Day 1

It seems I mostly update when DH goes out of town.  This trip he took the boy with him.  They took a taxi to the airport at 4:30am.  The girl went back to sleep at around 5am or so.  I couldn't fall back asleep until closer to 6:30am.  I got up at 8am and heard the girl saying "No Daddy" repeatedly.

I told her I was hungry and she went downstairs first.  Then she came back up saying "Uh oh".  She broke a bead bracelet so I replaced the elastic with embroidery floss and restrung it.  Then she broke a plastic bracelet.  I tried to glue it back together but it didn't work so we tossed it out.  We had toast for breakfast.  Then I let her watch Tingp and Wonderpets while I did the dishes.

11:30am - she's napping now.  I'm debating moving the bookshelves.  I guess I have to figure out something for lunch also.  On my to do list for today: prepping the compost and recycling.  My wishlist includes taking the girl out on a bus ride but it would've been preferable to go out in the morning, booking an appointment to get the car repaired (was hoping to get a couple of quotes before deciding where to go).  I might just nap with the girl instead of getting anything done. :p

I got the recycling ready and the girl woke up and helped me put boxes into the blue bin.  I couldn't find the twine to tie the boxes together... so I hope they won't reject it when they pick up the recycling tomorrow.

For lunch, we raided the fridge for leftovers.  Did the dishes, watered the plants, then went grocery shopping.  Came home and I wanted to nap but the girl didn't want to nap... So we made rice, marinated the pork chops, prepped the mushrooms and broccoli.

While I made dinner, Audrey played on the balcony and let in a fly.  After dinner, I tidied up and we went out to the playground.  We came home, soaked in the tub and got ready for bed.  I didn't end up getting any rearrangements done. :(

1 Day

Last day before Daddy comes back home.

This morning we met up with our playgroup friends at a playground.  It was too cold to play in the water.  Highlight: chasing seagulls off a soccer field.  There was one seagull who just kept moving to a different part of the field, so Isaac and J would keep running after it.  When the seagull finally decided it had enough and flew away, the boys went to explore the gates on the far end of the field, so Auntie E. and I went after them.

I took Isaac to McDonalds for lunch.  He almost fell asleep on the way there.  His eyes were closing as I parked the car.  When I asked if he wanted to eat at the restaurant or go home, he mumbled "restaurant" so I took him out of the car.  Isaac had a Chicken McNugget happy meal and I had my usual (and I ate his fries).

We ate, went home, I put Isaac into his stroller and went to Value Village.  He was still awake when I was browsing the book section, but quickly fell asleep soon after.  I found a bin full of regular sized Lego for $8.  It was really nice that there were no dead bugs and NO Megablox in the bin, though there were some broken pieces I had to toss away.  I'm a bit leery about buying some bins after one experience of finding a bunch of dead bugs at the bottom of a Lego bin once.  The lego filled the entire bathroom sink.

When I combined this set with our current bin of basic regular Lego blocks, I was able to build 7 mini Piston Cups for Isaac.  He lined them up together like a choo-choo train.

For dinner, I made noodles with chicken broth, carrots, celery, tofu, and chicken balls.  He watched a couple episodes of "I spy", then a couple "Word World" episodes while I fed him dinner.  I started his bedtime routine at around 7pm and put him to bed at a bit after 8pm.  Since I didn't have a nap today, I was pretty tired and fell asleep at Isaac's bedtime.  Unfortunately, I missed a phone call from someone at the choir I'm planning to audition for.  I will have to try to get in touch with her next week.

I'm just uploading some photos from the camera to iPhoto.  I'll have to play around with iPhoto to get more comfortable using it.  We have used Picasa, but I have had problems with some file corruption due to the large size of our albums and the sheer number of photos we've taken of the boy.

Daddy's home.

2 Days

Isaac was up pretty early this morning.  I took him to the potty at around 5:40am.  Then I stuck him in his crib and told him he could look at books if he didn't want to sleep.  I napped for a bit longer, when I checked on him, he had half the books from his bookshelf in his crib.  I took him out at around 7am.

We had breakfast, then got out the door before 8:30am.  I picked up a pack of 2 zone bus tickets from 7-Eleven, then we headed for the sky train station.  Got to the station around 8:42am.  We transferred to a bus and got to Kerrisdale a bit after 9:20am.  We walked over to the community centre to get a family membership card so that I can try to register Isaac for a fall course there.  Then we walked to the Kerrisdale Play Palace.

