"Over the Tummy Virus, Now a Bad Cough, Salmon, Spoon, Words, Egg Whites"

Well, you got over that tummy virus that knocked Daddy off his feet. Everyone got it except Auntie Jen and Mommy.

Now you have this horrible cough that includes a runny nose as of yesterday. Of course, our crappy clinic down the road prescribed a puffer. We're not doing that. We're watching to make sure you don't have pneumonia because a girl from daycare has pneumonia.

I really fell off the 'food introduction boat'. Finally, I hopped back on this week. You've had salmon now and loved it, but you're still not a big fan of white fish. You've also had egg whites now, so you can have whole egg omlettes. You enjoyed your eggs two days ago.

Grandma watched you yesterday because you were too sick for daycare and Daddy wanted to take you to the doctor. Now mommy is off today because she was literally getting 'worried sick' about the possibly snowy driving conditions and your cough.

You've been copying lots of words. You like to close the bathroom door and say, "Closed", but it sounds more liked "Kroah". You like to try to copy us saying, "Cat". Grandma taught you to say, "Uh oh".

Also, you've been using a spoon. You don't scoop things up with the spoon, but I load it, you pick it up, and you put it in your mouth the right way.

Too cute!

"Dry Skin, So Sickly, New Year's Eve, Signing Update, and Potty Training Update"

Well, it started out that you had dry skin. You had a patch or two quite some time ago. The doctor said it was from the winter. I started to wonder if it was from allergies, like to oranges.

I had been giving you diluted orange juice while you had that second really bad cold. I stopped giving you the orange juice. We started putting cortizone cream on the skin. It got better, but it's not gone yet.

You were really sick the day before yesterday. You vomited 4 times and then have had diarrhea ever since. Daddy also got sick. Dave, Ryan, Wes, and Jack did too. What we originally thought was food poisoning from Japanese New Year or from New Year's Eve instead seems to be a really bad stomach bug that Auntie Erica's parents had. Whew, it was a doozy. Dave even had to go to the hospital!

We did have a wonderful New Year's Eve. We went to Auntie Erica's. You went to bed shortly after we arrived. Like usual, at Auntie Erica's, you fell asleep like a good boy, and stayed asleep. You let us sleep in the next morning, thank goodness because we didn't get to sleep until about 3:30am.

The next day, we went to Japanese New Year at Kaela's. It was so delicious, but you stayed home with Auntie Kim and Uncle Paul.

Auntie Kim and Uncle Paul also watched you on Wednesday when I had to go get some stuff done at work.

You've had a rough, fussy, sick week.

You are starting to be more consistent with using signs. You still sign 'dirty', but that one is inconsistent. Perhaps this is because you aren't really 'dirty' as often now that you use the potty more and seem to be regulating yourself more. You sign 'water' now, 'more', and 'finished'. You've been doing these for a few weeks off and on, but they are very definite now. I can ask you if you're finished on the potty or at the high chair and you will shake your hands. Who knows if you actually know what it means, but you know when it's used. It was kind of funny at lunch today when I went to move your tray. I guess you thought I was taking it away and that we were done and you started signing 'finished'. When I moved the tray and kept it on, you got a little upset with me. Oops! Sorry!

"Crazy Christmas, Pineapple, Granny Ziegler's Stuffing, Jarred Food Poops, Standing, the Bell"

Well, we had Christmas and you had a great time. You ripped a bit of paper. You played with boxes. You had some Christmas dinner. You got LOTS of toys.

Here's some things you received...
A ride on plane, the Fisher Price Learning Home, a Peek a Blocks farm and turtle, shape sorters, the Fisher Price Bouncing Zebra, stuffed toys and puppets, a top, a bead chaser, a vibrating elephant, and much more.

I made you a special stocking that has pockets on the outside and it was almost filled up to the top!

You had jarred food over the holiday and you went from pooping twice a day to about five times a day! Yuck! Back to homemade food for sure now!

You loved Grannie Ziegler's stuffing. You could've eaten it all day. You crazy kiddo!

You tried pineapple over the holiday in the form of fruit salad.

