My Awesome Kid!

Doing a test run on the Kids' CBC party hat for the upcoming Kids' CBC Days Party Song video shoot

What can I say? I have an awesome kid. It's been a long time since I blogged, but want to get back into it, to make sure I'm capturing at least a few of the incredible moments I get to enjoy on a daily basis. It really is the little moments that make everything so fun...

Somehow my love of Harry Potter (even though Noah is a long way away from reading them) has permeated into Noah. So tonite after supper, while we were in the back yard, Noah was using his bubble machine to chase all the "Slytherins" away ("they are the bad guys, mom" ... clearly I am teaching him some very important stuff!). Naturally, he was Harry Potter, I got to be Hermione Granger and when Auntie P called she was left being Ron Weasley. Well, she does have the right hair colour!






But while Noah might be like me in the pop culture department (I mean, whose lego collection is it really? more on that in later blogs), in the Meyers Briggs world of personality traits, where mommy is an "N" which means I fly by the seat of my pants, make decisions on impulse, am spontaneous and get uber excited about all new ideas, Noah is an "S" so far, which means he really likes to process thoughts, gather all the info and really understand things (you should see him at constructions sites, trying to figure out how things work). Here's a photo from June where we drove by a fire station, and the ladder truck was opened and getting repaired. We stopped and watched the guy for about 45 mins before mommy finally convinced Noah to move on.

Tonite at bedtime, we had what has become routine in in our home. As you know, kids always try to prolong bedtime and Noah is a genius at it: "Mommy, I'm hungry. Mommy, my sheet isn't on right. Mommy I need a hug." But his best work is in the questions. Just as I am about to head downstairs I get the  "Mommy, I just have a question" which generally turns into two, and sometimes more.

Tonites questions:

Mommy, what parts are in a car?

Mommy, how do they make picture frames?

Mommy, how do they put houses in the ground?

Mommy, how do you get a cold? (at which point, he explains how he accidentally shared a cold once)

Mommy, how do they make lightbulbs? after which I suggest we look it up online in the morning, and then proceeds to explain to me how they are made.

Mommy, I have a thousand questions.

I'm sure he does.

Oh and the sleeping picture is actually from Ikea on the weekend with Grandma. At Ikea, he loves to try out all the beds. It's his favourite section.

St Paddy's Day!

Happy St Patrick's Day! At our house we had a fabulous time. As you all know, Noah is a super great eater; loves fruit and veggies, so didn't need to do something clever to get him to eat those, but thought why not have some fun with the whole festive occasion thing. I love any occasion to decorate and bake and as a result Noah thinks it is pretty cool. Every day for the week leading up to St Patty's day he kept asking me "is today St Patrick's Day?" and on the day it was jumped up and down on his bed with delight. The kid cracks me up. So naturally, I rewarded his enthusiasm with this "Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow" breakfast made with assorted fruit, carrots, and a toast "pot" with shamrock sprinkles on it (and few gold chocolate coins left by that mysterious leprachaun!)



Noah is pretty happy with Mommy's next recipe!







The Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow St Patricks Day Pudding Extravaganza (complete with chocolate coins at the bottom!)

Made quite easily by making pudding, separating into 6 bowls and using gel food colouring to create vibrant colours

 All in all it was a fun day. While I'm not really Irish, any excuse to decorate, and make something fun is totally up my alley. We had invited Auntie P (and Daisy) for dinner, but mid afternoon Noah and I were reading a book together and the doorbell rang. Who was there? Grandma! A surprise visit which was awesome, so we all had a fun dinner together complete with green drinks (noah loved his green milk) and of course the pudding. Shamrocks forever!

If I didn't cut his hair and you didn't cut his hair......

It's Friday the 9th of March and Elana has picked Noah up at daycare. I get a text a little while later asking "did you cut his hair?" which I know really wasn't a real question, as anyone who knows me would know that with my shaky hands that would just be a dangerous undertaking. "He looks like his hair was cut. Noah says he did
Hmmm. Another strike for daycare. I guess they didn't notice that Noah had someone got some safety scissors and done a little Salon magic on himself. Thankfully, Elana texted me some photos right away, or else I am sure I would have fallen over laughing when I saw him, which clearly would not have been the right way to go under the parenting rules.





My fave. Love the missing chunk in the middle.



Oops!





That's not swept over, there really is a bunch of hair  that is just plain gone!



My handsome young man.

 

So, after a number of days of trying to convince Noah that a brush cut would totally rock, we settled on just a haircut so he could keep the fashionable style he likes.

 "Mommy, I like my hair flat. Leave it flat, mommy!"

Thankfully, we have an awesome hairdresser named Asna who did an amazing job.

Now back to daycare.
This is the third incident in about a month with Noah, so either he is a Jekyll/Hyde who is a perfect boy at school and a ringleader at daycare, or daycare doesn't give a lot of supervision to the kids.

