fed up

i'm fed up with being ill. i'm tired all day after coughing all night, and when i try and tell mom i don't feel so good she isn't exactly as sympathetic as she might be. i think she's a bit stressed out by my crying all the time. dad's feeling a bit better now which is just as well, as mom and i both ended up going to see the doctor this morning.

we did all manage a little outing yesterday, going to see 'Bright Nights in Stanley Park' just as it got dark. there were thousands and thousands of christmas lights in the trees and a miniature train through the forest. it was good to be out and about again, and the singing and dancing gingerbread man appreciated my clapping at the end of his routine.

and so this is christmas...

what could beat having diarrhea at church while dad's preaching at the Christmas Eve service? throwing up all over my breakfast tray on christmas day wasn't bad, but throwing up over dad's bedding this morning was better. dad's not feeling so good now either.

because i was poorly yesterday we didn't get to open our christmas presents or do much else really, so we did all that kind of stuff today. except we didn't have any cold turkey to eat, so it wasn't a proper boxing day. the canadian thing to do on boxing day is go shopping apparently, but what with mom having to go to the laundrette and dad and i being sick we didn't have all that much time for shopping. i did spot mom having a little look at ebay though. i don't think she's going to find the washing machine she really wants on there. maybe she was looking for some more cars for my new garage?

the turkey wins again

last year i was far too little to eat turkey, so this year i was really looking forward to my christmas dinner, but it wasn't to be. this year the turkey was too BIG. it managed to avoid being fully cooked until well after my dinner time. i was ready for my milk and bed before mom and dad sat down to enjoy theirs. maybe next year.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

my hero ...

Free :)

Whistler isn't exactly renowned for being a bargain, but maybe it was my cute smile that won them over. i somehow doubt it was the way i took the sunglasses off the display rack one by one while mom and dad waited in line to get their lift passes. either way, i am now the proud owner of a free season pass to whistler!

it was snowing rather heavily the day we were there so i guess that's the reason mom and dad left me behind in the condo while they went skiing. i'm sure it's not because i woke them at 3am and refused to go back to sleep for over an hour. i was just over excited at the thought of using my new pass. dad let me bash on his new helmet before they left - which reminds me, i must remember to check it for dents now that we're home again. i played with baby Katrina during the day, and Roxanne gave me my lunch and lots of snacks. Kat and i share a birthday, but since i'm bigger and heavier and far more mobile (not to mention a few hours older) i reckon it's OK to still call her a baby.

in the evening we went up into the village to look at the christmas lights and do a bit of shopping. we met a few australians wearing shorts and T shirts which was rather curious attire for a ski resort. maybe they don't own any other clothes?

if at first you don't succeed

growing definitely has its advantages. for example, i can now reach in to the third from bottom drawer of the dresser. since dad keeps his guitar in the way to prevent me opening the bottom two, i'm sure you'll understand why growing's such a good thing.

standing on tiptoe i can not only open the next drawer, i can just reach into it. mom smiled as i reached in and removed an IKEA tealight candle from the bag, sat back down on the floor, and placed it carefully in dad's slipper. i had to do this a couple more times before mom went away and left me to it. after mom stopped watching i tried taking a bite out of each candle. the thing is......they were IKEA candles. IKEA - famous for missing parts, broken bits etc etc. it was just a matter of time really before i found one that was missing it's foil wrapper. i discoverd it in the end, but unfortunately i tried to take too big a mouthful at once and started choking. mom came and extracted the wax from my mouth and took the rest of the candles away then. shame.... i'd only eaten half of it.

magical mystery tour

mom got to go on the mystery tour today, not me :(

i got to return to the pediatrician, who diagnosed me as having a dairy intolerance. nothing but yucky soy formula and yoghurt for me from now on - for the next few months anyway. they're hoping i might just grow out of it by the time i'm 18 months (or 3 years) old.

anyway, back to the mystery. for a few days now mom has been asking dad about the curious entry in our diary that says 'we have plans tonight'. since she's normally the one in charge of these things i think she was a bit nervous about dad's organisational abilities. still, i had a nice bath and went to bed on time, Tanis turned up to babysit, and mom got in the car still not knowing where she was going. she kept her cool pretty well, although she did check with dad that they weren't going to event that started in ten minutes time that was over an hour's drive away. of course, dad had it all in hand. they were going downtown to hear the vancouver symphony orchestra, courtesy of Gerhard and Jules.

thanks guys

ducks

mom, do i have to give ALL the bread to the ducks?

wedding fun

i nearly went to a wedding at Deep Cove yacht club today. i guess you could say i actually DID go to the wedding, it's just that i slept right through it. the clapping at the end woke me up so i got to see Jules and Gerhard walking back down the aisle. i made up for missing the main event by fully participating in the reception. dad was acting as MC, so i had plenty of opportunity to take the floor (and the microphone) and keep everyone amused. the speeches were pretty good too. all in all the day was a great success. i even got to sample some of the buffet which was an unexpected bonus.

I'm walking

need i say more?

maybe now isn't the time to say more, as mom needs to type for me, and she can't do that at the same time as chasing me around the apartment. i wonder what else she won't be able to do now?

Woodlands

the church that is, not the trees.

mom and i went and visited Woodies while we were staying with granny. lots of people came and gave mom a hug in the morning, and they seemed quite pleased to see me too, although perhaps not quite as shocked as last time. The band were really cool, led by Abby and Colse, and everyone really seemed to be enjoying themselves.

We went and had lunch with Ed and Deb (mom had curry AGAIN), and i borrowed Isaac's high chair so i could have my lunch. I had a nice time playing with Isaac's toys while the grownups were talking, and then Ed taught me how to clap so that i wouldn't feel too left out in the evening service.

Next we visited Pam Scott-Cook. Pam had a very pretty fruit bowl on her coffee table that i'd soon emptied onto the floor. somehow one banana detached itself from the bunch in the process, so i thought i'd better do the right thing and eat it. i had a bit of trouble peeling it but soon managed to get my thumb in the top and half a banana in my mouth. mom looked kind of surprised. you would have thought by now she'd know i'd do just about anything for banana.

Our final stop before the evening service was the Hiscotts. i was getting pretty tired by now but i had fun sorting through their laundry while mom had a chat to Claire. Apparently it's been ten years since the church bought the Woodlands building. Seems hard to imagine that length of time.

We didn't stay too long at church in the evening: just long enough to say hi to a few more people and to show Liz H my newfound clapping skills. There were lots and lots of people there, and even after quite a few had gone upstairs there was still barely an empty seat in the place. maybe a few more should come over to Vancouver?

have you got my socks?

one of the highlights of our trip was a daytrip to Scotland to visit my new cousin. we flew with lots of very well dressed businessmen on a nice British AIrways plane from Bristol to Edinburgh. i particulary liked the leather seats - great for creating pools of drool on. anyway - i took my socks off to test the wind speed and direction, and i posted them between the seats so that the man sitting behind us could admire them. they were new stripey ones we'd bought in Bath a couple of days earlier, and were particularly stylish.

with all the excitement of meeting Uncle Alan's mom and dad for the first time, and installing my carseat in their car, it wasn't until we were on our way to Linlithgow that i realised i'd lost my socks :(

we gave Aunty Anna a HUGE surprise arriving on her doorstep. she had no idea we were coming. i got to test drive Ruaridh's stroller while we went for a walk along the canal, and then Uncle Alan met us in Sainsburys where we were buying curry for dinner. For some reason no one thought to put any curry on my plate so i helped myself to some of Aunty Anna's while she was feeding Ruaridh. Surely it can't be good for the poor chap to have curry flavoured milk?


when we flew home again in the evening mom checked lost property at the airport, but we were flying on a different plane and nobody had seen my socks. mom seemed more concerned that due to the very heavy rain our flight was possibly going to be diverted to Cardiff. i was quite looking forward to visiting England, Scotland and Wales on the same day but i suppose it would have been quite inconvenient to have my car seat in one country and the car in another. particularly when you've lost your socks. not to mention the fact that it was past my bedtime, i was wearing my PJs and mom didn't think to bring my coat. but that's another story.....

