Happy Birthday Nanna, Take One

A visit with Santa

Friday I picked the jellybean up early and we went on an adventure. We were going to see Santa. This year, we decided to visit a different Santa. Last year, was a bit of a disaster, if you remember. The Santa at Bayshore Center came highly recommended. So we braved Friday afternoon traffic and drove across the city. We were also meeting my friend D. and her daughter Q.

At first he was excited, and then he got scared. He flip flopped back and forth. I thought maybe if Q. went first he might see that it was all OK. Well, he was a little nervous. No way was he going to sit on Santa's lap. Santa shifted over and asked if the jellybean wanted to sit on Mommy's lap next to him. He was good with that. And then Jiggles, one of Santa's awesome helpers (seriously, Jingles and Peppermint were top notch) asked if the jellybean would sit on her lap next to Santa. He said yes! Ladies man already.

So here you have the Christmas 2009 picture. It seems to help when you have a really nice Santa and some great elves.



And yesterday morning the jellybean helped me put up the Christmas lights outside. The Christmas season has officially begun in our household. A full two weeks before it usually does. I think I am in need of a little Christmas cheer.

Family portrait

This is the first family portrait done by the jellybean. I'll keep it forever.

Potty Training Update

Well yesterday was a complete write off but today we have had two successful pees in the potty! The jellybean was so excited I could help but laugh. The little dance he does is ridiculously cute. We will definitely have to get that on video.

Bonus, the jellybean insists that I get a Smartie candy when he does. Sweet!

Potty Training

It would seem that we are potty training.

We've tried a few times, making the jellybean sit on the potty, but we weren't trying very hard. Considering that he doesn't tell you when he has pooped his pants and just flat out refuses to sit on the potty most of the time, I figured he just wasn't ready.

Then I picked up the jellybean at daycare on Monday to find out that his little friend B. is now in underwear. I thought that maybe they could do this together. Then on Tuesday I find out that his little girlfriend G. is starting to use the potty as well. And finally yesterday the hubby comes home to tell me that the jellybean got a Smartie. A Smartie for having peed on the potty. So it looks like we are potty training.

I have no idea what I am doing. I am completely relying on Delia's expertise and direction on this. I hadn't read anything about it, just assuming that we had a while before getting the process going. So off to WalMart to buy some underwear. How is it that you go into WalMart to buy some underwear and come out with two giant bags of stuff? But I digress.

Now we have underwear, we have Smarties and we have a potty. Delia is going to start in earnest tomorrow and I will continue on the weekend. Well, Saturday morning it isn't going to happen because friends will be babysitting while I am on the picket line, but the rest of the weekend we will stay at home and I will try and potty train. It will be all me since the hubby is off to Toronto for a stag. I am not getting my hopes up too high. I think it will be a long drawn out process, not entirely convinced that he is ready for it. But I guess we had to start at some point, right?

Interpretive Dance

Not having been home for several weekends in a row, we were really happy to have a long weekend at home with nothing planned. It ended up being really busy, worth several posts actually. But we will start with the one thing that the jellybean is still talking about.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a sign at our local mall advertising that Toopy and Binoo were going to be at the mall. For those that don't know, Toopy and Binoo are cartoon characters from a show of the same name. Toopy is a rat (or is it mouse?) with a stuffed friend called Binoo who is a cat (I think) and they go on imaginary adventures that last about 5 minutes. The jellybean loves them. LOVES. THEM. So when I saw the sign, I thought "Gold! I'll be the best Mommy ever."

I told the jellybean's girlfriend Dimples' mom about it and we all decided that this should be a family affair.

Here they are in anticipation.


This is when they finally saw them.


Here are the stars on stage.


And here are the real stars of the show. Toopy and Binoo were rocking it on stage, but the jellybean and Dimples were totally rocking out in the crowd. They were truly the stars of the day.

Buttons

Mom had a tin of buttons when I was a kid. She was a big sewer and kept every button that fell of a piece of clothing or that she found. It was a pretty big tin, well at least to a five year old. I have some really fond memories of playing with those buttons. I can vividly remember what some of them looked like, even the feel of them. I spent hours and hours running my fingers through the tin, sorting the buttons into size, or colour, or shape, or which ones I liked best.

Today the jellybean found my pitiful little Mason jar of buttons. There are maybe a couple of dozen buttons in it, nothing special, no gems. But he wanted to play with them. So I took the jar to the front steps, where we seem to spend most of our before dinner time these days. At first he stuck his little hand in the jar and pulled out one button and a time, turning it over in his hand and showing it to me. "Look at this one!"



