A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down

If only a spoonful of sugar was all that it took. Giving the little guy antibiotics three times a day is nothing short of hell. It usually takes us a good 30 to 40 minutes for each dose to get the liquid down his throat. Often, all or most of it is spat out or dumped. We have to continue this routine for TEN days (shoot me now!).

We've threatened to take him back to the doctor. We've tried mixing the meds in with food and drink. We've bribed him with treats. We've temporarily taken away his toys and his teetee. We've tried negotiating, reasoning, begging and pleading. His unfaltering pig-headedness makes him immune to all of these ploys. Sometimes he leaves us no choice but to hold him down, plug his nose, and squirt the meds into him mouth.

Today the situation improved slightly. We discovered that he will sort of tolerate the antibiotics if they are mixed in with orange juice. I let him do activities on Starfall while we administer the medication. He can't advance to a new screen or start a new activity until he takes a big swig. This method seems to be working and it is only taking us 10 or 15 minutes per dose.

I'm really hoping that the antibiotics work because I don't think we could survive a second round.

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We've had some amazing toilet training success in the last week. He's barely had any wet diapers. Our strategy is to put him in underwear all of the time. If he wants a diaper when we go out he has to wear a pull-up on top of his underwear (to make him notice any accident).

In the last couple of days he's done three or four poops on the toilet. He's also been initiating going to the potty or toilet without being prompted.

When we are out in public he is still reluctant to use the toilet. Even so, we've been carting around his portable toilet seat so that it's there if he needs it. I'm hoping that he won't fall back to his old ways once he's back at daycare....

Positive reinforcement is really paying off. Heck, he's even starting to use it himself. Yesterday when we went to the farm one of the horses took a giant pee in the stable. The little guy watched in amazement. When the horse was done he said to the horse enthusiastically, "Good job!"

Merry Christmas!

Unfortunately our holiday season is off to a rough start. The little guy had a cold that started off harmlessly enough, but then turned rather ugly. For the past two days he's had a low-grade fever and has been pretty lethargic. This morning I noticed blood in his ear and immediately suspected an ear infection.

We took him to the urgent care walk-in first thing this morning and to our surprise there was barely anyone in the waiting room. Then, the triage nurse took one look at his grayish complexion and let us cut right to the front of the line (thank you!). It turns out the little guy has a ruptured eardrum. We were amazed that he didn't tell us his ear was sore because it is very painful right before it ruptures (sorry if I'm making anyone queasy). He did tell us a few times that his head was sore but he was pointing at his forehead. The doctor said that this is very common with toddlers because they have a difficult time explaining what kind of pain they are experiencing. The little guy is now on some heavy duty antibiotics for the next ten days and the doctor says that he should start feeling much better soon (hopefully in time for Christmas morning???).

Our plan was to have a quiet roast beef dinner tonight to celebrate Christmas Eve. But we've decided that we are going to postpone it until Boxing Day. Amma arrives at 11:00 tonight, so we thought it would be nice to include her in the feast. Also, given the little guy's medical condition, what we really need is a hassle free night. We'll save our strength for tomorrow's festivities. After we open gifts, we are going to make a nice brunch. And then, in the evening, we are going to KM and KSH's house for dinner.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Chappy happy!

This morning the little guy was singing at the top of his lungs, "Frosty the snowman was a chappy, happy soul!"

I kind of like his version.

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We bought a Charlie Brown tree today for $20. Baby boy was, of course, thrilled. Hopefully the tree won't topple over because of how heavily weighted down the bottom half is with decorations (in some spots three layers deep!).

Funny tidbits

The other day Baby Boy was reminiscing about his recent visit to the doctor's office.

"Did we go to the doctor for a ketchup?" he asked. :-)

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Every weekday morning Baby Boy watches me make lunches for the workday. He's kind of fascinated with the idea of packing a lunch and likes to pretend that he needs one too. Often times I'll find oranges and apples tucked away in his knapsack. And sometimes when I'm preparing lunches I turn my back for a second and a bag of vegetables has mysteriously gone missing.

The other day he yelled, "Bye, I'm going to work. I brought my lunch!" He was trotting away with a carton of cherry tomatoes with a slice of bread smushed inside.

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This morning he was busy playing in the sink with "his guys." His guys are what he calls his sharks, dolphin and whale bathtub toys. At one point he ran into the living room to tell me that he was doing some cooking and asked if I wanted to come see. "Sure," I said. When I got to the sink he showed me his hardboiled eggs (he'd filled a little pot with water and was floating to white egg cups inside) and his cedar plank salmon (a dish sponge on a cutting board). He proceeded to smear the salmon with sauce (bubbles and water).

Underneath his on which he was standing was his teetee (blankie arranges in a little ball) with a stuffed frog sitting on top. He told me that he frog with sitting in the pond and to be careful not to step in the water.

What an imagination!

Snow day!

Today we had so much snow that I had no choice but to pick up the little guy in the toboggan. He loved it! I did not. My arms are still burning from pulling him up those steep hills. Tomorrow there is supposed to be another huge mess of snow, so I guess I'll be getting my exercise!

When the weather started getting colder in the last week, we started insisting that the little guy wear his snowsuit. He didn't like this idea on bit until daddy told him it was like an astronaut suit. Apparently being an astronaut is cool! Every time he puts it on he brags that his astronaut suit is blue and that other astronauts get to wear white. Hey, whatever works!

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What is it with all of the illnesses? I just got over three nasty colds in a row, with maybe two days of respite in between. Frankly it's embarrassing. Everyone at work must think I'm really sickly (I guess I am sickly now that I have a toddler in nursery school).

Just when I thought the worst was over, I got a stomach bug. It's not serious enough for me to stay home from work, but bad enough to make me feel like crap pretty much all day.

Oh the joys of winter!

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Some quick highlights:
- The little guy is really getting into 30 piece puzzles. He's able to put them together all by himself with little or no guidance.
- We got him some new skates and a helmet on the weekend. Can't wait to try them out!
- I accidentally let him fall asleep watching teletoon about a week ago. Ever since, he begs me every night to watch the "bunny show" (Bugs Bunny)
- He's become quite the chef. Our pots and pans are always full of apples, oranges, lemons and other assorted fruit that he nabs from the fruit basket.
- We bought some sprinkles to make "rainbow" pancakes a few weeks ago. Now he thinks that sprinkles should go on everything, including his morning oatmeal. I think I should start pouring them on the foods we can't get him to eat. It might just work!

Another first!

Tonight we decided to take the little guy to the movie theatre for the first time to see Madagascar 2. We predicted one of the following two scenarios:

1. He'd be totally freaked out and we would have to leave after 5 minutes
2. He'd totally LOVE the movie and want to stay at the theatre all night

Thankfully he went with scenario 2. It didn't even bother him that his chair kept on trying to swallow him up! Throughout the movie he had a giant grin on his face. At one point he turned to daddy and said, "After this one, can we watch another movie?"

The whole "you have to be quiet in the theatre" message was lost on him. We had to hush him several times during the movie when he cried out, "What's he doing mom?" or "Look, there's a flamingo!" or "Is that a television?" or "Can I have some more chocolate?" Luckily there were only a handful of other people in the theatre and they were sitting really far away from us.

I'm looking forward to more nights out at the movies. Even if they are all rated "G."

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In other news....

Today was baby boy's annual visit to the doctor. He's in the 25th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. Long and lean, just like all of the other kids in the family. Fully clothed, he only weighed 30 lbs. The doctor said that there was no reason for concern and to keep giving him Homo milk.

After a lot of research and discussion we decided to opt out of the flu shot. Neither of us fall into the high risk category, and frankly there isn't a lot of scientific evidence out there to show that the flu shot is effective in protecting people against the flu. The doctor took the opportunity to remind me (or guilt me) by saying that young children die every year from the flu. I guess he's just doing his job...And as parents we're just doing our job too by not exposing our son to unnecessary injections.

We've survived the terrible twos!

It's official. Baby boy is three years old! To mark his big day we had his first ever birthday party with friends yesterday. We kept the event nice and small -- just a few kids, some pizza and cake. There were no organized games or loot bags. The idea was to just let the kids run around and play.

In the morning, baby boy was absolutely beside himself with excitement. When the first guests arrived at the door he was actually shaking in anticipation. And of course they all came in the door carrying gifts! And there were not one, but TWO cakes in the kitchen including a chocolate one with rainbow sprinkles on it! Oh, and there were candles on the cakes! Plus his brand new backhoe that daddy gave him was sitting on the coffee table waiting to be shown off! (am I doing a good job of capturing the excitement that was in the air?)

Other than a few turf wars over toys and a broken juice glass, the party was a smashing success (a noisy, exhausting success). Afterwards we all slept for two hours.

