Brand new home sweet home!

Got keys!!!

I really should be unpacking and organizing but I'm exhausted so the boxes can just wait. We got the keys to our new house last week Tuesday. We were excited to get into the new house as soon as we got the keys but Simon couldn't get time off work so we moved bit by bit after work each day. With the help of friends and some creative packing and stacking strategies, we actually got all our stuff into the new house faster than I thought. Plus our new place is less than 10 minutes away from our old townhouse so it wasn't that bad to drive back and forth a million times.

packed and loaded to go!

But moving is exhausting, I never want to move again! Good thing this new place is a place I never want to move out of.  Here's some pictures of our new home sweet home. This is what you see when you walk through the front door:

and the other side of the living room looks out onto the street and our little front yard. Right now, it looks like we are farming dandelions and trying to set new records in how tall grass can grow but we haven't bought a lawn mower yet so sorry, neighbours but it's on the to-do list.

 

I love bench window seats, a perfect place to snuggle up and read a book!

and then the dining room goes into the kitchen which is one of my favourite rooms of the house because it's so big and open and we've put Natallie's play kitchen in the space past the kitchen so she can cook dinner for her dolls and teddy bears while I'm cooking supper. Plus, the kitchen goes right onto the deck so Natallie can play outside and I can keep an eye on her while I'm still stirring something on the stove. This feature is going to be awesome but right now Natallie is still unable to play independently and rather cling to my leg whining "mom! mom! mom" but theoretically, I could watch her play and make supper if Natallie would just do her part and go play by herself for more than 3 minutes.

 

kitchen to the play area (Simon's foosball table and Natallie's kitchen)

 

kitchen opens onto the deck where Natallie plays happily for a nano second

Oh and the kitchen has 6 gas stove elements, I have never cooked in such a grand kitchen before. It seems so wrong to make Kraft dinner in such a nice kitchen. Oh and on one of the first evenings at the house, I was trying to cook chicken on the element and I realized too late the gas stove heat up a lot faster and my chicken started burning and set off the smoke alarm. I had no idea how to turn on the exhaust fan so I started pressing any button that was in close range and one of them made part of the fan actually fall down into my smoking chicken...this led to an all out panic that made me accidently knock over a bottle olive oil which made my smoking chicken situation much worse. So unable to turn the fan on, I jumped on the counter and started frantically waving an oven mitt near what I though was the smoke detector and yelling for help.  Natallie sees me on the counter and things this is great fun and starts whining and trying to climb onto the counter too. Simon eventually comes in with boxes to see me profusely waving an oven mitt near the diffuser (not the smoke detector) and takes charge. After opening some windows, re-attaching the exhaust fan, the smoke detector finally stopped. No harm done, other than the poor charred chicken!

 

Anyways, back to the tour of the house, going downstairs there is a one bedroom a basement suite that we hope to rent out to help us tackle this insane mortgage. If you know anyone who wants to live with really friendly landlords with the world's cutest toddler, let us know! I don't have any pictures of the suite yet because its just full of boxes right now.

 

So let's go upstairs to Natallie's room. I love Natallie's room. I think she thought she was on vacation the first few nights since she was sleeping in her play pen and we didn't have her crib set up til later. But now I even have the decals that used to be in her old room back up and she loves them. I think she missed them. When she wakes up in the morning, she checks that the squirrels and the owls and the birds are still there. It's so adorable!

This is what makes it home for Natallie



Natallie kissing the squirrel on her wall!

And this is our room. I feel like I'm staying at a posh hotel, it's got a great walk-in closet and an ensuite bathroom that has a shower and jacuzzi. Oh another funny story was that I was giving Natallie a bath in the jacuzzi tub and she was having so much fun splashing in a tub that was so much bigger than what she was used to. I thought it would be fun to turn on the jets not knowing that if the water level isn't higher than the jets that the jets just spray water at full force in a million different directions. I prompted Natallie to press the jacuzzi button and then she was caught in the crossfire of water pisons eveywhere! Poor Natallie! Scared the bejeeeebeezies out of her. Now she won't go near our tub with a ten foot pole. Oh well, it's our tub anyways, she's can bath in her own tub for the rest of her life.

