The class clown

Mother Goosed out

We went to the Mother Goose nursery rhyme program today. The teacher said he's going to be the class clown, because he was the only one laughing at the songs. I just don't know if he was laughing with me or at me.

It was worth delaying a nap - it was actually kind of fun. One of the girls from our pre-natal class was there, which was kind of neat. I thought John would be the youngest one there, and that I'd feel stupid (it's open to kids up to two and a half years old) but he was actually right in the middle somewhere. The youngest was a four-month-old, who wasn't having much fun at all. There was a five-month-old, who had to leave right at the start, because it was his naptime too and he wasn't willing to put it off for anything. Then there was John, two seven month-olds, an eight-month old and one lone toddler, who spent the whole time running around the room, playing with the fooz-ball tables. All boys, and John was one of the biggest. He was the same size as the eight-month-old.

I felt stupid not knowing any of the words to the songs, but only the mom beside me knew them all. (She's a real keener. Her son has already taken swimming lessons.) The rest of us kind of mumbled along, pretending to know. I hope they give us a hand-out next week with all the words.

John was a little stunned at first. Before we even had time to get settled on our mat, the eight-month-old crawled right up to him and grabbed his feet. (Seems everyone loves his little elephant shoes!) John was taken back a little - he didn't seem to know how to react. But I was right about his reaction to the crawling - he was riveted by that. One of the seven-month-olds could get on all fours, and he watched him pretty intently too. It definitely planted some ideas in his head. He was pushing to be let onto the floor the whole time (he rarely likes to be on the floor, much less pulls to be put down onto it.) When he was there, he went right up on his hands, and tried to wiggle his behind, while pulling ahead with his arms, which he's never done before. It didn't get him anywhere, but I could see his gears working overtime while he watched the others scootching around. You're never too young for peer pressure.

He stayed in a great mood, considering how tired he must have been. We even ran errands afterwards. He brightened the mood of a very long line at the bank, with his giggles and raspberries. He had most of the line giggling along with him. He even held it together at the grocery store and flirted with a lady who stopped to say hello - her son was a redhead too (he's 20 now). At home, he erupted into fits of giggles when I put him down to sleep - that's usually the sign of a really fun day, so I think he enjoyed himself at the program.

John's new trick

Taking a stand

You can thank Mike for this daredevil new pose. He likes to put John in this position as I'm coming up the stairs, then hide behind the dresser, so I walk in and see this. He puts pillows on the floor around him, though, in case he lets go.

Mike is convinced John will be cruising before he's crawling, so gives him lots of opportunities to walk around. He hasn't taken a single step like this, though. He's too busy hanging on for dear life. I still think he'll crawl first. He's been working towards it most of his life, and he's getting so close. I'm thinking the nursery rhyme program we're booked into will inspire him a little. There will be lots of people his size there, and many will be crawling age. He's such a little monkey, I think if he sees other little people like him crawling, he'll want to do it too.

I'm not looking forward to the program. Ten weeks of sitting around in a circle singing nursery rhymes is really not my thing. I was thinking of cancelling our registration, even though everyone raves about this program; there's even a waiting list at some centres. But after seeing John's reaction to that little girl at the store, I know I have to get him into something where he can see other babies, even if it causes me to writhe in the hokeyness of it all. We start tomorrow. Wish us luck - every baby program is scheduled for John's regular naptime, but I'm hoping the sheer excitement will keep him in a good mood for the whole hour. His first social event with his peers...whatever shall he wear?

P.S. We started on oatmeal last night. Not baby oat cereal - the real thing. So far, so good. No rash, no gas, he's sleeping well and in a great mood. It's not his favourite, by any means. He really didn't like it at all until we added a little banana to it. Even then, not a huge hit. But hey, he ate it without gagging, which is good enough for me.

