For all the routine and consistency that Glen Lake has in her life, yet another whirlwind trip got us talking about how she is also very familiar with the concept of goodbye.

My Dad came to visit in July to help with ordinary life since I was on limited activity. It is a big trip and I couldn’t have been more grateful, yet I know that if I found myself living on the opposite side of the world from Glen Lake, as I do from my parents, that I would do the same. We all struggle with this distance … it’s the kind of distance that crosses time zones and cultures. There is comfort that comes with being a drive or short flight away. It is gut-wrenching, by contrast, to be a few days and a few thousand dollars away from a family emergency, for example. There is distance … and then there is distance of the tyrannical kind.

When my Dad left, we had yet another traumatic airport farewell. I didn’t actually get to wave goodbye as he disappeared down the escalator because a sympathetic lady noticed the miserable pregnant woman standing with a small child in a large airport and struck up a conversation. It went something like, Her: “It’s okay, he’ll be back. Where is he going?” Me: “That’s my Dad. He lives in Australia.” Her: “Oh. OH.”

I was still upset in the car, and Glen Lake asked what was wrong. She said “Are you crying Mummy?” I told her yes and she said “Are you sad for Granddad?” I said yes again, and she said “Ohhh I’m sad too.” She gave me her pigeon and said “Just put your thumb in your mouth and hold Boo.” He is quite the friend.

Since then, another good friend who lives here returned to Australia for an extended holiday. We had lunch before she left and farewelled her. We saw another close friend a few times in the lead-up to his permanent return to Australia. Thankfully, as he departed, the other friend returned, offering a considerable distraction. Another friend, also Australian, came to visit from Croatia, our lifeguard, who Glen Lake grew to love, returned to Serbia, and then we had this recent visit that prompted me to think that Glen Lake likely sees Australia as a giant vacuum.

It’s okay, because it’s life, and because kids are adaptable. But even when you’re two, you get that sometimes goodbyes require some extra comfort from your favourite Boo.

When I was pregnant with Glen Lake, we went to London and Paris. I was sick a lot of the time, but we walked and ate and visited museums and galleries. We walked for miles – sometimes in search of food and restrooms – and we left feeling tired but content to have seen all that we did of cheery (despite gloomy-skied) London and beautiful (despite rainy) Paris. We also bought Lapin, Glen Lake’s blue bunny, from a French baby boutique. It was the first thing we ever bought her.

The reason for the trip to Canada, though, was to celebrate our friends’ wedding.  We were excited to be able to see two wonderful people get married in such a gorgeous setting. Glen Lake was excited because we were, and … well, because Canada has moose.

It also meant that Vancouver and Banff would be our first adventure for our newest family member. Of course, planning anything specific that involves pregnancies or babies is about as useful as planning for, say, a hurricane in DC. You can buy all the bottled water you like, but you might still get an earthquake you didn’t see coming.

In late May we spent a day in the emergency room that landed me on modified bed rest. It meant no exercise, no lifting and certainly no travel. In fact, my doctor said “I mean, you can go outside … you just can’t walk anywhere.” Canada was immediately off the agenda, but by far the most difficult part was being restricted from my usual, very active days with Glen Lake.

Still, we worked around the restrictions and, while I gradually did a lot more than was prescribed out of necessity – logistical or emotional, with help, we definitely all adapted.

With plane tickets and hotel rooms cancelled, Greg used his already-scheduled time off for a very different vacation at home. We spent a lot of time by the pool and did a few things locally, but mostly we just enjoyed the time together.

After getting lots of practice during many trips to the park, Glen Lake was delighted to visit an old friend at an Ambassador’s Residence with the biggest garden she has seen. She was happily picking tiny flowers as she usually does, when she made a beeline for the daffodils at the bottom of the huge expanse of grass. We chased her, but she was going so fast that it was the slope of the lawn that eventually stopped her as she tumbled down. She said she REALLY wanted a yellow one, and our friend generously said she could have just one.

Glen Lake still makes us laugh daily. Back when our trips to the park were more frequent and Glen Lake woke up asking to go, we were driving and Glen Lake said to me “I no go park Mummy. I’m tired. I just go home.” To which I said “really?” and she said “Nooooooo! I’m kidding.”

We have had scorching temperatures of late, although sometimes Glen Lake wakes up and says (in our air-conditioned home, with a fan airing her room) “ohhh, not too hot Mummy! I go to the Rio maybe. Go to the park and see the ducks, maybe, even …”

For now our park days are limited … but the pool has been an excellent substitute.

Glen Lake was more independent at the gym this year, exploring on her own and running around with the teacher, but after a couple of bad experiences with bigger, rougher kids, she was also sometimes happier to be completely independent … as in, only on certain apparatus if it was clear of any “danger”.

People regularly comment at how gentle and calm she is. Glen Lake patiently waits her turn, and she isn’t one to push her way ahead or fight over a ball or toy. Glen Lake is passive and gentle and kind, and rarely unhappy. The other day she said to me “I’m frustrated Mummy!” I asked her why and she said, smiling “Noooo, I no frustrated. Boo (the pigeon) frustrated!” Just kidding!

