Hebe Plays with the Cousins

... Hebe needs help with the puzzle ...

Mary’s kids love to go to the “cousins”. Tom, Xavier and sometimes Rebecca are side by side as long as they are awake. And the boys start talking before anyone is awake in the house. Xavier has an early morning internal clock, no matter what time he goes to bed. Tom will sleep in, but not if Xavier is at his side, waking him up. I could hear them first thing every morning, 6 am, like clock-work.

Catie and Rebecca will sleep in until 11 a.m., a function I think of already having their teen-age clocks set.

... Hebe at the sink, looking for a fork for a hot cinnamon bun ...

Hebe and Rhiannon play side by side. Hebe has a puzzle the runs a small ball along a twisting track inside a large plastic globe. Sweet Hebe – she knows where it is in the puzzle that she can’t manage the right tilt and she knows who the best helper in the house is. She carefully carries the plastic globe to wherever Thomas is and asks him to make the move for her that will let her continue. He takes the bulb, shows her how to move it along and then he runs his hand over her head, tousling it as he sends her on his way. So cute.

I also liked to watch Hebe at the television with the cousins – she lays one part of her body on a recliner and the other part on the leather couch making her body stretch between the two – a natural bridge. This is the most comfortable position she can find?

... Hebe getting up from being a human bridge ...

Hebe at the colouring table, which is also Catherine's new table that seats 12.

I will make cinnamon buns for Hebe until there is no call for them. I will do a whole pan, even if just one person wants only one. Of course the product is fun to make in Quebec where it is hard to find the cheapest brand of solid margarine. Both the Brooks and the Jarvis family have butter in their fridge – and the caramel on the bottom of the buns is a step up from anything we taste in the West when we use margarine. Hebe has not yet had her fill of them. I want to make sure that she can identify me with that product when it is hot. I always think of those as Aunt Erva’s cinnamon buns, though they call them Grandmas.

Arta