i am very envious of all my friends' happy summer updates :S for me, the summer seems to be a never-ending nightmare. every day is a guessing game of mom vs. gabe - who will win?
my parents continued to babysit gabe over the summer, and they do fun activities together...whether it's outings to ikea/costco/metrotown/gourmet warehouse, adventures @ the beach, lunch dates @ nikkei, or just blowing bubbles and painting on their balcony. gabe has a great time with my parents and they never experience any problems.
on the flip-side of that happy coin is the terrible 3's and i seem to get them every day. we've been battling the nap/no nap situation for awhile, and i've decided he still needs that nap - whether it's in the car, in the stroller, in my arms, i don't care...don't wake him up! dealing with gabe on a no nap day is no fun.
having said that, sometimes the day just doesn't start right at all. on bc day, chris and i wanted to get some errands done and then try the steveston waterpark. by 9 a.m., the day was a disaster. gabe refused to let me put sunscreen on him, and he refused to put on his swim trunks. chris and i both used our nice, but firm, voices and he wouldn't budge so we cancelled our plans. this was tantrum #1. 90 minutes later, gabe calmed down and we (well, me) are all going crazy stuck at home on a nice day. so, i decide we need to go to brentwood - i need my watch repaired and we needed lunch. 10 minutes later we've parked the car right near the food court entrance, and gabe demands to be carried (we didn't bother bringing the stroller). we refuse to carry his almost 40 pounds around the mall. meet tantrum #2. chris and gabe stay at the car while i get my watch fixed. 20 minutes later, and gabe is still sulking on the curb, so we hop back into the car. not so easy with our almost 40 pounder...he's kicking and screaming at chris, who's trying to get him into the carseat. by the time we get home 15 minutes later, gabe has bruised up both shoulders from the seatbelt straps (he got his arms out TWICE on the way home) and his voice has gone hoarse. he continues tantrum #2 at home, where he decides to unlock the door and leave home. he does that twice. after more battling, we finally get gabe into his bedroom, and after some door slamming and hoarse yelling on his part, he finally gets tired and goes to sleep for 2 hours. chris does the same (minus the door slamming and yelling) :) i think this was our worst day, so i'm glad chris was around to help out and we kept each other in check so we didn't cause too much damage to gabe.
having said that, this was gabe's first experience with a spanking. we never planned on being the spanking-type (even though we both grew up on the receiving end), but on this particular day, and after 5 hours of battling it out, it was the final straw. he received 2 blows to the behind, and he had no reaction to it at all. all he said was "it burns!", and continued to tantrum. lesson learned, don't bother spanking. we also tried to instill the naughty corner, but that didn't work out so well either. so instead, we took away his privileges as well as everything that he threw at us (including his table placemat) :P
swimming lessons: another lesson learned...don't bother until gabe is older :P i'm sure parents were rolling their eyes at us as i dragged gabe into the swimming pool, and would randomly dunk him in frustration :P we had a lesson after vegas and he actually did well for half the class (front float, jumping into the pool). then he melted down. the following week, i got sick (more on that another time), and then for his last class, we simply forgot to go :S we'll take a break for the fall and discuss it in january.
needless to say, i am definitely glad summer is coming to an end, and gabe is going back to preschool in a couple weeks. even more exciting is that he'll have school on wednesday mornings, so i'll get a couple hours to myself...i'm looking forward to hitting the gym again and finding a zumba class!
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Friday, August 03, 2012
las vegas 2012
my mom requested a week off from babysitting, so we have given her this past week off. since our hopes of a couples gambling trip couldn't get off the ground, we settled for a family getaway.
on monday afternoon, we drove to bellingham and hopped a flight to las vegas! this is now gabe's 3rd trip to vegas, and probably his last until he's 21 and can treat US instead :-) i know ppl think we're crazy for taking him when we enjoy gambling so much, but for us, it's a "relatively inexpensive" trip (depending on how much is won/lost). i'm a social gambler, so unless i have my partner-in-crime with me, then it just isn't as fun...so lucky chris got to play games in the evening, while gabe and i caught our zzz's.
i had hoped for a sunny getaway, but somehow the vancouver clouds followed us to vegas, and we had rainshowers and cloud for 2/3 days. fortunately the sun isn't required for retail therapy :-) all 3 of us came out of the shopping excursion with some new duds (and a new handbag for me!).