i'm back

i've had a little time off blogging, mostly because i didn't get near a computer while i was in england (or scotland) and then since i've been home i've had lots of stuff to catch up on. dad had got into the habit of putting mugs down on the coffee tables and leaving pieces of paper out on the desk while i was away. it's taken me a while to get him back in line, but now all the surfaces below three feet are clear again - the way they should be.

today's Rememberance Day. dad had the early part of the day off, and whilst tempted to go up and enjoy a day's skiing we went and hung out with Tim and Lissa instead. it's been so wet in town recently that the local ski hills have opened for the season already. today was particularly bad - mom and dad abandoned their walk not long after we left the house.

i've been thinking about walking myself. every so often i take a couple of steps on my own just to check i still know how to do it. for the most part though i pretend a need a toddle truck to push or someone's hand to hold. i'm a bit concerned that once mom knows i can walk unaided she'll want me to bring her breakfast in bed or something, and i'm rather worried i might hurt myself carrying a hot cup of tea. how long do you think that excuse will last?

fridays

i like fridays. i get to help dad at work. we go to church and set up for youth group in the evening. my help largely consists of pushing a toddle truck round and round. there's just so much SPACE, and no nasty pillars to whack my head against like there are at home. i'm getting pretty good with it now too. i can go around corners, and if i do run into a wall i know how to turn around and go in the other direction. run is quite an appropriate word, actually.

the Christmas number one?

today didn't start so well. it was raining again, and mom was going back to the dentist yet again, this time to have part of her gum removed. dad and i went to meet her in the car afterwards and we all went for a drive across town. we stopped outside a very dull looking house i didn't recognise, went around the back into the basement, and suddenly there we were inside a recording studio. it was SO cool. mom didn't dare put me down anywhere in case i broke something, but to be honest i was a bit overwhelmed myself. it was so shiny and there were so many buttons and cables and knobs and EVERYTHING.

after a while my curiousity overcame my uncertainty and i tried to escape from mom's lap. she took that as our cue to leave, but we left dad there to record a track! do you think he's ever going to come home, or do you think he's died and gone to heaven?

mom and i stopped off at the Roots factory shop on the way home, spending dad's royalties in advance. if the album goes to number one maybe we'll be able to shop in the dowtown store?

happy birthday to me

in 44 mins time i'm going to be one.

wow

i'm not sure we all planned it this way. i'm just recovering from a nasty illness which resulted in a scary rash and fever on the plane back from england on wednesday. i'm cheerful but have no idea whether it's day or night any of the time. i'm probably doing better than mom though.

i just woke up from some sleep, screamed until dad brought me a bottle, i type this quickly to you before closing my eyes hugging my tiger and getting some more serious zeds. i have to be bright and breezy for 4am to give mom a run for her money while dad hands on the baton.

any how, sorry not to have been in touch from england, we were just too busy. dad was weirdly busy back home.

enjoy my birthday. i refuse to allow a photo of me looking red-eyed and pasty-faced, so you'll have to wait till i'm better to gaze adoringly at my 1-year old cuteness. happy birthday katrina who is 3 hours younger than me. see y'all soon.

still learning

i'm 11 months old now, which is very nearly grown up. i've learned some new stuff this month although there are still a few things in life i haven't quite mastered.

i've realised that actually mom's cooking IS better than the stuff that comes out of jars. while mom appreciates the vote of confidence it does also make life a little difficult when we're going out somewhere and i refuse to eat anything.

i've learned that sharing can be fun, except when dad nips your finger with his teeth. when the rice cake gets really soggy and yucky you don't have to eat it yourself, you can give it to mom or dad to enjoy instead.

i've discovered that if i really wriggle i can escape from the straps in my stroller and stand up on the seat. this is likely to induce a heart attack in parents though, so don't do it when they think you're sleeping.

i've suffered through two colds in less than a month which has left me somewhat sleep deprived due to my coughing, and with snot all over my face, hair, clothes, bed....i don't LIKE having my nose wiped, OK.

i've been liberated by my toddle truck except it doesn't always go in a straight line, and when i hit something it just stops. where's the reverse gear on that thing anyway?

i'm very frustrated by the need to stay still when having my diaper changed. why can't mom and dad just get on with it? surely three seconds is long enough.
except for the diaper changing above, i've realised that the bathroom is absolutely the best room in the house. i'm not too sure about lying down in the bath these days, but if i splash enough with the cloth most of the water leaves the bath tub anyway. it saves dad having to wash his clothes, too. mom and dad got a lock for the toilet, so i can't play with that anymore, but they DO keep forgetting to put the loo roll out of my reach.

no more yoghurt :(

mom took me to see the dr today, as despite all my eating i don't seem to be getting all that much bigger. it may be, of course, that i did all my growing early on and am just having a rest. on the other hand, it does appear to be the case that i'm not digesting stuff like yoghurt properly, so maybe i'm not digesting my milk either.

the dr ordered some tests to check that stuff out, but she seemed more worried about the size of my head. i tried to tell her it was just my supersized brain, but she asked mom lots of questions about my walking and talking and stuff. i've been referred to a paediatrician which hopefully sounds more painful than it is. i hope they don't want to chop part of my head off. by then i should have my test results back, and it would be really good if i was allowed to eat yoghurt again. it's yummy.

anniversary

today is mom and dad's wedding anniversary. unfortunately mom wasn't feeling too good so they cancelled their dinner for two and we all went out for ice cream instead. i was really looking forward to trying ice cream again, but when we got there, the shop was closed.

these outings haven't gone so well recently. last week mom and dad ended up catching a bus and eating McDonalds when they were supposed to be going out for an adventure on their own. a flat tire on the car made it rather more adventurous (and somewhat later) than they'd anticipated.

today mom and dad ended up sitting on the beach watching the sun set and having a nice cup of tea. wendy did a fine job of putting me to bed, although she didn't have an explanation for why mom and dad were married for 12 years before i came along.

Sundays are special

you just never know what's going to happen on a sunday. take today for example. first thing in the morning we went to church, after which we went to my first 1st birthday party. it was the reunion of mom's first prenatal group, and us babes shared an icecream cake. i managed to beg a little bit from dad, but it was awfully chilly. it was fun seeing all the other little kids, and sharing stories of our adventures. i showed Oliver how to play the piano, and Rosie the dog gave me a big soppy kiss.

afterwards, it was a nice sunny afternoon so dad, mom and i went over to English Bay for a walk along the seawall. we stopped for me to have a snack, and while i was drinking a tram stopped and lots of people got out. wow - now i'm at my first wedding. i couldn't see any Scotsmen in evidence so i think it's fairly safe to assume that i was the only person present with a bare bottom.


the other amazing thing that happened today was i got a new cousin. a scotsman no less. he's Ruaridh Fraser Divers, and was born in Livingston, Scotland. isn't he cute? he's very little at the moment, but when he's bigger we're going to be in a band together.

suddenly it went quiet ...

... mom and dad can normally tell when something's up, as I go all quiet. In this case it was easy to see why

i am proud to say my first ever taste of chocolate was the result of a perfectly executed covert operation. dad never knew i was there until i'd had a really good chunk. and it was england's finest galaxy .. i've seen the look on mom and dad's face when they eat it .. i knew it was the best foodstuff in the universe.

of course silence is not the only sign of trouble. once dad had rescued himself the remains of the chocolate, he placed me as far away from it as he could - my playroom. dookch da dum ga dookch werrrh haa hee haa hoo doockh duch THUMP waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh waaaa waah waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
oops i did it again .. i fell over.

just one more story

erin came over to play with me tonight while mom and dad went out in the evening. it nearly didn't happen as mom discovered i'd let the front tire down on the car, but they went out on the bus anyway.

erin and i chased the ball around for a while, and then it was time to do some reading. we were going to read all my books right through at least three times each, but i got rather tired and fell asleep.

fortunately mom had told erin i need my bottle, my sleeping bag, my soother, hey hey and gerhard in order to go to bed, along with strict instructions about which end of the toothbrush i like to chew after my bottle.

