Ottawa

Charlie is getting 11 hours sleep a night and is actually volunteering to go to bed at night. It's usually a long drawn out process but since on vacation he's begging to get into bed, so its brush your teeth, prayers and sleeping in minutes.

We even skipped a bath tonight since we were at the Allans playing games and had dinner there until around 8 p.m. Past bedtime but for a good cause.

Charlie was very excited to find the stash of WII games at the Allans, he just couldn't believe there were that many games out there. He played a few of them too but I think a lot of them were a bit more advanced for him.

Midnight Monster is the game of the day and its essentially the kids beating up Uncle Mark until they turn on the light which is the signal to leave the basement. Of course, the kids are older now compared to last year so I think I'm going to be bruised a bit but I still am barely managing to keep the upper hand. It gets a bit tough but I'm still winning.

The weather was nice today, wet but warm. We didn't get a chance to through many snowballs but Charlie did get one or two off to Mom.

Pinnochio from Netflix Take 2

OK. We decided to give Pinnochio another shot. This time we made it past the first time we attempted to watch it but got to another very upsetting part.

This was when the circus master kidnapped Pinnochio to keep him and not allow him to go back to his father. It was a very sad part with rain and thunder and all. Charlie looked over at me and said, Dad, you'd never let me taken away like this right?

Wow, that was powerful. My only thought was over the years hearing on the news how kids were actually kidnapped for real in this world and make me as sad as he was. That was a very sinking feeling but of course, I reasured him that never this would happen.

How do you make a snowball dad

This morning was awesome. Unlike yesterday there just wasn't much snow on the ground but today there was enough. Enough to make a snowball and throw it at Charlie.

He loved it. Very excited while he was busy with the shovel moving snow. He certainly remembered that part from last year and really loves playing shoveling the snow.

After that first snowball the cutest thing ever as he tried to make a snowball (more like a pancake in his case)...Papa, comment fait tu une balle de neige?...It was awesome. Got to show him how to do it and at which point he of course never stopped.

We managed to get off 10 minutes late to school at 8:20 a.m. but I still made it back for my 9 a.m. meeting. It was worth the delay to play in the snow that's for sure.

Riding without training wheels

Yesterday was a real breakthough on the bike.

Once he realized I wasn't holding him up on the back seat he realized he was under control. A little unsteady on the stearing but good enough to stay up on his own.

Also, at first he wasn't sure on how to handle the stopping but after a few times of a controlled stop he managed to figure that out on his own.

All the neighbours were out and everyone was chearing him on so that he was having a blast.

Eileen got some video footage so you need to check that out.

Weekend at Lake Geneva without Charlie?

We decided to have a romantic weekend just the 2 of us at a spa in Fontana, WI up on Lake Geneva. Its really a lot nicer than Lake Geneva the city since its less touristy and laid out nicer. It's only a 15 minute drive and each on the other end of the lake.

It was weird since it was the first time both of us had been away from Charlie since he was born. We had times where one was gone from him but not both. Tante TT flew down for the big job and spent her time (and money) entertaining him; and spoiling him of course, as is an aunts perogative.

He did well and surprisingly we also did well. The funniest part was that pretty much everything we did or see or look at we related back to Charlie. Menu's we always peaked at the kids menu, everything at the resort Charlie would have loved to do and we found ourselves talking about him a lot of course. I guess its only natural but it was pretty comical at times as we caught each other.

In actual fact we really did enjoy the time off as well. It was rejuvinating to say the least and if nothing else we got seriously caught up with sleep ;-)

The place was real nice with great internet access (4 meg down; .75 meg up). I forgot my headphones to watch teched shows so i ended up going to bed pretty darn early too.

It was just under a 2 hour trip up there but lots of fun. We'll definately be doing that again soon.

airport rendez-vous

charlie was in oakville with eileen for the week. visiting with her family and had charlie in a camp for the week while they were there. it was just 3 hours a day in the afternoon but it was a great camp.

he wasn't sure at first but it turned out he really enjoyed it as they played sports and even the last day hockey. that was his favorite from what i heard.

we did do oovoo now and then during the week so i got to see him but nothing like the airport rendez-vous. He was super excited we ran straight at each other and i sent him flying around in circles. He was all chocked up and when we looked at mom too, she was caught up in the emotion and crying as well. we had a big group hug and the family was happy. the folks along the side waiting for thier loved ones were almost clapping as they watched our scene unfold. kinda funny.

i managed to rough house with charlie for the rest of the day. he was pretty tired and i think in the airport alone he had 3 small 'hurts'. mom makes them all a big deal but he shakes them off pretty quickly. now back on the suitcase for a ride.