John's New Year's message

Do have a treat for you! I usually update while John is having his morning nap. Today, he's here with me, and is chomping at the bit to get his hot little hands on the keys to write a message to his adoring fans. Who am I to squash his creative side - it is his journal, after all. So, here he is:


????????????????????????????????TYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY ??????????????????????????????????HJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ`SSSSSSSSO2 V V RB 4444444444444444444??????????F NNNNNNNNNNNNWR C65 Bc vf c ccccccccccccccffffffffffffff
/ nb llllllllllllll; kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkfwwwww vm vvvvvvvvv,mmmmmmmmmmmmmm vvvvksggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg 5qggggggggggggggggggggggjR#xsc v .,/,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I couldn't have said it better myself. He's going to be a great writer someday!

Happy New Year!

An old favourite - sitting on Mike's tummy at bedtime. This used to be the most exciting part of John's day - now it's the norm. He used to be so teeny! I think this was when he was about three or four weeks old.

Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve! Hope your cold was gone in time for kareoke, Mom.

We had a quiet night in - we watched the Red Green special on CBC, watched a movie and the news, and were asleep before midnight. Our neighbours were just heading out to a party as we were climbing into bed. They were just stumbling back in when we got up. We're so old. Actually, it's because Mike had to work New Year's Day. $36 an hour is well worth an early night. His only days off for the next couple of weeks are, luckily, next Friday, which is Ukrainian Christmas, and January 12, which turns out is the day of the big strike vote.

John's doing great. We've started giving him two cubes of squash, and it seems to work alright. He won't refuse a single bite, but towards the end, he loses interest and starts to look at other things. With one cube, he would bounce around and whine until he got more. Maybe losing interest is actually his "I'm full" signal. With milk it's easier to know - he just stops when he's done.

He's trying SO hard to get up on all fours lately. He can make it, as long as he holds himself up with the top of his head as well, but then he can't go anywhere. He'll get it, though. He's so, so close.

I took him to the corner store to rent the movie last night. While we were there, a couple with a baby girl arrived. She was about the same size as John, but she had longer hair and the face of an older baby, so I'm sure she was several months older.

Well, John was completely captivated by her. He didn't take his eyes off her the whole time we were there. I could feel him trying to pull towards her, to check her out. I wanted to talk to the parents, so they could meet, but they were fighting, so I really couldn't. So he had to watch her from afar, eyes and mouth wide open. I stayed as long as I could, to let him have a good long look, but it got crowded, so we had to leave. As I left, I passed right in front of the little girl. John's eyes were glued to her the whole time, and he even tried to reach out and touch her as we walked past.

I told Mike the story when he got home and he asked how the little girl had reacted to John. She actually hadn't - she had completely ignored him.

"Ah. And so it starts," he said.

Can a baby be bulimic?

Staying warm while mom gets his bath ready.

We tried butternut squash last night! He winced at first, but then dove right in - another big hit! I had actually given him a taste as I was making it a few days ago, and he hated it. He kind of convulsed at first, and refused a second taste. But when I ate some in front of him, he wanted more. I'll have to remember that for unpopular foods down the road. He was on a completely full stomach, but ate an entire ice cube tray cube's worth of squash, and was clamouring for more. How much am I supposed to feed him? He went crazy with the banana too. One day, I decided to rely on his cues, to see just how much he would eat if given the chance. He ate an entire banana on a full stomache, then nursed some more, then threw up. Then nursed some more. It's like he's bulimic. Then he went to bed, with this huge, swollen belly. I think it gave him nightmares or something, because he woke up screaming a few minutes later, like shrill, freaked-out kind of screams. I've never run up stairs so fast! When I picked him up, he was shaking, and his heart was beating a mile a minute. I definitely didn't want a repeat, or to have to clean up bright orange puke, so we just stopped at one cube. Besides, Doc West said this is supposed to be practice food - all of his calories should still be from milk. I have to go in next week for John's six-month check-up and shots, so hopefully he'll give me some idea of what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm totally lost when it comes to food.

