YAY
Max's Bs are coming along nicely. He is well on his way to saying BIRD, and BALL and BOAT are no problem. He is still working on BUS.
BOO
After three nights of "hey! it's dark outside and you're still tired...let's play!", Max took it to the next logical step last night: "hey! it's dark outside and you're still tired...I'm up, but I'd really like to sleep. On the count of 3, I'll start whining or crying and will continue to do so until you figure out how to soothe me. 1. 2. 3..."
This game is far less entertaining than the previous one. Possible causes: teething (his other two bottom front teeth are coming in) or this congestion issue he has. Advil is useless. Temp is in the 100-101 range constantly. I think it's time for a trip to the clinic tomorrow.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
The devil's hour
Winnipeg Grandma is always asking us what is new with Max and his development/behaviour and for once, we have a doozy to share.
Max has exhibited entirely new and rather crazy behaviour for the last two nights. He has a head cold so he hasn't been sleeping very well. Normally when he wakes up crying in the middle of the night, one of us takes him into bed with us to get some more sleep while the other parent slinks off to the spare bed to get some quality zzzs. This usually works well; he wriggles a bit but then settles down for the rest of the night. For the last two nights, he has done something totally different. We've taken him into bed and he has settled for a bit but then at 3 am both nights, he has sat up in bed wide awake, called our names and proceeded to hop off the bed to play. Last night, he actually grabbed my sweatshirt off the floor and handed it to me to put on before we went downstairs. We proceeded to have some juice, some snacks, play, and read books in the basement for the better part of two hours. After the two hours of playtime, he reached out to be picked up and put his head on my shoulder to tell me that he was ready to go back to bed. He did the exact same thing with John the night before.
We are totally stumped. He is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the two hours of playtime in the middle of the night. He isn't groggy at all. John and I are a different story but we are surviving.
We'll keep you posted on whether these devil's hour playdates continue.
In other news, Max is learning his own name. He is pointing to himself and saying something very close to Max when prompted. We play a game where we alternate between Mama, Dada, Dédé (Max's version of baby - he is having some issues with making a clear 'b' sound), and Max. It is so interesting to see him developing a real sense of his own identity.
Max has exhibited entirely new and rather crazy behaviour for the last two nights. He has a head cold so he hasn't been sleeping very well. Normally when he wakes up crying in the middle of the night, one of us takes him into bed with us to get some more sleep while the other parent slinks off to the spare bed to get some quality zzzs. This usually works well; he wriggles a bit but then settles down for the rest of the night. For the last two nights, he has done something totally different. We've taken him into bed and he has settled for a bit but then at 3 am both nights, he has sat up in bed wide awake, called our names and proceeded to hop off the bed to play. Last night, he actually grabbed my sweatshirt off the floor and handed it to me to put on before we went downstairs. We proceeded to have some juice, some snacks, play, and read books in the basement for the better part of two hours. After the two hours of playtime, he reached out to be picked up and put his head on my shoulder to tell me that he was ready to go back to bed. He did the exact same thing with John the night before.
We are totally stumped. He is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the two hours of playtime in the middle of the night. He isn't groggy at all. John and I are a different story but we are surviving.
We'll keep you posted on whether these devil's hour playdates continue.
In other news, Max is learning his own name. He is pointing to himself and saying something very close to Max when prompted. We play a game where we alternate between Mama, Dada, Dédé (Max's version of baby - he is having some issues with making a clear 'b' sound), and Max. It is so interesting to see him developing a real sense of his own identity.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Another weekend of adventure
Hello,
This has the feeling of becoming a weekly blog talking mostly about our weekend goings-on. Although on average, that would mean that we'd be updating the blog more frequently than in some of our worse months. If you want me to fill you in on Max's life during the week, here goes:
Wake up
Read books
Get dressed
Eat
Go to daycare
Romp, eat, sleep, have fun
Get picked up
Romp in park
Eat more
Read books and play with things that roll
Sleep with my frog buddy
Repeat
Yep, that's it. And yes, Max has fallen in love with the frog that once ribbited right into the ceiling. Thanks to Holly's friend Karen P for bringing Frog into our lives as a "Welcome Baby" gift! He grabs it to sleep on (like a pillow) when we put him to bed and he gives it hugs too. Super cute.
Anyway, on to the weekend. Friday, after picking Max up, I walked him over to Dovercourt Park for some good times on the slide. Then, figuring I was going to have to drag him out for a haircut anyway this weekend, I thought I would take him to get a trim and then bus back in time for sleep. We got to the mall OK, Max amazed yet another barber with his coolness in the chair, he slurped some Booster Juice (breezy banana, of course), and then we headed home. However, in classic John-planning fashion, I discovered about 15 minutes in that I was fresh out of bus tix. Boo. It was late and Max got a bit cranky, but after he demanded that his socks and shoes be removed and after we saw some planes (his new obsession) to distract ourselves, we got home on foot in one piece. And boy, does shorn Max ever look good!!
