Jonah's 18 month WBC

It's really tough to blog without highspeed! Man do I miss it.

Jonah's 18 month well baby check-up was last week (a little early I know) and all of his stats were normal but I really felt like the doctor brushed off my concerns about his developement. I mentioned the sleep issues, the no talking issues, the tantrums issues, the clinginess and excessive crying issues and all were met with "that's normal, you can't compare him to your other kids, they're all different". I know they're all different but I'm not some screaming harpie who demands an MRI everytime the kid coughs! I've always been a calm laid back no worries kind of parent. I just want answers, and if those answers are "he'll outgrow it" well then Halleiluiah, but at least acknowledge my concerns. Grrr.

I also discussed with him Jonah's milk intolerance and he suggested that Jonah was sensitive not to the milk but to - the calcium? I've never heard of that before. Could you be calcium intolerant and could that cause constipation? He's also not too keen on us having Jonah solely on soy milk, he feels that there isn't enough fat in it so he wants us to try to find the maximum amount of cow's milk Jonah can tolerate, then supplement with soy. Again I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that advice. Perhaps I'll have a chat with one of the doctors I work with and see if I can make sense of it all.

Eye Candy?

I listen to CBC Radio on my drive into work in the morning - this morning they played a promo for the movie Alexander, it started with the sultry voice of Angelina Jolie (who I'm certain I'd switch teams for) and then faded off to the promo girl saying "Colin Farell isn't the only eye candy in this movie, check out the nice sets....", and - pig that I am - I think to myself "can they talk about Angelina Jolie's bre@sts on National Public radio?".

Turns out the set design for the movie is done by a Canadian - but that didn't stop me from amusing myself the rest of my drive in with thoughts of Angelina Jolie's - well, you know.

Coolness

Check out this picture from my friend Dan's blog (he's a pilot :) )



My house is about 2 blocks from the big green blob in the centre!

Blast from the Past?

Yeah, I suck. Since giving up high speed I haven't blogged much, I have a low threshold for slow internet :) Tough to blog at work too since I've been bitching so much about my heavy workload, the cheeses would wonder if I then sat for hours surfing the net.

Tomorrow the babes start with our old SAHM sitter, Katie is thrilled, Jonah of course doesn't understand. I'm a little worried about him since he's never had another caregiver than F (well, and me obviously), and he's just not quite as adaptable as his sister. Hopefully it will go smoothly, at a minimum he should benefit from more attention and more one on one time with T.

My camera is broken, thankfully we bought the extended warranty but it's going to take 4 freakin' weeks to fix. Right when I want to take some pics of the kids for my Christmas cards. Never fails, there's never a good time for anything. Oh well.

My babes are curled up together in the chair beside me, it's neat how they're beginning to act like siblings. Yes they fight like siblings too but they play together and look out for each other. Very sweet. Jonah is beginning to talk more too which is leading to fewer tantrums and a little less clinginess. It's all coming together. Another few months and I think the sleep issues will be mostly resolved too, well I'm hoping anyway.

I'll be back when I have something to say ;)

Lest I forget

For most people Remembrance Day (or Veterans Day for the Americans) evokes thoughts of war, peace, sacrifice. For me Rememberance Day has always made me think of my grandparents. My mother's mom and dad were both WW2 veterans, he was a mechanic with the army and fought in England, earning a purple heart among his medals, she was a WAC with the RCAF and she served overseas in a medical unit I belieev. I don't know much about her service because she never spoke of it and she took what she saw with her to the grave. My grandfather, however, in the 8 months he survived without my grandmother opened the floodgates of his memory and shared with me his memories - not the gruesome ones (if indeed there were any) but the lighter moments, the men he served with, the strangeness of Army life and Army rules (which apparently chafed him), the ordinariness of most of his service. I was 15 and too young (too stupid) to fully appreciate the gift that these stories were. Rememberance Day always makes me miss them, makes me wish I'd listened harder and asked more, makes me long for just one more hour, to sit once again with them, having tea and the little squares of toast and honey my grandfather so lovingly prepared early Saturday mornings while he taught me about internal combustion engines and sound waves.

Few people are as blessed as I was to have grandparents so genuinely and openheartedly doting. They've been gone more than half my life yet still their influence guides much of how I live, and still I think of them every single day. Today especially. I miss you both.

Mellow

What a great weekend (so far!), C's been busy in the kitchen trying out some new recipes from a Cape Breton cookbook sent to us by a friend, the kids have been calm and happy and Jonah slept over 11 hours straight last night! A girl could get used to being spoiled this way!

Our little circle of friends came by last night to pick names from a hat (ok it was a pail) for our annual secret santa, and to play cards, eat chips and salsa (and home made hummus with pita bread), drink screwdrivers and generally laugh ourselves silly. Good times these are.

Sugar and Spice

Preschoolers can be cruel, and girls even moreso. Katie is learning the power of words and has taken to showing her displeasure by saying hurtful things. Her favourite is "I don't like you anymore" but we've also dealt with "I hate you", "Go away I don't want you here", "You're not being nice to me" and a myriad of other nasties. So far I've dealt with it by telling her it's a shame that she doesn't like me since I like her very much, or by ignoring her but I'm at a loss how to get her to understand how hurtful her words are without "arming" her in a way (haha I know what to do to upset mama). Every stage has been challenging with this child.

Oh, and coming into work this morning (after 1.5 hours sleep, thank you Jonah), the commissionaire (security guard) asked me when my baby was due. Yea-up. Time to diet I guess.