The Adventures of the HRGCs: January 2012

All About "Blankie"

January 28, 2012

Finlay is going through something. He seems to be pretty prone to tantrums and moans about a lot of stuff. He knows what he wants and just can't seem to tell us what it is that he needs. It's heartbreaking and frustrating and funny (in a way). When he loses it, he will drop to the floor on his front, all sprawled out, screaming into the floor. It's kinda cute.

But, most of the time, it is easy to pick up the pieces and help him move on. If he is hurt, he loves the wind-chimes around the house to distract him/magically cure all boo-boos. If we ask him if he needs a drink or food and he screams louder it is usually part of the problem, so a drink and a snack will help him calm down. But best of all, he loves his "Blankie." If he is generally grumpy or sad (he has been teething pretty hard all month) then Blankie is the cure-all for little Fin. We try and limit Blankie-time to naps and bed, but on occasion he will need it and crawl to his room and pull it off of the crib.

Kyla and the kids at daycare know how much Finlay loves his Blankie. One of the other kids tried it out (Finlay made the blue blanket look so appealing) and Finlay was pretty upset! He only shares his Blankie with those he trusts and feels really close with, like Tyler and I. I caught him on video (see below) doing just that.

Finlay and his Blankie

Mama and her scarf with Finlay and his Blankie.

Blankie even makes his 4 new molars and 4 coming eye teeth feel better!

"Ah, Blankie... I love you!"

Video of Finlay and his "Blankie"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoCHgoyi3Pw

You Make Bath Time So Much Fun!

January 25, 2012

Being back at work, and with Finlay being in daycare, our mornings are hectic, our days are busy and spent apart, and our evenings we take really slowly just to absorb every minute with each other.

I pick Fin up from Kyla's and we drive the 5KMs home in downtown rush-hour singing and talking in the rear-view mirror. He really enjoys looking out the window these days. When we get home, we have a snack on our mat, play with toys, dance, listen to music, make and eat dinner, and have a bath.

We love bath time. At the end of dinner, Finlay begins to point in the direction of the bathroom and carefully places his remaining food in Tyler's hand (we have asked him to do this instead of throwing it all over the place). He squeals as he watches the tub fill. He tosses his toys into the tub. He talks and points at the tub and then at his belly (his sign for wanting something).

And then he is in.

So happy splashing and playing with his toys.

A little weirded-out by the presence of a camera.

Tyler has a game where he tosses the foam toys, which are supposed to stick to the shower wall, at the shower wall to see if he can get them to stick. Sometimes they stick, mostly they don't, but sometimes they bounce off of the wall and stick to Fin's back. Here is a picture of that accomplishment. Fin doesn't notice but in the picture he looks rather concerned.

Finlay likes to collect all of the toys and stick them to the wall. Here he is, in action, sticking the sting-ray-shaped foamy to the wall.

He stuck it to the whale!

He moved it over but, in the process, knocked down the shark! SHARK!!

Anyway, as you can see, this is very amusing... to him... and to us... maybe to you? If you've got this far you must find it at least a little interesting... and cute! I mean, just look at that bum!

Snow Day!

January 18, 2012

I love snow. I love the white blanket that envelopes the city and even though it's really cold you feel a sense of warmth. When I lived in Kingston, every winter morning I would awake to cars struggling as their cold metal engines were being defridgulated (defibrillated) back to life. I would hear the scraping of ice, the crunching of boots, and the barking of dogs. This morning I heard nothing. It was so quiet when we crept into the living room and beheld a winter wonderland. I love the silence of a snowy morning in Victoria. Maybe a car drives through the fresh layer and makes that distinct crunching noise but other than that it was silent.

The city basically shut down. There was no daycare, no school, no way I could push the stroller through the snow to the park. I worked from home and Finlay played inside. He really wanted to go outside. He was begging me during a phone interview I was on and as soon as I hung up I bundled him up, put on my LJs, and out we went. It was short-lived...

Smiling in the stroller. We are standing in the parking lot. The lot, the sidewalks, the streets, nothing was plowed. I'm not even sure if Victoria has any.

He had many layers under his Newt-Suit. I pushed and pulled and lifted the stroller for one block and then turned around.

I thought maybe we would play in the parking lot (none of the cars had moved all day) but he made a run (crawl) for the door right away.

Not really interested in the snow.

Here is Fin, on the front stoop, just waiting for me to open the door.

He kept pointing his mittened hands and moaning about the white stuff and the cold wind and wanting to go inside. He is a real islander; he hates the snow.

Wasn't as much fun as we thought.

See the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxYySbYBkZU&feature=youtu.be

Big Baby

January 14, 2012

It was a year ago that I posted this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxc4hhKqb-k

Finlay smiles a lot more at 13 months old. It seems like he sleeps a lot more too. Now that Finlay is in daycare, all Tyler and I want to do when we are home is play with him. But, it seems like we wake up, get ready, go to work/daycare, come home, play for 30 minutes, and then have dinner and put Fin to bed. It's a big adjustment for everyone. I miss him like crazy all day while I am at work. Then, I miss him when we put him down at night and I kind of want him to wake up and play.

Today, we went for a swim at the Y and before we got home the little man was asleep. I carried him upstairs and into the apartment and he looked around and then closed his eyes again. I lay him down on the bed to take off his shoes and vest and hat and he kept on sleeping. I can't remember the last time we had a successful transfer from the stroller to the crib. We were planning on giving him lunch. I got the camera and took a couple of photos of his-cuteness before we put him into the crib. That was nearly three hours ago. He must have been tired. I even showered, napped, had lunch, tidied-up a bit, now I'm writing the blog, this is insane!

Sleeping beauty.

So yeah, daycare is going well, I guess.

Fin didn't cry when Tyler dropped him off on Thursday and he didn't cry when I picked him up that afternoon. All the other kids give him hugs and say big hellos and see-ya-laters and they get him his drink or a toy or a book. Kyla, the caregiver, thinks he is the cutest and loves his gentle and thoughtful personality. He is playing peek-a-boo and dancing and talking up a storm with her now. It only took a few days for him to adjust.

Finlay seems to enjoy the bike-ride to daycare in the morning. The first day he and Tyler made the trek he was cooing at the moon (it was full and really big) and just gleeful at every stop-light. He also gets excited when I put him in the car at pick-up where he used to get upset about it.

But there are other changes - he is more interested in playing independently. Also, he started really liking playing with cars and he rolls them around like a big kid. He seems to be picking these things up from daycare.

So we don't quite have a toddler, as he isn't walking, but we are far from a baby... What we have is a big baby. And the best big baby at that.

First Bicycle

January 2, 2012

Well the new year has officially begun and there are a lot of changes happening in the Harvey-Grant-Roach home. Finlay is going to be heading off to day care this week and Lyndze is back to work at the Y. I recently purchased a new bicycle from MEC and Finlay and I will are going to be commuting to daycare on our new bicycle together. This past weekend we attached a new baby seat to the bike and took Finlay for his first bicycle ride. There were not tears but he was a little unsure as to what was going on. Finlay loves riding in the grocery carts when we are out shopping so I don't think this will be too much different.