The Home Front

Why hello!

2010-12-13T15:08:00.002-05:00

Seems I got bored with blogging this year and didn't post a single update! This despite the fact that we've been living it up in Norway since August and enjoying many blog-worthy adventures. A shame, really, but I'm in luck! Tom turned the emails he'd been sending to his colleagues into a blog, so you can give it a look if you're interested in what we've been up to. Since August, at any rate. The first half of 2010 is lost. Lost!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T22:26:00.002-05:00

I'm back! It's hard to believe that several months passed without a single update, but I offer no excuses. I just didn't feel like writing. Anyway, Tom and I are relaxing after a very busy Christmas Day here in Ottawa. This is the first Christmas we've actually spent in Ottawa, so it was the first time we had a tree in this house. It's also the first Christmas Henry has ever spent without grandparents on hand, which was a little sad. But we had fun keeping things small-scale, and definitely appreciated skipping the trip to the airport for a hellish trip west!

The kids were good to us this morning. Dexter woke up at 7, and we woke Henry up at 7:30. The great unwrapping proceeded like a great tornado through our house, and the pile of presents was quite overwhelming. Dexter even lost interest in unwrapping his remaining gifts near the end; he left them for a few hours until Henry started opening them for him. We spent the rest of the day hanging out and playing with the new stuff. For dinner we went over to the home of our friends Robert and Jolanda, whose son is Henry's age and also loves dinosaurs. We were able to enjoy something resembling a grownup dinner while the boys kept each other busy in a whirlwind of mayhem. I splurged on a very nice bottle of Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir for dinner, and it was worth every penny. Of course we missed all our peeps out west, but overall, it was a great Christmas.

Now, I said no excuses about why I haven't been blogging lately, but there was one big factor: my old PC laptop was on its last legs, and I found it just incredibly annoying to even boot the thing up and work on it. But recently I got a new MacBook Pro, so I'm back online at home. I really only bring this up because the one drawback of the Mac is that I haven't figured out an easy way to upload photos from iPhoto. I'm sure there's nothing to it--I just don't know how to. So, Christmas photos will follow soon. Promise!

Paging the Tooth Fairy

2009-09-05T21:21:00.001-04:00

Henry just lost his first tooth. Time to go rummage through my change purse.

Sniff. My baby is growing up so fast!!!! Sniff sniff.

A sentence for Dexter

2009-08-26T10:29:00.002-04:00

This morning he went for a short walk with Tom while I was getting ready for work. When he came back inside, he said, "Dere was a cat outside hiding in da bushes."

Yet he can't identify colors. Toddlers are funny creatures!

A milestone for Henry

2009-08-26T10:28:00.001-04:00

He has a loose tooth!

Birthday boy, avec gateau

2009-08-13T16:19:00.000-04:00

Dexter is Two!

2009-08-02T21:04:00.006-04:00

Happy birthday, my sweet boy. We had a very mellow day, with just a few presents in the morning and nothing else. After last year's washout of a neighbourhood party (everyone was out of town for the long weekend), I decided not to organize anything this year. Besides, we already had a party in Kelowna, and Tom's parents will be in town this week, so we'll do a cake then.

Tom and Henry left town around noon for Henry's first overnight camping trip, so Dexter and I spent a rare day together, just the two of us. He happily napped though a big part of a long walk in the stroller, waking up in time to watch boats and ducks on the canal. Stories on the couch , then an episode of Thomas so I could have a little cat nap. We enjoyed some fresh corn-on-the-cob for dinner, then headed out for another long walk, this time with him on foot. We made it all the way to Brantwood Park, had some quality swing time, then headed home. Bath, stories, night-night at 8 on the dot. All-in-all, a very nice birthday for the two of us.

So, what's he like these days? To me, the most striking thing about Dexter at age two is how much he talks. He uses 3- and 4-word sentences regularly, complete with articles and prepositions. The challenge is that a lot of it (not all) is quite garbled. There are a number of sounds he can't make when they appear at the beginning of a word (like "S", "F", "Z", and "T" & "W" to some extent), so he'll drop it and leave us to translate. So "snake" becomes "nake", etc. Other sounds and words he squishes together in a sing-songy way. And then he blends the half words and multiple words together into sentences that really do stump us sometimes. For example, today whenever he heard an unusual sound in the distance, such as machinery, he'd ask, "What's doing it?" But it comes out sounding almost like, "Let's doonut". I spent several minutes this morning trying to figure out why he was thinking about donuts before I deciphered what he was actually trying to say. Henry didn't talk nearly as much at this age, and he was a bit slow to start stringing words together, but we was exceptionally clear in his pronunciation. Dexter is all about the toddler small talk. Once he can consistently speak clearly, this kid could really be the life of the party.

As for other traits, he still loves music and has added some crazy dance moves to his repertoire. Dexter is more social and physically adventurous than his older brother, and less inclined to get deeply absorbed in a play task he's performing. He's also a lot less stubborn than Henry was at this age (one of the first phrases Henry learned how to use was "No help!", and he wouldn't do things like ride in a stroller. He'd insist on pushing it instead). It still kind of blows my mind that I can set a plate of healthy food in front of Dexter and, provided he's hungry, he'll just dig in and eat it with no further drama. That kind of stuff was just impossible when Henry was two. So, Dexter definitely has his moments, but overall he's easygoing. Except when he's in a bad mood, at which point he becomes FRICKING IMPOSSIBLE to deal with, but that issue is its own post. In broad strokes, it's starting to seem that he's more like me, personality wise, while Henry is more like Tom. Of course they're both individuals and totally just themselves in all the ways that matter, but if I was going to put it in a nutshell, that's how I'd characterize them in relation to the rest of our family.

And, oh yes--he's inherited his brother's love of dinosaurs. Not surprising, given his total immersion in all things dino since birth. He's very cute when he's in dino mode, stomping around chanting "'ino FEET! ino FEET!" and roaring. When we were in Kelowna, he came downstairs one morning and woke us up by announcing, "I am ceratops! I am ceratops. ROAR!" He meant "triceratops." He's getting there with the big names.

He's shown no interest in using potty since we returned from our long trip, which is unfortunate, but not something I care about that much at this point. Once the new year rolls around, we'll start up in earnest.

Finally, if the story I've heard about how you can double a male child's height at age 2 to estimate his adult height is true, well, let's just say that I won't be signing Dexy up for the basketball team. Not a lot of promise there. At least he's outgrown most of his 12 month clothes. Most of them. . .

What more can I say--he's a gorgeous little boy with an impish personality, tons of fun and absolutely adorable when he's in a good mood. As I intimated before, life isn't all sunshine and roses with him, but his less savory toddler traits are a subject for another post. I won't get into all that now, after a wonderful day together and lots of warm thoughts about the past two years of fun years. So, happy birthday, my sweet pea! I can't wait to see what you accomplish in year 3!

Planes, trains & automobiles (and a boat)

2009-07-21T12:58:00.003-04:00

Hello, blog readers, if there are any of you left. Life around here is returning to a normal (albeit summer) routine around here after 3 weeks of Momentous Travel! Yes, I had three entire weeks of vacation to burn by August 31, so we headed to the west coast for an extended stay. Our itinerary included Portland, Cannon Beach, Seattle, and Kelowna. We hit the beach, celebrated Independence Day the proper way (home fireworks, BBQ and tequila shots), bombed around the big city, visited many old friends, and spent time with my family. The boat part was my high school reunion, which featured a houseboat "booze cruise" on the lake.

It was very tiring and logistically challenging to take the kids on an extended, multi-stop trip, but definitely worth it. We had so much fun! Some random observations:

Portland is indeed as hip and livable as its reputation suggests
The Oregon Coast is every bit as wonderful as I remembered
I wish we had something like the Jamison Fountain in Ottawa
Good lord do I ever love summer in a humidity-free climate
I simply do not understand how or why so many Canadians cling to this idea that American beer is inferior to our suds. Please sample this baby (which I did repeatedly) and rethink your outmoded assumptions.
I'm glad I made it to the reunion. I got to see a few people I never deliberately lost touch with. Funny how fast 20 years can go by.
My parents' back yard is sure a nice place to be on a hot day

With everything we packed in, the trip was quite the budget-buster, so we'll probably be staying put for a good while. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. No matter how much fun you're having, traveling with small kids is hard work. Especially when one of them **cough cough DEXTER cough cough** is prone to titanic meltdowns over issues that are minor/completely incomprehensible to adults. Overall the kids were troopers, but lets' face it--you'd have to look far ans wide to find anyone who'd say a not-quite-2-year-old makes a great traveling companion. During more challenging moments on the road I reminded myself that family travel will probably get easier from here on out. I remember noticing that Henry got distinctively easier to deal with on the plane around the 2.5 year mark, mainly because his attention span had expanded past its previous 8 second limit and he could occupy himself with a coloring book or short video. Next summer Dexter will turn 3, and should be long past the screamy/smashy/squirmy stage that makes a toddler such a pain to deal with when you're moving from A to B. I can hope, can't I?

Photos soon.

Name That Tune!

2009-06-24T12:53:00.001-04:00

Name That Tune from NIGEL on Vimeo.

A shocking development

2009-06-12T17:13:00.002-04:00

Out of nowhere, Dexter has decided that the time is right to start using the potty. I guess the nanny just put him on it a few times and he was like, "okay, I can handle this." I am beyond shocked. I'm almost too surprised to be happy about it. Given what a struggle it was with Henry, I had no plans to even start potty training in the next 12 months! He's a long way from being capable of staying dry, but he has no issues when it comes to sitting on the thing and doing his business.

That's parenting for you. Sometimes easy things are hard. Sometimes, hard things are easy. You've just gotta roll with it.

Birthday photos

2009-05-13T16:56:00.006-04:00

Let's get this party started

Cupcakeapoloosa!

The builder, the boy & the backyard lab

Mothers at the Tulip Festival on Mother's Day

Henry Hits the Big 0-5

2009-05-12T16:09:00.005-04:00

Phew! Another birthday weekend survived. Henry is now officially 5, and the event was suitably feted with a visit from Grandma Eileen and Grandpa Bop Pop, a party, and many, many gifts, including Grandpa's hand-built playhouse (a.k.a "The Lab") for the back yard. Also, a birthday phone call from Henry's favorite paleontologist, who happens to be a personal friend of our neighbor, who arranged the call. Henry told him about the real fossils he received for his birthday and learned of Dr. Larsen's summer plans to excavate a baby t-rex skeleton he discovered last year. Exciting!

For me, five is an important birthday because age five is traditionally regarded as the dividing line between "small child" and "child." When you want to explain why your house is a horrible mess, you're always tired, and you spend most of your free time at community centers partaking in activities that require you to sit on the floor, you can say, "I have kid(s) under 5," and everyone understands that they'll have to touch base with you in a few years, because right now you're BUSY. But after age 5, life with your kid starts to change. Over the past 6 months or so I've already noticed how much less hands-on parenting (literally) we have to do with Henry now. Rather than wrestle him into his clothes, I can tell him to go get himself dressed, and he does it! A mere two years ago we were fighting a hellacious battle to get him out of diapers, but now he doesn't even want us in the bathroom when he's doing his business. He shuts the door and even washes his hands on his own. He can play outside with no more supervision than the occasional peek out the door. He goes to sleep on his own and stays asleep all night long. We still resort to feeding him (i.e. scooping up food for him and shovelling it in his mouth) some nights, but that's more a function of our impatience than any need on his part (I swear, if we didn't practically force-feed him, he'd take 2 hours to eat dinner. He is the slowest meal-eater in the history of meals. Dexter eats him under the table).

In short, parenting is becoming less about grunt work and more about developing and enjoying our relationship with this autonomous little individual whom we happen to have created. And Henry's a fun guy to hang out with. None of my friends are into time-travel, prehistoric animals, prehistoric animals from space, fossils, or games of tag that involve prehistoric animals from space that are also zombies. But that's what an hour with Henry is like. He's also very affectionate, a wonderful big brother to Dexter, and generally a great kid. So happy birthday, my boy. I can't wait to see what the next 5 years bring.

I'll post some birthday week photos tomorrow. I swear!

P.S. Have I mentioned that he can read really well now? I'm so far behind in my blogging. . .

Amazing paleontological discovery

2009-04-14T23:23:00.003-04:00

This is a longish video and a huge file, but if you want to hear Nigel interview the Pastasaurus, I recommend it.