They opened at 9:30am, we waited a few minutes for them to open the door - and we were the first ones in.    Isaac started off with the fooz table, then moved onto the air hockey table before we went to play in the toddler area and bouncy castle.  N. and A. came at 10am.  Isaac tried to follow them up the big kids bouncy castle slide... but half way climbing up, Isaac got scared/upset and started crying/screaming.  I went in to get him.  I guess he's still too young for that one.

In the toddler area, he played in the play house, drum, paper box bricks and toy trucks for most of the time.  He was starting to get fussy at 10:30am, so I took him out for a snack.  When I mentioned that Isaac was going to have a snack, N. followed us out to the plastic picnic benches.  Auntie C. came with N's snack and we shared.  Isaac got some of N's fruit gummies, and N. had some of our raisins and craisins.  A. joined us a bit later.

We stayed until 11:15am.  Isaac looked like he was starting to get tired.  I changed his diaper, then headed over to Ajisai for some sushi.  Isaac had a half order of salmon sashimi and a piece of ikura (sprinkled on top of his salmon pieces).  I had a seafood salad and a chopped scallop cone.

I stopped by London Drugs, then caught a bus to the sky train and headed back home.  When we got off the train, Isaac fell asleep in the stroller.  I walked around Value Village, then went home.  It was warm and stuffy in our place and a neighbour was drilling and vacuuming with their front door open, so it was a bit loud.  I decided to take Isaac back down to the lobby since it was more comfortable there and sat there reading some local papers and ads for about an hour.

When Isaac woke up, we came back up.  I put on Cars for him and went to take a nap.  Woke up when the phone rang.  After we got off the phone with Daddy, I decided to stick with my dumplings plan and made that for our dinner (augmented with left-over vegetables and chicken drumsticks).

3 Days

Isaac woke up a number of times last night, but stayed in bed until 7am.  He was really cheerful this morning.  We had breakfast and are getting ready to go out to a playground.

We went by the library, playground, art gallery, value village and back home for lunch.  He had some hot dogs and cucumber slices.  He took a his nap from 1:30 to 4:30pm.

Time to make dinner.  Shake and bake chicken drumsticks, rice and chinese veggies (bok choy).

We were playing with lego, and Isaac started getting upset over every little thing.  I guess it's bedtime.  After I gave him some milk, I told him he can go to the potty or brush his teeth.  I went to brush my teeth, then I got his tooth brush ready.  I thought he was messing with the blinds in our room, so I went to look for him and he had removed his pants and diaper and was sitting on the potty reading a lego catalogue.  He seems to like the Harry Potter Diagon Alley Lego scene in the January 2011 catalogue.

4 Days

The boy fell asleep around 9:30pm.  He woke up around 4:30am,   Had mommy milk, went potty, then went back to sleep in his crib.  We got up at 7:30am.

I didn't end up going to the bakery yesterday.  I don't know if we'll have enough time to run over to pick something up before our friends come over.  I'll have to give him breakfast and see.

I paid M & L for dinner so now I am low on cash.  May need to visit the bank.   I also put in orders on stocks yesterday and they were filled this morning.  I still think the market will go lower, but I guess I won't aim to catch the bottom this time around.

I finally got Isaac ready to go out by 10am.  I rushed to the bank and bakery.  On our way home, Auntie C. buzzed us for parking.  We met them in the lobby and went up the elevator together.  They stayed for about an hour and a little.

Isaac had part of a pizza pocket and a hot dog for lunch.  He fell asleep for his afternoon nap at 1:10pm.   We'll probably try to go to the park in the afternoon (if he doesn't get up too late). For dinner tonight, he'll be having the pasta left-overs from yesterday.

We got up from our nap just before 3pm.  Isaac snacked on some apples and played with his play-food.  We went down to check our mail.  Then had a web chat with Daddy while eating dinner.  After dinner, I gave Isaac a bath and started the bedtime routine at 7pm.  I got him into bed by 8pm and lay with him until he fell asleep at 8:20pm.

5 Days

Isaac was up sometime before 6am.  I don't know when but I'm guessing 5:30am or earlier.  I gave him the choice of going to play by himself or going to his crib.  So he went out to play in his play area.

