Big Day

Yesterday was a big day in our house. We FINALLY began potty training Oliver. I've been trying to get that started for close to a year now without success. He just wasn't ready and would fight the idea of even trying to sit on the pot. In the last few weeks he's been asking to read the Pirate Potty book we got from Jen and showing other signs so we jumped in with both feet.

Tools of the trade. The book comes with the cardboard pirate hat and stickers.

We're using the Bare Bum technique for now hoping that if he didn't have anything on, he'd be more likely to tell me rather than just pee in his pants. I'm filling him full of liquids so that he'll have to go more often and then I ask him every 10 minutes if he has to go. As for rewards, he gets to put a pirate sticker or two on his pirate hat (just like the pirate in the book) and he gets an m&m.

Day one was a huge success with 4 pees in the potty and only one accident. I did put a diaper on him for his nap but otherwise, he was bottom free all day. Day two has been going ok so far and he even did a poo! He got 5 m&m's for that one.

Unfortunately, I think the novelty and excitement is wearing off already. He's getting annoyed with me asking and doesn't want to sit but rather just play around in the bathroom. I'm humouring him as much as I can because I don't want to discourage him so early on in the process. And I guess it's just that. A process. Since we're talking about a kid that would sit in a poopy diaper all day if you let him, I know this isn't going to be easy.

Crown of success.

Impressive Stats

A while back a flight attendant was telling Nick about these log books you can get for kids to keep track of all the flights they've taken. She told him you could get them at one of the airport gift shops in Toronto and he looked in every one. He didn't find them but couldn't shake the idea that this was something he wanted for the boys. After some research he found some from Aviation World.

This weekend we finally got around to filling out the books and I thought I'd share some stats with you.

Oliver-
-Number of flights: 59
-Number of kilometers travelled- 53,440
-Number of hours spent on a plane- Approx. 99 hours.

Not bad for an almost 3 year old. The circumference of the earth is just over 40 thousand kilometers so he could have gone all the way around the world and then some. And 99 hours, that's over 4 days.

Isaac-
-Number of flights- 20
-Number of kilometers travelled- 18,740
-Number of hours spent on a plane- Approx. 35 hours

Racking up these kinds of numbers is pretty easy when we take 8 planes round trip every time we go back to New Brunswick.

Now that we have the books I'm glad. There is a spot where you can make notes and I've jotted down where we were going or other things that could be of interest later. Like the time our Canadian North Dash 8 was replaced with a Twin Otter. And the couple of times we got to ride by ourselves on the RCMP plane.

I wish I had a list of all the flights I've ever taken in my life. I travelled quite a bit growing up and with working for Air Canada for as long as I did, I bet I've got some pretty impressive numbers myself. Once we move back down south there will be few plane rides as we will settle in to a regular life and will only get the normal amount of vacation time. We plan on taking up camping as our family vacation go to. The only problem with that, is once again our vacations will be plagued with weather issues. At least then it won't be snow causing the delays.

CBC Family night??

Tonight I saw that Aladdin was playing on CBC starting at 7pm. Oh wait... on your channels it was probably at 5pm but we in Pang get our CBC feed from Edmonton so we are on Mountain time rather than Eastern as we should be. But anyway... Since Aladdin is my favorite Disney movie I thought I'd let Oliver stay up past bedtime so we could watch it together.

So, the movie began at 7. At 7:13 there was a 4 minute commercial break. (is it just me or is 4 minutes way too long?) The movie played again for 7 minutes and there was another 4 minute commercial. Then 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes of commercials this time. In total there was just a touch over 30 minutes of selling going on during a 90 minute movie.

Ok, I'm not oblivious to the fact that you should expect to be sold something while watching TV. The reason I'm blogging about this? CBC has the nerve to call it Family Sunday. A quote from commercial break number 2: "What you're watching might just bring your family closer together". I doubt it! How many young kids do you know easily sit through a 90 minute movie at the best of times? To expect them to sit through these overly long breaks after only a few minutes of the actual show is a formula for distraction and frustration on every one's part. It's a joke.

On top of having too many breaks, the same ads are played over and over and over again. Even outside of tonight, this has always been one of the most annoying things about watching CBC. If I'd ever thought of watching 'Heartland', seeing the trailer 8 times in the span of one movie is certain to change my mind. And how many times do I need to see that woman's thong on the 'In Security' trailer? Steven and Chris, Best Recipes Ever.... 8 times in two hours? I don't want to watch any of these shows now.

It should be no surprise that O lost interest quickly and ended up in bed at the usual time. And he's a kid that will usually sit through a movie. After the second commercial he asked where the show went and asked to go read a story instead. We did Tivo it so perhaps we'll try watching it next Sunday while they show Pocahontas. At least I'll be able to fast forward the commercials. Maybe then it will keep every one's interest and actually have a chance of bringing the family closer together. Thanks to Tivo, not CBC.

Much ado about nothing

It turns out that the storm didn't amount to much. We're certainly getting our share of blowing but from what I saw the worst reading on the Environment Canada website was 71 km/h this morning sometime. The rest of the day hovered around 50 km/h which is still a good breeze. The wind is continuing this evening at about those same speeds and is expected to peter out overnight.

So we're good. Just wanted to let you know.

Batten down the hatches

From the Environment Canada Website:

WIND WARNING IN EFFECT

 

Saturday

 

Cloudy. Light snow beginning early in the evening changing to periods of rain late in the evening.

