The Many Faces Of Nate

Mr. Mobile

Nate loves his little bike-he zips up and down the entire length of the house all by himself, which is rather hilarious to watch. He kind of looks like a freak. His balance has improved dramatically over the last couple of weeks so he has not caused himself any brain damage by falling off it for awhile which is nice.

Cream of Yuck Cereal

All Aboard The Crazy Train

So Kelly, what are you doing for the long weekend?

Oh, I am taking 80 fourteen year olds to Quebec City for 4 days. Should be relaxing.

Hmmm...if I thought I was tired now, I can't wait to see how I feel when we cruise back in on Monday night.

This is also the first time I have been away from Nate for a night...

Crashed out on Iain's lap after cheering Sidney Crosby on to hopefully defeat those nasty Philadelphia Flyers for the third straight time.

Chomp Chomp

Nate enjoying his $3 rocking horse I snagged at a yard sale on the weekend.

French Kiss, Anyone?

His newest trick is sticking his tongue out and licking his lips. We are so proud.

If you look closely, you can see he has two chompers on the bottom. He crunched on my finger the other day when I wasn't paying attention and he almost inadvertently experienced his first spanking-it felt like a rattlesnake sunk its fangs into me. Don't worry, I sucked the venom out and I am okay.

Standing Proud

No solo steps yet but there is plenty of standing, holding hands and walking, pushing things and walking behind them, pulling himself up and wiggling around on the floor. I know everyone says enjoy him not being mobile but I wish he would hurry up and walk simply so he'd stop whining constantly-all he wants to do is stand and it is a bit annoying. He has perfected his imitation of a board by going super stiff whenever you try to sit him on the floor when he wants to stand. He is also pretty good at doing it when you are trying to wedge him into his car seat. Tons of fun for everyone.

I know I have said this before, but is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby? Check out the little hand under his cheek.

Just thought I would let everyone know, especially those who thought we were insane for letting him sleep in bed with us, that Nate has been sleeping in his crib for the past week. He transitioned quite easy and it has been nice to stretch out and actually snuggle with Iain again.

Oh, did I mention that his crib is still in our room? Hee hee!

Tree Hugger

Rosy red cheeks!

How tacky is it to pose for a family photo during a flood?

Where's Noah When You Need Him?

I know the flood is old news now but I thought these pics I took captured how crazy it really was. We strolled around downtown taking pictures being flood tourists and I have to admit it was kind of exciting. Not so exciting for good friends of our, Brent and Andrea who have been out of their house in Maugerville for three weeks. They had three and a half feet of water rip through their first floor. Not much more to say about that...

I Hate The Philadelphia Flyers

All I can say is have fun in Pittsburgh! At least Montreal stood a chance of slowing down the Penguins. I will take great glee in watching the classless Flyers be humiliated by Sid and Co.

Yes, I am bitter.

Under Pressure

Want to read a good parenting book? Pick up a copy of Carl Honore's Under Pressure: Rescuing Childhood From The Culture Of Hyper-Parenting. If you are a teacher, it is also very useful.

Here is the lead-up to the purchase of the book.

Iain and I listened to Carl Honore being interviewed on CBC a few weeks ago where he talked about how great the Finnish school system model is. I have heard this before - apparently the curriculum guide for students from grades 1 - 12 is less than an inch thick. If we stacked all the curriculum guides for grade 1 -12 in New Brunswick, I would be willing to bet I would have to get a chair to place the last one on top. Anyway, different approaches (I don't really want to get fired first thing Monday morning)...

I had already read another book of by Honore called, In Praise Of Slow and quite enjoyed it. He is a smart Canadian guy who now lives in Britain and his writing style is appealing without being overwhelming, boring and condescending. I would strongly recommend both books.

Fast forward a few weeks and Iain and I are strolling through Toys R Us, debating whether we should buy Nate some sort of activity table. He loves standing up and I was hoping this would encourage him to start pulling himself up. We looked at a couple but were not overly impressed by what it had to offer so we decided to think some more about it and headed down to Chapters where I picked up the book I am ranting about.

I stated reading it when I got home and before I was done the first chapter, I was so glad I had not succumbed to the activity table. This book pretty much reinforces what you know about raising your kids when you have your head on straight - which can be hard to do as you stroll through a kids store that is constantly screaming at you to buy, buy, buy so your child can learn and be tech savvy before he is even smart enough to know to stop shitting in his pants. I don't think there is any parent who hasn't stared at the overwhelming amount of options out there to "educate and stimulate" and not felt some guilt over either buying or not buying into it.

Read this book for a reminder of things we already know - he covers topics such as electronic toys (he isn't a Luddite) , preschool, homework, extracurricular activities and sports.

Sometimes I really need to keep in mind that Nathaniel's favourite toy for the past week has been a 97 cent toothbrush and stuffing as many pieces of dead grass and leaves into his mouth as humanly possible.

Go buy it, read it and let me know what you thought about it.