Fun in the Snow

These two pictures were taken at daycare. Nick, who is pulling Mason in this first picture, is 8 months older than Mason. Mason adores Nick and it is easy to see why! :) Nick has given Mason his first nickname: Mase Mason spent much of his time on this particular day hanging out with the snowman. By the time I arrived at the end of the day to pick Mason up the snowman had melted and crumpled but Mason still wanted to show me where it had been and he walked me over to the pile of snow. He kept pointing at the snow and "talking" away trying to tell me all about the snowman.

It's great that Mason is starting to get used to the snow, especially because it has been snowing here almost non-stop for the past 2 weeks. I am still waiting for the first snow day of the year though so that we can stay home and play in it together!

Tis the Season

Putting up the Christmas tree was a whole new experience this year! Last year Mason wasn't on the move so we didn't need to worry about leaving the Christmas decorations sitting on the floor or which ornaments we hung on the lower branches of the tree. We started to put the tree up just before Mason's nap so that he could see it and our intention was then to have it completely decorated by the time he woke up. Well, decorating took longer than we anticipated (it takes some time to unwrap each ornament, reminisce about the ornament and then decide where to place it on the tree) and when Mason awoke from his nap our living room was in complete disarray. The Christmas bins were open with all sorts of new "toys" to play with and the floor was strewn with tissue paper, boxes and other decor. Mason had a great time checking everything out. We gave him one ornament (a little cat) that he could hang onto while we continued to decorate (at a much faster rate) the Christmas tree. Mason was quite intrigued by what we were doing and kept pointing to the lit tree and saying "OOOOHHHHH!" I think that I mentioned in a previous post that Mason is obsessed with snowmen. When he saw this mat on the floor he started dancing around in excitement all over the snowman and kept laying down on it, rolling on the mat and kissing the snowman. It was pretty funny! (Note that his blanket is still close by.)

He was quite curious about Mr. Bo-Jingles (we also have his sidekick Mr. Bo-Jangles) although he won't have anything to do with him now.

We eventually got the tree decorated and all of the boxes and bins put away. Mason is great around the tree and the only ornament that he has taken off of the tree is the cat ornament that we let him hang onto while we decorated. As he takes this ornament off of the tree he says "no, no, no, no, no!" Prior to our Christmas tree decorating experience Mason really never said "no" that often but "no" became his word of the day for quite a few days after "d" Day.

Bows on gifts are very tempting. I made the mistake of sticking a bow on his shirt while I was wrapping gifts and now he tries to pull bows off of all of the gifts and stick them on himself. I will be amazed if all of our gifts are intact by the time December 25th arrives.

This final picture was taken last week at the Lions' "Breakfast with Santa". Yes, you will notice that Santa is nowhere to be seen. Mason LOVED his pancake breakfast and drinking box "treat" (he doesn't get juice at home) but wanted absolutely nothing to do with Santa! We waited in line to see Santa and when it was Mason's turn and we tried to hand him to Santa he freaked so we didn't get a picture - again! Time is running out for the Santa photo.

We are soooo excited for Christmas - hurry up and get here!

Kisses on the Cheek

This is just too cute. I hope that it puts a smile on your face too!

Cheers!

As mentioned in my previous post, Mason can say "Cheers" and will do the actions to accompany the word. I took this video at the end of his dinner tonight (after he'd been doing it all throughout his meal and I only thought to take the video when he had almost had enough of being in his highchair.)

If you listen closely enough, you will also hear the Grey Cup on in the background. Daddy is exposing Mason early :)

A Few Fun Shots

I cannot believe that my "baby" just turned 18 months last week! Where has the time gone? It is hard to imagine what it was like "before" Mason - it seems as though he has always been a part of our lives. He now weighs 21 pounds 4 ounces (almost on the charts but not quite) and is in the 50th percentile for height. Both Scott and I have noticed that he is getting taller. He now has 10 teeth and is currently cutting 4 more. He is starting to say a few words such as up, Bob (he calls Uncle Bob by name), boob (don't ask), cheers with the action (although it sounds like cheese) and of course mama and dada. Mason's doctor thinks that he should be saying more words (apparently 10 words by 18 months which I can't believe) so we are taking him to a screening clinic next month as a precaution. She says that she really isn't worried but would still like to have him assessed. Great - something else to worry about!
I thought I would share some pictures here that catch a glimpse into a typical day for Mason. He LOVES his blanket and carries it with him all over the house now. I call him Linus :) So far he is fine with leaving it at home but both Scott and I are a little worried that his "addiction" will escalate.