There Will Be Chocolate

2009-04-14T22:30:00.008-04:00

Easter weekend. Three days for most. Four days if you work for the government, like most people in this town. Shining sun. Cool spring air. And chocolate eggs. Oh yes, chocolate eggs galore.

Good Friday was sunny and relatively warm (we're talking 8C/46F range), so Tom and I decided not to be lame and actually go out in the morning. With the kids. You know, get them fed and dressed and into the car several hours before noon. This is every day for some parents, but since we got a nanny last year, we rarely have to get the kids ready in the morning. She shows up, we leave, and voila. So we are rusty! Also, Henry is a big dawdler and we have to remind him every 33 seconds to stay on task and put on his shoes, zip up his hoodie, put on his shoes, PUT ON HIS SHOES! All while trying to wrangle squirmy Dexter into whatever stuff he needs to wear for the trip. I'd been hoping that the end of winter gear would mark that start of easier family excursions, but I'm slowly accepting that until it is socially acceptable to take your children out on the town in bare feet and underwear (the kids, not the parents), it will take FOREVER for us to roll out the door with both of our pokey boys in tow. I say all this just so you don't think there's anything normal about us going out with the kids in the morning. Normally it's something I put off until late afternoon.

ANYWAY, we went to the Experimental Farm, which was hosting all-day Easter Egg hunts and "meet the baby animals" events. These attractions, combined with the fact that the weather was not awful, inspired approximately 72% of families with children under 5 in the Ottawa-Gatineau region to do the same thing. The Farm was a zoo! I've never seen it like that before. Instead of Good Friday it felt like Black Friday at Wal-Mart with waves of humanity coming at your from all sides, threatening to mow down the weak with their massive strollers.

Nevertheless, Dexter loves animals right now and had a grand time admiring the livestock, while Henry gorged on easy-to-find chocolate eggs. Really, it was a fun morning.

Saturday saw us at another morning event, this time in our neighbourhood. The new Children's Garden had an egg hunt, so the boys loaded up yet again. Then they went to an egg decorating party at the neighbours. And, of course, the Easter Bunny visited our house on Sunday.

After all this egg hunting, we are well stocked with that crappy, hyper-sweet faux chocolate confection stuff that's unpalatable to adults but CRACK to preschoolers. So now I'm playing the roll of reverse Easter Bunny, stashing foil-covered "chocolate" eggs in places where the kids, or at least Dexter, is unlikely to find them. This is necessary because if my sweet little Dexter so much as spies that shiny foil from across the room, it goes down like this:

Dexter, pointing: "Egg? Egg? Egg? Egg?"
Responsible parent: "No Dexy, no egg now. You've had enough today."
Dexter, angry: EGG. EGG. EGG. EGGWaaaaaHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

He then enters a phase we've labeled "Nuclear Meltdown," a full-throttle, no-holds-barred, drooly, snotty, screamy toddler tantrum. Let me tell you--this kid can throw them down. This will go on for HOURS (i.e. 5 minutes). Then I give up just give him the damned egg, because I'm a weak, ineffectual parent. Also, I figure he's too young to learn lessons from his behavior, so the fight doesn't seem worth it. For that reason, no chocolate Easter eggs can be visible anywhere in the house. Prevention is my only effective strategy. What can I say--the kid likes his treats. I can't imagine where he got that from...

Next year my strategy will be to acquire higher quality Easter treats and eat down the stash myself, behind the kids' backs. You can save time by putting my Mother of the Year award in the mail now!

Let's make cookies!

2009-03-29T22:45:00.001-04:00

I managed to get a few in the oven before all the dough mysteriously disappeared.

Call me Nigel

2009-03-13T22:01:00.004-04:00

For the last few months Henry and I have been engaged in this extended imaginary scenario in which he is an expert palentologist and I am Nigel, time-traveling dinosaur rescuer. This is not pure imagination on our part; it's the premise behind the show Chased by Dinosaurs/Prehistoric Park, where a dude named Nigel travels back in time to rescue ferocious beasts and lure them back through his time portal to live at Prehistoric Park, his sanctuary for otherwise-extinct animals. I don't remember exactly how I ended up in the role of Nigel, but it stuck. There's just one problem: Nigel is English, so when I'm Nigel I have to affect an English accent and speak in an agitated tone, which I find challenging. And I have to be Nigel a lot. If I forget the game is on and slip into my regular voice, Henry will say, "wait--you're Nigel" and make me repeat what I just said. Henry enjoys it immensely, but let me tell you--my English accent is the worst. Really, really horrible. At best I sound something like John Cleese would if he had a bad cold and a concussion, and was imitating an Australian accent. It's brutal. The funny thing is that Tom is really good at doing foreign accents and could really go to town on this game. But I'm Nigel and he's not, so I must struggle on while he laughs at the way I butcher the role. Henry, obviously, thinks my faux-English accent is just dandy.

Besides the annoyance of having to speak in an accent I find awkward to use, the Nigel game is lots of fun for us. It's pretty much shaping all of Henry's imaginative play scenarios when I'm around. Even though it's based on a TV show, we've really made it our own. Today Henry decided that we would need a Shark Car with fins instead of wheels to complete our mission, so he drew up his idea and we then pretended to build it before heading underwater to rescue a sea monster. I wrap in some educational elements, too. One thing we do a lot is draw a map together with different areas of terrain where our target could be found. Then I'll write up a series of equations for Henry to solve (he can add, subtract and do simple multiplications with the help of a counting abacus). We use those numbers to create coordinates that pinpoint our target location on the map. Then, off we go!

This game creates so many funny moments for me to enjoy and just marvel at the inventiveness of Henry's overactive brain. For example, yesterday he decided that Mr. Pooples, his penguin huggy, should come along on the mission. When I asked him what good a penguin would be on a dinosaur rescue mission, he thought for a moment and came up with three things:

1. He could use his sharp beak to chip through hard rocks during fossil digs
2. He could carefully place band-aids on wounded dinosaurs with his flippers
3. He could use the claws on his feet to scratch itchy dinosaurs, since a dino like therizinosaurus would probably get hurt if he tried to itch himself with his long, sharp claws.

So there you have it--three jobs for a stuffed penguin to complete while on a time-traveling dinosaur rescue mission. After all, we wouldn't want to bring back an itchy therizinosaurus, would we?

Photo op

2009-02-26T19:45:00.002-05:00

It's been a busy month. It's been a relatively mild and un-snowy February, so we've been getting out a bit more than usual. We've also had some important visitors: Grandma Eileen, and some guy named Barack Obama. The Barackstar didn't stop by for coffee, but his 7-hour visit certainly set this place abuzz. We were all warned for weeks ahead of time that there would be no public events, no chance to see him in person, ginormous security, etc, so the crowds were relatively sparse. But Mom and the kids did get to wave at the presidential motorcade, which passed through our neighbourhood. She reports that it was very exciting.

To give you a sense of the impact his short visit made, here's an anecdote. President O stopped by a bakery in Byward Market on his way out of town and bought some maple leaf shortbread cookies to take home to the fam. Pandemonium! I read in the paper yesterday that this bakery sold about 300 of the cookies per week before they became Canada's most famous souvenir. Now they're selling over 1,000 a day and looking to buy foreclosed properties in Florida with the excess profit (okay, that last part may not be true).

Beyond that, it was nice to have Grandma E around for 10 days, even though Tom and I didn't get to go away for a tropical vacation, which was the original intent of her visit.

On an unrelated topic, we went to a professional photographer last week for a portrait session. I need to choose 3 of these 128(!) images for printing, and I need help! Click here to have a look, and let me know which ones you like (each pic has a reference number). There are definitely more than 3 that I like!

"I'm just a boy with a new haircut and that's a pretty nice haircut!"

2009-02-01T21:56:00.007-05:00

Remember that Pavement song from, oh, 1994? Anyway, this weekend it was time to take Dexter in for his first trim. The wisps I had been hoping would turn into sweet little kisses of blond curls had instead turned into something distinctly like Rod Stewart's look from the disco age.

Mullet or shag? We report, you decide.

So, off to the barber we went. Dexter was remarkably calm throughout. No tears, no whimpers, no complaints at all. It was almost strange. He dozed off on the drive over and stayed asleep in my arms while we waited for our turn at a regular, old-school barbershop (all the kiddie haircut places are way out in the 'burbs), so he was pretty groggy when I propped him in the chair and the scissors started snipping. Or maybe he was mellow from the contact high we all got from the dude who walked in absolutely reeking of a certain herb (at 11 a.m.! Dude!). Whatever the reason, the cut was no problem. He even sat still for the electric clippers!

The whole procedure was over in 5 minutes. The barber was lovely and said it was an honour to give Dexter his first haircut. Mother and child left the shop untraumatized, except for the whole "contact high from sketchy clientele" situation (maybe next time we really should drive out to one of the kiddie haircut shops in deep suburbia). And voila--the new look!

Night at the museum

2009-02-01T21:22:00.005-05:00

On Thursday the Museum of Nature had a member's preview night for this season's special exhibition, "Discovering Chimpanzees." I thought it would be fun to take Henry out, just the two of us, for a special, after-dinner activity to cement his status as a Big Boy. I'd also like to cultivate his interest in any animal that is not a remorseless predator, so it was a 2-for-1 on the parenting goals front.

We learned lots about chimps from the exhibits and a guest speaker who taught us how to make screeching chimp noises. Henry was enthralled by an interactive exhibit where you stick a wire down holes in a concrete "termite mound" and activate a light when you find a pretend termite. Since it was a special event, refreshments were served (alas, no wine and cheese. The museum knows its core audience too well. So we got platters of animal crackers and chocolate-covered banana slices).

We both had a fun time and learned many facts about apes. Henry's intense interest in the natural world certainly has taught me a lot about topics I knew next to nothing about three short years ago. Henry's eagerness to dive into subjects that interest him and his ability to soak up information is one of the most rewarding aspects of this phase of his life. It's impossible not to get caught up in his enthusiasm.

Monkeying around

Winter weekends

2009-01-25T16:20:00.006-05:00

When it comes to activities, it's safe to say that we've been hibernating. Since we got back from California the temperature has ranged from "very cold" to "bitter cold," so there hasn't been a huge incentive to get outside and play. We did go down to the canal once so Tom and Henry could try their new skates, but conditions that afternoon were bitter cold, and it was too much for Dexter. He's at an awkward age for outdoor play this winter: too small to skate or understand that he needs to keep his annoying mittens on if he wants to play in the snow, yet too big to spend an hour being towed in a sled, immobilized by multiple layers of snow gear, while we play on the ice. Tom and Henry do get bundled up once a week to go to Henry's skating lesson at the local outdoor rink, while I stay home with Dexter, keeping warm.

D and I have also started our music class, so we do get out of the house at least once on the weekend. So far, Dexter hasn't been as enthusiastic about the class as I was expecting. I attribute this to two things: 1) He's not used to being in a room full of kids. At his age, Henry had spent almost an entire year in group daycare, and I remember being surprised at how socialized he was to a quasi-classroom environment with lots of kids when we stared music classes. In contrast, Dexter has spent his days at home, first with me, then with a nanny. It makes a difference. 2) I'm not sure if Dexter recognizes the cacophony of tuneless singing and off-time hand-clapping produced by the parents in the class as "music." At home we usually listen to CDs, and/or his nanny sings to him in tune. Once he realizes that yes, you can dance to noise, maybe he'll warm up to it.

Post-inaguration special

2009-01-21T13:42:00.002-05:00

Travelling with small children

2009-01-08T14:26:00.004-05:00

Here's what happens when you're stuck at an airport with small children for 9 hours.

Things get messy. And expensive!

Dexter at 17 months

2009-01-04T11:09:00.005-05:00

Our little monkey is closing in on the year and a half mark. Time for an update.

Some chit-chat
It's official: his first word is "moon." Interesting choice, no? When he says it he puckers his lips out and pronounces it like, "mewoon." He's very proud of himself for managing to make this word and always smiles after saying it. He also says "up", "hi", "mu-ma" and "da-da," but he often needs to be prompted to use words at all. Instead he listens to us and responds with head nods, gestures and the occasional sign to let us know what's on his mind. Being able to nod "yes" has really opened up his ability to communicate. When that doesn't work, he's not averse to screaming and whining a bit.

