Linnaeus 16.3

Sprout enjoys a little German gingerbread
(Pfeffernuesse)

Well, Christmas has come & gone. We didn't get all the way through my list of things to do, but we hit the most important stuff. I even found Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on Youtube & Sprout watched it with me. He actually sat on my lap & watched all 45 minutes of it, with just a short break in the middle. Sprout had his first big Christmas dinner, or first where he was awake & eating, anyway. He scarfed down turkey with gravy, sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, corn, apple pie & shortbread. He had quite the feed, but then again, he eats like that daily. He also seems to really love battered fish the last few times he's had it. Though he prefers yams to potatoes at the moment, he'd be pretty happy at a fish & chips restaurant, I think.

Sprout's latest fun little habit is kissing. He's actually figured out the general form & doesn't open his mouth (much), even poking his little lips out. He will sometimes kiss me on demand & clearly understands the word, though he doesn't say it yet. He makes his little stuffed animals kiss each other when playing by himself, or kisses them himself. He sometimes holds them up to me to kiss which is unbelievably adorable. Stuffies continue to be his favourite toys & since Christmas he now has even more, including a Monchhichi that was mine when I was little.

Something else that's been happening on & off a lot lately is very late naps. We don't have a strict schedule for meals & don't usually just put Sprout to sleep at a specific time, whether for naps or bedtime. Generally, when we get a signal that he's tired, we'll put him down for a nap. This used to work & most days he'd be out by 1:30 or 2pm. These days, a lot of the time, he isn't falling asleep until after 3 or 4, which makes him less likely to want to go to bed before 9pm. His naps are quite consistent in length, at least--usually 2-2.5 hours every time.

Watching his personality emerge as he starts to communicate more with us is amazing. All told, I think he spends at least an hour a day pointing at things & asking about them. I typically name whatever it is he's drawing attention to & he's starting to repeat the words back sometimes. He doesn't necessarily use them, though he parrot them back, but he's getting much better at hearing a sound & copying it so he's more understandable.

The past week or so I finally figured out one of the things he was pointing to in the kitchen all this time: the radio. It's on a shelf with all our tea, so I couldn't figure out why he'd be pointing at the boxes & tins of tea. He wanted me to turn on the music. He'll dance & sometimes even sing along when I switch it on.

This week's new words are faaa (fan), hat, tah (guitar),  kuk (clock) & baby. There are a few more things he's been saying that I'm not quite sure of yet--I think he might be saying bird, but it sounds a lot like his word for bear. He babbles constantly, repeating nonsense syllables or words over & over. I've also started a new page on this blog (see the right side of the header bar above the posts on the main page) to keep track of his vocabulary.

Review: Lazer toddler helmet

What is it?
Lazer toddler helmet

How does it work?
The helmet works just like an adult helmet, with adjustments on the chin straps as well as at the back. Fits heads 46-52cm/18.1-20.5".

Why is it good?Besides the cute chick popping out of an egg graphic, the shape is designed to be fairly flat at the back to work in a trailer. The Lazer toddler helmet is the least expensive of the smallest helmets I could find available in the Lower Mainland. Most cheaper toddler helmets that I've seen have elastic at the back, rather than a ratcheting plastic adjustment like the Lazer has. I'm sure that the elastic wouldn't be that snug at the smallest size & might be too tight after a while, so I think you get  a much better fit as your baby grows with the Lazer helmet. For a kid with an average size head, this will work from about 11 months to over three years old.

Where can I get it?
Cambie Cycles & Whoa! Nellie (in Vancouver).  
UPDATE 17June2012: Ride On Cycles on Main Street has the best price: $30.

How much does it cost?
About $40.

*I didn't get any compensation for writing this review, I just bought the helmet & like it.

Socializing post-kid

Over the past few years, my social life has changed quite a bit, however gradually. When I got pregnant, I was still able to go to all the parties, concerts & other stuff, just minus the alcohol. Hey--instant designated driver for Oli. There were a few times where we left earlier because I was a bit tired, but really not a big change. Once baby arrived, we went out daytimes a lot in the beginning & after a short while, we were back at the house parties with baby, as he was such a night owl & went to bed fairly late anyway. I still didn't really drink at all until months later when Sprout wasn't nursing quite as often. But I still had champagne at our friends' place on New Years Eve last year. 

Fast forward another 12 months & our social life looks very different to pre-kid. I can't remember the last time we went to a house party. If we all go out, we need to get home by Sprout's bedtime, as he is well beyond the stage where he'd just sleep anywhere. If we leave him at home, it means that one of us misses out or we have to pay a babysitter--probably about $40-50 for an evening--on top of the cost of booking a car, beer, dinner, etc. We can't really afford that. Plus, it requires advance planning to find someone to take care of him. Sprout's naps also prevent me from getting places when he goes down later than usual. When we do manage to go out somewhere, usually in the day, we need to pack diapers, bib, toys, snacks, etc, factor in high chairs, baby-friendly food, space for the stroller & a place to run around & play if we're going to be there for more than an hour or so. 'Impromptu' or 'spur-of-the-moment' aren't really in our vocabulary these days.


