Dear Nathan,

This Thursday, you turn twenty-nine months old. i cannot even begin to tell you what an amazing month this has been. There hasn’t been just one grand moment that has made this last month so special; it’s been more of a combination of perfect, inconsequential little things, tied together nicely with baker’s twine. The adage remains very true, about good things & small packages.

You’ve discovered your sister’s stash of bling & fantastic accessories. She is delighted with this, of course. Now she has a partner in crime, as you both embrace a lifestyle of flamboyant excess & wear Elton John sunglasses or the Mr. T collection of sparkling necklaces. You will ask to wear her headbands, rubber bands, nail polish & rainbow belts, but like any guy completely secure in his masculinity, you stuff your comb in the elastic waistband of your shorts.

You’ve picked up a few expressions this month that kinda have our blood boiling. By far the most annoying one is “bébé lala,” which is your response to everything when you don’t get your way. Sometimes, this is interchanged with “pow pow!” & a very hairy eyeball. i do not like your reactions, & i hate even more how angry & powerless they make me feel. Any reaction on my part won’t be the right reaction. If only you had picked up these idioms from us, it’d be far easier to handle. But these are expressions you borrowed from your friends at daycare, over which we have no control, & bottom-line, we kinda like being in control of how we raise you.

Guess who’s potty-trained? Butt. Kicked! You’ve been clean for more than a week now, & it has changed our LIVES. We’ve already gotten rid of the diaper pail, & i am real anxious to throw those changing mats away. True, we’re keeping the diapers around for your nap & bedtimes, but we’re taking it bird by bird.

We are still parents of a kid who jumps around everywhere, & this remains uncomfortably new to us. Your sister has always been a pretty low-energy child, & so our experience as parents has been markedly different this time around. Now you’ve learned how to hop on one foot. These are bragging rights, by the way. Most kids hop on one foot around age three. You know what this means, right? Upcoming silver trophy for Hopscotch Champion Of The World. We are already making room for it.

You know the names of your four fingers (& opposable thumb!). In English, this isn’t a big deal, the names are easy to pronounce & remember. But in FRENCH, this is a whole other story: “index, majeur, annulaire,” & your favourite, “au-rrrrri-culaire.” Too bad toes are anonymous.

So this twenty-month old Nathan, what’s his like or dislike list? You unequivocally hate: eggs, couscous, pooping on the toilet, cooked zucchini, wolves, white cranberry juice, Mike the Knight, & dried prunes. You are fond of: puzzles, cereals, your stuffed cat & dog, vanilla soy milk, Mike & Sully, colouring & music.

You told me your first joke the other day. You were playing with a magnetic puzzle on the fridge, & then you started humming, which turned to making farting sounds with your mouth.

You promptly stopped, did the farting sound again, & laughed.

“Quoi ?” i asked, grinning.

You giggled, & said, “Le casse-tête fait des pets !”

i’ve never laughed so hard or been more aware that there is nothing in life more wonderful than this, you, my youngest, my favourite son.

Love,
Mum

We’ve had a couple of potties hanging around the bathrooms in this house for a very long time, namely because they work as footstools when the kids need to reach for something (or the stars, too). For Nathan, these potties weren’t necessarily enticing. He’s tried them, occasionally. He’s flirted with them, banged them around, & being the Nathan that he is (who else would he be), he’s also taken them apart.

We bought underwear for him sometime last Fall. We tried a few times to get him to use the potty, or sit on the john – but no dice. He would throw us a winning smile, & just hop off.

Until this weekend, that is.

It’s cold in January. On the really cold days, when it’s so cold you have to open the fridge to heat the house, we don’t really feel like playing outside. So we more or less went for attempt #3 at potty training Nathan Saturday morning. Our weekend activity, if you will. It did not go well. He wet himself, his seven pairs of underwear, his socks – traipsed wet footprints across the floor, & evil laughed in the face of it all.

How we decided to go another round of this on Sunday, i DO NOT KNOW. But we did. Good thing, too. Because on Sunday, he wet his underwear ONCE, & peed on the toilet for the remainder of the whole day, right until the very last two minutes before going to bed.

And then, the rest is almost history. He wore, & is wearing, his underwear to the sitter’s, & has only had a few accidents in three days. So i guess, once again, we’re officially starting potty training! Naps & bedtimes mean diapers, of course, but the rest of the time, Nathan is sporting his tiny buns in very teeny underwear.

There might be hiccups down the road, & i am desperately trying not to jinx it nor think the worst, but right now, this is a pretty good place to be with Nathan. One more sign that he’s growing up in a blink of an eye.

i have some pretty crazy news. Last summer, i submitted a text in a call for papers initiated by the City of Val-d’Or’s cultural services department, who wished to put together a book of local literary talent. The excitement i experienced at sending off a poem was not unlike what i imagine it would feel to leap off of a building butt-naked.

Earlier this week i got THE call. The one where they tell you that they loved your piece, that the poem would be published, & wouldn’t i come to the meeting to review the selected works of peer authors?

i felt both giddy & apprehensive. The thought of seeing my work in print was aphrodisiac, to say the least. But being part of a collective of authors, professional or not, & sitting down to not only chew the fat but dissect it, then swallow it whole? No. This was one of the reasons i chose not follow through with my Master’s. i love literature & can argue with the best of them, but i don’t like finding myself in contemporary circles. Something about how the artist is never appreciated in her own time, i imagine.

