He Walks

Posted by: Jose

As if he has been doing it all the time, James started walking today. He had taken a few steps before, but now he takes lots of steps. I won't waste more time an put up some much requested pictures, enjoy

Trip to Calgary

Posted by: Jennifer

This weekend, James and I went up to Calgary.  There, James got to meet two of his first cousins once removed, Julia and Stephanie.  They were on Reading Break, and came from Saskatoon and Edmonton respectively for a visit.  So of course, having two cousins, as well as the usual aunts, uncles and nana, he was completely ignored (yeah right).  He sure knows how to work those guys.  He turns on the charm in a big way.  Jose didn't come with us because he had an eye appointment (more info on that later), and a long time ago, his dad had said that he wanted to do some shopping in Calgary, so he'd drive him up (he hates driving in Calgary).  So although we ended up in the same city, we didn't arrive together, and Jose only spent the day there.  We drove home together though, which was nice. 

James and I both got "Claire-dos" while were there.  I went back to brown with some blonde highlights, and I'm very pleased with the result.  It's quite a bit darker on the bottom than my natural hair colour, but it looks really good.  For James, it was his third hair cut!  Most babies we know haven't even had one yet!  He definitely has "big boy" hair now, and it's beautiful - nice and thick and a really nice shade of dark brown.  He squirmed a lot more than he usually does this time, and both he and Auntie Claire ended up with owies.  Claire got a gash on her knuckle, and James got a nick on his ear.  He didn't even notice it, and Claire felt about a hundred times worse than he did.  It looked a lot worse than it really was because ears bleed so badly. 

As I sit here writing, I'm listening to Sharon, Lois and Bram, courtesy of James.  He has figured out how to turn the stereo on!  He loves music, and will stand in front of the stereo dancing until I turn it on - at least he did until he learned how to do it himself!  The problem is, he can't resist the buttons beside the CD one, and will sometimes turn the radio on, or the tape player and turn off his own music.  It's really hard not to laugh because as soon as his music comes back on, he starts dancing away.  I think it's quite something.  He didn't fiddle around with the other buttons just now - he just zoomed right in on the CD one.  Like father, like son, I suppose.

In the walking department, he'll walk to stuff that's a few steps away (I think the record is six steps).  We finally got it on video last night, so we'll get that on here ASAP.

Sammy has recovered well from his little operation, and is at this moment staring out the deck door periodically barking at something he can see.  James was happy to see him (and vice versa) when we returned from Calgary.  Garbhan and the kitties aren't exactly the types of animals who allow babies to crawl all over them.  Garbhan was extremely patient though, and the kitties (Claire's is staying there because she's living at a friend's house right now) just ran away.  James is now quite excited by the mention of cats/gatos. 

As for Jose's eye appointment, his appointment was with the eye surgeon just to see how's he's holding up, and make sure everything's OK.  His cornea, as is to be expected considering his condition, is deteriorating, and is getting pretty thin.  He's been put on the ASAP list, but that still means a year.  It used to mean three months if you were on that list, but there are so many people, that it's a lot longer now.  Plus, I don't know how many people think to add "corneas" to their donor card.

I now know when I'm going back to work, if not 100% sure where.  I had a meeting with the associate superintendent last week, and I have a couple of options: grade one or subbing.  If I choose subbing, I'd have full pay, not sub pay, and I'd be first on the list to be called every day, with the goal of getting me a longer placement (like if someone breaks their leg and can't come in for a month).  I'm meeting with the principal of the grade one placement, and unless it's completely horrible, that's likely what I'll go with.  The school's on the west side, which is very handy.  I'll let you know how it goes!

I think that's all the news from our end.  I have some pictures to put up, so hopefully I can do that when James naps today.

Bye for now,

He Walked !

Posted by: Jennifer

James took his first steps yesterday.  I should say his first full-fledged steps.  He had taken some half steps previously, but this was the real thing.  He was holding onto his diaper pail, and I was lying on my side two or three feet away.  He turned around, saw me, and then just walked over!!  It was about four steps, and it was all I could do to stay still and not squeal with excitement!  He didn't even really try, he just did it.  Once he arrived at his destination, then I could squeal, and he looked at me and grinned.  It was so exciting.  He's walked a few more times since then, but never more than 3 or 4 steps at a time.  And of course, never when we have the video camera out!  We'll keep trying.