He went after my taco salad the other night. It was the farthest we've seen him fling his body. He was like a little stunt guy, flying through the air. We were eating on the bed, and Mike was done, so he was trying to hold John, who was propelling off Mike's lap, to fly to within grabbing range of my plate. He got pretty close a few times. I wonder what part he was after, or maybe he just thought it looked like fun to eat without a spoon. He isn't allowed a single thing in it yet. Under the current guidelines, he's only supposed to be eating rice and oats, if anything at all, right now. Though, maybe we should start beef sooner rather than later - it has iron, and tastes a lot better than baby cereal.

I actually found some non-fortified cereal. It's not babyfood - there's apparently no such thing as non-fortified babyfood. It's like oatmeal, only rice. It has nothing but rice in it. We tried a spoonfull, but it made him gag so badly, we stopped right there. He kind of shuddered and convulsed for a bit afterwards, and then wanted to nurse - probably to wash the taste out of his mouth. I tried eating some myself, to help things along, but it made me gag too. That trick only works for things you'd be willing to eat yourself. Either we'll mix it with fruit next time, or we'll just skip right to oatmeal. It was pretty gross.

P.S. - Mike just got his new schedule - he's scheduled for full-time until March, which is when hiring for the summer rush starts. So, I guess the slow-down is just a myth, or something they tell the new guys to thin the herd for winter. So, our plans to bring John to Dryden look a little shakey at this point. However, there's always the strike. There's a strike vote at the end of January - not a vote to accept a contract, an actual strike vote. Mike, the good Conservative he is, will be voting No of couse. He's even planning to write an anti-union speech, which I'm sure will go over very well - but he's heard through the grapevine that it will probably be a Yes vote. If so, we'll probably be on our way home at the start of February. If he says what he wants to say to the union, he'll want to skip town for a while.

He can sit!

Hmmm..does that belong to me?

Look ma - no hands!

He can sit all by himself now! Well, for a minute at a time, tops. Then he topples over. I feel the need to wrap his head in bubblewrap.

Mike got a day off yesterday. His manager forgot to mark him down on the calenday or something, because his automated system said he wasn't scheduled. He called in just to make sure it was right, which it was. Normally, he'd fight it, and get a shift given to him anyway, but he needed a day off, so he just let it go.

It was perfect timing - I needed to get groceries yesterday, and with him home, I'd have help freeing the car from its chunk of ice. He just did it for me, which was really nice.

On our to-do list were groceries and choosing a new crib for John (courtesy of Gran and Gramps P). Mike has been eager to set up John's nursery. He's become such a light sleeper, that Mike always wakes him up when he comes to bed. Of course, he's not exactly careful when he comes. He often hits John's cradle with the door, and even if he doesn't, he turns on all the lights, crashes around, throws his clothes about, and starts talking to my sleeping body in his full-volume voice. Like John, I can't sleep through that much commotion either, so everyone's awake. To make matters worse, Mike thinks John is awake because he's hungry, so he picks up this poor, groggy baby, brings him to bed, and starts playing with him, which is totaly NOT what he wants. Guess who's job it is to soothe the tantrum which invariably follows?

So, anyway, John will be getting his own room. It's going to take a month for the crib to come in though, which is fine by me. I like having John so close, Dad induced tantrums aside. I mourned the end of co-sleeping, even though it was hard to get a good night's sleep with him there. My comfort was that at least he was in the same room. Once we move him to another room, I won't even have that. I'll have to listen to his little baby snores and moans through a moniter.

Speaking of baby moans, John is starting to wake up! He finally slept through the night again last night, and he's suddenly too big and long for some of his clothes. He might just be chunking up on banana, but I wonder if all this crankiness and sleeplessness and constant round-the-clock eating has just been a really big growth spurt? He is very noticibly bigger all of a sudden. He hasn't had one of those in a long time. Though, it really does seem like teething. Maybe it's both at the same time. Who knows. I just hope he goes back to normal, and soon!

