Growing like a Weed

As Paul and I watch our son proudly display his new talent of walking down stairs holding onto a railing, we both are thinking just how quickly our precious little boy is growing up. It is hard to imagine, that he is going to be two in September. Paul then mentions that he was sad the other day. When Paul got home from work, he went in to check on the little man, he said that Kaelen looked so big sleeping there in his crib. With this comment, I too thought that he had grown so we pull out the tape measurer and sure enough, Kaelen has grown almost an inch since April.

Where has my baby gone? With each day, Kaelen displays a new facet to his new found independence. It is fun, exciting and beautiful to watch, but it is also saddening. Life just flies by too quickly when you are having fun. I just wish that we could slow it down to savour each moment a little longer.

Ankle Biters and their Parents

Yes, I know that I has been a while since my last post. I have a lot of pictures to share but of late just can't seem to find the time to download the pictures off of my camera and then upload them onto this site. I will get it done over the weekend I promise. Then again, it is not like this blog site has a huge following of readers ......

Anyways, I just have to share with you an episode that happened at daycare yesterday. The story goes is that Cathy, Kaelen's daycare mommy was making the four kids pancakes for breakfast. All four kids were sitting in their chairs eagerly awaiting the specialty flapjacks. Cathy turned her head for one moment, to flip a pancake and when she turned around again, Fiona, one of Kaelen's daycare friends had her hand in his mouth. I would like to point out at this time that she was not crying. Cathy could see that Kaelen's little jaws were clamping down on Fiona's hand so promptly screamed out Kaelen's name (more of a shock reaction), which startled Kaelen and caused him to burst out in tears. As it turns out, Kaelen did indeed chomp down on Fiona's little hand.

Kaelen was appropriately reprimanded (okay, lets just say that he was lucky that it was Cathy who was around and not Mommy) and all was done. Cathy however is obligated to be upfront to all of the parents when episodes like this occur. Afterall, Fiona was sporting a nice pinkish upper tooth mark on her little hand.

Thinking nothing out of the normal, as I drop Kaelen off to daycare this morning, I asked Cathy if she put Kaelen in a time out after he did his chompin yesterday and she said no. That is fine. I understand that Cathy has certain boundaries that she is obligated to follow these days, especially in light of never knowing when someone is going to turn around and sue you for something. I went on to confirm with her that she is empowered to place Kaelen in a time out should the need arise. After discussing this she went on to mention how she is always nervous to tell the parents when incidents happen. Somewhat perplexed, I asked her why. Case in hand: Fiona's daddy was quite unhappy when he discovered his daughter was bitten yesterday. He made Cathy feel uncomfortable in her own home and after what was perceived as a snotty comment, turned his back on her and left.

Here is my beef: Who does this Daddy think he is? Does he not realize that bites happen? Especially when these kids aren't even 2 years old yet? Part of me feels like I should be apologizing to him for Kaelen's actions but hell, who is to say that Fiona didn't stick her hand into Kaelen's mouth? I know Kaelen well enough to know that he didn't just grab Fiona's hand, stick it into his mouth and chomp on her. Kaelen was bitten pretty bad a couple of months ago in daycare but Cathy wasn't sure who did it. He came home with a full set of upper and lower jaw marks on his arm that was welted purple. Did we freak out? No. Bites happen. It is not like it happens all of the time, every day at daycare. This is the third incident that has happened since the year that Kaelen has been in daycare. We are dealing with children that are not even 2 years old yet. They are just learning what is right and what is wrong. We used that opportunity to tell Kaelen that bites are no good and look how they can hurt.

Last night, when we questioned Kaelen about biting Fiona, in his limited vocabulary, he said "Mine bad. Bite Nona". Translation: I was bad because I bit Fiona. He very solemn when telling me this and when I asked if she started to cry, he nodded to me with big crocodile tears in his eyes. Kaelen knows right from wrong and I firmly believe that is was an accident. Nobody is perfect.

Needless to say, tonight when the kids are being picked up from daycare it should be an interesting event. Paul is livid that Fiona's dad is mad at Cathy and plans on timing it so he is there when Fiona gets picked up. Paul feels that Fiona's dad is an idiot to be upset as this was an isolated incident.

Hmm ... perhaps tomorrow I will be writing about the fireworks that happened in Millrise .......

Mommy Hit the Jackpot!!

I swear that I must have been a good girl for the year! I mean, the presents that I received today have been hugely generous and plentiful!!

Kaelen and Daddy gave Mommy a brand new spanky 20 inch TV for our bedroom so now I can FINALLY watch movies in bed!! What a princess I can be!! Additionally, my boys gave me a highly coveted gift card to Chapters, my most favorite store in the world and muchly needed shorts for this summer!

But wait ... The jackpot doesn't stop there!! My mom, Christie and Rob spoiled me too!! I get to go and see ELTON JOHN!! Did you hear that? Elton John!! One of the most musically talented men in the world (okay, and Diva too). It is going to be a girls weekend with Christie, mom and myself at the end of September!! PLUS - they gave me a swanky Fossil watch and a to-die-for coffee machine!

I swear; with gifts like this, it can be my birthday EVERY day of the week!!

Thank you for spoiling me rotten!!!

Heritage Park

On Friday, June 30th both Paul and I had the day off. Seeing as this is such a rare occurance, we took advantage of it and had a family outing to Heritage Park. Heritage Park here in Calgary is facility that is modelled after the old Western days. Many of the houses located in the park were actual houses used way back in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It was the first time for all of us and we quite enjoyed ourselves. There is so much to do and I think that we will purchase a family pass for next year.

If you have a moment, check their website out. It is a pretty cool historical village to come and check out if you are ever in the Calgary area: www.heritagepark.ca

Here are a few pictures of our happy outing:


One of the many streets within the park

Daddy and Kaelen mounting their merry-go-round horses

Daddy and Kaelen keeping their horsies in line

Daddy and Kaelen getting set for a feris wheel ride

Hey - there's Mommy!