Dream

Tonight is the last night of my ‘1 month of posting’….a month of posting that I haven’t fulfilled. I know there were 2 dates that I missed.

One by sheer lack of imagination… another by a comeplete lack of actual power. So it was 50% my fault. AND 50% not at all. Thank god (and also blame god for that last one. It really was his fault)

Things that happened this month:

I read the whole Twilight series (and then mentally married Jacob in my mind)….(and then divorced him and married Edward)…

V learned how to say ‘Bye bye’ and clap, and say ‘Uh-oh!!!’

I pretended for a whole month that I was an actual ‘I get paid for it writer’ writer…. *dream*… it was a good dream….

I got a pedicure.

I turned 33.

V became 13 months… (almost 14 now)

I ate some crab legs.

I picked numerous paint samples…

I fell in love with M all over again.

And then, I took a nap.

Looking back at it all.. it seemed that it was a good night (all in all… and by  ‘night’ I mean month…)

Looking forward to breaking in August…

xoxo a.m.

Haiku

Tonight, I blog, right?

Or enjoy my happy bed.

Pillows are my friend.

Dinner

As requested, this post is about M.

As in, “Honey, what should I write about??”

“I think you should write about how awesome your husband is.”

OK. I certainly will try.

He is pretty awesome.

He has made me dinner every night that he has been home during his summer holiday (he is a middle school teacher). And, it is always beautifully plated. And he always presents it to me from such a great height. So I have to wait until it is lowered to my eye-level to see what it is. Did I also mention that he never tells me what he is cooking?

I also am never allowed into the kitchen. Ever. While he is cooking. All cooking (by him) that goes on in our house is a surprise. And it really is! I tend to cook the same way. It’s a whole 2 veg 1 protein type of meal with me. I make home-cooking. Shepherds pie, mashed potatoes, steamed veg, casserole…. things of that nature. It is all I can cook.

I cannot do reductions.

I sometimes burn steaks just right.

I can make magical Vincent-meals.

I make a wicked Seafood salad (that doe not include mayo). Oh, and can I ever bake….

I can’t, however, make Quinoa, risotto, a proper blackened steak of any kind. Or spell that word right. Ever. I never know what wine goes with what.

I just drink red. I figure its got to fit in there somehow….

The ceremony that goes one with M’s meals is something to be seen, heard, tasted and enjoyed.

Tonight it was Pepper Pork Tenderloin, on a bed of greens with fresh peaches with a home-made Italian reduction drizzled…everywhere…

So here’s to M’s delicious cooking, my complete spoiledness, V’s future spoiledness (once we have properly developed his taste-buds, that is), our new house and future appliances that M will cook delicious things on.

Handsome husband, oh how I adore thee…. especially…well… all the time. Can’t lie there. You are pretty awesome. And put up with my OCD cleaning. And my OCD list-writing. Oh, and my OCD cleaning.

love you. xo

Discovery

Things V can do:

If you ask him to clap his hands, he will happily oblige.

Shake his head no.

Point his pointer finger at airplanes.

Say “Daa-do!” excitedly when he sees the dog.

He used to just say “Uh!”, the first part of ‘uh-oh’, but has since progressed ahead to the complete phrase, which he say repeatedly to our great excitement.

This evening while I was at the In-laws picking him up, we were getting ready to leave when we all started to say goodbye. “Bye, bye Vincent! Bye-bye!” and to our great delight he said “Bye-bye!” right back at me. And just to make sure that it wasn’t just some random baby-babble (which I equally enjoy), we asked him again.

“Bye-bye Vincent!”

“Bye-bye!”

You wouldn’t have believed the amount of smiling and clapping that went on afterwards. We were all lit up with the biggest grins.

As the Summer of Dad begins to wind down, I can’t even believe how much V has changed in the last few months. I say months, but really I think its been about 6 weeks or so. I am good at exaggerating. M can tell you that for sure.

It seems like he has turned into a opinionated person in the last few weeks. There is a lot of head shaking, shrieking and throwing of things happening over in this apartment.

Oh good lord I wouldn’t have it any other way though. Sometimes I try to imagine what life would be like without him…. and I can’t. Well, I can, but it seems such a dull and colourless existence that it is a complete waste of time for my imagination. Why even bother attempting? Might as well just enjoy the moment(s) and path that my life is on…. every second of every day just gets more and more interesting.

