19
November
2006
The boys are doing all kinds of fun and crazy things, but by the end of the day I’m so tired I usually forget what they were! I’m trying to keep notes so I can start updating more regularly again.
Breakfast has been interesting lately:
The boys like to have cheerios in milk. They actually have been able to eat a bit with their spoon, but usually use their hands. After eating about 1/2 of it, they drink the rest of the milk, taking in a few cheerios with it! They think it’s so fun to do this. Sometimes Drew blows bubbles in his milk.
Bran really likes to dunk his toast in the milk. Usually after a few dunks he decides to just submerge his entire piece. When he gets it to his mouth it’s dripping milk. And he’s so happy!
Andrew
Drew has learned to to blow on his food, he’s been doing this often at dinnertime. This morning he blew on his cereal. He scooped up a spoonful, leaned over it and blew!
At swimming lessons yesterday they got to try on life vests. Bran hated it, but Drew did really well, he floated for about 5 + minutes and was just relaxed and peaceful. It helped that he was holding a ball the whole time!
Today at lunch Drew was putting his cheese on Bran’s plate while Bran was proceeding to put it back on Drew’s plate.
Drew can blow his nose. You put a tissue up and ask him to blow and he does! He’s been doing that for a long time. It’s been very helpful because ever since he was a baby he’s gotten stuffy noses and he hates to have anyone wipe it or pick at it (would you?). So now I just put a tissue to his nose and tell him to blow.
Brandon
Yesterday Bran’s cup fell on the floor and when I asked him if he wanted me to get it, he signed “please”
Bran loves dried apples. This morning he pulled the baggie of them out of his diaper bag and brought them to me. I asked if he wanted some apples and he signed “please”. After eating one, he brought the bag back and was trying to pull apples out of the bag. I asked if he wanted more and he looked really intently at his hands and signed “more”. This is a big step because Drew tends to communicate more verbally and with signs than Bran does, so it’s good to see Bran learning how to tell us what he wants.
Bran has been doing a good job of following multiple commands. Thursday morning I asked Bran to “go get your blue shoes and bring them here” and he brought the right ones! While not necessarily multiple commands, he’s also been good at following directions like put the blocks back on the box. He also likes to help me put things away. Of course he’ll often take them right back out after they’ve been put away!
Other Fun Things
The boys are starting to learn how to blow kisses.
They have a sign for finished/all-done. They use this sign for all kinds of things now. If they see something they aren’t allowed to touch (like the dog’s bowl) they go up to it and sign finished.
Words that WE know they are saying: dog, done, yes, mama, dada, bow wow, more (sounds more like Na, but Drew is beginning to use his “m”, so sometimes it sounds like ma. They use this whenever they want something so we hear na or ma all day long!), no (with a headshake), blocks (Drew just started this one), touchdown (this goes along with the touchdown sign, they haven’t gotten to use this one much lately though), stop (they tell Noah to stop when he’s barking).
Posted: Drew & Bran
15
November
2006
I’ve been saving up my posting time, so now it’s all coming at once! Besides the Brandon screaming thing, we had a great visit to California. See our album for pics. We took the boys to the ocean where Holly and Jeffery take the dogs to play. The boys saw the water and got super excited. They both immediately ran right in, got hit with a cold wave (it was Northern CA) and then the undertow pulled the sand right out from under them and they fell onto their faces. It was the funniest thing. But they were cold and wet and a little bit scared so we had to do some damage control. After that they spent most of the time on the sand, running away from the waves.
Mike and I got to venture into the land that is Oakland, CA to watch them beat the Steelers. I was a bit nervous going in as to how we would be treated, since we obviously had to dress in all of our Steelers gear. Before the game things weren’t too bad, but afterwards we got an earful. I must say though Oakland fans have the strangest put downs. One woman told us that we should be careful on our flight home…I’m still mulling that one over. And in reality even though Oakland beat us we still came out with the same record, so every time they dissed us, they were really dissing themselves, too. All in all, though I have to say I came away from Oakland with a much better appreciation of their fans and their team. It was a good experience. It would also appear that Jon Gruden’s legacy lives on in his haircut. The Gruden cut (and sun visor) was everywhere. While we went to the game the boys spent the day with their Auntie Holly. Yay!
The boys got to explore the climbing gym where their uncle Jeffery once worked and now helps run. They got to play on crash pads and swing from belay ropes. Oddly enough Bran enjoyed it much more than Drew. Who knew?
We also got to spend a day at Google, which was awesome! We saw our friend Finn and the boys got to play in a ball pit. What could be better than that?!
