Noman

Dear Avril,

I don't expect you have any idea what christmas is about, but you love the decorations! You helped mom and dad put up the tree – handing us the branches out of the box and everytime you come downstairs you can't help but go over to it and stare at all the ornaments, naming each one. “Angel...Snowman (Noman)...Bear...Bambi” Yes, you think Rudoph is Bambi, as they are both deers. It's too cute to correct, but you are getting the idea of reindeer and how they are different. Dinnertime is getting challenging with you – you don't seem to ever want to get into your chair or eat anything at supper! Breakfast and Lunch are usually OK, but something happens in the evening and you don't want to eat! I think mom coming home is just too exiciting and you want to be doing other things instead of getting strapped into your chair!

Speaking of the season – you love the snow! I took you out in your sled on a cold sunday morning walking cooper and we went all around in the park and you had such fun! You always want to munch handfuls of snow!

Today at swimming we played the usual games “See the sleeping fishies unil it's nearly noon....Wake up little fishies and swim swim swim!” and you said hi to your swimming friend Travis. You're jumping off the ladder and into my arms from the side. I think you're almost ready to jump in off the side by yourself, but i'd like to see you get a bit more distance before i let you do it by yourself.

You're stringing together lots of sentences now “Look Daddy! Glasses hanging over there!” language seems to be a gift for you. You surprised me today with a word i didn't know you knew 'sailboat' – i was wearing my Pirate Bay sweatshirt and you astutely named the ship! You can sing quite a few songs – you almost know “Ring around the Rosy” - even 'pocketful'!

Don't Eat That Yellow Snow!

Dear Avril,

Today was the first snowfall of winter! you saw snow last year, but were much too young to appreciate it. You had a blast in your snowsuit and boots playing in the snow, but learned a hard lesson. i put your mittens on, but you wanted them off and kept putting your hands in the snow until your poor little hands got so cold you cried and cried. i think you were probably overtired too, as you didn't want to eat your supper after that.

Happy Ween!

I also forgot to talk about Hallowe'en before - you really liked dressing up, especially in your paul frank sock monkey costume 'mommy, tail!' your mom took you around trick or treating while i handed out candy. we let you have a bit of it, but not too much :)

Lookit Daddy! Look Daddy!

Dear Avril,

Today was the first day you excitedly ran from another room to show me something, exclaming 'Lookit Daddy! Look Daddy!"... not the last time for sure! You had found 3 blocks!

At mealtimes you're getting quite fussy, saying "Yesno" to anything we offer you. Getting you to eat anything but pasta and blueberries is getting challenging. Last week you said 'berries' and so i gave you some raspberries (you had already had blueberries for breakfast) and they ended up on the wall!

At swimming today you had a really good time and didn't want to get out, even though we were both shivering and it was time to go. You made friends with the little boy that always comes with his mom - 'travis' - you smiled so sweetly when he said 'hi avril'. You are really fast in the water now and can cross from one side of the family swim area to the other very quickly. You also are getting good at jumping in off of the ladder. We played 'ring around the roses' and 'sleeping bunnies' and of course your favourite 'pour water on daddy's head from a bucket', which always gets you giggling.

Today was quite chilly and you were very excited to wear your new snowsuit and boots, which kept you quite warm while we were running today. I wanted to make sure you were nice and toasty, because the week before I had you in your parka with rainpants, hat and mittens, and about 10 minutes from home you said sadly 'daddy, cold.'

Chepup

Dear Avril,

You are getting quite the sense of humour. You love to be tickled, fly around the room and to laugh. You already know how to count to 10 and mommy is teaching you the days of the week. your favourite food right now is pasta, especially kraft dinner with 'chepup' (much to your mother's chagrin) which is what you call ketchup. You still have a bit of a cough, but you are starting to get over the cold it seems like you've had for over a month! We are back swimming and you love the duckies and boats and noodles they have for kids to play with. This week was a little crowded and unfortunately the early years program 'gym time', with all of the balls and gym mats is only on fridays so we can't do that after swimming anymore as the hospital changed my schedule. The last week you've started spinning around and around and around and shaking your head back and forth - it's amazing to see you begin to explore yourself and your environment. the sweetest thing you do now is you can say 'love you'. i'll put you down for your nap with your 'blankie' and your 'piwow' and after i say 'naptime boo, love you' you pop your sucker out and repeat it back - it's one of the most heart melting things in the world.

