"Arrrrrrrrrr"-gh

We tried to see a movie last night.

Actually, we tried to see it on Friday too, but it didn't work out. On Friday, our anniversary, we were going to go our for dinner and a movie. Tammy and Chris came over to babysit for us around 7:30, and by ten past eight, we had the boy down in his crib and on the way to slumberland. We walked to Granville Street and hopped a bus downtown to find somewhere to eat. The plan was to find something near the new theatre near Robson and Burrard. There are lots of restaurants downtown, and Robson is one of the areas of concentration. However, every place we went had substantial line ups. Estimates of how long we had to wait varied, but were typically in the neighbourhood of 30 minutes. Now, I realize that this is partly our fault -- reservations would have been a good idea -- but with The Boy, we planned to expect the unexpected. At any rate, we didn't have reservations, and I absolutely (perhaps pig-headedly) refuse to wait for any substantial amount of time outside a restaurant, basically *begging* to give them money. It doesn't seem right.

So, we wandered up and down Robson. By quarter past nine, we decided it was unlikely that we were going to eat dinner and see the movie (which started around 10:30). However, we knew that it (Pirates of the Carribean II) and Cars were playing at the Aldergrove drive-in this weekend, so we decided that we'd go to the drive in on Saturday and just have dinner on Friday. Having given up on the movie, then, we headed down to Gastown where we had an OK, if expensive, dinner at Steamworks.

So, last night, we tried to see the movie, again.

The idea was sound. Pack up The Boy and all his accoutrements, clear out the trunk to make it babyproof, grab some fast-food dinner, and hit the drive-in. The Boy could crawl around the trunk (before you get too upset, recall that we have an SUV, so the "trunk" is open to the passenger cabin) to play, and sit in his car seat to see Cars if he wished. We brought along the play-pen pad to put down in the trunk, and put a sheet over it so that when he got tired, he could sleep back there. That, at least, was the idea.

The movie started at 9:30-ish. Aidan's typical bed time is 8-ish, so we knew we were messing with the schedule, but for the prize of being able to see a movie (or two!), we were willing to do it. We arrived as planned, with all our gear and food, around 8:45 and pulled into a spot at the already reasonably full drive-in.

We released Aidan from his car seat, put the "40" in the 60/40 seatback down, and let him go. Actually, Gwen crawled back there to keep an eye on him, and to feed him a bit more supper since he had eaten quite sparsely before we left. Aidan thought this was great fun -- he got to explore around the trunk, stand up and bang on the windows, and watch all the other cars and the ton of kids that were around. It was all quite new and very exciting.

Right. So, it got dark, and the movie started. We put Aidan into his car seat, and he sat, transfixed, while we watched the traditional short film that preludes all Pixar's movies. This one was "One Man Band", and I'd give it about 3 stars. The short ended and the feature started, and Aidan was still watching.

Sooner or later, he lost interest in Cars, and wanted out of his car seat. I'll spare you the rest of the details, but what followed was an exercise in frustration. I mean, Aidan has historically been difficult to get to sleep. But, we figured that it was going to be late enough that he would collapse and we could leave him sleeping blissfully in the trunk while we settled into our Hollywood-induced escapism. We figured wrong.

For the duration of Cars, he alternately cried, screamed, played with his car seat, drank from a bottle, breastfed, cried and screamed somemore, and generally fought going to sleep with every gram of his little body. Gwen spent most of the movie in the back trying to convince him that sleep was a good thing.

The movie ended around quarter to midnight, and he was still going. Not one minute of sleep; he didn't give any ground. We made the decision then to cede the loss, and packed up and left. I made the prediction that he'd be asleep by the time we hit the highway (about a 5 minute drive) and sure enough, he was. Strapped into a moving car is sleep inducing. Being loose (or strapped) in a parked car is not.

So, we didn't see the movie again. We've used up our baby-sitting card for a few weeks, and the drive-in option doesn't seem like much of an option. I guess we're not meant to see this movie at this point in time.