Lord of the dance
Dexter loves, loves, loves music. Whenever I ask him if he wants to listen to music, he nods enthusiastically, heads towards the speakers and gets down as soon as the tunes start. Henry enjoyed music at this age, but not to the same degree. I can't wait for our baby music class to start next week!

Monkey see, monkey do
Dexter really seems to enjoy his big brother's company, and likes to do a lot of the things Henry enjoys. For example, he really likes playing with Henry's dinosaurs. He copies Henry's play patterns by picking up a dinosaur figure and making it fight other dinos, or attacking us with it while imitating Henry's "dino" roars and growls. Henry was all about trucks at this age, but Dexter is fairly indifferent to them right now. He'll play with them, but we're definitely not running to the front window when a snowplow drives by.

For the most part, Henry is very good (by 4 year-old standards) about including his little brother in the action, but he does get annoyed when Dexter acts too toddlerish and interferes in his fun. Dexter can also be quite physical with Henry; luckily he usually thinks its funny when his baby brother dogpiles him. I really love watching them interact. It's remarkable to see them developing a relationship as two individuals, rather than as our sons, if that makes sense.

Skinny Minny
Size-wise, Dexter is definitely petite. At his last checkup he was in the 50th percentile for height, but the 10th for weight (in December he weighed about the same as his cousin Stella, who is 6.5 months younger). He can still wear 6 month size pants comfortably. He definitely seems small for his age to me, but I'm not worried about it. He has a healthy appetite and has yet to have a significant illness, so small clearly is working for him. Besides, someone has to be the 10th percentile, right?

The sweetness
Now, as his mother, I can't claim to be an objective commentator on the topic, but I have to say it: Dexter is totally adorable. Big blue eyes, long, curly eyelashes, peachy skin and rosy cheeks, smiles for everyone, funny mannerisms and an outgoing, affectionate personality--he's got the whole "cute baby" thing down pat. So he's a pretty sweet little guy to be around, when he's not throwing food in my hair.

In general, I've felt like we've been in a sweet spot with both kids these last few months. At this time last year there were days when I felt like sending Henry to live at the zoo, but he seems to have outgrown many of the challenging, toddlerish behaviors that drove me nuts (just don't ask about mealtimes). And Dexter hasn't moved into that stage yet. So life at home is busy, but really fun. Good times.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T09:25:00.003-05:00

We're back home in icy, snowy, transit-strikey Ottawa after a fun but exhausting trip to the Bay Area. I don't want to get too deep into travel details (I'll just say it took us a full 24 hours to get to California, and around 12 hours to get back); instead I will emphasize just how fantastic it was to get out the frozen tundra for awhile. The boys had a blast with their grandparents and Uncle Jon, and weather was beautiful the entire time we were in Cali--sunny, temps in the mid-50s--and walking around without a coat on was a genuine treat. Now, a question I often ask myself almost daily during the winter is, "how did marrying a guy from California (
California!!!! And not just California--San Francisco!!!) somehow lead to me living in Ottawa?" and I'm still waiting for a good answer to that one. But at least I get to visit every couple of years.

I'm disappointed in myself for my anemic Christmas card effort this year, but coordinating photos, addresses and stamps was just a little beyond me. So let me take this opportunity to say Happy Holidays and wish you the best in 2009.

Dancing Monkey

2008-12-18T16:31:00.005-05:00

Dexter has progressed way beyond jazz hands with his dance moves. Check it:

Chaos & anarchy grip our fair city

2008-12-12T14:58:00.003-05:00

The phrase "a perfect storm" is your basic hackneyed cliche, but sometimes such hackneyed cliches clearly express precisely what one is trying to communicate. With that preamble out of the way, let me say this: Ottawa was hit with a Perfect Storm of Shittitude this week, courtesy of the local transit union, our astonishingly incompetent city government, and—who else—Mother Nature.

First came the literal storm. Yet another Snowpocalypse. About 2 feet of snow fell over 24 hours on Tuesday, producing gridlock across the region. My commute home, which normally takes 15 minutes, tops, took 1.5 hours. Miserable. Also, freezing. But the huge snow dump was merely the preamble to the week's real excitement: The Transit Strike!

The first time I heard that a strike was even a possibility was on my (short, pleasant) drive home Monday. "Hmmm," I thought after I heard the report on the radio, "I'm glad I don't rely on the bus. A strike is going to be a real problem for people who take the bus to work. People like...Dammit! OUR NANNY! Our nanny takes the bus to work! Aaaahhhhh!!!!!!" How will she get to our place with no bus service? Nanny M doesn't even have a driver's license, let alone a car. She lives too far away to walk, and cabs would cost way too much. There's only one solution, Yep--if we want childcare during a bus strike, we have to pick her up at her place and take her home at the end of the day.

Under normal conditions, that round trip would take about 20 minutes. But under current conditions, i.e. mondo snow, and everyone who normally takes a bus cramming a car onto the road or skidding along on a bike to get downtown in the morning, it takes an hour. So Tom's been leaving the house for an hour in the morning to go get her, and I try to juggle the tasks of getting myself ready for work while watching the kids. And then it's my turn to drive around in this mess. It was much better today, but man, you would not believe what the streets were like on Wednesday. I've never seen gridlock like it here. Sure, it was like an average rush hour in a real city, but here, you just don't expect it. So many extra cars on the road. Plus, the snowbanks are huge, and not all the roads were even plowed.

And that's where the city's incompetence comes into play. The budget has been so mismanaged for so long that there is no money left for snow removal this year. Obviously, it gets done, but they triage the work so that only the main thoroughfares get cleared in a timely manner. Residential streets don't get plowed until long after the storm has passed. When I came home from work on Wednesday evening, nearly 24 hours after the bulk of the storm had passed, our street still had not been plowed. I got stuck in the rutted, churned-up snow repeatedly before I could get home to pick up the nanny and get back into the gridlock to take her home.

So, bah humbug. I'm in a foul mood these days. My resolve to have a better attitude about winter this season is broken already. At least we're getting out of here in a couple weeks for a nice respite in sunny California. Yes, they have traffic out the wazzu in the Bay Area, but at least snow isn't a factor. And let's hope there's no big strike going on during our visit.

Short visit, long trip

2008-12-02T19:27:00.006-05:00

I'm in Kelowna with the kiddos. We're having a nice visit, as usual, but man--the trip out here was unbelievable! I must preface this tale by saying that the whole reason I made this spur-of-the-moment trip was a great deal on airfare. At these prices, I thought, I can afford a quick pre-Christmas trip--just me and the kids.

Tom and I got up at 5 a.m. last Friday morning, got the kids ready and headed to the airport for the first leg of our trip, a direct flight to Vancouver. Usually I try to fly thru Toronto or Calgary, as the Vancouver connection adds an extra hour or more to an already long trip. This time, the extra hour in the air turned out to be the least of our worries.

The trip to Vancouver was uneventful, except for a delay of about half an hour before takeoff for de-icing. But right before we were supposed to board our connecting to Kelowna from YVR, takeoff was delayed by 20 minutes. That stretched to an hour, then an hour and a half. We finally boarded the plane around 1 p.m. and took off. So far, so good. It was snowing in Kelowna, and there was a 1-hour period when planes couldn't land due to conditions on the ground. Of course, this was the hour when our connecting flight from Vancouver was trying to land. We were supposed to arrive around 12:30 p.m. on Friday. Instead, at 2 p.m. we circled the Kelowna airport twice before the captain decided we couldn't safely land, and headed back to Vancouver. Flight canceled!

If that wasn't bad enough, when we got on the ground I was informed that the earliest flight they could rebook us on left on Saturday at 7:20 p.m. We were stranded! By this point I'd been up since 5 a.m. Eastern time after getting 4 hrs of sleep the night before, spent almost 7 hours on the plane from Ottawa to Vancouver, over 2 hrs on the ground at YVR, and 1.5 hrs on the
tiny plane from Van to Kelowna. Wrangling two small children the whole time. I was completely out of food and down to 2 diapers. I didn't have it in me to stick around the airport any longer and try for a standby flight that day.

The one good thing about being stranded in Vancouver is that I have connections. I took a cab to my aunt's house, which is near the airport, to consider our options and have a bit of a visit. She doesn't have the room or the gear to put me up with two kids in tow, so I needed a hotel. Air Canada had a discount available at an inn near the airport, but I had no desire to be stuck at the airport all day, with no car, in a less than full-service hotel. So I decided the best course would be to go to abetter hotel right downtown. I found a decent rate online for the Hyatt, so we took a cab downtown and arrived around 7 p.m. Both kids were so sound asleep in the cab by that point that I had to shake Henry repeatedly and yell at him to get him into the hotel. I got them to bed within the hour, poured a bath for myself and cracked an overpriced beer from the minibar. I was asleep by 8:30 local time.

Dexter started waking up at 2 a.m., and both kids were wide awake by 5, starving, and I was totally strung out. So as soon as room service opened at 6 I had pancakes and a huge carafe of coffee delivered to the room. All this cost a fortune, but the service was exactly why I checked into a full service hotel. Plus, it was a really nice room. We spent the morning there chilling out and resting.

I used another connection in the afternoon to entertain the boys and make the most of our stay. My friend and former roommate, Jolie, was home that day and had no plans, so she and her kids met us at Science World for the afternoon. We were able to take Skytrain from our hotel, another reason why I wanted to stay downtown. The kids had fun, and Jolie and I got to have an unexpected visit.

Anyway, we made the most of our unscheduled layover, but man--what rotten luck. The Kelowna airport was closed for barely 1 hour on Friday. By the time we landed on Saturday evening, the snow was all gone. I ended up spending a small fortune on the hotel, taxis, food and other expenses while we were stranded. So much for my cheap, last-minute trip to see the grandparents. But I did what I had to do to stay sane while alone and exhausted with the two kids. Sometimes you can be thrifty when you travel; other times you just think, "this is what credit cards are for" and charge your way out of a bad situation.

Both kids were as good and patient as I could possibly have hoped during all this, but it's just a lot of hard work to keep everything together and everyone happy in those circumstances. Let's hope our flight home tomorrow goes a lot more smoothly. I don't have any connections in Calgary to see us through!

Does this sound like me?

2008-11-20T15:27:00.003-05:00

I plugged The Home Front into this new site called Typealyzer to see what it made of its author, based on the content. Here's what it spat out:

ESFP - The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

I agree that soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells are delightful. Beyond that--I think their analyzer needs some work. Or, I have to toughen up the blog a bit.

Dino see, dino do

2008-11-06T16:07:00.003-05:00

Toddlers learn by mimicking the actions of the people around them. So if one of the people around you spends his days roaring while crouching over in a menacing way, it's only natural that you'll pick it up.

Happy Halloween '08!

2008-10-31T22:41:00.006-04:00

Last year: Dinosaur and monkey.
This year: Dinosaur and froggy.

The dino was another great costume effort from Grandma Eileen (froggy was store-bought). Henry loved his gigantosaurus getup, and play-acted the part with gusto. Dexter also got a kick out of being in costume. He definitely knew he was wearing something funny and hammed it up a bit. I took both boys out for trick or treating around the 'hood. Dexter quickly caught on to the whole concept, and would grab a big handful of treats whenever a bowl was offered to him. I'm proud to report that Henry was very polite everywhere we stopped, leaving every doorstep with "Thank you! Happy Halloween!" Tom took Henry out for a second round of door-knocking after I came home. All told, he probably hit 5 blocks, along which about half of the houses were giving out treats. But those 5 little blocks yielded a truly astounding amount of candy. Check it out:

That bag is FULL Of candy and chips. Combine that haul with the fact that we didn't get many trick-or-treaters at our place (we didn't see too many kids beyond the ones who live on our block), and we have enough mini chocolate bars onhand to see us through the new year.

Strangest item in Henry's loot bag:

Nothing says "trick-or-treat fun times" to a kid like a piece of decorative dried corn, right?

It's possible that some of our neighbours are hippies. . .

I'm walking here!