You've been pulling up to furniture non-stop. You aren't quite 'cruising' yet, but you are definitely taking some steps toward other directions.

You've been trying to copy words that we say like 'cookie', 'cat', and 'duck'.

Your favourite toy lately has been the little wedding bell from Daddy and I's wedding. You love to walk around with it or Monkey in your mouth, or should I say crawl around?

You are sure growing fast. The jarred food got you up to 19.5 lbs!

The next time I update this, it will be 2007!

"Crawling Crawling, Getting Chased, Pulling Up, Cat Food, Pineapple, Grandma, Cookie, Duck"

You are crawling everywhere and I have yet to remember to replace the tape in the video camera so I can record it. You've been crawling now for about 4.5 weeks, maybe 5. As suspected, you never commando crawled. You just went straight to proper crawl. You are crawling everywhere.

You like gettting chased when you're crawling.

You can pull up on furniture. I think I already wrote that you did it for the first time, geesh, almost 4 weeks ago! Now it's just natural instinct. The motivation is, of course, the laptop. You love the keyboard, the screen, and especially the mouse. You click it and do all sorts of crazy things to my screen.

Yesterday, in the kitchen, while exploring, you popped some cat food into your moouth before I could do anything about it. Grrrrrrrrrr. You, unfortunately, didn't seem to mind it.

Speaking of food introduction, you'll be trying pineapple on our trip to the Island because you'll be having jarred food, and Daddy bought you fruit salad.

I had my first three days of work and Grandma and Auntie Kim watched you. You had your horrible cold, so there was some 'cuddling to sleep'. Poor little guy. You had fun with Grandma and Kim.

You are copying what we say lots. You were trying to say, "Cookie" at the lunch table. You said, "Caca". When Grandpa stopped by so we could give him his birthday gift, you were copying him saying, "Duck". You said, "Duu".

"Baba for Real, Potty Crawl, Dada, Farzzle's World, Stand Up Legs, Almost Lost Monkey, Oranges, The Worst Cold Ever"

I walked into your bedroom yesterday morning, and clear as day you said, "Baba". This is the word we use for 'bottle'. You didn't say, "bababababab", you said, "Baba". Like you were saying to me, "Mommy, it's time for my bottle. I only had half as much as normal last night."

Three times now, you've crawled to the potty, and after taking off your diaper in the off chance that you may be trying to tell me that you have to pee, you peed! Coincidence?

You've really been saying Dada. I think you mean Daddy. It seems like you know what you're talking about.

Correction. This morning, while playing your leaning over peek-a-boo game with Daddy, you looked right at him about three times, and said, "Dada". Yup, I'm going to say that Baba and Dada are your first words.

You love Farzzle's World. It's this cartoon with an animated baby that only babbles, occasionally saying the odd word like 'ball'. You are mesmerised by him. He has a big imagination. Anyhow, the day before yesterday, Farzzle had some cups that he was knocking over with a ball. You saw this, and crawled over to your cups, and grabbed one to play with whilst watching Farzzle.

Many times now, while you are crawling, you all of a sudden take your knees off the ground so you are up on your hands and feet. It looks like you're getting ready to stand, but you don't.

While we were Christmas shopping this week, we lost Monkey in Army and Navy. Luckily, one of the clerks found him for us. Phew. I think I was definitely more worried than you.

You tried oranges the other day. Just in time for you to get your WORST COLD EVER! Your nose is running like a tap. You were so pouty and moany today. You poor little guy. You hardly napped. You were miserable. Luckily, you were good for Daddy when I went out with Auntie Jen. After this cold, I'm washing Monkey for sure. He is so stinky and covered in so much snot, it's just gross.

"Grannie Ziegler and Eggs"

Grannie Ziegler came to see you and stay with us this weekend. This was her first time getting to see you since you were 6 weeks old! She was very excited to see you and you were very excited to see her. You played together, she fed you, and she gave you lots of love and hugs. We can't wait to see her again at Christmas, and you'll get to see Papa Bud too!

You tried egg yolk for the first time yesterday. You loved it cooked up with cheese. Today, you weren't as hungry. It seems that your growth spurt has ended and you're back to normal. You'll be trying oranges today!

