And Then There Was Cole - 8 months now

Dear Cole,

You are now 8 months old and I don't know where the time goes. I still vividly remember the day you were born, our first week in hospital, and I always get weepy thinking about it. Just holding your tiny body, cuddling with you, and staring at you endlessly, it has been magical having you, my baby boy. Second kids are different from the first. Especially since I know you will be my last baby, I'm trying to enjoy you and delight in you as much as I can. I try to burn certain memories into my brain, but I know the small things are all too easily forgotten. Thank god for pictures and videos, because they really do capture the way life is and how it looks. We're much more relaxed with second kids. I let you eat dirt. If a toy falls to the ground, I don't sterilize it for 5 minutes, I just pick off the dog hair and pass it back to you. I let you chew on things that you probably shouldn't be chewing on (like the dog's tail, gardening tools, the vodka bottle) (ok, kidding about the vodka bottle). I haven't done the whole "boiled, cooled water" thing… you've had tap water from day dot. Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't given you a Big Mac yet.

Your internal body clock still loves 5.30. Apparently this is not something you grow out of. We're stuck with it. I'm sure this means that I will hold this over your head for years to come. I won't hold a 36 hour labour over your head like most moms, because well, I didn't have a 36 hour labour, and your birth was a breeze and the pain killers were awesome. But starting each day at 5.30… now that's something to tuck into my back pocket to be brought up again when you're 13. 5.30 dude. You owe me.

You are a mover and a shaker. You are practically crawling -- you are rocking back and forth and have almost made the connection on moving hand, then knee, then hand, then knee. It will be any day now. You're getting around though, mainly by sitting, reaching, sitting back up, reaching, scooting backwards, etc.

You love swimming class.

And, although you are still such a happy, cackly, smiley, pleasant baby boy, you have started the separation anxiety phase. If I leave the room for seconds to grab the phone or OMIGOD grab a glass of water, you'll cry. I'm getting very good at cooking a 5 course meal and cleaning the house with one hand whilst the other holds you on my hip.

You still have no teeth.

Sleep… well, we've talked about the 5.30 start. Otherwise, you are still doing 3-ish naps. A quick one from 7-8am, then two longish ones mid morning and then early avo. We start your bath at 5.30pm and you're in bed by 6. We've tried putting you to bed later, but you still insist on that early wake up call, so we gave up. We'll try again soon.

You love to suck on my hair.

You love to suck on two of your fingers on your right hand. I so wished you had stuck with the soother, but apparently, some things are just plain out of my control.

You are still blonde. Your hair sticks up at the back. It's cute.

Ok, so the solids thing is still not going so well. You're not really eating much, you push most of it out with your tongue, so I’m feeling a smidge like a failure. I can't force feed you, so I'll just have to sit back, relax, and hope it happens soon. We could be in trouble if you're still just primarily nursing when I go back to work. BIG trouble. But I won't think about that now.

You're a lean little baby. No bum. Just like your dad.

This month is when you become a world traveler. You'll be in Japan, the States, and Canada. Your baby passport is adorable. I can't wait for you to meet all the family in Canada. And, I'm sure they're dying to meet you too!!

My friends think you look like my dad. I think you have more hair though. Shhhh, don't tell my dad I said that. But, we'll soon find out, we'll put you and my dad side by side to compare resemblances.

Cole, you're precious. We are smitten.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

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Who's afraid of a little water?

Zoe, Cole and I were in the car (just on our way back from the post office) when we saw some awesome lightening. The sky was dark and ominous and the light strikes were spectacular. We drove around so that Zoe could watch the storm, and found a nice vantage point a block from our house, just beside a park. I was surprised at how much Zoe liked the storm! I've always been partial to lightening (and hail) storms myself. But, then, I noticed a huge dark mass right above us and starting to swirl. I've actually seen tornadoes in Alberta, so when the wind instantly howled and tree debris started to blow 3 stories up, this is when I thought to myself "Self, you should probably not be storm watching with your two kids in the back seat. Time to go home". Luckily we were a block away because after I pulled into the garage, and ferried the kids into the house, all we could hear was an absolute torrential downpour.

