Kelly's Weblog

I can't believe how much time has passed! Paul's mother Jane arrived on Sunday evening and was waiting for us when we got back from Cape Cod. She stayed with us until Friday, when Jamie and I left in the morning for Toronto and Jane followed in the evening. While Jane was there, I had the luxury of full-time childcare availability, and got a fair bit done. Jamie has been having rocky nights lately, on and off, due to his teeth, so the chance to hand him off for a while has been all the more welcome.

I had a follow-up doctor's appointment; since it would seem that my annoying little infection doesn't respond to antibiotics, I'm to have a little day surgery in early September to deal with it once and for all. I won't say that I'm looking forward to it, exactly, but "once and for all" sounds really good to me.

Jamie and I went to Robyn and Dave's on Friday evening for dinner and had a nice visit with Maddy; I can't believe how much she's grown! Her legs are lengthening out, and she's losing that soft round baby look and stretching into toddlerhood.

On Saturday we made an early start; I picked up the nice new Suzuki wagon from the Autoshare spot at Christie and St. Clair, collected Jane and Jamie (and various bits of baby equipment), then swung by the airport to pick Paul up on the way to Elora. Diane was singing a number of concerts this weekend, and needed someone to play with her son Evan for a chunk of time from the late morning. So nice Nancy Scott let us all come to play at her house, and Evan explored her wonderful toybox while Jamie watched Evan in amazement. We went to Peter and Nancy Knudstrup's home just before lunch; they used to own the converted church across from St. John's Anglican Church in Elora, and ran a pottery there. Now Peter continues to make the beautiful mugs, bowls, platters and other classic pieces Paul and I like so well at his home workshop, but doesn't run a retail outlet. He took us downstairs to a little basement showroom. Jane bought four little cups intended for sake - also perfect for mulled wine - and I got several things including a covered butter dish (to keep Sammy-cat from licking the butter!), a huge mug for beer, and a round-bellied coffee mug for Paul. I suspect they haven't seen the last of me there!

That evening we left Jamie with Jane and went to Tom and Anne's engagement party/housewarming/housecooling party, with an Austin Powers theme. They had a very cool drinks menu happening: green things and pink things and clear things with enormous olives, all in martini glasses. It was a fine party indeed, and if Paul hadn't been up since 4am to catch his flight, we'd probably have been there quite late. As it was, we were in bed before midnight.

On Sunday morning Jamie stayed with Jane and Paul while I went to Saint Thomas's and sang the 11:00 service - quite a treat for me! It wasn't even hideously hot in the church, so the polyester choir gown wasn't as penitential has it can be. After church, Paul made a big brunch for the household and Bruce (here from Ottawa for Martha McGinnis' wedding) and Patrick. While I was out, Paul also cut the grass - very homeownerish! That lawn looks great; it's hard to believe it was a mud flat in May. And the front garden also looks amazing; Jane spent some significant time on it during the week she was here before she came to join us in Brooklyn. She cleared out whole sections of the intrusive goutweed(we'll win the war against that stuff yet!), and put in some drought-resistant herbs.

Paul and Bruce went to explore the Gooderham and Worts distillery complex, now a newly-developed commercial and residential space that you can tour. Jane and I took Jamie down to Harbourfront, where we spent an enjoyable several hours poking around. I hadn't been down there in years, and was dumfounded by all the stuff happening there in the summer. Just when you think you know a city...

Paul flew back to New York this morning. Jane leaves for England tonight. Jamie's not going to know what hit him when he wakes up to just boring old me on Tuesday morning. But then on Wednesday we leave for Indian River in PEI, and Grandma is meeting us in Moncton. A busy time.

There! Now I'm caught up.

