Happy Halloween!

Here is the little guy dressed in a "happi" coat. This is a traditional outfit that children in Japan wear to festivals.



Balloons are cool at the best of times, but spider balloons are ultra cool!



Should I draw, or play with this motorcycle? Ummm...I think I'll play with the motorcycle.


My buddy and I were just hanging out, when along came this really cute girl named Little Red Riding Hood.



1 happi coat + 1 parachute = 1 super happy kid!



Halloween night was loads of fun. We ordered pizza, hung out with some friends, handed out candy, went trick or treating, checked out all the pumpkins, saw Scooby...The fun didn't stop (or at least not until 7:30 when it was time to go home and get ready for bed)

Mmmm Sushishis!

Baby boy loves going out for sushi or "sushishis" as he calls it. He's a big fan of the avocado rolls, edamame, and coconut milkshakes. And, oh yes, as you can see above, he likes going out for Chinese noodle soup too!

A new understanding

Hubby travels a lot for work. This weekend we dropped him off at the train station. Baby boy watched him unload his luggage from the car and accepted a good-bye hug and kiss. As we were pulling away from the station he said "See daddy?"

I explained to him that daddy had to take the train. He had to go on a trip for work. And, for the first time, I think he really understood what I was telling him. Although baby boy always talks about daddy when he's away, I don't think he's ever given any deep thought to where he's gone.

Now, we have long conversations on the subject that go something like this:

"See daddy later?"
"Daddy is on a trip. He'll be back in a couple of days."
"Daddy take the train?"
"That's right, daddy took the train. He had to go on a trip for work."
"Daddy on trip. He be home soon."
"Yes, daddy will be home in a couple of days."

He likes to repeat the conversation over and over again just to make sure he has all the facts straight.

Lately, he's also taken to asking questions. His two favourites are: what time is it? and what happened? He asks me those questions a thousand times a day. When he asks the time, I now have crafty answers such as "it's time to clean up your toys" or "it's time to start running because mommy is going to get you!"

Our big sky adventure!

I finally got around to uploading some pictures from an adventure we had a few weekends ago. It was very much an unplanned adventure, which made it all the more exciting. On our way to a nursery near the outskirts of town with our friend SB, we happened to drive along a road on the perimeter of the airport. We noticed some cars parked along the fence, right next to the runway where the airplanes land. There were people standing around waiting for the planes to come in.

Later on, when we were driving back along that road, we decided to stop and watch too. After what seemed like forever, we saw a plane coming towards us. The tiny dot in the sky got bigger and bigger until finally.....Zooom.....it flew right over our heads. What an adrenaline rush! The plane seemed to narrowly miss touching our heads. The loud engine noise roared through our ears. The smell of jet fuel stung our noses. It was, quite simply, awesome!

This picture I took doesn't do it justice.



Then, within a few minutes, we watched two more planes land. We are definitely going back. But next time we're going to watch from inside the car to bring the noise level down a few decibels.

When we asked baby boy what he thought of the whole experience, he said "Airplanes too loud!"

But the sky adventure didn't end there. As we were driving home, we noticed a hot air balloon was about to launch from a field near the side of the road. So we pulled over to watch. Baby boy, who LOVES hot air balloons, was absolutely glued to the scene. We watched the balloon get bigger and bigger. And then, some people jumped into the basket right before it lifted off the ground.

I'm sure glad I had my camera with me!

A la mushroom!

A couple of funny stories....

We were at the park yesterday and one of the other mom's started speaking to baby boy in French. Each time she introduced him to a new word or phrase, he'd try to repeat it back to her. On the whole, his pronunciation was pretty good. But it was pretty obvious that his ears were more attuned to the English language.

When we were about to leave the lady said "A la prochaine!" Baby boy replied, "A la mushroom!"

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Another leaving the park story....His little friend Shauna (pronounced Show-na)came over and said good-bye to baby boy. He stood there without saying a word.

"Aren't you going to say good-bye to Shauna?" I asked.

"Bye Soda," he replied.

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He's just like his dad. Plain water just won't do these days. When I ask him what he wants to drink he says "I want perrier." I can usually get him to settle for regular tap water with a lemon wedge.

Remember me?

I'm totally weirded out by the number of people who want to be my "friend" on Facebook who I don't even remember. Today I got a message from someone I supposedly went to high school with. It reads, "Wow. I remember you from high school. How are you?" I don't know if I should even bother replying. I honestly have no idea who this guy is. Do I have Alzheimer's or something?

I've always prided myself in my ability to remember people's names and faces. Could it be that I've just chosen to remember some people, and completely blocked out others.

Some of the friends I've acquired were only -- at best -- slight acquaintances back in high school. I only accepted them into my friend list to be polite. After all, maybe we really were friends at one time, but I've totally blocked that part of my life out. I've managed to almost completely block grade 8 from memory (worst year of my life by far!) so it's entirely possible. Either that or I was drunk.... Again, entirely possible.

Of course there do exist a lot of "friend sluts" who will befriend anyone who has ever passed by in their general direction. Maybe I'm just being approached by people who like to get around, if you know what I mean... Maybe I'm just another notch on the belt. I suppose I shouldn't be too critical. I've become more popular on Facebook than I ever have in real life!

News flash!

See this handsome fella? He just did his first pooh pooh in the potty!



Mommy and Daddy are so proud. Boy are you going to kill us when you read this as a teenager.

Waterlogged

Imagine a kid actually wanting to wash his hands! That's every mother's dream. I actually have the opposite problem to most parents: how do I get him to stop washing his hands.

"Wash-a hands? Wash-a hands?" he says over and over again. But it's really all just a ploy to play in the sink. Once he's on the step stool with the water running, it's almost impossible to pull him away. Any time I try he yells, "No!!!! Wash-a hands! Wash-a hands!"

We do let him play in the sink for extended periods of time. It's a great way to clean the floors! That's where most of the water goes. And if you throw in a couple of dirty dishes for him, they come out sparkling clean. Just as he can't get enough of the water, he also can't get enough of the dish soap!

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There was a dead wasp on our windowsill one morning as he sat eating a piece of toast. Baby boy noticed it, and gave me a very concerned look.

