Urban Wanderer

Awake in Shiodome

In theory this blog covers Montreal, but I seem to better at writing my sporadic posts when I am somewhere between a few hundred and a few thousand miles away. It may be because when we travel with the Giraffe there is enforced hotel downtime for such things as naps and 7:30 bedtime and when I travel for work there is no Giraffe. It's probably a good time to mention that the sporadic nature of posting is likely to get worse as there is some big news...

Child #2 is on the way - tentatively named the Cashew (that was the size of the foetus when I decided on the name). We are excited and once again I appreciate the fact that pregnancy is not always fun. K has had nausea since 4 weeks (and she is now approaching 19 weeks pregnant). And the first time round, there's the advantage that there's no other child to focus on but this time we have the Giraffe and so I have more respect for how well she's coping. This time, I'm not finding out the gender before birth but K has already done so. If you want to know, ask her.

Since New York (my last posting) I have been to Phoenix, Houston, Calgary, and for the first time in my life to Tokyo. I have been here since Wednesday afternoon (it's now Friday lunchtime) and I leave in a few hours. Thanks to meetings, I haven't seen much but I'll share a few pictures. I have had some good Japanese food and been reminded that while I can manage Europe without much jetlag, Asia can be really tough.

As to Montreal, well it's the year for a mayoral election so we'll see what that brings. Winter has been bearable so far - snow is way down on last year's almost record level but January was cold and I was exposed to -28C for the first time in my life. Once again I was impressed with how everyone just gets on with life (though we do all talk about how cold it is). February has been milder with freeze-thaw cycles and the early return of numerous and deep potholes. To show how much cold weather gets to you, I prefer days of -5C and nights of -15C (23F and 4F respectively) to days of 2C and nights of -5C. It's drier and crisper at those temperatures and cold damp weather feels much worse.

Enough on weather - the Giraffe is doing well. He's now 28 months old and definitely quite a character - talking so much, repeating much of what we say and being a 2 year old at various points in the day. Of course, just when you get so frsutrated with your child, he does something so sweet that you forget all that, although one aspect of teenage life that I wouldn't mind showing up soon is the tendency to get up late. Even though your child waking you at 5:30 is better than any alarm clock, it's still not good.

Letter to the Giraffe - #2

On October 15th, the Giraffe turned two and he is lucky enough to have three sets of birthday celebrations this year – one in Chicago with family just before his birth date, one at his garderie the day after his birthday and the party we threw the weekend before Halloween. This year he enjoyed the events more than he did on his 1st birthday (a day that was more celebratory for us than for him and separation anxiety led to him spending the latter part of his party climbing the side of the bath). And he can now tell you when you ask that he is “TWOO” (and if asked about Mummy and Daddy, we are twoo also). 

Once again, I want to take this opportunity to write an open letter to the Giraffe that he will get to read when he is older: 

G, I write this one week after you turned 2 and I am on a plane on the way back from a day away in Winnipeg. I have to say you have changed our lives in such wonderful ways and there are moments when we are glad you have no idea how much we love you because you could wrap both Mummy and I around your little fingers so easily if you had any concept crazy we are for you. When I am taking an 8:15 flight or even a 7:00 flight in the morning, I am so lucky to have a son who wakes at 5:30. We would love it if you slept a little later but I have to say that waking up so early on cold dark mornings is only tough until I walk into your room and you smile and jump up in your crib and ask where Mama and “Misster” are. As you will learn, you have developed so much in the last year. One year ago, you crawled and climbed up so well, but now you are running around (and running away) so quickly. One year ago you babbled, and now you talk – single words have become two or three words together and you can explain much of what you want. You smile and laugh so easily and your charm and enthusiasm are infectious – to Mummy and me, to your grandparents and to all the shop assistants to whom you love to say Bye. And when you want to read a book or want to do a puzzle or want to have “uh ohs” – well we find it hard to say no and the pleasure you get is the pleasure you give. Of course, being 2, you have developed a tendency to know what you want and the act of throwing yourself onto the floor in protest isn’t that charming any more. But you recover so quickly we know we are lucky that you have such a sweet temperment. Your excitement about buses has been well documented in my blog but as the transportation geek in the family I am glad that we are now the majority of the family who find trains and planes fun. Travel has been a mix this year – as a baby you were easy to travel with but you weren’t so aware of where we were. This year the long trips have been challenging because we chose two weeks to travel when you weren’t feeling well and I think we all came home in need of another vacation. But in our last two trips to Chicago you have been great – you have been so aware of your surroundings and you have enjoyed my former employer’s great variety of bus routes that converge in the Loop. But the best discovery for you has been what adults are supposed to call the Crown Fountain (in Millennium Park). For you it has been a source of delight on our last two trips and I don’t think we will ever see it again as anything other than the ‘Puddle and Shower’ that you deem it to be. And whatever magic spell has caused you to sleep past 7:00 every morning on those last two vacations is one that you have to capture and keep – these have been vacations for the family. But the best part of travel in this past year is that you have been able to see your grandparents so much. It is tough to have Ima and Apu 2,200 miles southwest in Phoenix and Maga and Papa 3300 miles east in London. But you have seen Ima and Apu in Phoenix twice, Montreal and Chicago, and you have seen Maga and Papa in Philadelphia, Phoenix, London, Montreal, Chicago, and Montreal again. All of them love you so much and the joy you bring to them brings so much happiness to Mummy and me. You have a great family and it’s great how much you love them. With each day your mischievous and extremely curious personality becomes clearer and your vocabulary in two languages keeps expanding. The garderie was a challenge for the first few months but you now you are excited to be there (and excitement when Mummy picks you up) and you have made new friends as well as learning a second language – for now, we know a bit more French than you but we are going to have to work to keep up. But that’s great – you are always teaching us something, and be it about love or a foreign language we love you so much for it. Happy 2nd birthday.