We took you to the grape and wine parade this weekend and you loved it! your favourite was a samba band called 'samba squad' at the end... as soon as you heard that beat you started bopping in your stroller!

i don't know how you knew the word, but when we were in shopper's drug mart buying mommy a birthday present, you looked over at the hallowe'en display and said 'pumpkins!'. you really seem to have a gift for language and love to express yourself, especially when you are happy. 'do you want juice?' 'yeah!!!!!!!!! yes i do i do i do i do i do i do!" You had ice cream cake for the first time on mommy's birthday and you loved it - "more!!!pleeeeeeeeeeease!"

dad was sick at home taking care of you today. i closed my eyes for a minute while you were watching yo gabba gabba and i heard you say 'water...water' i thought there was something on tv that you were seeing... turns out that you had grabbed my glass of water off the desk and were walking around with it. you came right over to me and promptly poured it all over me! you rascal!!!

daddy! daddy! daddy!

Dear Avril,

It's been a long time since i've written, and that's because you've been keeping us so busy!

Today we took you for your first eye appointment at McMaster Children's hospital. The orthoptist didn't seem to worried about your eyes, telling us that it's not affecting your vision, and to keep an eye on it while we wait for the appointment with the doctor. Wait and see.

It was the first weekend for us that we left you in the care of others - we went to Penny and Glen's wedding in Barrie. We had a really great time, but missed you so much! You had an "awesome" time with auntie and jerome (they taught you to say awesome), who took you to the wine festival. you were totally wired and wouldn't nap, so that when i sang to you (your favourite, which you always ask for is puff the magic dragon), you barely made it through one song before your eyes started to close and were out cold for a solid 13 hours!

You are really enjoying 'shows' - you especially get excited about Diego "DIEGO-GO!!" and Max and Ruby. You also love walking up to the laptop and requesting "Elmo" although i must admit the elmo song is getting a bit tired.

I've gone from being 'Dada' to 'Daddy', a by-product of returning to daycare, where older ashley greets everyone who comes to the door shouting "daddy!daddy!daddy!". You picked up on this immediately and sweetly did the same for me with a huge smile on your face the first time i picked you up. it was 'awesome' :)

You really miss swimming "shwimmin'" at auntie sharon's, so i'm going to try to take you every week swimming on mondays. it's great because right after family swim is gym time with the other kids. it's a bit chaotic with everyone running top speed in all directions shouting, but you totally love it. a few collisions here and there, but no harm done.

Your mom took you for your first haircut this month! a lot of kids cry, but you took it totally in stride as your bangs were trimmed and got a sucker for being so good!

exotropia

Dear Avril,

Your mom and I are a little concerned about your eyes lately - you seem to have a lazy eye, or what is called exotropia. I've only ever seen you do it when you're drinking your juice, or when you're not looking at anything in particular. I think this is what they call 'intermittent', and perhaps not warranting treatment, but i had bad dreams all night long that the problem progressed and affected your life in a real way. worst case: it gets worse and needs surgery. best case: small chance it'll go away on its own. probable case: we have to fight with you to patch your eye before you start school and it slows your learning down. needless to say i'm feeling stressed. i sort of half-joked about future problems with your eyes when you were born given your mom's side of the family all having horrible eyesight, but i didn't imagine this... what's worse than the problem itself is that we have to wait 6 months to see a specialist. oh, well, time will tell.

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

Dear Avril,

'Auntie' Sharon took you to the zoo this week and you absolutely loved it! you came back talking about the 'monkeys' and 'goats' and even said 'animals'. Wish i could have been there to see you playing in the splash pool. I've been taking you out walking around in the park and in the front yard quite a lot (when it isn't raining, which it seems like it's doing all the time lately), and you love to pick the flowers and carry them into the house. Your mom is getting a bit concerned about your eyes - you tend to unfocus them and they go in opposite directions when you're drinking milk or juice. i don't think it's that unusual, since most of the time your eyes focus normally, but mom wants to take you to the doctor as a precaution. Hopefully it's nothing...

