Photography scavenger hunt for kids

In the last few days before Abner started school, we were scraping the bottom of the barrel finding ways to stay entertained around the house. I think we were both sick of all the games and books we have and one can only spend so much time at the local library and museums. In a fit of genius, I came up with the idea for a photography scavenger hunt.

I wrote out a list of things for Abner to find around the house and yard. She had to read each item herself before running off to photograph it. Once she'd taken the picture, she had to bring me the camera so that I could see the photo before moving on to the next item on the list. I tried to write multi-word, descriptive clues so that Abner got some good reading practice. As Abner put it, "it's fun and I get to work on my learning skills, too!"

I love that it kept her busy for about an hour as I worked on some sewing. Abner loved it because she got to practice reading, use her digital camera, and she got to proudly show off her photos each time. Here are a few of the photos she took the last time we played:

a favourite book

a pretty quilt

a wooden elephant

Un lapin pour l'école

Today was Abner's first day of French immersion preschool (hence the French title of this post). I thought it would be nice to surprise her with a little gift this morning, so last night I whipped up this bunny from 1-2-3 Sew. The fabric is Wee Play by American Jane Patterns and the face was hand stitched on cream flannel.

It was so sweet to see Abner tucked into the bike trailer this morning on our way to school clutching her new bunny. She was adamant that her new friend be strapped in just like she was...next she'll want me to make her a bunny bike helmet!

For those who are curious, the first school drop off went well...no tears for either of us. When I left, she was sitting at a table reading some books by herself. I can't wait to pick her up and hear about her first day of school!

Is this normal?

Abner has taken to "reading" a few books before bed each night. What constitutes a "few" books? Well, what you're looking at is just ONE night's worth...no, I am not kidding...I'd ballpark it at about 50+ books on that table.

 

Until a few weeks ago, Abner was fantastic at going to bed/sleep. We'd do the bedtime routine and have her quietly in bed at about 7:15 and asleep well before 8:00 each night. She wouldn't always sleep through the night, but she would never, EVER get out of her bed. Perfection if you ask me.

She rather suddenly switched things up on us shortly before Christmas by refusing to go to sleep and escaping her bed multiple times a night (I lost count at about 25 escapes one night). We tried everything we could think of (and some tricks I'd be ashamed to publish on the blog, so believe me when I say we tried everything and let's leave it at that) to try to get her to go back to her old habits, but she would have none of it.

Hoping to at least get some quiet time after about a week or so of the tantrums, I gave her a book to read in bed. It started out as just one or two books at a time and we're now up in the neighbourhood of 10-12 at a time. As she gets to the end of one stack, she calls out asking for another. This repeats until about 9 or 10 pm. By morning, the result is the piles of books you see stacked upon our coffee table.

We recently moved all of her books onto a shelf in her bedroom, so we'll have to see how she manages fending for herself so The Dear Sweet Husband and I can have our evenings back. But please, tell me, is this normal? Do other kids suddenly refuse to go to sleep at 2.5? Is there any hope for her to start falling asleep at a reasonable hour again?

Also, if you have any spare kids books kicking around, please send them over.

New baby = good reason to party

Last week, these two ladies made an appearance at our office, so we decided to throw a party!

We played games....

There were decorations...a little pink camouflage number I whipped up just for the party.

There were gifts...

...including this one of a kind change pad honouring one of our old recruitment campaigns. The campaign was called What Would You Change, so that makes this a What Would You Change mat! I'm sorry, but it still makes me laugh every time I say it. It's made out of one of the leftover campaign t-shirts, so it counts as an upcycled project to boot!

I also got our entire department to contribute their old work t-shirts to another one of a kind project, a BCIT quilt...'cause what new mom doesn't want a constant reminder of work while they're on maternity leave? It may not be a shining example of my quilting skills, but it gave everyone a good laugh and will be put to good use, I'm sure!

It was so awesome to see Erika and have a chance to hang out with her adorable little girl, Sydney. People need to bring babies to the office more often. Wouldn't that be nice?

Give me strength. I repeat. Give me strength.

Dear Lord, give me strength to repeat myself the six million more times it will apparently take to get my child to learn these lessons I am trying to teach her... 'cause I gotta say, the first eight million times haven't worked so well.