So when I saw this blog post in my feed on Facebook, I started thinking. I realized that nearly all the socializing we do on a regular basis is our friends with kids. While it's been great to make new friends & deepen other friendships because we all have kids in common, but I miss our childless friends. After reading Jason's post, I really wondered if those friends who are kid-free really get how hard it can be for us to just go out for an evening. Though Jason prefaces his post with this:

Even though the title would suggest otherwise, this post is really meant to be read by other parents. Please keep that intention in mind if you chose to share it. 

I think it's worthwhile reading for anybody who has friends with kids & wonders why they never see them. 

Wordless Wednesday

Resolutions 2012

After sorting through last year's resolutions & giving some thought to what I'd like to do this year, I came up with a huge list. I got distracted & it became more of a To Do list, so I've condensed it. It's still more like a goals list, however. What are resolutions supposed to be anyway? This is what I've got so far:

1. include more political/social commentary into this blog
2. continue blogging daily
3. earn more money than last year with writing, stilting & making
4. sew more
5. eat more whole foods & less unpronounceable stuff
6. continue minimalizing: sewing room, garage, Oli's office, improving while downsizing my wardrobe
7. restart renovating/decorating work on our part of the house 
8. get more active again, specifically: hike & cycle more
9. take Sprout out more to kid stuff like gym, the park & swimming
10. travel more, including camping
11. be more mindful

Have you made resolutions for this coming year? What are yours?

List #5: What's in my diaper bag

1. cloth diapers
2. cloth wipes in a disposable wipes case
3. wetbag for above when used
4. a change pad
5. extra shirt & pants for Sprout
6. a plastic knife (for cutting grapes)
7. a three-compartment snack container with raisins, Annie's bunnies & something else in it
8. a few face cloths
9. a bib
10. a pen
11. an Ikea pencil
12. my business cards
13. lip balm
14. lipstick
15. lip gloss (I never use anything but the balm, I have no idea why the others are in there!)
16. a baby spork (spoon on one end, fork on the other)
17. a couple of disposable Wysiwipe pucks
18. a few Larabars
19. a nail file
20. a fabric shopping bag
21. my wallet
22. keys
23. a straw cup 
24. sometimes water for me too
25. the occasional receipt
26. a board book
27. a Green Zebra coupon book
28. a handful of crumpled receipts
29. a straw cup
30. a toy or two

- - - - - - - -
Why Monday lists? Reading the lovely Chloe's blog, Tea Swamp Park, I found an idea I had to 'steal': a list of all her Halloween costumes, with quite a few photos. She got the idea from Hula Seventy's List Project. I've decided to do the weekly lists for a year that Hula Seventy is doing. 

A green Christmas

Here are some of the ways we tried to make our Christmas celebrations more eco-friendly:

Go paperless! I've made lots of fabric gift bags over the last few years, so we didn't use any wrapping paper. I know Sprout would have fun ripping up the paper, but he'll probably get some gifts from family wrapped in paper. He's too young to know what he's missing, anyway!

Quality over quantity. We bought a few better quality gifts that will last, rather than tons of cheap ones that will end up in the landfill by next Christmas. I also kept this advice in mind: something they want, something they need, something to wear & something to read. I picked Sprout's gifts carefully according to what I thought he'd really like.

Give to somebody who needs it. Rather than spending hundreds or thousands on gifts for the many members of our extended family that we're close to (that makes about 20 people!) we give gifts only to the children & then donate money to the SPCA. This really cuts down on the gag gifts & things-I-bought-because-I-needed-to-get-something gifts, most of which probably end up in the garbage eventually. Plus, you can sign up for monthly deductions at most charities & non-profits so you don't have to come up the money all at once.

Just say no to plastic! I tried to avoid plastic gifts & things with a lot of packaging. This is nearly impossible with a child, because I swear, 99% of toys are plastic. At least the Mr. Potato Head came in a plastic 'silly suitcase' to store it in later, instead of a box.

Make it! Sewing, baking, knitting, building--however you do it, it's quite likely greener than buying something made across the world & shipped across an ocean wrapped in plastic. Plus, nothing feels better than when all your effort to create something unique is well-received. Sprout loved the little kitty puppet I made him. Each one of our stockings was made by someone different. Mine was made by my Nanny when I was little & matches my sisters' & cousins'. I crocheted Oli's about ten years ago--he grew up with the tradition of Weihnachtsteller & had never had a stocking. Auntie Wendy knitted Sprout's lovely blue one last year.

Buy local. I got locally made gifts for Oli & one of his gifts to me was hand-made locally too. The rest of our gifts have left quite a big carbon footprint though, hailing from China, Mexico & Thailand.

New to you. This year we did something new & bought a few things used: three out of four of Sprout's books were used. He doesn't notice the difference & you really can't tell with one of them.

No PVC tree. We got a real tree (see a well-explained article here or the super-short version from the Suzuki Foundation for why they're a better choice than fake). Next year I will look into finding one that was grown without chemicals, or maybe trying a live one.

Go car-lite, if not car-free. We took transit or walked for most of our shopping & holiday events & are using a Modo car for the one out in the wilds of Coquitlam ;)

Don't be a watt-hog. Once my old incandescent mini-lights stopped working, I traded them in for super-energy-efficient LED ones. Though it's not a huge amount of power we're saving, every little bit helps, right? You can get them on sale after Christmas for really cheap. The only thing to replace is the tree-topper I have from my grandparents. It's the old kind of bulbs, but they all still work, so I don't want to throw it out yet.

