The Thomas Stuff is Back

The Thomas stuff arrived two days ago. Finally. We shipped it off in June. Monkey has long since forgotten about it. We may be giving them to the boys for Christmas.

All in all they are fine, the musical caboose doesn't work. Idiots.

Quote of the day-Inappropriate

So we are sitting at supper and Monkey said "mommy, I have bougers"

Mommy: "yes honey, blow your nose then"

Monkey: "did I say something innapropriate mommy?"

Mommy: "uhh, no and wow!"

Monkey aces his first exam

It was an eye exam and he smoked it!! The eye doctor said that he has fantastic vision, even for someone his age. He has 20/20. He has lots of room to grow and develop normally in his head and eye sockets. She was also able to determine that he is not colour blind. That means that, barring something like him developing MS, he will not become colour blind as it is something that you are born with.

YAY!!

He decided that he wants glasses regardless of what the doctor says. We looked at the little display ones but they are $80 and we all know full well that this phase will go pretty quickly. As it turns out, the doctor had a diaplay pair of adult glasses that she gave him-I love our eye doctor!!

3 reasons not to wear a winter coat in your car seat

1-the instruction manual says not to do it- the law says you have to follow your instruction manual, so doing it is illegal

2-the car seat has never been tested with that much bulk in it.

3-it adds too much bulk inside the car seat straps that will compress in a collision and would cause your child to be slammed around inside thier straps.

Morning WBs

So the blog has been a little slow lately. For those of you in need of your fix, here is a series of pictures taken from our morning.

We have a winner!

The real answer is piece of cheese with a bite missing and a slice of celery floating in milk - all inside a Pizza Hut cup.
Aunt H was the closest.
Honourable mention goes to Heidi for her cretive responses.
Aunt H, please drop by chez WB for your 2 fabulous prizes!!

Kids who sleep more weigh less: study

I guess if we want big C to put weight on, we should start keeping him up more *chuckle*. That isn't quite how it works, but it is an interesting read.

Rested kids more likely to be active, study finds

Last Updated: Monday, November 5, 2007 11:53 AM ET

The Associated Press

Here's another reason to get the kids to bed early: More sleep may lower their risk of becoming obese.

University of Michigan researchers have found that every additional hour per night a third-grader spends sleeping reduces the child's chances of being obese in sixth grade by 40 per cent.

The less sleep children got, the more likely the children were to be obese in sixth grade, no matter what the child's weight was in third grade, said Dr. Julie Lumeng of the University of Michigan, who led the research.

If there was a magic number for the third graders, it was nine hours, 45 minutes of sleep. Sleeping more than that lowered the risk significantly.

The study appears in the November issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Lack of sleep plays havoc with two hormones that are the "yin and yang of appetite regulation," said endocrinologist Eve Van Cauter of the University of Chicago, who was not involved in the new study.In experiments by Van Cauter and others, sleep-deprived adults produced more ghrelin, a hormone that promotes hunger, and less leptin, a hormone that signals fullness.

Another explanation: Tired kids are less likely to exercise and more likely to sit on the couch and eat cookies, Lumeng said.

Dr. Stephen Sheldon, director of sleep medicine at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital, praised the study and called for more research. He said children's sleep may be disturbed by breathing problems — some caused by being overweight, such as sleep apnea, and some caused by enlarged tonsils and adenoids.

"I'm not so sure we have enough information yet on cause and effect," said Sheldon, who was not involved in the study.

Researchers used data from an existing federal study and focused on 785 children with complete information on sleep, and height and weight in the third grade and sixth grade. The children lived in 10 U.S. cities.

The study found that on average, the third graders got about 9½ hours sleep, but some slept as little as seven hours and others as much as 12 hours.

Of the children who slept 10 to 12 hours a day, about 12 per cent were obese by sixth grade. Many more — 22 per cent — were obese in sixth grade of those who slept less than nine hours a day.

The researchers took into account other risk factors for obesity, such as the children's Body Mass Index in third grade, and still found the link between less sleep in third grade and obesity in sixth grade. They acknowledged that factors they did not account for, such as parents' weight or behaviour, may have contributed to the risk.

Save the date

Before the craziness of the holidays gets underway we are thinking of the kid's birthday parties.  Currently I am thinking of having Monkey's either the 12, or 19th of January and Big C's on February 9.  Does that work for people that want to be there?  Please let me know in the comments section or by email.  This is lots of notice and the dates are pretty fluid.