"Standing, Eating Cake, Talking, Being Chased, Sleeping, Pottying, Daycare"

On Saturday, December 2nd, you pulled yourself up to standing (or so says Uncle Paul). I'll have to believe him because you've done it more since then. You like to pull up to kneeling lots to play with your activity table.

You keep crawling under things and then bonking your head when you sit up, like under the end tables or your piano.

Jack's first birthday was this past weekend, and you got to go to the farm and see animals. You also at cake and enjoyed it!

Even though you say mamamamam dadadadada all the time, I really think you know that Daddy is dada and I am mumum. You seem to be saying it to us or in reference to us. It also sounded like you said "Hello" into your phone the other day.

I've realised that if I get down on my hands and knees and say, "I'm going to get you!", you'll crawl away as fast as possible. You seem to love getting chased.

PU/PD is going well. You are usually falling asleep with 5-20 minutes and usually with no crying at all. Congratulations on learning to fall asleep without your paci! It's hard to put you down for naps when you're overtired and overstimultated like when we return from Starbucks.

You're still peeing on the potty, when I remember to take you! That's the toughest part. You are comfortable on your potty and you like the books that we read when you're on your potty. You've pooped in the potty about three times! Our best day yet, is 6/12 pees in the potty. Really, it's Mommy being potty-trained, not you.

On Monday, we did a trial run for daycare. We got you ready on time and arrived on time even though we got stuck in traffic. You didn't cry for the first hour. I think that is when Separation Anxiety set in and you started to freak out a little. You held and sucked monkey like crazy. Tonight you'll go to daycare at dinnertime so you can 'bond' with Dia and her son.

You will be 9 months old tomorrow!

"Growth Spurt Growth Spurt, Very Hungryyyy, Clap Clap Clap, Poop and Pee"

Last night, you were h-u-n-g-r-y! You are not a hungry guy normally. I think you're going through a growth spurt. You were definitely letting me know that I was late with your dinner. I had already thawed an extra veggie because I've noticed these past couple days that you've been more eager to eat. So, I gave you some pieces of rice cake while I got the rest of your dinner ready. You ate 3 large veggie cubes (cauliflower, peas, squash), 1 fruit cube (guava and pear) mixed with 2 tablespoons of rice cereal, and an arrowroot for dessert. You still kept opening your mouth when I'd sign and say 'more?'. I didn't have anything else thawed, so I cracked open a jar of carrots/peas. YOU ATE THE WHOLE THING! You followed this with wanting an extra 2 ounces of formula! Crazy!
Now, about the formula and thus, the evening.
When we went to the grocery store this past weekend, they were out of your formula (Enfamil A+ DHA/ARA for 6+months). Rather than just wait or get the regular Enfamil A+ DHA/ARA, we decided to give the 6+months version of your old formula a try (President's Choice, like a knock off of Enfamil). It is $10.00 cheaper for the same amount, so it was worth a try.
Now the reason we stopped using it before, is we realised it had much to do with why you were spitting up, and possibly night waking long ago. We thought we'd still try this anyhow, since you're older, and it's the 6+ month one, so it's slightly different.
I didn't want to switch cold turkey, so I mixed half and half (old and new). Well, all three of those first bottles resulted in a bit of spit up. It wasn't too bad, but nonetheless. I thought, well, I'll just finish up the jug, and then I'll stop using it.
Remember how I said, you ate all that food and had the extra 2 ounces?
Well, I put you to bed, and you were only fussing a bit. You started to cry and sounded a bit muffled. I headed in to to pu/pd and flip you onto your back. Well, when I turned you over, you were covered in puke!!! Ewwwww! It was on your head, your face, your sleeves. Oh you poor guy! Daddy and I have decided that no matter how cheap it is, we're not buying it anymore!
I cleaned you up, and you went to sleep pretty quickly.

