oh dear

oh dear. we just had a great little visit with kaspar's grandparents, who mentioned that they were unable to leave comments on the blog (and i had wondered why no one ever left comments?) well. it's my fault. i must have somehow changed some settings. silly really! i'm changing them back. so.... keep those comments coming! sorry!

backtracking

It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to do updates, sorry. I’ll try to backtrack a little… after all, a whole lot of things have happened since August 2nd.

August long weekend we were offered a cottage of a good friend of mine (well, her parents, to be exact!). I was totally thrilled about the idea, especially since I had the Friday off and we could avoid the long weekend cottager’s traffic. Yeah, the traffic out of the city on long weekends in the summer can be absolutely grueling! I rushed home from work, packed, organized everything and was almost ready to pack the car, when we found out that there was a massive rainstorm raging in the Minden area. So, we decided to put off the trip until the next morning. On Friday we did leave early enough that the 2.5 h trip only lasted 3h and 45 minutes. Not all that bad! However, Kaspar was in no mood to be in the car for ANY length of time and I spent most of the trip turning back toward him to keep him occupied and got out feeling a bit like an invalid – with a sore neck and feeling all crooked in my spine! But that was not the last of our worries. As we were approaching the cottage, we noticed a lot of fallen trees. I refused to believe that the cottage might have no power. After almost four hours on the road you really don’t want to arrive and find out there is no electricity, no running water, no fridge to keep milk cold etc. But… yes, we found just that! There had been a huge storm with over twenty-hurricane touchdowns in Ontario just the previous Wednesday. I was so determined to be at the cottage that I instantly convinced my mom that we could stay for a day, because the power would probably come back overnight. She was not thrilled about the idea, but the weather was gorgeous and the sun was out and the BBQ had a full tank of gas and the lake was warm, so she sort of agreed. She regretted it a couple of minutes later, when (thanks to a working cell phone) we reached a friend, who informed us that the Minden area is not expected to have power back until Monday or Tuesday. Oh well! We still went for a swim. Kaspar tried out his brand new lifejacket! He’s such a water baby, that I thought it would be wise for him to wear a life jacket, when we go swimming or even while we hang out on the dock. I cannot say that he was in agreement with me, but we managed to go for a short swim with the jacket on. Before I knew it, it was time for dinner, the meat tasted spectacular, especially because I had hardly eaten all week (I had been very ill the previous week-end and it took me another three days before I was able to hold down any sort of food, save toast and black tea). However, my joy for food lasted no more then about 20 minutes. The nausea came on slowly, like a dark rain cloud on a windless day. Within the hour I was rocking back and forth on the couch completely sick to my stomach, unable to respond to Kaspar’s joyous screams. He had just discovered a whole tub of toys behind the door in the other room. All I could think was – I need a toilet. One that flushes! We waited for a bit, but my mother refused to wait around until I got worse and began to pack the car. Our cottage experience lasted a whole two hours. It was sad, really! By the time we hit the highway it was Kaspar’s bedtime and he fell asleep after about ten minutes of complaining, I was thankful for small blessings! We arrived at home shortly before 10 pm, me – well drugged with my mom’s heart pills (the valium kept the nausea at bay while we drove); Kaspar – just waking up from the long nap in the car seat; and my mother – totally exhausted after all day of driving and taking care of both of us. So, instead of hanging out at a cottage, I spent another weekend nursing myself back to health, while Kaspar dug in the dirt in the back yard!

The past week Kaspar and my mom and I spent at the kid’s camp, where I was teaching jewellery making to six boys aged 8 to 12. It kept me away from the telephone, computer and such. Felt kind ‘a good! I only had to teach for about three hours a day, so the rest of the day was spent hanging out with Kaspar, going swimming and goofing around in the little kiddy pool. It was awesome! Great weather! We also had great company, because I had asked my friend’s daughter (a gorgeous twelve-year-old, who’s great with kids and very mature!) to help with the teaching. She ended up being a spectacular assistand as well as an awesome babysitter for Kaspar. Our week passed very quickly. Before we knew it, I was packing up the studio and rushing back home, just to have enough time to do laudry, unpack and pack the car and leave for our trip up North. Here is Kaspar playing peek-a-boo in the car!

