toothbrush: out. lip balm: in.
Upon coming home from Cuba, Kale abruptly ended his love affair with his BFF - the toothbrush. He now keeps his collection under the living room couch and every now and then will check to make sure they're still there, but for the most part he leaves them to collect dust and make friends with the other things that live under there (the list is long). Since the break up, he's been trying out various replacements and the list seemed to have been narrowed down to two final contenders.
1. Derek (formerly known as Mr. Mouse).
I was pretty excited about this choice. A soft, cuddly mouse? Yes, please! No bristles to scratch me, no need to worry about it potentially knocking out one of Kale's eyes while he slept, and no collecting various dust bunnies and lint from the floor. Bonus? I bought Kale this before he was born, but it was always understood that this was a gift from Bubbie the cat. Knowing how much Kale loves the cat, I thought it was pretty darn sweet that he would love Derek just as much.
2. The Broom.
Kale has always had a thing for sweeping (he gets it from his Papa, I swear), but when we brought home this new broom, he wouldn't let it out of his sight. He actually held it from the second we put it in the cart at the store and has been dragging it around the house ever since. I was less overjoyed about this selection as a potential BFF. It's like a larger version of a toothbrush. Not very cuddly, not the kind of thing I want in our bed, and definitely not the kind of thing that I would feel comfortable bringing on errands and play dates.
Derek and The Broom were the real front runners, but then everything changed yesterday when Kale met the love of his life:
1. Derek (formerly known as Mr. Mouse).
I was pretty excited about this choice. A soft, cuddly mouse? Yes, please! No bristles to scratch me, no need to worry about it potentially knocking out one of Kale's eyes while he slept, and no collecting various dust bunnies and lint from the floor. Bonus? I bought Kale this before he was born, but it was always understood that this was a gift from Bubbie the cat. Knowing how much Kale loves the cat, I thought it was pretty darn sweet that he would love Derek just as much.
2. The Broom.
Kale has always had a thing for sweeping (he gets it from his Papa, I swear), but when we brought home this new broom, he wouldn't let it out of his sight. He actually held it from the second we put it in the cart at the store and has been dragging it around the house ever since. I was less overjoyed about this selection as a potential BFF. It's like a larger version of a toothbrush. Not very cuddly, not the kind of thing I want in our bed, and definitely not the kind of thing that I would feel comfortable bringing on errands and play dates.
Derek and The Broom were the real front runners, but then everything changed yesterday when Kale met the love of his life:
THE LIP BALM!
In fact, you may had already guessed this considering he would not put it down for two seconds yesterday and is actually holding it in the other pictures. Am I mildly concerned about the choking hazard that the lid plays? Umm, yes. Am I a teeny bit worried about him eating the lip balm once he figures out how to get the lid off? Of course. Is it better than a broom? Yes.
Further evidence of his obsession with the lip balm:
weekday recap in iphone pics. (featuring papa!)
Are you following me on Instagram? You probably should be. Then I can follow you. Then I can waste time at red lights or during boring meetings to stalk you and you can see the 800 pictures a day I take of Kale. It's a win-win, right?
This is pretty much how every week day starts: We wake up, I procrastinate about getting ready, I drag myself to the shower while Kris feeds Kale breakfast, and then the second I turn the hair dryer Kale comes tearing down the hall and starts banging on the bathroom door. I used to take those few minutes alone with my hair dryer to catch up on twitter or read a blog post. Now I have to try to juggle a baby on my hip while I dry my hair, which takes twice as long as normal because I have to put the heat setting so low. The alternative? Listen to Kale freak out while tugging at the hem of my housecoat. No, thank you.
What do I do while waiting patiently for a meeting to begin? Take pictures of myself with Instagram, of course!
Kris was working Tuesday and I got home a little early, which meant that I got some one on one time Kale (a rarity these days). We thought it was pretty hilarious that we were both wearing stripes.
Besides hanging out with me while I dry my hair, another of Kale's favourite morning activities is grinding coffee with his dad. He goes totally crazy for the grinder. We are nurturing a future coffee lover.
Yes, I am wearing the same shirt as yesterday (I slept in it!), and yes, I'm wearing an elephant hat while nursing my son.
The weather on Wednesday was crazy! After a week of warmer weather, we were hit with 15cm of snow! It was probably the worst day of the winter (even though it is officially spring). Kale enjoyed watching the world get covered in a white blanket.
That night we put some serious effort into cleaning the kitchen. Bubbie helped by sitting in a bucket and directing our efforts.
