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?