Rainy day fun (on a dime)

We are in the middle of rainy season. It sure didn't feel that way during our first three weeks here as we didn't even see a cloud in the sky. We've had heavy thundershowers each day over the past two weeks so many afternoons have been spent inside. I didn't pack a ton of toys for Caleb, as I was really looking forward to living with less for a few months (and I was afraid to go over the 50 lb weight limit on luggage at the airport). Thankfully I packed a bag of lego (used every day since), some modelling clay, crayons, scissors, glue and a few trucks. These toys, along with a few activity books that my mom brought, have done us amazingly well.

 Lately I've been looking for a few other things to do with Cale and since I have no interest in spending money on plastic toys down here,  I've had to get creative. Here are a few things I've come up with:

Balloon toss: We've discovered the best way to teach a toddler how to catch - use a balloon!

Rocketship: Made by Greg using on old cracker box. Decorated by Caleb.

Marble drop: An idea from 'Made by Joel'  using a cereal box. Mine doesn't look nearly as good as Joel's, so I'd check out his blog if you want to attempt this one. Caleb really had fun racing the marbles down the 'track'.

Scoops: Made with plastic juice jugs. An idea I found when googling 'toys made from trash'. I didn't have an appropriate sized ball, but we found a rolled up sock worked just fine!

Knock down the people: Classic bowling game from my childhood.

Ups and downs of month one

We said goodbye to Linda today, which means we've been in Jamaica for four weeks. My dad will stay for the next week and then a string of other family members and friends will come to visit and help out with Caleb. I remember traveling when I was younger and always saying - I'm going to keep doing this all my life, and when I have kids, I'll just bring them along on my adventures. As I got older and actually had a child I quickly realized that this dream would not be as easy as I had once thought. I know now that without the incredible support of my family and friends I couldn't have made this trip happen, and I truly appreciate it.

Seeing Linda off

Our first month has been full of wonderful experiences, some more challenging than others. Two animal encounters have been particularly tough. As in all developing nations, Negril is full of stray cats and dogs. I knew they were malnourished and I had already begun throwing scraps to the many cats that come running every time we ate a meal on our patio. However, I have now seen two tiny kittens who have starved to death. It broke my heart and we all make sure to throw something to the cats each day. I haven't adopted one yet- but I can't promise that I won't be coming home with a little kitten in my bag (maybe Beaker needs a friend, John and Maureen?!?).

During our first week we noticed some flying ants in our apartment. I wasn't too bothered by them, until one evening I had to admit it was no longer 'a few ants' but an entire swarm. We bought some spray, and hoped for the best. For several nights we didn't see any until one fateful night. My dad was sleeping and my mom and I bravely faced a second swarm. We killed close to 100 ants until I finally saw them emerging from the keyhole in a door. We had a nest inside our home - but at least I now knew where it was. I taped up the keyhole, confident we had the problem solved, but the ants kept coming. I found two more small holes along the top of the door, taped them up and went to bed on high alert. The next morning the maintenance man came to remove the door. I was very, very grateful that my dad stayed behind because once he had the door unhinged he said - 'Ok,  now I'll just leave the door in your closet'. Whaaat??? My dad made sure the door was gone - far, far away from our apartment - and thankfully, we haven't seen one flying ant since.

Black-necked stilts resting on a fishing boat

The positive experiences in our first month have by far outweighed the negative. This week my dad and I completed mapping a 40 km stretch of shoreline from Negril to Lucea. The areas we couldn't reach by land, we saw by boat.  It has been amazing to see places that even many locals have never had the change to experience. Beautiful limestone cliffs, water of the most amazing blues and greens, coral reefs, seagrass beds, tiny shacks, giant homes, birds, fish, sugar cane fields and mangrove forests.

A farmer's hut we found on a path leading down to the ocean

One month down and three to go. Only two more months until I get to see my husband. Time will continue to go quickly and I can't wait to experience every single moment - all the ups and all the downs.

Scuba Steve

 We had a major breakthrough this week - Caleb learned to swim on his own. Ok, so he was wearing a life jacket, but it was still quite amazing to witness. We spent one morning this week snorkelling, and Caleb couldn't bear to just sit in the boat and watch so the boat captain told him to jump in. Once he was in we didn't know if we'd ever get him back out. While swimming around the boat, miles from shore, he sang out  "That's what it's all about!". The hokey pokey seemed like the best way to express the joy he was feeling. When we were ready to come back to shore, he said 'No, I want to swim back!"

