Rebecca tries to catch water with her hands

Ten signs you are the mother of Rebecca

1 - You go to take your morning shower and find yellow rainboots in the tub.
2 - Your purse always seems to have either a baby washcloth or an arrowroot cookie in it.
3 - You never get to drink from your own water bottle. A little person takes it.
4 - Loud noises and banging is more reassuring than silence.
5 - Part of your meal out involves picking food off the floor.
6 - You can quote lines from Nemo in your sleep. When sleep actually happens.
7 - Your shoes are never together, or where you expect to find them.
8 - The word you hear the most during a typical day is "No".
9 - You have bruises on your face and knees from overenthusiastic sessions of "the monster is coming to eat you".
10 - There is always a part of the day that seems perfect.

Fever gone, replaced with biting

Rebecca's fever seems better, and her appetite returned last night. Yay!

Her new trick, though, which hopefully won't last, is pitching a major fit when we go to change her if she's the least bit tired. I swear she has the flexibility of a GI-Joe doll. (You know, how you can swivel them around 360 degrees at the waist?) Anyway, you can have her down on the table, one hand on her chest, the other trying to do your business, and if she's unhappy with you, it seems her little derriere can be pointing any which way she wants it to. Makes doing up the diaper quite difficult.

That's not the bad part though. Mom was helping me change her earlier today and Rebecca grabbed her free hand and very deliberately shoved it towards her gaping maw, and tried to chomp down on it.

A firm NO was issued, to unknown effect. We'll see if we can nip this in the bud.

Anyway, as soon as the replacement diaper is fastened, she calms right down. Very odd. Not sure what it means, not sure if I'll ever figure it out.

*shrug*

Daddys go to the museum, and baby fever

I went to the museum of Sci and Tech today with one of my buddies who is also currently a stay at home dad. I hadn't met his kid yet, who is now a little over two years old. Quite a lot of fun watching him run his father ragged (ok, not quite) chasing him down around the museum. Certainly not afraid of exploring, I got a hint of a taste of what I may be in for with Rebecca who shows the same fearlessness combined with curiosity.

Both toddlers were quite well behaved, if I do say so myself. No fits pitched, no crying or screaming meltdowns. I look forward to spending more time with the two of them.

That being said... Today was hot. It was a stinker. 33 or so degrees. Rebecca had a little bit of a fever last night, and not much of an appetite today, but seemed to be in good spirits, so I didn't cancel the trip.

Anyway, on the way home I took the Queensway, which was packed with rush hour traffic and seemed at least 5 degrees warmer than elsewhere. Rebecca was baking. She wasn't in direct sun, but was obviously suffering. I gave her lots of water, but should have thought to wet a cloth and help keep her cool that way. Difficult to do in traffic, but still, should have thought of it.

We picked up mom after work and when we got home we took Rebecca's temperature, and it was pretty high. We gave her a bath in cool water, and I managed to get her to eat a little applesauce, the only food she allowed us to feed her all day. I popped an ice cube in her milk and she sucked on that a little.

She seemed in good spirits through all this, though quite tired since she missed her afternoon nap. She went down pretty well, and I'll admit to cranking the AC up for the first time this year to get the house down below 25 degrees.

We'll see how she fares tonight/tomorrow.

I took some cute pictures with a fancy camera

Here are a few of them:

My Mother's Day

Before I describe my fabulous Mother's day, I want to say a few words about fathers. I received several chain emails prior to Mother's day (mostly at work). While they were supposed to be cute tributes to Moms, I found that many times there were jabs at Dads. It left a bad taste in my mouth. We should be able to sing the praises of Moms without bashing fathers. I have nothing but respect and admiration for the parenting skills of my hsuband, and also, of my own father, and it upset me that it is somehow acceptable in our society to build Moms up by tearing Dads down. All this to say - Moms are great, in their own right! No comparisons required!
One of the many gifts I received from my family to celebrate Mother's day was a very touching book by Berkeley Breathed - the well-known cartoonist. If you don't know who he is, make use of Wikipedia. The book is called "Mars Needs Moms!". Despite the playful title and the humorous passages, it has a serious message about the love between a parent and a child. Everyone should read it!
The morning of Mother's day, Greg made French Toast for me while I played with Rebecca. Then we biked to Bate Island on the tandem bicycle, for a lovely gourmet picnic. The weather was perfect - sunny, breezy. It was perfect. We took turns running after a thrilled Rebecca - she is definitely an outdoors girl (which hopefully is not too much at odds with her bookworm tendencies).
Well, Rebecca needs my attention, so I must run! I love being a Mom!

Rode up to visit Omama with Rebecca today

Rebecca skipped morning nap today.

Then I went and did some groceries with her, she slept maybe 5 mins on the way home.

She didn't want to go down for an afternoon nap.

Then I biked up to Cascades to visit Omama while Grampa is in Britain. 37 kms, 1:45. She didn't sleep a wink as near as I can tell.

Lack of sleep notwithstanding, she was a dear with her grandmother, being very cute, and not very grouchy at all.

Mom came by car with dinner, and we had a nice little visit, then came home for Rebecca's bed time. It worked pretty nicely, though I wonder how she can go a whole day with no naps like that and remain astonishingly chipper.

The good life

We are so behind in updates (Greg's two-liner notwithstanding)!
I want to say:
- One of Rebecca's bottom canines has finally made it through the gum (well, the tip of it has). I thought these particular teeth would be easier, but they are the worst by far. She willingly takes her Tempra - I think she realizes it helps. I guess the canines really tear, and naturally, they must squeeze in between two established teeth. When she is suffering, she has trouble sleeping, and loses her appetite. Last night was particularly long. I was in her room until 2am. She just wanted to be comforted.
- Rebecca babbles happily all day long. She is more and more apt to play independently. Lately, she likes to climb up onto the couch, so that she can sit and read a book in comfort. It is very funny to watch.
- Rebecca talked a blue streak to Rowan on the weekend. Rowan is only 6 months old, but seemed to respond favourably.
- We have removed the playpen from the living room. Becca seems to stay away from the fireplace (although occasionally requires a reminder), and is content to sit on the couch if we watch a few minutes of the Muppets.
-Last week we went to see the ducks by the river. Poor ducks - terrorized by the excited toddler. :) Then, we went to the park to enjoy the swings. When it was time to go, Rebecca pitched a wailing fit, and it took me five minutes to wrestle her into the stroller. In the car on the way home, she fell asleep almost immediately.
- Rebecca's morning nap is gone! I had my first compressed day off in which I didn't have time to myself until the afternoon. This is o.k., except I have to start thinking differently about how I do things - for example, it is much easier if I manage to wake up before the baboo, and have my tea etc. Of course, this didn't happen last Friday - instead, she just accompanied me everywhere. I only had the first few sips of my tea. It made me wonder - is this why my Mom always abandoned partially tasted cups of coffee when I was a child?
- I think this past week I referred to Greg as Rebecca and Rebecca as Greg. Oh boy - it's a true sign of motherhood.

Rebecca is a wonderful passenger

We've been doing lots of jogging and some short bike trips (<1hr) in the chariot. She seems happy as a clam back there, watching the world go by.

I'll post more detail, but she's squirming in my lap right now. Nap? What nap? *sigh*