Online Gun games

Charlie is getting real good at the online gaming sites. He recognizes the "action" games and has figured out how to navigate most games, get them working despite the constant barrage of advertizing, and figure out the keys he needs to press to do his stuff.

His all time favorites are the aircraft gun games and watching him play is hilarious. First he's pretty good at it but he has a constant watch over his shoulder because he knows that at any moment Mom could walk into the room and ban the games. She does not like him playing games that involve guns and he is keenly aware and has prepared speaches on how a game might be just throwing objects or other things he hopes she might buy into. Me? I help him navigate if I have time and otherwise bring him to some of the more interesting ones like starwars.com and jeux.fr.

As bad as it is, a few times I've seen him do Ninja fights with swords that I even agree with Eileen are not right for a 4 year old but what the heck, I don't think he processes that stuff the way we do.

Wa Wa Woobzie...finally in French

Every day I come home Charlie insists on giving up information on things he did that he knows I wouldn't be happy about. This is pretty much 100% of the time the fact that he watches some English TV when the rules of the house are clearly french only (Eileen..are you listening?).

Anyways, tonight he was beside himself, he knows I don't like his favorite show wa wa woobzie (not sure what that thing is) but its english only so I refuse to let him watch it when there's plenty of good french TV on our media center.

Anyways, it turns out that Target had 2 DVD's of this stuff in English and French. Strange it wasn't translated into Spanish but boy was he happy. Eileen mentioned he watched 2 hours straight of it today.

Libby the Dog

Libby was over this weekend and Charlie loved her. I think the most fun he had was when he could get her to chase him. Of course, this involved PaPa because he's still not completely comfortable with dogs. He likes them but if they bark he backs away.

He loved having her around and like to keep his eye on where she was the whole time. In bed he setup a little wall with his blanket between her and him. I'm guessing a bit of a safety barrier. At the same time when she left the room he was sad.

Even when he was sad though, he didn't feel comfortable enough to insist that she does what he wanted so it was an interesting relationship to watch.

Dentist appointment

Going to the dentist with Charlie has been the most refreshing experience, until today. My memories of the dentist as a small child, who I am kidding an adult as well, have always been stressful. Not for Charlie.

He loves going to see Dr Grace. He was asking us to take him back to see her for a week after his last appointment, which included filling a cavity (and yes that meant drilling with no pain medicine). So this visit was for some soreness on his lower left side when we brushed and to fill the final cavity that wasn't very big. He was okay about going today after school, but it was right in the early part of his quiet time when he wants to relax and rest. Not great timing, but he loved it so much before that this should be fine. Uh no!

We are in the waiting room and he is wondering why they are not calling his name. So we wait a little more. He reads a little more with TT and then it is our turn. We go in, all good, get settled in and start chatting with Dr Grace. First thing is a check on the sore area in his mouth. Nothing there. Looks good. Looks like he might be getting his 6 year old molar in on that side.

Then on to the cavity filling. Step one, rinse the tooth. Okay, no problem, wait problem. The hygienist pulls out this man size suction straw to gather the water and saliva. This immediately causes Charlie to choke, cough and then cry. The crying was something he did not want to do in frontof anyone but it upset him so much he did which made things worse.

So, Dr. Grace manages to get Charlie to think the drilling or as she calls it the tickle tool is fun and off we go again. We are counting this time and Charlie is loving that. The drilling, the hard part, is a breeze. Now it is time to shampoo, dry and use the flash light on the tooth. Out comes that man size suction straw again! This is not good. Charlie gets very upset, crying, coughing, moving around in his seat. By this point, I am next to tears in seeing my child begging to go home and get away from all of this. Plus the memories of having 6 cavities filled at about his age is as clear in my mind as if I were the one sitting in that chair.

We take a break, but have to finish because the tooth is now raw and has to be filled. Back comes Dr Grace and Charlie is not at all agreeable about doing this. He wants me to do the work on him. Yeah, no. We finally get an okay to try again only because he is threaten with Mummy having to leave the room. That suction straw comes out, and I finally realize it is the main problem. They change it to the smaller one. Charlie is struggling and very upset. We are done! He is happy and wants his 2 cars he was promised. He is not going anywhere without me though. In the waiting room is TT who had the joy of listening to the agony of Charlie and knew I wasn't likely doing much better.

