Meighen

It was just under a week but man it was a long trip. I think there was too much driving, next time we’ll do less. Meighen was awesome. I can’t believe she travelled so well.

We left Saturday morning and made the trek to Smooth Rock Falls (10 hours). We stopped a few times to let the ladies pee (Sprocket, Mum, Meg) and stretch our legs. We borrowed a portable dvd player from Ben’s brother and we couldn’t have done it without it. Meg loved watching movies in the backseat. Between Sprocket and movies, it was smooth sailing. We did lunch in North Bay and we left Sprocket in the car while we went into McDonald’s. When we came back she had climbed into the front seat to eat the left over muffin that we forgot about. Man, the front seats were covered in hair and crumbs. Mistake #1 – don’t underestimate a scent hound. After that we stopped in New Liskegard and let Meg play for a half hour. We ran around the giant cow and posed for some pics on  the antique farm machinery at the museum. We piled back into the car, stopped for curds at Thornloe and booted to Smooth Rock Falls.

Sunday we hung out with Mere and Pere. It was pretty cold while we were there but I bundled Meg up and took her to the local park. She had fun running around and going down the slide. Depending on the set up she can climb up to the slide and go down all by herself, it’s pretty awesome. Meg wasted no time making herself comfy at Mere’s, she turned into a colouring addict. Mere bought her some awesome mini-markers and Meg wouldn’t give it up. She’d pass us a marker, say “open peees”, we’d open it and pass it to her, she’d say “dank you”, scribble a bit, put the lid on, and put it away. She’s so sweet when she says “peees”, how can you say no?

Monday we went to Kapuskasing to visit with Ben’s aunt, uncle and cousin. We were there a few hours and Meg loved the left over toys they had from their granddaughters and we ended up bringing them home. I took her for  a walk to break up the visit and she had fun checking out the neighbourhood. After a fantastic dinner, Mere and Meg nibbled on chocolate Easter eggs. I don’t think Meighen’s ever been that hopped up on sugar. My lord – she was hilarious! Eventually she crashed (around 10 I think) and slept like a log all night. She slept really well at Mere’s. A solid 11 hours each night.

Tuesday we packed up and made the drive to Elliott Lake (7 hours). That was a boring drive, sort of. Meg was snacking on grapes and ending up throwing up all over herself a few times. That was gross. Being on the 144 there were no shoulders to pull off on so we couldn’t stop right away but I did what I could to clean her up from the front seat. Thankfully we weren’t too far from Sudbury and we were able to get her changed and settle her tummy. Nothing a few chicken fries from KFC wouldn’t fix. Another 2 hour drive and we were in Elliott Lake. Not much happened that night, just visited and had supper.

For some reason while in E.L Meg thought it was a good idea to get up between 4 and 6 am.  Holy cow, that was crazy. We got up early both mornings. Wednesday was my birthday so we went into town and Grammy bought me a new pair of sneakers and took us all out for lunch. We also went to the park by the lake and Meg had blast. After that, I helped with some yard work and we had my favourite dinner – turkey with stuffing, mashed potato and gravy. Yum! After dinner Grammy, Meg, Nelson, and I took a walk. We played in the park and Meg got to walk Nelson all the way home. She was so proud marching along holding onto his leash.

We decided to head home a day early so we packed up and moved onto Sudbury Thursday morning. We stopped in to visit one of Ben’s high-school friends. We had a nice visit and lunch with his wife before heading home. We made a couple stops on the way, hit the 407 and got home before 6. It was a good trip but it was nice to be home.

Friday I took Meighen to the Pickering Rec Centre to swim. Man she’s a fish! She can now touch the bottom of the toddler pool so she’ll walk all over. Once in a while she slips and goes under but it’s only a dunk cause I’m right there to rescue her. She takes it like a champ – no fussing or crying. We were there about 2 hours before I was done and even then I had to pick her up and carry her out. She did not want to go!

