We had a blast a millenium park today... even though daddy was a bit more nervous than Kiernan on the super big slide :)
The green slide was a little more manageable for K on his own.
There's no better pick me up when you're feeling kind of gloomy than this kind of fun! :)
Here are a bunch of neat contests to check out :)
5 minutes for mom is giving away a 2-wheel caboose bike trailor, which looks like the perfect thing for anyone who has a hard time riding a regular bike for any reason. Check it out, and if you know anyone who could use one, let them know about the contest!
Win a pair of Robeez from superdumb supervillain
There's a frog in my soup is giving away a gift certificate for quote the walls
Stephanie from Adventures in babywearing is having a contest where you guess if she's having a boy or a girl. You can win a $50 gc to the Warm Biscuit bedding company
Remember this?
This post doesn't really have much to do with that, but it made me think of it and then I had to go find it because I think that has to be one of the most memorable commercials of my childhood :)
So the real story :)
Last night I was getting K ready for bed and as I'm putting on his diaper he starts crying and saying "buddy budddyy" and continued to do this as I tried to get him into his PJs. I had no idea what he meant when he kept saying buddy so I just said "ok, as soon as you have your pjs on you can show me what you mean"
I put him down and he immediately runs to the bathroom yelling "buddy buddy!" and I realize he was saying "potty! potty!"
Now, we aren't potty training. We do have a potty in the bathroom and I've sat him on it from time to time and talked about the potty. One morning I put him on it when I'd had to wake him up and we sat and read a book and he peed. I was impressed. But, we aren't potty training, we're just trying to introduce the topic.
So I thought he just wanted to sit on the potty and I said ok. Then he started pulling off his PJ bottoms, so I helped, and took off his diaper. He climbed on and demanded a book. Ok... I got a book. And then, he peed!!!
HOLY COW!
I couldn't get over it. What kind of craziness is that? Will he ever do it again???? He probably won't, but man, it was very cool! :)
We decided to try goat's milk cheese on Kiernan since the real issue is cow's milk protein with him and although goat's milk protein is similar, by this age the hope is that it's different enough that he could process it.
But guess what? Goat's cheese is very strong tasting... in apparently a not yummy at all way. And he won't eat it!!
The good news? So far, the small amounts we've managed to try him into eating haven't had any negative effects.
Any tips on how to hide the taste of goat's cheese into things? I'm going to try to melt some into his beloved pasta tonight. Woe is me ;)
For all of you not in the know, Grandpapa is an electrical engineer who specializes in 3d imaging :)
After my efforts the other day to try to find out what Bell's plans were to start giving people the option to get a paper version of the phone book or not, I was waiting for a reply to an email I sent to the complaints department of Bell.
Here is the transcript:
To whom it may concern,
As someone who never uses a paper copy of the telephone book I decided to inquire from Bell Canada how to opt out of receiving the telephone book. First, nobody that I was in contact with (via email and then by instant chat) knew the answer and immediately misunderstood my concern. Finally I was given the contact information for the directory company (who responded quickly and answered my questions (the right question) to the best of their abilities) being told that it was not possible to opt out of receiving the phone book.
Considering what an enormous waste this is, and how many people I know who would also like to not receive a paper copy of the phone book I inquired as to plans to change this blanket distribution. I was told there was no current plan but that some changes were likely going to be made. I would like to know if this is true, what those plans might be, and how I can then distribute the information on this new practice to my friends and family as well as via my blog.
I thank you in advance for your quick response on what I consider to be a very serious issue. Saving as much paper as would be saved by many people not receiving the directory (not to mention it must be a cost savings to your company!) is not something to be ignored!
Lara
(eesh, I was in a mood huh? :) Now the response I got (minus come of the canned stuff to make it less heavy to read)
On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 2:33 PM, belldirect <bell.direct@bell.ca> wrote:
Hello Lara
Thank you for visiting Bell's web site. My name is Guruchand and I am
pleased to assist you regarding directory book.
I understand that you don't want to receive directory book. I will
help you regarding this issue Lara.
I have sent the request to one of my colleague in the specialist department. My colleague will help you in stopping the directory books.
I am sorry for the delay in processing your request. But I assure
that you will not receive any directory books in papers.
Please feel free to contact us in the future by using our online Chat.
