Darwyn Perry

Grandpa John stopped by just before Christmas.  After dinner and a few presents, Grandpa and Darwyn were playing hide and seek.  Apparently, Grandpa cheats so…

No Peeking While Counting!

Matching Remote Control Cars from Santa and a hideous metal sign that somehow found it’s way to my basement – I need a girl!

Matching Remote Control Cars from Santa

You're not hanging that up are you?

It’s hard to put into words, but this picture explains why I have fallen in love with being a mom.  This was taken a couple weeks ago at Darwyn’s Preschool 2 Christmas concert.  All the kids were taking turns – they had the 12 days of Christmas and each had a day and would come out, put their item on the tree and then sing their line.  As soon as Darwyn walked out on stage, beaming with pride, he made direct eye contact with me in the crowd, waved and said “Hi Mom, look at me!”.  Not only was I proud of how well he did, but I couldn’t help but feel like the most important person in the world.  For him to want to seek me out, to see that huge smile and that totally unselfconscious wave and shout out – it’s a moment I’ll always treasure.  When someday he shys away from being associated with his mom, I’ll have this to remember and look back on!

On another note, he sang the entire song word for word (new lyrics the teachers had made up) and we could hear his cute little voice above all the others especially each time they came to “in a little pine tree”.  Glad the Grandma’s were there to experience it with us.  Kudos to his preschool teachers for putting so much time and effort into this with the kids.

Love you buddy,

Mom

Uh…New Year’s Resolution #1 – update the blog…and what better way?  One of my favourite moments over the holidays.  Darwyn and I were in the kitchen, me cooking and him helping (when convenient).  However, he suddenly ran to grab a pencil and pad of paper and started asking how to spell out certain words.  Carefully constructing a note on a post it, he then proceeded to try and post it on one of the cats who was peacefully curled up on the couch.

Me: “What’s going on buddy?”

Darwyn: “The cats have mean eyes today – I’m scared they may hurt me!”

Me: “Well, I’m sure the note will help.  They both read very well.”

Have to encourage any excuse to practice his letters right?  And I’m happy to report that the message seemed to work, despite their mean eyes – Darwyn escaped the day unscathed.

#1) You’re watching the Labour Day Classic and every time the commentator mentions “Henry Burris” Darwyn exclaims “Angry Birds!  What the…why is he saying Angry Birds?”

#2) You suggest reading a longer story book and Darwyn decides that is simply not possible – “No mom, it’s too hard.  You haven’t unlocked that level yet.”

#3)  The Super Mario Halloween costume wins out over the Fireman costume that came equipped with glow in the dark patches, a hat, gloves and an axe!

#4) You try to go grocery shopping on your own and you’re walking up and down the isles singing “Riding on a Pig Baby Monkey” even though there is no kid or i-touch in site.

#5) You try to make a call on your cell phone and your phone icon has been replaced with a folder your child created containing nothing but games (and you don’t know how to get it back till you pick up your kid from preschool and he shows you how to rearrange it)

Finally – you know your kid is getting too many video games when you know that this is not the last blog post you are going to write with this subject line (in fact, I could probably make it a regular feature of the site!)

It’s Summertime and while Darwyn actually turned 4 in June, this is already shaping up to be a summer of firsts.  With the great weather we have been able to get out and try a few new things.  Check out the new bike.  We had him on a little tricycle last summer, and he has been using it again this year but just the other night he really grasped the concept and took off without any help from Dad.  So – we decided it was time to get him one that was a bit more his size  and that would still work when we decide to take the training wheels off!  He is crazy tall for a 4 year old (people keep asking us what grade he is in!) and between the new bike and his stubborn streak of wanting to ride on his own – we couldn’t believe how grown up he seemed last night.

New Bike

Not to mention our first concert together a couple weeks ago and I’m happy to say we were able to stay away from the odd world of kid’s music.  Instead, a concert in Banff National Park with Great Big Sea!  It was a very cool mommy and Darwyn adventure – one I will remember for always.

Great Big Sea

Next weekend?  First camping trip!  Darwyn is pretty excited to use all the camping stuff we bought him for his birthday.  While I’m not so looking forward to sleeping on the ground…I am excited to share this experience with him.  Very cool to have this little man in our lives and to help him experience new things.

Looking through pictures and missing Grandpa Guy today.  We’ll have a drink for you tonight at Willow and tell Darwyn stories of his Grandpa!

Love,

Ryan, Kim and Darwyn

Darwyn: ” Why did the chicken go to the other park?”

Me: “I don’t know buddy – why did the chicken go to the other park?”

Darwyn: “To go on the OTHER SLIDE!”

Chicken Going to the Other Slide

Darwyn: “Why did the rainbow fall out of the sky?

Me: “Oh poor rainbow – I don’t know – why?”

Darwyn: “Because it melted into the pot at the end!”

Melting Rainbow!

All above are trade marked in the off chance that they are Darwyn Perry originals.  Feel free however, to amaze your dinner guests at your next party with the sophisticated humour of these works of art.

As we were driving to Darwyn’s cousin’s birthday party today we were trying to keep a constant stream of chatter going as we were only 5 minutes from our destination, but Darwyn was dangerously close to falling asleep.  You know what they say about never waking a sleeping baby – it’s even worse with a three year old!

“Hey Darwyn, who would you like to invite to your birthday party this year?” I asked, hoping to keep his interest.

“Jorga and Tegan and Will and Kieran and Divya and oh…remember Jack that I went skating with and we threw snowballs?  Yeah – Jack too.”

Then Dad made a fatal mistake:  Continue Reading »

I know it’s been awhile.  Trust us, it isn’t because Darwyn hasn’t been giving us material!  We’re working through some things as a family recently but hopefully looking to post a bit more frequently!  This is not only a great way to keep friends and family up to date with our little man’s antics, but a great record and memory book for us as well (there have already been more than a few times we have had to look back to a date to see when Darwyn hit a particular milestone).

We have Darwyn in a fantastic DayCare that runs an accredited preschool program, which is a lifesaver for families where mom and dad are both working and not available to shuttle back and forth from preschool.  We are very happy with the quality and they run a number of enriched programming with the kids.  The most recent – a dance class at a nearby school they can walk too.  Darwyn had his first class the other day, so Ryan and I were really anxious to hear how it went and started a barrage of questions.  For once Darwyn patiently answered most of them and we learned a plethora of info about his world away from home.  Usually, our question and answer period about his day yields little more than “I don’t remember” so this was one for the records:

Continue Reading »