Avoiding the Paparazzi

Esmé loves carrying around a purse on her shoulder and will put different items in it, sometimes her cell phone that she pulls out and babbles on and sometimes this...

Snow is fun! I think.

We had a good dump of snow today so Esmé got to experience the magic for the first time. She didn't want to walk without holding my hand. I'm guessing it was partly because the 3 cm of snow was up to her knees and partly because she couldn't move in her snowsuit and boot combo. She also didn't want to touch the snow. I think she thought it was dirt. The only time she touched it was when I made a snowball and told her it was a ball (her favourite thing). Then she took it and decided to give it a taste. Soon afterwards she started to panic a little so we went home. I think she needed some other kids to show her how it's done.

Hey Buddy! Watch Where Yer Goin!

(Update: I was just questioned as to why our child is riding half naked, in the front seat, without a seatbelt, in -4 degree weather. (Yes, it was -4 today!) Please don't call the authorities, there is a good explanation for this. This picture was taken before the temperature dropped, the car was parked, Kyle was on the sidewalk and happened to have a camera, I was in the car trying to change her dirty shirt before we went out, Esme poked out her head to look at Kyle who snapped the photo. And there you have it. )

The Value of an Hour

Whoever invented daylight savings time must not have had young children. Making Esmé stay up an hour later means that she wakes up an hour earlier. (I don't get it either. It's stupid.) And so that "extra hour of sleep" we were suppose to get turned into a 5 am cryfest leading to random screaming fits throughout the rest of the day. We might be evicted tomorrow.

The Fierce Triceratops

Photos by LovelybyMargaret

Happy Birthday

We are one year in. It seems like a lifetime ago that I was holding a newborn in my arms and feeling completely lost. This joy of a person has brought so much change to our lives, so much beauty, so much uncertainty. We celebrate this day for her, for us, for our little family.

(*These moments were beautifully captured by LovelybyMargaret.)

Fall Cycling

We got Esme a bike seat for her first birthday (more on that soon) and so we took it out for a ride in the beautiful fall sun. Esmé had fun, but Kyle was like a kid on Christmas morning. He ran outside, kid tucked under one arm, helmet under the other, giggling the whole time with excitement. I'm not sure how much Esmé took in since she spent most of the ride trying to pull off her helmet.

Our Resident Peeping Tom, Part 2

Remember our little peek-a-boo midget? Well, this morning she decided she was through just observing. As I was rinsing shampoo out of my hair, I heard a foreboding thud. I wiped the soap from eyes in time to see Peeping Tom lying face down at my feet, fully clothed and now soaking wet. Turns out she's tall enough to lean over the edge of the tub and let her huge head pull the rest of her body down into the tub. Her genius never ceases to amaze me.

Discoveries

Esmé lost an ounce of dignity today. She discovered that her index finger is the perfect fit for her nostrils.

Mia Hamm in Training

It's all fun and games until the ball gets dirt on it, forcing the players to break early for lunch...

The Cosmetician's Gun

Sometime before I could walk, before I even knew about Lincoln Logs, bicycles, and make-up, I had my ears pierced. And even though I have no recollection of this event and couldn't tell you what it even feels like, I've subconsciously worn this like a badge of honour. As if my ears are shouting, "Hey, look how tough I am, I withstood piercing at such a tender age, blah blah blah." And so, before Esmé was born, I intended to raise my daughter like I was raised (as we all do), by hitting up her first birthday with a badass piercing.

Then the day came that this perfectly marvellous, pure, complete, untouched infant was born into my arms. And I sat for days and months staring at her velvet skin, in awe of its flawlessness. The thought of ear piercing sounded horrid, "How dare I ever alter this perfection by sticking an ugly piece of metal through it?"

But things change, I guess. Because just one month before her first birthday, we went for it.

Don't get me wrong, I still faltered. Right up until that dreaded day, I second guessed my decision. And then as we walked into the mall, I braced myself for the wailing and crying that was sure to come.

We sat on a stool together, her on my lap. I adjusted my position several times, stalling as long as I could. She sat contentedly playing with Auntie's cell phone, completely unaware that two armed women were approaching her. Her head was steadied, her arms were held, and... click...

