"That dad"

Brian asked me tonight why I haven't updated my Blog this week. I told him that I couldn't think of anything to write about. He rightly suggested that I might want to mention what a fantastic father he is.

Well, I thought that was obvious to the world. But perhaps I should elaborate.

Did you know that since I've become a stay-at-home-mom, Kaylin has become, at times, VERY attached to me? So much that when Brian comes down for breakfast or comes home for dinner, Kaylin often runs to me and hugs my leg until she gets used to the idea that daddy is there. Sounds awful, but it only lasts a minute because every single time, Brian does everything in his power to make his little girl giggle or smile, or join him on the sofa, or colour a picture with him. He knows it's just a phase she's going through and doesn't let it bother him. He doesn't use her behaviour as an excuse to make a quick exit and watch TV or do some work. No, each time, he hangs in there, gets in her face, and let's her know that he loves her. He demands kisses and hugs, he asks her how she is and how her day was, and lets her know that he missed her. And if that fails, he tickles her. He doesn't have to feel bad or left out because he knows that within seconds, Kaylin will be squealing with laughter and it will be because of something he did.

Did you know that Brian is "that dad"? You know the one. The one who is a big kid himself. The one who has all the other kids at the party gathered around, laughing with him, playing with him. The one who picks up his daughter and swings her around until she is howling with laughter. The one who all the moms at the mall grin at because he is having such a great time with his little girl and it shows. The one who won't hesitate to roll around on the ground with his toddler or do Muppet impersonations during bath time.

He's the one who lies on his back on the grass beside his two-year-old daughter, points up to the sky and teaches her to see stars and airplanes with her imagination.

Yep, he's really "that dad".

WHATCHA DOOO-ING???

In the spirit of one of Kaylin's favourite new questions, "whatcha doing?", here are some recent pictures of what she's been doing lately.

Enjoying a FREE! Passion Flakie Mousse at Sunfest last weekend. Ahhh, lard and sugar.


Playing with her "new to her" kitchen. I bought it sight-unseen from someone online. It's in good shape, though the sounds no longer work and none of the accessories were included. But watching her yell "stoppit!!" at the microwave door that won't stay shut made the $25 well worth it.



Watching the men who are STILL pushing dirt around the back of our lot. But this is it! The sod is going in tomorrow morning! Yayyy.



Helping daddy make a blueberry-banana smoothie (or "smoodie"). We now consider the banana "smoodie" one of Kaylin's four major food groups, along with macaroni and cheese, toast, and ice cubes.

Toddler travel highs and lows

Call me a wimp, but I find traveling with the toddler stressful and tiring. And we only went away for one night!!

Brian and I took Kaylin to Niagara Falls this week for a quick little vacation. Looking back, we had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful and Kaylin was such a good little girl. But I'm still glad to be home.

Here are some highlights and not-so-highlights from our 28-hour trip.

Highs

1. Kaylin got her first glimpse of the stunning Niagara Falls.
2. Kaylin saw killer whales, beluga whales, and seals up close. She got to touch both deer and a snake!
3. Brian and Kaylin had their first real swim together in the hotel pool.
4. Kaylin enjoyed her first taste of cotton candy.
5. Wonderful memories to last a life time.

Lows

1. Kaylin didn't care about the Falls. She preferred to go up and down the nearby stairs then look at the amazing sites around us. Oh well, maybe next time.
   
2. Kaylin fell asleep at 6pm, just as we checked into the hotel. Instead of the three of us going out for dinner as planned, Brian and I quietly ate Chinese take-out on the sofa in our hotel room while Kaylin slept.
3. Kaylin hardly ate anything all weekend. We even opted for a breakfast buffet one morning, thinking she would certainly be tempted by something delicious. Instead, she danced around our table and refused every morsel we offered, except for a few spoonfuls of oatmeal.
4. Marineland has barely changed since 1979. And yet it dares to charge $40 per person admission.
5. Some bold seagulls took Brian's BBQ chicken right off his plate less than 20 seconds after he sat down at our outdoor table. Combine this with the exorbitant price of that crappy lunch and the cranky, not-eating toddler at our side, and this moment was the low point of our trip.

All joking aside, we had a lot of fun on our little jaunt but look forward to a time when Kaylin is just a little older and can enjoy all the sights and sounds a vacation has to offer without falling asleep every four hours.

Here are a few snapshots from the trip.

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.)