and my parenting.