2008-10-27T21:02:00.002-04:00

Weekends to be thankful for

2008-10-20T13:10:00.010-04:00

We've been enjoying a beautiful fall. After our horrific winter, non-existent spring and drab, rainy summer, we were due for some sunshine and (relative) warmth. Thanksgiving weekend (that's Canadian Thanksgiving, if you don't know) was exceptionally nice--temperatures around 20/70, sunny, and full of fun. Saturday featured a petting zoo at our local farmer's market, which Dexter loved. He's fascinated with animals right now, so he loved getting up close to the goats and chickens. On Sunday we went for a nature walk through a local conservation area with two families from our neighborhood. We spent several hours wandering about, admiring crimson leaves and chasing garter snakes through the underbrush. This outing led to an impromptu turkey dinner together, complete with a kiddie table that let the grownups have some peace. Just another great day in our friendly neighborhood. On Monday we cooked a modest Thanksgiving dinner just for ourselves. Dexter loved the sweet potatoes. Henry burst into tears when I told him I'd like him to try just one bite of mashed potatoes before I'd give him dessert. That's the way things go around here. . .

Henry studies a snake snagged by our neighbor, Tim

Yesterday was another fun day in the sun, albeit much cooler. Perfect day for a leaf party! Over the summer a small, underused park near our house was transformed into a Children's Garden by our neighborhood association. It's the kind of low-cost, community building enhancement that makes me lreally appreciate this area. The park needed more leaves for mulch, so a party was organized: bring a bag of leaves from your yard and hang out in the park. As you can see below, much fun was had by many, many small children. I'm still picking leaves out of my hoodie.

Today the clouds were back, and we're definitely feeling the crisp air of mid-autumn now. The water level in the canal is down below a foot, which can only mean one thing: winter is coming. We've got to relish these sunny days while we still can!

Giant steps

2008-10-17T21:26:00.002-04:00

I'm officially calling today the day that Dexter moved from crawling to walking. He's taken his sweet time getting to this point, but finally he has his legs under him. Now he's walking across the room as often as he crawls. He's very proud of himself. Maybe now some of his pants will make it through the fall before the knees wear away.

(Sniff) My baby's all growed up. (Sniff sniff)

I guess I should get used to this

2008-10-08T22:03:00.002-04:00

Tonight I tried to engage Henry in a conversation about kindergarten. It went like this:

"Henry, what song did you sing at circle time today?"

"I don't remember."

"Oh. Maybe you should pay more attention at school so you can tell me what you did."

"I'm not interested in talking to you about school."

Never mind, then. I did hear something about a giraffe on the wall, though.

Time of the signs

2008-09-27T14:35:00.002-04:00

Dexter's almost reached the 14-month mark, and while he's still not walking, he has started using baby sign language! So far we've only seen two: "dog" and "more." The dog sign is cute, but for him to be able to communicate "more" is a big boon for all of us. Just like when we were using signs with Henry, I'm amazed at how quickly and easily he picks them up. It's not like we sit in front of him with flash cards or anything. We just do the sign while saying the word (or pointing at a dog, cat, etc), and he takes it from there. If we lived in Vancouver we could join my cousin Barb's Baby Sign class and learn a lot more. But even without a class, it's a really valuable and rewarding thing to learn together.

He also clearly understands a lot of what we say to him, and reacts appropriately. For example, if I say, "Dexter, do you want to have a bath?" he immediately drops what he's doing, takes off down the hall, climbs the stairs and crawls directly to the bath tub. He loves playing with a ball and will even play a game of "catch" if someone says, "throw me the ball!" It makes me wonder if he'll end up being a bit more sporty than Henry, who loves to run around but shows no real inclination to pick up a bat, stick, glove or any other piece of equipment that would make it into a game. But I know it's way too early to tell. I vaguely remember Henry having fun playing catch before dinosaurs and video games took over his imagination. So, who knows.

Speaking of vague memories, I'm proud of the fact that I've kept up this blog for 3 years now, even if my posting pace has dropped off considerably in recent months. We're getting to the point where I can dig through the archives and find posts about Henry that were written when he was about the same age as Dexter is now. It's fun to look back not just to compare the two boys, but to realize just how much Henry has changed. For example, check out this update from September, 2005. It's hard to believe that the toddler in that post who called both his parents "Mu-ma" now rattles off the seven-syllable names of extinct sea reptiles without stumbling. I just wish I'd started the blog a year earlier and captured moments from his first year for posterity. Oh well--can't change that, but looking back gives me incentive to keep posting at least a couple times a month, even though I often feel too tired or busy to make it a priority. Thanks for reading!

School days begin

2008-09-17T21:47:00.002-04:00

After endless weeks of "gradual entry," Junior kindergarten finally (finally!) started full time on Monday. So far, so good. Henry is very used to going to "school", and he has a couple friends in his class, so the transition was low on drama. Everything he's said about it so far has been positive, and he was excited to bring a book home from the library in his groovy new dino backpack.

He's also returned home every day with a new form for us to read and sign, a notice asking for volunteers for various committees, and/or a list of foods banned from the school. So I think it's safe to say that Tom and I have started school, too.

The Cottage! The Cottage!

2008-09-03T15:17:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the delay in my usually blistering blog-updating pace, but we were at The Cottage. Yes, The Cottage. Us!

Our neighbors invited us and the other families on our block with small children to spend Sunday at their The Cottage, which is on a lake about an hour west of here. In all seriousness, it was a ton of fun. Henry got to go for a canoe ride, which he loved. He also had a blast on the trampoline. The kids got along well, and the ratio of grownups to children was favorable enough for the former to relax and enjoy a sunny, laid-back day on the water's edge. Even I went for a canoe ride! We capped off the day with a marshmallow roast around the campfire before heading back to the city.

And that wasn't our only road trip of the weekend. On Saturday we made a return visit to Henry's new favorite place on earth, Prehistoric World. This is a distinctly old-school roadside attraction where you pay money to walk around on some guy's property and look at the life-size statues of dinosaurs he built out of concrete. The owner is obviously a grown-up dino enthusiast who figured out how to generate some income from his favorably situated property. (Henry is already putting together his business plan for a Prehistoric World of his own. Look for it in 2030.) Surprisingly, it was Dexter who really loved the statues. Henry thought they were okay.

What really enthralled him was the Dino Dig Pit, which is a big sandbox laced with faux fossils you discover as you're digging around. Henry went completely apeshit for this. I can understand why. He spends most of his free playtime outdoors "digging for fossils" and pretending that the stones and sticks he finds are dinosaur parts. But the game's getting old for him. On several occasions he's express his frustration with "pretend fossils," asking why he never finds REAL fossils. (It's really getting to him -- lately he's been taking our hammer to a large rock in our garden in the hopes that eventually it will yield a velociraptor fossil if he just keeps smashing it.) So he just loved digging through the sand and uncovering these true-to-life dino parts.

So, it was a busy long weekend with a lot of time spent in the car, but totally worthwhile. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera to The Cottage, but my neighbor was taking pictures, so maybe I'll be able to post a few shots later.

Pocketbook issues

2008-08-26T16:27:00.004-04:00

While we were busy celebrating Dexter’s birthday, another important anniversary passed: the 3-year mark of our move to Ottawa. I’d say that over the last 6 months or so I’ve been feeling much more at home here. Not in a “Home Forever!!!!” kind of way, but I’m finally re-acclimating to life in Canada.

Except for all the times I almost choke on my Loonies at the cash register when it comes time to pay for stuff I had become accustomed to getting for cheap when I lived south of the border.

I’m not just talking about stuff like booze and gas, which is expensive for transparent reasons (surtaxes). Running shoes, almost all of which are made in China, cost about 50% more in Canada than the U.S. There’s a huge premium on books, small appliances, large appliances, and weird, random stuff, like paint. Since I painted our entire house in Richmond, I know that a gallon of midrange latex paint usually set me back about $16. Here I pay $40 or more. Now, I know there are lots of legitimate reasons why prices are higher in Canada, and honestly, I would be okay with paying a small premium. But there are times when it gets ridiculous.

Take, for example, my lunchtime errand today. I needed to get a sweater dry cleaned. A fancy-pants cashmere sweater, true, but it's not like it was stained or anything--it just needed a fresh-up. I don't use dry-cleaning very often (wash and wear is my style, baby!), so I wasn't sure what I would be charged. Thankfully, I asked before I handed over the garment. The price? $29, before taxes. Yes. Twenty-nine dollars to have one sweater cleaned. Twenty. Nine. Dollars. For dry cleaning! $29!!!!!

You know what I paid for dry cleaning in Richmond? $1.50 per item. And that was after a price increase. Before that, it was $1.25.

Astounding. Granted, the $1.50 dry cleaner was El Cheaperoo, even for Richmond, but how do you explain a price difference that massive? Is it really 20 times more expensive to operate a dry-cleaning business in Canada? Do Canadian dry cleaners bathe their clothes in the breath of angels, followed by a light misting of dew gathered from the petals of daisies grown organically in an unspoiled meadow? They must, right? You take that price shock, throw in the $80 quote I got to have the 4x6 acrylic rug in our playroom cleaned (which cost no more that $40 in the first place), and I guess I'll just resign myself to being a little dirtier from here on out. That, or I'm never again buying anything that isn't machine washable.

So, hrumph. If any of my American readers would like to send me some Dryel (which I have trouble finding up here), I'd appreciate it. I'm only kind of kidding.

Another eye surgery

2008-08-19T16:27:00.003-04:00

Henry had strabismus surgery yesterday, a repeat of the procedure he had two years ago. The surgery was scheduled back in December because the ophthalmologist decided that Henry's eyes were becoming misaligned again. I agreed with him, but I also have to say that the problem was very subtle, thanks to the first surgery.

It's too early to tell the final results of this one, as Henry's eye is all bloody today, and it takes the eye a few weeks to settle into its new position, according to the doctor. I was worried that the surgical appointment itself was going to be a traumatic hell of screaming, kicking, tears and general misery (from Henry, not me or Tom), but Henry took it all like a trooper. He was calm through all the pre-op procedures, and didn't need a sedative before he was put under. Understandably, he was cranky when he woke up and complained throughout the day about his eye being sore. Today he is back to normal.

To make up for all the drama I went a bit overboard with guilt and bought him a fancy Playmobil Dinosaur set knowing full well that it will only hold his attention for a few days. He also got to eat mounds of delicious jello, and have chocolate milk with dinner. What can I say--It's hard not to spoil your 4-year-old when they have to have elective surgery. And I'm not even sure it's a bad thing.

The birthday boy

2008-08-09T10:09:00.002-04:00

Birthday! Birthday! Birthday!

2008-08-02T19:44:00.005-04:00

My sweet baby turned one today! It was a very happy occasion, although the celebration was a quiet one. It's a long weekend here in Ontario, and on long weekends in summer, native Ontarians all head for "The Cottage", where they frolic in whatever body of water The Cottage abuts, swat at the blackflies that swarm The Cottage, perform maintenance on The Cottage, and generally have a grand old time at The Cottage. I believe they also drink watery Canadian beer and eat hot dogs, but that's pure conjecture on my part, as I've only been to The Cottage once, and that was in 1995 (during my first stint living in Ontario).

So, this being the perfect weekend to get away to The Cottage, 8 of the 9 families we invited over for cake sent regrets, as they were all headed to The Cottage. But Henry's friend Monika and her dad came over, cake was consumed, and we'll always be able to tell our second child that he did indeed have a first birthday party. And he seemed to appreciate the chocolate cake.

What's our todder-to-be up to these days? Here are a few highlights:

*No, he's not walking yet. Not even close. given what I remember of Henry learning to walk, I'd say Dexter is at least a couple months away from this milestone. He crawls like a demon and pulls himself up on stuff, but he's not trying to stand independently yet. Oh well--he'll get it eventually.

*He gives kisses. Very sloppy kisses on the lips or chin. I love it.

*He's said "Da-da" in a meaningful way at least a couple times.

*He loves music! He figured out which button to push to make Henry's toy tractor play "Old McDonald Had a Farm", and will sit there pushing it repeatedly, doing his little Jazz Hands dance every time it starts back up. He's also added arm flapping to his dance routine.

*On good nights he sleeps from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., then goes back to sleep for an hour or so after nursing. But those nights have been few and far between lately. I think he's in the early stages of cutting molars, because he's been waking up a couple times a night recently. So I'm back to being a tad sleep deprived. Still nothing like what we went through with Henry, though. . .

*Some days he eats almost-adult-size portions of food, and eats anything and everything he's offered. Other days he won't eat anything but a few bites of fruit.

*He loves his big brother (and Henry loves him back--they get along fantastically) and clearly wants to play with the big kids now.

*He's just as sweet as can be, with more personality every day. I can't wait to see what year two brings us!

