Jadzia in a big-girl seat

Monday May 25th marked the last day Jadzia used her infant carrier. On that day she went to the doctor where she was weighed and measured. That's when I found out that even though she is as light as a feather (a 14-pound feather), my daughter is one and a half centimetres too tall for the baby carseat. Could I let it go? Perhaps, but I'm ninety percent sure that seat was expired anyway, and would therefore sponaneously combust if I were ever to have an accident.

We immediately went to Babies R Us and purchased a new carseat-that-will-turn-into-a-booster for William, and flipped William's old chair into the rear-facing position for Jadzia. Jadzia is quite comfortable in her new seat. However, there are some logistical problems when one loses the convenient bucket-like carrier which can be easily set down on the floor, in a shopping cart, on a table, and replaces it with a floppity infant who can't sit up by herself.

It also causes lapses in judgement like puttin that same floppity infant who can't sit up into a restaurant high-chair clearly designed for toddlers:

Morty goes swimming

To further add to my list of reasons why I am the worst dog sitter in the world:

I put Morty outside because William was throwing things at him, then went to put my children down for their naps. The dog had his water and food dish out with him, so what could happen? I was gone for a good hour by the time I got them both down (including a short nap for me in William's room). When I got back I expected an impatient Jackapoo to be waiting at the sliding door.

When he wasn't there, I opened the door, poked my head out and whisper-yelled "Morty? Morty!" Reasoning that he must have found a nice patch of shade to lay in, I went inside and went on my computer.

Not sure how much time passed (I was using the time-sucking machine) when I remembered that the pool is open and I guessed what might have happened to poor Morty. I carried Jadzia (who was awake by this point) to the backyard to investigate. Sitting on top of the solar blanket of our pool was a scrawny shivering rat. Morty is smaller and lighter than my five-month-old and when he's wet you can really tell.

I put my daughter temporarily on the grass and fished the jackapoo out of the pool. He immediately began running around the yard and the house like he was on uppers (dogs do that when they've just had a bath, or just fell in a pool).

So now not only am I neglecting to walk dogs in my care, but I'm putting them in mortal danger by leaving them to drown in a pool for hours.

Annoying things my toddler did today

Refused to come to the washroom so I could change his diaper.
Refused to let me take off his diaper.
Refused to let me wipe his bum.
Squirted toothpaste into the sink
Pounded on my keyboard.
Had a tantrum because his Elmo game wouldn't work.
Jumped on his bed instead of picking out clothes.
Said "no thanks" to every pair of pants that I offered him.
Refused to stop jumping on the bed.
Refused to let me dress him.
Pulled out several pairs of clean pants and shirts, crumpled them into a ball, and threw them down the stairs.
Threw more clean clothes down the stairs after I told him to stop.
Refused to clean up the clothes.
Refused to sit in circle at the Early Years Centre.
Climbed into the front seat of the car and started playing with random buttons instead of getting into his carseat.
Forced me to drag him out of the front seat of the car because he wouldn't listen to me when I told him to get back in his seat.
Took off his shoe in the car.
Took off his other shoe after I told him not to.
Threw his milk cup on the floor.

And all that's before noon. Phew. Glad I got that off my chest. I feel I should add:

Cute things my son always does.

Says "Mommy hugs" and gives me a hug.
Says "Mommy kiss" and makes fishy lips and gives me a kiss.
Holds my hand when we're walking together.
Holds my head to steady himself when he's putting on his diaper, pants, or shoes.
Says "thank you" when I give him something without me even asking him to.
Says "here you go Zia" and gives his sister a toy.
Says "don't worry Zia" when his sister is crying.
Sings along to all the songs in circle time at the Early Years Centre.
Dances to all the songs in circle time.
Reads books on his own.
Says "sorry Mommy."
Says "don't worry Mommy."

William's cheapest haircut yet.

