this xmas i wanted to do 2 things...build a gingerbread house with gabe and create (um, buy) a non-chocolate advent calendar. i kind of gave up rather easily on the calendar search and settled for a disney gingerbread house kit.
we had a lot of fun, and it ended up being a full day activity! before gabe's afternoon nap, we built the house. i think the biggest challenge was icing the walls fast enough before gabe would stick his fingers in it. once the house was built (but the icing wasn't dry), gabe started knocking on the gingerbread door...i didn't notice at first but he actually dislodged the house and we had crooked walls :P
(there's the little hand sneaking in!)
after gabe's 3 hour nap (yippee!) we decorated the house. while i iced the roof, gabe was checking out the candies (i don't think he knew they were actually edible). he was very meticulous about decorating...he would point to where i should dollop some icing, and then he would gingerly place the gumballs on the house. we repeated these steps until the gumballs were done. then we'd move onto the jujubes. then we did the sweettarts. boy, did i screw up though. when it came time to do the sprinkles, of course i let gabe "help". except his version of helping was pinching them, throwing them over the roof and then blowing as hard as he could :P
all in all, it was a great activity and we had a lot of fun together :-) now that we've built our house, i can't wait to take him to see gingerbread lane at the hyatt!
my 2nd work trip of the year was definitely a fun one! in late spring, i started organizing an event in san diego for our clients who were attending a pension & benefit conference. after much consideration (winery tours, nfl game (the chargers were in town!), restaurant buyout), we opted for a unique experience aboard the uss midway, the longest serving navy aircraft carrier.
this was the first event i've coordinated for my company from concept to delivery. due to our merger, it was unclear i would even be able to attend the event, but as the event day neared it was obvious how much work would be involved for our handful of consultants to cater to the needs of our clients and troubleshoot as needed. since 90% of the work was done by me, i felt personally responsible to ensure a smooth event.
it was an evening event of cocktails and appetizers for 120 guests, including a 45 minute guided tour of the midway. the tour was obviously a crowd-pleaser...being aboard the carrier was like being transported back in time. my personal fave moment was seeing all the aircrafts on the flight deck, including the F14 Tomcat - made famous by tom cruise in top gun!
next year's conference is in vancouver, so at least i'll have more resources at my disposal :-) now the challenge will be to find a unique event and venue that can match the uss midway!
i thought once gabe turned 2, i would stop the monthly updates. after all, the past few months haven't been too exciting. but then he went and started developing new skills this past month, and it's just too much to remember!
words! we have new words..."more!", "o-ho" (as in ho-ho the monkey from kai-lan), "roar" (as in rintoo the tiger), "uh-oh", "woah!" and "wow!". his enunciation of "ball" is also clearer this month. he's also saying alphabet letters...like E and I. i think the bath letters are a real teaching tool :-) the other day he actually pointed to E and M and said the letters! and today at dance class, the kids were all supposed to be barking dogs, but gabe had to be different and moo'd like a cow.
singing & dancing! a few weeks ago, my brother was the first to catch on that gabe was starting to sing twinkle twinkle (or the abc's). it started as a few notes, but now he's actually attempting to sing (read: hum) the entire song. but god forbid anyone acknowledges it out loud! gabe's definitely not a public singer...he clams up as soon as anyone starts to pay attention. so we quietly celebrate to ourselves when he sings. he also recognizes row, row, row your boat, and will pretend to row a boat...so cute! and he's a dancing machine! he's got a little shoulder shrug, head-bopping, wiggling kind of dance. gabe and i also raised the roof tonight as i sang the toopy & binoo theme song to him. speaking of which, i've bought gabe's xmas present today...tickets to see T&B at the centre in january! i just couldn't resist :P
eating! gabe's always loved to eat, and now he's great at feeding himself. he doesn't like to have dirty hands, so he's quite adept at using a fork or spoon. i was worried that once he started self-feeding, he would take forever to eat. but he's a real foodie, so he eats almost as fast as us! vegetables still continue to be hit & miss...he likes most of them, but when we come across a tricky veggie, we can always convince him to have it with dip! he's also drinking out of a little cup now...no more sippy cups for him!
tantrums! we're still seeing them when things don't go his way, and sometimes just out of the blue. i'm trying to figure out good distractions to use as an alternative, but i've noticed that sometimes he just can't be swayed. the other day he had a fit for about 15 minutes. after trying twice to calm him down, i just gave up and let him figure it out alone.
