Teddy turns TWO

Dear Teddy,

Today, you turn 2 years old. I cannot believe it; time seems to have both flown and crawled. I can account for all of it, but it's amazing how much you have changed in two short years. More amazing, in fact, is how much I feel I've changed by becoming your Mom. I cannot imagine a better gift than getting to be your mother.

You continue to be a sunny, loving little boy. You adore all vehicles, both toys and the real thing. Driving trips with you are a blast as you are content to look at the window and announce: "A bus!" "A truck!" "A car!". You are so enthusiastic about things you love. As one whose never lost that level of enthusiasm, it warms my heart to see how much joy things bring to you.

You are also an not too shabby in the looks department. We are often stopped by strangers who comment on how cute you are - especially your eyes. You have my brown eyes, with Daddy's long, dark lashes. They are OUT OF CONTROL cute. And you're usually so happy - you're a hit with strangers. And you have a knack for choosing random people with whom to speak. Last week, when you were at the mall getting your hair cut, you chose the following people to greet: an elderly woman, sullen teenagers, and the middle-aged man changing out the trash. All were charmed by you and thrilled that you'd spoken to them. You love people, all people. Such a sweet boy you are.

The biggest change this past year -- or the one we feared the most -- was the arrival of your little sister in August. Daphne (your beloved caregiver) told us that she wasn't at all worried, that you'd make an amazing big brother. She was 100% correct. You are so loving and kind with Veronica, whom you call "Baby" most of the time, when not calling her "Eeer-onica" (it's better than the original "Gonka!"). You have a routine whenever sitting (i.e. not being held). First, you announce your desire to "KEEEEESS" her, which you do accompanied with a 'mwah' sound. Kissing mostly involves putting your forehead to hers, but we'll take it. Then, you must cover her with a "BANKET". If you can't find one, then you'll give her your bear for short periods. Finally, you earnestly look at her and demand a "High Five!". You are so considerate of her - letting us know when she's crying, smiling at her. I have no siblings, but I'd have chosen a big brother for myself. Veronica is so blessed to have an amazing one in you. She loves you, too. She watches you, and she laughs and laughs when you do. Though I know you'll fight, I can't wait until you are bigger and you can play together and be friends.

You've always been a talker, but in the past few months your vocabulary has EXPLODED. Recently, you've started busting out three and four word sentences, like
"I kick the ball!" and "My Dada a(t) work.". You have your usual standbys of "I dance!", "I get", "I drop", "I fix", etc. and lots of other two word phrases like "That One", "This One", "'et Go!", "Leave it", and the ones you've been saying for nearly a year: "Don't throw", "Don't touch", and similar ones. It's so amazing that you can clearly communicate with us now. LOVE IT!

You still adore music, and you've starting to sing ON KEY! You love "Old MacDonald" and the "EIEIO" (how apt), though it's more like "EE-Yi-EE-Yi-Yo". You'll bust out the alphabet song and sing the Backyardigans theme song, too. That - and Glee - are your TV repetoire. It's SUCH a cute show! Speaking of Glee, you'll occasionally sing a few songs from Glee, like "Bad Romance" and "Don't Stop Believin'". You primarily like to dance to those songs, though. And you have your favourite songs from the Backyardigans, which you enjoy hearing over and over and over. You're like your Mom that way (your poor father).

You love your 'Bear Bear', and your grandparents (Grandpa is a special friend, as is Nonna). You are still a voracious eater. You hesitate a bit when trying new things, but you generally tough it out and try. You are scared of things that make unexpected moves towards you/move in an unusual way - remote control cars, for example. You like calling Glowworms your 'baby', and you'll try to nurse them when we tell you to 'feed your baby'. You are weirded out by moles, especially the one on my chest - you want me to 'cyup' (cover it up), but then want to see it again. You laugh easily. You dance like a fool after we've put you in your pjs but before Daddy puts you to bed. You love 'lift the flap' books, and can count to ten! You are obsessed with looking at candles, saying how you're going to 'bwow' them out.

Life with you is never boring, occasionally frustrating (dude - you know not to do these things. DON'T DO THEM!), and often sublime. I wouldn't change it for anything.

Happy birthday, my baby boy.

Love,
Your Mom

This is for any lurkers...

It's National De-lurking Day! Let me know if you're out there, and I promise some content over the weekend. I have draft posts in the works already!

A new laptop! Maybe it'll make me post more...

I am alive!

And I am posting this on my new-to-me laptop, about which I am super thrilled. It's a refurbished corporate model (an IBM Thinkpad T61 -- my Dad calls it the last, best IBM corporate model) from a great store called "The Trailing Edge" and it FLIES. I love, love, love it. It is such a contrast, because I DETESTED my previous laptop.

I haven't written about it before because I don't like dwelling on the negative. But oh! I have hated that netbook since the day it arrived. I bought it because it was little and it gave me something to do while trapped with the pump when Teddy was tiny. It sucked in so many ways. To wit:

- every time you snapped the computer closed, it disconnected from the internet/nearly shut down. Suck a frigging pain with a baby/toddler around.
- battery life was totally sucky. Even from early on, it would only hold charge for an hour or so. SO ANNOYING.
- the most egregious tied to the keyboard. It was about 90% of a full-sized one, which was annoying. But it had this insane tendency to move the cursor to unpredictable spots. Not only that, but it would randomly highlight text and unexpected delete it or navigate back a browser page. I cannot count the number of blog posts/tweets/FB messages I had to type three or four times because of that perk.

I am cheap, though, and I paid several hundred dollars for it, so I was going to tough it out for 2-3 years. Teddy turns 2 soon, though, and this computer was an AMAZING deal, so I used some Christmas money and got it. HOORAY!

