Sleepy boys

I was inspired by my friend Jessa's post of her husband Rob and baby Grace sleeping on their couch to snap this first picture of John and Leo:


Ten minutes later, I walked back into the living room and saw this and couldn't resist taking another picture:


I'm not entirely sure how they managed to settle back down into the same position again on the other side but they had quite the nap together so they must be doing something right!

Everyone is doing well. We have tons of adventures to get everyone caught up on; we just need to find some quality time to spend with the computer! Don't give up on us.

Control of bodily functions...or lack thereof

Yes, this blog is going to focus on some unmentionables. However, you'll all be glad to know that I won't be attaching a photo of a nasty diaper. Please refer to a post from way back if you want that kind of visual.

So let's start with our older boy. Over the past month or so, he's been interested in the toilet and letting us know what we're about to find in his diaper when we're in the process of changing him. All of this talk got us to thinking that maybe we should invest in a potty for him. Sure, it seemed a bit early, considering he's not even 2 yet, but the last straw was when Holly bought Max a book two weeks ago featuring a section on how to use a potty. Max became quickly infatuated with the book and so this past Monday, Holly invested in a potty.

The next night, Max made his first deposit. And then the next night and the night after. He's certainly not interested in using it all the time, but he seems to think it's pretty novel. And frankly, any excuse to get me to read him some books is fine by him. We're definitely not forcing it on to him and letting him sort out how he wants to approach this, and hopefully it will become a bit of a habit over the coming months. I have to say that the idea of not mowing through bags and bags of diapers any more for Max is very tantalizing, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.


On the other end of the spectrum is our cat Lily, who seems to be losing control as Max is gaining it. She has this interesting habit of peeing on any piece of fabric lying on the ground in the basement. Not the main floor. (editor's note: Lily has now progressed to mats on the main floor too. Grr.) Not fabrics up on boxes or the couch. For pretty much the whole month of July, she turned our spare bedroom in the basement (the only carpeted room in the house) into her personal toilet, so we had to get the carpet cleaned (by Ottawa grandma, no less). We started keeping the doors to that room closed all the time, but then she started nuking other things, like a set of table linens, a baby carrier, some of our jackets and her own catnip mat. Needless to say, things are getting a little funky at times in the basement. We have an outstanding trip to the vet scheduled to see if anything peculiar is going on, but in the meantime, boy are we learning to not leave stuff lying around in the basement.(editor's note: the vet has prescribed some anxiety meds so we'll see how that takes...) We also understand that Lily's probably a little irritated with the degree to which she's been neglected over the past few months (with showing the house, moving, having the new baby...oh, and Max, there has been regrettably little energy left over for the cat), so we do feel for her.

Finally, Leo has gotten a hold of not letting 'er rip so much when we're changing his diaper, so we're very thankful for that. Today, he's a whopping 8 weeks old (already? Crazy) and time seems to be flying pretty quickly. He's starting to sleep better at night, averaging blocks of 3-5 hours to start the night and then a shorter one more toward sunrise. Last night wasn't so hot for Holly as Max got up screaming right in the middle of Leo's long first sleep and needed a little pat on the back. I was in the basement with Leo so couldn't pinch hit. We're hopping in the van for our first big road trip, a day-drive to Kingston and back to visit with some old friends, so hopefully the kids step their game up tonight.


On a total tangent, I'm horrified that Tide is using Digable Planets' "Rebirth of Slick" in their new ad. It was one of my favourite songs back in the day. Travesty.

Waaaaah

Sorry about the absence of posts lately. As I've said before, if the blog's not getting updated, we're up to our ears. Just wanted to give you a brief update on things that have been going on here over the last while.