Then he dumped them all onto my lap. We were out there for a good hour playing with the buttons, lining them up or making button towers. It was a fight to get him in for supper, only won by promising more button play after supper. I figured he would forget but as soon as the last bite was chewed, he asked for the buttons again. So back out on the front porch for another hour before bath time. He even had to bring some in the bath.




I love that he seems so taken with playing with buttons. It's a silly little thing, but it's something that I loved as a kid and I am glad to have this to share with him.

From the mouth of babes

For a while now I've wanted to post the funny things that the jellybean says on a regular basis. The words that he wraps his little tongue around with difficulty, and the new words he creates to mean something, which we have to continuously guess at. I've been wanting to do this for months, thinking all the time of all the cute and funny little things he says. Now I find myself with a little time on my hands to do it, and I can't think of any of the things I wanted to write down for prosperity.

Maybe if I start writing they will come to me.

• Biddy/Blanky: He used to call his special blanket Biddy. It is now Blanky. I liked Biddy better.
• Popcorn-corn-on-cob: corn
• Pop-key-cewl: popsicle
• Beyey: Belly
• Garietta: Gabriella
• I yah yew: I love you (my personal favorite)
• Diosaur: Dinosaur
• Tiger Movie: Madagascar (The first one. The second has guns.)
• Peas: Please
• Sca-wee: Scarry

I know there are tonnes more. I'll try and write them as I remember them.

A week at the cottage

Last week at the cottage meant a lot of things.

Making sand castles with uncles.


Going for a paddle.


Snuggling with Nana.


Doing goofy stuff in the water.


Eating lunch at the lake.


Watching some movies.


Playing with the dog.


We even got to take a great family photo.

This is what we want people to believe.



This is what it's really like.


It was a great week and already looking forward to next year.

A perfect cottage day

Started today with a paddle with Marty and the jellybean. The lake was like a mirror. The sun just coming up over the trees and it's strength just starting to be felt on my cheeks.


Back to the cottage, into our bathing suits and playing in the water. The hubby making sand castles with the jellybean. Me and Max making sand art out of stones and snail shells.





Left over spaghetti for lunch. Marty volunteering to put Max down for nap and stay up at the cottage so that I can go down to the lake. Sitting in the sun, reading my book, I look up to see that the resident loons have graced me with their presence. They grant me a little trill before diving down and out of sight. I jump into the water when I get too hot.

Max wakes up and he and the hubby come down to the lake. The afternoon spent in the water, playing, swimming, knocking down sand castles, singing silly songs.

Barbecued steak and potatoes for dinner. Strawberry and rhubarb pie for desert. The day ends with snuggling with the jellybean until he falls asleep.


Campfire and roasted marshmallows. Falling asleep to the sound of the loons cry.

Wake up tomorrow and repeat.

Canada Day in the Capital

We were supposed to be heading down to Kingston to spend Canada Day at water's front with a bunch of friends. When the weather was crap, we all decided that we would call it off. And when it started to pour rain at about 8am, I was thankful for our decision. And then it stopped raining. And it started to get warm. And the sun would peek from the clouds now and then and sizzle you. So instead of sitting around the house all day, what did we decide to do? Head over to Parliament Hill.

If you like throngs of people, over priced food and the fear of loosing your kids, then Canada Day in the Capital is the place for you!



We mostly stayed in Major's Hill Park, where it wasn't shoulder to shoulder. We had some pizza, listened to some music, walked around a bit, tried not to loose Max and people watched.


We tried to get up on the Hill but it was impossible. So we headed home. On the walk home we saw this:


The Snow Birds passed over a couple of times actually. It was really cool. What did Max see?


The excitement had just tuckered him out. We ended the day with a pop in at our friends Meredith and Ron, which turned out to us spending the afternoon and having dinner, after playing on their home made slip and slide (using dish soap). It was a blast. Though we would have loved spending the day with our TO friends, this was a good way to spend it too.

Happy Father's Day

A very happy Father's Day to all the father's and father friends in my life.

A lucky son

Max doesn't know it yet, but he is a really lucky guy to have Marty as his father. There are tones of reasons, but at the moment I'd say one of the biggies is that Marty is a teacher.

No matter what they are playing at, Marty some how makes it into some sort of learning fun. Whether it is language, numbers, colours or letters, Marty's brain is going full tilt with teaching that it spills over into his play time with Max and I think that's awesome. Max is going to learn so much over the summer, I'm so excited for him.

I know when he is a teenager Max is going to hate that his father is a teacher, because Marty'll be on him about school work and stuff, but for the moment I am going to enjoy the blissful ignorance of a two year old and his lucky fortune.