Christmas was wonderful and will write about that soon. For now, I'm off to play with this new bad boy!

What we've been up to - December 2010 edition

We're still here. We've just been really, really busy! Since last I posted, here's what we've been up to:

• From December 7-9, the kids and I headed to Kingston with my Mom. We visited my Nonna for several days, which was lovely. I cemented my knowledge of a few of her amazing recipes (eggplant parmesan, lasagna, etc.) while my Mom watched Teddy. We also got to see Rachel in between her finals and my Uncle Sergio. It was a lovely time, despite the storm we had to drive through to get there. Her house devoid of any internet capacity, though, so I missed the internets!

• The following weekend, we ran around a lot. We had Christmas parties (brunch at Mark and Tania's on the Saturday, Dave's corporate children's party on the Sunday), as well as things like shopping and mass. I will upload photos from the Christmas party soon - they're cute, but my computer is being finicky.

• Last week, Beth came to visit us for several days. She's in Ontario for over 2 weeks, and since I am on mat leave, she came to visit during the week. We ate, we drank, we hung out. We also visited the Diefenbunker, arguably my favourite Ottawa-area museum. It's a decommissioned nuclear bunker from which the Canadian government was to have governed in case of attack. It's now a Cold War museum and it's SO awesome! Plus - I scored one of the library's museum passes, so we got to go for free. We also visited my parents in Almonte (the Diefenbunker is very close to their place) and saw Shelley. A fun and busy week all around. And we'll get to see Beth again when we're in the GTA, so yeah!

• This weekend, we did some essential Christmas prep - assembling gifts, working on the Christmas cards, etc. It's a challenge to do with two little kids, so thank goodness for coordinated naps! We knocked a few things off the list, including passport photos for Veronica. That's another picture that I will be uploading soon.

This week, we have more Christmas prep in the evenings, then the holiday season begins!

Advent has been fun. Teddy loves looking at "Baby Jesus" in our crèche, and he ADORES the Advent wreath. When we broke it out, he promptly broke into "Happy Birthday" - his primary exposure to candles. He now sings "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and is a wee bit obsessed with blowing out the candles, which he calls "cackles". It's cute. And I cannot wait for future Christmases, when they're both old enough to be involved.

What have you guys been up to?

Rolled Sleeves

If you lived in my head, you would know that I am not a very nice person. If I had to identify my 'root sin', it would be pride. I often have a running dialogue in my head, and I have to admit that as soon as something goes off course -- little stuff, not real emergencies -- I think "how could this be happening to ME??!?!?". Entitled, much? And since I live with him, these feelings turn to Dave on occasion.

One such occasion was earlier this afternoon. I was sorting dirty clothes, and I noticed once again that Dave had forgotten to unroll the sleeves of several of his dress shirts. "GAH!" I thought. "I managed to nag him into checking his pockets for Kleenex when we first got married. WHY can't he remember this?!?"

And then it hit me. The first thing Dave does when he arrives at home (after taking off his coat and boots; we do live in Canada) is roll up the sleeves of his dress shirt so that he can pitch in with the kids. It's more than a metaphor. He literally rolls up his sleeves. And when he changes, he hurriedly puts the shirt in the hamper so that he can put on something more conducive to playing with the kids.

Dave is such an amazing father and partner. I don't thank him for it enough. So thanks, baby. I will gladly unroll your sleeves if that means that I get to spend my life with you.

Endings and beginnings

It's the 30th of November, the last official day of NaBloPoMo. It has been a challenge, but I have really enjoyed it! I mean, maybe 3 of my posts have had any real substance to them. Most have simply been stories about the kids. But it's been freeing to just write something rather than feeling pressured to write something significant. I need to channel this into writing in the future.

And speaking of endings (and beginnings):

• November looks to be ending the way it began - with parents getting puked on. Dave got hit 2 nights in a row with Teddy at the start of the month. Last night, poor Veronica was congested and spit up all over herself and me at 3 a.m. Boo!
• In happier news, Dave and I finished the series finale of "The Wire" last night. I am sure that this shocks no one to hear, but that series is so, so amazing. We started it when Veronica was tiny and we've been plowing through. I am sad it's over, though. We did watch S1 of Modern Family (also great) at the same time, and now we're caught up there, too. What to watch next? We're thinking "Friday Night Lights". Any other suggestions?

Thanks, folks for sticking it out with me. And have a wonderful feast of St. Andrew!

Veronica's Baptism...eventually.

The plans for Veronica's baptism are finally in the works, save the ultimate ok from the parish. I know Doreen, the head of the Baptismal ministry, though, and I am pretty sure that we'll get the only date that works. Too bad that it's in June.

At our parish, in addition to the full immersion font, we have preset baptismal dates. We have our godparents - Dave's brother Barry and my Aunt Linda. But the upcoming dates are less than ideal. They are:

• two dates in the dead of winter. Since the bulk of our families are from out of town (both godparents live a 4+ hour drive away and don't relish the highway drive required to get here), asking them to come to our snowy city at that time of year is just cruel.
• March 6th - the 40th birthday of her future godfather and the day before her future godmother's 60th. Also not fair.
• Nothing during Lent, obviously.
• May 8th - aka Mother's Day.
• June 19th - aka Father's Day.

We debated and debated, and consulted with family. We've settled on June 19th; we'll have a little something for all the fathers who'll be coming and sacrificing their special day. Plus, the weather will be great and it's near the end of the school year (for all my educator relatives and for the nieces/cousins who are still in school).

It's brutal, though - she'll be nearly 10 months old! Father Boyd has already started to ask: "When will I get to baptize this one?" and it'll still be another 6+ months.

No one can say that they don't have sufficient notice, though!