Family entertainment the way it should be

We went to our first Disco, Baby event at Rhizome Cafe yesterday. Nearly every little kid was in costume for Hallowe'en & some of the parents were too. The costumed DJ spun--you guessed it--classic disco, just loud enough for partying but not too loud for tiny ears. This event, like the cafe, is very open & welcoming to everyone: admission is on a sliding scale--$2-$10--but no-one is turned away. There's lots of food & snacks available & Rhizome is licensed too. Being able to dance, have a beer & have fun with your toddler: a perfect afternoon baby event.

UPDATE: There's a Disco, Baby Facebook group...

Going to the parent-infant drop-ins, the story times, the kids' gyms & all the other activities out there for wee ones is fun for them, but let's get real here. How much fun is it for parents to listen to the same stories & sing the same goofy songs or sit on rainbow-coloured mats watching toddlers trying to yank toys away from each other? I think I had so much fun in the hour that we were at Rhizome because it had something for me too, namely dancing to cheesy disco & having my first winter ale of the season.

Oliver & I watched a number of Muppet Show videos on YouTube recently & we were talking about what a unique show it was because it combined humour for the parents & entertainment for the kids in such a great way. I can't think of many shows that have managed to do it so well, other than maybe the Simpsons. Now that the generation who grew up on the Muppets is having kids, it's high time they came out with a new movie to introduce it to the next generation. We'll be able to see how well they've managed the multi layered humour in about three weeks: The Muppets comes out November 23rd.

So am I a bad parent for demanding a little grown-up fun be mixed in with entertainment for my toddler? Rather than trooping from baby music class to storytime to baby swimming lessons, I want to hang out with a friend at a cafe that just happens to have a play area for kids. I want to have dinner in a restaurant that has great food & a children's menu too. So far I've found Little Nest, The Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company, Rhizome, Fray, The Outpost Cafe, Movies for Mommies. These are places where we get to be adults with a social life who happen to have babies, rather than just chauffeurs to venues devoted entirely to the under-five set.


Can you add any places to my list? 

The last of a generation

Grampy & Sprout, early October 2010

Yesterday I lost my grandfather. Stanley Bertram Jenkins was born January 9th, 1919, one of six children. His family scraped by & he didn't have his own bed, let alone his own room as a kid. He was skipped ahead in school, graduating a couple of years early & soon went to work in the mail room at Malkin's. Not too long after that, another teenager working there caught his eye. He & Marjorie Florence Steel started dating in the late 30s.
War broke out & after talking to a friend who was in the air force, my grandfather decided to volunteer for the RCAF. He reasoned that volunteering for the air force would be safer than ending up drafted to the infantry. Off he went, spending much of his time in Northern Africa as a bombardier. He saw at least half of his squadron die over the course of the war, but credits his own survival to his pilot's motto: "Better an old pilot than a bold pilot". He later had a framed print of a Lancaster, which was what he flew during the war, up in his family room. Grampy told us a lot of funny stories from those times, but generally kept the worst of what he must have experienced to himself.
While on a short leave during his service, Stanley & Marjorie married in 1943. They wouldn't actually live together until he returned home to Vancouver in 1945. They soon started a family, having my uncle David in 1946 & then twins in 1950: my mom Linda & aunt Sheila. Because he was a veteran, my grandfather's education was paid for by the government. He made a pragmatic choice to become an accountant, rather than going into medicine, which I understand he'd wanted to do when he was younger, then worked for the federal government for his entire career.
The family lived in Vancouver until the early 1960s, when they moved into a beautiful home in Victoria. I have fond memories of this house: playing on the moss-covered boulders poking out of the lawn, watching for raccoons at night, sitting in the wide windowsill in the basement, playing with wooden blocks Grampy had made on the big sundeck. After all three of his children were married off, Grampy retired. I think it was around this time that he & Nanny acquired the Maxivan that they'd drive down to Palm Springs every year. They used to drive it across the province to visit us a few times a year, when we lived in the East Kootenays. I looked forward to their visits so much as a little kid.
In the mid 80s, Stanley & Marjorie moved back to the Lower Mainland, wanting to be closer to their kids & grandchildren. My family & my aunt's family moved into the same neighbourhood as Nanny & Grampy in the 80s. I'm so thankful that I got the chance to see them so often & get to know them. Grampy used to drive me to orthodontist appointments when my mom was working & when I was looking to make a big purchase like a camera or stereo, he'd help me research which one was the best for the money.
Stanley was a very energetic person & liked to get his exercise by walking the entire West Vancouver  Seawall with Marjorie several times a week. Because they were in such great shape, it was a bit of a surprise to us when he started having heart problems. I suppose it was a testament to his fitness that the doctors thought it was safe to do a quadruple bypass surgery on an 82-year-old. That surgery was very hard on him, but it bought him ten more years with all of us.
Nanny passed away in April of this year, after a long illness that she was very quiet about until she got really sick, a few weeks before the end. It was a form of leukemia that she'd known she had for years. Grampy was heartbroken & our family was shell-shocked that Nanny was gone. When I heard that Grampy had been taken to hospital last weekend, I can't say I was surprised. He loved Nanny for over 70 years: he just wasn't the same without her. My parents, sisters, aunts & uncles, cousins & their spouses as well as the home care workers who'd been taking care of Grampy all visited him at Lion's Gate. We all had time to say goodbye. He was surrounded by people who loved him & he died peacefully.
I'm so sad that I no longer have any living grandparents. I wish Sprout could have grown up knowing Nanny & Grampy, but I know he won't remember them at all. I regret not visiting them more in the last few years & I wish we'd recorded some of their stories on video. My memories will have to do.