Saturday morning, Holly went to the Great Glebe Garage Sale while Max and I struck out on an adventure. On Holly's suggestion, I decided to take the little smurf to the Agricultural Museum. Max does like tractors and animals, so it seemed like a good call. And, aside from being relatively inaccessible for those of us without cars, it ended up being super fun. We got there at 9:30, just after it opened and we started at the tractor exhibit. John Deeres, Fordsons, Cockshutts, Versatiles and Caterpillars - the exhibit had a bunch of tractors through the ages. The highlight for Max, though, was an 8000 Ten series John Deere that had been rigged up like a simulator so that people could hop in the cab, press a button, and then get a bumpy ride, as if they were plowing their own field. I believe we plowed 8 fields in a row before another boy and his dad showed up. Then, we went to the milking operation in the cow barn. Max wasn't so sure about this place until I reminded him that he could talk to the cows. After WAY too many "Hi!"s and "Moo"s, Max felt right at home. And the barn smelled worse than his diaper.
After the cow barn, we moved on to the farm-themed play area. Max was lukewarm on the play structure until a forklift drove by. I have never seen Max go down a flight of stairs that quickly (upright, I suppose) - he HAD to see the forklift up close. I don't know where this heavy equipment jones came from - I don't remember having it as a boy...
After getting his fill of the forklift, we moved on to the other barn to check out some pigs, horses, a donkey, some sheep and a couple of rabbits. Max of course had to say "Hi!" to everything that moved. He also wanted to get close to the pigs but they were as big as me. I told him to try again when he could spell H1N1. Here are some pictures from Saturday morning:
After a rocking multi-hour nap that afternoon, we jetted off to Auntie M's place to hang out with Max's GG, Auntie K and Ottawa Grandma. The weather was awesome Saturday, so out came the G&Ts for the adults and lots of doof for the kidlet. Yes, if you hear Max asking for doof, he wants juice. We had a great time munching on food, playing with Duplo blocks and a plastic lawnmower and catching up. Max had a great visit and we snapped a few pictures and a video to share with you:
Which brings me to Sunday. Sunday morning, Max and I had a relatively uneventful gym class and then wooed the ladies at the Newport for lunch. There's something about men taking toddlers out on the town... One person commended me for "taking care of family" and "giving Mom a break". I don't think she was flirting. After lunch, we met up with Holly to go downtown and meet up with my cousins P & A and their two kids, who were all the way up from Boston so that A could run her first full marathon. We had some plans for the afternoon, but when we got to the hotel room, it was obvious that whatever A could manage, that's all we were going to do. She managed to finish the marathon (super-congrats!), but was far more puddle-like than she had expected. It was another beautiful day, though, so we wandered over to Parliament Hill and took in the sights. We were all going to go up to the top of the Peace Tower, but A needed to rest and Max needed to sleep so the three of us went back down while the others went up. We then all went for some ice cream before parting ways. It was a really nice visit - I can't believe we haven't gotten together since Vancouver, when Holly and I were living in sin and P & A's oldest, now 9 years old, was just a newborn. Wow time flies. Here are a couple more pictures...
This has the feeling of becoming a weekly blog talking mostly about our weekend goings-on. Although on average, that would mean that we'd be updating the blog more frequently than in some of our worse months. If you want me to fill you in on Max's life during the week, here goes:
Wake up
Read books
Get dressed
Eat
Go to daycare
Romp, eat, sleep, have fun
Get picked up
Romp in park
Eat more
Read books and play with things that roll
Sleep with my frog buddy
Repeat
Yep, that's it. And yes, Max has fallen in love with the frog that once ribbited right into the ceiling. Thanks to Holly's friend Karen P for bringing Frog into our lives as a "Welcome Baby" gift! He grabs it to sleep on (like a pillow) when we put him to bed and he gives it hugs too. Super cute.
Anyway, on to the weekend. Friday, after picking Max up, I walked him over to Dovercourt Park for some good times on the slide. Then, figuring I was going to have to drag him out for a haircut anyway this weekend, I thought I would take him to get a trim and then bus back in time for sleep. We got to the mall OK, Max amazed yet another barber with his coolness in the chair, he slurped some Booster Juice (breezy banana, of course), and then we headed home. However, in classic John-planning fashion, I discovered about 15 minutes in that I was fresh out of bus tix. Boo. It was late and Max got a bit cranky, but after he demanded that his socks and shoes be removed and after we saw some planes (his new obsession) to distract ourselves, we got home on foot in one piece. And boy, does shorn Max ever look good!!
Saturday morning, Holly went to the Great Glebe Garage Sale while Max and I struck out on an adventure. On Holly's suggestion, I decided to take the little smurf to the Agricultural Museum. Max does like tractors and animals, so it seemed like a good call. And, aside from being relatively inaccessible for those of us without cars, it ended up being super fun. We got there at 9:30, just after it opened and we started at the tractor exhibit. John Deeres, Fordsons, Cockshutts, Versatiles and Caterpillars - the exhibit had a bunch of tractors through the ages. The highlight for Max, though, was an 8000 Ten series John Deere that had been rigged up like a simulator so that people could hop in the cab, press a button, and then get a bumpy ride, as if they were plowing their own field. I believe we plowed 8 fields in a row before another boy and his dad showed up. Then, we went to the milking operation in the cow barn. Max wasn't so sure about this place until I reminded him that he could talk to the cows. After WAY too many "Hi!"s and "Moo"s, Max felt right at home. And the barn smelled worse than his diaper.
After the cow barn, we moved on to the farm-themed play area. Max was lukewarm on the play structure until a forklift drove by. I have never seen Max go down a flight of stairs that quickly (upright, I suppose) - he HAD to see the forklift up close. I don't know where this heavy equipment jones came from - I don't remember having it as a boy...
