Hello Ewan

Hello LL Before I had kids, I've always wanted the feeling of someone running towards me when I come home from work. I have told WY this and have jokingly said that this was my dream. In the past few years, since you were about 3 years old, I've enjoyed this ritual. Exception is when you ares watching TV in which you wouldn't even notice if the abominable snowman came through the door. Today I managed to take a video to capture this.

 Hello LL, This is another post out of my diary. Another thing. LL has been air drumming and singing to a few classic rock tunes. Songs like living on a prayer, don't stop believing and his favorite, summer of 69. Cracks me up that a 5 year old would enjoy and sings there old man songs. Finally got his Christmas wish At The Alley bubble tea place Taking in the wonder of the Lego wall. On Saturday, I wanted to head out for drinks with my friends. Kind of spontaneous. We had already gone out to the playground in the morning. And WY needs to study so I need to watch him. And LL didn't want to come. He just wants to stay home and play. So I hinted that we'd go pickup a police station Lego set - something he wanted since Christmas. So we did.  We found a place that has stock in Richmond Hill and drive there. It was a gorgeous sunny day too. The experience of taking him to a physical toy store was fantastic. He was so happy. Then we drove to Markham to have drinks with my friends...

Hello LL, Haven't done a post in a while (4 years). You have grown from a baby to a confident boy. This was taken from my diary... It's already Feb. Time flie. Ewan did his second shot yesterday (Sunday). He was talking about how scared he is and "has a bad feeling about going" couple of days before. When we got there, he still hesitated. The nurse/doctor talked him into taking off his jacket and sit on my lap. Here's the amazing thing. I rolled up his sleeve and he became still. What happened was that "he closed his eyes and thought of something happy" - from Daniel Tiger. I totally forgot about it but I reminded him the night before to do so when he is scared. He didn't respond at the time but damn it he remembered moments before he got the needle. I am so proud of him (and myself). He didn't even cry or screen. Nothing. He got a fancy Band-Aid which he will show his friends in school and we did a couple puzzle while we waited. That night, he ...

Hello Ewan, After a grueling work week of performance reviews (10 this week) and hauling my behind to work despite a fever yesterday, it's finally Friday. TGIF! This is also the last week of mom's mat leave. Yes, she will be returning to work after being away for 18 months. We decided on a whim to celebrate a successful mat leave with Sushi dinner.  A short drive later, we are at Sushi In Sushi , a Japanese restaurant operated by Korean folks. Your favorite food currently is, by far, udon. In fact, you crave any type of noodle prepared in soup. Even spaghetti works. Tonight, we ordered for you a plain bowl of udon in seafood broth. Mom supplemented your meal with homemade salmon and frozen veggies. You devoured everything. Meanwhile, we had a piping hot bowl of mildly spicy Korean Ramen and SC0 - which consists of sashimi, sushi and rolls. Delicious. Ahh... at that moment, I was satisfied. These days, you are tons of fun. You roam around like a bos...

Hello Ewan, Last week was a pretty great week. You made progress in daycare, I overcame some difficult conversations at work and had a really fantastic weekend. You started incrementally going to daycare longer and longer last week. First two days was from 9-12 am. Next three days was 9-2:30 pm. Little by little, you are eating more, crying less and napping longer (but only still half hour) and feeling more comfortable with Miss Delia, Miss Mimi and your friends. Very encouraging. I just love finding out what you ate and the little details of the day. You get to sample different types of cuisine which is really great. [insert menu photo] At work, it was a week of catching up and firefighting. I had to have some tough conversations with a couple team members. Both went quite well. The most important part is that it is over. I chalk it up as a good week. I had a bit of an accident on Friday during Cross Fit class. I sprained my wrist pretty good. Got it taped up by Aubrey ri...

Hello Ewan, This week is, for all intent and purposes, your first week of child-care. To gradually ease you in, we dropped you off for an hour last week. For two days this week, you are there up to lunch time. Today, you will spend most of the day there (including your nap). So far, you have done quite well. Did you cry? Sure. But the teachers told us it is normal. And you are telling us that you like spending time there with Miss Delia and Miss Mimi (Faumica). You also enjoy time with the older kids. Here's a picture of your cubby hole. For mom and I, we don't like to see you uncomfortable. Mom even shed a few tears yesterday as she was leaving. And for a moment, it almost seems cruel to leave you with strangers for most of the day. But we truly believe this is the right thing to do. This allows you to learn. Learn how to play with other kids. Learn to taste different foods. Learn to live in a different environment outside of our home. We are quite sure that in just a ...

Hello Ewan, You just past your 15 month birthday a few days ago. After months of searching, you were finally accepted into the YMCA daycare. And maybe you don't think it is a give deal, but it is. Let me explain. Child care is a national crisis in Canada (at least outside of Quebec). It is expensive (min. $1500/ month), quality of care varies significantly and there's almost always a wait list (sometimes as long as a year). Mom visited some daycare which is mediocre in terms of quality of care but charges an arm and a leg. Mom stumbled upon YMCA when she was having lunch I the same strip mall. She decided to wander in to take a look. She met Annabella, the Director of the center, who was warm and friendly and mom instantly felt in love with this place. But we were still on the waiting list because there was no opening. Mom called more than a dozen and interviewed close to half dozen institutional and home daycare. In fact, last week, we said yes to a nice lady named S...