Parenthood is kinda like being Indiana Jones. Really! Ah, the joys of discovery that lies around every corner these days. And I mean actual corners. As in I walked in the house this afternoon and rounded the corner with V on my hip, I encountered a lovely pile of dog-poop. Thanks Chewie! I love discovering poop. It is my favorite.

There is a lot of discovery involved. I have discovered that V doesn’t like brussel sprouts (M chimes in ‘Of course he doesn’t! He isn’t crazy!’ whatever…. they are delicious). I have discovered that at every opportunity, those little hands will do down those pants…. usually right after I have removed a wet diaper. I have discovered that grapes will fit up his nose (actually M discovered that one. And really, V was the one that discovered that first). I discovered that our dog will really eat anything. And even if he doesn’t want to, he will carry it around the house and hide it…. which is why I find gluten-free waffles, corn-muffins and cheese biscuits everywhere, tucked away in corners of our apartment.

Hence, this is why discovery is Parenthood’s Indiana Jones-like theme. The joys of finding things in ears (blood) and noses (grapes). And of course in diapers (hands and poop). And also around every hour of the day…. cognitive skills are a fast paced thing, I can barely keep up with it all.

Why am I still awake again?

xoxo a.m.

Wet

Things to not do.

Do not, in your new motherhood-cockiness, undress your 13 month-old in his crib and let him play naked for a few minutes while the tub is filling.

It will lead to disaster, believe me.

I know you know where this is leading, so I won’t bore you with too many details.

V is always ecstatic to be naked. He likes to roll around his crib naked, lolling around on his back with his legs up in the air….. giggling the whole time. Inevitably those chubby little fingers find their way down to ‘the bits’. More giggling ensues… followed by a lot of stretching, pulling and tugging. And giggling

So I left him to his playing and giggling and went to go and check the tub. When I came back, he was standing up, one hand on the (gnawed within an inch of it’s life) crib rail and another clutched around his best friends. With a pleased and relaxed look on his face.

I had a sneaking suspicion as to what had happen. A suspicion that was quickly confirmed as my fingers encountered a warm puddle in the sheets.

*Sigh*

Never a dull moment over here!

M took V swiftly out of the crib and ran him over to the filled tub….. and as he ran, he turned and shouted over his shoulder “I can’t believe you thought that would be a good idea! Jame….. seriously. Changing table equals water-proof…”.

What was I thinking? I guess I was thinking that we hadn’t had any accidents yet, so I thought things were under control. Silly me.

I think at least one of these instances has to happen every week, otherwise M and I will grow too complacent. However, to be honest, they rarely seem to happen to him. Just me.

My life will be filled with pee and poop for the next several years. Eventually I will tire of posting….. not yet….but sometime soon.

It is still rather funny to me…

Climb

Today M, V and I went to the park across the street. A park that is conveniently across from the best Puerto Rican bakery ever. We called up the In-Laws and hit up the park together. Nothing like a little family time on a Sunday morning…

We watched V crawl all over the place…ate pastries…watched V crawl…Drank some espressos…pastries. Fresh OJ. Good times.

V (with the help of Daddy) has learned how to climb. Pretty much everyday that the two of them hit up the park, Daddy is teaching Little Man how to climb things.

Really, I think it all started during our Canadian Adventure when V encountered the lure of Nanna’s stairs and the excitement of Grampa Larry’s dining-room 2-step. This was followed by Gramma and Pop-Pop’s patio step. And further cemented by climbing in and out of the pool.

And finally, daily adventure on the climbing rock at our neighbourhood park.

So it was with limited surprise that I watched him climb up into the Papa-san, tip it backwards and fall out of it right onto his face.

And with even less surprise when I saw him climb up onto our coffee table, sit in the middle, giggle and then tip over backwards and hit his head.

And, again, with even even less surprise I watched him (with a grin on my face the whole time) climb through the first level on his changing table and land face-first into the corner of the wall, then grab a basket on the second shelf and pull it back with him.

THEN, stand on top of that basket, climb up onto the second shelf and do a header off of it onto the carpet. And then giggle.

Clearly I have some sort of super womb, as my child is indestructible.

For things to climb…. click here

Library

This afternoon, after M left for work I felt bored.

