Postcards From April...

Well, I couldn't go the entire month of April without a post, so here goes nothing. (I'll try not to cop out and just post a few pics or movies).

So, April eh:



We started out the month with Kim's Birthday. She got her ice cream cake so all was well. It was a fairly low key event. We did the cake and present thing on the Wednesday (the actual day) and Kim took the following day off to make use of her presents - a whole whack of gift cards at the mall.

That weekend was Easter and we headed to Barrie.


(Dave - I hope you don't mind me posting your mug, it's the only shot we have with Alex in it!).

Gord's great in the car so it makes driving (especially when it's only 2.5 hours) an easy do.



Around Easter Gord started getting a pretty bad cough. He was quite wheezy and had to go on antibiotics. They worked for a day or two but by the following week he was back being sick. Combined with his teething it made for a REAL FUN few weeks!!

His illness didn't let up and we were forced to cancel our trip to Ottawa. This was a real bummer as we had been trying to make it out there for some time. Gord was real anxious to see Celia... but in the end it worked out for the best because the worst of Gord's cold was yet to come.

He wasn't too bad on Saturday and allowed us to get a lot of yard work done and even go for a few bike rides.




(Ok, quick side note. Notice the first picture, the van in the background. That's my neighbours van. Take a look at the drivers door:


Yeah, that's bird shit. And it's not just her door. It's ALL of our doors. For some freak ass reason the neighborhood Robin's have been taken to crapping on all of our cars. They perch themselves on the door and let it all go. Not cool. Everyday for two weeks I had to stop by a gas station and squeegee the door to remove the 3 litres of bird crap that crustified on my door over night. I also found myself running out my front door quite often fist in air cursing at the damn poopers to get the hell out of my yard. Apparently it worked because they haven't been around so much lately.)

Ok, so Sunday Gord started getting really sick and made the day a little less manageable. Too bad too because the weather was friggen awesome. On the other hand however, he was pretty sleepy so he ended up taking quite a few naps allowing Kim and I some quality outdoor beer drinking time.



Monday came - and so did the contents of Gord's stomach. He was throwing up quite regularly (primarily due to the cough) and we ended up taking him to the Doctors again. (We had just been there 5 days earlier). Another dose of antibiotics.

Kim and I had planned on taking part of the day off (as it was my Birthday and all) however we kept Gord home and pretty much cuddled him all day. A great way to celebrate my birthday actually. It's kinda funny, I really wanted to let my Birthday come and go this year but it turned out to be one of the best Birthday's in a long time. The weekend turned out to be so relaxing. Kim did a very good job of making me enjoy the Big 2-8.



As you can see, there is no disputing it. I am super dad! Sorry to all those other dads out there, but the card and sticker speaks the truth.

By Thursday Gord started feeling better and wow does it show. Such a different kid. Yesterday (Saturday) not even one whine - and that says a lot.

Gord has really been able to express himself lately and there are not too many instances where we don't know what he is trying to say or do. It makes things a lot easier as we realized the source of most of his tantrums and outbursts were either us not understanding what he wanted, or simply not acknowledging it. Where before if we noticed he wanted to go outside to the park or downstairs, we would try and distract him and disregard the fact that he is clawing at the door. The last day or two, as simple and intuitive this is (and something we should have been doing), we have been stating what he wants, then clearly saying 'no'. Surprisingly, he doesn't freak out like I thought he would (or like he has in the past), and seems to accept the idea that he can't do whatever he wants. He seems to be satisfied that we at least understand what he is trying to communicate. Pretty crazy - to me anyhow.

It is pretty awesome to see how quickly he is developing and learning now. Not only is he better at letting us know what he wants, but he is amazing at understanding us. There is very little that he can't understand now and can follow simple suggestions like 'pick up your balls and put them back in the ball tent', or if we ask him to bring something to one of us he gets up and goes. (My plan is working mwa ha ha, soon enough he will be our little slave... mwa ha ha. World domination soon to follow).

So, it sounds like nap time is over... back to parenting.