• No, I cannot pick you up; my hands are full.
• Please, use your fork, not your hands.
• I can't understand you; please take your hand out of your mouth when you're talking.
• Tell mommy before you have to pee, not after.
• It's time for bed, now close your eyes and go to sleep.
• No honey, you can't sleep in the big bed with mommy and daddy.
• You don't have to like it, you just need to try it.
• Hold my hand, we're in a busy parking lot.
• Please don't grab things off the counter.
• Honey, sometimes when people are in the bathroom, they want a little privacy.
• The tag goes in the back, not the front.
• Try again honey, your arm goes through the arm hole, not the neck hole.

Sigh.

Little longer, please

Could someone please come up with a way to make kids stay little? At least for a bit longer. When I saw these pictures of Abner the other day, I was struck by the undeniable fact that she is a little girl now. My sweet little baby is all grown up and is now is a walking, talking, singing, independent (dare I say, sometimes stubborn) little person.

As further proof that my little baby is growing up, I'm happy to report that, as of a few days ago, Abner is now using the toilet for both of its intended purposes (though not on any regular basis...still hit and miss as they say). TDSH and I are so proud.

A remedy for what ails you

Feeding one's child something like this...

may result in something like this...burrito-induced coma.

If this should happen to you, stay calm! There is an easy remedy. Grasp your child by the wrists....

commence spinning, and...

gently release the child after several rotations.

Standby by as they attempt to stagger to their feet...and fail...badly.

Finish the manoeuvre by laughing so hard you fall to the ground.

Yeah, yeah...I'm sure you all think I'm the worst mother in the world now. Trust me, Abner loved every minute of it. I'm just thrilled she didn't puke. Just to prove that she was OK, here are a few more random cute shots from later that evening.

Guess who's in a big girl bed?

OK...I'm a little late on sharing this news with you all. We actually switched Abner to her toddler bed at the end of June after she managed to escape her crib one night. To her credit, she was able to swing herself up and over the side safely without falling, but once they can get out, what's the point of keeping them in a crib?

The bed is actually just her IKEA crib with the sides off and the head and foot boards lowered. I highly recommend it if you're in the market for a new crib. It's low enough that she can easily climb in all by herself and it doesn't hurt if she falls out (which she hasn't really done).

I'll be honest, the first few nights were a bit rough. She was super excited with the change and that meant she didn't want to go to sleep...at all. She was up till almost 10 pm each night playing, talking, crying, screaming and getting in and out of bed. Even once she drifted off (actually, it was more of a sudden crash), she would wake up every few hours and get out of bed and come into the living room or into our bedroom. Did I mention she has no door on her room? It's enough to make you pull your hair out having to get up eight times in a row to march her back to bed!

Thankfully, though the crying and screaming continued for a while longer, by the third or fourth night she was at least staying in her bed. By the second week, she also cut out the crying. All I had to do was ask her to stop crying and she did (who knew!).

The move to a bed has also coincided with a change in her bedtime routine. Up to then, I'd sung her the same song each night, tucked her into the crib and turned on her music box to put her to sleep. Now, the song and music box are out and Robert Munsch is in. We have one of his storybook collections and each night Abner lays in bed while I read one of the stories. We have a rule that her head has to be on the pillow otherwise I stop reading. It's been a great tool to help her learn about staying in bed and settling down before sleep. She absolutely loves the stories and I am absolutely loving sharing them with her...they were some of my favorites as a kid.

30 minutes of screaming and totally worth it!

What on earth could be worth 30 minutes of screaming? An entire night baby-free, that's what.

At just shy of two parenting years, TDSH and I got to spend our first baby-free night together thanks to Grandma and Grandpa. It was lovely.

The night was penned into the calendar weeks ago, but it wasn't until just last week that we settled on booking ourselves into a hotel downtown and spending as much time as possible doing non-baby-related activities.

Upon checking into the hotel yesterday afternoon, the first thing I did was sleep for 45 minutes (it was oh so awesome). We then went for coffee a took a walk through a section of town we hadn't visited in years. Of course we wound up at a pub for some beers (haven't been to a proper pub in two years...they keep kicking us out at the door...something about no admission for minors) and after much debate, we agreed upon dinner and a movie to round out the evening (Ghost Writer in case you're wondering...I'd say it's worth a rental, but be ready for the lamest ending ever).

