Snow Day

There was a snowfall warning yesterday.  This morning we looked out and the ground was covered in snow.  The temperature was 2 degrees, so it was still a little chilly.  Isaac got up at 7am, we had breakfast, then Daddy took Isaac out to play in the courtyard.

He checked out the water fountain and ran around a bit while Daddy took some pictures.  After I had breakfast, I went down... but they were on their way back in.  I asked if Isaac still wanted to play outside more and he said yes.  So Daddy went back in to get his hat and I took Isaac out.  I started rolling a snowball and found the snow fantastic for packing - very moist and dense.  It took no time at all to roll out a huge snowball.  I rolled a medium snowball and stacked that on top, then added ears, snout, nose, eyes and arms to my "snow bear".  Isaac helped to pat extra snow onto the bear.

When we came back into the house, Isaac's nose was running and his cheeks were rosy from the cold.  We went in for a bit, then I took Isaac out to Value Village with me and we picked up some new Melissa Doug Pet Stampers for $3.99.  We got back home at 11am.  Daddy watched Isaac and fed him while I prepared lunch for guests we were expecting.

We had a couple of friends over for lunch at 12:30pm.  I baked some chicken drumsticks, spanish rice with stir-fried vegetables,  and baked salmon.  Our guests brought over a yummy apple pie.  Isaac played with them for a bit, then took his nap.

When he woke up he had a few bites of salmon and yogurt.  He played a bit more, then we had other friends over for dinner.  Daddy went to pick up some Indian food from Tandori Kona - naan, samosas, butter chicken, eggplant, lamb curry, and another chicken curry.  Isaac enjoyed dipping the naan into the butter chicken and eating it.  We fed him some baby food and a yogurt.  After dinner, he played a little more but was starting to go crazy around 7:15pm.

It was a bit early, but we put him to bed by 8pm and he was sleeping by 8:16pm.  He seems to be going through a bit of separation anxiety over the last couple of days.  He seems to need to cuddle with me in order to go to sleep.  Even when we were shopping yesterday, Daddy was pushing him in a shopping cart but when he couldn't see me, he started getting upset.  Hopefully this is just a short phase.  I'm not sure what else I should do other than just reassure him.  I'm not sure if this was triggered by me going out to Value Village without him while I left him home with Daddy (at the end of the week).  I'll have to see if things improve over the next few days.

Falling Out Of Crib

I decided to put the boy to bed earlier tonight, but he didn't want to be in his crib.  I was preparing to do dishes when I heard a loud crack sound.  I immediately dropped what I was holding and ran to the bedroom to find Isaac on the outside of his crib, hanging upside down with his foot hooked on the rail.  He was pretty freaked out and crying.  I let him snuggle up with me in my bed.  When he calmed down, I put him back into his crib and he went to sleep.

I know he's long overdue for moving to a regular bed.  We just haven't gotten around to it yet.  I guess I have to move that up on our to-do list.

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Today we had friends come over to play.  Isaac wasn't in a sharing mood.  I was preparing lunch and I think Isaac might've gotten into a tussle with one of the other boys.  He got some scratch marks on his neck.  I didn't hear any crying though so I guess he wasn't hurt too badly.  He complained a little when we put some polysporin on it, so I guess it stung a bit.

We got invitations to a few birthday parties for 2 year olds.  I think March is going to be a busy month.  I'm going to need to do some birthday present shopping soon.  I have some ideas about what to get.  The boys seem to be into trains, dinosaurs, and one boy is into Mickey Mouse.  I'm still deciding what to get for a girl.  I think something Dora related might be good.

Just A Typical Day

Today we had Creative Movements class.  It was pretty good, Isaac was doing more of the actions with the songs (though there are still a number of songs he's not interested in).  A new one he participated in involved running and stopping when the instructor calls out "Stop".  A lot of times when he didn't care about a song, he would try to hang off the "ballet bars" on the sides of the room, or try to run out of the room.  There was a girl playing with a folding chair and decided to head-butt into her.  I'm not sure why he did it but I stepped in to pull him away.

After class, I gave him a snack and we stopped by Cobbs to pick up a tomato and cheese roll and some vegetables and a lemon from Kins market.  I went to Indigo books to pick up a sticker book I ordered (the stickers are for the birthday party loot bags), stopped by the bank, then ordered takeout lunch.  As we waited at the restaurant for our food, Isaac started fussing and arching his back in the stroller.  He fell asleep immediately after.  It was almost as if he was trying to fight against sleep.

When we got home, I was able to transfer him to his crib.  He had a 2 hour nap.  When he woke up, I let him eat more of his Cobbs bread, and gave him some steamed rolls (Shanghai).  We took out the garbage and I gave him some yogurt to tide him until dinner.  After he got his bath.

