Dramatic First Haircut!

My baby boy just sheded another layer of his baby days as we took him to get his very first haircut. If it were up to PC this haircut would have happened around the eight month mark, but in my books, it could not occur until after his first birthday.

Why?

Well, no concrete reason of course, but from my standpoint babies don't need haircuts, little boys do... and before turning one I still considered my boy a baby!

H did celebrate his first birthday back in December, but we just got around to scheduling the haircut (with our neighbour across the street) last week!

Prior to the haircut, H had some pretty cute little wings growing .... he was all business in the front, party in the back, but post hair cut he is looking a little more business all around.  I swear with every haircut that E gets, he ages just a little, and the same can be said for sweet baby boy now.  He's a little more of a boy and a less of a baby with this first milestone now under his belt.

The hair cut itself was high drama - you would think we were branding a suspecting cow! One look at the hairdresser - who we know quite well - and H was full of hysterics! He definitely felt the need to audition for the part of 'very upset baby' for the duration of the haircut, but in the end he was all smiles and happy to have a new 'do!

Of course, being the good Mother I am... I snapped a few photos as the drama unfolded. You can see for yourself just how good of a little actor we have on our hands!

 The 'BEFORE'

And let's begin... 

Tricked you... piece of cake!

 

That's stupid, your stupid - who's stupid now?

So... I knew it would happen, but I wasn't sure when. And then it happened, my son said 'stupid' followed by 'you're stupid Mommy'.

Last Saturday as we were getting ready for skating, E promptly told me 'I don't want to go to skating, I want to go for pancakes' (which is our Saturday morning tradition post skating lessons). The conversation went like this:

Me: You have to go to skating first, before we can go the restaurant.
E: No we don't.
Me: Yes, we do.

E: But I don't want to do that. I just want to go for pancakes.
Me: Well maybe next week we can go before skating, but this week, we are going aftewards.
E: (mumbling to himself) That's stupid.
E: (even quieter) Your stupid Mommy.

Me: (silently freaking out but acting cool) Excuse me Emery, would you like to repeat that over here in front of me?
E: (with a surprised look) No thank you, Mommy.

Me: I heard what you said Emery, and we don't use that word, it is not nice, and you can use other words if your upset instead of that one.
E: (with a look of horror) Okay Mommmmmmeeeeeeey
E: (on the verge of tears) But I'm sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry.

You can't win with this kid, he likes to assert himself at times, but the moment he thinks he's done something wrong, it turns to tears. He's a sensitive soul. Lately, we are in the battles of 'no I don't, yes you do' or 'yes I can, no you can't'. It's frustrating from a parenting perspective, but I can't help but remember my thirst for independence and defiance at a young age - he comes by that trait honestly!

Anyways... we had the mild discussion about stupid, and I mentioned it to PC just so he was aware of it. PC even reinforced not to talk like that... so we were all on the same page. I thought we moving on, until half an hour later, we are loaded and in the car for skating and driving to the rink. PC is in the front seat, and E is in the back with H. I am about to pull in the parking lot, when a van coming the other way decides to cross in front of me and beat me to the turn... PC is shaking his head but keeps his mouth shut, until this van decides to slam on its brakes to pull into a parking spot near the front door, but overshoots that turn, and has to reverse in front of us.  As this unfolds PC shakes his head in disgust and out flys  'what a stupid idiot'.

 Apple, tree... tree, apple.

And now we've introduced 'idiot' to the three-year old vocabulary list.

Awesome.  Totally awesome.

Happy LOVE Day!

I know this is a Hallmark inspired day, but I still think its important to take this day to give those special valentine's in your lives an extra hug or kiss.

I hope you each of you have great day... and find a special way to spread some love around in your lives.

Here are my two special hearts from my life!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Fun on the Rideau Canal!

This past weekend, we took advantage of some mild winter weather in the nation's capital and took in a day of skating on the Rideau Canal.

I have come to love this annual outing, and this year was especially fun because E was all geared up to skate by himself for the first time.  Last year, E had his skates on and we held him to get the hang of it, but the whole skating experience was short lived as he was extremely intimidated by the number of people on the canal and of course his abilities weren't quite there yet.

Fast forward one year later, add in a baker's dozen worth of skating lessons, and you have a little boy who actually gets excited by the thought of doing it on his own!

The day seriously could not have been more perfect weather wise, the canal conditions were excellent. The sun was shining and the smell of BeaverTails filled the air. This year we packed both boys into the bike trailer and they were nice and cozy enjoying just shy of a 10 km skate.

Midway through our 3.5 hour outing on the canal, both boys decided the conditions were ideal for a little snooze.  PC and I took advantage of the quiet time to maximize our skate to both ends of the canal. We exerted just enough energy to earn ourselves a couple of BeaverTails and a hot chocolate - and the wafting of cinnamon and sugar brought the boys around just in time the best part of the whole experience.

This was H's first time trying the famous Canadian BeaverTail, and he definitely gave it his royal seal of approval.  He was extremely happy to see his big brother had leftovers he was willing to share. For E, it seems the BeaverTail and a shot hot chocolate was all he needed to demand he was ready to skate... so PC and I found a quieter path on the canal and let him go for it.

H was nearing the end of his 'fun' rope by the time we got E suited up, but we did manage to entertain him long enough to let E have a good experience skating on the canal all. by. himself.  I was loving E's enthusiam for the whole experience... it was definitely a highlight for him and so glad we closed out the day on a high.