Quinoa, roasted veggies, and curried chicken? Yes, please!
Kale LOVES to see himself on the screen of the iPhone. I get a smile every time! Now that Kris has an iPhone, we sometimes face time chat while we're in the same room so Kale can see us on the screen. It blows his mind.
Kale also enjoys chasing the cat (see the gray blur in the background?) and looking ridiculously cute.
Who doesn't love leftovers for breakfast? Kale thinks it's pretty awesome.
Here is a picture of Kale in his carseat. And he's not screaming. Miracle, right?
PAPA'S PERSPECTIVE RETURNS!
After last week's 'blackberry meets toilet' incident, Kris got himself a new iPhone and joined the world of Instagram. He still doesn't take nearly as many pictures as he should (I'd like hourly updates when I'm at work), but here's what he has to share:
The first two pictures were taken without this weeks talking point, instagram. I was later scolded and told how great it was because of all the filters and quickly got my act into gear for the remaining shots. Randalin is right though, I take no where near enough photos of the little guy.
The first shot Kale is wolfing down some avacado while Randalin gets ready for work. I used to think he could eat bananas fast, but the speed that he downs an avacado is out of this world. AND he gets to eat with his shirt off. How cool is that? Im hoping in the summertime Randalin will let me do the same, but I have a feeling there is going to be a firm no on that one.
Kale has really turned up the gears on hugs this week (with an inverse relationship to kisses). Here he is hugging the character formerly known as "Mr.Mouse". After some brief deliberation we changed his name to Derek. It has a far better ring to it.
You might think I would be upset to have to put all those towels away, but you would be wrong. When you are going to the bathroom in the middle of the day and are dying for the little guy to entertain himself, anything will do. If he's pulling the towels out, he's leaving me alone, and that's the way I like it.
I woke up one morning to find these two clowns shaking around the living room. I got to sleep in a few extra minutes, so it was extra sweet seeing that elephant hat. (SIDE: I made everyone I could wear that hat while I took their profile pics for my phone, so now, at a glance, I havent got a clue who's calling me)
Here is Kale sleeping in his crib, on his own. You can tell by the frown how he feels about that.
The last one is him in my arms trying to get me to bounce him.
As you can tgell, I have A LOT of work to do on adjusting from a blackberry to my sexy new iPhone!
not camera shy.
This is what most of my pictures of Kale look like these days. He's obsessed with my camera and every time I bring it out he beelines straight for it. In the rare instances where something else distracts him from the camera (namely the cat), he's usually crawling at top speed in the other direction. Either way - it's hard to get a good shot of him. That's why I'm extra excited that I snapped this one tonight:
College Royal 2011.
The vacation hangover is officially cured, thanks to a dose of nice weather this week and the extra hours of daylight in the evening. It was nice to take things easy this weekend and get caught up on things around the house. We did take a mini-adventure to the University of Guelph yesterday for its annual College Royal. It's basically an open house for the community to come and poke around and even though Kris and I are both alumni, they kept the sociologists far away from the agricultural college and the veterinary college. So we bundled Kale up, put him in the backpack carrier, and set out for the dairy barn on campus!
It was pretty awesome to see all the animals. Kale loved it! He tried to touch them all and we ended up having to take him out of the carrier so he could get that much closer to the cows and pigs!
I'm really excited to take Kale back when he's a little older because they had so many fun activities for kids. They also make make milkshakes and you can watch them make it from cow to cup! I really wanted to try one, but the line was super long. Oh! and they have a cow with a HOLE its stomach so you can see inside. Amazing, right?
Kale really had a good time and so did we. It's fun to do stuff that we ALL enjoy.
weekday recap in iphone pics.
A quick recap of our week....
Kris and Kale visited me at work so that Kris could check some things out. We are a small office and so sometimes Kris ends up doing maintenance things for us. While they were there Kale made sure to log in some hours behind the desk. I wish I could hire him as my assistant. Later on at home we read his new book "Have You Ever Tickled a Tiger." He's pretty into the touch and feel books these days (finally.). After dinner we went for a walk. In the DAY LIGHT. Amaze-balls. Double amaze-balls? The face that Kale chilled in his stroller for the walk. Someone get this kid a trophy.
These pictures are backwards. Oops. From right to left...I'm super excited that the weather is warm and I'm wearing a Spring jacket. You can't see the jacked - but you can kind of see I'm excited. The middle picture is Kale at lunch time. Still in the pj's. I'm so jealous of his life. And finally, we all went back to my office in the evening so Kris could install a new plug in my office. I snapped this picture of Kale in my co-workers office and told her he was taking over. Later he stole her pen and drew all over his stomach. Clearly he's qualified.
