BLOG JANUARY 2011

Saturday January 29, 2010

Torren is eating food...real food. We started him with rice cereal which he didn't like so I switched to sweet potato which he loves. He ate a full jar his first day. He gets mad when we don't get the food fast enough into his mouth. He's not great at eating yet (he doesn't open his mouth up much so you have to kind fo slide it in) but he certainly likes it. Is it making him sleep longer at night? Nope. I think he has Piper's stomach...food just keeps going in. He ate 3/4 of a jar of sweet potato and had a full feed of breastmilk. He's getting up every 2 hours at night to eat still...darn.

He's also figured out how to screech. He loves screeching...brack, brack breeeeeek. He sounds like s happy tyrannosaurus chicken. He's been using the exersaucer a bit more and is figuring out how to use his hands to grab things and pull then uinto his mouth.

Outsidfe we improved the bobsled run which now rockets the girls off the back deck down the hill, scross the pond and up into the cedars at the bottom of the garden. We've been getting lots of snow too so we built a small quinzee on our back deck (well..it's almost done...I still have to finish digging it out completely. The girls decorated it the tall dried grasses from the garden among other items such a hockey sticks.

Last weekend we celebrated both Nana and Grandma's birthdays. The girls LOVE going to parties and seem to be concerned that they might not get invited to a party...they ask me alot..."When it's your birthday Mom can I come to you party?"

We got a new toy...a plasma car! The girls love it. I love it. Sometimes it's fun to just go for a ride around the house on it. I take Torren and hold him on my lap while riding it back and forth. I think Rain would live on it if she could...she's always on it. They are super fun toys if you have a lot of open hardwood floors to ride on.

Torren had his four month checkup (yes more needles too) and I have deemed him perfectly average boy. He is following his growth curve exactly. His weight and head circumference is exactly in the 50 percentile and his height is a bit above that. He was super happy with the doctor (until the shots) and was amused with all the poking and proding...and he was naked, which he LOVES! Some time when he's being fussy I just undress him and let him have naked tummy time.

We went to the zoo yesterday when the girls had a PD day. The gorilla troop was near the window and amusing to watch. The big Daddy gorilla decided he was going to sit in a small feeding bucket...it was funny to see wuch a big gorrila in such a small pail. The baby gorrila was playing around with his older brother who was knocking him about and spinning him around...every so often the baby would crawl up to the Daddy for some quick snuggles and then go back at it with his brother. At one point the brother started getting a bit rough so Mommy interceeded and picked him up. He cuddled in and went for some Mommy milk. My gosh it was like watching a human family interact. Torren likes watching the Orangutans and the fish best.

Baby gorrila



Daddy gorilla in a pail.



Baby ambusing brother.



Quick rescue by Mom



Quick snack of Mommy milk



Our Quinzee in a snowstorm



Torren eating sweet potatoes



Nana's ice cream birthday cake...YUM!



Our new plasma car

Monday January 17, 2010

Torren is rolling over. He does it almost automatically now. You put him on his back..and pop he's over on his tummy. He's also using his jolly jumper (it took him three turns in the sling to get fully versed at bouncing). He's sucking his thumb a lot and slobbering almost all the time. He is also figureing out how to grab objects and then bring them to his mouth. I imagine he'll be chweing just about everything he can get his hands on very soon. He's also very chatty and likes to make all kinds of noises from gurglings to screeches and laughter...oh my, the laughter of a baby can turn any mood around.

He's still not going down for his bedtime (he usually stays up until I go to bed) and he still does not like his crib at night (Only for naps in the day). Still no schedule to speak of either. Nana did manage to get hom down one night while I was out at aerobics. It's certainly harder to work on these things while managing the girls and their needs to. The girls are pretty understanding for four years olds though.

Rain had me laughing one day when she was not happy with the way I was doing something...so she interrupted and said "Watch and learn.", and then proceeded to show me her way.

We borrowed a neat baby bath from one of the mom's from the girls class. It is a reclining seat that suctions cups to the bottom of the tub so that Torren can have a bath with the girls. He loves being able to kick his feet (something eh can't do in the cramped baby bath) and Piper loves having her brother in the tub. She loves having him everywhere she is. She's such a good helper with him.

This past week we had doctor appointments for the girls. They were due for shots too which they took quite well. Neither of them cried at all. Just and "ow" and it was done. Piper had a bit of a sore arm for a few days after that but that was due to her "not having much meat on her arms", or so their friend Sasha explained to me. Rain is about %45 for weight (16.2kg/36 lbs) and %80 for height (107cm/42 inches). Piper is about %50 for weight (18kg/39 lbs) and %97 for height (113cm/45 inches). They got their blood pressure taken, had their eyes, ears, throat heart, lungs, legs, spine checked out. And then they got stickers from the doctor. The funniest moment was when the doctor asked "Who wants to go first.". Neither of them said a word but Rain was silently pointing at Piper ("Take her first....her not me"). Guess who went first...yup. Piper. My brave adventurous girl.

We had a fun weekend building a Quinzee snow shelter (I'll have to add up photos when I get them off the neighbour camera) with Sasha and then were off to Ryley's birthday party. Whoosh...another weekend gone. Opa and Nana were out for dinner one night and Opa made some adjustments to their girls toboggin run out in the backyard...we haven't had to time to try it yet...perhaps tomorrow. There is certainly enough snow now.

You know how you alwasy end up with nicknames for a baby. Well the one we;ve been using most with Torren is Squee. Somehow it fits. That or Mr. Sillypants. Torren likes to make all kind of noises by blowing air on the floor mats



The Ballerina and Wolverine



Squee in the Jolly Jumper

Monday January 10, 2010

Happy New Year. Ben was working New Years Eve and Day so we just went to bed instead of staying up late. Time have changed but I don't miss staying up.

The new year has brought with it swimming lessons (the girls started lessons last Saturday), lots of snow (we have built a toboggonin run in the backyard from the deck down to the frozen pond, skating (Nana and Opa took them to the Civic Centre for some skating which they completely loved! Thy can't wait to go again). The girls are back in school and had a fun day when the Scientists came to the school and they got do do a bunch of hands on experiments in the classroom. They told me all about it afterwards and the experiments they got to do. Palentology, Meteorology, Chemistry and Astronomy. Pretty cool!

Torren is growing SO fast. He's figured out how to suck his thumb. We put him in the jolly jumper and it took him only a few times to figure out how to bounce. He only likes to be in for about 5 minute right now but you can see he likes it. He's also spending more time on the mat on his tummy....holding his head up so well now. He loves to watch TV with Dad (hockey in particular).

We had a fun dinner the night before the crew from out west went home to celebrate Uncle Scott's upcoming 40th birthday. We went to a buffet. Piper ate five plates full and tried all kinds fo food she'd never eaten like mussels. Both the girls loved the buffet style of eating (especially the dessert table)

Things are returning to normal slowly. Still no luck getting Torren to sleep in his crib at night. Ah well...he's pretty snuggly anyways.

Our house beetle....he lives in our kitchen and we find him in different places each day.



Skating with Daddy, Nana and Opa



Piper getting some air time on the backyard toboggin run



First swimming lessons



First time in the Jolly Jumper



The wee-man and accidental rude gestures (he loves chewing his hands)