So I have to say that in the midst of the month that was October, there was fun to be had. Thanks Holly and Jeffery for putting us up and putting up with us! Thanks to Kent and the 3 dogs too. If anyone wants to hear a funny dog/toddler story let me know.
Posted: Drew & Bran, Miscellaneous
15
November
2006
I’ve added a new category I thought I should explain. When we were living in Pittsburgh I became very passionate about a local issue, the proposed Mon/Fayette Expressway extension into Oakland (my neighborhood). So whenever I have a rant about something my friends sometimes joke that it’s just like the MFE. While many issues don’t strike the same chord of passion within me, I thought this would be the perfect heading for my rantings. Besides I really don’t like the word rant…
If you’re interested in learning more about why the Mon/Fayette Expressway strikes such a chord with me check out these websites.
Posted: My Mon/Fayette Expressways
15
November
2006
Since we can’t vote in midterms it was somewhat anti-climactic. Although Presidential races are too, since when do they ever really count the absentee ballots? But I was glad to hear that so many people voted. Just before leaving Pittsburgh we became much more interested in our electoral system and pro-voting. We even managed to encourage some of our friends to vote for our candidate (he lost with less than 1% of the vote, but I’m sure we made a difference!) Anyway, just when we were all ready to participate more fully in this democratic institution…we leave the country and can’t vote at all. So now we do our best to “encourage” others to vote.
I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that PA and OH both changed hands and sent Dems to Washington. After 12 years it’s time to have a change. But with a 2-party, 3-issue government, can anything new really happen? Will Kyoto ever pass? Will senators stop being persuaded by big business and lobbyists rather than their constituents? Will abortion laws change? Will same sex marriage be legalized? Will American’s rights continue to be violated in the interested of anti-terrorism? Will there still be racism/classism/genderism? Will we ever look outside our own interests to places like the Sudan and Sri Lanka? What was it that King Solomon said?…”There’s nothing new under the sun.”
As much as I’m happy for the change in government, I’m also pessimistic. Until we move away from our white, rich man’s, two-party monopoly not much new is going to happen. We’ll see, maybe I’ll eat my words… It’s not as if a lot is being accomplished in Canada’s minority government either.
Posted: My Mon/Fayette Expressways
15
November
2006
Okay there were some good things in there, but all in all October was the worst month ever! (Okay that could be a slight exaggeration, but not by much.) The month started with Drew getting a virus, then passing it on to Bran. Then happily Mike’s parents came for a visit. Yay! While they were here, B decided to spike a fever of 104 and vomit. So we got to visit the ER. Five hours and a chest x-ray later B was diagnosed with pneumonia and we got home at 4am. Within days of B being off the antibiotic, he and Drew both came down with the flu and gave it to us. Yay! (read this one with sarcasm) The day after I stopped being naseaus I threw out my back changing a diaper. It took me 1 hour to get high enough off the floor to reach the phone to call Mike. I knew adrenaline would kick in if the boys were in trouble, but I still kept praying that they wouldn’t do anything to hurt themselves while I was trying to get up. Instead Drew used me as a jungle gym to get onto the chair. (I had flashbacks of laughing as my dad lay in the wet grass with a torn knee, I didn’t know he had torn his knee. Drew didn’t know why his mamma was screaming at him either.) The boys also took this opportunity to figure out how to get the lids off of their sippy cups. They dumped juice all over the kitchen floor, sat in it, and walked through it…They thought it was the greatest thing and all their mamma did was watch helplessly trying to decide whether to laugh or cry. Two days later we got on a plane for California. Yay for visiting relatives! Boo for flying with a bad back. While there, Jeffery and Holly got food poisoning and Jeffery couldn’t go to the Steelers/Oakland game with us. Oh and B woke up at 5am every morning screaming. Oh…Oh…wait…We arrived back in Edmonton to -17C and 6 inches of snow. Unfortunately that was November, so now I don’t know what to say. Maybe mid-November will be better?
Posted: Miscellaneous
24
October
2006
Not much has happened recently since we’ve spent almost a month recovering from colds, pneumonia and the flu. But here are some highlights that I can remember.
Early on after the boys were born, we put a clothes basket on the landing of the basement stairs. We throw dirty laundry from the boys, the kitchen, etc. over the gate and into the basket. It seems this might not have been the brightest idea. Now the boys seem to think any time they clean up they should throw their toys over the gate!
Andrew
The other day Drew put his forhead to mine and then licked my nose.
Every time Drew eats a bite of yogurt, he says mmmmm…
The boys have learned to make a sign and sound for elephant. Drew looks through his “Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear?” book to find the page with the elephant and then he make his elephant sign/sound.