For dinner I had planned to bake some salmon... but it was still frozen, so resorted to baking chicken wings.  We also had asparagus and rice.  The boy had some chicken and butternut squash.

After deciding for awhile, I went ahead and bought a couple of duplo bridges for our train tracks off UK Amazon.  It's much more expensive trying to buy it from Ebay.  I'm interested to see if I can make any neat track layouts with these added to the mix.  I'll probably get some more straight tracks from Lego.

I started putting him to bed earlier tonight (around 7:30pm).  He was asleep by 8:30pm.  Tomorrow we're having our friends come over to play.

Egg Mystery

This morning Daddy asked if he could have the last egg for breakfast and I told him there should be  3 (since I only used 3 for the cake I made on Sunday night) and I distinctly remember that's how many are left.

Daddy opened the egg carton and asked me, if an egg exploded?  I answered no, they were all fine the last time I looked.  One egg was missing its shell.  The contents were divided into two containers, with the white in one and the yolk in another.  There were 3 egg shells present.

Daddy thought that maybe I absentmindedly cracked open an egg and dumped it into the carton.  Umm... NO, I did no such thing.  I might be tired but not that zoned out. :p

Hmm... I immediately came to the conclusion that the boy cracked open the egg.
1) He currently has a penchant for eggs - not to eat it but looking at them and saying "egg" - when he sees eggs, birds, nests, etc.
2) He is capable of opening the fridge.
3) He knows where we keep the eggs in the fridge.
4) When he "opens" stuff, he tends to try to put things back where he got them.  (Usually this happens with his tubes of cream.)
5) He has an opportunity to do whatever he wants in the mornings when Mommy and Daddy sleep in.

Daddy took one of the eggs and cooked it for his breakfast.  I reexamined the other eggs in the carton and found one broken on the bottom side.  When I asked the boy if he opened an egg, he started laughing.  I say we've found our culprit.  Mystery solved.

I'm just impressed he was able to separate the white and yolk without breaking the yolk.  Too bad we missed seeing him in action.  I attempted to get a confession from the boy... he just laughed when I showed him the egg.  Does that count as a confession?!

This morning I took Isaac on a skytrain ride to meet up with someone selling some duplo via craigslist.  We got some more furniture, a few figures, a mommy and baby dinosaur and some other pieces.  After we went to Oakridge mall to play for a bit.  On the way back, Isaac fell asleep on the skytrain (at 11:30am).  I took the opportunity to run some errands, pick up some clothes for him from Old Navy, and pick up some veggies, mushrooms and tofu while he was sleeping.  I got home at 1pm and woke him up as I was trying to remove his jacket.

Daddy made us dumplings for lunch.  After lunch, I washed all the new duplo pieces.  During that time, Isaac jammed a plastic triangle into the dishwasher vent.  It took some fiddling around, but I was able to pry it out with a chopstick.  At around 3:30pm or so I got really tired so I napped for a little... but the boy sure got into some more mischief.  I woke up to the sound of smacking and found him at the end of my bed eating his toothpaste.  The boy was playing around in the closet and left the door ajar.  I was unable to open or close it... apparently one of the screws were loose.  I tightened the screw in the wrong place and trapped myself in the closet.  After forcing the door open, I adjusted the block and tried to realign the door properly before retightening the screw.

I was getting antsy about not getting my package so I went to the post office to pick up my parcel (this time bringing the reference number with me).  I got home at around 6:10pm and made soup noodles with watercress, tofu, mushrooms and chicken balls for dinner.  Daddy augmented our meal with some panfried Vietnamese meatballs.  We ate pretty late (7pm), and had a web chat with grandparents.  Daddy was busy working, so couldn't have dinner with us.

It was 9pm by the time I started Isaac's bedtime, and close to 10pm by the time I got him into his crib.  He fell asleep immediately.  I feel bad that I didn't put him to bed earlier, especially considering he had an early nap time.  I will have to try to get dinner ready earlier tomorrow.

Happy Family Day!

Daddy got Family Day off today.  We went to Metrotown to do some shopping.  We took a train ride through the mall on the Metropolis Express.  Isaac enjoyed it a lot.  He was really quiet and just seemed to be in a "trying to absorb the experience" sort of mode.  When we saw the train again later that morning, he wanted to get on again.

I was able to use an old gift certificate for RW & Co to buy a new pair of pants.  I'm so glad they honoured the gift certificate (it was from 2007).  I guess I don't really go shopping there too often... never mind even general clothes shopping for myself.  Daddy also treated me to a Macadamia nut mogul from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  We haven't had a chance to eat it today since we tried the cake instead.  I think it'll still be good tomorrow.

