No Coal here....

Big blue eyes, angelic blonde hair, peering into his stocking and with some skeptism says, "Is a bike going to fit in here?"

What's up Doc?

McKay had his three year old checkup yesterday.

• Still at 75% height (3 foot 2) and a new peak to 50% weight (31.5lbs).
• He did really well answering the questions they asked him (name, gender, school etc...).
• When Dr. Kevin had finished talking to him, he told McKay, "now I'm going to look at your body". McKay smiled up at him, and rubbing his thighs said in a listen carefully tone of voice "These are my legs....
• Had two shots, and my brave little sheep didn't even cry. Just said..."Owwwww". When the nurse was done, he got down and hugged me then said, "MOMMY, she HURT me!" Can I have a lollipop now?

Dear Santa

Wrote our letters to Santa tonight...or rather, cut (tore) things out of magazines and glued them to paper. McKay didn't get past page two he was so excited about all the toys. Dan and I did some good damage to Williams Sonoma and E-cookbooks.


















Also put up our tree on the weekend and got the garland around the door. No motivation to do the outside lights yet...maybe this week?

News flash

• Shooting at the house behind us. Bootleggers have since moved out.
  
• Decide to move to Vancouver next summer
• Dan starts paperwork for Canadian permanent residency.
  
• Tell boss we want "career change".
• Pull McKay out of his daycare because of incident with teacher.
• Interview for new job in Vancouver.
  
• Start McKay in new daycare.
  

Film at 11:00

In My Country, We Say "Thank You"

McKay has made some good linguistic approximations recently. I sent out an email more than a year ago called "McKay's Dictionary". Here are the most notable entries so far for Age Three:

Elbow Cookie: the largest city in New Mexico.
furzurt: a sweet following the midday or evening meal.
heckapoper: rotor-driven VTOL aircraft.
ungella: parabolic rain avoidance tool made of cloth.


An amusing conversation from this evening:

McKay: Mom! Pucky's bothering me!
Lorraine: Tell him not to.
McKay: Not to, Pucky!

(Thanks to Kayla, McKay's friend Max's mum, for supplying me with the title)

Splish Splash and Over the Rainbow

After a month, McKay was finally able to try out his new puddle stompers this morning. They work perfectly.

First cold day today, hovering at 45F/7C. Brrr...gotta get the mitts and hats out tomorrow. Or it might be 80F/30C again. Lots of great colours on the trees, and in the ditches...leaf mold allergies holding at bay this year.

Watched the first part of the Wizard of Oz (up til the meeting of the TinMan) as a family tonight. Here is some of the commentary:

• Why is that man green?
• Why she fall in with the pigs?
• Is she a Mommy? Does she have boobs?
• Why she have a broom?
• What's that song called?
• Am I scared?

Moo!

HAPPY Cowloween!

We had nearly 40 people at our place for our 5th annual pumpkin carving last night. We ran out of beer before pizza.

McKay was very brave this year and handed out candy to anyone not wearing a mask. Masks are still too scary.

Many Many thanks to Steve and Susan for introducing him to Pixie Stix. Just what we needed.

Vocational Training

As demanded by a very patient Uncle Chris, I present to you McKay's Extended Family's Vicarious Career Aspiration:




Slightly more worrying, but slightly more cute, we have:




We spent a good 45 minutes putting out a fire after he donned his clothing. I will claim that it was a coincidence that I was cooking dinner at the time.

3!

Bladder vs the clock

First words we heard this morning at 5:30.

"MOMMY....I DON'T WANT to pee on the floor."

Poor boy, had woken himself up, got out of bed, but couldn't make it as far as the potty. He was so upset with himself.


How can he be so little, and so big at the same time?

SleepOver: The Revenge

Max spent last Satruday night at our house. It was so much fun.We made pizza, played alot, ran around alot.Surpisingly, they were both asleep by 10:00. The next morning, I hear the door creak open. "Miss Raine...we're awake". 5 second pause. "She's not awake yet..." Door slams shut, and they played in their room for half an hour.

What if..

McKay developed his first "crush" while we were on vacation.
We spent the Labour Day long weekend on the beach in a rental cottage with friends and family.

McKay quickly attached himself to Kara.

One night at dinner, we were on the screened porch, and Kara and a few other's were on the deck. He had been happily dipping everything on his plate in BBQ sauce. He looked at me, and said, "Mommy, do you think SHE wants dip?" I replied, "I don't know baby, why don't you ask her.

He thought for a bit, and squirmed in his seat.

"Mommy, what if she says NO?"

Avon calling

Remember when a cardboard box as big as you were was the best toy EVER?

I figure cutting, painting, gluing and playing mailman will be good for a few nights of tantrum free living.

An Explanation

We went for a walk after dinner today. McKay was a bit tired, so I put him on my shoulders for the second half. We walked most of the way back home, and he wanted to be put back down.