We knew we were in trouble when we got back to the beach and no longer had a life jacket for him. We knew he  simply would not be happy swimming in our arms any longer. We talked to the local lifeguard, Gary, about this and sure enough Gary had a padded wetsuit that was just his size. We made a deal to rent it for the rest of our time here, and voila - Scuba Steve was born! I love that he is fearless in the water. He loves to put on his goggle, plunges his head underwater and looks for starfish on the seafloor. 

Scuba Steve looks quite buff in his new suit!

One of my favourite pasttimes in Jamaica is reading the local papers. I love discovering amazing headlines and laughing with my mom at the somewhat hilarious articles. The best example I can give was a three page spread last Sunday that discussed the pros and cons of marrying a shorter man. Benefits included:

        1. Short men are described by their parents as "nice with a sunny disposition"

        2. Short men are more faithful and make better companions

        3. Cost savings: as shorter men eat up to 1/3 less than taller men, "marrying a shorter man will provide savings on the food bill. "

        4. "It is said that short men are part of the in-trend that compact is better as seen in technology with small MP# players and computers.
Amazing.

Mountains and mangroves

'Linger by the Sea' - restaurant at our resort. It took us a few days to figure out what Lingah was!

 It's Sunday morning and I'm sitting in the outdoor lobby of our resort getting ready to edit some videos and listening to beautiful gospel singing coming from the church that happens to be directly above our room (which I just realized right now!). And in Fredericton, all of the Jeffries family is watching Alan play at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival's 'Bluegrass Brunch'. Thankfully my sister-in-law, Mary, is sharing photos and videos of the show with me.

We've had a great week in Negril. My favourite part of the day besides our sunset swims is taking time to talk to locals and hear their fascinating stories. I've heard of how the beach used to be so wide that they would play football games in front of the hotels. Now so much of the beach has been lost that there only a few meters of beach is left in many places, and some hotels have waves literally crashing at their front steps. I also had a chance to talk to a man, Mr. Arthur, whose father opened the very first tourist spot in Negril in 1952. Back then this was just a  very small fishing village, and now almost everyone earns their living from something related to tourism. Mr. Arthur showed me a photo of his father with Negril's first ever tourist - a woman from L.A. who gave him 4 pounds to help build his business. Last night I had a chance to sit on the beach and look at the stars. Just as I was thinking how nice it was to finally be alone for a moment, a rasta walked up the beach, singing to himself.  When he spotted me he came over and asked if we could have a talk. He said 'I've never had a chance to talk to someone strange before, and I've always wanted to talk to someone strange.' I figured this must be a compliment, so I invited him to sit down and we talked for awhile about the beliefs of rastas - respect and love for all people - and about his life growing fruit in the mountains. I love that I can take the time to listen and enjoy stories such as these. The pace of life here always allows for time to talk to your friends and neighbours - and even people who are strange.

Proudly giving 'respect' in his new Bob Marley shirt. I took this photo for Alan and Caleb thinks his dad needs a matching shirt for Christmas. 

Mangrove Man! 

 We decided to visit some of the country yesterday and took a boat tour of Black River. The drive to the river was beautiful - fields of banana trees and sugar cane, mountains in the distance, small coastal villages with kids fishing from rocks in the sea, small food stands selling ackee, fish and bamby and many other delicious fruits. Black River is lined with mangrove trees, herons and egrets. Seeing the crocodiles was definitely the highlight of the trip for Caleb - especially when he got to say 'see you later alligator, after awhile crocodile' - his favourite saying for the past few weeks!

 Even more surprising than spotting crocodiles was watching the local fisherman snorkelling and using a spear gun to catch fish within meters of the crocodile. What a way to make a living.

Cale spends his mornings with Linda while Greg and I work. They play games, read books and do crafts like this masterpiece. We collected shells, leaves and flowers and cut out newspaper photos and then let Cale loose with the glue. I asked to see his drawing when got home from work, and he said - 'Mom, it's not a drawing, it's a glueing!'

Life's a beach

Nice up yuh self!