Nap Battle Day II

Here we are nine months after the first post, Nap Battle Day, & we're still struggling with naps. Several months ago, Sprout transitioned with fairly minimal fuss from two naps to one a day. This past week, he's reverted to two, sometimes falling asleep just two hours after waking up. So this morning, after a sign that he was tired, I put him in his stroller in the living room (still the only way he'll sleep in the house during the day), expecting him to quietly play for a few minutes & then fall asleep within a half hour. As I write this, he's alternating growling noises & indignant whining, starting to escalate to bawling.

I wonder why he's moving back to two naps now, at nearly 15 months old? A friend had a theory that it was related to the developmental stage. Her son had done something similar around the time he started to walk. Maybe Sprout needs the extra recharging time because he's about to make a developmental leap to walking. But I'm not sure that's it. He still seems almost completely uninterested in walking when I hold his hands & encourage him to walk with me. When I put him on his feet beside his walker toy, he'll stand there for a minute, then when it starts moving, he'll get onto his knees to push it.

Can't figure this kid out. When I try to follow a routine, it just doesn't work. The only think that works--usually, not 100% of the time--is to take him out for a walk. Something about the movement & the tck-tck of the wheels going over the sidewalk panels just lulls him to sleep if he's tired.

UPDATE: Sprout finally fell asleep, after an hour of alternately playing & grumbling.

Gear: Contigo Travel Mug

What is it?

AUTOSEAL^® West Loop Stainless Steel Travel Mug

How does it work?

It's an insulated stainless steel travel mug with a really great spill-proof lid. Once the lid is on tight, you need to push a button to open it & drink. 

Why is it good?

The spill-proof Autoseal actually works as well as they claim. This is so important for the parents of young children, as they can easily get severe burns with a hot drink. Even if your coffee or tea is drinkable for you, it can still cause damage to your child's skin & it doesn't take a lot of liquid to burn a large area of their skin.

Another great thing about this mug is how well it keeps your drink hot. I had a hot chocolate on my way home & when I had the last sip, about 30-40 minutes later, it was still so hot it was just drinkable. I will do some tests to see if the mug keeps drinks hot for four hours as they claim on their website, but so far, I'm impressed.