"Fly?" he asked, pointing at it.

"No that's a wasp."

"He sleepy," he informed me.

"Yes," I replied.

"Give wasp toast?" he asked.

Later that day, he noticed that the wasp was still "sleeping" on the windowsill. "Wasp sleepy," he told me. "I give him more toast."

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Generosity abounds! Baby boy enjoys trying to "share" his castoff food with others. He's always wanting to give empty banana peels and grapes that he's dropped in the mud to his buddy at the park.

"Give grape Motsumi?" he asks. I have to tell him that it's very nice to want to share but Motsumi probably has his own bananas and grapes.

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At the dinner table hubby and I get demand after demand. "I want grapefruit," "More ott (milk)," "More mushrooms" and so on. He almost never wants to eat what's on the menu. One night, hubby was about to go into the kitchen to fill one of the demands.

"Don't bring him anything," I said. "He's just asking for the sake of asking. He just wants control. If we cave in all the time he's never going to eat what's in front of him."

Baby boy was listening.

"I want control!" he yelled. Was I right or what?

Just for fun

How was your day?

Normally when I ask the little guy how his day was, I might get him to reply with a few intermittent words. Here is how the conversation usually goes:

Me: Did you have a good day?
Baby boy: Ava.
Me: Did you get to play with Ava today?
Baby boy: Yah!
Me: What else did you do?
Baby boy: Ball
Me: Did you throw a ball in the back yard?
Baby Boy: Bus
Me: Did you play with a toy bus?
Baby boy: Yah!

Now he's starting to use full sentences. Not all the time, but often. Here are a couple of examples:

Daddy: Do you get to ride horses at playgroup?
Baby boy: Mmmm...No. Slide on the slide. Sing some songs.

Me: Let's go wash your hands
Baby boy: Wash my hands with soap.

Me: Can you say goodbye to your friends?
Baby boy: Bye-bye everyone. See you soon.

Daddy: It's time to get in the car.
Baby boy: I'll drive home.

Language development is so cool to watch!

Am I just a big "ween"er?

I need sleep. The last week has been terrible. Up and down throughout the night responding to loud demands for milk (and I mean loud!).

What's changed? He was sleeping through the night and now he's back to this again -- getting up often and wanting to nurse. When he wants milk it means none of us sleep. Is this just a phase that will come and go like the rest of them?

Last night I tried to ween him off the nursing in the night routine. When he started yelling "Ott!" (his word for milk) I explained to him that mommy was sleeping and that when the radio came on in the morning he could have some ott. Given how groggy he was I thought he'd just roll over and fall back to sleep. Wrong!

He started howling "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" and clung to me like crazy glue. I tried other strategies to get him to fall asleep, knowing that that's the only reason he was asking to nurse. I dished out back rubs, sang songs, offered sips of water. "No, no, no!" was his reply. You see, breast milk is like Nytol -- it helps you get your ZZZZs. He figured that out on day 1, so my attempts to introduce new back to sleep techniques come across as quite lame. Exhausted and defeated, I caved in. Baby boy soon drifted off to sleep, but I tossed and turned with guilt. I've always been an advocate for nursing on demand (although he normally only chooses to nurse twice a day now, before bed and first thing in the morning).

Part of me feels like a terrible mom. The other part of me feels as though something has got to give. I can't live in a constant state of sleep deprivation plus work full time. Do any moms out there have some words of wisdom for me?

In general

Toddlers generalize virtually everything. Here is a list of the little guys top 10 generalizations:

1. Any letter that comes in the mail must be from Pinky Pig
2. Airplanes have one destination: Amma's house
3. All cats are named Nabi (similarly, all dogs are named Scooby)
4. All flowers (even the nastiest of weeds)are pretty
5. Everything adds up to the number 2
6. Any photograph that features a man holding a guitar must be Daddy
7. Caterpillars are all sad
8. Anything round is a ball and should, therefore, be thrown
9. All kids that are younger than him (even by a few days) are babies
10. If it's not water or milk, he calls it "wine"

If I put my mind to it, I could probably think of a million more. :)

Last blast of summer

Getting into the "swing" of things







Wearing my super cool shades



Playing a little ball



Making a big splash at the park

Happy Daddy!

On Daddy's birthday I told baby boy to say "Happy birthday Daddy!" to which he replied, "Happy Daddy!"

Less than a week later, my birthday rolled around. Daddy told him to say "Happy birthday Mommy!"to which he replied "Happy Daddy!" once again.

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We were eating Chinese food last weekend, when the little guy came across a piece of baby corn, which he'd never seen before. Intrigued, he picked up a piece, and proceed to gingerly nibble his way along it like a piece of corn on the cob. We nearly died laughing!

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Topping the reading list this week are two caterpillar books - Caterpillar Hides Away and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. As a result, he's invented two new words. "Faterpillar" to describe the fattened up caterpillar that gorged himself for a week. And "caterberries" instead of strawberries.

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Today we were walking down the street and passed a pretty young lady. The little guy pointed at her and said, "Nice!"

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He's sworn off clothes. One rather frigid morning this past week, I said "Come on, we have to put your pants on." He completely rejected the idea and ran away shouting "No pants! No pants!" Later that same day he did the same thing with his shoes. "No shoes! No shoes!"

The only way he'll wear a shirt these days is if there is a "cool" picture on it of an animal or vehicle of some sort. Forget trying to dress him in a plain shirt -- it's just not going to happen.

Sauce?

Sorry it has been so long. Life has been pretty busy lately. Here is the latest...

Baby boy likes to cook. He's got his toy wooden sauce set, miniature pots and pans, and an active imagination. Often, if I'm sitting on the couch he'll come over to me, leans close into my face with a questioning expression and says "Sauce?"

"Oh yes, I'd like some sauce," I always reply. If I forget to use my good manners he quickly reminds me with a "Please?"

"Oh, where are my manners! Yes please, I'd like some sauce." After he hears that magic word, he races off to make me a saucy creation. From time he shouts "rice?" "jam?" "toast?"

"Yes please!" I shout back.