Bubbie cat nestled in for a nap on top of my breast pump and keys when I came home for lunch. He's all about sleeping on top of bags. Cats are weird. That night we went up to the mall and hung out in Chapters bookstore for awhile. Kale loves it there because they have lots of toys. He thought this shopping cart was pretty rad. He wheeled that thing through the store and didn't care if anyone got in his way.
We sidecarred the crib to our bed because we're a little tight on space with only a queen bed. Kale isn't really into sleeping on the crib mattress so it's usually me who ends up over there. I managed to sneak him over and snapped this picture. He woke up about 2 seconds later and shimmied back over to the big mattress and fell back asleep.
It was so nice out on Thursday that Kris put Kale in the backpack and took a super long walk. They ended up stopping in for a visit at the office, but Kale was passed out. We set him down on the floor and he slept for another 20 minute or so. It's amazing what kids can sleep through and where they can fall asleep. Another picture of Kale sleeping at night. The crib is empty. Baby steps, right?
Happy to be together in the morning, and happy to be reunited in the afternoon. Bubbie cat sleeps on another bag....
Papa's perspective is on hiatus this week. Kris dropped his phone in the toilet. He got a new phone today so he'll be back next week.
We sidecarred the crib to our bed because we're a little tight on space with only a queen bed. Kale isn't really into sleeping on the crib mattress so it's usually me who ends up over there. I managed to sneak him over and snapped this picture. He woke up about 2 seconds later and shimmied back over to the big mattress and fell back asleep.
Papa's perspective is on hiatus this week. Kris dropped his phone in the toilet. He got a new phone today so he'll be back next week.
"It must be so hard to leave him"
"It must be so hard to leave him."
I hear this at least once a day at work and I've kind of grown to resent it. People ask how Kale is doing, I give some obligatory response about how he's into everything and at a really fun stage. Sometimes they ask how I'm adjusting to being back at work. Depending on how well I know the person I might say something about the challenge of finding a work-home balance, but mostly I just say it's going really well - better than I expected.
And then they say it.
"It must be so hard to leave him."
What do I hear when someone says this? A lot.
Because we live in Canada and are entitled to a full-year parental leave, I often feel judged for deciding to return to work after 8 months. I do feel the judgement dissipate slightly when I explain that my partner is taking the remaining four months of our leave, but sometimes I don't explain this and I feel the burn of their judgement.
It doesn't bother me on a personal level because I know we made the right decision for our family. It bothers me on a different level. Because women should be able to be mothers and have a career. Because not every family can afford to take a full year off with only 55% pay. Because I don't think any woman should be judged for making the decision to return to work. Because it's so incredibly annoying, and backwards, and ARCHAIC to assume that going back to work means you value your job more than your family. Because this is what I hear when people say "it must be so hard to leave him."
Some days it is really hard to leave him. He stands at the back door with his dad, both still in their pj's, with a day of playing and napping stretched out in front of them, happily waving goodbye. I'm in heels and make up, bogged down by my briefcase, breast pump, and purse, with a day of meetings and desk work stretched out in front of me. Sometimes it is hard to get in my car and drive away.
But, guess what? Most days it isn't. Most days I like getting dressed up for work. I like being able to pick up a coffee at the cafe next door. I like using my brain in different ways than I do when I'm home with Kale. I like having adult conversations, networking, writing reports, developing work plans, doing research, facilitating meetings. I like working.
Sometimes I wonder what Kris and Kale are up to and so I sneak in a phone call to find out. But most of the time? Most of the time I'm way to busy to let my mind get off task.
I love coming home at lunch and having an hour to enjoy a meal and some play time with my family. I love to come home at the end of the day to hugs and kisses. I love how I can give myself to Kale 100% in the evenings. I'm more engaged and focused in my time with him. I love finding out what he's learned during the day. I love how meaningful our time on the weekends is.
Does this mean its NOT hard to leave him? no.
Does this mean it I like leaving him? kind of.
Does it mean I wish every day was like this:
Well, of course.
I hear this at least once a day at work and I've kind of grown to resent it. People ask how Kale is doing, I give some obligatory response about how he's into everything and at a really fun stage. Sometimes they ask how I'm adjusting to being back at work. Depending on how well I know the person I might say something about the challenge of finding a work-home balance, but mostly I just say it's going really well - better than I expected.