About all the "The Cottage" stuff: It seems like everyone here who is a) Ontario-born, b) not destitute, or c) destitute, but related to someone not destitute, has a vacation home. This place is always called The Cottage. Not "Our Cottage," not "My Dad's Cottage," not "The Cabin", "The Chalet," "our place on the lake," "The Lake", our place in X, or anything other than "The Cottage." And these people talk about The Cottage INCESSANTLY, all summer long. I first noticed it when I moved to Toronto way back when. It's a real Ontario thing, and we're just not a part of it. That's all.

Four eyes

2008-07-27T21:22:00.002-04:00

It seems that spending the last 15 or so years spending most of my waking hours staring at a computer monitor has finally caught up with me. On Friday I went for an eye exam for the first time in, well, EVER, as my right eye had been feeling weird and I was getting more headaches than normal. The verdict: I need reading glasses. Just for when I'm at work, pretty much. I have to admit I was surprised when she started testing corrective lenses on me and we got to one where I thought, "hey--that small type does look clearer now! Go figure!" I've always had perfect vision, and even now I don't notice a distinctive blurriness to anything when I read, but I'm definitely straining.

Next step: pick out glasses. I'll post a photo when I get them.

Jazz hands!

2008-07-11T15:03:00.002-04:00

Dexter loves to clap along to music, and he also does this cute little "Jazz Hands" dance. He does this even when I inflict my caterwaul singing on him, so he gets really excited when he hears a song by a professional musician.

What we did on our summer vacation

2008-07-04T14:45:00.007-04:00

We visited Grandma Eileen and Grandpa Moe! Daddy stayed home. Mommy almost had a nervous breakdown dealing with the two of us on the plane*. It was a long trip, but so worth it! Look at all the fun we had:

We met our cousin Stella! We dug for dinos with Auntie Anne!

We ate pancakes every morning and swam all the time!

We had a pool party with Stella and our friends Elly and James!

We did other fun stuff that Mommy didn't take pictures of, like mini golfing, trips to Sarson's Beach, and Croc-Talk. The weather was sunny and warm the entire time we were in Kelowna, so it felt like a true summer vacation.

Daddy did a lot of chores around the house while we were gone. We think he caught up on his sleep, too.

*Well, mostly Dexter. He squirmed constantly on both trips and was fussy for most of the flight home. Oh joy. Henry watched "Happy Feet" and other movies on his portable DVD player for hours on end and enjoyed all the treats I gave him to stay quiet. Putting electrical outlets on each seatback was a brilliant move on AC's part. No worries about running the battery down!

Work it!

2008-06-23T13:10:00.004-04:00

Yesterday Dexter pulled my big sun hat out of the hallway basket, put it on and immediately started striking poses. Only 10 months old and already working the look. Fierce!

Sea Monster Cafe

2008-06-10T11:13:00.003-04:00

The latest offshoot of Henry's dinosaur obsession is prehistoric sea monsters, thanks to a great book he got from our friend Yvonne. We've learned that many types of sea monsters eat squid, so Henry wanted to try it for himself. I thought this was a pretty surprising request, since he's so conservative in his food choices. But he likes fish and they had fresh squid at the seafood store, so I thought we might as well give it a try. So with no further ado, I give you Sea Monster Cafe:

Back to the blog!

2008-06-02T20:20:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure if blog posts can legitimately be lumped into genres, but if they were, one of the most popular would have to be the old, "Whoa--sorry I haven't updated this thing in awhile" missive that crops up on almost every personal blog from time to time. And, here's mine. I've been busy at work, and when I get home I rarely feel like turning my computer on. So I've fallen behind. I don't think anything monumental has been happening, but there have been a few events that would have merited their own post if I hadn't been so lazy. Here's a recap:

I did the 10K!
On May 24 I ran a 10 K race. For various reasons, including (but not limited to) the weather this spring, bizarre injuries (how did I hurt my back so bad sleeping?), general lack of time/energy, and general lack of enthusiasm for running, I did not train as hard for this event as I imagined I would when I first signed up. But I still did fine, finishing in 52:00:07 chip time/ 53:01:03 official time. I was 54/606 in my age/gender grouping, 312/3885 for all women, and 1397/7048 overall. I was very happy with those results. And, it was an enjoyable event overall. 10K is a much, much easier race than the half marathon I did two years ago, so I wasn't suffering at the end of it. It was a warm, sunny evening, and the race course is a scenic loop around the canal. Tom, Henry & Dexter were waiting near the 7 km mark to cheer me on, just as I was starting to feel tired. Fun times.

Dexter is 10 months old!
My sweet little baby is turning into a toddler before my eyes. He's not yet trying to stand up on his own, but he only needs one hand to hold himself up against a chair or coffee table. This weekend he shook his head "no" in a meaningful way (it was the end of a meal and I was offering him another bite). He's on the verge of cutting his top front teeth, which will be a real boon to him because he loves eating real food!!! I can't tell you how excited I am about his appetite and evermore adventurous palate. He loves mango and avocado, neither of which his picky older brother will even try. This weekend Dexter ate and enjoyed salmon, scrambled eggs, meatballs, asparagus and chickpeas. Chickpeas!!! He ate like a dozen of them in one sitting. (Henry would throw up if I got him to put a chickpea in his mouth.) He's eating such huge quantities of food that I expect a big growth spurt soon. He's no longer willing to eat jarred baby food (except for fruit purees), but who cares? He eats! He eats!!!

Henry is swimming--and sleeping!
Well, not quite full-on swimming, but he's definitely getting over his dislike of water. We've been doing swimming lessons for the past few months, and it's paying off. He'll now put his face in the water and blow bubbles. That's a big step for him. It also appears that he's finally getting over his life-long sleep problems and sleeping through the night most nights (I'm now knocking on multiple pieces of wood to guard against The Jinx). In fact, there have been a couple mornings where we've had to give him a good shake to wake him up for school (I guess he is my child after all). But most days he sleeps through until 6:30 or 7 am, then crawls into bed for a cuddle with me before we get up for the day. He may be a big boy now by his own estimation, but he's still a very affectionate child who loves a hug. Can't complain about that.

Okay, I think I'm caught up now. I'll get some pictures up sometime this month. . .

Tulip Festival

2008-05-19T11:31:00.005-04:00

I'm a week behind posting these, but better late than never, right? Mother's Day was beautiful here. Warm, sunny--perfect day for a family walk to check out the Tulip Festival.

The "day" part of birthday is misleading. . .

2008-05-12T15:07:00.006-04:00

Pack up the party favors and put away the dinosaur cake pan for another year—the multi-stage celebration known as Henry’s 4th birthday is finally over! Somehow, the anniversary of our dear child’s birth has become less like Christmas (lots of preparation leading to a one-day spasm of gifts, treats, food and song) and more like Hanukkah (ceremonies, events and presents, presents, presents spread over many days). Henry had his first birthday cake back in April, when my parents were in town, and will have Cake #4 when he travels to California to visit Tom’s parents. (I guess, technically, the celebrating isn’t over yet, but I’m not going on the trip, so my role is finished.)

Cake #2 was served at his birthday party, which due to multiple conflicts took place a week before his actual birthday; Cake #3 was enjoyed with his preschool classmates on his actual, calendar birthday. So, phew! I have been very busy pulling together all this celebrating. Of course we had a dinosaur-themed party with dino plates, dino decorations, a dino cookie decorating activity, and—most importantly—a dino cake. A dino cake that I made myself. Woo-hoo! It was fun. Henry was thrilled with his party, no one went home hurt or in tears (although there were tears during the party from one kid who was clearly having a bad day), and for the third year running I was able to host almost a dozen small children in my home without having the place trashed.

We got Henry a dino bike for his present. It’s pretty big for him now, but he’s doing an admirable job riding it with the training wheels on. He’s not the most physically adventurous/reckless child, so I imagine it will be quite awhile before we take the training wheels off. Now we just have to get him a new, more grown-up style helmet—the one he has is uncomfortable due to its heavy padding (seriously--it looks like something you’d wear to jump the Grand Canyon on a motorbike, not a helmet to protect a kid from a 12-inch fall off a tricycle)!

Enjoying Cake #3
Off for a ride

Hair Apparent

2008-05-04T12:34:00.007-04:00

Dexter is now 9 months old, meaning he's been on the outside just as long as he was on the inside. We're now completely into what I happily refer to as the Lunatic Monkey phase of infant development, as he no longer sits still for more than 2.3 seconds and gets into anything and everything, especially if it is something he's not supposed to have. As a baby, Henry was never one to put stuff in his mouth (he didn't want to risk that it might be food). Childproofing was pretty simple. Pack away the CDs, remove a few dangerous items, and voila. But with Dexter is's a full-time job. First, we have this whole new category of crap (i.e. toys) littering the house that we didn't have when Henry was toddling around. And Dexter is one of those babies who shoves everything into his pie hole, including, but not limited to, small magnetic toys (aah!), paper (I can live with that), bits of old food he finds under the kitchen table (gross), and--his personal favorite--dust bunnies. Ick. I feel like i spend half my waking hours (well, the ones not at work) fishing stuff out of his mouth. He's starting to pull himself up on everything, getting more adventurous every day. And, he's growing hair. He even has a little wavy curl developing at the back of his neck. It's going to be interesting to see what all this hair looks like when it's grown in because he has this crazy double crown that looks like it will be sending his hair up into a natural "fauxhawk" or some other crazy 'do that will make strangers suspect that I'm the kind of trendoid mom who uses her kids to make a fashion statement (if it does end up being a fauxhawk, I guess thee statement will be something like, "My mom is 2 years behind the times"). Or, maybe it will just end up being curly. Time will tell.

He may be a monkey, but what a sweet little monkey he is!

Standing tall

2008-04-29T22:47:00.003-04:00

This morning I entered the nursery to find Dexter standing tall in his crib, holding onto the crib rail for dear life. And so begins the next big phase--learning to walk. He's reached that stage where his purpose in life is to uncover every single hidden hazzard in our home and make a beeline straight for it. Also, he enjoys eating dust bunnies. With the kind of housekeeping standards we have around here, he's got plenty to chew on.

Suddenly, it's summer

2008-04-20T22:35:00.008-04:00

We're in the midst of a fabulous stretch of hot, sunny days. The temperature has been in the mid-20s (high 70s F) since Thursday, so except for a few random piles in shaded areas, the snow is all gone, the snowsuits are packed away, and our horrible, horrible winter is officially over! Yee-haw! I'm so happy to feel the warmth that I'm not even going to lament the rotten timing of my return to work (the very week I go back, it gets nice!), or fee too sorry for myself for somehow throwing my back out to the point where i can barely walk, let alone go running or otherwise properly enjoy the sun (I have no idea what I did. I just woke up crippled on Thursday morning. I'm working on it).

It's pretty remarkable how fast the change happened. Take, for example, this photo of my mom and dad with the boys. We're out for a walk last Monday afternoon (I left work early), checking out the flooding at our neighbourhood park:

Notice the jackets, vests, and hats? It was sunny, but there was a brisk wind that made it pretty chilly. Now, here's a pictures from today:
Bare arms, bare heads, bare legs. Henry spent much of the weekend tagging the neighbourhood with chalk drawings of dinosaurs. Here he is at work, and a sample of his handiwork:

All good things must come to an end. . .

2008-04-14T14:46:00.003-04:00

I headed back to work today. Dexter's first birthday is still several months away, but since Tom took a few months of parental leave, I was able to take "only" 8.5 months off rather than the 12 months most Canadian women take. That's still a far cry longer than the 12 weeks I got after having Henry down in the good ol' U.S. of A. So I'm really grateful that I got to spend this time being a full-time Mommy. I was getting into a groove around here. But I don't regret going back to work. There was never any question that I would be going back when the mat leave was up, so psychologically I was well-prepared to walk out the door this morning.

My parents are in town right now to help me with the transition back to paid employment, so I left my boys in loving hands. When my mom goes home, Tom will be on the Mr. Mom gig for a week or so, then we have a nanny starting full-time in May. So that's the plan. Unfortunately Dexter isn't sleeping through the night yet and tends to like a lot of attention (i.e. nursing) from Mommy between 3-5 a.m., so I'm bound to have days where I'm a little out of it at work. But that's life.