Hope you're feeling better soon, mom and dad!

John's first Christmas Part Two - the pre-Christmas gifts

This is a gift from Great Grandma Phillips, Great Auntie Karyl and Great Uncle Allan, for John's nursery. Auntie Karyle embroidered it herself - it has all of John's birth info.

Checking out a new toy from Great Grandma Walchuk, while modeling a new outfit from surrogate family, "Grandma and Grandpa" Jim and Joan, and "Auntie" Laura. 

John, looking very distinguished in his new jammies, also from Jim, Joan and Laura. They also got him a great chew-toy, which is temporarily frozen in the car.

These are some of John's gifts which came early - we'll be opening the rest on the Orthodox Christmas. I think I mentioned it earlier, but even though it's Christmas, it's just a regular day for us because Mike is working all day. We always make dinner together, and sit around talking all day, so it's just not Christmas without him here. We're celebrating Ukrainian Christmas this year instead. If he's working that day? Well, I guess we'll just pick a random day.

I have a feeling a lot of kids got those walkie talkie radios for Christmas. I've been hearing voices on John's baby moniter all morning.

We did squeeze in one tradition for regular Christmas - we watched It's a Wonderful Life with John last night. He liked the credits at the start the best. I was trying to nurse him, but he wanted to watch the letters instead. Unfortunately, it ended past his bedtime, so he doesn't know how it ends - he melted down just after Clarence arrived. Maybe next year - we watch it every year.

I still don't believe Mike's working. Thankfully, there's nothing trivial on his board - every single one is out of service. Even still, he plans to make them all feel horribly guilty. Though, in their defense, they probably aren't expecting anyone to be working today. When our water heater exploded on Labour Day, I never thought they'd send a couple of guys out that day to replace it. I didn't even think anyone would be there to pick up the phone on a holiday. I was just going to leave a message. I felt pretty bad - I could hear them in the basement griping that anyone would call in on Labour Day. Now I know better - I'll just suck it up next time a utility blows up or conks out, because I don't want some poor guy to have to give up his holiday for me.

John's doing great! Still loving the banana! He's not gassy, but he's still really grumpy now and then - I think he's teething again. You can see the drool rash on his cheek and chin in the photos, and he's been biting like crazy. I guess I need to put cream on all of his cheeks now - he sleeps with his face in a puddle of drool, so it's having a hard time healing up.

I made him some baby food yesterday - apples and pears. Though, I'm still going to try to find that iron free cereal. He's started waking up hungry throughout the night, even though he's been sleeping through the night for nearly three months. I don't mind getting up and feeding him - we've started co-sleeping for part of the night again to make it easier on everybody - but I'm worried it means he's not getting enough to eat in the day, and it's just going to keep getting worse until he can get something to fill him up. He always falls asleep right after his banana, but it isn't really a stick-to-the-ribs kind of food. I was talking to a mom online who's son is the same way. She said she just made him regular adult oatmeal out of the little quick oats. She said it solved his digestive issues, he loved it and it kept him filled better than baby cereal. That sounds like a good idea, but Mike thinks we should still find the baby version to start off with, because it might be easier to digest. However, it will have to wait until it warms up a bit - our car is encased in ice right now from a big ice pellet storm that blew through. The ice scraper is frozen inside. I'm such a pansy - if I were working, I would be out there chipping away with a credit card or something, but there's no rush now. I have the luxury of waiting out the cold snap. At least until the food runs out - then things could get ugly.

It's actually really beautiful here right now. It rained, then froze solid, covering everything in ice; now if you look up into the trees, all the branches twinkle in the sunlight. It's really pretty. Treacherous for anyone trying to walk, but pretty. I tried taking a picture, but the camera can't pick it up.