We appreciate you using Bell Canada's eContact Centre.
Thank you,
Guruchand
Bell Canada eContact Centre
Hmm. Suspicious I say. So I reply:
Thank you for your response. Since I was told it wasn't possible to
opt out of receiving phone books I would appreciate a follow up once
this has been forwarded on to the person who can help. Also, I would
like to find out how I can pass along this information to other
friends and readers of my blog who would choose to also opt out.
And then I get:
Thank you for visiting Bell's web site. My name is Guruchand and I am
pleased to assist you regarding the directory book.
I am glad to help you again Lara. If your friends want to stop the
directory book in papers, please ask them to send a mail to us. We will
help you all.
Please feel free to contact us in the future by using our online Chat.
We appreciate you using Bell Canada's eContact Centre.
Thank you,
Guruchand
Bell Canada eContact Centre
So what do you think? Do you believe Guruchand or are you just as skeptical as me? Or Eric?
Considering the earlier response stating that there was no delivery list to be removed from makes me wary that they would make a no-deliver list. I can picture Guruchand's specialist colleague saying "Tell them we can put them on a list, they won't know there is no list until the book shows up at their 2009, at which point we will be driving to Calcutta to join Rogers customer support anyhow!"
What do you think my next steps should be?
This past week I saw a tweet* go by from Crunchy Domestic Goddess suggestion a great green tip - opt out of getting a paper copy of your phone book. I thought this was a FABULOUS idea. I never look at ours - I exclusively use the only phone book, and really, if I'm going to refer to the paper copy once a year, I can pay the $1 411 would charge me to look up the number - it's worth it to save the trees wasted for unused phone books!
So I went to the Bell Canada site to figure out how to opt out. I did searches, read through FAQs, and couldn't find anything. Ok, no problem. I sent an email asking how to opt out and got a very nice reply this morning telling me how to get my bills online instead of paper copies. Ok, also a nice tip, but NOT what I asked.
I went back to the Bell site and this time, since it was during business hours, used the live chat option to ask my question. After a zillion canned responses I get "so you would like to be removed from the printed version of the phone book". NO!! Goodness, is this really that rare and bizarre a request?
Next "Shane" disappeared for about 5 minutes to come back and tell me I had to contact the company that distributes the phone books. I got a really fast reply from them telling me that I couldn't opt out, that the phone books are a blanket distribution and so they can't take people off the list.
Ok... fair enough, but then there must be plans in progress to change this practice? This can't possibly be something you plan to CONTINUE doing. So I asked and was told that she thought there were plans to make a change, but she didn't know what they were and so maybe I should contact the executive offices at Bell to let them know how I felt. Overall, I had no negative feelings towards this woman, it sounds like she doesn't work for Bell but simply is a service provider for Bell and was telling me what they've been contracted to do.
So back I go to Bell and their live chat. Where I ask how to contact the executive offices (because I can't find any info easily on their site). And I get a zillion canned including what is my name and phone number and what is my concern. I tell them and continue getting canned responses (which was starting to make me mad) and when I finally get "Alan" to understand what I'm saying, because again, NO, I'm not trying remove my listing from the phone book, he starts back into giving me the contact information for the company that distributes them. In the end, he finally gave me a generic email address to write to, and I'm left feeling very frustrated with Bell - not only because they won't let me opt out of getting a paper copy, or that nobody could tell me if they were planning to change their practices, or that nobody understood what I was talking about, but because I felt like it shouldn't be remotely so complicated to just make a formal complaint about something!
I sent my email and am waiting to hear back... but I think maybe a facebook group... an online petition... something else is in order. Because really, when's the last time YOU looked something up in the paper phone book?
*Twitter? Follow me! http://twitter.com/glidinglara
Since winter started in July this year (well it certainly feels like it was that long ago ;) this has been a particularly tough year for the winter blues. Which is what made it so nice to get outside for a walk today!
Kiernan got to sport his new Diego boots... which he used to their new purpose thoroughly stomping through puddles and snow.
Can you tell I've been trying to go all Pioneer Woman with some of these photos? :)
For as long as I can remember, I've dreaded weighing myself. I'm constantly struggling with my weight... trying to keep it lower, finding out I messed up my goals by giving in to the urge for yummy foods. It's frustrating and often disheartening.