We're having a lovely weekend with Chris and Chris. The house in Mashpee, MA (I'm serious!) is very large and well-appointed; I think all four of us could use washroom facilities simultaneously. Jamie has been introduced to the hammock in the backyard, and we've barbecued our dinner two nights in a row. Yesterday we spent much of our day on a private beach - lots of sand and sun, and rental chairs and a beach umbrella to keep us out of sand and sun. Water a bit weedy (though it didn't deter Paul) close to shore, but a babies' pool and a larger pool to meet the needs of the weed-averse. And did I mention the beachside bar?

We went for a drive later - Chris drives a BMW, which blends in nicely with what all our neighbours here have parked in their driveways! - and found the highly recommended local ice cream parlour. It was altogether a very pleasant holiday day! I wish we were here for a week instead of going back to Brooklyn this evening...

Today we're going to see about bicycle rentals, or maybe revisit the beach to see if it was really as good as we remembered it.

Those teeth of Jamie's are driving him - and me - nuts! He's crabby and fussy and he won't (or perhaps can't) sleep, and I can see where the mate to his one lower front tooth is coming in as expected. I may throw him out the window yet...nothing pleases him except being walked and walked and walked, and even that doesn't please him completely. Poor little creature.

We leave later today for a weekend in Cape Cod; Paul's friend Chris Jones has secured the use of a weekend house and has kindly invited us to get out of the city and join him and Christine. I really hope Jamie will nap on the way to Boston, where we're meeting them to drive the rest of the way. If he's like he has been this past couple of days, the other passengers may throw me off the train.

I'm just trying to get the apartment set slightly to rights, since Jane will be here before we get back on Sunday, and then I've got to finish stowing the last few bits of baby gear that have to come with us. It all takes so much more planning with a young almost-mobile one...I'm delighted that he can do so much more for himself now, but he takes more supervising - and distracting - than ever before.

And nobody's paper products are safe around him! I needed bandaids at the pharmacy this morning, and he offered to hold the box and reduced half of it to pulp in less time than I could possibly have believed.

My time in Toronto went by awfully quickly...Jamie and I were in Toronto last Wednesday, and then Paul's mother Jane and the two of us relocated to Elora, where I was working at the Elora Festival for the weekend. Peter and Nancy Scott very kindly put all three of us up, and Jamie had the best several days he can remember. He loves a lively house with lots of people coming in and out...just the opposite of our place here in Brooklyn. Paul joined us in Elora on Saturday, to Jamie's utter delight.

On Sunday, after a very busy few days, we came back to Toronto just in time to capitalize on strawberries from the Fergus Market as part of a Suspects' Dinner. (Nothing like fresh strawberries in season!) We missed Robyn, Dave and Maddy, who were just back from an out-of-town wedding and couldn't make it to dinner.

Monday morning saw Paul on one flight and Jamie and me on another, all headed back to NY. At the airport I discovered that Jamie had cut a tooth: a little gravelly bit was sticking out from the gum. Clever boy...but what with that and the excitement of a venue change, he wouldn't nap properly and had a miserable time at his swim class on Monday afternoon. The irony is that in the bath at home here this evening, he was trying out everything they wanted him to do at the class...just in slightly warmer water and without so much echoey noise. I even wore the bathing cap tonight in the tub to get him used to seeing me in it! Who can figure...

Jane is coming on Sunday to spend most of a week with us here. Jamie will be very pleased indeed. By then, he may be crawling...yikes!

I just added some new material to Jamie's website this afternoon, and the bulk of what remained of the day was given over to a whole bunch of errands. The boy and I are on our way to Toronto tomorrow, and Paul's mother Jane is there already waiting for us. She hasn't seen Jamie since February, so they have a lot of catching up to do!

Jamie had his first swimming session yesterday, and it was interesting if not met with lavish approval. He had refused to nap at the usual mid-morning time, so he was tired going into the whole thing. He'd also never seen so many little babies before. And then the pool environment was new and challenging, and the instructor was hearty and loud, and the space echoed, and the water was cooler than he was used to, and Mummy was wearing a black thing over her hair that made her look like a stranger...so after 20 minutes of conditional interest, he lost it and we had to withdraw for the last 5 minutes and cuddle in a towel. No matter: we'll be ready for another try next week, if not earlier!