Now, when I actually showed up for work today, I discovered that my login password expired, and no one in IT got back to me to reset it. Since I couldn't access my email, or even boot up my workstation, I wandered around and said Hi to people, hoping they'd remember me since i was actually on leave longer than I worked there in the first place (they did). I went to a meeting where the CEO reviewed Q1 results. Then I went home because there was nothing else for me to do. Ah, office life. Maybe tomorrow they'll remember what they pay me for.

Another milestone passes

2008-04-06T22:36:00.004-04:00

I received this 9 fl. oz. bottle of baby shampoo as a shower gift in April, 2004. This week, we finally used the last of it. . . and opened another bottle of baby shampoo I received as a shower gift in April, 2004.

When your kids are pretty much bald for the first two years of life, you just don't go through shampoo very quickly.

8 months old!

2008-04-03T10:07:00.003-04:00

Dexter is 8 months old as of yesterday. To celebrate, he finally figured out how to crawl forward. This trick had him flummoxed for over a month, so it was pretty exciting to see it happen. Before he mastered forward motion, he would push himself around backwards on his belly. If I left him for a few minutes, invariably I'd return to find him stuck under the couch or Henry's train table (don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds. His head wouldn't end up under the furniture, and he was only stuck in the sense that he couldn't figure out how to get himself out of the predicament). Dexter has also become adept at getting himself from a sitting position onto his belly, so he's all ready to start moving around like a little demon.

He's also getting more interested in eating solid food. It just took a bit of experimenting to find out what he likes. He prefers stuff he can grasp himself and crunch, so toast and Cheerios are popular. I discovered this when Henry gave Dexter a pizza crust when I wasn't looking, and he immediately started gumming away (that's what he's eating in the picture). It's pretty funny to watch him munch on toast with his two little teeth. I also discovered a line of organic, gourmet baby food that comes in little frozen cubes rather than jars. It's pretty good--I can even stand to eat a spoonful of it, while the jarred food makes me gag. Of course it's relatively expensive compared to jarred food, but we're not talking big bucks here. And he'll eat it, so it's money well spent. Round out all that with some fruit purees and fruit-flavored baby cereal, and he's eating pretty well.

The unmistakable signs of spring

2008-03-29T21:25:00.003-04:00

I went for a run today and saw many piles of old, mushy dogshit in the melting snow. Could spring finally be arriving in Eastern Ontario?

"Mom, I'm hungry!"

2008-03-27T10:58:00.002-04:00

That's a phrase I'm hearing in an endless loop these days. Which is surprising, because it's a phrase that until recently was completely absent from Henry's repertoire. But my food-phobic boy has developed an appetite, and i feel like I now spend a good chunk of my day feeding him snacks. The turnaround is striking for a child who survived for years on chocolate milk, air, and the occasional carrot stick. I mean, this is a kid with whom we used to have to cajole, negotiate, bribe and/or force-feed almost every forkful of food that went into his mouth. A kid who got sent to an infant feeding clinic for evaluation at one year of age because he was so reluctant to eat anything at all. A kid whom I felt compelled to breastfeed for two whole years because it was his only reliable source of nutrients. That same kid is now putting back near-grownup-size portions of fish, oatmeal, pasta, meatballs--all kinds of crazy things. Well, to be honest he's still pretty picky about what he'll eat. Vegetables, for example, are pretty much off the menu (He has a remarkable ability to make himself vomit if we push too hard on the veggie front. He did it the other day after we harassed him into a second bite of sweet potato. Count it as a lesson learned). But the quantity is astounding. And he is broadening his palate ever so slightly. I just about fell over backwards last week when he asked if he could have salmon--salmon!--for dinner. You see, salmon is fish, which is Baryonyx food, and if Henry can pretend to be a kind of dinosaur while he's eating, he'll put away extra bites. The more gruesome, the better. A few days ago I got him to try quesadillo by cutting into triangles I told him were t-rex teeth, and I added some veggie content by serving it with a blob of tomato salsa I described as "carcass" that he could dip the teeth into for the full prehistoric predator experience. He went for that. So that's how it goes with a picky eating almost-4-year-old: fresh vegetables = out, decaying animal flesh = in.

Little boys are delightful.

Easter Bunnies

2008-03-24T13:54:00.002-04:00

We had a fun Easter weekend, despite the cold. On Friday one neighbor hosted an old-fashioned egg decorating party for the local kids. Henry had so much fun dipping hard-boiled eggs in dye that he actually wanted to eat one when he got home. The fun ended there. He really likes scrambled eggs, but cold, rubbery, overcooked boiled egg wasn't his scene. I don't blame him for spitting out the bite he took. On Sunday we had a visit from the Easter Bunny, then we headed over to a different neighbor's house for an Easter egg hunt (indoors, of course). Good times. The concentration of kids right around Henry's age makes it easy to organize and attend these events. Both were last-minute ideas. And today one of the moms from the block dropped by to ask if Henry would like to go to the park with her and a few other kids. So that's where he is now, while I'm at home with Dexter.

I'll say it again: I hate the climate here, but I really, really love this neighborhood. It's such a great community.

A man and his shovel

2008-03-21T16:27:00.007-04:00

Okay, I swear this is the last snow-related post. Tom and our neighbor, Olivier, spent the day removing snow from the alley that borders our house. (Note that Olivier doesn't actually live in the house on the other side of the alley; he was just helping out to be nice. Yes, we have great neighbors, which does a lot to make up for the horrible climate.) Anyway--Two grown men, hours and hours of shoveling, and the alley is about halfway clear. Maybe now our basement won't end up completely inundated with water. It will just be damp.

And I have no idea what we're gonna do about the situation on the side deck. I guess there's more shoveling (or bailing/mopping up the basement, if it thaws before we get to it) in our future:

March Break = House arrest

2008-03-15T15:19:00.003-04:00

The view from inside our cell

I've almost made it to the end of March Break (It's important to note that in Ontario they do not call it "Spring Break", because it most definitely is not). I'm not sure which group of sadists decided that closing down the schools and all children's activities for a week would be a good idea (cough*TEACHERS!*cough), but someone out there in bureaucrat land owes me one hell of a coffee break. Actually, it's not the "break" that's been wearing on me so much as the fact that we're practically housebound these days because the storm last Saturday really broke the city's collective back, and getting around town is a major headache. Many, many streets (including ours) still do not have their sidewalks plowed, so trying to push a stroller is an exercise in futility. The massive snowbanks have reduced a lot of roads to one lane, and everything from merging to cornering to parking is tricky and risky. Just to park in our driveway I have to drive past the house and reverse into the neighbor's driveway, as there is no longer room to turn in. And it goes on and on. REally, it's better just to stay in. So we're pretty bored these days.

We did manage a few fun activities to avoid going totally stir-crazy during this tedious week of no school, no swimming, no playgroup. We spent a day at Jensen's. We made a snail poster and cast plaster dinosaurs from a kit. We made of it what we could, but damn could we ever use some spring around here.

Apocalypse (S)now!

2008-03-09T11:30:00.006-04:00

Chaos! Anarchy! It's the Snowpocalypse!

Yesterday's blizzard shut the city down. It started Friday night and kept dumping through Saturday. We got of 51 cm (20 inches) of fresh snow in two days. That's on top of the massive blanket of white stuff we already had. This is the second-snowiest winter in Ottawa's history. And a super-snowy winter for Ottawa is serious business, because even average years are really freaking snowy. It's like the hottest summer in Phoenix, or the rainiest year in Vancouver. Extreme stuff. I'm starting to worry about our roof, especially over the unheated side room. But there's nothing we can do about it--the area is inaccessible, and trying to get up there to remove snow would be stupidly dangerous.

Anyway, here's the scene:

(Compare that last picture to these ones from December, when I first started commenting on all the snow we have. They seem like the good old days now.)

A sign of things to come

2008-03-06T23:09:00.003-05:00

Here's a little brother/big brother moment for you:

I'm done

2008-03-05T14:26:00.006-05:00

Another storm hit today. I took a look out the window this morning and decided I wasn't leaving the house. No workout for me. No school for Henry. I just couldn't bear to spend yet another morning digging the car out from under two feet of snow. As far as I'm concerned, the only way to cope with this endless, merciless winter is to stop going outside altogether.

I mean, look at this shit we're dealing with:

Side yard, yesterday

Deck, today

Our roof is doomed!

On the move (almost)

2008-03-03T22:20:00.002-05:00

Milestone ahead

2008-02-29T13:00:00.003-05:00

Dexter is getting ready to crawl! He's been pretty nonchalant about the process so far, showing very little interest in doing necessary pre-crawling things like rolling over from back to belly. He's just so mellow he usually seems happy to play where he lays. But this week he's making more of an effort to get out and about. Last week he figured out how to push himself backwards along the floor on his belly. This week he's practicing getting up on all fours, and he's rolling over more often. He still has work to do before he'll actually be scooting around the house. That's a good thing--babyproofing is going to be a big job this time around.

Henry's hovering beside me as I write. He wants me to spell "dig." So here we go:

DIG

Now he's happy.

Miss Stella

2008-02-23T12:25:00.003-05:00

Kristy and Stella came home from the hospital on Thursday evening. My mom's staying over for a few days to help the new mom and dad adjust to their new family member. And what an adjustment it is. Really, there's nothing that can prepare you for those first few days at home with your first baby. That said, everyone is doing great and they sound really happy.

I wish I could pop over for a visit.

Two significant birthdays

2008-02-21T22:03:00.004-05:00

The first: Dave and Kristy welcomed baby Stella Helen yesterday. Finally, a cousin for Henry and Dexter! I'm very excited to be an auntie. I'll post a picture later if Dave says it's okay (Believe it or not, there are still people--members of my own family!--who don't think it's normal to broadcast your entire life on the Internets).

The second: Today is the 100th anniversary of my Papa George's birth. Even though he's been gone for almost 11 years now, I still think about him a lot and wanted to mark this occasion in some small way before the day is over. So, here's to you, Papa.

Here we go again

2008-02-19T13:12:00.002-05:00

Bah--Dexter won't eat anything! Not even super-sweet fruits like bananas and pears. He clamps his mouth shut and I can't wedge a spoon in there. I don't know how someone who likes food as much as I do could produce not just one, but two babies who don't like food at all.

Another anniversary of sorts

2008-02-11T12:05:00.000-05:00

Last week we received a notice informing us that it is time to renew our annual membership to the Museum of Nature. That means it's been about a year since Henry fell head-over-heels in love with dinosaurs. I think it was a visit to the remodeled Dino exhibit at the museum that triggered this obsession, but honestly, I can't remember. All I know is that it's now impossible to overstate just how completely his imagination has been captivated by the prehistoric beasts. Around our house, it's all dinos, all the time. Henry reads dino books, plays with dino toys, wears dino clothes, sleeps between dino sheets, watches dino shows, plays dino video games on dino websites, and visits the dino museum at least twice a month. He also spends a lot of time pretending he's a dinosaur (usually a T-Rex), especially when he's feeling insecure in a social situation (he turns his hands into claws and roars at people). In the summer he collects rocks and sticks in the yard, claims they are fossilized bones, and assembles them into dinosaur skeletons. In the winter he does the same thing with chunks of ice and snow. It can take us a long time to walk home from school, as Henry is constantly discovering prehistoric fossils along the sidewalk. Basically, not an hour of the day goes by in our household without some talk of dinosaurs.

I admit that it can get a little tedious talking about and playing dinosaurs all the time, but the positive aspects of this obsession far outweigh any irritations. Henry is a sponge when it comes to learning about dinosaurs, and it's been very easy to harness this interest to teach him about letters (which dino names start with C, etc.) and numbers (how many claws does an allosaurus have, etc.). He's also mastered a huge list of dino-related vocabulary. I have my pronunciation of some dinosaur or other corrected by my 3-year-old at least once a day (does the name "dolichorhynchops" roll off your tongue? I didn't think so). Despite my best efforts to promote Hedge Fund Manager as an ideal career choice for a young man who would surely like to help his Mommy to retire in style, Henry keeps insisting that he wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. We'll see about that, but I will say that we've read a lot of profiles of actual paleontologist over the last year, and it's striking how many of them say that they first fell in love with dinosaurs in childhood and never lost interest. So, never say never. Twenty years from now, if he's off digging for bones with a wire brush in the middle of some godforsaken dune, happy as a clam, I won't be a bit surprised.

Has it been 6 months already?

