It was an all day Halloween fest today. Faith wore her costume to school, and Blake got in the spirit by wearing his to drop her off. His costume is a little tiger, complete with a roar sound effect, that is a hand-me-down from Karen. Very cute. Faith was a "very scary" witch with a black and grey wig and huge hat that kept blowing off in the wind today. The best part, though, was the bright red lipstick that she got to wear with the witch costume.
Tonight we went out trick or treating in the neighbourhood. Blake lasted for about half an hour, and then Faith took off with our neighbours and tackled the rest of the street. A big difference from the 10 houses she did last year! She was very impressed with her haul when she came back home.
The sugar high continues....
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Wrestling and cute bums
Every time I change Blake now, it turns into a wrestling match. But, today it turned into a game of tag.
As mentioned previously, he does not like to lay back and enjoy having his bum changed. This eats into the precious time he spends crawling around the house looking for new pieces of debris to eat or cupboard doorknobs to lick. George pins him to the ground when he changes the diaper, which strangely Blake doesn't seem to mind from him. It must be a guy thing. But for me, I haven't quite gotten to that point and Blake knows it. Once I have him laying on his back with the diaper off, he does a nice little flip and crawls away. So, I can get the diaper off and, one, two three, a naked bum is streaking away across the living room.
Today, Blake figured out that this is a fun trick to play on mommy. So, he crawled as fast as he could (which is actually darn fast) around the end of the couch laughing as I scrambled rather inelegantly across the floor to grab him, thinking the whole time, "Please don't pee on the new carpet." When I finally caught him, he squealed with delight and all I could think was, "Oh crap!" The game is afoot, as they say, and this time it's in the form of a semi-nude baby crawling madly around my house in an effort to escape a new diaper. I can only hope he'll tire of this soon, but this hope seems faint at best.
At least he hasn't figured out how to take the diapers off themselves yet. That will had a whole new level of difficulty.
As mentioned previously, he does not like to lay back and enjoy having his bum changed. This eats into the precious time he spends crawling around the house looking for new pieces of debris to eat or cupboard doorknobs to lick. George pins him to the ground when he changes the diaper, which strangely Blake doesn't seem to mind from him. It must be a guy thing. But for me, I haven't quite gotten to that point and Blake knows it. Once I have him laying on his back with the diaper off, he does a nice little flip and crawls away. So, I can get the diaper off and, one, two three, a naked bum is streaking away across the living room.
Today, Blake figured out that this is a fun trick to play on mommy. So, he crawled as fast as he could (which is actually darn fast) around the end of the couch laughing as I scrambled rather inelegantly across the floor to grab him, thinking the whole time, "Please don't pee on the new carpet." When I finally caught him, he squealed with delight and all I could think was, "Oh crap!" The game is afoot, as they say, and this time it's in the form of a semi-nude baby crawling madly around my house in an effort to escape a new diaper. I can only hope he'll tire of this soon, but this hope seems faint at best.
At least he hasn't figured out how to take the diapers off themselves yet. That will had a whole new level of difficulty.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
How we spent the weekend
We watched Cordelia and William this weekend so I can only say this photo sums up the weekend...fun but chaotic. :)
The big adventure for the weekend was a trip to a pumpkin patch with the four kids...yes, just me and four kids. I am slightly crazy. The kids were great though. And we even survived our adventure in the corn maze. No one got lost and that was my goal. I didn't want to call Karen and Rob to tell them that William was in a corn field somewhere in the township. How do you explain that to your friends?
The big adventure for the weekend was a trip to a pumpkin patch with the four kids...yes, just me and four kids. I am slightly crazy. The kids were great though. And we even survived our adventure in the corn maze. No one got lost and that was my goal. I didn't want to call Karen and Rob to tell them that William was in a corn field somewhere in the township. How do you explain that to your friends?
Blake's ninth month
To Blake:
Time seems to be speeding up now. Or maybe it's just you.