I wanted to sleep 'til 7am but got up at 6am to monitor him on the potty.  He ate 3/4 of a shredded pork bun for breakfast.  I had a bun too.  He played for a bit more, then he helped me clear the floor and we did some vacuuming together.  After, we went for a drive to a garage sale and value village, didn't find anything today.  After we came home and I set the boy up with a bowl of peeled oranges and the anime movie Totoro while I made lunch.  Mmm... Hot dogs!  I cut up a hot dog for him and gave him some ketchup to dip.  He fed himself the hot dogs while I fed him oatmeal and peach sauce.  I had a couple of hot dogs and a salad for lunch.

I'd still like to go out and try to get some pineapple buns and some chinese pastry after Isaac wakes up from his nap.  We were awaken by a phone call on my cell but he immediately went back to sleep.  I'm not sure who called though.  I don't remember what time we had a nap, but I think it was around 12:15-12:30ish pm.  It just feels like a long nap since it's already after 3pm now.

I saw a craigslist posting for a ju ju be bag that I wanted to buy new (but couldn't justify paying full price for).  I'm not sure if it's still available, but I emailed the poster about it.  Hope I do hear back from them.

For dinner tonight, I'm not sure if Auntie L and Uncle M will be stopping by or not, so I'll just make cream of mushroom pasta for our dinner.  Maybe I'll make some bacon and add it into the sauce.

Tomorrow, Auntie C. N. and A. will be dropping by for a short visit in the morning.

6 Days

This morning we went to three garage sales.  We got a foam mat floor puzzle for $1, Disney Cars book for $0.25 and a case of K'nex for $5.

For lunch, Isaac has some apple slices and a pizza pocket.  He took an 1.5 hour nap.  After his nap, he had a cookie then we headed out for the afternoon.  We stopped by the library, Kin's, and a bakery.  Isaac ate an egg tart while looking at the kittens in a pet store.

Time to make some dinner while Isaac watches a couple episodes of "I Spy".  We're having rice, chicken wings and some chinese veggies.  I also stir-fried some celery with ham.  We watched Cars while we had dinner.  We started the bedtime routine super early today (7:15-ish pm).  I put Isaac in bed at 8pm and he was asleep by 8:30pm.  I feel tired too.  There are still dishes to do and I need a shower.  Sleep beckons.

7 Days

Isaac was up around 6:37am.  He played by himself and I got up after 7am.  We did the load of laundry, had bacon, scrambled eggs, oatmeal/toast, and apple juice for breakfast.  Stopped by a garage sale, stopped by a park (while waiting for the 2nd garage sale to start), dropped by the 2nd garage sale, played at the park for about 40 minutes (while waiting for the restaurant to open), had sushi for lunch AT the restaurant, picked up a nectarine from Safeway, then went home.  The boy fell asleep in the car on the way home at around noon.

This afternoon looks to be nice and warm so I think we will go to a water splash park.  We'll probably have dumplings for dinner tonight.

We got up late from our nap (3pm).  It was 25 degrees C and sunny, so I decided that we should make the most of the rest of our afternoon.  We headed to the water park and was stopped on the way by the train tracks as a Union Pacific train was passing by.  We didn't wait too long and got to be pretty close so Isaac got a good view.

We were extremely lucky to get a parking spot almost immediately!  I drove through the middle  Two cars just left so the car in front of me got one spot and I got the second one.  There were cars parked all the way onto the street outside the park.  Cars were parked illegally on pedestrian pathways.  Many cars were just sitting waiting for spots.  It was crowded at the park, but Isaac had a lot of fun getting wet and splashing some puddles.  We brought our bucket this time.  He held onto it most of the time until he decided to go to the playground then he just left his bucket and some girl picked it up.  I trailed after he when I saw him leave the water area.  He was up on the bridge when I caught up with him.  When I asked him where his bucket is, he got a little stressed and hurried back to the water area to reclaim his bucket from the girl.  I changed him back to his clothes, then it was my turn to have fun.

I went to Value Village and picked up a few books.  After, we went home for a late dinner.  He looked at a travel advertisement and when we were looking at the ocean, I mentioned that sailboats sail on the ocean.  Then he said "I spy bow tie".  The reference for this comment is from the "I spy" video he watched where there was a bow tie on a sailboat.  We spent the rest of dinner playing "I spy" (looking around the table and room of things we spied).