In the evening we went to KM and KSH's house for dinner and helped decorate their Christmas tree. Baby boy was in heaven because he got to hang all of the non-breakable ornaments on the tree. I wish I had taken a picture. It was so cute! All of the bottom branches that he could reach are three layers deep in decorations. He was so pleased with himself and his decorating job!

A born vegetarian

Getting the little guy to eat meat has been a struggle since he was a baby (with the exception of steak on the bone). Daddy was trying to get him to provide some details
about what he had for lunch. When no details were offered up, he teasingly asked, "Did you have a monkey for lunch?"

"No," baby boy replied with a little grin on his face.

"How about a squirrel?"

(big grin) "No."

"I know, you had a horse for lunch."

"No Daddy. Animals are for looking at, not for eating."

Spoken like a true vegetarian!

First snow

Tonight we were walking down the street and it began to snow (sorry for using that 4 letter "s" word). Baby boy was mesmerized. "Look," he cried, pointing at the sky. "Look at all of the corn flakes."

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It was his worst nightmare. Today, teetee (his blanket) went missing from daycare. His caregiver tore up her whole house looking for it. She sent her husband outside to search the yard. When one of the other moms arrived early today to pick up her daughter, she also joined the hunt and actually drove up and down the streets that they had taken on an earlier walk to see if teetee was lying on the ground somewhere. They all searched and searched but teetee was nowhere to be found.

All the while that this was going on, the little guy sat quietly and bravely on the couch with a look of concern painted across his face. Just as the search was about to be called off, he had an "aha moment."

"The truck!" he yelled and ran across the room. And sure enough, there was teetee, stuffed into the back of a toy semi-trailer, safe and sound.

I think it's incredible the lengths to which others went today for the sake of a blanket. Thank you everyone! And especially thank you to AG who kindly offered her blankie to baby boy during the crisis. What a little sweetheart!


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A lot of people have sent me emails about my last post. Thank you so much for your support! You'll be glad to know that the worst is over. Bedtime went smoothly last night and tonight. The doorknob cover seems to have done the trick. We leave the door open a crack on request, but let him know that it will be shut if there are any escape attempts!

My week from hell

Or maybe I should say my last three or four weeks from hell. Baby boy has been bossy, whiny, and pigheaded. And he refuses to listen to me. When he acts up and I try to talk to him, he laughs at me, swats at me, runs away, created even more havoc etc....Some days I feel like I'm the biggest failure of a mother in the world. Last night, for example. I was hosting my book club, so I put on a movie for the little guy thinking that if he wasn't asleep, at least he would be entertained enough to stay in bed. Wrong!

He repeatedly escaped from the bedroom and sneaked downstairs. In the process he caught his second wind and went completely wild (I'm talking swinging from the trees jungle wild) in front of my friends. Eventually his constant party crashing resulted in the book club ending early so that I could go tame my tiger. I was so embarrassed. Even after my guests left I couldn't get him settled. It was like he had just downed a 2 litre bottle of coca cola or something. I tried laying in the bed with him. Within seconds I became a human trampoline. So I left the room. Not 15 seconds later, the door was open again and baby boy was streaking back and forth down the hallway yelling and throwing stuff. My mounting frustration just added fuel to his fire. He knew he was "winning" and became even more obnoxious. So I decided enough was enough. I told him if he left the room again, I was going to lock the door. He didn't listen so I slapped on one of the baby proofing door nob covers. On my way out of the room I said, "Mommy told you if you opened the door again I was going to lock it. I guess you weren't listening."

After much wailing and a couple of visits from daddy, he finally fell asleep at around 10:45 (normally he's sleeping by 7:30) But I stayed away. I knew that if I went back in the room this was going to become a nightly struggle.

Tonight baby boy said, "Mommy, you leave the door open. I don't like the door locked." I said, "Okay, I'll leave the door open a crack. But if you leave the room I'm going to lock it again." Ten seconds later he opened the door and proceeded to climb down the stairs, while spitting over the side of the railing. So I put him back to bed and said, "Mommy is going to lock the door now. I told you not to leave the room and you didn't listen. (insert repeat of last night's wailing)

It's now after 10:00 and I can still hear him bumping around upstairs (but at least he's not wailing anymore).

Calgon, take me away!

Just say yes

Apparently the word "no" isn't supposed to be in a mom's vocabulary. I hear this a lot: "Don't say no, Mommy. You can't say no. You have to say yes."

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The little guy is learning how to undress himself. Today he removed all of his clothes and announced proudly, "Look! I took off all my parts!"

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Our little potty enthusiast got a little overly enthusiastic the other day. He was showing off how he could carry his full potty to the bathroom to Grandma. Unfortunately he fumbled...Enough said.

All souped up

Today it was so foggy outside you could barely see 10 feet in front of you. Foolishly I decided to drive the little guy to daycare. On the way I exclaimed, "It's like driving through pea soup!"

A minute later he said, "Mom, are we driving through noodle soup?"

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He's getting really excited that Grandma is coming to visit this weekend. After daycare today I took him to the grocery store to stock up on some grandma essentials (apricots and coffee).

When I told the little guy that Grandma really likes apricots, he replied, "Can we go get Grandma and eat the apricots?"

"But Grandma lives in another city," I said.

"Why don't we go to the airport and bring Grandma the apricots?"

Great idea, but we may be waiting for a long time for her flight to arrive!

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I feel like I'm a kid again. Somehow I got "voluntold" to make posters for the nursery school fundraising event (Trivia Night, November 22 for my friends who might be reading this. It's an adults only event with booze so I think you should come!). What was I saying???.....of yah, so I had to make posters. Freehand. Using markers. How I of all people (I was a straight C art student) got sucked into this I'll never know.

The posters are nothing to write home about, but I sure had fun making them. I even got out the scissors and the glue to make some little star bursts....Hopefully everyone will like them (or pretend to).

Did I mention that there is going to be a raffle with tons of cool prizes? What are you waiting for? Tell me you want to come and I'll sign you up!

The smell of moonlight

I was putting on hand cream tonight and the little guy said, "Mom, you smell like moonlight." I'm not sure what moonlight smells like, but I'll take it as a compliment.

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Baby boy hollered down to us from bed tonight. Daddy went up to find out what was the matter. Here is a transcipt of their conversation:

Dad: What's going on?

Baby boy: I have a beaver (translation: fever) in my tummy.

Dad: You have a fever in your tummy?

Baby boy: Yah, my tummy kind of hurts.

Dad: Oh...

Baby boy: Becuase I'm not feeling very well.

Dad: You're not?

Baby boy: No, because I'm feeling kind of sad.

Dad: Why?

Baby boy: Because I want to watch a movie.

Dad: A movie?

Baby boy: Yah, I want to watch Dora.

The conversation then turned into an argument about Dora vs sleeping. Daddy eventually won and left the room.

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Daddy brought home a great big pumpkin for us to carve for Halloween. The little guy was beside himself with excitement.

"Are we going to carve the dunkin?" he asked.

Our "dunkin" turned out great and looks really spooky when lit up.

Afterwards we roasted the dunkin seeds and had a very tasty snack.

Nuts to that!

Trying to reason with a toddler can sometimes be frustrating. Very, very frustrating. Sometimes I say things when I'm frustrated that come back to bite me in the butt. Things like, "You're driving me nuts!"

This morning the little guy threw the line back at me when I wouldn't cave in to a whiny request. Or, at least he tried to throw it back at me. He threw down his hand and yelled, "You're feeding me nuts!"

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We thought that the little guy would enjoy watching the classic children's movie, Mary Poppins. Right before we played it for him, he asked, "Are we going to watch Lolly Poppins?"

The security blanket

"Teetee" is the little guy's beloved security blanket. It follows him wherever he goes. To him, it is a member of the family.

Lately we've been trying (not very successfully) to break his dependence on teetee. When we go out, teetee stays in the knapsack for the most part. He is comforted just knowing that it is near by, just in case. Most of the time he does just fine without it.

At nursery school, teetee stays in the knapsack in the coat room. When Daddy drops him off in the morning, he always reassures him that teetee is in the bag, safe and sound. Yesterday, as daddy was getting set to leave the classroom, baby boy ran over and stopped him.

"You leave the zipper open just a bit, Daddy?"

I guess a security blanket that's too securely out of reach can't really do its job.

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I smile about this every single night. After the little guy gets out of the bathtub he streaks across the bedroom, opens the door and yells down the stairs, "You come upstairs please mommy?" or "You come upstairs please daddy?"

When we get the call, it means we're on goodnight hug and kiss duty.

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While goofing around one day, daddy called the little guy a "Poohba." The little guy replied, "I'm not a poohba, I'm a goof-a-man."