in all my trips to vegas i have never been to fremont street, so we started at the golden nugget and walked around. having been there now, i can say i don't need to go back. while the bon jovi light show was great, there wasn't much else that appealed to me. the restaurants are hit and miss (we tried to get into an italian restaurant at the nugget, but it was a 45-60 minute wait), so after randomly exploring other hotels, we ended up at the 4 queens in a divey spot (see below re: food).
while the weather wasn't the greatest, that didn't stop us from hitting the pool! we had booked the mgm for the pool and "lazy river", but once gabe saw the river/waterfalls, he decided it was just too loud for him. so we stuck to the regular pool for 3 days. after 4 weeks of swim lessons, gabe's on the verge of failing. i did a lot of prep with him prior to the lessons starting and he was doing really well, but the teacher/structure of class setting isn't to his liking, so he refuses to partake. in vegas, gabe still wasn't keen on actually "swimming", but by day 3, he was back to his old self and jumping into the pool without my help. he even accidentally submerged himself a few times...and i would have to fetch him out of his sputtering predicament. to my surprise he wasn't scared or traumatized by it all, and kept on "dancing" in the water. the sun finally appeared on wednesday afternoon, and we got our tan on :-) we were happy to get a late check-out on thursday, and hit the pool again before our flight home.
lastly, the food...the past 2 trips with gabe, we've made the trip out to nobu for the chef's choice menu. unfortunately things weren't panning out so well for us. gabe's patience was non-existent, and his eating was dodgy at best. so rather than sit through a 2 hour dinner of food that gabe probably wouldn't even touch, we opted for easy meals. even at outback steakhouse, gabe refused to eat his cheeseburger and fries because there was pepper on the fries. fortunately for us, the mgm breakfast buffet was to his liking - french toast and pancakes with syrup, grapes, and soft serve ice cream! he also enjoyed the aria buffet - california roll, pepperoni pizza (without the pepperoni), vanilla gelato.
that's about the extent of our trip...it was a short 3 nighter, and because we made the pool a priority for gabe, we didn't do any hotel-hopping, or shopping at caesars for that matter :(...just right down to the important business at hand :-) hopefully one of these days we'll have a getaway without gabe!
on monday afternoon, we drove to bellingham and hopped a flight to las vegas! this is now gabe's 3rd trip to vegas, and probably his last until he's 21 and can treat US instead :-) i know ppl think we're crazy for taking him when we enjoy gambling so much, but for us, it's a "relatively inexpensive" trip (depending on how much is won/lost). i'm a social gambler, so unless i have my partner-in-crime with me, then it just isn't as fun...so lucky chris got to play games in the evening, while gabe and i caught our zzz's.
i had hoped for a sunny getaway, but somehow the vancouver clouds followed us to vegas, and we had rainshowers and cloud for 2/3 days. fortunately the sun isn't required for retail therapy :-) all 3 of us came out of the shopping excursion with some new duds (and a new handbag for me!).
in all my trips to vegas i have never been to fremont street, so we started at the golden nugget and walked around. having been there now, i can say i don't need to go back. while the bon jovi light show was great, there wasn't much else that appealed to me. the restaurants are hit and miss (we tried to get into an italian restaurant at the nugget, but it was a 45-60 minute wait), so after randomly exploring other hotels, we ended up at the 4 queens in a divey spot (see below re: food).
while the weather wasn't the greatest, that didn't stop us from hitting the pool! we had booked the mgm for the pool and "lazy river", but once gabe saw the river/waterfalls, he decided it was just too loud for him. so we stuck to the regular pool for 3 days. after 4 weeks of swim lessons, gabe's on the verge of failing. i did a lot of prep with him prior to the lessons starting and he was doing really well, but the teacher/structure of class setting isn't to his liking, so he refuses to partake. in vegas, gabe still wasn't keen on actually "swimming", but by day 3, he was back to his old self and jumping into the pool without my help. he even accidentally submerged himself a few times...and i would have to fetch him out of his sputtering predicament. to my surprise he wasn't scared or traumatized by it all, and kept on "dancing" in the water. the sun finally appeared on wednesday afternoon, and we got our tan on :-) we were happy to get a late check-out on thursday, and hit the pool again before our flight home.
lastly, the food...the past 2 trips with gabe, we've made the trip out to nobu for the chef's choice menu. unfortunately things weren't panning out so well for us. gabe's patience was non-existent, and his eating was dodgy at best. so rather than sit through a 2 hour dinner of food that gabe probably wouldn't even touch, we opted for easy meals. even at outback steakhouse, gabe refused to eat his cheeseburger and fries because there was pepper on the fries. fortunately for us, the mgm breakfast buffet was to his liking - french toast and pancakes with syrup, grapes, and soft serve ice cream! he also enjoyed the aria buffet - california roll, pepperoni pizza (without the pepperoni), vanilla gelato.