June

So it took 6 weeks to write a post on London. June only finished three weeks ago so I'm doing much better. Let's see - the story of the month was travel for work. I have never travelled so much for work and there was at least a trip a week:

Week 1 - Frankfurt
Week 2 - Sao Paulo
Week 3 - New York
Week 4 - New York and Chicago (two separate trips)

After the trip to London, I am glad that it was only me that had to travel. Unfortunately that meant rather more days away from the Giraffe and K than I would have liked. And as much as I still like aeroplanes, I'm not sure I want to be getting on them every week (although I'm extremely appreciative of all our customers who do). From the trips, I got to do a few fun things that I can recall.

In Brazil, I finally made it to Fogo de Chao. It always seemed like a place to try when we lived in Chicago (it opened there in 2002 or 2003) but we never did. A long lunch there in Sao Paulo was great. The meat's better in South America and the combination of the great salad bar and pan de queso made for a great start to the meal. We had 2 1/2 hours to enjoy lunch and while full, I never felt overfed.

New York - well, not having to pay for hotels out of my own pocket was one great item and just being there was another but I didn't get to do much other than sit in meetings and sleep. And Chicago was a good chance to catch up with former colleagues and I managed to return from the daytrip with swag of 3lbs of Intelligentsia (we are through about 1.8lbs and this has been great).

At home (when I was there), the Giraffe reached 20 months and the latter part of the month saw a rapid growth in words spoken (more in July's update) and the signs of independence (some tantrums and increased frustration if he doesn't get his way). But he continues to improve his physical skills - to watch him at the park is incredible. And he is now developing friendships and his excitement when he sees his friends is wonderful.

England

Well we made it there and back and as the above pictures subtly tell you - I'll cover it all in one post. And it has taken a while to get to this - the reasons for that (they're not ominous or worrying) will be covered in the next post.

For those of you who know K and I, the idea that a trip would turn us off travel might be hard to believe. But the week in England has certainly dampened our enthusiasm for now. Let's see what was planned and what happened:

1) Fly to Toronto and then to London - Achieved although the Giraffe had a couple of incidents of puking (which after 50-ish flights is definitely not the norm)

2) Stay two nights in a hotel - Achieved but on the cab ride from LHR, puking repeated, and on arrival at 11:30pm, the first room we got had a leak from the toilet and a very wet bathroom floor on which the Giraffe tripped

3) Stay healthy - Failed - first the Giraffe got sick, then I did, and then K did. 19-month olds are not the best travel companions when unwell, although the Giraffe's generally positive mood helped.

4) Visit grandparents - Achieved although we have never had a more unhappy Giraffe than we did that day - miserable even at the sight of food - which is a good sign that something was wrong.

5) Go to a wedding in the Lake District - Failed and this was the reason for choosing the week we did. After an average of 6 hours sleep a night for us and the Giraffe's discomfort had led to lots of interrupted sleep nights, we realized (well K realized and thankfully was able to persuade me) that 6 hours of travel on Saturday to a wedding and an extra 6 hours on Monday when we had to head from the Lake District via Manchester and Heathrow back to YUL (which would have made for a 17 hour travel day in total) probably wasn't going to work too well.

