Spring is here!

We are starting to get settled in Toronto finally. Still feels like there is always stuff left to do though. For example last weekend we finally changed Holden’s tag to our new phone numbers… but we have yet to take him to the vet.

Carter is doing great. He LOVES being outside. The weather is finally nice & he’d like to stay outside forever. He’ll roam around the backyard, ride his 3-wheeler, and “help” us. Lately he loves to run, and of course he likes it better if you chase him. He also likes chasing or being chased by the dog, and if Holden is in the mood to play, the two of them will run around the back yard for a good 30 minutes together. It is also very amusing that he likes wearing his sunglasses. First he wanted ours, then we pulled out his toddler oakleys (Jackie will be happy to know his is very trendy in his sunglasses - she gave them to him) he insists on wearing them. We have no complaints because its good for him, but it is funny when people do a double take to look a this teeny tiny kid in sleek black sunglasses.

Carter also likes to jump (he practices), reading books, playing with his cars, playing his matching card game, and watching elmo. He’ll ask for TV and elmo, but he  now thinks elmo is on all the time because in the basement with the dvr it is on anytime he wants. 

Carter is talking alot and his w ords are getting clearer. He’ll use 2, and occaisionally 3 word phrases. He’ll also repeat anything so we now have to be careful what we say. Shawn slipped and said “oh sh*t” in front of him, which then lead to Carter repeating it over & over in an attempt to say it correctly. Luckily if he doens’t know what it means it is soon forgotten. He’ll also have the whiny spells, which always involves us encouraging him to “use your words” to tell us what he wants. Which only works sometimes, but it did work one morning when he eventually told me he wanted a cookie for breakfast. On that note he is also full of drama, and is perfecting his tantrum. He’ll switch from a smile (or his mischievious grin) to throwing himself on his knees with his head down. It is however funny, when he glances up to see if it is working, then will toss his head down again. Tantrum in the company of two or more adults, then involves a such up period to someone. Little bugger! Generally though he is in a pretty good mood, which involves smiles,laughs, hugs & kisses, saying “happy”, and his squealing jumping excitement thing he does (too funny).

Carter is now starting to get picky about what he eats as well. He seems to go through phases with his fruit. Basically it is one fruit for a few weeks then he changes to a different food. Bread and yogurt are always welcome. Pasta is still a staple, but it has to be the good stuff, no canned stuff for him. I think this stems from the fact that food at daycare is prepared by a little Italian lady. While he is picky at home, he is the “eating champ” at daycare. There is only one other kid that even comes close to his food intake, & of course they scratch their heads because he is still tall & skinny as ever. They write down how many servings he has at breakfast and lunch. One day Carter had 4 servings at lunch! My pasta is not quite as popular, probably because it is not as good!

Just a quick post tonight to let everyone know whe are still alive, and now that the snow is gone we are starting to come out of hibernation.

I’ve posted a few photos. Enjoy.

 Kiss, kiss!

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77936547@N00/?saved=1

Adjusting to Toronto

Well life is still pretty busy as we are still getting settled into our new house. We have pretty much unpacked but now we are painting some rooms. We put a second coat of paint in our “office” room tonight… it was previously a bright pink/coral… sorry no pictures until we put the room back together (I download onto the desktop). It is taking forever to get painting done since it involves naptime, evening & weekends. I am sure Carter would love to help paint but he tends to make more work anytime he “helps” you do something.

Carter is doing great. He seems to like his daycare… well school since it is called Jellybean Academy! There are no tears when we drop him off or pick him up. He takes off his coat, wanders into his room and gets right in on the action, & then when we pick him up he likes to point out all his favorite things (the mural, wagon, kitchen, guinea pig).  They comment on how cute he is (of course) and how much he eats. There is only one other kid that eats even close to what he does. Apparently he always has two helpings of lunch and a few helpings at snack time. He also eats breakfast at daycare even though he eats breakfast at home too! I think they are amazed since he is quite tall and lean still. They also send him home with all kinds of little crafts & paintings as well. They are basically smeared paint & randomly glued items on construction paper… too cute, yes they are hanging on our fridge! Anyway he definitely likes the classroom setting,  so I may have to start looking for an actual preschool.

