Dancing Fool

Maren is super into music and dancing these days. This past week there was an arts festival in our neighborhood that involved multiple different opportunities for seeing live music outdoors. Maren absolutely loved it. On Monday she got to ride in a bike trailer behind Jeff for the first time as we went the six or eight blocks to the park where music was happening that day. She refused to take off her bike helmet, and just kept dancing in her toddler way helmet and all.

Another video from the same day:

On Saturday we spent some time in the morning at a street fair that was just a few blocks up from our house, and Maren saw bagpipes and drums for the first time. She was totally enthralled. Later in the afternoon we went to a kids stage, and she heard fiddle music for the first time. She basically did not stop dancing for their entire set :-)

Still unpacking

We have now been living in our new house for a month. We continue to be more and more settled, but it still seems like every extra minute is spent unpacking. There are just a few boxes left to unpack, but all our pictures are still packed up, and deciding where to put things on the walls is going to be a huge job.

The weather has been nice, and we have been enjoying our new neighbourhood. We have been out for "walks," which include me taking my trike or my mobility scooter, and we have been to three different playgrounds in walking distance so far. We are loving living here, even if we haven't really gotten to relax yet since moving.

The bad news is that our old house hasn't sold yet. But it will eventually. It is a little bit stressful, but I am sure things will come together.

Maren continues to do well. She must be having a growth spurt, because she is sleeping a ton. At night she sleeps 12-13 hours straight, and naps for about an hour to an hour and a half. Although toddler life can be hard, she is in many ways about as easy as they come. And it is hilarious hearing her talk and even make jokes these days. For example today she said "Hickory dickory... Daddy! Hickory dickory... Mommy!," etc. We love life with our little kiddo :)

Hippopopamus

 We are continuing to slowly make progress on getting settled.  Earlier this week, for the first time since we moved, the kitchen counter was clear (if only briefly). We have finally installed a baby gate at the top of the stairs, which has proved to be more difficult than it should have been.  It seems like  things are always more complicated and always take more time than we plan for.  But it is definitely feeling more like home here, and most of what is left is low priority from a functional standpoint and will get done eventually :-)

 The weather here has been exceptionally nice. Yesterday and the day before it got up to about 30°C/85°F.   Yesterday and today we barbecued -  yesterday with three other families  that we are friends with, and today for the first time in our own backyard.  It is supposed to cool off but still be quite nice. Summer has finally begun :-)

And no blog post would be complete without a video of Maren:

Stair chair

We are settling into the new house, but are not really settled. The kitchen is fairly functional, and  really our day-to-day stuff is fairly functional, but there are still many boxes to unpack. The most exciting development for me this week was the installation of the stair chair lift.  I can now move freely from upstairs to downstairs and back again without completely tiring myself out.  Maren loves the stair chair, and wants to ride it up and down the stairs often (sitting on my lap of course). Here  is a video of the chair in action: 

 And because I can't help it, a video of Maren :-) 

New house

 We moved!  Things are in a bit of disarray, but fortunately Maren has been very happy. She loves the new house, so much that when I said yesterday that we were going home after a shopping trip she said "No! No home!  New house!"  I had to explain to her that the new house is home.  Just before we moved all of our furniture she spent some time exploring at the new house, and was totally delighted. Here is proof:

 Of course there is some adjusting to do – she has had a little bit of trouble falling asleep in her new room, and has been super tired. But I think overall things are going really well :-)