Transl. “In a few words (10 months already!)”

The older he gets, the faster Xavier develops, so much so that it is becoming tempting to abandon archiving each one of the new aptitudes he acquires each month. I can’t detail his progress anymore, then, but to concentrate on generalities (!) and what was important/striking in May…

In movement
Our little man is now doing pretty much as he pleases. He can alternate from a position to the other – sitting, standing, on his belly – with the agility of a little monkey and move to where he would like in the house (let’s say : in rooms his parents let him access, which excludes, among others, the stairs). He’s completing slowly his transition to crawling on all fours as opposed to on his tummy. His stability has also greatly improved during the last month, which means he’s able to, once standing up, move from a piece of furniture to the next, lower down to the floor without problem and even, more and more often in the last few days, stay standing for a couple of moments without leaning on furniture, or “walk” behind his toy-walker. But the best part is that he has learned the art of falling with the least amount of contusions. First steps forthcoming!

In dreamland
As for sleep, it varies. He can sometimes sleep the night through, or he can sometimes wake up 3 to 4 times a night. We’ll suspect teeth, cold, indigestion, etc., and other times we’ll tell ourselves he’s being difficult. His parents live the situation in different fashions: mom is now an old friend of little nocturnal escapades down the corridor and survives on what sleep she gets, and dad… sleeps like a log. (It would still be tolerable if he wouldn’t complain of sleep loss on top of things!) At least there are no night feedings anymore, and these crying interludes are quick (usually).

In conversation
Xavier had started to “chatter” a lot for a while, short two syllables words (”tudaï!”, “goya”, “aïdaï”) but, for the last week or two, has been less communicative. It will come back… He started playing with his tongue, however, taking it out to make funny sort of faces.

In the high chair
He is starting to eat more and more like us and sometimes even shares our food. He still loves to eat with his hands – and is gaining precision – but restarted to let us feed him with a spoon (which can be useful, especially when eating at other people’s place!). He takes 4 bottles of 6oz per day and has almost switched completely to 3.25% milk. He’s able to hold his own bottle, but is in the habit of playing with it a lot and not drink a lot – and send milk flying everywhere – so his mommy is a little reluctant to let him have it.

In character
Usually in good spirits, still Xavier started displaying some character and will get upset – read: scream really loud – when things are not going according to his will; if, by example, we take back an object he was able to snatch or prevent him from crawling down the stairs. I have then adopted to ignoring these little tantrums while administering a hug and explanations about why he cannot do this or that thing. He does not understand yet, but I think he can perceive the quiet tone and hope he will realise eventually that getting angry will not get him back his new “toy”. I’m also using the word “No” firmly with a dissuading tone to indicate forbidden items; it doesn’t work perfectly yet, but he seems to understand a little, somewhat. The beginning of disciplin, then.

In love
Xavier loves books, watching out the window and the fishtank, ride on his daddy’s shoulders, try the swings at the park, empty containers full of small objects (blocks, etc.) over his head, play peek-a-boo and chase his parents around the kitchen island. Oh, and our little genius understood tonight how his funnel-toy works – it’s a toy he has where the top part is a funnel for rattle-balls which start a tune when they fall, and the toy redistributes the balls at its base. [Author note: Tiny Love toys are great.] Xavier was interested by the process: he was taking a ball from the base, dropping it in the funnel and trying to see where it disappeared to!

In technicalities
Height: 30.5″ (erm… not sure: he was wriggling a lot) - Weight: 21 lbs

Hum. I’m always telling myself I’ll make these archives posts as short as possible… I’m making an effort, I swear. :}

Transl. “Swings and sunscreen”

Skipped a couple of great days and activities lately, notably my first Mother’s day – which was great and involved one dinner and two brunches, the gift of a new blanket by Frank and Xavier’s welcome cooperation at the restaurant – Ge and me going to see Shrek III – nice movie, Shrek babies are so cute! – and Ge’s and my trip to Québec city for the third Mommies-babies lunch on Monday – good weather, good hosting by Anne-Marie and good company for an afternoon of baby chatting. I’m making up with pictures and video.

One of the first hot days of the season today, so Xavier and I went playing out and strolled to the park where are the swings. I took care to apply sunblock on his soft skin and made him wear his sunhat. I, well… I pushed aside my sunglasses and put on my new sandals (for the second time, over the first time’s fresh welts), my capris and my neck-tied cami that exposes the most skin – which is stupid, since I have vitiligo. Alas, it seems the increased vulnerability to sunburn and skin cancer does not surpass my will to start the summer with an even tan. [Note: After writing this I did some additionnal research on vitiligo, and found there are different views on its role in cancer risks, some articles even suggesting people with the condition would be less likely to get skin cancer.]

Two summers ago, on our trip to Boston, we spent an afternoon at the beach in Ipswich under a blazing sun. I passed on Frank’s offer to apply sunscreen to my back and proceeded to do it myself instead. If I remember correctly, the dark tan marks of my finger’s outlines were still showing at Christmas.

Today – except for an incident involving carrot puree and the blender – was mostly fun, one of these days when it’s good to be on maternity leave. To prove it, here’s a 15 seconds video of Xavier in the swings (faint of heart, beware of motion sickness!):

For those who don’t feel like video, I also put up some stills in the album (and many other new pictures, including Mother’s day and Romane and Xavier in the car on our trip to Québec city on Monday). The park offers a superb background, and the pictures turned out great:

A good summer to all!

The alarm clock wakes me up at 6:32. In the shower, the water gushes in a steady warm flow. The toaster is set to 4, so the bread gets crispy but not stiff. The fridge offers orange juice kept at 36 degrees F. Plate and glass go in the dishwasher, set with options normal cycle-extra rinse-heat dry.

From the morning show on tv, I know of traffic issues in advance and learn potential alternate commutes. I start the car; the dashboard lights up – ready to inform about anything amiss – and the stereo automatically begins playing music to my liking. En route, traffic lights keep travelers agreeing and, once on the highway, the activated cruise-control frees me of worrying about keeping a steady speed. 12 minutes later I enter the company parking lot: a snowplough service has already removed the effects of last night’s storm and cleared my spot.

Work begins at 8h. An ergonomical chair prevents any strain on my back, and the screen on my desk pinpoints reminders, tasks and meetings. The office’s temperature is regulated by the dual action of a heating system and air conditioning, so that weather does not affect work. If a glare should appear on the screen, I can shut the blinds to continue working comfortably. I meet a client at 10:00, during which time the phone’s ring is muted, and voicemail picks up my messages. Lunch hour starts at 12h – voicemail is activated again while I consumate food reheated for one minute and 52 seconds at intensity 7 in the microwave. The courrier guy comes around at 16h to pick up a registered package bound for a city in another province. It will reach its destination at 10h the next day; should it get lost, the warranty will replace it.

I get in the car again at 17h02. I stop at the store on the way home, where I get my pick from a dizzying array of food on display. I get annoyed there’s no avocado in stock. Back at home, a machine chops the food for me, and it is cooked at 375 degrees for 18 minutes exactly, after which delay the timer goes off.

I eat in the living room, remote control in hand, zapping through a sea of 500 tv channels until I settle on a travel show uncovering the beauty of a country half a world away. Later on, my laptop and the internet allow me to complete some banking operations, plan an outing for the weekend and receive news from faraway friends, all this while remaining ensconced in the sofa.

I switch off the light, slip in bed and lie back on a mattress designed to suit my bodysize and preferred sleeping positions. The fridge’s hum bothers the quiet of the otherwise silent house. I wonder if there existed a gizmo to control sleep.

Found this little series of videos on YouTube yesterday, called “Hi, I’m a Marvel… and I’m a DC.” (a parody of Apple’s Mac/PC commercials). I thought they were hilarious – well it was late evening, what can I say, but I still think they’re pretty funny this morning, in any case.

Check the link above for the whole series, but the funniest one, to me, was #3 :

Notice to Xavier fans looking to renew their desktop wallpaper (*cough* aunt Karine *cough*): many new pictures added to his May album. It was really hot out yesterday; I took Xavier to the St.Pierre lake to see his grandparentsat work, and many pictures were snapped. The first of the series is the one below – the rest follows using the “next” links. Enjoy!

A little splash of water to quench this drought of posts.

We like having fish, we’re just not really good fishkeepers. Credit goes to Frank for feeding the bity things everyday, but cleaning the aquarium is a spring-cleaning sort of thing around here, not a weekly or even monthly habit – well alright, maybe we do it twice a year…

Thus, to pat ourselves on the back, we like to acquire new inhabitants when we’ve freshened our water-filled micro-environment (and to replace the deceased).

Our fishtank is 29 gallon freshwater. Here it is cleaned up and redecorated:

Its dean is a really resistant pleco (window cleaner fish) that’s about… I’d say around 25 cm now.

There’s another small cleaner fish, but it never really grew. We’re actually surprised it made it for so long.

Apart from the cleaning team, our aquarium is housing african cichlids. These fish are interesting as they can be more lively than other types, and over time they get big enough (depending on tank size) and will sport nice colours and stripes. However, they can be somewhat aggressive and territorial towards other types of fish – cleaner fish are ok, but other kinds are NOT safe – and it is best not to mix them.

After last cleanup, we donated the big goldfish we had been keeping since we moved, and acquired 5 cichlids. The first to go down actually didn’t last long, but it was sort of small and we expected some losses at first. I think the albinos was the next to go, though we never did find the body. Then something funny happened : the biggest of the bunch started being picked on by orange one, and finally turned belly-up. That left the orange cichlid, and another striped one, so the orange started bullying its younger counterpart into a corner behind the floor-filter pump.

A discussion with the knowledgeable pet store guy – seriously, silly name aside, the “Wouf Miaou” pet store in town is THE place for fish lovers – revealed that what we have here is the serial killer of cichlids. The guy says that particular type of fish was causing so much trouble they stopped selling it (we’d bought that one elsewhere). Best solution – short of getting rid of that bad boy, which is plan B if he acts up again – is to add at least 2 new fish to even odds, and big enough so they have a fighting chance.

The introduction now done, I give you: the cichlids.

Our very own serial killer (pretty, isn’t he?). You’d never guess such a cheery-coloured set of scales is dressing up such foul behaviour:

The survivor – he actually seems to feel better now that his orange friend has to divide his attentions in three:

The new guy. This one will be SO pretty once his blue colour is in full regalia! Now if he could only hang out in the light…

The other new guy. He’ll have a pretty yellow crest in a while, I think. Too bad he took up residence in front of the black portion of the background. The orange one actually seemed to be flirting with him when we put him in (!?!)

That’s it for the daytime drama of our water friends. I’ll try posting if there is further development to the liquid territory war.