The past week saw the kids gain much more confidence at school. Logan will agree to wanting a song now, and he will nod when Ullu Ullu Ulluriia (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star) is suggested. And he happily participates in all the songs, singing quite loudly and loving all the actions that go with them! Liam has been answering Inuktitut questions ("How are you?" "What did you do yesterday?") in English, which is a start. They are both getting good at the days of the week, and I'm not doing so poorly either.
Yesterday, while the kids were playing with dress up clothes, the ladies came and got me to go play dice games with them. Hooray for me! I didn't win (that's okay, really!) but had lots of fun and laughs. And they were kind enough to let me name body parts in English, lol!
Today was the Terry Fox Run in town. The school, daycare, and preschool all participated, and it seemed like most of the town must have been out. Logan saw "My friend teacher," so he was happy. That would be the teacher that he relents to allow her to wash his hands, go get a library book, line up. The things that he just loves to say "No" to me about because he is... well... 2. It's just so much less tedious if he goes with her! And a good sign for January, when he can be in class by himself.
The walk was from the school, in the middle of town, down to our place, back up the road along the beach and all the way out to the giant rock on the way to the airport, then back to the school. We took the stroller for Logan, but Liam walked the whole way. I was planning on taking his bike, but at the last minute I had visions of me trying to get a stroller, a bike, and a boy all the way home. He was pretty tired by the time we got out to the rock, but he had lots of company to keep him motivated.
I wish I would have taken the camera. You could have seen him sitting on a smaller rock beside the giant one, holding court. He was able to break away long enough to have some of the juice the firefighters had set out. Then it was back to town. Liam played tag.... okay, it was more like chasing whichever kid was wanting to be chased... but it kept him moving and limited the number of "I'm tired" and "Where is our house?" complaints. Logan got pushed by 4 or 5 people at a time, and eventually fell asleep with all the gentle bumping along the road in the stroller. I kept count, and the most people in our entourage at one time was 14. Two little kids walked back the whole way, each with a hand on the stroller, "helping" me. And their mothers tried to take them away and they screamed. I didn't mind, and really, the faster Liam ran, the faster the whole crowd went. So the moms should have been happy!
It was a good walk. The kids did very well. I find it exhausting, though, having so many people... around us the whole time. The whole time is answering questions, keeping an eye on the kids, whether they are being "handled" too much (the local kids love to touch their hair, pick them up, hug them, etc. and sometimes the line has to be drawn), rescuing them, keeping them going. Once we got back to the school, all three of us were definitely ready to go home and have some hot chocolate!
