Boys vs Girls

I'm not really one to impose traditional gender roles on my son, but I am starting to believe that some attributes that are considered 'boy' are just hard-wired into their brains.

Last night, I had several friends over for a Discovery Toys party. With the exception of Jenn (who, for the record, has 6 nieces and nephews), all my friends have daughters ranging in age from 1-2 1/2 years old. While Dallas was upstairs changing out of her work clothes, Evan saw Paige and decided to maul her. She kept running away and my little guy thought it was a game. He just kept mauling her and pulling down her pants. Once my friend Tara showed up with her daughter and my friend Carrie showed up sans Lily, the party began. Did Evan sit nicely playing with one of the millions of toys the consultant brought over? No. He had to play with whatever toy Paige or Madeline was playing with. Once they conceded their toy and moved on - so did Evan. If he wasn't stealing toys from little girls, he was drawn to the consultant's display board. Given that he was so fixated on that thing, you'd think he was a Taurus. I felt kind of badly and embarrassed. I'm trying to be hostess to a party while Evan zips and around and plays with whatever toy tickles his fancy at that exact moment.

I do appreciate that Evan is very active and likes to explore. He was probably very excited about all the company last night - but WOW did he ever test my patience.

Big thanks to my friends who were so kind and understanding and soooooo helpful in helping lasso/distract/play with Evan. He had a blast with each and every one of you.

For my two friends who are expecting - a tiny part of me hopes you have a boy so you can commiserate with me.

ETA : This picture was taken at Lily's birthday party - but this is pretty much what Evan was like during the toy party.

Things you don't expect....

One afternoon, I did a lovely tour of the Victoria Harbour while my parents watched Evan.

So here is my question - what would you least expect to see when you get off the boat in front of the Empress Hotel?

(Scroll Down for the Answer)

How about a violinist, dressed as Darth Vader, playing the Star Wars soundtrack?

Spinning cont.

Well, the spinning I described in my previous post continued on Saturday. I spent the day cleaning and getting ready to fly out to Victoria. On top of that, we went to Lily's First Birthday party. We had such a wonderful time, and Evan had fun going from person to person...and playing with Lily's haul of toys. We left early so that I could finish laundry and pack. But that wasn't the end of our night. Robert was called to work at the bar. Since they pay him really good money now, we loaded up and drove him to work. I wound up staying up until around 1 am doing everything I needed to do before our trip and triple-checking that I hadn't forgotten anything.

We had a most pleasant flight. We wound up next to another young woman flying with her infant daughter who was just a few weeks younger than Evan. To make things better - the middle seat was free!

The first couple of days were dreary and cold. Just perfect weather for staying inside and working on a good book or puzzle.

On Wednesday, we went on a surprisingly great tour of the Esquimalt Naval Base. Evan felt differently and fell asleep part way through the tour. Afterwards, my mom and I walked around downtown while my dad had meetings with clients.

Yesterday, my mom and I took the ferry over to West Vancouver where we met up with my mom's dear friend Margaret. Margaret is now a rep for Chanel eyewear, and my Christmas present this year is a new pair of Chanel glasses. I spent some time trying on all of the fantastic glasses Chanel has to offer. I had it narrowed down to 7 and then down to 3. Once we had narrowed it down to two, I had a hard time deciding. Margaret took pictures of me wearing both frames, and surprisingly enough that did help me in making a decision. Here's what I had it narrowed down to:


Frame # 1 ------------- ---------Frame #2

And from the side:


Frame # 1 --------------------Frame # 2

So which frames did I pick? I will have to keep you all guessing until I get the frames and get the prescription filled.

Spinning

Whew! These last two days have just left me spinning.

Yesterday (Thursday) our day went something like this:

10:00 am - Go to Winners to try and find certain winter jacket. Found said jacket - in the wrong size.
10:20 am - Go to Wal-Mart to see if I can find Evan's Birthday gift, because it is sold out at Toys R Us. Didn't find it there - I am beginning to realize that I should have bought it when I saw it at Toys r Us last week.
11:00 am - Pick up mail at my parents' condo
11:30 am - Go to Liberal Caucus to sign my employment contract for my new job.
noon - go to bank to make deposit.
12:15 pm - Check Canadian Tire for Evan's Birthday gift - no luck!
12:45 pm - Check Zellers for Evan's Birthday gift - no luck AGAIN! I'm beginning to wonder what we're going to buy Evan for his birthday.
1:15 pm - Check southside Toys R Us and find suitable alternative for Evan's Birthday Present.

Poor Evan was in and out of his car seat all day. What a trooper!

Today, was a bit less hectic but busy nonetheless.

