Mrs. Stardom Goes to Washington - Part 1

I'm breaking the blog rules here by posting something that has nothing to do with Max but I think even John, the content taskmaster, would agree that it is OK. In a way, it has a little bit to do with Max as it was the first trip I have ever taken without him. But I digress.

It all started with a phone call from my Auntie Melody on November 3, 2008, the day before the U.S. Presidential election. The United States seemed poised to elect Barack Obama as its 44th President and Auntie put forward this crazy idea of going to Washington for the inauguration in January 2009. Over the next two days, this crazy trip took shape and we were all booked (thanks to Auntie's awesome travel agent, John C.).

We left for Washington in the wee hours on Sunday, January 18th. Max decided to give us a proper send-off by waking up at 4 AM to see us off (he eventually went back to bed with Grandma H for a few hours - there is a joke in there somewhere . . .). Our flight was strangely empty although we did have a little bit of homegrown celebrity in our midst in the form of Global News anchor, Kevin Newman. There was a delay with our luggage so we had a chance to chat with him a bit and I can report that he is perfectly lovely and much cuter in person. One of the funniest moments of that day came when Kevin asked us if we were going to the concert that afternoon. We said that we were and he said that he was too and then said that he was excited to see Mary J. Blige! Yes, the one artist he specifically mentioned was Mary J. I was gobsmacked but pleasantly so. I guess Mary J.'s appeal is a lot wider than I gave her credit for. Here is me and Kevin in the airport:


After a long cab ride to the hotel (interesting fact about Washington highways - they salt and sand the roads if any snow is in the forecast), we grabbed a quick breakfast, changed and headed downtown for the "We are One" concert. In the theme of the People's Inauguration, many free events were planned to share the event with everyone. The official kick-off to inauguration week in Washington was this star-studded event at the Lincoln Memorial. We grabbed the hotel shuttle to Union Station then walked to the Lincoln Memorial. There was a long line up to get through security but everyone was in a good mood so it went fast. We managed to snag a little piece of fence right by the reflecting pool so we had a great view of the stage.

This is the set list for the concert:

"Star Spangled Banner" by Master Sgt. Caleb Green,
"The Rising" by Bruce Springsteen,
"Lean on Me" by Mary J. Blige,
"A Change is Gonna Come" by Jon Bon Jovi with Bettye Lavette,
"Shower the People" by James Taylor with John Legend and Jennifer Nettle,
"Pink Houses" by John Mellencamp,
"America (My Country Tis of Thee)" by Josh Groban and Heather Headley,
"One Love" by Will.i.am with Herbie Hancock and Sheryl Crow,
"You'll Never Walk Alone" by Renee Fleming,
"American Pie"//"Shout"/"We Shall be Free" by Garth Brooks,
"Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder with Usher and Shakira,
"Pride in the Name of Love" and "City of Blinding Lights" by U2,
"This Land is Your Land" By Pete Seeger and Springsteen,
"America the Beautiful" by Beyonce and the ensemble

I have to give credit where credit is due and the best performance of the day was Garth Brooks. Bruce and U2 were amazing but Garth got the crowd going like nobody else. In those few minutes, I began to understand what all the fuss was about with him and why he had sold millions and millions of albums. It was cold and people had been standing for hours and he got everyone dancing, singing, jumping and enjoying themselves.

In between these amazing performances, there were all sorts of celebrities giving mini speeches about past inaugurations, past presidents (with heavy emphasis on Lincoln and FDR), and Martin Luther King Jr. as the following day was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Tiger Woods, Laura Linney, Queen Latifah, Steve Carell, Jamie Foxx to name a few. There were also a few videos shown. There were some odd moments too - Vice-President Elect Joe Biden did a bit of an odd speech about workers and there were some eagles released but they had their legs banded together so they didn't fly very far. The President elect did an amazing speech. Auntie and I reflected on this again on Tuesday but you could literally hear a pin drop when he was speaking. This was a big crowd - estimates ranged from 300,000 to 750,000 - and you really could hear his every word.