Silence.

Little fingers still pushing buttons on the phone.

We all stared for a second at the baby and her new earrings. Finally someone clapped, "Yay! Good job!" We all joined in. Esmé looked up in confusion, clearly wondering why everyone was erupting in applause.

And that was it. No tears, no tarnished perfection, and no sudden entries into baby beauty pageants.

After all, they are just earrings.

The Lifesaver

Even though I work in a field that deals with conventional medicine and I know that it is great on many levels, I have much faith in the human body's ability to produce, grow, and sustain life without all our "medical breakthroughs" and "scientific research." And so I bring you this fascinating news clip about the power of simple skin to skin contact.

A Plug...

With one week left before Kyle dives into shooting his next short film, Wait for Rain, he has been a busy busy guy. Just thought I'd update you with a great front page news article that came out this week:

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/cover/index.html#one

Also, if you want to read more about Wait for Rain or even help support the project (and get your name in the film!), go to:

http://www.indiegogo.com/wait-for-rain

Blueberry Face

Toys

I'd like to thank whoever was the mastermind behind the Toy Lending Library. Every couple of weeks we get to borrow toys, take them home to play with, and then return them where they are washed and made ready for another child to borrow. It's a great way to keep Esmé interested in exploring new toys, to learn what she likes to play with, and of course it is fantastic for the environment. Less toys manufactured, less toys bought, less toys cluttering the house, less toys tossed aside by a bored child, less toys in the landfill. Brilliant.

She Walks!

A few more steps everyday.

Barefoot in the Summatime

Nursery Rhyme Mash Up

Have you ever noticed that the songs "Twinkle twinkle little star", "Baa baa black sheep", and the "ABCs" all have the exact same tune?

Things like this become very important pieces of information when one has to sing these songs a million times before naps or bed. Lately my lullaby boredom has lead me to search out new songs so I can stop singing Christmas carols in July. (I can now remember the words all the way up to 12 drummers drumming.)

So you can imagine my excitement when I realized that these three songs have the same tune. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

So here is my new nursery rhyme mash up...

Twinkle twinkle

have you any wool

H I J K

Three bags full

Up above the

T U V

One for the little boy

Y and Z

Baa baa black sheep

A B Cs

How I wonder

Sing with me!

Kid vs. Kat

Happy Kitty

Not-So-Happy Kitty

Kitty plotting murder

Our Resident Peeping Tom

It is one of the funniest things to be taking a shower and then suddenly have the curtain pulled back and see a little midget grinning up at you. She does this almost daily now and we laugh every time.

Teeth!

Kansas

Esmé got to go on her second big plane trip last week when we flew down to the middle of the United States to meet her great-grandmother. It was a family reunion of sorts as my mother also met us there. How wonderful it was to have four generations of women together, to experience that closeness and history that runs in our blood. I grew up knowing my own great-grandmother and I loved the connection we had across four generations. I am so happy that Esmé gets to experience that as well.

Esmé also met her cousins and instant friendships were created.

We made delicious glazed donuts from scratch using a recipe from my great-grandmother. It made so many that we actually couldn't eat them all and threw some out. Yes, that's right, we actually THREW OUT donuts. That's pretty much a sin in my world.

We spent most of the time sitting and visiting (a favourite Kansas pastime). But there was also lots of playing and exploring.

Although we did have a great time overall, Esmé had a few rough days. The second day we were there she got a fever that kept her from sleeping and I stayed up all night holding her in the rocking chair while she whimpered and tossed.

It wasn't until the next morning that I suddenly realized why she might have a fever. So I looked into her mouth and there it was, a gleaming white tooth poking up through her painful little gums.

It was so sudden. One day she just had an adorable toothless grin and the next day there was this intruder. And then, before I knew it, a second incisor fought its way through. So Esmé came home with two teeth, leaving her gummy smile back in Kansas.

"And what's Kyle up to these days?"

After so much talk about my daughter, I'd like to fill you in on the life of my busy but wonderful husband. When people ask what he does for a living, I kind of stumble a bit because it's not easy to sum up his days. I used to be able to just say "actor," but now it's complicated. So here they are, the latest links to his life...

