Things that 4 Year Olds Say:

On seeing two helicopters in the sky: "Wow, I think they're gonna fight".

When viewing old photos of himself as a baby: "Aww...so cute. Was this when I was a girl?" (I had explained to him why boys have nipples.

On what's for dinner tonight: "Chicken boobs". Which quickly turned into a game of putting the word "chicken" with anything else funny: "chicken bum", "chicken poo", "chicken stink".



One day I'll write a book about being a working mom and call it Chicken Boobs.

Morning Conversation

While eating cereal at breakfast:



Chance: Look! Mommy! A castle is in my cereal! (points to cereal flakes in the shape of the Walt Disney castle). Look...4 flags, and the door, and here's the garden!

Me: Oh! Are you the big dragon that is going to eat this castle all up?

Chance: (rolls eys) Silly Mommy. I am not a dragon. I am a boy.




While doing the dishes, later:

Me: We are moving in two weeks! Can you believe it Chance? This has been your home your whole life and now we are moving to a new house.

Chance: Yeah, cause this house is too dirty.

Me: It's not dirty.

Chance: Yes it is, there's crumbs all over the place!

Stuck in Traffic

Yesterday Cam phoned to let me know he'd be late due to an accident on Crowchild Trail, and asked if I could pick Chance up from Mrs. G's house. When I got there I explained that Daddy was stuck in traffic -- Chance's response was "Oh. Because of all the gluey roads?" Smarty pants!

Movie Night: 20 minutes of Spiderman 2

start - 7:20 PM

What that is it?

What was that?

What is happened?

What is happened to there?

What is it?

It's a mean robot!

Is it not a robot?

What's happened?

Yest that is it.

What is happened?

Why there fire?

Mommy what is happened?

What is happened?

What's happened to fire?

Who put the fire on?

What that girl is it?

What is doing?

What are doing?

That's who?

What that boy is it? Oh...Henry.

I love the brown hockey game.

Is this -- is the black one go to the other hockey game -- but not the other one -- what...the heck? Who's walking?

Why running?

What happened to his back?

What's happened?

Peter Parker?

Are these the ones that are in?

I want to see the doctor. I want to see the hospital. What these are airplanes? Where are they going?

What are they having? What kind of coffee? English coffee? But not English chocolate milk?

What's that they got? What dos (read: "dooz"). Not for me? But she don't have one of these. Because she do.

What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened?

What that is it?

end - 7:40 PM

Quote of the Day:

"Thank you pie...Mommy"

(after devouring a piece of apple pie and ice cream on Sunday night)



"I did it!!!"

(after making a pee in the potty before bath time on Monday night)

Quote of the Day

What he said: "don't like it this one pillow"

What I heard: "I liked my Lighting McQueen pillow case, why did you have to put it in the laundry this morning and not have it dried by naptime???"

Getting packed up...

Today is Sunday. Laundry Day. Grocery Day. Fill Up The Car Day. And.....Packing Day!! We are getting ready for our Ottawa adventure with our good friends Aimee and Jason and their 3 kids, as well we are going to see my cousin Barb and Cam's aunties Sharon and Susan.

I have a bit of quiet time here before the day really starts as after a pancake breakfast with blackberries and cantaloupe, Cam and Chance have gone to a friend's house to feed the dog & let him out -- our friend went to Vegas. Chance just loves playing with Ringo, although we have to be more careful as last night he was throwing a ball for Ringo and then after a few tosses he ran over to the corner of the yard, picked something up, and brought it to us proudly, as if he was trying to say "Look what I found!!". It was a dried up dog turd, yuck. So, that ended last night's fetch session, everyone was hustled inside and there was some vigorous hand washing. Ew.

Last night we also went to the library and picked up some books on kids construction projects and kids bedroom decoration ideas. This fall will be the project of getting Chance's big boy bedroom in order, as well I would like to paint the office, hopefully a kid-friendly-but-neutral colour just in case Chance ever moves in here and the nursery resumes it's former role as a guest room, or maybe one day a bedroom for another baby. And if Chance never moves out of that room then the office will at least have a much needed new coat of paint.