This weekend Toys’R’Us has a super sale on and I hoped to get Meg a play kitchen for her birthday. They were sold out by time I got there but we still ended up with a toddler picnic table for the back yard. Thanks Grammie! After a nap, we went to Red Lobster with Auntie Julie for my birthday. I’m a sucker for shrimp. Although Meg’s still good in restaurants she’d rather get up and wander around. We each took turns walking around with her. After dinner we went back to Julie’s for coffee. Thankfully Meg is comfy there because she’s spending all Monday with her. Our daycare is still on vacation but back on Tuesday.

Not much going on today. We’ll likely play in the yard and maybe go to the park.

This week is March break but due to cheaper flights after this week our daycare is taking next week off and flying south. We were going to take it off (since we have no daycare) so the change in schedule doesn’t affect us too much so come Saturday we’re off! We’re packing up Meg and Sprocket and heading north to do the “grandma tour” as I call it. We’ll be spending a few days with Mere in Smooth Rock Falls then moving onto Elliott Lake to see my folks for a few. This should be interesting. 7+ hour in a car with a toddler. It wasn’t so bad when we went up last time, then again she was only 4 months old. So in order to prepare we’ve borrowed a portable dvd player and are downloading the Wiggles and more. I’ve already got a stack of Treehouse theme songs on my iPod so now I’m adding some of Meg’s fav pop songs (ie: Hedley).

I feel like there’s so much to still do before we go. I’ve gotta do a bit of shopping and get our trip snacks and special Meg items (banana, yogurt, mini-Ritz sandwiches). Then there’s the house – man I gotta mop, do laundry, vacuum and change the sheets/towels so everything’s fresh when we get back. I also want to get our rings cleaned. We bought our wedding bands at Spence Diamonds and they offer free cleaning for life! I try to get them done a couple times a year but it seems as the years go by so does the time between cleanings. That brings us to packing! Ben and I are the easy part but packing Meg is another thing. There’s the kitchen stuff (sippy cups, plates, etc), bathroom stuff (Tylenol just in case, shampoo, soap, lotion, diaper cream just in case), bath toys, regular toys, clothes, blanky, dum dum…. the list is endless. Ah well, vacations are good for her as is seeing her family.

Otherwise, not much has happened this week. Just slowly prepping for the trip. I got a new cell phone on Sunday. Ben chipped in to help bring me into the current decade. It’s a LG Xenon with camera, video camera, mp3, internet and more. It’s pretty cool so far… except Meg already knows how to unlock and access things on it. What’s with kids and technology!?

It’s been forever since I took Meighen swimming in Pickering so we went last night. She was super excited, I think she remembers going over mat leave. She’s tall enough now that she can stand up in the toddler pool and walk around (with a bit of help). She’d take a few steps and think she could do it on her own, let go of me and of course she’d go under. She didn’t fuss about it and it introduces her to the concept of swimming.

At one point during our time there one of the kiddie lesson groups jumped in and had a five minute free swim. I sat with Meg in the corner and she sat there smiling and watching them all. She’s mesmerized by older kids and what they do. She also enjoyed watching all the big kids go off the diving board.

I think the concept of swimming comes naturally to kids. I’d hold her around the middle and position her like she was swimming laps. She’d start pumping her legs and doing the motions with her arms. I think she’s going to be a fish in no time.

When we got home I checked out the swimming lessons available at the centre. She’d be in the Duck group (preschool 2). Lessons are $88 for 10 half hour sessions. I think she’d really benefit and have with it. I’d have to go in with her for this one. The next course she’d be on her own (if comfortable). Too bad the Spring courses aren’t listed yet, I’m sure I’d have to jump on it.

I don’t know why it hit me but I realized I had never done “this little piggy” with Meg’s toes before. I did it a couple times and now she’s obsessed! I’ll do one foot and she’ll hold it out and say “again”. This goes on and on. When we say we’re done she tries to do it on her own feet or grabs ours. It’s pretty cute.