After some shopping, we went to Curry King Cafe for lunch.  Isaac fell asleep as soon as we got there, so we had him sleep in his stroller while we at.  Daddy had a curry beef brisket and I had a seafood fried rice with fried garlic (which came with a soup, garlic bread, and a Hong Kong milk tea.  The beef brisket was a little dry and the fried rice was on the bland side, but the service was quick and the place was clean.  I've had this dish from here a few years ago and my recollection was that it tasted better before.  They used to sprinkle in fish roe, there was more garlic and it was minced and lightly fried, it was also more generous with baby scallops - lightly cooked over high heat.  It seems like they've cheaped-out on the ingredients.  We ordered a congee to go for the boy.  He woke up as we were getting ready to leave the restaurant.

We went to Gourmet Warehouse to pick up some kitchen utensils and some ingredients I needed for a fondant.  The boy liked looking at some of the merchandise but quickly got bored when I wouldn't let him touch most of the things there.  After we stopped by a shop on Kingsway to buy some Vietnamese meatballs.

When we got home, Isaac had a bit of mushroom chicken congee.  I took a nap and Daddy watched Isaac.  Not sure what they were doing, but Isaac would occasionally come in and climb on top of me and I would yell for Daddy to get him.  Daddy ordered sushi for our dinner and went to pick it up.  We had a web chat with my parents over dinner.

In the evening, we stopped by the post office but I was unsuccessful in picking up my parcel.  The website said that my parcel was available... but the clerk said that it wasn't there.  I will try to sort that out tomorrow.  After, we went to Choices to pick up lots of oatmeal for the boy.  I got treated to a bag of veggie chips.

It was getting late when we got home.  We had some cake then I put the boy to bed (mommy milk, brush teeth, potty, cream, story time, bed).  It was already past 9pm by the time he was in bed, but he was so tired he fell asleep almost immediately.  We will have to try to put him to bed earlier tomorrow night.  I have a lot planned for tomorrow morning.

Late Night Cake Baking Session

Waiting for Daddy's flight to land. According to the Air Canada website he's delayed by an hour and won't be landing until 1:57am. That means he probably won't get home until closer to 3am if he can catch a cab right away.

I'm trying out the Flourless Chocolate Cake I recipe from allrecipes.com.  When I bought the ingredients, I didn't have my shopping list with me so I didn't realize that I needed 18 chocolate squares. I ended up buying only 8 semi-sweet chocolate squares, so I just halved the recipe and used a loaf tin instead of a cake pan.

I don't have a double boiler so I used the microwave method to melt the chocolate - I put the chocolate into a bowl, microwave for about 5-7 seconds, take out the bowl and stir, stir, stir... then repeat until all the chocolate has melted.  I didn't run into any problems with burning the chocolate this way.  I also don't have an electric mixer, so I just hand mixed everything.  I can imagine that it would be faster and more evenly mixed with an electric one... but I do what I can with what I have.

Anyhow, the cake was pretty easy to make.  It's still baking in the oven, so I'll have to see the results in about 10 minutes.  It will still need to chill overnight, so I won't get to taste it until later.

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We tried the cake today.  Daddy doesn't think it tastes quite like cake or a brownie... he doesn't seem to like it.  Personally, I like it.  It's really dense and rich and extremely chocolatey.  It is sweet (I used semi-sweet chocolate), so I can see how some people might find it too sweet.  I didn't add any sort of frosting or fondant on top.  Isaac liked the cake.  His response: "More please".  I'm still deciding if I'll use this recipe for his birthday cake or not.  I might still go with it, and purchase a mango cake as an option to people who want a "real" cake. :)

I picked up ingredients to make fondant, but was too lazy to attempt it today.  Maybe I'll give it a go tomorrow or another day during this week.

Doctor's visit

This morning Isaac woke up at 5am. I took him to the potty then brought him back to bed with me. I think he fell asleep again, but I'm not sure since I was tired. He was up at some point, and I got up at about 8am.

We had breakfast, then I got Isaac ready to go out to see the doctor. We got there right when the office was supposed to open, but there were already 7 people ahead of us. I guessed that it might be a hour before we could get into a room. It's incredibly stressful waiting because there's nothing to keep Isaac entertained. I took him to Zellers to walk around and look at toys. That took up about 30-40 minutes. After that I tried to keep Isaac in the waiting area with snack bribes. He still insisted on "Mama Go!"... but there was only one person ahead of us now and I didn't want to lose our spot and wait behind another patient.

I let him go up and down the elevator one more time, then headed back to the waiting area. The boy who's ahead of us was still in the waiting area. Isaac saw the boy drinking water from a paper cup and he wanted to do that too. So I let him have some drinking water from the Dr's office. That kept him amused until we were let into a room.