 

 

What do the boys want for Christmas and birthdays?

I am starting to get this question more and more often. If this is something that you were wondering, we're starting to think about it now.


So what is Monkey in to?

• Everything to do with the movie Cars.
• He is growing out of Thomas.
• He loves games,
• he loves to read.
• He is learning French in school.
• He was Buzz Lightyear for Halloween.
• He enjoys flashlights
• He likes to dress up
• he loves to drive stuff around
• He likes to play with Play Doh, he would love moulds and stuff

What is Big C all about?

• He loves trains, and especially Thomas
• He loves contruction vehicles like dump trucks, tractors, diggers, back hoes et all
• He loves firetrucks, helicopters, planes and motorcycles
• He loves to drive vehicles around on the floor
• He likes dinosaurs
• They would both love a spout for the tub tap called the flo boon
• He is starting to learn his colours
• He likes balls

Those are some ideas to start off. We'll update as we think of more.

The early bird gets the worm

Every day is free day around these parts!! This morning Dave let me sleep in until 7, then he went to bed. I got the call from The Bussey Family so I went to breakfast with the boys sans Dave. On our way there we noted a giant yellow bike trailer thingy with a sign on it that said "free". I wasn't about to drag this thing with me to breakfast so I left it.

On the way home, it was still there. One word "yoink". I loaded it on the wagon and off we went. It refused to stay on the wagon so I finally just handed the handle to Monkey and he held on to it and we towed it home.

Dave was looking down from the window when we pulled in and gave me his usual look when I do stuff like this. Then, begrudgingly, he found it a home in the garage. It is called a Cannondale Bugger. I grabbed this shot from the interweb. I was a little frightened by some of the pictures that come up under the google search "bugger bike". Do it sometime if you are interested, just don't do it at work!!

DPoD November 2nd - Can you Identify this?

Congratulations to Mahmew for making the 'Best' Pumpkin! Please see Shay-la-la for your fabulous prize*.

Our next fabulous prize* contest is about to begin.

Please identify the item in the photo for a fabulous prize*!!!

You can submit your entries by making a comment before midnight, November 5th for the chance ** to win a fabulous prize*.

Entrants whose last name is WB are ineligible.

See contest rules and regulations for details.

*the term 'fabulous prize' in no way indicates that there is either a prize or that it is fabulous. All references to a fabulous prize are purely fictional. The fabulous prize does not reflect the opinion of the viewer, editor, blog-poster or reader. Prize may not be exactly as shown. **odds of winning depend on the number of entries. Actual odds of winning are 1/947, 325, 894.2

*** by reading the above statements the reader assumes all legal and civil responsbilities regarding the awarding of fabulous prizes. The owndership is not responsible for lost or stolen articles.

Check out the Pumpkin Poll!

Please vote in the column to the right (it's beneath the new 'school expenditures' comment).
There is a contest on right now and there will be fabulous prizes for the 'winner'.
No asking who made which pumpkin!!

DPoD November 1st - The Sockless C

Big C has taken to a new pre-nap ritual. He has been walking around his room, playing with his toys, being generally silly and taking his sweet time to go to sleep. His new thing however is removing his socks and defiantly throwing them over the gate so that he can no longer gain access to them. I seem to recall that Monkey did the same thing, except he did this with his bear Manni and got REALLY upset until either Manni was returned or he fell asleep in a sad little puddle of tears. Nonetheless, here's Big C's socks just out of reach and here's Big C's naked feet!

Halloween 2007

We got started right at 5:30. Every year at 5:30 it is dark. Not this year, not with daylight savings being messed up. So we were the first ones out. A bunch of houses were not ready, but many of them were. We even managed to arrive as one good sport was just pulling in to his driveway. Big C spent a great deal of time in the wagon just hanging out. Not really getting in to the whole thing. Normally taking a ride in the wagon is the whole point of the outing, the free candy was lost on him.Monkey and his friend BigE had been prepped in school and were more than ready. BigE was happy to show Big C the ropes and he was able to do about one house for every two that the older ones got done.

There were many happy choruses of "we're the candy guys" from Monkey in place of the traditional "trick or treat". There was also a lot of "umm, can I have some Smarties too please, they are my favorite". Grandma should be proud. Or maybe he just remembers the Smarties getting stolen by Grandma in years past and he knew that he needed extra. He actually did a remarkable amount of negotiating right on the door steps. Some guy gave him playdoh, but not blue playdoh. Oh Monkey spoke up, you can bet on it. They were trading between BigE, the neighbour and Monkey. It went on for at least 3 solid minutes.