Cale’s blond hair and round cheeks have earned him a new nickname from the locals on the beach – Richie Rich! I’ll walk by after a morning of work and Duke the fishermen will call out “Is it Richie time now?”. It is quite amazing to see Jamaica through the eyes of a two year old. Cale has quickly learned how to respond to all the people on the beach trying to sell us fruit, crafts and boat rides – he’ll very politely say “No thanks, not today. Maybe tomorrow!”. He’s also commented how people in Jamaica “love to honk their car horns” and that the “ocean water is awfully warm”! Only once so far has he spotted Bob Marley. Although we are surrounded by dreadlocked rastas, only one man really caught his attention and as he called out “what is your name?” to the man, he whispered to me, “look mom, it’s Bob Marley!”.

It seems Caleb has grown up in the short time that we’ve been here. He is incredibly confident in the water, talks to everyone he meets and I’m very proud to say that he is very close to being fully potty trained. After several months of trying, he finally had his first successful poop on the potty! We had enticed him with promises of a ‘potty party’ and told him we could skype with his dad as soon as he did it. We had the party, complete with popsicles, balloons and several games of hide and go seek, and I’ve rarely seen him beaming with such pride as when he got to call his dad and tell him the good news.

Potty Party!

Lunch time coconut water. We eat every meal outside on our patio

The beach mapping is coming along well. My dad and I head out each morning together with our GPS and other gear in tow. We watch the frigate birds and pelicans circle above our heads as we measure the beach and look for signs of erosion. We are quickly learning to troubleshoot problems as they arise, and we now know to give ourselves extra time to talk to everyone we meet along the way. Everyone has questions about the surveys we are doing, and they all offer up great information on how the beach has changed and eroded during their lifetimes. I’m planning to begin filming some of the people I talk to as a record of the wealth of local knowledge I’m encountering.

New friend Caden, his grandma works at our resort.

Caden is a little unsure of the hand holding!

The adventure begins

Airplane!

Hey mon! We’ve arrived in Jamaica to begin our 4 month Caribbean adventure. Our first few days have been wonderful. My solo plane ride with Caleb was a huge success – his barely containable excitement, the Cars movie on demand, a two hour nap and no questions at immigration made for an easy trip. I was, however, very happy to see my parents at the airport in Montego Bay. They arrived only 10 minutes before us and we all made the 1.5 hour bus trip to Negril together. It was beginning to feel a bit like we were on Amazing Race: Family Edition at times, but we made it here in one piece and are now quickly getting settled into our new home.

We have rented a large (and thankfully air-conditioned) two bedroom at the ‘Negril Beach Club Resort’. The name sounds much more wild than it actually is, at least for now. I’m sure things won’t be as quiet by the time tourist season hits in November. The local crafters and hotel workers are super friendly and everyone knows Caleb by name. He has become quite popular with all the rastas on the beach - giving fist pumps and saying ‘hey mon’ to everyone who passes by.

Cale was vey happy to find our first Bob Marley statue!

One of our many daily beach walks

Hanging with local crafter, Octavius

 We are quickly adjusting to Caribbean time and I am more than happy to leave our usual hurried pace of life behind me. In Negril life is all about the slow walks, long talks and taking time to watch the sunset each night. When I find myself stresses at how long it takes for a meal to arrive, or how several people have given me completely different info on how to buy a cell phone and hook up internet in my apartment, I just take a breath and remember the wise words of Bob Marley - Don't worry about a thing, everything little thing is gonna be alright!

I’ll start working tomorrow by introducing myself to the local NGOs and I will begin mapping the coastline in the next few days. My dad will be my field assistant and my mom will be the babysitter. Everything should go smoothly as long as we don’t melt in the Caribbean sun! Lots of ocean dips will be a requirement in my work day. 

New favourite game - Cale the lifeguard

Getting ready to go

Loving the rides at Sandspit!

Almost a month has slipped by without a new post. I guess that is to be expected during such an insanely busy month - packing, moving, wrapping up projects at work, learning new research methods for my Jamaica project - it has been non stop. We even managed to squeeze in some fun. A family trip to PEI with Greg, Linda and the girls, a canoe adventure with Tyvonn, lots of hikes and time in the sun. Thankfully, Caleb has been patient in the midst of all the madness going on around him. I've learned that an amazing way to keep a 2 year old busy when you are swamped with packing boxes is to give him a squirt bottle. He has spent at least a couple of hours over the past month squirting the windows, 'helping' mom clean! 

