Updates for the grandparents, family, and friends. Or, an attempt to make 6000 km seem like only 500 km.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Cheers to the New Bi-Ped
Aidan has taken more than two steps on his own. FINALLY!!
I can now say to anyone who asks "Is he walking on his own yet?" "Yes, as a matter of fact he is." I don't have to tell anyone that it was only at the beach and he wouldn't repeat it at home. It is ok. He can do it. Well I have known for months that he could do it. He just wouldn't walk on his own.
His first step he fell but then he got back up and started motoring to the hibachi on the ground just getting ready to be lit. Ah, you say it was the danger factor that we hadn't counted on. Aidan will walk towards the things he really wants, and the things he wants are dangerous. Hmm I might have to sneak a couple of sharp knives to my Mom at the airport to entice Aidan to walk to her. That wouldn't get me into trouble, eh?
I will try to get some of this fabulous walking on the web as soon as Aidan will walk in front of the video camera. The cool thing though is that Aidan walked in front of both Anthony and I. You never know when a real first is going to happen, and I am very glad that both of us got to see it.
Penaten, Penaten Everywhere, and Not a Drop of Rash
This morning after Aidan had a short nap and T. was down for the count I decided to read my scrapbooking book. Aidan was happily watching Veggie Tales or baby crack as we like to call it here, and I thought I was safe. Aidan was moving around a bit but his attention was still on the songs so I really thought I could read. He then found the tin of diaper cream, you know the really thick zinc oxide. I thought (stupid me) that it was ok, because he was engrossed in the Veggie Tales and he couldn't open the tin anyway.
Now to be fair (to me) he is always quiet when he watches these songs and usually he doesn't even move, so it really wasn't any quieter than usual to get my mommy radar going. When I looked up Aidan, the coffee table and all of the clothes he was wearing were covered in diaper cream. Silly me I went down to get my camera and started a video conversation with Anthony at work before I cleaned him up. Well, I guess that it was the parent in me. I couldn't be angry at him as it was totally my fault for under-estimating his ability to open things.
So, check out the pictures and laugh with me. I think the shirt and the pants are done for.
After a lot of work, baby wipes, dish soap, soaking, baking powder, Spray n' Wash, detergent and a super hot Super wash most of the Penaten came out except for a little stain on the shirt. Wow. I thought they were done for. Now if only the Spray n' Wash didn't have such a bad smell. I have had a migraine since spraying the clothes.
Last Thursday Karen Walrond of Chookooloonks and Irene Nam of Momster started Love Thursday. I really liked the idea but didn't get around to getting the picture and links up last Thursday, so today I am doing a double.
The first picture is of my husband Anthony and my son Aidan in the first 48 hours of Aidan's life. I love the picture and it really reminds me of the love I have for both of my boys and the love my husband has for our son.
This second picture shows my grandmother's love for her first great grandson. I love all that you see is Aidan and his grandnana's hands. The love that radiates from this picture is almost tangible.
A hat-trick of posts tonight. Here's Tomer, Aidan, and I kicking back playing ESPN NHL Hockey 2K4 on the XBox after a hard day in the hot summer sun. Aidan sure loves playing on the XBox!
On Saturday afternoon, Carla & Tomer and the three of us joined some 50,000 people down by Science World for a Red Bull sponsored Flugtag event.
The event consisted of many teams of people, from right across the country, driving various shapes and sizes of human-powered vehicles off the end of a pier into False Creek (ewwwww). The "goal" was to fly the longest distance. From the several entries that we saw, "flying" was a generous term. Here's a one picture from the day ... I've uploaded a bunch of other pictures to Flickr as a way to evaluate Flickr.
Something we hear a lot at our house: Anthony says, "Aidan, where's Mommy?"
Aidan and Anthony, False Creek Elementary School
We went walking and stumbled upon a small playground one day. I brought Aidan and Anthony back here to play. I am not sure that Aidan liked his first time on a tire swing. It was funny seeing Anthony try to maneouvre in and out of it though.
Aidan did however love the slide. It was on a slight hill and he could, with our help, climb up the slide and then go down on his own.
Aidan went down a couple of times on his bum, but he preferred to go both up and down on his tummy.
Wow this looks steep. It is amazing what you can do with camera angles.
Too bad you can't see all the dirt. He had a blast though. "Catch you later Grandparents."
Aidan never does anything half assed. He is teething again. This time it is two molars and an eye-tooth. All. At. The same time! This doesn't make for a restful weekend.
Friday night I was sure that Aidan would be asleep in no time because he was tired, a little bit frantic and he got up before 7 that morning. This usually means that he goes down really easily. Not this night. I am pretty sure that he woke himself at least three times before midnight. This was when we decided that tylenol, and some dimetap for the stuffy nose might be in order. While it may be really easy to give Aidan medicine when he is awake, when he is tired and has woken himself up a few time it is a disaster in the making. Aidan still had a hard time sleeping. It was about this time that we figured out how many teeth he was trying to get out at once. He woke another few times during the night and we were all exhausted on Saturday morning. About 10 am we refound the oragel. Aidan was quiet for a full hour. Sigh, why didn't we remember it the night before?