This morning, we were awoken by the sound of room service delivering our steaming pot of fresh coffee to the room. Nothing beats lounging around a hotel room in a bathrobe and drinking coffee (for the record, my recent obsession with coffee has come to an end...I now remember why I never drink the stuff in the first place...caffeine is not my friend).

So where does the screaming fit into all of this?

Thankfully, it wasn't Abner screaming her way through her stay at Grandma and Grandpas! No, she saved it all up for mommy and daddy this afternoon after her nap (which took over an hour and a half to get her down for!!!!). Seems she was a little upset with us for abandoning her for the night. As soon as she woke up, the tantrum to end all tantrums kicked off with a vengance (it even involved rolling around on the floor kicking and screaming). She absolutely would not let either one of us out of her sight. At one point, I had to go get a load of laundry out of the drier so all three of us went up in the elevator and crowded into the tiny laundry room together with Abner screaming her way through it all.

The good news is that she finally settled down after we put a bowl of cheerios in front of her, but I did have to put her in the sling to make dinner (she's rather big for the sling these days!). All in all, there doesn't seem to be any lingering resentment towards us, so I guess we're all good to do a baby-free night again soon! Who wants to babysit?

Practical pointers for parents

If you were looking to hire an expert at something and an applicant told you they only had two years of experience to offer, you'd probably laugh them out of the room.

Well consider this...

Parenting: I have almost two years of experience at this point. I've learned so much and would like to share some tidbits with you all. Please don't laugh me out of the room.

1. Get dressed for your workday/special evening out at the last possible moment.
   Children have an unbelievable knack for making a mess all over clothes. Things to particularly watch for (depending on your child's age): spit up, actual vomit, poo/pee leaks, mucky hands, markers, and toothpaste (NOTE: toothpaste does not wash out well with just water!) Public Service Announcement: Workers of the world, take note -- Whether you have children of your own or not, please, do parents of the world a favour - let them know if there's spit up on their back before the meeting starts. 
2. Get used to repeating yourself.
   This one is pretty self explanatory.
3. Never vocalize your child's sleep habits.
   The very moment the words are out of your mouth, it's pretty much guaranteed that any pattern you've gotten used to will be out the window. Don't worry though, you'll still be able to brag about your little sweetheart sleeping through the night to your other parenting friends. The conversation will go something like this:
   
   Friend: "How are things going with little Johnny sleeping these days?"
   You: "I don't want to talk about it."
   Friend: "Really??!? That's awesome. So how many nights in a row?"
   
   See? It's like an unwritten code. Other parents just know.
4. Get used to hearing the same song over and over and over and over and ...
   Little know fact: The 'repeat' feature on stereos was originally developed because of toddlers.
5. Reduce your newspaper subscription to once per week.
   The very notion of reading an entire week's worth of news is laughable. Save yourself the money. Just get the weekend edition. Better cancel your magazine subscriptions while you're at it. Side note: Do start a subscription to at least one parenting magazine though...not for the parenting advice, but because babies and toddlers are obsessed with looking at other babies so a parenting magazine can sometimes buy you enough time to down one glass of wine - two if you're lucky.
6. Get used to repeating yourself.
   This one is pretty self explanatory.
7. Learn to appreciate the "distressed" look in furniture.
   As a parent, you will laugh when seeing dinged up tables selling for an arm and a leg at antique stores. You will smile knowing that you've achieved the exact same look just by seating your child at the dinner table each night - and it didn't cost you a dime!
8. Don't bother refinishing or re-carpeting your floors until after kindergarten.
   Take an empty pop bottle or milk jug. Tie a string around the widest part of it and suspend it from the ceiling so that the mouth of the bottle is facing you. Set the bottle in motion from side to side. Grab a bowl of infant cereal. Using a small spoon, attempt to get at least half of the infant cereal into the bottle (use whatever means of enticement you see necessary - train or plane noises may work in some instances). Now look at your floor. This is why you should wait until after kindergarten to re-do your floors. 
9. Kiss your personal space goodbye.
   If you're not busy explaining human anatomy to your kid because they decided to stand at the side of the tub while you shower (or, even better, while you pee), you'll be attempting to pry their head from your crotch as they bury it there at the approach of every single stranger you encounter.
10. Get used to repeating yourself.
    This one is pretty self explanatory. ;-)

A penny saved

A colleague recently asked me how much it costs to have a baby. I quickly rattled off a list of the major expenses like daycare, diapers, clothes and a few other essential items and left it at that. When I think back to my answer though, I realize I grossly understated the costs for her.