And then they say it.
"It must be so hard to leave him."
What do I hear when someone says this? A lot.
Because we live in Canada and are entitled to a full-year parental leave, I often feel judged for deciding to return to work after 8 months. I do feel the judgement dissipate slightly when I explain that my partner is taking the remaining four months of our leave, but sometimes I don't explain this and I feel the burn of their judgement.
It doesn't bother me on a personal level because I know we made the right decision for our family. It bothers me on a different level. Because women should be able to be mothers and have a career. Because not every family can afford to take a full year off with only 55% pay. Because I don't think any woman should be judged for making the decision to return to work. Because it's so incredibly annoying, and backwards, and ARCHAIC to assume that going back to work means you value your job more than your family. Because this is what I hear when people say "it must be so hard to leave him."
Some days it is really hard to leave him. He stands at the back door with his dad, both still in their pj's, with a day of playing and napping stretched out in front of them, happily waving goodbye. I'm in heels and make up, bogged down by my briefcase, breast pump, and purse, with a day of meetings and desk work stretched out in front of me. Sometimes it is hard to get in my car and drive away.
But, guess what? Most days it isn't. Most days I like getting dressed up for work. I like being able to pick up a coffee at the cafe next door. I like using my brain in different ways than I do when I'm home with Kale. I like having adult conversations, networking, writing reports, developing work plans, doing research, facilitating meetings. I like working.
Sometimes I wonder what Kris and Kale are up to and so I sneak in a phone call to find out. But most of the time? Most of the time I'm way to busy to let my mind get off task.
I love coming home at lunch and having an hour to enjoy a meal and some play time with my family. I love to come home at the end of the day to hugs and kisses. I love how I can give myself to Kale 100% in the evenings. I'm more engaged and focused in my time with him. I love finding out what he's learned during the day. I love how meaningful our time on the weekends is.
Does this mean its NOT hard to leave him? no.
Does this mean it I like leaving him? kind of.
Does it mean I wish every day was like this:
Well, of course.
Tips for Travelling with a Crazy Kid and Equally Crazy Parents
Before we left for Cuba I spent a lot of time reading tips online about travelling with babies. I was pretty optimistic that Kale would be a good traveller, but I'm also a manic planner that will do everything and anything possible to avoid stressful situations and the unknown.
I did find a lot of good tips, including this great page, but a lot of them seemed to be about calm, laid back babies. There really didn't seem to be a whole lot out there about travelling with high-needs, sensitive to change, very mobile, busy babies like Kale. Apparently parents of such children just don't travel in an attempt to keep the little sanity they have left. Luckily Kris and I lost our sanity long ago so we didn't think twice about making this trip.
So now I feel like it's my little duty to fill that little gap in the world of google and offer you this - Tips for Travelling with a Crazy Kid and Equally Crazy Parents.
1. Over packing is good, over packing by 20 lbs. is expensive.
Remember how proud I was when we finished packing? Seriously - it was a two day marathon around this house to make everything we thought we might need to fit into our luggage. Did either of us think to weigh our luggage before we left the house? Uh, no. Were we shocked when the nice woman at the airport desk informed us that we were 20 lbs. over the limit? Not entirely. Did I go into shock when she told us it would cost $200? That's probably a nice way of describing my reaction. Luckily (?), she only charged us half of that since we weren't bringing a stroller or car seat, but informed us that the Cuban authorities may not be so generous so we should probably think about losing a few pounds of stuff before venturing back. Thankfully that was actually pretty easy to do since Kale ate most of the food we packed that probably weighed a lot, and we left behind our toiletries for the maid and some other things.
Kris and I both agreed that in the end, it was probably better that we found out at the airport. We had no choice but to pay the fee and suck it up. Had we weighed our stuff at home after two days of packing, we would have been stressed about figuring out what to leave behind. Clearly we should have started packing earlier to give us time to weigh things and give this some consideration. Even now, it's hard for me to say what we should have left behind. It's true, I didn't use my breast pump which probably weighs a couple pounds, but I wanted to have it just in case I decided to have a few drinks. We did plow through all the snacks, which was probably a good chunk of the extra weight.
2. Prepare for the unexpected.
Allow me to provide an example. Say you haven't had your period in nearly 20 months. Your baby continues to breastfeed A LOT and so you assume that you will not have a visit from the lovely Aunt Flow for many more months. Say you get said period in a country that has an economic embargo against it. Trust me when I tell you this - the "El Tampo" brand is not something you want to experience. Also, having to ask for a box of "El Tampo's" in broken Spanish and having the woman working ask "rrrrrrrrrregular o super?" loud enough for everyone in the shop to hear is not something you want to experience. I will never travel without Tampax again.
