For BRoqq

Who IS this BRoqq character, anyway?

Here's your pic, BRoqq.

The big weigh-in

Well, we did it. We fattened Kaylin up enough this past month to satisfy the doctor that she can, in fact, gain weight like a normal toddler. We've gone nearly bankrupt buying massive amounts of yogurt and cream cheese, but it was worth it. Now she doesn't have to undergo any blood work and I don't have to be grilled by the pediatric dietitian. For now.

In other exciting news, we're finally taking Kaylin to Niagara Falls. Yes, it will be nice for her to see the Falls, one of the Seven Forgotten Natural Wonders of the World (exactly who forgot about them??). But Brian and I are equally excited about taking her to Marvel Superheroes Adventure City and the Hershey Store, respectively. Hey, those things are important too!

Ooooh, that's scary!

Kaylin "The Ham", as we sometimes call her, is well on her way to becoming a Hollywood star. Here is her latest - something we call the "scary face", though it's really the "scared" face Kaylin makes when she's pretending to be frightened by something.

I'm thinking Oscar Award winner, 2024.

Happy (belated) Father's Day...

...to the best daddy in the world!

Kaylin loves her some books

Here's Kaylin "reading" one of her picture books. I'm not sure what the hurry is, but she always reads this one really fast.

Enjoy.

A bit of mother guilt

Despite what this Blog might have you believe, the life of Kaylin isn't always wine and roses. No, Kaylin actually faces a number of issues which continue to make her life an uphill battle. The main problem (at least as I see it) is ME, her own mother. Maybe it's just a little of what I call "mother guilt," but I feel the need to confess a few roadblocks I've inadvertently placed in the way of K's healthy development.

1. I'm negligent.

Case in point, Kaylin fell into the fountain at the mall last week. I turned my head for a second and in she went. After I yanked her out, I laughed. I laughed my head off for two minutes. OK, so the water was only about 2 inches deep and she only got her shoes and the front of her dress wet, but still...I was being a bad mother.

2. I'm letting her brain turn to mush.

Since we moved, I've done what I always swore I wouldn't do: let my child watch too much TV. (See the picture above. Not only is she staring mindlessly at the TV, but she's in the laundry basket, with laundry on her head!) Maybe I'm not being strict enough and should learn to say "no" more or maybe I just really like watching Dora the Explorer. I'm not sure. But either way, I'm being a bad mother.

3. I'm letting her waste away.

This one may be serious, it's too early to tell. K's doctor is worried because she's not putting on much weight. Yes, she's a thinner toddler. But she's always been long and lean. He's instructed me to give her all the fattening dairy she can eat and don't worry so much about those pesky low-cal fruits and veg. (Never thought I'd hear a doctor tell me that!) Anyway, it's been two weeks now and she hasn't gained an ounce. On one hand, I'm not worried because she's happy, healthy, and smart as a whip and clearly developing well. On the other hand, the mother guilt is becoming all-consuming to the point where I almost break down in tears when she refuses the odd meal. It must be my cooking, the type of yogurt I buy, the way I spread the cream cheese on the toast, the time I serve dinner at....it must be that I'm being a bad mother.

Sigh.

So there you have it. It's off my chest and I feel better already. Thanks for listening. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think Dora is about to start.

Good times (or as K would say, "goot-a goot-a goot-a")

There are a million recent Kaylin happenings I want to write about but I realize most of you wouldn't read past #329. So here's a brief pictorial list of just some of the fun times K's been partaking in lately.


Playing with all her new friends including Emelia, Cordelia, Paige, and Jacob (below), who Kaylin prefers to call "Jacob-a". Don't ask me.




Playing with her not-so-real friend (though she will name her when you ask her who her friends are) , Sally Sidesaddle, her pink-cowboy-hat-wearing hand puppet.




Running up and down the hills at the park/pond at the end of our street. And if she spots a goose, calling "come goose!!" until the goose flies away in fear.