I like the fact that the inside is stainless steel too, so I don't have to worry about what may or may not be leaching into my tea from plastic.

How much does it cost?

About $20 each plus shipping from Contigo, around $20 for a two-pack at Costco.

Where can you get it?

I think Costco sells them in two-packs & you can also buy them online directly from Contigo, who will ship to the US & Canada.

*I did get my mug for free, but as compensation for participating in the Too Hot For Tots burn prevention research study through Children's Hospital, not from Contigo directly.

Gear: Reviews

I've decided to start doing reviews of products I really like. This doesn't mean I'm going to go out & get a bunch of new stuff--don't worry, I'm still trying to 'minimalize'. I'm also not selling out to the highest bidder. I just wanted to devote a little more time to sharing some of the things I love (that I mention in this blog already).

Coming soon:

• The best travel mug ever.
• A toddler placemat that helps contain the mess.

The next sewing project?

OMG, I neeeeed to make some of these for the little children in my life: doll/bear carriers from the Oliver +S Little Things to Sew book. (I'd post a pic, but I can't find a creative commons licensed one...)

Linnaeus 14.2

I've noticed lately that Sprout's separation anxiety is getting a bit worse. He makes quite a ruckus when I leave him at daycare now & it's harder to distract him with toys when I go out that door. He does calm down after a few minutes, but it is a bit heart-wrenching to hear him bawling as I go.

Sadly the yeast rash is back. This is Sprout's fifth time with a raw bum from thrush. I'm beginning to wonder if the cloth diapers are a contributing factor in the yeast. Every time he's had it we've sanitized them, but then two or three months later he gets it again. Anyone got any suggestions for me?

Sprout's still more interested in climbing up than walking. He's figured out how to climb onto the sofa this week. He also went down the slide at the park by himself. He climbs up the steps, then crawls over to the edge of the little slide, turns around & goes down backwards on his tummy. I thought he might be walking a bit with help by Hallowe'en, but now I wonder if he's going to do it by Christmas! He cruises & will sometimes walk when you hold his hands, but just doesn't seem interested yet. I know, I know, he'll do it when he's ready, at his own pace, etc. I still can't help wishing he were walking when I hear about all the other babies we know who started walking long before he did. I also cringe at all the dirt & germs he's getting all over his hands when he crawls around everywhere. When he's walking, at least I wouldn't have to worry about that as much.

Lately Linnaeus has been mimicking us & strangers a lot, as well as following simple commands. He'll give things to you if you ask for them, for example. He interacts with objects in the 'correct' way more & more now too. For example, he'll pick up my phone & put it to his ear, or he'll grab his teddy & give it a big hug. That one just makes his papa melt.

As for food, his skills with a spoon are improving. He can now feed himself yogurt & get about 90% of it in  his mouth, only 10% on himself. I want to branch out & see if he can do as well with oatmeal & maybe give him more practice with a fork. Last week he was playing with a fork while I was eating lunch. I turned around for a second & when I looked back, he'd speared a piece of cheese from my poutine!

Linnaeus has now got 13 teeth, with the appearance of his left eyetooth. It's barely through the gums, just a tiny sharp white point poking through. According to the websites I've read, this is a bit earlier than average. It's been a teething frenzy this past month, with four molars & the eyetooth. All the teeth, combined with his mop of hair, make him really look like a little boy now.

I'll sign off with a photo of him & this week's favourite toy. It's the first thing he goes for in the morning when he gets off our bed & crawls into the living room.

Free store at Rhizome Cafe

Last night I dropped off a large grocery bag worth of ribbon, paint, beads, yarn & various other doodads at the Rhizome Free Store. Every month they set aside the front part of the restaurant for people to exchange stuff of some sort. This month it was craft supplies, in the past I've been to one for baby & children's clothing.
I feel good that perhaps someone will make something interesting out of the stuff that was clogging the drawers & shelves in my sewing room. I tried to be ruthless, but I barely made a dent in my massive stash of things-I-might-use-for-a-project-in-future.