Last night I had Meg repeating ‘I love you’ back to me. It was one word at a time and really sweet. I had her say ‘I love you’, ‘I love Mummy’, ‘I love Daddy’, and ‘I love Julie’. It was super awesome.

Tonight we get our entertainment stand and I can get the living room back in order – hooray!

It was a good weekend. The weather was nice and there was lots of variety in our activities.

Saturday started good cause Meg got up around 8:30 which was when we needed to get up and start the day. We had lunch with Pere, gave him a Meighen painting then went downtown to drop Ben at his friends for the day. Meg and I just chilled out, took a nap, played, had dinner then went to get Dad.

Sunday was my day out. I met up with Auntie Julie for lunch then we went to Alice in Wonderland. It was pretty good. We went to the regular version, not the 3D or Imax. Didn’t want to get woozy.

Throughout the weekend we’ve been setting up the new flatscreen Ben bought on Friday. He disappeared after work and spent three hours in Best Buy humming and ha-ing over a 50″ LG plasma. Since it was a floor model they kept dropping the price and adding things to the deal till Ben said yes. Can’t complain, we got it at almost half off! It came home late Friday night. While Ben was out Saturday I cleaned out the current tv unit and started looking online for a new one. I found one pretty darn quick so when I picked Ben up that night we went right to the Brick to check them out. We ended up buying it and pick it up tomorrow. Yesterday when I got home from the movie I reorganized the spare room to make space for the old tv unit and we moved it upstairs. It has lots of cubbies in it so it’s perfect for her toys, seeing that it’s in her playroom.

Movies, restaurants, shopping and more. What a good weekend.

We had a good week, other than Sunday night. Meg thought it’d be a great idea to wake up at 3:30 in the morning and stay up! My god, that’s the first time that’s happened. She’s got up at like 5 or something but never during the hour of 3. I stayed up with her till 4:30 when Ben took over till 5:30. We both stayed in bed while Meg ran around upstairs till 6 when I finally got up and started our morning routine. Monday mornings are bad enough without getting up 3 hours early.

I’ve really been enjoying bedtime with Meighen. Around 8 we go upstairs with a bubby of milk and climb into her bed. She’s quite the multi-tasker. She positions her bub so she has her hands free. She’ll hold her soother and the corner of her snuggy blanket in one hand and often a toy in the other. She juggles all of them till she’s done her bub when she’ll pass it to me, pop the soother in and pass out. She’s quite attached to the corner of her blanket, but only at bed time. She finds it, holds it in hand while she works her finger into the other end. Once it’s secure on her finger she rubs her eyes with it before falling asleep. It’s cute.

This should be a good weekend! The weather will be gorgeous (hopefully get rid of the remaining snow and start drying up) and we’ve got a few things planned. Tomorrow we’re doing lunch with Pere. We haven’t seen them since Christmas so it’ll be good for them to see how much Meighen has changed. They got to watch her start walking but haven’t heard many words. She’s full of them now.
Both me and Ben are getting a bit of Meg-free time this weekend. I’m going to Alice in Wonderland with my sister and Ben’s got a gaming date with his buddy. I’m quite excited about getting out, specially when it involves buttery movie popcorn. = )

Meg’s doing great word wise. Still spitting out news ones on a daily basis. She’s been starting to string them together too, which is awesome. Last weekends she came into our bedroom in the morning and said “mummy, get up.” That was a shocker, but cute nonetheless. She’s starting to boss the dogs around more, which is ok because they don’t listen very well in their old age. Something that I’m quite surprised by is that she can put together her alphabet puzzle all by herself. It’s a wooden puzzle with each letter being a piece. If you hand her a piece she knows where it goes. Sometimes she’ll say the letter or the picture associated with it. I don’t know toddlers or what kids should be doing at what age but something tells me this is a very good thing – she’s not even 2.