similar to sandra's post last week, we took gabe to granville island over the weekend where he discovered the pigeons :)
shortly after the pigeon-chase, gabe and chris encountered some canada geese. NEVER turn your back on a goose! seriously, i had just turned and started walking away and a huge commotion errupted and all i see is chris grabbing gabe and getting him out of reach from the big goose! the goose was attacking everything in it's path...he chased another goose and it smacked into a dock (it wasn't hurt). across the little pond, we finally noticed a female goose preparing a nest, so her man was protecting the area.
gabe seemed unfazed by everything and went back to chasing pigeons, but after my mini heart attack was wary of the ducks...
it was a great family day, and we even managed to take gabe to the hair loft for his 2nd (professional) haircut!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Monday, April 05, 2010
18 months old!
gabe's 1.5 years old! that means...he's been walking for 6 months, i've been working for 6 months, he's 6 months away from turning 2 years old, and i'm just in DISBELIEF! there's a couple in our building who have a newborn boy and we chat with them about how they're doing..it really does seem like a lifetime ago that we were feeding every 2-3 hours, sleeping on the couch with gabe, and i was forever attached to my breast pump :P i'm definitely enjoying life right now!
here are a few random tidbits from this past month:
- we managed to weigh gabe while we were in vegas, and he's a whopping 28 pounds!
- he really likes the slide at the playground, but still refuses to be pushed on the swing.
- he has his first scab on his knee, and tries to find it when he sits on the potty. i've been cringing when he scratches at it, but he thinks it's pretty funny.
- he'll hold our hand so he can go up and down steps.
- his favourite meal is tuna casserole.
- he's been practicing "stabbing" his food with a fork, and he can feed himself with a spoon once someone places food on it. the "shovelling" action is still difficult.
- gabe really will try and eat anything...he used his chopstick at dim sum to get sauce from the steamer of chicken feet, and he insisted on trying my latte (so i let him taste the foam off the top).
- he didn't like santa, and surprise surprise he didn't like the easter bunny either.
- he definitely has a little attitude now...he's been developing some bad habits that i'm trying to correct. sneaky little bugger has that "what'd i do?" look about him along with a sideways glance to avoid eye contact during our chats.
- and the funniest thing about gabe right now...he doesn't like my dad on mondays, but likes him just fine on tuesdays, thursdays & fridays :-)
and that's my life with a toddler :-) up next...my parents (& brother) are off to europe at the end of the month, so i'll be on vacation for 2.5 weeks! yippee!
Thursday, April 01, 2010
las vegas 2010
chris received a complimentary stay from aria @ citycenter, the newest hotel on the strip, so we packed our bags and met up with the lowe's for a 4-day getaway!
the preparation
i can't believe how much we had to pack for 4 days. travelling was so much easier when gabe was 5 months old & nursing...just pack lots of clothes, diapers and the hooter-hider. this time we needed activities, treats/food supplies, and comfort items. it was our first time on a plane since last march, and it took a lot of planning. anyways, 2 suitcases and 2 carry-ons later, we were ready for anything!
the flight
now that we have nexus passes, we got to use them for the first time to fly out of bellingham. love it! unfortunately our flight was delayed by almost an hour, so gabe was in FINE shape by the time we boarded :P at least there was another toddler on our flight so they got to play together for a bit. gabe was excellent on the flight to vegas...we had new leap frog books for him, new dvds (too bad our dvd player crapped out after 30 minutes), we had lots of treats, and he even took a 30 minute nap! it would've lasted longer except the descent bothered his ears so he screamed for a while :(
the hotel
aria did not disappoint...it was clean and modern, the staff were friendly, the restaurants were fabulous, and the rooms were amazing! our standard room seemed super-spacious with lots of room for gabe to run around, it overlooked the back entrance with a view of vdara's pool (the palms and rio were in the distance, and the bellagio beside us), and we had twice daily housekeeping (i really like turndown service!). and to add to the luxury of the room, everything was controlled by a touch screen panel (not ideal with a toddler...gabe managed to hit the "turndown" setting, which turned on the tv to the music channel, dimmed the lights and closed the sheers - and then 10 minutes later it closed the blackout blinds and turned off all the lights :P).
thanks to great weather in las vegas, we managed to take gabe to the pool twice. we haven't been swimming since his lessons last summer, so he wasn't a fan at first. but once he saw trevor having a good time, he warmed up to the idea and on the 2nd day, he was kicking his legs in the water!
the food
a trip to vegas wouldn't be complete without excellent dining options! we ate most of our meals at aria...buffets (sunday brunch, breakfast), 2 dinners - julian serrano (spanish) and sirio ristorante (italian). and of course we ventured off the strip for dinner at nobu!
the kids
there's nothing more unpredictable than kids. trevor took a while to warm up to gabe, and gabe didn't know what to think of trevor. there was hugging, bowing, pushing, sharing, crying, screeching, laughing, and everything else under the sun. by the end of the trip the boys were best buds and chasing after each other.
the lessons learned
#1 - gabe hates new things...whether it's new clothes, new shoes, new environment...he just has a hard time adjusting.