Bye for now,

Poor Sammy

Posted by: Jennifer

We brought Sammy back from the vet's today where he was having the special little operation that only male pets undergo.  He's doing very well.  He's staying pretty quiet around the house, but he was really excited and full of beans when we picked him up.  They said he was really well behaved, and the dog that was crying in the back when we arrived was not him for once!  He had his citronella collar on, which does wonders.  While he was there, he had a tattoo put in his ear, his nails clipped, his teeth brushed, and a bath.  He was absolutely covered in hair when we picked him up, so he was obviously stressed, as he sheds when he's stressed or excited.  So I gave him a nice brushing after lunch which made him nice and shiny.  He's nice and quiet when he walks on the linoleum due to his short nails.  I sometimes worry that he'll wake up the baby when he runs across the kitchen floor with long ones!  It's those big, heavy, fat feet of his.  Right now he's eating some kibble, which is a good sign. 

James is as busy as ever.  He loves dancing to his Spanish CD, and will stand in front of the stereo and either bounce up and down or play with the buttons until I put his música on.  He's learning to make a fish sound on command, too.  The other mums in our baby group were really impressed with how well he stands by himself.  And he's a good little mimic, too.  You just have to show him something once, and he tries it for himself.  For example, quite a while ago, he was holding his brush, and I made him "brush" his hair with it, and said, "brush your hair!"  Then just the other day, he was holding it again, and without doing it for him, I told him to brush his hair, and he did!  I was so impressed.  He also has a little toothbrush that fits on my finger.  He was playing with it, so I put it on his finger for him.  This morning, he had it again, and put it on his own finger and put it in his mouth.  Too cute.  He's also learning to tip his bottle or sippy cup up so he can drink out of it by himself.  That's a tough thing, though. 

I know Jose and I aren't nearly as exciting, so just a brief update on us: Jose has joined a gym, and has been trying to go as often as he can.  I've been elected to vestry at St. Augustine's, and so will be going to meetings once a month for that. 

Big Boy !

Posted by: Jennifer

Just an interesting little note - I weighed and measured James yesterday: 21lb 6.5oz, 29.5".

Bye for now,

The love month

Posted by: Jose

Well, here we are in February.  Next month, James turns one!  It's quite incredible.  What's more incredible are the things he can do these days.  He's balancing more and more on his feet without holding onto anything.  He'll be playing away and just let go so he can use both hands.  He's pretty steady most of the time too.  I'm in no rush to have him walk though.  He's fast enough as it is! 

James remains toothless which is another thing that I'm not sad about.  He's the only baby in our group (of the ones who still get together) who doesn't have any teeth.  I'm quite fond of his gummy little grin, and since his idea of kissing is to bite you on the nose, toothless is a good thing.  My mum said that my siblings and I were all at least one before getting any teeth, and Claire was 18 months!  And we all have nice, strong (yet expensive) teeth.

James's understanding of both the English and Spanish languages is expanding.  He knows the names of his Noah's ark animals in both languages (lion, bird, zebra, and giraffe).  The lion remains his favourite animal, and he roars like one when you ask him to.  He also knows who Pooh is, and will crawl across the room to give his ride-on Pooh a kiss on the nose when you ask him to.  Speaking of noses, James has discovered his, and for a few days, had his finger in it constantly.  He can point to his ears and nose on demand.  He also discovered another part of his anatomy that we won't mention here.  Lets just say it makes diaper changing a lot more fun - for him.  As a result of James's learning more and more Spanish, I'm also learning more.  Since James loves animals, I know a lot of the animals' names in Spanish.  Colours and parts of the body too. 

As James gets bigger, it's fun to see his fine motor skills getting better.  He is learning how to fit shapes into their proper slots on his shape sorter and his little easel.  It's funny sometimes because he gets frustrated when he knows how something is supposed to fit, and he can't make it work.  He doesn't give up though.  I don't know where he could possible have gotten his stubbornness from....

A negative part of James getting older is that he demonstrates his anger or frustration at things.  We're trying to teach him not to lash out and hit or scratch when he's mad at us, but it's a bit of a struggle.  Fortunately for us, he remains overall a sweet, even-tempered little boy, and his little fits of rage never last long.  It's generally pretty easy to get him laughing about something.  And if all else fails, we feed him.  His appetite is very good, and he eats a very wide variety of foods.  His favourite is fruit, and we were amazed at his ability to chugalug half a glass of fresh-squeezed fruit juice at Jess and Ryan's house.  He's pretty good at eating just about anything though.  He really hates broccoli, but I wasn't too surprised about that.  You know the difference between broccoli and snot, right?  Kids don't eat broccoli. 

Anyway, we're generally having just a great time.  Other accomplishments include playing "Peek-a-boo", blowing bubbles in the bath, and putting Papa's baseball cap on his head (he misses most of the time, but he knows what to do!).

Bye for now,