Sorry if this is all really boring to anyone. I'm still writing to keep family posted on us and John, but I have no idea who's reading anymore. Regardless, whether you're directly related to John, or are a friend of the family, or a friend of a friend or relative, I hope all of you are having a great Christmas!

So long Project Rice, hello Mission: Banana

No more paste for me!

I hate to have to say it, but even organic rice isn't good enough for my guy. It seemed alright at first. No rash, no obvious reaction. He had a little gas that night, but I thought nothing of it. But the next day, my sweet, mild-mannered little guy had mutated into a screaming, foul-tempered ogre. He fussed. He wouldn't settle to sleep. Well, it wasn't THAT bad, but it's all relative. He was in a bad mood for John, who's usually all smiles. I thought he might be getting Mike's cold, or maybe it was teething. Never occurred to me it could be the rice - after all, it's organic. Nothing in there but rice and iron, right? Nothing to bother him, right? So I gave him more. He gobbled it up, and seemed to be fine. That night, man did he scream! He had such terrible gas he couldn't sleep. He screamed with each toot, obviously in a lot of pain.

As an experiment, we skipped the rice the next night. Miraculously, by the next morning, my sweet little smiley guy was back. It was like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.

Now what? He's obviously ready for solids. He's got a good appetite and he eats with gusto, but this just wasn't working out. Perhaps it's normal, I thought; but if it is, he's never getting weaned. So, poor Doc West got yet another call from crazy-mom-who-doesn't-know-anything (that would be me.) I sure hope he can bill for calls from frantic new moms.

So, his phone diagnosis was "a very sensitive little gut." There are babies who can't handle the iron that's been added to baby cereal, he says, and it seems mine is one of them. The treatment is non-fortified cereal. They don't sell it in normal stores - I'll have to go to a healthfood store to get it, he says. He told me not to worry about his iron supply yet, just keep breastfeeding lots to prevent constipation, stick to plain, non-fortified cereal, and try the regular cereal in another month.

So, it seems every other baby John's age is gobbling down cereal laced with palm kernel oil, food addititves and artificial iron, and loving every bite, but my big, strapping, healthy baby needs special health food store food? Sheesh!

I hung up feeling a little weary. I'm growing quite a collection of little boxes filled with things John can't eat. The thought of hunting down yet another little box likely destined for the collection was frustrating. It took me a long time just to find the organic brand. Hunting down health-food store baby food could prove a challenge, especially in a city where healthy eating is considered choosing a Tim Horton's donut over a Krispy Kreme. To make things worse, we had a snowstorm brewing - we got eight inches of thick, wet, icy snow last night, but it had already started in the afternoon. People were sliding all over the place, and sirens were going almost non-stop, with police heading to accidents. Not a place I want to be, especially not with John.

So, I said to heck with the rice. The only thing he needed from it was the iron anyway, and he can't handle that. All that's left is paper mache paste, and there's nothing magic about starting with that. I know La Leche League says to start with meat, so I'm sure you can start with nearly anything.

As a result, John has skipped past rice and oats entirely, and has started with banana instead. It's sweet and mild, hypo-allergenic and easily prepared, and I happened to have a bunch of ripe brown spotty ones, perfect for mashing.

Wow. I thought he liked the rice! Banana's a hit! He didn't grimace at the taste once. In fact, after a few little bites, be kept pushing forward in his seat, and grabbed my hand with both of his to get the spoon in faster. I guess I still wasn't going fast enough, because at one point, he grabbed the whole bowl, and tried to stick his face into it. I had to mash a second helping, because he was lunging for more, eyes and mouth wide open. He ate a third of a banana, threw up, and still wanted more. At that point, I stopped - I think he was actually full, and just going after the taste.

So far, so good. After one very large serving, he has no rash, no fussies and only a couple of little, painless farts, which is pretty typical for him anyway. This morning he was all smiles, just like normal, and went down for his nap without a hitch. It looks promising so far. I have a few days worth of spotty bananas, so we'll press on, and hope it's a keeper. Just think, I'll finally be able to add something to the John Tested, John Approved list in the sidebar.