There we waited and waited... for at least 30-40 minutes. It was brutal. Isaac was hungry, tired, and screaming to leave. We finally got to see the Dr. and I can see why it takes so long... he likes to chit-chat! He thinks it could be fungal or eczema on his arms. Blah blah blah, I told him that the hydrocortisone wasn't very effective and the canesten wasn't controlling it well, though the Lotriderm was pretty effective. After he examined Isaac, I also wanted him to examine my nipples to see if I have thrush. But that required me to change and the doctor to bring in a receptionist to "chaperone" the examination (since this is the policy of the walk-in-clinic). I was changed in no time flat, but the Doctor was off seeing another patient. More screaming ensued, this time louder and more upsetting then previously. I feel sorry for the receptionist. She held Isaac as he screamed (hopefully not directly into her ears).

After my examination, I quickly got changed and we had to wait for the Doctor to confirm our prescription over the phone with someone (his supervisor?). When Isaac saw that we weren't leaving yet, he was in total hysterics. When the Doctor came back, he smartly left the door open since closing it prompted Isaac to scream louder. Isaac said bye through his tears and gasping.

I dropped off our prescription at the pharmacy and found that the doctor forgot to give us a refill prescription of Lotriderm even though he verbally said he would. I had to go back and wait for him to write us a note (in between him seeing other patients). But he also forgot to write down Isaac's name on his note... but this time, the pharmacy just called in to confirm it for us. She told me that it would be at least a few minutes (but I was pretty sure that it would take more time since they have to also catch the doctor between patients)... so we went to the bakery to pick up a couple of buns to eat.

Isaac had 1/2 a pineapple bun and some egg custard tart while I talked to a Japanese granny sitting on the bench with us. She seemed like a sweet happy old lady - she's turning 88 in May and has 4 sons and a daughter, 3 sisters and a brother. Then we took a quick walk at Toys R Us and went back to pick up Isaac's prescription from the pharmacy. The pharmacist said that they didn't have any small tubes of Lotriderm, but had a big one. Our prescription note didn't include an amount, so the pharmacist assumed that we would need a small tube. I was able to get the big tube though. It was quite pricey, but it's something that I feel Isaac needs. They were unable to fill my prescription. It was almost 2pm when we finally left the mall. Isaac fell asleep on the way home. I don't have enough energy to go and fill my prescription. Maybe we'll do that tomorrow... or I'll just use some of Isaac's creams. The Doctor said it would be ok to use a little as long as I wasn't feeding him directly after applying it.

That was our morning. I'm tired, hungry and stressed out. On the upside, I did end up winning an ebay auction for a junction/points duplo track. I'm still bidding on one more of those pieces from the same seller. Two pieces would let you form nicer track layouts... though I would need some more pieces. There's no rush on that for now.

I was meaning to clean up the house before Daddy got back, but I'm too tired to do anything right now. I think I'll eat and nap. I hope Daddy has a safe flight back home.

Our afternoon/evening schedule was a bit messed up with the meal times. Isaac woke up after about 1.5 hours. I gave him some bbq pork bun, then we walked through Value Village and went to McDonalds. I had my usual order, and got Isaac a McNugget happy meal. He seems to like the sweet and sour sauce. He ate 2 pieces of the McNuggets and had some apple juice. I ate his fries, remainder of his McNuggets and my burger. He kept walking along the bench to check out what other people were doing on the other side of the divider.

After, we came home and I gave him a yogurt. Then we went out grocery shopping. I want to attempt making a fondant but didn't have any ingredients on hand (except the salt). I was going to bake something tonight, but it's almost 11pm now and would be extremely late if I started now. I'm still considering it though since I don't feel sleepy yet.

I spent the last hour going through a pile of our old mail, take-out menus, coupons, etc. I was excited to find two cheques I haven't cashed in yet! I guess that will help offset some of my ebay purchases.

Time to look over the cake recipe and see if I'm in the mood to bake it now.

Fear Of Water

This morning we had swimming lessons. This instructor really tries to get the toddlers to be independent in the water, but Isaac doesn't seem ready. Most of the other kids are able to hold onto a float toy without being held by their parents... while Isaac struggles to cling to me if he remotely detects me loosening my hold on him. It's funny that he always seems to look forward to going to class, but when he's there he's scared. I'm not sure if I should go during public swim times just to give him more chances to get more comfortable in the water... or whether that would scare him more. I think I'll have to ask our instructor for her opinion next class.

This morning the boy got up at 6am. I was up with him for a bit (took him to the potty), left him some snacks (1/2 pineapple bun, some cheerios, elmo cereal and water), then went back to bed. Sometime after 7am, he trying to sit and bounce on me. I got up when he asked to go to the potty again.