There's a small balcony off our bedroom that faces south so we can see the city all light up at night.

 

Our garage is detached from the house and Simon has got big plans for it. Its a double garage but we're only going to park my car inside so he has the other half for his workbench, his tools and workout equipment. I'm really happy that he'll have a place to go to work-out and work on his creative projects.  There's also a little fenced in yard, just big enough for Natallie to run around or maybe one day have a dog? I don't think Simon is convinced on that one...I think last time we talked he could consider a rabbit if it stayed outside all the time.

 

We feel so blessed to have this home and if you're reading this, you're probably going to be over here soon. We hope we can use our new space to bless all we know and host years of bible studies, dinner parties, backyard BBQs, playdates and fill it with memories with families and friends.

 

Daddy's biggest fan

I think one of the best things about having a child is this precious age where they look up to you. Natallie always tries to copy what Simon does. Simon was taking apart our bed since we're moving and Natallie was right there beside him, picking random tools to "help".

watching how to take apart the bed

monkey see! monkey do!

 

Simon is a big hockey fan. If he had the chance to learn to skate, I'm sure he would have drafted into the NHL but that aside, Simon plays ball hockey every Tuesday night. Before Natallie was born, I had gone a few times to watch but its so late at night that Natallie has never had the chance to watch. Today, Simon was playing in the Battle of the Balls hockey tournement and it started at 6:00pm so since it was before her bedtime, I took Natallie to go watch Daddy in action. It was so cute to see her get excited every time Simon ran across the gym close to where she was standing. She would point and say "Da da da!!" I was suprised Natallie even recognized which one was Simon since everyone on his team was wearing the same shirt color. Hopefully, Natallie will get to watch Simon play a few more times until we reverse roles and Natallie is playing her first soccer game or tee-ball or her first dance recital. I really can't wait for that. I can't wait to sit on the bleachers with the video camera and cheer for whatever she's doing. 

Natallie cheering for dad on the bleachers

sharing dad's Gatorade at break time

eww! dad is so sweaty!

love you Da-da!

 

Oh and just to brag, Simon did get the Most Valued Player on his team award. But I think the most important thing to him is the best dad award and Natallie will agree he gets that one hands down.

smile. (normally please).

                                          
My parents told me that when I was little whenever someone pointed a camera at me and said "Smile!" I would drop my jaw wide open. Thus, if you flip thru albums of me as a baby and toddler, I had my mouth wide open in many of them.
I decided I better teach Natallie how to smile on command, this would make taking photos of her so much easier. It didn't take long for Natallie to learn how to smile when I said 'smile' but for some reason, she scrunches up her shoulders. It's like she's trying to show off how many chin folds she can create. Ha ha. My friend Kristin said it's because I smile like that. Do I? Do I really? I don't think I do but she had to of learned the weird smile thing from someone! Anyways, its great that when I take photos Natallie will smile, but look at all these pictures, she has no neck in ALL these pictures, how do I get her to smile normally??

 

***

OK so after posting this blog, my friend Kristin, showed me several photos of me smiling with my shoulders shrugged up to prove that she is right that Natallie's weird smiling is because of me. And I went through some of my old photos and sadly, I have to admit that on more than one occasion I am smiling with my shoulders up. Kristin said it's suprising Natallie isn't also doing the asian peace sign when I say 'smile' too. Ha ha. Just wait til Natallie has the fine motor coordination to do that, then she'll be a gleeful replica of her shruggy smiling mom!

 

why Chinese New Year is kinda like Christmas.

