Reunion Pics

As I mentioned, we went to Michael's family reunion on the weekend and I promised to post some pictures. Here are a couple of Mads. Rob, Michael's brother who is a fantastic photographer also took some pictures of Maddy and I hope to be able to share those soon.

Maddy met her cousin's for the first time. Here she is with Alabama....

With her Great Aunt Noreen....

Climbing all over 'Bama
Pretty in the sun....

First Word?

Maddy has started to recognize that animals are different than people.
It's possible that she is also clever enough to realize that they have a different language and it's a language she has picked up and is now using to communicate with us. She has started to say "woof woof" whenever she sees an animal.
Yesterday she saw pictures of a cat and she pointed to it and said "woof". In Canadian Tire, she saw pictures of dogs on at least 5 different boxes (I'm now aware of the fact that almost every vacuum cleaner uses a picture of a dog on it's packaging) and started "woofing" at them.
Michael is encouraging this behaviour by saying "woof" back to her.
I'm thinking it might be best to try to teach her some English words instead.

Little Ray of Sunshine

We headed east this weekend for Michael's family reunion (pictures to come...too tired this eve!). Got home around dinner time today and had a little bit of time to play with Mads before bedtime. Even after a 6 hour car ride she's still a little ray of sunshine! Here she is climbing all over me while I try to take her picture.

Fancy Shoes for the Little Lady

I finally broke down and bought Maddy some shoes. Our DCP actually had to say to me "do you think you could pick her up something to cover her feet for when we go outside?"

Fair enough request, I thought to myself.

It's not that I'm against shoes for children. And I'm not striving to be some sort of hippie-Mommy who doesn't believe in footwear for her kids. I just figured it was better for her to prance around in her barefeet while she's learning to walk. That, plus the fact that kids shoe are expensive and they outgrow them so quickly, so I was trying to hold off as long as possible.

Anyhoo, after a quick search online (I don't have time to visit actual stores anymore!) I decided to go with the Robeez - based on price (about $23/pair), their handy sizing tool and their cute designs. I ended up with 2 pairs (they got me with the free shipping!). Here are pics of the new kicks!

Helping with the dishes.....

I went with a sandal pair for the summer and then ordered the other pair in a larger size which she can wear in the fall.

Maddy loves her shoes!! She loves to bite them and carry them around and she even seems to like wearing them. Best part about them - they're super easy to put on and so far she hasn't figured out how to get them off.

A Trip to Whittamore's

When Michael and I were in high school, we worked together at a farm in Markham called Whittamore's Farm. I was the Bakery Manager and Michael worked on the floor. In fact, a few of our close friends worked there - Dave, Erwin, Jeff....I'm sure there were others. Lots of great memories of 6am start times, baking pies all day, trips to the freezer, bleaching the floors, eating all the raspberries and strawberries we wanted (I don't think we were supposed to), staff baseball games. Good times.
Anyhoo, this weekend we decided to take a little trip back to Whitt's with Madeline. We had driven by a number of times and noticed that it had expanded quite a bit. We were quite impressed with what they've done over the past (gasp) 13 years!! We paid the $5/pp (kids under 2 are free) to check out the Family Fun Farm. Definitely worth it in my opinion.
While the Farm is tailored to older kids (maybe 3-8 years old) there was still stuff for Madeline to enjoy. We toured around for a bit (saw some animals, played on horse swings, climbed on equipment and watched a puppet show) and then had lunch in the shade on the blanket we brought.
Lunch was surprisingly good - I loved that they seemed to try to provide healthier options on the menu. If you're out with kids, you know they're going to want to eat fast food and at Whitt's they seem to try to include a bit of a balance. For example, my chicken fingers (which were awesome) came with carrots instead of fries. It's a little thing, but something I think parents will appreciate.
If you're in the city and looking for something to do on a nice Saturday, it's worth the drive to check out Whittamore's.
Here are a few pics of the day:
Playing with the animals.....we fed the goat some grass.
Playing in the tube. It actually took a while to convince her to get out of this.

Lunch time with Dad. His lunch was fries, not as healthy as mine.

Eating her crackers. She has long legs in this pic.

A Little Cottage Time

We headed up to the cottage on the weekend for a little R&R. Below are some shots of Mads' first time in the lake. As you can see, she really liked the sand. I caught her eating it a few times and had to scoop it out of her mouth before she swallowed. Our lake has a very gradual slop into the water which is great - she was able to play on the sand and then crawl out into the water.
The weather wasn't great while we were up there, off and on clouds and rain, but we made the most of it.
My parents were up there as well, so they baby sat a few times so that Michael and I could head into town. On Sunday night we went to our favourite Japanese Steakhouse in Bracebridge. You'd be surprised at how good a Japanese restaurant in Muskoka could be. We always joke that it's like you're stepping back into the city for dinner. Who ever thought of this restaurant was a genius!! All the city folk who are in Muskoka for the weekend seem to flock here, it was packed even on a Sunday night. Oh, and last time we were there, we sat across from Catherine O'hara and her family. AND....they even have my favourite wine. Kim Crawford Sav Blanc. Worth the $13 a glass - I promise you.
We'll be heading up north again for my birthday weekend and I'm hoping to go to this restaurant again.

More dancing

My question has been answered, she's got her Dad's moves. You can see Michael dancing to the side in this video.

Tiny Dancer

Not sure whose moves she inherited....But I like her style ;)

Grins and Giggles

I recorded this video of little monkey on Saturday. Michael was off helping his brother move into his new condo and I got to spend the whole day with Madeline - a nice day after a long week at work. We spent the day relaxing at home playing with toys and took a nice trip to the park to eat some sand and play on the swings.

Happy 10 Month Birthday Madeline!!

Today is my little Pooh Bear's 10 Month Birthday!! It seems that for most of her "month" birthdays she likes to reach a new milestone. It's almost as if she knows I'll need something to write about on her blog. Wise young girl.
So yesterday was the first day that Maddy walked with her walker (remember the fisher-price car we bought that she looooves). For a few days in a row she had been holding onto the car and literally running as fast as she could on her knees. It's quite amazing how fast she could go. Then just yesterday she stood up and just started to walk while pushing it. She probably went about 4 steps and then sat down. This evening she was doing about 10 steps.
I have video - I will try to post it tomorrow.

Since it's her 10 month birthday, that means I really need to kick my party planning into high gear!!