gymtime! we go to bonsor for loonie gymnastics on monday nights, and gabe has a blast. it's a great opportunity for him to run around, jump on things, throw things, and play with new things. he's discovered the giant mats and likes to jump on them and will also roll on them. he's finally gotten over his fear of the parachute, and will hold onto a handle and "make waves". he's still not comfortable jumping on the parachute or running underneath it. gymtime has also been a great opportunity to talk to gabe about taking turns and sharing. this past week, one older child really seemed out to get gabe. he pushed him a couple times, took items from gabe, and would deliberately cut gabe off when he was heading towards a toy. on a positive side, gabe would just brush it off for the most part, and we'd go find something else to do :)
we had a very busy day today! running errands in the morning, potluck halloween party @ the brown-john's, trick-or-treating in yaletown, and dinner @ mama & papa's!
halloween with gabe was so fun this year! technically he was dressed up as "tigger", but we put our own spin on it and called it "rintoo" (from ni-hao kai-lan - his favourite show). gabe's still terrible with new/different clothes, so i was trying to minimize the trauma for all of us. despite an initial fight at home, he eventually did let me dress him up at the party, and he was fine!
he didn't understand the concept of trick or treating, but he would thrust his arms out and wait for treats to be dropped into his bag. we had a lot of fun, and gabe managed to walk 3 blocks before he had enough.
this was the first time EVER we've let gabe skip his afternoon nap. since he started 1 nap/day at 15 months, i turned into the nap-nazi and do everything in my power to get him home for his 2 hour nap. i hate the consequences of short-nap days...even a 2 minute snooze in the car will hijack any possibility of a good nap, leading to dinnertime meltdowns. ugly! so on halloween, i didn't notice he was falling asleep in the stroller, so we took him out and chris carried him around. we hoped he would sleep en route to my parents, but that was out of the question. lucky for us, gabe was still in good spirits for the rest of the evening. phew!
we hope everyone else enjoyed their halloween 2010!
i had the fortune of a work trip to toronto this past week. it's been in the planning since the beginning of summer and happened to come at a great time...i was desperate for a break from gabriel! even though it was only a 4 day trip, i called gabriel every day and talked to him. since his vocabulary is limited, he could only say "mama", "mom", and "hmmm". but my mom was giving me the play-by-play of his actions "he's waving", "he's smiling", and "he's sucking his thumb". i was pleased to hear how well he was behaving for my parents. chris had a challenging morning on thursday, but they came out onscathed in the end.
i admit that i did miss gabe, but i wasn't completely child-less. i stayed at casa lowe, and got to spend time with trevor, who kept referring to me as "gabe's mama". sunny and i even managed to have a mom's night out! we dined at origin, on a variety of tapas plates. delicious! it was nice for us to catch up, and just chill out...no boys to worry about :-)
i returned on friday night just in time to put gabe to bed. my mom thought 3 nights away from gabe was long enough for him...he seemed a little sad at dinner apparently. and believe me, the greeting i got from him melted my heart.
the break was definitely good for my soul, even though it was work-related :-) i came back feeling refreshed and ready to face the terrible 2's! (and i'm actually looking forward to being in the office on monday...my parenting book arrived this past week!)
chris was in vegas for a stag over the thanksgiving weekend, so i was at home with gabe. thank goodness for my parents...we had dinner at their place every night, which allowed me a break from having to deal with gabe.
our mornings would start out fine, i'd greet him at his crib, open the curtains while he turned on the light, and then i'd get my morning hug & kiss. well, the happy times ended there. as soon as it was time to take off his pj's and change his diaper, he turned into a devil child...the body contortioning, the yelling, the crying, it went on and on. he would eventually settle down enough to get through breakfast, and he was actually happy...he loves his food :-) after potty time, we would get ready for a morning activity, and the "no's" and heel-digging would start all over again. and everytime he had a fit, he'd start signing "potty", so i would offer to take him to the bathroom, and he would change his mind...every time!
i was having car issues literally as soon as chris left, so i ended up borrowing my parents car for the weekend. well, that confused gabe, so every time we got in the car, he would ask for my parents and yell mama and papa all the live long day. because of the 3rd car, i ended up parking in the visitors lot. well, i never imagined gabe getting so upset by it. he freaked out at the fans in the parkade (it's been a constant battle we face at my parents parkade), he was scared as heck of the garage doors opening/closing, and he would get really stubborn and not walk at all. grrrr!!! once we finally made it to our morning destination, everything would be fine. in fact, everything was fine for the rest of the afternoon. dinners at my parents were good for the most part...my mom had to get stern with gabe when he threw a fit at me (reason unknown). my parents condo was having elevator issues for 2 days, so we happened to get stuck there one night when all 3 broke down. so lucky us, we had to walk down 32 flights of stairs. i was really surprised at how well gabe did...he even insisted on walking part of the way down. he got huge praise for being such a big boy!