Natallie is half Chinese and this weekend since it was Chinese New Year, it was a great opportunity to teach her a little bit about her Asian heritage. Not that I am very connected to my motherland and tranditions of China but Chinese New year is fun, it's kinda like Christmas. If you don't know about Chinese New Year, here is how Chinese New Year is like Christmas...

 

#1. Instead of the Santa Parade, there's the traditional Lion Dance. Don't leave our milk and cookies for the lion, he apparently prefers lettuce instead. Natallie at first was a bit freaked out by the loud drums but then she soon started clapping along with the crowd. If you had never seen a lion dance, you should watch this video of what Natallie watched with great delight at Lougheed Mall on Saturday.

                                   
                                   
#2 Instead of saying "Merry Christmas" or the politically correct version "Happy Holidays", you say "Sun Leen Fai Lok" (Happy New Year) or "Gung Hay Fat Choy" (wishing you good fortune)

#3 Instead of turkey or ham, you go out with all your relatives for "toon leen fan" which is 10 course Chinese feast of things like Peiking duck, lobster and crab, honey garlic spareribs and lettuce rice wraps. (And just like Christmas dinner, you want to wear those looser pants). Natallie ate with great delight!

                                      
                            


#4 Instead of decorating in tinsel and lights, "real" Asian people (i.e., not me) decorate their house with red firecracker thingys and the word "fok" which means good fortune. They purposely put the word upside so it "pours" the good fortune onto their house (if it were only that easy to win Lotto 649, I'm sure more people would be doing that).

#5 You get dressed up in your new clothes but instead of ugly Christmas sweaters, you wear traditional Chinese clothes. At least for girls and women, the high neck line and silk fabrics is quite pretty (just steer clear of the ones that got bedazzled too much).

Love the way the dress highlights her little pot belly

Natallie with "PoPo" in their Chinese New year outfits

#6 And my pesonal favourite growing up as a Chinese kid, instead of wrapped presents under the tree, kids get red pockets with cash from their parents (no disapointment with another pair of socks). To be specific, the parents just don't give the kids the red envelopes of money, the children are suppose to "bai leen", which means go to your parents and say nice things and wish good things upon them and then they recieve in return CASH!  This year my parents gave Natallie (and us) Winnie the Pooh and Minnie Mouse red pockets, definately not traditional but pretty cute.

                                                 
All in all, Chinese New Year is pretty much like any other holiday, it's about spending time with the people you love and being thankful for all the blessings you have. So I'm glad that I got to show Natallie a little bit of her Chinese side and glad that her not-so-Asian Dad can teach her about other things. There is no official Mennonite holiday is there? Maybe Simon will teach Natallie about the importance of the Canucks winning the Stanley Cup then....

 

 

 

SUN LEEN FAI LOK!



happy half birthday - aquarium bound.

Today Natallie is one and half. Being 18 months old seemed like a great reason to bring Natallie to the Vancouver Aquarium with all her best friend (well, my best friends too).  I think my favourite part of the day was just watching that look on face....just of awe and enchantement. She kept of pointing to the fish, sharks, dolphins, belugas with the same look of awe-struck wonder. Not many real words yet, she calls everything "da!!!" although since we got her the fish, we do hear her say "fsshhhhhh". Here's some highlights of our day:

This is the "ohhhhhhh" look that I was talking about

with her bestie Alexa (who is 6 months younger but the same size)

 

I think after today, Natallie is going to think her little Betta fish is rather lame

We spent a long time in the toddler area where they things to climb and a dress up corner!
Two cute dolphins!

Natallie also found a mirror and found her reflection quite appealing

Enchanted by the jellyfish

watching the beluga show with her friends

no fears about touching the starfish

the dolphins came right up to us

What a fun day with friends! Happy one and half birthday to my beautiful, inquisitive little girl!

Swish the fish.