The child-rearing expenses certainly don't end once your kid is out of diapers and daycare! There are the health care costs (even in Canada), school expenses to pay for, grocery bills longer than your arm, and heaven forbid your child wants to play organized sports or takes up a musical instrument! Don't even get me started on what a post-secondary education is going to cost when/if the time comes. What it all amounts to is one heck of a bill when all is said and done!

So, short of resorting to illegal activity, how the heck are we supposed to pay for these little angels?

Here are a few approaches we're taking to save for Abner's future...

• We recently opened an RESP. Twice a year, I have a three-paycheque month. My plan is to take one of these bonus paycheques and dump it into the RESP account. Hopefully, I won't even notice the money is gone because it will be just like every other two-paycheque month.
• Each week I take out $40 spending money for things like lunches (when I'm too lazy to make something in the morning), the occasional coffee, laundry, and other miscellaneous items. If there is any money left over at the end of the week, it goes into Abner's piggy bank. Some weeks she gets $20 and others she gets nothing, so it probably averages $5/week. Not bad for an almost-two-year-old.
• Whenever we take back our empties, the deposit money goes straight into her piggy bank. The best part of this approach is that it's great motivation to drink more, because really - it's for Abner!
• We've also been putting some of her birthday/Christmas money into a savings account for her.

Do you have any saving tips you'd like to share?

Brush your teeth ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch

You will now have that song stuck in your head for the next two days. Enjoy.

The reason I bring it up is that we are struggling with tooth brushing around here...well, The Dear Sweet Husband and I are doing just fine, but Abner is fighting it every step of the way. Between the two of us, we've tried just about every trick in the book:

Bribing her with TV
This one worked for a little bit. She would sit, mouth wide open and stare at the TV and we'd just brush away. Now she just sits and stares at the TV while sucking on her toothbrush.

Taking turns
This one kind of worked until one day every turn became Abner's turn..."My turn. MY TURN. MYYY TUUUURRRNNN!

Pinning her down
Yes, I will confess, I have pretty much pinned my daughter down just to get at her teeth. Not surprisingly, this idea doesn't work.

Naming her teeth
Her back teeth are named Tee-tee and they want to be brushed. Still didn't get her to do any brushing.

Letting her help brush our teeth
This one shows promise, though may result in some sore gums for us as we let a one-year-old brush our teeth.

Good brushing stickers
I've taped up a piece of paper on the mirror. Every time she does a good job brushing, she gets to choose a sticker and where to put it on the paper. I think this one also shows promise. If not, at least our mirror might look a little flashier!

All I can say is that I am grateful they also do brushing at daycare. At least she has the extra opportunity to clean her teeth. Three crappy brushings in a day must add up to at least one good brushing - don't they?

More art for Abner's walls

When I was pregnant I kept a journal of my experiences. It was written as letters to "baby". One day I'll print it out to give to Abner, but in the meantime, I would like to find a way to remind myself of that special time. Of course I have pictures to remind me of how insanely huge I was, but no one wants to dwell on that aspect of pregnancy too much.

I discovered a fun little website a few weeks ago called Wordle that turned my journal into art. Below is the Wordle I created when I pasted the text from my journal into the site. I tweaked the colours to match Abner's room and played around with a few of the settings until I was happy with the results. I think it's an absolutely lovely way to remember my pregnancy story and it will look so cute in Abner's room!

P.S. If you look on the right below the word "dad" you'll see the word "ting". It's not a real word. When I first input the journal text, "get" came up as an absolutely huge word that dominated the cluster. I wasn't fond of how that looked so I did find and replace in WORD and eliminated "get" from the journal. Of course, that meant I also eliminated "get" from all instances of "getting", hence, "ting" appears in my Wordle.

P.P.S. TDSH even did a wordle of his entire PhD thesis...all 270 pages of it.