walking

Here is an entry I wrote on the 1st of August, but it was never posted... I think I was waiting for a picture :-)

Kaspar is walking! Yes, it’s true... (Sorry Steve!) Last night, as I was beginning to wonder how I’m going to keep him awake until seven pm (if he goes to bed before seven, he’s more then likely to get up at 5am, and that’s not good!) he just got up, stood there for a moment and then took three or four steps, while holding a ball with both hands. My mother and I both gasped! It seemed unbelievable. He has been close, so close to walking for at least a month now, that we did not expect it anymore. The actual first steps came as a total surprise. I said something along the lines of „That was three steps!”, but my mom disagreed and was sure it had been five. While we sat there debating over three and five, he simply got up and walked from the doorway to the nearby chair. I was cheering and applauding and Kaspar was obviously thrilled himself with the idea of walking! However, as soon as I tried to encourage him, or ask him to come over to me, he would revert back to crawling. He’s a stubborn little fellow! He does things, when he wants to, not when asked!!! Between 6 pm and 7 pm he walked short distances throughout the different rooms in the house at the very least a dozen times. He was so intrigued by the process that after walking for a bit, he would sit down, lift up his foot, look at it, feel it and then get back up again. Funny lad! I wish I had caught the walking on camera, but I had left it at work.

hot humid heat

I think tonight must be the hottest night of the summer. I’m sitting here almost completely still, only my fingers moving on the keyboard and yet my shirt is wet and I keep having to wipe my brow. I’m sure glad that despite my feelings of oncoming illness I installed the air conditioner in the bedroom last week. Thankful for small blessings!

Today was hot! Very hot! I felt it. Kaspar felt it. He was grumpy all afternoon. I gave up on games shortly after coming home, undressed him, sprayed him down with a mist of water and sat him in his high chair, while I attempted to install a new kitchen faucet. Grandma came and saved him from his crackers and the spray bottle. He might have invented a new form of play dough, given enough time. He did figure out how to get a little spray out!

But I deserve a medal, I think! After three months of leaky kitchen sink, I installed a new kitchen faucet. And not just any old kitchen faucet, but one with a pull out spray handle!!! As Kaspars big cousin likes to put it “I did it all by own self!”

today we were gardening

camping with kaspar? or no camping?

So, that's my dilemma. We’ve been talking about a potential camping trip for a couple of months now, but as the date is approaching, I’m loosing sleep over the logistics of it all. Yeah, I have to admit that I’m not looking forward to camping with my very active one year old, who still spends 90% of his day on his hands and knees and who tends to pick up everything he finds mildly interesting (including ants, pebbles, sticks) and puts everything in his mouth! I can just imagine it… All clothes will be completely dirty by the end of day one. I’ll be chasing the lad through dirt and grass and puddles pretty much the entire weekend. Yeah, he’s really not into spending too much time in his stroller anymore! And what would we do at the end of the day? I think the good old fashioned spit on a hankie wont do the trick here. How many wet wipes would we need to wipe off a child, who’s been on all fours all day? At home, I sometimes have to run two baths to get him clean after a few hours in the back yard. This kid loves to get dirty!!! I wish we would have done the camping thing last year, while he was still a baby and could be carried everywhere. It sure would have been easier!

I fell really ill on Friday. In fact, I have not been able to hold down any food since Friday evening. Also had high fever for about 12 hours. So, I’ve slept for many hours during the day and during the night, for the last two days. But while insomnia (caused most likely by too much sleep during the day) was bothering me last night, I decided to check out the internet regarding my camping dilemma. You should try typing “camping with toddler” into google. Some amazing stories come up, yet not one of them gives me any peace of mind. There are horror stories about kids with allergies from bee stings to insect repellent and mosquito bites; warnings about kids eating poisonous plants; and general advice that parents should go camping only if they are prepared to spend most of the day on the move with a kid in a backpack (because most strollers are not made for wood paths!) and walking is the only way to keep a toddler off the ground. Basically the popular opinion is that camping with a toddler is extremely challenging (next to going to the moon, inventing the wheel and such), especially if you’re not a regular camper. And I cannot remember, when we went camping last, so, I don’t think we can count ourselves amongst ‘regular campers’.