that's about the extent of our trip...it was a short 3 nighter, and because we made the pool a priority for gabe, we didn't do any hotel-hopping, or shopping at caesars for that matter :(...just right down to the important business at hand :-) hopefully one of these days we'll have a getaway without gabe!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
clarisse & doug get married!
it's over! after over a year in the planning, clarisse (chris' youngest sister) and doug got married on june 30, 2012. i couldn't be happier for the two of them!
the preparation: when gabe was asked to be a ringbearer over a year ago, i knew that there would be A LOT of preparation for him. doug's niece was the flower girl so we decided to get them together for several playdates prior to the wedding so they would be familiar with each other. well, they got along great and we figured it would be easy enough for them to walk down the aisle together. not the case (for gabe, at least)!
the fittings: omg...i knew it wouldn't be easy to get gabe into a tux, but man alive i was sweating buckets on fitting day! at any given time, he only had one part of the suit on...never did the entire outfit get assembled properly. as for my bridesmaid dress...let me just say that the initial measurements were taken last summer, when i was seeing my personal trainer twice a week...and then fell off the exercise wagon 3 months later. but on the wedding day, i managed to get into my dress and not bust out of it!
the rehearsal: a couple weeks prior to the wedding, we started reminding gabe about his responsibility at the wedding, that he would walk down the aisle with mikaela. well, then gabe caught a cold and all he wanted was mommy, so he decided he wanted to walk with me instead. fortunately i was a bridesmaid anyways, so it wouldn't look too much like i was his parental escort :)
at the church, the minister briefly talked through the proceedings and then it was show-time. as soon as we were lined up, in typical gabriel fashion, he decided that it was potty-time. lesson learned...take gabe to the bathroom upon arrival on the wedding day! fortunately we were doing 2 practice runs, and gabe did ok on the 2nd run :-) i just wish he would've walked with the flower girl...she really tried to convince him to do it, but he dug in his heels. stubborn child...i don't know where he gets it from :P
the wedding day: with a 5 a.m. wake-up call, i was up and ready to go! fortunately chris and gabe were able to stay in bed until a more respectable hour :) despite the early start, i had some down-time after my hair and make-up were done, and was able to go home and help chris get gabe dressed in his tux. what a cutie!
the ceremony: after a mad-dash to the church, we got everyone corsaged/bouttoniered, pottied, and primped. and then it happened...as soon as we were queued up to walk down the aisle, gabe had a meltdown. he refused to hold the ring pillow, so he was throwing it on the ground, the rings fell off, he put on his grumpy face, and i was convinced it was game over. after some hissing, threatening and readjusting, i put on my happy face, and shoved him down the aisle beside me. once we made it down the aisle (rings securely in tact and handed to the best man), gabe sat with chris and was entertained with snacks, ipod, and ipad. the kid has no patience for anything :P
after a short ceremony, then came the pictures at the church! i can't wait to see what kind of photos the pro's got, because none of the "amateur" photos show a happy gabriel. he's sulking, he's fidgeting, he's eating his fingers, he's stripping off his clothes...ugh :P
after ditching the family, the bridal party headed to QE Park for more pictures; thankfully the rain held off for a bit and we managed to get some great shots. thanks to clarisse, doug, mel, alan, vince, huong, and bobby for making it a a great afternoon!
the reception: dinner was held at Floata in Chinatown, and it was super fun. doug & clarisse had a photobooth at the wedding, and gabe ended up LOVING it! it's pretty funny to peruse the entire collection...a lot of the older people had no idea what to do, and they now have some passport-worthy photos :) the 10 course dinner was delicious, however, a certain 3 year old decided he didn't want to sit with my parents and chris, so he became the unofficial 9th member at our table and ate my food :P
gabe is definitely attached at my hip...during the bridal party announcement he refused to leave me and bobby, so the 3 of us entered together. and again, during the bridal party slow-dance, my partner ended up being gabe. such a mama's boy :-)
and once the dancing kicked off, my parents bid a quick farewell and took gabe for an overnighter with them. thank goodness...after all, i now had to take care of my other baby...chris was in FINE form by the end of the night...at least he didn't throw up at this wedding...
