Paige's summer wardrobe on the line...

In case you're wondering about what Paige is doing for the environment after all this travel back and forth....well, we have bought a clothesline that we are using to dry her clothes outside. Until recently in Ontario, outdoor clotheslines were illegal (for aesthetic reasons). As far as the eye can see (and we can see a ton of houses from our backyard), we are the only house with one, but I was inspired by the David Suzuki commercials that we have here in Ontario. I have dried other clothes out there, but our yard isn't really big enough to have anything industrial in order to dry a ton of stuff at once. We sort of have to rotate, but I am amazed at how quickly things dry, making it easy to just get things in and out. I can't do everything out there...ie underwear (embarrassing) and towels (they get really stiff), but I only need to put in one dryer load. Every bit helps.
This picture is just random but I thought it was hilarious. Paige continues to walk all over the place, never crawling. Later today I will try to post a video.

Cottage Season

Life is good. We have just started our non-stop cottage/outing extravaganza. We'll/I'll be going up North every weekend now until July 5. On the weekend of the 5th ,we have Andrea's wedding followed by Paige's birthday party on the 6th. Then, the following weekend is our cruise, and then we resume cottaging again till who knows when.




This weekend was great but there was a scary storm on Friday night. The weather was better the rest of the time, but the bugs were out of control causing us to stay inside most of the time. Apparently it wasn't as bad on the dock, but I didn't want to take the chance that Paige could get eaten alive. She managed to have one chunk taken out of her ear by a black fly, but that was it. Luckily we have a screened in porch so you can still get the warm breeze and feel like you're outside, but not have to worry about the bugs. The ones that did make it inside when the door was opened met their fate with "the executioner"

Here you can see them on the screen trying to get in.

We left around 1:00 on sunday, but it still made for a nice father's day as the 2 dads got to do a bit of fishing.

We took Paige for a spin in the boat with her little life jacket on. She was NOT happy! I don't have the picture of that yet, I'll post it later. I love this picture of her in the old fashioned bathtub.

walking continued...

On Friday we went to "Amy's" house for a dip in the inflatable pool. After peeing on Amy's carpet while in her bathing suit, I think Paige sat in the pool for about an hour. The weather was so, so, so hot that I don't blame her. I wanted to get right in there too. It was one of those, "ahh, this is the life" moments as we chilled out in the backyard.

Paige is basically walking most of the time now. She has figured out how to stand up in the middle of the room. So, if she falls while walking, she just stands up and keeps walking. A few days ago, she would have crawled if she had fallen.

She is making faster progress than I thought she would considering she only started walking 2 weeks ago. I thought it would have taken longer to get to this stage. I have even seen her walking in her crib. I would say she would be running soon, but she is probably too short.

pushing along..

I had to take this picture.. You know how Paige likes to pick stuff up and push it along in her walker? Well yesterday I caught her pushing around "Night at the Roxbury" which for some reason struck me as hilarious! It might have been because I had a fit of the giggles at Gymboree. It all had to do with the parachute at the end of the class. It usually starts with the babies sitting in the middle of the parachute as the adults walk in a circle so the babies get a little ride. Then, we take them off, pick the parachute up, sit underneath it and put the edge under our bums so that we are all under a dome. Then, we leave the babies on the mat while we raise the parachute up and down over them. Finally, we let go of the parachute as the instructor whips it off in one motion. So... I'm not sure if there were new people there or what, but everything went wrong. First, as we were taking the babies off the chute to go underneath it, everyone was off except katharine as the parachute was being lifted. We had visions of her being trapped on top of the dome. Then, there was a lot of comotion trying to get the parachute under our bums, as some people were over eager and had already sat down before other people were close to being ready. But the worst part was when she whipped the chute off at the end, i think a few people let go a bit late and it sort of enveloped me and there was parachute everywhere and my hair ended up sticking up all over the place. Could not stop laughing.
I have noticed that Paige likes to copy other babies. Clara was putting this antannae in her mouth so Paige had to come over and do the same thing even though she has never done this before.

DiaperFit photos as promised!

Finally we brought cameras to diaperfit....it is ending for the summer at the end of June, so we felt we had to bring the cameras before it was too late! Who knows if the girls will be up for the class when it resumes in September since they will be quite a bit more active and mobile. I once witnessed a boy who spent the entire class trying to escape from the fish since he was old enough to be running on the deck. This is what the little "contraption" looks like that the babies sit in.

A trip to the farm...

On Saturday we went to Springridge Farm. Paige got to see chickens, goats, bunnies, a turkey, and a peacock. We also paid $3 for her to go on a pony ride. There were 2 loops in the ride and she started getting a bit fidgety on the final lap. I think in the second pony ride picture Mike is taking her off.

Yesterday was Clara's birthday party and we forgot the camera at home! Too bad because Clara looked way too cute in her party dress.

Summer days...

I thought that while the weather was really warm we'd try the new splash pad that I bought for Paige. The water was soooo cold that came out of it that she would really only feel it, but when I put her feet in it she wasn't so sure about it.

