Trip Report and Updates!

As the title suggests, the biggest thing that has happened lately was our wonderful 12-day trip to Canada. We all had a terrific time on this trip!

Daddy and Baby at the ceremony!

Our first stop was Halifax, Nova Scotia, to attend Billy's cousin Laura's wedding. We had a great time at the wedding, got to see a lot of family, and also stayed with our good friends Marc and Colleen, who we hadn't seen in several years. It was great to spend time with them. We also drove up to Antigonish, where Billy's grandparents used to live (they are both now deceased). Some family was there and we took Theodore down to the beach, though we didn't swim. Overall it was a great few days.

Cute faces at Grammy Eileen's house

After Halifax we flew to Ottawa, where we visited with more family and friends, and stayed with Billy's mom. Unfortunately it was during the week so it wasn't as easy to see everyone, but we did end up seeing a lot of people! It also rained while we were here - which Teddy found fascinating! He didn't remember rain, as it only rains in the winter in our part of California, and he was so little then, of course.

Three cousins on the couch!

Then to finish the trip, we flew to Toronto, where we stayed with my parents in Brampton. We got to spend time with my sisters, my grandmother who now lives in Brampton, and also drove to Waterloo to see Billy's brother Michael. In particular, Theodore really enjoyed spending time with his cousins Austin and Alex. He was fascinated by them and loved playing with them at their house one day.

Teddy was wonderful on all the flights. He took good naps and was generally able to be entertained, and almost barely cried - and that's over five flights! He also did quite well with adjusting to the different time zones. What he had some trouble with was stranger anxiety - the poor boy got a bit overwhelmed by all the new people at times. He cried and cried at the ceremony and wasn't that much happier at the reception, though it would come and go. He seemed to need a bit of time to warm up to people, and also preferred to meet people on his own terms, rather than be held and have people come up to him and be in his face. This was a problem on and off during the whole trip, but overall he was pretty happy with all the new things he saw and did. He especially enjoyed seeing relatives he remembered, like Grandma Carole and Granddad Bill, and Auntie Debbie. He also continues to teethe, having a hard time with the two up top he's cutting right now in particular, but thankfully this mostly only bothered him at night - though he had his fingers in his mouth for most of the photos!

He had his eleven-month birthday while he was away, and we're rapidly approaching the one year mark! We will be having a small party at home to celebrate.

Not too many new milestones to mark. We did leave him with my parents for an evening, the first time anyone else but us tried to put him to bed. It went pretty well for a first attempt! Billy and I were lucky enough to get tickets to see Paul McCartney in Toronto, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity. Teddy is getting stronger every day, though he is still not yet crawling or walking. He is very content to sit and play and does not seem motivated to move around! We are working hard on providing opportunities to strengthen his upper body and crawl, and he will move in circles, so it's a start. He's also very interested in standing, and loves to climb on me. He also likes a new game of sitting on the bed and flopping himself backwards on the pillows, then pulling himself back to sitting, over and over again. So he's getting there, just a little bit behind.

He is now firmly in love with books, especially ones where he can touch different textures. He loves to turn the pages himself. He is definitely starting to understand a lot of what we say; at night Billy reads him Goodnight Moon and when he gets to the page saying "goodnight kittens" Teddy stops and pats the page! He also will clap on cue. He loves to clap and loves to be praised for his abilities. His fine motor skills are excellent and so it's all a matter of different development in different areas, it seems.

I guess that's enough for now! As always, here are a few photos (most of which were already on Facebook, apologies) and a video.

Photos:


Hanging out in his baby pool this week: