DPoD May 19th - The Puppet Show

We'd had a few rainy days this week and it was time to start a new activity with Monkey. So daddy decided that it was time to use the puppet theater option of the DT tent for a little puppet show. It put on a quick play about riding the bus and the train, then Monkey decided that he wanted to do the same.Be sure to ask hime about the swimming pool, the snowman, the toboggan and the tomato. For some reason that part of the story makes him laugh and laugh and laugh. More performances are cetain to follow, 2 shows daily, please call to reserve your seating.

DPoD May 18th - The Cereal Fiasco

I thought that the guys were full after breakfast this morning as both of them had a good deal of berry pancakes to eat. I went to the living room to set up the next activity for the day and I found that this was not the case however. Big C had helped himself into the Tupperware container of Cheerios and was helping himself. He had a good bunch of them to eat and then got stuck a little. No worries, big brother came to the rescue not only to help him get his hand out, but also to eat some of their plunder.

DPoD May 17th

We had some real fun yesterday afternoon. We danced and sang and had a real blast while mommy was getting her haircut. You look fabulous by the way sweetie - sophisticated and really attractive. Anyhow, the boys had a fabulous time getting spun around the room in my arms, so I decided to take a few pictures. The laughter doesn't come through as well as all the giggles and excitement did in the room, but then again neither did the stumbling from the dizziness afterwards. Needless to say, both Monkey and Big C were asking for 'more, more,more' so we'll have to do it again soon!

Time for a little change...

DPoD May 16th - The Lonely Shoe

Yesterday, somewhere between the Museum of Science and Technology and its parking lot, or between the car and Greenboro station, a little shoe made a run for it. More than likely Big C pulled it off when daddy wasn't looking and threw it to the ground. The lost and found for both the museum and OC Transpo have been contacted. If anyone happens to come across a left shoe that looks like his little buddy here, please let us know. You can almost see the frown on the poor lonely right sandal.

DPoD May 15th Family Portrait

Yay! New family pictures!

If you are interested in getting copies you can call the Loblaws in Barhaven at (613) 823-8285 * 6 and give them our home phone number to look up the photos and place your order.

We have some wallet sized photos to go around but the package was really limited.

DPoD May 14th - Two in the Bed and the Little One Said

It took me a moment to get things organized for the diaper change and meds after Big C's nap this afternoon. Apparently it took me a moment too long. I've no idea how Monkey got in there - but he certainly did! After a short discussion about not teaching Big C how to do this , I went and grabbed the camera to get photographic evidence. It's so tough to be both frustrated at their accomplishment and proud of it at the same time.
Monkeys, the both of them!!!

Happy Mother's Day DPoD

Mommy wake up.....

Happy Mother's Day!
We hope that you liked the hand-written card and the banana-chomocolate chip pancakes!
We love you and think that you're the best mom in the whole world!!

Happy Mother's Day Grandma Carol

This morning I walked in on a conversation between Monkey and (a surprisingly well spoken) Big C it went something like this:


Monkey "my Grandma is the best because she takes me for bike rides"


Big C "well my Grandma is the best because she tickles my sweet little baby skin"


Monkey "my Grandma is great because she and I tell each other that we are both AWESOME"


Big C "my Grandma is better than yours because she lets me chew on her watch"


Monkey "my Grandma rocks because she makes me CDs and lets me wear her cat socks"


Bic C "my Grandma is awesome and she lets me take her slippers"


Monkey "my Grandma has a silly Sunday night supper routine with me and I love it"

Big C "my Grandma lets me lick all of her Tupperware and isn't even worried about my goobers"

Monkey: "my Grandma has me over for sleepovers and gives me snuggles, takes me to the gym and to the Baby Shoppe"

Big C: "my Grandma sings me silly songs"

Monkey "my Grandma makes me my favorite foods and lets me help her make dessert"

Big C "yeah? Well my Grandma gives me a silly bath"

Monkey "my Grandma gives me a silly bath too"

Saje "listen, you guys both have a wonderful Grandma but my mom is better. She took a great big pause in her career and her life to raise me. She gave me her best years and all of her self. Then, now that I have kids of my own, she helps me by sharing her experiences raising me."

Dave: "you guys are all right-you are all talking about the same wonderful, awesome, fantastic GRANDMA CAROL!!!"

Monkey, Big C and Saje: "your right, we are! Happy Mother's Day Grandma Carol!"

Arrrr me hearties!!

BigC is home in

bed having a peaceful nap and Monkey is over plundering at BigE's place.

Yo ho ho!!

Doing the hokey pokey

"you put your pacifier in, you take your pacifer out, you put your pacifier in and you shake it all about do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all about-hey.

"your parents put your right leg in, you take your right leg out, they put your right leg in but you shake it all about..."

*groan* he just wont keep this thing on!! He isn't actually taking it off. He is just letting us know that he can.

Hi Heidi!

Hi Heidi! Thanks for checking out our blog! We miss you and hope that you are having an awesome summer!!!

Mommy shut down her FB account so she couldn't answer your wall post.

