March

Oops. Time for another post.

So we landed at Ottawa airport at 12:30 in the morning last Friday, and after an 18-hour day with no nap, Lily finally fell asleep as we taxied to the terminal... stubborn child just had to stay awake all day.

Oh, wait; let me back up a bit. We went to Nevada and area for a bit.

Now back to my enthralling story. We're at the airport, and with some forethought we've conned some friends (let's call them friends #1) into dropping off our car that day (it was adorning their driveway while we were away). I leave the girls with the luggage ("meet me outside and I'll pick you up"). I get to the car, and behold, a flat tire! I rummage through my belongings and pull out a bicycle pump. Look at it, look at the tire. Yeah, that's not happening right now. Head back to where the girls should be to tell them I'll be a little delayed. Of course I don't find them, so I give up after ten minutes of searching. Her phone is in the bit of luggage I took to the car, so calling it doesn't get me very far either. Head back to the car and get the tiny spare out of the trunk. Change the tire (good thing temps are only around freezing in the parking garage). Sad little donut is now on the car, so I take another walk to find the girls. Success this time, so we load up and trundle home for a 2am arrival. At least the little one slept through all of that.

Next day (well, later that same day actually) I bundle Lily up and head out the door to get the flat repaired. Wait, Carrie has the car key with her at work, and friends #1 still have the other key. Unbundle.

The following day I don't get around to dropping off the tire. That evening I head over to pick up the dog from other friends (#2) whom we conned into dogsitting. That's 25 minutes away on a lousy spare over a million potholes. Get there in one piece, but as I leave their place the dreaded thunk-thunk-thunk sound reaches my ears. Yay, a flat spare! The rim is seriously deformed; one of the potholes did a serious number on it. That leaves me with 3 good tires and 2 flats. Hmm.

Ask friends #2 for a hammer. We find an axe. Look at it, look at the rim. Yeah, that's not going to do the trick. Call up other friends (#3) who live nearby. They're on the road four hours away, so presumably not going to be helpful. Hang up. But they call back; they're with other people (friends #4) who also live nearby(ish) and have a car I can borrow. Sweet! I limp the car to the driveway of friends #3 where I'll leave it for the weekend. Get a hold of friend #5 who lives with friends #4 and is borrowing #3's car, because I'm feeling too lazy to walk over. But she's not home so I take a 15-minute jog to #4's house. Break in, steal a car, head back to #3's house to grab the original flat (and the dog whom I've left in my car), and head home.

Next day I successfully drop off the first tire; it a write-off and won't be replaced until after the weekend. I grab an all-season from my pile to use temporarily. That goes in the trunk.

Sunday I'm hanging out with friend #1 while our wives are at church (we have to babysit since the nursery is closed due to an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD)). We head over to my car at #3's house and put the all-season tire on. I'm back on the road! Return the stolen car to #4's house and all is well again (okay, I still have two flat tires, but four round ones, which is what matters).

The next day friends #1 inform us that one of their kids seems to have HFMD. We'll see what happens in the next few days, but I'm not too concerned about Lily. Diseases that don't kill you make you stronger, n'est-pas? But not to worry, friends #1; after all, one of the children of friends #0 contracted HFMD while they house-sat for us during our vacation, so if Lily gets it, we'll never know where it originated :).

Yippee for friends!

January

"YOU'LL NEVER TAME ME!! Or at least not my hair."

Another month, another post. That's how it goes when life is thoroughly unexciting (yet enjoyable).

A few weeks ago we paid for our first babysitter(s) ever! Not that we're hesitant or anything; we just don't tend to go places at night to which we can't drag her along. At least it's not hard to find a willing sitter for our tyke, what with those bottomless brown eyes. But it's sure great that we've never had to fork out for one until now.

We went with some friends for an evening out, sharing the sitter they had acquired. Great deal for us, maybe not for the sitters; Lily rarely winds down before 9pm, and she stayed up extra late that night. That's right, we get our money's worth!



The event that warranted a babysitter? The National Figure Skating Championships, featuring Canada's best and brightest figure skaters (pairs and mens' singles) flitting across the ice for our amusement. But can I remember any of their names? Of course not. Except Jackie Chan; being in a league of his own, he of course stole the show (and the top spot in the mens'). Oh wait, maybe that was Patrick Chan. Whatever. All that matters is that the wives got their figure-skatey night out and will one day have to accompany the men to something cool like a bull fight.


Here's Jackie Chan cutting up the ice. Or Patrick. Whatever.

What else? Lily turns 18 months next week. She stepped on the scale last week... and nothing happened. You see, she likes to make her way onto it, but the digital scale doesn't turn on when you're only 20 lbs. That's right, it actually registers a full 20.0 lbs... fully clothed, that is. Perhaps it's nearly time to hunt for a forward-facing car seat.


"Look Dad, no gut!"


BLAUGGHH... "Haha just kidding... couldn't hold it in any longer!"

She eats well though, and drinks close to a litre of milk a day. She'll eat whatever we're eating for supper, but to make things simple we tend to plunk down peas or corn or kidney beans in front of her so she can feed herself without making a huge mess. This kid is amazing with veggies, be it the aforementioned or broccoli or spinach. We truly are impressed (and blessed) that she loves her veggies so much. And we've never really had to fight about food (and yes, it's still our way or the highway). We, um, take full responsibility for her easy-going nature. (If only.)