the preparation: when gabe was asked to be a ringbearer over a year ago, i knew that there would be A LOT of preparation for him. doug's niece was the flower girl so we decided to get them together for several playdates prior to the wedding so they would be familiar with each other. well, they got along great and we figured it would be easy enough for them to walk down the aisle together. not the case (for gabe, at least)!
the fittings: omg...i knew it wouldn't be easy to get gabe into a tux, but man alive i was sweating buckets on fitting day! at any given time, he only had one part of the suit on...never did the entire outfit get assembled properly. as for my bridesmaid dress...let me just say that the initial measurements were taken last summer, when i was seeing my personal trainer twice a week...and then fell off the exercise wagon 3 months later. but on the wedding day, i managed to get into my dress and not bust out of it!
the rehearsal: a couple weeks prior to the wedding, we started reminding gabe about his responsibility at the wedding, that he would walk down the aisle with mikaela. well, then gabe caught a cold and all he wanted was mommy, so he decided he wanted to walk with me instead. fortunately i was a bridesmaid anyways, so it wouldn't look too much like i was his parental escort :)
at the church, the minister briefly talked through the proceedings and then it was show-time. as soon as we were lined up, in typical gabriel fashion, he decided that it was potty-time. lesson learned...take gabe to the bathroom upon arrival on the wedding day! fortunately we were doing 2 practice runs, and gabe did ok on the 2nd run :-) i just wish he would've walked with the flower girl...she really tried to convince him to do it, but he dug in his heels. stubborn child...i don't know where he gets it from :P
the wedding day: with a 5 a.m. wake-up call, i was up and ready to go! fortunately chris and gabe were able to stay in bed until a more respectable hour :) despite the early start, i had some down-time after my hair and make-up were done, and was able to go home and help chris get gabe dressed in his tux. what a cutie!
the ceremony: after a mad-dash to the church, we got everyone corsaged/bouttoniered, pottied, and primped. and then it happened...as soon as we were queued up to walk down the aisle, gabe had a meltdown. he refused to hold the ring pillow, so he was throwing it on the ground, the rings fell off, he put on his grumpy face, and i was convinced it was game over. after some hissing, threatening and readjusting, i put on my happy face, and shoved him down the aisle beside me. once we made it down the aisle (rings securely in tact and handed to the best man), gabe sat with chris and was entertained with snacks, ipod, and ipad. the kid has no patience for anything :P
after a short ceremony, then came the pictures at the church! i can't wait to see what kind of photos the pro's got, because none of the "amateur" photos show a happy gabriel. he's sulking, he's fidgeting, he's eating his fingers, he's stripping off his clothes...ugh :P
after ditching the family, the bridal party headed to QE Park for more pictures; thankfully the rain held off for a bit and we managed to get some great shots. thanks to clarisse, doug, mel, alan, vince, huong, and bobby for making it a a great afternoon!
the reception: dinner was held at Floata in Chinatown, and it was super fun. doug & clarisse had a photobooth at the wedding, and gabe ended up LOVING it! it's pretty funny to peruse the entire collection...a lot of the older people had no idea what to do, and they now have some passport-worthy photos :) the 10 course dinner was delicious, however, a certain 3 year old decided he didn't want to sit with my parents and chris, so he became the unofficial 9th member at our table and ate my food :P
gabe is definitely attached at my hip...during the bridal party announcement he refused to leave me and bobby, so the 3 of us entered together. and again, during the bridal party slow-dance, my partner ended up being gabe. such a mama's boy :-)
and once the dancing kicked off, my parents bid a quick farewell and took gabe for an overnighter with them. thank goodness...after all, i now had to take care of my other baby...chris was in FINE form by the end of the night...at least he didn't throw up at this wedding...
Thursday, June 07, 2012
i touched a snail
i had my last 2011/2012 duty day on april 30. gabe toured me around the classroom and a new activity had popped up. instead of the usual water table, there was a table full of something gross and slimey. of course my first reaction was "ew, gross! what is it?!" one of his teachers was nearby and told me it was shaved soap and water that the kids had made. the teacher realized where gabe's cleanliness comes from. i never thought of it before, but i myself don't like to be dirty (unless it's a planned occasion and i'm dressed for it). so gabe and i gingerly grabbed the measuring cups and carefully scooped the slimey soap in the water table and let it run down the mirrors. and even though it's soap and water, we still went to the bathroom to thoroughly wash our hands with proper soap and water.
