Disney on Acid

Today we went to the Disney Ice show at the Skydome in Toronto (yes, I'm one of those people who refuses to call it "the Roger's Centre").   Once in a while, my Mom gets tickets to these things because she's "media".  If you haven't been to one of these ice shows, picture every animated Disney movie you've ever seen, minus any conflict and plot, all mushed together, on speed, and on skates.

We began be eating in that restaurant that looks down on the skydome.  Jadzia didn't come with, so there were no worries about high chairs and strollers.  The adults were my parents and me.  The kids were William and my nephew Hunter.  Try the pumpkin ravioli.  And my Dad's burger looked nice too.

The boys were very good.  Most likely because my mom planned ahead and brought activity books, glow sticks and M&Ms to keep them occupied.  And of course at intermission, Mom bought Hunter a Buzz Lightyear, and William a ridiculous twenty-two-dollar light-up twirly-whirl thingie.

William loved everything, even the parking garage.  "I've never been here before," he said as we walked through the grey dungeon.  He also liked staring up at the CN tower, eating Kraft Dinner at the restaurant, and using the automatic soap dispenser in the washroom.  The Ice Show was pretty cool too. 

My favourite part was the rendition of "The Sorceror's Apprentice" in which all the skaters were dressed as giant blacklight-activated brooms.  I also liked the bit where a bunch of random Disney villains went trick-or-treating at Jack Skellington's house. Each bit was as fun, high energy, and nonsensical as the last.

William's first story.

Rather than entertain William with computer games and videos, I decided to open Word and write a story together. It ended up being less of a collaboration and more of him dictating to me while I prompted him with "and then what happened". So here's the story. I don't think it's publishable yet (the narrative thread needs work), but it's quite impressive for a first try.


William and Craig and Hunter

Once upon a time, there was a boy named William who wanted a hockey stick. Craig plays hockey with a hockey stick. William wanted to join in so he said to his uncle Craig “play hockey with hockey pucks!”


“Great idea!” said uncle Craig and they got some hockey sticks and hockey pucks and they played for a whole hour. Just then, Hunter came by.


Hunter got a hockey stick. Hunter got a hockey puck. Hunter went to play hockey with Uncle Craig and William. William got the puck in the net. “Score!!! I win!!!!” he yelled.


Then Hunter and William and Craig got guns. Hunter got a new gun, a ball gun that shoots paper. They shot at shooting guys. Craig and William and Hunter were mad. The shooting guys made them mad.


Then Hunter and William and uncle Craig went to watch some tv. It was Toopy and Binoo. They were happy.

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!

Science Centre

As I write this, William is pulling all the cards out of my wallet, and I don't have the energy to care.

Yesterday I went to the Ontario Science Centre with my nephew, my dad, and William. I was there to review an OMNIMAX movie for my sometimes freelance gig Today's Parent Toronto. Hunter was supposed to see it too, but he backed out at the last minute because he was too scared. This from a kid who watches all manner of violent productions (including my personal favourite Anakin Skywalker getting his arms and legs cut off) without blinking an eye. Apparently he draws the line at giant-screen documentaries. It's just as well since I had to leave half-way through the movie to puke. (No criticism of the film itself, just evidence of my delicate condition).

Later I chased William through the sports section of the Science Centre and William did some Olympic judging. In his button pushing gusto, he gave every performance 5 out of 5. I had some trouble trying to convince my son not to climb on some of the exhibits, especially the one you have to jump on to see if you can "land like a cat". Like a cat or not, I was sure he wouldn't like it if someone jumped on his head.

Anyway, I think most of my credit, debit and, ID cards are now under the living room rug.

Ten Reasons Why My Nephew is Awesome

I babysat my six-year-old (seven in May) nephew Hunter today, and he's awesome. Here are ten of the many many reasons (in no particular order):

1. I actually have sort-of adult conversations with him (only with more jumping around and light-saber miming). Like our debate about which is better Star Trek or Star Wars. I know, no contest, but Hunter actually believes that Star Wars is the superior series. (He's so young).
2. When I ask him what happen in school today, he actually told me. ("Do you want the good news, or the bad news?") He had gymnastics, which he loves. Also, another kid accidently hurt Hunter's ear while they were playing.
3. When he told me he had "just one thing" to do before we left the park, that one thing was rolling down a big hill, an activity I wholeheartedly endorse.
4. He totally understands when I sometimes have to stop in the middle of a conversation to chase William down a hill or prevent him from eating sand.
5. He didn't get angry at all when William messed up his sand-sculpture of the Star Wars ship ("the one that Padmé fell out of").
6. When I asked Hunter if he liked spaghetti, he replied "I like pretty much everything."
7. He's totally amazing with William. Both of them get big smiles on their faces when they see eachother. And when I had to go into the kitchen, William didn't scream for a change, because Hunter was entertaining him and feeding him a cookie.
8. I can play eye-spy with Hunter. And it's actually challenging for me.
9. We can play videogames together, and he'll totally pause it right away when it's time to eat, or time to go home.
10. I never have to worry that he's going to eat or choke on something bizarre because, unlike William, Hunter doesn't pull random objects out of the muck and put them in his mouth.