Sometime he makes me imaginary pancakes, with coasters off of the coffee table. With a real spatula he lifts up the coasters and flips them over in his pan. Of course lately we've been letting him help make real pancakes. Daddy pulls up the step stool to the kitchen counter and lets him pour in the ingredients and do some stirring. How fun is that?

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NEWS FLASH: I am now officially called "mommy." No more "baby" or "weebee."

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If you come within five feet of the little guy's crayons, expect to be asked to draw Amma's cat, Nabi. To him, all cats are Nabi (even lions and tigers). It makes him insanely happy when anyone sits down and draws him a picture of Nabi the Cat.

If you won't draw Nabi, he'll settle for a picture of a horse. Ever since we got back from holidays where we saw horses along a country road, he's been big on horses. Instead of asking to ride the bus, he says "ride the horse?" It's pretty ironic because any time we get near a horses he totally freaks out. To a little guy like him they look pretty big and scary up close.

Speaking of scary things....horses don't freak him out nearly as much as the car wash. When he knows we are about to drive into one he shouts "All done!" The only part of the car wash he likes is the colourful soap that gets squirted all over the car. He calls it "rabow shapoo" (translation: rainbow shampoo). When he gets scared we tell him that cars need to get shampooed too -- just like people.

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His missing sandal has finally resurfaced, along with dozens of other objects that have been tossed over the side of the deck into our caregiver's lush garden. Is it too late to return those expensive crocs that I bought to replace them? I was forced to buy those ones because there wasn't a single pair of sandals left in his size in this entire city. No joke!

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Whenever baby boy feels like violently whacking the furniture, plants, appliances etc...he yells "fly!" I guess he thinks that as long as he says he's swatting flies, it's okay. Think again, my dear!

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Sky gazing is a popular sport these days. And not just because of the frequent airplanes passing overhead.

There was a hot air balloon festival recently, and dozens of balloons floated above our house. I took the little guyf up to the rooftop deck to watch the amazing parade of balloons of every colour, shape and size. Since that day, he frequently climbs up to the third floor to check for balloons. When he can't find any, he's so disappointed!

On a recent early morning walk to the market, we saw the moon in the sky. Although he had heard a lot about the moon, the little guy had never actually seen it before because of his early bedtime hour. When he saw the moon he just about jumped out of the stroller in glee. "Look! There's the moon!" "Moon! Moon! Moon!" He told every person we passed about it.

When we saw a star in the sky last weekend, he was doubly excited.

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"Paul Paul Paul" (translation Uncle Paul) is talked about almost as often as Nabi the Cat since he came to the cottage for a visit a few weeks ago. We have a little photo album that contains some old pictures of Uncle Paul. He likes to flip through the "Paul" book several times a day.

More vacation pics

Here I am hanging out with my big cousin.



And here I am checking out a very hungry caterpillar with one of my favourite people!



Lucky me! My best buddy came up for the day to the visit. We did all sorts of things together such as throwing rocks in the water, visiting the horses, playing on the play structure and on the deck.



Here I am sharing my toys with my eight month old baby cousin. I also liked giving her lots of hugs and pishes!



Here I am feeling sorry for myself because I missed the boat (well the canoe, actually). I did get to go on a couple of canoe rides though and they were fun and just a little bit scared.

A lesson in nature

We have a lot of books with pictures of animals. But living in the city, it's rare that you ever get to see most of those creatures up close. For the little guy they must seem somewhat surreal.

At the cottage he had some wonderful encounters with nature. I truly believe that he's been enriched by them. Here are just a few examples:

There were hundreds of Sun Fish swimming near the dock. So many, that you could easily catch them in a fishing net. So we did just that. Daddy would catch them in the net, and put them into a bowl full of water for M baby to watch. Then we'd let him release them back into the water. We also let him take turns holding the net, trying to catch the fish. The only problem was that his joy of fishing did not quite parallel his love for throwing things into the water. I can't tell you how many times I had to lean over the dock to rescue our poor net.

Speaking of leaning over the dock to rescue the net...that reminds me of another wildlife encounter - one which the little guy enjoyed much more than me. As I was trying to grab the net from the water, a very large water snake swam right by my hand. I screamed and jumped to saftey. But Daddy and baby boy went racing down the dock in hot pursuit. They thought that snake was the coolest thing ever. I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.....

There was a pond beside the cottage, with a continuous water flow. An oasis for frogs. Really big ones and really little ones. Baby boy was fascinated by them, especially when they were gently prodded causing them to jump in the air. Daddy caught a frog and brought it on to the deck for him to get a closer look. We had to enforce a "look not touch" rule after the way we saw him treat a poor spider and caterpillar the day before. He doesn't know his own strength.

One of the loveliest nature sitings we had were of loons swimming and calling to each other on the still water. The little guy was simply amazed when the loons would disappear under the water. "Loons! Swim!" he would yell.

On our long walks along the country road we also saw bunny rabbits and horses! And in our cottage we saw a mouse (or at least I did). The little guy kept on talking about a mouse so I think he might have seen it too.

A week at the cottage taught him more about nature than any book could ever do!

My vacation

Last week we rented a cottage on a beautiful lake. As you can see, the little guy had a great time...


goofing around on the deck with daddy;


dressing up in daddy's way-too-big bathing shorts;



going for long drives;



playing the guitar; and,




just lounging around in his pjs and crocs!

More pictures to follow on the next post. Bye for now!

The good, the bad and the ugly!

He stuck his fingers to the back of his throat and gagged today as we wheeling around the market. Instead of being horrified by the experience (as I was) he thought it was funny. So he did it again and again, leaving little piles of puke on his stroller tray and giggling with delight at his new trick. Luckily daddy was there to clean him up, because I was ready to drop him off at the nearest orphanage...

Of course my reaction to his gag routine only added fuel to the fire. All afternoon he kept on shoving his fingers into his mouth, knowing he'd get a rise out of me.

The things they don't tell you about in those prenatal classes....

