Still waiting for winter...

You know, given what snow-junkies Kohji and I are, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that soon after Kiyomi came into our lives, we were telling her about the wonderful winters she’ll get to experience in Canada. Not surpisingly, we told her about skiing in Gatineau Park, skating on the Canal, making snow angels and all the general merriment one gets to enjoy with the wonders of winter, especially over Christmas!

Well, it would seem this country has proven us to be liars. There is not even a centimeter of snow out there. Oh sure, there have been some hopeful signs – a couple days worth of precipitation. But it has been promptly snuffed out by 10 degree weather. Luckily, this did not serve to dim the Christmas fun. And in fact, I must admit, it made the Christmas travelling less stressful.

We started off in the Christmas mode by getting ourselves a great, big Christmas tree. We picked it out with Kiyomi in tow, strapped it to the car, and waited to see the wonder in her eyes when she saw a tree in the house. Well, we kinda forgot that actually, for a toddler, everything is so new and different, that something like a tree in the house can appear actually quite common place. Given her reaction, I am quite convinced that we have now taught our daughter that trees grow in houses, no biggie!

Our first seasonal merriment came when we headed down to London for the Miller-family Christmas. We started out well, until we hit the God forsaken land known as Toronto. Yup, we timed it perfectly. Not only did we hit rush hour traffic, we found ourselves a lovely little accident that backed up the 401 for 20 kilometers or so. The 6 hour trip took us nine, and every adult in the car was chomping at the bit to get out of the car. As for the toddler, well, she figured it was great cause she actually got to sit in the back with Katie (my cousin) and watch Buzz and Woody. How good is that?

Kiyomi didn’t quite get the hang of the present opening thing, but she sure got spoiled. In addition to a toy piano, she is now the proud owner of a Dora shopping cart, a sound effects barn and a myriad of other things that barely fit in our little Civic. While she didn’t quite catch on to present opening itself, she sure got the hang of the singing frogs. Here’s an image for you – a little toddler, sitting in a giant easy chair, directing a grown woman (my aunty Dawn) to make the frogs go on said toddler’s command. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the frog phenonemon, Kiyomi’s Nana has a collection of stuffed singing frogs, courtesy of Kiyomi’s Zufu. Some ribbit jingle bells, some just ribbit and one does a passable imitation of Louis Armstrong singing “Wonderful World”. This is one case, where a picture has to speak for me, cause it was priceless to watch.


Kiyomi really enjoyed spending time with Nana, Zufu, uncles Brahm and Tristan, my aunt Dawn and cousin Katie. Nana also took her for her first visit with Santa. As you’d expect, he wasn’t a big hit with her, but she did point at his nose and shout “DAAATTT!!” An added bonus of the London visit was that Kohji and I were actually able to catch a matinee. It was the first time I’d set foot in a movie theater in several months. Quite the treat! Needless to say, I made sure Cineplex Odeon took full advantage of me by buying a popcorn and a drink (no wonder I feel the need to run a little more often these days).

Returning to Ottawa, we had the Suzuki-family Christmas a few days later when Obaachan, Ojiichan, aunt Miyo, uncle Martin, and of course cousin Mika came for a visit. Kiyomi had a blast with Mika – who knew the landing on the stairs could provide hours of entertainment?! They tore around the place and were beside themselves with the Maru-Maru tent that Ojiichan and Obaachan got for Kiyomi. It came with dozens of little whiffle balls, which respond surprisingly well to toddler tosses. As a result, we’re still finding some whiffle balls lodged in some strange places.

We did get a wee bit of snow, so we were able to get out skiing a little bit. I guess the novelty of the baby glider has warn off on Kiyomi. The last time she was in it, she fell asleep. I also pulled it for the first time. I’ve determined that if I can do that regularly, I will be in awesome shape this winter. Nothing like skiing with 35 pounds of dead weight behind you to make your heart, and thighs, work.

New Year’s Day brought the traditional Oshyougatsu celebration. Part of the tradition involves getting dressed up for special breakfast and an annual picture. Kiyomi wore a dress that we had got for her in China, and looked radiant. She and Mika, herself looking absolutely splendid in a princess dress, possed for many pictures. I’m sure they were seeing stars by the end from the flashes. Now, I just have to figure out how to get spittle and apple juice stains out of silk…

In other news, Kiyomi has learned a few new words – “up” and “turtle” being her current favourites. But, a more stellar achievement is that she is now sleeping in her own room. Until last week, she’d been in our room, but we figured it was time. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be a gradual move as the crib doesn’t fit through any of our doorways. So far, naps are no problem, but she’s not comfortable in there at night, so we wind up having to sit with her until she falls asleep. Hopefully, this is only a temporary set back. Otherwise, I need to go get some more books to read while I’m in there.

The final shot for tonight lets you see Kiyomi's latest trick. Somewhere, she's picked up the habit of resting her head on her hands. Perhaps she's channeling Rodin's Thinker?