I fed him breakfast - mixed grains and a mandarin fruit cup. I had 1/2 a pineapple bun and 2 pieces of chocolate chip Eggos. I put him on the potty again then we got ready to go to class. We got there early and there was plenty of parking. Swimming class was ok, Isaac was able to hold onto the "marshmallows" - floating barbells all by himself. He was freaked out and not very happy about it though. It would be easier if he could relax a little. He didn't want to jump into the water. The part of class he seems to like is the beginning where we walk down the steps directly into the shallow end of the water, he gets to walk around there, and we sing a song. Next class we're going to the adult pool. The instructor suggests bringing an extra shirt for the kids to have on top to keep warmer.

After class, I changed Isaac and stuck him into G's stroller. Then I got changed. We left the parking lot at 10:17am. When we got home, Isaac was looking a bit drowsy. I gave him a bath and he seemed to perk up with energy again. Lunch was left overs: soup and noodles, and some salmon. I left an episode of Word World from our PVR on for him to watch, then went to take a shower. He checked on me a couple times at the beginning then disappeared. He came back him to see when I'd start drying my hair, then left when he saw the hair dryer.

When I came out of the washroom, I saw that he ripped out a page from the "Paint with Water" book (, he actually did a great job ripping it out, the picture was completely intact). He had the page on his easel and there was a piece of masking tape stuck on his easel also - though the tape was all mangled, I'm surprised he was able to rip it off the roll). Normally I'll tape a piece of paper onto his easel for him to paint on... I guess he was trying to set it up for himself. He asked to do some painting, but I told him that he had to nap first. Gave him mommy milk and put him to bed. I just started the laundry, and am eating the remainder of the leftovers.

This afternoon, I'll give him a snack, maybe we'll do one painting, then we'll go out for a short walk. We're heading to Auntie K's for dinner. I should probably bring something over, but I'm not sure what yet.

Here's the painting Isaac made today:

I brought over 3 pieces of cake from Michele's. Isaac and G played for a bit before dinner. We had spaghetti with celery, carrots, meat sauce and some chicken. By the end of the evening, Isaac was starting to go a little crazy. We got home a little before 8pm and I started Isaac's bedtime routine immediately when we got home. He's currently in bed, but definitely not asleep yet.

Tomorrow morning, I think we'll be hanging out at Lansdowne mall to see a Dr. I want to get his toes checked. I think he has some sort of fungal infection on his feet.

TGIF

I guess it doesn't really matter that it's Friday but it's still nice to know the weekend is coming up.

The boy woke up at 6am, and got up at 6:30am. He let me stay in bed until 7:30am, though he did bring me some Lego and a dragon. We had breakfast.

Now I'm trying to make a shopping list (eg. milk, etc.) so that I can pick it up when I order and pick up lunch from Takeya Sushi. I just hope the boy doesn't fall asleep in the car. Maybe I should bring the stroller today just in case. We're meeting up with friends for a gymtime at the Steveston Community Centre.

I'd better go check on the boy. I left him on his potty reading his ads.

Isaac was a good boy this morning. We got ready and stopped by Value Village before heading to Steveston. We met up with Auntie E, Auntie K, J, and G there. Isaac painted a picture then spent most of his time playing at the toy kitchen station. He kept going to Auntie K, giving her a hug, then pulling her to the kitchen. At the end of the playtime, the children all sat in a circle and got to play with bells while we sang a few songs. Isaac seemed to like it.

Isaac & G had a snack, and J wandered around the library. After they came with me to the Seafair plaza and watched Isaac while I waited for my sushi order. We went to Safeway and I wanted to pick up some milk... but they were out of the 1L homo milk. I'll have to make another trip out to Save-On to pick some up for the boy.

Isaac fell asleep on the way home just before noon. For lunch I'm having a crispy tuna avocado roll, chopped scallop roll, a few pieces of salmon sashimi and the rice from the avocado roll. I saved him the avocado, 3 pieces of salmon sashimi and a couple pieces of scallop. It's delicious!

We're invited to Auntie K's for dinner tomorrow.

After Isaac woke up from his nap, I gave him the sushi, sashimi, and some yogurt for lunch. We went out for a long walk. I did a quick walk-through at Value Village, but didn't see anything. Then we stopped by a chinese grocery store where I got some tofu, watercress and some mini honey mandarins. We went to Anna's to pick up some chinese buns and cake. After we went to Save On Foods to pick up some milk, pork, yogurt, mushrooms, Elmo cookies and a small 3-pack box of Lindor chocolate. On the way home, Isaac ate part of a chinese sponge cake. We got home at 5pm.

I made soup noodles for dinner. In the soup I used chicken broth as the base and added watercress (cut up so that it doesn't get all tangled up), slices of mushrooms, snap peas, chicken balls, home-made pork balls, and soft tofu (cubed).

Note to Daddy: Aquarium batteries were changed sometime this week. Maybe on Tuesday or Wednesday but I don't remember exactly.