After the concert, we began the long, long trek back to the central core to find something to eat. All the restaurants were mobbed but we were lucky enough to find a spot at a bar table at an awesome Mexican place. Auntie's backache mysteriously disappeared with a few pomegranate margaritas and we had some phenomenal guacamole. It was a nice party place and everyone, from the servers, managers, patrons and busboys, was in a celebratory mood. It sounds cheesy but the excitement about what was going on was palpable. The other big thing that Auntie and I remarked on throughout the trip was how unbelievably friendly everyone was - everyone in the service industry, people on the street, law enforcement, etc.

We grabbed a cab back to the hotel and climbed wearily into bed.

Here are a few photos of our day:


Auntie and I on our little spot by the pool.


A look behind us before the concert started.


Beyoncé (aka Sasha Fierce) performing the closing number.

More to follow . . .

A wonderful Mummy, Max and friends weekend

After Max and John flying solo while I was in Washington, Max and I had the opportunity to spend a weekend together as John jetted off to Kingston for an annual Scrabble tournament. I'm not nearly as diligent as Master Blogger John in blogging every day but I thought I should also document our weekend so Dad knows what we got up to.

All in all, it was a most fabulous weekend. We started off Saturday in great spirits as Max slept through the night again and woke up with smiles. John was able to spend some morning time with us before leaving for Kingston which was great. Mid-morning, Auntie Laramie and her friend A picked us up for a lovely breakfast at Bramasole Diner and John jetted off. Max was a big hit, although he wasn't fond of the egg whites from Auntie L's poached eggs. He normally loves the egg white so much more than the yolk when he has a choice but I think these may have tasted a little funny because of the vinegar in the poaching water. He proceeded to dump them all on the floor but he enjoyed his bits of toast and French toast. Lar and A treated us to breakfast which was a lovely surprise.

Auntie L and Max had lots of playtime, including this little kissing session:


After breakfast, we were dropped off at Hilson for the weekly community playgroup. I really wanted to go this week because there was a "Family Disco" event planned. When we arrived, all of the older kids were gathered around a clown and the littler kids were either crying and/or in their parents' arms. What is it about clowns? The Disco portion of the event consisted of some music being played while everyone danced a bit manically. It was pretty funny to watch all of the parents do a very exaggerated version of the Chicken Dance. What is it about parents making fools of themselves for their kids? Max was content to sit in my lap for a half hour and catch up with old friends from our little playgroup. Once the music and clown show was over, Max proceeded to run around the gym for a while chasing balls and then had a little snack. He fell asleep in the sling on the way home and I managed to get him in the crib with no trouble. He then proceeded to nap for almost three hours!!! I was starting to get a bit worried but I had the monitor on and he was totally fine. He woke up and we had a snack. Then Grandma H called from Renfrew, en route to Ottawa, to invite us to dinner at Swiss Chalet.

After hanging out a bit at home, we three headed to the restaurant. The service was quite absymal so we were waiting quite a long time for food and drinks. Max was content for the first little while but then decided that he needed to run around. It was the first time in a long, long, LONG while that Max hasn't been on his best behaviour at a restaurant. He wasn't a terror but he was restless so we took turns eating and supervising and got dessert to go (which was fine considering that the coconut cream pie was frozen solid! Nice one, Swiss, nice one). Of course, he charmed other patrons on his restaurant walkabout. I have a few theories about it but I think the most promising one is that he had spent most of the afternoon sleeping then sat in his high chair for a late afternoon snack so he was in "run around and play" mode rather than "sit in a high chair" mode. We retired home for a bit of play time then Max went to bed around 8.

