Woodbine Splash Pad...

It seems to be the only thing (water related) that hasn't been closed down due to the strike. We visited it this week and had a blast!

...oh and a silly one of Ben. Playing with the ribbon...

walking down the street...

Other mothers totally check each other out. It drives me crazy but I'm also to blame. I totally do it too. Mothers check out what the other kids are wearing (or not wearing -- no socks? no shoes? shouldn't they have a hat on in this weather? I wonder if they put on sunscreen?), the type of stroller they have (and the make, style, and colour --- oo that stroller was SO last season), if they're eating or drinking something (and overall ability to multitask), how much weight the mom has lost relative to how old the kid is seated in the stroller, and if the mom looks like they have it all figured out... (wow brushed hair and clean clothes -- how DOES she do it?).

I'm also totally tempted to ask moms if their houses are clean. Did they just pick up and go when the baby woke up (leaving toys, books and sippy cups strewn all over the living room -- not that I would know that from experience, or anything...no not at all!) or is their house immaculate. I want to follow them and peer into their windows to see. Am I the only one with 2 types of blocks scattered all over the floor?

I honestly think I pick up Ben's blocks at least 4 times a day. If not more.

Yesterday -- I picked up blocks during nap #1, nap #2, right before I vacuumed, after dinner... and then again after Ben was in bed. I wouldn't bother, but I think Ben enjoys taking the blocks out (or dumping them out ... as he's realized that dumping the whole bin is a lot faster at getting the job done). I also can't stand blocks all over the floor ... don't even bother asking me how many times I've tripped over his toys.

He's cute though...so I let it go.

Solid fruit?

My goal this summer is to get Ben interested (and have him actually swallow) a piece of solid fruit. It's at the point now where he's not even interested in pureed fruit...(let alone anything remotely solid)...so his fruit intake has gone way down. (He loves asparagas and green beans though - yay?).

I've even tried blending fruit in the blender...and he still notices... any advice?

The other day I was eating a pear...and Ben kept pointing at it. I figured -- why not? Here he is attempting to take a bite...

...followed by his usual reaction. Gag. Sigh.

Waiting in line for passports...

I finally got around to getting a new passport (mine expired a while ago)... I figured while I'm standing in line, I should probably get Ben's done too.

Step 1 -- get the pictures.

Did you know that kid's pictures are "more of a challenge" to get and so passport places tend to charge more? The place we went to charges $10 for adults and $15 for kids! Crazy. The place is walking distance from our house though so whatever. In we go. Adam comes with us. We're armed and ready with toys, snacks and milk. Ben took an awesome nap. He was in a smashing good mood. The man asks us if he can sit on his own. (Um,..yes?). We plunk him down on the chair. Ben sits there like he was born to take passport photos. No smiling. Well behaved. No teeth showing. Done. It takes all of 5 seconds. (And we have to pay extra for this?). My turn. I take longer. (go figure). The man takes the picture -- too much glare -- glasses have to come off. Picture #2. Done. We wait 5 more minutes and get our pictures. The man only charges us for 2 adults... guess Ben was acting super mature ;)

Step 2 -- fill out all the paperwork.

How annoying are those forms? Thankfully they're online (and pdfs) so we were able to type right into the form. Brilliant. We stick all the forms + appropriate documents into a ziplock bag.

Step 3 -- go to the passport office.

Adam comes with us (such an awesome husband!). We get into line...and smell poop. DARN IT. Adam takes Ben to the washroom and I start the process of waiting in line. Adam is gone a long (LONG) time... (to the point that I actually start to worry). In he strolls... with Ben... who is wearing a different shirt. I look at Adam and ask him if I really want to know what happened. He says no. I leave it at that... although he still feels the need to tell me details. Poop. everywhere. Hands. fingernails, hair. shirt. ewww. The sink only has cold water. They find another bathroom. ewww. Ben then begins to entertain everyone that decided to get passports (sorry folks). He walks around. He bangs on chairs. He waves at his adoring fans. The couple beside me ask if he's friendly. (Obviously). It's 9.15am. Nap time. Oh oh. Thankfully, we're in and out in less than 40 minutes (perhaps they rushed us?)... and home in time for nap #1.

All in all... a success. The passports are supposed to arrive in the next 2 weeks. We hope to take a drive into the USA sometime in August. We really need a vacation.

Anyway... the point of this post? To show you how cute Ben's passport photo was. This kid takes good photos. Mine however, not so much. I didn't bother to scan it because the only people that will have the privilege of seeing my passport are the border crossing guards. Suckers.

No longer a cow. I have my body back to myself.

The end has come. After 14 months and 4 days, I finally decided (yes, I did... I think Ben decided a while ago) to put an end to breastfeeding. It was a long road (a very long road) with a very rough start (check out this earlier post to see what I'm referring to). From bleeding+cracked nipples and back -- we survived (and thrived, I might add).

On Friday morning,... my last feeding... Ben started pointing at his sippy cup (we had one on the night stand and he spotted it). Then he started screaming, 'meh meh meh',... which is his version of 'milk'. It was at this point when I realized there was no point competing with a sippy cup.

Victoria Secret + La Senza... here I come. It's time to burn the nursing bras that I've had for over a year! WOOoooo HOoooo!

It's Monday... and I'm at home?

You got that right. Summer Vacation at last!!!

We made it through the 9ish weeks of school and now I'm off again with my little man. The 9 weeks flew by so quickly though that I'm almost not ready to be done school yet. I was just getting a great routine going. Enough of the complaining though -- yay for summer!

My big plan this summer is to spend as much time with Ben as possible. We have big plans to go swimming in Grandma Linda+Papa Rick's new kiddie pool and play in the sandbox at Grandpa+Grandma Charbie's house. Assuming the garbage strike ends soon,... we also plan to go to riverdale farm, centre island and the splash pads around Toronto. Stupid garbage strike. Our green bin is completely full of diapers right now. ew. Adam suggested that we switch to cloth diapers, but I can't bring myself to do more laundry.

I also want to clean out the house... get rid of stuff we haven't used in a while. I just can't sit around and do nothing. I also need to figure out how to use the SmartBoard. I'm starting a pilot project in September with my class. Yay for school initiatives.

And since this blog is about Ben,... here are the latest pieces of juice.

1. He still hates chunky fruit. I did manage to puree some strawberries + blueberries and hide them into his pureed jar fruit. He didn't seem to notice. I might keep doing that until it's full chunkiness. He's sneaky though and will probably figure it out. ;)
   
2. He is getting pretty good at walking (although still prefers to crawl -- crawling being the faster mode of transportation).
3. His new favourite breakfast -- cream of wheat!
4. He's actually NOT allergic to tomatoes and freaking loves tomato sauce. (3 cheers! He's actually OUR SON!)
5. Ben claps on cue. Raises his hands on cue (hurray!). Laughs at burping and farting (his or other people's). And, ... more importantly,... the most special... blows kisses.
   
6. He can now identify his eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, tongue, tummy, legs, feet, fingers, toes and nose. How can we forget his nose?
   
7. He's still into sharing... although he hasn't quite figure out the whole sharing with people thing. Today we caught him trying to feed a sippy of milk to his shorts (they did have sharks on them though...)

Let the summer begin!

Date Night!

Thanks to Auntie Shirley + Cousin Shawn... Adam and I were able to have a nice date ;) We went out for dinner and then went to see Cousin Jordan's play. We had a great time out and Ben did really well. Here are some pictures documenting the evening... Thanks Shirley + Shawn!!!

From the pictures, it certainly looks like they had a smashing good time. ;)