The only saving grace is that he didn't wake up during the thunderstorm last night, and it's ten to ten right now and he's still not awake. If he had woken at his usual time this morning -- I might have been cranky.

Our boy cleans up well

Today, Aidan had his first real haircut.

We weren't thinking the clearest, so we don't have a good "before" picture, but as a reminder, here's what he looked like a week ago:



We brought him to the same barber I've been going to since I've lived in Vancouver. I needed a hair cut, and Aidan needed a hair cut, so it seemed like a good idea.

We brought Aidan into the barber's, which looked busy, but it turns out there were a number of people waiting for others getting their hair cut, and those in the chairs were soon finished too. So, in short order, we had Aidan sitting on a booster seat in the chair. Not how I thought it was going to go down ... I though I would have to hold him in my lap, and I wasn't too sure as to how that was going to work for cutting the back of his head.

Aidan, of course, likes his new vantage point, since there are tons of mirrors, and there's almost nothing Aidan likes doing more than looking in mirrors. I'm not saying he's vain, I'm sure he just appreciates the physics of light.

Anyway, Aidan's happiness starts to wane when the biggest bib he's ever seen is placed over him. Then, with the boy clutching Daddy's hand, and with Mommy trying to capture his attention, the barber goes to work.

We've had several discussions about how to get his hair cut, and so when asked by the barber, we meekly say, "Well, you know, it has to be out of his eyes, and those wings over the ears have to go, and it *is* too long in the back ...". He looks appraisingly at us, and sets out, doing some cutting and trimming with his scissors.

After a short while (Aidan hasn't minded this, so far, despite his proximity to a man he doesn't know ... usually a recipe for the biggest case of shyness you've ever seen) the barber stops, looks at us, and asks if it's short enough. We look at each other and murmur that well, perhaps it should be shorter.

At which point, the barber pulls out his electric clippers and really sets to work. He wets Aidan's hair down by spraying his own hand with a water bottle and then rubbing it through Aidan's hair. The scissors are going, the clippers are going, and slowly, Aidan is becoming less thrilled with the whole procedure. It's not panic stations yet, but there are some tentative cries of discomfort. It helps to have Mommy taking most of the boy's attention, and the boy even lets her manipulate his head so that the barber can get at his neck. It took longer than I expected, but in the end, it went much better than I expected. Both Mommy and Boy made it through without too many tears.

And, well. I dare say he cleans up pretty good.

100th post come and gone

I knew that we were getting close, but then I look and it is already gone. So without further ado.

WOOO-HOOO, 100!!! Yeah!!

The physics of cats

More cat humour from creation robot:

Laws applying to Cats

1 - Law of Cat Inertia
A cat at rest will tend to remain at rest, unless acted upon by some outside force - such as the opening of cat food, or a nearby mouse.

2 - Law of Cat Motion
A cat will move in a straight line, unless there is a really, really, really good reason to change direction.

3 - Law of Cat Magnetism
All blue blazers and black sweaters attract cat hair in direct proportion to the darkness of the fabric.

4 - Law of Cat Thermodynamics
Heat flows from a warmer to a cooler body, except in the case of a cat. All heat flows to a cat.

5 - Law of Cat Stretching
A cat will stretch to a distance proportional to the length of the nap just taken. This could be up to half a mile.

6 - Law of Cat Sleeping
All cats must sleep with people whenever possible, in a position as uncomfortable for the people involved as possible.

7 - Law of Cat Jumping
A cat can make her body springy enough to reach just about any counter top that has anything remotely interesting on it.

8 - Law of Cat Acceleration
A cat will accelerate at a constant rate, until he gets good and ready to stop dead instantly.

9 - Law of Dinner Table Attendance
Cats must attend all meals when anything good is served.

10 - Law of Rug Configuration
No rug may remain in its naturally flat state, for very long.

11 - Law of Obedience Resistance
A cat’s resistance varies in proportion to a human’s desire for her to do something.

12 - First Law of Energy Conservation
Cats know that energy can neither be created nor destroyed and will, therefore, use as little energy as possible.

13 - Second Law of Energy Conservation
Cats also know that energy can only be stored by a lot of napping.