So, while I’m nursing myself back to health and trying to spend time with Kaspar today, I will keep pondering this question about camping. I wonder if I have enough wisdom not to put myself through the cruelty of a whole week-end in the woods with Kaspar. Since Steve is absolutely set on this camping trip, I’m thinking, maybe I should send him camping with Kaspar and just have a weekend all to myself. Oh, how very tempting… if only I was not still nursing the kid.

bike ride

I was so bummed out yesterday that my digital had completely run out of juice. Kaspar had his first bike ride and I did not have a camera to take a picture with. I came close to digging out my SLR. Yes, I still own one of those! But then I figured it would probably be a year before I develop the film. I recently developed some film that I had shot about three years ago… how lazy we get in this digital age!

On Sunday we were invited for brunch at a friends house. I figured this was my chance to finally get Kaspar riding the bike. On Saturday morning I began to assemble his bike seat. It was still packed and sealed, brand new in a shiny cardboard box, given to us by good and wise (What an awesome gift for city dwellers!!!) friends – Laima & Uldis. Kaspar was out and about in the back yard, while I attempted to put together this contraption, and he quickly figured out that it was meant for him and that we were going ‘booo-boooo’. I think that might have had to do with the life size pictures of a kid on a bike that were visible on every side of the box, or perhaps just seeing my bike out got him excited, who knows… but my attempts at assembling this piece of equipment, which (as if life were not hard enough for parents!) came in 32 separate pieces, each sealed in an individual plastic pouch was put on hold indefinitely.

Well, I shall give credit, where credit is due – I’m no spring chicken when it comes to getting things done with a baby in tow. I’ll point out that I began to assemble this seat on SATURDAY morning, when in fact, I only wanted to use it on Sunday. Always thinking ahead, yup! That’s the only way to get somewhere these days! And then distractions such as a bucket full of water and a freshly dug up flower bed with some nice black dirt are much appreciated. An hour later I had the seat assembled (even if it was still on the ground, assembling the safety straps from the pictures in the manual was enough to merit an award!) and a baby dirty enough to need three baths. Well… c’est la vie!

By Sunday morning all the necessary bolts were tightened, all the parts were used up (Except for the paint protector rubber covers, which I’m still perplexed about!) and to the horror of my mother, we were ready to head out. You should have seen the joy in her face, when I discovered that I did not have any air in my tires. I don’t know what I had been thinking. Of course there would be no air in tires, if the bike had not been used for more then a year! Duh! But, I was not about to give up so easily. Not after all that labor of love… What do you think neighbours are for? Rita’s shades were open (which usually means she’s awake!), and she’s on her bike all the time, so I figured that she must have a bike pump! Knock, knock. It turned out that her little, funky looking bike pump was missing parts, but while we were trying to figure out if I can make it to the gas station four blocks down the street from us, across the street comes our favourite neighbour Astrida carrying something the size of a small backpack, which turned out to be an old air pump. It was one of those pumps, that can be plugged into the cigarette lighter thinggie, in the car, and when it turns on it makes a whole lot of noise. Awesome! The air gage was not working, but we managed to get plenty of air into the dilapidated tires and we were ready to roll. I thanked all the summoned neighbours for helping us out and off we went… my mom followed us a couple of blocks (Just to make sure Kaspar as not screaming for help!) while we got used to changing gears and picking up speed. Kaspar was so thrilled that he forgot all about having to pull the helmet off. He pursed his lips hummed like a little motor behind me, all the way to Kaiva’s house.

