I haven't posted much here lately because, for the first time in ages, life has been pretty tame, and I daresay boring! You yourself are never boring, of course; you use a lot of different words and names now and have also started to climb the furniture. I recently bought you a table and chair set from Ikea, and your new favourite activity is to climb onto the chair and try to pull yourself up over the back of the couch. You also like to push the chairs around the room and then have a fit when you run into a wall or another piece of furniture and the chair won't move anymore. Your tantrums are decidedly tolerable, though; instead of violently flinging yourself on your stomach like most toddlers, it's as if you're suddenly struck with the urge to lie down on your back, taking care to gently lay your head on the floor so as not to hurt yourself as you start weakly crying. You sort of remind me of one of those goats that faints when startled.

Daddy and I had our first day without you yesterday, since he's not working right now and I had Remembrance Day off since I work for the government. I got a haircut in the morning and then we were going to go to Nordik spa, but it was way too busy. Instead, we had some wine at a new cafe in Wakefield and savoured the feeling of playing hooky. The thing is, we would have had to pay for daycare that day even if we had kept you home, so we seized the opportunity for some sorely needed Mommy-Daddy time.

On the daycare front, Alkesandra tells me that two of the boys like to steal your doggie, which upsets you very much. I'm not sure what to do about it, but your father says he wants to teach you how to throw a punch. I'm pretty sure there's nothing we can do, though, except maybe teach you how to protect yourself and your doggie and to say "no." Till now, we've successfully avoided the "no" phase and fit-throwing when you have something taken away, but now it seems we'll end up having to actively encourage these things. Parenting is so hard- you try to teach your kid manners and to let things roll off their back and other kids take advantage of it.

The pictures posted here are of a walk and a trip to the playground we took a few weeks ago. The weather is quickly turning cold, so I'm trying to get outside with you as much as possible before we're cooped up inside while we wait for there to be enough snow on the ground to have some winter fun!

Vacation Time

So, here we are on our "vacation" together. I put quotation marks around vacation because like everybody says, being a mom is a full-time job. All the cooking, cleaning, entertaining, emotional supporting, etc, etc. are a lot to handle- I'd forgotten how hard it was to be SAHM. That being said, I'm really appreciative of the time we are having together, just you and me.

We've been going outside a lot, since you seem a bit stir crazy being here instead of daycare, where they have all kinds of toys and play structures inside and out. We even went on a hike yesterday, you in the backpack being carried by Simon and me bringing up the rear with your granola supply, in case you got hungry. I think that was more exercise than your father has had in years. But it felt good for all of us to be out there. The weather was nice, the scenery was amazing, and the air was fresh.

We also went to Bramasole yesterday for some brunch after an appointment. Unfortunately, as part of your toddler-ness involves the throwing of temper tantrums, you were less than thrilled at having to be confined to your high chair after I made the mistake of letting you roam free in the restaurant while I retrieved said high chair. We struggled to get you into the chair while you contorted your body whith your mind-boggling toddler strength in order to keep us from succeeding. We're bigger than you, however, so we eventually crammed you in and distracted you with your shape-sorter just long enough to place our orders. While we waited for our food and struggled to keep you happy and relatively quiet, the girl at the table next to us quickly downed her coffee and made for the door. It was then that I realised that we were "those people" the ones with the noisy, whining kid that's slightly out of control in an otherwise civilized environment. I sympathise with those people now, as I have seen the light. I used to roll my eyes and mutter "shut up" under my breath from across the room, but now I get it, and I have received my karmic bitch slap.

Other than that little glitch, though, this time with you has been really great, and I'm not looking forward to leaving you at daycare again. One of the hardest things about being a parent these days is having a child and then having someone else take care of that child while you spend your day at work. It's totally ridiculous, but I don't have a choice. I guess I'll just have to start playing the lottery...

Toddlerhood

You're fifteen months old now, which is surprisingly different from being one year old. You're really leaving your baby ways behind you and are becoming a toddler (yikes!). This is most apparent in the increased number of temper tantrums and your reluctance to let me brush your teeth. Yet, it manifests itself in mostly positive ways, such as your increased vocabulary, mobility and playfulness. You respond more to directions and to teaching than you did before, and you repeat a word immediately after we say it, whereas before, we'd say a word about a thousand times before you would randomly come out with it on your own.