Now I need to give him a bath and start the bedtime routine.

8 Days

Isaac was up a couple of times last night.  Once around 2:30am, and again around 4:30am.  I was worried that he might want to get up at the 4:30am time, but very fortunately he went back to sleep!!!  I woke up at 8am, and the boy is still sleeping.  Our soccer class it at 9:30am - so the timing of breakfast and getting ready to go to class is getting tight.  Usually the morning process takes an hour or more - especially if he's not cooperating to leave the house.  I might drive to save a few minutes.  I'd better just get myself ready and make his breakfast now.

La la la... Isaac is still sleeping.  It's 8:50am.  Oh never mind, I hear him mumbling stuff about a plane and Eva.

We got to class a few minutes late.  Isaac was pretty good at class.  At the end of soccer, the teachers gave everyone a little bottle of bubbles and some stickers.  We headed over to Auntie E's house to play with J. and G.  It was ok, though we broke a ceramic bowl, a wind wheel, and a pair of J's glasses there today.  I think I should try to replace the wind wheel since Isaac was involved in breaking it.  Auntie E. made us a very yummy spaghetti and meat sauce.  Isaac liked it a lot.  She packed some for us to bring home. Yay!

Got home at 1pm.  Tried to put Isaac down for a nap, but he doesn't seem all too sleepy.  I think I'm going to have to take him out for a walk in the stroller (aka go to VV).  He's currently reading on the potty.  I guess since he was up so late this morning, he's not as tired yet.

No real nap.  I walked through Value Village, the neighbouring thrift store, bank, Chapters, and a grocery store.  Finally on our way home he fell asleep (shortly before 5pm).  When we got home, I transferred him to bed... then proceeded to try to clear his nose.  That woke him up.  We had a web chat with Daddy during dinner and I tried to put him to bed early.  He still didn't end up sleeping until a bit after 8pm - but I guess that's earlier than "normal" from the last few days.

Tomorrow morning I have plans to do a load of laundry, have bacon & eggs for breakfast, go to two garages sales and visit a playground in between.  Then I'll pick up some sushi for lunch on our way home.  I'll have to see how that goes.  It depends on when Isaac wakes up and my motivation level.  If the laundry does get done, then I can take him to a water splash park in the afternoon (still need to wash his swimming suit from his last park visit).

9 Days

Up before 6am.  I didn't look at the time, but my best guess is that it was probably around 5:30am.  He wanted to go to the potty... so he went by himself.  When I checked on him, I found him wiping pee off his potty seat (I guess he wasn't aimed/positioned properly).  There were books scattered all over the floor.

He was happily playing with his car garage, then asked for some cheese.  I cut some up for him and gave him a bamboo two-pronged tooth pick to poke the cheese.

So much for the good morning.  The boy unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper.  I put him in the crib and made him wait while I rolled it back up.  After, he was in a bad mood (I guess because I scolded and punished him).  When I let him out, he proceeded to break my Duplo castle.  When I took the castle pieces away, he threw a tantrum... and threatened to dump out all the lego from another bin.  I took the bin away from him and he had another fit.

I decided it was time to go out.  We walked to the thrift store and value village.  While we were at value village, the boy fell asleep a bit before 10:15am.  Since I didn't take a stroller, I had to lug him home.  Even though he was "asleep" he was aware of his surroundings.  When his hat fell off a couple of times, he immediately grabbed at his head.  Even though it was a short distance, it took me a big of time to get home.

I guess we'll have a normal lunch time (having left-overs) and maybe we can go to a park in the afternoon.  If it's warm enough I might attempt going to a water splash park.

We went to play at the water park today and stayed there for almost 1.5 hours (including clothes changing time).  Isaac played mostly with the water cannons and a couple of water volcanoes.  I ran into another mom from one of Isaac's earlier Creative Movements classes.  She's moving away in January, but I'm planning to arrange a few play dates over the end of summer and fall.

Auntie K. invited us over for dinner tonight at 6pm.  I'm not sure if there's anything I can bring over.

I'm going to give Isaac a bath, then get us ready to go out for dinner.

10 Days

Tiring day.

One good thing, Isaac didn't wake up last night (or if he did, I didn't hear him).  He woke up for the day at 7am and we got up at 7:30am.  We had breakfast and got ready to go to soccer class.  The boy was purposely running into other kids and Moms.  I gave him a couple of time-outs there.  He must've been a bit tired because he was hyper and screamed running around.  He settled down a little part way through class when "connected" some chairs to form a train and sat there for a while.