After getting his fill of the forklift, we moved on to the other barn to check out some pigs, horses, a donkey, some sheep and a couple of rabbits. Max of course had to say "Hi!" to everything that moved. He also wanted to get close to the pigs but they were as big as me. I told him to try again when he could spell H1N1. Here are some pictures from Saturday morning:
After a rocking multi-hour nap that afternoon, we jetted off to Auntie M's place to hang out with Max's GG, Auntie K and Ottawa Grandma. The weather was awesome Saturday, so out came the G&Ts for the adults and lots of doof for the kidlet. Yes, if you hear Max asking for doof, he wants juice. We had a great time munching on food, playing with Duplo blocks and a plastic lawnmower and catching up. Max had a great visit and we snapped a few pictures and a video to share with you:
Which brings me to Sunday. Sunday morning, Max and I had a relatively uneventful gym class and then wooed the ladies at the Newport for lunch. There's something about men taking toddlers out on the town... One person commended me for "taking care of family" and "giving Mom a break". I don't think she was flirting. After lunch, we met up with Holly to go downtown and meet up with my cousins P & A and their two kids, who were all the way up from Boston so that A could run her first full marathon. We had some plans for the afternoon, but when we got to the hotel room, it was obvious that whatever A could manage, that's all we were going to do. She managed to finish the marathon (super-congrats!), but was far more puddle-like than she had expected. It was another beautiful day, though, so we wandered over to Parliament Hill and took in the sights. We were all going to go up to the top of the Peace Tower, but A needed to rest and Max needed to sleep so the three of us went back down while the others went up. We then all went for some ice cream before parting ways. It was a really nice visit - I can't believe we haven't gotten together since Vancouver, when Holly and I were living in sin and P & A's oldest, now 9 years old, was just a newborn. Wow time flies. Here are a couple more pictures...
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Special days
We've celebrated a few special days around here in the last few weeks and I wanted to make sure that I got a post and some photos up.
The first special day was Mother's Day. I had a lovely lazy morning and early afternoon. Max brought me home a beautiful pink carnation from gymnastics. It was quite wonderful to open the front door to my little boy holding out a flower for me and saying "Mama!". My sister visited in the afternoon with some beautiful flowers and my mum stopped by as well on her way home from a long road trip. It was so nice to see my mum on Mum's Day. Max, Auntie Laramie and Grandma enjoyed a few readings of My First Truck Book.
After last year's awesome jaunt to Dow's Lake to see the tulips and take some family photos, we decided to make it a tradition and headed down to Dow's Lake again in the late afternoon. It was unseasonably cold (not Winnipeg cold but nippy enough for scarves and jackets) but we enjoyed ourselves. Max had a blast running around on his own and only destroyed a tulip or two. Thanks to my mum for lending us the car so we could make the quick trip rather than wrangling with the Sunday public transit schedule.
Max has grown up a lot in the last year. Some photo evidence:
Mother's Day 2008
Mother's Day 2009
Max tiptoeing through the tulips.
Max and Daddy
On the Mother's Day theme, we also wanted to share some news on the blog for the first time. You may have noticed some increased girth in the recent photos of me. I haven't been eating McDonald's three meals a day - we are expecting a sibling for Max in late July. Our apologies if this is the first time you are hearing our news; we had hoped to tell everyone in a more personal way. Changes to the blog's subtitle to follow!
The other special day we celebrated was our eighth wedding anniversary on May 12th. We celebrated at Bon Appetit the week before and then my mum babysat Max so we could sneak away to a movie on the 13th. The movie (State of Play) was great but it appears that our night away may be having some lasting effects on Max's relationship with his grandma. Hopefully, this too shall pass quickly.
My man is still sexy after eight years of marriage and thirteen years together but I came across this quote that really resonated for me:
"Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh everyday, ah, now that's a real treat." - Joanne Woodward, married to Paul Newman for over 50 years
Happy belated anniversary, my love.
The first special day was Mother's Day. I had a lovely lazy morning and early afternoon. Max brought me home a beautiful pink carnation from gymnastics. It was quite wonderful to open the front door to my little boy holding out a flower for me and saying "Mama!". My sister visited in the afternoon with some beautiful flowers and my mum stopped by as well on her way home from a long road trip. It was so nice to see my mum on Mum's Day. Max, Auntie Laramie and Grandma enjoyed a few readings of My First Truck Book.
After last year's awesome jaunt to Dow's Lake to see the tulips and take some family photos, we decided to make it a tradition and headed down to Dow's Lake again in the late afternoon. It was unseasonably cold (not Winnipeg cold but nippy enough for scarves and jackets) but we enjoyed ourselves. Max had a blast running around on his own and only destroyed a tulip or two. Thanks to my mum for lending us the car so we could make the quick trip rather than wrangling with the Sunday public transit schedule.
Max has grown up a lot in the last year. Some photo evidence:
On the Mother's Day theme, we also wanted to share some news on the blog for the first time. You may have noticed some increased girth in the recent photos of me. I haven't been eating McDonald's three meals a day - we are expecting a sibling for Max in late July. Our apologies if this is the first time you are hearing our news; we had hoped to tell everyone in a more personal way. Changes to the blog's subtitle to follow!