Last Tuesday (the 11th), Max and Leo's grandma (my mom) came to visit from Winnipeg and we all had a wonderful time together. She brought treats from her recent trip to NYC, lots of energy for hanging out with Max and a magical touch with Leo. We pulled Max from daycare for three days and I took two of those days off work to visit. We visited three different wading pools over the course of the week, where Max would cavort, Holly would tan and grandma would soothe Leo. We were all so happy to be having our first summer weather (Winnipeg got hit pretty hard with the rain in July too, although Ottawa doubled their precipitation. Take that Winnipeggers! 240 mm in one month!). We ate well read a book or fifty, had family and friends over a few times and even had a road trip out to the Carp Farmer's Market (and ice cream at Carleton Place, of course) on the Saturday. All in all, we had a great time and I know Max is looking forward to the next visit. Leo will have to grow up a bit to know what he's missing. Here are some pictures:






Max is coming along fine. He's starting to get what I think is a minor version of night terrors. He wakes up crying a couple of times a night, but actually manages to soothe himself back to sleep relatively quickly. It's hard to hear him sound that upset! To mix things up a bit, he also talks in his sleep a couple of times a night, saying "No", "Mine" and "Go". Possessive, even in his dreams. We're trying to get him away from telling people to "go" when he's upset, but it seems like it's his go-to outlet at the moment. New words lately that make me smile: "No, thank you", "alligator", "zebra", "yogurt" (yo-lo), "scooter" and his rendition of the Bob the Builder theme song "Baaaaduh. Dee tho deeess!" The best is when I repeat to him the way he sings it and he says "No. Bob" as in "Dad, are you listening to what I'm saying? You're doing it all wrong!". Tonight, he also let us know that he might be all done with his high chair. Wow. A real big boy bed and potty training are on the horizon, so I guess it makes sense. I also realized at the mall today (with Max) that sometime over the last 2-3 months, he has pretty much started to walk everywhere and the only reason to put him in a stroller is to go long distances or to get somewhere in a hurry. Anyway, we love Max and are constantly fascinated by him.

Leo is also developing. 7 weeks already! Over the past week/10 days, he has started doing two things that have pretty much opposite impacts on us. #1: Leo's been spending a lot more time awake and, better yet, more of that awake time has been spent quietly with eyes wide open and no crying. While that's been pretty cool, finally starting to feel like we can connect with our boy, #2: Leo has started having serious screaming jags during which he is virtually inconsolable. We were lucky enough to not have to go through much of this with Max, but man, can Leo give 'er when he wants. We think that it's mostly gas-related, but when Leo gets really wound up, he's not usually that good at getting it through his system. Hence, the chicken/egg dance begins where we kind of have to get him to settle down to get the gas out, but because he's gassy, he's hard to settle down. These outbursts don't tend to last longer than 3-4 hours when they happen, but that's long enough. People who have to go through full-blown all-day colic have my deepest sympathy. I guess the only other development with Leo is that he's generally learned to stop peeing on me and to save it all for his mom. So that's pretty cool.

Here are some more pictures of the rugrats:

The Toronto-Peterborough loop

This is one post that's long overdue.

At the end of June, less than a week before Leo's birth, the three of us (weird how we're never really going to be three again...) went down to Toronto for a weekend to visit with our friend JB and go to the wedding of another couple of friends from Holly's grad school stint. The Saturday morning after we got in, we decided to do a little tour of the St. Lawrence Market. Max was fascinated by all of the food and absolutely had to sample some of the wares. So we got a couple of fresh fruit smoothies and took this picture of him essentially double fisting the juices. Awesome.


While coming down from the fruit sugar high, we spotted a busker who was performing some magic tricks and blowing up balloons. For now, Max can't really appreciate magic, but balloons...oh boy. When we saw that the guy could make motorcycles, Max just had to have one. One go-go-day, coming up!


Then, as it turns out, it was the second weekend of Toronto Pride and so, never having been, we decided to go check it out. Max got in on the action too and showed his pride!


First stop was the row of promotional booths. Max got to sit on a police motorcycle:


and Daddy got to don some Forces garb:


Then, the onslaught of topless dudes in their gitch (underwear, for non-prairie folk). One was kind enough to let Max hold his hammer.




Even Mommy got in with the beefcake. Said she to the Trojan rep: "It's too late for me at this point to use your stuff, but can I get a picture?"