Got to finish packing before bed.

So much for the video I rented tonight! Paul had to work late again, so I thought I'd just do a bit of work after Jamie fell asleep, then treat myself to a film: Sixth Sense. But then I got into revising the EFS website, on which it was urgent that I get the 2003-04 season information and the Conductors' Workshop brochure and info posted. A great deal more about that site was overdue for an update. It's not perfect yet, but I'm happier with it now; I've tidied up a bunch of visual loose ends (some of which I created myself doing last year's updates, when I barely knew my way around HTML!).

And the movie will have to wait; it's after 1am.

Last night Paul was also at work late, so Jamie and I packed ourselves up at 8:45 and braved the gathering July 4 crowds to join him at his downtown office. A small crowd gathered in the lunch room, which has bay windows overlooking the water. In effect, we had front row seats for the Macy's fireworks display, which was about the best I've ever seen. Not having to fight our way through crowds in the heat for a vantage point certainly contributed to the experience. Jamie was awe-struck. He hung out in Paul's arms with his jaw dropped for about two-thirds of the display.

Euuuuuggh! A disgusting large fleshy leggy spider just ran across the sofa. Where do they come from?? (Upon reflection, I don't want to know.) I smushed it with one of Jamie's diapers, which went straight into the pail. Yuck, yuck, YUCK! Now I feel all crawly and prickly.

I think my young man is stirring...he had a busy day, including his first experience of a wading pool, so he shouldn't be waking up. On the other hand, I think he owes me a full diaper. Better go see.

I nearly threw my innocent infant son out the window earlier this afternoon. He usually has a nap at about noon or 12:30, and he refused to go down until nearly 2:00. In the meanwhile, nothing would please him and all he wanted to do was practise pterodactyl shrieks while I carried him from room to room. (Since we only have two rooms, that's literally all I could do: from room to room and back again!) The sooner we get a couple of teeth through, the better.

I finished the Harry Potter book a few days ago. It didn't disappoint; my only complaint was that a hardcover book that thick is hazardous to take to bed if you're inclined to drop off while reading it! (Paul referred to it as "the Brick".) Still, I'd rather have it in hardcover to match the rest of my set.

It's July 4, my grandmother's birthday - Happy Birthday, Gam! - and I'm expecting some pretty impressive fireworks tonight. We might go to Paul's Lower Manhattan office building to watch from his office window; he's apparently got the perfect view. He's at work at the moment, so I expect it will depend whether he's likely still to be there as darkness falls. Otherwise we'll probably go to the promenade near the waterfront in Brooklyn Heights. I hope it cools down out there first, though; it's 31 degrees just now.

I finished the crucial web updates for Exultate and Pax Christi Chorale this week; I'm still working on a more major update and refresh on the Elora Festival Singers website. (Well, it's one way to procrastinate constructively when there's data entry to be done...)

Turned out my follow-up appointment was today, not tomorrow. Glad they called to confirm! So off we went, and the nurses passed Jamie around with great glee while I spoke with the doctor. The MRI results were normal...which in itself was informative, it would appear. So now we have a course of action involving two weeks of (baby-safe) antibiotics, another follow-up appointment, and then a little day surgery if the antibiotics don't touch anything; there's about a 50-50 chance of this. I'm just delighted to have a course of action laid out!

Jamie's loving his Deuter Kid Comfort III backpack. Being up high is great for him; I think he thinks he's doing some of the walking. He will be doing some of the crawling - perhaps even all of the crawling - very very soon. This apartment needs another few passes with baby-proofing in mind!

The first draft of Exultate's new season's brochure is ready now; our designer has done it again, and I'm really pleased with the way it looks. I'm hoping to have it out in a week or so - a bit later than we'd have liked, but still in pretty good time. That means I've got to get the rest of the data entry done...something I always find myself putting off (perhaps because it's BORING!).