:-)

Ten second update

Things have been pretty busy lately around here lately so here is a very quick update:

- Baby boy did two poohs on the potty this weekend. Voluntarily, with no prompting whatsoever!

- He's starting using expressions, like "That's not the only one in the world," and "I'm going to keep my eyes open." He also starts lots of his sentences with, "Actually, I would like to...."


- We went up to KM and KSH's cottage on the weekend and had a great day. The little guy did a lot of rock throwing into the lake and collecting branches for the campfire. While we were there he also befriended KM's parents and managed to keep them very busy with all of his goings on. Hubby and I could sat back and did absolutely nothing all day. Boy is it ever nice to do nothing sometimes!

- His preferred drink these days are either chocolate milk or orange juice "tinis." We shake up the milk or juice with ice cubes in our martini shaker. Then we serve the chilled beverage in a fancy glass with a piece of lime and a decorative stir stick.

Being a toddler can be tough

Like for instance, today when we were walking to the butterfly exhibit. On the long trek from the parking lot to the building he came to a dead stop.

"I want picked up Daddy," he said.

We explained to him that he was getting too big to get carried. He shot us the saddest look I've ever seen. With a quivering lip and big sad eyes he said, "No, I'm not too big!!!" The look was enough to break anyone's heart.

Lately we've been having a lot of these sorts of conversations. One the one hand, he's proud of all of his big boy accomplishments (i.e. pulling himself up onto the play structure by himself, peeing into the toilet, taking off his own shoes, pulling his pants up and down, drinking juice out of a martini glass etc...).

On the other hand, being a baby has its advantages too (i.e. total lack of responsibility). Often he'll pretend he's a baby and ask to be carried, rocked and wrapped up in a blanket. And then he'll proclaim, "I'm not a big boy, I'm a baby."

I guess when it comes down to it, he'll always be my baby.

I am a repository for gross stuff

In the last couple of weeks, baby boy has had a non-stop runny nose. And each time that he sloppily blows his nose, I somehow end up being the recipient of his moist kleenex. The same goes for half eaten food hunks and slimy banana peels. Sometimes he places his cast-offs directly into my hands. Sometimes they are thrown into my lap, as though being tossed into a waste bin. I'm constantly trying to redirect him to the garbage can.

I'm also a human rag sometimes. Apparently baby boy thinks I enjoy it when he smears sticky peanut butter hands all over my jeans. Or when he wipes snot all over my sleeve just as I'm about to leave for the office. Or when he takes his greasy fingers to the lenses of my glasses.

Some days I feel like I have a sign on my face that says, "Gross stuff goes here."

Positive reinforcement

Using positive reinforcement is helping a lot with the potty training. Baby boy absolutely glows when we say, "good job" or "I'm so proud of you" after he's made a successful trip to the potty.

The words of encouragement seemed to have rubbed off on him. The other day I took him into a public bathroom with me. I just about died of embarrassment when he exclaimed loudly, "Good job, mummy. You did a big pee pee!"

He melts my heart sometimes!

Today, he was telling me about how much he liked one of his nursery school teachers.

"She's the best kind. Just like Mommy." :-)

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When baby boy was an infant we taught him a number of hand signs so he could tell us if he was hungry, needed to be changed etc...It really worked!

As soon as he learned how to speak, we stopped communicating with signs. I'd sort of forgotten about them until yesterday. Baby boy started showing me the bathroom sign.

"You do this," he said, and proceeded to show me the sign for bathroom. "You do this when you need to go pee pee or pooh-pooh." And then he leaned over with straight legs and put his head on the ground. "And this is how you do a pee," he said. Not sure what exactly he was trying to demonstrate but it sure was cute!

He's diggin' this weather!

Today was such a beautiful day! To celebrate the last really warm day of the season, the gang from the park had a pizza party. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera. But here is a picture that kind of captures the mood of the park on a beautiful summer day.

How was your day?

Getting information out of the little guy is like pulling teeth. Our conversations usually go something like this:

"Tell me about your day. What did you do?"

(Distracted) "ummmmm....good."

"What did you have for lunch?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? I bet you do. What did you have?"

"Ummmm.....pasta." (he always says pasta even though it's rarely on the menu and he doesn't even particularly like pasta!)

"What toys did you play with?"

"I don't know."

"Did you go outside and play?"

He runs away to play before answering me.

Luckily his caregiver is very good at filling in the blanks for me so I get a pretty good picture of his day.

With nursery school it's a different story. Because we don't pick him up from school we don't get any instant feedback on what he's been up to. And no matter how many questions we ask, the details are always pretty sketchy.

We were, however, encouraged by one tidbit he offered up today -- he said that he used a potty at nursery school! If he's telling the truth, that's great news!

I can't wait to volunteer in his classroom to find out what he really does all morning.

Dirty Dancing here I come!

It's official -- I'm going to see Dirty Dancing live on stage on November 1! I'm meeting my friend ES in Toronto for a girl's weekend (sans hubby and baby boy). All I can say is I'm going to be watching the calendar with "hungry eyes," and I'm going to have the "time of my life." I'm feeling kind of emotional right now. Oh I forgot, "big girls don't cry." I can feel all of you rolling your eyes at me right now, so I'll stop now :-)

The bedtime dodge

I didn't realize it could start so young. Baby boy has started testing out various ways to do the bedtime dodge. Here are a few of my favourites:

- "I'm so hungry. I need to eat my dinner." He tried this line on me tonight after eating several snacks plus a big dinner.

- "I need to go pee pee on the toilet." This is a good stalling ploy and it works every time. He knows that we'll be beside ourselves with excitement if he shows any interest in the toilet at all. The problem is that once he's seated he actually has no intention of peeing. Rather, he sits for long periods of time, making us read him books.

- "You read this to me?" he'll ask as he hands us the longest, most repetitive and most annoying book in his collection.

- "I want daddy to come upstairs." or "I want mommy to come upstairs" depending on who is on bedtime duty. Often, his need to see one of us leads to quick escapes from the bedroom, and naked streaking down the stairs.

- "I'm going to sleep in the bath." This is among his favourite stalling tactics. Virtually every night we have to peel him off the bottom of the bathtub, where he lies pretending to be asleep.

- "Heeeheeheeehhheeeee." Who needs to go to the gym when you have to chase and wrestle down a squealing, laughing toddler to put him in his pajamas? It's like trying to put pajamas on a cat! No joke.

- "I want another song." Our brushing teeth routine involves singing a selection of children's song. Sometimes baby boy won't open his mouth until the right song is sung. Or, he'll insist that the song be repeated again and again (although that doesn't usually work!).

- "I want socks!" or "I want my other yellow teetee." or "I want water." This is what we hear mosts nights after we've finally sat down on the couch after an exhausting bedtime routine. And he's persistent. He'll repeat his demands loudly and repeatedly until someone comes back upstairs.

It's amazing that most nights we are able to get him into bed by 7:30!

This really makes me sick!

Lead paint in toys and now this. What's next? Headlines like this really make you think about how scary this world can be sometimes.

Report card: week 2

The nursery school drop-off went pretty smoothly this morning. On Friday, daddy heard the little guy knocking at the door as he was leaving. It just about broke his heart! Today, he was too drawn in by the tantalizing toys that he didn't get very upset when dad left.

When I picked him up from daycare I asked how things went at nursery school. He said, "Daddy didn't cry at the door this time." :-0

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I love the month of September, just before the leaves start to turn colour. I love the crispness of the mornings and how, as I walk along the street, I'm reminded of walking to school on the first day of school.

The afternoons are warm, but not hot. The night air perfect for sleeping.

But now I have even more reason to love September -- the fall fairs that take place every weekend. Last Saturday we had such a great time at one such fair. We watched the tractor pull, the cow round up and the greasy pig contest. We ate garden fresh corn on the cob with butter. We wandered through barn after barn admiring all of "best in show" livestock and drooled over the winning pie contest entries.

I think the best part about country fairs is just getting out of the city for a day and enjoying the warm country hospitality.

Summer vacation photos

We finally have our little photo storage problem under control, so you'll be seeing a lot more photos on this blog from now on. I'll start with some pictures from our week at the cottage.

Some of the little guy's favourite things to do included:



hanging out by the water,


watering the plants with his teapot,



splashing....eerrrr....swimming,


hanging out with his new friend Kermit,


stuffing his face full of burgers,


helping dad make dinner on the BBQ,


and picking flowers for his mummy!

Day 1: A big success

Well I don't know what I was so worried about. Day 1 at nursery school went incredibly smoothly. After about half an hour of hanging out with him in the classroom, and getting to know the teachers I said, "Mommy is going to go now. I'll come pick you up later." He replied, "Bye Mom," without even looking up from the game he was playing.

