Day 40: Zoo Trip

November 3, 2010

The weather was supposed to be great today so I decided to check out the zoo. It was a bit windy but sunny and mild. 

The first part we explored was all about the Northwest. It simulated going from mountains to ocean, talked about the cycle of salmon. It was a really beautiful, wooded area which was lovely, especially early in the morning.

 We found some fun animals to climb on - the kind that don't bite. 

 We also stopped to see the lorikeets. For the  record, I am not a big bird person in situations like this. Oh sure, I like to see them in the wild and all that but when they're loud, screechy and flying at me from all directions, I'm not a fan. The things we do for our children.
This picture also looks like something out of a Costa Rica tourism book. Someone was done with her cup of nectar, passed it along and then someone else offered to take a photo. Honest.

I think the part Jacob liked most was watching the sea lion. It was pretty neat. Of course, he kept swimming in the same pattern, making me feel a bit sorry for him. Zoos have their ups and downs, I suppose. I don't know the history of this animal.

 We had a good time. Finally headed home, keeping Jacob awake in the car by talking about all the animals and pointing out buses or flags or whatever I could spot outside. He took a nap from 1 till 3:40! Sweeeeet....

Afternoon grocery expedition. Chinese for dinner from Chen's Dynasty. Enh. It was okay but my dish was nothing special. They also forgot my sauce which we didn't notice until the food was already at home. Grr... Easy mistake but frustrating nonetheless. Then Jacob had a total fit at dinner because Fraser ate a piece of chicken off his plate. Mind you, Jacob was not eating this chicken and did not have any intention (that we could see) on eating it. He wanted Fraser to spit it out which, we all know, doesn't work well once it's down the esophagus. Even after a long nap, I think he was still tired and thrown off his normal schedule. 

Day 39: Sunshine!

November 2, 2010

Had a low fever last night that kept me awake much of the night. Achy body, hot, etc. Then I started thinking about things: people in my life who I still need to get wedding presents for, baby presents, people I need to email. I have so many wonderful friends from throughout my life and there's just so little time to keep in touch with everyone. Not even deep meaningful contact which I definitely miss with many of my old friends. Even just a letter or email asking how life is. I would love to do more of that. 

I was sitting with Jacob this morning reading books and I thought, what else matters but this? These are the golden years of parenting. Some day, he'll be older, he won't want to cuddle as much, he'll have siblings and we'll all have to share. Then there'll be school and sports or practices for something and I'll become a chauffeurring chef. Talk about feeling like you have no time. I'll look back on these days and think, man, I had it so easy back then. 

Today started out pretty foggy but now the sun is out and it's just beautiful. We went to the gym this am and in the afternoon, we'll head to the park. Oh, sunshine, how I love you :)

Jacob took a great nap today and still woke up totally crabby. Crying, asking for mamamilk. Sobbing for mamamilk. Screaming. A good fit. I tried to distract him with books. Eventually (after about 10 minutes) that worked. He really loves his books that he got for his birthday, his favourite being If You Give a Moose a Muffin.
Finally, I was able to get a little bit of food in him and tell get him out to the park. He wanted to take his bike; he loves the hills. We get to them and he shouts, "Wheeeee". Fun for him. I'm running next to him, my hand lightly on his arm ready to catch him before he takes the inevitable digger. Hm. He wasn't his normal self at the park, not racing after all the big kids, but we had a nice time. Great to be outside when it's not grey, raining or cold.

Karen from two doors down invited us over to hang out and maybe have a little wine or something. I really like her. Her kids are a bit crazy at times, and I find I have to monitor situations a bit. It makes me appreciate my old neighbours, Margaret and Kelly, and their extremely well-behaved, helpful kids. We'll see how things go. Regardless, I had a great time with Karen. 

Day 38

November 1, 2010

November?! Ah! Rain, rain, rain. All day long. Steady shower all day. Wow. 
Jacob and I had some cozy time in the house, though. And had a good day: roasted pumpkin seeds, cut up his pumpkin and cooked some for dinner (he's been wanting to eat a pumpkin since we got here), cleaned parts of the house. Quite nice. 

