Life in Newfoundland

Sixteen month old daughter of a neglectful blogger

"The years shall run like rabbits", penned W. H. Auden. So do the months apparently, with nary a penmark (or blog entry) to be seen. Since the last blog entry, Christmas has come and gone, Grandma came out for a visit, Beatrix flew through her 15th birth month milestone, indoor soccer was played and snow forts were built. And yet, there was blog silence. Today, on Beatrix's 16th birth month anniversary, it's time to sum up.

Christmas was better than ever, with our house playing the convincing part of "Toys R Us, part deux". A play kitchen, a walking-talking robot, a couple of dolls and Star Wars paraphernalia ensured happy campers all around. Boxing Day saw the much anticipated arrival of Grandma and there was much rejoicing. Shenanigans ensued, accompanied by the consumption of ridiculous amounts of holiday food and the whole holiday season earned a gold star. Returning to the drudgery of the post-Christmas winter months has been a bit tough but thankfully, our young Missus showed a genuine interest in playing outside during our last snow day and the four of us were able to play around in the backyard for an hour and a half. The cold and snow will be a lot easier to take this year and for years to come if we have a full team of snow angel producers and snow fort enthusiasts.

Speaking of Miss Beatrix, she continues to delight. She's cheerful, chatty, persistent and always keen for a dance party. What else could we ask for? The climbing up on everything and subsequent bouncing could use some common sense and a safety harness but apart from that, we're having a fantastic time. Nice to see too that the girl has a penchant for keeping things tidy, commandeering the broom for regular trips around the house. Dust bunnies, beware! Missus is running the house now.

Internet hilarity

I've just spent the last evening having way too much fun with a website called JibJab. Below are the fruits of my labour. If you laugh half as hard as I did, you'll be in a fantastic mood. Enjoy!

       

In concert

We had a busy Saturday morning this weekend with Sam performing in back-to-back concerts for both Suzuki violin and his French preschool. His three performances are presented below for the benefit of friends and family who, for geographical reasons, have to miss all this fun stuff. He's the one wearing the white shirt with the skating penguin on it. Sam, the cool headed and well studied performer, was unfazed by the crowds and showed no indications of stage fright. Pre-schooler obliviousness or a knack for the performing arts? Only time will tell. Regardless, we were bursting with pride and enjoying every minute. Sam, you totally rock! :)

Fourteen month evolution of a rock star and cooler climes

Beatrix hit the fourteen month old mark yesterday and, thanks to a single midday nap instead of her usual two naps, cruised into the evening like she'd had a few too many before collapsing into a sleepy heap. Jubilant and boisterous, this girl knows how to have fun, exhaustion be damned. Not sure whether she'll ultimately be a rock star but from her cool cat demeanour at eight months (above left), to the honing of her snarl at ten months (above middle), she's clearly graduated to a new level this month (above right). She's now cavalierly almost running around the house and climbing on and off things she really shouldn't. Her impressive gross motor skills continue to outshine her verbal skills but for what she lacks in quality of vocabulary, she aptly makes up for in sheer volume of babbling. Cutest of all is her stomping around the house with play phone in hand, yattering on in baby speak, clearly planning world domination. Some scary foreshadowing of teenage phone usage going on here.

In other news, the weather has now started its flip-flop stage in preparation for the onset of winter. Cool but sunny autumn days were eclipsed by a snow day last week during which we received 29 cm of the white stuff. Shockingly, it has all melted now but for a while it felt like we were in for the long haul. Never ones to completely batten down the hatches, we have been attempting outdoor excursions to keep the kids' cheeks rosy. The hilarious outcome of this so far has been the discovery that our second child isn't so keen on being cold. Whereas Sam's first forays into the snow involved fits of giggles as documented here, Beatrix maintains an unamused expression throughout and her delightful temperament only returns when she's safely indoors. We're not too sure whether we will ever see the emergence of Arctic Toddler, Part Deux, but in the meantime, we'll keep trying.

As for the early winter attack, it did give us the excuse to get the Christmas tree set up in November, much to the horror of our neighbours. Sam and I made quick work of the assembly and decoration during Beatrix's morning nap on the Snow Day and her confused expression at finding a tree in the living room was pretty funny. She stood staring for several minutes before looking back at Daddy, pointing at the tree and launching into a babbling explosion along the lines of "what the #$*#^?". No doubt, she'll get the hang of it in no time. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Thirteen month old pumpkin patch kid

Beatrix has been thirteen months old for a full week now, proof that this blog is being neglected of late. Kids, work, mommy-taxi preschool services, violin, soccer, winter hat knitting and occasional bouts of sleep are to blame. There's no lack of content being generated but a lack of hours in the day has caused a lack of sharing. I will try to make amends.

Our baby girl is a full-fledged toddler now and an expert at patrolling the house, heavy footed and carrying something. Left to her own devices, Beatrix is off in a flash to see what there is to discover and/or to try to play or get a reaction from her big brother. The life of the party and generally chatty (although the words are still hard to discern), Beatrix is devastatingly cute at the moment and we're all weak-kneed.

Halloween was a success, despite the blustery and cool weather. Sam's trick or treating prowess improved over last year's performance and with a poor showing of trick or treaters at our house due to the winds, we're certainly not lacking candy at the moment. Captured below is a video of our two superheroes in their respective costumes. Loyal readers may recall Sam's earlier sporting of the dragon costume while his costume this year is most appropriate given his ongoing train fixation.


We've now graduated to a new level of parenting which involves more child herding in public places than child wearing. Amazing that we now have two able bodied and mobile people to look after and guide towards their future. Life is truly moving too fast but there is much to look forward to ahead. The clocks are now shifted back and the leaves are continuing to fall. We're in the throes of autumn, my favourite season, and the holidays beckon. Life is oh so yummy.

Beatrix turns one

Happy first birthday to our sweet, sweet girl. One year ago today, we were waking up after a handful of hours of sleep to start getting to know the bundle of cuteness that had arrived that morning at a fashionable 2:24am. I haven't slept a full night since but I wouldn't change it for the world. My life is fuller than I ever could have imagined.

Beatrix, what a fabulous person you've blossomed into:

• You're such a happy soul. Never particularly fussy and always prepared to flash a toothy smile once you've appraised the person you are dealing with.

• You know what you want. I respect that.

• You love to walk. Constantly. And just like your brother did, you usually are carrying something like a shoe or more recently, a Caseo keyboard. Nothing is too big or heavy for my little girl.

• You love your Daddy. Always following him around with your arms stretched up, pleading to be picked up. The sound of the front door opening has you beelining to the door to see if he's home. "Daddy" is also your clearest word so far.

• You are wise beyond your year. Maybe it's because you're an old soul (unlike your brother!) but I've always sensed a great deal of wisdom behind those blue eyes. It's a bit of a jedi warrior thing and you've carried it since about four months of age. Teach me.

• You're big into bellies. Those of others when it comes to raspberries and your own when it comes to satisfied patting after a big meal.

• You idolize your brother and are always ready to laugh at each and every one of his antics. When you two reach across to hold hands in the car, I melt a little.

• Your rock star snarl is priceless. I love that you flash it when you get ice cream. We all should do that.

• There's nothing you like better than a good place to sit. When you find one, you lounge back triumphantly and smile.

• When you hear a tune, any tune, you just have to stop what you're doing and dance. That's a good quality in life.

It's been an amazing year with you in our family and we can't wait to see what the years ahead will bring. We are all completely in love with you and are so very lucky that you are ours. Keep on rockin it, sister. We're addicted to you.

Eleven months old and so much for CSIS

Beatrix hit the eleven month mark earlier in the week but we didn't want to steal the thunder from Sam's birthday and so this post is a little late. Loyal readers of this blog may recall that, at five months old, we were referring to Beatrix as the family conscience due to her serious demeanour. In fact, we often joked that she was serious because she worked for CSIS (the Canadian Security Intelligence Service) as a spy. Yeah, so I think we can scrap that notion now. This kid is hilarious. If she's not flashing her rock star toothy snarl, she's totally focused on belly buttons. More specifically, she's addicted to blowing raspberries in said belly buttons. And it's not a nursing thing either as she'll gladly go after anyone's belly. Sam thinks it's hilarious and often gladly offers up his own belly. I'm going to inundate this blog entry with some videos to really drive home my story here. The first video has Beatrix playing the tambourine. Stay focused for the rock star snarl about mid-way. The second video is my belly being attacked by my daughter. Nice to see that she's found an amusing use for my postpartum flab. Now, we haven't a clue where all this came from because we only raspberry her belly on occasion. Certainly not enough for her to associate all bellies with raspberries. Nonetheless, this appears to be her big thing so enjoy. The last video is really for Colin who continues to say that Beatrix only sort of walks. He's away teaching field school in western Newfoundland so I'm posting this as a bit of a "booyah, see she's walking". We're all looking forward to getting you home, Daddy. Particularly your daughter who keeps beelining to the door whenever it opens saying "Iya Addy?". Safe drive back and beware of the moose!

Sam turns four

Four years ago today, Sam came into our lives and we have been much, much improved and charmed ever since. Watching baby videos of him now is quite surreal as he has shed all remnants of babyhood and transformed into a bona fide little boy. Part of this makes me sad as this is all going by far, far too fast. At the same time, we are enjoying discovering the person that he is growing into. With each passing day, his observations of the world are becoming more complex and insightful. His jokes are getting more clever and his humour more subtle. He has become the most caring and gentle big brother. Watching the bond develop between him and Beatrix is one of our greatest joys. He is empathetic and fair, generously sharing his toys with others and keenly aware of the importance of taking turns. He is loving and cuddly, always willing to indulge his mother in a hug or two. I am constantly amazed that we created this person and he is more incredible than I ever could have imagined. I could get lost in his dimples forever.

As his horizons continue to expand, we can't wait to show Sam the world. There are so many books to read, movies to watch, places to visit, foods to eat. Oh, the places we will go. We can't wait to join him and support him as he ventures forth into the world. In a week or so, he will be starting pre-school and the next chapter in our lives will begin. Bring it.

Unfair standards

She's onto us. And she's right. We haven't been fair in our standardizations around here. We admit it. Beatrix can walk. In fact, she's been taking independent steps for a couple of weeks now. The truth is that since we've always expected that once she decided to walk, that would be the end of crawling, the fact that she's still taking a hybrid approach has confused us a bit. Here though, is irrefutable evidence from today that the child can in fact walk. I think five steps is the most I've witnessed her string together but seeing as we were cracking open the bubbly when Sam took his first steps at 13 months, we've clearly been shortchanging our little girl. Ten month walker. Good job. Sorry Beatrix, won't happen again.

The fleeting delight of berry picking and have wheels, will travel

One of the bright sides to the poor weather we've had this summer in St. John's is that the strawberries have been flourishing. As such, we decided to try our hand at berry picking en famille last week at Lester's Farm. We enthusiastically requested three quart containers and set off to our designated row. Delighted by the sight of lots of plump red berries, I dove happily into my work when, after picking three berries, Sam declared that we had enough. As such, I proceeded to fill the remaining containers solo. Ah well, we tried. A post-picking parking lot strawberry picnic did ensue and all participants did ultimately declare the outing a success.

On the ongoing delight spectrum, we now find Beatrix and her new love, the ride-on firetruck. She mastered this puppy on the first attempt and now enjoys cruising around the house, generally with the tunes cranked up. Here are a couple of videos where Beatrix answers the question, why walk when you can ride?


Not only does she maintain perfect balance on this thing, but I have also witnessed her, on three occasions, daintily dismounting without the least concern that she is getting off a slippy thing on wheels. Needless to say, we are now hiding the car keys.