i decided tonight wasn't the night to spend an hour throwing gerhard overboard and yelling for him to be returned. i'll do that with dad tomorrow :)

another world

on saturday we went to Surrey for Maddy's first birthday party. Surrey is about an hour away from home, going south down the highway towards america. we drove past Burns Bog which bizarrely was indeed burning. i mean how did they know? the very day i decide to see Burns Bog for myself, it's burning. that's just weird. that's what i meant when i said Surrey was like another world. that and the fact there was a real, live ferret at this party, (makes a good alternative to a cat or dog as a pet apparently - IN SURREY)and a parakeet, and a kitten, and a puppy, and a snake, and even a bunny rabbit. there was nearly a dead guinea pig too, but after i swiped at it the first time it's owner moved it out of range.

hmm, what else was weird? well, i left with more presents than i arrived with, and they served popcorn and chips and chocolate cake. mom wouldn't let me have any though and gave me a rice cake instead.

nobody asked to see my passport so i guess we were still in canada, but all in all it was a pretty big adventure. they DO have big houses out there though. i'd have space for lots more toys if we lived in surrey. Maddy even had a slide inside. that was pretty cool.

space travel

now that i've got this earthly mobility sorted - i can get where i want when i want, i've started thinking bigger. wouldn't it be great for example to be able to fly. i could take photos from space.

on the other hand maybe i should just look at Vanmap. If you tick orthophotos 2004 you can see photos of all the houses - even mine. isn't that cool! you can even see our car out back.

he's giving me the B.D.I.

i had to log in for dad, cos he's not technical enough to become a full member of my blog, but the following is his report ... over to you big guy :)

Thank you son, what a sterling chap of the queen's order you truly are. (wow he speaks weird canadian .. jas)

It struck me the other day that one can measure a child's advancement using various incredible techniques, but I think I have discovered an innovation of my own. The BDI is Bathroom Development Indicator, and is a measurement of a child's reactions to his father (or mother) taking a shower:
.. 0-1 month .. child lies on his change mat naked, unware of the existence of a bath, but vaguely soothed by the sound of running water in the vicinity
.. 1-2 month .. eyes are focussing on the mysterious curtain, and a recognition that this is the source of the sounds
.. 2-3 month .. the sound of running water is not just soothing, but enjoyable. A mild chuckle can be heard, and a broad smile observed
.. 3-4 month .. the child is so familiar with the activity of parental shower, that he can play with a simple toy, while the shower takes place. The level of familiarity and comfort is further demonstrated by urination upon the floor
.. 4-6 month .. rolling over is now fun, so sitting in a bouncy chair is preferred over the mat. Child will still happily play with toys, and then sit for a while once they have been successfully thrown out of reach.
.. 6-7 month .. diapers now a necessity to protect the chair, so in order to inform the parent of some diaper action while enjoying the shower, some grunting is in order from the child, and then the gift can be delivered in style. Just what we want when all clean and ready for work!
.. 7-8 month .. similar, but for some reason it is now hilarious to poo while parent is showering. Fits of chuckling as the gift is prepared.
.. 8-9 month .. crawling. Important to provide many toys and keep chemicals and other bathroom items out of place. The chair is no longer a container for more than 2 minutes.
.. 9-10 month .. child now pulls himself up to the side of the bath, and delivers rubber ducks and stacking cups down the side of the curtain .. terribly cute.
.. 10 month .. the stage that we have all been waiting for (especially Joel). Shower time is recognised and anticipated, and can be heard from any room in the apartment. Child crawls as fast as possible to the location of the shower, hauls himself up to standing, and proudly pulls back the shower curtain with a huge grin across his face. The subsequent soaking simply adds to the delight.

At this stage we can only guess at the future Bathroom Development Indication, but we are fully expecting full participation in the showering process .. probably neglecting to disrobe before taking the plunge.

To any parents who are unsure of their baby's age. Simply take a shower, apply the results against the scale above. Once you have a result (n), be aware that your childs first birthday will be in (12-n) months .. you need to know this.

Thank you my son for allowing me to publish the results of my study on your highly esteemed blog. Keep writing for the masses. Dad

more traveling

mom's got another trip in mind and i haven't even told you guys about the last one yet. dad's encouraging me to learn how to walk by october so that mom doesn't have to carry me and all my stuff around the airport on her own when we go and visit my grannies.

in july we went to the Sunshine Coast which was fun. even though it was hot, mom and dad carried me up a big hill. i tried to tell them my legs were getting bashed up on the frame of the backpack, but they kept telling me not to complain - i wasn't the one carrying half a ton up a mountain. i think they were exagerrating a bit. don't you need oxygen and stuff when you go up mountains, or at the very least skis?
after lunch we all went swimming in Katherine Lake which was SO much fun. i think mom and dad would rather have been at Daniel Point or Tuwanek for a bit of peace and quiet though. there were rather a lot of kids enjoying the warm water and the sandy beach at the lake.
then in early august after BC day we went on a cruise around the San Juan islands in America. we spent almost as long shopping for a Dyson vacuum as we did messing about on boats, but it is pretty cool. i've never seen anything like it

circuit training

i live in such a great apartment. if mom leaves me in the sitting room i can crawl from there around the breakfast bar, underneath my highchair and into my bedroom. if the lights are off and the curtains still drawn it's a bit dark, so a quick reverse and i'm back in the kitchen with a straight run through to the bathroom. if mom's left the door open i generally have time to throw a couple of yellow ducks into the bath before she comes to investigate. reversing out of there, i can then continue the breakfast bar circuit and either dive left behind the piano into the study (lots of cables under the desk to play with - and a good place to hide if i'm quiet. it's hard to be quiet though because cables are TOO exciting) or go right past the dining room table and into my playroom. of course, if the front door is open i might need to divert that way too.

the playroom is full of all my stuff. generally everything is exactly where i left it, except for today. the girls came over: Christina, Emma, Katrina & Hailey with their moms. we all had lunch together which was a bit of a messy old business and then we got to play. Hailey's walking now which gave her a bit of an advantage, but Christina and i threw our weight around. no one messes with us!

i'm not sure how much longer we're going to be able to get together as some of the other moms are going back to work soon. we've had fun though. it's hard to imagine we were all tiny babies once.

good job!

mom and i went up to UBC this evening to do some more research. it was a really tough one this time. i had electrodes attached to my forehead, and then had to go to sleep - as if. being rather tired i solved the problem by pulling the electrodes off and then rapidly dozing off.

mom then curled up in an armchair and read her book, and after an hour or so she woke me up, collected $15 and a printout that said i had great hearing and we went home again. Good job, eh?

i had a really odd dream though - something about those electrodes i pulled off, wearing headphones and listening to sounds. just as well i've been practising listening to dad's ipod.

ten months old

so what's new?

i've got teeth, which i brush sometimes.
i've got hair, which has never seen a brush but may need to see scissors sometime soon.
i've got a new means of transport - still mom powered but it goes a bit faster than my stroller.
i've put on weight: i now weigh 24-25 pounds - mom's not exactly sure which because i was wriggling rather on the bathroom scales.
i've worked out how to sit up from lying on my tummy.
i can sit on a little chair and eat a snack.
i can pull myself up to kneeling using the edge of the sofa.
i can pull myself up to standing using the bars on my crib.
i haven't yet worked out how to sit down again.

i like eating .. a lot ... all the time! tuna and cauliflower join the ranks of favourites alongside pear, mum mums, apricot and rice pips. all stuff i can feed myself now.
i like playing ball: playing footie with dad, or catch with mom.
i like watching the weather forecast.
i like tiger wrestling, and almost always win.
i like splashing dad with my washcloth in the bath.
i like unpacking my crate of clothes.
i like unpacking the crate of plastic boxes and trying to find the right lids.
i like unpacking the CDs from their rack.
i like opening and closing doors.
i like removing the books from the bookcase.
i like removing the used diapers from the bin, but mom doesn't like me doing that.


so what's old?
i've outgrown the exersaucer.
i'm pretty much too big for my jolly jumper.
i don't shake my head 'no' all the time.
i don't stay still for two minutes unless i'm asleep.
i don't want to start the day at 5am. 6.15am is early enough.

i'm in safe hands

dad's spending two days on a first aid course, so he'll be fully qualified to deal with any little accidents i might have. i hope he doesn't have to deal with any protruding internal organs as even looking at the pictures was gross, so i'm not sure he'd cope with the real thing. it might be my imagination but he does seem to be looking at me funny since he started this. perhaps he's just checking my breathing rate or something.