Coke

Dear Av,

you are a total sponge! today we learned Jump-Jump-Jump-Jumpy!!!! from Yo Gabba Gabba, and you totally love it! You pointed to my can of pop and said 'Milk', until i corrected you with 'Coke', which you repeated right back. You had a really good day today, except for me getting you a bit early - you seemed disappointed that you couldn't go swimming. you and ethan and mazlyn were so cute all lined up along the fence doing that little dance of excitement and impatience waiting to get into the pool. i'm feeling less comfortable leaving you there now and i worry about this situation constantly, but i guess we have no choice right now.

love you

Dear Av,

Or should i call you Adv, for 'adventurous'! you are so brave and so capable of encountering and conquering your environments! You made the change to the new daycare situation without even blinking, and have quickly come to love being at "auntie sharon's" although i don't think your mom is too impressed that you've taken to occasionally calling her 'mom'. you love to climb the slide, swim with your water wings (without anyone hodling on!) and love 'yellow', which is your word for crayons and pens. your vocabulary is well over 60 words now, and growing every day. you brought tears to mom and dad's eyes when you said your first 'love you' this week. so beautiful. The last few days i've been a bit worried about you - you seem a little out of sorts - you're finding it difficult to go to sleep and mealtimes haven't been the most fun. Maybe it's teeth, maybe it's just you growing. You also haven't been napping well during the day so it might be that too. I really enjoyed having 2 weeks holidays to spend with you, taking you to the park, shopping, running and walking the dog... back to work now, missing our time together, but looking forward to your smiling face when i pick you up from daycare in the afternoon!

EEEEE OOOOO

Dear Avril,

Thank you for the wonderful Father's Day presents. The drawing on the card, the collected stones and shells, the car craft and the handprint will all go in my treasury of things you made. It was great to have a whole weekend with you after I missed you so much when I was in Baltimore. The daycare is wonderful though and sent some photos of you which cheered me up - I've never been gone from you so long before! Your grandpa 'Papa' and Grandma were visiting this weekend for Auntie's convocation. You were so good at the ceremony, everyone around was charmed by you pointing to photos and saying 'baby'. You eventually got a bit squirmy, but had a little nap while everyone applauded. You've been learning words like crazy. You were playing in the dirt in the backyard and I only had to say 'dirt' 4 or 5 times and you got it. Likewise with Papa, that seemed to come natural. I think 'meow', 'eyes' are the newest. You love to make the firetruck noise and hop back and forth from foot to foot in a little jig 'eeee oooo, eeee oooo'. It's very cute. You loved playing in the backyard this weekend, although you got a couple of scrapes on your legs, but it didn't seem to bother you.

doggiedoggiedoggiedoggiedoggie

Dear Avril,

Your vocab is growing and growing every week - you baffle me with the speed at which you pick things up. This last week you learned teeth and car. it's getting so that i won't be able to keep track of this kind of thing anymore. Bath times were a bit rough for a while - you screamed like a banshee when placed in the tub - not sure if that was left over from when you had your bad diaper rash, but you seem to have gotten over than and love bath time again! you love diving down onto your belly and today you marveled at your boats, picking each one up and emptying the ballasts of their water. not sure how seaworthy the boats are but you loved learning the dynamics of the boats filling up with water and then returning the water to the tub! when i asked you 'done?' you definitively said 'done!' and pulled the plug! what an amazing creature you are! I took you for our first shopping trip together to buy shoes - Winnie the Pooh shoes, size 4. You LOVE pulling the velcro straps and chewing on them! I couldn't keep them on your feet the first few days and putting them back on was kinda gross what with the slobbery straps. We visited your granduncle Jim and grandaunt Johanne, and you got to see your great-grandparents again. You had a really good time, and you especially loved max, who you followed around saying 'doggiedoggiedoggiedoggiedoggie' (your favourite word - it's often your first word or last word of the day), which charmed everyone. I'm going to miss you and your mom in Baltimore next week :(

A Change

Dear Avril,

Well, you had quite a cranky spell this month which we think is related to teething, but we're not sure (i was relieved to hear that the doctor said it wasn't something contagious like chicken pox). you lost your appetite, had a bad rash all over your body and generally were listless and crabby. Thank goodness that didn't last very long; you were back to your cheerful self after a couple of days and now have 8 teeth! Your vocabulary is growing rapidly too (your favourite words are 'shoe', 'doggie' and 'coat' right now), and this week you learned 'tree' and 'key'. Your mom's hard work paid off and we believe we've found a very good person to take care of you - you seemed to really like the play room and weren't afraid of Rose or her children at all. You'll probably miss Karen and your friends after she moves and you make the switch, but there will be new friends to make and new adventures to have.

Avril in April

Dear Avril,

Well the month of your namesake has been a month of great development for you. You got to visit the park for the first time and you loved the wide open space, running until you found an interesting stick or some mud to play with. You loved swinging on the swings, leaning into the momentum, fearless and joyful, giggling the whole time. You've also learned a couple of new words "gogour" = yogurt, "baow" = ball and "nana" = banana and you grin and rock back and forth with excitement when you say your word and we give you a spoonful of yogurt or a piece of banana; i love that you're getting notion of spoken communication. You absolutely love reading books, smiling from ear to ear as you run up to me with your favourites, and reach up into my arms eagerly to turn the pages. You've also started some acrobatics, climbing up onto chairs to reach the third shelf of the bookshelves. Just when we got comfortable with the house 'baby-proofed', you grow and change beyond the boundaries. I love it though, keep growing, keep changing, keep surprising us.

The kindness of strangers

Dear Avril,

Your dad had quite the winter of illness. Those with more experience than I have tell me to expect more of the same with you in daycare and then school :)

We had a little adventure together this weekend. We went back home to Cornwall for your great-great-great Aunt Edna's funeral. You actually met her this summer and she was just delighted by you. Her 92-year old arms couldn't hold you for long, but she just loved you. Your grandmother tells me that when she passed she had this photo on her mirror.


On the way, we stopped for a bite of lunch, and the rest stop we happened upon was quite bustling you were quite distracted by all the people so i was feeding you by hand like i used to before you became independent and wanted to feed yourself. A man walked up and said, "Excuse me, but I was watching you feed your daughter - I'm a father myself and my daughters are 12 and 15 - and I noticed you having fun and enjoying yourself as a dad. I just wanted to say that keep on enjoying every minute, because it'll pay you back for the rest of your life." I almost teared up as I smiled and thanked him and wished him a safe travel. Made my year.

You got to meet a lot of your relatives that I haven't seen in quite some time, mostly 3rd cousins and great-great-uncles. You had a ball in the viewing room, of course oblivious to the urn and photo at the front of the room, running around smiling at everyone, playing peek-a-boo with your great-Aunt Joce and cuddling with your great-Aunt Ben. Unfortunately, later that night I got very sick and we had to leave before the funeral. You were quite cranky with me on the way home - no wonder, cooped up in a car for 6 hours two days in a row. You were so happy to see your mom when we got back that you wouldn't let go of her, you just wanted to cuddle and cuddle.

Dear Avril,

Today Mom tried you in your first pair of hard-soled shoes. You didn't like it. After weeks of cruising around and dancing the old soft-shoe like Mr. Bojangles, the clumpy lumps on the end of your feet just didn't seem right, apparently... we'll try again later...

when irish eyes are smiling

dad what are you doing over there?
Originally uploaded by dentarthurdent

Dear Av,

You are constantly making us laugh with everything you do - I look forward all night long to coming home and hearing you say DAAAAAAA! Your favourite words right now are dada, mama, and tickle. 'golly-golly-golly gum' seems to have fallen out of your vocab, whatever it used to mean. Today was the first day i saw you running on your own - usually you have an iron-grip on my fingers as we run down the hall, but today you took your first mini-sprint, followed by a little tumble. You're a pretty tough little thing too, you only cry when you crack your head against something (other than when you're not getting our attention). You love to play in the recycling bin (we've recently had to move it because of all the cans in there). Your other favourite kitchen toy is Kraft Dinner boxes, which you shake while you shout aaaaaah! Mealtimes are great fun too. You love blueberries and pineapples, the slices of which you stuff into your mouth as fast as you can. you hate carrots, but i think mom has found a way to get you to eat them - hidden inside muffins!

Dear Av,

I'm going to try to write a little weekly note to you Av, to let you know how much i love and cherish you as you grow. Out on my run today i saw a little girl pulling her wagon along; i felt a little jolt when i thought that you will be doing this soon - time has really flown by over the last year! The next block a driver's ed vehicle passed and a pretty girl flicked her bangs out of her eyes with insouciance as she confidently accelerated away from the stop sign. Another pang; before i know it this will be you and you'll be making strides to make your own way in the world. For the time being though, you're my little Avril-Boo.