Well, I am done my coffee and should get in the shower so I can get ready to go out and do our errands. I don't really think we need much for groceries, but we do need gas for the car, and laundry still needs to be done. This afternoon while Chance naps, Cam and I are going to put a second and final coat of stain on our north gate. We did 2 coats on the deck yesterday and one on the gate. The south gate remains unstained, a project for when we get back from holidays!

Chance's latest words:

SHOWER
CAMPER
TATTOO
TANKET (blanket)
TOOER (soother)
CHANCE
POOP (yes, he will tell you when he's gone #2 now)
I'M TIRED (I didn't hear this, but Daddy and Uncle Paul did)
GOERT (yogurt)
COFFEE
CHEERS (he learned this in July, I just forgot to write about it). He likes to clink glasses, like 10 times per meal. On our camping trip he cheersed with Auntie Jen's coffee cup and Auntie Jen wasn't ready for it, she ended up with a big coffee stain on her only pair of jeans for the weekend and Chance landed himself in a lawn chair to think about what he had done. When he came out he gave kisses and hugs to both Mommy and Auntie Jen).

The Great Pretender

Chance has been playing pretending games a lot lately.

* pretending to make cookies from dried dirt and then pretending to eat them.

* pretending to drink and burp afterwards (Mommy taught him that one).

* pretending to hammer things. I see a toy construction set in the future.


New words:

BOOTS
MOMMY (instead of MAMA)
DADDY (instead of DADA)
TRACTOR
TRAIN
PLANE
BIKE
PHONE
TV
TV-CARS (this means "I want to watch Cars on TV")
GRAMPA (GRABBA)
GRAMMA (MAH-MUH, as opposed to MAMA)
OK (repeats this after Mommy does)
PRETTY
BELT
PUTTY (PUPPY)
FLOWERS

AGAIN

ONE MORE

Interesting developments....

If you listened outside our bathroom door a few nights ago, you would have overheard this conversation between Chance and I:

Chance: Dis?
Me: That's your foot! There are your toes! And there are your toenails!
Chance: Dis?
Me: That's your leg! There is your knee! Where are your toes?
Chance: (points) Toes?
Me: Yes, good job! Can you remember where your knee is?
Chance: (points) On? [Knee?] (points to different area) Dis?
Me: Um...that's your....peter.
Chance: Pee pee!
Me: Um...yeah. Your pee pee.
Chance: Pee pee! Pee pee! Pee pee!

I just about died laughing.

________


Another interesting observation in the park today: some kid left a red plastic bucket in the gravel so I gave it to Chance to play with while we were there. He went off into the trees to collect pine cones, came back and I watched him count them. He dumped them out on the ground and then one by one dropped them back in the bucket, each time "numbering them". He even got the right numbers for 1, 2 and 3, then it was something like "vie, six, nine, nine, nine, et, nine, tent, nine". My jaw just about dropped.

More words!

turtle
juice (water)
yeah. yeahyeahyeah!
clock
mow (meow)
kiki (kitty)
gock (sock)
eyes
nose
mouth
foot

When I picked Chance up from day care today he was smeared head to toe in chocolate cake. The kids ate cake together to celebrate Mother's Day. "Where's my cake??" was what I was thinking when I picked Chance up. Chance also had apple juice and (evidently) rice krispie cake, as I found it glued to his shirt. After all that sugar Chance was running around like he was on jet fuel. We took him to the park (there is a big soccer field) and just let him GO. He ran about 100 or 150 m, then I went to him, turned him around, and told him to run to Daddy. He covered that field in about 45 seconds! When we put him in his crib after his bath, his little chest was heaving because he was breathing so hard - exhausted little boy!


Here we are modeling the matching toques Gramma Jo knitted for us. Funny how I am always the last person to get dressed in the morning!























Chance took quite a liking to Ocky Duck, a wooden toy made by my Great Uncle Oscar (Ocky) who gave it to my sister and I 22 years ago. My dad had to make another stick to go into Ocky's back, because the original was lost years ago. The truth is, the stick is burried out by the caragana bushes in my old backyard in Broadview -- I hid it there to keep my sister from playing with Ocky!






We had quite a good visit with my Granny!











Here is Chance enjoying his new toy box at Gramma Jo's house.

What's New?

Wow, I can't believe a whole week has gone by since I posted here last!