Out to the car we go and off to Target for one prize for the brave boy. I needed the prize, but having Charlie back to himself and happy was trophy enough for me.

Hours later, it is time to brush our teeth before bed. I could see him weighing in his mind if I play upset and don't want to brush will I get away with it? No, okay plan B, Mommy lets play dentist!
Eileen

Baby Boy

As part of our Mother's Day celebration, we decided to open our envelope from the doctor that had a written note stating whether we were having a boy or a girl.
Charlie was the one in charge of opening the note. So he was fully aware that we were having a baby boy (at least they think...90% sure it is a boy). At school today, his teacher who knew we were waiting for Mother's Day to open the note and asked Charlie if he was a going to have a boy or girl. He proudly told her he was having a baby boy. But he doesn't know what the name will be.
I hadn't decided if we were going to say anything to anyone, but now the cat is out of the bag and we need to tell our families.
Charlie is very excited about having a new baby! Let us hope his enthusiasm continues.
Eileen

Mother's Day 2009

Having Charlie makes being a Mother an important day. He does and says the most heart melting things, that make you want to just eat him up!

Friday when I picked him up from school he came out with a pot of 3 flowers and a hand written card that read "pour Maman". He was very proud of all the hearts he put on the card and excited to show Dad as well. This was the beginning of our celebration.

Yesterday, after being out for a few hours on my own, I came home to a very excited 4 year old who was desperate to show me all he had bought for us "to share" for Mother's Day. He had gone to the new Walgreen's on the corner and picked out things he knew he liked and figured I would naturally like as well. A big bag of Doritos (the blue ones!), chocolate with carmel, red licorices, a big balloon (with 2 bears that says I love Mom) and small box of candy that has a little balloon (saying happy mother's day). Plus a Star Wars card with a little editing to say Happy Mother's Day rather then Happy Birthday. He loves the theme song and the card plays the music. And of course, $10 in the card because Dad had it in his wallet (this is in keeping with the cards he gets from Nana).

This morning while calling Mothers to wish them a happy Mother's day, Charlie turns to me in between calls and says to me your my Mother so Happy Mother's Day Mama. How sweet is that...? This little guy knows how to get what he wants from his Mum.

After being very upset that his Dad left last night, he slept with me last night. That is a first. He, however has recovered today and is excited to pick his Aunt TT up at the airport.
Eileen

Pinnochio from Netflix

Charlie and I watched the first 5 minutes of Pinnochio the other day for the first time. It starts off with a scene where Pinnochio's Dad is working in his wood working shop and there a few dozen wood clocks all going off at the same time.

Most of the clocks where cute scenes and real fun, but one was a little boy with his pants down to his ankles bent over his mother knees getting a spanking. There was a paint can spilled all over the floor beside him and he was getting a spanking. The boys face was crying and Charlie was horrified. He immediately looked at me and said "WHY?" why is he crying, why is she spanking him? The look on his face was of sheer panic. He was truly disturbed by this scene. The movie went on but he tried to watch as he requested an immediate explanation and understanding of this.

We shut it off just after this and the first thing he did was he ran to Eileen to tell her of the horrible thing he had just witnessed. It was very unpleasant and he did not like that at all.

Of course, later he sat down and watched the whole movie, but all along he no longer wanted to see any of the coocoo clocks.

Charlie's first full day at Lycee

Charlie had an exciting day today that he was entirely not sure about. Most times he wanted to stay all day to be like his friends but of course first thing this morning he decided not too.

Beatrice, the teacher sent this note to Eileen:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
hello,

Charles is doing great. He loved the lunch et TV time for sure! Sarah said he was so happy to watch a little bity of TV...Right now he is laying down quietly on his bed but he seems to have a hard time falling asleeep. He keeps moving and turning. We shall see...
See you at 3h10!
Beatrice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Of course, he didn't nap and was extremely thirsty and hungry when he got home. He was in bed early and seemed to really have enjoyed himself.

When Sarah (teacher's assistant) put charlie back in the fan after school she mentioned that Charlie got a little gift for helping out as well as saying that "if only all the children were like him". Whatever that means the only thing I can say is like father like son ;-)


The plan is to do 1 full day a week for now on Thursdays but who knows for sure....