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Yesterday we accidentally left the sliding glass door open without pulling the screen across. Three flies soon decided to make themselves at home in our living room. Normally we try to free any bugs we find in the house (except for spiders, which we let live peacefully in our plants to take care of other less desirable bugs). But these flies just wouldn't leave on their own accord. They kept buzzing around our faces driving us absolutely nuts. So I rolled up a magazine and went on a fly hunt. The little buggers were just too quick for me, so I handed the magazine over to hubby.

Baby boy watched in wide-eyed amazement as hubby nailed them one by one. What kind of new sport was this? he must have wondered. When the third fly fell to the floor, he yelled "Fly!" pointing over to its tiny, lifeless form on the floor. "Fall! Die?!" There was a mix of shock, fear and excitement in his voice. We were stunned. Where did he learn the word die? Did it slip out while we cursing about their incessant buzzing? Talk about feeling like cold blooded murderers! And to make it even worse he now keeps mimicking us by swatting his hand against the wall, shouting "Fly! Done!"

On another bug-related note....a really creepy bug got in the house a couple of weeks ago. Baby boy was the one to discover it. He screamed, and started to cry. I can't say I blame him -- it really was a rather horrible sort of bug. For the next minute or so, hubby and I argued over who was going to take care of the "bug situation." The argument elevated the little guy's fear even higher. He must have figured that if mommy and daddy were scared, then he should be REALLY scared.

To show him that it actually wasn't a big deal, I went over to catch the bug with a kleenex. But I couldn't find it -- it was as though it vanished into thin air! Baby boy built up just enough confidence to walk over to my side to help investigate. Just as I was telling him that everything was fine, that the bug was harmless, no need to be scared -- out it crawled from its hiding spot. The little guy took off screaming and crawled to safety on the couch. For several minutes, he flat out refused to touch the floor even though he knew the bug was gone.

He's as bad as me with snakes!

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"M" baby doesn't call me mom. Up until a few weeks ago he called me "baby." After I repeatedly told him that I wasn't a baby, he decided to give me a new name. I'm now "Wee-bee". If you ask him where mom is he'll say "Wee-bee?" When he greets me at the door he smiles and yells "Wee-bee!" I think it has a nice ring to it.

Some of his other made up words are:
"Ott" for milk
He calls the television "shadow"
If he wants a snack he yells "ice!"
and, of course, "tee-tee" is the word he uses when referring to his special blankets.

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I'll never forget how hubby's old cat used to limp around the house for attention. She was such a faker -- often switching legs. Baby boy has also learned how to feign injury. The other day he hollered "ouch! knee!" even though his knee wasn't even remotely involved in his fall. No matter how minor the crash, he announces it loudly in hopes of getting hugs, kisses and sympathy. "Fall!" he says. "Ouch!" Of course I'm always happy to help, even if I know he's exaggerating :)

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One of the most useful words a kid can learn is "help." Now that the little guy has added it to his vocabulary he calls on us for all sorts of jobs. Like peeling bananas, doing his "heavy toy" lifting etc... In his cute little voice he says "Help?"

This, of course, works both ways. I often ask him to help me clean up toys, or to throw things in the garbage for me. When he helps me I always heap on the praise. Afterwards he always goes around bragging about what a good boy he is. "I help clean," he says. Or "Good boy!"

My baby isn't a baby anymore...

For the last several months baby boy has wavered between being a baby and a toddler. Then, quite suddenly, he stopped being a baby.

He had two successful pees on his potty.

His hair began to grow, covering up the last of his baby baldness.

He developed a new set of dimples (now he's got four of them!)

Full sentences abound!

He's started saying "sorry" when he misbehaves.

When I tell him "no" he now asks "why?"

He can now sit at the table a draw pictures by himself for more than five minutes at a time. He used to draw in fleeting scribbles on his way across the room....

Although he hasn't mastered riding a tricycle, he's figured out the mechanics of it. He's trying out the pedals, and it's only a matter of time before he's off and racing.

Heck he even bit the bottom off of an ice-cream cone yesterday. If that isn't initiation into toddlerhood I don't know what is. The very fact that we trusted him enough to hold an ice-cream cone -- unassisted -- indicates how much he's matured. While he's always been allowed "bites" of our ice-cream, we've never trusted him enough to pilot the cone by himself, knowing this could be a messy proposition. But yesterday, there he was sitting independently in an adirondack chair...just like a big boy. So we gave him my half-eaten cone and watched him take careful bites around the edge until temptation got the better of him and he just had to turn that cone over and take a bite from the bottom.

As much as I look forward to him becoming a little boy, I can't help but mourn the loss of my baby. Part of me was hoping that he would stay a baby forever.

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A promise is a promise. A couple of Sundays ago, we asked the little guy if he would like to go on a bus ride. We thought this would be a good activity since he's completely obsessed with buses these days...

However, our day didn't go according to plan. Between running errands, and his afternoon nap the day just seemed to disappear. All of sudden, it was time to leave for a friend's house for dinner and we hadn't gone for our bus ride. As I was loading him into the car, he looked at me with his big blue eyes and asked, "Bus?" For several blocks he repeated himself over and over again.

Hubby and I felt heartbroken. We had told him we were going for a bus ride and hadn't delivered on our promise! So we decided to make good on our word. Hubby dropped us off at the bus stop, and arranged to pick us up at the end of the bus route.

We accidentally got on the milk run route. This, of course, didn't bother the little guy. At first he was a little freaked by the whole bus scene. All the strangers getting on and off. Once he got used to it, he got really excited and started enjoying himself. So much, in fact, that he hasn't stopped talking about bus. Every day he says "Ride the bus? Ride the bus?"

Although I'm glad we kept our promise that day, I think we've created a monster. We took him on a second bus ride with a twist. We transferred on to the train. If the bus was exciting, the train was mind-blowing! We still hear a lot of requests for bus rides, but even more for train rides.

When he's a teenager complaining about having to take the bus, I'll have to recount this story....