And now I have a new battle with the scale... fear of readings being too low for Kiernan. As we've struggled with the fact that he's so little and the fear that there might be something more to that than just the fact that he's a little guy, I've gotten more and more apprehensive about weighing him. Instead of weighing him to see the progress we've made, I worry that he'll be weighed (especially when we're at the doctor's) only find he's lost weight instead of gaining.
We have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and the closer we get, the more nervous I get. I think in some cases he's been eating less lately, but that's because he's finally willing to eat grown up food instead of baby food. And for me, that's a step in the right direction.
Maybe it's time to throw away the scales and just trust in my intuition when it comes to him - but I have a feeling the doctors won't be so keen on that plan. So we'll go, and he'll get weighed, and one day, when he's 6'2 and 200 lbs I'll be able to laugh at how concerned I was that he was too small and that the doctors would think I wasn't working hard enough to get him to grow ;)
So, baby leashes, apparently they're awful and kids who are leashed need to go into therapy when they're older because.....
Well to be honest, I'm not sure why they would need to go into therapy.
I think a leash makes a lot of sense. I'm not thinking of putting a harness on my kid and staking him to the middle of our front lawn to go out and play for a few hours while I sit and watch tv. I'm not thinking of wrapping the leash around a parking metre while I go shopping. I'm not planning on restraining my child to keep him within a foot of me at all times either.
But I have to admit that the idea of a leash really appeals to me (and I thought this before I even had a baby) because it means that I can keep track of a baby who wants to explore, who doesn't want to be carried, who doesn't want to sit in a stroller, and who doesn't want to hold your hand.
I would still let my child climb on the bleachers and play, and I'm not sure I would use on a child much older than a toddler, but for at least a year or two in there, it seems like the ideal way to keep track of my little monkey.
Plus they have these super cute backpack leashes! And I want one! And if I'm wrong and I try it out and I see that it's cruel, I'll probably stop, but I still don't really see how that can be....
What do you think?
Remember when I asked people to help me win a contest for a photography session? I won! YAY! She takes fabulous photos and I can't wait to see what she does for us! :) Thanks to everyone who commented for me!
The thing I look forward to most every April 1 is seeing what Google will do to amuse me :) They don't let me down! My favourite part about that is that Larry Page can't keep a straight face. hehe. And then gmail has one too. I wonder who gets paid to come up with this stuff :) Oh - plus I learned a new term today - Rick Rolled. Had you heard of it? I learned it when I found out that youtube had rick rolled all the links on their main page. Hilarious! If it's still April 1 when you see this - go check it out!
I went to a Women 2.0 event tonight which was a lot of fun! I met a lot of great women, and I learned that I really wasn't getting Twitter. Or at least, I haven't been using it to its full capabilities. So that's my goal for the next week - figure twitter out properly. Follow me and I'll follow you!
Aside from learning about Twitter (which really wasn't the key part about the evening at all! :) I found out about a bunch of neat websites that I think will be worth checking out. Loyalty Match - where you can sell all those loyalty points you never use, or, buy people's points to get items that you want. And Freshbooks, which sounds like a fabulous tool if you run a business that involves invoicing people. And Liquid Planner, which I keep wanting to call Liquid Monkey, which is an online project management system. I've already signed up and started inputting tasks. The question is, will I keep logging back in?
Are these compilation blog posts too long and boring for people to read?
Turn around? But I'm hugging Diego?
It was more fun when I got to see Diego guys....
Ooooh, what's that over there?
Today.... Dora! Come see us :)
And if you haven't already, check out my husband's new blog.
*Where anything more than one is two. Which hey, is still pretty impressive because he's only 18 months old ;)
Kiernan had his first ice cream cone
It was a resounding success
Kiernan's first chocolate was also well liked :)
Roanen is fun to play with!!
Making puzzles with Gloria and Josey
"All those older boys are weeeird"
The boys sitting nicely for a group shot of the grandsons. hehe
I've never been a fan of winter - but this winter has been particularly brutal!
Seriously people - 13 feet of snow?? That's RIDICULOUS!
And now our mayor is proposing a snow removal surcharge for the year of $50 - I don't think so!!
At least this made me laugh - if you're feeling the winter GRRRs, don't miss it :)
And it's starting to melt, and I fear for our basement.... at least melt slowly stupid snow!