Hanging at the park. Note, according to Kaylin during her most recent visit to this park, this car is HERS!!!! Other children should try to stay away from it when Kaylin is in the vicinity. I'm surprised she's even allowed these ne'er-do-wells to hitch a ride.




BBQing it up with all her Thornton relatives this holiday Monday, including cousin Bradyn (all the way from BC!), below. Now, you may think Kaylin is attempting a choke hold on her younger cousin, but she is actually going in for a big hug. I swear.




Watching the hot air balloons fly behind our house at dawn. This must be why Kaylin has started getting up at the crack of dawn, to catch those hot air balloons.

A little off the top please

Inspired by her cousin Bradyn, Kaylin decided it was high time she visit the local beauty parlour for her first haircut. The curls were starting to get a little out of control and mommy wasn't about to scar her child for life by giving her a bad 'do.

This morning we went to Max and Oskar's, a hair salon just for kids. As it was Friday morning, the shop was empty and Kaylin had her choice of fun chairs to sit in, including an airplane, a car, and a motorcycle. But instead, she chose mommy's lap. I began to worry that this was not going to end well. Thankfully we brought along a favourite DVD to watch in the personal player which helped immensely. Kaylin was quiet as a mouse. Ten minutes later, my cutie was sporting shorter, curlier hair and a fancy new hair clip.

While I enjoyed having someone else cut her hair, the best part for Kaylin was probably the balloon she received at the end. She was quite thrilled. Who wouldn't be?

To celebrate her first foray into the world of overpriced haircuts, we met daddy at the newly-opened Cora's for a tasty lunch. While there we celebrated the world of overpriced waffles. Yummy.

Three cheers for good hair!!

Kaylin the fish

As part of my "keep the toddler busy and away from the TV" strategy, I signed Kaylin and myself up for weekly swimming lessons at a local pool. It's her first experience with swimming, outside of the tiny baby pool we bought for her last year.

I was worried how she would take to the pool, considering hair washing has become a major ordeal lately. But after a few minutes of whining and clinging tightly to my neck, Kaylin relaxed a bit. She even blew bubbles in the water.

Sadly, she seems to be regressing in her aquatic development. Today, during our third trip to the pool, she refused to do almost anything but cling tightly to my neck and squeal "mommmeeeeeee!" I'm not sure what happened to cause her to lose her water confidence again. Do you think it could have something to do with the time during our second week when I accidentally dunked her whole head under water? I'm not so sure.

Maybe next week will be better. Here are a few pics of Kaylin in her bathing suit, or "bay-da-soo" as she calls it. Please ignore the socks!

So what career are you changing to??

As some of you know, I'm fulfilling a lifelong dream and finally taking a cake decorating course. Yes, I know, it's not a major, life-altering accomplishment, but it's something I've always wanted to try. It's fun and I get to lick icing off my fingers during class. How great is that?

Tonight, the woman who sits across the table from me during our cake decorating class each week asked me what I do. When she asked this, my heart skipped a beat. I had been dreading this moment for some time -- the first time a stranger asked me what I do for a living.

I had always wondered how I would react when someone asked me this. Would I beam, "I'm a stay-at-home mom and I love it!!" (which is the truth) or would I act nervous and embarrassed because I still worry how my new "job" looks to other working women?

Tonight I got my answer and I'm ashamed to say it was the latter. I stammered back to her, "What do I do? As in work?? Oh, I'm a stay-at-home mom." But then I felt the need to qualify my statement with "I just left my job a few months ago to make a career change," as if she would think better of me because, until recently, I was like her...I had a REAL job.

She then replied, "oh, so what career are you changing to?" She actually asked me this twice, because she didn't seem to understand that my new career WAS being a stay-at-home mom.

The entire exchange left me annoyed -- annoyed with myself that I'm still so worried about how other people perceive me and my decision to stay home with my child. Since when do I care about other people's view of me? All that matters is my daughter and how this is the best decision I could make for her and our family, right now.