I'm so glad I don't have to bottle-feed him. Can you imagine? If he turns into a miserable, gassy grump with just one teensy teaspoon of fortified cereal, can you imagine what he'd be like on formula, which is all iron fortified as well? I'd probably be one of those deranged, sleep-deprived parents, with a miserable, colicky baby on my hands.

Anyway, wish the bananas luck. Any suggestions for what we should try next?

Out of the mouthes of babes

John and Mary, enjoying some quality time

John has become quite the chatterbox with all these new sounds he can make. I thought I'd share a few of the things he's been saying lately, whether he realizes it or not:

"I wanna dig."
"En guard."
"Daddy." (Daddy has yet to hear it.)
"Wait!" (Well, minus the "T." Coincidentally, said just as Mike was about to leave for work. John got a big hug from Dad for saying it.)
"I love you." (Said three times now. Once in the middle of the night, once to a chew-toy, and once, coincidentally, during the hug mentioned above. One of the few times in my life I've seen Mike melt.)
"Ralph Nader." (This one made Mike cringe, to put it mildly. And all this time, I thought John was a Kerry supporter.)

A solid start

Now THERE'S a guy who's enjoying his food!

After a couple of pretty rough dress rehearsals, solids enjoyed a great opening night last night! John was definitely ready this time. (I love it when my Mommy instincts are right. Well, actually I read it in a book, but my Mommy instincts told me to trust the book, so I think it still counts.) He opened wide for every bite, and although he still thinks it's pretty vile, judging from the look on his face, he swallowed everything, opened his mouth for more, and reached for Dad's hand to keep it coming. We just mixed a couple of tablespoons, and he ate everything with relish, but it was probably the just right amount, because he did spit the last bite out.

We actually started with the organic rice after all - oats do technically have gluten. So we talked it over, and decided to play it extra-safe, and go with the organic rice, which has nothing but rice and iron. No gluten, no chemicals. Not much in there to disagree with him. So far, so good. No throwing up, no dark circles, and most importantly, no nasty, weepy, raw, red rash, which had already appeared by this time the last time we tried solids. Keep your fingers crossed. So, we'll press on, every night for a week, then switch to the oats if all is still well, then we'll debate how to go from there. There's two schools of thought - one school says to start with orange veggies first, then yellow, then green, then fruit, so they don't develop a sweet tooth. The other school says to start with fruit for breastfed babies, because breastmilk is super sweet, so fruit's a more familiar flavour. They recommend banana first, because it tastes the closest. Though, we've just fed him basicly paste and he gobbled it up no problem, so I don't think it makes much difference what kind of flavour we start with.

While we were waiting for Mike, I gave John the spoon with cereal on it! It was pretty funny! He got it into his mouth just fine. (Well, after smearing the cereal across his face, that is.) But he wasn't sure what to do with it after that point. He kind of played with it with his tounge, so he got some of the rice off, but he kept pushing it too far back, making himself gag. Then, he didn't seem to know how to get it back out. He sat there looking at me, mouth gaping open, with this spoon shoved in his mouth, like "what am I supposed to do now?" But he got it in by himself - that's half the battle!

More pictures below!!!

It tastes so bad, but keep it coming! 

Mmmmm...yummmm 

Open wide! 

She's not allergic to babies after all!

Look Grandma and Grandpa W - there's hope for more grandkids yet!

We finally got to meet Vicki's mystery man! This is John, with Auntie Vicki and "Uncle" Billy, who's visiting from Texas. (Those are the overalls you sent, Mom and Dad - so cute!) John approves of Vicki's pick - he had lots of fun looking at Billy's goofy faces; he giggled himself to sleep after they left!

Mike and I like him too - he seems to be a really nice guy. He has lots of funny stories about fishing with dynamite and fun with shotguns, which made us both nostaligic for home.