Today we went to my great-uncle's 80th surprise party. He was so touched that so many people were there, and have traveled to be there to celebrate this occasion with him. And he got to meet Kiernan for the first time!
And I was touched for him... his family was there, and so were many of his close friends. Close friends from his childhood and young adult life! He's 80 and there were many of his friends there that were old friends of his (and of my grandmother's too in some cases) when my dad when little!
I can only hope that when I turn 80 I will be lucky enough to have maintained so many wonderful friendships and have so many people in my life who love me. Maybe they'll even throw me surprise party! (not before I'm 80 mind, but for my 80th, you can quote me on that statement ;)
A month or two ago I discovered a whole bunch of new blogs, and some of those blogs weren't mommy blogs. They were daddy blogs!! Rude Cactus is one that posts a lot, and I particularly enjoy that his wife also blogs.
My enjoyment of these new daddy blogs made me decide to start harassing Eric to start a blog. He cracks me up, and the daddy point of view can be lots of fun. Daily I would mention the fact that he still didn't have a blog and how annoying that was to me... only to find out today that he was secretly blogging after all! eesh.
So, go read his blog, and find out about Kiernan and our life from his side ;)
I haven't done this in awhile, but I've got some contest news to share.
Check out Cynthia Lynn Custom Photography's blog and tell her I sent you (lara(at)apples-n-oranges(dot)com so I can be entered to win a photography package. I meant to take a quick peek at her portfolio and got caught up for a really long time - she has some really cool stuff and I'm addicted to photos, so, help me win! And if you're in Ottawa, you can enter too!
The other contest is Clean green with Shaklee.
I've been really interested in getting more environmentally friendly products in the house to clean with (when I clean, ha ha) but I've been lazy about getting out there and finding some. I hope I win and the product will come to me and then I'll know how to get more ;) Check it out!
- When does a baby get a pillow?
- When do you stop giving a baby a bottle?
- When will winter be over?
- If I will regret signing up for a learn to run workshop on a Friday night
- If I will regret it because of the Friday night part or because of the running part
- If it's bad that I'm not being more optimistic about that plan
- If they can make a patch for chocolate like they do for nicotine
- If plastic is bad, does that make all my Tupperware bad? My hundreds of dollars of Tupperware?
This year has been insanely snowy. And not in that "I hate winter so it always seems like too much snow" way. No in a "Ottawa now has had 410.7 centimetres of snow this winter, the second highest total on record. In 1970-1971, Ottawa had 444 centimetres." Kind of way. 410.7 centimetres, for those interested, converts to 161.7 inches. 13.5 feet people. 13.5 feet! Imagine if none of that had melted? We wouldn't have been able to see out of our windows at all.
Here are a few photos from today following the arrival of over 50 cms of snow since Friday.
This view out our kitchen window makes it seem like we live in a basement apartment! There's almost nothing of the play structure left.
You know it snowed a lot when you open the door to find this!
Baby in the snowbank!
Sliding. Weeee!
Helping daddy shovel.
Welcome to any new visitors from the Ultimate Blog Party at 5 minutes for mom - a great way to find new blogs, win prizes and waste hours and hours and hours exploring new areas of the mommy blogosphere.
I'm a thirty-one year old mom of one fabulous eighteen-month old named Kiernan.
I've been blogging since Kiernan was born and I blog mostly about him: the struggles with no sleep, with milk and soy protein intolerances, the funny moments, and lots and lots of photos! I also like to blog about thing things that make me go AS IF!!
I live in Ottawa, Ontario where it's been the snowiest winter I've ever experienced! (check back soon for photos of the crazy snow)
I've had less time for blogging in the last six months since I went back to work full time and started an online business selling children's clothing from Canadian companies with my good friend Vicky.
Say hi while you're here and I'll make sure to come and visit your blog. I also hope you come back - I'm looking to make lots of new bloggy friends!
And check out the blog party at 5 minutes for moms... I'd love to win some of the great prizes, especially:
INTL 11 –2 Night Stay for 2 in Italy from Cherrye
if I win this, I'll have no excuse not to plan our Italy trip :)
INTL 9 — Pocket Place Mat
And if you're in Canada and want to take part in the blog party, I've just donated a $25 gift certificate to Apples'n'Oranges because it's sad when we don't get prizes because we aren't in the US ;)
I read this blog post the other day about people leaving their cars to idle while they drop off their kids at daycare, and I swear my reaction was "no, people don't do that!"