Autumn colours

The view from here

I've noticed the trees changing colour for a while now but the street tree in front of our house is always late to go. This morning I looked out the window & it seemed to have changed to a vivid yellow overnight.

I find it odd that the trees on our street are so individual in their decisions when to change hues for the season. They're all the same type of tree (no idea what kind), about the same size & age on this side of the street, yet these two are now completely different colours.

Minimalizing... wait, is that a word?

I've been reading a blog called Minimalist Mom for a while & just started reading her ebook. Her recent post is one of many inspirations right now to pare down all the stuff in my life, starting with orange juice.

We get the bulk of our groceries delivered via SPUD, including not just organic fruit & veggies, but bagels, milk, eggs, cheese & juice. About 6 litres of orange juice a month. Which we actually don't drink that often. Sprout's not yet had orange juice & I don't think I want to give him juice of any kind any time soon. When I logged in to the SPUD site to eliminate this juice from our standing order, I did a quick calculation. We have been spending around $180 a year on juice!

The orange juice isn't the only thing I've been 'minimalizing. I think I'm going to take a second stab at my wardrobe & thin it out even more. The three garbage bags I pulled out last week are good, but I'm still left with more than I really need. Footwear is at the top of the list. I have a number of pairs of shoes hanging around the house that I haven't parted with for some reason, despite never wearing them. Quite a few of them are heels that I loved, but can no longer wear without inflicting serious pain on myself. I am never going to be one of those single-pair-of-shoes people. I regularly wear at least five pairs: runners, brown leather boots, black mary janes, red converse & my green Birkenstock sandals. Then there is the second string of red boots, peep-toe ballet flats, hiking/winter boots, gumboots & a few other pairs of Birkenstocks that I almost forgot to get out of storage this past summer. My coat collection is also a bit ridiculous. If I sit & think about it for a minute, I think I still (after weeding out a few) have more than ten coats of various kinds.

Hmm... you know, I've been trying to 'minimalize' in many small ways for a long time, now that I think of it. A while ago, I came across a post on Google Plus about Inbox Zero. Basically a habit to get into so that your inbox isn't the electronic version of a hoarder's home office. I've been more or less successful at this, having a fairly tidy inbox most of the time. Every so often, I add to my gmail filters to reduce the amount of mail I get that I'm not going to be interested in. I ruthlessly delete anything I don't need & I just click 'archive' as soon as I've read anything that I might want to hang onto. Now if only my actual paper filing cabinet looked as good. That's a project for another day: weeding out ancient documents, scanning some things & organizing what I do feel the need to keep. I suspect there will be a small mountain of shredded paper afterward. Anyone need any for packing material or something?

I don't think I'm getting too obsessed by this 'minimalizing' stuff, but it definitely has become a hobby of sorts. I delight in finding new & interesting ways to get rid of stuff. My latest discovery was the notice of an upcoming craft supplies 'free store' at Rhizome. I have already sorted out a large shopping bag of ribbon, fake flowers, beads & various other crafty items that I haven't touched for years. I realized today while watching an episode of Consumed online that I have several sets of paint that I could add to the bag: gouache, watercolour & oil. I will keep my acrylics though--I actually use those occasionally.

Think I'll sign off with an interesting TED talk I just saw on YouTube. Another way to cut back on the acquisition of stuff: Collaborative Consumption. It's about 20 minutes long, but worth your while.

TV-free

It's been a month & a half now since we got rid of our TV. Becoming TV-less was not jarring enough that the date really stuck in my mind--I had to search my blog here to figure out how long it had been. At first, there were a few evenings where I wished I had it to turn on & zone out to. However now that I've got back into my old rhythm of having three or four books on the go at any one time (not including course reading) I've always got something to do those evenings where I just want to relax. I've just read Gibson's latest novel, Zero History; I'm thinking of making myself a hat from the patterns in Saturday Night Hat; reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on my phone; & I'm looking forward to picking up Atwood's Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, plus The Year of the Flood.