Hugs and "pishes"

He's an everyday mimic. Especially when it comes to daddy. One day after carefully observing daddy put on his deoderant, he opened up the bathroom cupboard, pulled out a bottle of peppermint foot lotion, and pretended to slather it on to his own armpits :)

Often when daddy is cooking something on the stove, he lifts up the pan and gives the sizzling contents a little shake. The little guy has taken to "pretend frying" in his own toy pan. He throws in his veggies (and sometimes a farm animal or two), adds some pretend sauce and then gives the pan a little shake in the air. When he's finished, he rests the pan on the table,waves his hands over top of his yummy creation and says "hot."

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He's become quite the conversationalist with his close friend and companion "Brock the bear." Brock, for those of you who haven't met him yet, is a rather large and plush Teddy bear with a big red bow around his neck. Last week, daddy overheard him talking to Brock. The conversation went something like this:

"Hi Bear!"

After a slight pause, he picked him up and said "Hugs and pishes?" Bear was, predictably, very agreeable to the idea.

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Baby boy is the biggest dilly-dallier on the face of the Earth. Pretty much everything distracts him. A tree, a flower, a pine cone, a puddle, a rock, an airplane in the sky etc... Walking even the shortest of distances feels like a marathon to me. I've tried every trick in the book to try hurrying him along.

Walking ahead saying "bye-bye" doesn't work. He knows we would never actually leave without him.

Chasing him just causes him to run around in circles and giggle, leaving us no further ahead.

Enticing him with the "next great thing" works intermittently at best. I'm forever shouting back at him "Look up there -- there's a squirrel!" or "Come see the pretty flower over here." But he's on to me....

The one thing that does work is the "stone toss game". I throw a stone down the path, and he chases it. Then he throws it. Then I throw it, and so on and so forth. So far it's the best trick I've got!

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I've always been a big fan of the musical, Annie. We recently bought the movie because I just had to watch it again for the 4 billionth time. So, of course, I've been running around the house singing "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a day away!"

Baby boy has his own rendition. He sings "The water, the water, I love you, the water."

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Sleeping in on the weekend is something I try to do. Unfortunately I am up against strong resistance in the form of a 20-month-old. Turning on the television might buy me five extra minutes of sleep but not much more. After that, baby boy tries out various strategies to try to get me up and moving.

Last weekend he opened the bathroom door, grabbed my glasses off the counter, and handed them to me. I thought this was pretty smart thinking on his part. He knows that I won't step foot out of the room until I have my glasses on. This was just his way of helping speed up the process.

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Although I am very pleased that Barnyard Dance has finally fallen to the bottom of the book pile, his new favourites are becoming old very quickly.

On the Farm is now among his top 3 literary picks. It's one of those book where you have to turn the wheel to find the horse food, the basket of apples, etc... Hubby and I have read it so many times now that we've taken to making up creative, new versions of the story. We try to outdo each other with our silliness. The other day I overheard hubby reading the book and just about died laughing. Here is what he said:

"Turn the wheel to find the delicious, green, steaming pile of pig slop." And then, in the voice of a horse, "Mmmm...this is wayyyyy better than so-called 'horse food' they're always trying to feed us around here."

Coming in at number 2 on his reading list is Baby Hugs. This is one of those touch and feel interactive books that toddlers like so much. This particular book has scratch and sniff flowers in it. He loves shoving his nose right up to the page and taking a big whiff.

But by far his top book choice of the moment is Goodnight Moon. We were given no less than five copies of this book as baby gifts. Lucky for him there is a copy in virtually every room! When he wants us to read it he starts repeating "moon, moon" over and over again until we cave in. When we get to the part about the quiet old lady whispering hush, we pause and let him say the "hush" part. It's very cute.

The things I don't want to forget

Summer has been such a busy time that I've barely spent any time writing on my blog. It's a shame, really, because I'm probably not recording all of the things I told myself I should never forget. A lot of the day to day things really do get forgotten. Even in the course of the day I'll find myself wondering, "what did the little guy say this morning that was so funny?" So here is a list of them, lest I forget.

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The other day, baby boy had a brilliant idea! He wanted to bring the hose into the house to water the plants. Although he couldn't quite verbalize his idea, he got his message across by pointing from the plants to the patio door and then back to the plants again, saying "Plants! Hose! Watoo!"

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When you give him a choice between two options, he ponders his response very carefully. With a look of deep concentration he give it a moment's thought and lets out a loud "ummmmmm...."

The conversation goes something like this:
Me: "Would you like cream cheese or jam on your toast?"
Baby boy: "Ummmm...."
Me: (holding up the jam in one hand and the cream cheese in the other)
Baby boy: "Ummmmm.....Cheese-cheese!"

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Our glass railing has a prism effect in the late afternoon, creating the most wonderful rainbows across the hallway floor and wall. "M Baby" is fascinated with "ran-bows" and takes great joy in placing his feet and arms through the colourful rays. One of his t-shirts has a rainbow on it and he requests it every single day. Heaven help us if the shirt is in the dirty laundry pile!

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He's slowly but surely getting the hang of his potty (although he hasn't actually produced a drop inside of it). Every morning he likes to go sit on the potty and read his Humane Society calendar, commenting on all of the pictures of cats that remind him of cats that he knows. Sometimes he gets off the potty and whizzes on the floor.

In the last couple of days, he's started demanding toilet paper, with which he attempts to wipe his own butt. He also insists that we remove all of his clothes before he sits down, even socks and his rainbow shirt!. "Off! Off! Off!" he yells, tugging at his clothing.

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All insects - especially flying insects - are of great interest these days. We have a GIANT dead dragon fly in perfect condition on our patio table. The little guy refers to him affectionately as "fly fly." Today "fly fly" was missing to his chagrin and he called for an all-out investigation to find his whereabouts.

The removal of the bees and honeycomb graphics that used to hang on our wall above the dining room table still raise questions. They've been gone for months! Amazingly he still remembers where they used to hang, and points at the wall and says "bee?" For some strange reason he also likes to point at his nose and our noses and say "bee." Do our noses look like honeycombs? Is he reading a book at daycare about a bee that lands on someone's nose? I'd really like to know what he is trying to tell us. I guess this will just be one of life's great mysteries.


More to follow tomorrow....

Moose juice, sippy cups and more...

"Moose juice?"