What on earth do you do with a 13 month old in Florida when it is a million degrees outside?! A MILLION. It is too damn hot mid-day to do anything outside without sweating your face off. I also do not want to go to a mall and walk around by myself. V has reached the ‘grabby’ stage, so anything that passes him on a rack, he grabs at and throws to the floor if he gets his hands on it. Like the toothpaste at Walgreens and the bread at Publix. And I still can’t go swimming as I have that fresh tattoo.

My best friend had mentioned to me earlier this week that she took her girls to the library. She was pregnant with me, so V and her little one are the same age. And she has a five year old. Apparently it was a fun-filled scream-a-thon (with the 1 year-old). So today, when I was thinking of things to do, I thought of her. And the Library.

And that was that. Off we went.

I naively thought that I might be able to find the last Twilight novel in stock. Ha!!

Instead, I chased V back and forth between bookcases, small girls that screamed “Baby” when they saw him, small stools (which equal danger) plus rescued many a bookshelf  from denuding. Many a book met the floor in a sudden and abrupt manner this afternoon.

Each book that he tossed to the floor, I added to the pile of ‘things to take home’….. as if he was choosing them himself. Which I am sure he was…

Saturdays big pick was “Bad Baby”. Well, really it was my big pick. The cover was very engaging. And the illustrations, as I flipped through it, were very appealing to, well, my husband. The style was comic-book-aficionado-like. And quite funny too.

Since I liked it (as I imagined M did…. without reading it), I am sure that V will like it too.

Random babypick is a good thing. AND there was limited screaming. Only screaming as I stopped him from crawling all over the library, chasing after those naughty girls that kept calling out to him from all areas of the library…

“Hey Baby! Baby! Baaaaaaaaaybeeeeeeeeeee! Baybeeeeee!!!!! Hey Baaaaaybeeee!! Baybe!”

At least 4 little girls, just about 3 years old, chased him all over the library with me trailing in quick succession to rescue him from the whole thing.

“Hey…. is that your baby?!”

“Yes, that is my baby”.

“Does your baby like girls?”

“Ummm”

“Your baby likes that girl.”

“What???”

“Does your baby like babies??”

“Yes”

“That girl likes your baby…..”

Right. I will try not to do that…… Great. Just a peek at things to come. Damn M and his sexy EyeTalian features. Plus a huge dollop of Canadian wholesomeness…..

Womanhood, you are so screwed in about 15 years….

Shinchan

Post-work, my evening started with a really nice meal with my in-laws…. I felt so spoiled. My mother-in-law chopped yummy things up for V, dumped it on his high chair tray and the whole time I drank a glass of wine. Bliss. Spoiled bliss.

Home for a bath before bedtime….

Bath-time goes like this:

1) Deposit small child in crib (scream scream scream), go to bathroom across the hall and start bath

2) Make faces across the hall at little man while tub fills (V jumps endlessly and shrieks happily in crib)

3) Lay towel across toilet seat, strip V naked (watch him giggle and roll around in his crib as apparently naked is the best thing ever)

4) Carry naked baby to bathroom, play peek-a-boo in mirror, deposit baby in tub. Commence play-time.

Usually after 10 or 15 minutes, bath-time is over, we hit the towel and head back to the changing table for diaper, pj’s and story-time.

Tonight, tub-time was funnier than it usually is…. V only wanted to stand. I’ve gotten used to this, and deal with it. I would prefer him to sit nicely, but who are we kidding over here. He is just too active for sitting nicely. Please pray that M and I have a daughter that will sit and play. Nicely.

So standing in the tub, he reachs towards the washcloth that I have draped over the faucet-guard (that is a duck in a firefighters costume). He rips the cloth off, shrieks ‘Daa!!!’, which I think means ‘duck’ and throws the cloth in the tub. He stares down at it, picks it up (it is sopping wet now) and puts it back on the ducks head. Water goes everywhere….. Me, floor, dog, pants, hair, face…..everywhere…

He then rips the wash cloth back off and deposits it back in the tub (of course shrieking ‘Daa!’ while he is doing this). He looks at it again, quite intently this time, then (as he is my son) he pees on it. For a long time. Kind of a ‘I saved this up especially for the moment when you removed my diaper’ kind of thing.