dad seems to know quite a lot already after watching Casualty and ER on TV. maybe i can use that as one of my 'watching TV is educational' arguments? if i watch enough Bob the Builder perhaps dad will let me help with the renovations.

dad's birthday

i helped dad open his cards first thing, and then i helped him eat his breakfast. i rather enjoy eating other people's food at the moment, it's so much better than mine. if necessary i chase them around the apartment until they surrender and sit down, at which point i either pull myself up on their legs, or just sit and beg until they feed me. it generally works although mom's getting sneaky and keeping bits of rice cake in her pocket and she gives me that instead.

i can be distracted, but only with REALLY good toys, like the telephone or the remote control for the TV. I'm getting quite adept with this, and study the TV screen avidly whilst pressing the buttons.

anyway.....back to dad's birthday. we tried to have a picnic lunch on Kits beach, but it started raining, so we retired home to watch an episode of Alias on DVD that mom had miraculously acquired from somewhere. dad got a night off giving me my bath, so mom got a good soaking instead. after all my crawling and investigating i was really quite tired, so i went to sleep straight away at 7pm, and mom and dad went off to Calhouns for dinner. uncle greg came and checked on me during the evening but i didn't feel much like talking so i did a really convincing job of pretending to be asleep.

an english roo?

having just got the hang of translating tim and lissa's australian into proper canadian, today i met an english roo. this curious anomoly is in fact a friend of mom and dad's from bristol who managed to fit us in on her great american tour. she's been researching how to emerge from the emerging church with the holy spirit. that's what she told everyone in bristol anyway. we know differently but we're not telling because we want roo to come back and see us again one day. if you tie her sister down and tickle her enough Rach may spill the beans though.

we had a lovely time on the beach and down at Granville Island. we heard about the Fuse, and Contagious, and the Glastonbury festival, and Woodies and lots of people i don't know. i didn't mind though because mom and dad looked happy, and roo thought i was lovely :)

roo was last seen on an aquabus heading back towards the west end. if she missed her flight back to england, it's not my fault. i think she wanted to stay here. i can understand that.

Anvil island

you know something serious is happening when dad gets up even earlier than me in the morning. we got into the car this morning at 7.15am which is pretty early. i had a 9am breakfast appointment on Anvil island. i couldn't have breakfast any earlier in case i was sick on the boat.

the journey out was great, watching the water whizzing past the window only inches away, and the spray was wonderful. When we got to anvil there were lots of people waiting to see me, including Shawna who was right down on the dockside.

we met nurple the armadillo, the purple team's mascot, and lots of kids on camp, and a few people from church. i'm not sure whether they called being at camp work too, but once again i was able to gather yet more evidence that dad has the best job in the world.

mom went swimming in the sea, i got to splash, and dad went down the anvil slide. this is apparently one more step along the road to being a real canadian for those not fortunate enough to have been born here.

the boat road back to the mainland was really exciting, bouncing up and down on the waves and lots of noise. according to the driver i'm the only little kid who's ever enjoyed it. maybe in a few years time i could get a job driving the boat? that's assuming i haven't taken over dad's job of course.

waterfalls

mom likes waterfalls apparently, although she's never taken me to see one, so this may just be unfounded rumour. i thought i'd put it to the test by producing waterfalls of drool.

i'm not sure she was as enthusiastic as i'd been led to believe, particularly when i drooled into her hair or ear, but i'm now the proud possessor of eight teeth. mom now feeds me from a bottle though - i don't think she appreciated being used as a teething ring :(

tim's birthday

we all went on an adventure to Bowen Island to celebrate Tim's birthday: me, mom, dad, Tim and Lissa. not everything went entirely to plan - after nothing but blue skies for months it was a bit cloudy. definitely not hot enough for Lissa to go swimming in the sea, although i did put my toes in for a few seconds. the beach was great though - covered in pebbles that looked just like the lumps of rice cake i have on my high chair tray. i did my best to bite into each one just to check there wasn't any rice cake hiding. tim threw rocks at a tree trunk, and then at some ducks which i didn't think was very kind. my mommy's taught me to treat ducks with the respect they deserve. maybe they don't have ducks in australia so timmy's mommy didn't teach him when he was little?

we went and had the traditional birthday fish and chips at the pub, even though it wasn't sunny on the deck. once we'd sent the food back to the kitchen to be reheated it was OK. the chowder was yummy anyway, and dad had a great looking nut pie, even though there wasn't any ice cream with it. the ferry home was a bit late, so we missed out on a sunset cruise. timmy was too tired anyway and fell asleep even quicker than me. birthday's must be very hard work. i'm not sure i'm looking forward to mine.

the moment many have been awaiting

well, they said i'd be crawling by the weekend, and they weren't wrong. all i really needed was the right "motivation for the scene". the gentle rocking back and forth on my knees had become unnecessarily frustrating, especially when the ball was rolling away from me.

then i was out on my rug on sunday afternoon, and mom brought dad a bowl of ice-cream. frankly it looked way more exciting than any of the toys around me. food has always been my favouritist of things, and other people's food tends to get me staring in envy and dribbling profusely. occasionally i accompany this with an endearing suck of the lips, a slight tilt of the head and those eyes that really say so much ("p-leeease", "aren't i cute?", and "oh go on you know you want to share").

this time, forget the act. i went for the bowl at the speed of ... light? sound? a train? a plane? ... well, amazingly fast, and the fastest i've ever moved. as dad gently pulled the bowl away, i just kept following, and he had me crawling around REALLY fast for ages, trying to get at the cool frozen looking yumminess.

he gave in after an hour or two (baby hours that is), with the smallest of hints of a taste. i think i'm going to like ice cream. uncle greg missed the momentous occasion as he was on the phone. the video camera also missed it, but as is a well known fact, video cameras are excellent at capturing static footage of babies that have just said/done something really cool. we have enough to bore you for days of me just sitting there staring at the camera with the background voices of mom and dad going "come on joel, what was it you were doing/saying? are you going all silent on me now?"

keep em wanting kids :)

a day off is a day to doolittle .. very little

Dad had a different day off today, cos mom went to work. needless to say we couldn't resist visiting her after I awoke from nap #1, and annoncing good news about breakfast - rice cereal and blueberries. she's helping out at church to give our very hard working administrator some holiday.

so we hung out there for a while, then went for a walk to discover they've finished shooting in our neighbourhood for the latest hollywood blockbuster. the movie is "john tucker must die" and comes out next year .. so i could see our locality on the big screen.

at lunchtime, we listened to an excellent radio story of the pixies .. what a band. if you have musical taste, you should check it out

which one's Caesar?

you're never too young for a little culture, so mom and dad took me to Young Shakespearians at Bard on the Beach. We saw an abridged version of Julius Caesar - without a set or costumes, and with actors swapping the principal roles amongst themselves during the performance - it was all rather confusing, so i went to sleep.

Celebration of Light

it's kind of weird waking up in the middle of the night and finding yourself in your stroller down by the beach. even more curious were the flashing lights in the sky. a bit loud, but very pretty. mom and dad could have told me what they had planned though, and i'd have stayed awake all evening to experience the build up and enjoy the crowds as well.

i can crawl.....

....although so far i've only found reverse gear. the more crawling i do, the further i get from the object of my attention. it's very frustrating. being the persistent sort though, i keep going until i'm wedged under the sofa or have backed myself into the corner.

in my attempts to refine this process i've learned to lift both my tummy AND my knees off the ground. other than doing half a dozen press ups, this has served no useful purpose, although it looks quite impressive, so i'm told. if only i can work out how to get my hands off the ground too, i'll be walking. maybe i should learn how to sit up on my own first?

amazing discovery

after much research, not to mention practice, i am pleased to announce my amazing discovery: if i pick something up and then let it go (that's the bit that took the practise) it drops back down again. every time. isn't that great?

it makes me laugh - especially when dad or i drop things into the bath, or when whatever i drop bounces back up again.

bunnies and blackberries

i discovered today that blackberry picking isn't much of a spectator sport. dad did his best to amuse me by climbing a tree and pretending to be a monkey, but he didn't do anything truly spectacular like falling into the brambles or anything. after a while we boys sneaked off and left mom to it.

sitting in the park was much more exciting. dad read his book (why is it work when he reads and play when i do?) and i watched the canada geese amble past. which leads me to a question for you. does anyone know if goose poo is poisonous? purely a hypothetical question you understand.

when mom found us again we went to see the bunnies. around about 6 o'clock in the evening all the bunny rabbits come out from under the blackberry bushes and have a little forage on the grass for something tasty to eat. tonight one of them found my toes. it was so exciting i almost forgot to breathe.

being out so late did mean i missed my bath, but i think it was worth it.