Another awesome night followed with no wake-ups and a blissful sleep in. I didn't get out of bed until 7:50 am. I guess I won the sleep lottery. We had some nice playtime upstairs and a bath before heading downstairs for a big breakfast. Grandma H arrived at 11 to take Max to gymnastics and drop off some delicious potato, leek and bacon soup for my lunch. They had a nice adventure at gymnastics and I puttered at home. Max had some lunch when he got back then slept from 2 - 4 pm. Too bad we had a birthday party invitation from 2 - 4! Happy birthday, Samuel, and sorry that we couldn't make it to your party.

Our awesome weekend was capped off with an impromptu dinner invitation to Auntie Kerry's place - pepper steak, baked potatoes and broccoli. Yum!!! As my mum said to me in the car this morning, "you did really well for food this weekend". I couldn't have said it better. Dinner with Kerry was lovely - good food, great company and some funny Max moments. Max even sat in one of Kerry's dining room chairs to eat. We propped him up on a comforter and he sat nicely like a big boy for a long while. He then proceeded to amuse himself with Kerry's Blackberry, bottles of Diet Coke, and various bits from the recycle bins. We left around 7:30 and Max was in bed by 8. The evening was another reminder of how fabulous it is to have one of our very best friends as our neighbour.

It was awesome to spend so much one on one time with Max this weekend. I really, really missed him when I was in Washington. It was also a fabulous opportunity to spend some quality time with two of my other favourite people, my mum and Kerry. We are so very lucky to have family and friends near.

Day 4

Drat - a second good night for Max. While I would be happy to see the end of the rough sleep nights, I'm still waiting for some teeth.

Mom's coming home shortly, so I'll make this quick. Max made his first trip in to work since October today. I had left something at the office and decided to go back and get it after picking him up. We ran into some colleagues, Max went for a spin on my chair, he poked his nose in a few offices ("it's like a house with 100 rooms!! If only there were more rocking horses...), in general, we had a fun 10 minutes. I'm looking forward to being able to take him in again during the day.

As it turns out, Max doesn't really care for pineapple. At first, I thought it was the toughness, but tonight, I gave him the softest, most lusciousest piece ever and he just spat it out. Oh well. He enjoyed his pasta and salmon.

Finally, Max has taken a liking to earbuds. He is fascinated by these little things that, when plugged in to certain other devices, make sounds. So fascinated, in fact, that they go in his mouth. Now he knows what they are (like DVDs, I guess) and knows what to do with them. It's weird to see Max picking up stuff like that. I suppose it's only going to get better/worse.

Here's a picture of Mom and Max reading. I bet they miss one another.

Day 3

Hallelujah Max slept through the night. I have this theory that when Max is sleeping poorly, he'll do it for a few nights in a row, but then even he gets tired, so he has to put in a good night eventually to rest up in order to sleep poorly again. Therefore tonight should be ugly again.

In blogging every day, it's interesting how I can take some time to talk about the little things that made my day with Max...things that I would totally forget otherwise. Max did two things tonight that were awesome.

1) we had been home for 30 minutes or so when Max went over to the foyer and grabbed his boots. He wanted to put them on. He arranged them (horribly, but upright) on the mat and then lifted his leg to insert his foot on his own. Now, there's a way that he lifts his leg to get in a box, by leaning forward at the waist and lifting the leg closest to the box straight back, kind of like an arabesque (hopefully I've chosen the right term). You know, the logical way to go about doing things. Well, he didn't do it like that this time. This time, he lifted his leg straight forward at the waist, like a goose step or Hulk Hogan getting ready for a leg drop. As if it wasn't funny enough watching Max try to get into his boot that way, he then walked over to the door so that he could hold on to something while lifting his leg the box way to get into the nearest boot...which was now 4 feet away! Seeing him stand there thinking he could get his foot into a boot 4 feet away was priceless.