The rules of walking

Before having kids, a store one block away could easily be reached in a couple of minutes. Heck, if you really hustled, you could probably make it in under one. It was easy to budget your time to get from point A to point B back when the only feet that mattered were your own.

Now that kids are in the picture, all bets are off. That five minute stroll could take ten minutes. It could take 30. It all depends on what fascinating obstacles lie in your path.

Abner loves to get out for a good stroll so I am learning very quickly about the unwritten rules that seem to apply to one-year-olds out for a walk:

1. All leaves must be picked up and inspected. If deemed worthy, said leaf will be carried for an indeterminate amount of time.
   
   


2. It doesn't matter if your parents are walking in one direction, you must run in the opposite direction at any cost.
3. Whenever your parents try to put you in the stroller, you must scream at the top of your lungs and be as stiff as a board (at least until they give you a Mum-Mum - then you may go back to your usual pleasant self)
4. The bigger hurry your parents are in, the slower you must walk.
   
   


5. You must stoop down and point out each and every single scrap of garbage along the way.
6. It is not enough to simply point out particularly special scraps of garbage; those must be picked up and handed to mommy or daddy.
7. Take pleasure in holding mommy or daddy's hand whenever possible, unless you are approaching a busy street. Then, you must avoid holding hands at all cost.
8. If your parents bring along your stroller, you must insist on walking. However, if your parents do not bring the stroller, you must refuse to walk and insist that they carry you instead.
   
   


9. Memorize every single playground in your neighbourhood and be sure to let your parents know if you are even remotely near one of them when you're out for a walk.
10. If there is a puddle near your path, or any other body of water for that matter, you simply must indulge in a little splashing.

Some words about words

Abner is becoming quite the talker. She must be up at about 40 words by now. I have no idea if this is a lot for her age, but it seems quite a lot to me. Each word she adds to her rapidly expanding repertoire brings a smile to my lips. Mono-syllabic or otherwise, each one is an accomplishment worthy of a little cheer.

To date these are the ones she's mastered: bee, bum, shoes, hi, mum, mama, dada, done, baby, knee, up, down, again, back pack, coco (cookie), bed, phone, sit down, apple, nana (banana), cheese, gramma, grampa, me, dat (that), table, bumbo, milk, more, out, soo-soo (soother), car, house, hot, pee-pee, chair, pea, bye-bye, go, ball, boat, book, and a bunch of names (her cousins, daycare lady and a few friends' names).

What amazes me most is how few of these are true baby talk. She doesn't just shorten regular words or just use the first letter instead of the whole word. For the most part, she's able to enunciate and clearly state the word she's saying. But perhaps that's just my Mommy Interpreter kicking in.

Last weekend, she learned the best word yet - her own name.

We'd been working on it for ages and she could handle each part of it on its own, but stubbornly refused to connect the two. All of a sudden the light bulb went on the other day while she was in the bath and she put the pieces together all by herself --"Ah-bee".

Seriously, there's nothing cuter than hearing your child say her own name for the first time.

Ten things no newish parent should be without

For some time now, I've wanted to do a post about items that, as a newish parent, I can't live without. I'm not talking about doing a post along the lines of "I don't know what I'd do without my Ergo Baby Carrier!" or "No parent should be without a BOB Revolution stroller" [Though both those statements are true in my opinion] or the typical "Before baby arrives lists" (i.e. you'll need to get 10 onsies, 3 pairs of socks, 4 hats...) Lists like that are a dime a dozen on the Internet.

No, I want to write a post about all those indispensible little items that get you through the day as a parent, but no one thought to give you at your baby shower. So without further ado, here are my...

TEN THINGS NO NEWISH PARENT SHOULD BE WITHOUT (in no particular order [though if I had to pick, I'd say number 1, 8 and 10 are pretty important])