also new at preschool for spring were the snails. again my reaction was less than favourable for such impressionable kids. all the other little boys were fighting over who could "race" the snails down the number track. and then there was gabe...standing back...beside me (scrunching my face in grossness). at this point it became clear i had to take action. in all my 34 years, this was the first time i touched a snail. i picked it up by its shell, and put it on the track to race down the line. and then i did it again. and again. all the while i had a smile frozen on my face as i pretended to enjoy touching it and using my happy voice as they passed each number.
i've come a long way since that day at the aquarium in the tropic zone, when a butterfly flapped by and grazed my arm and i screamed in horror. turns out it wasn't a butterfly after all...it was my camera strap swinging around.
also new at preschool for spring were the snails. again my reaction was less than favourable for such impressionable kids. all the other little boys were fighting over who could "race" the snails down the number track. and then there was gabe...standing back...beside me (scrunching my face in grossness). at this point it became clear i had to take action. in all my 34 years, this was the first time i touched a snail. i picked it up by its shell, and put it on the track to race down the line. and then i did it again. and again. all the while i had a smile frozen on my face as i pretended to enjoy touching it and using my happy voice as they passed each number.
i've come a long way since that day at the aquarium in the tropic zone, when a butterfly flapped by and grazed my arm and i screamed in horror. turns out it wasn't a butterfly after all...it was my camera strap swinging around.
Friday, April 06, 2012
3.5 years old!
where does the time go? i look at gabriel, and can't believe the little man he's become. he's 37 inches AND 37 pounds :) looks like when he's 4, he can switch to a booster seat in the car...yippee!
new things - where to begin! in addition to his first trip to the dentist, we also went for his first appointment to the optometrist. when the technician was trying to take pictures of gabe's eyes, it looked like a downhill appointment before we even started. but once he found out that dr. jessica was going to let him watch thomas, he was super cooperative. i got a bit anxious as he was reading letters aloud and noticed that he was getting a few of them wrong. turns out gabe has astigmatism - blame it on me :( he'll eventually need glasses, but we're going to re-assess in 6 months at his next appointment. and now that we know about his vision being slightly off, i am more aware of his 'problems'...he does blink and rub his eyes a fair bit, and now i've noticed a bigger problem - when he writes in his workbook, he is literally 3 inches from the paper when he traces things. it could also be a lighting factor, so we've moved him from his usual spot at the table. fingers crossed, he doesn't get worse before september!
i took gabe ice skating a few weeks ago. thankfully we went with sofia, so he had a friend to observe. the 2 of them were super cute balancing on their skates :) once we got on the ice, gabe stayed glued to the little plastic chair. it took about 30 minutes before he finally tried standing and holding onto the metal bars and i would push him around. then at one point i realized his skates weren't even on the ice - he had been resting them on the horizontal bar in front of him for a free ride :P smartypants!
the hopes of taking ski lessons went out the window this year. between me being sick in january, then birthdays galore in february and march, there just wasn't time to commit. however, we will make a concerted effort next year. the ski show & swap is in october, so we'll see what kind of deals they have for gabe.
our little parrot - be careful what you say around gabe! we know kids are sponges, but to hear everything you say come back to you...not cool!
development - we've done music together classes since gabe was 6 months old, and this past session he FINALLY embraced it - typical...he's now 'graduated' and will move onto piano lessons in september (maybe...i'm still thinking about it).
while i have no imagination whatsoever, chris is awesome and plays with gabe and they pretend play and tell stories about everything. the downside is that gabe's been telling my parents some pretty wild stories in such detail, they can't help but believe him. then they ask me about whatever the situation is, and i have my 'what the?' face on.
through the scholastic book orders, i've gotten some great cars and disney workbooks for gabe. so he's really been enjoying writing his letters, numbers and colours/shapes. usually he'll do 2 or 3 pages a day before he gets "tired" of writing. it's hard work - and each page has an "activity" to do.
preschool - he is doing so well at school. he won't willingly tell us about his day, but after about 20 questions, we know who he "played with", what he had for snack, and whose mom/dad was on duty. i've forgotten how expensive school can be - between the cookie/pie sales, monthly scholastic book orders, winter fundraiser, purdy's easter chocolates, and now the spring plant sale - i can't wait for the summer to arrive so we can give the cheque book a rest!