2008-02-02T12:26:00.000-05:00

Or should I say, has it only been 6 months? Babies have a way of messing with your sense of time because almost as soon as you bring one home, it feels like they've always been part of your life. Anyway, whether it's been a fast 6 months or a slow 6 months, it's a mark Dexter hit this weekend, and it's a significant milestone in his first year. I believe there are few things in the world more adorable than a 6-month-old baby. This stage gives you an irresistible blend of pure babyness mixed with lots of personality. Dexter is very curious about the world around him these days. He's constantly grabbing at stuff, and when he gets ahold of something, he holds it up to his face for careful scrutiny. He's becoming quite enamored of his big brother. He'll watch Henry when he's up to his usual shenanigans with a look of fascination on his face that says, "Who is that guy? He's a total ROCK STAR!!!" It's very sweet.

Because he's 6 months old, I started Dexter on "solid" food the other day. So far, he hasn't been terribly interested. Then again, I don't know who would want to eat that flavorless mush they call baby cereal. I'm not finding I have a lot of patience with the recommended schedules for introducing baby food; the rule is that you start with the rice cereal mush, then introduce a new food every few days to make sure allergies aren't an issue, etc., etc. It all sounds like it's going to take a long time. If D. doesn't show interest in the rice mush like, tomorrow, I think I'll offer him peach mush and apple mush and other stuff that's actually tasty until he gets used to eating, then go back to rice mush. We'll see. I guess I'm just not very excited about the whole solid foods thing. I was when Henry was a baby, but since he ended up liking exactly one flavor of baby food (Beech Nut Peach Cinnamon Oatmeal) out of all the stuff I tried to feed him (including made-from-scratch baby delicacies), my spirit got a tad deflated. Also, I now realize that life as a parent is at its easiest when your child is breastfeeding exclusively, so the lazy part of me is sad to see that phase ending. No more feeding on the fly--now I have to plan meals, prepare the food, feed the food, and clean up. Oh well. I just hope he likes the peaches.

Slow train on the Rideau Canal

2008-01-27T14:53:00.000-05:00

We made it out on the ice yesterday. Henry enjoyed towing Dexter in his sled and pretending they were a train. You can't quite make out what he's saying in this video, but basically he's setting up the train scenario, then yelling "Biff! Biff! Biff!" because the cars are "biffing buffers", a term he picked up from Thomas the Tank Engine. Dexter, as usual, is going along with whatever is going on.

I have no idea why Tom is neighing.

A cold day, during which I actually venture outdoors

2008-01-20T21:54:00.000-05:00

After a long spell of mild temps, we got a blast of arctic air today. The very day that I had agreed to take Henry to a winter festival at the local park. Damn you, Mother Nature! Why do you mock me so? Okay, so it turned out to be fun. Jensen came into town to join us, and by the time we ventured to the park it was "only" -11 C. Bikini weather! Seriously, it wasn't that bad, although, as usual, I was slightly under-dressed for the cold. By which I mean that I wasn't wearing snowpants, a balaclava, and knee-high snowmobiling boots like everyone else who turned up for the festival. By my own standards, I was bundled up like the Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man, but my toes and legs were numb by the time we got home.

I blame my B.C. upbringing for my reluctance to get all geared up for cold. It seems natural to me to deal with winter by refusing to acknowledge that it's cold out. It's the B.C. way. When I was in Kelowna for Christmas I saw countless people venturing out in all manner of inappropriate clothing, including shorts (shorts!), ballet flats, and bare heads, bare hands, bare whatever they could get away with. It makes sense on this level: If you want to pretend you're the California of Canada, you've got to dress the part. You can't sissy out and wear some ugly-ass parka and hair-crushing touque just because it's several degrees below freezing. Come on! They may keep you warm, but it wouldn't be cool. In Ontario, however, they actually believe in winter, and no item of winter clothing is considered too dorky, too unflattering, or too uncomfortable to don as soon as the November wind starts biting. (Well, I haven't yet seen an adult in a one-piece snowsuit, but I'm sure a short trip over the bridge to Quebec would quickly put that bit of sartorial horror in view.) The rule is, if it keeps you warm, all else is forgiven.

ANYWAY, yes, the winter festival was a real slice of Ottawa winter, and a typical example of the wholesomeness of our wholesome little neighbourhood community. A team of volunteers turn a large portion of the park into a skating rink every winter by hosing the field and grooming the ice. Every night someone goes out and does the hosing. Just so the neighbourhood kids and hockey dads can skate. So there was skating. And free hot dogs and free hot chocolate in the field house, where you could warm up for free. Also, free rides through the park on a horse-drawn sleigh. Free! Henry and I sang Jingle Bells as we dashed through the snow. Henry and Jensen had tons of fun tobogganing down the hill. And I made chit-chat with the friends I ran into and recognized even though their faces were mostly obscured by polar fleece. I knew them by their coats. I realized last year that the key to maintaining relationships with friends and neighbours during the winter months is to memorize what everyone's winter parka and/or hat looks like, as that's the only way to identify individuals in the crowds of anonymous Sta-Puff People you see when you're out and about. So lots of fun for me and the boy. Worth a few numb toes.

In other news, Henry has a cold. And this is news. Honestly, it's the first time he's been sick since well before his second birthday. He was sick constantly as a baby, but since then, nothing. Perfect health. I do remember our pediatrician in Richmond saying, as she treated him for his umpteenth ear infection/cough/stomach ailment, that once he got over all these illnesses he probably would be immune to a ton of stuff and wouldn't get sick much in later years. But I didn't believe her. My dad thinks our house in Richmond was infested with toxic mold that made us all sick. I can't discount that theory, either. Whatever the reason, it's been a nice run, but with Dexter around now, I'm sure it will not be our last cold this season.

That was quite a ramble, wasn't it? Here are some pictures of our chilly playdate. It really is a beautiful park.

Happy Birthday, Bop Pop

2008-01-14T16:10:00.000-05:00

Only the government thinks you're an old man!

Sitting pretty

2008-01-13T13:48:00.001-05:00

Thumbs up!

Real life reboots

2008-01-09T15:21:00.000-05:00

We're finally over our jetlag and all the other disruption that travel causes. Tom is back in the classroom for the first time since last April. Preschool started up again on Monday. I've got about 3 months of maternity leave left, and I'm trying to make the most of it. I'm going to "Post-Natal Boot Camp," a.k.a. the House of Pain, twice a week to help whip myself back into shape. (Well, I guess I'm not whipping myself back into shape so much as paying someone else to whip me into shape, but you get the idea.) Post-natal yoga and afternoon playgroup starts next week, so depending on the weather, I'll be tearing up the streets with my double stroller again. Hopefully by May I'll be in good enough condition to run the 10K in a decent time, which is the goal of all this activity. Plus, it would be nice to be back in my pre-pregnancy clothes before I head back to work. An entire new wardrobe in my current, "transitional" size would be expensive.

It's almost time to register Henry for Junior Kindergarten (Ontario has two years of public kindergarten), and we have to decide which of 3 schools to send him to. The issue parents around here obsess about is whether or not your kid is going to do French Immersion, and if they are, when in their schooling they're going to start ( Early French immersion starts in Senior Kindergarten). We've pretty much decided we're NOT going to do it. This puts us against the grain of most other yuppie parents here, but I have some big concerns with immersion. First, my rotten French skills mean I would be effectively cut out of Henry's school experience if he was in immersion. Second, I'm just not convinced that learning a second language should be the focus of his early school years. I mean, it's not like I don't want him to study French or some other foreign language, but all things considered, I'm more concerned about math and reading in English. Functional bilingualism is like a golden ticket in this town (since it's required to work for the government), but the fact that I've lived in many places where you can go months, if not years, without hearing anyone speak French (i.e. every other place I've ever lived) makes it hard for me to think that learning French should be the entire focus of my child's education. In a regular program they still do 20-40 minutes a day of French, and I think that's plenty for now.

ANYWAY, the issue's on my mind today because I was calling around to schools for info.

As for Dexter, he just cut his second tooth and continues to be an utterly adorable and fantastically mellow little baby.I expect him to be sitting up in the next few weeks. He's way into sucking on his toes and grasping objects to bring them up to his mouth. I could go on about how adorable he is, but I think I'll go play with him instead!

Elves on strike

2008-01-03T16:02:00.000-05:00

We're back in Ottawa, house-bound by snow and freezing temps. We're bored. Henry's bugging me to play "Elves" with him (inspired by the movie Rudolph), but the house is a mess and I want to do some cleaning. Here's my attempt to harness his energy to my purposes:

"Okay Henry, I'll play Elves, but instead of building toys, let's be Elves that sweep the hall floor!"

[Pause]

"Mommy, let's play that THIS elf is on vacation."

Damn. He's finally big enough to be useful, but he's no longer gullible enough to be tricked into it.

Having a happy holiday

2007-12-26T22:05:00.000-05:00

The crew is in Kelowna, digging out from the aftermath of a very merry Christmas. Did Henry get a lot of presents? Lets just say that if you own stock in any company that manufactures dinosaur-themed goods, you're welcome. Dexter gave himself his first tooth for Christmas, and is having a grand time playing with scrap wrapping paper and ribbons. Grandma Eileen is still a bit hobbled from her recent knee replacement surgery, but having the grandkids around has inspired her to walk without her cane, which is good to see. Tom and I are doing not much of anything, beyond the usual juggling of childcare tasks, reading of books, and eating of food. It's a nice way to spend the holidays.

White Christmas, anyone?

2007-12-17T09:18:00.000-05:00

This is what our patio looked like on Friday, when I first blogged about all the snow we have:

This is what it looks like out there today:

The good news is that winter doesn't officially start for another four days.

If you listen closely, I bet you can hear me weeping. . .

The lull before the hurricane

2007-12-12T10:52:00.000-05:00

Here's what's happening around these parts: Snow. Snow, snow, snow snow, snow. Snow. Seriously--there is an astounding amount of snow. I'm coming to terms with the fact that I have to invest in some real snow boots (I've been getting by with these "snow mocs"), and maybe even adult snow pants, to make it through the winter. Oh, the horror. As a west coaster, I really hate dressing appropriately for winter. But it's the thing to do around here, so bring on the knee-high snowmobile boots for grocery store runs and full-body puffer suits for walks to the mailbox.

Besides the fact that we're snowed in, all our activities are on hiatus until the new year. So basically we're sitting around waiting for Christmas. And waiting for Christmas is going to make Henry's head explode. He is so excited about it this year! We sing Christmas carols and play "Santa visits Henry's house" over and over again. I'm not sure he'll make it through the next two weeks without tearing through the drywall in a frenzy of frustrated anticipation. Ho ho ho indeed.

That's the fun stuff. Unfortunately, yesterday we got some bad (but expected)news: Henry has to have another eye surgery. It's been obvious since last spring that the strabismus is back. Or that it never really was cured--I'm not sure. It's nowhere near as bad as it was, but his eyes cross when he's focusing on something close to his face, and even when they look straight, his eyes aren't working together. The good news is that his vision is otherwise perfect, and the doctor says that since he's so young, there's still a chance that a second surgical correction could take well enough for him to start seeing stereoscopically.

Sigh. This surgery is going to be very traumatic for him, and us. He's already afraid of his ophthalmologist because of the eye tests he does, and he understands that going to the hospital isn't a fun thing to do. Last week he got a vaccination and I practically had to sit on him to keep him still for the needle, and he screamed a the top of his lungs throughout. So it's going to be very unpleasant and scary for him. I really wish I could believe that it will be worth it, but there's no guarantee the surgery will fix his vision. But I feel like we have to try. If it doesn't work this time, Henry can decide for himself when he's older about having further surgeries for cosmetic purposes. In the meantime, I just feel bad for my little guy.

Okay, I can't sign off on that gloomy note. Here are some pictures of Dexter to show how strong he's getting. The bouncy chair's days are numbered:

Tom's book

2007-12-04T10:23:00.000-05:00

It's about to hit the shelves! Here's a description from the publisher's web site.

Oh my snow

2007-12-03T10:48:00.000-05:00

Lordy is it ever dumping down today. It's hard to believe that official winter is still 3 weeks away, because we're getting hammered with cold and snow. Environment Canada is predicting this year will be the coldest winter in 15 years, so this could just be the start of a long, long season. Prepare yourselves for a good 6 months of weather-related bitching from yours truly.