1. OxiClean Baby: Babies pooh lots. It leaks. 'nuf said.
2. IKEA washcloths: Babies make messes out the other end too. These come in a pack of ten -- buy two. Also useful for milk sprayage, so buy three.
3. Internet access: Keeps you sane through those early days and is very helpful for keeping relatives abreast of the latest developments. YouTube can also be good for entertaining particularly fussy babies ['cause watching the computer isn't nearly as bad as sitting them infront of the TV now is it?]
4. A phone: Not for the reason you'd think. Yes, it's also useful for keeping relatives abreast of the latest developments, but it makes an even better toy. Extra points if your phone will play music instead of just beep when you press the buttons.
5. Pampered Chef prep bowls: Once your child starts eating solid foods, you learn the frustration that is a toddler's appetite. In my experience, meals get started, but rarely finished so the containers come in handy for the eight million leftovers that continually cycle through the fridge.
6. Remote control: 'cause I've never met a baby who didn't love 'em.
7. Baby Tylenol: We swore we'd never use the stuff...then Abner had her first fever.
8. Soap: Lots and lots of soap. I've never washed my hands more than since becoming a parent. Seriously considering investing in Lever.
9. Straws: Useful for making rehydration a little easier in those early days of breastfeeding when it was really a hands-on affair. Also good for hours of entertainment for the little one - it's helpful that they are so easy to find (try any Starbucks) when you're out and about and realize that your child just dropped the only toy you brought along for the day about six blocks back.
10. Bathroom scale: Not so you can obsess over those last 10 pounds of baby weight, but so you can toss it in front of the baby and, ahem, 'do your business' in peace. Digital scales are particularly good since they have numbers that light up for added entertainment value. Be sure to store the scale within arms reach of the toilet or it will be no good to you!

There you have it. All you new parents out there can thank me later.

And so it ends as it began

Our little girl turns one on Friday. Hard to believe. I'll save my best mushy stuff for her actual birthday. For now, I feel a need to comment on the symmetry of this year.

For those of you who don't know -- I had a wicked case of the stomach flu when Abner was born. It started the day before I went into labour, hit its peak sometime during early labour and continued for about the first week of Abner's life.

I distinctly remember laying awake on the couch at 4 am, about six hours into the whole ordeal, thinking I would have to be the unluckiest person alive if I went into labour that day.

Well, I didn't go into labour that day...I went into labour that evening. Meaning, no matter what I did, I was going to have to deliver this baby after two sleepless nights in a row and an entire day of being too nauseous to eat.

Turns out, it wasn't that bad. The birthing experience comes with a whole slew of hormones and adrenaline that help you through the fatigue and the hospital comes with a whole slew of drugs that help you through the nausea. The pain meds I took following the birth even helped keep my fever at bay, so I was kind of lucky in some weird way.

Lest you should think I suffered alone, TDSH was kind enough to share in the misery and joined in the fun the day we came home from the hospital. Obviously, Abner doesn't remember it, but some of the first 'sounds of home' she heard were those of her father praying to the porcelain Gods. The two of us spent our first week as parents downing shots of Pepto Bismol from his and her plastic shot glasses in the bathroom [I actually still have those shot glasses marked with our names in black sharpie pen].

And now, here we are, almost a full year later...and guess what? I have another case of the stomach flu. If I weren't feeling so ill, I might be able to appreciate the beauty in coming full circle.

Back at work: Yes and No

Yes...
I am back at work now.

It is exhausting (I have to do this for the rest of my life?!?!? Really?).

Abner still cries every morning at daycare (every morning people!).

No...

Returning to work is not as bad as I was expecting.

I do not have time to do everything I want in a day (though I really try most days).

I have not cried yet (but I reserve the right to cry at any moment).

The work thing has been going better than I ever hoped, but it doesn't leave much time for fun when you are up at 6:30 to clean self, feed self, make lunches, pretty self up, dress child, feed child and dress self to be out the door before 8:00. Work all day. Back at daycare by 4:30 before heading home to make dinner, do dishes, sort laundry, write grocery list, play with child, bathe child, feed child, feed self and husband and put child to bed before 7:00. Thankfully, my commute is extremely short and TDSH and I managed to divide up our various duties remarkably evenly (how the hell do single parents do it?).

So if you haven't heard from me in a while...that's why.

For no particular reason other than they are damn cute photos, here are some adorable shots of Abner this week:

You might be a new mom if...part 2

Several months ago I wrote a post called You Might Be A New Mom If... It was geared towards new parents. Now that I've been at this parenting thing a while, I'm updating the list. So, you might be a mom of a nine-month-old if...

...you reach into your pocket to pull out some change and instead pull out a handful of soggy and crumbly Cheerios.

...you can't remember the last time you showered without a menagerie of plastic animals watching.