When I picked him up, the kids were all outside on the playground. Baby boy was so busy digging in the the sand with one of his new friends that he didn't even notice me. I took to be a very good sign.

One of his teachers reported that he got upset a few times after I left and went looking for me at the door. They were able to cheer him up and distract him easily with fun activities. Once his initial nervousness subsided, he had a really good time.

When I asked him how his morning went he said "Good." He went on and on about all of the toys he played with and the crafts that he did. Later on he confessed, "I cried at school." We talked about how lots of kids feel a bit nervous and upset on the first day of school. I also told him that I was very proud of him for being so brave.

His next day of nursery school is on Wednesday. Hopefully now that he knows the routine he'll start to feel right at home.

Big days!

A couple of big day updates. First, it's hubby's birthday today. Happy birthday sweetheart! Hope you are having a giant seafood feast on the east coast tonight. We'll have a big surprise waiting for you when you get home. Unless of course you know who spills the beans to you over the phone tomorrow, which is entirely possible.

Tomorrow is another big day: the little guy's first day at nursery school. We've been trying to get him pumped about it all week. I've booked the day off so that I can drop him off and pick him off on his first day. It's an important milestone that I just don't want to miss. Plus, I want to be close by in case things go badly...I think I'm more nervous than he is!

After I pick him up we are going to go out for lunch and do a little birthday shopping. And then, after his nap, we are going to bake daddy a birthday cake. Shhhh...don't tell!

Tune in tomorrow to find out how the first day of nursery school went!

Do you want to play toes?

It's our latest game. We dip our feet in the kiddie pool and then play "toes" by walking around the deck leaving toe tracks. He could play toes for hours :-)

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Like all children his age, the little guy goes through a lot of "phases." Here are a few of the latest:

- Reading phase (he's alway liked books, but he could literally sit and read 50 books in a row these days. I am truly sick of Curious George and Elmo and Big Bird playing the alphabet game!)

- The "hot breakfast" phase. Every morning he says, "Mommy, I want hot breakfast." By that he means instant raising and cinnamon oatmeal.

- The "new" tee tee phase. Instead of dragging just his yellow tee tee (aka blankie) around, he also carries around a yellow receiving blanket. At the same time. Wherever he goes.

- The "sock" phase. Heaven forbid I forget to put his socks on before bed (even if it's the hottest night of the year). If I ask him why he wants socks he says, "But I need them!"

Olympic fever continues

If baby boy could get a face to face meeting with the International Olympic Committee he'd probably make the following suggestions to rename events:

1. Boxing would be called "peefing."

The other day he asked me if I wanted to "peef" with him (translation: box with him). He put his rubber boots on his hands and said, "Look, I have peefs!" Later he brought me a pair of runners and said, "Here you go mommy. You put on your peefs on your arms."

With peefs on, we had a little boxing urrrr...peefing match. Truth be told it was actually more like playing pat-a-cake.

and....

2. Diving would no longer be called diving. It would be called "the jumping in the water" event. And diving boards would be called the "blue blocks that the girls jump on."

We're in!

We've been on the waiting list for our neighbourhood nursery school for a couple of months. Parents in my neighbourhood talk about it as though it's the best nursery school on the face of the earth. Many of them waited months and months to get their children in so I thought his chances of getting a spot for this fall we slim to none. But today they called me to say they have a opening for him starting in September. It will be every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00 - 11:30. His caregiver will pick him up and take him back to her place in the afternoons. Sweet!

It's a cooperative nursery school so the price is really reasonable. The reason being, of course, is that all of the parents are required to do volunteer work. There is snack duty, laundry duty, and volunteer in person duty too. I'm kind of looking forward to it. My only concern is that three days a week may be a bit overwhelming for him. I guess we'll wait and see. We can always withdraw him and try again next year if it isn't working out.

Our little nest

In the summer our comforter usually ends up balled up on the floor at the foot of our bed. And apparently that is just where baby boy likes it to be. He's converted it into his "nest." One morning I asked him what he was doing in his nest and he told me very matter of factly, "I'm sitting on my eggs." He also likes to use his nest for collecting "eggcorns" and for sleepovers with "Buddy bear" (aka Whinnie the Pooh) and various other stuffed friends.

But perhaps his favourite nest activity is to curl up and get all cozy and then pretend he's a kitten. Every once in a while he pops his head up and asks, "what you doing mommy kitty cat? What you doing daddy kitty cat?" Usually our response is, "We're sleeping baby kitty."

Olympic fever

The little guy has Olympic fever. While watching the gymnastics on tv the other day, he turned to daddy in wide eyed excitement and exclaimed, "I want to do that!"

While he may not have mastered some of the more difficult tumbles and flips, he is pretty good at somersaulting (forwards and backwards). And, he even did a diving somersault! But like all good gymnasts he knows that points are lost on the landing so we've coached him on the "stick the landing" pose. We just yell, "Stick the landing!" and he puffs out his chest, stretches his arms up in the air and gives a gigantic grin.
He then says, "I'm doing the Olympics!"

The vacation is over

Back to work tomorrow....sigh....

Our second week of vacation was pretty awesome. We went on fun outings everyday after a leisurely sleep in (if you call 7:30 sleeping in....). Our week included a BBQ picnic with LD, RD and SD, a trip to the farm with ML, AL and CL, exploring the outdoor portion of the children's museum, a trip to the equestrian park to watch a horse jumping competition, a full-day biking adventure, walks through the market, lunches out, a BBQ pizza party etc... All in all it was a very fun and relaxing week.

Back from the beach!

Week one of our vacation is now over. We just spent a week at a beautiful cottage on a quiet lake near Algonquin Park (photos to follow once we buy more memory for the computer and I can actually download the pics). I think that it was the laziest week we've spent since before baby boy came along.

Here are a few cottage highlights:

- Every day we went for a nice long canoe ride. Last year baby boy was terrified of the canoe so we were delighted that he turned over a new leaf. He even helped with the paddling! On our first canoe ride he was overwhelmed with excitement. With heartfelt emotion, he kept saying "Thank you for the cottage!" and "Are we on vacation????"

- When we told baby boy that we would be going to the cottage, it came with the promise of seeing lots of frogs. At first he was disappointed -- where could they all be? But we soon discovered their secret hideout - in the grass and rocks near the front of the cottage. On one of our frog encounters, he said "He's real hungry mom. He needs a peanut butter sandwich."

- Lucky for me, Daddy was the only one who saw any snakes at the cottage. He just about stepped on one while crossing the deck one day. I asked him what it looked like and he said he'd never seen one like that before and that it was "plaid." The next day he encountered another plaid snake. I kept teasing him that it must be some distant relative of the plaid lochness monster from that crazy pinochio/wizard of oz show we used to watch when we were kids. Does any one else remember the plaid, tea drinking lochness monster????

- The little guy's imagination knows no boundaries. While outside with daddy he said, "I saw a snapping frog (kind of like a snapping turtle, only a frog) and a hammerhead tee tee (tee tee is the name of his favourite blankie)." When asked for some additional details about what the snapping frog was up to he replied, "He was pumping and scrunching." So, to all of you who are reading this, beware of the elusive pumping and scrunching snapping frog -- it's very dangerous!

On the morning we were set to head back to the city the little guy was very disappointed. I assured him that we would go on a little adventure on the way home. That idea seemed to appeal to him, so he gave it some thought. When we got loaded into the car he proposed his own idea for an adventure.

"We're going to Constanchayo," he said.

"Where's Constanchayo," daddy asked.

"It's in Canada."

"What do they have there?"

"Things."

"What kinds of things?"

"Ummmm....horses. Grey horses, black horses, and orange horses."

"Are there people in Constanchayo?"

"No, just horses."

Unfortunately we weren't able to find Constanchayo on the map...


- I may have mentioned in an earlier post that the little guy is terrified of moss. We have no idea why, but he stops dead in his tracks whenever he sees it. The cottage grounds were full of moss, which turned out to be a good thing. The continuous exposure made him relax a bit.

"Moss is a plant," he kept telling us. "Moss can't hurt you."

To prove he was right, I made a point of patting the moss and telling him it was soft and fuzzy like a cat.

"You pat the moss, Mommy?" he asked every time we came across a moss patch. I must have patted moss a thousand times a day. When I invited him to try, he refused (he's still not completely cured). But, he did stomp his foot on some moss once, and touched some lichen on a stump near some moss. That's progress, isn't it?

- Hubby and I decided that we were going to put toilet training into full action while on vacation. So far we've failed miserably.