Free food Miss? Um, yah!

It would seem that if you blog for long enough, PR companies get whiff of you and give you free stuff. Now I will never be the caliber of blog that gets free cameras or car seats or trips to Disney (yep, there are mommy bloggers out there that get these things on a pretty regular basis). But if someone is going to offer me free food, my answer will pretty much always be: Heck yah!

Recently I was asked if I wanted to try and possibly review new meats that Presidents Choice is offering, as well as some other new food products.

First up: Memories of Dad's Grill: Maple, Apple & Beer Sauce. This stuff is good. We have used it several times on pork tenderloins on the barbecue and love it. It's got a really nice flavour, not too sweet, so it doesn't't burn on the grill; major bonus. It's now going to be a stand by when I don't have time to do marinades or rubs.

Second up: PC's tender and tasty grilling stake and the new Steak Spice Marinade. Again, this stuff is good. The steak is huge, a great price (the ones I bought were under $6.00) and either Canada AAA or USDA Choice grade. It would be nicer to see that they only use canadian beef, but beggars can't be choosers I guess. We are huge fans of Montreal steak spice, so to find it in a marinade was sweet. We marinated the stakes over night and Marty slapped them up on the barbecue. Yummo! The steak was nice and tender and tasty and the marinade gave it a great bite. Max even ate a chunk, and he is never fond of just meat (meaning not mixed with something else). During grilling season, this marinade will be another stand by in our fridge.

So enjoy your grilling season. Hopefully we will finally get some weather where we won't have to grill in touque and mitts and will actually be able to eat on the deck outside!

Disclosure: I was sent these items with no obligation to review. No other monetary compensation was given.

First Kiss

This morning after I had kissed my boys, said my good-byes and have a nice days, Max came up to me and said: "Mommy, can I have a kiss?"

Cue heart melting. It's the first time he aske dme for a kiss. Today is going to be a good day.

2 Years Old

Dear Maxim,

You are two years old. Holy cow, when did that happen? When did you go from being a little baby to a little boy? And a little boy you are!

You love to roar like a dinosaur. You love to watch bugs and try so hard to pick up ants with your little fingers. You still prefer to eat with said fingers rather than using a spoon or fork, but you are getting better at it. Keeping true to yourself, you are still a really good eater. There isn’t much you turn your nose up at, but cooked peppers and zucchini. You love all fruits and could eat your weight in “nanas” if we let you.

Walking and running come easy you now. You still aren’t much into climbing things, but are starting to explore a bit more. You are attempting to jump too, which is the cutest thing ever. You can now go up the stairs on the play structure at the park all by yourself. And your favourite thing to do at the park is to sit up in the little house and “make muffins.”

You language skills blow daddy and mommy away. It isn’t very often that we don’t understand what you are saying. You have been speaking in full sentences for a few months now and to hear “Can I have a cracker please Mommy?” is normal in our household. You talk to your toys and animals in your own little language and even laugh at your own jokes. Your favourite things to play with at the moment are your race track from your cousin Mitch (whom you adore) and Play-Doh. You still like to read books and now are starting to sing songs. Singing “Down By The Bay” with Mommy makes her smile and laugh. It’s one of her favourite things to do with you.

You love to be outside. We have planted a runner bean together and you run to it every day to see if “bean grow?” You always want to go walking up and down the street to visit certain houses. Karl’s across the street to smell the flowers; Allison and Daryl’s to visit Milo and if you’re lucky go inside and play the piano; and Jenn and Jim’s to play with your two buds Xander and Mason. You often cry when we have to go home, and we end up carrying you under our arms.

Speaking of crying, you are a crier. And a whiner. Some days mommy and daddy have a hard time listening to it. You aren’t the best at listening to mommy and daddy when we are trying to talk to you, especially if you are playing with your “boys” or watching TV. You even push us out of the way sometimes when we interrupt you. These are the times you end up with time outs, which you don’t like one bit. We have witnessed a couple of full fledge, fling on the floor tantrums. Those are tough on mommy and daddy but we are trying to figure it all out.

Would we want it any other way? Never. Daddy and Mommy are constantly amazed by you and can’t wait to see what new and fun things you discover.

I love you my jellybean.

Mommy

From Baby to Boy

Happy belated Mother's Day to all the mom's out there. I hope you had a few moments to yourself, and was smothered with love and appreciation for how truly wonderful you are.

I was woken up (after a lovely sleep in) by Max carrying the card that he made at daycare. And he actually gave it to me! He usually says that his crafts are "mine!" but this time he gave it over freely. And I loved it.