His one and only song request -- to sing the song about a great big moose who likes to drink a lot of juice. It is a song he picked up at playgroup. When I break into verse, I can't get past the first line, before he's jumped ahead to the chorus and starts singing "Way-oh, way-oh, way-oh, way-oh."

The moose's name is Fred, he likes to drink his juice in bed. He drinks his juice with care, but he spilled it in his hair. Poor sticky Fred! If only he had a sippy cup, he wouldn't be in this mess. And didn't someone tell Fred's mom that juice at bedtime is bad for your teeth?

Speaking of sippy cups, I finally found a shop that sells the "Klean Kanteen." It's a stainless steel sippy cup that is free from Bisphenol-A. Great, right? Like everything in life, you have to take the good with the bad. Here is what I view as the good and bad attributes on the Klean Kanteen:

Good:

- No yucky chemicals
- Keeps beverages cold
- Well-made
- nice size

Bad:

- Not dishwasher safe
- A little too cold to the touch, at times
- Easily dented when thrown from grocery cart (can you tell I'm speaking from experience?)
- Hurts when you get bonked on the head with it (remember what Fred Flintstone looked like after being struck in the head? That's me!)
- Expensive! More than $20 which I think is a total rip off.
- Although the container is stainless steel, the sippy nozzle is made out of plastic...so it's not completely plastic-free.
- Don't know how my caregiver is going to feel about heavy, clunky sippy cup being hurtled around her house...

I'm still looking for the perfect sippy cup. Any suggestions, let me know!

The big boy bed also has its good and bad side.

Good:

- He's sleeping better because he's more comfortable. In turn, we're sleeping better too! Bonus!!!
- He feels like a "big boy". Good confidence booster
- Mattress is chemical free, with zero off-gassing. It's made out of organic cotton, with a wool flame retardant.
- He hasn't tried to escape -- not even once! I'm astounded!
- Much cheaper than buying a regular mattress and frame.

Bad:

- Futon must be on a bed frame (to avoid it getting skunky over time). Bed frame makes it high off the ground, increasing risk of falling.
- Bed frame hurts when you clonk your head on it (again, Fred Flintstone)
- Having trouble finding a bed rail that works with the futon. The one we have isn't high enough so I worry about him rolling off the edge of the bed.

Overall, I'd say the futon has been a good purchase.

He's closing in on 20 months now. Here is what is good about that....

Good:

- Getting more independent.
- Is able to walk places, rather than being carted or carried all the time.
- Communicating is getting way easier. Today he said "I want sunglasses" when we got in the car. He'll also say "I want toast," and "I want a bite"
- He loves pretty much everything. It doesn't matter where we take him, he thinks it's an adventure. When we tell him we're going out, he yells "ready!" and runs to the door.
- He is ultra lovable! Something that won't ever change.
- He is starting to put two and two together, so to speak. All of that repetition is starting to pay off.
- Having a 20-month old in the house is a constant source of entertainment. He's so funny sometimes. Like when he stomps his right leg around the room when we sing "when your happy and you know it". Or when he puts his hat on crooked, and his sunglasses on upside down.
- He likes housework! Hand him a hose, and he'll water the plants. Give him the broom and he'll sweep the floor.

I won't write a "bad" list. As a mother, I can easily just overlook the books being tossed in the toilet, the fingerprints on the freshly painted walls, and the other "slight" misdemeanors... Besides, we always laugh about these things later on. Which brings me back to my good point that he is a constant source of entertainment!

Bye-bye moon!

I now know why the children's book Good Night Moon is so popular. I could probably write a similar book, replacing all of the "good nights" with "bye-bye." My son says bye-bye to everyone and everything he encounters.

Bye-Bye cat.
Bye-bye woof.
Bye-bye that (if he doesn't know what to call something).
Bye-bye pretty (waving at flowers).
Bye-bye house
Bye-bye water (as bath water drains).
Bye-bye baby (he says this to me when I leave for work)
Bye-bye ray-bow (rainbow)
Bye-bye bus
and, you guessed it, bye-bye pee-pee and bye-bye pooh-pooh

For the first time tonight he put "I" in front of an adjective. He said "I sleepy" when I asked him if he wanted to go to bed. Wow!

In other news, we now have a big boy bed. We ended up buying a futon bed made out of 100% cotton, with a layer of flame retardant wool. We looked into other organic bed options, but this was by far the most affordable. With the frame and futon combined, we spent less than $300. Tomorrow we're going to get it all set up, and then try to sell him on the whole "big boy bed" concept. If it doesn't fly, we can always revert back to his baby bed. I don't think it will be a problem getting him to sleep in his new bed. The problem will be getting him to stay in his bed. I have a feeling he's going to be a little escape artist. Stay tuned!

Having a "ball"

This afternoon we bought the little guy a superball with a cool turtle and beach scene on the inside. As I was loading him into the car, he threw the ball and it rolled out of the parking lot, across the highway, and to the door of the store where we had bought it. It was like a game of Frogger trying to get across the street to retrieve it. Baby boy howled with laughter as the ball chase unfolded. Lucky for him, the ball made it home safe and sound.

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You have to see this hilareous video on toilet training on You Tube. Normally the little guy can't sit still to watch a program for more than 10-seconds at a time. This one kept him interested the whole way through. He was laughing, singing along to the music and, when it was all over, he started yelling "bye-bye- pooh pooh!"

Toddler travel

I've written about traveling with a baby in the past. Now that my baby has turned into a toddler, I think it's worth revisiting the subject.

On the way to our hometown last week, we had a bit of a nightmare flight. Because it was the long weekend, the plane was full and we weren't able to get an extra seat for the little guy. When he was smaller this wasn't as big a deal. Now that he's an ants-in-his-pants toddler, it is an ordeal with a capital "O".