He figured out that if he told people that he was also collecting for his brother, they would give him twice as much. At one point BigE was even trying to send Monkey in his place since Monkey was so good at it. At one point Big C took a rest at some random person's picnic table. Hey, it was sitting on the front lawn and he is always told that he has to sit in order to eat. Putting two and two together, he was hoping to get some candy in!

They had a great night and we packed it in by about 7.

DPoD October 31st - Hallowe'en Hair

Today was the day that we went right into getting Monkey's hair turned blue. Mommy got the goods and they did a trial run at supper last night. There were a lot of smiles and some very happy shouting 'it's BLUE!'.

Then Monkey found out that there were other colours. Other colours that he could put into his hair too. Please take a look at our little Monkey in a rainbow of colours.

Thanks mommy. I LOVE IT!

DPoD October 30th - Carving Pumpkins WB Style

Today was the perfect day to carve pumpkins. Mommy had brought them in last night so that they would be nice and warm when it was time for carving and Monkey was all ready to go from the moment that we walked in the door. Now, Daddy didn't know that you had to draw on the pumpkins first, so it was a learning process. Monkey drew on the pumpkins that he chose, including the one that he brought back from the day the pumpkin patch with mommy or was it grandma? I don't remember. He certainly knew which one was his.

He did the drawing and Daddy followed up with the carving. The Hallowe'en pumpkin carving knives were nowhere to be found, so we did it old school. Monkey drew on his little pumpkin and got to work on using the world's smallest spoon to carve out the inside. Daddy meanwhile got to work on his 2 pumpkins. It was a great time and we even had 2 separate bowls for the insides. One for putting on the lawn, not in composter as to avoid growing pumpkins randomly throughout our garden like at the old place, and one for putting in the oven. Monkey had never sampled cooked pumpkin seeds before, but I think they're his new favourite. Daddy many have mentioned something about them having lots of nutrients. Anyhow, he thinks that they're great.

The Jack O'Lanterns are now proudly displayed in front of chez WB to delight and amuse our friends that drop by. We hope everyone has a happy Happy Hallowe'en!

DPoD October 28th - TRAIN PINS!

Aunt H stopped by recently and had something incredibly special for the little WB's.(I once again apologize for the delay in this). She came in the front door wearing some very special momentos for the boys. She showed them not only pins, but train pins. And not any ordinary train pins...these were 'team name' train pins. Acquired through some aggressive on-line auctioning, these little beauties were the result of searching and scavenging on the internet, then outbidding international competition to bring them home. I think that there are some collectors in the UK who may be monitorring this blog now to find out just who are the lucky owners of their sought-after treasures. Gentlemen, I hope that these smiles make you as happy as these little guys are.

The boys were both VERY excited. Monkey chose the pin with the team name prominently displayed at the bottom. His smile is still ear to ear and we have to remember each day to take it off before it ends up in the laundry. He wears it with pride and is eager to tell everybody about what the pin is all about.

Big C had the pin put on him, but needed to make his own close inspection to check it out. It went something like this:

'hmmm, what's this new thing on my chest?'

'it looks like, but it can't be...no way...really???'

'Train....TRAIN....TRAIN!'

(this really was a look of joy)

Thank you Aunt H.

We love them.

DPoD October 27 - The Hitchin'

This wekeend marked a monumental event for the B side of the WB family. The relatives were in town for a wonderful of one of their own - Dr. Ew. The beautiful ceremony took place at a gorgeous church downtown and then the reception followed at a fabulous location as well. There were plenty of good times had by all, lots of cajoling during the 'make the couple kiss contest', some foolery the next morning at the breakfast at our place and lots of fun had by all. It was a great weekend for the ceremony and we felt blessed to have so much of our family get together and spend time in our home.

Congratulations to the newly married couple.

Consumer Product Safety News: New posting / Nouvelles de la Sécurité des produits de consommation : nouvel avis

Provided here for your convenience is a link to a new recall notice:

"Blooming Garden", "A Pirate's Life", "Princess in Training" Children's Furniture

http://209.217.71.106/PR/recall-retrait-e.jsp?re_id=243
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Voici à titre d'information, un lien vers un nouvel rappel:

Meubles pour enfants "Blooming Garden", "A Pirate's Life", "Princess in Training"

http://209.217.71.106/PR/recall-retrait-f.jsp?re_id=243

DPoD October 26th - Another beautiful fall day