Hugs and kisses, Monkey and BigC

DPoD May 10th - Boys on the swings

On a beautiful May afternoon with the rain holding off, this is what the boys were up to:
(weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee)

DPoD May 9th

Big C no longer considers his Grobag to be a mechanism that will keep him from climbing out of his crib. He's found a way to undo the zipper and get himself free. He has however decided to stay in his Grobag for the time being. So long as he stays on the inside of the crib this isn't that big of a problem. We are already investigating a solution.

You've got to give the little guy some credit, he's certainly determined. It's tough to be frustrated and impressed with his intellect at the same time. Expecially when he's this cute.

DPoD May 8th

Monkey pensively waiting to go outside and play.

So just how many car seats has it been now?

I take a little bit of abuse since I change car seats just about every time I take a shower. So just how many car seats has it been? There have been 19 total car seats through the door. Some have been repeats though (for instance, three different Graco Cargo Platinums, two Graco Safe Seats). So the total number of unique models of car seats through my door is now at 11.

First we had a Graco Snugride. Then an Alpha Omega for rear facing, then forward facing. Since I could see that Monkey was going to be too tall for the Alpha Omega (it only goes to a 50th percential child for height) I picked up an Evenflo Vision. I bought the Vision then discovered that the manufacturer had made a mistake with the expiry dates. I returned the seat since I didn't want to deal with it. I brought it to the attention of Transport Canada and a Consumer Information Notice was issued. http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/childsafety/notices/TP14563C/2007c01/menu.htm.

I borrowed a Safety 1st Enspira from a friend when we were expecting Big C so that my sister could come and pick Monkey up while I was giving birth.

Then I was in a collision with my car seats (but not my kids) in the car. The insurance company wrote me a cheque immediately. I bought an Alpha Omega Elite (AOE) for Monkey and a Graco Safe Seat for Big C. Then I was offered a brand new Safe Seat as a loaner so I returned mine and bought an Alpha Omega Elite for Big C to use later.

Before I used them, a nice fabric Eddie Bauer went on sale at Toys R Us. So I returned the AOEs and picked up the pretty ones. None of these seats were a good fit in our car rear facing and the AOEs were not going to be tall enough forward facing.

Luckily for me, one of the new pretty seats faded really badly in the first month. As it turns out, they were having a problem with that dye lot. I took the opportunity to return the seats to the store and chose something that would be a better fit. I picked up a Britax Roundabout from Kiddytown for Big C (I can't begin to express how beautifully it fits in our tiny little car rear facing). I also bought a Britax Marathon for Monkey but Dave made me return it the same day.

I went on line and ordered A Summit from Costco. Unfotunately the specs that they had on line were incorrect so I returned the seat since it wasn't any better than the ones I had before for beight and weight requirements. So I went to Sears and bought a Graco Cargo Platinum for Monkey.

The first Graco Cargo arrived in a really beat up box. I was concerned that the seat may have been damaged so I returned it and ordered a new one. The second one arrived with part of the styrofoam broken off, so I called the manufacturer who sent me a new shell. All of the Graco Cargos had been really hard to adjust the harnesses (I am told this is true for all of them with children less than or around 30 lbs but I have not verified that) so I just returned the last one and picked up a Safety 1st Apex (currenly the tallest seat on the Canadian market from what I understand). I have noticed that it has a 5 year expiry on it (it should be 6) and I have let Transport Canada know about it (stay tuned!) but I like the seat and am keeping it for now.

Up until now I have sworn by the Roundabout. While I still love the seat and the awesome way that it fits in the back of smaller cars, Big C is a VERY tall child and is a matter of months away from being too tall for it in the rear facing position. He is 14.5 months old, 22 lbs and walking, running, and even climbing so he could go forward facing...I love him too much to risk it, so I am keeping him rear facing until he reaches 30 lbs (if you don't understand why, watch this movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRP7ynNI8mI).

The opportunity presented itself to leverage some of my current assets and a Britax Marathon (in the cowmooflage pattern) has been purchased for me (it should arrive in a couple of weeks).

You would think that I would finally be done now, but 2 days ago an interim order passed allowing car seats to go to 65 lbs in Canada (and mine only go to 48 lbs) so stay tuned to see how that goes. There may be a couple more in the future!

DPoD May 7th - Smokey and the Bandit

Saturday night there were 3 events on television that prompted taking notice:

1) Game 5 of the Ottawa / New Jersey series - largely a yawner, but with the desired outcome

2) Saturday Night Live highlights of the 90's - a little more entertaining, especially the Red Hooded Sweatshirt song by Adam Sandler (ramma lamma ding dong)

3) Smokey and Bandit - it had it all, the Burt Reynolds mustache, an old Trans Am and a dog riding in the cab of an 18 wheeler. Woo hoo.

It seems that the boys were even inspired to do their own re-enactment of the movie!!

DPoD May 6th - Welcome Mr. Bunny

Bunny alert! Bunny alert!!!

We got a fence to keep the kids in.

We planted a beautiful garden to make the yard look nice.

We added mulch to keep the weeds down.

Then this.

I plan on starting the blueprints for the bunny-pult any moment now.

DPoD May 5th

The making of a Houdini???

Big C recently discovered the Deacon's bench in the front hallway. He also discovered the joy of climbing in and out of it. He has become quite adept and we're sure that this will evolve not only into many games of hide 'n seek, but also into a little escape artist.

DPoD May 4th

Trampoline baby!!!!