Daddy taught him how to pee in the woods, figuring it was a skill that all young lads should acquire. Unfortunately, baby boy thinks that the peeing is not limited to the side of a tree. He figured the middle of the deck and on the floor of the cottage were also good pee spots. And every time he would do a little sprinkle, he'd come up to us with a wide grin and demand a candle and a treat. One step forward, two steps back (again!!!). At this rate, he's going to be in diapers until he's a teenager!

Oooo lollipop

I can't believe I forgot to post this story! When we were in Toronto visiting family a couple of weekends ago, the little guy watched his 3 year old cousin eating a purple lollipop. Having never had a lollipop before, he wasn't sure what to make of it. He had no idea what it was. All he knew was that if his cousin was eating one, he wanted to eat one too. He turned to me and said, "Mom, I want a grape on a straw." :-)

What a cutie

The little guy sat here and watched a donkey in the field for a good 45 minutes straight. Every time I tried to convince him to leave to look at other farm animals he said, "No! I want to stay with the donkey!"


Just doing a little driving....


and a little more driving.....


and some more driving....Did I mention I like to drive?

My smarty pants

Last week my caregiver took the kids to the park to see the ducks, geese and turtles. While there baby boy noticed some pigeons hanging around. He asked CC if pigeons ever go swimming in the water, which she thought was a very good question. Just as she was explaining that pigeons were more of a land bird, a pigeon swooped down into the river and started splashing around as if to prove her wrong.

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Baby boy asked me one day if his friend M had a daddy, to which I replied, "No, he has two mommies. Most kids have a mommy and a daddy, but some kids have two mommies and some kids have two daddies." After I explained this two him he ran off and played. I wasn't sure if he had actually paid attention to what I said or not until the other day when he blurted out, "M has two mommies. One brown one and one white one."

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Baby boy knows how to tease me. If he wants to get me going he says, "Mom's a boy" so that I'll correct him. And then he keeps repeating it because he thinks he's so funny. The other day he came up to me and said, "Hi Daddy." I replied, "I'm mommy silly." He looked at me with a sly little smile and said, "No you're not -- you're daddy!"

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The little guy watched intently as daddy marinated some lamb chops the other night. Hubby explained all of the ingredients he was mixing in. When he got to the wine vinegar, baby boy said, "No daddy, I want you to pour the wine in a glass for me."

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Today, hubby took the little guy to the toy store and got him some new animal figurines. He's going through a real marine animal stage right now, so they added a hammerhead shark to his collection. And, they bought a horse and a cow. As they were browsing through the cow section, hubby picked up one that he thought would be a sure winner. "Look at this nice cow," he said. Baby boy shook his head and said, "No daddy. That's a bull, not a cow. I want a cow." And guess what? He was right!

I live with Destructo

Why is it that I decided to cancel our house cleaner? Bad move. Very bad move.

When baby boy is bored and wants our attention he dumps, throws, pours, and smears things all of the place. I feel like I have to follow him around with a washcloth, mop and bucket. Just one of these days I'd like to come home from work and say, "Ah, look at my clean, clean house." We can all dream, can't we?

I haven't entertained in months because, frankly, I'm too embarrassed by the state of the house.

One of the kids that baby boy hangs out with at the park has a nanny who cooks and cleans! If Nannies weren't so darn expensive I'd look into hiring one to look after Destructo...err....I mean baby boy. A Marry Poppins type, who would fly off with her umbrella each night and return promptly the next morning.

Speaking of childcare, our caregiver has pneumonia, the poor thing! Although it sucks worse for her, it's also bad for us because we don't have a backup sitter (with the exception of a close friend who already has her hands full with 2 kids!). I've thought about registering with a nearby childcare centre that offers emergency services in situations like this. But when it comes down to it, I'm really uncomfortable dropping him off at an unfamiliar daycare. I think it would 1) terrify him and 2) lead to issues of mistrust. I think a better approach would be for me to find a university student who lives in our neighbourhood who is looking for the ocassional babysitting job. Baby boy really likes young ladies, and would probably be thrilled to entertain a student for a day! Plus he'd be on his own turf which would make things a lot easier. Especially if I had the sitter come over occasionally for a couple of hours.

But that brings up the whole issue of our grungy, disgusting house again! Would a sitter be totally grossed out by the state of our home? Possibly, unless of course they have roommates, in which case our place would seem like a sanctuary :-)

From the mouth of the babe

We've never given the little guy candy before (other than the odd chocolate chip). When he saw his cousin sucking on a purple lollipop he said, "I want a grape on a straw!"

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Last night we had a picnic at the beach to escape the heatwave. There was a little boy swimming around wearing a florescent yellow pair of snorkeling goggles. He was so jealous! For the next hour or two straight he kept repeating, "I want green googles. I want I own!"

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We took a ferry across to Toronto Island on the weekend. When the little guy heard we were going on a boat he announced that he was going to paddle the boat and catch a fish :-)

Happy Canada Day!

We had an awesome weekend/Canada Day.

On the weekend we went on a little out of town adventure with SB, which included a nice wilderness walk and some rock throwing into a lake. Baby boy talked her ear off the whole way home. He rattled on about the barns and the horses and pretty much everything else he saw out the window.

On Monday night we went to a Shawarma party at KM and KSH's house. Mmmmmm.....shawarma....After not eating shawarma because he filled up on chips, the little guy took a dip in the hot tub with a number of sexy young ladies. He was one happy dude until we announced it was time to go. All the way home he wailed, "I want to swim in the hot tub! I want to sleep at K's house!" Poor guy.

But we made it up to him on Tuesday with a huge long Canada Day bike ride. We rode more than 30 km, following the most beautiful trail ever along the river. I can't believe we hadn't discovered this trail years ago! We stopped at a marina to watch the RCMP lower their boats into the water. They were going out in full force to patrol the water for drunken Canada Day boaters. After our long ride, we had a late lunch in the market and watched all of the crazy people dressed up in their Canada Day outfits. Then it was off to the water park to cool down. When we finally made it home, we blew up the kiddie pool and had a good splash in the backyard. All in all, it was a great day for all of us. And....after baby boy went to bed, hubby and I got to watch the fireworks from our rooftop deck. The view was spectacular!

The only thing that really sucked was not getting to sleep in the next morning...Oh well, back to the grind I guess!

5 days and counting

Baby boy has been using the toilet in the morning and the evening for the last five days in a row. He's had several successful pees. No poohs. But hey, we're making progress!

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The little guy flies off the handle a lot these days. Chalk it up to being 2 1/2 years old. This morning he got really mad at me for some reason (I can't even remember why). In his fit of fury he pointed at me and yelled, "I think you need a time out. Bad Mommy!"

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Baby boy was feeling rather festive this morning. He carefully perched a purple balloon in one of our large tree-like plants and proclaimed proudly, "I made it Christmas!"

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Amma taught the little guy a new children's song while she was visiting. It goes like this:

Slippery fish, slippery fish
swimming in the water
A slippery fish, a slippery fish
Gulp, gulp
OH NO! He's been eaten by a

Tuna fish, a tuna fish
splashing in the water
A tuna fish, a tuna fish
Gulp, gulp
OH NO! He's been eaten by

An octopus, an octopus
wiggling in the water
An octopus, an octopus
Gulp, gulp
OH NO! He's been eaten by a

Great White Shark, a great white shark
lurking in the water
A great white shark, a great white shark
gulp, gulp, gulp
OH NO! He's been eaten by an

Enormous Whale, an enormous whale
Spouting in the water
Enormous Whale, enormous whale
Gulp, gulp, BURP!
Excuse ME!


Now that he knows this song off by heart he's starting improvising with the lyrics. Here are a couple of new verses I heard him string together today:

A zebra horse, zebra horse
digging in the sand
A zebra horse, a zebra horse
Gulp, gulp
OH NO! He was eating by a

Fluffy duck, a fluffy duck
swimming in the water
etc...

Singing his heart out!

These days you can hear the little guy singing before you see him. He sings and hums pretty much all the time. His Amma says he takes after hubby's brother who could also carry a tune from a very young age.

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In previous posts I mentioned how baby boy likes to invent new words. He latest word is "baggachizzes." What are they? I'm still not completely sure, except that you have to cook them before you eat them with sushi. Also, the taste "kinda like a frog." Mmmmm....Delicious!

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If you scold the little guy for his misdemeanors, he now shows remorse. He sticks his head in my leg and says, "Mommy, I'm sad."

"Are you sad because mommy and daddy got upset with you?"

"Yah," he says sheepishly.

"What do you say?"

Even more sheepishly he replies, "I sorry."

Full of beans

When Amma was in town last week, the little guy could not contain his excitement. He bounced around the house, climbed the furniture, and acted like a complete nut. When his nuttiness got out of control, I picked him up and said, "You are full of beans!" He squirmed out of my arms and said, "Don't squish the beans!"