I put him down, we walked around the corner and he stopped.

"C'mon, McKay, let's go home," I said.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

He pointed down. "There's bugs in there."

I looked at the sidewalk at his feet. "Where? I don't see any."

He pointed down again. "In there."

I noticed he was standing kind of funny. "In your shoe?" Visions of ant bites raced through my head for a split second.

"No, in my feet."

I thought about how he'd been sitting on my shoulders and then it hit me. "Does it feel kind of prickly or tickly?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, that happens to me, too, sometimes. When that happens, we say my foot fell asleep. Feels funny, doesn't it?"

I mused all the way home about what an interesting explanation he'd come up with for what he was feeling.

This is the second time he's said something like this. A few months ago, he told Raine "There's a bird in my tummy" when he had the hiccups.

His brain is so cool.

Too Mad For Work

Yellow River

We've spent the last few Sundays at Yellow River Park. It's about half an hour from home and although officially "closed" for renovation (Yeah, we don't understand that either) has been a haven from the August heat. The "Swimming in the Pool" (Winnie the Pooh) Ball sent from Grandma and Grandpa May many months ago is finally seeing some action. It's the best for flowing down the river and not getting lost in the waterfalls.

Hoping McKay is coming out of the "terrible twos" but no sign in sight. A few weekends ago was the worst weekend since he was born for the tired and daunted parents. I think we need to head out to the bookstore, most of our "parenting" books don't have much to say about this. We all know independence is good and to "let him DO it", but holy cow, 5 time outs and 3 temper tantrums before the coffee was made?

F

www.dontblamemeIvoted4kerry.com

True Patriot Love

Finally (now that he's almost 3) received Mckay's proof of Canadian Citizenship.
Strange, he is automatically Canadian, but we had to apply for him to have proof (since he was born in the US he doesn't have a Canadian Birth Certificate. We had to send his application, ID to prove I was Canadian, and three pieces of ID for him. Finding three pieces of legal ID (and not crafts from school) for a two year old is not easy.

Next step is his Canadian passport, and start working on citizenship for Dan. We're all starting to get a bit homesick for the "True North". Now we just have to find jobs, sell the house, and figure out how to get all our pets and stuff 4500km away. Google says this will take 2 days, 0 hours.

Grandma lives at ATL

Had a midweek adventure this week by visiting Grandma Cokey at her weekend home at ATL.

She was flying through to Jacksonville and had a 4 hour layover at ATL, so us and our burb relatives The Coys made the trek out to the airport to give her a little bit of lovin'. Needless to say her Airtran flight from Midway was delayed. But this allowed us a leisurely dinner (with GREAT beer) at Six Feet Under (so named because it is across from the Oakland cemetery).


The Coy boys are growing up, it was great talking to them to give me a preview of the years down the road. I have to admit, 7yr old Jeffrey asking me "What rock bands do you like" caused a moment of silence. I asked at work the next day (most of the lab is young 20 things...) and the correct answer is "Green Day" or "Gwen Stefani". Oh well :)

I'm done for...

...if McKay is going to keep up this level of cute.

We were playing at the park after dinner tonight, and we told him we were going to go home to see if the neighbour kids were still playing in their front yard.

They weren't.

McKay was quite upset that he had to leave a perfectly serviceable playground to go back home to play with people that weren't even there. Lorraine said, "Oh, no, I think his heart is broken."

McKay said, "My heart is broken," then lifted up his shirt to expose his chest, and said, "see?"

Totally done for.

First Slumber Party

McKay had his first sleep over.

We, his absentee parents, had a fabulous time at dinner and a show, returning home at 1:30am.
His host family survived, but we're not sure how well. I think McKay's activity level tends to overwhelm people who haven't been with him since birth. He really doesn't stop moving. Ever.

McKay ended up sleeping with his host Mum, and his buddy Max ended up sleeping with host Dad.

We hope to reciprocate the night out (this really wasn't about the kids) next weekend and have Max and Baby Ester at our house. I'm looking forward to having a little one in the house and suspect the event might re-affirm our "caught our limit" belief.

Canada Day 2005

Happy Canada Day.

McKay wore red and white today, and brought his flag to school in his new Knapsack with the Canada Flag patch on it that he got from Grandma and Grampa May. He's now good to travel in Europe.

He says he showed the flag to his friends, and told them not to break it. He was dissapointed there was no cake or presents on Canada day. Then again, so was I.

Splendour of Nature

Ahhhhhh, bright light. My retinas! Do it again, Do it again.

Summersaults in the water

Remember, don't cross this line, that you are on the other side of.....

Decided to try camping this weekend. We thought to ourselves, "One night, less than 24 hours, it'll be fun".

1. Rain. All night.
   
2. Bad camping neighbours (headlights on tent makes toddler SURE it is morning)
3. First words this morning, while we were still in bed, together; "I need dry clothes....I peed". (remember, no more diapers anymore...).
   