Play it again, Sam. Our decorations are all reusable: tin tinsel, bunting made of scrap fabric, hand-made stockings, snowflake window decals (rather than cutting paper ones & recycling them). I hope to add one or two little things that I make to our box of tree decorations each year & avoid getting any more plastic ornaments.

That's about it. We still have room for improvement, of course. Next year, I'd like to make rather than buy more of our Christmas treats. I want to make a fabric advent calendar for Sprout too, instead of the paper & plastic one that we'll be recycling this year. 

What did you do this year to be more green? What do you want to do next year?

I'll leave you with some pics of our Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas!

Hope you're having a lovely & relaxing holiday, however you celebrate it!

Santa was here.

Linnaeus 16.2

Sprout polishes off some pain au chocolat 

I'll make this one a quick update this week, as it's the holidays & we're busybusybusy.
Sprout's new words this week: 'bye', 'hot' (huh-tuh), 'apple' (apa), 'dance' (da), 'moo' (mvuuh). Also, ba now seems to include round clocks & light fixtures as well. Several evenings when Papa was at work, Sprout came to me brought me the phone & got me to call Papa. When he hears someone else on the other end, or a voicemail prompt, he actually talks quite a bit. He's doing tons of mimicking: "Do you want some apple?" (mom hands him a piece & eats one herself) "Mmm..." Baby: "Mmmm!"
Inching closer to walking, standing more & more, he took a step or two in the bathtub but I'm not counting it because there was water nearly up to his hips.
Sprout continues to be ecstatic about all the Christmas lights he sees on a regular basis, "Dee dee dee dee!". This includes the ones in our living room & on the tree, which he excitedly reminds us about several times a day.
Favourite toy of the week has to be his beanie baby puppy from Kirsten. It goes everywhere with him, he hugs it & holds it out to get kisses when we kiss him.
Sprout's been a bit more picky with his food lately & is no longer willing to eat anything tart like kiwi, raspberry or citrus. Orange-glazed beets got a no & sauteed mini bell peppers were too bitter. He nearly ate his weight in yams this week, plus several apples & has really been enjoying the daily advent calendar chocolates.
I hadn't been giving him milk that often as he's still breastfeeding & eats a lot of cheese & yogurt. However, he got his first steamed milk a couple of weeks ago & since then has been rapidly sucking back a big cup of warmed milk daily. Yesterday he asked to have some of my drink & since it was rooibos & no longer hot, I let him have a little. He seemed to like it & then drank at least 8oz of it from his straw cup.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Gear: Beco Gemini Carrier

What is it?
The Beco Gemini baby carrier
How does it work?
The Beco carriers are soft structured carriers, that you adjust & clip together like backpack straps. The Gemini can be worn on the front, back or side & baby has the option to face outward on the front.
Why is it good?
The Beco Gemini is comfortable & highly adjustable for many body types & sizes. A couple who are very different in height & waist size can easily share the same carrier. It seems to be comfortable for baby & when inward-facing, the carrier supports the bum & thighs. From what I've read, this is healthier for their spines than riding around with much of their weight on their crotch like Baby Bjorns, for example.
Another reason it's better than many other carriers is it works for newborns all the way up to 35 lbs. Baby Bjorn Original, for example, only carries a child up to 25 lbs, which means you may only use it for a little over a year, whereas the average kid won't hit the weight limit of the Gemini for about three & a half years.
Having the option to face baby outward is really great for taking transit. Some babies insist on facing outward in carriers, so one like the Ergo would be useless, as babies can only face inward.
The carrier is machine washable (though it can't be put in the dryer), made of cotton with cool prints (organic is an option) & foam  inside.
What are the downsides?
The body of the carrier is padded, which is nice in the winter, but can be a bit warm in the summer. That said, it hasn't been too hot for Vancouver. The body being padded also makes it bulkier when you want to store it, or pack it for travel. The flip up head support works great for younger babies, but once they get bigger, it doesn't reach far enough up to support their head if they fall asleep.
Where can I get it?
Lots of higher-end baby shops like Jack & Lola, Hip Baby, Dandelion Kids or online at Gorgeous Baby.
How much does it cost?
Around $140

*I didn't get any freebies or any incentive from Beco to write this review. I bought this carrier over a year ago & really like it.

Fitting it all in

I've been trying to fit in something fun & Christmassy every day now that I'm finished my exams. Thought I'd go through the list & see what we've done & what's left:

1. riding the Bright Nights Christmas Train at Stanley Park (Sadly this was a fail--the train was sold out by the time Sprout had woken up from his late nap, we'd fed him a quick dinner & gotten there by bus. I think we'll have to go much earlier next year, like the first week they're open.)
2. a photo with Santa (at least we got to do this at Bright Nights)
3. getting & decorating our Christmas tree
4. putting a fresh evergreen wreath on the front door
5. seeing the Trinity Street Light Festival
6. sending out Xmas cards
7. hand delivering Xmas cards to people living near us (only managed to get out two or three so far, heh)
8. baking some cookies (I've eaten a lot of chocolate & other people's baking, but not made any yet myself)
9. making more fabric gift bags
10. making Sprout a few things (puppet, stuffie)
11. adding ear flaps & ties to Sprout's hats so we can keep them ON him (Success! See below for photographic evidence)
12. visiting the VanDusen Festival of Lights
13. going tobogganing if it snows
14. visiting the Peak of Christmas (Grouse Mountain)

Should have been on the list: 

• Getting a gift for my nephew (tried really hard to come up with a gift I could make that he'd like, but a kid obsessed with Lego & construction in general is hard to sew for)
• Finishing two more items of doll clothing for the set I'm making for my nieces.
• putting together a gingerbread house
• planning & possibly making some of what Sprout & I are going to wear for the big family Christmas dinner (Oli has to figure out his outfit for himself)
• Assembling one of Sprout's presents (it's a rocking moose... shhhh... don't tell him!)
• Wrapping all the Christmas gifts with my gift bags/wraps

Here are the pics from our Bright Nights attempt:

On the #19, before we knew the train was totally sold out.

"Joy o' the Wo"?

Sprout was unimpressed by the animatronic Disney characters &
mildewy seven dwarf stuffies (Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy, Dopey,
Sneezy, Doc & another Doc. Bashful was AWOL).

The displays are a hilarious mish-mash of animatronic
figures, painted wooden cutouts, musty stuffed animals
with tons of LED & incandescent lights everywhere.

Sprout mostly just stared at all the lights, overwhelmed
by the sheer volume.

A little 80s nostalgia thrown in with the rest in the former petting zoo.

Sprout liked this reindeer & tried to eat it while we waited for our Santa
photo to be printed.

Wordless Wednesday

While watching a couple of Muppet Christmas videos on YouTube, Sprout realized that he has pockets!

Christmas present arrived early...

I checked the SFU Student Information System just now & discovered that all my grades are now up. I got a B- in the Phonetics course that nearly killed me, a B in the Syntax course that I sort of lost interest in by the end & an A- in my Developmental Psychology course. This drops my cumulative GPA somewhat, a bit below an A- average, but I was seriously worried I might actually fail that Phonetics class, so I'm pretty happy. 

Also somewhat amazed that my Psych prof & TA managed to mark 256 exams (assuming everyone registered actually wrote an exam) between Saturday evening when the exam ended & this afternoon when they entered the grades. Besides the fact that the exams consisted of half short answer questions, due to a shortage of scantron sheets & no chance of getting more on a Saturday, many students just circled their answers on the question sheets. 

So now I can rest easy, no little worries in the back of my mind. Well, about school, anyway. On to the present making! I still have a lot of sewing to do for about five little people.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I love decorating the tree at Christmas, but this year was a little sad for me. Most of the ornaments I have were passed on to me from my Nanny & Grampy a few years ago when they decided to get a pre-decorated fibre-optic light tree that they could just take out of the box & stick on a little table in their window. This will be our family's first Christmas without both of them.

Sprout cheered me up though. It's hard to be sad with him around trying to undecorate the tree, sticking everything he can get at in his mouth, looking in wonder at the light strings & dancing to music after he insisted that I turn on the radio. Here's our evening in photos with a little video at the end:

The tree was fairly small, so we had extra lights

"Helpful" Sprout

He just wanted to touch the lights, again & again

Nanny & Grampy's best wooden ornament

The bear I made for Nanny...

...& the one I made for Grampy.

I love the tin tinsel from Lee Valley!

Voila!

My prefab gingerbread cottage

List #4: 25 Things I Hate about Christmas

Image courtesy of JSF Fauxtagraphy on Flickr

1. shopping malls
2. buying a gift for coworkers in a secret santa draw
3. poor quality chocolate
4. the five pounds I inevitably gain from eating too much baking
5. almost never having snow at Christmas in Vancouver
6. the fever pitch of consumerism
7. that awkward moment when you open a gift that you really don't like
8. thinking about the mountain of packaging that gets chucked into the landfill
9. not having enough time to make all my gifts
10. ugly Christmas cards
11. getting religious carols stuck in my head
12. plastic tree decorations
13. fake Christmas trees
14. looking at first generation LED Christmas lights & getting that high-speed strobey effect
15. drunk drivers
16. getting Raffi's version of Christmas songs stuck in my head
17. receiving fewer Christmas cards than I send out
18. the cost of postage
19. having two or more events I'd love to attend scheduled at the same time
20. disposable tinsel
21. Christmas light strings with some of the lights not working
22. the barrage of constant charity appeals 
23. all the high-fructose corn syrup in Christmas candies
24. the insanity of Boxing Day sales
25. the fact that it all gets less exciting each year

- - - - - - - -
Why Monday lists? Reading the lovely Chloe's blog, Tea Swamp Park, I found an idea I had to 'steal': a list of all her Halloween costumes, with quite a few photos. She got the idea from Hula Seventy's List Project. I've decided to do the weekly lists for a year that Hula Seventy is doing. 

What I've made lately

Ah, it feels so good to be posting a little note to you all now that my EXAMS ARE FINISHED. Pretty much everything feels better, now that I've finished my courses. Slight apprehension about how I actually did & I've been obsessively checking online to see if any grades have been posted, but really, I'm much better...