I know I'm going to face this same situation again many times in the future. And it's still going to be tough for me to answer, at least the first few times. But I'm determined to give a better answer. I'll just muster up my confidence, stick close to my values, and try again to proudly announce, "I'm a stay-at-home mom!"

I think I'll also add, "And I like decorating cakes!!"

A fairytale morning in Storybook Gardens

When I was a little girl, no summer was complete without a family trip to Storybook Gardens, a "theme park" here in London. Storybook isn't an amusement park by any means, it's a theme park - the theme of which is fairy tales and children's stories. It's changed a lot since I was little. The Hickory Dickory Dock clock is gone, as is the Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee cutouts (if you don't know what I'm talking about, sorry, but just trust me, they're gone). The park also seems a LOT smaller. But I guess it's me who has grown.

Anyway, I digress. Now that I live here in London, I get to visit Storybook Gardens as often as I want!! And even better, I get to take my own little girl. We had our first visit to Storybook Gardens this past Sunday. It was a beautiful day for what I'm sure is just the first of many trips to the park.

Kaylin loved chasing the ducks and peacocks around. (She's like a dog, that way.) She also liked the giant frogs. As for me, I just loved seeing my baby girl enjoy the same sights and scenes I too enjoyed as a child.

Chez Kaylin, now with 50% less garbage!

If you've been to our house and looked out into what will one day be our backyard, you would have noticed an inordinate amount of debris and garbage. It appears that the men who built our house (I'm sorry, but no woman would litter like this) decided to toss whatever was left in their hands at the end of their last shift into our yards. Things like nails, caulking guns, coffee cups, chunks of brick and large 30-foot pieces of tubing. Needless to say, our "yard" wasn't a place I let Kaylin venture into.

But excitement of excitements, the debris was cleaned up (or buried under, I'm still not sure) and our topsoil was delivered to our lot this week! It may not sound exciting to you, but we no longer feel like we live in the town dump. And it also means that our sod is just around the corner. Woohoo.

It also meant that Kaylin made some new friends this week. She got a big kick out of watching the backhoe and other dirt-pushing-machine-thingy push dirt onto our lot. (I, however, did not enjoy having a backhoe unexpectedly appear in my living room window, so close that I could see the colour of the driver's eyes, as I sat in my pajamas one morning!) She especially liked it when the men driving the machines spotted her watching them, and waved and honked their horns at her. We call them her "dirt friends." She even parked her chair in front of the door at one point, so she could oversee the whole operation...and of course wave at her dirt friends.

In other thrilling construction-zone-hell news, the builder has moved their "command centre" from directly across the street from us to the end of the street. That means the view from my front door no longer includes a portapotty. Yayy.

Something for Deb and Jen

Here's a little something for our old friends Deb and Jen from My School (sorry Jen, if you see this - your "message" got cut off a bit!).

New look for I Heart Baby Toes

So what do you think? Oh, you didn't even notice? Well I chose a new template for this site. I tried several very different looks before going with one that was basically the same layout as the old version, but with new colours and a little font variation. Blogger has limited choice when it comes to design, and I have limited design skills, to boot. The result? You're looking at it!

Down at the pond

Just a few pics of Kay-Kay picking flowers and chasing geese down at our pond.

You'll notice she's only wearing a sweater in some shots - that's how warm it was that day. Now the ground is covered in snow! Easter snow - it's just not right!!

Congratulations Auntie Sharon!!

Kaylin is proud to announce that her Auntie Sharon (aka "Sha", as Kaylin calls her) has been awarded second prize by the Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada!! Auntie Sharon won second place in the Reference category for her stunning design of Piano, Piano, Pieno, a cookbook she designed on the job at Harper Collins.

Congratulations Auntie Sharon! We know that project was particularly stressful at times, but look what came out of it! We're so proud of you!!

A month of London

I can't believe we've been here for a month already. The remaining unpacked boxes scattered throughout the house make it seem like we've been here for less time. And yet, it also feels like we've lived here forever. We're pretty comfortable with this new life.