It was fun, and we WILL do it again, but maybe not soon.

Beach Party.

We Spent Friday night with several thousand other people at the Decatur Beach Party. They close off 3 blocks of streets, and fill them with many many tons of beach sand.

Lots of pools and sprinklers for the kids, lots of beer and beach tunes for the adults. It's quite surreal to be looking across the street at the barber where your kid gets his hair cut while running through a sprinkler. Sort of a combination of fighting the crowds on Canada Day at Parliment hill and lounging on the beach in the Mayan Riviera.

Pack Animals....

Puck has finally accepted Mckay as one of the pack.

Dan and I were puttering around cleaning up for the imminent arrival of house guests. McKay had been tucked in, and was playing in his room with toys. Puck very pointedly came into the study with Dan and I where we were making the bed. We ignored him, and continued to move in and out of the room. Dan sat at the desk to clear off some papers, Puck prodded him with his rawhide bone in the Universal, "Hold this for me " way. Dan said, "Puck, not now..."

Puck left the room, and a few minutes later we noticed he was in with McKay happily chewing his bone on the play mat. This was the first time he chose to be with McKay when there was no food involved.

p.s.: Potty has been conquered, clean and dry for 2weeks!

Speaks the Language

McKay has been getting really good at idiomatic English.
We know where he has heard some of them, others, we're not so sure.

Tonight, he was pulling things off his bookshelf, causing a book avalanche onto his toes & lower legs.

This clip was what we heard next. Dan cried laughing for 10 minutes while I kept a straight face and acted the concerned Mama.

Et tu, McKay?

I went shopping yesterday morning for Lorraine's b-day, with McKay in tow. After we were done, he spent the afternoon with Lorraine. When I got home, she told me that he unabashedly and without reservation told Lorraine what we went shopping for.

Can't take the kid anywhere anymore...

Peanut Butter and Jelly Fish

Had a great day yesterday. We took our newest family member on a road trip to the Aquarium in Chattanooga. Great Aquarium, really need a few days to see it all. They had a 'Ray and Shark petting pool, neon lit jellyfish that was very futruristic.

Jelly Fish are ok, Sharks are ok, SeaHorses are ok, Sting Rays are ok. Scuba divers are scary. All in all a fun day with no tantrums, and lots of cruise control.

Hot Date

When at a drive in on a Saturday night

Don't let a toddler sit in the front seat
Really don't let a toddler sit on the driver's lap.
REALLY don't let a toddler rest his feet on the steering wheel.
REALLY REALLY don't let a toddler lock his knees...and thus sound the dulcet sounds of a car horn for what seems like hours.

enough said.

Blame Kirsten

She made me do it. She MADE me. It's not as career-oriented as a firefighter's hat or a chef's toque, but it's pretty close.

Link to pic (Warning: Baby Butt)

Sweet Potato Fries...

Went to dinner tonight at one of our favourite locals.

The Vortex. Great burgers, Great sweetpotato fries and a HUGE beer menu.
For a laugh, check out what is on the front of their menu.

Found out that as of July 1st, they won't be letting minors in because of a new anti-smoking law in Georgia that says if you allow smoking in the premises, no kids can come in. This is stupid, I'm a pretty rabid anti-smoker, but this is still stupid. They'll protect all these minors on the few occasions they're allowed out to dinner, but Pa can still turn the walls yellow at home. Sheesh. This will be real hard on this restaurant/bar as it is in the "hip/odd" neighbourhood of the city, and most of the people here are tattooed and pierced teens.

McKay had sweet potato fries and a Quesadilla. I also learned that if you tell a two year old to "wipe you face using the mirror behind you." That's exactly what he will do. We had to get extra napkins to wipe down the mirror.

Started car shopping today. We're already daunted. Pieces (important?) keep falling off the Tercel, so we KNOW we have to make a decision, but so far nothing but 2 fights.

Summer Rituals

There are some things that a kid has to do EVERY summer. I don't think he's going to retain too many memories from this year, but I thought it was important that we start.

• Neighbourhood BBQ with 30+ adults, and 10+ kids. The only injury was McKay, running full speed down a concrete driveway when another kid threw a bucket at his feet. *WHUMP*. Scab fell off yesterday. Glad it happened after school pictures.
• Sleeping in the backyard in the tent. So far we've only had "snack" in the tent, but will work our way up to sleeping in it. Have to pick a weeknight when the bootleggers are quiet.
  
• Walking in the rain and splashing in all the puddles.
  
• Concerts in the park late Saturday nights.
  

What else do we need to make sure we do? Other non-location specific activities? (ie/ clamming ins't going to happen in Atlanta).

Proof is in the Pudding

What DOES that mean?

Anyhow...got the proofs for the school pictures.
5x7's ordered for the grand parents, 3x5 for the aunts/uncles, and a bunch of wallets for everyone else.