Mike, true to form, was sick just in time for the meeting. He told me the night before he thought he was coming down with something. By the next morning, his voice was hoarse. He stopped by between jobs to code off, and he looked like death warmed over. However, he stopped by a pharmacy in the afternoon, so he appeared normal by the time he got home, and left for work fully drugged, so he'd have a life-like appearance for his customers.

John's first Christmas, Part One - The Tree

Here's us, with a very under-dressed John at the tree farm, just after we picked out our tree.

Yesterday was Mike's first day off in two weeks, so we headed out to get a Christmas tree. We hadn't bothered last year - the worst of my pregnancy was hitting, so I felt way too exhausted and yicky to bother with any of it. But the year before, we had gone to a tree farm, and were really impressed. The tree was not only the most beautiful ever, but it lasted forever. How do we know this? Well, in typical fashion for us, we missed the tree pick-up in January, but it was still so lush, we didn't care. After a month or so, we kind of got used to it being around, so we left it up. February came and went, and it was still so green and fresh-looking, we decided to see just how long it would stay green for. It was sometime in mid-March when our riding president phoned to say he'd be over with some forms we needed to sign. We hadn't known him long at that point, and he certainly hadn't been to our house yet, so we were horrified. It was spring, and we still had this fully decorated tree up in our living room.

So, it was all hands on deck for the next 20 minutes. We whipped off the decorations in record speed, and chucked them all down the basement stairs. Mike knocked the tree over, and started to drag it out the back door. However, it wouldn't fit throught he kitchen, so he had to take it all the way back through the house, out the front door, across the lawn and down the ally, where he hoofed it over the fence into our backyard.

Of course, it chose that moment to let go of every single needle. By the time it got to the back yard, it was completely bare. Nearly every single needle now formed a prefectly green path of needles, running from our living room, to our kitchen, then back to the front door. And of course, it had been sitting in month-old water all this time, which was now smeared all across the hardwood floor, making a wet, sticky, needly mess.

I got to work with the broom and towels. Amazingly, by the time Jim arrived at the door, the mess was gone, with nothing left but a fresh pine scent.

I'm sure he wondered about the streak of needles cutting across the snow on our lawn, but he said nothing. He didn't even say anything about the dozens of needles wedged in the door jam as he came in. We don't know if he noticed. To this day, we've never told him that story.

We just recently threw that tree out. We were going to take it out for last year's tree pick-up, but were so embarrassed to put this wizened, brown, bare-branched shadow of a tree, out next to everyone else's green ones. We finally put it in a dumpster we had rented to clean out some renovation rubble, two years after the fact.

So, anyway, back to this year. We know they last, we don't need to do that again. But we wanted another tree-farm tree, so we packed up John and all of John's gear, and headed out to the country for a very poorly planned event, typical of us.

The idea was, we were going to take John in the stroller. (I know, I know. The funny thing is, I used to work for a rural paper, and should have known better. Who takes a stroller on a farm?) But, his car seat snaps onto a stroller base, we were going to do it that way, for simplicity. It's a good off-road stroller with a suspension system and big tires. We thought, "this will work." So, I dressed John accordingly. He HAS snowsuits to suit a variety of conditions, but we left every one of them at home. Instead, we dressed him in a jacket, thinking we would just pile lots of blankets on top to keep him warm. Layers, right? Layers are good. The logic was, by using the small seat, it would eliminate the need for bringing every piece of baby equipment he owns. We have a larger car seat, but it doesn't snap into the base, so we'd need to bring his stroller seat, which also snaps into the stroller base, but is much larger and more comfortable for him than the small seat. However, we were also planning to get groceries which requires the small car seat, which snaps right onto the grocery cart, because he can't sit up in the basket yet, and the large car sat doesn't come out of the car. So, we're thinking, we're going to have to install the large seat for driving around, and also pack the small car seat for groceries, and the carraige seat for the stroller. To heck with that - the small car seat can do it all, so that's all we took. Follow me? HOWEVER, he can't fit into it when he's wearing anything heavier than a jacket, which is where the layers come in.

