Polar Bear Swim

Jeremy was outside washing the car on the weekend and it was a sunny (but chilly) day. Connor was outside playing around filling things up with water which we were fine with. Then he explained that he needed to go inside to get something from his room, again that was okay. This is how he came back outside - no shirt, shoes, or socks - and ready to swim!! He lasted about 30 minutes and then wanted to go inside for some hot chocolate.

Darien can stand on his own now and tries to take a step. He hasn't been succesful yet, but I am sure it is only a matter of time before he is running after Connor.

8 Months Old Plus A Day

Well, here they are! I had forgotten that Connor was wearing the same shirt for his 8 month pic that I put on Darien this morning. I still think Darien is a bigger than Connor was at this age though.

Connor decided that him and daddy needed to go to the park and then to the beach for a picnic. It was pouring rain today (the same as all weekend) so it was an indoors pretend outing. The park was in one room and then they had to pack up and go to the beach. They put on suncreen, had some water, laid out their towels and then stretched out to look up at the sky. Connor decided that it was night time and they were gazing at the stars. They used some constellation reference cards that go with Connor's telescope. Here is Darien joining them for some astronomy lessons.

8 Months Old

I just couldn't get it together today and didn't take Darien's picture. So it will have to be tomorrow and his 8 months +1 day picture.

New Blog

I was just offered a blogging position at Hotels By City it's a destination blog letting travellers know what there is to do in Maple Ridge and why they should come visit. I have posted the link at the side; click on it for me every once and awhile (okay, you can do it repeatedly on a daily basis if you really want to).
Maybe it will even entice some of you to come and visit us (yes that is a dig for those of you who have not made it out our way - it has been 9 1/2 years!).

Yummy Beets!

What a messy meal! But you have to figure that something this full of natural colours has to be good for him. There isn't much Darien turns his nose up at food-wise (well, the only thing that doesn't agree with him so far is peas). And he is beginning to let us know in no uncertain terms that he would prefer to feed himself. I may have to tape a garbage bag to the floor under his highchair for mealtimes, either that or let the dog in after dinner to clean up (baby food seems to instantly turn to cement when it hits the floor).
Connor has been home sick for the past 2 days. Yesterday he didn't even want to get out of bed to watch Curious George! Most mornings he is begging us to come downstairs and put on his favorite show, we knew something was up when he said he just wanted to stay in bed for a little bit longer. He has a fever and is very stuffed up. He seems better today, but we kept him home from school to rest up.

It Snowed Again!

This is unlike any BC winter we have experienced since we moved here 9 1/2 years ago! We have been hit by one storm after another, this last one was a doozy though. The kicker is the forecast was only calling for 1-2 cm - we received 30-40 cm!

Yikes, it almost makes us want to move back to Ontario (I said ALMOST).

In kid-related news: Connor started a new group at the Ridge Meadows Child Development Centre. His speech really isn't too far behind what it should be and the speech pathologist put him on a 6-month review cycle as opposed to enrolling him in therapy. But, there is a playgroup we will be attending every Thursday with a different speech pathologist and 3 other boys. The purpose is to build language skills in a social setting. I was so proud of Connor during the session, he listened so well and participated in all of the activities. We were even given homework - which he is very excited about.

And here is a picture from today of Darien - all he wants to do is stand.

No, we are not moving...

We have been trying to encourage Connor to have some independent play time periodically- but why oh why wasn't our spider senses tingling as he emptied out his entire room!?



Yep, it took about 2 hours to put everything back -and it only took him 20 minutes to accomplish the monster mess. The plus side? His room got a good vacuuming!

3 Teeth

Darien has 3 teeth coming in all at once. No wonder he hasn't been sleeping well the past couple of nights.
Exciting news for me, the local paper is interested in publishing one of my articles!! I think it might be too long for a newspaper format but I am still waiting to hear back to see if they want me to cut it back or if it is not going to work. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Welcome 2007

Happy New Year! We had a quiet evening with a few drinks, some Scrabble and off to bed (for me) at 12:01. Darien is mobile now, he is a bum scooter. It is so cute but I have heart palpitations whenever he does it thinking he is going to fall flat on his face as he propels himself forward.
It blows me away some times with how big Connor is getting. He will say something to us and I will do a doubletake and think, oh no he is growing up way too fast. He tripped on the stairs yesterday and I asked him if he was okay, "Mom (notice no mommy), did you hear me crying? If I don't cry I am okay."
We were watching some kid's show on TV and they were making their own pizza. Connor decided that is what he would like to do for dinner as well. I reminded him that he does not like pizza and he told me that if it was a pizza he made himself he would like it and eat it. Right on, I love having pizza but we never make or order it because Connor won't eat it and it would involve making 2 different dinners. So we bought all the fixings and had a great time making it. As you can see, he was very proud of his culinary creation. Anxiously anticipating the pizza being done.

We take it out of the oven, let it cool down and put 2 small slices on Connor's plate, "I will not eat this at all, I hate it." We should have learned our lesson during the birthday crab incident but evidently we didn't. What 4 year old wants crab for his birthday dinner? Not ours. It must just be the cooking part he enjoys.