PU/PD
Well, you've been going down pretty well without your paci for your morning nap and bedtime, but that afternoon nap was killer yesterday. It took an hour! You've only been napping for 30 minutes in the morning (even with W2S) and only an hour in the afternoon! You usually sleep a total of 3 hrs. I'm chalking this up to 'change', and hope you'll go back to normal soon.
Today, you went down well for your morning nap and stayed down for 1.5 hours! Yay, I have my boy back! But then the afternoon nap was a rough time because we stayed out late at Starbucks with Auntie Jen. Sorry! However, you slept for another 1.5 hours! That's my boy!

YOU CAN CLAP NOW!!!

TODAY YOU PEED AND POOPED ON THE POTTY! AND PEED AGAIN AFTER YOUR MORNING NAP! AND PEED AGAIN AFTER YOUR AFTERNOON NAP! AND PEED AGAIN AFTER YOUR LATE AFTERNOON DRINK! AND PEED AGAIN AFTER YOUR BEDTIME BOTTLE! YAY!

YOU ALSO PEED IN THE BATHTUB.... BOO!

YOU'RE CRAZY AWESOME! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!

"Last Tooth, Tuna, Pull My Hair, Pick Up / Put Down, No Daycare, The Vacuum and The Hand Blender"

Your fourth top tooth came in yesterday! You didn't put up much of a fuss this time.

You tried tuna yesterday! You love it!

You've really started to take an interest in my hair. You like to pull my hair. You have a knack for pulling those back ones really hard! Ouch! My istinctual reaction is to attack or throw...... but I restrain myself of course! You little bum! It's weird what pain does. I've got to remember you're in my arms, and you're a baby wanting to play, not a vicious monster out to cause pain!

So we've been trying to wean the paci by doing the Baby Whisperer technique called pu/pd. It's been a lot of crying and rough times for these past 3 days, but it's gotten better and better. Last night you went to sleep with almost no fuss, and for this morning's nap, you went down within 15 minutes with only one intervention from me! Amazing. I think we're almost done! I am so proud of you! You are so strong!

Well, we couldn't make it for our second attempt at a daycare-trial-run! We woke up on time (Mommy at 5:30am, Daddy at 6:15am). We were ready on time at 7:00am. We headed out to the car only 5 minutes late, and.....

I couldn't open the back doors to get you in the car. Daddy tried to warm up the car to no avail. Then we heard the traffic reports and decided it wasn't worth the risk.

The vacuum - You are mesmerised by the vacuum. If you can't see me when I'm vacuuming, you cry.

The Hand Blender - What really upsets you is the hand blender for my shakes. You just scream in shear terror!

"Let it Snow, Soo-Soo Go"

Well, you are encountering your first snowfall. It began yesterday. It's BIG! There's about 9 inches on the parked cars. We bundled you in your snow gear, and took you to Mill Lake Park for some pictures on the swings.

You are having a rough time at getting to sleep yesterday and today, and probably tomorrow. I am trying desperately to wean your paci. It is definitely a 'prop' as opposed to a comfort. You can't fall asleep without it (unless you're in the car), and if you wake during a nap, you find it hard to settle. So, I've started "Pick Up / Put Down" from the Baby Whisperer to wean it. It's been horrible for a whole day, but it got better this evening.

You went to sleep without your pacifier for your afternoon nap, and your bedtime.

Good Job my little special-bum-cheeky-monkey! You poor thing! It will all be over soon!

"Raisin Recount, Go Go Guava, Blissful Brussels Sprouts, and Fantastic Figs, Crazy Carnivor, Crawling"

Okay, so the other day I said you tried raisins. I actually don't know if you grabbed the raisins off of Jack's tray or not. I'll give you raisins soon.

Today you tried guava, steak, and figs. Oops, that's a lot at once! You loved all of it. The guava was a beautiful combo with pears. The steak... you just kept eating it and eating it and eating it and eating it. You are definitely your daddy's son! The figs, I but in half and turned inside out for you to eat. You looked like you were eating candy!

About 3 or 4 days ago, I forgot to write that you tried brussels sprouts. You loved those too. I just cut up the whole head and you gobbled it up! You've been really into your meals lately!

Here's the BIG NEWS!