10:00 am - Meet Paige and Dallas at Sherwood Park Costco to do some shopping and sampling. I decide there's no point buying groceries since I leave for Victoria on Sunday morning.
noon - Finish shopping and scarf down some mediocre poutine.
1:00 - Head to Mountain Equipment Co-op to buy Paige a sleeping pad and sleeping bag. Also checked for winter hat and mitts for Evan - they aren't on the floor yet.
1:30 - Head to BoyGirl ReWear on Stony Plain to check out their goods. I didn't find what I was looking for, but Dallas scored some deals.
2:00 pm - Met Scott and Erin at Red Robin and heard all about their fabulous trip to Greece and Italy.
3:45 pm - Finally home!!!

Since I'm leaving for Victoria on Sunday, I've spent the evening doing some much needed cleaning and laundry.

I'm sure I will eventually crash...but not yet, I'm getting too much accomplished!

So, I couldn't get a picture of Robert wearing his belt without him getting suspicious about why I REALLY wanted a picture of him wearing his belt and Evan with his doo-rag! You will all just have to trust me that it is something to marvel at.

While we couldn't get the Guyana doo-rag on Evan while we were at CariWest, we did manage to get it on him at home. This picture doesn't really do it justice.



Yesterday, I carshed a birthday party at the McDonald's out in Sherwood Park. Incidently, it was the McDonald's I used to work at when I was 18. Boy had it changed. Since I worked there almost 12 years ago, they've added a Playland and even a fireplace in the middle of the store. When I was there - it was just a restaurant. Evna had a really good time crawling around the main floor of the Playland. All the other kids were really good about being careful around him.

Today, we didn't do much. Robert only worked half a day today. After he showered, we took off and got some lunch at Irie Foods. Robert got Ox tail and I got curry chicken with roti instead of rice and beans. I try to be pretty open minded about food. I will usually try something at least once before I write it off as 'yucky.' One day I will try a taste of ox tail - but today wasn't the day. As usual, Evan was being a little begger. Much to my surprise, he really enjoys curry chicken and potatoes and he LOVES roti. Go figure - the kid turns his nose up at BP's pizza bread but is more than willing to gobble up curry chicken and roti.

From the Mouths of Babes

I have to apologize for not having the promised pictures of the infamous belt. Unfortunatly, my batteries died before I could get a picture. It looks like we're going to Cariwest tomorrow - so I may still get the shot!

While waiting for the parade to pass by in front of us, we were sitting by a family with two young girls. One was about to start Grade 2 and the other was about to start kindergarten. They were absolutely in love with Evan. They played peek a boo with him, picked up his sippy cup when he dropped it and were helping us out with Evan.

All of a sudden the youngest says:

"He's brown and you're white. I don't get it"

hmmm...how do you explain this? It felt like everyone was staring at me, waiting for an answer. So, I knelt down to her level and said,

"You know how when you mix white paint and red paint, you get pink?"

Little girl nods.

"Well, it kind of works the same way when two people have a baby. Evan's daddy is darker than me - so our baby is a mixture of both our colours."

She seemed satisfied with that explanation. I was relieved to not have to explain any further.

Gripe

In the spirit of one of Dallas' recent posts, I too have a small gripe about grammar on Blogger.

Does it bother anyone else that Blogger is grammatically incorrect when you have one comment on your blog? It says 1 Comments - it should read 1 Comment. Does this not irritate anyone else?

PS - Don't tell Robert, but I can almost get Evan's hair into a little ponytail. One day, or night, when he isn't around I will do it, take a picture, and post it for your entertainment.

Come One, Come All!!!

So I am putting this out there for all of my friends. It is supposed to be a great weekend in terms of weather - not too hot, not too cool. This weekend is the Cariwest Festival.

We're heading down for the parade which is supposed to start at 12:30 pm. It begins on Jasper Avenue and 121 Street and heads down Jasper Avenue until 98 or 99 Street, where it turns towards Churchhill Square. I think Evan will really enjoy the music and the colourful costumes. Afterwards, there is food, entertainment and shopping in Churchhill Square.

If you would like to join us - let me know and we can arrange to meet up. Not only will you have the privilege of our company, you will also get to check out Robert's snazzy Guyana Belt. You do not want to miss seeing it!

Kisses for Daddy

 

Going Back

I finally emptied my camera and found some fabulous pictures of our visit to our friends Wendy and Dave a few weeks ago.

It was a very warm day, and we were invited to a BBQ and to enjoy their outdoor pool. Of course, my mom, dad and I jumped at the opportunity. Once we arrived, we didn't waste anytime getting in the water. Evan was still asleep in his car seat, so he slept by the pool while we swam. Once he woke up, we changed him and got him in the water.



After our first round of swimming, we settled down for a most tasty meal. We had BBQ burgers with all the fixings, salads and baked beans. I even indulged in a few wine sprtizers. All that swimming and eating must have been a lot for Evan and my dad, because after the meal, they settled themselves on the garden swing.



All in all - it was a great way to spend a scorching July afternoon.