14 - Law of Refrigerator Observation
If a cat watches a refrigerator long enough, someone will come along and take out something good to eat.

15 - Law of Electric Blanket Attraction
Turn on an electric blanket and a cat will jump into bed at the speed of light, or even faster at the speed of cat.

16 - Law of Random Comfort Seeking
A cat will always seek, find and take over the most comfortable spot in any given room.

17 - Law of Bag / Box Occupancy
All bags and boxes in a given room must contain a cat within the earliest possible nanosecond or catosecond.

18 - Law of Cat Embarrassment
A cat’s irritation rises in direct proportion to her embarrassment times the amount of human laughter. A cat does not forgive you laughing at it.

19 - Law of Milk Consumption
A cat will drink his weight in milk, squared, just to show you he can.

20 - Law of Furniture Replacement
A cat’s desire to scratch furniture is directly proportional to the cost of the furniture.

21 - Law of Cat Landing
A cat will always land in the softest place possible. Human stomaches are ideal for this.

22 - Law of Fluid Displacement
A cat immersed in milk will displace her own volume, minus the amount of milk consumed.

23 - Law of Cat Disinterest
A cats interest level will vary in inverse proportion to the amount of effort a human expends in trying to interest him.

24 - Law of Pill Rejection
Any pill given to a cat has the potential energy to reach escape velocity.

25 - Law of Cat Composition
A cat is composed of Matter + Anti-Matter + It Doesn’t Matter.

26 - Law of Selective Listening
Although a cat can hear a can of tuna being opened a mile away, she can’t hear a simple command three feet away.

27 - Law of Equidistant Separation
All cats in a given room will locate at points equidistant from each other, and equidistant from the center of the room.

28 - Law of Cat Invisibility
Cats think that if they can’t see you, then you can’t see them.

29 - Law of Space-Time Continuum
Given enough time, a cat will land in just about any space.

30 - Law of Concentration of Mass
A cat’s mass increases in direct proportion to the comfort of the lap she occupies or the need to lift them up.

31 - Law of Cat Probability, a Cat’s Uncertainty Principle
It is not possible to predict where a cat actually is, only the probability of where she “might” be.

32 - Law of Cat Obedience
As yet undiscovered

There was something to remember today...

Hmmmm, there was something I was supposed to remember today.

Oh yes, right.

Happy Anniversary, dear!

6 years, woo-hoo. Seems like longer. More like 15, huh? :)

Love ya!

A>

PC terms for Cat Lovers

Found this on Creation Robot (via bloglines):

Politically Correct Terms For Cat Owners

My cat does not barf hairballs he is a floor/rug redecorator
My cat does not break things she helps gravity do its job
My cat does not fear dogs they are merely sprint practice tools
My cat does not gobble she eats with alacrity
My cat does not scratch he is a furniture/rug/skin ventilator
My cat does not yowl he is singing off-key
My cat is not a “shedding machine” she is a hair relocation stylist
My cat is not a “treat-seeking missile” she enjoys the proximity of food
My cat is not a bed hog he is a mattress appreciator
My cat is not a chatterbox she is advising me on what to do next
My cat is not a dope addict she is catnip appreciative
My cat is not a lap fungus he is bed selective
My cat is not a pest she is attention deprived
My cat is not a ruthless hunter she is a wildlife control expert
My cat is not evil she is badness enhanced
My cat is not fat he is mass enhanced
My cat is not hydrophobic she has an inability to appreciate moisture
My cat is not lazy he is motivationally challenged
My cat is not underfoot she is leading me to my next destination (the food dish!)

A>

Brand New Cousin

Aidan welcomes his new cousin Petranella Marie. She was born yesterday at 1 am eastern time. She weighed 8lbs 10 oz and is 21 inches long. We can't wait to get more details and pictures.

Congratulations Andreanna and Sean!

