Transl. “9 months: Soon an autonomous entity”

I’m turning 9 months old today, I realised I’m almost not a baby anymore so it’s time I took control of things. Here’s my plan.

Vertical Positioning
I’ve had enough of the floor. My one fixation is standing upright. I never played much sitting up, but I started playing on my knees (sitting on my ankles). I don’t really crawl on my hands and knees: I could do it – I can manage it when I’m fully clothed and I need to move over a rug or something – but I can tummy-crawl (pushing with the right leg only, still) pretty fast in my own home, so the other way just isn’t useful. I’ll climb on (or using) everything I can; that includes the patio-door glass, my baby-swing, or just plain doors). I’m smart enough not to have tried the walking thing yet – I’ll still need a touch of stability before I try that – but I can move sideways and sometimes from a piece of furniture to another (I sometimes make bad decisions on that last, but overall I’m doing ok).

Food Intake
I won’t let them feed me anymore. My own two hands are all the tools I need. Great variety of food these days, too. Lately I started getting toast, macaroni, brocoli, tomato, steak…! Favourites include mandarines snack cups (and sips of their juice from the cup, YUMMY!), multigrain crackers, avocado and others. Bananas have become a classic. Mama let me try 3.25% milk yesterday at dinner: sweet pickles, bring it on!! whyever didn’t I get to drink that before?!? It’s delicious! I was a little cranky and it cheered me right up!
The only thing I’ll still let them feed me is bottles. In fact, I take care to show absolutely no interest in holding my own bottle, even when mommy tries to teach me. It’s part of my plan, so mommy won’t know that I’ve become absolutely autonomous yet. I think she’s not ready to know.

Communication
I’ve good use of words “Miam, miam!” and “Mmmm!”, appropriately applying them to food I like. I’m a bit more sketchy on “Menoum, menoum”, but I have a go at it sometimes. I can manage “Mamam” and “neeeeun” (my version of “No”), though I’ve no practical application for those – mom seems to hope I would. I’ll sometimes try a soft “papa”, but never when dad’s around. I’ve picked up the consonants “T”, “D”, “B”. What else is there?

Energy Refill
I’m starting to try to sleep all night. It’s not easy, I’ll tell you. There’s always something going on (tough digestion, passing dreams, toothache, etc.). Sometimes mom gets it, other times she doesn’t and she figures I’m just being a little difficult in this matter. Still, she has faith in me, and that helps. Some nights I succeed, and we are hoping this will settle soon.

Potty training
… what, you thought that was serious? lol!

Personality
Things to recognize me by:

• When I’m happy, I raise my arms and flip my little fists in the air.
• When I’m really happy, I add a sound like a joyful cry, but breathing in, not out (not entirely unlike a drowning person who would get a lungful of air at last).
• I play cowboy attempting to climb high and over wobbly stuff, and indian by doing “wawawa” with the back of my hand over my mouth, and “babblebabble” with my fingers over my lips.
• I love the cats and the fish, it makes me happy to see them.
• Peek-a-boo is hilarious, and words like “miaow, miaow” and “tout doux” make me laugh.

Height: 30.5″ – Weight: 20.5 lbs

Bye now,
- Xavier

Thus inquired an add over a linked page from one of Frank’s social bookmarks site. I goggled at the flash banner and clicked. “Even if YOU don’t know what faith you are, Belief-O-Matic™ knows.” As a self-acknowledged agnostic, I just had to try this.

I was totally expecting a silly quizz – “settle the pesky question of your spirituality in 20 quick questions!!”… I mean the site has “Which ‘Lost’ character are you?” in the Soul Surveys category, for heaven’s sake (that’s a bad pun, I know) – but the test is not that bad, with many options for each answer and the possibility to indicate which questions/issues have more importance to you. It also gave me a chance to explore theology just a little, and find out the beliefs of a couple of religions through the links provided.

For those who want to try it out, the site is beliefnet.com and the quizz is Belief-O-Matic.

Apparently, I should be a Unitarian Universalist. From what they say about this faith, it can encompass pretty much everything, so I don’t mind so much. I’m bummed I didn’t score higher as a Taoist, they sound kinda cool. Although the most dismaying part is that I only scored 10% in common with Roman Catholics (it barely made the list), which is what I’m supposed to be. Alright, since you’re dying to know my score, I’ve added it below.

Have fun!

Your Results:

The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.

Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

How did the Belief-O-Matic do? Discuss your results on our message boards.

Click here to find out more!

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Secular Humanism (92%)
3. Neo-Pagan (92%)
4. Liberal Quakers (91%)
5. New Age (87%)
6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (78%)
7. Mahayana Buddhism (75%)
8. Scientology (72%)
9. Theravada Buddhism (70%)
10. New Thought (68%)
11. Taoism (68%)
12. Nontheist (64%)
13. Reform Judaism (61%)
14. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (54%)
15. Jainism (48%)
16. Orthodox Quaker (46%)
17. Sikhism (44%)
18. Hinduism (37%)
19. Bahá’í Faith (33%)
20. Orthodox Judaism (31%)
21. Islam (25%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (24%)
23. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (18%)
24. Seventh Day Adventist (17%)
25. Jehovah’s Witness (12%)
26. Eastern Orthodox (10%)
27. Roman Catholic (10%)

Here’s why mommy doesn’t film me – or even take pictures of me – as much these days.