Kale was not a huge fan of the food in Cuba (is anyone?) and so he wanted to breastfeed a lot more than normal. Also, I'm assuming because I did get my period that my supply was probably low. Kale is not a major boob fan. I mean, he likes them, don't get me wrong - but he's not a "must nurse to sleep, wants the boob every time he's upset, likes to comfort nurse" kind of baby. He's more like the "give me the boob so I can get me some milk and get on with my busy schedule" kind of baby. Nevertheless, the boobs are handy for lots of different situations and they should be made readily available at all times.
Example - One day Kris, Kale and I took the bus into Varadero to visit a beach that wasn't crowded with tourists and to free ourselves from the resort for a couple hours. We put Kale in the backpack carrier and he was totally content as we walked around town, taking in the sights. On the way back we hopped on a bus and I knew Kale was getting tired. The bus was standing room only so we kept Kale in the carrier, but he had other plans and made sure everyone on the bus knew it. This is when the boobs came in handy. Kris and I, being the professional parents we are, managed to get Kale out of the carrier and into my ring sling, where I, standing in a corner of an overcrowded bus, breastfed my son without anyone else noticing. Kale promptly passed out, making the rest of the trip bearable for everyone. Oh, and then I made Kris take a picture.
4. Sleeping babies make the best flight passengers.
The one part of the trip that I was not looking forward to was the fact that our flight to Cuba was departing at 6am, meaning we had to leave our house at 2:30am. I was not looking forward to taking Kale from the nice warm bed to the car seat - his enemy. Kris made sure that we were 100% ready to go before going to bed so all we had to do at 2am was warm up the car, throw on our clothes and hit the road. It worked perfectly because somehow Kale managed to stay asleep until we arrived at the airport. I wore Kale in the Beco in the airport and he ended up having a power nap before take off. I nursed him during take off and he passed out for an hour and a half. Awesome. The hard part was when he woke up and wanted to explore the entire plane. It was a small plane and there wasn't much room to maneuver. Luckily the people around us kept him entertained with games of peekaboo and we brought along some new toys to distract him for 0.05 seconds.
On the way home we timed it so that his nap would coincide with take off and all was going well until our flight was delayed two hours. Worst. He ended up napping while we waited and I thought for sure this meant we were all going to lose our minds trying to keep him entertained on the flight. It was tough - I'm not going to lie. He was squirmy and jumping from Kris's lap to my lap and trying to get onto the lap of the poor old man who ended up in our row. He did pass out after an hour and a half, right when we were getting desperate.
What helped make the flights go relatively smoothly? Lots of snacks, introducing him to some toys he'd never seen before, having friendly people sitting infront and behind us to play peekaboo, and offering the boob as a distraction non-stop.
Pretty much ALL the tips I read about flying with babies suggested buying an additional seat or asking for an empty seat so you could bring your carseat. Kale HATES his carseat, so this was not an option for us. I think if we make another trip before Kale is two (when we have to purchase him a seat), we'll still buy a seat for him just to have the extra room.
PHEW! That was a long post! I hope some people will find my tips helpful :)
I did find a lot of good tips, including this great page, but a lot of them seemed to be about calm, laid back babies. There really didn't seem to be a whole lot out there about travelling with high-needs, sensitive to change, very mobile, busy babies like Kale. Apparently parents of such children just don't travel in an attempt to keep the little sanity they have left. Luckily Kris and I lost our sanity long ago so we didn't think twice about making this trip.
So now I feel like it's my little duty to fill that little gap in the world of google and offer you this - Tips for Travelling with a Crazy Kid and Equally Crazy Parents.
1. Over packing is good, over packing by 20 lbs. is expensive.
Remember how proud I was when we finished packing? Seriously - it was a two day marathon around this house to make everything we thought we might need to fit into our luggage. Did either of us think to weigh our luggage before we left the house? Uh, no. Were we shocked when the nice woman at the airport desk informed us that we were 20 lbs. over the limit? Not entirely. Did I go into shock when she told us it would cost $200? That's probably a nice way of describing my reaction. Luckily (?), she only charged us half of that since we weren't bringing a stroller or car seat, but informed us that the Cuban authorities may not be so generous so we should probably think about losing a few pounds of stuff before venturing back. Thankfully that was actually pretty easy to do since Kale ate most of the food we packed that probably weighed a lot, and we left behind our toiletries for the maid and some other things.
