DPoD February 28th

Monkey has been an absolute super trooper throughout the entire daycare ordeal so far. So this morning after Big C had slept in and we went to see yet another provider, it was time for a little reward. Ok a big reward. We went to do his favourite acvitity in the whole wide world - the O-train. Let's see if the photos prove that he was excited:





Scrolling.....

DPoD February 27th

MAN OF STEEL



It seems that the weight gain program is working well. Big C, determined little superhero that he is, decided that he wanted to get into the cupboard. No puny little child safety device was going to stop him. When I came upon him he had this in the pieces that you see.



The original unbroken model is as follows.





Look out Superman and Spiderman, here comes SuperC!!!

Update on the day care fiasco

We have been to see a day care centre, a licensed home care provider, an unlicensed home care provider. We have screened many people over the phone. We have applications through the local agencies, we have more interviews set up this week.

Monkey is taking it hard. Really hard. He wants to stay at his old day care and he is getting confused and discombobulated with every new place that we go and see. I share his discombobulation. We are trying to ease the transition on him, but it is hard. He is very perceptive.

Children's Universe Day Care was underwhelming at best. It seemed to us that the place is staffed by a bunch of women who really don't like their jobs. None of them has been there for more than about 8 months and not one of them seems to have any real drive to DO anything with the children. I could go on and on. I won't. I will just say that was obvious to us why this licensed day care centre was the only one in the city without a waiting list.

The licensed home day care lady is lying to the agency that she works for. As best I could figure out from showing up 30 minutes early and then chatting with another parent there are already 6 children there. My kids would make 8. She has them balanced around so that the agency doesn't know they are there. This is a practice called "ghosting" and if that is just what I can figure out it worries me what else might be going on. UPDATE: After I reported this to the agency she has decided to leave the agency and go out on her own so now no one is watching over what she is doing. Scary.

That is just some of it. We have another interview Tuesday, one on Thursday and a friend who doesn't currently do home day care thinking of taking the boys on and a lead on a recent ECE graduate who is looking for work until July.

DPoD February 26th

Dopey Big C getting up in the morning. What a cutie!

DPoD February 25th

Oops, missed this one from yesterday and you can see the images of both boys' faces if you look closely. I'm glad to hear that so many people are enjoying the pictures.

DPoD February 24th

Big C the climber -

As many of you may know Big C absolutely loves to climb things. Every night after bath his favourite ritual is to climb the stool in the bathroom to get a good look at himself, and generally to dance. Have you tried to remove him from this spot....best of luck to you.

Do you make friends with salad?

The answer is no. In fact, to be accurate, you don't WIN friends with salad. I was wrong. Heather was right.

clip from the show:
Lisa: I never realized before, but some Itchy & Scratchy cartoons send the message that violence against animals is funny.

Bart: They what? Cartoons don't have messages, Lisa. [Moves toward door.] They're just a bunch of hilarious stuff you know, like people getting hurt and stuff, stuff like that. [gets slammed behind the door by Homer]-- Why I oughta --, "Lisa the Vegetarian"

Homer: Look kids! I just got my party invitiations back from the printers.

Lisa: [Reading the invitation.] "Come to Homer's BBBQ. The extra B is for BYOBB." Bart: What's that extra B for?

Homer: It's a typo.

Lisa: Dad! Can't you have some other type of party, one where you don't serve meat?

Homer: All normal people love meat. If I went to a barbeque and there was no meat, I would say 'Yo Goober! Where's the meat!?'. I'm trying to impress people here Lisa. You don't win friends with salad.-- Homer coins a catch phrase., "Lisa the Vegetarian"Bart dances in.

Bart: [Musically.] You don't win friends with salad! You don't win friends with salad! You don't win friends with salad! [Homer, {and then Marge, join in.}] Lisa: {Mom!}Marge: {I don't mean to take sides, I just got caught up in the rhythm.}

oh man I am tired. G'night

DPoD February 23

Monkeyhas requested on a regular basis that he shaves when I shave. So I took the blade off an old razor and he's been joining me for weeks. This, in my mind, is absolutely the cutest thing in the universe and I thought that it was time to share. Don't forget that hard to reach spot under your chin!

22 pounds!!!!