pottytrained! - yup, it took us awhile to get here, but a few months ago gabe started wearing underwear at home. he was definitely ready for it because the idea of wet pull-ups was really bothering him. even a slight tinkle in his pull-ups would cause the "funny walk" and he'd scream for a new one. we'd still "go out" in pull-ups because gabe wasn't liking the idea of public washrooms - the loud flushing and hand dryers freak him out. but for the past 2 months (or so), he's been fully trained. he's even used to using public bathrooms - but its not pleasant for any of us. i don't know about other mom's with little boys, but gabe has to take his pants and briefs off completely (therefore his shoes are off too) because he can't spread his legs wide enough to sit and pee pointing down. so to help with the problem, i figured teaching gabe to stand up and pee would solve the problem, but he's still too short to pee without a stepstool. i just can't win. we haven't tackled the nighttime yet...but we're close - 90% of the time he has dry diapers!
speaking - gabe is still having trouble enunciating his words. the hard consonant c's and k's really baffle him (eg., cookie comes out tootie or cake is tate), he's getting better at his hard g's (he can say cheeseburger vs. cheeseburber), and his l's are getting better (yellow is starting to sound better vs. yeyow) but he REALLY has to work at it. we do a lot of repetition and exaggeration with some of our words to get the point across - my mom's working hard with gabe :)
the most exciting news for 2012 is that we're going to disneyland right after gabe's 4th birthday! it's a family vacay, and we can't wait! i think my dad might be the most excited - it's pretty funny - he can't stop talking about it :)
new things - where to begin! in addition to his first trip to the dentist, we also went for his first appointment to the optometrist. when the technician was trying to take pictures of gabe's eyes, it looked like a downhill appointment before we even started. but once he found out that dr. jessica was going to let him watch thomas, he was super cooperative. i got a bit anxious as he was reading letters aloud and noticed that he was getting a few of them wrong. turns out gabe has astigmatism - blame it on me :( he'll eventually need glasses, but we're going to re-assess in 6 months at his next appointment. and now that we know about his vision being slightly off, i am more aware of his 'problems'...he does blink and rub his eyes a fair bit, and now i've noticed a bigger problem - when he writes in his workbook, he is literally 3 inches from the paper when he traces things. it could also be a lighting factor, so we've moved him from his usual spot at the table. fingers crossed, he doesn't get worse before september!
i took gabe ice skating a few weeks ago. thankfully we went with sofia, so he had a friend to observe. the 2 of them were super cute balancing on their skates :) once we got on the ice, gabe stayed glued to the little plastic chair. it took about 30 minutes before he finally tried standing and holding onto the metal bars and i would push him around. then at one point i realized his skates weren't even on the ice - he had been resting them on the horizontal bar in front of him for a free ride :P smartypants!
the hopes of taking ski lessons went out the window this year. between me being sick in january, then birthdays galore in february and march, there just wasn't time to commit. however, we will make a concerted effort next year. the ski show & swap is in october, so we'll see what kind of deals they have for gabe.
our little parrot - be careful what you say around gabe! we know kids are sponges, but to hear everything you say come back to you...not cool!
development - we've done music together classes since gabe was 6 months old, and this past session he FINALLY embraced it - typical...he's now 'graduated' and will move onto piano lessons in september (maybe...i'm still thinking about it).
while i have no imagination whatsoever, chris is awesome and plays with gabe and they pretend play and tell stories about everything. the downside is that gabe's been telling my parents some pretty wild stories in such detail, they can't help but believe him. then they ask me about whatever the situation is, and i have my 'what the?' face on.
through the scholastic book orders, i've gotten some great cars and disney workbooks for gabe. so he's really been enjoying writing his letters, numbers and colours/shapes. usually he'll do 2 or 3 pages a day before he gets "tired" of writing. it's hard work - and each page has an "activity" to do.
preschool - he is doing so well at school. he won't willingly tell us about his day, but after about 20 questions, we know who he "played with", what he had for snack, and whose mom/dad was on duty. i've forgotten how expensive school can be - between the cookie/pie sales, monthly scholastic book orders, winter fundraiser, purdy's easter chocolates, and now the spring plant sale - i can't wait for the summer to arrive so we can give the cheque book a rest!
pottytrained! - yup, it took us awhile to get here, but a few months ago gabe started wearing underwear at home. he was definitely ready for it because the idea of wet pull-ups was really bothering him. even a slight tinkle in his pull-ups would cause the "funny walk" and he'd scream for a new one. we'd still "go out" in pull-ups because gabe wasn't liking the idea of public washrooms - the loud flushing and hand dryers freak him out. but for the past 2 months (or so), he's been fully trained. he's even used to using public bathrooms - but its not pleasant for any of us. i don't know about other mom's with little boys, but gabe has to take his pants and briefs off completely (therefore his shoes are off too) because he can't spread his legs wide enough to sit and pee pointing down. so to help with the problem, i figured teaching gabe to stand up and pee would solve the problem, but he's still too short to pee without a stepstool. i just can't win. we haven't tackled the nighttime yet...but we're close - 90% of the time he has dry diapers!