BBQ with the girls

had a top time hanging out with the girls on the beach 2 weeks ago. the sun finally arrived after the least sunny june in vancouver on record :( the entire population of the lower mainland turned up on the beach just for us! 6 of us and our parents in tow. it's kind of strange that we all met when we were still in our mom's tummies. don't quite understand that.

i don't really have a favourite girl at this time. as an 8 month old i think i am entitled to as many girlfriends as i like at any given moment. this moment there are 5 .. katrina, erin, grace, jasmine, christina - sweet

hey good looking

frankly sometimes i look totally gorgeous.

rugs

i've been humouring the folks for a while now by pretending to be daft, but finally it's time to come clean. it's no good them pretending any longer that the reason they put a rug down whenever we go anywhere is because they don't want me to get my clothes dirty, or to protect my hands and knees as i try to crawl, or to protect my face when the crawling isn't as successful as it might be.

no, the REAL reason they put a rug down is to hide the food underneath. we've been playing this game for a little while now. they put me down in the centre of the rug, knowing i can't reach the edge. when they're not looking i pull on the rug just in front of me, and the edge comes a bit closer. once i've done that a few times the edge is within reach and success is just an arms length away. they thought they'd successfully hidden some really tasty gravel, grass, clover, sand.... i've not managed to get my hands on a worm yet though

red, white - who cares?

from the pen of Joel Sopwith M.A.
if a box contains mostly red balls, and you randomly pull out six, it would be reasonable to assume that most of these would be red. if they were predominantly white then surely that requires a second look.
undertaking research at this level is a serious business, only to be conducted by those who've already been there and got the T shirt.

studying to PhD level will require the wearing of said T shirt along with my newly awarded UBC infant cognition lab bib. maybe next time i'll get a hat?

babysitters

who would have thought it would be so hard to find a babysitter? not dad that's for sure. it's not like i'm a difficult child or anything. still, auntie wendy came to the rescue and mom and dad got to go out to Bard on the Beach, so all's well that ends well. except they went to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. anyway........

bad hair days

oh dear, i guess it happens to us all eventually. i have enough hair to have a bad hair day. dad is showing me all his tricks, but no matter what we both do, the amazing dudes we see in the mirror seem to fade once we hit the streets. it's most depressing.

if any of you hair product experts out there can recommend a good something that doesn't make my eyes sting, that'd be good. i need to create that random bed-hair spike effect, that looks like it just happened, but is actually the result of 45 minutes of careful spike positioning. not as perfect as a US army sargeant spike, and not as severe as the prodigy. more like erm .. beautiful film star type.

the colour of my hair is of course perfect and the girls are already jealous. tee hee.

my new playroom

the floor and trim are in place, my big foam number mats are ready for action. they're so colourful, and i nearly hyperventilated when mom sat me on them. she enjoyed sitting on the sofa and reading the paper for at least 90 seconds before i demanded more peekaboo and other treats. there's real genuine daylight in the new room (named "the south room"), it's a rare commodity in the basement - we all really love it.

"the thing about water fights is ..."

"...there are never normally spectators"

a quote from mom today when dad invited me and her over to the church to watch 25 6-12 year olds pummeling each other with sponges, supersoakers, and all things waterpistolic. what sort of job does my dad have that he gets paid to organise water fights, eh? he assures me it's not all glamourous, but i'm not so sure.

crowds

so this time of year is all about crowds ... normally including food, and often music, occasionally fireworks. crowd #1 was last sunday: greek day. our local street was blocked off to make way for much souvlaki, bazouki tunes, and greek dancing. lots of people.


crowd #2 was canada day today. supposed to be lots of fireworks and burgers, but the mayor seems to be too cheap for fireworks again this year. probably just as well, as they might make me cry ... ba boooooom. we took some photos (check the album, email me for a password) of me and the canada flag, and i made loads of people smile by shouting and waving my flag. "O Canada, my home and native land ...". i like being canadian it's fun, and i'm really good at it.

starting early

having discovered just how many years mom spent at university, i've realised i need to get started now if i'm ever going to be as smart as her. last week i went to UBC (University of British Columbia) and got my first honorary degree: Infant Scientist. i undertook research into the developing perception of non-native nasal consonant contrasts in the department of psychology. i was, apparently, a perfect model of habituation.

like i said, mom's real smart. i understood the bit about being perfect and thoroughly enjoyed watching the TV screen (bigger picture here)

the race is on

who'll be first to walk? granny recovering from a broken hip or joel who doesn't really know how to do it? granny's well ahead in terms of motivation since crying when you want to be carried generally doesn't work after a certain age. while granny struggles to reach her toothbrush, joel is still waiting for more teeth to make an appearance.
however, after early indications of an easy victory, disaster struck. granny fell again and is now back in hospital having had her hip replaced :(
get well soon granny

another hero

having met the delirious boys at historymaker back in may, it was time to meet another of dad's heroes. Kevin Prosch - the only man who can make the introduction to a song last for 45 minutes. had he forgotten the words? he should have asked mom - she'd have known what the first line was.

expressions of freedom

i'd just like to point out that i have a right as a canadian to wake up at 5:30 and shout at the top of my voice if i want. i see daylight creeping around the window edges and it would be a shame to waste valuable singing time.
[dad says: joel, my son, "everything is permissable ... but not everything is beneficial 1Cor 6:12]

don't you just hate it when pastors take little bits of scripture and throw them into conversation to make a point? they so often miss the context of how the words are written.
[dad also says: honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you Ex20:12]

and it then says "do not murder" Ex 20:13, dad, and didn't Jesus develop the do not murder thing and say something about "anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment" Matt 5:21-22
[dad says: but you went to sleep at 11:00pm, woke us 3 times during the night, and then did the 5:30 thing, and you've done it for a few nights now, and you're waking uncle greg and auntie andrea whose room is right above your shouting spot]

i like singing, you and mom taught me to do it.
[i like your singing too, if you could delay it till after coffee number one, then the world is a happy place]

with which there was great reconciliation and true depth of forgiveness, repentance and a commitment to turning away from our bad habits. sharing over a coffee/milk, joel was heard to say, "i'm sorry dad" "i'm sorry too son". "i forgive you for your murderous thoughts". "and i forgive you for your shouting".

i'm feeling a little tired, i think i may have a nap.
[and that's a cruel luxury afforded an 8 month old, that his parents can only daydream of]

lighthouse adventure

it's amazing being a true vancouverite: born and bred. there are so many cool places to go and sleep, adventure and eat. today we had a big family outing to lighthouse park on the north shore. sun shone, water was deep blue .. not like the mediteranean, more icy. arbutus trees are fab, and provide nice shade under which to sleep. mom and dad enjoyed it too, even though dad is still suffering with a hurting ankle after playing ultimate frisbee with the youth - silly dad.




currently listening to: passion worship events - chris tomlin and the crew
currently eating: melon and apple and rice cereal

grass stains

a milestone in a boy's development. i got grass stains on my white socks today. admittedly it was cos dad was throwing me around in the back yard (garden in english!), i've not yet got as far as running around, or even crawling yet.

fathers day today .. couldn't wait for it to start, so woke up dad (and uncle greg upstairs) at 5:50am. they didn't share my excitement at the time.