The other special day we celebrated was our eighth wedding anniversary on May 12th. We celebrated at Bon Appetit the week before and then my mum babysat Max so we could sneak away to a movie on the 13th. The movie (State of Play) was great but it appears that our night away may be having some lasting effects on Max's relationship with his grandma. Hopefully, this too shall pass quickly.
My man is still sexy after eight years of marriage and thirteen years together but I came across this quote that really resonated for me:
"Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh everyday, ah, now that's a real treat." - Joanne Woodward, married to Paul Newman for over 50 years
Happy belated anniversary, my love.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Long weekend
Wow, it's been so long since we've had one of these in Ottawa. Labour Day, I'm thinking? Max wasn't even walking or in daycare at that time. Crazy. Best of all, we had no real plans for this weekend so we were able to fill it in with some super fun times!
Stop one was our friend's birthday for some karaoke on Friday night. We booked our neighbour to babysit (three times now without having ever seen Max, easy money I guess, but a great insurance policy!) and had a good night out at a new place right under our favourite sushi restaurant. The play list was a little challenging and outside our comfort zones, but we still laid out some pretty fine Sinead O'Connor and Bee Gees.
Saturday morning, we packed the family up and headed out to Max's great-auntie's cottage. The weather was a little gloomy, but before the rain started to fall, Great Auntie K took Max out for a nice outdoor stroll. They collected all sorts of rocks and sticks in his new plastic wagon, went down to check out the lake (Max apparently wanted in), and then played in the sand with a dump truck and a pail and shovel. Thanks to great Auntie M for the oodles of toys straight from Guelph! The two of them had a great time while the rest of us had a Settlers marathon inside. In fact, they had such a great time that, for the rest of the weekend, Max wasn't really interested in spending any time with the rest of us. Well, Holly and I still got a bit of time in, but Max really wasn't interested in Grandma at all. He kept telling her to "GO!" and occasionally pushed her in the legs to make her move away. This is definitely one of Max's stranger (and more unfortunate) developments - it all started the night when Grandma came over while we went to the movies. Max apparently REALLY didn't appreciate that whole sequence of events and gave Grandma the GO for the first time that night. He used it on each of Holly and I a couple of times since then, though not nearly as badly as with Grandma this past Saturday (maybe residual from Wednesday night?). It's really hard to see Max develop these negative feelings towards somebody, particularly his own family. Hopefully, we can break him of that habit soon.
One other thing, Max had a bit of an accident at the cottage. He was sitting in one of those highchairs that you strap onto actual chairs, kind of like a big booster seat, and he was done with his meal. We took the tray off the chair and Max leaned forward quickly. Unfortunately, the chair to which we had strapped the booster high chair was not long enough, front to back, so Max's movement threw the center of gravity too far forward and he flew face first into the table. As it turns out, he didn't really sustain an injury at that point. But then the front legs of the chair slid back and Max slammed head first into the ground. It was one of those moments where you would think that you'd jump up and catch the falling child in time or react quickly, but we all just kind of sat there. Once we snapped out of the "did that just happen? is this happening?" funk, we peeled Max off the floor. It took him about 3 minutes to stop crying and want to go back to playing with his truck. It didn't look like anything was wrong, but the next day a really nice bruise showed up in his right ear. It obviously hurts, but other than that, Max is totally fine. In any case, here are some pictures from the cottage trip:
As Grandma quite hilariously put it, this is Max and his new BFF.
The 213th reading of My First Truck Book.
Max lovin' him some Mom on a golf cart.
He was a happy dude this weekend.
We got back from the cottage mid-afternoon on Sunday and Max took an hour or so to top up his car nap before we had company over for the evening. Friends of ours from back when we lived in Vancouver came by with their 10- and 40-month-old daughters. Despite having a grumpy wake-up from his nap (and throwing around the word MINE like candy these days), Max was relatively willing to share his toys and home with the visitors. Well, most of his toys. His favourite rolling truck and two favourite books (My First Truck Book and Bob the Builder: Let's Find Shapes) were off-limits. Except when he wasn't looking, heh-heh. I find that whenever I spend time around parents of older children, I end up playing "O guru..." with them and asking all sorts of questions about what the future might have in store for me. I see a three-year old and I can't believe how well she can communicate when Max is still a pile of duhs, dahs, and gos. Hopefully I wasn't too irritating. It is most awesome to talk shop with people who are so well-grounded and whose children are obviously doing just fine. I can't wait to have more visits with them in the future. Here are some pictures:
Max, sharing his Wonder Cubes.
Daddy, wondering what life would be like with a daughter.
Max, looking on as some other baby uses his high chair. Sacrilege!!
The whole bunch of us.
Finally, after a lazy early morning today, Holly suggested bouncing out to the By Ward Market to get some fresh air. So Max got to ride on a bus and flirt with another young girl on the way downtown. We treated him to some Booster Juice, although I broke tradition and got the Mango Hurricane instead of the Breezy Banana . . . Max gave up only about 25% of the way into the drink when he normally destroys the whole thing. After a quick Old Navy stop, we walked the streets of the Market, spotting buses, trolleys, horses and balloon animals. Then we headed to Chapters to play with their Thomas the Tank Engine play table and zip around on Plasma Cars. Our last stop was Major's Hill Park, where there was a fair set up with some rides, buskers and circus performers. Max watched the Scrambler go around for a bit while Mom had a Sno-cone and Dad (shamelessly) had a Pogo. Max fell asleep before we left the park, so we ushered him home on the bus and then popped him into bed for an extendo-nap. I snoozed too while Holly watched the season finale of some girly show. Here are today's pics:
Busing downtown.