Glen Lake adores her gym teacher, Miss Jamie. We have taken a break from gym over the summer so we haven’t seen her recently. Thankfully, with the end of gym came the start of pool season … and Glen Lake has a new friend in our lifeguard, Djana.

Sometimes Glen Lake likes to go pretend shopping. She packs a bag, gets her “friends” and proclaims “I have everything I need!” Then she says “I’m going now. Love you Mummy. Bye Bye!” and she blows a big kiss as she walks off. She gets Boo (affectionately, Boozy, the pigeon) all dressed and walks him in the stroller to the pretend park (by the front door). We can do these things for hours. Then all of a sudden, fully acknowledging that everything heretofore has been pretend, she will say “real park mummy?” As in, can we go?

Glen Lake went through a phase of cooking us pretend food and these days she prefers to have birthday parties. Sometimes while cooking she says “beep beep, beep beep” and waves a tea towel in the air because something is burning. She *may* have seen that a time or two. She loves to wrap presents (usually her books or puzzle pieces) in any kind of paper and tie them with a big bow. We made a post box under one of our dining chairs where she could post the presents. She likes to attach cards to the presents and they almost always say “To Mummy, Happy Easter, Love Glen Lake.”

I love Glen Lake’s imagination and the pretend play. While I’m in the car, Piggy usually calls us from home. Lately, Moose calls too. Glen Lake talks to him and I play Moose. She asks questions like “do you have this iPod, Moose?” or “Do you have friends, Moose?” If I ask where Moose is, she says “Abercrombie!” Oh, of course. Glen Lake doesn’t have imaginary friends, but her non-live friends are very real. It’s a bit like Toy Story … and Boo is definitely Glen Lake’s Woody.

The other world is the one where I want to freeze time. I’ve never wished time away with Glen Lake. There has never been a stage or age that I’ve wished would pass. I love our busy mornings at home and our adventures in the afternoons. But as the days pass, so do the stages, phases and nuances specific to the moment. It is impossible not to feel sad about the fact that those moments … the hilarious, the perfect, the divine … are fleeting. Of course, a new perfect moment invariably follows the last … it’s just the reality of age and growth that is hard to grasp.

Words and play are the things that are most transient at the moment. The other day Glen Lake said “koala” quite perfectly. For the longest time it had been “ug-uh-la”. Then, thankfully, she reverted back a day later … I wasn’t ready to farewell ugula. Pineapple, however, is very clearly here to stay. For the longest time it was “apple apple”, and then, for no apparent reason, it became “apple apple bowl”. Now it is pineapple, which of course is much easier for the broader population to understand … it’s just not as … sweet.

She also comes out with new words or expressions every day, which may be heavily featured for a while until, suddenly, they’re not. At the beginning of May, Glen Lake was putting her pigeon to bed and she said “Adios!” Another day in May she got off the potty, looked in and said “holy cow!” We don’t know where either came from … I was shocked back then when she said “Wow! Look what Glen Lake did Mummy.” A month later, she speaks in full sentences all the time.

Glen Lake never seems to outgrow clothes, although occasionally a favourite outfit or special pair of shoes have their last moment and there is this sense that time is moving. With each stage and each pair of shoes being so fleeting, I see how life has a way of nudging you forward. Thankfully it only seems to get better.

My friend, Britt, and her sister, Kareese came to stay for a while and we had a fabulous time. I loved the opportunity to see one of my closest friends and Glen Lake loved having two new “aunties” in the house.

Their visit coincided with Easter, which we celebrated with friends in a lovely lazy day of egg hunting and eating.

After their visit, the girls had to leave very early in the morning, and because Glen Lake slept through from the afternoon prior she didn’t get to say goodbye. When she woke up I told her that they had to go home to see their Mummy, and she was very accepting of that … but almost a week later she still talks about them at least once a day.

Thankfully it’s finally warm outside, and Spring offers nothing but distractions – for Oscar, too … who loses any kind of focus and finds a way to stretch out every walk.

We have been fighting a cold and every time I cough Glen Lake jumps in with “Alright, Mummy?” I say “Yes, thank you, I’m okay” and then she follows with a cough of her own. I ask if she is alright, and she says “No!” with a big smile on her face. Then she shouts “Doctor!” and I have to pretend to call the doctor, because, evidently, it is hilarious. And with the ensuing laughter, I have to say it kind of is.

Happy Easter. Happy Spring.

Glen Lake LOVES the tennis racquet. I thought it might have just been the novelty, and the fact that she puts it up in front of her face, looks through the strings and says “hiiiii”. We had some wet weather and Greg had been out of town on and off, so it was a few days before we could get out to play. Glen Lake asked for “tennis?” several times a day, though, even when I hid the racquet and her thought of playing wasn’t prompted by seeing it. When we finally went to play, Glen Lake was excited. As excited as I’ve seen her with Elmo or ducks or just about anything else.

Greg helped her hit the ball, and she just squealed and laughed. It seems like tennis is a hit – no pun intended – and she naturally has a pretty good grip, too … we’re just happy to extend the outdoor activities now that Spring is here.