YOU CRAWLED TODAY WHEN GRANDMA, GRANDPA, AUNTIE KIM, UNCLE PAUL AND KIRSTIE WERE WATCHING YOU!

When Mommy and Daddy came home you showed us too. You just moved your knees a few times, but it was a proper crawl.

What a big boy! You've peed on the potty 3 times now! One time was at Auntie Erica's on the fold up potty!

"Climb to Kneel, Big Boy Bath, Pee Pee Potty, Rabble Rabble Babble Babble, Raisins, Mommy's Birthday"

It was Mommy's birthday yesterday and you've been out non-stop with Mommy (me) for two whole days. You played with your toys this evening as though you had never seen them before and they were a brand new gift! For Mommy's birthday, you went for a breakfast at Jill's on the 21st. You were a very good boy and had fun playing with the girls. You didn't want to go down for your nap, but eventually you did. You poor thing, you were sooooo tired. On the 22nd, you went to lunch with Grampa and Mommy at Milestone's. You were excellently behaved. They pretty much sectioned off a little carpetted play area for you! It was great! You also went for lunch with Auntie Erica and Mommy. You were well behaved there too. You tried a couple of Jack's raisins!

A couple of days ago, you were at your play table, and you used it to pull yourself up to kneeling so you could play!

When Daddy had to work late yesterday, you had a big boy bath in the big tub only. You had a blast!

Mommy bought your potty, and your travel potty today so she could start this "Elimination Communication/Early Start Potty Training" thing with you. You pee peed on the potty the very first time tonight! It was very exciting!

For the past couple of days, your new favourite words have been "Rabble Rabble Babble Babble" like the Hamburgler.

Well, I think that's everything to catch up on. Thanks for giving Mommy a great birthday!

"Cucumber, Cottage Cheese, Guava?, Celery, More Teeth, Teeth Grinding, Funny Naptime, Fuzzy Books, No Kiwi!"

In the past 6 days, you've been busy.

You tried cucumber and you thought it was okay.

You tried cottage cheese and LOVED it. You love it as a finger food and stirred with fruit!

You were supposed to try guava, but there wasn't any in the store.

Today you'll try celery.

On the 15th, you got your other top tooth.

Your right lateral incisor (top right off centre) is just about through. I'll be glad when all of them are through and you can go back to regular sleeping.

When your two top teeth were through you were grinding your teeth at the bedtime bottle. Ewwwww!

As you are on the verge of your crawling milestone, your naps went haywire yesterday and a bit of the day before. Instead of going right to sleep at naptimes and quick to sleep at bedtime, you roll over onto all fours and decide that's a good time to practice crawling. When I come in the room, you start laughing hysterically. YOU GOOF!

You are loving your feely books right now. You go right for the bumpy, fuzzy, rough parts and scratch your fingers on it just like I showed you! So clever! So aware of texture...LOL!

Well, evidently I shouldn't have snuck kiwi into the food introduction. It's highly allergenic and you got a big rash. We'll save that for 1 year old with strawberries! Did you know that 1/3 of the population is allergic to kiwi? News to me!

Oops!

"Tooth Cuttin, Feet Clappin, Crawl to Sittin', Light Switchin, Hand Movin, Hand Clappin Fun"

Okay, so lots has been going on.

It appears that finally after all this pain and some night wakings because of 4 top teeth trying to push their way through, that you have finally cut one of them! Top, middle, left! Yay! One tooth, three more to go, for now!

You like to take my hands and clap them together. You love the sound of clapping.

You love the sound of clapping so much that you love to clap your feet together to make a clapping noise while you're sitting up.

You are sooooo close to crawling. You can commando crawl backwards and have for quite a while, but it was nothing to report because it frustrates you to not be going the direction you'd like to go. For quite a while now, you've liked to lunge forward from sitting so that it looks like you're about to crawl. You eventually would get into a crawl position after kicking out the last leg, and then, nothing. You started doing this more and more, just eventually putting your face down and pushing your legs out, so you're laying on your tummy. For the past few days, you've been doing this lunge non-stop and hang out in the crawl position for a while. Now, you've started moving your hands forward, but can't seem to figure out to bring your legs forward too.