Now that he is walking his up and down off of the floor and couch continually. We are trying to teach him that couches are for sitting and not standing or jumping. So far our lessons are not working :)

Mason's first bath in the big tub. He was afraid of it so Daddy had to join him.

Kisses for the snake. Mason can make the noises for 10 animals, including the snake. It's cute to listen to.

One of Mason's favourite "toys". He likes to "talk" on the phone now and push the buttons. The converter is still his favourite real "toy" followed by Daddy's Blackberry, the computer and then the telephone.

Well, that's it for now. There's so much more that I could gush about but I will leave it at that. Until next time...

Brrrrr! Winter has Arrived Early

Mother Nature has been very... confused throughout the month of November. The first few days of November saw temperatures in the 20's and then two weeks later the snow began to fall and has been falling every day since. Today is the first day since last Saturday that it has not snowed here. My snow tires still aren't on my car and some of Mason's outdoor toys are still in the backyard buried underneath heaps of snow. (Unless we get a thaw they will stay there until spring.)
Mason was outside playing in the leaves a week and a half ago.This picture was taken this morning in the backyard however our backyard has looked like this since last Sunday.Mason likes to be pulled around in the sleigh but doesn't like to actually be in the snow. I took him out of the sleigh and sat him in the snow and the tears were almost immediate. I guess it will take a bit of time.He doesn't like the immobility of winter clothes. I set him down at the foot of our stairs because he normally like to climb up them. As you can see from the picture, it just wasn't happening!

The snow does help with putting me in a Christmas mood. Next weekend we will take Mason to the Santa Claus parade and will put the Christmas tree up. Can't wait to see how he reacts to the big guy and also to the Christmas tree. When we drive home from daycare it is dark now and I have started to point out the Christmas lights to Mason. He gets really excited and says "Oohhh!" while pointing out the window. It's really cute. He also likes to point out traffic lights and we spend most of our drive commenting on the red lights (they mean "stop") and the green lights (they mean "go"). I never realized how many stop lights there are on my drive to and from work but now that I have my backseat driver I am well aware. Hee hee!

Happy Halloween!

Wow, it's been almost a month since I last posted anything here. It's definitely been a busy month! (I will try to post a few pics from October in the next couple of days but won't promise anything.) I thought that I had better post some pictures of Mason in his costume before another month passed by.
Here is our little cutie all dressed up and ready to visit the neighbours for his first trick-or-treating experience. Mason was supposed to be a jungle cat (not sure if he is a jaguar, cheetah or leopard) but we called him a "Kitty Cat" because he will "meow" when asked and it was easier for him to identify with.

When he first saw himself in the mirror with his nose and whiskers he couldn't stop laughing and pointing at himself in the mirror. It was soooooo cute! I was busy trying to take pictures of him before we headed out and in the middle of the "photo shoot" he found the makeup crayon and decided that it would be yummy to eat.

Mason made it to 4 of our neighbour's houses. He walked (yes, Mason is now walking!) up the driveway of only one house and then was carried to the other three. All of the Jack-o'lanterns mesmerized him and he was very curious about all of the scary decorations. One of our neighbours had a motion-sensored monster at their front door - Mason did not want to have anything to do with it and tried to scale up my leg.

When we got back he had to check out all of his loot. I think that he had more fun playing with his treats by putting them into and out of the bucket than he did going trick-or-treating.

We let Mason stay up a little bit later to help hand out the candy.