 

He's actually smiling in this cupboard picture. He liked hiding in there. Part of me wanted to make him come out and the other part of me felt like Ralphie's mom from A Christmas Story when Ralphie's kid brother hides in the cupboard. 

We also spent an hour today just cuddling together on the bed and reading stories and poems. Jacob was happy as a clam sucking his thumb and touching my nipple. What a sweetheart.

Random Jacob phrases:
When I tell him he shouldn't do something because he might get hurt, he says, "Ow, Mommy". And I say, "That's right, that's what you'll say to me if you get hurt."


The other day he was playing with his train track, lifting it up, taking it apart and saying, "Whoa, bud", something we obviously say to him. It's just in a nonchalant way, though, not a 'stop that' kind of way.

Day 37: Halloween

October 31, 2010

Today started out like most - all of us getting up but Jacob throwing a fit every time Fraser tried to do something. This really wears on Fraser emotionally and me as well. I don't know how to get out of it except for making the two of them spend more time together without me. If anyone has a better idea, please, let me know. It makes Fraser crabby which makes me crabby which all makes Jacob crabby. Not good. 

We'd been invited by Karen to go trick-or-treating with them tonight. Only part that was odd was that their good friends, the previous residents of our house, were also going to be there. Fraser was not thrilled. He didn't want to talk about our house and what was wrong with it. I was excited to go trick-or-treating with our neighbours.  

The day didn't feel very spirited at all. We were at odds, Jacob was crabby. We hadn't even carved our pumpkins yet! Unheard of. Around about 4 or so we started carving the pumpkins. Fastest carve job I've ever done. I didn't draw faces on paper, didn't look in a book for ideas, or ask opinions on the matter (Fraser went off to lay down for a bit); I just drew the face right on the pumpkin. Jacob wanted nothing to do with touching the pumpkin guts. We were down by 5:15 and I was rushing Jacob to get into his costume. He hadn't wanted to wear it all day or at the play date party, but I'd been psyching him up for it all evening. He was a firefighter. And when I got it on him, he was quite pleased. He enjoyed looking in the mirror at himself and practicing, "dit  deat". 

We headed to our neighbour's, met the previous tenants and all was well. Everyone was cool, there were no sermons or harping on the house, it was fine. There was delicious dinner and a bunch of kids. Finally it was time to get outside. This is definitely a good area to trick-or-treat. Lots of houses decorated, lots of lights on, lots of kids running around. It was cool. And I felt really happy hanging out with fun people. I think Fraser even had a good time. He had his ball python around his neck as his "trick". 
Jacob loved it. "In there", he would say as we passed a house that was decorated. Of course, at the door he was a bit shy and didn't always say trick-or-treat but he almost always said thank you ("wank you" - great, I know). Then he'd jump down the steps, swinging his bucket everywhere. Sometimes, there'd be a little trail of candy behind him that I'd have to pick up. 

Very fun. I love Halloween. Lots of people dressed in costumes knocking on strangers' doors to get candy - and it's not weird! I love it! It's very social feeling with all the people out at night. Good times. That made the neighbourhood feel more lively. And it was neat to look into people's homes, I'm not gonna lie. I like to see how different people decorate. 

I let Jacob have one piece of candy (although he picked nerds which meant he had about 20 pieces, but....). I could hear my mother's voice in my head the whole time: "You're giving him candy? He's only two. You guys didn't get candy until you were three!" True. But he's not going to get anymore till next year and it's not going to kill him. I had to tell her off in my head slightly but eventually, she quieted down.

Day 36: All Hallow's Eve

October 30, 2010

I got to sleep in this morning. Lovely. Very funny, though, to feel by 8:30 that I've slept much of my day away. 

Went to look at cars today. Stressful. My car is on its way out - quickly. We either need to spend some serious money on that to get it safer and so Fraser doesn't have to keep pushing it to jump it. The starter is gone. Or he starts biking all the time. Or we get a new/newer car. Oh, decisions. We're looking at Subarus. Beautiful. Smooth. Nice to drive. But expensive too when neither of us have had a car payment to worry about ever (thankfully). 