Natallie is going to be 18 months old at the end of this month and I figured she was responsible enough to have her own pet. We have been going to the pet store almost every week, it's only 5 mins away from our house, it's cheaper than the aquarium and Natallie loves it. We have the same routine every time we go, we start at the aquarium and she squeals over all the fish. Then we move on to the hamsters, guinea pigs and mice. Then we look at all the birds and then the cats. The grande finale is going to the back of the store where they have big glass windows so you can see into the doggy grooming. Natallie can stand there forever watching the puppies get bathed and hair cut. It's free entertainment for a whole 30 minutes!

Today, we bought a Betta fish. I used to have one before so we already had the tank so we just had to add the fish. We named him Swish. Natallie says "fshhh" when she sees him. Simon (aka Mr. I-hate-animals-in-the-house) is OK with the fish. Small steps, maybe next time, we get the hamster and then the guinea pig and hopefully one day, we'll have a Nova Scotia Retriever. But for now, we have Swish and yes, it was Simon's idea to put a picture of the shark from Finding Nemo in the fish tank. Kinda sadistic but Swish doesn't seem to mind!

real parenting starts at 18 months.

Several months  ago, I was at the park with one of my friends who is a parent of a toddler and I was telling her how I was really enjoying this stage of parenthood. I could predict when Natallie would be tired, cranky, hungry or needed to be changed. We had passed the horrible sleepless nights of teething and she has beautiful toothy grin now. She is walking by herself now so I don’t need to hold one hand and be constantly stooped over assisting her to walk everywhere.  Yes,  my 16 month old was pretty fun and being her mom was pretty awesome. She smiled and said, “just wait until she gets to be 18 months, then that’s when the real parenting begins!” I didn’t really know what that meant but I think I am getting some good glimpses of what the toddler years to come. Natallie will be 18 months old the end of January and up until this point, being a good parent consisted solely of nurturing and protecting.  But now I see that being a good parent also requires this thing called discipline.

Meal time is going to be our first obstacle of figuring how to get Natallie to stop throwing her spoon, her fork, her bottle , her plate and all her food on our poor kitchen floor. We have tried ignoring it and then making her pick it up and clean the mess she made. Ironically, Natallie really enjoys cleaning up a big mess and is giddy with glee when I make her mop up all the spilled milk. In fact, she will purposely turn her bottle upside down to spill the milk and then ask for a towel so she can mop it up. So clearly, cleaning up the mess isn’t going to be a very effective punishment.  Simon thinks that once she throws the food or the utensil, we should just not give it back to her and if she throws her meal before she’s eaten enough she should just go to bed hungrier than usual. I’m not sure if cognitively at almost 18 months old if Natallie will know that she didn’t get all her supper because she threw it. 

happy because she is making a colossal mess

sad because she threw everything off the table and didn't get it back

 

It’s funny because I thought discipline would come so easily to me since I am a behavior analyst. Whenever I see kids engaging in problem behavior at work, I do a functional assessment and determine the cause of the behavior. There are generally four categories or what we call “functions” of behavior: Attention, Escape, Tangible (i.e., to get something they want) or Sensory (e.g., because it feels good). And it is important to correctly “diagnose” the function of behavior before coming up with a solution or the behavior plan won’t work.  For example, if the child is engaging in problem behavior because they want to get attention, the correct response would be to ignore the behavior and teach alternative and more acceptable ways of getting your attention. If you yell, "no! don't do that!" and put up a big fuss when the function of behavior is attention, the problem will just increase because the child is getting lots of attention (e.g., exactly what they wanted).

But I don’t want to be a behavior analyst with Natallie, I just want to be her mom. I don't want to get my data sheets and start tracking her behaviors and my reactions to see if I can figure out the function of her throwing. I just want to parent with common sense  and from the heart. It's so much harder to stick to consequences when its my baby girl and not just a "client".  I can forsee the next year(s) of tantrums, time-outs and tears won't be much fun. I hate seeing Natallie break out in big gasping sobs.  I guess real parenting does start now….wish me luck.