Now it wasn't a disaster by any means. As previously noted the Giraffe likes buses (well, loves so much he can't get enough of them). He shares this infatuation with the previous Mayor of London, Ken L, and so he was amazed at the number of red double deckers and bendy buses. He doesn't know how much the latter are disliked by Londoners.

And we got to see friends and family and a large dog, named Paris, who lives with my sister and her better half. And we discovered playgrounds in Islington, Battersea, and Clapham. The weather was good until the Sunday we left. And that morning, the rain was falling but we had 6 hours to fill between the early morning awakening of the Giraffe and the arrival of the minicab to take us to Heathrow. And the Giraffe was not happy to stay in - so we wandered out of our friends' flat and into the peaceful Battersea/Clapham world of closed shops, quiet buses, and puddles. The puddles were fun for the Giraffe, but the excitement paled in comparison to Sainsburys' Local at Clapham Junction. Having walked in, he found some crisp packets and I told him that he had to put them back. He listened and did so and then out of the corner of his eye he spotted the chilled juice/smoothie cabinets. And with an excited tone that lifted the gloom of this depressed looking morning he ran down the aisle towards them shouting "joos, joos, joos". Some moments of parenthood beat anything else in my life.

From the road - Day 3 (and the rest)

So after a bad couple of months updating the blog for any of you who still read along, I am going to do better from the trip. And although flying is the primary mode of travel, we have rented a car here - and not just any car, but a Prius - so after 36 hours the gas gauge still shows full. Now highlights in Phoenix are not that exciting (at least not to me), so this will be pretty quick.

On Day 1, we flew a lot (Montreal to Phoenix via San Francisco is about 3100 miles) and the Giraffe did well for a boy who was up almost 16 hours with only a 25 minute nap.

That was what I managed on the trip...

So - a quick summary with some pictures for good measure:

Day 1 - Giraffe chundered on descent into Phoenix. He's showing some darn good sense about the attrctiveness of the city, but he was going to see both sets of grandparents, and he's already given the sit and Stroll the chance to be tested from a 'removing smells of bodily fluids' perspective.
Day 2 - Not too much - played in park and Giraffe overdoses on Trader Joes' Dried Montmorency Cherries. It's great that he likes most of what we like, but he doesn't have to deal with after effects on us, if any...Oh, and we went to Target
Day 3 - Coffee with CrankyFlier (I know at least one good blogger) and his wonderful fiance - we head our separate ways, so they can catch a spring training game and we can oversee the Giraffe's nap - anyone who's a recent parent who tells you they can't remember life before children is either lying or deluded - having the Giraffe is great but I would be happy to give up the nap oversight.
Dinner at a great Japanese restaurant near K's parents - we have been on both of our last two trips to Phoenix and it is definitely worth checking out if you are in the area. The restaurant is Hana and this time we went with my parents and had both great sushi and some other dishes - their cooked salmon was really good, and the Japanese pickled vegetables were the most delicate and refined I have ever experienced.

Day 4 - Some more shops, and a Giraffe with a diminished appetite. This became a recurring theme of the trip along with  some bad nights for sleep - we started to try harder to feed him but he didn't want to eat much until dinner time. We both know that it's not that serious initially, but when the normally voracious appetite of our child disappeared it created rather more worry than we wanted for our trip.

Day 5 - Off to San Antonio and we enjoyed a quiet flight and then some terrible Mexican food at San Antonio airport. But the time we took for the questionable gastronomic experience got us as close as we have ever been to a presidential election as we followed and eventually passed Michele Obama's motorcade on I37.

Day 6 - Saw all of San Antonio we wanted to (the Alamo, the Riverwalk, South Alamo St) and discovered that the nearest substantial supermarket to downtown San Antonio is 4 miles out of the centre. As a result, the Giraffe got the highlight of his trip - riding the #9 VIA bus to and from Central Market

Day 7 - We flew to Chicago and back into winter temperatures (it didn't make it above freezing in our three days there). The Girafffe napped badly on the plane and so K gallantly stayed behind at the hotel while I went with David U. to see a live taping of Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me. We listen most weeks to this show (thanks to the modern miracle of podcasts), and it was great to see it live. It wasn't the greatest week ever, but Carl Kasell is pretty spry for a 73-year old, Peter Sagal was great, and of the panelists, I was underwhelmed with Roy Blount Jr, but Paul Provenza was great.