It was a fairly warm night out and Mason and Scott kept a look out for the trick-or-treaters.
I hope that all of you had a great Halloween!

Fall is Here

The weather has definitely turned and fall is in the air. We have been busy exploring and enjoying this great season. The cooler weather now means having to dress in more layers, one of which includes a hat. Mason isn't too thrilled about the layering aspect of fall - I am afraid to think about adding snowpants, mitts and boots! He loves to pick up leaves whenever we are outside. The first few times he tried to eat every one that he picked up but I think that he now realizes that all of them taste the same: yucky!Today we headed out in the beautiful sunny weather and ended up in a little town about an hour from here where we checked out an Apple Harvest Craft Show (Scott really wasn't into it and was thankful when Mason began fussing and we cut our visit short). Our one and only purchase there was Mason's cute pumpkin hat which I absolutely love!
We took our time driving back home and stopped at one of the local fruit and vegetable stands to buy some freshly picked apples (they are soooooo good!) and to check out the scarecrows and pumpkins. Of course I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of Mr. Pumpkin Head with the pumpkins. (Note the leaf in his hand.)
We had a fantastic day - I wish that tomorrow wasn't Monday :( On the plus side, Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

This picture was taken on our way to the Apple Harvest this morning. Although the picture isn't the greatest it does give you a glimpse of the molars that Mason has been cutting for the past few weeks. You can see them on both his upper and lower gums - these two are almost completely through (they are big! I thought that they were through last week) and the other two on the opposite side are making an appearance too. He has had a few instances of crankiness due to these molars but overall he is handling them just fine. I think that some of the crankiness has also been because of a cold that he has had all week. It's that time of the year now too. I am just waiting for Scott and I to catch it now...

The Last of the Highlights

Yes, I have a few more pics to post.
Mason still likes to make this silly face with his lips all of the time. He also is more involved in getting dressed and undressed. He knows that his shoes and socks go on his feet and tries to put them on himself. He has started to get impatient with getting his shoes tied up - we have to triple knot them because he will untie them. He can still untie the triple knot but it takes a bit longer than a double knot.
He likes to take his hats off of his head but will put it back on (more like have it perch on top of his head) if we tell him to put his hat back on. He also tries to do up all of the snap buttons on his pajamas now. It truly amazes me how much these little ones can learn simply by watching! Climbing up and down the stairs is another favourite past time. Mason knows to turn around at the top of the stairs if he is going to climb down them although he is much faster climbing up.
Mason loves other kids but he is still cautious around kids that he doesn't know, especially those similar to his age. He doesn't like to have his space invaded and he also doesn't tend to touch other kids too much (for the time being anyway.) This is our neighbour's grandson Nathan who came over to play with Mason this past weekend. Mason crawled over to me soon after this picture was taken.
We have set up one of his water tables inside (minus the water) and he loves to put things into it and take things out. Lots of time is spent at this table.
Whenever I get the camera out now Mason is so interested and will try to get right up in my face to touch the camera and see what is going on. He tries to put the lens cap back on too often in the middle of my trying to take a picture. I have many pictures of his nostrils, top of his head, part of his face, his mouth etc. Thank goodness for digital images!
Well, we are caught up now for the time being. Hope you have enjoyed the highlights :)

Are You Ready for Some Football?

As most of you know Scott is a big sports fan and an even bigger football fan (he was at the Bills' game yesterday) He has taught Mason how to signal a touchdown and Mason thinks that it is pretty fun to do. Most of the time when we say "touchdown!" Mason will raise his arms up in the air just like the first picture below.


"What do you mean it's not a touchdown for the Bills?"
Football was actually on the T.V. when this picture was taken.

"Okay, Okay! Enough with the touchdowns mommy and daddy!"
It looks as though I will have to start taking more of an interest in football because I will soon be outnumbered here.

Time Flies

I've been back to work now for 4 weeks - it doesn't seem like it has been that long. (I guess that that means that things are going well.) Mason is doing so well at daycare and he seems to get bigger and more grown up every day when I pick him up.