The woman sitting in front of us hated us! Even though we were being very careful not to jostle her chair, the little guy kept on jumping around on top of us, and shifting around to get comfy. Even the slightest nudge of daddy's long legs caused his knee to bump the grouchy lady's seat. Every time this happened she would get more and more agitated. I don't know how many times she shot me the stink eye -- too many to count (and it wasn't even my leg bumping her!). I told her we were trying our very best not to shake her chair, but I guess our best efforts weren't good enough. A nice Air Canada flight attendant came over to have a "talk" with us. As loudly as I could, I explained to her that we were doing everything humanly possible to contain our energetic 19-month old. I even suggested that, if the lady in front of us was irritated, she could put her seat into the upright position to allow my husband who is 6'4" tall a bit more leg room. The flight attendant gave me one of those "I'm just doing my job" kind of looks and asked us to try our best. Thank goodness the little guy eventually fell asleep!


All this to say, my first word of advice is to make sure that you don't get on a full flight. And, second, ask for an extra seat! The airline staff will be more than happy to give you a bit of swing space. Frankly, it is in the best interest of every person on the plane that your toddler is happy and comfortable. On the way home we had an extra seat and it was smooth sailing! Everyone thought he was a complete joy! And he is (usually)!

Other advice:
- don't give your toddler tap water, even if you aren't traveling to exotic locals. Our little guy had traveler's diarrhea for several days because of the water change. Like we don't deal with enough poop in our day to day lives!

- The whole no-liquid/gel rules for carry-on luggage do not apply to children under the age of 2. Go ahead and bring on board your bum cream, applesauce, and full to the rim sippy cups.

- When on the road, bring lots of snacks. Double the amount you think you will need because, if your toddler is anything like mine, he'll eat out of boredom.

- Borrow equipment - car seats, strollers, cribs. Dragging these things sucks. There is just no other way to say it.

- Get to the airport early. You'll need every spare second you can get for feeding, changing diapers, and letting your toddler burn off some energy before getting on the plane.

- We severely broke our little guy's bedtime/nap routine while we were away. I think that's okay. After all, it was a vacation, right? But keep in mind that you will pay for this upon your return. Our son has been tossing and turning at night, and then not wanting to get up in the morning. So my advice: get back into the routine groove immediately. This will save everyone's sanity!

And, finally, have fun!

Off, off and away!

We're off for the long weekend. The little guy is very excited about going on an airplane to see Amma.

Stay tuned for the tale of our weekend adventure!

Breaking up is hard to do...

Which is why, despite my previous blog entry, I have not deactivated my Facebook account....yet. I still think I might do it, even though some of my "friends" have been trying to convince me otherwise. Someone suggested I only put my initial instead of my full last name. I tried this, but Facebook was on to this trick and wouldn't let me change it. Craziness I tell you....

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Back to real life...
- M baby (as he calls himself) gave me a good-bye kiss yesterday that started off as a "mmmmwhah" kissing noise and then transformed into a "roar." The roar is becoming his trademark these days.

- When I dropped him off at daycare last week, there was a giant tent set up in the backyard. This just about blew M baby's mind! A moment later we heard voices coming from inside. Could it get more exciting than that? Well, just as the little guy was moving in for a closer look, out popped the head of a 14-year old girl (a very cute 14-year old girl, I might add). Just when he thought life couldn't get any better, the girl waved him inside. As it turned out, there were five teen-aged girls inside the tent. And, a television. Holy cow! This was just a little too overwhelming for him. The second he was inside the tent, he burst into tears.

Later that day, when hubby went to pick him up, some of the girls who had slept over the night before were still there. By then, the little guy had charmed them all to death. He had them securely wrapped around his little finger. They were feeding him watermelon on demand, and had even given him a new, spikey hairdoo. The tears from the morning had transformed into one big grin extending from ear to ear....

- We went on a big adventure bike ride on Sunday, making stops at two playgrounds. And we stopped to buy BBQ pork buns and some other Chinese baked good that was filled with lotus seeds. The pork buns were fantastic, but we ended up feeding the weird dessert buns to the ducks.

Full sentences - here we come!

Language development is amazing! It wasn't long ago that I was talking about the little guy's first words. He's now built his way up to four syllable words (e.g. Watermelon, helicopter). And, in the last week or so, he's starting putting "a" in front of his nouns (a car, a door etc...). As well, he's been stringing together the elements of sentences ("pool water out!").

A lot of his frustration over communicating has started to melt away. He can now express his feelings and desires in an understandable way. I can now ask him what he wants for breakfast and he'll tell me loud and clear. Usually it's toast or "shreshas" (Shreddies - his new favourite food). And the other night he completely shocked us by saying "I don't want to" three times in a row when daddy suggested it was time for a bath. He can now tell us, with key words and gesture, when he wants to go outside, if he wants to go for a bike ride, and what games he wants to play.

Every night I engage him in conversations about his day. I remind him of the fun things he did, the things he saw, the people he spent time with, the food he ate. His eyes absolutely twinkle with joy at reliving these experiences. He'll repeat back the most meaningful words to stress the things he liked most. His days are always so much more interesting than mine :-)

My love affair is over

It was a glorious three-week fling. I joined Facebook out of curiosity to find out what the hype was about. I soon found myself with a list of 51 "friends" -- some who I found, some who found me. I was absolutely giddy, catching up on 15 or more years worth of gossip. Heck, I even had an online chat with my first boyfriend!

After a few days I was hopelessly addicted to Facebook. I couldn't wait to open up my email to see if someone had "poked" me or had written on my "wall". Instead of reading the newspaper, I was reading the mini news feeds that the people on my friends list were posting next to their profiles. I spent countless hours browsing through photo albums, linking to blogs, and marveling at how much people had changed (or hadn't changed). I bantered back and forth (or rather "wall-to-wall" in Facebook talk) about life then and now.

When I realized that some of my "friends" had hundreds of other "friends" and I only had a dozen or so, I started feeling like a big loser. It was like being in high school all over again -- just one big popularity contest. Or that's what I thought until I realized that building up a list of friends on Facebook was like rolling a snowball. It just gets bigger and bigger as you come across more contacts. One friend may lead you to three more friends, and then those friends lead you to more friends, and so on and so and so on.

I started my search for friends by checking to see if any of the people in my email address book were registered on Facebook. I turned up a good half dozen here. After that, I began looking through online yearbooks where I was able to find people from my high school and college days. Heck, I even found some people from elementary school. Those were the really cool finds. Catching up with these people made the whole Facebook experience worthwhile.