Last night, you finally went from crawl position to sitting!

For the past week, I've been pushing your hand against our light switch to show you how to turn it on and off for your naps to start and end. It's part of our "goodnight radio, goodnight lamp, goodnight aquarium, goodnight mobile, goodnight big light"......... WELL TODAY YOU TURNED OFF THE LIGHT YOURSELF!!! YAY!

"Talking?, On Your Hands and Knees, On and Off, Up Every Hour"

Well, yesterday, after one of your naps, I came in to get you and you were up on your hands and knees with one foot stuck out the crib slats. Does this mean your going to crawl soon? We'll see!

When we go into your room, I get you to turn on the light. Either you coincidentally push it, or you put your hand there and I push. I say, "ON!". When we leave your room, I get you to turn off the light, and the same thing goes on, but with me saying, "OFF!" Well, today, we turned the light OFF and I said, "Yaaaaaaaayyyyy!", and right away you said, "Yaaaaaaaa". It was pretty cool!

Last night and the night before you were up lots. Last night it was almost every hour. I'm very lucky that I can just pop in the pacifier and you go right back to sleep, but...

I can't figure out if you are waking because of teething pain or to look for your paci which I haven't been removing lately. I weaned it long ago, but it seemed to be comforting you during teething pain. Hmmmmm. I've pulled out yor paci for this morning's nap and I'll try to be diligent for the rest of the day! I think I should've just swaddled you last night. You probably would've stayed asleep.

"Butter, Bitter, Teething, Fever, 8 Months Old"

Well, I thought you were getting 'fangs', but it appears as though you are obtaining all four top teeth. Crikies!

I wish they would just come in already. You've been so moody. Back on Tuesday night you had a fever, just a small one, and you threw up you entire dinner, and maybe lunch and breakfast too. Yuck!

We skipped swimming and went grocery shopping instead to 'cool you down'.

You were up lots last night. I was thinking you've had some weird sleeps because you were waking to look for your paci with which I accidentally let you sleep a couple of times. But alas no, I think it's just the teething. I think you're waking in pain.

You put yourself back to sleep or you go right back to sleep once I pop in your paci, but I sure don't like you sleeping with it. However, if it helps ease the pain, then whatever you need.

My poor little cheeky monkey.

Today you received your birthday invitation for Jack's first birthday. I'm very excited to take you to see the animals.

Yesterday we visited Shannon and you got to play with her little son, Brady.

You did something new that I was going to write about last night, but I forgot, so, hmmmm, hopefully I'll remember soon.

You tried butter on November 6th, and you tried kiwi yesterday, November 8th. You didn't seem to notice the butter, and you're trying the kiwi, but you seem to find it bitter.

YOU ARE 8 MONTHS OLD NOW! I can't believe it. I go back to work in about 5 or so weeks, and I'm leaving you at daycare twice a week! I can't believe it. I can't believe that 8 months have gone by, and for that matter, that Jack is turning 1 ! This is just unbelievable. Unbelievable.

"Are You Trying to Talk to Us?"

Well I'm really beginning to think that you are saying 'Dada' for real, and maybe even 'Mama' too. In the morning, you'll yell 'dada' and Daddy will come to see you. When he leaves again, you right away yell, "Dada". Yesterday you kept looking at me and saying, "Mama". Could you know what you're saying? I don't know. I just don't know.

Right now I'm watching you try to climb into the bottom area of your exersaucer. You're squirming around and commando crawling a bit, but backwards.

"Cantaloupe, Grampa, and Butter"

You tried cantaloupe on Friday, and tomorrow you try butter! Mmmmmmm!

Today you got to visit Grampa-Dan at The Keg on Granville Island! You had a good visit! Grampa fed you your bottle and you gave him lots of smiles!

"Bang Bang Bang, Clang Clang Clang"

Well, for quite some time now (probably over the past three to four weeks), you've enjoyed making a racket. You've been enjoying banging your hands down on tables to make noise, on my hands to make a clapping noise, and on your high chair tray to make even more noise (and an incredible mess).