On September 20th you started crawling and you've just gotten faster and faster. If it's possible to say that you run while you crawl, then you do it. We have learned now that anything on the floor is fair game for you to gum, so I feel as though I'm constantly on a recon mission for little pieces of paper, old bits of vegetable and various odds and ends from craft projects that end up on the hardwoods in any given day. I've given up on getting all the cheerios. We just let you eat those off the floor. (Is this second child syndrome or just picking your battles?) I think we hit a new low when Daddy gave up one day and just put your highchair tray on the floor so you could finish dinner there.
The theme of the month has been movement. You are sitting up from crawling, climbing the furniture, and us, and bonking your head on a daily basis. This bothers your Dad particularly as he says your head sounds like a melon hitting the floor. (Ouch.) Sometimes you could care less and others you scream like crazy. Then, you get crawling so fast that you flip yourself over onto your back. I'm not sure how you accomplish this but it's hard not to laugh even when you're crying.
And, finally, you have teeth. The first tooth was almost a surprise. Just looked and there it was. The second tooth came a week later, the day after Thanksgiving, and was much more traumatic. Fever of 103 F and much crankiness....although strangely much better naps and sleep.
We're also not sure about the talking thing yet. It seems like you're saying words, but is this merely a parent's fantasy of a genius child or true language? Only you know, and you're not telling.
You're "activity" baby now too. We have a baby time thing on Monday and Tuesday, which means singing various songs that you mostly enjoy. Although you like crawling around and checking out the other kids and the toys better than hearing me sing The Wheels on the Bus. On Fridays we go to swimming lessons, which you really enjoy. The first lesson you even blew bubbles in the water. Mostly you like floating around and splashing. For me, swimming lessons is an acrobatic feat trying to get you ready, then me ready while not setting you on the yucky change room floor at any point. (Uncle Duncan took the picture when he came to lessons with us after Thanksgiving.)
And, you got to experience your very first Thanksgiving at our house. The biggest benefit for you, besides lots of extra attention, was leftovers. Turkey, sweet potatoes, potatoes...you ate it all! Eating food on your own now is a favourite activity. For awhile you even refused to let me feed you unless you had food you could feed yourself too, so now you get lots of little pieces on your tray to eat or drop in your lap. Whatever works.
And here is a picture of Thanksgiving Day...you're the one trying to escape in the first row.
Right now, you are a one man adventure.
Love,
Mom
p.s. Vitat stats: 18 lbs (8 kgs) and 27 inches longs.
Time seems to be speeding up now. Or maybe it's just you.
On September 20th you started crawling and you've just gotten faster and faster. If it's possible to say that you run while you crawl, then you do it. We have learned now that anything on the floor is fair game for you to gum, so I feel as though I'm constantly on a recon mission for little pieces of paper, old bits of vegetable and various odds and ends from craft projects that end up on the hardwoods in any given day. I've given up on getting all the cheerios. We just let you eat those off the floor. (Is this second child syndrome or just picking your battles?) I think we hit a new low when Daddy gave up one day and just put your highchair tray on the floor so you could finish dinner there.
The theme of the month has been movement. You are sitting up from crawling, climbing the furniture, and us, and bonking your head on a daily basis. This bothers your Dad particularly as he says your head sounds like a melon hitting the floor. (Ouch.) Sometimes you could care less and others you scream like crazy. Then, you get crawling so fast that you flip yourself over onto your back. I'm not sure how you accomplish this but it's hard not to laugh even when you're crying.
And, finally, you have teeth. The first tooth was almost a surprise. Just looked and there it was. The second tooth came a week later, the day after Thanksgiving, and was much more traumatic. Fever of 103 F and much crankiness....although strangely much better naps and sleep.
We're also not sure about the talking thing yet. It seems like you're saying words, but is this merely a parent's fantasy of a genius child or true language? Only you know, and you're not telling.
You're "activity" baby now too. We have a baby time thing on Monday and Tuesday, which means singing various songs that you mostly enjoy. Although you like crawling around and checking out the other kids and the toys better than hearing me sing The Wheels on the Bus. On Fridays we go to swimming lessons, which you really enjoy. The first lesson you even blew bubbles in the water. Mostly you like floating around and splashing. For me, swimming lessons is an acrobatic feat trying to get you ready, then me ready while not setting you on the yucky change room floor at any point. (Uncle Duncan took the picture when he came to lessons with us after Thanksgiving.)