Carter is talk talk talking now. He is starting to repeat everything you stay, although some words are clearer than others. Shawn is having fun teaching him words like boobie and bum. He has tonnes of words now but his most common words are mama, dog, grandpa, tractor, more, dirty, up, down, and of course no. Lately he loves to “hide”, which is amusing because he can’t help peek to see if you are looking for him. He also likes to chase the dog (or be chased if he is holding a cracker), dance, play with is race track, feed the fish, help Mama dust (give him a swifter duster & he goes to town), and play hockey with Dada. Yes we have a hockey net and sticks. Shawn is determined to teach him how to shoot. He also likes to go outside & will “help” shovel the snow. He is getting used to the snow and lately he likes to pick up and carry around the biggest boulders he can find. He also loves the water, whether it be the bath or the pool. He is now eating with utensils & his food must be in a bowl or dish. Yes a little neurotic. But on the good side of this he likes to wash his hands and will request to have them washed. We are working on a regular cup. He can drink from it but he prefers to play with it, meaning he places food in it, stirs it or rinses is fingers.

He sounds so wonderful… well he is now a toddler so he does have his moments too. So so stubborn and he will now have tantrums if he doesn’t get his way. He is also a testy little bugger. Tonight, he was drinking his disgusting soapy (likely peed in) bath water from a little shovel he plays with in the tub. Well, of course I ask him to stop… he doesn’t stop… so I threaten to take the shovel… doesn’t stop… take the shovel, he has a fit, I wait a while & then tell him he can have it if he doesn’t drink from it, he gets it back, pretends to drink form it, smiles & laughs, then drinks from another bath toy followed bay a loud “AHH” while he looks at me and smirks. Well it wasn’t the shovel he was drinking from. His grandpa Willett is convinced he has the “mischievous twinkle” in his eye (like how his uncle Trent was as a kid)… I am worried he may be right. Did I mention that his grandfather and uncles think it is good fun that he is such a character!

So Shawn told me it “hardly ever snows in Toronto”… whatever! This year we Toronto has had more snow already than the last 2 years combined. The only good thing about snow is that the weather is usually milder. Today though we had a cold snap and for my Phoenix friends going to the park in shorts, today it was 6 Fahrenheit! Yikes! I now wear a large down-filled coat with a gigantic hood to keep me warm.

There are things I miss from Phoenix that I am still trying to find here. A good moms group for one.  I am glad our neighbour across the street has young kids, so we may have to have a playdate! Also looking for a cheap housekeeper and somewhere I can premake frozen dinners (SuperSuppers!). It is odd the things I depended on to make life far less stressful. Luckily the community center has all kinds of “kiddy” classes & swimming for Carter.

All for now. Things are good here. We’ve been very busy lately but hopefully relaxing times are ahead!

Welcome to the frozen north!!

Wow it has been a long time since I have done a post. We are now in Toronto!! Yes that is what we have been doing for the last 2 months or so. Moving is one thing, but moving to a different county is a whole other ballgame. Can’t say Shawn or I would recommend it to anyone, in fact I am not sure we will ever move again.

We have had many many headaches to say the least. Lets see the first involved tarantulas!! Yes tarantulas! We got a call from our movers that there may be tarantulas in our stuff when they started to unload into storage in Toronto. Hmmm, the “large hairy spiders” changed from the size of a fist to the size of a loonie. Shawn and I were a little unphased by this and were more concerned about the cost of fumigating or damaging our stuff than some spiders. We have been living in where coyotes, snakes, scorpions, and gekos frequent your backyard. Anyway, so now our stuff is in a trailer in the cold and the company will pay for any damages. We figure the spiders were probably living in the mast of the sailboats stored outside.

Well then we had issues with moving money which involved a trip back to buffalo, fedexing, and changing exchange companies. As well we found out about a some fraud in my name at Bell Canada when we got cell phones. And then we are now having issues with getting drivers licenses. This on top of selling our house, buying a house, finding daycare, importing our cars, etc… Basically I have been doing paperwork full time for the last 4 weeks and we are still not done!!