Day 8 - The Giraffe got to ride more buses, and he had his first visit to an aquarium, the Shedd specifically. With a 17-month old, we took the cheapest package possible (to see what might be viewed as traditional aquarium exhibits - no fancy shark and dolphin shows) and the Giraffe took some interest in the marine creatures and a lot more interest in running around. And, we got a Thai delivery dinner that was pretty good (Ma and I) and surpassed anything we can get here.

Day 9 - The Giraffe caught up with his 4.5 month old cousin M and once again ate very little - but this time he rode on trains. The afternoon included a long walk down Grand Avenue in a damp, cold wind with snow gently falling. We were planning on an early dinner at Coalfire but we had a meltdown from the Giraffe - so we took a bus back to the hotel and then I headed back out into the cold night for two takeout pizzas. As LTHForum had promised, Coalfire is great - the crusts are wonderful and the toppings are good - again better pizza than we can find here in Montreal.

Day 10 - Once again, we were thwarted in plans to see Ailani and her parents - this time a snowstorm in Montreal forced us to leave two hours earlier but we were lucky to get home.

Yule - a new family tradition

So, when we left the story, we were in Las Vegas and it was the night of Chrstmas Eve into Christmas morning. At the time, neither K nor I were thinking about last Christmas but the night of December 24/25 was a longer than usual one. The Giraffe usually (when he's well) sleeps around 10-11 hours at night, but his cough had worsened and he had become irritated and was coughing so we had a long night, with 7 hours of sleep for him, and 5 hours for us - and a child who was wide awake at 5:00. We also had a 5 hour flight ahead of us to come home. After a less than friendly discussion between K and I, we decided to find a walk-in clinic
to take the Giraffe to. Now, the upside in this quest is that on Christmas Day, Las Vegas is probably more active than any city in the US. The downside was that our hotel didn't prove too willing to give us the name of a clinic and the stress level that induced wasn't so fun. But no surprise, there's a 24-hour clinic right behind the MGM Grand, but...

this was an adult clinic, so they recommended the ER at Sunrise Children's Hospital (which is the only specialist pediatric hospital in Nevada in case you care), which was 'around the corner' (in Vegas that means it's 5 miles away but with 7:15 Christmas morning traffic, no problem there). So, at 7:30 we walked into an ER for the second Christmas Day in a row. We filled the forms that come with US emergency rooms and waited.

Now, this is the moment for the unfortunate comparison with Montreal (and in retrospect, the proof that K was right). We had friends whose 14-month old daughter went to the emergency room on December 23 at Hopital Saint-Justine with an elevated fever. They spent 8.5 hours there before being told that  it was a virus and  being sent home. It's one thing for adults to have extended waits in the emergency rooms here but small children don't know what's wrong and there 's got to be a way to ensure that they get better treatment. Returning to Las Vegas, we were brought into the examining room after about 20 minutes. I went off to provide travel insurance details and when I got back, the doctor had arrived and was examining the Giraffe. He diagnosed an ear infection in both ears, and sinusitis, and he prescribed ear drops, an antibiotic for the ear infection and a stronger decongestant/cough suppressant. After the doctor leaves, you have to wait for discharge instructions (which in the case of something like this are really a guide to the drugs and the basic symptoms of what you have) and once those arrived we were on our way, but we even got the first dose of amoxicilin and ear drops first. Having signed in to the ER at 7:35, we were out in the sunny morning air at 8:30. It's a healthcare system what has many flaws, but when you need care it normally works.

And in the US on Christmas Day, there's no need to search for an open pharmacy, so by 9:05 we had all the prescriptions filled. We dropped off K's dad back at the hotel and headed for the airport. We had visions of a tough flight (our trip back from Chicago in mid-November consisted of 2 hours flying time with a child who cried for around 1 hour and 45 minutes - never have I felt so much that I wanted to disappear and never have I better understood how other parents feel in a situation like this where you can't do anything to stop your child crying and you can't escape - this is the closest to torture that I think I have ever experienced), but the Giraffe was great for a tired and not entirely healthy boy. He drank a lot, played for a while and took a good nap and only got cranky in the last 45 minutes.

So that was Christmas Day 2007 and we returned to snow on our porch having been replaced by a mix of snow and ice. Long live this winter!!!