Before

After

Adam cut William's hair! We've had a haircutting clipper since our wedding but neither of us have been willing to try it out on our own hair. Of course our son is fair game. William is always willing to experiment. In fact, just yesterday he emptied an entire bottle of food colouring into his mouth. He looked like a smurf vampire but, so far, no blue pee.

Anyway I think my husband missed his calling as a barber because this haircut looks pretty spiffy. That's right, I used the word spiffy.

Dinner at Uncle Wojtek's House

Adam's uncle has a gigantic house up where you can get mansions for cheap (I don't know exactly what city it's in but you have to pass a lot of farms to get there). Adam says "It's Limehouse, near Acton, you know!" Anyway, we went there for dinner tonight and William had a blast playing with his second cousins, Conrad, Veronica, and Alexandra. Together they flew a kite, played with a remote controlled jeep and rode a skooter. Yes, William is too young for most of these activities but that didn't stop the older kids from trying to teach him. Conrad trying to get William to drive the RC Jeep was particularly amusing. Conrad kept telling William which button turned the car and which one made it go forwards and backward, and William kept saying "I will press this one" then smiling when the car made any kind of movement or noise.

When talking about cousins, one often gets confused as to whether they're second cousins, first cousins once removed, or just a bunch of kids who aren't actually related to you. For some reason, I clearly remember my friend's mother explaining cousin relations to me at a restaurant with crayon and a napkin. I don't have a napkin handy but here's my understanding:

I assume that everyone knows that your aunts and uncles are your parents' sisters and brothers.

Your aunts and uncles' kids are your first cousins.

Your first cousins' kids are your first cousins once removed.

Your kids and your first cousins' kids are second cousins.

If your second cousins had kids, they would be your first cousins twice removed. They would be your kids' second cousins once removed and your grandkids' third cousins.

Adam says that there is way too much learning and logic in this blog post and not enough humour. That may be so, but I like knowing stuff, and seeing as most people reading this are trolling the internet reading random things, I'm guessing you like to know stuff too. But just in case you too were looking for more humour, here's a picture of me in an old Polish army officer's cap:

The Twitter D-list

When I first signed on to twitter I called it a poor man's facebook. Describe what you're doing in 140 characters. Gee, sounds like facebook status. Plus I have this blog as my soapbox, so why would I need to be twittering away like an attention-desperate budgie?

A little later I saw an interview with Levar Burton (aka Geordi Laforge) in which he talked about twitter. He liked it because it offered access to the fans without a publicist or other middleman. This is when I started using twitter to "follow" my favourite Star Trek celebrities. I even replied to their tweets, with no hope of response, just to make myself feel as if I were conversing, and not just stalking.

Well shortly after the Star Trek movie came out, I started adding the cast to my tweet list. It so happened that Anthony Yelchin, who plays Chekov, signed onto twitter for the first time that day and I was one of his first followers. Not only did he message me first, before I had even sent him one tweet, but he started following my updates.

All at once I'm being followed by not one, not two, but three celebrity gossip bloggers (used to be four but I think one realized that I wasn't a celeb and dropped out).

Now I am in a position of power aren't I? I could start any number of unfounded rumours about the elite! I could invite myself to all the hot star parties. Soon the name SuperHappyJen will be synonymous with fame and fortune, because if the tabloids say you are, you are. I may even get people to read my blog.

Star Trek

Okay so here's my review of the new Star Trek film. I haven't posted until now because a)I've been too tired (my children won't let me sleep in just because I was up to one in the morning!) and b)I'm not sure I can appropriately convey the awesomeness of this film without giving away spoilers. So here's my good college try:

Even though I was excited, I was a little worried going in that they would try too hard to make the film cool and less star-treky. That fear was eliminated in the first five seconds. The dialogue, the costumes, the battlescenes, the random aliens for no reason, the big scary romulan ship, consoles exploding. Everything was pure Star Trek.