i've got a routine

no, not a dance routine, a life routine. mom seems to think that's quite impressive, so i thought i'd tell you about it.
6.30am i wake up. sometimes a little earlier (or today at 5.15am a lot earlier), not often later. i lie in bed and read my book on my own for a while (the antics of cheeky monkey) and then after about 20 minutes or so i really fancy a nice cup of tea. i call mom in from her bedroom, but so far she's only given me milk.
after i've had my milk, and had my diaper changed, it's time to play for a while. despite my covetous glances neither parent has yet deigned to share their tea or toast with me. at around about 8-8.30am it's time for a nap.
9am and time for my real breakfast. some pureed fruit and rice cereal. apple and cinnamon is nice, and i seem to have pears quite often. after breakfast i have my diaper changed again, and i roll around naked on the bathroom floor while mom's in the shower.
11am is snack time. more milk for me.
by 12 or 12.30pm i'm ready for a snooze. this may well be in the stroller if mom's taken me out shopping. we seem to go out to the greengrocers a lot.
1pm and it's time for lunch. i REALLY like lunch. how does lamb and apricot, with sweet potato, peas and carrots sound to you? this might be followed by some apple and apricot, or avocado and banana ( or both) and a couple of rice rusks. if i really yell mom will keep feeding me fruit until i stop leaning forward and opening my mouth wide. it's pretty cool the way this unlimited supply of food goes from the freezer into the microwave. we get to do this countdown thing while we wait for the microwave pings. i'm getting good at counting as well as getting fed: three....two....one....
3pm milk time again. i know. it's probably only an hour since i finished lunch, but if i don't eat now it'll be nap time again, and i wouldn't want to miss out on a meal.
4pm - after my afternoon snooze, and it's probably time for a bounce in my Jolly Jumper. if dad's home he might play aeroplanes with me.
5pm is time for tea. more fruit and rice cereal. pear and blueberry stains very well, and tastes good too. after tea i sit in my chair and practice drinking out of my sippy cup. sometimes i get a mouthful of water which makes me choke. but not very often.
after tea mom might read me a story if dad's had to go to work. Baby Boo is my favourite. mom and i got to read it 12 times in a row yesterday. as soon as we got to the last page i turned back to the beginning again. i'm getting well practised at turning over one page at a time, and i usually hold the book the right way up too. if i'm really tired and not done too well at napping during the day, mom might put on my Baby Bach video.
6.15pm is bathtime. this is an ever-evolving festival of fun. dad's latest trick is torpedo ducks. after i've pulled the plug out dad carefully positions a rubber duck over the plughole. one gentle tap on the side of the duck and whoosh it torpedos to the surface. it's very very very very funny. so funny i sometimes forget to breathe. that's not so funny.
6.45pm and i'm in my PJs and sleeping bag ready for my final milk of the day. actually that's a joke. you don't think i'd go 12 hours without eating do you? by 7 or 7.15pm i'll have finished my bottle and be in bed with Hey Hey the monkey and Gerhard the tiger. sometimes i sing myself to sleep. sometimes i cry. sometimes i refuse to sleep at all. very occasionally i just lie down and go to sleep. i only do this to confuse the parents who are waiting for me to start snoring before they cook their dinner.
actually calvin paints a good picture of bedtime .. and he goes to bed with a tiger too. interesting.
10.30pm and time for my midnight feast. just milk and a few mouthfuls of tiger fur to keep me going until morning. grrrrr zzzzzzzz

personal status update

i am now 7 months old, i have some hair and a couple of teeth, my lunch can sometimes be lamb and apricot, sweet potato, corn, carrot followed by apple and rice, and a bonus chunk of banana. i like to eat. bathtimes are extrememly fun, playtimes are everlasting, napping in the day makes me look cute and feel good. mom's my hero and my bestest friend, dad's fun and my second bestest. i can do things with my hands and feet that look really impressive, i make the most awesome array of noises including chuckles, squeaks, duck noises, farty sounds, bubs, foghorns. i do cry on occasion, but only when i have a good reason. i don't crawl or walk, but boy do i want to! i throw things and reach for things and roll over and get incredibly excited when you dangle things above my head. i sit up without any assistance, i read books, play the piano (both the big one, and my new little one), i love percussion - official and non-official, i have some rhythm, but little melody so far. i can do more than one thing at a time (actually that's a lie), my dimples are even cuter than they used to be, and i look fabulous when seated in a field of daisies ...

i also look good with my friends, noah, maddy and mia - taken today Jun 12th

do you really want me to fill in the gap?

OK, so 3 months in one post. 3 days after the March 9 post we went snowboarding (thank you God!) we found snow in Big White. this was a bonus after bad local skiing. uncle gerhard made sure a few of us had some time out which was IMMENSELY cool of him. while mom skied and dad snowboarded i got to hang out in the condo. having learned how to roll over and bounced in the jolly jumper on the balcony looking at the snow, i decided to sprout a couple of teeth for my final trick. the next few weeks were really busy, i still decided it was good and proper to wake up every 3 hours for food at night .. i was hungry .. mom had a birthday (they look fun!), dad did lots of yoofy stuff and suddenly we found ourselves on a plane to england in april. i did ok on the plane trip despite a terrible air canada experience, and then proceeded to be difficult for at least 4 days (they thought it was jetlag, but it was actually culture shock). england's different, but i liked some of it. mom's face in tescos was a picture, so was dad's when eating the result. i met loads of my family and had lots of fun with them. wow did i see a load of people, so many i can't remember all their names. granny fell down and went to hospital which was real sad, and the car broke down which was difficult, but my other granny spent lots of time with me which is really great.

we came home to perfect sunny weather. dad did yoof group on the first day back, not knowing which way was up and when night starts. during the next week i tried really hard to start sleeping through the night, and i'm now pretty good at it. i also started eating food .. and seem to be incredibly good at that :) we went to kelowna and stayed in a real nice house with church pastors. i hung out with maddie and her mom which was fun.

then we came back and dad did lots and lots and lots of yoof stuff, and mom and i hung out a lot at home and in the hood, inviting all my friends around every thursday. sleeping good, feeding good, i feel like garfield then we went to kamloops for history maker - wow that was quite something too, then we thought it would be less busy when we came back, but it wasn't. dad seems to be working a bit hard right now, and has taken one day off between may 9 and June 6. this is not good for anyone, especially me (i can be selfish like that).

phew .. hoping summer will be a little less crazy and more filled with BBQ and hammock time.

wow ... am i back?

after much encouragement to scribble and much life that has happened, it is finally finally time for a post. a gap of 3 months is unacceptable without a really good excuse, so let me invent one for you ... hmm ... errr ... yep, yep ... here it comes ... oooh ... ah ... oops ... there it went again. oh come on, you'd have thought with a brain the size of mine (and yes it really is immense), i could at least invent a good excuse for lethargy.

well anyway, every good blog has a hole in it somewhere, right? it shows that there is life beyond the virtuality of cyberspace, and sometimes it's important for people to neglect the mouse and screen in favour of living it up in the great outdoor reality.

so here i am. actually i'm keeping dad company, cos he drank too much coffee this evening. it was good coffee - beans sourced by starbucks from columbia, ground in a starbucks grinder and "espressed" in a very nice little italian stove top espresso maker (sort of like this) bought for dad by uncle will in tuscany. timbo and lissa were round for really pleasant evening of chat, good food, mutual appreciation of the new series of west wing. so dad couldn't resist a second cup .. silly boy.

in training

so yesterday we got back from a couple of days at Camp Stillwood. i got to sleep in my travel cot which wasn't so bad, since mom remembered to bring my sleeping bag, night light, monitor and Hey Hey as well as my stroller, several changes of clothes and lots of wipes, diapers and of course my pyjamas. there was even space in the car for dad which was just as well because he had lots of meetings to go to.

these sectional pastors of the BC and Yukon district of the PAOC were truly an inspiration: breakfast (cooked, of course, with cereal, bagels, fresh fruit and yoghurt to follow) at 8.30am, a mid-morning snack at 10.30am, lunch at 12 ( anyone for roast beef and yorkshire pudding?) with dessert, afternon tea at 3.15pm, dinner (3 courses) at 5pm, and then cinnamon rolls and cookies later in the evening because 5pm is a bit early to be eating really.

personally i can still only manage eating every three hours, but maybe when i'm a bit older i'll be able to eat enough to be a PAOC pastor

made to walk ..