speaking - gabe is still having trouble enunciating his words. the hard consonant c's and k's really baffle him (eg., cookie comes out tootie or cake is tate), he's getting better at his hard g's (he can say cheeseburger vs. cheeseburber), and his l's are getting better (yellow is starting to sound better vs. yeyow) but he REALLY has to work at it. we do a lot of repetition and exaggeration with some of our words to get the point across - my mom's working hard with gabe :)
the most exciting news for 2012 is that we're going to disneyland right after gabe's 4th birthday! it's a family vacay, and we can't wait! i think my dad might be the most excited - it's pretty funny - he can't stop talking about it :)
Saturday, March 17, 2012
2012 child run
i'm feeling like a new person today. after feeling helpless all week since i don't have a cure for cancer, i've done what was within my power - creating a child run team called - what else...charlotte's army :-) the team is open to anyone and everyone and i encourage you all to join us. the 3 of us will be participating in the 1 km walk - hopefully this year gabe will actually make it to the walk instead of me participating solo :P
https://secure.bcchf.ca/SuperheroPages/main.cfm?Member=11800&Event=Childrun
https://secure.bcchf.ca/SuperheroPages/main.cfm?Member=11800&Event=Childrun
Monday, March 12, 2012
my heart is hurting
like my previous blog entries, this has taken me a few days to write...it's short, but i get so emotional and angry that i can never complete it. here goes:
my friend got suckerpunched last week, and now my heart hurts for her. i can't even think about her and her family without getting choked-up. it absolutely breaks my heart. why you ask? in late 2010, her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumour and has endured 2 surgeries, weeks of radiation, and is now making progress towards returning to work later this year. then last week, they found out their daughter has leukemia. she's 2 months shy of her 3rd birthday, and is now going through surgery and chemotherapy. thankfully, she has an 80% chance of a full recovery, however, it will probably take 2-3 years of treatment.
since S's diagnosis, there isn't a day that goes by when i don't think about this family. they are the kindest people who everyone loves. it makes me angry to think how cancer can strike this family of 4 twice in less than 2 years. it makes me sad to think that little C is only 6 months younger than gabe, and she's going through this rough time. she's lucky to have the bravest parents i know :)
my dear friend T, while i'm not a religious person, my positive thoughts are with you every day. i know it's hard to be strong 24/7, so don't hesitate to lean on your friends when you're feeling down, need a little boost, or just want to yell/cry/scream/hit/whatever.
all my love to the entire family.
my friend got suckerpunched last week, and now my heart hurts for her. i can't even think about her and her family without getting choked-up. it absolutely breaks my heart. why you ask? in late 2010, her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumour and has endured 2 surgeries, weeks of radiation, and is now making progress towards returning to work later this year. then last week, they found out their daughter has leukemia. she's 2 months shy of her 3rd birthday, and is now going through surgery and chemotherapy. thankfully, she has an 80% chance of a full recovery, however, it will probably take 2-3 years of treatment.
since S's diagnosis, there isn't a day that goes by when i don't think about this family. they are the kindest people who everyone loves. it makes me angry to think how cancer can strike this family of 4 twice in less than 2 years. it makes me sad to think that little C is only 6 months younger than gabe, and she's going through this rough time. she's lucky to have the bravest parents i know :)
my dear friend T, while i'm not a religious person, my positive thoughts are with you every day. i know it's hard to be strong 24/7, so don't hesitate to lean on your friends when you're feeling down, need a little boost, or just want to yell/cry/scream/hit/whatever.
all my love to the entire family.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
kids say the darndest things :)
inspired by monica's blog:
gabriel's version of frere jacques:
where is jacques?
where is jacques?
dormez-vous?
dormez-vous?
sunny, where's the tea now?
sunny, where's the tea now?
ding dang dong!
ding dang dong!
gabriel and i were pretending to nap in bed:
gabriel sits up: "oh!! i forgot to tell you something today!grandma's not old, grandpa's not old, my SHOES are old!"
gabriel and i went to see a townhouse development:
gabriel: "there was no friend for me to play with at the house...but i got a balloon!"
gabriel and i having breakfast:
gabriel (out of the blue says): "i like uncle geram!"
gabriel and i in his bathroom:
gabriel: "i peed on grandma's floor. but it's no big deal. like at the studio...no big deal!" (referring to messes at 4Cats)
gabriel's version of frere jacques:
where is jacques?