Still, i mustered up the courage (yes, it took some courage; the older i get, the more chicken-shit i find myself becoming) & found myself amid a small group of authors whose works had equally been selected, in the basement of the library, with nothing to my name except for a few publications in some literary journals in college & university, & a wooden IKEA pencil in my purse.

The evening was, surprisingly, better than i had anticipated. We were given the details of the publication process, copyrights, fees (yes! i will get a small sum of cash for my words!), name of the anthology & tentative release date. We talked about ourselves, a free-form author bio if you will, our work, & how we envisionned the outcome of this collective.

i was singled out, at one point. You see, not only was i one of those “unknown” in the small circle of published authors, but i was also the only one who had submitted a text written in English. Obviously, the book will be entirely in French, save for my poem. Cheerfully, everyone applauded the committee for having not only selected an English text, but having unanimously selected a praiseworthy one. & at that, my cheeks were flustered & i died (happily) within.

i’ll post more official details when i’ve been given the red light. In the meantime, you can expect to see my name to this collaboration on some distant shelves this spring!

January, so far, has been a month of playing in the snow. This morning, for instance, the four of us trekked to an area of town where toboggans & sleds collide, figuratively. The site offers one, big slope of sliding fun. We had the best intentions of going during the Christmas season, but going today was not by all means any less special.

The kids had a blast – especially Sandrine, who is at that age now where little risks seem more thrilling than ever. She itched to go straight to the top, & we let her, of course. No freaking out, no screaming hysterically like her mum – just a big, fat grin plastered to her face, hidden beneath her scarf.

The littlest, on the other hand, & surprisingly, should i add, had a few great runs, but after a while, he opted to go to the nearby park for the swings. Still, he’s a great sledder, & had a swell time.

(i really tried to remember the last time i had gone sledding, & if i’m not mistaken, i think it dates back to almost twenty years ago. Jen, you’ll have to help me with this one – i think we had spent New Year’s Eve in a bar in St-Tite with some of your friends & had decided to go sledding the day after with that same gang. Anyhow, one way or another, my sliding days were long overdue.)

We topped off the activity by heading to the car afterwards & drowning our happiness in hot beverages we had brought along – hot chocolate, & black coffee. This activity will definitely be worth repeating!

There is this thing, about music. It can make your insides smile. Or totally fall apart. It can help you fall in love. Or out of it.

A few months ago Francis & i were watching this show from Radio-Canada called “En direct de l’univers,” which recaps in songs the life of a specific artist. The guests fill out a questionnaire about their musical tastes so that other artists can perform the songs that have made a difference in their lives.

We thought it’d be interesting to think about the music that has graced our own lives. So we asked ourselves some questions, & then answered them separately. It was such a challenge. There are so many more songs & artists i wanted to list, so many more emotions i’ve gone through that i wanted to address. They will have to wait, for another time, i hope. When i see what we’ve answered, it makes me realize that we influence each other greatly in that time & space when we came together.

1. The song that has the most beautiful lyrics
Kathleen: Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Francis: Death Cab for Cutie – I Will Follow You Into The Dark

2. As a teenager, you couldn’t stop listening to …
Kathleen: Bon Jovi – I’ll Be There For You
Francis: Smashing Pumpkins – Tonight, Tonight

3. Favourite song from a musical comedy
Kathleen: Grease – Summer Lovin’
Francis: Grease – Summer Lovin’

4. Song that describes the love of your life
Kathleen: Cranberries – Dreaming My Dreams
Francis: Sigur Ros – Untitled 4

5. Song that reminds you of your first trip
Kathleen: U2 – Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of
Francis: Jean Leloup – 1990

6. Number one hit from one of your favourite songwriters
Kathleen: Fourth Time Around – Bob Dylan
Francis: Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright – Bob Dylan

7. Song that has touched you
Kathleen: Canon de Pachelbel
Francis: Rise Against – Make It Stop (September’s Children)

8. For laughs & hoots
Kathleen: Flight Of The Conchords – The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room
Francis: Flight Of The Conchords – Business Time

9. Song that reminds you of good times with friends
Kathleen: Chantal Kreviazuk – Leaving On A Jet Plane
Francis: Star Wars Theme

10. Song that just stays in your head after you’ve heard it
Kathleen: ABBA – Take A Chance
Francis: Patrick Zabbé – Agadou

11. Number one hit from the artist of your youth
Kathleen: Cyndi Lauper – Time After Time
Francis: Bryan Adams – Everything I Do I Do It For You

12. Number one hit from the artist you would have liked to meet
Kathleen: Johnny Cash – Walk The Line
Francis: U2 – Beautiful Day

13. Song tied to your college/university days
Kathleen: Spirit Of The West – Political/ The Beatles – Help
Francis: Satanic Surfers – Soothing

14. Songs that remind you of your children
Kathleen:
Death Cab For Cutie – I’ll Follow You Into The Dark (Nathan);
Dixie Chicks – Lullaby (Sandrine)
Francis:
Parry Gripp – Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom (Nathan);
Sesame Street – Doo Wop Hop (Sandrine)

If you decide to do something similar, i would love to read your answers.