That's right. You read it correctly. Our little eater has certainly been enjoying his high fat foods. 2 weeks ago when he went to the doctor he weighed 20 lbs 4 ozs. It was mentioned that he didn't need to get weighed at the appointment today. I asked if he could be weighed since he saw the OT last week and his appetite has improved. The doctor was blown away by his weight gain. Way to go little buddy!!!! Let's keep it up!!!!

DPoD February 22nd

Bubbles bubbles everywhere.

The basement is a great place for the bunch of us to play. Today Monkey wanted to blow bubbles downstairs and had an absolute blast. Big C was enthralled by the little pockets of glowing air and tried anxiously to grab them and giggle.

Anyone else want to play??

Now both boys are out of day care

Yep, never mind that we have had a relationship with the day care for over 1 year and a half. Both boys are out, just like that. Apparently the day care director has been spending all of her time at work dealing with her personal life and hasn't noticed that the day care is over it's limits. The results, give a bunch of kids the boot with no warning. Since my kids were part time they were the first to go. They never offered us to pay for a full time space.

Oh, and the cowardly director never did call me. I finally had to call the owner. That is when I found out that Monkey is out too. I have reminded them of their contractual obligation to give me some notice. So we are not on the streets until the beginning of April. So, we need day care for April, May and June.

I was shocked to find out what is out there. Here are some options we have seen (cost is for both kids based on a 21 day month):
1-Home day care from a mom with first aid, CPR, 1-5 ratio no police check and no ECE, 2 months experience, close to home -$1680 per month

2-Licensed day care centre that serves snack but we send lunch and has a 1-3 ratio for Big C, 1-8 for Monkey, 20 minutes out of the way -$1500 per month

3-Home day care 1-8 ratio, with an ECE, close to home -$1428 per month

4-Licenced home day care, close to Dave's work, 1-5 ratio -$966 per month

We have some interviews set up and will be exploring all of our options. We do welcome thoughts from your experiences with this!

DPoD February 21st

Today when mommy got home the boys (well Monkey anyhow) requested that we go in the swings. They laugh and laugh and laugh in the swings. Want some evidence....

Big C Loses his Child Care

Oh my goodness, we are totally scrambling! I have been up since 4 since I can't sleep. Yesterday I get a message on my cell phone "call the day care as soon as possible".

I PANIC-who wouldn't? I call and they tell me that the director is going to call me that night, they don't know what it is about, the kids are fine (in that order). They lied since as soon as Dave arrived, they knew exactly what was going on and filled him in. Jerks. Big C has lost his day care spot as of next Friday.

Four months ago I asked the DC that Monkey has been at if they would take Big C part time. They had to think about it since they don't normally do that. The answer came back about a month later-yes. Fantastic.

Now yesterday they are trying to say that it was a temporary arrangement and that now that a child wants to come in full time, we are out. They didn't even offer us the option to pay for the FT spot. If you know me at all, you know that I don't like risk. Can't handle it. If I had known that he could get bumped that easily I would have taken the time to find a permanent arrangement while I was off work and eased Big C into the transition.

So we have been given 10 days notice. Big C has not even been there for a week. They would have known when we signed the forms last week that someone wanted the spot FT. They never warned us. They have already given the spot away. If I wanted to pull one of the kids out, I would have had to give a months notice. That is what the contract that I signed says, the thing is, she has yet to sign the contract and give it back to me-I guess she knew that she needed the leeway.

So now the spot is gone and the director never even called me last night to tell me if Monkey still has a spot or what. We spent the night calling home day care providers and totally panicking. We are really upset since we like this centre and have felt very comfortable with them. More than anything, we feel betrayed.

February 20th DPoD

So today Big C had an early nap. Saje wisely suggested that on these days it's a great opportunity to go out and adventure. So we went to the museum of science and technology. The place was practially vacant which meant that Monkey could roam and get onto just about anything without a line (including the 10 year old girls whom he told that he was in fact next and they would wait their turn) and Big C could crawl everywhere. They saw the trains, the crazy kitchen (where Big Ccertainly held his own standing up), the snowmobile, the canoe and had a delightful snack at the cafe. Needless to say, we'll be back again soon.

The current schedule for next week's outing is the O-Train. Choo-choo!!!

Hey OT, look at me!!!

Yay yay yay!!!