Kyle Rideout

The filmmaker...

Motion 58

Hop the Twig

The actor...

Studies in Motion

The voice over...

Animation

The teacher...

Bard in the Classroom

Young Shakespeareans

The criminal for the police academy...

(I'd love to have a link for this one, but you'll have to rely on Kyle's stories instead.)

And of course, the always loving husband and father...

Top Ten Reasons You Know You Don't Get Out to the Movies Very Much

1. You are so excited to be going out that you wear high heels.

2. You forget to eat lunch before you go because you are so busy getting everything ready for the babysitter and are starving so think, "That's okay, I'll just grab something at the theatre" only to realize that the hamburgers are $13.

3. On the way there you think how nice it would be to just pull over and have a nap in the car instead.

4. You finally use the free movie passes you've had since last Christmas.

5. You keep your cell phone in your hand during the movie so you can feel it vibrate just in case the babysitter calls.

6. You periodically check the cell phone just in case the babysitter called and you missed it.

7. You text the babysitter in the middle of the movie just to make sure your phone is still working.

8. You keep having the urge to turn down the volume on the movie because it might wake the baby.

9. You cry whenever the scene shows a distraught baby. Even if it's only in the background and no one else in the theatre even noticed it.

10. When you tell people what movie you saw they say, "Oh, I haven't gone to see that one yet," and you think "that one?? I haven't seen any!"

The Paramedic Struggle

As most of you know, our plight with the BC government over our ambulance service has been long and disappointing. Last year we went on strike, asking for more ambulances to remedy the long response times (too long when a loved one is seriously injured) and overworked paramedics (for example, we often don't even get a proper lunch break in our 12 hr. shift) as well as higher wages to be on par with the other emergency service workers such as police and firefighters. (We currently make less than garbage truck drivers, and in many cases, less than minimum wage.) We were legislated back to work by the government without any bargaining. And now things are only getting worse. We will soon be losing more ambulances and paramedics in BC. If you live in BC, please go to the site below and send a letter to your MLA. It's easy, just enter your name and info and hit send.

http://www.saveourparamedics.com/letter.php

Everyone's Fighting for a Piece of Lap

Peekabah

We are astounded by how many new things Esmé is learning every day. She is so determined and doesn't stop moving from the moment she wakes up until she finally gives in to sleep at the end of the day.

She's been doing a lot of standing around lately. She does have to hold on to things but will often forget that little detail, thinking that she is capable of exploring a toy with both hands while standing. And so her head has met the hardwood floor more times than we can count resulting in several bruises and one bloody nose.

Most of her standing is of course done while desperately clinging to my legs when I'm in the kitchen.

Esmé likes to chatter quite a bit, most commonly saying "bah bah!" which seems to have many different meanings. Three months ago she started saying the word "mama" but it was just random sounds. (Although it still tugged the ol' heart strings.) But lately she seems to only say it as she crawls toward me and when she wants comfort and is reaching out to me. The word varies a bit, amma, mamama, etc. but I think we can safely say that it's her first word!

Then, a few days ago Kyle was playing peekaboo with Esmé, a game which we've recently discovered to be more fun than Disneyland. They were having a great time and we were all laughing together. Then suddenly Esmé blurted out "Peekabah!" Kyle and I froze and stared at each other like, "Did you just hear...? Did she just say...?" And so her second word was delivered.

Like most parents, we are pretty much convinced that our child is a genius. Until, that is, she does something like this...

Or this...

(This is after she pulled a blue chalk painting down on top of herself.)

So maybe she's not a genius, but she sure is entertaining.

Mother's Day at the Beach

I had a revelation this Mother's Day. It is a day for children to celebrate their mothers, cut 'em some slack. But these very children are the ones that, at the end of even this day, cause their mothers to be just as exhausted and as any other day. You don't get a day off if you are a mother and you don't get a Mother's Day if you're not one. I think this holiday is some kind of twisted paradox.