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I was drinking coffee after work today and baby boy was watching the steam float off the top.

A few minutes later he said, "That's hot."

"What's hot?" I asked, "My coffee."

"No," he replied. "It's hot on my bum. I have to blow it out."

A bad case of diaper rash maybe????

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I recently bought a toilet seat attachment for the little guy in a moment of wishful thinking. And, just as I suspected, baby boy would have nothing to do with it. Or until yesterday that is. I accidentally opened his diaper while he was in mid poop. He wasn't sure what to do. I told him he had two choices: diaper or toilet. He kind of had a panicked look on his face and I could tell he really had to go.

Deciding that I shouldn't waste the opportunity, I took him into the bathroom for a toilet seat lesson. I explained how it worked, and that there were handles he could hold onto if he felt scared.

"I get to blow out the candle and eat chocolate?" he asked. These were rewards we'd offered up in the past that he'd never taken us up on before.

"Yes!"

That sealed the deal. Up he went. Many books and no poohs later, off he hopped. We celebrated this small toilet training victory with chocolate chips and tea lights and a couple of rounds of the Happy Birthday song. He was so delighted that he climbed right back on the toilet three times in a row (in hopes of more candles and chocolate!)

And tonight he sat on the toilet and peed with no prompting at all. Do you have any idea how much I've dreamed of this day? Cross your fingers for me that this is the beginning of the end of diapers!

Ups and Downs

It's been a stressful and emotional week. I started my new job on Monday. Thank goodness Amma was in town to look after the little guy while I adjusted to a very different work routine.

I'm used to 10-minutes on foot from door to door with flex hours. I quickly discovered that my commute to the new office is a bit of a nightmare (or will be in the winter). The buses are slow, indirect, unpredictable and unreliable. So, I've decided that cycling is definitely the way to go. So far I've biked twice, getting lost several times. Through trial and error I've now found a route that mostly follows bike path. I should take roughly 20-25 minutes door to door. (Did I mention I already got a flat tire???? Luckily it deflated after I got home.)

On my very first day of work I uncovered yet another problem: my hours of work. I told my manager at the interview that if there were busy times, I could switch schedules with hubby and work later. She had the understanding that I would work until at least 5:00 pm (preferably even later) each day without fail. Apparently I hadn't made myself clear enough. So....we've negotiated a bit, so that I can leave at 4:30 on a "trial basis". I'm pretty sure she's not happy with that. Frankly, neither am I. I'm used to leaving by around 4:00. Baby boy goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 so my new schedule is definitely cut into our time together in the evening. I'm feeling pretty sad about that.

Thankfully after next week, hubby isn't going to be doing any travel for work until September. This is definitely going to help. We've decided to switch schedules so that I do the drop off and he does the pick up. That way, if duty calls, I won't be stressed about having to stay late. When he travels I'm going to have to drive to work. It's actually a pretty fast drive. Unfortunately that will meaning moving my car a couple of times a day to avoid getting a ticket. I'd pay to avoid the headache, but there isn't a pay lot in site (crazy!!).

On the up side, the job is really cool. The files are interesting, I really like the team and I'm going to be getting some management experience. It's just an acting position for 4 months which may become permanent.

I'm going to try my best to make things work. Cross your fingers for me!

A nod in the right direction

Baby boy is sometimes extremely shy. Even though we see the same people day after day at the park, it takes him a good 10 to 15 minutes to warm up to them with each encounter. And, even when he does come out of his shell, he usually won't talk to the other parents. In the last few days he's come up with a new communications strategy for shy situations. When you give him a yes or no question he gives a giant, exaggerated nod of the head with a huge grin on his face. He likes the head nod so much that he's started doing it at home. Our house just got a whole lot quieter!

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The little guy has a friend named Logan Finn. We always use his middle name to differentiate him from another Logan who hangs in the same social circle.

While making conversation the other day, baby boy said to me, "I saw a dolphin yesterday."

"Really," I replied.

"Yah," he said. "He was hiding behind his Logan Finn." What he meant to say was "dorsal fin."

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News flash:

- The little guy has mastered the tricycle and is now the proud owner of a bike with training wheels. It is the tiniest bike I've ever seen.

- I kid you not: he can sing in perfect harmony (he doesn't get it from me!). His favourite tunes are "Down by the Bay," "Happy birthday," and that crazy camp song about the moose that drinks juice in bed.

- Instead of calling dad "dad" he calls him "dee-ad." Hubby isn't too keen on it. I reminded him that for 6 months or more baby boy called me "wee-bee."

Kudos to all the single moms out there!

I've been on my own since Tuesday and I'm literally counting the minutes and seconds until hubby's plane lands this afternoon. I don't know if it's the heatwave we're having or what, but baby boy has been extra cranky the last couple of days. And, being the weekend and all, I've tried every trick in the book to keep him happy and entertained. Nothing is working. He's whiny, irritable and is going out of his way to get negative attention (i.e. jumping on me, throwing things, creating embarrassing scenes in public, hiding from me). I'm tired and grouchy too so guess what? It's working!

I just put him down for a much needed nap so that I can get some much needed respite!

I honestly don't know how single moms keep their sanity!

My bouquet

These photos were taken on Mother's Day. Baby boy gave me this bouquet of flowers that we both enjoyed very much!

Oh the funny things you say

I was in the bathroom the other day when all of a sudden the door flung open. Baby boy barged in and said, "Mom, you having privacy?"

The sweater

See this little brown, hand-knit sweater with the squirrel on it? This was one of hubby's when he was a baby. I absolutely love it!

Better late than never

Here are some pics from our trip to Texas back in February. Sorry they are so late. We misplaced our little point and shoot camera and only recently found it again.




On our way to Texas we had a brief stopover in Chicago's O'Hare airport. This great little children's museum (free!) made the time just fly by. Here he is in training to become an Air Traffic Controller.



Most of the little guy's trip to San Antonio was spent "fixing the barbecue." He would open up the cover, throw in some stones and sand, blast it with the bubblemaker gun and it would be as good as new!



This was the little guy and I waiting for the guards to open up the gates to Sea World for the wedding. It was also probably the last time ever baby boy was caught wearing a pair of overalls.




Decked out in his cool animal themed shirt, it was off to the San Antonio Zoo. Here we saw rhinos, hippos, elephants, snakes and just about every other animal.



Dad and baby boy hanging out at the zoo.



All zooed out.

Most of my other photos from this trip are on our other camera and have yet to be downloaded. We are running out of space to store them. As soon as we fix the problem I'll share some pics from the underwater wedding ceremony.

Why I love the park

When I think about what it means to be a part of the community, my mind wanders to one place: the park. Here we have met friends and neighbours, networked on parenting issues, and spent countless hours just playing and relaxing.

Ever since the little guy was a baby the park has been the epicentre of our neighbourhood. Pretty much every single day we stop in for a "play play" on our way home from daycare. All of us - baby boy, hubby and I - look forward to going there to unwind at the end of the day. I find there is no better place to disengage from work (or daycare) and reconnect with one another and with our park friends.

The park has a long, proud history. People often tell me stories of how it has changed and evolved over many years. It is naturally shaded with big, beautiful trees. It's fenced in so no one has to worry about their children running on to the road. It is located behind a seniors residence, making it the most safely guarded park on earth. If there was ever any funny business one of the residents would be sure to know about it. In short: it's perfect.

Earlier this spring I organized a park cleanup event. I was amazed at how many people came out to lend a hand. Within a couple of hours the park was spotless. And we all had a blast. While the parents raked, swept and cleaned the kids run around and played. I'm definitely make this event an annual tradition!

Yesterday they turned on the water on the splash pad. Just one more reason to love the park. When summer days get hot there is no better place to cool down.

Wanted words

The little guy's vocabulary is growing by the minute, including some words he's invented on his own. Here are a few expressions he uses when he doesn't like something:

"No scrontching me!"

"Stop blinking me!"

"Don't flimmelflam me!"

"I don't want you tronching that!"

"No caughting me!"

He always gets his point across, even if he makes no sense at all.

I'm sick as a dog

I guess my luck ran out. Somehow I managed to dodge several colds, flus, stomach viruses etc...over the last six months. Even when baby boy sneezed in my face or used me as his personal kleenex tissue I stayed healthy as an ox!

The cold I have right now is in my lungs and I have a really junky cough. I was really looking forward to running a 10 k race tomorrow, but that's not going to happen. Which sucks royally because of all the training I've been doing these last few months to prepare for the race. I'll have to look for some other races to run once I'm healthy again.

Oh....And to my boss who dragged his butt to work when he was sick and contagious and is responsible for my general malaise, I just want to say thanks a lot.

Where did the icicles go?