Kris and I both agreed that in the end, it was probably better that we found out at the airport. We had no choice but to pay the fee and suck it up. Had we weighed our stuff at home after two days of packing, we would have been stressed about figuring out what to leave behind. Clearly we should have started packing earlier to give us time to weigh things and give this some consideration. Even now, it's hard for me to say what we should have left behind. It's true, I didn't use my breast pump which probably weighs a couple pounds, but I wanted to have it just in case I decided to have a few drinks. We did plow through all the snacks, which was probably a good chunk of the extra weight.
2. Prepare for the unexpected.
Allow me to provide an example. Say you haven't had your period in nearly 20 months. Your baby continues to breastfeed A LOT and so you assume that you will not have a visit from the lovely Aunt Flow for many more months. Say you get said period in a country that has an economic embargo against it. Trust me when I tell you this - the "El Tampo" brand is not something you want to experience. Also, having to ask for a box of "El Tampo's" in broken Spanish and having the woman working ask "rrrrrrrrrregular o super?" loud enough for everyone in the shop to hear is not something you want to experience. I will never travel without Tampax again.
3. Make your boobs readily available at all times. ALL TIMES.
Kale was not a huge fan of the food in Cuba (is anyone?) and so he wanted to breastfeed a lot more than normal. Also, I'm assuming because I did get my period that my supply was probably low. Kale is not a major boob fan. I mean, he likes them, don't get me wrong - but he's not a "must nurse to sleep, wants the boob every time he's upset, likes to comfort nurse" kind of baby. He's more like the "give me the boob so I can get me some milk and get on with my busy schedule" kind of baby. Nevertheless, the boobs are handy for lots of different situations and they should be made readily available at all times.
Example - One day Kris, Kale and I took the bus into Varadero to visit a beach that wasn't crowded with tourists and to free ourselves from the resort for a couple hours. We put Kale in the backpack carrier and he was totally content as we walked around town, taking in the sights. On the way back we hopped on a bus and I knew Kale was getting tired. The bus was standing room only so we kept Kale in the carrier, but he had other plans and made sure everyone on the bus knew it. This is when the boobs came in handy. Kris and I, being the professional parents we are, managed to get Kale out of the carrier and into my ring sling, where I, standing in a corner of an overcrowded bus, breastfed my son without anyone else noticing. Kale promptly passed out, making the rest of the trip bearable for everyone. Oh, and then I made Kris take a picture.
4. Sleeping babies make the best flight passengers.
The one part of the trip that I was not looking forward to was the fact that our flight to Cuba was departing at 6am, meaning we had to leave our house at 2:30am. I was not looking forward to taking Kale from the nice warm bed to the car seat - his enemy. Kris made sure that we were 100% ready to go before going to bed so all we had to do at 2am was warm up the car, throw on our clothes and hit the road. It worked perfectly because somehow Kale managed to stay asleep until we arrived at the airport. I wore Kale in the Beco in the airport and he ended up having a power nap before take off. I nursed him during take off and he passed out for an hour and a half. Awesome. The hard part was when he woke up and wanted to explore the entire plane. It was a small plane and there wasn't much room to maneuver. Luckily the people around us kept him entertained with games of peekaboo and we brought along some new toys to distract him for 0.05 seconds.
On the way home we timed it so that his nap would coincide with take off and all was going well until our flight was delayed two hours. Worst. He ended up napping while we waited and I thought for sure this meant we were all going to lose our minds trying to keep him entertained on the flight. It was tough - I'm not going to lie. He was squirmy and jumping from Kris's lap to my lap and trying to get onto the lap of the poor old man who ended up in our row. He did pass out after an hour and a half, right when we were getting desperate.
What helped make the flights go relatively smoothly? Lots of snacks, introducing him to some toys he'd never seen before, having friendly people sitting infront and behind us to play peekaboo, and offering the boob as a distraction non-stop.
Pretty much ALL the tips I read about flying with babies suggested buying an additional seat or asking for an empty seat so you could bring your carseat. Kale HATES his carseat, so this was not an option for us. I think if we make another trip before Kale is two (when we have to purchase him a seat), we'll still buy a seat for him just to have the extra room.
PHEW! That was a long post! I hope some people will find my tips helpful :)
Cuba...the start of a recap.