We had dinner a bit after 6pm and had a web chat with Daddy. After the boy ate, he took off to play while I had my dinner. I put the boy to bed and he fell asleep at around 9pm. Dishes are done. Time for me to play some games.

Busy day

This morning started off sometime before 7am, though I didn't get up until then (not counting taking Isaac to the potty). I made rice and shake & bake chicken drumsticks so that I could pack some to bring for Isaac's lunch at Auntie K's place. I took out a bag of salmon and stuck it in the fridge to thaw. After, we had breakfast, potty time, changed, and got ready to leave.

We stopped by Value Village first. I found a duplo triceratops. I saw another lady holding an entire bag of Zoobs!! Wish I got there earlier. Oh well. We don't really play with it that much, but it would be nice to have some more pieces. After, we headed over to the playgroup. We were a little early, but it was ok.

Isaac's starting to play more with the other boys. By the end of the playtime, he was starting to go crazy and I had a hard time trying to calm him down. The other boys were also screaming and running around.

We came home and the boy fell asleep shortly after. (A little after 12:30pm). I ate lunch, then spent some time washing duplo pieces. The boy woke up at about 2pm. I gave him some yogurt (he chose the vanilla flavoured one and seemed to like it), then we went out for a walk.

Came home at 4:30pm. I started preparing the marinade for the salmon. Unfortunately, the salmon was still frozen. I waited until 5:30pm before starting to cook it. We had some snacks while we waited for the salmon to cook. Dinner was at 6:30pm. The boy had salmon and sweet potato baby food. After, I put him on the potty and gave him a bath.

We started bedtime at around 8pm. He was acting up, so I stopped reading and stuck him in his crib. He started wailing. After a little, I went back in the calm him down, then we read two more stories. When I put him in bed after that, he was good. He asked for his sleep sack, then went to sleep shortly afterwards (around 9pm).

Tomorrow morning we're heading to Steveston to play with J & G at a gym time. I'm very tempted to pick up some McDonalds or sushi for lunch. Not sure which yet. I'll decide tomorrow. No clue about dinner.

Tiring Day

Today just seems a bit trying. We got up at 7:12am. I wanted to go back to sleep but he didn't let me this morning. He played for a bit and did some painting with a couple of paint brushes, then we had breakfast. (Isaac just finished his last box of oatmeal.) I had some Eggo's, then put Isaac on the potty. We rushed out to class. I didn't bother hunting for a parking spot, so today I parked upstairs. There were lots of spots there.

Creative movement class was good. Isaac seemed to have a good time. After class, we returned our books and videos and picked up some new books and a video Kiki's Delivery Service. We stopped by at Value Village on the way home and I picked up some Lego dragon figures and a small bag of the regular lego pieces.

It was a bit after 12 when we got home. I washed the dragons and the boy tried to feed them food from his toy kitchen. I didn't think I'd have time to make Isaac lunch so I gave him an avocado and a yogurt. After, I heated up the salmon and rice leftovers for myself. Isaac had some bites of the salmon also. We watched the beginning of Kiki's. At 1:30pm, I tried to put Isaac down for a nap since he was looking extremely tired. He fought it like made, then demanded to go to the potty.

I put him on the toilet, then called the post office to check if my parcel was available (and it was). I bundled Isaac up and we went to the post office. As soon as the car left our parking lot, the boy was fast asleep. I left him in the car and ran in to pick up my package. Then I also picked up a small bag of honey mandarin.

We came home and I had to lug the boy up from the parking lot. I didn't want to make two trips, so I struggled to carry him and the other items up. I put the boy in his crib. Now it's time for me to wash my lego and check out my package. The parcel came from England - it's an Ebay item of duplo furniture. I'm going to take a nap too (if I can).

Isaac napped for about 3 hours. We got up at 5:30pm. Dinner ended up being late - around 6:30-7:30pm. I made soup noodles with soft tofu, chicken balls, snap peas, and 2 types of mushrooms. I was going to make Shake & Bake chicken... but it didn't happen. Maybe I'll try to make it tomorrow morning so that we'll have a lunch when we're at our playgroup.

I finally put Isaac into his crib at 10p. He didn't seem to want to sleep but I think he's out now. I'm going to take my shower and reheat some of the dinner to snack on. I hope our schedule will be more normal tomorrow.

Good Morning

Another morning gone.  The boy got up at 7am and I told him to go play and let me sleep.  He was pretty good, played with the toys in the bins and off the bookshelf.  He occasionally dumped toys onto my bed (of things he "broke" that he wanted me to fix).  I got up at 8am after he turned on my clock radio.

I gave him some banana bread, blueberry sauce and oatmeal for breakfast.  The banana bread is ok... I prefer my regular recipe instead.  Maybe it would've tasted better if I was able to follow the recipe exactly.