I've been noticing, recently, how much you enjoying banging things together which I think is pretty impressive. You love to bang your blocks together. At music, you were banging the shaker eggs together.

Today was VERY impressive. Today you took your two drumsticks and managed to hit them together for a quite a sound a few times! Good Job Cheeky Monkey!

By the way, at music, last class, you loved playing with this vibrating ball with rubber knobbies on it. It was hilarious to watch. I think I'm going to get you one (from PetSmart, hee hee).

I've been starting to make your Christmas list. I'm going nuts trying to decide what I'd like to get you. I'd really like to get you the Fisher Price Learning Home, Playskool's Dapper Dan, and a V-Smile baby video game system the most, but my list goes on and on! I'm so excited. I'd better start shopping now!

Yesterday we went to Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Kim and Uncle Paul's house for dinner. You had lots of fun playing with everyone and showing off your 'butt scoot'.

Today I read this "Are You Ready to Have Children?" quiz...

MESS TEST: Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Place a fish stick behind the couch and leave it there all summer.

TOY TEST: Obtain a 55-gallon box of LEGO (or you may substitute roofing tacks). Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold. Try to walk to the bathroom or kitchen. Do not scream because this would wake a child at night.

GROCERY STORE TEST: Borrow one or two small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you shop. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.

DRESSING TEST: Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag making sure that all the arms stay inside.

FEEDING TEST: Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert spoonfuls of soggy cereal into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.

NIGHT TEST: Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8-12 pounds of sand. Soak it thoroughly in water. At 3:00 pm, begin to waltz and hum with the bag until 9:00 pm. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10:00 pm. Get up, pick up your bag, and sing every song you have ever heard. Make up about a dozen more and sing these too until 4:00 am. Set alarm for 5:00 am. Get up and make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.

INGENUITY TEST: Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and pot of paint, turn it into an alligator. Now take a toilet paper tube and turn it into an attractive Christmas candle. Use only scotch tape and a piece of foil. Last, take a milk carton, a Ping-Pong ball, and an empty box of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower.

PHYSICAL TEST (Women): Obtain a large bean bag chair and attach it to the front of your clothes. Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove 10 of the beans.

PHYSICAL TEST (Men): Go to the nearest drug store. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask t he clerk to help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store. Go to the head office and arrange for your paycheck to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.

FINAL ASSIGNMENT: Find a couple who already have a small child. Lecture them on how they can improve their discipline, patience, tolerance, toilet training and child's table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they should never allow their children to run wild. Enjoy this experience. It will be the last time you will have all the answers.

via Memorable Moments from Masterworks and Daneille Grimes

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm a little scared!

"Trick or Treat, I Won't Eat Meat"

So, there's a few things to mention.

I forgot to mention a while back that you have been mouthing songs. What I mean by that is that when there is a song on with which you and I are familiar, you try to mouth the words while I'm singing. It's really cute. I think I started realising that you were doing that around two or three weeks ago and kept forgetting to write it down.

On the 31st, you went out trick or treating with Tarrie, Christine, Adam, Matt, Jen, Erin, Lauren, Daddy, and I. You fell asleep at 7:00pm in your stroller. The Joniecs gave you a cute little Beanie Baby ghost holding a pumpkin.

You've been imitating lots of sounds for the past while. If I say dada, you'll say dada. If I say Jack, you say ja (sometimes). If I say ma ma ma, you say ma ma ma. This of course isn't EVERY time, but often, especially if you start it.

You seem to be refusing to eat chicken in its pureed form. I had to give you some tofu quickly today at lunch because you refused to eat your chicken and veggies. ARGGG!

On the 1st of November, you started your Sign and Sing class. You had a blast! You loved the jiggly ball from PetSmart and all the songs! Tomorrow we have Zoom Buggy.

At Sign and Sing, you were scooting. It seems to be your mode of transportation. You sit down, move your feet forward, then scoot up your bum to meet your feet. It looks like you are bouncing around. It's pretty hilarious.

You tried squash today. You're trying herbs too, but I don't know what to try. We've tried dill, parsley, and basil. Are those good? I don't know!