Is this a dog? Why are its legs shackled together?.
I love having ALL the toys. Vroom!
I totally want to do that dad!
ZZZZZZZZZZ.
It's been a wonderful weekend and I think we all feel refreshed going into our last 10 days before owning a new house!!!
Stop one was our friend's birthday for some karaoke on Friday night. We booked our neighbour to babysit (three times now without having ever seen Max, easy money I guess, but a great insurance policy!) and had a good night out at a new place right under our favourite sushi restaurant. The play list was a little challenging and outside our comfort zones, but we still laid out some pretty fine Sinead O'Connor and Bee Gees.
Saturday morning, we packed the family up and headed out to Max's great-auntie's cottage. The weather was a little gloomy, but before the rain started to fall, Great Auntie K took Max out for a nice outdoor stroll. They collected all sorts of rocks and sticks in his new plastic wagon, went down to check out the lake (Max apparently wanted in), and then played in the sand with a dump truck and a pail and shovel. Thanks to great Auntie M for the oodles of toys straight from Guelph! The two of them had a great time while the rest of us had a Settlers marathon inside. In fact, they had such a great time that, for the rest of the weekend, Max wasn't really interested in spending any time with the rest of us. Well, Holly and I still got a bit of time in, but Max really wasn't interested in Grandma at all. He kept telling her to "GO!" and occasionally pushed her in the legs to make her move away. This is definitely one of Max's stranger (and more unfortunate) developments - it all started the night when Grandma came over while we went to the movies. Max apparently REALLY didn't appreciate that whole sequence of events and gave Grandma the GO for the first time that night. He used it on each of Holly and I a couple of times since then, though not nearly as badly as with Grandma this past Saturday (maybe residual from Wednesday night?). It's really hard to see Max develop these negative feelings towards somebody, particularly his own family. Hopefully, we can break him of that habit soon.
One other thing, Max had a bit of an accident at the cottage. He was sitting in one of those highchairs that you strap onto actual chairs, kind of like a big booster seat, and he was done with his meal. We took the tray off the chair and Max leaned forward quickly. Unfortunately, the chair to which we had strapped the booster high chair was not long enough, front to back, so Max's movement threw the center of gravity too far forward and he flew face first into the table. As it turns out, he didn't really sustain an injury at that point. But then the front legs of the chair slid back and Max slammed head first into the ground. It was one of those moments where you would think that you'd jump up and catch the falling child in time or react quickly, but we all just kind of sat there. Once we snapped out of the "did that just happen? is this happening?" funk, we peeled Max off the floor. It took him about 3 minutes to stop crying and want to go back to playing with his truck. It didn't look like anything was wrong, but the next day a really nice bruise showed up in his right ear. It obviously hurts, but other than that, Max is totally fine. In any case, here are some pictures from the cottage trip:
We got back from the cottage mid-afternoon on Sunday and Max took an hour or so to top up his car nap before we had company over for the evening. Friends of ours from back when we lived in Vancouver came by with their 10- and 40-month-old daughters. Despite having a grumpy wake-up from his nap (and throwing around the word MINE like candy these days), Max was relatively willing to share his toys and home with the visitors. Well, most of his toys. His favourite rolling truck and two favourite books (My First Truck Book and Bob the Builder: Let's Find Shapes) were off-limits. Except when he wasn't looking, heh-heh. I find that whenever I spend time around parents of older children, I end up playing "O guru..." with them and asking all sorts of questions about what the future might have in store for me. I see a three-year old and I can't believe how well she can communicate when Max is still a pile of duhs, dahs, and gos. Hopefully I wasn't too irritating. It is most awesome to talk shop with people who are so well-grounded and whose children are obviously doing just fine. I can't wait to have more visits with them in the future. Here are some pictures:
Finally, after a lazy early morning today, Holly suggested bouncing out to the By Ward Market to get some fresh air. So Max got to ride on a bus and flirt with another young girl on the way downtown. We treated him to some Booster Juice, although I broke tradition and got the Mango Hurricane instead of the Breezy Banana . . . Max gave up only about 25% of the way into the drink when he normally destroys the whole thing. After a quick Old Navy stop, we walked the streets of the Market, spotting buses, trolleys, horses and balloon animals. Then we headed to Chapters to play with their Thomas the Tank Engine play table and zip around on Plasma Cars. Our last stop was Major's Hill Park, where there was a fair set up with some rides, buskers and circus performers. Max watched the Scrambler go around for a bit while Mom had a Sno-cone and Dad (shamelessly) had a Pogo. Max fell asleep before we left the park, so we ushered him home on the bus and then popped him into bed for an extendo-nap. I snoozed too while Holly watched the season finale of some girly show. Here are today's pics:
It's been a wonderful weekend and I think we all feel refreshed going into our last 10 days before owning a new house!!!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Return of the Max
After almost two weeks of Upset Max, Irritable Max, Frustrated Max and Inthedumps Max trading places as our son, we're pleased to announce that our son is back. Max has been out of sorts ever since coming back from Easter and we weren't entirely sure what was going on. Until a child can speak, the parents can sure get up to a lot of guesswork. We figured that his attitude could be chalked up to anything from the change in scenery while the house was getting packed up, to going back to daycare after an extended leave, to a growth spurt, to communication frustration, to ???. We were pretty confused. In retrospect, one of the key things that was happening during the days when Max was unhappy was that he was generally sleeping pretty poorly, getting up twice a night. I'm not sure if the lack of sleep was the cause or the symptom, but he's put in three good nights in a row and is back to his old self. Want evidence? Here's a video of what he's doing right now:
It should be noted that Mommy had shared her Drumstick with Max about half an hour ago, so this could have something to do with that. Also, it's mega trippy to start the first one and then the second right after so that he's doing loops on both at the same time.
