oh my, it's been five days since my last post

oh dear. where do the days go? i cannot believe that it's been so long since my last post. sorry... first of all i have to thank you all for the ooooodles of advice on sleeping and babies! i must have read about a dozen articles and have now in my possession five books on sleeping. i will have to set some time aside to study, i think. also, thanks for all your concerns regarding my 'sinking feelings'. thanks for all your good wishes. the issue has resolved itself marvelously and i'm feeling a 100% better! :-)

i have learned a few things from all the articles and advice. first: a lot of people believe that allowing a baby to cry him/herself to sleep is the thing to do. second: there is really no 'normal' when it comes to baby's sleep patterns, no matter what the books tell you. third: my kid is actually doing better then the average 6 month old. he can fall asleep on his own, and even though he fusses, he does not scream, while falling asleep (thank god, because i would hate that!!!). fourth: early teethers are bad sleepers, you just have to live with it (i'm quoting an article from 'mothering' magazine) fifth: i keep reading about ways to make a baby fall asleep, but i still have no clue how to keep my kid from waking every hour or so. just wait...one of these days, i'll be an expert on that, too!

the last few days have been interesting. we've had some strange weather! some days have been very warm (+10) and then cold again. kaspar and i have been trekking through high park for hours on the warm days, catching some sun and walking up a sweat. it almost felt like spring a couple of days ago. today is cold again. very cold, in fact. but, i don't know... i think these excessively warm temperatures in january are not healthy. i've managed to catch a bit of a sore throat, kaspar is sniffling and was feverish for a couple of days (even though our doctor things it's all due to teething)and i keep hearing from friends and relatives about kids getting sick. none the less, i have enjoyed every bit of this warm weather. it sure makes me understand why some people choose the west coast. well, except i would not trade our winter for the month of rain that vancouver has had!

what else is new? kaspar's language skills are evolving very fast. yesterday he learned to repeat the sound 'k'. we spent almost an hour naming all the 'k' things that we could think of, as he just kept repeating 'k' 'k' 'k' and giggling his heart out, every time. it's absolutely fascinating to watch him grow! the other favourite word these days is 'blja' (sound it out phonetically). i'm glad that most of our friends and family do not speak russian, as this could be potentially understood as a very rude russian swear word. yesterday, we were out on bloor street (where you hear a lot of russian) and he was just repeating it, over and over again. i had to laugh! i wonder if any of the russian ladies heard him?

kaspar's recent favourites are the telephone and the microphone. it must have something to do with him watching us talk on both (we use a microphone, when talking through a program called skype, when we call overseas). he can have a lap full of toys, but if there is a phone or a mike visible, he will not play with any of the toys, but will reach towards the phone and complain in protest, when unable to get it in his grip. up until today he kept trying to bite into the phone or the mike, but today, while i was typing some e-mails he got a hold of the mike and started babbling into it. he's beginning to get the idea!

tomorrow i intend to educate him (kaspar, that is!) a little in english classics. they say it's good to start early. m4m is showing pride and prejudice. i hope it's the new version, because i don't think i could watch the 1995 version one more time. we'll see if he takes after his dad and sleeps through most of it... we’re leaving dad at home to do some recording sessions, while the house is quiet.

we also have some work on the agenda. i hope that i can steal away to the studio for a few hours tomorrow, while kaspar sleeps. i have inherited some wonderful new tools (including a rolling mill!) from an old latvian jeweller and cannot wait to have some time to set them up. a new line of jewellery is in the works! it turns out that all i needed for inspiration was a new tool.