Pre-Yule

It's Christmas Eve and the whole family is in Las Vegas for a four-day trip with K's parents. We like Vegas at this time of year because it's cheaper and quieter and cooler than the rest of the year and we hadn't been here for two years (which would be pre-Giraffe). Now, this trip tops off a rather aggressive family travel month (a weekend in Philadelphia, a weekend in Chicago, and now this) and we're going to try to avoid 3 weekends a month out of town for a while. There will be a more interesting post or two when I return, but some quick notes:

1) For the first time since I have known her, K is speechless, not because of my actions or the Giraffe's but because of laryngitis and I have to say that after four days, I'm missing that a lot. And she needs to get better from her cold/cough/ear blockage/sinusitis because it's been going on for ten days.

2) The Giraffe is now taking steps. It's not walking any distance but if one of us (or his grandparents) 'releases' him from a standing position he can take several steps to waiting arms. He's still happy to crawl for most of his travel needs as he's extremely fast at it. He's also developing lots of new vocabulary - I won't bore you with the details of all the words, but he really loves to talk. It will be interesting to find out what most of this talk is about.

3) The Giraffe has also been under the weather - a cough that developed ten days ago and then a 'teething cold' this weekend which has now worsened his cough. My substantial internet research has led to the troubling conclusion that coughs in small children can last for weeks,  and can't be treated. What that means is that sleepless nights could last for weeks - the last couple have brought back memories of the tiredness that was omnipresent in the first few weeks of the Giraffe' s life.

4) I made it to Fresh and Easy (not exciting for most, but as supermarkets are a side interest and this is mighty Tesco's US entry it was exciting for me). It was different from any US supermarket I'd been to before and it had similarities to Tesco Metro (or at least Metro in the early days) but with a more downmarket appearance and wider aisles as North American stores almost always have (a notable exception being Trader Joes' - easily my favorite supermarket chain in this continent).

5) Happy Holidays to all of you and may 2008 be a happy and healthy year

The Giraffe turns one

The Giraffe's picture never features here out of some low-level concern I have that featuring my child without his consent on the internet is the wrong thing to do. I don't think I should be worried about his safety, because as much as he is unique to us, small children do look quite similar.

But the policy continues and the picture is of the tunnel from Concourse A to Concourse B/C in the McNamara terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Having spent an excessive amount time in the tunnel between concourses B and C at O'Hare, I found that DTW has improved on the simple light show found there and this tunnel has a disco atmosphere (at least what seems like a disco to someone who hasn't been clubbing in 10 years).

Anyway, I was in the disco on my way home to Montreal on October 15, the day which marked our first year as parents. And we continue to be overwhelmed by how much fun it can be (not forgetting how tiring and frustrating it can be). The best part of the Giraffe's birthday is that all four grandparents were together for the event. With my parents 3300 miles northeast of Montreal and K's parents 2200 miles southwest, we don't see enough of either set of parents and they haven't been together since our wedding (which my dad never made it to thanks to a detached retina). Like all aduit children, we don't find all the advice of our parents to be so helpful when it comes to raising our child but I know we both understand so much more about our parents and have rather more respect for  what they did and what we put them through. To see the joy that the Giraffe brought them made travelling 8 hours to Phoenix more than worthwhile. The Giraffe is developing  a mischievous streak - fortunately for us he hasn't figured out walking yet, so it's still necessary to crawl to find mischief, but in a house with goodies (K's parents) he found the chance to play with everything he came across. And being taller than is normal (see previous posts on the 96th percentile child we have been left with), he's now able to reach our dining table at home (which is at a normal adult height) so nothing is safe.

My most serious concern is that my Casio alarm clock (a digital relic that I have had since it woke me at 06:25 to the dulcet tones of Mike Carlton on LBC 97.3 so I could make it to secondary school) now finds its way onto the floor with its batteries removed. The clock was designed in the days (the late 1980s) when apparently energy conservation was in vogue so the first batteries removed were Duracell AAs recommended for installation by November 1999, suggesting the clock costs around $1.00 per 8 years to keep running, but now I am missing those batteries (the Giraffe can carry small items around the house and leave them in places that he can reach and we can never find), so the cost is skyrocketing to $1.00/week (I've only lost 1 set of batteries but he only started this new game last week). No wonder they say children are expensive.

And finally - he  turned one and since then development rates have quickened. First, he demonstrated that he could upchuck on an airplane and do it well. On our way home from Phoenix 6 days after his birthday he managed to throw up over himself and his car-plane-stroller seat and his mother extremely effectively. And of course, this was the time I was seated 10 rows away - sorry to the guy sitting next to me as he had a rather rancid-smelling practically naked 1 year old passed over him. And more impressively, he has added a word that is not mama or dada. The cat is now diddy - so along with the excited noise and the rapid crawling that occurs when the cat is in sight, comes the repetition of diddy, diddy, diddy. We'll see what comes next.