This past week, we celebrated our 8th anniversary (yes, it's coming up this next week, but the annual Bon Appetit Ottawa event was on last week and that's what we decided to do). Grandma H spent the evening with Max, first taking him for a swim and then hanging out with him at home. It was awesome to be able to get out for a special evening so a big thanks to Grandma!! Oh yeah, as for the swimming, it's as if Max was never in the pool last year. The only difference is that now, when I have him in the pool, instead of just crying he actually cries FOR HIS MAMA. It was one thing before to just laugh it off, surrounded by a bunch of parents of new swimmers, some of whom were in the same boat. Now, I just end up looking like I'm torturing the little dude - the other kids in the class are older and all well adjusted in the water. We've only gone twice though and I'm sure things will turn around like they did before; I just hope that it happens a little quicker than before.
Footnote: when Grandma got home from the pool, she washed the chlorine off Max in the tub...allegedly, upon exiting the bath, he ran to the top of the stairs and shook the gate, crying for his Mama and Dada. Awesome, but not for Grandma H I suppose.
Speaking of asking for his parents, when I hang out with Max at home or in parks, he often lets out a "Mama" or two. So the other day, I asked Holly if, when she's alone with Max, he ever asks for me. She said yes, but I still never really got the sense that he ever had a super strong urge just to hang with me. This morning, I got him out of his crib and we were reading on the floor of the guest bedroom. Holly came in to check in on us and Max actually went over to her and gave her a hard shove out of the room. !. We were flabbergasted. Max came and sat back down and that was the end of Mom time for a while.
The only other thing I wanted to mention is that Max is getting a lot more vocal these days. He has picked up a couple of new
words, one of which should prove to be very interesting over the next while. The innocuous word he has picked up is bulldozer. Sure, it comes out as whoa-wuh-wuh, but he only uses it when he's actually looking at bulldozers. The other word is the dreaded "mine". I think that, aside from "no", this was the early word that I was least looking forward to. The other kids at daycare "mine" a lot, so it was only a matter of time. One of the most curious applications of "mine" is when he's reading some of his construction equipment picture books, he likes pointing to one of his riding toys and saying "mine", as if to remind us that he has a construction-like toy too. Time to get some kids over here and give him a crash course in sharing.
Here are a couple of recent pictures of Max:
Max packing up the old house with his family.
Max, mid-wave, hanging out with some dogs in the Home Depot parking lot.
It should be noted that Mommy had shared her Drumstick with Max about half an hour ago, so this could have something to do with that. Also, it's mega trippy to start the first one and then the second right after so that he's doing loops on both at the same time.
This past week, we celebrated our 8th anniversary (yes, it's coming up this next week, but the annual Bon Appetit Ottawa event was on last week and that's what we decided to do). Grandma H spent the evening with Max, first taking him for a swim and then hanging out with him at home. It was awesome to be able to get out for a special evening so a big thanks to Grandma!! Oh yeah, as for the swimming, it's as if Max was never in the pool last year. The only difference is that now, when I have him in the pool, instead of just crying he actually cries FOR HIS MAMA. It was one thing before to just laugh it off, surrounded by a bunch of parents of new swimmers, some of whom were in the same boat. Now, I just end up looking like I'm torturing the little dude - the other kids in the class are older and all well adjusted in the water. We've only gone twice though and I'm sure things will turn around like they did before; I just hope that it happens a little quicker than before.
Footnote: when Grandma got home from the pool, she washed the chlorine off Max in the tub...allegedly, upon exiting the bath, he ran to the top of the stairs and shook the gate, crying for his Mama and Dada. Awesome, but not for Grandma H I suppose.
Speaking of asking for his parents, when I hang out with Max at home or in parks, he often lets out a "Mama" or two. So the other day, I asked Holly if, when she's alone with Max, he ever asks for me. She said yes, but I still never really got the sense that he ever had a super strong urge just to hang with me. This morning, I got him out of his crib and we were reading on the floor of the guest bedroom. Holly came in to check in on us and Max actually went over to her and gave her a hard shove out of the room. !. We were flabbergasted. Max came and sat back down and that was the end of Mom time for a while.
The only other thing I wanted to mention is that Max is getting a lot more vocal these days. He has picked up a couple of new
words, one of which should prove to be very interesting over the next while. The innocuous word he has picked up is bulldozer. Sure, it comes out as whoa-wuh-wuh, but he only uses it when he's actually looking at bulldozers. The other word is the dreaded "mine". I think that, aside from "no", this was the early word that I was least looking forward to. The other kids at daycare "mine" a lot, so it was only a matter of time. One of the most curious applications of "mine" is when he's reading some of his construction equipment picture books, he likes pointing to one of his riding toys and saying "mine", as if to remind us that he has a construction-like toy too. Time to get some kids over here and give him a crash course in sharing.
