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.

More of This and That

Here are some pictures that were taken over the past couple of weeks. Mason loves to be outside and will now pick up his sandals and bring them over to me when he wants to go outside. When outside he loves to walk around (either holding our hands or in our arms) and check out the flowers, trees, birds etc. In all of his excitement the other day he even walked across the grass in his bare feet! I tried having him sit on the grass too but I guess I was pushing it too much. Here he is holding a flower in his hand and trying to hand it to me.A couple of weeks ago we went to a local farm to buy fresh corn on the cob. This farm also has an area that kids can feed the goats, chickens, and bunnies. Mason really likes animals and he thought that this was great.
Outside again. (Note our new flower bed in the background that we have been working on for the past few weeks. All it needs now is flowers!)
Mason will wear his ball caps and sun hats (as long as they don't have an under-the-chin strap) willingly. He now likes to take his hat off and then try to put it back on his head by himself. In this last shot he is thinking about taking his hat off.

Walking Around...Sort of

Slowly but surely Mason is making progress towards walking independently. At our 15 month doctor's appointment this past week the doctor predicted that Mason will be walking in another month. (By the way he now weighs a whopping 19 pounds 4 ounces.) Each day that passes he gets a little more confident and adventurous while on his two feet. He is now furniture cruising along the couches and coffee table but once upright and standing he is still afraid to get himself back down to the ground. He will however pull up on us and then push back to try and stand by himself. We are patiently waiting for the day that Mason walks.

Scott had him up and walking behind one of his push toys yesterday (with Scott's assistance) and he thought that it was pretty neat. He was making "vroom vroom" noises as he walked all around the island kitchen. Once he realized that he was the one actually making the truck move forward and not daddy, he quickly changed his mind about the whole experience. This picture makes me laugh.
Moments later he was back to crawling all around the floor at an incredibly fast speed.

So, if the doctor's prediction is accurate we should hopefully be posting walking pictures here by the middle of September.

Family Time

Last week Grandma Bradley, Uncle Karl, Auntie Karen and big cousins Brad and Jack came up for the day to visit. Mason absolutely LOVED playing with Brad and Jack. He was so interested in what they were doing and what toys they were playing with. I was so glad to see Mason positively interacting with his cousins. Lately he has been so clingy with me, especially around kids his own age.

It was so neat to see all three of them together and getting along so well. Brad and Jack were great with Mason! It's too bad that we don't live closer.Jack spent a lot of time entertaining Mason.
I love this picture of the three boys! Mason looks so grown up here.
Thanks for an awesome day!!