My first order of business wasn't that beer I promised myself--I actually just remembered it now, 18 hours after I thought I'd already have sucked it back enjoyed it in a leisurely fashion--it was to add some ear flaps & ties to one of Sprout's hats. I made it for him when I was pregnant, in a fit of whimsy. Here's what it looked like originally:

It still fit him, but he absolutely refuses to wear hats, so unless he's got a hood on, his ears have been getting cold. Tying sun hats on sort of worked in the summer, as long as he was well distracted once it was on. So I decided on the same tactic for this hat:

I tried it on him & it fits perfectly, covers up his ears completely & he didn't seem to mind it at all. It's funny, if you give him the choice, hats come off instantly. But if securely tied on, he forgets it's there. Weird kid. 

You'll have to wait until after Tuesday for photos of the hat on Sprout. We're planning to go on the Christmas Train then & there will be copious amounts of photos, I promise. 

Linnaeus 16.1

I can't get over how quickly Sprout has started talking. His understanding of words has been gradually growing & he clearly knows many more words & phrases than he can say. He has been babbling away for a year now, but it wasn't until recently he started saying Mama & Papa. His other words have gradually appeared one by one. It's a funny process--I'm now carefully listening to everything he's saying to try to identify consistent patterns of sound in there. He'll often copy me but then won't use the word on his own later, like with 'fan'. He'll point at the ceiling & I'll say 'fan', & he'll often repeat, 'fffaaah'. Then when I point at it & ask him what it is, he won't use the word. He'll sometimes say something that sounds vaguely like a word but then refuse to repeat it, so I can't really be sure he's talking or if it was just coincidence that he spat out the right vowel & consonant combo. Some of his words are monosyllabic utterances, like bah, doh, beh, dah, aiee, dok, nom but some are more complex like 'hello', beh-beh, anyah (this seems to mean 'give me that'), ah-doh. New this week: tee (tree), beh (bear), tktk (tickle)

GOOD morning!

Sprout's favourite activity this week is climbing up to stand on a low table in the living room so he can see out the window. I know this is not exactly the safest thing for him to be doing, but he really loves to look out at the birds, dogs & people going by. (I'll have to figure out a better way for him to see out the windows in the summer when they're open.) He delights in identifying the things that he hears & starts laughing & repeating beh beh when things go beep, like trucks & Handi-Darts backing up, car alarms or horns honking. He seems very attuned to sounds & always notices when we can hear a dog or bird or horn from inside the house. Maybe that's why dog was his first animal word, rather than cat, because he hears them more these days.

I should probably say that Sprout's favourite activity is climbing anything, really. He loves getting on & off his ride on toys & his friend Aiden's rocking horse (can't wait until he sees his rocking moose at Christmas!) & will sit on anything that seems like it might work as a stool, like a cube of duplo, bolster pillow, or a case of pasta. He climbs on the kitchen chairs & stands on the seat, facing the back, dancing on his precarious perch or trying to get onto the table. He regularly climbs onto the toilet lid & then attempts to scale the counter top whenever we don't have the gate on the bathroom. Our bed, the couch & the chair in his room are favourites too. I'm just waiting for the day he figures out how to swing his leg over the edge of his crib. So far, I think his sleep sack impedes such an escape.

After about a week of having the tummy bug that was going around, he's back to his ravenous self, eating near-adult sized portions & breastfeeding more to make up for the days he wasn't too hungry. I suppose it could be another growth spurt--I'll check his weight sometime soon. I have to remember to feed him snacks more often. He tends to remind me by going into the kitchen & trying to open a box of crackers himself, or just grabbing an apple. He asks to have chocolate from the advent calendar every time he's in the kitchen. Although he doesn't quite seem to understand the concept of 'not til tomorrow', he generally seems happy with the one daily chocolate he gets.

Another development on the eating front is soup: Sprout is getting quite good at using a cup, so I fed him soup. He drank three helpings (about 250mL worth, probably) with hardly any spillage & dipped his crackers in it too. It was so much fun watching him eat like a big boy that I had to take a few pictures...

Gear: Healthy Care Booster Seat

What is it?
Fisher Price Healthy Care Booster Seat
How does it work?
This seat straps onto nearly any chair, it's height adjustable (by about 3") & the tray moves forward by about 2".
Why is it good?
This seat can replace a high chair--no need to spend a mint on a big, ugly piece of baby furniture, just strap this little device onto one of your kitchen chairs. You can use it when you go to restaurants--the seat folds down so it's easy to carry & the tray has a cover (not shown) so you can just wash it at home. The tray goes in the dishwasher & the seat is really easy to wipe down. I found it a nice size for Sprout at six months. The tray isn't as high as other high chairs I've seen where babies are nearly eye-level with their food at first & would have difficulty picking up food on their own. The height it's still perfect at 16 months. Once your child is old enough to sit at the table, you can leave the tray off & use it as a booster until they're 45 lbs.
Where can I get it?
Toys R Us & lots of other stores new, also there are always a few used on Craigslist.
How much does it cost?
About $40 new, or around $20 used.

*I didn't get any incentive to review this product--I just like it a lot.