You can't even call Brian's drive to work a "commute" - it's just a 10 minute drive. And the three of us have had dinner together almost every night since we moved. That's a new world record for us!

And Kaylin and I are having a great time. After being home with her for two full months now, I've finally got a good routine down. We try to get out every morning, whether to run errands, go to the park, or join a playgroup. After lunch she naps like a champ, which gives me my precious two hours a day to clean the house and continue unpacking the aforementioned boxes. The afternoon brings either playing in the house or outside. As we don't have our sod yet, this means playing in the puddles or walking down to the pond and trail at the end of our street. Kaylin enjoys saying "Hi geese!" to the geese who frequent the pond.

Today we went downtown to check out a few baby "boutiques" (I couldn't justify paying $250 for a diaper bag, so nothing was purchased) and then we chased squirrels and played with dry leaves in Victoria Park. It was tough, but someone had to do it! I'm glad it had to be me.

(Here's a picture of Kaylin in front of St. Peter's Cathedral, a beautiful church downtown.)

I Have You

I first heard the song "I Have You" while I was on mat leave. It's by Canadian songwriter Connie Kaldor and just listening to the lyrics would make me weep. I'm able to listen to it without crying now, but I still think it's one of the most beautiful songs ever. And it captures how I feel about my little baby girl and my decision to stay home with her. Some days are tougher than others, but overall, I love my new role...even if I am wearing five year old running shoes and jeans with holes in the knees.

Here are the lyrics.

I Have You
by Connie Kaldor

Some have furs and fancy cars
But I have you, I have you
Some have silk and caviar
But I have you, I have you
Some have emeralds set in gold
But they can't sit and rock and hold you
Like I do, like I do, like I do

Some have lace and diamonds rings
But I have you, I have you
They always have the latest things
But I have you, I have you
Some are always dressed in style
But they will never catch your smile
Like I do, like I do, like I do

Some have homes on the finest streets
But I have you, I have you
The finest leather on their feet
But I have you, I have you
Some have wine and a castle keep
But they can't watch you drift asleep
Like I do, like I do, like I do

Four wonderful minutes! (An update on Kaylin's general health)

London is by no means a small town. There are over 325,000 people here. So you'd think that the chances of finding a new doctor for Kaylin, let alone one near our house, are pretty slim.

WELL, not only did we find a great pediatrician for the Kay-Kay, but he is less than four minutes away!! We can walk there on a nice day. This is amazing, considering we used to drive from Ajax to North York -- a 35 minute drive! I can't believe our luck. Yayyyyy London.

In other Kay-Kay health news, our little miss got her first shiner this week after a little too much horsing around on the sofa. (Note, the wacky hair you see has nothing to do with the sofa incident; that's just bad hair.) As the name "toddler" indicates, she's not too steady of her tiny toes sometimes. I'm sure it's just the first in a long line of bruises we'll see.

(By the way, the black eye and the doctor visit were not related, just bad timing on our part. The doctor visit was just a meet and greet. Nothing I like better when meeting a new pediatrician than to have him notice my kid's black eye and ask questions like, "did she lose consciousness when it happened?" and "did she vomit?" Ummm, no and no, but thanks for asking.)

Nineteen months of goodness

Kaylin is 19 months old today! My, how time flies when you're having fun.

You're probably wondering, "what's Kay-Kay up to these days?" Well, I'm pleased to announce that she now knows her colours and she's also starting to learn her numbers. She knows the words "one" through "ten" but doesn't quite have the counting concept yet. And for all you sports fans out there, she can spot a hockey player a mile away and upon seeing him will exclaim "hockey!!"

Oh, and I almost forgot, the "terrible twos" are starting, including mini tantrums and fake tears. But we're just staying calm and not paying any attention to them, hoping they'll go away. Go away tantrums! Go away!

Here's a pic of Kay doing some finger-painting, a new fave activity.