Andrew’s favorite thing right now seems to be books. Both boys are finally getting into books, but Drew is more patient to go get a book and bring it back, and sit through the whole thing.
Brandon
Bran’s really gotten into putting clothes on (with my help). Yesterday he was walking around the house in his pjs, with both and his and Drew’s winter hats on, one shoe on (over his pj feet), his Steelers jersery on, and a sock on his hand. Today he was wearing his winter hat around all morning. And I don’t even keep the house very cold!
The other day Bran grabbed the dog by his ears and gave him a great big hug.
Mike taught the boys to make the Touchdown! sign. Brandon loves doing it.
Brandon’s favorite things to play with right now are his cars.
Posted: Drew & Bran
21
October
2006
Started Wednesday night still here on Saturday…
(on a happy note, I’ve lost 6 lbs in 2 days)
Posted: Miscellaneous
29
September
2006
To those of you back home, you will be so proud of me! Finally, three years and one month after moving into our house, we have living room curtains! I know you thought it would never happen. And it all happened because I bought a chair. It’s Capitalism at its best!
So I’ve spent several days over the past 3 years running back and forth to IKEA or Zellers trying out curtains, but I just wasn’t happy with any of them. They either looked like dorm room curtains or like they belonged in someone else’s house. You know someone who keeps their house neat and clean with nice furniture and wait…no kids (at least not mine).
We were in need of a new chair, so I bought one of those POANG chairs from IKEA and a cute little brown throw to go with it. Then it hit me, what about brown? After two different attempts to hit IKEA’s curtain section (the first time Drewie threw a temper tantrum) I found the perfect ones! Yay! Now they’re up and the living room looks a lot different. Now I just need someone to help me hem them. You know I don’t do that. 
Posted: Miscellaneous
29
September
2006
The boys emptied the bandaid drawer so I gave them each a bandaid. That wasn’t good enough for Drew, he wanted one on each hand. Bran kept taking his off and giving it to me so I would put it back on again.
Drew
Today Drew waved at his shadow.
Drew is getting his fourth tooth. Finally!
Drew doesn’t like socks. I’m always finding them in his bed after a nap, or he’ll come downstairs with one sock on and one sock off (I think there’s a nursery rhyme about that).
Bran
Bran spent part of yesterday afternoon walking sideways. I guess he wanted to see what it was like! He also spent part of the time walking while looking at the ceiling. Needless to say, he fell down alot.
Bran is getting teeth # 13, 14, 15, and 16 (top molars and eye teeth). His bottom front teeth are discolored. Apparently this is not unusual for a preemie. And his adult teeth will not look this way. In the meantime he’s got coffee-drinkers teeth. As a result of the teething we’ve had two weeks of him waking up twice in the middle of the night. The past two nights have gone by without a peep. Yay!
Posted: Drew & Bran
27
September
2006
The boys had their first swimming lesson on Saturday. They are in the Parent & Tot class at the U of A. It’s a half-hour class and there are about 7 other kids. Come to think of it…they are all boys! Huh. Anyway today was mostly getting used to the water. We did some walking up and down the length of the pool, then some floating on the back, and then some bubble blowing. Both boys were hilarious when they got in the water. They were laughing and squealing and splashing all over. Bran takes right to it and starts paddling his arms and kicking his feet. He seems like a natural swimmer. Drew did pretty well the first few times we tried backfloating but as soon as his ears went under he turned and got a faceful of water. After that he didn’t like the backfloat so much (he’s quite particular about getting his face wet). Bran did not like being on his back. He got really scared. We also got to practice blowing bubbles. Drew practices this often in his milk so he was ready. He did a great job, although it was more like being in the cup of milk than blowing bubbles from the side, so he got a few mouthfuls of water. But it didn’t seem to bother his as much as the backfloating/getting water on your face thing. So we had lots of fun and are looking forward to next week.
We’ve decided to make these family morning outings. We LRT to campus for the 11:30 class then by the time we get out, dried off and changed (which by the way is a major challenge with a litte guy who wants to run all over the locker room while you’re changing!) it’s 12:20 or so and then we head to lunch, eat at the Student Union and LRT back just in time for afternoon naps. Now we’ll see if it works out like that every week! The only bummer this week was that we missed the annual U of A Turkey Trot (run/walk for United Way). Last year the boys won a Turkey for being the youngest participants. This year I heard a 2-week old won! And Paul and Kim’s daughter Diane got the second place Turkey. It turns out that the Turkey Trot is the annual “meet the new baby” venue. It was a bummer not to participate this year. What were they thinking starting lessons this weekend?! Oh well, hopefully we’ll be able to be back next year.
Posted: Drew & Bran