If I do have a hankering for TV, streaming on demand from various show & network sites is a decent substitute. I've never really cared how big the screen was, so seeing shows on my teeny netbook doesn't bother me. I find I'm still watching a few shows a week, some that we used to watch on the boob tube, like Dragon's Den, The Rick Mercer Report & the occasional episode of House, some that we didn't because we didn't have cable, like Consumed, on HGTV. Sadly, I'm still subjected to four or five sets of commercials when I stream from the show or network site, but I think it's a bit less advertising than on TV. Also, I will just watch the one show & then do something else, unlike when we had a TV: I'd turn it on well before the show time & leave it on afterward. I often found myself peeling myself off the couch after 1am, during Conan or Colbert.


I find we're listening to the radio more now too, specifically the CBC. It's nice to have it on in the background while we're eating or doing stuff in the kitchen. The radio takes so much less of my concentration--I don't lose hours of my life to sitting in front of it the way I used to with the visual distraction of the TV. (Sadly, I think some of the time 'saved' from not watching TV is now being lost to Facebook. But some is spent blogging, so I think there's progress!) What I find interesting is Sprout's reaction to the radio. He seems to completely ignore any talking, but when music comes on he pays attention, sometimes dancing & singing along. Whereas, when there's a TV on in the room he's in, he's drawn to it like a moth to a flame. While I don't think TV is going to be quite as dangerous for him as a flame to a moth, I very strongly believe it's not a healthy thing for anyone, especially babies & children.


Now some questions for you:

How much TV do you watch in a week? (Be honest!)
Have you ever considered getting rid of your TV, or maybe scheduling some TV-free times each week?
What was the last thing you read? Got any book recommendations?

Baby likes poutine

"Bucket bib"  from Superstore: $5.

Kidopotamus placemat: $15.

Seeing your toddler try to drink the gravy out of the poutine bowl: priceless.

Good to the last drop...

Wordless Wednesday

Bed "sharing"

Linnaeus 14.1

New things this past week:

Eating with dishes. We usually give Sprout food in bowls & on plates now & he'll actually eat out of them for a while before tossing them. He's also figured out how to drink the extra milk out of his cereal bowl by himself.

Standing unaided. Sprout has just started to stand by himself a little bit. Most of the time I think it's been accidental & he does it best when he's distracted by something else, like holding a straw up in both hands & drinking. So far, he's stood up alone for about 10 seconds at most.

Walking with help. Sprout has finally gotten interested in walking when holding my hands. A week ago he would just kind of hang there, occasionally flopping a leg out, his weight almost completely supported by me. But this week he's started to think it's fun & is putting some effort into bearing weight & taking regular steps. I hope he'll be walking with less help by the time we take him trick-or-treating this Hallowe'en. :)

Anticipating when Mama's going to leave. I drop Sprout off with my parents at Lougheed Mall while I have a single 50-minute class on Wednesdays & they take care of him for the two hours I'm gone. This week, the third time we've been through the Wednesday morning routine, when we got to the station & he saw them, he realized that I was going to leave & started to cry before I even went anywhere. He's rarely done this in the past, because most of the time I leave him at home with Papa or with Kirsten & Aiden at their place, which he knows really well.

& on the food front... The banana saga continues. From the first time he had a banana, it became a favourite food. Sprout could be counted on to scarf down a whole banana in mere minutes. However, Sprout started refusing bananas when they were sliced into small pieces a month or two ago. Once I realized that it was the size he didn't like,  I started giving him a banana in just three our four pieces. This week though, that hasn't been quite what he wanted either. So I tried giving him an entire banana with the peel started at the top. He was thrilled & eventually ate the whole thing, including some of the skin!

Favourite toys: Small travel-size box of Kleenex. Every time I turn my back, he's found where I've hidden it & is taking all the tissues out. Books continue to be a big hit. They're the only way we can convince him to stay still on the change table & work remarkably well. Most of the time, as we lay him down to change his bum, he starts to complain vociferously, but as soon as you open a book & put it in his hands, he instantly calms down & starts 'reading' it.