Before you all read ahead in anticipation, no, he still isn't walking. Scott and I both think that he is fully capable of doing so but just chooses not to. He will stand now for minutes at a time and then either go back onto his bum or drop down to his knees. We are just waiting for him to stand up and run across the room. hee hee!

Mason is well into the "I can do it myself stage" for almost everything. It is so cute but yet a little frustrating at times when we are in a hurry. The pictures that I am posting here (and in the next post) will give you a glimpse at our independent little man.

He will still let us brush his teeth but then he likes to make sure that we have gotten them all. Mason is currently cutting his molars. The top left one is in and the bottom left is almost through the gum. He is taking it all in stride and hasn't been too cranky. He really has such an easy-going personality. Mason LOVES the converters! He is too funny to watch when he get ahold of one of them because he will point it at the TV and will often change the channel or the volume. The weather channel at full blast really wakes you up in the morning if the shower hasn't!
Thankfully he is completely over his aversion and dislike of grass. He will crawl, sit and walk (with our help of course) all over the grass. In this particular picture he was crawling away from me and heading over to the neighbour's house as their grandson had just been over playing with Mason. Speaking of neighbours, our neighbours on the other side have a really friendly dog named Caeser that Mason just adores. Caeser gives Mason big wet kisses (Yuck!) and in turn Mason feeds Caeser treats. Mason has watched Scott feed Caeser dog biscuits for months now and just yesterday when Caeser came over to "play" Mason started to feed him his snacks. Everytime I handed Mason a cracker he would take it from me, extend his hand out with the cracker and let Caeser enjoy the snack. It was too funny!
Mason can now handle his sippy cups (and straw sippies now too) all on his own. Over the past few weeks he has figured out how to tip the cup back. Yeahhhh! Sometimes he tips his head back so far when he is sitting on the floor that he actually tips over.
I love this picture of Mason at the fridge. I was putting groceries away and Mason thought that he would help.
Another new "skill" (for lack of a better word) that Mason has learned this past week is how to shriek and scream. He does it when he is super excited and happy and although we are thrilled to see his excitement our eardrums are paying the price. Hopefully this new "voice" quiets down in the next few weeks or at least learns that it is a voice to be reserved for outside.

I have a few more pics to post and I will try to get them up this week. I am now off to bed...

THE Last Day of Summer

Even though I went back to work last week and the calendar still indicates that summer will be around for a few more weeks I still consider Labour Day Monday the official last day of summer. The weather here has been absolutely amazing for the past three days (and will continue until midweek) and we have been out enjoying every minute of it. Today we headed down to the beach again, this time to the area that we were married at two years ago. It was neat to be down there reminiscing about our wedding while hanging out on the beach with Mason. (We were much more relaxed than on our wedding day!) Mason loved being thrown up into the air. You can't really see it in the next two pictures but Mason is climbing a pile of sand.
He was pretty proud of himself when he made it to the top.
Crawling around chasing seagulls was also a big hit. Mason crawled along the sand for awhile trying to catch the birds.
I love this last picture! Mason's face is too cute and it looks as though he's trying to be so "cool" but really I am trying to keep him from pulling his sunglasses off of his face and he is scrunching up his face to try and keep the glasses from sliding down his nose.
What a great way to spend the last day of summer! We are crossing our fingers that we will still see some warm weekends throughout September so that we can go back to chase seagulls and play in the sand.

