Raya's love of spicy pepperoni pizza is unusual in a 3
year old. The other day, Viki prepared toast and jam for Raya.
Viki said to me that she thought perhaps Raya had never had this
before. Raya took a couple of bites without a reaction and then
suddenly held up the toast and said, "Gramma, I don't want this
pizza."
Marika went into the hospital with pain in her joints that
originally started out in her wrists. When Raya and I arrived at the
hospital to see her, she ran aheade through the
halls of the hospital and I couldn't resist running along behind as we
traveled hallways that were like caverns in a video game. Finally
the calls from Viki echoing through the caverns convinced us to turn
around.
Viki and I make an unexpected trip to the Queen
Charlotte Islands to visit Kathryn in the hospital there.
March 3 Trip to the Beach
Raya stayed over night and near noon the next day, I had
the honour of taking her to the beach- just the two of us. We parked
at Clover Point and walked down to the gravelly beach. On the way
she collected the maximum amount of rocks she could hold. The
location is very protected, so it's like being at a lake and you can get
very close to the water. Raya loves to throw rocks and she did so
for about an hour. After throwing her rocks, she
wouldn't pick more from underfoot, but would stumble up the embankment of
gravel to a preferred location and then trek back. She would offer
me an opportunity to choose from the rocks in each of her hands, but
whenever I chose the smaller rock, the choice was disallowed. She
also kept repeating, "now it's my turn", threw a rock, said
"now it's your turn" and waited for me to do the same.
At one point I complained that my hands were freezing in
the cool air and damp rocks. She said she would take care of that,
grabbed my hands and blew on them. Next she discovered sea weed and
decided these were fishing poles. She gave me one too and then we
both inched up to the water until we both could hold our "poles"
so they were touching the water surface. I kept losing my pole and
she kept getting me a new one and asking me to "fish".
After nearly an hour, I convinced her to leave. She
insisted on climbing up the stone blocks without any assistance.
When she got to the walkway at the top, she ran full out halfway back to
the car and had me gasping. We came across a very deep puddle that I
had insisted she avoid on the way down. Upon our return, I
incorrectly assumed that enough instruction had been given about this -
she walked straight into it ankle deep.
When we got near the car, there were sea gulls nestling on
the grass. She held out her hands to pick them up, but they kept
standing up and walking away. She was very disappointed and laid
down on the damp grass to sulk. I looked down at her and no words
were exchanged. She quickly got back up and we headed back to the
car.
When I had her strapped into her car seat in the back, she
asked me if I would ride in the back with her. It was one of my most
special times with Raya. It's interesting to realize that since she
won't have memories from this time in her life, I'm the only one who gets
to carry this moment forward, which probably explains why I have so much
to say about one hour of my life.
Raya
fell face first off a bench she was sitting on at daycare. She
landed on her nose. They were unable to contact her parents, so
Grandpa was the first to arrive at the scene. Raya was sitting in a
chair beside the admin assistant in the head office waiting to be
rescued. Her back was to the door. When I came in, she turned
around and looked at me with her badly bruised face. Her eyes
swelled with tears and she sobbed, "I got an owie."
Raya
is so cute in her bathrobe that she wears when she heads to our swimming
pool. The blue belt for the robe is used to hold open our curtains
and as soon as we say we're going swimming, she runs to get the
belt. But by the time we are ready to go, she's fully absorbed in
playing with my collection of rocks and knickknacks. She also loves
to give me great big kisses - top rate mush facers.
October
Kathryn gets ill and ends up in hospital but recovers
quickly.
This year Raya went treating as a Lady Bug. The
first house I took her to, she climbed up a long set of steps and I
convinced her to step forward, knowck and say trick or treat. I was
worried that she would back up and fall down the steps, so I began to
advance the last 5 steps to her. At that moment, a woman dressed in
a complete mouse costume opened the door. Raya turned around quickly
and jumped off the top step into my arms. I laughed and carried her
up to the woman, who had taken off her mask. The following
conversation ensued:
"Why are you dressed as a mouse?" asked Raya.
"Why are you dressed as a Ladybug?" asked the woman.
"Why are you dressed as a mouse?" asked Raya.
"Why are you dressed as a Ladybug?" asked the woman.
Raya took a treat, said thank you and happy halloween. She told us
she wasn't scared, but she wouldn't stand by herself at any doors for the
rest of the night.
November 20
Aubriana Karolyn Mitchell is born to Kari and Robert
Mitchell.
Raya Talking
Raya is 4 now, but can't say her "L's" or
"R's". She received some sparkly shoes that she loved very
much. She calls them "spokwe" and if you say "spokwe"
she will say "No, spokwe" as she can hear the difference even
though she can't say it. One day I asked her if she could say,
" R - rrrr, rrr, rrr." She said, "No grandpa, that's
what tigers say - you will scare people"
New Years
For New Year's Eve we had Marika, Drew and Raya over for a
wonderful time. Viki bought a movie, but was unable to watch it, as
she played with Raya. Raya had a Kinder Toy that was a big fish that
chased a little fish around the room until it swallowed the little one
up. Quite an ingenious toy to fit in an egg, plus it kept on working
all night long. Later Viki, Raya and I went for a swim. Raya
wore her new pink bathrobe and pink slippers. She is fearless in the
pool. She kept jumping in over her head and relying on us to save
her.
"You saved me," she'd say.
"Be careful, it's over your head," Viki replied.
"I would dive," said Raya confidently.
She kept on jumping off the steps, jumping off the edge of the pool,
kicking and also doing ballet moves where she would extend one leg up in
the air. When it came time to leave, her antics continued. She
came into the men's change room and headed to the shower to go to the
bathroom. I finally convinced her to use the toilet instead and she
locked herself in. When she was done, I checked over the stall edge
and she was cleaning the toilet seat with toilet paper. I asked her
to stop, but to no avail. As she cleaned, her hair dripped on the
seat and her need to clean kept getting extended. Eventually she was
ready to leave, but to my surprise the naked little girl slid on her belly
across the tile floor and under the locked stall door. In a flash
she was gone.
At the pool side, I wrapped her in a towel and carried her
back to our suite. She made cuddling noises and gave me kisses all
the way back.
Marika, Drew, Viki and I then played poker while Raya
watched Finding Nemo. It was my first win a poker. By 10:30 everyone
was beat and the visitors headed home. The best New Years I can
remember.