And, you got to experience your very first Thanksgiving at our house. The biggest benefit for you, besides lots of extra attention, was leftovers. Turkey, sweet potatoes, potatoes...you ate it all! Eating food on your own now is a favourite activity. For awhile you even refused to let me feed you unless you had food you could feed yourself too, so now you get lots of little pieces on your tray to eat or drop in your lap. Whatever works.
And here is a picture of Thanksgiving Day...you're the one trying to escape in the first row.
Right now, you are a one man adventure.
Love,
Mom
p.s. Vitat stats: 18 lbs (8 kgs) and 27 inches longs.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Faith practices her reading and other things
Faith has really been working on her reading the last couple of weeks. Today she reminded me to get out all of her fall books for Thanksgiving and Halloween. After school, she practiced reading her Thanksgiving book next to the patio window. Note the concentration in her look.
Before the reading, we went to Tim's for a smile cookie. All the proceeds go to a local charity this week, so it seemed like a good idea. But, we both decided that the cookies were just a little too sweet. We needed a big glass of milk to go with them, but as we had to stop at the bank before we headed home, we had to make do with stale water in the car. (Yes, I always keep a half empty water bottle in the car for that possible emergency...stuck in a ditch for a week with only a Baby Mum Mum and a cup of water kind of thing.)
The bank trip was a story in itself. I wanted to be able to see Faith's bank account through my internet banking. So, I stopped by the branch this morning to get her added to my site. Imagine my surprise when they told me that because the account was in her name only, they would need her permission to add me to the account so I could see it. I proceeded to inform them that she was 6 years old and that this was ridiculous. The response, "because of the privacy act we can't" was like one of those bureaucractic responses I'd expect from the government...oh...and a bank.
So, after our Tim's trip, I stopped at the bank with Faith. I explained to her before we arrived that she needed to be there so I could see her account information. Her facial expression was something like, "huh?"
When we got there, I was waiting for them to ask her something about letting me see the account. But, apparently her mere presence with me was permission enough.
When I explained why we were there to the bank rep, Faith's response was, "Why can't the adults just do this?"
So right.
Before the reading, we went to Tim's for a smile cookie. All the proceeds go to a local charity this week, so it seemed like a good idea. But, we both decided that the cookies were just a little too sweet. We needed a big glass of milk to go with them, but as we had to stop at the bank before we headed home, we had to make do with stale water in the car. (Yes, I always keep a half empty water bottle in the car for that possible emergency...stuck in a ditch for a week with only a Baby Mum Mum and a cup of water kind of thing.)
The bank trip was a story in itself. I wanted to be able to see Faith's bank account through my internet banking. So, I stopped by the branch this morning to get her added to my site. Imagine my surprise when they told me that because the account was in her name only, they would need her permission to add me to the account so I could see it. I proceeded to inform them that she was 6 years old and that this was ridiculous. The response, "because of the privacy act we can't" was like one of those bureaucractic responses I'd expect from the government...oh...and a bank.
So, after our Tim's trip, I stopped at the bank with Faith. I explained to her before we arrived that she needed to be there so I could see her account information. Her facial expression was something like, "huh?"
When we got there, I was waiting for them to ask her something about letting me see the account. But, apparently her mere presence with me was permission enough.
When I explained why we were there to the bank rep, Faith's response was, "Why can't the adults just do this?"
So right.
Blake trying to crawl around the couch
Blake is now doing the circuit of the main floor...at least the great room. He crawls around the living room, the kitchen, and then over to the table to eat leftover cheerios from the floor.
I took a photo of him here trying to crawl around the couch next the fireplace. He thought it was great fun seeing me on the floor as he came around the corner.
I took a photo of him here trying to crawl around the couch next the fireplace. He thought it was great fun seeing me on the floor as he came around the corner.
Really good light and really cute baby
This is now my new favourite photo of Blake. (Click on it to see a larger version.)
I was sitting against the patio door when Blake tried to crawl up my body while I was taking his picture. This was the result. You can even see my reflected in his eyes.
I was sitting against the patio door when Blake tried to crawl up my body while I was taking his picture. This was the result. You can even see my reflected in his eyes.
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