Visit to DC

This weekend Thomas & Mommy went down to Washington, DC to see her friends. We had a great time. Thomas is a great traveler – he didn’t cry at all on the plane and, after a thorough exploration of the latch that holds the seatback tray table, he slept the whole way. (Of course our Pavlovian use of lullabyes to soothe him may have had something to do with that!)

Thomas went to the Field School to meet Natalia and was loved up and cooed over by all sorts of old friends, especially Stephanie, Tait and Jake (and Chris and Anne). I was shocked to realize that my former students are seniors now – they’re so tall!

Next we visited Ethan & his parents Anna & Todd. Ethan is 2 1/2 weeks younger than Thomas, so the boys are pretty similar in size and attention span.

From there we went to the main attraction: a reunion with my college roommates and their children. (Only baby Alastair couldn’t make it: one mom and two kids does not make for practical travel!) Jennifer & Bob hosted Beth & me in their beautiful home. (Louise stayed with Suzanne & they came over each day.) To get a sense of the weekend imagine 5 children between 18 months and 2 years 3 months running amok in a room full of toys. Now bookend them with 4 1/2 month old Thomas and 6 year old Jack. Voilà – barely controlled chaos – and we moms still managed a few good chats!

On Sunday Thomas and I went to Bobby & Milena’s to meet their 7-month-old Tiana. Bobby’s father was visiting from Bulgaria and he was quite touched to meet Thomas and to see Thomas & Tiana together. The visit (and the whole weekend) really made me realize how lucky I’ve been in my friendships!

Finally we saw Carol and then Cori came by for a while. By then I was so tired I forgot to take pictures! Ah well, the visit was the point.

André was one happy dad when we showed up in Ottawa – and the only one who wasn’t completely exhausted! What a good visit!

First Thanksgiving

The nice thing about being a bi-national family is that we get to celebrate Thanksgiving twice. Although the origins of this holiday are a bit different in Canada and the U.S., the general idea is the same: family and food. Mandy would insist, however, that some of the differences matter. First of all, in Canada we get to choose the day when the big meal takes place: Saturday, Sunday or Monday are all considered acceptable. Not so down in the land of the Pilgrims' pride; in fact, Mandy finds the very of such choice baffling. As well, up in the North we don't have any particular connection between this holiday and insane pre-Christmas shopping; happily Mandy doesn't miss this too much.

This was our first Thanksgiving in our new home, and the first meal of any consequence cooked in the New Kitchen (tm). Strictly speaking, the kitchen is not yet finished since the workers still need to install three windows and reopen our range hood vent, but for all practical purposes it's done, usable, and absolutely marvelous. A big change is that we've moved the dining room table into the kitchen and turned the dining room into a play room for Thomas. The net effect is that we're now spending more time in all of the rooms, rather than congregating only in the living room. Anyhow, the windows should be installed shortly and we're looking forward to declaring this particular chapter of house renovations to be finished.



We were joined by Grandma Leslie, Grandma Patti and Grandpa Yves, who all pitched in to make the meal happen. It was quite a feast, with a tender turkey (brined in a filebox - the only thing large enough to hold it), green beans, mashed potatoes, yams, corn, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. And pies too, three kinds in fact (apple crumble, pumpkin, and apple cranberry). We also made some spanakopita, a small way for us to include my brother D'Arcy, who made this dish for us a few Thanksgivings ago. When he cooked it, the end product was very tasty, but the making of it was a complete fiasco involving one low-level temper tantrum (my brother being both impatient and a perfectionist - a sometimes difficult combination).


In other news, we continue to struggle to get Thomas to sleep for any length of time away from his mom's side. He'll sleep a little bit if he's next to me, but only if we use a bit of bait and switch by letting him fall asleep next to mom and then moving him to me. Anyhow, we're all a bit tired and are trying to systematically and gently get him to sleep more (and for longer) in his crib. Complicating this project is that he has begun to teethe. There's much gnawing and drooling, in fact we've begun using a bib just to keep his shirt dry(ish) (without it he'll soak himself in no time at all). No teeth are showing yet, but we think we can see where they'll come through. All that being said, we're doing well and appreciate that the "problems" we're having are very normal.

(Although this post looks like it was posted by Mandy, it was actually posted by André - just a technoquirk that we didn't know how to remedy.)

Thomas and friends

Grace & Thomas (with their Sophie toys at baby massage class)

Cat Love! Pete helps with nursing & Babbington smiles with Thomas.

Parker and Thomas (in September)

You know your life has changed

when the fact that Thomas fell asleep in his crib is worth 3 phone calls and a blog entry. What have I become? But... THOMAS FELL ASLEEP IN HIS CRIB and he stayed there! He's been asleep for 45 minutes (though I just heard a cough - oh no).

45 minutes without me. Amazing. I can't quite believe that I have been reduced to blogging about Thomas's sleep, but then again I never thought that I would spend months of my life sleeping in chunks of 4 hours or less.

Oops - he's awake - but he's happy (I can hear him talking to his mobile) - he's not screaming the minute he wakes up - I think my life might be complete.

