a post illness hangover

kaspar's got a post sickness hangover. he wakes up in the morning, has an hour of groggy playtime and falls right back asleep. kind of like someone with a really bad hangover. that's the only way i can describe it. he's sleeping so much, that sometimes i just have to go in the room to check if he's still breathing. he also sleeps often. however, i am totally paranoid that he will begin to confuse the day with the night. they warn you of these things in baby sleep books and baby help books. yeah! and i'm beginning to believe it... and i'm beginning to wonder. i hope it does not happen to us. on the other hand, i'm absolutely thrilled to have him sleep. even if it is during the day. ha, ha, ha. it's just so funny how with a baby it's never what you expect it to be. roller coaster. some of my friends, who have had two or more kids swear that this only happens with the first. is this true? apparently you only have this much time to worry about your first. well, i don't intend to try this theory anytime soon. and i'm enjoying every bit of this hectic roller coaster, at least today i am :-)

days like today only come every so often. steve was home all morning. we sent him out for kaspar's daily walk and they returned two hours later. i was able to work on some new pieces and some old pending orders. made an awesome ring for a dear old family friend! tried out some of my new tools. the new dye cut press cuts perfect circles 10mm in diameter with one blow of a mallet. besides the satisfaction of not having to saw them out, it's so therapeutic being able to hit the thing with the large rubber mallet. i love it. exploring my new tools is so much fun. i feel like a kid the day after christmas. tonight my camera has run out of juice, but i promise to show you my new tools one of these days. and maybe some of my new work, too. maybe...

tonight i plan to pamper myself (as a payoff for all the work that i did) and get myself a movie. i have no idea what, but i'm hoping that i'll be inspired once i get there. i still want to see the 'motorcycle diaries'. it's supposed to be a good film. well. now, i must go and put that kid to sleep so that my elaborate plan of movies and chips (or popcorn) can be fulfilled. last night i fell asleep a good half hour before he did (or so the story goes, when my mom tells it. i have no recollection of falling asleep). he, he, he...

i hate to be wrong, usually

yeah. usually it's the other way around, but this time - i hate to say i was right. kaspar's so called teething fever did turn into a cold. we have had a few days of feverish coughing, sneezing and general unhappiness. it has been a little rougher on me then on kaspar himself, i think. he pulled through it with flying colours and is almost back to his old self today, but i've been a little exhausted by it all. it's much harder to sleep in a sitting position with a 6 month old on your chest then it was with a 1 month old. that said, i'm still glad that kaspar's first real cold came only now and not earlier. he's old enough, that we've been able to communicate in a way.

otherwise the week has been pretty uneventful. i've been catching up with orders, while kaspar's been napping during the day. being sick has done some good - he's finally been sleeping well during naptime. this week we have had regular 3 hour long naps during the early part of the day. now, if we could only do the same at night... oh, i do count my blessings! having three hours to do some work, answer some emails and shower and all that has truly been wonderful.

tonight i'm keeping my post short. sort of tired. just watched the news. politically - nothing interesting. the elections are on monday. kaspar was planning on voting ndp but, he's considering a last minute change of heart. the green party candidate is cute. he was definitely sweet with her, when she came canvassing. i didn't even have to talk politics. a baby in my arms is a very good distraction! the weather is supposed to be weird for the next few days. more rain and snow. probably more rain for us, since we're right in the city. today was awesome, though. i was out in a sweater. +10 again! i don't miss the winter at all. oh.. i did hear about something very interesting today. on the radio... they talked about dogs. a study, where dogs have been used to detect cancer. some dogs can detect cancer in people. isn't that just fascinating? the world never ceases to amaze me... on that note, i'll call it a night.

lazy day

oh. we had a total lazy day. we got up early, but for some reason we never got organized enough to make it to the movie theatre on time. i could blame it on kaspars unwillingness to get dressed, but i don't think that would be fare, considering that i was still in my pj's when steve's client arrived at 11 am. we did get out of the house, somewhat on time. i thought we might still make it, but by the time we made it to the front door of paradise, we were 20 minutes late and decided to abort the plan to learn about english classics. instead we went to the value village that's near by. it was a great day for value village! kaspar was thrilled about all the action and sat upright in his stroller and chatted for a long time. when he finally started to get tired, we did the speed walking thing through the men's department isles, which were practically empty. he fell asleep in less then 5 minutes and i was free to shop. and shop i did! value village is one amazing place. for those of you, who might not know the shop - it's a very large second hand shop chain in toronto (or is it all of canada?) kind of like 'humpalu bodes' in latvia. or goodwill or salvation army shops. you get the general idea, right? well. we had great luck today. for 25 dollars (including taxes!) kaspar got 3 long sleeve shirts, 2 jackets, pair of overalls, a padded mountain co-op vest in bright orange, a pair of pants and a t-shirt. isn't that amazing? not only is that a lot of clothes, but half the stuff was from baby gap (where new things are usually way too expensive!) and some of the items were brand new (tags and everything). go figure! so. we had an awesome time shopping, then we still went to vicky's tai food for some great yummy lunch, or was it dinner... maybe we could call it early dinner. we got home shortly after 4pm and even though kaspar had only slept for about an hour in the early afternoon, he was very happy and chipper. i almost began to believe that he will not nap again and began to plan an early night with him. but then, he fell asleep at 6pm. just like that. no crying, no fussing.... just fell asleep. i crossed my fingers and hoped that he might sleep right through, into the night, but he did get up at 9pm. usually this can be bad news, but between my mom and i, we managed to keep him very entertained and busy for an hour and by 10pm he started to get sleepy. he finally fell asleep at 10:40. yeah... i'm not all that good with consistency, when it comes to schedule. he handles it well, actually, for such a little fellow.

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.