Easter Egg Decorating

Today, after a few days of discussion, we boiled 10 eggs and got ready to dye them. Charlie was very excited. What I realized though was that he was excited to eat the eggs. Mark and been going on about eating the eggs after dying them, but Charlie didn't realize it was just an egg inside. He was rather disappointed to be eating a hard boiled egg! Actually, I had to finish eating the egg. He still was a little confused, because he wanted to eat the shell and I explained that it is like the skin of a banana....we just don't eat that part. He decided he would try another one, thinking it was different and would be better. I am not sure he really sees the point in doing this, but he is interested in trying it again tomorrow with more eggs!
Written by Eileen

basketball and easter egg hunt

went here this a.m. after charlie's basketball practice

met up with the wilson's there.

http://chicago.about.com/od/holidays/p/SoldierFieldEgg.htm

NHL

First NHL game and it was awesome. We went with Hal and Noah and of course Noah and Charles were very excited about the whole event, probably more for just being together than the game but of course the game as well.

It started at 7:30pm which is pretty much Charlie's bed time normally so when I saw it was 9 o'clock during the game when I looked over at Charlie he was dead tired.

We had great tickets right in the middle of the row at row 1 on the 2nd level. It was perfect for the boys since they could stand up and there was no one to worry about in front of them as they were right against the wall and glass was the perfect height.

The beginning of the game was amazing and charlie sat there in complete awe. You can tell he was on sensory overload and was just absorbing it all. I didn't need to say anything nor point anything out to him as it was just SO MUCH for him to absorb all at once.

Of course, he really got into the crowd and join in on all the claps and excitement. The national anthem erupted of course and it makes anyone hair stand on end, and the team when they first cam out was way cool tool since there were lazers and upbeat tunes blaring.

He was very excited. Noah and him sat together and Hal and I bookmarked them on each end, but they were really golden.

He knew Patrick Kane since that was the shirt he had on, so kept asking and looking for him. 88 was the identifier, and he had lots of questions about all the other players who really just turned out to be known as Patrick Kane's friends.

The game was against the St Louis Blues but that didn't really register since it wasn't the Sentors nor Montreal or Toronto, the only teams he typically hears about, so really he wasn't interested in them much at all.

During the first period and 2nd period Noah and Charlie ran around but man, it was so packed we had a hard time keeping up with them. The folks of course where great and enjoyed seeing them running around.

The only drink Charlie wanted was beer. Not sure what possessed him but the whole game he wasn't interested in his bottled water but instead kept dipping his finger in my beer and liking it. Oh boy. It was strange that he liked it though. He typically doesn't.

Chicago ended up getting the first goal and the place just went crazy. This startled both boys and they put their hands over their ears because the whistles were so loud.

Shortly after the 2nd goal as well was the same thing.

One of the coolest thing Charlie liked (well, Dad too) was the girls that came out during commercials to clear the ice with shovels. This of course, is Charlies favorite pass time so when he saw that he was very intrigued.

The zamboni was really a non-event for Charlie, he had just seen too many I guess
What he like seeing was the times when fans would hit the glass on the ice, or when someone body checked another player real hard or even at one point were a player went over the St Louis bench head first after a check. Also, one of the piece of glasses was coming off so he was trying to figure out what the 4 men where doing to the glass and checking it all out.

Charlie noticed in the 1st periord that half the flags where for basketball and half were for hockey. He loved that but was equally jazzed by the bulls balloon that was hanging out in the rafters. He really liked looking around at this huge arena and absorbing it all in.

By the end of the 2nd period Charlie was just physically pooped and at one point even asked for the zune, a sure sign he was exhausted, but at this point he still didn't want to go home.

We let them run around the couches in the hall for 20 minutes while the Dad's chatted and got caught up on the latest since we really didn't a chance to chat at all.

No doubt the boys had a great time, equally playing with each other as the game.

It was a blast.

Mary et Joseph

This weekend Charlie packed up his backpack with clothes and decided that we were going to Mary and Josephs. Now, these two names are engrained in his head because of prayer time before bed each night and really what he meant to say is Mary and Rich's cottage.

Apparently he's very fond of that cottage last summer and decided that we'd go back. He also made it clear that they were welcome to stay at our house if they needed a place to stay while we were there. Too funny.

We did make it out to the driving range on Saturday after playing around in the back with the neighbours. At the driving range there is a mini-putt as well and he aslways asks to do it and we always avoid it. This time we said that we'd come back with our neighbours son, also called Charlie, this afternoon. It never happened because of South-Side-Charlie's nap schedule.

We visite Aunt Pat at Marina towers as well for dinner and the best part was running around the hallway. Literally, running around, since its just that round. What a blast and man, can he boogie.

These days skating is always a no and he's just not interested at all in that. Swimming yes, but he's been sick lately so don't want to make it worse right now so we avoided the swims.

