Sunday, 24 February 2008

Zach's newest trick

Zachary has been "clapping" for a couple months now, but he's just figured out how make a sound while doing it. He's pretty proud of himself. And he now says "clap, clap, clap" (or "qua, qua, qua") while he's doing it, too. Pretty cute. Caught a bit of it on video. Enjoy.

He was pretty happy he finally figured out how this toy really works. Yes, you have to let go of the ball for it to drop and spin.

Wednesday, 20 February 2008

THAT explains why he was so restless last night!

Zach is part werewolf! Tonight is a full moon (well, actually tomorrow night is technically the complete full moon). Zachary was standing up in the playpen, holding on, when he arched his back, threw his head back and went "aaaaoooooooooo". He howled!

Explaining a lunar eclipse to a three-year-old was interesting. She seems to have gotten it (as much as she can). She was explaining it to Grandma on the phone tonight. "The sun is on the other side of the earth (or erf, as she says). The erf's shadow is on the moon." She got to stay up late to watch some of the eclipse. We went outside for a bit, too. She didn't want to come in. By about 9:40 she decided she'd seen enough moon and was ready for bed. She went down pretty quickly!

Monday, 18 February 2008

Who knew?

Who knew...
we'd be back to square one with Zach. Almost 8 months after we got him sleeping in his crib at night, he's now back to sleeping on/with one of us every night. We've totally regressed! He's doing the typical separation anxiety thing for his age. Alexandria all but skipped it. Zach? Complete opposite! On one hand it's nice to be needed. On the other hand - good lord, boy! Let me leave the room for a minute! It's like the umbilical cord has reattached! He's not that bad (most of the time). He's starting to not like the Early Years Centres and playgroups very much because he usually gets left in a playroom and I leave. They bring him back to me if he won't settle. He's been doing "ok" at our main one, but the one he doesn't know very well is a different story.... I went to see the speaker series about separation anxiety. I left him in the playroom. He screamed for 15 minutes and he was with me for the rest of the two hours. Talk about poster child for the topic! He's ok as long as I'm in the room. I don't have to be near him. As soon as I say "bye bye Zachary", he knows.
A little footnote here. He's been in his crib for about 20 minutes so far tonight. Here's hoping he's down for the night.... Usually 30-45 minutes is his max these days.

Who knew...
that our first winter having to take care of our own walk/driveway in a few years would be one of the snowiest winters in a looooong time! Makes us a bit nostalgic for the rented townhouse! (We did wuss out and get a snowblower. Worth every penny, though! Got a good deal second-hand.)
We finally got Jean-Paul snow tires for his car. Just in the nick of time with the icy weather this weekend, too!

Who knew...
almost 10 months into being a mom of two, I still wouldn't have my shit together?! With Alexandria I had it down relatively quickly. By the time she was 6 weeks old we were seeing movies regularly, going to groups all the time, going to mall for exercise. Now, Zach and I did see a lot of movies, but that was while Alex was still in daycare. We do go to groups, but it seems like such a chore to get out of the house! The mall is definitely not as easy with two kids - especially when Zach needs food so often and I can't expect Alex to sit there while I nurse him or take 30-45 minutes to give him his lunch. (Not that she's a particularly speedy eater, either).
I can't wait until the weather gets a bit better so we can go for walks, or even just spend some time in the yard. Of course, when it does get better outside I'll be heading back to work. But that's another depressing story.

Who knew...
I'd even be considering Primerica. Yup. I'm actually looking at the company as an option. I think I'll at least take the training, get my license and do some part-time work. Since it's all commission, it's hard to rely on that for my whole income. Especially since I'll the main breadwinner. (Where did that term come from anyway?! Out of curiosity I looked online, but came up dry).

Who knew...
we'd still be learning so much about dinosaurs - almost a year later?! Alexandria's dinosaur "phase" is certainly not over. Not in the least. We've now let her watch Jurassic Park (only while supervised and we fast-forward through any parts where people get eaten! She does think the velociraptors chasing the kids is "funny", though!)

Who knew...
after being "off" for almost 10 months that I still wouldn't have even started to get moving on my goal of updating the photo albums! Our most "recent" one ends at Alexandria's first birthday party... I'm just a tad behind.