Almost everyday the little guy asks me where the icicles are. I explain about how the icicles melt into water in the spring when the weather gets warmer, yadda, yadda, yadda. He sort of gets it, but not really.

Today, he developed a new icicle theory as he was running his fingers through my hair.

"Mom, you have icicles in your hair!" he proclaimed.

I'm making an appointment for a colour job tomorrow....

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You know that he's getting too old to nurse when he starts asking, "Mom, can I have chocolate milk?"

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There is a silly sound that daddy and the little guy like to make that goes something like this: "fuff fuff fuff fuff fuff."

The other day he told daddy, "I seen a fuff." Daddy asked him what it looked like. He paused and thought about it for a moment and then replied with great certainty, "It looks kinda like a frog. It sits on the log."

Today I learned more about the mysterious fuff creature. Apparently he's quite difficult to spot because he hides on logs. And he kind of makes a pig snorting sound that's kind of scary. But if you happen to come across a fuff don't worry - he assures me that they are actually quite friendly.

The case of the missing cupcake

The only thing that a 2-year old hates hearing more than "no" is "you have to wait." The little guy can't handle waiting for his turn to play with a toy, waiting for rice to cook on the stove, or even waiting for an elevator. So you can just imagine how difficult it was today when he was told he had to wait for a cupcake at his friend's birthday party. There were two huge trays of beautifully decorated cupcakes, with candies and sprinkles on top, sitting exposed on the park bench. We had to explain to him that we had to wait for all of the kids to arrive to sing Happy Birthday before he could choose one from the goody pile. Oh my was he ever frustrated.

Soooo.....the second hubby and I had our backs turned, baby boy crept on over and stole a cupcake as well as some of the garnish off the top of a few others. To avoid creating a scene, we decided to let him eat his cupcake even though the birthday song had not yet been sung. When he continued to try to pillage from the goody pile we gave him a firm, "No!" to which he yelled loudly, "You can't say no!!!!"


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Any time we place anything hot on the little guy's plate he commands, "You blow on it!" When I try to show him how to do this himself, he gets really mad. "No mom, you do it!" he says. I guess this falls under all other mom duties as assigned.

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I just finished reading a truly wonderful book called Tender at the Bone by former New York Times restaurant critic, Ruth Reichl. This book is about her childhood and early adulthood years and her journey to becoming a food critic. As with her other books, Tender at the Bone has recipes sprinkled throughout (I've tried a couple of them and they are remarkably good). I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an appreciation for food, as well as anyone who would find comfort in knowing that there are mothers out there who are crazier that their own. I've also read Reichl's book Garlic and Sapphires about her experiences working for the New York Times. It's really good too.

I've just begun reading her other book Comfort me with Apples. I'll provide a review for that one as well when I'm finished.

Malaria Bites!

Today the little guy got invited to a birthday party. But instead of bringing presents we were asked to donate bed nets for children in Africa to protect them against malaria (only $7 each). What a great idea!

To donate to this great cause, visit www.malariabites.net and click on "buy nets."

How does your garden grow?

This morning I pushed baby boy to daycare in his stroller. It was a glorious, sunny morning and both of us were in fine spirits. Along the way we admired all of the flowerbeds in bloom. The little guy pointed at all of the interesting vegetation and impressed me with his plant knowledge.

"Look, tulips!" he yelled excitedly every few feet or so. He also pointed out every daffodil, lilac bush and dandelion.

What blew me away the most was that he could rattle off the names of different types of flowers, it was how interested he was in knowing what they were all called, and in differentiating one flower from the next.

As we were leaving daycare this afternoon, my caregiver's husband was in the front yard. We got on to the topic of flowers (of course) so he gave the little guy a tour of their garden. He introduced him to the prairie crocuses, the periwinkles, the cactus, a thyme bush etc... Baby boy sucked up this knowledge like a sponge. On the way home he started pointing out periwinkles along our route. And he started asking me the names of other flowers, to which I responded stupidly, "I don't know what those ones are called." I'm going to have to start doing some research so we can learn the names together!

Maybe he'll develop a green thumb like his Amma.

Meant to be?

I recently opened up a fortune cookie and it said, "Accept the next proposition you receive." The next day I was offered a job, so I decided to take it (something I would have done even without the fortune).

I've been working for the same department for seven years, so I definitely think it's time for a change.

It's funny how sometimes life just points you in the right direction. Right as I was feeling the itch to find a new job, the phone starting ringing. It was as though people had read my mind or something. All at once I got swamped with invitations to write tests and to come in for interviews. It's actually pretty bizarre.

There were some issues with my HR file at work recently (long, complicated story). I had been fretting about how I was going to resolve them before starting my new job. And , again, it was the weirdest thing. My phone rang and an HR person from my department called to tell me they had just audited my HR file and had noticed some issues. Bang! Just like that, the problems that I'd been trying to resolve for 10+ months were resolved. And, to boot, she informed me that I was going to get an extra check for 2 days of missed pay right before my maternity leave started.

I guess it must be fate, or the stars aligning. Whatever it is, it sure feels good!

So beautiful!

Yesterday we walked by a construction site an saw a very impressive looking backhoe.

"You see the backhoe?" the little guy asked me excitedly.

"Yes, look at that big backhoe," I replied, trying to mimic his enthusiasm.

After pausing and looking at it for a moment, he looked at me and said in a tone deep with emotion, "It's sooooo beautiful!"

Catching up

Today I had a very interesting conversation with the little guy. It went something like this:

Me: What did you do today?

Him: I saw ducks. Ducks sleeping....ducks hiding...ducks swimming. They say "quack quack."

Me: Did you see the ducks at the park?

Him: (interrupting) I said "Bye-bye seagull. Have to go get Ava!" (pause) Duck was sleeping under his elbow...Swimming on his bum.

Me: So you saw ducks and seagulls. What about squirrels?

Him: I seen only a little bit squirrels. I didn't seen any horses.

What a little conversationalist!

Baby boy update

I really haven't been keeping up with my blog lately. Chalk it up to the nice spring weather and an addiction to online Scramble.

So here's a bit of an update.

Baby boy is starting to show signs of potty training readiness. Immediately after he pees or poohs he tells us, and insists that we change his diaper right away. Sometimes he throws himself on the floor and yells "Mom change my diaper!"

Another sign of readiness has been his interest in wearing underwear. "I wear underwear," he brags to people, even though this isn't true. But since he's expressed such an interest I decided to buy him a three pack of Curious George big boy underwear the other day. He immediately wanted to try them on. The first pair lasted about two minutes before he spilled water all over himself. The second pair lasted 10 minutes at most. I guess my instructions about not peeing in them fell on deaf ears. Oh well, it was worth a try I guess!

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When baby boy was sick, he had a low grade fever that would come and go. My caregiver was telling me about one of these fevers when I arrived to pick him up. On the way home, in his "looking for sympathy" voice he said, "I have a beaver mom."

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Every night when I'm brushing his teeth I sing the little chicken song. For those who aren't familiar with it, it goes something like this:

Well I had a little chicken and she wouldn't lay an egg
so I ran hot water up and down her leg,
so I ran hot water up and down her leg
and the crazy little chicken laid a hard boiled egg
hard boiled egg, hard boiled egg, the crazy little chicken laid a hard boiled egg

Well I had a little chicken and she wouldn't lay an egg
so I ran egg beaters up and down her leg,
so I ran egg beaters up and down her leg,
and the crazy little chicken laid a scrambled egg

and so on... (other verses include running garbage, King Midas, cocoa etc. up and down her leg.)

Baby boy loves this song and likes to request all sorts of items to be run up and down the chicken's leg. My favourites include:

- Sushi
- a horse
- firetruck
- a teetee
- pooh pooh

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Daddy took the day off on Friday and he and the little guy went on some big adventures. At one point they came across a cave. Daddy said, "I wonder if any critters live in the cave."

Baby boy was very interested in the prospect of seeing a critter. "What does a critter say Dad?" he asked.

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We've been meaning to buy the little guy some bubbles for the past couple of weeks. But whenever we've at a store we either forget, or they don't have any in stock. Yesterday, we went to the market to pick up some hanging flower baskets for the deck and a few groceries. As we were leaving the house baby boy said "No groceries!"

When we arrived at the market he told daddy quite emphatically what the purpose of the shopping trip was: "We're buying flowers and bubbles."

Mother guilt

I ended up taking Wednesday off work because the little guy's condition took a turn for the worse. By this time the croup cough was gone, but in its place emerged a fever and dreadful chest cold. Frankly, I should have kept him home yesterday and today as well. His fever keeps coming and going, his appetite is off, and he's not quite himself.