.. so obviously i'm not walking yet, although in talking with a bunch of my friends on thursday, it appears many of them are rolling over. i tend to roll off things - pillow, dad, and maybe the sofa if someone left me to my own devices for a while. however generally rolling over is not possible - arms get in the way and stuff. also i'm heavier than you're average bear, so it's quite an effort.

standing: OK when supported by exersaucer, sitting: OK when mom holds my arms, crawling: no idea. enjoying been "thrown around" by dad a bit, sometimes i chuckle which is loads of fun. i'm actually pretty strong.

but of course my speciality is drooling and dribbling. do they make funky skater bibs? my fashionable clothing is rather lost under ASDA's own plain ones. here's a photo to make you smile .. maybe a caption competition again? the last pic was a difficult one to caption, although you all did really well. dad couldn't think of a single one last time. pah.

what a hero!

so it's 2.30am and mom's got a migraine and is half paralyzed. hero number one is dad - he found the drugs :) and held a cold wet cloth on mom's head whilst hero number two - Joel - managed to latch on and feed himself in the pitch dark in a somewhat unusual position. hero number three is mom who managed not to be sick on Joel's head in the process!

February 29th

so today should have been my four month birthday. did i get a cake and candles? no. did we have a party? no. and why not? because february only has 28 days. that's not fair. why can't january and march both have 30 days and give february the extra two? that way i could have had my birthday cake and a party, instead of which mom took me to IKEA and the doctor.

the doctor started off OK. she said "wow, those six months have gone quickly". mom gently corrected her that actually i was only four months old, or at least i would have been if it wasn't for the february thing. she didn't have to explain the whole missing the party thing to the doctor though, so maybe it's just one of the unfair things in life that grownups have come to accept?

we did the weigh-in: i'm 8kg (17lbs 12) and 27 inches tall (69cm). that would explain why some of my clothes are supposed to be for a one year old. my head is now a massive 48.5cm around, catching up with dad fast who's 58cm.

i was kind of wondering why dad had come to the doctor too. it turns out mom didn't want to have to hold me down this time while i had my vaccinations. wise woman, my mom.

fridge poetry

dad got disproportionately excited as he finally unloaded all the fridge poetry into it's proper destination this afternoon. a worthy activity to accompany a nice cup of tea. being a canadian fridge, the blank canvas is truly magnificent.

anyhow, thought i should have a go at my first fridge poem ... enjoy

"drunk on milk, enormous smelly pants
playful moment, purple scream
I lie gorgeous, love-ing you mad"

JAS Feb 2005

toys

There are some definite advantages to being born Canadian. For example, mom and dad had to learn french at school in order to be understood (or not!) when they left the little island they were born on. Being Canadian, i was born bilingual. This week mom and i went to the library, and i choose 'Bebe Mozart' as my video of the week. This is Baby Einstein in french - guaranteed to blow my mind, or was that grown my brain?

i have plenty of other educational toys, mostly made by Lamaze: a cube with handles that i'm getting really good at passing from hand to hand, a twisted knot i can tug and chew, and an octopus that is actually a bit scary. my favorite toy though is a family size packet of chips (crisps - granny). preferably Lays ready salted: bright red, crinkly without sharp corners, and the Klippit mom uses to keep my fingers out is excellent for chewing on. who needs these fancy educational toys anyway?

obeying my father

Life's been pretty busy recently. The builders have come back to finish my playroom - i hope mom lets me make as much noise and mess in there as they are, we've been to see a financial advisor, done some shopping and had at least half a dozen of my friends round every Thursday afternoon for a few weeks now. All in all, i've been so tired i decided to make the ultimate sacrifice. For a few nights i decided to skip my midnight feast. It was a tough choice to make, only eating once between midnight and 6am, but i managed it for a while. The only real problem is mom and dad. They were SO pleased with me and SO happy when i did finally wake up that i've realised i was depriving them not only of my company in the night but also of giving mom the opportunity to feed me and dad the opportunity to change my diaper.

Regretfully then i've decided to put their needs before my own, and have reverted to my three times a night habit. anything to make mom happy, that's what dad told me to do.

growing changes things

so i have now grown to the size of an average 6 year old or something excessive like that. I'm wearing clothes that used to fall off me, and i am giving away some clothes that i never actually wore before they got too small. my new car seat is pretty cool - real car interior upholstery, will convert to a front facer when i get a bit stronger, has a real 5 part harness like maverick in top gun, and comes with the essential vancouver accessory - a coffee cup holder - hoowah.

so erm, mom's doing a fabulous job in so many ways. i like her, she makes me chuckle when she goes whoosh whoosh. chuckling's fun, my latest trick.

4 eyes

caption competition ... add your thoughts below

(add a caption to this post by clicking on "comment" below ... open to anyone!)

anyone for dinner?

after a week of green pesto interspersed with the occasional dose of spinach and ricotta we are very pleased (relieved?) to annouce the return of carrot souffle to the menu :)

sorry mom

so mom went to the dentist today for her post-natal check up, and i think i caused her a spot of bother.....a loose crown, 'leaking fillings', and some cracked teeth. not entirely sure how much is my fault, and how much is mom not eating enough ice cream and chocolate milk but it's not looking good in there right now. still don't know what she's worried about, she's doing better than me. i've not got any teeth at all. may be i need to up my chocolate milk intake?

My musical career begins

now, dad's kind of OK at the piano. i've been watching and listening quite patiently as you see. but in the end it was time to say "move over big guy ... maestro's coming through!"

so, time for the first movie moment at "i-blog-2u", the continuing adventures of Joel Alexander. i hope it works for you, this is my first musical performance. mom managed to catch it on video.

Piano Man (small) 460K
Piano Man (large) 1,363K

actually dad really thinks i should be an electric guitarist. i've been showing the right moves to be a cellist over the weeks, and did a fabulous job at conducting some rachmaninov in my early days. you never know i may surprise everyone by becoming a baseball pro and leave music altogether. (dad spluttered into his coffee ... no pressure son, you do anything you want, but baseball ... baseball? not the most exciting sport in the world eh son? think very carefully)

MITTS

today was the inaugural meeting of "moms, infants and tiny tots" (MITTS). basically mom invited all my potential girlfriends around (with their moms) and i got to check them out. I was a bit put out that Noah came too, but he slept most of the afternoon - not so impressive to the girls :). later Finn came to add some real competition - he's about the same height as me, but a month older. the girls are all cute and petite and it was fun to hang out.

we had a lovely time with about a dozen babies and their moms. everyone was on their best behaviour so there wasn't any screaming from the moms and the babies didn't eat all the cookies. hurrah. we're getting somewhere near having our final room built too, which will add a little space and give the purple sofas a more appropriate setting.

dad kept a safe 3 blocks between us and him and did some "work" whatever that is?

was it you?

someone's given me a nasty tummy bug, and i want to know who it was. perhaps whoever's responsible would like to come and change my diapers? they're green and smelly and need changing every twenty minutes or so. mom's fed up already and it's only been 48 hours. i've given myself a sore throat by crying too much and now my voice sounds really strange - kind of squeaky.

i had quite a long sleep last night trying to get better which worried mom somewhat. it was only four hours that i was asleep for, but she was worried i might be getting dehydrated and i don't think my funny voice was all that reassuring.

so....if it's your bug, perhaps you'd like to come and take it back now?

ipod strolling

ipod strolling. the urban parent has many tools in their armory. a night-time stroll in the vancouver drizzle is sometimes the only one that works when i scream and shout and moan and groan and cry and generally express unhappiness. dad put the U2 collection on shuffle, and off we went. this morning i was fabulous kid whom everyone adored. i stared joyously and inquisitively, I sang the songs in church, I showed off my perfectly formed dimples in broad grins, I blew cute bubbles and dribbled on various people’s clothing. I enjoyed hanging out with the penas from mexico city. what a great sunday. tonight I’m not quite so fabulous, so after trying everything that ever calms me down, a stroll in the rain was quite simply the only way to give mom some peace. hopefully after a good feed I’ll enjoy the peace and tranquility of my wonderful cot, and sleep for a few hours at least.

for dad’s version of the stroll, read city of blinding lights :)

the resulting portrait

wow, i did ok. my official image, known to all governments, terrorist organisations, and customs officials. just need to answer all the difficult questions on the form (how am i supposed to know what colour my hair is going to be?), and the world is my aphrodisac shellfish.

PS Uncle tim suggests i don't use the photo on the right... :(

Passports

So with flights booked, we've finally set about getting me my passport. Hey Hey doesn't need one, so he's good to go. I'm getting a nice blue Canadian one. This may cause trouble when we land at Heathrow and i have to go through the non-EU channel without mom or dad, but maybe i'll be walking by then. it is a couple of months away still.