Who knew...
after living here about 8 months we'd still have a garage full of stuff.... Now the question is, do we need it? The answer is a resounding "Probably not". I know there's stuff in there we do want. Some toys Alex has been asking for, such as the Little People Castle. I also still need to fish out their baby books and get my ass moving on that, too.

Who knew...
Zach would be able to master stairs so quickly. He's quite proficient at it, really. The other day I ran upstairs from the playroom to grab something in the dining room. As I was on my way back down, Zach met me in the family room (one level up from the playroom). We now not only have to gate the "down" stairs, but the "up" stairs as well (as the do become "down" stairs once you go "up" them.... And "down" he has not mastered.)

Who knew...
Zach would be even teenier than Alexandria. (I haven't actually compared their weights/heights at the same age, but he's lower on the doctor's "charts"). We've been referred to a paediatrician for his lack of speed on his weight gain. (He only gained 3 oz in the past month). Although he is still gaining weight, he's dropping percentiles. Meaning, he's not following the proper "arc" on the official charts... I'm not concerned. He's very active. His milestones are on track, if not ahead. His "output" is absolutely fine! But, we'll see what the paed says. When that appointment will be, who knows?

Who knew...
Alexandria would be wanting to go back to "our old house" or "Toronto" all the time. She's got it in her head that Toronto was better. The other day she wanted to be back there because we went swimming. I told her there are pools here, too. We just haven't gone yet. She brings up our "old place" at least every other day now. Not sure exactly why. (Although Zachary wasn't around most of the time we lived in Toronto. She was the centre of our universe then. Maybe that has something to do with it. And, as mentioned earlier, I really don't have my shit together yet. She's probably bored as she's home all the time now, too and not going to any daycare.)

Who knew...
Alex's memory would be so good? She brought up a girl she was in daycare with almost two years ago. She still talks about England, too. And that will have been two years ago in May.

And I may be sharing too much here, but
Who knew...
that making sure the "girls" were pointing in the same direction before leaving the house would ever be an issue? After having a couple kids they're just not as perky as they used to be! I want to make sure I look more like an "owl" than a "chameleon"!

Oh ya. About half way through this blog entry I had to go and get Zach from his crib. He lasted about 30 minutes....

Sunday, 17 February 2008

Lost has finally found its feet


I can say I am enjoying Lost once again. Last season I was hanging in there to see where it was going to go, mainly just because I'd invested so much time in it already. Sooooo many annoying flashbacks and things that make you go "huh?". This season is much better. Very enjoyable. The puzzle has gotten very interesting now that they've added "flashforwards" as well. I look forward to it once again.

Wednesday, 6 February 2008

The government part II

Earlier I blogged about the government and the letter I received about my maternity benefits with Alexandria (The government can kiss my ass!). Today I called and finally got through to a live person on my third try. (The first two times there was "too much call volume" and I was disconnected. Nice.) She was a run-of-the-mill, non-listening, government moron. I was on the line for over 20 minutes with her. The upside was I was only on hold for a minute or so before I was connected.

She was confused at first and thought I was talking about this maternity leave. I said, "nope. no. this is about the one two and a half years ago". She told me I was supposed to call when I went back to work. I told her it did not say that anywhere. She read me an excerpt from what I had signed that stated if I make any income during the time I receive benefits I need to claim it. I said, "exactly. I was not under the impression I was still getting benefits. I would not have returned to work otherwise!" We went around in circles for a while on this one.

Then I asked, "OK. When do you have on file that my benefits end on my current leave?" She said if I work any earlier than May 3 it will conflict with my benefits. I said, "My mat leave started April 21 when my son was born. One year later would be April 21 again. Do you see why people are confused?" She said, "That's why you need to call us." And my reply, "This is supposed to be straight forward. You get a year, you go back in year. Simple. But as with anything with the government, you make it difficult and hard to figure out."

So, the upside here is I don't have to go back to work until the first week in May now. Maybe I'll squeeze in a wee bit of nice weather before I have to leave my kiddies.

Oh, and I still have to mail in the letter explaining why I "didn't claim" the income I made two and a half years ago.