That's when we discovered our kitchen ceiling was made of swiss cheese. We had every pot and bowl strategically placed under the drips.

This was the worst storm that Perth has had in 50 years.

King's Park had a landslide (unfortunately, into someone's apartment), rivers were flowing through streets, golf ball sized hail pummeled Subi (the suburb we lived in when we first moved to Perth!)… it was quite the event. And I was storm watching. With my kids. Ooooops.

You can see some news coverage here.

Our tub is so big...

That Zoe can drive her dump truck around me when we're taking a bath together.

Now that's big.


(or as I like to think of it, that we are both small bottomed)

The Zoe Chronicles - You love your food

So, Zoe has about 100 words. The normal ones, hi, bye-bye, mom, dad, up, down, water, etc etc.

Today, she added cous-cous.

She doesn't say store or shop or grass or kick, but she says cous-cous. You'll go far with that one, little girl. Yup, "cous-cous" comes up in many conversations... "Hey, have you heard the one about the rice farmer and the cous-cous maker?" .... "So a grain of cous-cous walked into a bar".... "Excuse me neighbor, do you happen to have any cous-cous?". You might as well add antidisestablishmentarianism. It's almost as useful.




ps - How adorable is our little girl? I'll tell you. I made the Morroccan tajine today (with said cous-cous) and Zoe took one bite and said "Mmmm. Thank you mom". AND THEN, she made sure that Daddy thanked me too. Tee hee. Love you Zozo. She loves her spicy chick pea curry, thai green curry, mexican enchilladas, indian butter chicken, and now morroccan tajines. And, she loves beetroot which is very Aussie. She's so worldly.

Mobile phone manners matter

So, we were camping on the weekend and I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth.

There was a lady showering. Her mobile phone rang. I thought it odd that she even brought it with her, but that's not the end of the story. SHE ANSWERED THE PHONE. Now, there are quite a number of situations where answering a mobile phone is just plain wrong. Showering is just one of them. I mean, SURELY, every phone call can wait 10 minutes. It's bizarre to me that people don’t seem to know this, so just in case, let me help.

You should NOT answer your phone if you are:
* showering
* in the toilet (that's just gross)
* driving
* swimming
* shaking hands with the Queen
* striking a romantic note, if you know what I mean, nudge nudge, wink wink
* getting operated on
* carrying a piano
* performing CPR on someone
* at the podium about to accept your Olympic Gold Medal
* about to say "I DO" at your wedding
* at the theatre
* already on the phone with someone else

You should NOT engage in a lengthy mobile phone conversation if you are:
* at a job interview
* about to get operated on
* in a face to face conversation with me! (or anyone!)
* on a date
* already one the phone with someone else

The Zoe Chronicles - The Girl is 31 months old

Dear Zoe,

31 months down and this is what you're like:

You like to dress and undress yourself. You're very good at putting your shoes on. You think it's funny when you get them on the wrong feet. You giggle. I giggle. We all giggle. You are very patient with buttons. You're a zen master when it comes to buttons. Cole pulling your hair? Not so calm and zen-like.

You've named one foot Mommy and one foot Daddy. They talk to each other a lot. Nappy changes, car rides, your talking feet are entertaining. To everyone. I'm sure a podiatrist would LOVE to see these talking feet and chronicle them in the next Foot Express Magazine.

Even though you were a "late talker", your speech is coming along nicely. You have lots of words and use them wisely. You've got many verbs in your arsenal of words so that helps with sentence-making. You LOVE saying "Thank you mom" and "Thank you Dad". Unprompted too. It's especially cute when we have your favourite meal for dinner (creamy pasta with bacon).... you'll take one bite, roll your eyes as if we've just served you a slice of heaven, and say "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, thank you mom".

