Word of the day: Y

Baby Y is now 7 weeks into development and is approximately the size of a Tic Tac and the weight of an eyelash - while this is extremely teeny-tiny it is approximately 10,000 times larger than it was at conception. Heck, even Granny isn't gaining weight at that rate!

Baby Y will remain "it" until early in October when Mommy and Daddy are hoping an ultrasound will determine the sex. Baby X did not have his sex discovered until birth but Mommy wanted a boy so badly, we just assumed Baby X was a "he".

This time Mommy's "sexual preference" is not so emphatic, but she would prefer if Baby Y is a girl. She has voiced this a few times - obviously within earshot of Baby X, because 2-year-old Xander woke in the night with a nightmare. When Mommy went in to comfort him he cried in his semi-comatose state, "No! I don't want to be a girl! I want to be a boy!"
 
 

Baby Y at 7 weeks development.
The brain is growing at a rate of 100 cells per minute and Granny's prayer, as it was for baby X,  is that Jesus will develop the characteristics of this wee one to be healthy, kind and smart. (and cute will be accepted as a bonus)

 

Word of the day: pretty flower

I am just loving the extra living space the new roof over half the deck is giving us. Even with this record rainy summer, we spend quite a bit of time outside on the deck. I actually like rain (did I say that out loud??) I find it very refreshing to sit outside and hear and smell the rain without getting wet.

There are two locking gates leading to the driveway and back yard. Xander has rubber boots that are not for mud and puddles, but only for deck use.  The expanded play space is great - he can play outside in the rain without an adult having to get wet with him.

Ken and Jade and I were sitting talking about their failed weekend of camping after Albert left for work tonight. After 5 minutes or so of relative silence Jade asked where Xander was.

"Oh just playing in his bedroom," I responded, but headed towards the room to check on him. As I turned the corner I was met by a slightly wet 2 year old in bare feet holding out a chubby fist clenching a flower from the back yard. "Here's a pretty flower, Danny."

Ooops. Guess the gate got left open.

Thank God he only ventured into the yard to pick flowers - in the few minutes he was gone he could have just as easily made it in the rain in his bare feet and shirt sleeves to the park across the street or wandered home, six doors down before we came looking for him.

Word of the day: employer

Today marked the last day in the lives of Kore and Brandi that they would be employees.


When they wake up Monday morning they are the owner/operators and employers of the Trestain Pryce Denture Clinic in Kamloops.

I'm pretty excited and proud of them for the hard work they have put into this so far --- with much more to come, I'm sure.

Trestain has been gone for years and Pryce just retired and sold to my kids, but their names are well established as a reputable business and will remain on the clinic, at least for now. But I have no doubt that "doctor" Connolly and his trusty assistant Brandi will establish their own highly esteemed reputations in no time.

Yay B&K!



Word of the day: math

As you may or may not be aware, my grandson is not only extremely high on the cuteness scale.

He is also extremely high on the intelligence scale. Now, I'm not sure if there is actually an IQ chart for 2-year-olds, but he'd top it if there was. Just sayin'...

The other day we were reading a new book together. Look And Learn Numbers.
Xander pointed to a picture and said, "Danny [that's how you say Granny in Xander language] there are 2 orange pencils and 3 green pencils so there are 5 all together."

 I know it doesn't sound like rocket science, however that is grade one math this two year old was stating so matter of factly.

Am I proud? uh.. maybe. just a little.

Continuing on with our math theme, someone asked me today how many ziemer grandchildren and great grandchildren there are. I thought I'd share the convoluted answer with you:


Ernie and Grace have 186 offspring. 

There are 86 grandchildren, this includes 48 blood children, 27 spouses, 5 common-law spouses, 5 step grandchildren and 1 living in heaven.

There are 74 great grandchildren. This includes 4 unborn and 3 living in heaven.

The first great grandchild is set to get married next year and the multiplication process begins all over again...


PS - yes, I could name every one of them.

Word of the day: ark

After all the rain we've had, it seemed only appropriate we hang out at Noah's Ark for the day. I've known about the local farm/petting zoo for years but had never been there.

The 5 dollar price of admission was worth it for the ball pit alone. Xander and Linden had a fabulous time playing. It was fun to watch X try to keep up and imitate Linden, who is about a year and a half older and definitely a boy-boy.