After class, he played at the playground for a bit.  We went by Value Village, then we were off to the library to get a sticker for his kid's summer reading club booklet.  We stopped by the art gallery, a chinese grocery store, then Isaac fell asleep in his stroller there.  I was feeling exhausted when we got home.  I put him in bed, but unfortunately woke him up so he didn't have much of a nap today.

We had left-over pasta for lunch.  Then I left on the Cars movie and took a nap.  When the movie was over, he came to look for me.  I tried to get him to nap with me to no avail.  He asked to go to the potty, so I took him there and went back to sleep.  I woke up to the sound of something crashing.  (It was his bath toys.)  There were bandaids all over the floor and bottles of saline nose drops everywhere (many with the caps missing).  I put his diaper back on and stuck him in his crib.  He apologized and I took him out.

I set him up with some play doh while I prepared dinner.  We had rice, bok choy, (I had steamed eggs - the boy gagged when I tried to sneak some on a spoon for him), and a mixture of sautéed minced pork, sliced chinese sausage, diced kohlrabi, and diced rehydrated mushrooms.  For dessert, we had some yogurt.

After dinner, I gave the boy a bath, and put him to bed.  He was asleep just after 9pm.

I took a shower, did a load of laundry, did the dishes and topped up the hot water in the water dispenser. I'm going to try to go to bed soon.

11 Days

Why is it that on the nights I stay up late... the boy wants to get up early.  He definitely didn't get enough sleep last night since went to sleep around 10pm, woke up sometime in the middle of the night and wanted to get up at 5:30 am.  I stuck him back in his crib and closed my eyes.  When I woke up, he was still up, and he had pulled a bunch of books into his crib from the bookshelf.  (I guess I should mention that I re-arranged and cleaned part of the bedroom last night while the boy watched Cars and Wall-E.)  I let him out of his crib at 6:30am.

Since I rearranged some of his toys in the bins last night, things were different and he was playing happily by himself while I slept a bit longer.  I fed him breakfast, we took out some garbage and we dropped off a bag of my old sweaters at Value Village.  After we went to the library, art gallery, then met up with K. before her swimming class.  K. gave Isaac a kiss on the cheek before we left.  It was cute. :)  I stopped by Kins, a bakery (to get Isaac egg tarts), bank, PriceSmart (where he decided to take his nap), then just got home.

Lunch time: I think I'll make some macaroni with zucchini, mushrooms and meatballs.  I'll try to make extra so that we can have it for lunch tomorrow too.
Dinner: Shake & Bake chicken drumsticks, chinese veggies, rice.

I need to make one more garbage drop-off while he's sleeping.

I woke Isaac up from his afternoon nap and we had a late lunch.  I wanted to take Isaac to a sing a-long at the library, but he didn't want to go.  We had dinner and he's watching Cars.

12 Days

It's been a busy day.

Last night Isaac was up at around 3:30am.  I took him to the potty and tried to get him to go back to sleep.  He asked to go to the potty again 2 additional times.  Back to sleep a bit after 4am.  He got up at 7:30am!

I woke up this morning with what felt like a swollen throat.  It was uncomfortable swallowing water.  I think it must be allergies.  I had the fan on last night since it was warm, and that probably stirred up all the dust.  The first thing I did this morning was dust part of the blinds in our room.  Isaac tried to help.

A bit after 8am, we had breakfast.  I took Isaac to the potty, got him changed and drove to his soccer class. There is another Isaac in his class (who we met before in gymnastics last year).  There were also a couple of boys we met before from our art class.  Isaac enjoyed playing "What time is it Mr. Wolf?"  though by the third time they repeated the game, he lost interest in it and was running off.  During the class, he seemed to prefer playing with hoola hoops, bean bags, and jumping off the stage onto a big mat.  The soccer part didn't really get his attention.

After class was over, he bolted out of class and went straight for the playground.  He played there for a bit while I chatted with a couple of other parents from our class.  After we headed to Ikea.  I let him play in the kids area, then we picked up a floor lamp and a couple of storage bins.  We each had a hot dog, then we went home.  On our way back, we were stopped at a set of railroad tracks.  A LONG train was passing through, took awhile just sitting there waiting for it to pass.  Isaac didn't mind.  It would've been nicer if we were closer to the front of the line of cars so that he could get a better view of the train.