Baby Crack

No, not that kind of crack. The kind that keeps them glued to one spot. The kind that lets you strap a mask on the poor child and get through a half hour of medication into a struggling infant. The kind that lets you take the child you are taking care of downstairs for a nap and knowing that you son will not have moved at all. You know that he is safe and not showing you how small he can make himself by going under the baby gate and into the always fun bathroom. (Or going down the stairs by himself in a tumbling scare your mother to death kind of way.)



Yes boys and girls I am talking about the Veggie Tales Sing Along Videos. They are better than any other tv show. Aidan has always liked them. In fact when he was very small I used to feel guilty about letting him watch tv at all. But I soon got over it when I realized that I could actually get something to eat or, god forbid, go to the bathroom.



Now that I am taking care of my friend's son, it is the most valuable piece of toddler equipment that I own. I am so glad that I discovered the effects of Veggie Tales.

What about you? What are your best forms of baby distraction?

Hey, that's not potatoes!

(A true-life Calvin & Hobbes moment...)

Hey, what's that sound in the kitchen? It sounds like potatoes ...























Mommy! Daddy! I've rescued the garbage bags!



See?!?



Daddy, what are you doing?!?



Well, OK, but I think they look better on the floor! That does it, I'm outta here!



I simply cannot be seen with you!

That's Two Small Steps for Kid, One Giant Leap for Kidkind...

OK. We have our first observed sighting of Aidan taking independent, free-standing steps. Two of them, left-foot, right-foot. I bet he didn't notice.

I sure did. Sadly Momma didn't but I'm sure this is the beginning of the end.

Not much to say. It happened yesterday, after I got home from work. He wanted to get from the couch to the entertainment system, and instead of plopping down and crawling the short distance, he let go of the couch, *walked* the two steps, and then held on to the glass door of the entertainment system. I doubt he thought about it.

Clearly this is an indication, though, that he *can* walk, when he choses to do so.

It hasn't happened again, but we're keeping the video camera charged just in case.

A>

Pool for Babies

As some of you may know there is not a lot of yard space in Vancouver. In fact most people do not have any yard and just have a balcony. This means that there are not a lot of pools in which to dunk your toddler in the blazing heat. Well, I guess that I spent the best five dollars of my life. (Except maybe the cat basket I bought for a buck, but that is another story.) I bought a blow up wading pool.

Now usually a blow up anything will take forever to inflate and leave you breathless. This one took only five minutes and that was while taking care of a 16 month old and a 12 month old. The boys have enjoyed the wading pool in my living room for a few days (dry of course) and I wasn't sure if it was going to be very good with water. Until today.


I put the wading pool on our tiny balcony, put less than an inch of water in it and Aidan crawled into it right away. I think that he has spent an hour and a half out of the last two in it. It is small enough that he can crawl over the sides and with the small amount of water he was very happy to splash and play without any worry. He was also cool.


Now, how do I get the water out?

Two Boys, A Cold and a Nap

This week I started to sit for Gen as she went back to work. Tristan has been very good and there haven't been too many tears. Both he and Aidan have been napping but just not at the same time. They have been playing together quite well with not too many fights. I even think that Tristan will stop stalking the cats soon. The only thing that I have been worried about for a long time is the naps.

Naps are my down time. The time I get to do the really decadent things in my life. You know those things that make you life much more comfortable. Yes, I am talking about getting something to eat, a decent cup of tea, and the most decadent of all . . . I get to go to the bathroom . . . BY MYSELF!!!!!! So you must be guessing that the last two days might have been a little, . . . well (sigh) tiring. Yes I must admit that I was incredibly tired last night. So tired that I told Anthony the choice for dinner was either he or I go and get Wendy's. (He didn't complain.)

Of course all this was made much more difficult because Aidan had to go and get himself a head cold. This meant that Monday night he was up every hour wanting to be breastfed to clear his nose. Last night we gave in and I also bought a warm humidifier and Dimetap infant drops for stuffy nose. And guess what, Aidan slept till 4:00 am. (Good thing Anthony and I went to bed at 9:00 pm.) It took us a while to get him back to sleep and I was all to happy to dose him again.

