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!