So, my passport: we went today to get my photo taken. I sat on dad's knee and did my best to fulfil the government's requirements:
Show a full front view of head and shoulders without head covering.
Image must have the face square to the camera with a neutral expression and with the mouth closed.
Taken against a plain, uniform white or light coloured background with no other person visible.

dad took off my hat (and bib, although there was no mention of that in the instructions) and did his best to stay at out of the picture. i concentrated hard on holding my head up, closing my mouth, opening my eyes and not moving. i'm not sure i managed it, but we'll find out tomorrow when we go back and pick up the photos.

If they're OK then the next step is to go and see my lawyer. do i have a lawyer yet, mom?

Hooray for Hey Hey

Hey Hey is my new best friend (after mom and dad, of course). He's a monkey that on occasion i cuddle in a really cute way, but normally i just settle back and chew on. This means mom and dad needn't sit with their fingers in my mouth for hours at a time.

Our flights are booked for April. We're arriving at Heathrow on April 5th, and staying until the 21st. Hey Hey and I are travelling in style - we've got a fully horizontal bed where we can both stretch out in comfort. I think mom and dad are jealous. They'll be sitting in the first row of economy class, where they can see all the rich people in business class with their comfortable seats, nice food and choice of films, but will themselves probably have less room than anyone else on the plane. That may have something to do with my bed........ good job it's only a 10 hour flight.

transport

i'm sure i've told you before about my stroller - it's a blue Zooper Sport "for discerning babies". i get to go out in it with mom when we go shopping or to church. when the sun's out we sometimes go as far as the beach.

if we need to go further than that, then we go in the car. the car's blue too, and is kind of a stroller with extra seats for mom and dad, and an engine so no-one has to walk. i'm not sure that a Ford Focus is a car for discerning adults, but it goes just fine.

today dad went out in the car with four Mexicans, so mom and i had to go on a bus. as she pushed me down the road mom explained to me about buses. they're kind of like strollers for lots of people, but everyone has to go the same way so sometimes you have to do some walking too. not only that, but the bus driver doesn't go as fast as dad so you have to might have to wait for a while at the bus stop.

it turns out there's lots of things mom didn't tell me about buses. she didn't tell me i'd get on the bus IN my stroller. i knew we were going along but mom was sitting beside me, so who was pushing? getting on the bus was a bit of an adventure too. it was kind of like when i go flying with dad, but i was still sat in my stroller and the whole ground was lifted up. weird. and the people on the bus were kind of odd too........

i did get to have lunch in Tim Horton's though. Urban mom fed me whilst perched on the side of the sink in the disabled washroom. I've eaten in better dining rooms, but lunch still tasted good.

welcome home dad

so, dad just walked in. 4:07pm, he left the house at 7am after kindly hanging out with me since 5:30. words to mom as he walks in the front door ...

"wow, you look great ... are you OK?"

hmmm, dad should work on his opening lines, eh? mom luckily thought this was very funny.

vital stats update

so mom and i went to the doctor today. i've been crying quite a bit, fussing. turns out that i'm growing REALLY fast. at birth i was in the 75th percentile of normal babes, with a big head. my body has now caught up with my noggin to make me a 95th percentile plus boy.

in non-scientific terms - i'm hooge. so mom is obviously a tremendous dairy queen. i'm also very strong, developing quickly, can hold my head up. my stomach muscles are working over time. dad loves to take me flying round the apartment, and i love it too. i'm crying because my body's doing a lot. what a kid.

father, son and wholly mimic'd

the all new joel photo gallery

a very large gallery of pictures of me. dad and i have been working on it for a while now. actually there's nearly 200 photos, so only my biggest fans are likely to have the patience. we'll do our best to edit to the best 20 soon, then you may have a hope.

still, if you're bored, send me an email joel@sopwithworld.com and i'll reply with the password you need - i don't just let anyone see photo's of "cute kid" you know.

happiness ... the elusive quality in a baby's repertoire

so, i type this while listening to a bunch of teenagers rocking the house. i don’t know what the band is called yet, i’ll have to ask. it’s a bit loud, and they have a little practice to do, but they rock. cover of “no sugar tonight” by the Guess Who is rather fine.

for some reason this week i find myself to be crying and screaming a lot. none of us really know why. i think i may be going for a “growth spurt” but it’s lasting a long time. mom and dad would rather i cheered up. i do smile and enjoy the good stuff still ... but really only for 20mins at a time.

top tips welcome on how to get more happy. it is of course raining .. very hard .. actually really hard. there's enough to make life bad right there - especially as the mountains are not openfor skiing right now .. grrr

hot pants

hot kid, hot pants. i’m not the biggest fan of my new cloth diapers, although i like to do my bit to save some trees and landfill space. actually what i really love to do is lie naked on the bathroom floor, but perhaps i shouldn’t be publishing these things ...

i'm so proud of my dad's example

hey mr preacher man

that's my dad, that is. he preached me a great sermon last week, and it sounded pretty good when i overheard him preaching it again to mom on saturday night, but you know, by sunday morning i'd heard it enough. i mean, how many times do you expect a guy to listen to the same talk in a week? mom tried to keep me quiet by making me eat, but i wasn't having any of it. i reckon if all those people were so keen to hear dad speak they could have come round to our house earlier in the week, right?

lots of people said nice things to him afterwards, but i didn't tell them it was only that good because he'd been practising on me.

big question is.......are they going to ask him to preach again?

we went skiing

more accurately, mom went skiing, dad did a bit of snowboarding, and i had a nap, cried, ate, cried, had a nap .....and generally prevented dad from writing his sermon or having a nap himself. mom had a fantastic time, even though she left me behind in the lodge. i didn't mind all that much - the light was very bright outside with the sun reflecting off the snow and it was a bit chilly for my liking.

it was a bit of a squash getting a snowboard, a pair of skis, two pairs of boots, my stroller and diaper bag and changes of clothes for everyone into the back of the car. i think we'll need to get a roofrack or a bigger car soon, especially if mom and dad are going to make a habit of this. i need to take more toys with me next time, and perhaps a book or two to read. a more comfortable chair than my stroller would be good too if i'm going to be stuck in it all day. it might be prudent to take along a bit of extra food for me too - i could get hungry being at altitude.

when it comes to travelling i think i take after my mom. being prepared means taking everything i might possibly need - and i'll keep thinking of things to take until every last square inch of space has been filled.

I've got hands

two of them......i've discovered what the thumbs are for, but what about the fingers? they're really interesting - i could watch them for hours. they seem to get tied up in knots very easily though. maybe it's because i've got so many? they poke my eye whilst i suck my thumb too, but my mouth's not big enough to get them all in as well. i know, i've tried.

Hey uncle nick j

i sent you an email to let you know of my existence, but it came back saying you were out of the office until March. i want a job like yours when i grow up. in the meantime, i'm looking forward to meeting you. mom says you make a mean tinned macaroni cheese. you'd fit in well here - Kraft mac and cheese is the national dish. it comes in a box though, so making it is a bit more technical than perhaps you could manage?

send me an email and we can continue our conversation in private. i want to know what mom and dad were like as teenagers, so i know how best to wind them up in later life

I'm dreaming of a white christmas...

or maybe it was real. one minute i was warm and snug in my carseat, having a little post-lunch snooze (definitely the thing to do on christmas day), the next thing i knew the outside world had gone white. having put enough clothes on me to ensure i got thoroughly cross and overheated, mom and dad then took me outside into the cold and wet. OK, so the trees were pretty although i quite like them green as a rule, but what was with that person who'd been out there so long they'd turned white from head to toe? it looked like their facial features had been turned to candy too. fortunately mom put me back in the car before the same thing happened to me.

next stop was BC womens hospital. i wanted to check my first girlfriend hadn't forgotten me. we found christi up on the ward waiting to deliver another baby. she was really pleased to see me, and still thanks i'm gorgeous. that's alright then.

finally mom and dad got around to putting the turkey in the oven. i don't know what's wrong with them. it's not like they went to church or anything today. perhaps they like eating a full roast lunch at 10pm?