where is jacques?
dormez-vous?
dormez-vous?
sunny, where's the tea now?
sunny, where's the tea now?
ding dang dong!
ding dang dong!
gabriel and i were pretending to nap in bed:
gabriel sits up: "oh!! i forgot to tell you something today!
gabriel and i went to see a townhouse development:
gabriel: "there was no friend for me to play with at the house...but i got a balloon!"
gabriel and i having breakfast:
gabriel (out of the blue says): "i like uncle geram!"
gabriel and i in his bathroom:
gabriel: "i peed on grandma's floor. but it's no big deal. like at the studio...no big deal!" (referring to messes at 4Cats)
Thursday, February 16, 2012
future in jeopardy
well, it's been a weird week. usually i don't notice gabe's eating habits, but it's been many days since he's eaten any meat. he's refused chicken, beef, and fish. he won't even try it, and i can't even bribe him. he just says "no thanks!", and returns to his rice or noodles and vegetables. strange child! the last time he ate meat was deli ham on our pizza over the weekend. even then he only ate one slice and refused leftovers the next day.
the future doesn't look good for the family business...not that i wanted to gabe to be a butcher! he can follow his own career path! so now i have to get creative with our vegetable options to ensure gabe's getting a well-rounded meal.
the future doesn't look good for the family business...not that i wanted to gabe to be a butcher! he can follow his own career path! so now i have to get creative with our vegetable options to ensure gabe's getting a well-rounded meal.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
sick month, great month
18 days into 2012, and i'm finally getting over my cold-turned-bronchitis. i just have this niggling dry cough which the doctor warned could last another week or two. joy :P on the bright side, by the time i actually hit the gym it won't be too busy since ppl will start falling off the wagon soon. haha!
despite all the sickness, i've still been going to work and maintaining my social life. it's been busy with post-holiday catch-up with friends: cactus club with bal & sati, team lunches, dinner and drinks, moms night out, and i'm looking forward to drinks with the hewies and another girls night on the 27th.
as for family activities, we went sledding with the brown's up at cypress - it wasn't exactly a big hit with the kids (they maxed out at 4 rides each), and we probably won't go back again this season. however, we did discover that gabe was quite interested in skiing. so we're looking into lessons for aly & gabe for this season! and on the topic of new experiences, i took gabe to pauline's birthday bowling, and the idea of it excited him, but once we started to bowl...game over. after the 3rd frame, he was over it.
i also took gabe for his first dentist appointment! we'd actually been talking about it for awhile...back when i was still at hewitt, but then with my transition of benefits coverage, it just kept getting delayed. so when we finally got an appointment, gabe was well prepared. he was a bit nervous about the chair, so he stood and watched the ceiling tv. it only took a few minutes for him to realize the chair would be more comfortable :) the dental hygienist was able to count his teeth (all there!) and did some polishing. then dr. lee was able to look at them through her "funny" glasses. and of course, he got a prize at the end plus his "treat bag" of dental supplies :)
gabe and i have been enjoying laid-back wednesdays and saturdays together...trips to the mall just running errands, and then afternoon naps in my bed. lovely :-) at the risk of jinxing myself, i have to say gabe's been really great. we do a lot of talking about good behaviour and naughty behaviour and the tantrums have become less frequent. we still have our standoffs once in a while, but we talk through them, or else i'll just pick him up and carry on with whatever we were doing. he's still my little baby, and loves to be "uppy".
i also took gabe for his first dentist appointment! we'd actually been talking about it for awhile...back when i was still at hewitt, but then with my transition of benefits coverage, it just kept getting delayed. so when we finally got an appointment, gabe was well prepared. he was a bit nervous about the chair, so he stood and watched the ceiling tv. it only took a few minutes for him to realize the chair would be more comfortable :) the dental hygienist was able to count his teeth (all there!) and did some polishing. then dr. lee was able to look at them through her "funny" glasses. and of course, he got a prize at the end plus his "treat bag" of dental supplies :)
gabe and i have been enjoying laid-back wednesdays and saturdays together...trips to the mall just running errands, and then afternoon naps in my bed. lovely :-) at the risk of jinxing myself, i have to say gabe's been really great. we do a lot of talking about good behaviour and naughty behaviour and the tantrums have become less frequent. we still have our standoffs once in a while, but we talk through them, or else i'll just pick him up and carry on with whatever we were doing. he's still my little baby, and loves to be "uppy".
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