Becca and the butterfly #1

Becca and the butterfly #2

Baby skin is (supposedly) five times thinner than our own, so it's critical that they be well protected from the sun.

Rebecca is ready for summer!

Interacting with nature

On Tuesday, I took Rebecca to see her paternal grandparents, who have a lovely home in Cascades, QC. It was a hot and sunny day, and we were enjoying the breeze on the balcony/patio, when I spied a large butterfly. I took several pictures before it flew away. The beating of its wings while it perched on the flowers, captivated Rebecca. Later, good fortune turned our way, and another giant butterfly entered the gazebo and landed on the mesh wall. My father-in-law was able to take some fantastic pictures of Becca gazing at the butterfly.

The playgroup experience

Yesterday Rebecca and I tried out a free playgroup run by the community centre. Unfortunately, perhaps due to the fact that it is summer, there were only two other children there. One was 5 or 6 years of age, and the other was 10 or 11 months of age. We stayed for about 45 minutes, and most of the time, Rebecca played with toys. There was a snack time and story time, but Rebecca couldn't eat the snack, and seemed disinterested in the story. She did enjoy hearing singing by the friendly and personable lady who was running the playgroup. While Rebecca clearly enjoyed observing the other children at play, she wasn't motivated to interact with them. Perhaps there were too many new things for her to confront at the same time. Maybe Becca is just too young for a playgroup, and I should focus on having her interact with familiar children like her cousins or the children of family friends. Besides, I was bored out of my skull. I realized I would find it torturous when my first watch check occured only twelve minutes after arriving.
Some day care facilities share the same building that houses the playgroup. When I was changing Rebecca at the change station, there was an elaborate cubby system for the diapers of day care babies. Each cubby contained specific diapers and supplies and was labeled with a piece of masking tape upon which the child's name was written in marker. I found it amusing that one of the children was name after an obscure video game character (Yunalesca), from one of my favourite game series (Final Fantasy). Of course - I was the one to recognize the name, so what does that say about me?

The Stars and Strollers Experience

Today I finally decided to try out "Stars and Strollers". It is a programme whereby parents can attend movies with baby in tow. The lights are dimmed, the sound is lowered, and "appropriate" movies are shown (by appropriate, I mean, not too noisy, loud, or interesting). The reason I waited so long to investigate, is because in general, the movie offerings are so poor that it didn't seem worthwhile. But today they were playing the DaVinci Code, so I gave it a whirl. The showings are always on Thursday afternoons at 1PM. This suits me just fine - hottest part of the day, and I'm in A/C comfort. Also, the cinema is dead (beyond the baby-toting mamas - and one or two dads), and the prices are matinee rate. The staff are courteous and helpful! (I have never had this occur at the theatre before!). A diaper change area is set up just outside the theatre. It is big enough for multiple babies, and provides hand sanitizer, wipes and diapers in a wide variety of sizes. There is also a stroller parking zone (they can't be left in the aisles because it constitutes a fire hazard). Some Moms seemed upset about that because they planned on letting their babies sleep in the strollers. Rebecca was very interested in all the babies around her. In fact, it was such a big distraction, that I had a very hard time getting her to eat or sit still. In the middle of the film, she managed to sleep, but there were a few occasions where I had to walk her out, or over to the side. That's o.k. because at any given moment during the movie, there were babies on the floor, on the side, at the change area, sleeping, feeding or bawling. When Rebecca cried, no one turned to give us the stare (the stare that people without babies all aim at you when your baby makes a peep in a public place). I think that this particular choice of film was not the best initiation for Becca. At 2.5 hours, the movie was too long for her to endure. So as far as a return to stars and strollers is concerned, I will have to investigate the selections a little more closely before making a decision.