Cold Snap

Making a snow man of sorts before the cold snap

Riding her sister's Scramble Bug

-7C: The forecast for next Monday in Montreal.

I never thought I would look forward to -7C, but after five straight days of frigid weather in the -20's, I find myself doing just that.  Here are a few things that we did since the cold snap started:

-stayed indoors
-did not use the stroller all week
-left only to drop my toddler off at pre-school, and pick her up
-considered not taking her to preschool this week
-played with the same toys, over and over again
-sang songs
-did arts and crafts
-cooked
-considered ordering groceries by home delivery
-took naps
-dreamed of living in California

11 months old

Sitting Pretty

Turned 11 months old on January 11th
Has 8 teeth (although my husband claims he can only see 6)
Can blow her nose (a feat usually accomplished around 4 years of age)
Took her first step on January 12th
Still can't walk, but regularly takes one step, then sits down
Slept between 8 and 10 hours in a row, for three consecutive days last week
Then developed another cold, and her sleep has been irregular since
But her parents remain hopeful...

Switching Roles

Ever since her gastro-intestinal virus a few months ago, our baby had been waking up frequently at night, and nursing to her heart's content. At first, I did not mind as she had lost almost 1kg. Then she doubled her weight...But joking aside, I was starting to get very tired. During our recent trip to Cambridge, her nighttime wake-ups became even more frequent, to the tune of every 1-2 hours! A few days after our return, when she showed no sign of letting up her frequent middle-of-the-night nursing sessions, I decided that something needed to be done...

I came up with the idea of switching roles with my husband. He had been putting our toddler to sleep for quite some time, and going to her during her infrequent wake-ups. But curiously, he slept through all of our baby's wake-ups, even though she sleeps in our room...

So this last week was an experiment of sorts...My husband put our baby to sleep with a bottle, and offered her the next bottle around 12 hours later. When she woke up in the middle of the night, he would rock her back to sleep. She protested only slightly the first night (a few seconds), but seemed to realize very quickly that he had no milk on his person. She looked over at me a few times, but quickly fell asleep. The following night, and every night thereafter, her wake-ups became less frequent, and shorter in duration.

Last night was day 7 of the experiment, and she slept 10 hours in a row! For the very first time in her young life...Why had we not done this earlier? Why had we not tried this with our first child, instead of waiting until she did it on her own at age 2!?

My husband keeps reminding me that it was only one night, but I remain hopeful...

Mealtime with Froggy and Monkey

Chocolate cake frosting

The Visitors II

Last week, my children received some very special visitors from China. This week, they in turn became visitors, along with their parents.  We departed on December 27th, and returned on January 2. We spent 5 full days with family and friends in Cambridge, Ontario.

Were it not for the record-breaking snow-storm on the 27th, it would have been a near-perfect trip. As it happened, 47 cm of snow-fall led to many flight delays. Our door-to-door time was 8 hours, when normally it would have been a little over 3 hours. Thankfully, our daughters travel relatively well on aeroplanes. Out toddler had her own seat for the first time, and enjoyed playing with her tray, and in-plane magazines. The baby fell asleep during the flight to Toronto, and our toddler followed suit as soon as we landed.

There were many fun activities for out children in Cambridge. Foremost amongst them playing with their cousins, two very sweet girls ages 9 and 12. We also went swimming a number of times at the local Y, and our toddler went sledding for only the second time in her life.

Here are a few photos:

Climbing up mountain

Sledding with her cousins

Playing with the child-proof gate at Grandpa's

Swimming at the local Y

At an indoor playground