Tom's brother, Jonathan, is visiting from California, and what a nice taste of a true Canadian winter he's getting. He's supposed to fly out this afternoon, but we're not sure his flight will actually make it. Anyway, the visit was short but fun. Henry loved having Uncle Jon here, and was very happy to escort him through the Dinosaur Museum. Jon and Tom took Henry sledding yesterday, an activity Henry has finally come around to enjoying (before now he only liked pulling his sled, not riding in it). We even went out for dinner with the whole crew and managed to eat a meal without either child having a meltdown.

In other news, Dexter is now 4 months old! He had his checkup on Friday. The kid weighs in at 15.5 pounds and is 26.5 inches long. He's a bit smaller than Henry was at this age, but still on the big side. I think he's in teething mode so he's been a bit grumpier than usual, but still cute as hell and mellow most days. We're also having some success getting him to nap alone in his cradle. This is huge for us because Henry never, ever napped in his crib. Dexter doesn't stay asleep for very long on his own (usually about an hour) and prefers to spend his nights curled up beside me, but it's a start. I'm hoping that we can move him into his own crib in his own room around the 6 month mark. Then we would only have Henry, a.k.a. the night stalker, to deal with. But I never get my hopes up when it comes to that kid's sleeping habits, or lack thereof. . .

Quote of the day

2007-11-29T18:53:00.000-05:00

"Your poo song sounds magical today!"

Don't ask.

(Let's just say the boy still needs encouragement some days.)

Couch potatoes rejoice!

2007-11-26T17:17:00.000-05:00

Tivo boxes are coming to Canada.

Finally, the Great White North is catching up to 2002.

Squirmin' worm

2007-11-23T12:05:00.000-05:00

I love how babies this age communicate by kicking and squirming.

Boogie Days

2007-11-21T22:02:00.000-05:00

Dexter has insomnia

2007-11-19T16:35:00.000-05:00

It seems that Dexter has decided he wants to be just like his big brother and refuse to stay asleep for longer than an hour or two at a time. Hopefully it is just a phase. I'm working hard to get him into a daily routine that includes two naps in his crib, a tactic that never worked with Henry. But I have hope for Dexter. Hope!

In other news, I am watching The Amazing Race, but don't expect recaps. I barely have time to watch the show every week. So far, I've been enjoying it. No "young guys" team means the competition is wide open. And there's no other show on TV where you can watch a grown woman burst into hysterical tears because she can't milk a camel. Good stuff.

We're brothers. Can you tell?

2007-11-09T10:20:00.000-05:00

Lately I had been thinking that Dexter really didn't look that similar to Henry. Then I looked through Henry's 3-month photos and was like, "never mind." From the nose up, the resemblance is striking. If it wasn't for Dexter's pointy chin and thinner face, they could be twins.

Baby chit-chat

2007-11-07T22:29:00.000-05:00

I love Wednesdays

2007-11-07T09:50:00.000-05:00

Today is definitely my favourite day of the week. Henry spends the a.m. in school, as usual. After lunch, I put the kids in our super-groovy new double stroller and walk over to a local community centre for activities! In a stroke of brilliant scheduling, this place offers a post-natal, mommy & me yoga class at the same time as a drop-off program for preschoolers. A miracle! Even better, the preschool class goes half an hour longer than yoga, so I can enjoy a coffee in relative peace at the nearby Starbucks before we all head home.

I like everything about the afternoon. The walk is beautiful--along a low-traffic road that runs up the hill from the canal, with views of the water. It's far enough to be a workout in its own right, especially when you're pushing a double stroller. Just having something to do would be great, but we actually really like the classes, too. The yoga is much more of a challenge than I was expecting. All the babies in the room make it hard to concentrate, and I usually have to stop what I'm doing at least once a class to tend to Dexter, but I do get a workout. And Henry LOVES the playgroup, primarily because the instructor is a dude. If you've spent time around Henry, you know that he much prefers the company of guys. If you put him in a room with 10 strangers (like, say, an airport departure gate), 9 of whom are smiling, friendly women who clearly love small children and are actively trying to get his attention by offering candy, and 1 of whom is a young guy wearing headphones and sunglasses, Henry will go talk to the guy every time. So he is very happy to have a guy leading playtime. Plus, all the other kids in the class happen to be boys, so it ends up being 2 hours of dinosaur role playing and dogpiles on the activity mats. Good times.

In short, Wednesdays make me feel like I'm living my yuppie maternity leave dream to the fullest.

3 months old!

2007-11-02T18:22:00.000-04:00

Dexter is 3 months old today. This marks the official end of the "newborn" stage. He's had head control and been wearing 3-6 month size clothes for the last few weeks, so it feels like we actually left the newborn stage behind awhile ago. I have surprisingly mixed feelings about all this. Before he was born, I thought I might be impatient for the early baby stages to go by and his personality to emerge more fully. Instead I find myself relishing Dexter's baby-ness and really enjoying the simple pleasures a newborn offers. It helps that he has such a sweet disposition. Of course I love seeing him develop, but I'm just very aware of how fast the baby stage goes by, so I'm drinking it up while I can.

About that development. Well, Dexter's current favorite activity is making eye contact with a friendly face and having a little conversation that consists of cooing and giggling. It's not at all cute. Not at all. His head control is really good (he can now sit in one of those Bumbo contraptions), he grasps objects, and slowly but surely he's becoming mobile. Just some rolling around at this point, but I can no longer lay him down on a bed or couch and not worry about him crashing off it. He has more hair than Henry had at this age, but that's not saying much. Henry is still very affectionate with him; I suspect this won't change until Dexter starts to mess with his stuff. So we'll have at least a couple more months of peace before the lifelong sibling rivalry kicks in.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T21:39:00.000-04:00

I'm too tired to recap the day. Here are pics.

Halloween countdown

2007-10-28T13:29:00.000-04:00

Henry is psyched for Halloween. He's got a most excellent tyrannosaurus rex costume, hand made by Grandma Eileen, and he can't wait to go trick or treating. We put it on yesterday for a costume party at Hannah's, where it got rave reviews. Fun times.

It's interesting that he's now capable of anticipating a future event, which is a recent development. Henry enjoyed Christmas and Halloween last year, but it was more of an "in the moment" thing. This year, we're counting down the days. Of course, mommy is happily anticipating November 1, when she'll have a large stash of candy to raid.

Bathroom reveal

2007-10-19T10:42:00.000-04:00

When I saw the new bathrooms on Wednesday, I felt a bit like I was on Trading Spaces or some other home makeover show where you leave for awhile and come back to some fabulous renovation. I'm sure my eyes bugged out and my jaw dropped. The transformation truly is stunning. The pictures can't do it justice. The downstairs bathroom went from being a junk closet with a toilet to a proper powder room with a large, enclosed storage closet. The upstairs bathroom is beautiful. We splurged on a granite counter top for the new vanity, and it was money well spent. Last night I had a bath in the 7-foot soaker tub and just marveled at what a pristine and attractive space it is. Aaahh!

It's especially sweet because in all that time that Tom and I have been together, we've lived in places with exceptionally small, cramped and/or grotty bathrooms. The only exception was an apartment we had in Richmond for one year, which was brand new. Besides that, it's been horror show after horror show. Our apartment in Madison had a bathroom with no ventilation, which caused mold to grow on the walls. When we complained about the state of the tub/shower in our second Richmond apartment, the landlord responded by paining (painting!!!) the tub so it would look better. The bathroom in our Richmond house was laughably small and was so outdated the sink didn't even have a "mixer" tap to create warm (rather than hot and cold) water. So the bathroom in this place was already, sadly, the second-nicest we've ever had. And now it's wonderful (by my modest standards, at least. If there's one thing I learned shopping for bathroom fixtures, is that some people are willing to devote an ungodly amount of space and money to their potty rooms).

Some "before" pics

Our new bathrooms kick ass

2007-10-18T00:25:00.000-04:00

Pictures ASAP

Some Kelowna pics

2007-10-17T00:41:00.001-04:00

Valley view

Pumpkin carving

Halloween preview

Kelowna visit: Busy busy busy

2007-10-11T01:08:00.000-04:00

I've been in Kelowna for the past week with Henry and Dexter. Tom stayed in Ottawa to catch up on some work and supervise the endless final stages of the bathroom renovation. The boys and I are up to the usual slate of Kelowna activities, with the added twist of a visit last weekend by my friend Yvonne from Seattle (Hi Yvonne!), and a three-day work meeting for me (long story). Henry got to go to Auntie Kristy's preschool class today. He had such a good time he's going back tomorrow. Dexter is growing like a weed and doing fun things like learning to roll over. I'm contemplating spending a small fortune on an all-terrain double stroller. And that's about that.

We're here for another week. I'll try to post some pictures before we leave.

Dexter at 8 weeks, and our annual trip to CHEO

2007-09-29T09:56:00.000-04:00

Dexter had his 8 week checkup yesterday. He's up to 12 lbs 8 oz and measures 24.5 inches. Those stats officially make him a big baby, which you can tell just by looking at him. He's kind of all torso at the moment, with stubby legs and arms.Beyond that, he's smiley and mellow and generally delightful. It's funny--I have this list detailing all the minutia of Henry's early weeks, with dates he reached little developmental milestones duly recorded. But beyond noting his first smile, I'm not doing that with Dexter. I know he'll get there with all those things. I'm just enjoying his babyness as a whole and marveling at how special it is to cuddle a little newborn. I know it goes by fast.

A few hours after I got home from the doctor with Dexter, Tom was off to the CHEO emergency room with Henry, who split open the back of his head falling off a kitchen chair. He was perched on it, rocking back and forth while playing on the computer, when it slipped out from under him. Sigh. I'VE TOLD HIM A MILLION TIMES NOT TO STAND ON THE CHAIR!!! Getting a 3 year-old to listen is a tall order, let me tell you. He's totally fine--there wasn't too much blood, but it was obvious the wound would have to be stitched or glued back together (it was glued). I wonder how many times we can take our child to the hospital with a minor head injury before the authorities start to ask questions? Or do they just understand that rambunctious children take their knocks?

An unusual visitor

2007-09-27T09:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was in the front yard getting the stroller packed up for our afternoon activities when a man and woman approached the house with a camera. They introduced themselves, and the man told me he had grown up in our house during the 1960s. The house had been in his family since 1904. He's lived in Chicago since 1971, and was in town to visit his old haunts. Since we have lots of questions about our old house, we invited him in to have a look. Unfortunately, the place is a chaotic mess because of the renovation going on, but he still got the tour. We were surprised by a few of the things he told us:

*The addition on the back of the main floor was there when he lived here. We had assumed it was more recent. My big complaint about this room is that there are no windows looking out onto the back yard. But when the addition was built, that space wasn't being used as a yard. There was a warehouse next door housing the family plumbing business (this we knew about), and our current yard wasn't all fenced off from it or anything. So the lack of windows makes sense now. I still don't like it, but it makes sense.

*The bathroom we are currently renovating was a bedroom when he lived here. So we couldn't hold him responsible for the incredibly shoddy work that was performed in converting it to a bathroom.

*The addition on the back of the second floor was his bedroom. And the little bathroom off that room was the house's original bathroom. Very interesting. Again, we had assumed the addition was a more recent vintage.

*The floors were already sloping in the 1960s.

*The closet and storage spaces under the stairs were there when he lived here. It's clear that the original entrance to the basement was under the main floor staircase, but it must have been changed a long time ago.

*The kitchen sink was where our fridge is now. That explains the tap coming out of the wall.

It was a short but interesting visit (I was gone for most of it--I'm just reporting what Tom told me later). The great thing about old houses is the layers of history you uncover. The bad thing, of course, is the decay and the layers of shoddy renovation you uncover when you're fixing them up!

(The bathroom is coming along. I think there's at least a week's worth of work left.)

Henry's new pastime

2007-09-20T21:43:00.000-04:00

The quality on this video isn't great, so it's a little hard to see exactly what Henry is doing here. Basically it shows him in action doing what I described last week--using the computer to entertain himself. He's now quite adept at using the touchpad on the laptop.

By the way, my sources tell me that the Thomas theme song you hear in the video plays as a continuous loop in Hell. Enjoy!

Quote of the day

2007-09-19T21:59:00.000-04:00

"That's the biggest infestation I've ever seen."

-- our contractor, after uncovering the HIDEOUS, DISGUSTING carpenter ant nest in our bathroom wall