Yesterday when the 3 of us got home from pre-school Big C made a line right for his high chair and started to chant 'na na na'. This seems to be the current request for food, so I got him suited up in his bib and started to offer some of the high fat foods that we have. So far the avocado, breaded chicken and cheeses have been Ok, but not a great hit. Welcome the 6% MF yogurt with some whipping cream stirred in. He has increasingly been using utensils over the last few days (metal ones, no plastic for me) and this was a 20 minute chain feeding of yogurt. Mommy, daddy and Monkey couldn't be more pleased. Add to that the fact that when we went to grandma Carol and grandpa Tom's for supper on Sunday night he had gained a pound and a half in two weeks and we're very enthusiastic about his weight gain. Keep the prayers coming!

DPoD February 19th

Imagination Monday....
so I was sorting the laundry and Monkey decided that he just had to have this sheet. Next time I turn around he has it draped over him like this. When I asked him what it was he was doing, he reported 'I'm using my imagination!!'. He told me for a while that it was a dress, then he went hiding in it and then he told me he was exploring. All in all, it was a blast!!

DPoD February 18th

I'm not tired....(thank you grandma for the toboganning!)...

DPoD February 17th

Big C's birthday party:

Big C had a great time and enjoyed the company of family, including grandma Carol, grandpa Tom, Aunt Heather, Aunt Mary, Uncle Paul and cousin Katie as well as friends Rebecca, Paul and Ethan (who has now promoted Big C from 'baby C' to' toddler C'). The cake and the good times were priceless, including the 2nd take of the birthday cake and song.

Here's a few photos:

So what is Monkey up to these days?

Monkey is three now and is in a very fun stage. He speaks in full sentences, expresses his feeling and emotions and uses his manners. He is a very caring and thoughtful older brother to Big C.

He loves to play outside and ride his bike. Yesterday he and Grandma C took a spin around the skating rink for the first time ever. The skates that Jeff got him for Christmas fit perfectly and the whole experience (all 10 minutes of it) was really fun. We'll be out there again soon.

We registered Monkey for kindergarden this week. I can't believe where the time has gone! He'll be starting in September.

The Pudding Experiment (OT recommended) DPoD

Before...








During....








After....

DPoD Feb 15

Dancin' Time.

Happy Valentines Day Mommy DPoD

Happy Valentine's Day mommy. We miss you and we'll see you today when you get off the bus. Enjoy telling everyone at the office about us and showing them the pictures of us over the past while. Daddy says that we'll survive without you, but we're not sure yet how.

We wanted to send you a message that we hope you see today before you get home.

Birthday DPoD

It's been an eventful first year little buddy.

Happy birthday from the happiest dad in the world.

Big C's BIG Day-Birthday, first steps, appointment at CHEO

If you have not been keeping up with the blog then this entry will get you up to date on Big C. In summary, today is his birthday, he took his first steps and he met with his Occupational Therapist.

Big C turns one today-HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MAN!!!

His day started off with a visit to the OT. His OT is really pleased with the way he is eating and has cancelled his barium eating study on the 15th. He still has his barium study on the 5th of March, though she says he really doesn't need it. He will meet with her again March 13.

She was pleased that he is asking for food though not as impressed that he asks by pointing and screeching. We are not having any success getting him to do the sign for "please" so we are going to start to try "more" and see how it goes.

She has helped us to recognise that our desire to put healthy options in front of him is a good desire to have, but not the priority right now. She explained that if he'll eat store bought chicken fingers, then feed him some chicken fingers along with other healthier foods that he doesn't like to eat. He'll finish the stuff that he likes and then move on to the other stuff, provided that we make sure he is still a little hungry. If you know my mother, you know that is a hard hurdle to jump over for me ; ) I think that both Monkey and Big C will be pleased that she (the OT) has suggested using pudding to try to teach him how to use the spoon!

Big C took his first steps (shhh, we have not told Daddy yet!). I caught some video of the second time that he did it. He is pretty pleased with himself.

DPoD February 12th

Ok, so I found the boys in the great room and Monkey was spinning Big C around in a little circle. I'm not sure that the photos can do the sequence true justice, however here it goes....

DPoD February 11th

I can get the camera. I can get the camera.

DPoD February 10th

So today Big C suddenly decided that he was willing to eat from a spoon!!!

Mommy had the first success with about 10 spoonfuls. This is the 2nd attempt with a spoon, then followed by the yogurt on a little plastic sucky-thing (I don't recall the commercial term). Yay!!!