Exam #2 of 3

Just a quickie post today, as I've got an exam. It's for my Syntax course--absolutely thrilling, I assure you--my second exam of three this semester. Besides the fact that there's a small person crawling around my ankles, trying to interest me in a game of  'point at things we see out the window' or 'look at the high thing I can now climb on top of & teeter on', clambering onto my lap, poking my chest & demanding noms, I've got a lot on my plate at the moment. Trying to find time to study has been a serious challenge at this time of year: I've found that so many other projects have piled up & need my attention. 


I'll breathe a big sigh of relief when I step out of my last exam Saturday & head home. Then I'll have a beer--maybe one of the various Belgian ones we've collected over the past year, or another Bête Noire. Those are tasty...

Wordless Wednesday

To Dos for Christmas

I love Christmas, though this year hasn't been the most relaxing Yuletide season as of yet... I have a long list of things to get done (mostly gifts to sew) after I finish exams & work. I'm determined to squeeze in as many things on the following list as possible though, mostly for Sprout's benefit: (to make myself feel a bit better, I've included a few things I've already done)

1. riding the Bright Nights Christmas Train at Stanley Park
2. a photo with Santa 
3. getting & decorating our Christmas tree
4. putting a fresh evergreen wreath on the front door
5. seeing the Trinity Street Light Festival
6. sending out Xmas cards
7. hand delivering Xmas cards to people living near us
8. baking some cookies
9. making more fabric gift bags
10. making Sprout a few things (puppet, stuffie)
11. adding ear flaps & ties to Sprout's hats so we can keep them ON him
12. visiting the VanDusen Festival of Lights
13. going tobogganing if it snows
14. visiting the Peak of Christmas (Grouse Mountain)

What fun things are on your holiday To Do list? Have you got any recommendations for things a toddler might like to do? 

List #3: 25 things I love about Christmas

Image: Joseph West Photography, on Flickr

1. eggnog
2. christmas lights
3. people really are slightly friendlier on average
4. giving gifts
5. making gifts
6. decorating the house
7. eating all the baking
8. really good chocolate
9. mandarin oranges
10. caroling
11. red & green
12. gaudy Christmas socks
13. knowing all the words to the songs
14. cheesy classic Christmas movies
15. having a real tree in my house
16. the smell of evergreens--pine, fir, spruce are all good
17. visiting family
18. eating turkey & cranberry sauce
19. dorky santa photos
20. more parties
21. dressing up
22. wearing the paper crowns that come inside the Christmas crackers for the entire dinner
23. remembering how exciting it was as a child
24. Stuffing stockings
25. White Christmases (how rare they are on the coast, sadly)

- - - - - - - -
Why Monday lists? Reading the lovely Chloe's blog, Tea Swamp Park, I found an idea I had to 'steal': a list of all her Halloween costumes, with quite a few photos. She got the idea from Hula Seventy's List Project. I've decided to do the weekly lists for a year that Hula Seventy is doing. 

Ever thought about research participation?

If you've been reading the Sprog for a while, you probably know that we're participating in the CHILD study, as I've mentioned it before. CHILD stands for Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development Study. It's an ambitious Canada-wide project to study how chemicals, pollution & other things children encounter on a daily basis like dust & pet dander, affect their health & development. (read the detailed participant handout here) Children like Sprout who are participating are tracked from before birth to age five. Mama (& Papa if possible) is also involved, filling in questionnaires about every six months, providing the occasional sample & bringing baby to clinic visits every year. Allergy & breathing tests are also involved, the results of which are immediately available to you. Since we joined the study, the project has actually received more funding & can now provide participating families with generous grocery gift cards as a thank you for participating in the five clinic visits.
The CHILD study aims to include 5000 children & their families in the research. At the moment, about three years in, they've got 3000. If you're less than 30 weeks pregnant, please consider joining the study, read about the eligibility requirements & follow the links for the recruiting centres here.

Linnaeus 16.0

Sixteen months, wow. It doesn't feel like it was over two years ago that I got pregnant. But then when I think back to how much Sprout has learned--how far I've come as a parent--in just the past year, it seems like longer.

Picking out the day's chocolate 'ration'

Though Sprout is generally a healthy kid, 'tis the season, so he's had another bout with illness. This time it was probably the same stomach bug as I had last weekend, though he (& Papa too) seem to have gotten off rather more lightly than I did. Sprout's appetite wasn't that great for a couple of days. I had to resort to applesauce, yogurt & bananas. He wasn't even all that into toast, which is bizarre for little Mr. Bread Lover. The only thing he didn't hesitate to eat--not surprisingly--was his advent chocolates. He loves going into the little doors & popping out the mini lindors.

Possibly because he was tired from his little immune system working so hard, he had some stellar naps all week--mostly two & three hours. It's been really easy to get him to sleep or nap lately, which has been great for my productivity.

Despite being sick for half the week, Sprout is still his cheerful little self. He's constantly banging on things, including his xylophone. I'd have to say his favourite toy of the week is probably his socks--pulling them off, putting them on his hands & pulling them off again. He still refuses to wear mittens outside, however. A close second would be the squishier bears in his teddy collection. He likes to nap with one of them & we often have one in our bed for him in the mornings when he comes in for his morning feed & cuddle.