and then every night at home, the tantrums would start all over...potty or no potty, wasn't happy with his pjs, wanted dad, didn't like the facecloth he had. every night i would just walk away from him once he was in his crib. i didn't have the patience to deal with anymore of his nonsense. and that's all it was...nonsense. but by monday night, i reached the end of my leash. i was emotionally drained, i was mentally exhausted, i just about burst into tears. instead, i locked myself in my bathroom and took a long hot bubble bath. it wasn't relaxing nor an escape since i could still hear gabe screaming and crying :P
he's been 2 years old for 9 days, and i can tell it's going to be a long year. so, i am doing everything i can now to figure out how to get us through it. a friend of mine actually did the ECE program many moons ago, and she referred me to a series of books they used as a reference guide. so, i'm gonna raise gabe by the book from now on.
i've been trying to think of this as an "off" weekend since chris wasn't home, but the rough nights started 2 weeks ago and haven't let up (he now plays with the light switch...on and off, on and off). i've been checking for any new teeth cutting through, but i haven't felt anything, so i'm pretty sure that's not the problem. obviously gabe's lack of verbal skills is part of the problem...he's frustrated that we don't understand him, and we're frustrated he can't verbalize the problem.
like the dog whisperer says, it's not the dog it's the human. gabe almost never acts up with my parents. and when chris gets stern with gabe, he actually listens...i've seen it with my own two eyes. so it's definitely me. hopefully the book will provide some insight as to how i should be approaching each situation.
in the meantime, chris had his weekend away and i have a toronto work trip next week. i'm thrilled to get some mommy-free time! my hat is off to all the single parents out there!
2 days before his birthday, we celebrated my father-in-law, sister-in-law and gabriel's birthdays at the boathouse in new westminster. it was crabfest, my favourite! an unfortunate incident when we were there...the fire alarms in the hotel were set off and we had a table right under the alarm bell. poor gabe was a wreck! he hated the noise, wouldn't settle down, and had to be comforted by me until well after the alarm went off. during dinner he kept obsessing over the bell and pointing at it. i was amused :-)
the next day we celebrated gabe's 2nd birthday at the burnaby central railway with friends and family in attendance. the birthday boy was a bit apprehensive about the train ride (he's been on it before!), but after a few minutes he settled down, much to the relief of the "conductor"! my parents decked him out with a conductor's hat and whistle and took him for a 2nd train ride.
in keeping with the train venue, gabe's bday cake was decked out with thomas the train, and all the party favours were train-themed. ironically, gabe doesn't even know who thomas is, but he loves playing with his melissa & doug train tracks, and always pumps his arms and waves at the skytrain (sometimes we'll sit on the couch for 20 minutes just waiting to see the trains going by - every 3 minutes). yah, it's great :P
in the pre-preparation for his bday party, i told myself there would be no 3rd birthday party :P it was so much easier to plan for his 1st bday since i wasn't back at work yet and had nothing but time to plan. this year felt like chaos...working OT for month-end deadlines, year-end deadlines, aon hewitt merger activities, ugh...i was just exhausted. but after all was said and done, it really is great to see gabe and all of his little friends together, especially since playdates are fewer and far between these days...darn work gets in the way of everything!
i'm not sure if it was a coincidence or not, but gabe's actual birthday was not his best. he had a tantrum in the morning at home as we got ready to go to my office, he had a tantrum at granville island, and then he was uber-fussy when we went for dinner at cactus club with my family (not even the ipod could entertain him). over the weekend his bedtime got all messed up so he was never in bed until 10 p.m. and then he would yell in bed for another hour, so that definitely didn't help matters. i fear 2 is going to be a difficult year with gabe...but hopefully once he starts talking things will get better.
the things parents (and grandparents) do for the kids :-) overall, i'm so glad we went, and thanks to uncle vic for hooking gabe up with the meet & greet!