Travelling in Quebec

We have been somewhat remiss in not exploring rather more of La Belle Province. Prior to last weekend, we had spent a night in Quebec City on a November weekend when the temperature suggested February. And we have managed to drive into the Laurentians and the edge of the Eastern Townships. But we made a much more exciting trip (the only aircraft service required the Giraffe to use a turboprop for the first time in his life) to Lac St. Jean. I had chosen a place that Lonely Planet couldn't understand the attraction of, but that was before agrotourism - the area is the capital of blueberries and it's also home to the cheesemaker of our favorite Quebec cheddar (4-year aged Perron). So, along with Tavia, Danny and 8-month old Jeremy we flew into Bagotville and rented... a minivan (my only excuse for this lapse was the fact we had 4 adults and 2 babies and it was the only way we could be safely in only one vehicle). So, the highlights were

1) seeing some beautiful rivers flowing into the lake on the north side, including the wonderfully named Peribonka river

2) a beautiful rainbow as we drove back from Saint Prime

3) finding Californian blueberries in an IGA store in Roberval - if we can get Lac St. Jean blueberries in Montreal, then we should be able to see them in Lac St. Jean (ok, this was a lowlight)

4) the feeling of being rock stars when you are pre-boarding a plane with a small child at an airport where you walk 100 feet across the ramp from the door of the airport to the door of the airplane

5) visiting the red covered bridge (pictured below) in St Jeanne d'Arc

6) the Giraffe's first visit to a fast food chain (though, we did go a little upmarket in this mass-market segment by choosing A&W) and his first taste of frites.

And most importantly, 7) pick-your-own (PYO - which is what u-pick is known as in the UK) organic wild blueberries and cultivated raspberries at a beautiful farm in Notre Dame de Lorette - L'Oree des Bois (in English it's The Edge of the Woods). Admittedly, we could have found some PYO places closer to Montreal, but this little farm has a beautiful setting and we arrived on the first weekend of the season for blueberries and we were the only people picking. The Giraffe enjoyed picking through the dirt and plants and being carried through the woods, and we came back with a lot of blueberries and a smaller number of raspberries. These raspberries were by far the best we have had this summer and they were all gone  by the time we went to bed on Sunday night (having been picked at 1:00pm that day) - the blueberries were mainly same-day frozen to be enjoyed in approaching cooler months. L'Oree is a great place to visit if you are in the Lac St. Jean region. And yes, those are wild blueberry plants in the first picture.

They grow up so fast #1

Well, time for a few more cliches (and this I write as I listen to Tony Blair's last PMQs or Prime Minister's Questions if you are not famiiar with British political acronyms) relating to the Giraffe. The last two weeks seem to have rather eventful in his development. In some ways, every week is exciting - there are always small changes and new tricks that he has learned, but I do not want to bore you with every detail. But now I have to share. What has caused this anguish:

1) Crawling - while I may have mentioned and complained occasionally that carrying around a 23lb baby causes back strains and worse, he can move under his own steam now and it's not going to be long before standing and then walking follow. And once he can walk, why does he need us to get where he's going (of course we'll need to stop him from going places, but being an enabler is much more satisfying)

2) Holding his own bottle - the only activity that I always try to perform in his daily routine is giving the Giraffe his bedtime bottle. Now I'm not home often enough to do this other than on weekends (as a result the Giraffe who had picked up da-da-da after ba-ba-ba in his vocalization and speech practice has now moved on to ma-ma-ma - I am learning my place), but it was a wonderful part of the day. Now I put the Giraffe on my lap, put the bottle in his mouth and...he's drinking and holding the bottle and I'm just hanging out and trying to remember that I musn't read my Blackberry while he's eating because while milk is good, Blackberries are better if you are an inquisitive child. Once again, I'm learning my value.

3) Sitting up in the bath - now this one actually requires a bit more work. Until we moved, the Giraffe's bath time was in a bath seat (strangely called Daphne), but now he can sit on his own anti-slip mat. He wasn't too happy the first day I handled the bathing with the mat because I filled the bath to chest height and I managed to stop him tumbling head-first into the water a couple of times (score two for paternal involvement), but it's one more sign of independence. Before we know it, he'll be off to college...