I got Isaac to help clear the toys off the floor.  I put our bed sheets into the wash, then vacuumed, then steam vacuumed.  Isaac snacked on some cheese and ham.  After, Isaac had some Mommy milk and he looked tired, but when I tried to put him down for his nap, he wouldn't sleep.   He was talking up a storm, and playing with the blankets in his crib.  Then he pretended the blankets was water spewing from his aquarium.  When the dryer finished, I made up the bed and he still didn't want to sleep.

Finally at 4pm, I decided to take him out to Value Village.  He fell asleep in the elevator as I was leaving the building.  I walked around for 1.5 hours, then went home.  I made dumplings for dinner.  I tried waking him up at 6pm, but he didn't want to get up.  So I ate my portion of dumplings.  I tried to wake him up again and threatened to eat his "mum mum", then he started whine/crying and came out to eat at 6:25pm.

I guess he's going to be up late.  I'll try putting him to bed at 9pm tonight.

13 Days

We dropped Daddy off at the airport then stopped by a park on our way home.  Isaac wants to go with Daddy on the plane.  When we got home, he snacked on some seaweed.  We took out the garbage and I tried to go to a garage sale.

Unsuccessful - I drove by the site, but was unable to park the car in the vicinity of the garage sale so we proceeded back home.  On our way back, Isaac fell asleep (10:20am).  It's a bit too early for a nap, but he seems to be needing an earlier nap lately.  I think I need to put him in bed earlier.  I hope he isn't too tired for his soccer class tomorrow morning.

I am watching an ebay auction and there's still over an hour left before it's over.  I have a price in mind.  There's already 9 bids on the pirate ship, and the chances of winning this auction for the price I want is quite slim.  I guess I should think about lunch while the boy's napping.

The boy's nose is stuffed up.  I try to clear it but end up waking him up.  After a tussle I get some nose drops in and was able to suction some mucous out.  A win for Mommy.  But it's a short nap and I don't think I can get him to go back to sleep.

Just under 5 minutes left for the auction.  Isaac didn't go back to sleep so I'm trying to feed him some dinner leftovers while I watch the auction.  I'm hoping I'll be able to put in a bid at the end... Someone just beat my bid by a little.  I bid 211.53 and it went for 214.03.  That one was close.  I put in my bid in the last 20 seconds and just got out-bid in the end.

Time to finish lunch and watch Cars.

Shortly after starting the Cars movie, I remembered about the Kids Safety Fair at a community centre.  I turned off the tv - and Isaac got mad.  I managed to get him into his stroller and he settled down when I opened our front door.  Just after leaving the parking lot, the boy cries "Potty".  He said it a few times, so I know he wants to go.  I ask him to try to wait until we get to the community centre.

When we got to the fair, there was blaring music and kids laughing, yelling, and having fun.  I asked if he needed to go potty and he insisted "No Potty".  Off we went to play.  First we went to the bouncy castle slide.  Then he jumped for a little on another bouncy castle.  It was empty except for Isaac.  We saw a rescue helicopter circling overhead... and it was landing!  I asked him to leave the bouncy castle and we watched the helicopter make its descent.  I thought that they would let us get up close to it again this year, but unfortunately they got called off to an emergency.  We walked around the booths collecting stickers, a pencil, magnet, whistle, safety bracelet and a frisbee.   After our walk around, he asked to go to the potty again.

I took him into the community centre and he went to the potty.  After, he played at the playground, went on the bouncy castle again and we headed back to the car.  I found a garage sale listing close by and stopped by before we went home.  I picked up a toy car ramp/garage/car wash for free.  The sounds don't work, but Isaac seems to like it.  I can give it away when we're done playing with it. :)

After a popsicle, I gave Isaac a bath and he just fell asleep for his second nap at 3:50pm.  Time to take out his diaper garbage.

Hunting around the house for the bag of Gourmet Baby...  Finally find stowed away in another bag beside Isaac's toy kitchen.  It's 5:50pm and the boy is still napping.  I will definitely need to wake him up within 10 minutes.  It'd work better if dinner was ready too.  Still waiting for the soup to boil (for chinese soup noodles).

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.

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.