- Xavier

As the grandson of two sailing lovers – mom’s parents are taking navigation lessons (my grandad used to be a sailman) and are hoping to buy a sailboat to take out to the sea in the next years – as their grandson, then, mom thought it was about time I saw a decent body of water. During today’s stroller ride, then, we walked down to the St.Lawrence river – the St.Pierre lake, in reality, which is a bay on the St.Lawrence, so let’s not split hairs.

About an hour and a half there and back, for the swish of waves, the glitter of the sun on the water and the river air. I thought it was pretty cool and thus raised my arms, flipped my hands, grinned and bent over my stroller’s cupholder to try to see everything.

Also, in response to (my auntie Karine’s) general request, new pictures of me have been added to my April album.

Bye bye!
- Xavier

It’s a stupid idea to attend an event in a pair of new shoes, or even shoes you just took back out for the season. Alright, it’s said. Now you can forget about the shoes, because I surely did.

We wanted to get to the Maquisart around 7pm and of course were late, so turned up about half an hour before showtime. The place was not packed yet, but I had planned to get a table (I’m lazy that way) and there were none left. No other option but to stand up, then. We met with a guy Frank used to play hockey with in high school who, it turns out, is a buddy of my brother! He was dragged there by his girlfriend (a situation not quite unlike Frank and mine’s) and both were amiable people, so we spent the night in their company. Josée, the girlfriend, was the type to gravitate towards the stage, so we ended up standing up front and center.

The first part was a girl called Pascale Picard from Quebec city. She sings in English, a fiesty little number, and she did a good job with her half-hour to warm up the room. Couldn’t figure out what she was talking about, but the music sure was rythmic enough to put us in a cheery mood.

In retrospect, I’m SO glad we ended up at the front! I think there was about three people between the singer and me, so I had a real good view of the show. David is a great performer. He’s not much of a chatter between songs – though I heard someone mention he was sick that night, probably the flu or something, so that surely could account for it – but he really moves with the music and had fun playing tricks on his musicians once and again (push one, pull another’s hair, etc… nothing really mean though). He came down into the crowd a couple of times, too, which was fun – especially when you’re amidst that crowd; I imagine the people at the tables couldn’t quite see or enjoy that part.

They did a good mix of songs from previous albums (including “Push” from when he was in Moist) and a couple from the new one. [I hadn't had a chance to hear it yet, as I couldn't get my hands on it before the show after all...!] We had fun singing and dancing. There was a time where all the band and singer went out, and nobody could figure out if the show was done or what, but I guess they expect an encore in any case, and my two DU show experiences now confirm that David’s encores are one of his strenghts. They came back for a couple of songs – I think it was then they did “St.Lawrence River”, which I love – David presented his musicians, thanked everyone and they went out again. THEN people started really cheering for them to come back, so they did again, and we got a CRAZY rendition of “Resurrection” (Moist), it was awesome!! Then another song or two – during the last of which he invited people to sit on the stage and sang a little way into the crowd, so there were people everywhere – and the show was done.

The other girlfriend wanted to wait for an autograph, and I thought that was a swell idea, so we purchased CDs and chatted while we waited in hope David Usher would come back out. I was just about to give up (it hadn’t been that long, but I was considering my brother and Cynthia waiting for us back at home) when our star of the evening showed up. We hadn’t brought the camera – I had thought about it then forgot – but I’m really happy I could get my CD autographed to have a keepsake of that night.

Thank you, David Usher. We really enjoyed the show.

PS. Oh, and for those wondering, it seems Xavier behaved really well during his parent-free time, and sank like a rock when it was time to sleep… couldn’t even be roused to drink more than two swallows of milk! Much thanks to our babysitters.

There’s a French saying that goes “after the rain, the good weather”. Yesterday was still a bit windy but ok, and today is… wow. Sunny with just enough wind.

I was able to vacuum/wash the floor this morning while Xavier was awake, which basically means that it entertained him (he loves chasing the vacuum and crawling over the tube) and that I was free to take a nap myself during his own later on. Then we had a late lunch and went out.

We would have gone for the usual walk around the neighbourhood, but my mom had suggested it was a nice day for raking the yard, and she was right. The baby safely ensconsed in his spring suit and stroller, then, I proceeded to do so. Xavier likes to watch us do stuff, as long as we’re moving (ie. sitting at the computer won’t cut it). He was enjoying sitting outside, then, and watching mommy move around the yard, brandishing a stick and blowing up bits of leaves and grass. As for me, I actually enjoy raking the lawn. It’s such a healthy exercice; good for the heart, good for the ground. I was able to go through the whole backyard before some crankiness started showing through Xavier’s smiles and babbling.

We went back in, both very thirsty. I had a good glass of water while the baby’s milk was warming up, and then Xavier downed his whole bottle in one go without a single protest (we had been having trouble with that). Yay. Then I had time to hop in the shower before dinnertime, which felt oh so good after the exercise. And it was really nice to play with Xavier afterwards, a little tired (but in a good way) and refreshed, on clean floors, with the spring air drifting in through the open windows.

We’ll have BBQ later on; my brother and Cynthia are coming to babysit this evening. After getting all this done today, I’ll fully deserve my outing tonight – David Usher show, yay!! An all around feel-good day.