On a more positive note… Our house in Phoenix has closed last week so we are happy. I also got a job at York Central Hospital (part-time –woohoo!) as their geriatric clinical nurse specialist/Nurse Practitioner. I don’t start work until next week, but then I have 2 weeks off for Christmas. We also bought a house!! And move in on December 22nd!! We bought in Woodbrdige, by Ilsington and Rutherford (west of Von Mills mall).

We are living in a hotel suite right now so I only have a laptop. I’ll post pictures in the new year of Carter once we get settled in our new house.

Holden is living in Bracebridge (and basically Carter has been too) with grandma and grandpa Willett until we move into the new house. I think Holden is more of a Canadian dog now than a desert dog. He loves the snow!! The dog loves to roll in the snow, eat it, and chase squirrels.

Carter doesn’t seem to mind the cold either. He’s been out helping grandpa load wood into the truck, long walks outside, and even out for rides in the sled. He knows what snow is and can even say snow (he crinkles his nose when he says it, too funny!). He is starting to repeat alot of words but some are much clearer than others. He can say no, yah, mama, dada, dog, hot, dirty, grandpa, tree, tractor, cracker, door, down, banana, pee-ew (& he plugs his nose), etc… He’s pretty funny because he likes to change his expression or tone when he says certain words. Grandpa Willett is having a great time since Carter can say Grandpa pretty clear but doesn’t say grandma. Grandma and grandpa have been taking him swimming regularly so now he is becomming quite the litter swimmer. He’s even gone down the water slide on his own. We also put the christmas tree up last weekend, with non breakable ornaments on the bottoms (someone likes to check them out). Carter likes to stare at the tree and say “ahhhh”, and get all excited… he likes the Christmas tree… wait till he see it with presents!!

Anyway by next week we hope to be fairly organized, that we can finally start to enjoy being in Toronto. By the way — it has snowed a tonne here since we arrived… so much for Shawn saying it doesn’t snow much in Toronto! At least it is pretty.

Where have we been?…busy!

Ok, so I have neglected the website over the last month or so. We’ve been busy…

First we were in Montreal for Sophie’s wedding. I was a bridesmaid and looked fantastic (I’ll post pics later). The wedding was fun to say the least… they got married in the McGill chapel, had a rooftop cocktail hour with a live jazz band, great food, wine poured so fast I had no idea how much I drank, and yes a DJ who played all the 80’s & dance music my heart desired! Plus an open bar & no baby to get upto in the morning! Sophie & Christopher you put on quite the party.

So Carter spent the week with in Ottawa while I was in Montreal. The grandparents had a very good time with him. Carter is very curious so he had a good time at the fair, the park, the pool, on the boat, etc… I’ve uploaded photos on flkr that my mom took. http://www.flickr.com/photos/77936547@N00/?saved=1

Well here is the BIG NEWS if you haven’t heard:

WE ARE MOVING TO TORONTO! Yes we are totally nuts. We are sad to leave Phoenix but it is time to move north. Shawn accepted a job with Thales, he starts Nov 5th. Carter and I will arrive sometime that week or the week after. Our house is up for sale and we are hope-full (in the very slow Phoenix market) that it will get sold in the next few months so we won’t be homeless for too long. So, if I don’t post often for the next few months its because we are moving!! I’ll be the one in Toronto wearing a parka and cursing the cold… in November (ya Shawn is laughing that he couldn’t have timed it better to help me “adjust” to the weather. I think he is going to buy me flannel pajamas and hot shots for my birthday. He does know that a gas fireplace is a requirement in the new house!).  Anyway, we are excited to be moving back. See you soon! 

“He’s a going concern”…

Wow, I haven’t posted in a while. We were in Bracebridge and Ottawa the end of July & 1st week of August. Time seemed to fly by when other people are spoiling your child. Carter had a great time, there was no lack of attention with all the grandpartens, uncles and aunt around to give him attention.