Then I dug through my friends' friends' list (anyone on Facebook will understand exactly what I mean by this) hoping they would lead me to other long lost acquaintances. Instead I found a bunch of my co-workers that I see virtually everyday. I though, "What the heck?" and added them. Whether in real life I would actually qualify some of these people as "friends" is questionable. But I wanted to see how far I could go, how many people I could actually find.

Yesterday I saw the light. Actually I heard it on CBC radio (isn't this always the way with me?). They were talking about the dark side of Facebook. It was then that I started asking myself, what on Earth am I doing? Why am I putting my personal life on display so carelessly? If my hubby is reading this, he's thinking to himself "I told you so." What he had been telling me all along was affirmed by the media.

I was watching and being watched -- and not just by my "friends." Although I can't prove it, I'm pretty sure that someone out there is getting rich by selling my information. And who knows what other unwholesome ways my personal details are being used.

So my dear friends, I'm hanging up. Please don't take it personally. My new motto is a true friend is a friend for life. And I know exactly where to find all of my true friends.

18-month check up

I took the little guy for his 18-month check-up this week. He now weighs 22.5lbs and is 87cm long. Very tall and very skinny. He conveniently came down with a low grade fever that day and got to skip his vaccinations. Lucky guy! To him a trip to the doctor is like a trip to the toy store -- so many cool things to look at. I'm

The doctor asked me if he could say at least 5 words, to which I laughed and said "more like 200!". Although he's shy about speaking in public, he never stops babbling at home. He repeats pretty much everything we say now. We have to be extra careful now not to use any bad words....Of course I never use any of those! :-)

I was also told it was time to start potty training. That could be a disaster...a very messy one at that. I can't trust him to run around the house diaperless for five minutes without having him go off like a fire hose. Although I must admit, he is very interested in the toilet, and LOVES talking about pooh-pooh. Maybe he'll be a pro (although somehow I doubt it...). We're going to buy him a little potty this weekend and try it out. If he's not ready, we can try again when he's older.

We're also going to buy him a big boy bed (an organic one for reasons discussed in an earlier blog entry). His legs are getting too long for his little crib. Wish us luck with the transition!

Prognosis: fit as a fiddle. Wylie as a coyote.

The water series

IMPORTANT: Please read

I read another scary story about plastic sippy cups, that really freaks me out. There is a new metal sippy cup on the market called the Klean Kantine. If anyone knows where you can find them or order them in Canada, let me know. You can order them online, but shipping is really expensive.

Speaking of scary things, I read a study that linked SIDS to the toxic off-gassing of mattresses. I had been toying with the idea of buying organic mattresses for us. Reading this article sealed the deal. We've gone organic already in our eating, cleaning and painting, so why not in our sleeping?


Now that I've made my public service announcement and scared the living daylights out of everyone, here are a couple of more pictures of baby boy....



The Mayor made this special little chair just for me. Am I lucky guy or what?



Hi!

These boots are made for walking!

The only thing better than clomping around in my over-sized boots, is clomping around in a tee tee toga, with my favourite hat, daddy's cell phone and my stuffed bird.

Our little outdoorsman

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Once again daddy came home beaming with pride about the little guy's artistic talents. An early childhood educator was at playgroup this morning and couldn't believe how advanced his brush strokes were for a child of his age. She was simply amazed. I guess only time will really tell. I can't wait to see the piece of artwork in question. I'll have to photograph it and put it on the blog for others to comment on.


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This morning baby boy was up to his old trick of sucking water out of his sippy cup and then letting it drizzle down his shirt, onto his pants. I hastily changed his clothes, in a rush to drop him off at daycare and get to work.

In retrospect, the pants I chose were probably not the best -- but they led to some good amusement at the park this afternoon. As he trotted around the playground in his oversized pants, they began sliding down, skateboarder style. So low, in fact, that when he bent over to pick up a stick, we saw a full moon! Apparently it wasn't just his pants that were loose... I just about killed myself laughing!


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It was one of those days where you could really tell I was a mom. I went to grab my cell phone out of my purse, and instead pulled out the Elmo phone. How it got in there is beyond me (I think a little someone may have planted it there this morning). I contemplated taking it into meeting with me today. It would have been funny to say, "Sorry I really have to take this call -- it's Grover." :-)

The "table" series

One can never have too many table shots....

New photo series!

I think it's about time that I posted some new pictures of the little guy on my blog. Here is the first in a long series to follow... Tune in regularly to see new ones.

This one was taken back in March or April (I think) when my mom came to visit. Grandma is so hilarious!



When he accidentally fell in the colander, daddy came to the rescue. But not before I quickly grabbed the camera and shot these hilarious pictures.

Amma visit highlights

Amma left today, after a 6-day fun-filled visit.

She decided to look after baby boy during the day to maximize bonding time with her one and only grandson. At first baby boy wasn't too sure about the change of routine. But he soon came to realize that hanging out with Amma was pretty sweet! Not only did she smother him with affection, they did all sorts of cool thing together like watch boats, feed the ducks, play at the park, hang out in the market, build towers, blow bubbles etc... But all of these activities couldn't hold a candle to the fun they had playing with buckets of water. When his bucket was empty, the little guy would shout "ready" and Amma would run and fill it up again.

Since their infamous "water day" he pretty much wants to play in water all the time -- whether in the bathtub or with the hose. In fact the first three words out of his mouth this morning were "Appa" (his pronounciation of Amma), "happy" and "water." He's also become very fond of the word "wet" and "rain."

Besides the water, we had a really good time in the country this weekend, exploring some cute little towns. (as a funny aside: In the car, I asked the little guy what his name was, and he replied "M baby!")

For hubby and I Amma's visit offered some much needed respite. In addition to doing a lot of the housework and shopping, she babysat. We went out on our first date since September 4 (I'm not kidding). And, we got to sleep in on the weekend while Amma played with the little guy. Bonus!

It was a pretty sad good-bye today. "M Baby" kept saying "Appa? Appa?" when we got home, wondering where she had gone. You can tell he really misses her -- and so do I. Come back soon, Amma!