G'n'R Out West

So, my mum bought Simon this shirt recently…

I thought it was a little funny for a 1 year old… Even Simon’s pediatrician commented on it. I asked my mum what she was thinking when she bought it. As it turns out there appears to be a bit of a disconnect between her generation and mine. I asked my mum to google ‘Wingman’ and told her I thought there would be few entries relating to the flying of airplanes. She was VERY surprised at the result of her internet query. Needless to say, we’ve had a few laughs.

In other news. I’m not sure if anybody is paying any attention to the outfits our daughter is wearing but she hasn’t worn pants in months. She always wears a dress (or dancing dress as she calls them) with a skirt underneath and tights or leg warmers. If pressed you can get her to wear pants under the dress and skirt, but she will only comply if you have an express reason (frigid outdoor temperatures at ths zoo), and she insists on removing them as soon as said purpose has been served. She prefers short sleeves or no sleeves. Anyway, another preschool mum told me that her daughter came home last week and told her that she was pretty sure Adelle didn’t even own any pants. How did I get a child who wears nothing but dresses?

Greg and Simon have been sick this week. It is pretty sad and miserable around our house at the moment. Just to add interest to our life Adelle has decided that she wants to learn how to wear underpants to bed at night. So no more diapers. Out of 5 days, she’s had 2 dry nights. Usually around 5 am we get the call and have to change the sheets, it is pretty awesome. To date she has unwavering confidence in her ability to learn. I wish I had the same confidence that I will have the patience to change her sheets in the middle of the night and do an extra load of laundry every day until this adventure is over.

So much to tell…so little time.

Greg’s parents have been visiting these last few weeks…and the kids are on cloud nine.  Adelle has been building forts in the basement every morning with Grandpa and Simon has had all kinds of extra attention…and the occasional extra shoulder to cuddle on…

Having Greg’s parents around has also made my life a lot easier…since there is always somebody to play with the kids, clean up the house, make dinner…it is a pretty sweet deal.

Both Adelle and Simon have had some good news recently.  Adelle had an appointment at the allergist this week.  The entire experience was less than fun thanks to a surly staff…but the long and the short of it is that Adelle has no allergies to seeds and nuts.  So we are on our way to slowly re-introducing and everything is lovely so far.  The doctor thinks her reaction was a virus, which we are a little skeptical of given that every medical professional that saw her on the day of the big event seemed quite certain it was allergies.  I plan on following up with our doctor and we aren’t in any hurry to get rid of the epi-pens, but I think we are all sleeping a little easier.

Simon had an appointment with the pediatrician and things are looking up.  His iron stores are still low, but his hemoglobin is on the rise.  It is on the side of low, but close enough to normal that the doctor is happy.  We saw a new doctor this time as ours in on mat leave.  We have very different ideas about parenting, and I found that frustrating, but I feel good about the iron situation.  She thought it would be a good idea to start to re-introduce processed milk and see what happens.  However, she thought it was best to hold off on any dairy for Simon or large quantities of dairy for me until much closer to our next appointment in three months.  She just wants to play it safe, and I am ok with that.

Simon also got his first haircut.  It was moderately terrifying, so I’m not sure we’ll be back anytime soon.  The new look doesn’t show up that well on camera since his hair is so fair, but trust me, its cute.

We had a little first birthday party for a big guy today.  A few friends came over.  Simon mostly hung back (choosing to hang out with some of the men folk who attended).  Adelle on the other hand was very happy to have friends over and an audience of people to entertain.

Greg made his now famous soy chocolate raspberry cake.  He made it for my birthday this summer, and again today.  It was a huge hit…although, I think Simon was fairly indifferent.  He certainly sat in his chair for a long time eating it, but he never got that excited.  Maybe he was just really processing the intense chocolate flavour?

Adelle is obsessed with grilled cheese sandwiches.  For months now if you ask her what she wants for lunch that is all she ever asks for.  Recently however, she has started modifying her request.

For a while she started wanting pickles in the grilled cheese sandwich.  Then she started insisting on grilled cheese sandwiches that aren’t cooked (she also really loves toast…as long as you don’t cook it).

This week she really made us laugh.  Her new request is: grilled cheese sandwich -  But don’t cook it, with ham, and no cheese.  I thought that was called a ham sandwhich…but apparently it still falls under the ‘grilled cheese’ umbrella of sandwiches!

Kids – GEEZ.

That probably happened a little while ago…but I’ve been in denile.  He just looks so grown up now though, it is hard to deny it any more.

This week he has suddenly developed an interest in colouring.  He is very passionate about it and can spend a good 20 minutes colouring.  He even tilts his head to the side when he is deep in concentration.  Of course, he has to use pencil crayons because he eats the crayons…I guess a part of him is still a baby!
 

Not only can he climb up on the stool to wash his hands at the sink, climb up onto the kids colouring table…but he can also sit in a chair.

He is in love with bikes.  He chases after Adelle screaming at her when she is biking.  So we have developed a sharing policy…I guess it is time to get Simon a helmet too…of course, he can’t quite reach the pedals yet so I get a pretty sore back biking with him!

Today Simon skipped his 20 min morning nap and opted for just one 40 min nap mid-day.  This was the start of it…guess we missed his tired cues!

We never had this problem with Adelle…Simon is much more adventurous.  This is evidenced not only in the pictures below, but in the ever changing bruising on his head.  I suppose a better parent might have removed their child from the hazard.  But a little part of me is so proud of his big accomplishment.  He has also been caught on a number of occasions standing on his little ride on toy…I see more bruises in his future.

In other news…Adelle and her little buddy Blake were giddy at the idea of trick-or-treating, the act itself was even more ridiculously fun than anticipated.