Life is Good

That's the name of the unschooling conference that graces Vancouver each year. Last year we signed up... but had just moved and ended up skipping the festivities. Didn't bother to sign up this year (more moving...) but the Little Man decided Saturday morning that he'd like to dip his toes into the local social options :) Off we went!

As he sat (under a chair) upon arrival, he explained to me that he feels really uncomfortable arriving places with lots of people. He used Aunt Marielle's house as an example. He knows he loves it there, knows he loves seeing Grandpapa and the fam... but he prefers to hide in the basement a bit at first. (Hating to admit this quirk came straight from my egg...).

So he concocted some master plan (which was secret, as his always private personality has grown even more so during this seventh year), and held my hand as he walked around. He found a friend at a Funshop and muttered something about how his plan was fast forwarding nicely :)

By the end of the second day, the kid had had a ball. Made (many) wands at an Ollivander's Funshop. Made a bracelet at a carnival. Made some wings with pantyhose. Made some big burps (ok, leeeetle burps, but he tried;) at a burping Funshop. Made a new BFF (actually, an old toddler-hood friend from Brooklyn!). Made castles from cups. Long story short, when E and I had seen his struggle and been happy to head home (conferences not being our favorite thing;) he had made the decision to persevere. To make friends and fun. And he did.

E and I, following in his wake, his example, actually reconnected with a couple of friends and had a lovely time of it too. Little Miss was less impressed. Nowhere safe for such a tiny baby to roam, she suffered almost constant carrying right when she wants to work on her walk. But she suffered it sweetly :). And with our new Roadtrip Sanity Savers in place (that'd be jazz music. She Freakin Loves Jazz. Funniest thing I've ever seen. Jazz and a bag of toys for P to dole out preemptively at each squawk seems to save the day...) we actually made it over the river and back without (anyone's) tears. Now, if we could just get our old Brooklyn buds (aka:new BFF) who now live in Berkeley to move to Portland, the Little Man's holiday weekend would be complete:)

Pics in some random phone-blogged order...

P and BFF building with cups (perfect example of P in action. Looking for ways to connect, he looks for games with whatever is at hand and then invites the object of his affection to join in such a sweetly excited way, he rarely gets turned down ;)

Pillow fight!

Peaches, all dolled up and ready for her first conference. But first, she has to eat her shoe...