Walking is going to happen any day now: Linnaeus is constantly practicing standing on purpose in all kinds of tricky places, like on the couch, in the bath & on our bed. He often stands on his own without realizing it while holding a drink with both hands. (Though he doesn't actually need two hands to pick up his sippy cups. I find it hilarious every time I see him slinging his straw cups around one-handed.) He's also been cruising between objects that are farther & farther apart. Don't forget to submit your prediction for when he'll walk here in the comments. (there's a prize for the closest guess!)

The big news of the week has been the new words Sprout's started using. New this week: beep-beep (beh beh), nom (this is a breastfeeding request) & dog (dok). So far that makes that (dah), uh-oh, no, all done (ah-doh), ball/balloon (bah), hi (aiee), hello, door (doh).

Gear: Mula Stack & Nest Cups

What is it?
Mula Stack & Nest Cups
How does it work?
The name pretty much says it all: seven cupst that nest inside each other or stack as a tower. Many of the cups have one or more holes in the bottom or sides.
Why is it good?
Sometimes the best toys are the simplest ones. Mula cups are colourful, have different shapes & textures on each one, plus they make a great bath toy. The holes in some cups make for fun sprinkler or fountain effects in the water. We use it to rinse baby's hair, he uses it to practise drinking from a cup & works on his spatial perception trying to stack or fit the cups inside each other. The nesting makes it very compact to store & it dries quickly.
Where can I get it?
Ikea.
How much does it cost?
This is the best part: $2.99.

When will he walk?

The ever-brilliant Kirsten had the idea to start a pool to guess when Sprout's going to actually start walking. It's coming soon--he's been practicing standing more & more each day--but when will it be?

Leave your prediction of the date he'll take his first unaided steps in the comments section. Who knows, maybe the person with the closest guess will win a prize...

Wordless Wednesday

Morning

7am cry
Papa stumbles to your room
You stop mid-wail when you hear his feet squeak on the floor boards
Carried to our big bed
You crawl over to me as I roll over & pull my shirt aside
Nipple found in the dark, I feel the strong latch that it took you so many difficult months to develop
Decisively, you pop off, sated
But not willing to move much
Little body alongside my ribs
Feet press into my thighs
Tousle head tucked under my chin
Cheek pressed to my collarbone
Little breaths blowing across my breast

Performing at the Christmas Market

Come out to the Vancouver Christmas Market's Winter Carnival December 10th. This year is the second for the traditional German Christmas market & it's going to be even better than the last. There's a Carousel, lots of booths selling holiday goodies, gifts & you can warm up with a cup of traditional Gluhwein (hot mulled red wine). There are Christmas trees & twinkly lights everywhere, gorgeous decorations from Germany on offer & German snacks aplenty (bratwurst & Bretzel, anyone?). The market is located next to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, enter at the corner of Georgia & Hamilton Street. Admission is $5 for 13+, $2 for ages 7-12.
I'll be there, performing as Jacqueline Frost, sporting a newly revamped costume, with another wintry tall person. We'll be roving the market between 11am & 1:45pm. Look for a couple in sparkly white & blue, about ten feet tall...

PS--If you don't make it on the Saturday, try going on a weekday if you're free--admission is only $2 for everyone before 4pm.

List #2: Things I tried to like, but just don't

1. Sashimi. I tried for a long time to eat a piece every time I went to a Japanese restaurant (nearly every week) but after five years of gagging on the raw fish, I admitted defeat.

2. Hard liquor. Being a connoisseur of single-malt scotch or drinking dry martinis seemed so cool. But I still can't help making a lemon face every time I drink that stuff without a mix.

3. Swimming in the ocean. Too cold & I always wonder what's down there in the murkiness of the water in Vancouver. (Swimming in tropical seas is different. That, I like.)

4. Rock climbing. I got pretty gung ho years back, bought myself some shoes, a harness & a belay device. I went to some indoor gyms a few times & a great trip to Skaha Bluffs, but it just didn't stick.

5. War and Peace. Tried reading this recently & couldn't get more than a few pages in. Tolstoy just annoyed me.

6. Hockey. I know, I know, I'm a bad Canadian. I've enjoyed going to some Vancouver Giants games, but I lose interest easily & can only stay focussed on the game if I am in the front row in a corner so the players get smushed into the glass inches from my nose on a regular basis. I will do the wave & wear the goofy foam goalie mask, but I can take it or leave it.

7. Electric toothbrush. I got one of those fancy ones with a rotating head on it that my dentist recommended. I think I used it less than a year & went back to the old-fashioned kind.

8. Papaya. When ripe, I find these weird fruits smell like a cross between old lady perfume & vomit. I haven't liked them since I had my first sniff of one in high school.

9. Knitting. Every five years or so, I give it a try again. I will start a scarf or something, but somehow the tension on the needles gets insane & I can barely get a stitch on. The whole knit-purl thing somehow defeats me every time & I don't end up with an orderly rib knit but a lumpy hodge-podge. Crochet is & always has been my thing.

10. Playing guitar. I love hearing other people do this, but when I took lessons years ago, I just didn't click with it. All the random finger configurations for making chords just confused the hell out of me. Piano makes more sense to me, as it seems so much more linear. Not that I really know how to play that either.