We had a surpise retirement party for Shawn’s dad. The entire family was in town and he had no idea (this is a big deal with us in Arizona, Trent in Korea, and Mike in Nova Scotia). Yes none of us slipped & gave up the surprise.

While we were back, Carter got dunked in the river, went to the beach, saw animals at the experimental far, and was the star of a few parties. He’s quite “the party guy”, as grandpa would say, and he has no trouble walking around the crowds as long as someone pays attention when he flashes them a smile. Carter didn’t like the grass, leaves, weeds or anything green at first. He did manage to get used to it & had no problem picking up leaves & walking around in the grass (with shoes on) by the end. In fact he obsessively walked up & down the grassy hill at the Willett house for hours. (By the way he can now WALK up the steep ramp at “my gym” without any assistance –it is like a slide). He also didn’t like the sand at the beach. He didn’t mind the swimming at the river or beach but was not about to stand on the bottom. Which is odd since he has seen an abundance of dirt here in Arizona. He did also impress everyone with is baby sign language, which everyone had to learn to they could figure out what he was trying to tell them. But then again he did “woof” at any 4 legged animal. He doesn’t quite get that a cat, sheep, squirrel are not a dog. I should also mention that the grandpas are training him to a “bush man”… they let him pick wood off the wood pile, put the wood in the fire pit, ride the tractor & lawn mower, and play in their trucks. After all his bush-man training he worked up quite the appetite, which (when you are being spoiled), involved more dessert than he ever had, and he also developped quite a liking for cheetos. I will admit the mini bag of cheetos did come in handy on the plane.

Yes I flew back with Carter solo. We got upgraded to 1st class for the hour flight Ottawa to Toronto — Yeah, Carter should cry while we are in line to board more often! And for the long 4 hour flight Toronto to Pheonix I did manage to book a bulk head which maintained some of my sanity. The flight was full so luckily the guy next to me had kids so he was sympathetic! Which was good since Carter managed to grab his glasses off his face in the first 5 minutes after take off. I spent the next 2 hours entertaining him with new toys, food, the window, and the pocket for the inflight magazine/barf bag. Just when I thought I was running out of things, he got tired and fell asleep until landing. He did however manage to poop during landing! Yup, it stank & I was stuck in my seat for 15min until we could get off the plane. Oh well, I cranked up the little fan thing to disperse the smell & made a poop joke + appoligized to the guy beside me. It was exhausting but we made it home.

Since being back Carter has adjusted to the lack of attention & dessert just fine. He’s learned a few more signs. He can sign for more, milk, water, all done, and sleep. His fav toys are still his cars & trucks which he likes to say “vroom” when he pushes them. He aslo likes to point alot now. Today when he finished dinner (he signed all done, so he could get out of the high chair), he got down,  ran to the counter, pointed to the box of teddy grahms & signed “more”.  He is still in love with the dog. Aside from “woof”, sitting & crawling on him. He now brings him his toys & puts them in his mouth, teases him with crackers to get him to chase him, and plays peek a boo with him under the coffee table.

All for now, I’ve loaded alot of pictures onto flkr.

New video

Play with Holden: http://www.youtube.com/v/sUJpCA9L-uM

Ahhh!: http://www.youtube.com/v/lhI01fIHP3U

A quick update…

Where does the time go! Shawn will laugh at me when I comment that my week is very busy with playdates, lunches, and all the little classes I take Carter to. I’ve been taking Carter to “my gym”, it is a kids indoor play gym with lots of climbing, balls, tampelenes, etc… This is good because he has started to use his mini cough to climb on the coffee table. Anyway, it is too hot here right now to go to the park in the afternoon, so he just goes crazy running and climbing at the indoor gym. He can even climb up the slide, and it very amusing to watch him figure out how to jump on the tampelene. 

We will be in Bracebridge/Ottawa for two weeks - we arrive July 20th. The plane ride should be interesting with a kid that does not like to sit still. Our carry on will be full of things to entertain Carter, and well, I have no objection to him ripping the onboard magazines and barf bags (this was a good 30min of fun at christmas).