Saturday was more my day then Sunday. A morning hike with two of my closest friends turned into lunch which turned into shopping and me getting home at dinner time! Love Marty for going with the flow and being OK with me going AWOL.

Sunday was family day. Morning at the park with the dog (it was bloody cold!). Then we went to the mall for lunch. Max loved the mall. It's not somewhere we go frequently, especially with Max. I would never be able to get any shopping done. But he enjoyed himself so much, walking on the patterns of the floor tiles, checking out the gigantic flower and plant pots, the water fountain, and the escalators! They were his favorite, bar none.

There was an ulterior motive to the mall trip. We decided that Max was due for a hair cut; his very first hair cut. And for his first cut we figured we would do something special. Yes, we were sucked in. There is this place called Melonheads at the mall. It's a hair salon for kids. You can sit in a race car, Thomas the tank, horse, etc. TVs with cartoons on, sparkly gels, coloured mooses. You get the picture. Max wanted the rocket ship. The hair dressers are really nice and good at what they do: trying to cut hair on a moving target. Max wasn't phased by the cutting, he just didn't want to sit still. So she brought him a toy, and that lasted for a few minutes and then the sucker. Now that worked! And he got his hair cut. He has gone from being my little baby to my little boy, just like that. In 10 minutes.

I have to admit that I teared up. My heart hurt. He is growing up.

So with no further adue, here's the new do.

Before

After

A few people have said that he looks a lot like Marty. I see my dad. It's actually uncanny how much I see my dad.

Happy Easter

OK, so I'm a week and a bit late, but better late than never. Right?

We headed down the 401 to the Big Smoke for the long weekend. The weather was really nippy (the wind froze you to the bone!) but we had a great time with the Detto clan. Marty and I even managed to get away by ourselves on Saturday afternoon to the AGO (Thank you Nana!). It was spectacular. I can not say enough about it. The new building is gorgeous. The contemporary galleries are inspiring. The Thompson Collection is mind boggling.

But I digress. Easter.

Easter morning I hid some eggs for Max in the living room. He was so excited. He thought looking for them was all the fun and didn't seem to care that if he opened them up there were surprises in them. And he didn't even know that the little "baby eggs" were chocolate. He just liked carrying them in his hand as they melted, completely oblivious.


We also had some outdoor hunting.


There was t-ball on the lawn with the cousins.


And helping Nana with the stuffing.


And an early birthday cake, which he graciously shared with Uncle Mike. He was blowing the candles as soon as Nana brought the cake in from the kitchen.


The weekend unfortunately ended with a nearly 5 hour drive back from Oshawa (which should have taken 3) after getting stuck behind an accident. Max was a real trouper. It was Marty and I that were whining and complaining. But all in all a very nice Easter weekend.

A potty

I bought a potty for Max last night. No, I don't have any lofty ideas about starting training soon. I know I'll be lucky if he gets out of diapers before heading to junior K. But he's starting to talk about having stinky diapers (even when they aren't) and attempting to pull down his pants (which he hasn't been able to do yet) so I thought that maybe we should at least have one in the house so that he can familiarize himself with it. I bought the most simple one I could find, no bells, no whistles, no clapping when something hits the bottom of the bowl.

I left it in the middle of the living room floor last night. When he came down this morning he ran into the living room, saw it, said "My poop!" sat down on it and went "Ahhh..." Where does he get this stuff? He kills me!

Boy Genius

OK, so maybe he isn't a genius, but I think he's pretty darn smart. And, too cute for words.

Dancing Max

We go from moments of pure joy to utter devastation within a nano second in these here parts. It always amazes me how quick a 23 month old's mood can change. From screaming and yelling to giggles and snorts. I love the happy, barely tolerate the whining and get down right testy with the screaming and yelling. Throw in kicking and slapping and I am plain old bitchy.

The weekend was great, with lots of the good stuff, along with with a great time with friends and their kids. But this blog is really just a gratuitous post so that I can post this video. When I came down stairs from my Saturday morning sleep in (I love my husband) this is what I was greeted with.

Remembering Meme

My grandmother died yesterday. She was 99. She outlived two of her children.

Meme was a woman of great wit. She had the sharpest tongue and made everyone laugh. She was smart and while she still could she loved doing crosswords, mots cacher and watched any sort of news program she could find. She raised 10 children, 5 girls and 5 boys. And was the matriarch of an enormous French Canadian brood. We had 5 generations of women in our family. I can't even tell you how many cousins I have. Seriously, I can't. Most of them I wouldn't even know if I passed them at the mall. My Meme was an incredibly strong woman. I'd like to believe that some of my tenacity came from her.