I have such a major case of vacation hangover (mountains of laundry, depression caused by fading tan, mojito cravings, etc.) that I've actually been avoiding posting about our time in Cuba in an effort to force myself to accept reality (snow banks, freezing rain, winter jackets, dry skin and hair, etc.). If I don't do a recap of our vacation, it means it's not over, right? Right?!
Cuba was amazing. It was my fourth time visiting the country, Kris's second, and Kale's first. Why do I keep going back? It has beautiful beaches, a rich history, friendly people, good rum, and, well, let's face it - it's cheap to go there. Most of my visits in the past have been during spring break. Most of my visits have involved drunken shenanigans. OK, all of them have involved drunken shenanigans. Blame the good rum. Anyway, this time was A LOT different. We were going to see two of our favourite people in the world and two of my oldest friends tie the knot and we were taking our (almost) ten month old son. I mean Kale enjoys shenanigans, just not the drunken kind.
Everything on our trip went pretty much perfectly. Kale was good on the plane, slept better in our hotel room better than he's ever slept at home, LOVED the beach and the swimming pool, and was a big fan of all the attention he received from pretty much everyone that laid eyes on him. Kris and I took turns staying with Kale during his naps and when he went down for the night so we could spend some time with our friends, but for the most part we preferred to stick together and spend time as a family.
Were there hard parts? Of course. Kale refused to sit in a highchair during meals so Kris and I had to take turns walking around with him while the other person ate. Kale attempted to eat mouthful after mouthful of sand and crawl directly for the ocean whenever we were on the beach so we had to spend most time by the pool. Despite the fact that it was sunny every day, it's next to impossible to get a tan when you're hanging out with a ten month old. As a result, I'm pretty much as pasty looking now as when I left. Kale was NOT a fan of being stuck on my lap for a three hour flight and keeping him entertained was HARD (and exhausting).
Anyway, I'm going to go into more details about the trip over the next few posts, but for now I'll leave you with some pictures of Kale spending time on the beach - his absolute favourite part of Cuba.
Cuba was amazing. It was my fourth time visiting the country, Kris's second, and Kale's first. Why do I keep going back? It has beautiful beaches, a rich history, friendly people, good rum, and, well, let's face it - it's cheap to go there. Most of my visits in the past have been during spring break. Most of my visits have involved drunken shenanigans. OK, all of them have involved drunken shenanigans. Blame the good rum. Anyway, this time was A LOT different. We were going to see two of our favourite people in the world and two of my oldest friends tie the knot and we were taking our (almost) ten month old son. I mean Kale enjoys shenanigans, just not the drunken kind.
Everything on our trip went pretty much perfectly. Kale was good on the plane, slept better in our hotel room better than he's ever slept at home, LOVED the beach and the swimming pool, and was a big fan of all the attention he received from pretty much everyone that laid eyes on him. Kris and I took turns staying with Kale during his naps and when he went down for the night so we could spend some time with our friends, but for the most part we preferred to stick together and spend time as a family.
Were there hard parts? Of course. Kale refused to sit in a highchair during meals so Kris and I had to take turns walking around with him while the other person ate. Kale attempted to eat mouthful after mouthful of sand and crawl directly for the ocean whenever we were on the beach so we had to spend most time by the pool. Despite the fact that it was sunny every day, it's next to impossible to get a tan when you're hanging out with a ten month old. As a result, I'm pretty much as pasty looking now as when I left. Kale was NOT a fan of being stuck on my lap for a three hour flight and keeping him entertained was HARD (and exhausting).
Anyway, I'm going to go into more details about the trip over the next few posts, but for now I'll leave you with some pictures of Kale spending time on the beach - his absolute favourite part of Cuba.
10 months.
Despite some last minute plotting to figure out a way to stay in Cuba, we have returned from our vacation - happy, rested, and somewhat tanned (you can only get so tanned when you vacation with a baby). While I have LOTS to share about our adventure, something way more exciting happened today - Kale turned 10 months old! He's hit the double digits!!! Amazing, right? Here's the dirt on our 10 month old little man-baby.
Weight & Height:
I'm finding myself less and less concerned about tracking this. I used to take Kale to the midwives office to weigh him for these updates, but I've totally slacked in the last few months. If I do get around to it I will come back and update this, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
What size clothes is he wearing?