Now, if only we can repeat this at another nap. And maybe even at bedtime.

Oh yes: as of yesterday, Thomas weighs 14 pounds. Go Thomas!! 11 more ounces and the little guy will have doubled his birthweight. What fun.

Ok, am off to pick him up. Will try to add a picture and post this during his next nap (hey, a girl can hope, can't she?)

Sleep? What sleep?

It has been a long week.

I have a half-written post in honor of Thomas's 4-month birthday (which was Wednesday) and I will post it this weekend when I get all pictures in, but the truth is that our darling boy spent last weekend & early this week suffering through his first cold (courtesy of the Canadian government with André as the intermediary). Then, after several naps in his crib at the beginning of the week, (and I suspect as a result of being uncomfortable and unable to breathe well) little T decided that the best and only way to sleep is in my arms. This has been, um, challenging. Let's just say that there have been a lot of tears in this house since Wednesday and not all of them have been Thomas's.

And then Thomas got his 4-month immunizations today. Worse than the needles was his interrupted (nascent) nap schedule. Take my advice and avoid immunizing over-tired 4-month-olds whenever possible.

It hasn't been pretty. I even realized that I had (unconsciously) given up napping in some sort of weird attempt to show solidarity with André (since he has to work). When we realized this odd quirk last night André was quick to point out that he also doesn't have to wake up to feed Thomas.

Sigh. The problem with fatigue is that it skews decision-making.

So the plan is for everyone to take lots of naps and recover from colds & shots. Hopefully we will start next week off in better shape - wish us luck!

OH!! P.S. The major part of the kitchen is done - lights in, painted & everything. It's not only usable but stunning. Now all we need are the three new windows - but that's for next week or the week after. Pictures to follow.

Four Months Old!

Today Thomas is four months old - Happy Birthday Thomas! Here's a portrait in words of our boy right now:

Thomas can roll over easily and once he's on his belly he kicks his legs like a man on a mission. If we put a hand behind his feet, he scoots gleefully along the floor. He can also lift the front half or the back half of his body high enough to crawl - but he can't lift them both at the same time yet (whew!).


Thomas loves reading books. Daddy has a particularly effective way of sprawling across the bed with lots of pillows and books, then the two of them make all sorts of noises and coos while Thomas tries to eat the books one after another.

Thomas can stand and turn in his exersaucer. He loves going in there and exploring each toy in great detail. He can also actually jump in his jolly jumper - in the last three days this has become a new favorite activity.

For you doubters out there (Grandma Patti, I'm talking to you), Thomas is doing a better and better job of sitting. I'm still not willing to say that he sits on his own, but it's coming.

Of course, he still takes two hours to be put to bed and he's still not napping regularly in the afternoons, but the morning nap is coming along. He's actually taken several medium-long naps in his crib, which is a lovely step forward.

Clearly the child of his parents, Thomas likes to talk a lot - he has long joyful conversations with us every time he's awake - and sometimes he has long joyful conversations with his mobile or the light or the blue teddy bear he's taken to grasping. He's not quite babbling syllables, but he loves to hear them. And in general, at four months, we're all having fun (well, when we sleep.)

Loud & Strong

Whaddya lookin' at?

So it's been awhile since I got something up here - we've been busy! Our boy continues to change at an astonishing pace and for the past few weeks we've found him so amusing that it's been hard to find time to write. Well, we've also been a little slowed down by the headache-inducing construction noise from the kitchen, and the fact that Fall has clearly arrived, so I feel compelled to get out of the house & enjoy the beautiful days while we can - we've been taking a lot of walks. The good news is that this means there are lots of pictures and videos to post!

First, since we've used the stroller a little more of late, here are some pictures of Thomas enjoying his stroller.

Hi Daddy!

Hi Grandpa Yves! Grandpa Yves visited on Sunday the 21st. He was amazed by Thomas's talking and his intense desire to stand (holding our fingers).


As you can see, the stroller often puts Thomas to sleep.
But don't worry, he's not just squandering his days away by sleeping - oh no, Thomas is practicing talking. Just listen:

He also loves to stand (as long as he's holding our fingers).











And he's even trying to sit - well, I'm not sure "he" is trying...

Though, to be fair to Thomas's parents, just tonight he's been "sitting" on his own for up to 10 seconds - well, if you count having your hands flat on the floor on either side of your legs as sitting! Still, it's pretty impressive since he's not even 4 months old - oh, and he's desperately trying to move across the floor on his tummy - I'll keep you up to date on that!

I'm still trying to get a video of him rolling over & I swear I will get him laughing some day soon. He loves to laugh - and in the last 10 days or so he's begun to love to be tossed (gently) in the air or "flown" - he laughs and laughs whenever we do that - or when we sing "Barbara Ann" by The Beach Boys - or when we say "Fee Fi Fo Fum!" Pretty much everything makes him laugh - and then I laugh - and then he laughs...

(And now I need to get to bed. I've had quite a fight to get some of the pictures and videos to format properly but somewhere along the way I accidentally published this, so I felt obligated to at least try to get things done right - but I've tried plenty & bed sounds great right now - so Good Night!)