Bye Bye Manny Rich

The summer is almost over and Manny Rich has headed back to Bishops for his final year of university.  It has been wonderful having him in Toronto for the summer not to mention having him look after Amelia, and yes for you neigh sayers, everyone survived in one piece.  Surprisingly enough it was Rich that almost lost a couple eyes when Amelia was going through her eye gouging phase and Rich that was head-butted regularly and almost ended up with a bleeding nose, my daughter is a beast.   I think Amelia will be missing Rich the Manny, as we all will.  

Friday morning was Rich’s last half day, he dropped Amelia off at Denise’s in the morning and then he and mom headed for Quebec.  Amelia enjoyed a nice lunch with Grandmanam and then Pake and Julie got home and they all headed to pick me up from work and head for Brockville (Bill and Betty’s) for the weekend (Jeff came up Sat evening after a softball tournament).   

Our weekend at Bill and Betty’s was wonderful as usual.  Their house is a massive old old house that they are gradually restoring.  It is always exciting for us visitors to get to come up and see what the latest is in their house. The town of Brockville has some beautiful architecture but unfortunately the town hasn’t really capitalized on it. There is a beautiful downtown core but a lot of the stores are vacant and becoming run down.  It seems to have such potential to become another Niagara on the Lake with cute shops and nice restaurants.  Hopefully the waterfront revitalization that is starting will help get that ball rolling. Anyways I digress… 

We had lots of fun visiting however after a lack of naps and a late night on Friday, Amelia was fit to be tied on Saturday. We took her for a walk on Sat morning and we had to cut it short so I could take Amelia back to go to bed.  Amelia fussed in her stroller, refused to hold my hand while we walked and through a fit when we stopped at the park and after a nice swing I had to leave.  The only way I could keep her happy was carrying her on my shoulders, rather hard on the neck and shoulder after awhile. After Amelia had a three hour nap and a bite to eat we went out for another walk this time with some shopping and ice cream in mind (also Pake joined us and became the Amelia shoulder ride sherpa). At the end of the shopping we stopped down by the water for some soft ice cream, I don’t know what was wrong with this ice cream but it melted in seconds and we all had to gobble to prevent it from getting allover us. Denise was “kind” enough to give Amelia cone with the end of the ice cream and the mess that ensued was pretty spectacular.  Amelia had ice cream from the bridge of her nose to under her chin, she looked like she has done a face plant into an ice cream.  Unfortunately for poor Sherpa Pake he also fell victim to some of the ice cream off spray from Little Miss Piggy.  She was very pleased with herself when she managed to eat every last bite of the ice cream and cone. On return to Bill and Betty’s Amelia was dumped right into the bath to de-stickify.  

Saturday evening Jeff arrived and we had a wonderful dinner with lots of laughs and to top it off Amelia was in bed and asleep by 7:30pm NICE!!!! Unfortunately we were made to pay for that painless bedtime, OUCH!!!  The three of us were in the same room and I woke up to Amelia grinning at me and squealing with joy want I rolled over, local time 5:34am, ahhhhhh!!!  She proceeded to climb on us for the next 2hrs while we tried to snooze, she even seemed like she would go back to sleep a few times but then she would pull her thumb out of her mouth give us a big grin and be off again. Ahhhhh!!!!   

After we/Amelia dragged ourselves out of bed we had breakfast with everyone and we headed back to Toronto.  Julie drive back with us as John and Denise were heading up to Cornwall for Cindy and Claude’s Anniversary lunch. On the way back we listened to the John Grisham book “The Broker” on CD, we were all transfixed and I don’t think a 4hr drive has ever gone so quickly.  It also helped that Amelia was still bagged and she had two massive naps along the way.  

Once we got home Amelia was so excited to be in her house she trotted all over the basement giving Dexter “hugs” and playing with all her toys and running over to us squealing then flopping in our laps. Rather funny.  

This weekend with the Manny back at school, Denise is taking Amelia for today to Wednesday then I am taking Thursday and Friday off to spend with my girl.  I think Jeff is going to take a day off to and we are going to try to maybe hit the CNE for a few hours.  I have not interest in rides but I would like to take Amelia to see the animals, maybe we’ll wait till the Royal Winter Fair. Next Tuesday Amelia starts day care!!! Jeff and I have also taken that day off so we will take her for just a half a day.  

Hope everyone has had a nice summer!!!

Sorry no pics this week, I forgot my camera at home.

16 Month Update

First I apologize for my tartiness of my post, I have been slacking.  I intended to write it last night but Miss Amelia had other ideas and didn’t go to bed till 9:45pm bah!!!! 

Amelia is doing well, I am thrilled to announce that my daughter is advanced for her age, she has hit her terrible twos at the ripe age of 16months, could a mother be more proud. I think my mother thinks this is all quite funny and that I am finally getting pay back for the rather stubborn and opinionated child I was.  Amelia has become prone to temper tantrums and get extremely offended if you don’t figure out what she is after when she is in one of her moods. It is all quite annoying and for now we alternate between ignoring her tantrums and taking way things she likes.  

To balance out the annoyance of the tantrums she has also developed a pretty good sense of humor.  The other day when driving to soccer Amelia was flapping her arms around and kept hitting Julie in the chest, Julie asked her to stop hitting her in the boob and Amelia burst into fits of giggles this continued and soon we realized Amelia was laugh at the word “boob” she thought it was hilarious and was in full blown giggles and squeals for a good 20mins (of course we all thought it was rather funny too). The other day at lunch she was given a tissue to play with and she thought it was very funny pretending to blow her nose. Yesterday Rich tells me she climbed up onto our little sofa threw all the pillows and books off it then sat in the middle giggling away thinking she was very funny.  

She continues to talk away to herself and for the most part I have no clue what she is saying but she does come out with stuff when you least expect it.  The other night at diner she said, “look what I got” maybe it is just out ear playing tricks on us but everyone at the table seemed to agree. She also knows all her books now and you can request them by name and she will wander off and get them and come back with them, it is very useful when you have read one book over and over and now you can tell her to go get a specific new one.  After a friend got Amelia “the Belly Button” book by Sandra Bouyton we have collected a bunch since then and right now those are her favs, especially the one that make the reader bark like a bog through the whole thing, ummm yeah. Jeff and Denise continue to speak French to Amelia and she now knows some her body parts in French, she also has “borrowed” this French book from Denise called La Poulle Rousse which has carried around with her everywhere since Saturday night, yesterday she did manage to let go of it for abit so I think the obsession may be subsiding. In the book there is a devilish fox trying to eat the chicken and when Denise reads her the book she taps on the page and says “Méchant Méchant”, now whenever Amelia opens it to that page she taps the picture of the fox.  

Amelia has been less than the open-minded eater that she once was, bah!!  She has become quite selective and now has narrowed down her diet to carbs, fruit and dessert, grrrr!!!  There has been many a hungry night when only vegetables and carbs not of her selection were on the menu.  On the plus side, if you season meat with something she usually will eat that, even chicken which before was the dreaded chicken. Tuna melts or sandwiches are still one of her favs.  

I now let her walk at times when we are out places but the rule is she must hold me hand.  On Saturday I was out shopping with friends in Queen West and I let Amelia out of her stroller, she proceeded to almost run down the street (holding my hand) and squealing with fits of excitement, Man the kid doesn’t get tout much   

Her sleeping continues to be pretty good although after weekend of us messing up her nap schedule she ahs been alittle off the last couple days and hasn’t been going to bed till late.  

Friday night, Jeff, Rich, Amelia and I went for sushi, Amelia had a piece of California roll which she deconstructed and picked at, she loved the yam tempura which we gave her a few little pieces of.  This weekend Amelia and I went shopping and out for lunch with Fiona and Lesley who I used to work with at AMEC while Jeff and Denise went to chocolate school (yummm).  Saturday night we went o the Reitsma resort for dinner with their friends Kevin and Steph and their three kids.  Sunday We went for a hike up in Mono Cliff’s and then out for brunch/lunch at the pub up there.  After we went home and had a very quiet night.

Another Long Weekend

Ahhh only three days of work then back to the weekend.  Jeff and I took this past Friday off and did some errands and played with Amelia in the morning then in the afternoon Amelia was picked up by Denise and Rich, Julie, Jeff and I headed out for roti’s then to the Beer Fest to meet up with a bunch of friends. It was a beautiful day, not too hot and not to cold and very sunny and we got some prime seats and lounge the day away drinking beer and having lots of laughs.  Amelia also had quite the evening playing with Pake and Grandmanam.  She is pretty much given free range to explore their place and someone trails her, I understand she had a lot of fun, looking at all the black-eyed susans that are our at John and Denise’s.  She also went for a little ride in her wagon, it was pretty cute to see now she sits up straight in it and looks around as opposed to before when we used to prop her up with pillows and it all looked much more awkward.

Saturday was a bit slow but we managed an early-ish breakfast out with Rich then went out and picked up “the bug” then back home for some gardening and relaxation. While we were gardening Amelia woke up form her nap, I changed her, which she was very annoyed about, then took her out back with us.  It was quite sunny out so I wanted to put her hat on her well this resulted in a melt down there was much yelling!!!  I got the hat on and then she proceeded to stomp around (yes actually stomp, we call her stampy) in circles yelling and glaring at us, the girl has a temper.  Jeff and I were in fits of laughter so she realized she wasn’t getting the desired effect and stopped and wandered over to see what Jeff was doing. She spent the rest of the time outside very happily playing with the green tomato we had to prune off.

Saturday night, Rich stayed with Amelia and Jeff and I went out for dinner with Denise, John and Julie then off to see Spamalot.  Dinner was fabulous and the play was hilarious!!! 

Sunday was house work day and Jeff, Meals, Rich and I went for a big bike ride and caught some off the dragon boat races.  Last night we had a lovely dinner at my parents then home for an early night. 

Amelia has been teething pretty badly this weekend.  She is getting in another molar but it is causing her more strife than usual. Poor Meals and poor Rich (who she takes out her discontent for the world on).  Posted some pics from the weekend and from Amelia’s trip to the zoo with Denise, Rich and Patrick.

August Long Weekend

Another lovely long weekend in Toronto, Jeff, Meals and I hung out in the city for the long weekend.   It was hot but not the crazy humidity of the past few weeks. Work has been very busy and rather stressful lately so I was VERY ready for this weekend. I have been working summer hours since July, which means I work abit longer for the rest of the week but I get Friday afternoons off. Friday afternoon I got home and I planed on making spaghetti sauce for dinner but Amelia had just woke up and had very different ideas. Amelia was not interested in having me cook and instead we went down stairs and read book and played with her toys.  

Friday night Julie and Andrea came over for dinner.  I finally did get my spaghetti sauce made and it turned out pretty well considering it was thrown together last minute. Amelia was being quite horrible that night, she was in to all sorts of mischief and returned to some of her old tricks she had given up for the last couple month, including opening the cupboards, climbing the stairs and splashing in the cats water, grrrr (all in quick succession done with a mischievous grin). Amelia was in bed by 7:30 and we were all very happy for it.  

Saturday morning we were up early and went for a walk in High Park and took Amelia to the kids park there, as usually she loved the swings but this time found a new love for the tube you can walk through (last time we went she was scared of it). After our walk we grabbed our suits and went out to Jeff’s parents to feed their cats and got for a swim. The water was beautiful and I think the three of us swam for over an hour.  

Saturday night we went for dinner at Mark and Chelsea’s both the kids were very good.  I had a laugh when Amelia managed to climb up into one of the vacated Muskoka chairs and sit up with her arms just reaching the arms of the chair and smiling with a huge grin. We haven’t tried putting Amelia down in a play pen at someone else’s house in a long time because we had had a few too many melt downs in the past but Saturday night we decided to give it a try so we didn’t have to rush off after dinner. I was shocked but she went down without a peep, I think the afternoon in the pool and exploring Mark and Chelsea’s backyard help wear her out.  

Sunday we did some errands then went for a bike ride with Jeff’s parents out in Mississauga then came back for yet another swim.  This really has been a summer of swimming for Amelia, we still haven’t been able to get her to blow bubbles but she will now kick her legs if float her on her stomach.   

Monday I did a bit of shopping then lots of chores around the house followed by family dinner of homemade pizza at our place.  All in all a very nice long weekend.  

As for Amelia there are been a few new developments.  Amelia has had a love for her blanket for awhile now but we didn’t realise till recently that she likes to stick the corner of her blanket into the corner of her eye, can’t wait till the first round of pink eye . Amelia now babbles incessantly some of it really sounds like talking but for the most part it is incoherent but rather cute, she does continue to come out with words out of the blue though.  Yesterday she learned how to click her tongue and last night we were treated to a show of her prancing around the basement clicking away. She is now also tall enough to climb up on the couch by herself but she does get tired after a few book retrievals and will stand there in front of you with her arms in the air. 

Posted some pics on flickr.

Guest Writer Returns

–study shows 100% of man polled agrees: wife is lazy–Ok, so, given that I am a big fan of expressing myself in mildly disconcerting prose using quasi-impressive five-dollar words, I am back to offer up another Dad-based view of the Amelia Universe.  What’s interesting (and by ‘interesting’ I mean, from my perspective, not yours) is that I tend to talk more about the whole family’s comings & goings, rather than the minutia of Amelia on an hourly basis, which is great but not really my style.  Also, for the record, my wife is *not* lazy.  She just likes when I show an interest in things like “helping”, “contributing” and “raising” our “daughter”.

So, the past few weeks have been wild happy partytime, essentially, and shame on everyone for missing out. 

Two weekends ago we were lucky enough to impose upon our friends Fiona & Dave, who live in the greatest house in history except that its in Guelph, which kinda nullifies its appeal for me, essentially.  However, its got a huge porch and big stone walls and oozes charm from every orifice so kudos to them.  Anyhow, they have a lovely boat up in scenic Honey Harbour (read: up north) and invited the three of us up to have a boat-about and to catch up.  As luck would have it, two buses decided it would be fun to plow into each other, and to do so about 30min before we would need that stretch of highway.  2 hours sitting in traffic later, we said goodbye to King Sideroad and made our way up to Muskoka.  Suffice to say, we were quite glad to arrive and quickly jumped in the boat, and off we went courtesy of Dave and his boating arm.  The weather was great, the water was nice though weedy in spots which caused me to shriek like a 6-year-old pretty much constantly whilst swimming.  Or maybe that was somebody else.  Regardless, Amelia had a blast in the water and on the boat, with her crazy infant lifejacket and her world-reknowned love of high winds hitting her in the face.  After our boating, we had a nice light supper on the boat, enjoyed a gorgeous sunset and made it home by 11.30pm and off to bed.  Any reports of Alicia peeing on her shoes at the side of the road – 100% fiction*.

* – actually 100% non-fiction

OnFire, our soccer team, lost its first game of the season, 3-1, which dropped us into 4th place, we play tonight.  Redemption time.  Bam. 

This past week has been good, its started to get quite hot again, which, if you’ve been by 46 Gooch Avenue on a muggy day, means that we are all kinda miserable and sluggish.  Amelia deals pretty well for the mostpart, though she does sweat an awful lot (hyper-hydrosis baby).  Also, it seems that we’ve managed to ease her back to a more respectable 8-9pm bedtime, which is a vast improvement on the 10-11pm screamtime which had been going on for a while.  Regardless, we had a good week with maximum pool time, and were able to get good preparations in for the BEST TIME OF THE YEAR.

My Mom, Denise, is celebrating the July-August ‘birthmonth’.  Which, mainly, means that she is even more chipper than usual and busy with all sorts of engagements and comings & goings and is held in even higher esteem by everyone, as she darn well deserves.  Anyhow, her birthday proper was on Saturday, and everyone pitched in and there was much feasting and rejoicing.  All told, about 15 people crammed into my parents’ yard in Mississauga and alternated between one of several states:

- baby play-wither
- beer/wine drinker
- pool swimmer
- cooker/eater

Amelia had a wonderful time and was quite well-behaved and was passed around and doted on, in particular by my cousin Patrick who is visiting from Apple Hill and is an all-around wonderful guy.  We’re so lucky he was around, as he didn’t have any objections to shadowing Amelia around the yard and house to ensure she didn’t Cirque de Soleil down the stairs or abuse the cats.  This allowed Mom & Dad to engage in more wine-oriented activities that resulted in a total write-off of Sunday afternoon.  Luckily, Amelia was happy to play self-sufficient baby and we were all quite pleased.

Anyhow, Amelia & Rich are going strong, lots of fun times and new words.  Last night Meals trowed out an “A-B-C” which was pretty cool, generally she sticks with the “tukka-tukka-tukka” and the “mama” and “dada” so when she whips out the “I would prefer a ham sandwich”** its always a big deal.

** – she didn’t actually say that

This week is another scorcher, up to 46 with the humidex today, so please say a prayer for our non air-conditioned house and our sweaty baby.  Hopefully we’ll get some more pictures up soon.  Also, we’re having happy fun issues house-wise related to massive sinking and erosion, which will be shared with the world once we know wtf is going on, suffice to say it resulted in lots of drinking on Thursday night.

Take care!