He's really all over the place with clothes. He can still fit into most of his 6-12 month stuff and some of the 12-18 month things I have for him are too big. It really depends on the brand. I think if I could go back in time I probably wouldn't have tracked this question because it really isn't an indicator of growth. I know babies the same size as Kale who are wearing way bigger clothing sizes. This is partly because we all dress our kids in different brands, but also because I continue to air dry all of Kale's clothes (I realize this is totally insane to some people). This means that his clothes never shrink and so I think he ends up being in a size longer. I'm not sure why I feel the need to explain this, but there you have it.
Milestones in the last month:
Kale sticks to a pretty strict, self-imposed schedule that he continued to follow even on vacation with only some slight variations. His routine really hasn't changed much since his 9 month update so there isn't much point in repeating it here.
Kale's favourite things to do:
Weight & Height:
I'm finding myself less and less concerned about tracking this. I used to take Kale to the midwives office to weigh him for these updates, but I've totally slacked in the last few months. If I do get around to it I will come back and update this, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
What size clothes is he wearing?
He's really all over the place with clothes. He can still fit into most of his 6-12 month stuff and some of the 12-18 month things I have for him are too big. It really depends on the brand. I think if I could go back in time I probably wouldn't have tracked this question because it really isn't an indicator of growth. I know babies the same size as Kale who are wearing way bigger clothing sizes. This is partly because we all dress our kids in different brands, but also because I continue to air dry all of Kale's clothes (I realize this is totally insane to some people). This means that his clothes never shrink and so I think he ends up being in a size longer. I'm not sure why I feel the need to explain this, but there you have it.
Milestones in the last month:
- Waving and saying "buh" (bye). As soon as someone puts their jacket on at the door to leave, Kale waves and says "buh." This results in me standing at the door, waving, and saying "bye Kale! Bye!" for way longer than I should every morning before work.
- Clapping. He just started doing this on vacation, which happened to be full of clapping (at the wedding, landing the plane, at a birthday dinner, etc.). Every time a room of people would clap, Kale would light up and start clapping - which caused people to clap more.
- Standing. Kale is standing unassisted for longer and longer periods of time. He likes to stand, throw his arms above his head, and scream with excitement. He also enjoys standing and clapping. Clearly standing is pretty awesome in Kale's books.
- Teeth. Kale now has two top teeth (the lateral incisors) and another top tooth (a central incisor) is making its way through. We were totally shocked to the see the central incisor over vacation since he didn't make a peep about it (which is the total opposite of what happened when the lateral incisors came through).
- Words. Kale is starting to figure out which sounds go with which people. He demands "mamamamama" when he wants me and screams "BUB!!!!!!!!" every time he sees the cat (who we call Bubbie). He's started making the "dadadada" sound, but we normally refer to Kris as Papa, so the connect isn't there quite yet.
- Walking supported. He's taken a few fluke steps (as in "I'm about to fall on my face so I'm going to stick my foot out to stop myself, but then fall on my face anyway"), but loves to walk with some help. He'll walk along things - the couch, a table, the wall, whatever - and walk holding our hands.
- Hugs & kisses. This is by far the cutest thing Kale does. He loves to give long hugs and will crawl to Kris and I and climb up for a hug at random times in the day. When I come home from work Kale normally hugs me for five straight minutes. When we ask for a kiss he will oblige (most of the time), by leaning in with his mouth half open. Every time it happens, my heart explodes. Sometimes we don't even ask, he'll just climb up and lean in with a half opened mouth, looking for a kiss.
- Cuba! This meant Kale's first trip to the Toronto airport, first time on an airplane, first time in another country, and first family vacation.
Kale sticks to a pretty strict, self-imposed schedule that he continued to follow even on vacation with only some slight variations. His routine really hasn't changed much since his 9 month update so there isn't much point in repeating it here.
Kale's favourite things to do:
- Swim. We knew that Kale loved to swim, but it became a thousand times more apparent on vacation. When we took Kale to the ocean for the first time, we set him down on the sand and he immediately crawled straight for the water. He had ZERO fear of the ocean. He spent a big part of our vacation in water.
- Listen to his voice. If we're somewhere with an echo, Kale is hooting. He loves to hear his own voice echo and he loves to let people know when he's arrived or sees something he likes. His voice goes a few octaves lower than normal and he goes "wwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooo." It's pretty hilarious.
- Toothbrush. The toothbrush is clearly Kale's lovey. He didn't carry it around much on vacation and I thought that their love affair was over, but today Kris told me how Kale fell asleep with it and would wake up, start to get upset, see his toothbrush in his hand, and then fall back asleep.
- Kale continues to have mad love for: baths, dancing, chasing the cat, music, other kids, and being naked.
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