This morning when Tristan came he had decided to also get the cold and kept his parents up all last night as well. At least it made both the boys tired. I took them out to play in the playground and brought them back for lunch. Gen came and put Tristan down for his nap and when she left I fed Aidan to sleep.

So, now they are both in the same room and asleep at the same time. And what do I do? Do I get the time to do the decadent thing as mentioned above. No I blog. :) Excuse me while I go to the bathroom. Alone. (Woo Hoo!!!!!!)

Last bunnies post (for now)

Here's what Gwen was referring to (from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Once More With Feeling"):

The setup: The town of Sunnydale has been stricken with song. Everyone breaks into show tunes, for the simplest of things. The Scooby Gang is sitting around the Magic Box trying to come up with reasons why this is happening (in song, of course). Anya, with a well documented dislike of bunnies comes up with the following....

The Joys of Parenting

One of the things that books don't tell you about is just how much you will enjoy certain moments. The first time they sit on their own. The first time they stand. The first word.

The abject terror they feel when confronted with electronic bunnies.

So, there we were last Wednesday night at a friend of Lynn's. Lynn was back in town from Depot (ever so briefly) before shipping out to the Creston detatchment to report for duty. Lynn, of course, is Aidan's Godmother and had bought him what she thought was a cute little bunny rabbit. Aidan has lots of bunnies (of the stuffed variety), which is a reflection of his mother's predilection for them. None of the existing bunnies, however, move independently.

This particular bunny (which, like all of his stuffed toys, remains unnamed) moves. Its ears quiver, its nose wiggles, its nose squeaks, and it takes a few hops forward every once and a while.

So, Lynn, Aidan and Gwen were in the living room of Lynn's friend (Dina). Hardwood floors and lots of space. Anyway, Lynn put the bunny down on the floor some distance from Aidan, who was on his stomach, crawling towards it.

Then she turned it on.

It did its little dance, hopping, and quivering, and squeaking.

Aidan looked at it and slowly backed up. I've never seen him do this, crawl backwards as if that was the natural direction to be crawling. The bunny went through its cycle again, and this time Aidan .... um .... hauled ass. He scooted backward absolutely shrieking in terror, shaking with fear.

The poor guy. This is clearly a pivotal and traumatizing moment in life.

And we laughed. Well, not for too long, because someone had to comfort the boy (and Lynn, who couldn't believe that such an innocent looking gift had gone so wrong). But, it was funny. America's Home Video sort of funny.

Subsequent exposure to the bunny has not improved the situation any. He definitely doesn't like it in all its glory, turned on and quivering and squeaking, etc., but he even doesn't like it when it's just sitting there looking cute.

He was crawling on the floor, came around the corner of the coffee table, saw the bunny there and broke down into almost hysterical tears.

It still seems funny ... but we need to get him over this.

And I can't believe that we need to get him over a fear of ... bunnies...

*These* are the moments we remember. :>)

A>

'ware the BUNNIES

In Aidan's world, there is nothing more terrifying than this:



Seriously.

Milk, mmm . . . Do you want some?

Aidan: "Yumm I Love Milk!"
Dianthe: "I am very uncomfortable with this situation."



Dianthe: "Well, at least he isn't moving."




Dianthe: "OK, I guess I can relax."



Aidan: "Oh, Dianthe is right beside me."




Aidan: "Do you want some milk?"



Aidan: "How about a pat?"



Aidan: "I guess not."



Aidan: "How about you Daddy?"

Melt my Heart

I was just putting Aidan to bed and I swear when I said "I love you," he said it back "I wuv wue." He then smiled and went to play in his crib. (He isn't ready to sleep yet but happy to be in his crib.)

I just thought I would share.

Weekend Update

So guess I will start with Thursday. Andromeda was home and she didn't seem any the worse for wear. She was quite hungry and seemed to think that being away gave her the right to do whatever she wanted because she "came home." So, I chased her off the table several times and gave in and gave her some more sandwich meat. Aidan and Dianthe were happy to see her and I think that she was glad to see them. In fact Andromeda let Dianthe cuddle with her on the couch.



