Milestone in life

... to pick up from my last post. Yes, they did win! It was pretty stressful... having to leave with 10 minutes left in the 3rd period and then refreshing my Blackberry browser every minute to get news... only to have it go to OT and then rushing up Main St. USA to make our dinner reservation (Crystal Palace) and having an off-duty waiter tell me "Hey, congrats!".

Yeah we did!!

It was colder than normal in Florida that trip... good for visiting Disney and the bugs had a ball. The 2nd week, in Palm Coast, was still cool and weather not great so having to come up with stuff to do was challenging.

Since then, Aly's 1st birthday was a smash... nicely cooperating and smearing her first cake all over her face. Zach's 3rd birthday in August had its moments... having it in the park was nice but setting up nearly gave me a nervous breakdown. We'd bought a talking Lightening McQueen big inflatable balloon in Florida. When tying it to the picnic table, it was pretty windy and it kept flying in my face. So I tied it to the bench and another gust of wind got it and before I could blink it was up up and away. Noooooooooooooo the helium-filled balloon was gone like a rocket and in minutes was in Gatineau airspace.

All this, not the purpose of this post!

Today was my last day at the department I've been with for the last 11 years and altogether the last 16 years. Natural Resources Canada has been a great place which really gave me my first shot but it's time for a change. Monday I start at Public Safety Canada! New adventures, new staff... intimidating but exciting!

Now, if only Aly and Zach would stop taking turns getting various illnesses, viruses and coughs... a good nights sleep seems like such a great thing now!

Off to Disney and Gold 2010

It's 11:21pm right now... we are all packed and ready to fly to Florida early tomorrow morning. It means getting up at 4:30am but the 2010 Vancouver Olympics are on and Team Canada is in the semi-final game against Slovakia. The winner goes to the gold medal game, which would be Sunday (February 28, 2010).

Once again, I am leaving Canada the day before the Olympic Gold Medal hockey game.

This has happened once before.

In 2002. I went to Guatemala.

That turned out pretty good for Canada.

I'm just sayin'.

This will be Alyssa's first plane trip and, shockingly, Zach's 3rd (and he's only 2.5 years old). 5 days at Disney World before we meet up with Grandma and Grampa to stay at Orange Lake and then Palm Coast.

Here's hoping it's the happiest place on earth... Sunday especially.

I must get better at this

Ok... I knew it had been a while since my last posting. It has always been something I mean to get to every day but then, by the end of the day, am too tired to write it. I knew it had been a while, but last August??? Sheesh..

That isn't to say I haven't been thinking about it or thinking of topics, phrasings etc.. to use. But by the time we get both munchkins to bed and have some relaxation time, well, I'm pretty zonked!

Rituals

One of the topics floating in my mind is/are the rituals that evolve with Zach. A couple of months ago, he got a 'big boy' bed which really consisted of removing the drop-rail... but I'll get to that later. Until then, we had a very predictable bedtime routine that I always smile about. We'd get upstairs, brush his teeth "I want to do it!" and then sit in the armchair in his room and he'd pick out a story for me to read while he drank his milk and held Joey. Then, the conversation would go like this:

Daddy: Are you ready for bed?

Zach: Yeah (small voice)

Daddy: Should we get into the bed?

Zach: Yeah (small voice)

(Get into bed)

Daddy: Hug?

Daddy: Hug for Joey?

Daddy: Another hug for daddy?

Daddy: Ok, time for bed. I love you

Zach: I love you daddy

Daddy: Good night Zach

Zach: G'night daddy

Now that he (as of December 2009) is in the big-boy bed, the ritual has changed a bit as he now insists on getting into the bed without assistance.

When we modified his bed... he got a pillow and blankets. He did his afternoon nap that day no problem. We patted ourselves on the back for being good parents. Then we put him down for bed at night... all went well.. until about 10:30pm when I, downstairs watching tv but about to come upstairs, suddenly heard a loud bang followed by crying. Sprinting up the stairs, I discovered that he had indeed fallen out of bed. We had focussed so much on him potentially voluntarily getting out of bed that it never occurred to us that he might in-voluntarily get out.

Come to think of it... I'm not sure why I don't fall out of bed regularly. I mean, how do we/our body just know not to fall out of bed??

We bought a bed rail...

Siblings

Zach and Alyssa are starting to interact.... we can count on Zach to make his sister laugh but still need to work on how to be gentle with a baby. She went from no crawling to full-on tear across the floor literally overnight in December. He got a ride-in police car from his Nana & Grampy for Christmas (2009) and needed to be stopped a few times from running over his sister... or stepping on his sister... or stop banging her head against the refrigerator... or dragging her around by her leg... this is all new territory for me, this sibling thing.

Eating

Alyssa has progressed quickly to solids and is up to the pureed mush stage, cheerios and wafers. Zach has turned into one of the pickiest eaters I've ever seen. Pretty much every meal we need to cajole, plead, threaten, bargain, negotiate to get him to eat his dinner. I, in fact, hate the war we call dinner right now because it's very very trying on the patience. That and trying to stop him from bringing his foot up onto the table...

Being Cute

Saves them often.