Future Olympian

Adam can't always get off work on time to take us to water babies swimming lessons, so my parents help out. Here's my Mom (aka Omi) with William in the changeroom. I love the rolls of baby fat on his chest.

:
And here William is way too interested in looking at the pool to waste time on more photos


Here he's smiling because I just told him that he is the best swimmer in the whole class (in my unbiased opinion). Well, to tell you the truth, I really wasn't looking at the other babies, but William can kick and everything. He's advanced, I tell you.


Let's use this photo to compare mother and child. I think he's starting to look a little like me. Same-shaped eyes, similarly-shaped nose, both wearing a goofy expression.

Yes, all these people are with us. From left to right: William's Daddy, Auntie Eireann, Uncle Craig, Omi, cousin Hunter. My dad (Opa) was also there (he took the picture). William is a novelty right now and thus my family's favourite source of entertainment.

Father's Day

I bought Adam and William matching outfits for Father's Day, enhancing their cuteness for the Father's Day events at my in-law's house. My mom-in-law invited a whole bunch of cousins who have never met William over for barbecue and baby. Everyone praised William for being so ultra-cute and well-behaved.

After Babcia and Dziazio's it was off to Omi and Opa's (my parents) for some Father's Day lobster. William was a bit cranky by this point because it was evening and he was tired from all the baby-passing. Hunter, my six-year-old nephew, wheeled him around the living room in the stroller to keep him quiet enough for me to eat my dinner. Even cranky, William is better behaved than most other babies, seeing as he is (in my unbiased opinion) the greatest baby in the world.

As tired as he was, the bedtime ritual went painlessly tonight, freeing me up to write this entry and post photos on my international tag blog.

Morty the Jackapoo, Becca and Drew, Aedan, William and Hunter too.

I don't have much energy for brilliance (read the title). Here is a list of things we did (in no particular order):

• played Wii Sports
• played Wii Play
• played Donkey Kong
• built a two-headed alien monster car out of lego
• went to McDonald's
• watched Quantum Leap
• watched Terminator 3
• went to the park
• played tv tag
• played Star Wars Monopoly
• played the Nightmare Before Christmas Game
• played Simpson's Jeopardy
• went to the grocery store to buy a cake and pick out a birthday card for Omi
• visited Omi at the old folks' home (ate cake)
• attempted to put William to sleep (in progress)

Almost 9pm, and no dinner here yet. Adam's gone to pick something up.

William's first trip to the zoo (and Hunter's too)

Being a zoo-going family, my Mom felt she had neglected her duties as Omi when my nephew turned six on Monday having never set foot in the Metro Toronto Zoo. So she made yesterday's trip to the zoo one of his birthday presents, and invited William and I to come along. I love the zoo, so I jumped at the opportunity to give my 3-month-old son the experience.

William's favourite animal:

For the first 15-20 minutes of our trip, I took William out of the stroller to show him the various animals (afterwards I gave up and let him sleep all day). He was more interested in staring into space than looking at Orangutans, but I got a smile out of him when viewing this snake. Of course he could have been smiling because I signed "snake" for him and he always finds it amusing when Mommy does goofy things. We'll go with he likes snakes.

This trip's most photogenic animal:

The hippos. It was feeding time when we got to the hippopotamus habitat so they were strutting around showing off just how majestically ugly they really are. I got like a billion shots. Last trip's most photogenic animal, the goat, barely made an appearance.

Hunter enjoyed the zoo thoroughly. His favourite animal was the zebra, but for some reason I didn't get a picture of it. So just for fun, here's another hippo shot:

And some gratuitous baby shots:

Double Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday Hunter and Dad (aka Opa)


Since it's my Dad and my nephew's birthday, we'll be heading over there shortly for pizza and cake and gift giving. Other than that not much is going on. Went to the mall. Bought some shirts. Got William a pair of pants so he can look just like his Daddy. I mean more so.

Salsa Baby Shower

Yesterday William had another party thrown in his honour. This time the shin dig was thrown by my Mom and her writer friends (who have known me so long they can be considered surrogate Moms).

The shower was all Mexican themed because my Mom had this idea to get a dancer to come and teach us Salsa babies dancing. This is sort of like line dancing except you dance with a baby strapped to you and there's a Latin beat. Anyhoo, usually when I do this sort of thing I'm the only person who can't keep rhythm. This time I had a whole row of writer Moms to keep me company in that regard.

After the dancing, my nephew Hunter lay waste to a nearly indestructible toucan pinata (the stick broke before the bird), and we ate nachos and other Mexican delights (like these pierogi-esque things I don't remember the name of).

William was very well behaved and everyone raved about how cute he was. When he started to fuss, my Mom offered Hunter a loonie to settle him and he did. Hunter, the six-year-old baby whisperer. Seriously, he is a fabulous cousin. Already William gets such a kick out of him.

I'd like to thank everyone for throwing me a party and buying my son stuff and being great grandmas, aunties, and cousins. Olé.