...all the low surfaces in your home are strangely devoid of objects.

...instead of making plans at specific times, you now meet "after morning nap" or "before afternoon nap".

...you find yourself lingering a little longer at the till when buying your groceries because it means you'll be able to talk with another adult just a little bit longer.

...you select restaurants based on the quality of their highchairs rather than the quality of their food.

...you curse whoever invented the bathtub plug chain.

...you catch yourself bringing a forkful of your dinner to your lip to check for temperature before digging in.

...your server has to come back four times to take your order because you are too busy setting up the high chair, feeding the baby, wiping up spills or picking up toys to read the menu.

...you know the hardest part about parenting is not the lack of sleep or the never-ending worries about your child's development -- it's trying to wipe your baby's snotty nose.

...your change pad is gathering dust because your child prefers to stand for diaper changes.

...you've actually caught yourself licking your finger and wiping up crud on your child's face.

A day in the life

Babies aren't the only ones who thrive on routines. I am very content to slip into a comfy routine day after day. It's taken us a while, but our little family seems to have sorted out a nice weekday schedule. Here's what a typical day is like in our little corner of the world:

5:30 -- Abner wakes up in her crib, TDSH changes her bum and brings her to our bed for a feed before we all go back to sleep until the alarm

6:50 -- We all wake up to The Early Edition on the CBC but TDSH is the only one who actually gets out of bed (even then, he just grabs his breakfast and crawls right back in bed with us)

7:20 -- I finally make my way to the shower after hearing the day's weather report (why I even bother I don't know - every day seems to be rainy, foggy, overcast or some combination of the three. They should just say, "the weather is crappy unless otherwise noted") while TDSH gives Abner her breakfast

7:40 -- Out of the shower and wolf down breakfast so that I can take over feeding Abner and TDSH can wash up and get out the door soon after 8:00

8:00 - 10:00 -- Abner and I spend the morning playing around the apartment (which seems to be getting smaller by the day). Our favorite play activities are tossing Abner into a heaped up duvet, playing with "other baby" in the mirror, practicing walking along the coffee table, playing keep-away from the power cords under the table, and saucer time (which is loudly announced as, "It's sau-cer...It's sau-cer time!" sung to the tune of Flight of the Conchords' Business Time)

10:00 -- Abner goes down for her first nap after a quick feed and a book. Our current fave is The Pigeon Loves Things That Go! Once I put her in the crib, she usually watches her mobile for a while before she actually falls asleep. I never expected her to still enjoy her mobile at this age, but she absolutely loves watching the farm animals spin

After nap -- I never know what time Abner is going to wake up so sometimes we only have a few minutes to play before sitting down to eat lunch at noon...sometimes we have over an hour to kill (those days really kick my butt)

1:00 -- If we're going to go out, this is usually the time we'll do it

2:00 -- Abner goes down for her second nap of the day after a feed (if we're lucky). She's usually pretty good about napping even if we're out of the house. This is a skill of hers I've really grown to appreciate. I don't know what I'd do if she couldn't nap in her stroller or in the Ergo

5:00 -- TDSH plays with and feeds Abner while I do the dishes and get our dinner going. I often get distracted watching them play together though. It's fun seeing the little games and songs that only TDSH plays with her. Little Abby Foo Foo is a popular one these days

6:30 -- I'm usually just finishing my dinner at this point and TDSH begins putting Abner to bed. Our bedtime routine involves changing her bum, putting her in her sleep sack, giving her back her soother and parading her through the apartment saying "night-night" to everything before I feed her and rock her to sleep in the rocking chair.

7:00 -- Lately we've been sacking out on the couch (in the dark) watching M*A*S*H (still a fantastic show after all these years. Try renting it on DVD and watching it without the laugh track - it becomes a much more somber and realistic drama) or playing on the computer (such as this evening)

10:00 -- Give Abner for a little dream feed before heading to bed. I started doing this about a month ago and it's made a world of difference to her sleep.

Sorry, I realize that this post is a bit dull, but I want to make note of these mundane details so that I can tell Abner about it when she's older. Of course, now that I've written out this schedule it's going to go right out the window tomorrow because that's just how things go with babies...once you tell someone about what your baby is up to, the baby starts doing something completely different just to make a liar out of you.