2) after the boots were on, he went and asked to be let downstairs. There's really nothing to do down there for Max...although it's where the vacuum lives and therefore, it's desirable to be down there. So we head downstairs, we play with the vacuum a bit and then I turn on the TV to watch a bit of the inauguration stuff I taped. Two minutes in, Max hits something on the DVD player to turn it on, so the TV screen is now showing the DVD splash graphic. After fiddling with the buttons on the machine for a bit and not getting anything to happen, Max does the following without significant delay between steps:
a) walks over to the part of the entertainment unit which stores our movies
b) slides the door open
c) gets into the West Wing Season 2 DVD box
d) pries disc 4 out of the holder (not easy to do)
e) walks over to the player and slides the disc under it
f) steps back
Totally crazy. I know we watch a lot of TV and all, but most of it happens after Max goes to bed and CERTAINLY watching DVDs. I'm really struggling to think of when I've inserted or removed a DVD from the player around him. In any case, like the time Holly saw Max go to the door with keys in hand, he totally knew what he was trying to accomplish here.

So that was our day. I don't think he'll be up when Holly gets back tomorrow, but it will be great to see his face when he sees Holly at 3:30 am Thursday...er...I mean 6:30 am.

Day 2

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm not going to have too much to say today. Although I will let it slip that last night was rough. Little dude got up wailing at 1 and wouldn't go back to bed in his crib, so I hauled him into bed with me. Eventually, we both passed out, but Max got up again at 3 and 5. What are you Max, 4 months old? :) The silver lining was that when he got up at 5, he was making noises like he was up for good. He started crawling toward the foot of the bed, presumably to mess with Lily. I couldn't be bothered just yet: still tucked under the sheets, I put one leg toward the edge of the bed to that I'd know if he was making a break and the other toward the middle so that Max and Lily were confined in the V of my legs. After a bit (seconds? a minute? I have no idea), I realized that I wasn't hearing Max or Lily. Usually, Lily would get a little snarky if Max was in her grill, so I lifted my head to check what was going on. There was no sign of Lily - I don't think she was ever there - but Max was passed out face down on top of the duvet. I figured my legs were placed in such a way that if he were to get up, my alarm would be tripped so I checked out too. In about 15 minutes, he stirred and crawled toward the middle of the bed and then passed out again. This happened again one more time before he eventually did get up. It seriously looked like he was trying to take a victory lap of the bed, but was just too tired to execute. I'd never seen him sleep on top of blankets like that before - pretty weird.

In any case, it was a slow slog this morning, as the snow that was falling when I took Holly to the airport was still coming down. So Max had a bath, ate, got dressed, got dropped off, and then I came back here to tidy up the driveway. I hate plows.

After work, I picked Max up (he was helping his daycare provider shovel her driveway!) and we headed over to Great Auntie K's for a wonderful dinner. I have to take a second out to thank GAK for the wonderful dinner as well as her generosity this past month and a bit with providing us with her car when she didn't need it. The ongoing transit strike in Ottawa has made it pretty awful for me to get Max off to daycare and then get in to work before doing the reverse trip at the end of the day...and that's been with access to a car. On foot, the past 6 weeks would have been unbearable. I don't know how some people in town are getting by - we are very fortunate to have such good people around us willing to lend a hand. So thank you.

After dinner, Max was pooped and went straight to bed. I'm on my way right after this is done to hopefully get some extra sleep in before Max gets up tonight. But first, as promised, here is a whole whack of pictures from our holidays:

Day 1

Well, I thought I'd blog each of my days at home to keep Mom in the loop:) Today will be the only long one as I'll only have a few hours with Max over the next couple of days.

Today was a long day, but a good one. Max got up at about 3 and never really went back to bed by 4, when Holly had to get up and get ready for the ride to the airport. Grandma H, who had kindly spent the night to allow me to do the airport run without having to bundle Max up, got up too so that when Great Auntie M showed up at 4:15, three adults and one baby were awake and ready to greet her. I'd like to chalk the wake-up to teething, but who knows anymore. I'll only be certain when I see a tooth.