Wind east 70 km/h gusting to 90 increasing to 100 gusting to 150 early in the afternoon then

diminishing to 30 gusting to 60. High plus 2.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gusting up to 150 kilometers an hour.... Hurricane force winds start at 118 km/h.

The last time a storm like that happened here in Pang (Novemeber 17th, 2010), a truck was overturned, the roof was ripped off a couple of houses and there were several boats lost. We were lucky and only had some construction debris land around our house. We also had a few hours of lost power and no internet for about 36 hours. Not bad considering. And those winds were only 130km/h. But we live on the sheltered side of town.

The town is bustling around getting ready. The store was full of people picking up non perishables to eat if we lose power. The hamlet is setting up an emergency shelter at the school for people who are living on the windy side of town. I have all the flashlights charging, candles out and jugs of water at the ready.

I hope that when we wake up tomorrow and the warning was for nothing and we end up with nothing but an unseasonably warm day. On the other hand, I love a good storm and as long as nobody gets hurt or looses anything of value, I do love to see the power of nature at it's finest. I'll update you when it's all over but if you don't hear from me for a few days, you'll know it was a big one.

Hand me downs

What's the worst thing about being a younger sibling?

Many of you would say having to wear hand me downs. I bet Isaac would have the same complaint. Much of what he's wearing is getting it's fourth time around since we got them for Oliver from my sister's little guy. She in turn got them from someone else. I have no complaints about having hand me down clothes. Why spend our money on clothes that kids grow out of so quickly if you don't have to? If they are still wearable... bring 'em on.

But at some point somethings got to give. In the last 3 days, Isaac has blown through the left knee of as many pairs of pants. It's hilarious that it's always the left knee. He does this crawl that only uses 3 limbs. The forth, his right leg, sticks out to the side like a peg leg. This of course means that only the left knee gets worn.

All good things must come to an end and I guess the gravy train on free clothes is too. My sister doesn't live near the people who were giving her all the clothes. Even if she did, Oliver is now the same size as my nephew so he couldn't use them anyway. But of course Isaac is still wearing hand me downs but soon they'll only be seconds and not fourths. I'm sure he's thrilled about that.


Side note: Notice that Isaac is sitting on a table. Please also notice the huge black bruise between his eyes. Table + a climbing baby = huge black bruise between said baby's eyes.

Now we're in trouble

It's more like a drunken wobble or a 'make-your-bottom-half-go-faster-than-your-top-half-so-you-don't-fall-over' stumble but we're still calling it walking. Check it out.

R.I.P.

Izzy and Zazu came to us 5 years ago from a nice lady that was just looking to find her kittens a good home. Right away we knew Izzy was the one with the personality. She was very cuddly and playful and loved just hanging out. Every night for the first few months she slept on my pillow. I ended up having to get a second pillow placed below hers because I kept getting paws in the face in the middle of the night.

She's the one on the top

As she got older she loved to get in things. Garbage pails, grocery bags, backpacks, boxes and under blankets. She also loved running water. Every night we had to let the water drip in the tub because she'd meow if we didn't. Nick started that and I always cursed him for it.

 

One night when I lived in Nova Scotia I was home alone and heard the toilet flush. I thought that was wierd but ignored it. Then it happened again. I went to investigate and sure enough, there was Izzy with her paw on the flush. She would do it over and over again just to watch the water go down. At one time I had an adorable video of this great feat but it got lost in a long ago computer meltdown. Unfortunately it was never recovered. I've always been sad that it was gone but never more so than now. 

She would drink out of your beer glass if you left it unattended.

Izzy was found on Monday morning frozen to death in a sea can about 30 feet from our front door. I'm happy that she didn't meet with a terrifying end from a dog but I'm devastated that she was able to find her way back to the house only to die so close to home. As sad as we are, I will say I'm happy that we have the closure that comes with knowing for sure that's she's gone.

It hurts to know that when we leave the north it will be with one less family member. She is missed everyday but we have many fond memories. I'm sure she's up in pet heaven with Bear and Shogun (the dogs I grew up with) and they will show her the ropes of her new life. Because you know dogs and cats are best friends in heaven.

Rest in peace Izzy. We love you.

Halloween Recap

It was Oliver's first time trick or treating door to door and he did very well. He wasn't shy going in the houses and said his line loud and clear. I'm proud to say he was very polite and said thank you at every door without prompting so I call that a success. I actually should say every door except at the one where he said, 'I want more candy' instead. Luckily the lady shelling thought that was the cutest thing she'd every heard (her words) and happily gave him some more.

Trick or Treat Jackpot!!! A can of pop.One can goes for anywhere from $2-$4 depending on the availability at the store so I'm surprise to see them being handed out for free.

Isaac didn't participate in trick or treating and stayed behind with Nick to pass out candy. He did however make a splash at the kids community party placing second in the Best Costume contest for his age group. His prize was $20 which we put in his piggy bank. 

Awaiting the judging results



We finished off the day at the big community party at the high school. There were lots of very creative costumes vying for the $200 top prize. My favorite was the 'upside down guy' who did such an amazing job with his mannerisms that it was very hard to tell he wasn't actually walking on his hands. The 'Man dressed as woman' category was also memorable. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I don't have any shots of the evening's events.

On top of Halloween, yesterday was Nick's Birthday. So one more Happy Birthday wish for your special day honey. Love you lots, even if you are old. I know, I'm older but aging doesn't bother me like it does you so I had to put in that little jab. X0X0X0X

I hope everyone had a safe Halloween.