well, this wasn't how i pictured our 5 year celebration to end...with all 3 of us being sick. chris has had aches & pains for a few days, gabe's had a runny nose and drippy eyes since friday, and now i've got the pain in the back of my throat :P
anyways, friday was our actual 5 year anniversary, but with work being so busy and chris not getting home until after 6:30, it was just too hard to go out and celebrate. instead, we ended up shopping @ costco and having chicken fingers for dinner :-)
so we postponed our celebration until tonight and the 3 of us went for dinner @ yew. i couldn't imagine celebrating our anniversary without our little buddy...it would be like a part of us was missing, so i chose yew for its kids friendliness. and i have to say, vanessa was right! the kid menu was fairly extensive (gabe had edamame to start, and chicken strips & fries), crayola twist crayons and colouring sheets, some twisty toy for ages 3+, a fun milk cup, fruit & yogurt...oh my! we usually resort to the ipod before appies even arrive, but gabe was so entertained tonight that we didn't need it until coffee/dessert and by that time he'd been behaving for 1.5 hours! another couple nearby us was so impressed with gabe's good behaviour they stopped by to compliment him :-) so sweet!
enough about gabe! chris and i had a feast...fresh oysters, calamari, beet salad, pork belly, paella, cheesecake w/cherries! mmmm, delicious meal! cheers to another great 5 years of marriage!
if only gabe would hurry up and get to sleep so i can go to bed...
yikes! gabe's going to be 2 years old next month! he and i took a stroll down memory lane this morning and watched some video clips of when he was ~8 months old. gabe's comfort item is a little facecloth and i had completely forgotten how far back it actually goes...he used to actually crawl with it in his hands! i got all caught up in the memories of watching him play with beau, sitting up and falling over, listening to the baby babbles (which still sort of sound the same today...). ah, the memories :-)
gabe has definitely improved his speech this month! he's added papa (my dad), por-por (he will mimic, but he won't actually say it unprompted), jie (short for gou-jie, chris' sister), blue, and mole to his verbage. and while he can't say "train", he will pump his arm for "choo-choo". and yesterday when i was counting the number of trains he has (3), he was trying to count along with his fingers! gabe likes to point at words on tshirts, and when chris spells out the word, gabe will start babbling along trying to imitate him.
while he communicates to us in his own way, it continues to surprise me how much gabe understands from us. he doesn't like it when an activity ends abruptly, so when we can, we'll give him a 5 minute countdown. but if he's not ready after the countdown, then we have a little 1:1 with him and explain how we're all done and it's time for something else. it's been a huge lesson in patience for all of us...watching gabe try to determine whether we REALLY mean what we're saying. his head lowers, his eyes dart from side to side, then ocasionally looks up at us. all the while, i've got my hands on my hips or across my chest, just waiting for him to come around and follow my instructions. sometimes during our little chats, i have to turn around and look away for a sec...it's hard to scold a toddler...he's just so cute when he pouts and i can't keep a straight face! bad mommy!
after a rough week of trying to get gabe to wear his helmet, we've finally had success with his trike. he still doesn't understand the concept of peddling, but he really enjoys going for a ride :-) hopefully we can still ride for a couple more months before it gets too cold (and dark) in the evenings!
new toys! my parents and i stocked up over the summer with new food toys, dishes, shopping cart, chalkboard/whiteboard, books, stacking blocks, train sets...it's endless! it's great to see gabe playing on his own serving food or trying to put the train tracks together. with the new advancement in toys, comes great frustration. as soon as the tracks come apart, gabe starts screaming and yelling for someone to fix it. he also has issues with his shopping cart and maneuvering over uneven surfaces...usually it ends tipping over and he falls on top of it :P
gabe's been a really great helper, whether it's putting his toys and books away, "folding" laundry, helping set the table, baking muffins, and now he can help dry his own dishes!
we're seeing a lot more "dry diaper" days recently, and even more dry nights! occasionally, gabe will wake up in the night and want to go potty rather than wet his diaper. such a funny little guy! i'm excited and anxious about potty training over christmas. he still seems a little young to be trained 100%, but with all his dry diapers of late, he's telling us that he's ready to be a big boy! it actually comes at a good time, because his cloth diapers are getting a bit small for him, so i'd hate to spend another $300 for a supply of diapers, when we can move onto pull-ups or briefs within 3 months!
it's back to school time, so gabe's going to strong start. i've only taken him once to kitchener elementary when we had no plans, but my mom is going to take him this fall on a regular basis. it's great socialization for him to play with news toys, new kids, where they have a little bit of structure. it'll definitely help with the transition to preschool next year! and speaking of preschool, gabe's been on a waitlist since january, so hopefully we'll get into our #1 choice. we're also on the waitlist for our saturday music class which filled up faster than i could register! even if that doesn't work out, gabe will be taking "mom & me dance" with my parents, as well as a christmas craft session in december.
my boy is growing up so fast!
gabe & trevor playing, until trevor breaks out in song!