Chance came down with a little cold mid-last week, and that is mostly cleared up now except we still have the humidifier on at night for him. A little extra moisture is probably good anyways, as the average winter time humidity in Calgary is around 20-30% or so. My eczema always gets worse in the winter because of that reason.

Other than the cold, Chance has been doing very well. No sign of ear infection yet. I'm still waiting.

The printer has been running for about 15 minutes now at least, I'm finally printing out my tax forms, yes it's that time of year again. I just hope I can manage to find all my papers, as things have been a bit scattered this year. I know I am missing at least a couple of childcare receipts, not a big deal, more irritating than a real tax issue.

There were a few more words picked up over the weekend in this house:

Shovel
Yellow (lellow)
Yes. Yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes!
Moo
Broom

Also, Chance displayed an understanding of what we are saying that just floored me. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and Chance came ripping in with a wild and crazy look on his face. I laughed at him and then noticed his socks were missing, so I asked, "Where's your socks, silly boy??". Chance did a 180° turn and ran out of the bathroom, only to return a few seconds later holding out both socks. My jaw just about hit the floor!

We watched a movie called Atonement over the weekend, it was a great movie. Perfect, actually for Cam and I -- romance for my movie tastes and history/war for Cam's. Thoroughly enjoyed it, until the very end, with the hero/heroine dancing in the surf and all of a sudden the music cut out and there was Cam, FAST-FORWARDING through the mushy stuff. I was not impressed!

Spent Sunday AM at the pool with Chance, he played catch with another little boy about his age for a few minutes. Also he finally decided to take the plunge (literally) and used the pool slide. I did 16 laps, but my knee started to give me grief so stopped, just went in and took a long warm shower with Chance in the locker room instead of our usual dip in the hot tub due to repairs. Sunday afternoon made 3 kinds of cookies: peanut butter (Cam's request), oatmeal-chocolate chip (my choice), and monkey cookies (guess who??). The monkey cookies are very soft, Chance loves them as a nice way of finishing his supper.

I can't take credit for the recipe, I remember reading about monkey cookies when I was researching how to make homemade baby food. Googled for it and found this version at http://www.goodegg.com/recipe/monkeycookie.html

Banana "Monkey" Cookies

2 1/4 cups all purplose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt1 cup sugar
2/3 cup butter (softened)
2 eggs, beaten
2 bananas, mashed (ripe)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Mix well. Add butter. Mix well again. Add remaining ingredients, mix again. Place a teaspoon sized balls of the dough on a cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven for 12 minutes. Makes approx. 3 doz cookies.

I'm looking forward to our annual May visit to Regina, only 4 weeks away now. We head down every year to attend the Ken Goff Memorial put on by Cam's old boxing club. This year my sister & brother in law will be joining us, so it will be a fun evening. Also we are working out a camping weekend in the summer, looking forward to that as well.



Well, Cam has just informed me that my bubble bath is ready. OK, he's not the best guy to watch mushy romance movies with...but he spoils me rotten, I guess I'll keep him for now.

In closing, here is a photo from a week ago or so...we had to wake Chance up from one of his naps otherwise he would have slept through supper time. I always love how he looks when he sleeps.

Words

These are the words I can think of that Chance knows:

Bubble

Baby

Woof

All Done

All Gone

Uh Oh

Hi

Bye Bye!

Oooooo!

Oh.

Nuh-nuh-nuh

Yep

Mum/Mama

Dada

Down

Hot

Owwie

Shoes

Cookie

Also, he signs for EAT and MORE. We did not teach him MORE. I think Gramma Jo did while she looked after him for 1 day back in the beginning of March. We get clear MORE signs for ketchup.

New skills: drinking from a cup unassisted. Ususally not spilling. Sliding down a BIG slide all by himself (making the decision to go). Pulling the wagon by himself. Opening and closing the shower stall door. Taking off shoes. Hiding shoes. Where are the ^#($(@!! shoes?? Woofing at new shoes (they have dogs on them). Playing with Scarlet using a string. Punching Cam's heavy bag with boxing gloves on. Pulling drawers open, feeling around inside, pulling out random objects. Mental note: move knives. Climbing chairs. Colouring with crayons without tantrum. Able to watch a movie for about 20 minutes. Playing in a blanket fort for most of the afternoon.