If it's Monday, it must be Burnaby...

I realized today that it's been nearly two years since I left the 9-5 world behind. While I worked casual part-time through most of my pregnancy, started school ten months ago, have been performing, writing & sewing for my Etsy shop at various times in the last year, I haven't had a regular full-time job outside the home.
I do miss the routine in a way--every week was more or less the same, few surprises. I just woke up at 7:30ish every day, got ready, biked downtown, stretched & changed, then worked. Repeat in reverse 6-8 hours later.
Fast-forward to university student life with a toddler, where each weekday is different: Monday's my long day, with classes up the hill from 10:30 to 5:20. With the one-hour commute, I need to get up at 7 to get myself & Sprout out the door by 9 for daycare drop-off. Wednesday I only have a single 50-minute class & Sprouty's Nana & Grampa take care of him, which means getting out the door at the same time as Monday, but both of us riding the train to Burnaby to meet them at Lougheed Mall. The four of us generally have lunch before Sprout & I head back home. Thursday my class is in the afternoon but I'm rarely organized enough to bring Sprout to daycare & get up there early to study.
Tuesday & Friday are the days I try to cram in playdates, appointments & sewing. I never really get any school work done. Concentrating on a chapter about clause structure or trying to analyse the length & frequency of a vowel in Praat are not that compatible with caring for a toddler. Somehow, just keeping up with the diapers, meals, breastfeeding & getting Sprout to nap once a day, is all I can manage. Studying while he's asleep rarely occurs. This is partly because he often sleeps when we're walking or taking the 2-3 connection transit rides that eat up a large chunk of my waking hours, but also because I usually just want to take a break when I'm not on mama duty.
I'm looking forward to next semester when my school schedule will likely move to full-time daycare & my weekdays will be more alike. I won't wake up in the morning trying to figure out where & when I need to go, who with & what to pack...

Reduce, Reuse & Recycle: The Update

Last April, I blogged about wanting to pare down my wardrobe. Since then, I've managed to do a bit of decluttering in the rest of the house, but kept procrastinating on the mess in my bedroom. Then a couple of days ago, I finally attacked my closet, dresser & the various boxes & heaps of half-sorted items. After about an hour of sorting into piles of keep, donate, consign, throw out & store (summer & maternity stuff), I had three big garbage bags to give to Big Brothers; a small bag for the garbage of ragged fishnets, holey undies, etc; & a collection of clothes that now fits into my dresser & closet.

I'm still not that happy with the results. So much of my wardrobe is pieces that I bought not because I really loved them, but because they were cheap. If I was truly ruthless & pitched everything that I didn't really like, I'd be left with next to nothing. On the upside, all the bland Old Navy basics that make up a large part of my wardrobe are very washable so I don't really care when Sprout smears food or snot on them. However, I'd like to slowly weed them out, replacing them with interesting stuff I've made myself, the occasional high-quality designer item & unique pieces from local independent lines.

Maybe someday in the future, if I keep up the gradual process of paring down, I'll have a minimalist home & wardrobe. Still not sure how sewing & making stuff fits into that lifestyle though. How do you reconcile getting rid of everything you don't use regularly with a sewing & crafting stash?

Working & Studying avec Bébé

Serging with Sprout October 2010.

I've been working at home for nearly a year now (sewing for my Etsy shop & craft fairs, plus getting stilting costumes together), studying for my university courses since January & now Oli's returned to work, doing so from home a couple days a week.

Getting sewing done last year was pretty easy, as Sprout slept most of the time still. A year later, doing anything involving pins, sharp shears & hot irons is complicated & mostly gets done while Sprout is sleeping or immobilized in his highchair for meals. 

Papa does some database report modification.