Caleb showing off some beach glass to our NEW CAMERA!!!

Having a laugh with Ty

This time next week I'll be updating the blog from Jamaica!  We leave on Saturday morning. Can't wait to share our adventure with you!

Northumberland weekends

Cale, Gus and Rachel eating veggie snacks. 

We've spent the past two weekends camping on the Northumberland Strait. One trip with dad to a camp ground near River John and one trip for just moms and babies at Caribou-Munroe's Provincial Park. We are hoping to make this an annual event!

A parade started just as we were driving through River John. We had to stop and take in all the excitement!

Potty training: help!

It's fun to wear underwear!

Potty training is going well, although I still feel like he is a bit of a ticking time bomb when he is not wearing diapers. You never quite know when he's going to, in his words, "pee all over the place". He'll happily pee every 2 hours if you sit him on the potty, he loves wearing his underwear and knows diapers are only for nighttime, but he has yet to actually ask to go to the potty. 


Overall I'd say we are making a lot of progress, but he has never, and pretty much refuses to, poop on the potty. We are trying to stay positive and encourage him, but it is starting to get a bit frustrated with the situation. I'm sure it will come, but I would love any potty training advice from moms or dads out there. Thanks!!

Officially two and a half

Ask Caleb how old he is these days and and he'll tell you - two and a half. Ask his name and he'll tell you 'Caleb Austin Jeffries'. He'll tell you that he is not two and his name is not only Caleb.

I feel like he is no longer a toddler, and is now a little boy. I no longer wince with each step he takes down a set of stairs without holding onto the railing. I know he can do it. His memory amazes me. He'll recall events in great detail that happened months ago. I love that in his mind, everything that happened in the past happened 'yesterday'. He doesn't quite have the concept of last week, last month, or three days ago, it all happened 'yesterday'.  He speaks clearly and uses long sentences. Most of the time he is dead on with his words, but sometimes he makes hilarious mistakes - like calling the door knob a 'door noggin', a beer a 'beard',  or adamantly telling me that the words to Twinkle Twinkle are not 'up above the world so high' but are in fact 'abababa world so high'.  

I captured a little video of Caleb while he was giving me a concert the other night. He is very aware of the camera, so he's not acting as naturally as I had hoped, but I still thought it captured his speaking and singing skills quite well and it's been awhile since I've shared a video, so here it is! The song of choice is 'Hot Tamales and They're Red Hot' an old Robert Johnson song that he heard me singing once.

Family vacation!

One week in New Brunswick. 

Two nights alone with Alan at Moosecall. 

Two best friend weddings (on the same day). 

Two lost flip flops on different rivers. 

Four cousins to play with.

Many naps, bbqs, swims, bonfires, popsicles and great times with friends and family.

Only slightly excited to begin our vacation!

Let's hit the road!

Cow and calf that spent the evening with us at Moosecall. 

Bouncy castle with cousin Monica

Pool party the day before Greg and Tanya's wedding

Hammock life is the good life

Party boat on Harvey Lake

Cale driving the boat (before he peed on Nick's lap!)

2.5 and no more diapers

This month Caleb will officially be two and a half, and I'm very happy to say that he started wearing underwear this week! We are going cold turkey at daycare and at home. No more diapers (except at bedtime), because as Caleb says 'you can't wear diapers in Jamaica!'. His daycare has been amazing, and day one in underwear went really well. No accidents until 4:00 after they'd been playing outside in the sun and drinking lots of water. We had an ice cream party on our deck to celebrate his progress. I love how proud he is of becoming older and learning new things.

Ice cream party!

He's been spouting out lots of amazing quote these past few weeks. My favorite was when he was playing with his 'little sister' who happens to be a wooden owl. I asked what the sister's name was and he said 'Caleb Jeffries, we match!!' He also fell asleep on the couch last week and when he woke up he said 'Hey guys, it's me! Caleb Jeffries!' .We've also been talking a lot about dreams and this morning when I asked him what he dreamt of last night he said "Oh just bears, butterflies, watermelons and juice boxes!".