#2 - gabe hates the potette potty...we used it for alaska when he was 11 months and he took to it immediately! in hindsight we should've practiced before vegas, but he's obviously outgrown the floor potties and only likes to sit on the big toilet (he wouldn't sit on the potette on the toilet...it's obviously not comfortable for him). so i spent 4 days chasing him with the potette and cleaning up accidents from the floor :P i'll be buying ANOTHER portable toilet seat for our trip to toronto :P
#3 - gabe's growing up...over the weekend, i made the big leap and let gabe feed himself at the table. i hate the mess, but at some point, my boy's gotta grow up and do things for himself!
#4 - go with the flow...as much as i would've liked gabe to keep with his nap & bedtime routines, he would fall asleep at the most inopportune times. to make it worse, since we would be out-and-about, he would only sleep for 30 minutes. so by dinnertime, he wasn't the most cooperative toddler. bottom line, we made the best of our situation and did what we could :)
all-in-all, it was a great mini-getaway and the boys have already received an invitation from aria for a return visit! gee, i wonder why... :-)
the preparation
i can't believe how much we had to pack for 4 days. travelling was so much easier when gabe was 5 months old & nursing...just pack lots of clothes, diapers and the hooter-hider. this time we needed activities, treats/food supplies, and comfort items. it was our first time on a plane since last march, and it took a lot of planning. anyways, 2 suitcases and 2 carry-ons later, we were ready for anything!
the flight
now that we have nexus passes, we got to use them for the first time to fly out of bellingham. love it! unfortunately our flight was delayed by almost an hour, so gabe was in FINE shape by the time we boarded :P at least there was another toddler on our flight so they got to play together for a bit. gabe was excellent on the flight to vegas...we had new leap frog books for him, new dvds (too bad our dvd player crapped out after 30 minutes), we had lots of treats, and he even took a 30 minute nap! it would've lasted longer except the descent bothered his ears so he screamed for a while :(
the hotel
aria did not disappoint...it was clean and modern, the staff were friendly, the restaurants were fabulous, and the rooms were amazing! our standard room seemed super-spacious with lots of room for gabe to run around, it overlooked the back entrance with a view of vdara's pool (the palms and rio were in the distance, and the bellagio beside us), and we had twice daily housekeeping (i really like turndown service!). and to add to the luxury of the room, everything was controlled by a touch screen panel (not ideal with a toddler...gabe managed to hit the "turndown" setting, which turned on the tv to the music channel, dimmed the lights and closed the sheers - and then 10 minutes later it closed the blackout blinds and turned off all the lights :P).
thanks to great weather in las vegas, we managed to take gabe to the pool twice. we haven't been swimming since his lessons last summer, so he wasn't a fan at first. but once he saw trevor having a good time, he warmed up to the idea and on the 2nd day, he was kicking his legs in the water!
the food
a trip to vegas wouldn't be complete without excellent dining options! we ate most of our meals at aria...buffets (sunday brunch, breakfast), 2 dinners - julian serrano (spanish) and sirio ristorante (italian). and of course we ventured off the strip for dinner at nobu!
the kids
there's nothing more unpredictable than kids. trevor took a while to warm up to gabe, and gabe didn't know what to think of trevor. there was hugging, bowing, pushing, sharing, crying, screeching, laughing, and everything else under the sun. by the end of the trip the boys were best buds and chasing after each other.
the lessons learned
#1 - gabe hates new things...whether it's new clothes, new shoes, new environment...he just has a hard time adjusting.
#2 - gabe hates the potette potty...we used it for alaska when he was 11 months and he took to it immediately! in hindsight we should've practiced before vegas, but he's obviously outgrown the floor potties and only likes to sit on the big toilet (he wouldn't sit on the potette on the toilet...it's obviously not comfortable for him). so i spent 4 days chasing him with the potette and cleaning up accidents from the floor :P i'll be buying ANOTHER portable toilet seat for our trip to toronto :P
#3 - gabe's growing up...over the weekend, i made the big leap and let gabe feed himself at the table. i hate the mess, but at some point, my boy's gotta grow up and do things for himself!
#4 - go with the flow...as much as i would've liked gabe to keep with his nap & bedtime routines, he would fall asleep at the most inopportune times. to make it worse, since we would be out-and-about, he would only sleep for 30 minutes. so by dinnertime, he wasn't the most cooperative toddler. bottom line, we made the best of our situation and did what we could :)
all-in-all, it was a great mini-getaway and the boys have already received an invitation from aria for a return visit! gee, i wonder why... :-)
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