Anyway, we get to the place - a different farm than last time - and I stayed with John in the car, while Mike headed into the store to see just how the place works. He returned with a saw, shaking his head, and told me to come, and bring nothing but John. I asked him what was going on, and he just muttered over and over "this has bad idea written all over it."

John, of course, was not dressed to be carried. It was cold, and windy and he had nothing on but a light jacket. We grabbed a fleece blanket, but it still wasn't going to be enough. Mike led us on foot down this old farm road. Apparently, the guy told him to leave our car where it was, and walk to the trees. He's telling me this as other cars are driving past us, and as we pass signs pointing to additional parking ahead - parking right beside the trees.

Redardless, we trudge on, me trying to keep John warm, Mike shaking his head, saw in hand, muttering the whole way. We finally get to the trees, but they're up a steep slope of thick, wet, slippery mud. It was two steps forard, one step back all the way, but we finally got up to survey the wide selection of dwarfen trees. Not a single one was taller than me. We saw one in the distance that looked to be a normal size, so we made our way across the field, feet sticking in mud every step of the way, but it was a mirage. It was just growing on a hill and still wasn't much taller than me.

After about three minutes of this, Mike muttered something about pre-cut trees stacked up near the barn. So, we headed back, cold, muddy and defeated, to pick out a pre-cut tree. John was frozen, so we put him inside Mike's coat to stay warm. His feet were sticking out the bottom, and his head out the top, but, other than a bright red runny nose, he looked really happy and warm for the walk back.

All in all, it was actually a lot of fun. The farm is owned by a really nice Dutch family. You could tell they were laughing at us city folks, with all our plans to harvest our own tree, only to give up minutes later as our Norman Rockwell fantasy gave way to cold, muddy reality. We could see them laughing at us again when Mike was trying to strap the tree to the roof. They all stood around on the porch watching, now and then offering us a better rope. But they were really nice. They LOVED John. He giggled at all of them. They took our picture to mark the occasion, and they gave us their very last "baby's first Christmas" ornament for him.

We're definitely going back next year. We just have to remember to wear boots, not shoes, and dress John appropriately.

The rest of the day was spent decorating. Mike worked on the lights outside, while I worked on the tree. John cooed and giggled beside me in the jumper while I untangled lights. (Yes, the outdoor lights were still up from last year, but Mike still had to start over again. Did you know that squirrels eat through wires?) Mike came in to warm up when he was done for the day - it was freezing rain by then, but he just had to put the ladder away for the night. A few minutes later, we heard a crash from outside - the ladder had fallen down, taking about 75 per cent of his lights with it. So, he has to start over again. Um, again. He planned to do it today, but one of his co-workers went AWOL, so his manager asked him to cover today and tomorrow. That means yesterday was his only day off between November 29, and the end of the year. Thankfully, extended shifts are over for the winter, so he won't be working non-stop 12-hour shifts anymore.

We finished the tree together, and it started to snow! John wanted to nap before the lights and decoratons went up on the tree. The fresh air did him some good - he slept for six solid hours. He slept so deeply, we took turns checking to make sure he was still alive. He woke up at midnight, and we fed him in the living room, so he could see the tree, with all the other house lights turned off. He loved it!!! His little jaw dropped when he saw all those lights! He was completely spellbound. Once the initial awe wore off, he kept looking back and forth from me to Mike, to the tree and back again, with a huge grin on his face. It was so cute!

We took some pictures, which follow. Sorry for the blur on some of them. We were experimenting with the night scene setting.

Dad strapping the tree to the roof. John and I, along with the whole farm staff, were watching him. 

John and Dad taking a break,once the tree was in place.