Temperance Street Times

OK, it’s still ridiculously cold here.  So we continue to play in the snow.  This past weekend, we got out for a great cross country ski together – as in all four of us.  Bit of an ordeal, but well worth the sweat involved…CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO SEE A FULL SIZE VERSION.

Through shear desperation, Thomas has taken to playing in the abandoned playgrounds by himself no matter the temperature…often getting to the playground is fun in itself…’faster dad, faster!’

Nathaniel on the other hand prefers to just stay indoors wearing warm fleece pants and his doggy slippers while doing battle with the cats…

Thomas’ verbal communication skills are improving dramatically these days, which has led to a number of amusing conversations that highlight a rather subtle sense of humor in this two year old.  Recently when putting Thomas to bed I said to him ‘Goodnight Sweety Pie!’, to which he replied with a shake of his head: ‘me no pie, me boy’.  A few nights before that I asked Thomas what his name was, he replied ‘me boy’, so I asked again and in a valiant attempt to pronounce the name Thomas – he in fact said ‘Toast’, which happens to be one of his favorite two food groups. I then asked him if his name was ‘Toast’ and he started laughing and said ‘ me boy toast!!’.  The next day at breakfast I said ‘good morning boy toast!’,  at which he started laughing and said ‘ no toast, me bagel’, which is his other favorite food group….

The mercury has finally headed back up to reasonable values of late, which means we have managed to get out of the house a bit. Walking Lucy with Nathaniel has been a pleasure! Depending on temperature and wind chill, he rides either inside or out (see pics).  Imbaw has been training hard for the upcoming Blue Mountain Cross Country Ski Loppet on the 22nd.  But most exciting of all, we have also gotten our new trainer kite out and flying for the first time. This is just a small 2.0m² trainer kite, but fun none the less.  We hope to upgrade to a full size kiteboarding kite by next winter!  Other than that, Nathaniel celebrated his 1 month birthday February 1 and the stickers were flying at Amigo’s last weekend when we were out celebrating our friend Stan’s birthday…CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW TO SEE FULL SIZE PICS!!

January 16th saw Thomas’ Second birthday.  A hair cut at the local kids salon, presents galore, cake and good times with relatives and friends were highlights of the day!  And so this brings us to the terrible twos.  We’ve experienced a few temper tantrums already, which were a real eye opener!  But of course it is only a stage and this too shall pass.  In other news Nathaniel is now almost 3 weeks old.  He is a lovely baby, sleeps lots and when awake, if not busy regurgitating his most recent meal, will play happily on his own in his playpen or bouncy chair.  A very different person than Thomas at 3 weeks.  The result of Nathaniel’s good behavior is that I’m getting at least 5-6 hours of sleep every night, plus usually a 1-2 hour nap during the day.  So sleep deprivation hasn’t been too bad so far.   Otherwise,  I seem to be recovering and repairing a lot faster the second time around.  Have been out cross country skiing twice already, what with the cold snap finally breaking I just couldn’t resist!  And weight is dropping rapidly (thank goodness!)  already down 20 pounds from where I was on January 1.

After much deliberation and tearing out of hair, a decision has been made:

Nathaniel Loewen Storer

Some more pics are up on the Albums page.