I think one of the reasons I've never thought to do that, if not for the environment is that even though I don't think someone will break into my car if I leave it unlocked in my driveway, I have an irrational fear that they'll drive away with the car if I leave it running ;)
Either way, I really didn't think people would do this - you go inside somewhere, you turn off the car! And then this morning, as I was dropping off Kiernan at daycare, I noticed the car that pulled in right before me was running while she was inside with the kids. I was SHOCKED! I don't get it, I really don't.
The first time I remember it happening was when I was pregnant and the preview for Aquila and the bee made me almost cry...this sudden and overwhelming burst of emotion that can hit me out of nowhere.
I've always been particularly sensitive to kids and child/parent sadness in movies. The little boy in Finding Neverland, the little girl in Hope Floats - I did the gasping for air crying at those. But it's even worse now! One line from a preview about a mother and daughter about a mother really loving her daughter despite the hard times and I'm overwrought!
Is this a mommy thing? It's crazy! I'm not meant to be this emotional!
* Being on my own with Kiernan while Eric is in Toronto for a week while my back is out is hard. We're doing ok (thanks to help from the grandparents! thank you!) but I'll be glad when Eric is home.
* I don't like bringing in the garbage cans
* I'm not writing this stuff to make Eric feel bad about being gone ;)
* Smoking is bad. I'm not sure why, but it's been on my mind a lot these last couple of days. As a past smoker, I hate hate seeing really young people smoking. I remember starting to smoke and thinking it wasn't such a big deal - that I wouldn't do it forever. But the problem is, smokers LIKE smoking. Which means it's hard to STOP doing. So don't start. It's bad for you, it's stinky, and you won't ever know what you're missing. If you start, you'll probably struggle for a really long time to stop and it'll be hard to make the desire for it completely go away. just saying.
* Kiernan's favourite things right now are books and songs. He can have people read him books forever, and he loves to have songs sung to him, and he's singing along more and more. He even asks for particular favourites. Lamb = Mary had a little Lamb Itsy= itsy bitsy spider Round and round = wheels on the bus eieio = old macdonald Baby = rockabye baby
* I put Kiernan in his new Peekaboo Beans outfit and MAN is it cute!
I was baking a carrot bread this morning when I looked down and Kiernan, who had been playing on the floor was suddenly covered in a thick brown syrup. Because of his intolerances if I see something in his mouth that I didn't specifically put there - I freak out - and I couldn't figure out what the syrup was! Maples syrup? Hoisin sauce? ack ack ack!
Then I realized! I had dropped a chunk of brown sugar onto the floor and hadn't wiped it up yet. Kiernan thought pure brown sugar was "yummmmm goooood" ;)
Remember my post about the fun we had at winterlude? Turns out I must have twisted my back carrying Kman through the snow because by Friday night I could barely walk anymore! I sprained my back
Luckily, things improved really quickly and by Sunday I was feeling pretty good and mobile again. I was ready to enjoy our first Family Day, when around 10 am I wrenched my back again (I think while changing a squirmy toddler's diaper) and it put my back muscles into spasms. By last night I barely made it up the stairs to bed, and that was with Eric half carrying me. BLAH!
Today I got some pain meds from the doctor and another chiropractic adjustment so I'm hopefully on the mend and will be back at work tomorrow.
Aie aie aie! ;)
- We were reading a book and there was an apple tree in the picture. Kiernan started "picking" the apples and then "eating" them.
- He tried to lift the side table and as he tried to life he loudly grunted "HEEAAVYYY!!"
- He tried to help out around the house by putting all the bills in a box and then putting that box in the recycling box. (we never know where we'll find things lately, the other day I was at Vicky's when I found the tv remote in my purse :)
And it's only 9am!
I took the day off today and Kiernan, Vicky, Joel and I went to Winterlude.
We had a great time, and I realized just how much I miss doing fun little activities with Kiernan. Have I mentioned I miss being on mat leave? ;)
Kiernan was trying to keep up with Vicky and Joel.
Trudging through so much snow for a little guy was a lot of work!
"I'll just take a little sit down"
Frankie was asleep, Joel didn't care, but squatted down ready to be in photos!