Here are a couple of recent pictures of Max:
Monday, May 4, 2009
Max vs. Cucumber
Max's caregiver had been telling us for a while that Max liked cucumber. We had tried to feed him cucumber a few times and he wasn't that interested.
A few weeks ago, we were at the grocery store and we added a cucumber to the cart. Max was getting a bit restless so we handed him the cucumber to keep him occupied. By the time we got to the cash, he had chewed his way through the plastic and was happily munching away on bits of cucumber. We unwrapped the cuke and gave it back to him thinking that he would chew on it for a few seconds then move on to something else. We were SO wrong! After the quick grocery trip, we headed over to Subway to grab a bite. Max continued to gnaw on the cuke so we took more of the plastic off. Then we walked home and Max was still eating the cucumber. We took these photos in our driveway. It's hard to tell without a "before" shot but Max ate at least 10 cm of this cucumber. We literally had to pry the cucumber away from him so we could put him to bed.
I like how his mouth is stained green from eating so much cucumber.
He hasn't quite matched this cucumber feat in the last few weeks but he does enjoy a few slices with some hummous as one course of a meal. He certainly is an enigma to us but we are enjoying all of these little adventures along the way.
p.s. It's not just cucumbers. Max now enjoys biting into other large green things, especially apples.
A few weeks ago, we were at the grocery store and we added a cucumber to the cart. Max was getting a bit restless so we handed him the cucumber to keep him occupied. By the time we got to the cash, he had chewed his way through the plastic and was happily munching away on bits of cucumber. We unwrapped the cuke and gave it back to him thinking that he would chew on it for a few seconds then move on to something else. We were SO wrong! After the quick grocery trip, we headed over to Subway to grab a bite. Max continued to gnaw on the cuke so we took more of the plastic off. Then we walked home and Max was still eating the cucumber. We took these photos in our driveway. It's hard to tell without a "before" shot but Max ate at least 10 cm of this cucumber. We literally had to pry the cucumber away from him so we could put him to bed.
I like how his mouth is stained green from eating so much cucumber.
He hasn't quite matched this cucumber feat in the last few weeks but he does enjoy a few slices with some hummous as one course of a meal. He certainly is an enigma to us but we are enjoying all of these little adventures along the way.
p.s. It's not just cucumbers. Max now enjoys biting into other large green things, especially apples.
A cool weekend and a great Monday
Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words:
I took this photo on Monday night after we finished signing all of the papers to sell our current place. The cool guy on the right is our realtor, Al. We are SO excited. Everything went really fast once we did all of the legwork to get the place ready to put on the market. We put it on the market on Friday, accepted an offer the following Tuesday, and signed all of the final papers this past Monday after a home inspection earlier that day. It is such a relief to have this one sold. I finally feel like we can start making plans for our new place without jinxing anything. Thanks again to everyone for their time, labour, love and support. We are so lucky!
I also wanted to write a quick post about our super cool weekend. Our friend JB was up for one of her frequent weekend jaunts from Toronto. On Friday night, we stepped out to one of the diviest spots in our old neighbourhood for some karaoke. It was a BLAST. There are SO many stories (some definitely not bloggable) but I'll go with a few highlights:
- awesome, awesome crowd in da house! So many friends that the regulars were looking mighty put out that they didn't have the place to themselves all night.
- Kerry rapping "It Takes Two" and starting a spontaneous dance party, which brought a bunch of people who we didn't know from the back to the front of the bar. Including some guy who hugged Kerry - pure awesomeness.
- me duetting "You're So Vain" with my colleague S who just happened to stop by with her husband to see what all the fuss was about
- John bringing down the house with a little Kriss Kross
- some random stranger shouting "We need a midget!" as our friend Jared's friend D from Montreal did an awesome rendition of "We Can Dance". Apparently, a midget figures prominently in the video.
- Laramie's friend J doing some sweet crooning.
- seeing two friends who are normally in bed by 9 am still out at midnight and having a good time.
Here are some photos of our karaoke adventure:
Kerry rocks the mic.
Spontaneous dance party. John approves.
Laramie and John cutting a rug.
It was such a fun night! We definitely paid for it in the morning but it was worth it. Max was good enough not to wake up while the babysitter was there but got up at 2 am and then up for good at 5 am. I took the first shift as John had closed the karaoke place the night before and gone for pizza. I was definitely a zombie mummy.
On Saturday morning, my friend M and I hit this giant kids' stuff garage sale at a local arena. It was a total mob scene, including people RUNNING from the parking lot to get in the door. It was actually more civilized inside and both M and I picked up a few things. My major score was a small board book made up entirely of pictures of trucks. This is Max's new favourite book. I think we've read it multiple times a day since I brought it home on Saturday. A pretty good score for $1.25! Max had an early nap after his early start so we had a nice afternoon of window shopping on Bank Street while John got his hair cut, although JB and I were in the dog house because we didn't save him any cookies. We went to the Green Door for a late lunch and then spent the evening at home hanging out and playing Scrabble.