Post Vacation....all rested up (??)

Just a quick word to say we are back and planning on updating this blog again soon.

But for now, I am going to bed. Mommy's tired after a day of chasing Chance. Teething + fussy eating = grumpy boy.

We did, however, spend a pleasant hour and a half outdoors this afternoon. Chance had a blast just playing with the rocks in the play park behind our house. A true geologists' son!

For all those curious to know, we did end up chopping Chances hair, quite short in fact. But is has grown quite a bit since the end of January. Here are the before and after pics.

Packing on weight now...

Chance has been putting on some weight lately, and indeed he is eating more than ever. He is really into "novelty" dinnerware - a cup with a lid and a straw, so he can decide for himself when he is thirsty...his own shiny metal "real" fork, etc. Last night, after he had started to play with his food a bit, I fed him with chopsticks. Well, that was a different story! He cleaned up his plate and then had room for 1/2 a banana and a piece of fresh cinnamon bun (was baking yesterday).

Mommy, on the other hand, has lost a little weight, a good thing after the Christmas season. I am looking forward to some of my favorite exercise classes to start up again next week - spinning, tai bo (it's at the YMCA, so they call it Y Bo instead), and I intend to start up weightlifting again, something I stopped doing when I became pregnant with Chance and never really got back into again while I was on maternity leave.

Today we are going to do a little bit of shopping in the morning. I want to get some curtains at Sears and also buy a couple of T-shirts as my old faves are really getting worn. Lots of stains and even a few holes, I'm ashamed to admit! Also might browse for a new pair of glasses, but probably won't have the time to select a pair.

I nearly forgot! This morning Cam got up with Chance at 6:30 while I lazed in bed for another 30 mins, nice. Apparently, the little stinker has learned how to say "BALL", but I haven't heard him say it yet. On Friday he showed Lynne and I that he can blow kisses (sometimes he forgets the blow part though).

New Year's Letter

Here is the letter to Mrs. G that Chance stuck in his diaper bag. I guess he felt that she should get caught up on some things that have happened over the Xmas break!

Dear Mrs. G,

Happy New Year! I am really looking forward to seeing you again! I hope your Christmas was nice and that Santa Claus was as generous with you as he was with me.

Over the Christmas break I managed to cut 2 more molars, so I am getting really good at chewing things. You will be glad to know that I did not have any diarrhea this time, although I did miss out on a bit of sleep and was a bit cranky sometimes, so my Mom and Dad gave me lots of Tylenol and teething tablets. They have included them in my backpack in case I am grumpy. The sure signs are flaming red cheeks and sometimes I pull on my ears.

Also over the Christmas break I have taken to using a proper fork just like the grown-ups use. Mom is still packing my red plastic fork, but if you loan me one of your regular forks, I might have better luck (the points are sharper). Or maybe my Mom should pack a fork from our house, what do you think?

I have some good news – I am starting to talk! I know how to say:

“LOOK” “LIGHT” “DOG” “DADDY”
“ALL DONE” (or “ALL GONE”) and maybe “OUT”

Another thing that I have been doing these days is throwing temper tantrums. Sorry, it’s not very nice, but apparently it is important to my development to learn what “no” means. Sometimes I cry when I hear the word “no”, even if that what isn’t meant (for example, I heard my Mommy ask “Know what??” and I started to cry last week). Please try to put up with me during this phase, I am trying to learn!

Anyways, I just wanted to jot this down on paper tonight before I went to bed because I tend to forget things in the morning, everything is so rushed. I’m sure tomorrow will be a great day!

Love,

Chance

Look!

"OOK" has changed into "LOOK"!

"Look!" - at the light above the kitchen table
"Look!" - at the car next to us at the stop light
"Look!" - at the people walking on the sidewalk
"Look!" - at the bus parked in front of the grocery store

I'm pretty sure Chance's first word is LOOK!

Good Things

1) I got my P. Geol!!
2) All done work for 2007!
3) Everyone's healthy! No colds, sniffles, fevers!
4) Chance is starting to speak (??) we think!

"ook" = book or look
"lahhht" = light