I got back from the airport and Max and Grandma were both conked out again. They stayed that way until 7:30 (IMPRESSIVE) and then everyone got their day started. The early morning featured some breakfast time and playtime. Then, Max was getting squirrely and I was itching to get outside. Snow was flying and I felt like shoveling so Max and I headed out to the driveway to take care of business. Max started with hanging on to the light plastic black shovel, then moved up to the heavier yellow shovel. Finally, he got a piece of the scoop. Truth be told, Max ended up riding in the scoop a bit before I decided that we were getting a bit cold. Problem was that it was only 30 minutes until we had to leave for gym class so I didn't want to have to get Max out of his snowsuit. So off we went to the mall. Carlingwood rents out these little strollers so I picked one up to do a lap of the mall and then we went off to gymnastics.

Max had a good time at gym and blew me away by actually walking the length of a balance beam (with help and a few slips, but considering last week he wouldn't even stand on the beam, I was amazed). The other thing he had fun with was when I lifted him up by his legs with a bar behind his knees. I lifted him to a height where he could wheelbarrow-walk and he took off! Awesome. He interacted a bit with the other kids throughout the class and made it all the way through without getting trampo-trampled.

When we got back to the house, it was sleep time for Max while I puttered a bit. The nap was relatively short lived and was followed by lunch (featuring some yummy cheesy eggs). After lunch, we hopped back in Auntie M's borrowed truck (thank you, lifesaver!) to return some defective boots and look for some treats for Max. After that excursion, we got home, packed up some grub and headed out for a dinner date with auntie Kerry. Pizza, wings, baby food and the NFC championship game at Whispers made for a fine evening. What a great way to cap the day before heading off to sleep.

Sorry for not getting any pictures up today, I'll do my best to post some tomorrow.

Solo flight

This has been a busy month for all of us and I'm sorry to have not gotten anything new up until now. As I write this, I'm getting ready to embark on my longest solo parental stand as Holly is set to leave for Washington DC tomorrow morning to bask in the glow of Barack Obama's inauguration. I'm definitely more looking forward to the next few days than dreading them - before I know it, it will be Wednesday night and Holly will be back. In the meantime, Max and I will go to gymnastics, read some books, laugh a bunch and hopefully see some new teeth.

Those teeth, or lack thereof, have ben the biggest news of late. Max has been rocking the bruisy cheeks, the drool, the drool diarrhea, the crankiness, the interrupted sleep and the reduced appetite for about a week now. From past experience, these could all be symptoms of teeth moving around as well as teeth coming through. That means that by the time Max is doing better, we still might not have anything to show for it. In the meantime, we're getting in the habit of going to bed earlier to handle the nights and handling the crazy tantrums. These kinds of things seem to last a week with Max so it should be over soon. Maybe then, he'll have a seventh tooth.

I can't remember if I'd covered gymnastics in a previous post, but I feel I can elaborate on it a bit more after going last weekend. The class is taught at an actual gymnastics centre, where older kids train and the occasional competitive meet is held. Who knew that we had such a place in our neighbourhood? Max is enrolled in a mixed class, made up of a half-class of kids from 15-24 months and a half-class of kids from 24-36 months of age. So Max is pretty much the youngest child in the class and is a little less capable than the others of doing some of the activities. There are about four circuits set up for the kids to go through. Mats, bars to hang from, trampolines, rings to swing from, tunnels to crawl through, beams to walk on - all sorts of equipment that parents are supposed to assist their children in using. Some of the apparatus (apparati?) appeal to Max more than others, and some things he's just not capable of doing yet (e.g., shuffling sideways along a balance beam, hanging from a bar: both a lack of arm strength and bad head size - arm length ratio contributes here). All in all though, it seems like a good way to burn some energy and we've already signed him up for the next session. I wish I could post some pictures, but they don't allow cameras, except on the last week which is apparently pure mayhem.