Coriander Baby

As I was wandering through the baby food aisle at the grocery store the other day, staring at colourful boxes of rice cereal and jars of strained squash, I began to wonder how people on the other side of the world do things. So I emailed my sister in Iran to ask her help in finding out what Iranian mothers feed their children.

In my experience, I know that Iranian women are naturals in the kitchen. They cook three large meals a day completely from scratch. The recipes are all memorized, passed down to their daughters and perfected generation after generation. They don't own any measuring cups or cookbooks and all the ingredients are bought fresh, organic, free range, local, and in season. The result is, of course, nutritious and mouthwatering meals that quickly become addicting. (I'm getting hungry just writing this!)

So do Iranian mothers use dehydrated rice cereal? Well, my sister asked her own mom and here are the recipes she sent me. Notice the same nutrients (iron, vitamins, etc.) that we fortify our baby food with is all naturally derived. And they use spices!

1- Can you buy bone of sheep there? If you can, two bones that are 10cm is enough, first put the bone in the pot with three or four glasses of water, then add a little salt and turmeric, and let it cook with a very very small flame around 7-8 hours (you can make it from night till morning but be careful that it doesn't burn.) The bone broth is very delicious for baby especially when their teeth are coming in and it makes their bones strong.

2- Barbecue lamb tenderloin for two minutes, then push it in a glass till the water comes out. Then put it on the fire again for one minute and again push it in the glass, do this work till the meet doesn't have any water left inside. This lamb broth is very energetic.

3- First soak around 15 raw almonds in water till you can peel them. Then grate the almonds. Grind uncooked rice till it becomes a powder and then put the powder of rice and peeled almonds with one glass of water in a pot and let it cook. You have to stir it while it's cooking because it may burn. When this becomes thickened you can put a small amount of sugar in just to make it more delicious. This is a good first food for baby.

4- Put one small potato, one small carrot, one small tomato, with a little rice, coriander and lentils with water and cook it. Then blend it. But for the first time only give one or two spoonfuls to the baby and the second time make more and more, because this type of food has many different ingredients and it may bother her stomach if she has too much at first.

Banana Power

A lot of new developments this week. Here's another.

Esmé and I were sitting on the couch and I was feeding her some of my banana. After she had eaten a quarter of the banana, she suddenly got really excited and energized. Grabbing the arm of the couch...

she pulled herself up into...

Standing!

The Unwelcome Guest

Esmé has always been able to play happily by herself on the floor with her toys for long periods of time, cooing and gurgling, thoroughly enjoying herself. But a couple days ago, suddenly and out of the blue, separation anxiety crashed through our front door and has set up camp right here in our living room.

I've heard of this anxiety being mentioned before, but THIS?? No one told me it was like THIS! I can't move 2 inches away from her without enduring high volume screeching, as if I had just decapitated her favourite teddy bear. If I do leave and then re-enter the room, she desperately lunges toward me as though she had given me up for dead and clings to me with her kung fu grip. How do I eat? How do I pee? How do I maintain any amount of personal space?

And unfortunately Kyle is no remedy. She'll sit on his lap and cry as she looks at me sitting just a few feet away. (Esmé would have you believe that Kyle is a terrible father, but don't let her fool you.)

We are going to Vernon this weekend and I'm told that this will only get worse while on vacation. Yippee.

So, do I let her cry to teach her not to rely on me so much? Or do I keep her by my side so she feels safe enough to eventually be on her own? Advice? Anyone?

She Crawls!

(Please ignore the proud parent commentary.)

Generation Gap

Food Faces

Esmé started eating solids this past week. I could have started feeding her solids a couple weeks earlier but I kept putting it off. In the end I realized that I was delaying mostly because eating solids means that Esmé is growing older, and I wasn't ready to accept that. Time is flying by so quickly and my little baby will too soon be a little girl.

The first food we gave her was yams. She wasn't too sure what to make of it and was mostly just curious about the whole experience. (Oh yeah, and we forgot the bib. So amateur!)

Then we tried bananas. Those were a huge hit!

(I have no idea what she was doing here. But it's pretty funny.)

We've most recently tried rice cereal that I ground myself. She's not sold on it yet but we'll try again later!