Stopped at Rogue Brewery for one beer. Double chocolate stout for me and Brutal IPA for Fraser. Both delicious. 

Some Skyping with the fam and some Harry Potter this evening. Halloween tomorrow. Hopefully Jacob will actually wear his costume for a photo opp and some trick or treating tomorrow before bedtime. Of course, we're only using him so we can get his candy but... he doesn't know any better. Yet.

Day 35

October 29, 2010

Started the day ambitiously. Went to the gym to do my PT exercises and some brisk walking. That was great. Jacob seems to enjoy the kids play place. Sometimes I think the girls there aren't as interactive as I'd like them to be. Also, you have to call ahead to reserve a spot for your kid. This is so they can keep a certain ratio of adults to kids in the room. I appreciate that part but am not a fan of having to always call before I go. Or tell them how much time I'll be there because I don't always know. Interesting.

Grocery store next. Gave Jacob some spaghetti at one point. He held it for awhile then chucked it in the back of the cart where it broke open slightly. My fault for giving him something like that but frustrating a bit. I like for him to be involved in the process and whatnot but must think about some of the things I give him. He is only two even though I tend to forget that sometimes with him. Of course, later the half open spaghetti falls out of the box as he picks it up out of the bag. "Stop!" I said. Sigh. Not a big deal, not a big deal.

The sun actually came out in the afternoon which was wonderful! What a huge difference that beautiful warm light makes. Even if I'm inside it seems so much nicer, happier, more uplifting just to see that. We went out to ride his bike. He was headed for the park.  We stopped by Karen's house to say hey. One of her kids was having a little playdate and her mother was there too, but Karen told us to come on in. After introductions, we get into a story about this woman's cat. Let me rephrase. She gets into a monologue about her cats and how they died. She spoke in a complete monotone, gravelly and low. Amidst the story of what was happening she'd have these Wikepedia background info as well. No stopping points. No place to interject. I was wondering how to get myself out of there. Karen offered some tea. Oh, no. 


We talked about cats for a good 30 minutes, I swear. From how they died and what the vet gave for the mourners (paw prints, a book about your life with your pet) to what kind of pinkish goo was coming out of her female cat's vagina (her words, seriously). After far too much dull conversation, this woman goes to the bathroom. 
"Oh my gosh," Karen says, "This is my first time hanging out with this woman. We made a play date and I totally forgot about it until she showed up."
Finally, the play date was over, she'd driven away and Karen and I were free to speak our minds about the situation. We were on the exact same page. 


That night in the bath I wanted to give Jacob a hair trim. He was getting upset about it. 
"Long," he said. "Long. Mom." He touched my hair.
"Mom's hair is long, yes." I say. 
"Yes," he says.
"You want your hair long like Mom's?" I say.
"Yes," he says. 
"Well, I don't think we'll let your hair get this long, but it's okay for now," I say.


Getting jammies on in his bedroom:
"Mad," Jacob says.
"Are you mad?" I say.
"Mommy. Mad."
"I'm not mad, sweetie."
"Noodles."
It takes me a minute. He makes a spilling motion with his hands.
"Oh, do you think I was mad today about the noodles?"
"Yes."
Break my heart. 
"I'm sorry sweetie, that I sounded mad earlier. I was frustrated, yes, but I'm not mad at you."
So sad. Good to know how long his little memory is lasting these days.

Day 34

 October 28, 2010

Today, Jacob and I went to a play date. There's a group of moms that get together. I met a couple of them at Janelle's wedding this past weekend. 
Jacob fell asleep in the car on the way there because he was up at 5:30, crazy boy. But that gave him more energy for the actual party. It was a costume party. About half the kids were wearing their costumes. Jacob did not want to put his on. Bummer. 

It was fun. Nice women. Good kids. All around Jacob's age. We did a little pumpkin decorating and some eating and playing. Normal play date activities. I think it will be fun to get together more in the future. 

Jacob still wanted to ride his bike today too. Even in the rain.