Studying is more complicated. It's very hard to concentrate when part of my brain has to be constantly monitoring what he's up to. That part that reacts when, for example, I don't  hear anything for a while. Last time Sprout was silent too long, I found him on top of the toilet seat, dumping baking soda all over the bathroom & himself. 

Then there are the times when he just needs to be held & we have to figure out a way to work around that. Sometimes just cuddling or breastfeeding him can be combined with reading or typing. Other times wearing him in the Beco carrier works. I think being strapped in has a calming effect like swaddling did & being close to us, he just feels better.

To be honest, though, we are lucky because he'll play by himself for hours a day, tearing apart our tupperware collection, emptying the kitchen shelves of dry goods, hiding wooden blocks all over the house & whacking anything he finds on the floor repeatedly. 

Wordless Wednesday

Toddler App

Does your toddler try to eat/whack/toss your phone on a regular basis? If you've got an Android device, check out Toddler Lock. It's free, not that annoying & seems to entertain small ones for minutes at a time. It'll prevent them from calling 9-1-1 or deleting all your photos. Can't guarantee they won't try to eat it, though. 

Linnaeus 14.0

Today Sprout is officially fourteen months old.  Though there were a handful of moments where time seemed to be going sooooo slowly, most of the last fourteen months have flown by. A year ago, Sprouty had just started smiling, he couldn't roll over by himself & weighed only eleven pounds. What a different baby we have now: babbling, gesturing & clearly communicating what he wants, climbing up furniture & over double that weight. A big change for me is that after months of worrying about his weight gain & obsessing over percentiles, I think I can say I'm over it. Which is not to say that I'm not keeping track of his weight, but not as obsessively as before. Last time he was weighed was when we did some tests for the CHILD Study, over a month ago. Unlike eight or ten months ago, where I would get nervous if we didn't weigh him every week or two, I have no plans to weigh him anytime soon.

This week's latest:

Upside-down pumpkin pie, disappearing fast.

Favourite food.
Pumpkin pie: he ate a whole adult sized piece with whipped cream at Thanksgiving dinner chez Thomas, aka The Swamp. Not one crumb of it got tossed to the dogs...
Favourite toys.
Shape sorting blocks: he's starting to figure out which ones go where & loves putting anything through the holes in the box.
Tiny plastic spatula that came with his BBQ toy: he carries this around the house for hours. You can hear him crawling with it in his hand: whap-click, whap-click.
Favourite books.
Anything with high contrast images &/or balloons, like Goodnight Moon, Meg & Mog, But Not the Hippopotamus.
Favourite Activity.
Climbing on things: the footstool, the Spud bin, the kitchen chairs, his car seat, the toilet, Papa, Mama, any stairs, playground equipment, the bathtub.
Pointing at things he wants to draw your attention to: Crows! Someone walking on the other side of the street! Shrub! Balloon! Tree!

I'm tempted every time I write one of these updates to mention all the things he's not  doing yet, like talking & walking. I know it's ridiculous to compare him to other babies or what Oli & I are reported to have done. He's his own little person who will hit his milestones when he's ready. He's not late enough to be considered delayed in anything, so there's nothing to worry about. But still, I feel the need to comfort myself with the things that he has, thus far, been precocious with: eating solids & all the associated hand-eye-coordination & fine motor skills that go with it, growing hair, playing by himself.

Latest Vancouver Mom article is out!

Read about Van Dusen Garden here!

The Power of the Boob

Not that I wasn't already convinced, but here's yet another reason to continue breastfeeding past a year: MOLARS. As I type this, I am standing in my living room, wearing Sprout in our carrier & he's latched on, calming down slowly from the hysterics he was in earlier. No amount of cuddling, distraction with toys, favourite foods, singing, water or massage worked to calm him down. Breastfeeding will keep him from screeching any more until the acetaminophen we just gave him kicks in. The top two molars are mostly through the gums & the bottom ones are visible, so I'm hoping we're almost through the worst of it. Twelve teeth down (or up, really), eight to go.

