Vancouer expidition

I'm so adventurous.

Yesterday, instead of going to my one single weekly event - baby storytime at the library - I drove downtown to a free breakfast put on by Justin's work to raise money for the foodbank.

So he was working there all morning and had asked if we might come down. After I told him I probably wouldn't, I decided during Isaac's morning nap that it would be fun to see Justin during the day, and it gave me an excuse to get out of our little neighbourhood bubble I've built.

Google maps said it was a 15 minute drive from home to the art gallery. But honestly, you would've thought I was planning a cross-country trip. As soon as Isaac was in bed, I checked and rechecked the diaper bag. I made sure my camera battery and cellphone were charged. I packed lunch for Isaac and snacks.

But that's not the worst of it. Oh no. I actually went on Google maps satellite, and studied the downtown corridor. I scanned the blocks around the art gallery looking for adequate parking. We have a roofbox on top of our Xterra (I call it our Xbox. Clever, I know). So parking garages terrify me because I have no idea how high we are and I did hit the roof of a covered parking lot last year at Metrotown. Don't need a repeat of that, what with all the backing up, moving forward, backing up again, honking, many staring faces watching me inch out of the one-way lot. Anyhoo...

I planned my route out turn by turn. Never mind that I've been downtown before, and that I know how to at least get to the 'entrance' of downtown via the stadium. I wrote out EVERY TURN. And then I studied the route on Google maps in close-up, to see the streets just before my turns. And I wrote those down too. Then I made sure that the parking lot I'd picked had an entrance with easy access on the road on the route I picked. Zoomed in as close as I could on the satellite to even see if there were lots of stalls and if I should plan an alternate parking lot.

Isaac wakes up, I shove a bottle down his throat as quick as possible, even putting him on the ground so I can get his shoes and jacket on (yes, while he's still drinking his bottle), and dash out the door. Losing my cellphone in the process. I won't kill you with suspense, the cell later turns out to be in a drawer.

I get to the downtown corridor and you would think I had never driven before. My granny driving downtown is painful, but I always think pedestrians downtown are all show-it-offs, like 'this is my street, and I'll cross whenever the he** I want to'. I always imagine a pedestrian leaping out from behind something and me hitting them and stuff.

Lots of route planning, packing, prepping. And it took me less than 15 minutes to get there. Paid for parking, got Isaac strapped in and we were off for a lovely morning with Nature's Path people, yummy food and great atmosphere. But first, I put away my driving directions and pulled out my walking directions to get the whole three blocks to the gallery. Small town hick? Yup.

Justin was definitely glad we came down. He was taking pictures for Nature's Path, so he had lots of time to hang out with us, shoot some photos, and enjoy a bit of quality time with Isaac before he took the skytrain back to his office and we drove home.

Victory

So Isaac has this newish habit now of rolling around on the change table. He flips onto his tummy, reaches for the edge above his head and pulls himself forward to look over the edge. It's super cute and I usually let him gnaw on the table edge (mmm, tasty) before flipping him over and changing him. Today I discovered that if you flip a baby over too soon and then start to open his diaper, he may roll over again faster than a speeding bullet, taking his poopy bum on a journey of messiness.

Gross.

Poop all over the diaper, change table, legs, boy bits and pieces. Luckily not on Mommy's hands. Heh heh, I'd still call this scene a win.

Hmmm, I don't seem to have any photos of Isaac on the change table. That makes sense, since poopy hands are always very real threat. You'll have to settle for a picture of Isaac looking ginormous against the beautiful blue sky outside yesterday.























Ooh, here's one of him at the start of September when we were packing up our stuff in Chilliwack, wearing just a diaper. That's sort of relevant to the post : )

Catching up and all that

Well, Jen started blogging again. Not only did she make me laugh (as always), she also made me feel slightly guilty about not posting. After all, if a mom of two kids can blog, then surely a mom of one small, not even mobile child, can blog too.

Harumph.

Besides, I wanted to blog to remember the details of these times with my boy. Already they are going by too quickly, and before I know it I'll be sending him off to Kindergarten. Then I will cry and sit with a very large cup of coffee (with a hint of Baileys perhaps), and want to read EVERY SINGLE BLOG POST about my little baby boy.

So that means I should actually write some blog posts about him.

Let's see...


Isaac is 10 months and 11 days old now. He is still not crawling. But he leans wayyyyy forward to reach for stuff. If there's nothing to reach for, he finds something invisible, or a very small piece of lint / garbage / dirt and reaches for that. But yeah, hasn't figured out that he has strong enough limbs to propel him forward yet. I've got my camera at the ready, as I'm sure it will be any day now. Never mind the fact I've been saying that for the last month.

Isaac is loud. I can't even describe his loudness, except in comparison to other kids. We started going to a baby storytime at the library by my aunt's house (yeah, more on that later). We've been the first two sessions so far. One time had 13 kids, next had 15, ranging from newborn to two years old. Isaac was by far the loudest of ALL the kids there! He's got a voice and he likes to use it. I keep telling everyone he takes after the Keitch side. Ha ha ha.

He still likes rattles, loves rolling balls, enjoys bath time and loves to be outside. And any time he hears a plane he looks intently at the sky until he spots it. Then he follows the plane until it's out of sight. When we pick up Daddy from his work sometimes, there are huge planes that fly right overhead (Justin works right near the airport in Richmond). Isaac is simultaneously scared and excited when they fly really low.

Daddy is best at making Isaac laugh. They pretty much just look at each other and Isaac starts laughing, just knowing that Justin will do something soon to entertain him. I can make Isaac laugh by throwing him up in the air, swinging him upside down, sometimes making silly sounds, and hiding around his high chair and peek-a-booing. I can make him smile by singing 'bananaphone', playing peek-a-boo, playing ball with him, letting him tip over his toy bin then setting it upright over and over. He has a toy with little pop up animals and he likes it when I pop them up so he can close them again.

Isaac eats pretty much everything we eat now, and in large quantities. This morning for breakfast, he had an entire peach (minus the skin), a whole piece of brown toast, an entire scrambled egg (and I'm not egg-aggerating here, heh heh heh), about a quarter cup of apple sauce, handful of cheerios, and about a third cup of blueberries. That's pretty typical for breakfast, though he usually has a whole banana too but we were out today.

He still has two naps a day, ranging anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour and a half depending on the day and what we're up to. Our bedtime routine of three books (one crunchy / noisy one, one normal, and one small one that if he wants he can take to bed to gnaw on) has stayed the same. But now, I give Isaac a couple options for books. I hold two in front of him, and he hits the one he wants. It's so cute to see him asserting himself, and he really studies the two book covers before deciding usually unless it's one of his favourites. 'Hello', from my Auntie Liz, always wins no matter what other book it's up against! I love reading with my boy. Then I sing a couple songs and always end with the same one (the 'Discovery' I love the world song). He does super well with naps, and sleeps at night from about 7 pm to 6:30 am. give or take half an hour.
http://youtu.be/NqV3clvlC4Q

Well, lots more I could say. But this is looong. And since the only people reading it are my mom and Jen, I'll wrap it up : ) I guess I could link it to FB, but there are so many people I don't really care to have reading my blog, I don't bother. Besides, at the end of the day, this is for me to remember my baby, and give me something to do while he's at Kindergarten to keep me from drinking myself silly and making a fool of myself when I pick him up at the end of the day. Future Lorene, you're welcome.


Oh my gosh, where did my baby go? Look at the size of this chunky monkey.