All in all, it was a GREAT day - I love these unexpected family outings that come together with little planning (they are rare for us), when the stars align and everyone is able to enjoy themselves - I get a little giddy! This was one of those awesome days that I will log in our family memory book for many years to come.

Here are a few pics from the day ...  and a short video of E doing his thing!

Self-timer perfection!

Over Christmas... I discovered that my boys are somehow entranced by the self-timer on my camera.  Christmas eve we were trying to take a family photo with my sister and parents, and when it came time to use the self-timer, the boys lit up!

I don't know why I didn't discover this sooner, I could have save myself a whole lot of foolishness - as in me acting like a complete fool to get my boys to look at me - at the same time - and smile - eyes open - teeth showing, AND somewhat square to the camera.  Its near impossible at the ages they are at right now. If one is smiling, the other one is fighting to get away, or if one is happy to have a photo taken, and the other won't look anywhere in my direction. Its more than a day's worth of work in the effort department, and still the results are often disappointing.

But cue the self-timer and watch the mystery unfold in front of you.  Here's probably the BEST photo I have taken of the two of them in many many months. I am in love with it! E looks so 'big brother' and H is for once looking at the camera and smiling - and not looking at E!

When the informal shoot was going so well (E was all over it announcing to H 'we're gonna do it again Huddy, wait for the beep beep beep, then smile big, and be good - okay?'), I decided to join the fun - and again came away with a successful photo of myself and the boys! I am usually the one taking ninety-five percent of the photos around here, so when I get a great photo of the boys and I, I could practically scream! 

All in all... 10 minutes of self-timing picture taking and I have two photos that I am going to frame for my desk.  If you have a self-timer option on your camera, I suggest you try it with your young children - you just never know what the results will be! I am sure this phase will also wear off, but for now, I will milk it for all its worth.

Next up - Valentine's photos!

Birthday Wrap-up (although technically I still have another week to go)!!

When you still feel 25... the only thing that can make 32 sting a little less is some fancy dancy cupcakes! PC brought these babies home from the Flour Shoppe on Bank Street in Ottawa.  They didn't just look amazing, they tasted amazing too!

E helped me put out the birthday fire... H couldn't be trusted to A. stay away from the flames B. keep his hands out of the fancy icing!

32 also stung a little less when PC and the boys surprised me with a brand new MacBook Pro. I was shocked to say the least - I guess all my belly aching about my current MacBook being maxed to capacity didn't go unnoticed!

My b-day itself was kinda of a flop... we wanted to go sledding with the boys but the it was so damn cold that day, we didn't risk it. I settled for a nice lunch out with the fam and a little bit of shopping. That's the breaks when your born in January!

Thanks for all of the birthday messages, tweets, and FB shout-outs... they did not go unnoticed! Now let's hope 32 is a great year!

The taxman drives a....

Tonight while waiting for dinner to finish cooking, PC, and the boys, and I were down stairs playing in the basement...enjoying a few minutes of downtime after a long day.

E seems to be in quite the 'good guys vs. bad guys' phase right now.

He is always asking us... is that guy a good guy or a bad guy?

As a parent it seems like a pretty straight forward game... and we all recall the basic scenario:
cops = good guys
robbers = bad guys.

E has a ride around Fisher Price police car with a siren, and he is often chasing someone down in his very imaginative make-believe world. He always wants to know 'who can I chase now?' ... and you have to get creative with a three year-old or else he will call you on it... 'but I already chased that guy Mommy'.

Tonight... he wanted to know who he can chase... so for kicks, I threw out, 'how about the taxman?'.

Immediately E asks for clarification 'is he a good guy or a bad guy?' I chuckled and immediately said bad guy, while PC (a civil servant taxman) corrects me and says 'good guy'. Good or bad issue aside, E gets all distraught and insists...

'but I can't chase the taxman, because... cause... cause... the taxman drives a ... a... a...a taxi - and he'll get away on me.'

PC and I cried laughing.... of course it makes perfect sense to a three year old ... taxman - taxi - of course a taxi would be the taxman's gettaway car!

You just never know what to expect from the mouth of a three year-old!

I had to post this little snippet from tonight as I know these are the little moments that I will enjoy reading in 12 years, when he's giving me some major teenaged attitude! 

Birthday Month!

You know what the best thing is about January?
Besides it being a new year... its my...

Birthdaaaaaaaaaaay Moooooooooonth
(say it Oprah Winfrey style).

Okay... so I don't celebrate the entire month (publicly) but internally, I am throwing myself one party after the other.

It's not kinda a big deal... it IS a big deal!
Just ask PC, I remind him, every. single. day.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always loved my birthday! My Mom and Dad always made it special for me in some form or another, and to be honest, they still do so today (which I love)!

I came across this photo a few months ago, and I though my birthday month was the perfect time to post it! It is from one of my birthday parties.... with many of my childhood friends. Aren't we cute?!

L to R Front: Sherry Lautenslager, Jamie King, Megan Turner

L to R Back: Moi, Tiffany Thompson, Kristy Cooke

Judging from the number of candles on the cake, it looks like my 6th birthday, so probably grade 1! I frankly don't remember the exact details of this party, but I love a lot of things about this picture... like the pure happiness on our faces as we sip grape Crush and cream soda, the retro ketchup and mustard bottles we used to dress our hot dogs, and those very basic chip bowls which my Mom and Dad are still using to this very day.

I love the simplicity that was my birthday all those years ago... and as 32 is knocking banging on the door, ironically I want something much the same this year - a little cake, something to sip on ... and being surrounded by some pretty amazing people!