Pedal powered visitors

I can't remember how I found www.pedalpoweredfamily.com, but after reading about the epic 20,000km journey they were about to undertake, I sent them a message offering our back yard for camping if & when they came through Vancouver. Heidi, Reuben & their kids Eden (4) & Harper (almost 2) set off in May to bike around North America for a year. (I won't give you the details of their trip so far: you'll have to read their blog to find out!)
This past week I got an email from Reuben asking if they could stay on October 4th. I was pretty excited: this would be the first time I'd meet people online first & in real life second. We tidied up the house a bit, mowed the meadow our back lawn had become & waited for their arrival.
They arrived in the afternoon not long after Sprout's nap & the kids immediately started playing with his toys. We all hung out for a while & then got a disorganized dinner together. I'd managed to pick up some snack food, but we hadn't planned dinner. Whoops! In the end everybody got fed & we even had some time to chat after all three little ones were in bed.
We all got along quite well & ended up talking about kids & parenting & travelling, but didn't get time to hear that much about Their Big Adventure. I may try getting some good stories out of them later in a Behind the Blog feature (which is on hiatus at the moment, by the way, while I get used to juggling daycare dropoffs, homework, etsy sewing & Vancouver Mom writing).
Tuesday morning, amid the bustle of getting all seven of us dressed, fed & out the door, we couldn't find our camera, so got no pictures of them. You'll have to visit www.pedalpoweredfamily.com to see our new friends, sorry!
Though they've inspired me to do some bike touring with our little family, I doubt we'll make it all the way to their home of Hamilton to visit... maybe they can come back to Vancouver for another visit in the future?

Linnaeus 13.3

Things have been a bit busy around here in Sprogland lately: Oma stayed with us for five days last week, Oli started a new job, I had another Etsy order to make & send off, Sprout's twin cousins' birthday party was Saturday (for which I custom appliqued two little t-shirts), we changed tenants downstairs (necessitating a day of cleaning & painting), my articles were due for Vancouver Mom Friday, plus, I have had a lot of homework, reading, labs & an in class essay.

Moon Melon. Photo taken by Kirsten Sikora

Sprout has been doing well at daycare Mondays & Wednesdays. Because it's people & a place he knows well, he hasn't really had much of an adjustment period. He just tends to get a bit sad & need more cuddles by 4 or 5pm when he really starts to miss Mama. Naps at daycare have been a bit of a challenge, as Sprout gets tired out earlier when playing with Aiden & seems to want to go back to two naps a day. The rest of the week he doesn't fall asleep until after lunch, generally. Hopefully that will work out as he gets used to it.

Molars number three & four have made Sprouty a bit clingy & fussy this week. They're coming in fast & furious now. Coupled with a very gooey head cold, he's not a happy camper at night. Not a lot of wake-ups, but he's sleeping fitfully. Despite letting him sleep in about an hour past when he usually would get up, I still had to wake the poor little nipper up to go to daycare this morning, .

Though he's had a cold & his appetite has gone down a bit (to what a normal baby eats) he still seems to be trying to catch up to his older, bigger friend Dex. I've had to sort out all his clothes & put away all by a few things smaller than 18 month size. I've also started to realize what big hands he has when comparing him to his two-year-old cousins. I think their fingers are the same length, but Sprout's are thicker... Looks like he's destined to have his Papa's weisswurst fingers.

As for new skills this week, Sprout continues to hone his cruising, often just casually using one hand to steady himself. He loves to be put on the floor upside down, doing a little handstand (with feet supported, then flipping down into a crawl. He's starting to climb everything that he can (not the bed or couch yet) & loves standing on his little rocking chair, leaning out over the back, bouncing & rocking with frightening abandon. He still shows no interest whatsoever in walking. I constantly hold him by the arms, encouraging him to stand & take a few steps. Sometimes he'll humour me with one or two, but generally he just bends his knees & goes into a crawl when I let go of his hands. Maybe he'll walk by Christmas?