Saturday we spent mostly looking for glasses for me. It is always difficult and the pair that I like best is $529 just for the frames. Most of the hip glasses are not for my face at all. They make it look rounder than it should and really much older than I want to look. I think I have a couple that might work but we couldn't keep going with Aidan because he was very quickly becoming "Tantrum Boy."
On Sunday we got up later than the day before and didn't do too much. Well Anthony cleaned out the filing cabinet, shredded three garbage bags full of paper and file all the bills and other paper that was hanging around the front table and computer desk. Oh we also got our new camera. Anthony found a nice camera very much on sale and got it to replace our small digital camera that was lost/stolen from our luggage at Christmas-time. So I had a chance to play with it a little bit. I will be posting some pictures a little later. I am also planning to take some pictures of me in some frames. Maybe I can get some comments on which pair to get.
Anyway, after playing at the park, eating supper and a bath Aidan was very tired and went to sleep without a fuss. Keep you fingers crossed for a good night.
This past Saturday, Gwen got her hair cut. Not her first one since having Aidan, but the first significant cut.
Her hair was getting pretty long, but it was getting in her face, and she was to the point where she was getting annoyed by it. Tammy had given her a gift certificate to a nice salon, so down we all walked down to "Rain" down by Granville Island. Aidan and I continued on to do various chores while Gwen went through what I can only imagine was a very "West Coast" experience.
One thing that she wanted to avoid was Mom Hair, the short hair style that well ... read the article.
As you can see from the photos below, it's shorter than it was, but isn't the classic "Mom Hair" either. When she came home from the salon, it was incredibly curly. Apparently your hair goes through changes during and after pregnancy. Making straight hair curly seems to be one of those changes. The curls have calmed down somewhat, but it's certainly not the straight fine hair that she used to have a few years ago.
The boy had a few double-takes on seeing Mama's new 'do, but didn't cry, and seems to be pretty used to it now.
I know, I know. I know what you're thinking. It was only last weekend that we tried taking him to the drive-in, and didn't we learn about keeping him up well beyond his bed-time?
In short, no.
Vancouver has this fireworks festival that runs every year. Three or four countries compete over four nights spaced through the end of July and early August. The fireworks (this year, they're called the "Celebration of Light" but it's gone through different names as the sponsors have changed) are a BIG DEAL here. Estimates are somewhere in the neighbourhood of 300000 - 500000 people watching them on any given night. We're fortunate enough to be able to see them (almost completely) from our dining room windows, which has the benefit of being able to hear the music simulcast and see the fireworks without having to deal with the crowds. But on the other hand, it's pretty interesting to be in such a large sea of humanity. Gwen and I, pre-baby, have gone down to English Bay and sat with several hundred thousand people on a beach, a scant few hundred feet from the fireworks barge. The five or six hour wait, followed by the several hour trip home is a bit hard to handle now, post-baby.
Aidan was pretty well prepared yesterday. A nice, long walk in the morning, a three hour nap in the afternoon, and reasonable meals all pointed to an after-hours outing that wasn't going to be a disaster.
So, after supper, we packed up and walked down to Vanier Park. It's not too far away ... about twice the distance from our place to Granville Island (maybe 3 km total). Vanier Park faces English Bay, on the south side of False Creek. From there, we had a clear view of the fireworks barge, and the several hundred thousand people crowding the beach there. Vanier Park was crowded, but not oppressively so. There were probably a few dozen thousand people in the park.
Around 8 pm, we found a spot of parched grass and waited for the two hours we had until the fireworks were to begin. Aidan crawled around, played with the stroller, and we went for several walks with him. All in all, he behaved himself quite well.
Then, after the sun had set, we bought him his first ever glow-sticks. Actually, they were glow-bracelets, but they were perfect. He loved waving them around in the darkness. I think Gwen loved waving them around as much as Aidan did. These kept him busy and occupied up until the fireworks started.
Which they did, promptly at 10 pm. Aidan liked watching them, but wasn't as mesmerized as we thought he might be. He watched the first little bit while sitting with Gwen, and the majority of them while sitting in his stroller. While sitting in his stroller, though, he alternated between playing with the stroller, watching people around him, and watching the fireworks. The flashes and colours seemed interesting to him, but didn't captivate him. The explosions didn't bother him in the least. He didn't jump, start, or even think about crying when they went off. Gwen and I remarked to each other that he's such a city boy. The spectacle lasted for about 40 minutes, and by the end, he had pretty much had enough.
We packed our things up and walked home. As you can imagine, the Seawall was pretty crowded, and we didn't get home until 11:30 pm. Aidan, although flagging, was still awake. It didn't take him too long to get down though.