You are shy. You won't really talk around others, and you still like to hang back and observe. We went camping on the weekend and two notable things happened. (1) You saw all the other big kids mastering the playground and this made you much more adventurous. You climbed up the slide and then progressed to running up. (2) You said "Hi!" to Isaac. That last one is notable because you are a late talker and shy, so we're combining two traits together in one! You love the swing -- you'll hang over it and watch your feet.

You share. Your food. This is substantial because 2 and a half year olds don't share. And, you love your food, so this is a mystery to us. But, there you have it... you lovely girl. Still the only food you dislike are eggs. Of late, your favourites are pickles, beetroot, red pepper, frozen peas and corn, and ice. We've still managed to keep you away from sugar/chocolate/cakes/sweets/juice... it's honestly as easy as steering you towards ice or pickles. So far.

You love hearing the same song over and over and over again. Yellow by Coldplay. Or 1234 by Feist. Or She by Elvis Costello. You get this trait from me. I don't mind playing 1234 a hundred times in a row. In fact, I love it too.

You sleep with Tuli (a bear) and your blankie (called "Bubba"). I'm regretting letting you sleep with a blankie because quite frankly, it's feral. You have two and we rotate it and wash them often, but you suck on these four used-to-be-velvet-tabs-and-now-they're-cardboard ribbons and they're so discolored and stinky. I've actually googled "dangers of stinky blankie" to discover that unfortunately, it's not bad for you. (I was secretly hoping that it would be wrought with knife-wielding-death-trap-bacteria and that we'd have to toss them). It's cute to watch you with your blankie, as you'll rotate sucking on these 4 cardboard tabs and swish the others between your fingers. Unfortunately, you've tried to stick this blankie in my mouth (to SHARE) a couple of times..... Ick. You can keep it darling.

On the down side... you've been waking up early. 6.30am is when your internal alarm is going off. Since this is an hour earlier than normal, you are waking up grouchy. Many mornings this week, you've had to "rest" with Bubba in your cot. Sometimes you sleep for an hour or two (and still have your long midday nap) and sometimes you rest for half an hour. I can always tell what kind of day we're going to have by the way you wake up. Funny that it's kind of the same with adults.

Let's not end on that... so... let's see. You love chasing games. We'll hide behind a door or wall and grab you... and this will send you into a fit of giggles. Then you want us to chase you. Or you'll chase us. As long as there is running up and down the hallways, you're happy.

Hugs, and smooches, and raspberries, and eskimo kisses,
Mommy and Daddy
xoxo
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And Then There Was Cole - 7 months down

Hey Cole,

You're 7 months old and a delightful little chap. We couldn't have ordered a better baby than you -- even from a North American online site. Let's see... you're sitting on your own very well and quite the little climber. You'll grab anything you can to launch yourself over or out. For instance, in your baby bath, you'll be all "Ok, let's climb out. Nah, I'll grab myself. No, should try to climb out. Hmmm, grab myself. Ooooh, I'll get outta here. But, grab myself". It's quite entertaining. I'm sure in 30 years your future wife will think this is hilarious. To your dismay.

We've tried solids again, and it's going better. I think you actually swallow some. With some dramatic gagging of course.

You laugh and giggle all the time and all it takes is for someone to look at you. You also cackle. The carseat and the baby swing outside make you cackle "cack, cack, cack" -- it's a really cute laugh.

We're still enjoying the amount of sleep you give us. You'll have 4 naps some days (a couple 50 minute ones, a 2 hour one, and then a late catnap) but then some days you'll give us two long naps of 2 hours each. You're still in bed by 6.30pm since we just can't seem to keep you up. This means that you wake up at 6.10 in the morning, with the occasional 5.40 start (we don't go get you, you have to wait it out). I'm waiting for the days when we can stretch you to 7pm. Hopefully then we'll see the end of the 5ams.

Still no teeth.

You love to suck on my hair. Man, you can get my locks curled around your chubby hands faster than you can say "pony tail". Maybe it's the yummy "fruits of the forest" hair products I use... you'd think it would taste soapy though.

We dote on you little man, you're gorgeous.
Love
Mommy and Daddy
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