The milk issues are improved. Carter refused to drink whole milk, a week or so after we switched him. What kid doesn’t like milk? Anyway now we have him drinking vanilla soy milk, which I was diluting with plain soy milk. Yes he loves his soy milk. We are now mixing with whole milk, and he has yet to spit it out so we have progress.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77936547@N00/?saved=1

Woof

Carter is doing great. We’ve been trying to get him to say dog, since he has such a love for Holden. He’ll say Duh or Dah, but mostly now he says woof. He’s quite the busy little guy, and now his walk is a full blown run. He still loves his trucks, and is either playing with them or hiding in his blow up house.

I’ve completely weaned him from the breast (yes, I made it a year — 4 teeth & all), so now he is to drink milk. Well he does not like milk. I am tempted to try soy milk since he liked the disgusting soy yogurt but we’ll give regular milk some time. Luckily Carter would live off cheese lately if we let him so he is getting his dairy elsewhere, which I am told is ok. But what kid doesn’t like milk? Now I find homo milk rather gross looking, but Shawn is salivating… I’m sure one day I’ll come home to find Shawn having a glass. Poor Shawn, I force him to eat low fat dairy. He doesn’t know what “regular” or “full fat” (is what I call it) products taste like anymore. 

Anyway, here is some more videos of the daily fun out our house. Enjoy!

Tease the dog: http://www.youtube.com/v/qFC24dPuFac

Choochoo: http://www.youtube.com/v/YKp6WnwfRQU

Dizzy: http://www.youtube.com/v/Hadl21hZ7iw

Happy 1st Birthday Carter

He’s not a baby anymore! The little guy is now a toddler. So here is what he is upto at one year old…He’s definetly on the move, and his walk is now a full out run when he wants to. He can say mama, dada, & is now trying to say dog — which comes out as “du”.  Carter is still in love with the dog. He’s figured out which are Holden’s toys and will go give them to him. He also loves to be chased by the dog, which puts him in hysterical laughter (this usually involves Carter teasing Holden with a cracker). He only has 4 teeth but he is able to gum cheese, soft meat , veggies & fruit. Lately his fav food is cheese. He’s generally very happy, and will give smiles to anyone who gives him attention. He’s started to get more hair, blonde with a touch of orange. Eyes are blue-grey, just like Shawn. He goes to bed at 7-7:30 pm & sleeps until at least 6am, plus has 2 naps a day (yes I wish he would sleep later).

We had a little party on Saturday for him. Five little babies and their parents. All the babies were crawling or new walkers so they were into EVERYTHING! Carter had no clue about opening gifts, but he was happy to play with new toys (or boxes). He did also eat cake, actually he ate mostly icing. He spent almost 30 minutes eating the icing off his cake with his pincer grasp.

We did try to keep Holden upstairs for the party (its too hot outside for him), with all the little kids on the floor. The key word is TRY. We gated the end of the steps, but he so badly wanted to join the party that he managed to jump the gate, clear the side table, and land safely on the floor. It was halarious!! Poor dog, he just wanted to join the party.

So, here are the vidoes. Yes I took a tonne for the granparents. So don’t feel obligated to watch 20minutes of carter eating cake or ten minutes of me opening Carter’s gifts. We also took some video of Carter in the pool & him playing with “his phone”. Enjoy.

Gifts (few gifts first thing in the morning): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBcGQhtSwaA

Cake (part 1): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LmGGQgxOvI

More cake (part 2):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3arZjtnphfg

1st bday gifts (Sheelagh opening Carter’s gifts): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-PeM8Nb0EE

Splash Splash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO97vyjmN8E

Phone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaduTJPnHOk

Also photos on flkr.

Almost 1!

Here are some new videos to tide the grandmas over until the oodles of birthday video we will take this weekend.

Fun at home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FZaP5sA-PU

Bouncy ball:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfly9quDU4M

Can you believe Carter is almost one? We are having a little party this weekend, and yes we are going to let him indulge in a little cake.