After breakfast, I put Isaac on the potty then got us ready to go out.  We took out a bag of garbage, then headed off to Ikea.  I returned the blue bin and picked up some smaller ones.  I was tempted to buy other things but held back.  (Note to Daddy: they no longer sell the glass cups that we have, so please be careful with the remaining ones.)  I wanted to go to Value Village afterwards so I had to take a round-about route to get there.  When I got to the parking lot and looked back at Isaac, he was fast asleep with his head hanging forward (11:30am).  I took us home and put him into his crib.

For lunch, I think we'll keep things simple and just have some dumplings.  I'm actually pretty hungry right now so maybe I'll make some for myself first.

After I ate, I got sleepy so I went for a nap.  At 2:30pm, we woke to the sound of my phone ringing.  When I finally realized that my phone was ringing, I rushed for it... but missed the call from the front door.  I took the boy downstairs in hopes of catching the postal delivery guy, but found a mail pickup notice instead.  I'll have to call tomorrow to see if the parcel is at the post office.  :p  I hate missing a delivery.  I'm not even sure what package this is from... either it's one of my Ebay items or Isaac's birthday decorations.  I tried to look up the delivery notice number but it's not on the system yet.  I guess it'll be available tomorrow or the day after.  What could it be!?  I want to know what it is!!

The boy was not particularly pleased to be carried off to the lobby after waking up.  He had a 3 hour nap again today.  I wonder if he's going through a growth spurt.  He does seem to have extended his reach for stuff on our kitchen bar counter.  This morning he was able to get his container of "Elmo Cookies" without too much trouble.

Ok.  I've resigned myself to not knowing what my package is.  Time to make some lunch for the boy and see if he's up to a visit to Value Village.

Isaac had 3 dumplings and a yogurt for lunch.  After lunch, we stopped by Kin's to pick up some garlic, lemon, mushrooms (white and oyster) and snap peas.  I got Isaac a cheese roll from Cobb's, then we went to Value Village.  We didn't see anything good at the store so came home after a quick walk-through.

For dinner, I made the "Baked Salmon II" dish - though I used 3 cloves of garlic and dried parsley instead.  It tasted pretty good, but too garlicky and a bit too salty...  I'll have to try it again with the proper amount of garlic and slightly less salt and maybe increase the lemon juice a tad.  Isaac ate a good-sized portion of the fish, mixed grains, butternut squash baby food, and a slice of orange.

We were watching the beginning of Totoro again today and he came to grab me when there were soot balls about, he was also a little unsure about the big Totoro.

I think we'll start getting ready for bed soon.

Shopping

This morning we got up at 8am.  We flipped through books, I sang some songs, and I put on his Zoom Zoom Zoom music to keep him entertained at breakfast.  He had his usual: oatmeal and a fruit cup.  After he ate, I had a couple of boiled eggs.

He played with some duplo and also dumped some of the books from his bookshelf into the corner by the lamp.  We have a wind and rain warning and I was not in the mood go for a walk.  I called up Auntie K and arranged for us to go to Ikea together.  K, G and Isaac played in the kids area while I went to pick up a Trofast bench storage and bins; 1 large blue bin, 2 medium red bins, and 2 small green bins.  I also picked up a spare r14 light bulb for our floor lamp.  (Note to self: the light bulb is cheaper at Staples.)  Isaac had fun playing with the toy kitchen and G had fun pushing a wagon.  We gave the boys a snack then I dropped K and G back home.  G was falling asleep when they got home.  Isaac looked a bit tired when we got back, but he doesn't look ready to nap anymore.  I'm going to make myself some soup noodles for lunch.

Ended up having some sliced cucumbers dipped with ranch dressing and some instant noodles.  Isaac wasn't too crazy about the cucumbers.  I think I gave him something else to eat as well, but can't remember what it was.  Isaac took his nap at around 2:20pm.

I got my chance to fetch my new purchase from the car and put it together.  I missed a step part way through and didn't notice until I was near the end when I saw that I inexplicably had 4 extra parts left ... so had to undo a few steps to fix my mistake.  After putting some of Isaac's toys into the bins, I realized that the blue bin is way too deep.  I'm going to have to go back and exchange it for a medium bin and a small bin.  Maybe I'll go tomorrow.

Isaac had a super long nap and didn't wake up until 5pm.  I made steak and mushrooms for dinner while Isaac played with some toys and we had a web chat with Daddy while we ate.  Bedtime didn't happen until 9pm.  Isaac fussed a bit in his crib before going to sleep, though it was evident he was tired.

