Sam-derman...

Spidey-pose

What a super baby!

Sam in action

That's a pretty cool tower...


...it's very tall...


...I wonder if I could reach it...


...and push it...


...oh! oh! There it goes...


Yes!

The Daycare Dilemma

In a few months, I will be heading back to work. I had hoped to send Sam to a French home daycare so that he would continue to learn the language that I have been trying to teach him since birth. However, thus far I have had very little luck finding a daycare with space available. What's more, even the English day cares have minimal spaces available. I'm really struggling with what to do. Here are the main problems:

1. Many day cares do not take infants until they are a minimum of 16-18 months old. Sam will be 12 months old when I go back to work.

2. If a day care takes an infant of 12 months of age, most do not take them part time. I will only be working part time, so that's all we need and can afford.

3. Many day cares will not take children who wear cloth diapers. This is a big issue for me, because not only do I believe that using cloth diapers is the most environmentally conscious choice, but we've also invested time and money into cloth diapers. To have to start buying disposables would be a huge issue for me both financially and ethically.

4. The person or people I leave Sam with I need to trust and feel comfortable with. They will be taking care of someone very precious. I'm struggling with having to send Sam to someone else for care.

So the battle continues. I'll find someone eventually, but in the meantime, it's definitely a huge learning curve. I'll probably post some tips on how to find a great daycare, when I find it. :P

Sam never ceases to amaze me. Just last week he learned how to roll from back to front, which I had concluded he was just not going to do. And then without any warning, and little effort, he did it. Now he rolls from front to back and back to front with little effort. Although he does only roll in one direction. Ha ha. I call it his fish flop, it really is quite cute actually.

He's also now waving at people when they come into a room and when they depart, and he's even figured out that he should wave when someone says hello or goodbye (or in his case bonjour or au revoir). He really does amaze me. The amount that babies learn in the first year is astounding.


He has also learned how to pull apart the foam flooring that we put I'm down on to play and his favorite past time is to pull it up and chew on it. What a silly boy!

He's definitely going to be a busy boy! The most amazing of his recent feats is that he managed to pull the space bar off my laptop in a matter of minutes (less than two to be exact). Tim put him down in front of the computer, too close for that matter, and I noticed within a minute or so that he was too close to the computer. And he was mashing the keys and I could see things moving around on the screen. I walked over to move him away from the computer and noticed something long and thin in his hand. It was the space bar! And he was happily waving it around in the air. What a guy.

Thanksgiving

I am so thankful for family. We are blessed with amazing parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. There's something great about coming together with family and spending time laughing, catching up, dreaming about the future - we spent Thanksgiving weekend with Tim's family. It made me appreciate all the more my own family and my wonderful family that I joined when I married Tim. We had a beautiful weekend of eating and celebrating (not only was it Thanksgiving, we also celebrated Tim's Didi's 85th birthday). We got out and enjoyed the weather doing some hiking and even sitting by a bonfire. It was a great weekend. And I am thankful. Here's a video of the hike we took, courtesy of my hubby. :)

Picture of the day

My two cute men. (taken in August at the Grandma and Grandpa's cottage)

Roasted Goodness

I love the vegetables of fall. The colours are warm and fresh and make me think of pumpkin pie and falling leaves. There's something irresistible about an array of squash at the farmer's market or grocery store, I find it hard to walk by these veggies at this time of year without picking a few out for my own kitchen. In our last basket of the summer we received an acorn squash, and at the farmer's market this past weekend I picked up a small butternut squash (about 2 lbs) and some glorious organic carrots of varying colours and sizes (and flavour!). I decided to roast some of the veggies, and here is the recipe I used. It was so delicious! I don't know if I've ever had roasted squash before, but I will definitely be making it again.

Roasted Fall Veggies

One two pound butternut squash (or whatever you have at your disposal)
6 medium sized fresh carrots
One medium onion
3-4 Tablespoons virgin olive oil
Ground cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 425 F. Peel, seed and cut squash into ~1 inch cubes. Wash and cut carrots into segments ~1/2 inch (or so, I wasn't too worried about the size of these). Cut onion into 1 inch chunks. Spray a 9x13" glass pan with PAM (or grease with a bit of the oil).

In large glass bowl, combine squash, carrots, half the oil until coated. Add a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to taste. Add a pinch of salt. Spread evenly in pan, place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Add onions and drizzle with remaining oil. Stir gently. Return to oven for another 20 minutes or until veggies are tender. Serve warm. Excellent with BBQ steak and red wine. Enjoy!

How quickly he changes...

My son is becoming a very social being. And it's amazing to see how aware he is of when attention is turned to him, and when it is turned elsewhere.

Lately Sam has been showing an increased interest in snuggling, in being held and snuggling up to people. And not just myself or Tim, but others as well. He wants to be held and snuggled. Maybe it creates an increased sense of security, I don't know. But it's neat to see the change. When he was younger, he was content to lay on the floor and play, look around, smile at you. Now he plays for a limited amount of time before he looks up at you, and reaches up to be picked up. (He just started doing that this week, and I have to say, it's pretty cute! However, I can see how it could make it harder to get anything accomplished...)

And just this afternoon, I was sitting on the floor with him, right next to him, and he was playing with one of his favorite toys. I had my laptop off to the side and I was checking something online. Not once, but twice when I was trying to do something online, he reached over with his hand and grabbed my arm, as if to say "Stop that mommy, I want you to play with me." Of course, he was thrilled when I pulled him to me and nuzzled his neck - one of his favorite things which always gets a few giggles. I love being a mom. :)

Tick Tock Goes the Clock

Today is October 1st. In just a few short months, my son will turn a year old, and I will return to work. I've heard it said that many women look forward to returning to work, to more "adult time" and "adult conversation". It's funny, I don't feel that way at all. Every day is like an inescapable step towards a destination I don't want to reach. I feel like I am slowly but surely being pushed in the tide towards a distant, unfriendly shore, and I am powerless to escape it. Ok...enough with cliches, but really, I don't want to leave Sam and go back to work.

The thought of leaving my son in the care of another person wrenches my heart. I love him. And I want to be with him when he learns to walk, when he speaks his first word; when he falls and scrapes his knee, I want to be the one who scoops him up and kisses him all better. Going back to work means I might miss some of those moments. And friends keep telling me, "oh, it will be good for him. It will help teach him social skills with other children." I guess that's true, but it doesn't stop the aching feeling in my heart.