I got her a passport in January. Since we're fortunate to have passport offices close to home, most of the work involved getting her photo taken and handing in the application in person. For my efforts, I got the passport in the mail a mere five days later! Talk about quick.

I enjoyed another eyeball infection/ulcer for a couple of weeks. Felt like a rusty nail was being poked and rubbed against my eye. Unsurprisingly, it's difficult to sleep or work or be (comfortably) awake while it runs its course. But it's nicely healed up now, so life is happily unexciting again. Ooh, except I went snowboarding on Saturday... first time in almost two years! And, bonus, didn't even break a hip.


Lily stands out at church in a sea of grey.

But back to Lily! What am I doing, talking about anything else?? She's getting wiser by the day, often surprising us with her know-how. For example, we discovered she knows the concept of jumping ("DUP"), except she can't actually leave the ground yet, despite pushing off with much enthusiasm.

The other day I jotted down a list of some words she actually says (or tries to say), and I came up with more than 120! Well, partial words mostly. Trailing consonants (or syllables) are considered largely unnecessary, but fortunately we understand her well enough. Some words:

  ACAGO (avocado)
  PAH (pants)
  LOO (shoe)
  LYAW-LYUH (water, obviously)
  FOE (phone)
  FOE (throat... not to be confused with phone)
  BAH (bath)
  I TEE TOO (i love you (huh?))
  BEH-BUH (belly button)
  BUPPA (button)
  NO (nose... or snow)

Strangely, the harder ones are often pronounced better:

  AHMPIT (armpit)
  EH-BO (elbow)
  EYE BOW (eyebrow)

(Yes, I choose what to teach her, and these are vitally important. Like algebra-in-the-grocery-store important.)

So she has a ways to go. At least she can communicate.

As she learns what various body parts are called, she also decides their best use:

• toes: for pointing at and saying "toe" every single time she notices them (or whatever's covering them)
• feet: for undressing constantly... probably so she can admire her toes
• nose: for pointing out everybody's during supper, and insisting on touching them with a grimy finger
• mouth: for kissing Dad after he lets her lick a sugary stir spoon when making coffee
• cheek: mom's anyway--for touching and saying "BRRR!!" when mom walks home from work in -20 weather
• hair: for smearing food into during supper; and ridding of any hair elastics or clips (no hair cut yet; we'll probably give in soon).

Pensive.


Nope, not pensive. Just daydreaming (she does that a lot).


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

Happy 2014

Well, another year has come and gone. Time to get used to putting 2014 on the few cheques we still write in this modern age.

We enjoyed an evening with friends last night and were safely home by 1:30am. There were thoughts of maybe skating on the canal today (it officially opened yesterday), but we didn't end up going; it's much warmer indoors than out so no regrets here. Currently it's -25 plus (minus?) some wind chill; supposed to feel like -39 tomorrow morning so any plans I may have had of hanging out outside (ha!) will likely not materialize.

We did the usual Christmas routine again, going south for a few days to visit the family. Lily learned the words opa and oma just in time; those are easier than grandpa and grandma, which she'll have to learn in the next couple of months.

Ooh, something for me?


Getting help from Opa.


Chilling with Oma.


Comparing scrawniness with cousin Arli.


Smiles all around.


Back home after the holiday. Since we had a pretty tree and a pretty girl, we made her pose with her (pre-unwrapped) loot.


Grandma from out west sent some lovely stockings that evidently hold something sweet. Fits perfectly, Grandma!


Mom reading Lily a new book.


She also got a tea set...


...that she liked even more the next day. Also her first day with pigtails. Her dad has no idea how to make those things, but he is starting to get sick of her staticky mop!

What's new

Well, not much is new here, except that last week our quadruped morphed into a busy little biped. (Lily, not Daisy.) That's right, she finally graduated from a most-of-the-time crawler to a determined walker. About time too, as I myself look forward to graduating to a walker quite soon.

She's been taking steps for a while now, but always with a nearby target in mind, be it a table leg, a people leg, or anything else that she assumes won't fall over when she lunges for it. Now it's a whole new world, as she toddles around aimlessly to explore the house. Apparently she still goes down stairs properly. We haven't caught her in the act yet, but seeing her walk toward the stairs several times, I assumed there would be some tumbling involved. No such ill luck, as I've found her a floor lower quite a few times, playing sedately and fully intact.

We saw our first snowflakes last week, and on the weekend the first snowfall actually lasted a day or two. It seems that was just a teaser, but we'll be enjoying our wintry climes soon enough.

Lily and I have great opportunities to visit seniors during the day. She steals hearts wherever she goes. One fantastic scene was of a man in his 90s helping her walk, until she was barrelling along so fast he couldn't keep up.


Another visit involved honing my logging skills. It's been a while since I've used a chainsaw (limited usefulness in a condo environment), but in slaying a dozen trees I didn't hack off any unintended limbs so it all worked out.

Not a great shot, but here's the unhappy diva in her very comfy coat and homemade toque.

(...insert a day of wrangling with the interwebs... and losing...)

Sigh. I thought I'd try to post a video or three, and seeing as our nice camera does wonderful HD video, I wanted them to show up as such. No such luck, as the evil web chews them up and belches out a lousier version; sorry about the quality and the low brightness... grrr. If you couldn't guess, these clips are of our child.