Ebay update: the auction I was winning... I ended up losing in the last minute.  I'm actually a bit relieved because I didn't really, really want the duplo figures but would've paid for it to use as prizes.  Now I have about 5 more auctions that I have bids on, and I'm losing on all of them.  I did go back to rebid on one (but still got out-bid), I don't want to pay more than $20 just for 2 pieces of duplo even if they are nifty pieces.  Since I'm losing all my auctions, I think it's a good time to take a long break from Ebay.  I'm just waiting for a few more items to ship to me.  Back to scavenging at Value Village.

I'm making a couple loaf's of banana bread, but I had to substitute a couple of ingredients, omitted walnuts (though I would've liked to add it in if I had some on hand) and I forgot to grease the pans before I put the batter in.  Hope it turns out.  Today's been so busy, I didn't even have time to do my daily pogo challenges.  Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Still waiting for my banana bread, but I can smell it now.  Better than the burnt smell that I first detected when I put the loaves into the oven.  I think it might've been from the flour the dusted the pans with...  If it turns out, I'll give one loaf to E & S to thank them for helping me last time Daddy was away.

Home alone again - Day 1

We dropped Daddy off at the airport this morning.  After we stopped by a grocery store and came home.  I fed Isaac the rest of his breakfast, then we headed out to take out some garbage and go to the library to participate in a Chinese New Year celebration event.  We did a bunch of arts and crafts activities, then walked home.  Isaac fell asleep on the way back.  I was up late last night so I'm pretty tired and will take a nap now.

Plans for lunch: dim sum left-overs
Plans for dinner: beef with mushrooms and corn.  (leftovers)

I didn't quite end up falling asleep until close to when Isaac woke up so I felt tired in the afternoon.  We did the recycling and watched parts of an anime, Totoro.  Isaac seemed a little scared by some parts of the anime (discovering the soot balls).  He kept calling "May" when other characters were calling her name.

Isaac had some bites of toast, mushrooms, some bits of corn, a couple bites of beef and yogurt.  After dinner, I gave him a bath.  For his bedtime stories, we read: "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?", "Green Eggs and Ham", and "Llama Llama Red Pajama".  He started going a little crazy during the second book, but I got him to calm down and listen (by letting him either choose to go to bed or stay and read the book).  He also choose to go to bed instead of getting nose drops - specifically saying "bad" (for bed).  I did not hear a peep from him when I left the room.

Anyhow, I am mostly done with my ebay shopping spree.  It looks like I might win one more auction and am still deciding if I want to re-bid on one.  I have been buying duplo... mostly the items will be for Isaac's birthday party (except the tracks and some miscellaneous furniture pieces).  I have been tempted to buy other duplo furniture, a duplo baby/family, and other track pieces, but I think I will just hold off for now.

He's not really playing too much lego lately.  Instead he's been clamouring to watch television and videos.  Mostly, he's watching educational programs but I think I will have to cut down his screen time.  Maybe I should think up some arts and crafts activities we can try.  I've been wanting to teach him how to glue stuff onto paper or let him paint with a paintbrush.

Sick

Ugh. I have a sore throat, stuffy nose, my ear hurts and I feel a bit woozy. I'm so glad Daddy didn't have to go away for training this week! I'm just heating up some chicken noodle soup for myself. I hope I don't infect the boy. Daddy has a meeting right now, so I'm up.

Gave the boy some chicken noodle soup, oatmeal, and mandarins for breakfast.  I think we're going to have a "tv/movie" sort of day.  I'm not really up for going out today.  It's too bad since the weather is decent.

Utter chaos.  Following the sound of my blaring radio, I found the boy with Canesten cream smeared all over his face, his hands and the dresser.  He lost the lid.  I don't think he ate too much of it so he should be ok.   In the living room, the toy "kitchen" I made from boxes for him has been turned over.  Toy food strewn over the floor.  Baby sign language cards scattered about.  I guess the toy mess is normal.

I wasn't planning to go out today, but I think I have no choice.  The boy needs to be taken out for a walk.

We went out and it was windy.  After a short visit to Value Village (it was crazy there today because of their sale), we left and went back home to get Isaac's boots.  We went back out to splash in some puddles, then went back home again.  In the lobby, we bumped into someone taking their dog out for a walk so Isaac got to pet the dog.  The boy fell asleep before lunch.

After Isaac woke up, the fire alarm went off so we decided to go to the mall instead of just waiting around. I looked at party supplies at Zellers but didn't see what I was looking for.  We stopped by Toys R Us to take a look.  Then we went to buy some veggies and pastries.

Bad afternoon and evening.  I napped.  Isaac destroyed some of Daddy's things.  Isaac also didn't want to eat the dinner Daddy made, so Daddy wasn't happy.  They both went to bed at around 8pm.

I'm starting to plan Isaac's birthday party.  I have under 2 months to get everything ready.  I have a theme in mind already and have bought some party decorations already.  I'll blog about it next time.  I'm going to try to go to bed early tonight.