The whole cast did an excellent job of playing the original series characters (only more modern sexy and cool obviously). Karl Urban did a particularly good job of getting Dr. McCoy's mannerisms and way of speaking, while still acting believably. Some fun scenes with a young, optomistic Chekov (Anton Yelchin) pronouncing Vs as Ws. Zoe Saldana played a strong, sexy Uhura. And of course Sulu (John Cho) got to sword fight. Yay!

Chris Pine played a Kirk who was a little more rough around the edges than we're used to, but in a good way (timeline-changing events in the film made him like that). My husband said that he kept expecting Zachary Quinto as Spock to cut open somebody's head and steal their brains (like he does on Heroes), but I was way too into the movie to even remember that he also played Sylar. Just to be safe though, don't insult his mother.

I knew there would be some time travel in the film, which is often used (mostly by fans) to explain inconsistencies in the Star Trek story line. Instead, this film used time travel to turn everything on its head and create an all-bets-are-off, anyone can die, anything can happen suspensefest, which is too often impossible in a prequel. (We all knew that Hugh Jackman was going to survive the entire Wolverine movie, and that made it slightly less exciting didn't it?)

Anyway, if you're a Star Trek fan you will definitely like this movie. If you're not, and would like to be, this would be a great flick to get you into it (you'll get to know the original series characters without the 60s campiness). If you just want a good sci fi action-adventure film, this one's for you too (although if you like sci fi action-adventure, you should be a Trek fan already).

I hope this film will spawn many many sequels and maybe even a tv series with this cast. Go Star Trek!

BTW: I was adding the new Star Trek cast to my list of Trek celebs that I'm following on Twitter and Anton Yelchin actually twitted me back! This means either a) he's not actually THE Anton Yelchin who plays Chekov, or b) he's not famous enough yet to ignore people. Anyway he said William is cute, so he must be cool.

Events

William put himself to bed all by himself! My naptime routine is to put Jadzia down first. This usually involves nursing her while I listen intently for the sounds of toddler mischief. Suddenly the house went quiet, too quiet. I went searching for William, expecting to find that yet another piece of furniture had fallen victim to crayon graffiti (although at this point it would just match the rest of the decor). I called his name and got no answer. I even checked the locks on the doors thinking he may have somehow escaped. Finally I checked his bedroom and there he was, sound asleep. Bonus!

Today is my Dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! Dad is currently working as a school bus driver, which is pretty cool, because now I can understand exactly what he does for a living (although I'm sure he'd prefer his old IT jobs).

It's also my nephew's birthday. Happy Birthday Hunter! He's turning eight years old. Eight! Am I old enough to have an eight-year-old nephew? I mean, that's halfway to driving age!

Also a shout out to my friend Columbia. Yes, it is also her birthday. (This makes me wonder what happens nine months before May 7th that gets people in the mood to make babies). Anyway I know the last time I talked to her she was feeling bummed about turning 32. So I open this up to any elderly or middle age folk who want to comment on how great it would be to be that young again. Happy Birthday Columbia!

And finally, today is the opening of Star Trek XI (which is really just called Star Trek, because it is in no way a sequel to anything). I'm seeing it at 9:45, instead of 7, so that I can still have dinner and eat cake with the family. Then I'm totally going to wear my Star Trek uniform and be super nerdy. I love it!

Is the Star Trek movie too Cool for the Fans?

As someone anxiously awaiting the opening of Star Trek on Thursday (also my Dad and nephew's birthday), I found this installment of the Onion News particularly amusing:

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Hmmn aren't these the same reviews that lead to the cancellation of Enterprise? Anyway, I think it's great that they're making Star Trek cool again. Maybe then I will be cool when I wear my original series uniform to the premier.

William and Jadzia (caught on video)

Remember when I blogged about Jadzia laughing at William? Well here's the live version, filmed on location at Babcia and DziaDzio's house:

Also, against all reason, we took our children to the zoo again. Love is truly a necessity for survival. If we didn't love our children so much, we could never restrain ourselves from killing them. Pictures here.