The Last Few Days of Summer Holidays

It had to happen eventually. My summer holidays have now ended. This week was my first week back to work and we all survived. Mason settled right back into daycare and is thoroughly enjoying his days with all of his friends while mommy and daddy work. Scott is going to continue working from home on Tuesdays which means Mason will only spend 4 days of the week in daycare.
Last week we took Mason down to the beach right before bed to feed seagulls. (Yes, I know you really shouldn't do this but we went to a quiet area of the beach and only brought a couple of pieces of bread with us.) Mason always points out seagulls to us (they are everywhere around here) so we thought that he would enjoy feeding them. Mason was definitely interested in the seagulls when we first arrived at the beach - he was pointing everywhere. We got ourselves organized with the bread (Scott) and camera (me) and then Scott and Mason began to feed our feathered friends. Well, as all of you can imagine once the first piece of bread was thrown and the first gull let out its screech of delight we were soon surrounded by screeching seagulls frantically trying to get to the pieces of bread before their nearest competitor. At this point Mason became a little concerned and anxious. Seagulls flying high above your head in the sky is a wonderful thing but having them screaming at each other only centimetres from your face is another thing! We quickly ran out of bread and the birds distanced themselves from us a little bit and Mason went back to being excited about them again.
He thought it was fun to chase the seagulls around too.
We also made huge strides forward (literally) in our beach exploration. Mason walked along the shoreline in his barefeet and loved it! I think that it helped that the water was super warm and that there weren't too many people around. We are going to try and get him in the water before the weather cools down too much.



By the way, Mason is getting soooo close to walking indepently. In the past 5 days he has figured out how to push himself up into a standing position from the middle of the room (no furniture assistance) and will stand there with his arms up in the air to balance himself. He gets a great big grin on his face when he is balanced and then he will fall back onto his bum, giggle, and do it all over again. It is so cute! Tonight he took 2 steps forward and then fell down. Looks like we are on track with his doctor's prediction.

Mmmmm... Corn on the Cob

So, lately Mason has become a bit of a picky eater. When food is placed on his tray or a spoon approaches his mouth, he no longer gets excited but rather looks at the food presented to him and ponders whether or not it is appealing. He will further investigate by touching the food and then he might place a piece of the food into his mouth or open his mouth to eat what is on the spoon. More often than not, he will not try a second bite. Scraps are now ending up on the floor. It's sooooo frustrating! Food that he once gobbled down is now shunned. At the moment vegetables, cheese, meat, pasta and sometimes even yogurt are rejected by our little food critic. He can't get enough bananas, watermelon, toast with cream cheese or peanut butter, fig newtons and his little organic Elmo snacking crackers. The current trend seems to be sweets and carbohydrates.
We were therefore thrilled that Mason took an interest in corn on the cob. He watched us eat our corn for a few nights in a row but when offered the cob, he would turn his head away. Well finally last night and again tonight (I think we have had corn on the cob every night for the past week) Mason ate a couple of rows of corn right off of the cob. Woohoo! He wouldn't pick the cob up himself but we are willing to hold the corn cob if it means that he is eating a vegetable.
Pleeeaaaasssseeeee tell me that this is just another phase and that we won't be fighting about vegetables until he leaves for university!

Visiting Santa

Yes, today we went to visit Santa at his summer home on the 45th parallel in Bracebridge. The weather was absolutely beautiful today: no snow, freezing rain or high winds.
As soon as we entered the main gate Mason was given his very own elf hat to wear. (The hat didn't stay on his head much past the few minutes it took for us to capture a few pictures.) Mason enjoyed cruising around in his stroller, taking in all of the sights and sounds and watching other little "elves" run around the park in their hats. It's amazing how busy Santa and his elves are in the off season! There were all kinds of rides for the kids, a toy shop, many playgrounds, a train, splash park and so much more to keep little ones entertained.

Mason wasn't really too excited about meeting Santa today. I guess he would rather wait until closer to Christmas.
We thought that a nice leisurely boat cruise would be right up Mason's alley. We were sooooo wrong!! As soon as the Captain backed the boat up he did a few "donuts" in the water, revved the engine and cranked up the tunes. Talk about overstimulation! Poor Mason was pretty scared and practically scaled up Scott's chest to try and get away from everything.
We managed to get him settled down about half way through the 15 minute boat trip. Thank goodness it wasn't an hour long cruise!
Aside from the two crying incidences with Santa and his sleigh, Mason had a fantastic time at Santa's Village. Mommy and Daddy thoroughly enjoyed themselves too and can't wait to go back again next year.