We had a picnic with all of our market purchases and then took Max to see the Dyke March. I think this was Max's first bona fide parade and he obviously loved it. All of the vehicles, people, noise, colours and smiles certainly kept him entertained. One float in the parade (I think there were only two) looked like some post-apocalyptic garbage truck and had loud music and people dancing on all levels, some with animal masks on (it was a float in support of an animal shelter or some such thing). Max stared at it as it went by, looked to the next thing in line, then decided that the garbage disco was more interesting so went back to it, looked at the next thing in line, ... repeat ... until the float was way off in the distance. I would have paid $100 to know how his head was processing that one float. Somehow we don't have pictures of the parade (Holly chalks that up to there being too many topless women to take any appropriate photos), but we'll never forget Max's beaming face :)

That night, JB babysat Max (and was a total pro, from the sound of it) while us elder folk headed off to the wedding. The event was off at the Steam Whistle microbrewery by Skydom..err...Roger's Centre and was fantastic. We caught up with some old friends, ran into people we didn't know were friends of the bride and groom, ate well (including a gourmet poutine and grilled cheese station that started running at midnight - brilliant idea), danced a bunch (remember, Holly was T-6 days at this point) and Daddy hit the taps. It had been a while since we'd been to a wedding and it was great to have been invited to this one - what a treat!


Here's a look at the inside of the brewery.


After a few hours on the dance floor. . .

Sunday morning, after a rousing game of Scrabble (Max lost) and an amazing homemade brunch, we set out from the big smoke and came home by way of Peterborough in order to visit with family there. We had a wonderful time and even got to taste-test a wedding cake. I joked with Holly that the last thing we ever get to accomplish before her pregnancies end are visits in Peterborough. Sure enough, it was Ptbo, day at work, day off, Canada Day scare and the rest is history. So now we'll always know how to induce labour in the future:):) Here are some Toronto and Peterborough pics from Sunday:




Max enjoying his brunch.


Max samples a delicious wedding cake courtesy of Linda's daughter Lisa, a star pastry chef and restaurateur.


Sharing a wonderful meal with Great Grampa Frank and Linda.

Max vs. udon noodles

So the day before my birthday, the four of us went out for a big sushi dinner at our favourite all-you-can-eat place. Leo played the role of "quiet baby asleep in the corner", Holly and I played the roles of "hungry parents" and Max played the role of "udon slurper".

For those of you who have never been to an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant before, here's how it works: you typically get a pen and a piece of paper and you scribble down all of the stuff you want in your order. You hand this slip to the waiter and then the kitchen brings it out (gradually) to your table. Sometimes stuff goes missing, sometimes you get someone else's stuff - depends on the quality of the restaurant. Also, some things notoriously take longer than others to prepare.

Here is a series of videos illustrating Max's introduction to restaurant service, at a time when all he wanted was MORE UDON NOW!

Episode 1: Max gets the slip

Episode 2: Max spots the waiter

Episode 3: Max makes contact; Dad states the obvious

Episode 4: The sweet taste of victory

Episode 5: Why do they bother with cones anyway?


In the end, he ordered 3 bowls of udon noodles with dumplings and ate all but two noodles. OK, he tried to have a dumpling but spat it out...I guess it wasn't his thing. Ultimately, the only thing able to sidetrack Max from devouring all the noodles was the arrival of some ice cream at the table. We've got to start making this stuff at home.

Mr. wading pool

Quiz question: from what you know of Max, is this a picture of him going to or leaving from an ice-cold wading pool?


Answer: Leaving! You might have been tipped off by the fact that his hair is a bit wet :) Friday, the 17th, it was a nice hot day out and Max was home while his daycare provider had strep throat so we decided to give the wading pool a shot. When we got there, Holly sat on the edge of the pool and put her feet in - ice cold! She then took Max and dipped his feet in and he screa...no, he didn't! He giggled! He WANTED to be in the pool! Seriously, this is what he looked like:


There were a few other kids and a bunch of pool toys to play with so Max was in heaven. We ended up staying over an hour, until Max started shivering. And even then, he didn't want to go. The tough thing about leaving is that most (all?) wading pools in the city are by parks with play structures so after we manage to calm him down, all he wants to do is hit the park. Which is fine, as long as we build in a time cushion accordingly. We have three wading pools within 15 minutes (walking) of our place so as long as we don't add to the 196 mm of rain we've had in the month of July, we'll probably make a habit of hitting the pools after picking Max up from daycare too. Here are a couple more pictures from a few wading pool adventures over the last few weeks: