babyblog

Grandad Dennis

He died when his daughter, my Nanny, was a small child,....and before her brother was even out of the womb yet.

I love these old family portraits and listening to stories of family history. My dad shared a lot with me when he was here last week. This guy looks familiar somehow, there are obviously some traits which exist in those of us alive today that come from him. If not for him I wouldn't be here.... which is quite fantastic somehow, that this person so long ago created the family that exists here today.

Mr Dylan

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Originally uploaded by katybops.

Mr Dylan and his Grandad this week. Had to post the picture because it's lovely... and also to make note of my wonderful 7 going on teenage son's latest doings.

The sleepwalking has stopped and I think it was due to the fact that he was coming down with the same bug that Harry had. Dylan had 2 or 3 days of high fever and feeling utterly wretched and soon as that was over he was much better and sleeping properly.

This week I went up to the school for parent-teacher conferences. Those of you with kids not yet at school you're going to love these. I can't help approach them feeling that any criticism of my child is a criticism of me and I'm defensive before I even get in the door! Also brings back bad memories of my own parent teacher conferences where I would invariably get in enormous trouble afterwards when my parents were told that I needed to apply myself more and not muck about / bunk off / fail to do homework.

Dylan is doing very well, he's the top reader in the class and according to his teacher extremely bright. What is holding him back somewhat is his handwriting and she wants us to work at that at home. It's been a battle with Dylan since he was small, getting him to pick up a pencil and use it. He's always resisted it for some reason and loathes to do it. When he does write - it's illegible. However, getting him to work on it basically means WW3 at home every night. Same goes with getting him to learn his spellings. If you get Dylan in the right mood, learning 20 words to spell for a test each week takes him approximately 10 minutes. The battle surrounding getting him in to the right frame of mind takes approximately 4 days. He hates it.... resists it..... fights me over it...... and so now we have that PLUS practising writing to deal with on a daily basis. Argh. Even Grandad got cross with him this week for his refusal and arsing around rather than do it! He sits there slouching, avoiding it, doing anything other than concentrate. It's so infuriating. But I have no idea how to get him to work without the battle! I guess persistence is the only thing - get it drummed into him that he has to do this and he can't get out of it. Stupidly if he realised that it'd all be over with in minutes but instead we end up with entire evenings of fighting him over doing this stuff.

Basically Dylan is me as a child, lol. And Harry is Sally!

Today I'm facing a battle with Dylan to get him to go and ride his brand new, very smart, bike that Grandad bought for him this week. He's needed one for ages as his old one is far too small but we hadn't gotten around to it and the weather hasn't been really up to going out on bikes much. There are some fabulous bike trails around here though so it's important that he gets more confident as he thinks he's forgotten how to do it since the Summer. Of course he hasnt', but in typical Dylan fashion he doesn't want to *try*!

Oh the joys of parenting a teenager several years ahead of time :)

Don't mean to sound down on him though, he's delightful and funny and very sharp witted and an absolute joy. He's also so caring and considerate of his bro. Last night after some confusion the previous evening with our babysitter, G and I took him out alone... leaving Harry with the sitter, to see 'The Pink Panther' movie and to dinner at a Thai Restaurant. He was really full of the fact that he got to come out with us on a 'grown up' night out and enjoyed himself thoroughly. He giggled through the movie non stop, it was great!

Harry - 20 Months

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Originally uploaded by katybops.

Mr Harry.... I'm a bit late in your 20 month update which is because you've had your Grandad here for the last week! You've taken a huge shine to your Grandad (much to his delight) and thoroughly enjoyed having him here. He went home yesterday and when you got out of bed this morning you toddled to the living room with your arm up ready to wave and a big smile on your face. When you found he wasn't there your face and arm both fell. Later this morning you discovered a photo of Grandad and immediately went up to it and said 'bye bye' and gave it a kiss. More cutneness I have never witnessed!

In the last few weeks you've taken a huge shine to books. You want to be read to *all* the time. You can say 'book' and point to your shelves and love nothing more than to cuddle up on the sofa and read a story. Your favourite book is 'Shiny Dinah' which is a rhythmic book from Kindermusic class and you'll read it 100 times a day if you can. You also love Miffy and Maisy books, and pretty much anything else you can get your hands on. The part of your brain which controls speech is beginning to kick in and in the last couple of weeks alone you've picked up no end of new words. 'Gangang' is Grandad, and we've also managed to learn to count to three 'On, Do, WHEEEE' , say 'bike', 'mouse', 'bird', 'quack quack' 'choo choo' and various other wonderful sounds. One favourite of mine is 'Ready, GO!' Oh and when you get into the car you point to the TV screen and say 'DAT' (which has become your word for TV). If allowed to put it on (rare, only for long frustrating journeys!) you cheer YAY!!!!

You're still incredibly helpful and tidy, loving to put things away after you've used them, close doors, and generally enjoying a certain order to things. You're also eating well, especially fruit! Sleep is certainly no problem either - you're napping 2-2.5 hours per day and sleeping 12 hours per night....... all that and your generally sunny temperament means you're pretty much the perfect little man :-)

You love to play rough and tumble, especially with Dylan. He's still pretty much the best person in existence as far as you're concerned. You really love bathing with him, and the sound of chuckles and giggles comes down the hall putting a huge smile on my face every evening. That is until I come to see what you're laughing about and discover water all over the floor!

It's utterly amazing to think that you'll soon be 2 years old. You're not a baby anymore, you're this big smart fellow who is thoroughly enjoying his world and all that is in it.

Love, Mum xxxx

While we are housebound

I ended up taking H to the Dr (again) on Wednesday and she diagnosed yet another virus. On the plus side, she said, he'll be building up some wicked immunities for later on. On the downside he does seem to get everything going around. It seems there's hardly a week goes by without him catching some kind of cold or bug.

This particular virus which is allegedly doing the rounds has also manifested itself as a cold for both G & I, and poor H has had a spiking fever for a couple of days and found him to be generally miserable.

While housebound I've been cleaning up and tidying up for Dad who visits tomorrow! Our first visitor (with the exception of Aka but he didn't stay over!) here on the West Coast and I'm looking forward to it. Currently Dad doesn't have a bed, a door on his bedroom, or anything covering the window down there. Plus the whole room is covered in an inch thick layer of dust from when the plastering was done in the hallway. He also doesn't have a bathroom to use as with all the will in the world it was too major of a project to complete before his arrival. It's possible that G will get it finished while he's here but otherwise he'll have to slum it upstairs with the rest of us in the dingy lino-covered grossness that we have to use on a daily basis!

Dylan, meanwhile, has started sleepwalking. The last few nights he's appeared in the living room, basically still asleep and with no idea why he is out of bed or what the problem is.... and has to be led back to his room where he immediately closes his eyes and falls back into a deep sleep. He has no recollection of it in the morning. Last night, however, we were already in bed and I was reading a book when I heard a funny noise outside the room. I thought it was Harry (who was sleeping restlessly) moving around in his crib but then I heard the front door handle being tried repeatedly and a cry. I quickly got up and discovered Dylan having no idea what he was doing and still fast asleep but somewhat distressed. Not sure what is causing all this - whether something is on his mind and bothering him? He seems generally happy in himself for the most part so who knows what is going on. I think we need to get a bolt to put up high on the door though - prevent any accidental leaving of the house on his part and also prevent Harry leaving as he rapidly approaches the age of wanting to explore further boundaries and horizons.

yet more sickness

Poor Harry, sick AGAIN. Another cold. This time accompanied by a fever. I swear he has not had more than a week off between these bugs all winter. I can't believe how sick he is all the time.

WTF

St Patricks Day - an Irish National Holiday - barely blipped the radar while living in London. A couple of years before we left I suppose it had become a bit more 'celebrated', i.e. 'oh it's St Patricks day let's go to an Irish pub and drink loads of Guinness' but really, no big deal.

London = Not very far from Ireland

In Canada - bizarrely slightly more OTT with green cakes being sold at the supermarkets and green beer being sold in pubs.

Toronto = Very far from Ireland

In Seattle - really bloody bizarre with 'Happy St Patricks Day' cards filling all the Hallmark stores, balloons for sale and god knows what else.

Seattles = Very Very Far from Ireland

WTF is it all about?

Crapness at Posting

I don't know why I haven't in the last week. Too busy I suppose, which is of course no bad thing. Myself and a couple of friends are investigating a new venture which is exciting, and on top of that the round of child related activity is never ending. G has also been working round the clock this week and also working on the downstairs bathroom when actually at home so I've been single parenting again, not my favourite pastime.

I have to post how proud I am of Dylan today. My nervous nelly of a child has always been quite uncomfortable at the idea of learning to swim and has basically flat out refused. When you do get him in to the pool he's usually clinging onto as many inflatable / supportive helpful devices as possible, to the point of absurdity. Terrified of being out of his depth, basically.

Anyway, I signed him up for lessons at the gym and last week was his first one. 4 little kids around the same age and even during that first lesson I was quite amazed at what he got the kids to do... push off from the side, head under, into the instructors arms.... not alone and flailing at any point but for Dylan, a fairly big deal. Today, the 2nd lesson, I was astonished to see my child, my nervous child, not only push off from the side with his arms stretched out in front and his head in the water, but kick, no less, and propell himself halfway down the pool until he ran out of air! How on earth did that happen? I could not be more proud!

Ski Legs

I've managed to go skiing quite a few times this season so far, and hopefully will get a few more in before the winter is done. It's quite bizarre sitting here at home with 15C temperatures outside, flowers, blossoms, sunshine and coat-less play in the park this morning..... knowing that less than an hour away I can ski in gorgeous mountain settings and in tons and tons of snowfall that we've had this year. Looking out over the mountains in every direction and seeing the snow capped peaks is just phenomenal.

When I started this season I was quite wobbly and my friend is a little better than I am so she pushed me to do some runs I'd not necessarily have tackled if left to my own devices. I struggled with blue's, was truly terrified over blacks, and tired quickly. Last night we were ZOOMING down runs of all shape and size without stopping, probably did more runs last night than in the entire season combined so far. I don't know what it was- whether the gym is finally paying off or whether it was a fear thing but I felt a heck of a lot more confident. I am still a little afraid of speed and that makes me work alot harder than I need to, to stay slow, which in turn tires me more than it should, but I was getting there yesterday! I only had one fall and didn't manage to bruise any limbs (unlike last time which resulted in my left thigh almost entirely black and blue) and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Spring is in the air

Fantastically, we have flowers and blossom out already. The temperatures (which have never dropped below about 3c during the day) are around 10c, yesterday 15c, and spring is definitely on it's way. I'm so glad not to be submerged under 10 ft of snow and ice! G and I are both in agreement that it's so much easier on the psyche not to suffer those harsh winters anymore. When in Canada it was very easy to get into a Winter depression / rut.... many people suffer it, because you're basically hibernating for 6 months of the year. Here I don't think I've worn a winter coat for more than 3 or 4 days and today I was out in a t-shirt!

My new blinds have arrived. And wouldn't you know, 2 of them do not fit the windows because SOMEONE didn't measure them properly. Thankfully they can be adjusted (at some cost!) but as you can imagine, I'm none too impressed by that SOMEONE!

His nibs has a new phrase 'OH COOL!!!' when he sees something he likes. His speech has improved quite considerably over the last few days. It's always amazing to me to see these rapid leaps that babies and children take occasionally. One day they can't walk, the next they can. One day they suddenly start talking..... leaps which happen virtually overnight.

Dylan has been interested in what's going on in the kitchen this week. He helped me make dinner the other night and he also helped make Pancakes on Tuesday. Very proud of himself for doing so too. He's also very into this book his Grandad bought him called 'Why Why Why'... and keeps repeating fascinating facts about the planets to me.

I, on the other hand, have been satisfyingly busy of late. Every morning is filled with some kind of activity and many / most afternoons too. I've been out alot in the evenings for various things (skiing tonight!) and feel like I'm never at home to relax! Funny how that happens, and certainly better than sitting around doing nothing. Trying to enjoy and fill my days and not wait for them to be over !