St Patrick

Charlie was still a bit sick and stayed home today. Yesterday his runny nose and feaver spiked while at school so it was a good idea to stay home, even though it was St Patricks day.

Saturday we went into the doctors since he mentioned he had an ear ache and the doctor confirmed it was an infection. He's on drugs for the next 10 days.

He's also starting to have a runny nose and lots of coughing.

I didn't get to see him this morning since he slept in a bit and I was off to work earlier than normal for an early meeting. We did get to play when I got home, mainly with his long lost nerf gun (boy, where was that hiding?) and then we got the new steering wheel (volant) from amazon.com so we messed around a bit with that before crashing.

He also turned an interesting corner today as Eileen mentioned he was pleased to share his room with the new baby and even discussed names with Eileen. I didn't get a chance to hear them but Eileen's been pushing for Mary and I've just been saying the generic Zacharia. He's catching on though and I'm looking forward to when it finally rocks his world!

Anyways, it still feels like a long way off.

Bonhomme Carnaval

Eileen and I went to Charlie's class this morning (12th) at 9:30 a.m. They were just finishing up their snacks when we came in and then the class was split into 2 with half going to music class and the other half staying with us.

Charlie was in the first batch with us and I started by reading the book about the history of the Bonhomme Carnaval. I ended up adlibing the pages to try and keep it a bit more engaging for the kids mainly because the reading was at too advanced of an age for these 3 and 4 year olds.

After the book I did get Paul ask me to read it again. I'm not sure if Charlie was paying attention because I was busy reading but he's read it with me a dozent times already.

I did have the new sony dsc-t700 with me but didn't use it until later so missed some good shots.

Anyways, after the book Eileen had prepared some paper lunch bags with all the parts of the snowman in it so the kids could glue it and make a puppet. That kept everyone busy and then after that we had drawings from the Carnaval that they colored as well. Time flew by.

In half an hour the class swapped and we rinsed and repeated. It was a good chance to chat with the teachers as well and mainly about the fact that Canadian french words are different than ours. For example Tuque...they had no idea.

Actually they had never heard of the the Bonhomme de Caranaval neither.

Anyways, it made for a real fun and different morning and got a chance to be with Charlie's class mates as well.

Maillot de bain

Its pretty darn cold in the house but all weekend all Charlie wanted to do was go swimming. We went both days of course, but around the house he insists on wearing his swim suit. Nothing else, just his swim suit. He's freezing from top to bottom but refuses to put anything else on.

Strange but I guess he's trying to give us the message.

Patiner

Saturday's skating at Millenium park in the morning was so hot in the sun that we stripped down to T-Shirts. Of course, the direct sun also melted the ends of the rink so that puddles formed.

Of course, Charlie seemed to fall only at the ends so by the end of it, he was soaking wet. Swimming on the rink.

The rink has plenty of compressors underneath and one of the attendants said that they can skate until its 65 degrees out. We took the train there.

On Sunday, it was milder and actually a better skating day. Still no mittens required, except when you fall, but it was very pleasant skating. We managed to park just on wells and washington which was just a block away and on Sunday's its free. We stopped in for Subway on the way home for lunch to meet up with Eileen.

The afternoon we were back at the pool up near Charlie's school.

Anniversaire et Bowling

Saturday evening Charlie's best friend at school, Owen and his little 2 year old brother had their birthday party at the bowling lanes up by Cosco. It was loads of fun and Charlie would have been content to just hang out anywhere with Owen.

His first time bowling was a blast. He loved it. Even the small children's balls were super heavy but he managed to lift them with both hands and with a running jump able to launch the ball at a speed that actually managed to make it to the pins. A bit surprising at times but those lanes are heavily waxed.

At one point he managed to, all on his own, and with a fully body commit hit the pins in just the right way and his first strike nailed all the pins. He was pretty proud of himself when he realized he knocked them all. It was a good thing it was later in the evening when he did that since at the biginning he never looked at all at what his ball did to the pins. His fun was just launching the ball and watching it come back to him automatically.

Eventually he did catch on that he should both watch what his ball does as well as not throw the ball until the barrier comes up.

There was 5 lanes reserved for the party and the week kids were lined up at the line rolling the balls, we kept the attendants busy since most of the balls didn' really make it all the way.

The funniest thing was when Charlie kept throwing his ball down the lane beside us. The guy was a bit more advance, but they still had kids there, and Charlie would pretty much wreck it by throwing his ball whichever lane had pins up. Oh well.

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