From infant to toddler...

Kieran's First Birthday was a perfect, fairly relaxed day. (As relaxed as parents can be while throwing together a 1 year-old birthday party.) We kept it small, just the 4 of us, my mom, Kieran & Jaela's childcare lady, Michelle, and her family and our friends John & Alyce. It was a postcard day, so off to the park we went...

GumbyBoy had a snack while we got set up. He came out of the womb with his feet in his face, and that still seems to be where he likes them. He's the biggest toe-sucker, which would be really gross if he was walking on them yet. I think maybe that's why he isn't bothering - the way he crawls keeps his feet nice & clean for chewing on. Yum!

The balloons were wonderful - big bright colours and all - but Somebody, who shall be nameless, didn't tie them tight enough to the stroller & they floated away about 2 minutes after we got to the park. Oops. Not that I'm feeling guilty or anything...

My mom, being the cake decorator extraordinaire made Kieran a Caterpillar cake. Everything here is edible, except the foil. It's one of my favorites so far. And then he had his own cake to dig into - not that he barely got past the gummi worms, but it's the thought that counts.

So the boy child is 1 and I am just trying to figure out where the last year went. A year ago we couldn't really imagine

another child on our lives, especially a boy child. And now here we are, where it is impossible to imagine our

lives without our laid-back, sly-grinning son. Even harder to imagine Jaela without her constantly adored & adoring brother. Kieran has brought us back into baby world, where the 'littlest' things are huge and every single second of every single day is about learning & exploring. And maybe most of all, he brings us his giggles! Right now we're just feeling really grateful for such a healthy year for Kieran and looking forward to the next...hopefully we can keep up!

Dirty Dozen takes on Kelowna

The annual Girl's Weekend was held this year in Kelowna - not too far from home, but just far enough. This is my 3rd one and it's been great getting to know new people each year as well as seeing some familiar faces. We rented out a terrific heritage house right out of downtown - the kind with the big staircase bannister and the wood floor that creaks just enough to remind you it's there. The highlight had to be the back patio where breakfast coffee, BBQ-ing and evening chats happened.

We saw a couple local wineries, a Goat Cheese farm, and some local 'wildlife' in downtown Saturday night and at Gyro Beach. We found out how many grown women can fit in an '07 Mini - 6, plus wine bottles and cameras. (Sorry folks, we also set limits on which photos are blog-able and which are not - professionals that we are in our regular life ;) ) We treated ourselves to a delicious day at the Heaven on Earth Spa, but no matter how I begged, my gal Cara just wouldn't come home with me. Some people just won't work for Cheerios, I guess.

And so now it's time to think about planning for next year. Our fearless leader/organizer extraordinaire (aka Brenna) is hopping across the Pond for 2 years, so it'll be up to the rest of us to take it on. What trouble can we stir up for 2008?!

TMI alert...

When you have a four or five year old and decide to bring a new baby into the family, a lot of interesting conversations come up, and they don't stop until, well, I'm not sure when they stop. (I'll get back to you on that.)

And they come up in ways you can not imagine. There's no sitting down, reading The Book and having a Little Chat. Nope, there are conversations about cows udders and how the horse 'udders' do not make milk. (Shut UP, they do NOT!) There are conversations about why Mommy's torso looks like a smiley face with the c-section scar as the smile. And in between there are General Vocabulary lessons. The other surprise is that even though you may think you've covered everything reasonable to cover with someone less than 5 ft. tall, that person has a fresh approach every time, just to keep you on your toes.

So yesterday Princess Z starts 'reviewing' the proper words for things.

"What's the boy part where the pee comes out again?"

"A penis"

"M'k, a pee-nuss...And then there's the part the girls have that babies come out of."

"Mm-hm."

"Right. And then... is the part the poop comes out of."

"Yes, that's all of them."

"But...if pee comes out of the peee-nuss, shouldn't that be the pooop-nuss?"

Ah, there's no arguing with logic, is there?

Giggle of the Day

Pass me the real estate listings, wouldya?

The Daily Show kindly identifies this loon as being from Seattle, so I'd like to thank them for not revealing that he's from the suburb I'm in. Sanjaya already has us wondering about the 'flouride' in the water...

Bye Fly

Princess Z likes bugs. (And spiders, which aren't technically bugs, apparently.) And worms. And so Princess Z has a new bug catcher. But it's been pretty rainy in our parts lately and not ideal bug hunting weather, so she's resorted to a more domestic prey - the common housefly!

The other day she finally caught one - after much pouncing, climbing and general acrobatics - including fighting off the cat who thought the fly would make a delicious snack. And Sam, as he was named, had a lovely home with leaves and sticks and lots of air. I'm sure he was thrilled. But no amount of love is going to fight the fact that you're a house fly and you're going to kick it any minute.

A very distraught 5 3/4 year old came to wake me up at 5:45am to tell me that he was dead. I expressed my sympathies and rolled back over, mumbling something like 'getbacktobed,don'twakeupKieran,eatyourcerealatthetable,notinfrontofthetv.'

A while later, I got up and this is what I found in the living room - a funeral service in progress. There are moments in parenting when I'm not sure when to be really impressed/proud/amused & when to start worrying...


RIP Mr. Fly
And yes, we do use Charmin :)