Prior to visiting the ark we took Xander and Linden for a bike ride to the park.

Linden literally rode circles around Xander on his two-wheeler, but it really encouraged X to ride his "wobbly bike" that he hasn't been too keen on. He did so great riding about 6 blocks or so to the park. Linden is the most amazing two-wheeler rider I've ever seen for a 3-yr-old.

Word of the day: ----

I've been sitting here for 15 minutes staring at my screen trying to think of a word for today. Got nuttin'.

And that's all I got to say 'bout that.

Word of the day: doctor

doctor doc·tor (dŏk'tər)


n.
1.A person, especially a physician, dentist, or veterinarian, trained in the healing arts and licensed to practice.
2.To repair, especially in a makeshift manner; rig


Jade's family doctor, whom she had since birth, moved to Kamloops two years ago just after Xander was born. His practice was bought out by a group of female doctors. Female doctors who don't do birthing and babies.

She had an appointment last week to confirm her pregnancy, get started on her prenatal vitamins and get referred to another physician who does do babies.

During this appointment her doctor gave her stern advice: distance yourself from Xander. No more picking him up or holding him. Let him play alone.

Double-you Tee Eff??!! Doctor? Trained in the healing arts?

Word of the day: rain

...and it's quite likely tomorrow's word of the day will be ark.

Word of the day: poop

Ever since Xander was born, Jade has been saying she wants him potty trained before she has another baby. He is doing quite well. She is not the kind of mother who says, "Here's a potty, poop in it," and leaves it at that. And X is far too inquisitive to realize that something like poop can come from his body without him wanting to know all the hows and whys of the process.

He knows all about having a skeleton and how his skin holds in his bones and muscles and veins. He knows the purpose of a stomach and can point out, with more success than I, where his kidneys, liver and lungs are.

One day as he sat at his little table eating a cheese whiz sandwhich for lunch, he turned to his mother and said as he took a big bite, "Mommy, I'm turning my sandwhich into poop."

I assume Xander's parents feel he has a good enough grasp on the potty training business for them to take the next step. This weekend they informed us that Xander's little sibling, who is currently the size of a sesame seed, is projected to arrive sometime around March 17, 2012. Two weeks after X's 3rd birthday.

Woot woot! Let the shopping begin!

Word of the day: poisonous

I took Xander to the park across the street last week.

He got about half way up the log ramp which leads up to the slide while I walked along on the ground beside him. He stopped and gave the logs, which had seen better days, a good inspection.

"Granny these logs are poisonous!" he declared.

"No, Xander. They are rotten, not poisonous."

Pretty observant and vocabularily advanced for a 28 month old I think.

Word of the day

I think I'll try something new for while to see if I can kick start a period of blogging again. I'll call this current marathon "Word of the Day" and will use a particular word to prompt an entry. I may even resort to Merriam-Webster or dictionary.com's word of the day on occasion.

This idea was borne from a little incident that my husband informed me of last week.

While at church, pastor Peter got up and in a effort to encourage interaction, asked the general congregation "So, what's the word of the week?"

My son Jed jumped to his feet, raised and hand and shouted out, "Faggot!"

And while everyone in the room was trying to process whether or not they just heard what they thought they heard, he added, "My mom called me a faggot."

I mighta died had I been there.

However, in my defence, I shall tell you the real story.

Jed and I were shopping at Value Village and while I was trying on a couple of shirts he went about gathering a collection of t-shirts and scrubs that he "just had to have."

And so, as is our usual routine in VV, I sort through his treasures one-by-one and tell him the reasons we are not buying them. "This is way too small" "You have one exactly like this already" "It's twelve dollars! That's insane!" etc etc.

One of the scrubs shirts he had in the cart was all gathered and frilly at the back. My response, I realize, was inappropriate, "You can't wear that. It'll looky faggy."

Inappropriate yes, but I did not yell out "You are a faggot!" to my son.

Who's Yer Daddy?

Xander still continues to brighten my every day.

Jade was playing with him in the playroom the other day and held a plastic trumpet backwards to her mouth and says in her best Darth Vader voice, "I (pause) am your Father." Xander didn't really pay a lot of attention to her but a few minutes later when Ken walked in the room he grabbed the trumpet, held it backwards to his mouth and says, "I (pause) am your Daddy."