11. Glasses. Another thing I don't mind at all on other people, but not on me. I begged & pleaded with my parents for years until they let me get contact lenses for my terrible myopia. I've worn contacts probably 99% of my waking hours for the last 21 years & I wouldn't have it any other way. I splurged on a funky pair of red frames a few years ago, thinking they'd get me wearing specs more, but nope. Contacts every day.

- - - - - - - -
Why Monday lists? Reading the lovely Chloe's blog, Tea Swamp Park, I found an idea I had to 'steal': a list of all her Halloween costumes, with quite a few photos. She got the idea from Hula Seventy's List Project. I've decided to do the weekly lists for a year that Hula Seventy is doing. 

Paperless Gift Wrap Tutorial

I made my first video tutorial to explain how to wrap gifts with my paperless gift wraps. If you'd like to buy some, I have a few still available on Etsy.

Crafternoon

necktie onesies & t-shirts

I officially declare today's Crafternoon a success. Despite the fact that we weren't completely ready by the time my obsessively punctual family showed up, it all went off without a hitch. I'm sold out of stroller quilts & receiving blankets, my bandanna bib stock has shrunk & about half the gift bags went out the door. Most people stayed for a while to chat, eat Oli's homemade guacamole & play with the Sprog, so we got in lots of visiting time too.

Thank you to everyone who attended!

To those of you who couldn't make it but wanted to, let me know if you'd like to place an order. Everything's listed on my Etsy shop. You can skip the shipping fees with the local pickup option (translation: I'll meet you for coffee & bring your stuff).

Bandanna bibs for your little cowboy or girl

an impromptu puppet show with a hat
before it went home with its new owner

Linnaeus 15.3

Sprout is gradually starting to use words more often to communicate. Though he still squeaks & points a lot, he is saying "Mama" & "Papa" sometimes & "Ba" for balloon or ball or round thing, whether in real life or in a picture book. He sometimes says, "Ah-duh" when he's finished eating, which I take to mean, "all done". He uses "uh-oh" when he drops things, whether by accident or on purpose.

In the last week or two he's become very explicit about breastfeeding requests. He never was all that obvious about it as a younger baby, it was a lot more subtle. Nowadays, he climbs up onto my lap, looks directly at my chest, points at my left breast & says, "Dat."

He's standing more & more, strangely in places where it's more difficult, like on the couch, in the bath or on the bed. He'll sometimes get up from a crouch without using his hands & then stand there for a moment, in a bent-legged surfer stance.

I think that's it for this update, as it's been a rough weekend over here in Sprogland. Busybusybusy until Saturday evening, at which point I got violently ill all night. Was on the mend by Sunday, but as of Monday night, not completely myself still. Thankfully, Sprout & Papa seem to have avoided whatever nasty bug attacked me.

Gear: Uppababy Vista

The grocery cart/nap wagon

What is it?
Uppababy Vista Stroller
Why is it good?
The Vista comes with all the extras: bassinet, bassinet 'boot', bug screens, rain cover, huge basket. There's no need to buy many accessories unless you want to convert it to a double stroller (rumble seat & 'skateboard' attachments are available). The two I did buy were the cup holder, which easily pops on & off either side of the handle & flips up for tight spaces, & the snack tray. The tray is really easy to clean--its frame pops on & off easily & the tray comes out of the frame & can go in the dishwasher.
Though it's not a small stroller, the Uppababy excels on transit. In its rear facing configuration it's easy to get the stroller into position with baby facing away from the direction of travel, as is safest, & lock the wheels. Sitting behind the stroller, the handle is easily to grab in case of sudden stops.
When you configure the stroller to be forward-facing, it's balanced perfectly & handles really smoothly. The rear-facing position changes the centre of balance, but it's still a smooth ride. I can easily flip it from forward to backward with 24-pound Sprout in the seat.
The recline is super easy on the toddler seat: a one-handed flip of the lever at the top of the seat & you can set it to any one of four angles from flat for naps to nearly vertical for alert toddlers.

Works as a high chair too!

Call me silly, but I loved being able to choose from six different colours. I find most baby stuff to be the most hideous colours (boring beige? neutral grey? baby blue? light pink? barf!) so I was happy that I could choose between a range of bright colours. The fabric is somewhat reflective too, so this stroller is a little bit more visible when headlights shine on it.
I attribute Sprout's vampire-like pallor not to sunblock, because we rarely used it, but to the great coverage he got from the canopy & SPF-50 extension on it. The bassinet has the same silver extension so you can keep baby out of the sun from birth onward.
The large wheels of the stroller are rubber, so it's a pretty smooth ride, but they're foam-filled, so you'll never get a flat. Speaking of large, the basket on this thing is massive. We often get a week's worth of groceries in there, easily.

Where can I get it?
Westcoast Kids, TJ's Kids, Jack & Lola, & many other independent retailers.
How much does it cost?
$700+. This seems like a lot, but trust me, it's worth the investment if you walk a lot. Also, these strollers are in high demand on Craigslist & tend to go for 50-75% of their purchase price used. If yours is in good shape when you're done with it, you can get back some of your money!

*I didn't get any freebies from Uppababy to write this review. Just bought the stroller after doing some research & have loved it for over 15 months now.