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*

Loudest... day... EVAR

Night before last didn't go so well, and yesterday was pretty screwed up, sleep wise. Rebecca and I slept in... big time, which threw off her naps, which worried me.

We still made it out on the tandem to pick up mom from work, though, which was a blast. Rebecca wandered around the fields at Tunney's Pasture and I got some cute pictures:


We got home, and I took one of the three of us. It's awesome, this is exactly what I imagined owning the tandem and bike trailer would be like:



Last night, though, she slept almost perfectly, with a tiny cry and a cuddle at around 10pm (she was down in 5 or 10 minutes) and over 12 hours of sleep. She awoke this morning at 7:30 as mom was getting ready for work, and she was wired! Before breakfast she was squealing and giggling and running around. She had a good breakfast, and a good morning nap.

She got up with her fabulous mood. More running around being incredibly cute, laughing at just about anything, and getting extremely excited about stuff. She ate well at lunch, and went down for a good afternoon nap. (I napped too, as I was bagged from last night, not Rebecca's fault)

We got up and out of the house before 4pm. I jogged down to Tunney's to meet mom. We made our way home in the BEAUTIFUL weather (18 degrees and sunny! That's more like it!) and she had a good play in the back yard with mom:

Here she is inspecting her chariot... erm... Chariot:



Rebecca continued through dinner and change time laughing and squealing/screaming which we're trying to discourage without making too big a deal of it. It was around her bed time, and she wasn't settling, and mom had a headache coming on, so I popped down to the video store with her for a little extra wearing-out time which seemed to do the trick. She woke up with teething pain, which seems to be par for the course these days, and we gave her some Tempra and she settled down pretty well. What a great day.

She sleeps! ....or not.

Well, Monday and Tuesday night were dreamy. We put Rebecca down and she went to sleep and... well... that was it. She slept right through 'till morning. A solid 12 hours each night with nary a peep.

Where did the teething pain go? Not sure. It's back though. She's working on her two top molars (one about 75% through, one about 25%) and has needed some extra cuddles the last couple nights (plus some Tempra).

She's still pretty chipper almost all day long though, so no real complaints.

First ice cream cone

Hands down, watching Rebecca try to figure out how to eat ice cream from a cone was the most entertaining moment of my week.
Despite ample guidance and repeated demonstrations, Rebecca was still determined to do things her own way. Rebecca's "own way" consists of eating the ice cream cone starting from the bottom of the cone, and working her way up. It also involves picking up ice cream with your fingers from the top of the cone, and putting it your mouth.
Subsequent to her first ice cream experience, Rebecca had an après-midi blanche.
Is there a connection? :) If so - I suppose I can only blame myself (and you Mom!). :) Just kidding. I wonder how Easter will go!
All I know is, 6pm is not the best time to start your afternoon nap.
Hopefully, her frozen dessert product encounter was - at the very least - soothing to her gums.
Teething continues to be a major problem. The third molar is 40% through (edges only! ugh!), and the fourth molar has just recently erupted (one point). I don't think the canines are far behind. We have been experimenting with teething biscuits and teethers which can go farther back, but unfortunately, Becca has decided that the best teether is her hand. I find it disturbing to see her gnawing on her own body (yes, yes, I am a hypocrite - being a consummate nail-biter), but it is difficult to find an alternative she prefers. I'm relatively confident that she won't really hurt herself.
I am sick right now with some nasty head cold (courtesy of Greg and Rebecca, though I'd be hard pressed to single out the initiator). It started as a throat infection that I could feel the beginnings of on Monday. Tuesday I stayed home and after drinking an extra-strength Neocitran, was unconscious from breakfast time until 3pm. Wednesday, I felt obliged to drag my butt into work for important meetings. By that time, the throat had recovered, but I was congested and toting facial tissue whereever I went. Today is Thursday, I thought I could handle another day, but, I had to leave half-way through. After a horrid night's sleep, I woke up feeling as though I'd been punched in the eye - one half of my sinuses are apparently quite annoyed with me - even my teeth feel funny. All this to say - Greg fetched me at midday with Becca in the car. No matter how lousy I felt as I walked to the car, the sight of Rebecca - squealing and kicking, absolutely delighted to see me - was uplifting.
I spent part of my afternoon watching Harry Potter (yes, kleenex box in one hand, lozenges in the other), while a very hyper Rebecca stripped off her pants and acted like a total nutjob. She will often strip off socks and shoes, but pants removal is more random, and I am never certain what her motivation is. A stuffed Nemo was tossed through the air at one point.
A very family-oriented weekend ahead. We shall see how that goes!