You've been quite cranky lately, and I can't tell if you're teething or not, since you won't let me anywhere near your mouth, but I'm inclined to suspect that you're teething because you keep putting your fingers in your mouth. You also had a cold this past weekend, which didn't help. I'm afraid, however, that maybe I'm just trying to find excuses and that this is really just the new you, since everyone says toddlers are such a pain in the butt. Time will tell...

We're presently awaiting the birth of your caregiver's new baby, upon which I will be taking two weeks off from work, since she's closing up shop for two weeks of "mat leave." I've already got a long list of things to do and catch up on, one of which is potty training. I'm really not looking forward to this, because you're an the age where you automatically refuse to do just about anything I want you to do, whether it's eating the food I've prepared for supper, putting your shoes on or letting me pick you up so you don't go and knock over everything on the grocery store shelves. I'll give it a go, though, and I suppose that if it doesn't work out very well I might be able to pawn off some of the responsibility on daycare. Hopefully. I'm not sure it works like that, though; that would be too easy, right?

I also want to announce that I have finally finished knitting your sweater; it just needs a button now and then you'll be all set. It's made of Merino wool, so I think it will be quite warm, which will please Aleksandra and her mother at daycare. It seems they think you'll freeze to death sometimes- it's only October and they already have you covered head to toe in your winter clothing and keep asking for more heavy sweaters. But, at least they care...

Return to Normalcy

Things have finally settled down at home since the move and the switch from nanny to daycare. Margarita found a new job shortly after we told her we had to let her go, and she moved out about a week and a half ago. Let me tell you, it's been a week and a half of bliss! Not that she was a horrible person or anything- we just prefer to have our house and our family life to ourselves. Maybe it comes from being the self-absorbed only children that we are. Also, it was pretty darned expensive.

You have started going to the eco-friendly daycare, which you seem to enjoy quite a bit. There were a few rough days in the beginning, where you wouldn't sleep or eat much in the daytime. That would be partly our fault, though, because your nanny used to distract you with toys while she shoveled food into your mouth because you had an aversion to being spoon-fed. Also, she never wanted to make the effort to "train" you to take one long nap instead of two short ones (or one long one too early in the day is more like it). Aleks, your new daycare provider had you sleeping from 12-3 in no time, with minimal problems; just a bit of restlessness at night as you adjusted to the new schedule.

There were a couple of days when you (and I) cried when I brought you to daycare, and you reached out from Alek's arms and clung to my neck, but that ended quite quickly with the help of Domino, your stuffed doggie (thanks Adam!), to whom you're still very much attached. You clung to him while you watched me leave and that seemed to be enough for you to feel secure in your new surroundings.

Now, however, you go to Aleks with a smile on your face and you eat almost everything she offers, which is amazing. That includes raw vegetables! I tried to get you to eat some raw tomato last night, and you had a fit, so I don't know what's up with that, but I suspect that seeing other kids eat motivates yo to do the same. Whatever works!

It's such a relief knowing that you're eating organic food and milk everyday instead of being trained to eat nothing but hot dogs, chicken fingers and pasta, like you would in almost any other daycare. Nutrition is so important for kids, whose minds and bodies are developing in every possible way, and I really don't understand why nutrition is on the bottom of the list of priorities in most child-care settings. I realise it's easier and for the caregiver to make "kid-friendly" food, but that's not the point, and anyone who works in childcare should care enough about the kids to do better. Is this not part of what we pay them for? Anyhow, I digress.

On the knitting front, I'm starting my first sweater, which I hope will fit you nicely and won't have sleeves of differing lengths and such things as are normally seen when grandma knits someone a sweater in a television sitcom. I think it's about halfway done now, after only three days of knitting. I realise this is simply because of the small size, but it's quite encouraging.

On the language front, you've left me in the dust as far as my keeping track of the words you say. You repeat words and sounds immediately after hearing them now, so your vocabulary has increased immensely over the last few weeks. You also seem to have learned to "draw", as I learned when you picked up the pen I was using to keep track of my knitting and promptly drew a line on the rocking chair cushion. And now I'm the proud owner of a new Tide stick. I'm actually off to buy you some crayons on the drive home so you have something that will only really make marks on paper.