On Sunday, we hit a little neighbourhood restaurant called the Local Bar for brunch. The food was fabulous and the place was deserted so Max could run around and amuse himself. The place is actually closing in mid-May which is a shame because I definitely could see us going back there. Here is JB and John at brunch:
I spent the rest of Sunday hosting a baby shower with Kerry for our friend Jessa. Jessa is due mid-June so we threw her a little afternoon shindig at Kerry's place. Yummy food, good friends and lots of laughs made for a lovely afternoon. I think I gained a few pounds eating Donna's brown butter sandwich cookies alone. Here's a photo of the shower gang:
I don't want to neglect Mr. Max as he is the actual star of this blog. All in all, Max had a bit of a rough weekend. He was really irritable, clingy and shy. He normally loves JB but he was acting up with her the whole weekend. We're not really sure what is going on with him these days. There is a LOT of change going on with all of the house stuff and my ever-expanding belly so we think this might have something to do with it. He is also developing his own likes and dislikes and I think he lacks the necessary communications skills to tell us what he wants sometimes. Although we are managing with a combination of words, signs and us pointing at things and asking questions. He has also become extremely clingy to us, even around people that he knows well like my mum. I think "No!" was his favourite word the last few times he and my mum were together. Oh well. I'm hoping that it is a phase and he'll work it out.
He definitely enjoyed this treat (whipped cream). What kid doesn't love to lick the beaters?
I took this photo on Monday night after we finished signing all of the papers to sell our current place. The cool guy on the right is our realtor, Al. We are SO excited. Everything went really fast once we did all of the legwork to get the place ready to put on the market. We put it on the market on Friday, accepted an offer the following Tuesday, and signed all of the final papers this past Monday after a home inspection earlier that day. It is such a relief to have this one sold. I finally feel like we can start making plans for our new place without jinxing anything. Thanks again to everyone for their time, labour, love and support. We are so lucky!
I also wanted to write a quick post about our super cool weekend. Our friend JB was up for one of her frequent weekend jaunts from Toronto. On Friday night, we stepped out to one of the diviest spots in our old neighbourhood for some karaoke. It was a BLAST. There are SO many stories (some definitely not bloggable) but I'll go with a few highlights:
- awesome, awesome crowd in da house! So many friends that the regulars were looking mighty put out that they didn't have the place to themselves all night.
- Kerry rapping "It Takes Two" and starting a spontaneous dance party, which brought a bunch of people who we didn't know from the back to the front of the bar. Including some guy who hugged Kerry - pure awesomeness.
- me duetting "You're So Vain" with my colleague S who just happened to stop by with her husband to see what all the fuss was about
- John bringing down the house with a little Kriss Kross
- some random stranger shouting "We need a midget!" as our friend Jared's friend D from Montreal did an awesome rendition of "We Can Dance". Apparently, a midget figures prominently in the video.
- Laramie's friend J doing some sweet crooning.
- seeing two friends who are normally in bed by 9 am still out at midnight and having a good time.
Here are some photos of our karaoke adventure:
Kerry rocks the mic.
Spontaneous dance party. John approves.
Laramie and John cutting a rug.
It was such a fun night! We definitely paid for it in the morning but it was worth it. Max was good enough not to wake up while the babysitter was there but got up at 2 am and then up for good at 5 am. I took the first shift as John had closed the karaoke place the night before and gone for pizza. I was definitely a zombie mummy.
On Saturday morning, my friend M and I hit this giant kids' stuff garage sale at a local arena. It was a total mob scene, including people RUNNING from the parking lot to get in the door. It was actually more civilized inside and both M and I picked up a few things. My major score was a small board book made up entirely of pictures of trucks. This is Max's new favourite book. I think we've read it multiple times a day since I brought it home on Saturday. A pretty good score for $1.25! Max had an early nap after his early start so we had a nice afternoon of window shopping on Bank Street while John got his hair cut, although JB and I were in the dog house because we didn't save him any cookies. We went to the Green Door for a late lunch and then spent the evening at home hanging out and playing Scrabble.
On Sunday, we hit a little neighbourhood restaurant called the Local Bar for brunch. The food was fabulous and the place was deserted so Max could run around and amuse himself. The place is actually closing in mid-May which is a shame because I definitely could see us going back there. Here is JB and John at brunch:
I spent the rest of Sunday hosting a baby shower with Kerry for our friend Jessa. Jessa is due mid-June so we threw her a little afternoon shindig at Kerry's place. Yummy food, good friends and lots of laughs made for a lovely afternoon. I think I gained a few pounds eating Donna's brown butter sandwich cookies alone. Here's a photo of the shower gang:
I don't want to neglect Mr. Max as he is the actual star of this blog. All in all, Max had a bit of a rough weekend. He was really irritable, clingy and shy. He normally loves JB but he was acting up with her the whole weekend. We're not really sure what is going on with him these days. There is a LOT of change going on with all of the house stuff and my ever-expanding belly so we think this might have something to do with it. He is also developing his own likes and dislikes and I think he lacks the necessary communications skills to tell us what he wants sometimes. Although we are managing with a combination of words, signs and us pointing at things and asking questions. He has also become extremely clingy to us, even around people that he knows well like my mum. I think "No!" was his favourite word the last few times he and my mum were together. Oh well. I'm hoping that it is a phase and he'll work it out.
He definitely enjoyed this treat (whipped cream). What kid doesn't love to lick the beaters?
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