THEN, he reaches down, grabs the cloth (which is sopping wet with pee and water) and flings it upward. Urine flies everywhere. Across my face, down my front, dripping over my lips. I realize that it was mixed with water, but I did just watch him pee on that cloth and then fling it into my face…. I must really love my son.

Now, granted this was no triple-poop morning ala my friend with her darling girl….. but… urine in the mouth. Maybe that trumps a triple-poop? Pee all over the face, in the mouth and down the front of my whole body. And V looking rather pleased with himself.

Of course he did! He is his fathers son after all….

Amused

As I came home from the gym this evening, I was welcomed with the lovely sounds of chatty V… Currently Little Man is babbling away and excitedly says ‘Mama’ and ‘Dada’ when either of us enter a room.

It pretty much melts my heart every-time he calls me ‘Mama’ in such an excited tone of voice. If I wasn’t sure how devoted I was to him, hearing ‘mama’ uttered on a regular basis has turned me into the ultimate baby slave. Since I already was (as is the whole family) this is more of a public confession than a realization.

Am I spoiling him? Who cares. M and I love watching him explore and he has free rein of the apartment (within reason, that is).
Every morning when Daddy and V go to the park, M encourages him to climb all over everything. Like he is a mountain goat. I have seen it…. I don’t play like that. I play Mummy-games. Those type of games are more ‘Let’s read a book’ type of games…. things along that line.

Daddy games involve  smashing things. And throwing  things. Violent stuff. Please God, I would like a daughter too….

*Ahem*

Anyways…my big confession of the evening started out with dinner. M made turkey burgers. So good.

Paired with Tater-tots. Also good. Perhaps not as healthy.

As I confront M with that very statement, he immediately got quite defensive. “Jame. It’s just potatoes…. There’s no fat at all”.

I dared to argue with him . Tater-tots do not fall into a healthy category with me. They fall into a delicious category. That’s a little bit different.

Well, my ‘healthy’ confrontation resulted in M storming to the freezer and that was followed by a detailed recitation of the complete health list. “Jame, they are 0% fat… Only 150 calories per 18 pieces. AND I baked them. Jame. Healthy.”

I followed this recital with laughter. M was not amused. I was.

Apron…

Heading out back to the patio...

Things going on in our life.

I haven’t been to Bikram yoga in about a month….. I feel tremendously guilty. Luckily I don’t drive past the studio on a regular basis, because if I did I would feel extra extra guilty. I feel bad enough with my pants a little snugger right now. I think my body craves a good sweat-out. Or more running. Probably I should run more. And probably I need to buy new shoes. Every time I run I feel like I am getting shinsplints…. clearly I need new shoes.

But…..should not spend money. Just bought house. Dilemma.

Probably really should buy shoes though… Shinsplints suck…. if you run, you know that. And if you run, please don’t nag me about running in crappy shoes.

We bought a house. Well, a townhouse actually. Four bedrooms of total awesomeness, and 3 bathrooms of huge radicalness. 2 floors of total awesome radicalness. A 2 car garage of extreme amazing super radical badassicalness.

In summary, it is awesome.

And in Lake Nona….even better! We bought and are closing at an exponential rate. Way sooner than our lease on our current apartment is up, in fact. As in, we close next month. But our lease is up the end of the following…. shoot….

This is the first time that I get to paint. Apart from that time in High School when I convinced my mother to let me paint my bedroom orange and blue. It was awesome. 3 orange walls, one blue one, orange and brown curtains (ala St Vincent De Paul society), my mattress on the floor in the centre of the room (what you ask? It was high school….) and some groovy iridescent lamp with fake flowers that we picked up at the Sally Ann (the Salvation Army, for those not in the know…)

I will not be painting anything orange or blue. Except V’s room. Which apparently is going to be ‘NY Giants’ blue. Which I am ok with. Not sure why, but I am ok with that. Just means that since I agreed to that, M has to agree to more of my painting ideas…… *rubs hands together gleefully*

I am so excited about this place. Especially the lovely brick courtyard that opens up right off of our kitchen. Pretty much my idea of a selling point on a place. My mind has moved into 1950’s barbeque mode and I even have a new apron to wear (thanks Tams!!).

I just need a jaunty ponytail and a spatula…. and a perky grin (and a barbeque actually…)