Meme loved to play cards. My dad's family are card nuts. I'm serious. They used to get together, put the kids in the basement, throw down some food every once and a while and play for entire weekends, sleeping in short 45 minutes stints. OK, that might be a bit of a twisted memory, but playing cards is a huge part of my family culture. I imagine at the family gathering this summer in her honour, there might be a deck or two unwrapped.

I have been very blessed to have known all four of my grandparents quite well. I'm glad that Max has that chance as well. He didn't get to meet Meme, which I am feeling very guilty about at the moment, but neither of them would have remembered or understood.

How did I honor her today? I went out and had some "Steamies." Steamed hotdogs. And a poutine. Meme loved her steamies. It was Marty's idea. I love him for that.

Merci pour ton esprit, Meme. Je t'aime.

Momentous moment

As Max stands on a chair and "helps" me make cake (dinner actually, but he always says "Make cake").

Max: I love you Mommy.

Me: (crying) oh I love you sooooooo much Jellybean.

I continue to cry as I try and make dinner. Oh my god I love this child! I can't even tell you.

Supposedly Marty has been coaching Max for this one. I love him for that.

A Lovely Winter Day

Today was just one of those lovely days. I wasn't sure how it was going to be after having a terrible night sleep (that's another post of its own). But it ended up being quite nice.

We usually do family swim at the Wave Pool on Sunday mornings. The waves aren't on and it's packed with little ones. The warm pool (hot really) is really nice on a cold winter's morning. But today we decided to go to the Aviation Museum instead. We hadn't been yet, and Marty has a membership, so why the heck not. Max LOVED it. It's great to run around in and he went bonkers for the "appies," which took us a little while to figure out were airplanes. We just figured he was really really happy! This is a museum that we will go to often. It's 5 minutes away and great for Max to run around in. And there seems to be a lot of places for animation. There was story time today, which Max lasted all of 2 minutes, and a craft which we didn't get to. Living 5 minutes away means you can go for 45 minutes and it's not that big a deal.



This afternoon noon I got to take a little nap after doing a few quick groceries. And then my adventure started. Meredith, Julie and I went for a ski. Not just any ski. We packed a dinner, and skied up to a little cabin in the Gatineaus. It was awesome. The ski in was a nice gradual up hill. Took about 45 minutes. The cabin has a bunch of picnic tables and a couple of wood stoves. People had been in and out all day, so the stoves were nicely stoked and the cabin was cozy. One thing we need to remember the next time (because there definitely will be a next time) is to bring candles. Thank goodness Mere had a head lamp or we would have eaten in complete darkness. Cabin in the woods = no electricity. We should have thought of that. And the ski back in the dark was interesting. It was so much fun. I brought wine, bread and cheese. Julie brought veggies, dip and sausage. Mere brought stew, in a skinny thermos. It went in, but we couldn't get it out. Next time we bring soup! The ski was just long enough to keep us warm, and not too long that we felt exhausted and dreaded the ski back. I am really looking forward to the next time. Hopefully it will be soon.

Miscellaneously Max

Here's a bunch of miscellaneous things that Max has been up to lately.

• Sitting watching some football on Sunday, Max was yelling at me "Cookie!" I chose to ignore him. Then he wanted to sit on my lap, facing me. I was watching the game, and basically ignore his yelling at me. Max then took my face in his hands, turned it towards his face, looked right in my eyes and said: "Mama, yook (look), cookie." It was the funniest thing. Every time I turned my face he did the same thing. Marty and I were in absolute hysterics. It deserved at least a cracker.
• Marty covers his mouth, burps and says "Pardon me." Max covers his mouth, blows out and says "I bewrp." Sometimes he says the same when he farts.
  
• Max likes to empty one of his baskets in his room, sit in it then say "Mommy, row row boat." Which decoded means, Mommy, lets sing Row row row your boat.
• Max is starting to pretend things. Tonight in the bath he pretended to eat ice cream.
• If the phone rings, Max points to it and says "Hewwow?"
  

Christmas pictures

Here are a couple of pictures from the holidays. They went too fast and I wish I had a few days off work to get the house cleaned, sleep and get organized. Oh well.

At Olga and Jonathan's on Christmas Eve.

Max and Duncan at Meredith and Ron's for Christmas Eve dinner.

Max's first look at his new tool bench on Christmas morning.

Max "fixing" Makka Pakka.

All strapped in and ready to go to Nana and Opa's.

New trucks!

Mr. Potato Head is awesome!

Max sitting at the kids table at Dave and Andra's.

Max playing with his new doctor set with Mary-Francis.

Max playing Play-Doh with his best buddy Mitchell.