Another note to pass along: Max has become obsessed with books. Of course, as it is with kids, he loves to look at a handful of them over and over again. A counting book, a book about food, two tactile books (one about a suede Rudolph, and another about fuzzy pigs) a Curious George book, a book about a day at the beach and, of course, Goodnight Moon. It's become a great part of Max's bedtime routine and a large part of Max's days too. It's a little crazy at this point to think that someday, Max will be able to read, but if we keep destroying board books at this pace, it won't be any surprise if he eventually memorizes these hits (like we have...)

Daycare is coming along swimmingly. Max has gotten into a good routine so there really aren't any crazy ups and downs happening during Max's weekdays. Although he and his caregiver are dying for warmer weather to come along so that they can spend more time outside. Just think - this spring, Max is going to get to splash in puddles! It's a little depressing to think about puddles and see this snow outside though...

What else does Max love these days? Hmm... Chasing Lily around (although she's remarkably tolerant). Having his teeth brushed. Playing with a shoehorn (yes, he's upgraded from doorstops). Phones...still. Watching The Wire. Playing in boxes. Walking around the house in his boots. Going downstairs AS SOON AS he gets home. Helping with snow shoveling. That is, standing in the driveway with a shovel propped up in his arms. Bolthouse Farms green smoothies. Distributing CDs from our shelves to Holly and I. Kissing his plush toys goodnight (and the pages of Good night Moon too!!). There are other things too, I just can think of any more right now.

Ok, so I'm kidding about The Wire...that's Mom and Dad who love that one:)

Tomorrow, to keep myself busy, I suppose, I'll post some holiday pictures of Max.

One hella cute kid

It looks like Max has inherited at least two of his dad’s real passions:


Thanks to this awesome consignment store in Winnipeg, BugNBoo Consignment Boutique, for the Canucks jersey find. If only we could get adult jerseys that nice for under $10!

The unlikeliest Christmas concert soloist

I’ve been meaning to write this post forever (especially for Auntie J on the West Coast) but the holidays got the better of me. Before the holiday season is completely over (it isn’t over in my house until all the Christmas treats are gone and we still have some of Eleanor’s homemade nuts and bolts AND a big piece of fruitcake in the fridge so I have some time), I wanted to write a brief post about our adventure in early December at the Christmas concert at Grampa Don’s retirement residence. My cousin Krysta and I attended as our mums were indisposed for the evening.

It didn’t start out particularly well. We arrived early (we know from past concerts that you have to get there early to get a good seat) but G-Don was already comfortably seated in an armchair and there weren’t any seats near him with a view of the action. We took a few seats across the room. Then, another larger family came in and we were asked to move. We were moved all right – nearer to G-Don but with absolutely no view of the stage. I actually took a picture of my view to share with you:


Krysta and I didn’t think much of the entertainer, Dominic D’Arcy, but the older folks loved him and the holiday spirit was everywhere. Apparently, he is quite well known around town as “The Singing Policeman”. Here is a link to his site: http://www.dominicdarcy.com/bio.html. My main beef was that there weren’t enough Christmas carols for a Christmas concert in my opinion but he engaged the crowd and showed a lot of affection and respect for the residents.

We enjoyed the show and some old school finger food (e.g. gherkins and cold cuts wrapped in white bread, rolled up, then sliced into rounds). Grampa seemed to really be enjoying himself with the music and the food. Near the end of the show, Dominic approached Grampa and asked him if he would like to join him on stage and play harmonica. Apparently, Dominic had heard Grampa playing earlier in the day. To our complete shock, Grampa grabbed his cane and his harmonica and ambled up to the makeshift stage. He proceeded to play a veritable medley of songs – everything from “Oh Susanna” and “You are my Sunshine” to this Christmas classic:



In the middle of one of his songs, another resident rose to his feet and yelled at the crowd to get clapping. It was a riot. Grampa was quite the hit and Krysta and I were both pretty puffed out with pride. It was definitely one of the coolest G-Don moments in a long, long time. Who knows what will happen at next year’s concert? Krysta and I just may have to make it a holiday tradition.