No new pictures... BESIDES, THE UPLOAD BUTTON DOES NOT SEEM TO BE WORKING! Argh!

crawling, climbing, walking

So, Kaspar turned one and he's still not walking. He's been very close to taking his first steps, but he always bails on it the very last second. He is such a good and fast crawler, that walking simply does not seem to be a priority. However, he can stand up, in the middle of the room (without holding on to anything) and just stand there looking at a toy in his hands for quite some time. Today he stood up on his own and began to move to the music that was playing, sort of dancing without moving his feet. That was quite a sight! When he stands still, he seems so stable and so sure of himself, it's almost unbelievable, that he's about to get back down on all fours to advance ahead. A while ago, my mother and I were sort of placing bets ... She was convinced that he'd walk by the time we returned from our trip to Latvia. I was sort of aiming for twelve months. We both lost! And all Steve wanted was to be at home, when Kaspar takes his first steps, but I have a feeling he might not get his wish granted, either. He's leaving for another three week tour tonight. I highly doubt that Kaspar will start walking tonight, even though Steve has been trying his darn best to convince him, he should. But Kaspar is not only a crawler, but also an absolute acrobat on the stairs! He knows how not only to climb up, but also how to come down the stairs feet first. When there is nothing better to do indoors, or when the clock strikes 8pm and he's not even mildly interested in sleeping, we take on the stairs. Climbing the whole way up or coming down is one of those things that makes him so very proud and happy. Three or four climbs can also exhaust him enough, so that I can get him into bed! If I did not get bored assisting him, he would be willing to spend hours climbing up and down and up again until he'd probably just fall asleep right on the stairs. No, I'm not joking. I've heard of stories like that! In fact, Steve has been known to have fallen asleep in the hallway as a baby!

the heat is unbearable

The heat during the last few days here in Toronto has been absolutely unbearable. It’s disgusting! Every move makes you break out in sweat. Kaspar has been spending the days pretty much naked, but even then, as I bend over to pick him up or just give him a hug I’m met by a clammy, sweaty, hot little body. He doesn’t seem to mind the heat, except that his sleeping schedule is all messed up again. I wonder if it’s due to the heat. One good thing has come out of this heat wave - Kaspar has learned to like water. I tried for months to give him water to drink, in a bottle, a sippy cup, plastic cup, anything… but had no success, whatsoever. The heat has given him a lesson, though. Yesterday he fell asleep sucking on his water bottle.

Last week we put out the little blow up pool out on the driveway for Kaspar. It was all good for a few hours, while he was in it, but you should have seen the tears as he was being taken out. The tears, the screaming! It was just like the time, when we were on the beach in Latvia and he was not allowed to play in the water any longer. As I was carrying my squirming, screaming child back to the towel, I remember lifting my head up and having my gaze meet the gaze of and older woman, who looked at me in total amazement and anger. I wonder what she was imagining I was doing to my kid? Here, in my own driveway, I’m only worried about my neighbours. At least I can explain myself to them! Within a few days, the pool became a sort of a stunt thing for Kaspar, and we had to take it down for his own safety. While he did learn, that he was not going to be allowed to soak in the pool every hour of every day, he began to lean over the edge (just to put his hand in for a bit) and came close to diving into the pool head first several times. So, now the pool is back in the box. And Kaspar only gets a little bucket of water. That usually ends up getting poured over his own head in no time at all. :-) He does love water. I'm looking into swimming lssons in my own neighbourhood.

I have to leave for work in just a few minutes. In some ways I would love to stay at home and spend the day doing nothing in the back yard, but today the enticement of an air conditioned office is making me very happy. Last night was hot. I had a hard time sleeping. Then the wind and lightning kept waking me up. I wonder if there was a tornadoe somewhere close by. Will have to listen to the news this morning....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

It's his birthday! Yes. Today is Kaspar's birthday. We did have a party yesterday - here are some pictures to prove it :-) The cake did not go down well. He was fascinated by it, but only by trying to shove all the icing and blueberries off the cake and onto the floor. Apparently that's what you do with a spoon. Taste test proved to be disastrous, because he simply spat the spoonful out. It's a miracle it did not land only the cake itself. Steve called, just as we were serving the cake and he got to sing happy birthday to Kaspar over the telephone. We had a fun day, which lasted well into the evening. Kaspar took a three hour nap and gave me a good break, but then he was ready to party again and we ended up calling it a night at 10:30pm.