I have a number of reasons why I didn't stay home yesterday or today, including:
1. I had a very important job interview yesterday that had already been postponed once.
2. It is so bloody busy at work I can barely keep up with the volume.
3. Taking three days off in a row would have almost depleted my family-related sick leave for the entire year (and the fiscal year only started on April 1!)
4. In the mornings, he's shown signs of improvement (i.e. actively playing) so I underestimated how bad his illness really was.
5. My caregiver never called, so I figured he was fine.

So why do I feel so crumby? These are all good reasons, aren't they? I'll tell you why I feel crumby: I put work before family and family should have come first. Had hubby been in town this week, we probably would have worked out some sort of schedule where we rotated being home with him. But unfortunately that just wasn't possible.

Anyways, all I really meant to say was that I'm sorry babe! You have my promise that it won't happen again.

Do you see the steam?

One of the ways we've taught baby boy to detect if his food is hot is to watch for steam drifting up from his plate. If he sees steam, he automatically says, "Blow on it, Mom."

Lately he's been very proactive in reporting steam sightings. "Look! There's steam!" he says.

Today when I was changing a very rank diaper, he said "Do you see the steam?" I can only guess he must have been referring to the diaper....

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While visiting my parents home last week, baby boy said "I want a tour." So I guided him around from room to room to give him the lay of the land. After he'd seen it all, he went up to his Grandma and asked "Where's the tour, Grandma?"

The aftermath

I have never crammed so much activity into four days in my life! It seems like every time we visit our hometown, there are just too many things to do and people to see. People kept asking me today how my "holiday" was. Holiday? You've got to be kidding! We were constantly flitting from one grandparents to the next while also trying to squeeze in time for other friends and family. I'm feeling more exhausted than before we left.

It would be nice if just once (that's all I ask!) we could come to town and just chill out and do things on our own schedule. I guess I can always dream....

The little guy had a blast, but I think the visit took a rounds out of him. In fact, not two hours after we got home, at around 3:30 a.m., he started coughing on and off. He didn't have a fever or anything. Just a horrible, barking cough. And all day today his voice was hoarse even though his throat wasn't sore. But besides that, he was acting perfectly normal and carrying on with his regular shinanigans.

So after some discussion, we sent him to daycare as usual. All day I was expecting our caregiver to call and tell me come pick him, but the phone never rang. When I picked him up my she told me that she was fairly certain he had the croup and gave me some words of advice on how to treat it if the cough worsened. And then the weirdest thing happened -- we went outside and his cough just disappeared. Poof! Gone! I guess it was the humid air. I'm just crossing my fingers that the cough doesn't come back. I did a ton of research on the croup and it scared the heck out of me. Some kids end of going to the emergency centre because they turn blue and can't breath. More often than not, however, no medical intervention is needed. A little cool, moist air often does the trick.

Little Mr. Bossy

Two year olds can be so bossy sometimes.

The other day, hubby was cooking bacon. When he momentarily turned his attention, the little guy pushed on his leg and yelled, "You! Cook the bacon!"

And, when hubby tried to rustle him out of bed the other morning, he rolled over grouchily and said, "Go on your own bed!"

Little masterpieces

Today, I opened up baby boy's knapsack and found a cut out of a fireman's hat that he had glued stuff onto, and a picture of a person with glued on hair and hands and feet. Although he obviously has some help (i.e. the cutting part), you can tell he's definitely put some time and effort into these creations.

Hubby and I both love it when he brings home artwork. We fight over who gets to take the latest masterpiece to the office (we've run out of display surfaces at home). Friends and colleagues tell me that eventually you have to throw some of the artwork out -- there simply isn't room to keep it all as they get older and more productive. The thought of chucking any of his artwork out makes me sad! Maybe I'll have to start a memory box to store some of my favourites.

I'm real!

"I'm real! I'm little! I have blond hair! I'm big!" That's how baby boy described himself to me today.

A few chuckles

At 2:15 am baby boy started calling to me.

"Mom? Mom?"

"What is it baby?"

"I want sunglasses, Mom."

"It's sleeping time right now. We can get the sunglasses in the morning."

Silence. Right as I start drifting back to sleep.

"Mom?"

"Mom's sleeping sweetheart. What is it?"

"I need sunglasses."

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I must use my index finger a lot when I'm talking to the little guy because any time he wants to make a point, he points that finger right near my face.

One morning he held up his index finger and said to me very seriously, "Monday morning." I asked him what was happening on Monday morning. With his finger in the air he repeated, "Monday morning." Where the heck did that come from?

Another time, he waved his index finger at me and told me very matter of factly, "The horses are in the barn."

"Oh, okay" I replied.

Not knowing if I truly understood the importance of his words, he pointed his finger very closely to my eye and said, "Two horses."

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When not in use, we have to keep the toaster oven unplugged. Baby boy's latest obsession is to shove crackers inside of it in a pretend game of making toast. Last night I was cooking some vegetables in the toaster oven. Knowing his magnetic attraction to the appliance, I warned him not to go near it because it was hot. As soon our backs were turned for two seconds, he quietly climbed up the kitchen stool and opened the toaster oven's door. My mommy alarm immediately went off. I ran over and discovered something new cooking. Two tea lights!

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He had a sit down bath for the first time in over a year! Even though he's been keen on baths lately, he'll only take them standing up or, if he's really brave, sitting on his knees. Tonight he bravely sat down on his tush. And boy was he ever delighted with himself! "Mom, look! I'm sitting!" he cried. Of course I carried on and made a really big deal about it.

Next step: getting him to sit down on a potty.

Spring has sprung

Or almost, anyway. There is still a lot of snow, but it's melting rapidly. When we got home today, baby boy and I spent a long time outside throwing snowballs into puddles, and just splashing around. These are activities that I still have an appreciation for, even as an adult. But I have to say that my favourite thing to do at this time of year is to break the thin crusts of ice that form over the puddles at night. Every morning I delight in plunging my boots through the ice to expose the puddly goodness below.

I can't wait for the snow to melt at the park. The snow is still a couple of feet or more deep. Heck, if the weather is warm enough, I say we go anyways and throw some snow around. It beat being cooped up inside.

Trials and tribulations of toothbrushing

There is one mom job that I hate with a passion - brushing baby boy's teeth. Every night (or every second night because hubby and I take turns) it is a horrible struggle to even get him to open his mouth. He struggles and kicks. He whines and cries. He runs away. Those blissful nights when he cooperates nicely are far and few between. Sometimes I feel like throwing in the toothbrush. Throwing it right into his unused potty (did I mention potty training sucks too?).

Does anyone out there have any new tricks I could try? I've already tried the following:
- singing (with limited success)
- hanging him upside down
- acting silly and getting him to laugh
- yelling (which is dumb and I always feel bad about later)
- bribing
- using positive reinforcement
- buying tons of super cool toothbrushes to choose from

The whale, the shark and the dolphin

They sleep in his bed, they bathe with him, they join him at the dinner table. The whale, the shark and the dolphin are members of our family in baby boy's eyes. He offers them bites of food, and sips of milk. They are adorned with kisses and snuggles. They are given daily bubble baths. If I so much as touch them, he yells "NO!!!! Don't moving them, Mom!"

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My cousin in Texas has an outdoor fireplace. When we were hanging out in his backyard last month, baby boy had great fun opening its cover and filling it with pebbles. When questioned what he was doing, he replied "I'm fixing the fireplace."

At home, he's equally as consumed with fireplace repair. One day we caught him sneaking off with an over rack. He placed it on the coffee table and covered it in crumbled up paper and building blocks. Afterwards, he proclaimed "I fixed the fireplace!"

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I love his creative imagination. When we are out in public he is able to turn any object into a toy. At IKEA, he played for over half and hour in one of the kitchen modules. He made rows and rows of pancakes out of hotplates. He pretended that cabinet drawers and shelves were oven racks.

At the coffee shop, he found a metal newspaper stand. Immediately he transformed into a barbecue. He came over and served everyone imaginary "beef."

Bubbles in the sink or bathtub are used to make igloos out of.

His blocks and little dog house are regularly transformed into parking garages. A roll of masking tape around his ankle becomes a pair of skates. His toy vegetable basket works just as well as a hockey helmet. Our coasters are always missing in action and often found sitting inside one of his toy pots and pans.

The crawlspace next to the couch is his cave. "I'm going in the cave mom" he tells me, ducking down out of site.


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I asked the little guy if he would like to put his marine animals in the sink, as I pointed to his whale, shark and dolphin. Confused, he replied, "The whale's not green, Mom. He's black."

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"I want to wash a sink." Translation: I want to play in the sink. This has become our new routine. While we're cooking dinner, baby boy plays in the sink. Yesterday I caught him slathering dish soap all over his tummy. "I put cream on," he said.