For your edification, a video showing Aidan and Gwen with the glow-sticks, and a little bit of the fireworks is below:
(Google video is still reviewing the movie. I uploaded it to YouTube ... and here it is now! I'll post a link to the Google Video version later, since you'll be able to download it to play locally from there)
PajamaMama has christened the next few days: The Bloggin' Good Blogger Days.
Your mission, shall you choose to accept it (and you will), is to go to as many blogs as you can and point out at least one good thing about the author of that blog. Do your best to give them a warm fuzzy feeling. Show your appreciation, admiration or plain old joy. Tell them why something they did touched you, why a choice they made shows the true fabric of their moral being. Just go BE NICE to every blogger who's blog you read today. And don't be shy, either!! Plus, post an entry similar to this one on YOUR blog and ask people to leave warm fuzzies in your comments. Spread the love, people!
Maybe if we take a week to engage in warm fuzzies, they will become a more permanent part of our daily lives, both on and off the computer. In review: 1. Leave me a warm fuzzy in my comments. 2. Post a similar entry (or copy and paste this one, giving credit) on your own blog. 3. Leave a warm fuzzy on every blog you visit today. 4. Sit back, read your own warm fuzzies and feel, well, warm and fuzzy! Enjoy!
All credit to her, esp for the body of this post. I love the idea, and liked how she phrased it, so I pretty much copied the instructions.
While you are at it visit a few of my favourite blogs from the blogroll. You will not regret it! Pass the good Karma along.
Well, ok, it started well. Then I realized that Tristan is a sleep moaner. A loud sleep moaner. Aidan did well and I made sure the music was on. Unfortunately the sleep timer kicked in at about 45-50 minutes of his sleep. Which for those of you who don't know Aidan's sleep patterns is about the time he will wake up if something disturbs his cycle. So I only go about 40 minutes to myself.
Oh well, tomorrow I will have the music playing the whole time!!!
This post on Blogging Baby was full of things that people/baby books/paediatricians should tell you, but for some unknown reason, don't.
Things that seem like universal truths to me.
A tired baby will not sleep
See the previous post on the drive-in. This is one of those "no kidding!" truths. No one tells you this, and it seems like one of those things we regularly forget. Just because our boy is tired does not in any way, shape, or fashion mean that he will be getting to sleep anytime soon. In fact, the more tired he is, the more he fights sleep.
A favourite food may only be a temporary favourite
OK, this one we've heard before, but it's so true. Will he like corn today? Mandarins? Meat? Bread? You just have to hope against hope that you've guessed right today.
Diaper changes are bad
I never thought I'd say something like this ... but I've actually become used to diaper changes. Sure, there are some that are just pure nasty, and he still rolls and twists like a trapped animal sometimes, but diaper changes are nothing compared to having to clean up after a good puke.
Baby will no longer prefer his Mom
I can't comment on this one. I suspect that there is some element of truth here, but it's beyond me.
Baby will change his mind often
Kristin's comment on this one is "Your dimpled little one, who has always loved animals, will develop a sudden aversion to squirrels." All I can think about are the bunnies.
When it comes to parenthood, there are no rules
Again, one of those universal truths, but not everyone believes this one. There are lots of people who will tell you what they think are The Rules, but the truth of the matter is that no matter how much advice you receive, no matter how many books you read, no matter how many courses you take, and no matter how many blogs you visit, we're all just making it up as we go.
The answer is "NO!" They are both asleep. They talked (well Aidan did) for about 5 minutes, and when I peeked in just after the last post they were both quiet and lying down. Five minutes later both, asleep. Wow. Time to myself. Yeah!
I need a few minutes to myself. Both Aidan and Tristan need a nap. Both are fighting them. They both need to sleep in the same room. Am I being ridiculous trying to put them down at the same time? I will give them both 10 minutes and check on them. Keep you posted.
Today my baby boy got his first black(ish) eye. Sigh, he is such a boy!
Aidan loves to climb, and he loves books. Not just his books, but Mommy's books. The ones that are on the shelf that he shouldn't be able to reach. So, what did Aidan decide top do today? Well, he decided it would be fun to lure Mommy into a false sense of security. He decided that it would be a good time to climb up on the bottom shelf and reach as far as he could on tiptoes. He decided it would be a good idea to pull as many books as he could down to the floor. What he didn't anticipate was that he would fall on his butt and that the books would fall on top of him. He didn't understand that if that happens you should look down, not up. And then the small hardcover that he knocked down wouldn't poke you under they eye with the sharp corner.
When I heard the crash I turned around and Aidan had already closed his eyes and was in the silent part of the scream. I comforted him as best I could and he stopped crying fairly quickly. It was as I was sitting down with him that I noticed what had really happened. Until then I just thought some of the books had fallen on his head. Ouch! Corners of books can hurt. Thank goodness it was a small one and his black eye is only a small bruise. On the up side, 5 minutes of breastfeeding later and he was asleep for a three hour nap.
I hope he has learned his lesson. Hmm, not counting on it though. :)