You're walking like a champ now, still mostly while holding someones hand, but you can make it pretty far without any help- I think you just like the security of having someone to steady you sometimes.

You also have a new habit of poking the dog in the eye and pulling on her lips, which I hope will not end in disaster one day, when I don't make it to the living room quickly enough after hearing her "Stop poking me in the eye" growl.

Although you're really quite a handful, you're one of the most pleasant and least temperamental babies I've seen, which makes life with you so pleasant-I can't thank you enough!

Love, Mama

Childcare- Ick!

For various reasons, the Au Pair thing is not working out, so I'm in the process of trying to find a new daycare. Posting will again be light until I figure something out, so bear with me- I'm using literally every minute of break and lunch time on this! For now, I'll give you a short update:
You've begun to take your first wobbly steps alone and have become obsessed with walking in general (while holding someones hand). I believe this is starting to interfere with your sleep, but I suppose it's worth it- we don't want you to be crawling around when your ten.
You've really learned a lot of words lately, mostly animal names, and you have started to imitate people more readily. For example, in one of your bedtime books a rooster goes "cock-a-doodle-do!," and after hearing me say it a few times, you started saying"do, do, do, do, dooo!" when we get to the rooster page. Very cute.
Other than that, we've all been trying to settle into the new house and enjoy a bit of Wakefield living. You love pizza from Cheesey Louigi's and ate a whole piece the other night! I don't know where you put your food, because sometimes you eat almost as much as I do. Maybe your nanny's starving you...
I'm joking, but we do have other childcare options on the horizon, the best of which seems to be a lady in Chelsea who serves all organic food on non-plastic dinnerware and has non-plastic toys. I have an interview with her on Friday, and am prepared to lick her shoes if she lets you in.

Wakefield

We've been living in Wakefield for a week now, and I have to say we're all happier for it. You've been extremely chipper since we moved there, and I can only chalk it up to the abundance of fresh air from being outside all the time, since EVERYTHING is within walking distance. Oh, and maybe the chance to see other human beings helps too. You (and we) were very isolated in Metcalfe, and for some reason the neighbours weren't very friendly. I think people live out there to have privacy, i.e., no neighbours. Half the residents of our new street in Wakefield have come to greet us, and you even have a new "uncle," a painter named Moe who lives few houses down. Turns out he used to do some commissions in Charleston- small world.



Your new favourite pastime is to sit in the swing hanging from the tree in the front yard and say "car!" or "cuck!" every time a vehicle passes by. Also, you've been brave enough to enter the freezing cold water of the Gatineau river, which is more than I can say for myself. Tonight, we're going to take you to to a nice little cafe called Chez Eric to play in the sandbox while I see if I can negotiate a very part-time second job (your nanny is costing us an arm and a leg, and while your on the waiting list for daycare there's not much we can do). That's right, there's a sandbox on the patio. Wakefield is more baby-friendly than I could ever have imagined. The owners of Chez Eric also have an 18 month-old daughter, whom I'm sure you'll meet soon, if not this evening.

I hope you like it in Wakefield (and I really think you do) and that we can stay for long enough to build a nice, stable, life here.

We're moving...again.

We're moving to Wakefield next weekend, since Simon has realised that he couldn't have any kind of work and/or living arrangement with his father ever again. Also, we were plannign to buy your grandfather's house, but at the last minute he jacked up the price, so we couldn't afford it. It's a stressful time, but I'm sure we're going to have a significantly more enjoyable life in Wakefield than we ever would in Metcalfe, since there's like, a bazillion more things to do there and there are much more interesting people around, some of whom, gasp, we already know! That includes some new playmates for you, as well as the kids you'll meet at the local playgroup. I'm pretty excited!
So. Posting here will again be light because of the general busyness, but I just want to say that you've been a real treat lately- very affectionate and pleasant, if a bit clingy. But there's really nothing wrong with clingy, in my opinion. Anyone who says you shouldn't pick up your child when the want to be picked up is insane. Why deny someone their need for affection? To me, that's equal to denying you food and water- people thrive on love.
Anyhow, I hope you like your new home and that the whistle from the steam train doesn't wake you for your naps all the time...