Aidan and I went at a much faster pace to take down all the posters we had put up around the neighbourhood . It was interesting to get so many people asking us if we had found our cat and asking how she was. Vancouver is pretty friendly I guess, but not many people spontaneously talk to you on the street. I almost felt like I was back in NS.

On Friday Aidan and I went to pay my loans but I realized that with the week before having the stroller go the way of garbage I didn't have the slip with me. I am getting the new stroller back to being my purse but it will take a bit to make sure I have all that I had in the evenflo. It was still hot so we weren't too unhappy to get back home. Tammy came over a little later and we put the microchip in the cats. Andromeda now has two as Tammy was not used to this brand and didn't think the first one went in. Andromeda was really good and she didn't even hiss. She did however give me the dirtiest look I have seen in a long time. She seemed to say "if I knew you would do this to me I wouldn't have come home." Dianthe was a different story. She moved and tried to bite me. Unfortunately she also took the needle out with out putting the chip in and dulled the needle. The next try we wrapped her up and it must have hurt a bit. We felt bad but it was necessary. Now both the cats are microchipped and we don't have as much worry if they get out.

Saturday, Canada Day, we took it easy and had a relaxing morning and Aidan had a good nap before we went down to Granville Island for some Canada Day Celebrations. You can tell from the pictures that Aidan had a good time. It was also Jazz Festival time so we got to hear some Jazz and let Aidan dance in the sun.



On Sunday we also took the morning easy and made plans to go to Boundary Bay in Tsawassen to play o the beach and have a BBQ. (Oh and Anthony washed and cleaned the car because it really needed it. Oh and we needed to get some stuff from the grocery store and I bought a pair of sandals. Hmm, maybe not so easy.) We got going after Aidan's nap which ended a little early. So at three o'clock we left and made it almost to King Edward when Anthony y realized that if we were going to have a BBQ at the beach that we should probably bring the BBQ. So we turned around and didn't realize that this was only the beginning of our woes with the BBQ. After stowing the BBQ and two half used propane canisters in the trunk we were off again and this time we didn't turn around.

It was about 4 o'clock when we reached the beach and started to get all the junk we need and headed to from the parking lot to the beach itself. Now this being the Sunday of a long hot weekend the beach was very crowded but we managed to finds a spot and set Aidan down in the sand. Poor little guy, we didn't realize how hot the sand was, but he was quickly moved and the only screams came when I was trying to change him in to the swim diaper and his sun suit. (He wanted to be in the sand with the stick he had already managed to get.)

Then we moved down to the water. The tide was out and the lovely (albeit somewhat full of plant life) tide pools were very warm and shallow. Aidan had the time of his life. It combined tow of his favourite things, sand , mud and warm water. It was like a bath in dirt. How cool is that?? We must have been in the water for more than an hour, and it was hard to get the boy to come out. He wanted to stay in the water as long as he could.

When we did finally get back to the tent (thanks mom!) Aidan quite happily played in the sand. Anthony started the BBQ and that is when I remembered what I forgot. Hmm, do you think it is a good idea to flip burgers with a fork? Unfortunately that wasn't the only problem. The propane canister that we were using wasn't flowing properly so the burger were only slowly melting. Of course that was when Aidan chose to melt-down and had a transformation into Tantrum Boy. Anthony went back to the car to get the other propane canister and that one did work well only to have two of the burgers make a dive fore the sand. Lets just say that after a few bites of the very crunchy burgers Anthony and I packed everything up and we headed home. A bath and a change into PJ's later Aidan was having a bottle and being put to bed where he then went straight to sleep. (Well he should have anyway as it was 9 o'clock.)

By Monday all Anthony or I wanted to do was take it really easy and just clean up a bit. So that is all we did.

What will this week bring? Not too much I hope, but maybe some swimming and trips to the water park. Well we will see.

Gwen, over and out.

Aidan at the Beach

More video of Aidan ... this time, at the beach!
(Warning, 6 minutes)

Canada Day

Just some quick pictures from Canada Day, this past Saturday. There's a few more on the Photo Barn.