Merry Christmas! My Baby is 1 Tomorrow!

William's first movie

Adam and I took William to see his first non-stars-and-strollers movie. He napped until five pm after riding the train and carousel in Hamilton, so we reasoned that it would be okay to keep him up past his bedtime to see The Princess and the Frog with us. We were right! He was so good! He sat completely still for the first half of the movie. By the second half he was getting antsy, but never whined or asked to go home. Of course it helped that we had popcorn and drinks. I was a little nervous about the latter but despite copious amounts of juice consumed, William did not pee his pants. He went to the men's room with Adam after the movie was over. When asked what his favourite part was, William cheerfully answered "The Princesses!"

The race is over! Jadzia walks.

I was at a playdate with two of my Mommy friends, sitting on the couch, chatting, barely paying attention to the baby at our feet, when suddenly my friend Columbia exclaimed "Jadzia just walked from there to there!" There to there was a distance of four or five steps between two sections of Columbia's L-shaped sofa. She crossed the distance completely unassisted, determined to show my friend Becca a toy.

I immediately called my husband, who was jumping up and down in his office (I can only assume because I don't have a video phone). He asked me to film the event, but since the event had already passed, attempts to capture it took some effort (much to the amusement of everyone). Finally Becca succeeded in getting a repeat performance out of my daughter.

Torch Time!

I just want to say a quick congratulations to my elementary school classmate, Gavin Browne, who carried the Olympic torch today. I was holding a baby and my pic of the event is a bit blurry, so here's one that Adam took:


There was a short wait before the torch (and Gavin) ran by, so I amused myself by hugging mascotts:



In case you're wondering, the one in the middle is a giant pita, only you can't see the veggies from this angle so it looks a bit...well...nevermind. Anyway, the kids fell asleep in the stroller until just before torch time, which was perfect. I ran into a few of my old school friends, who were presummably there because they are also on Gavin's facebook. Didn't get to chat long, but that's what the internet is for. To quote Gavin (from msn): "It was very special. I had on a pin my grandfather got at the Montreal Olympics in 1984. He was military security."

In case you were wondering, Gavin isn't in the biathalon or anything, he got this gig by applying through royal bank. They wanted to know what people were doing to help their community. Gavin took their suggestion about spending time with seniors to heart, and moved in with his grandparents to help them out. Which is actually better than skiing and shooting at things, but less likely to garner multi-million-dollar endorcements.

Jadzia's pre-first-birthday race

As Jadzia's first birthday rapidly approaches, there's a race to see which ability will manifest itself first: walking or coherent talking.

Jadzia is getting very good an standing up unassisted in the middle of the floor, and has been doing the furniture shuffle for a while now, but still prefers crawling as her primary means of transportation.

As far as talking, her communication skills are growing rapidly. I have the definite impression that she understands 90% of what I say. She has several hand signals: waving, pointing (at nothing in particular-it's just fun to get adults to turn their heads), clapping, the signs for more (which she tends to use interchangeably with clapping, for apprieciation, as in "more Christmas tree") and the sign for milk. She nods yes, and shakes her head no (the nod being accompanied by "ya, ya, ya, ya, ya"). She says "Hi", only it sounds more like "Hieeee". Also she says something that sounds somewhat like "Doggy" to describe any animal that even vaguely resembles a dog (such as a chicken). I can't be sure, but amongst her babbling I think I heard her say "William" and some other almost words and names that I can't recall right now.

Today she kept saying "Daddy" as clear as can be. Unfortunately, since Daddy wasn't home, she used it to refer to various inanimate objects and people. That doesn't mean she didn't know what she was saying. I figure she must have meant something like "That's Aedan's Daddy, where's my Daddy?" or "This toy belongs to Daddy," or "Daddy would get a kick out of this" or "That shiny doorknob is so great, it reminds me of Daddy."

Yes, she is a near vocabulary master. Still, talking is a complicated skill, and we'll probably see steps before we see sentences.

I'm going to go ahead and post a video below that has nothing to do with walking and talking and everything to do with the hilarity of watching my almost one year old attempt to wake a dead-to-the-world sleeping almost three year old:

Christmasiffication Complete!

Jadzia's Big Steps

For a while now Jadzia has been climbing one step, then getting stuck and screaming for help, but recently (some time after the Burlington Mall Santa but before the Mapleview Mall Santa), she climbed the entire flight herself. Going down stairs she is not nearly so graceful and has already fallen down twice. Once I was sitting right next to her and couldn't catch her in time. The other time I thought the door to downstairs was closed when in fact William had opened it and encouraged her to "Come down Jadzia". So far, no visible bruising.

A less dangerous skill she's also developed is clapping hands, so I now get lots of applause.

Paparazzi Santa Photos

You know you're a parent when Santa Claus becomes a photo-worthy celebrity.

The guy with torn gloves and hairy arms on the Christmas Train in Hamilton may not have been the real deal, but at least he gave out candy canes. He also performed a Christmas rap.

I was more convinced by the Burlington Mall Santa. I didn't get a close look at him, but he had an entrance and an entourage worthy of his fame.

The Mapleview Mall Santa drew a big crowd, but they may also have been there to see Sir Topham Hat, Bob the Builder, Barney, and other renown television personalities.

Neglect.

It's happened again, I've neglected my blog. I have a few excuses for this:

• William is in the process of giving up naps and thus I have less me time during the day. Also my exhaustion level rises proportionate to his crankiness level.
• I've been spending my evenings watching DVD box sets of tv shows I borrowed from the library. They only give you a week before you get slapped with a fine and forget about renewing because they're all on hold.
• I've actually been writing my novel for a change. The wonderful people in my writer's group know that I'm pretty good at neglecting that.
• General laziness.

I have been doing things, though. My mind is itching with events that, while perhaps not interesting to the world, are blog-worthy at least for documentation purposes. Stay tuned.