Other incidents: apparently Noah led another girl to a room they weren't supposed to go to that wasn't supervised and then got more of the kids to come... but my favourite is:

The Noah and Angela bathroom story. In this story (which Noah makes me recount to him time and time again, even though I wasn't there and he is the protaganist), he an Angela went to the bathroom at the same time. After doing their business, they decided -apparently led by Noah- that they should use their hands to take all the water out of all three toilets and put the water all over the floor. They did that, then realized Noahs socks were wet, then went to Noahs bin to get him new dry socks, changed, put his wet socks in his cubby (in a whole other part of the daycare) and came back to the washroom before a teacher came to find out what was going on. Needless to say, they had to help clean up the mess and on pickup mommy was told of Noah's rebellious behaviour. One more story for the wedding toast at his wedding : )

Look Under There? Under where? I made you say Underwear !!

It  has been months since I blogged, but now getting back into it. My best friend from University- Erin- and I have decided to devote one night a week (post Noah's bedtime) to blogging. So the blogs return..

Yes, the underwear joke is the talk of the house these days. Noah finds it hysterical. And I find anything great that might encourage him to poo in the potty and continue to wear underwear, and if underwear humour does it, I'm in (and let's face it, I did teach him the joke....). And if he wants to wear underwear on his head, I'm all good with that too (he looks pretty good as the one eyed underwear monster, I'd say).

It actually all started with an Underwear Party. Yes, an Underwear Party. Noah has been pee trained since last spring but seems less interested in poo potty training. Leading up to his 4th birthday, I'd say  "Noah, when are you going to poo in the potty?" and he would say "when I am 4." On his 4th birthday, he woke up and the first thing he said was to Grandma - who bunked with him that night- "I'm going to poo in the potty today."  And he did. That day. Then stopped. And then started saying "I'm going to start when I'm 5." So Elana and I decided that perhaps we needed to make something happen, and felt that if we made a postive spin out of underwear as opposed to negative spin of not succeeding yet, that that might work.

Hence the Underwear Party. Here's the cake I made.. he LOVED it:

Here's Noah, checking out his 29 pair of underwear.. Superhero Lego Minifigure underwear (Batman, Robin, Superman, all good), Star Wars Lego minifigure underwear, Cars underwear, etc.. and just about to stomp all over them, just for fun...
And so far it really has been working! So in underwear we trust.. fingers crossed!

Business Trip to Chicago

Last week was a whirlwind (pun intended, ha ha) as I flew to the Windy City for 3 nights away from Noah.
It was a Marketing to Moms conference (we are really targetting ways to connect with moms right now at work, and I was lucky enough to fly with one of my staff, Stef, who I never ever ever get to travel with.

The conference was ok- not sure if I would go back- the weather was crazy! It was cold, wet with wind warnings. In fact, the second night we had dinner at the waterfront and almost blew into Lake Michigan (thank goodness I am not rushing the weight loss or it could have been a worse ending).

Here are my photo highlights:


We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and I enjoyed both the Kiss floor that I was on as well as the Pinktini's in the bar for Breast Cancer Awarenss Night

 

"Cloud Gate"- nicknamed the bean, is a cool stainless steel surface reflecting the city ..I'm in bright blue at the centre back.

The bean is pretty cool.. behind it the unbelievably architecturally gorgeous Chicago Cultural Centre where the conference was held

Looking up in one of the Conference rooms... amazing!

Took a few moments out to hang with the Obamas.

A Natural Born Leader?

Well, it seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all.
It's not just that Noah does what most other kids his age do- makes up his own games and play with rules and play you can't deviate from- it's that he does it continually and with such detail. He is a director of all action.
With Sarah here pretty much building him a new foam structure every night, Noah has been pretty funny lately. As he goes to bed at night, or leaves for school, his instruction is something like this: "Sarah, when I am at school and daycare, can you build me a ferry? with the foam blocks.. and use the wood blocks too for the jail... and the cars should be on the bottom and the people should be on the top." He talks with his hands when he is doing it, and is very emphatic.. Clearly likes to lead.

Tonite, back to his new latest game, which is Snot Pancakes (yup, not a typo). Snot pancakes- as started by Noah- requires an adult picking up the snot (Noah) from the floor, throwing it (Noah) on the couch, mixing him around (which results in endless giggling) and then cooking it up and putting butter and syrup on (even more giggling). This evening, he directed Sarah and myself to our key positions in the game.. asked me for my camera, gave it to Sarah, told her to be the pancake photographer, told her where to go, showed me where I was to go and told me to be the pancake cooker, which prompted this conversation:

me: do you think it's genetic that you like to boss people around
noah: yes (big pause)... just so you know.

two bosses in one house.. we could be doomed...



Pancake Making



Finished Cake from yesterday

Sunday Funday

We had an awesome day today. Nothing spectacular, just a great Sunday.
Some amazing foam structures- lots of boats- a fun lunch at dimsum, and a plethora of cake activity (tried a new recipe..not so great.. so made a second one. All round all good.. enjoy the pix:

noah though it was super cool to wear my apron (around his ears!!)

noahs fave part of dim sum.. the mirror

my fave part of baking... making a huge mess!

mommy put the stove on auto clean which really stunk up the house, so we moved outside and cuddled while enjoying our hallowe'en lights