I was also able to dress Paige in one of her summer dresses. Now that she can walk, it was easier for her to wear a dress. In fact it probably made her want to walk more since crawling is hard in a dress!

You can see Paige's new toy in that picture. It is her "little people barn". She reaaallly likes it. What a great purchase. She knows that the animals are all part of the set and one by one she chucks them in the top of that silo. I find that so amazing. This is one of the first toys she has which we can play with together, and I had showed her how you can put the animals in the silo. Then, what do you know? She is doing it herself. I know that doesn't sound that exciting, but it shows a lot of skill I think. I just love how she tries to shove them in and they don't fit, so she keeps trying. Next, she'll be shape sorting!

(strange how Paige's hair photographs red....I think it is my camera, because it doesn't look like that in real life)

I've noticed she is becoming more interactive with strangers. She doesn't always become shy when people talk to her. I find if strangers don't come right up in her face, she might just talk to them. At the grocery store yesterday she repeatedly said hi to the lady at the till. Then when the lady waved and said bye bye, Paige did too!

We're walking!

The day we thought would come for the last month has finally arrived. On Saturday, Paige started to walk on her own. She was standing at the bookshelf when suddenly she took 8 or 9 steps towards her Bumbo seat. I just sat there trying not to make any noise. I think in the past when she had taken a step or 2, I had scared her with my crazy outbursts, so I tried to keep quiet this time. As she took these steps she was holding the "Ladder to Success" DVD, which I thought was somewhat appropriate.

After she took these steps Mike wanted to "work" with her, and was sitting on the ground and backing up while she walked towards him. Afer this she just got better and better. Now it kills me when I see her just randomly walk on her own. Way too funny. For instance, I put her on the floor standing up in our room, and she just wandered off into Mike's closet. If she attempts anything long distance where there isn't a resting point, she will inevitably bail and fall on the floor. She can't just wander around yet, which is good. I'm not ready for her to give up her cruising and crawlng yet. I feel like I would miss that.

What I have noticed since she has started walking, is her new feeling of independence. She doesn't like to be held as much, and hates being put in her car seat. Not that we ever just held her, but when I walk up the stairs with her, or through a store or something, she is straining her body downwards as if she wants to get on the floor and practice. I'm not sure about the car seat thing, but she is fine being put in the seat from home. If we have just been in a store, she HATEs being put back in the seat. She will make her body really stiff so she is standing in the seat, and the only way I can make her sit down is to basically physically force her knees to bend, and then she starts crying with no sound (that really upset cry). Who knows. It's time to change car seats too, so maybe that will stop, although she is fine when she is in the seat and she's not uncomfortable.

The video I posted is funny because we captured the first ever time that she tried to stand up on her own in the middle of the room. Not sure why she decided to do it for the camera, but that is great!

On Sunday we had lunch at my dad and Maura's with Marilyn Barr who was in town (hi Marilyn!). Paige found a stool in the kitchen that she had previously only cruised by. She decided to steer it around the entire house as if it were her walker. There are hardwood floors in the house, and after checking that the felt pads were still intact on the stool, we let her go wild. We just thought it was amazing that she could actually steer her way around by moving slightly around the stool.

Oh--oddly enough, Paige can also walk on grass quite easily. I would have thought that would have been difficult.

Amy's Birthday.. 1!!

On Saturday Amy turned 1. The weather was beautiful, so the adults got to spend time outside with some drinks and a Barbeque (and a DQ cake). We missed Amy's real party last week, but it was nice to see her on the actual day! Usually when the 2 girls get together they are really interactive with one another, but they pretty much did their own thing..Amy explored the garden while Paige played in the tent with a basket of brand new toys.

Cottage Life

Cottage trip a success! Paige didn't get into trouble as I thought she would. She pretty much stuck to the safe areas in the cottage, without trying to climb up on the fireplace. It was too cold to sit on the porch, so anything unsafe out there was avoided as well. Yes--it was too cold. Blech. About 10 degrees. Since the cottage is small she could cruise around the couch, the coffee table, a couple of chairs, a bookshelf, the walls, and some side tables without having to crawl at all.

There is a swing that hooks onto the door frame of the dining room that every child has used since my Aunt Robin. It was great as an option for somewhere to put Paige if she got bored, or while we were eating since she could face us. Either the swing is a perpetual motion machine, or she figured out how to make it move on her own, because she only ever needed one push. She actually fell asleep in the swing.

I bought this little high chair since it turns into a booster seat for when she is older.

We needed to get a wagon up there since a)her stroller can't be pushed on grass and gravel roads very easily, and b) we bring so much junk up there that it would never fir in the trunk with everything else. We got the "Step 2 Rumble Wagon"...only $40! After Mike assembled it we tested it out inside and let her play with her toys in it. Then we went for a short walk since it wasn't raining for a change. She started to pass out in it.

The ride home from the cottage took about 4 hours due to bad traffic. Blech. Paige wasn't very happy for a large portion of it.