S has 16 teeth. He was a bit later to start cutting teeth and only had his bottom 2 for months. Then he started cutting teeth continuously when he was about 10 months old. Luckily for the most part he's handled teething well. I can only recall a handful of days when his teeth really bothered him. And thankfully, teething hasn't affected his sleep. Perhaps his drool-faucet offset some of the pain?

Now that he has a few molars, S has become even more interested in food. He's always liked eating foods with lots of texture but now he really relishes chewier foods and he can actually digest better.

Poor kid, he's still drooling up a storm--even when he's not teething. But when he's cutting a tooth it's as though someone has poured a glass of water down his shirt. So he still wears bibs and typically goes through at least 4 a day. Sometimes I just give up and let him run around with a soaking wet shirt.

A bib related conversation with Cora who was visiting us this summer:
Cora: You're not going to let him go out with that bib on, are you?"
Me: Changing a bib 5 times a day is a lot easier than changing his shirts that many times. I'd run out of clothes.

I wonder when the perpetual S waterfall will finally dry up. Will he be traumatized as a youth when he looks at his baby photos and sees that he's wearing a bib in most of them?

We moved into our townhouse a year ago today. The year has flown by and we've settled in nicely. We've got our regular haunts like Libby's. And we have our regular shopping spots like the weekly East Van Farmers Market and Famous Foods. It feels like we've gotten to know our 'hood pretty well with its local parks, community centres, stores and our new friends. It's also exciting to see new developments going up and some upgrades and improvements that the city is making to the Cedar Cottage neighbourhood.

We're enjoying our much bigger home. I can't imagine how we would've coped with S running around and banging toys at our old condo...our downstairs neighbour would've had us evicted!

We still don't have any artwork up on the walls. We still have some boxes that need to be unpacked or sorted. And we laugh at how we now have all this space for entertaining yet we can't have big dinner parties because a certain short person goes to bed by 7:00 p.m. But it's home.

S is becoming an increasingly affectionate child. It's really delightful to be spontaneously hugged and kissed by this drooly little fellow. We've been able to get him to kiss people on command and he will kiss as long as it's someone he likes.

Our friend Kerrie brought 22 month old Natalie over for a visit last week. The toddlers played around each other well and followed each other around. I was in the kitchen with them and had my back turned. It was quiet for a while so I turned around to see what was going on. Low and behold, S the kissing bandit had his arms around Natalie and was planting a big wet one on her cheek! I guess he made a real impression on her because on the way home she kept saying, "I love S...I loooooove S..."

Not everyone is as impressed though. S tried the same on his friend Hugh but S was a bit too overwhelming and Hugh almost cried.

Maybe it's time to teach S how to blow kisses instead!

Today S turns 18 months old! Hard to believe that he's been part of our family for 1 1/2 years. Hard to believe that Roland and I have made it this far as parents!

It's very moving to reminisce about that past 18 months. I think the first year to 14 months were a whirlwind blur. And because we were so busy with just trying to meet S's basic needs and adjusting to our new role as parents, we didn't get to enjoy S as a little person as much.

But we've finally got a handle on things a bit more. And more and more of S's personality is coming out each day. We're able to relax more and take the time to enjoy our little tyke and our life together as a family.

I have a new computer! Roland convinced me that I needed to get a new computer as I have been using our 5 year old iMac and I've been increasingly frustrated by how slow it is. And eventually I'd need a computer for my business anyway. So we went down to the store, handed over my credit card and tried not to think too much about how much it was going to cost me.

I ended up getting an iBook G4 and it is lightyears faster than the old iMac. Amazing how quickly technology changes. In my low-tech world, nothing really changes that much in 5 years...the answering machine still records, my kitchen knives and mixer are still in style, the fridge still runs, TV still works, car still operates...

I just hope my computer isn't "so yesterday" by Christmas!

This week saw the passing of my family's beloved dog, Leroy. For the past few years my parents have been taking care of him and it was time for him to pass on at the ripe old age of 15 years.

Although I hadn't spent as much time with him recently, I'll miss him dearly. He was just such a crazy, loveable mutt. We adopted him from the SPCA and at the time I wondered why my dad picked him. He was this scrawny, lanky black pup with oversized flappy ears. The first time he howled we all wondered what the heck that noise was...it started off like a typical dog howl then it evolved into a bansheelike screech. He never outgrew that.

Oh Leroy, the things I will remember about you: how you did anything to avoid getting wet, your unruliness during walks, how you'd use your paws like hands to grab and hold things, your crazy running around in circles, how you loved to laze in the sun, your squatting, how you hated to chew on anything hard, your miserable pout when I dressed you up for Christmas photos, your 'popcorn' smell...

I hope you're enjoying chasing ducks, lying in the sun and getting scratches behind your ears up there in doggy heaven. I love you.

[Via email from Susan Mernit] Wow! There is a Yoga conference featuring Iyengar (the type of yoga Barb has been doing for almost 10 years!) in Colorado from September 26-October 2, 2005 and the Iyengar founder, BKS Iyengar will be there. Not only that. They have a blog. Very cool. Web 2.0 for everybody! It's not just for geeks any more!

S is weaned...at 17 months, 10 days. Some people might be appalled by how long I breastfed while others wouldn't even blink. I did it for as long as it worked for us.

I'm amazed at how quickly he weaned. I had usually nursed him once a day, first thing in the morning. He has had a cold for a few days and his nose was too stuffed up to latch and suck. For two mornings he wanted to nurse and just lay there pathetically crying. On the third morning I offered him the breast while he lay on my lap, he smiled up at me and said "Done!". And that's that.

I thought the whole weaning process was going to be a struggle, considering he was nursing for comfort even in July. But gradually he cut himself off...from nursing after sleeping to once in the morning to nothing. I guess he's found ways to comfort and soothe himself and he's far too busy to be snuggling in my lap!

Overall the breastfeeding experience has been a very positive one. I had a lot of support from everyone around us. It helps, too, that I have a thick skin and I don't really care what anyone out there thinks of breastfeeding in public (everyone has to eat and drink!!). But one of the keys to our success was going to a breastfeeding class before S was born.

I will miss those snuggly morning feeds...they bought us a few extra minutes to zone out and cuddle before we started our busy days. But then again, I'll finally get to sleep in while Roland gets up with the 6:30 S wake up call!

I'm a dog person. Always have been. So naturally I've been building doggy awareness with S from day 1.

S loves cats. Love is an understatement. He is obsessed with cats. From morning to night it's "Cah cah cah cah cah..." If there's a cat in a book he'll find it. If he sees one while we're looking out the window, I'll hear about it. When we're driving through to the underground parking he will call for our neighbour's cat, Simba.

So I broke down on the weekend and bought S a stuffed animal cat. It's a lovely black and white one with yellow green eyes. Well, S was enamoured with Cah before we could even make it to the cashier. He's been dragging that cat everywhere since. He takes it to bed, he takes it into the kitchen, he clutches it while he watches a dvd, he lies on it with his head resting on its belly. Today he fed it a cracker.

It's nice for S to have a special soft friend since he's such a rough and tumble kid. I feel sorry for Cah though...he's not only being showered by hugs and kisses but with lots and lots of drool from a very drippy (yet loving) little toddler.

Today I registered S for daycare. He won't start until January but we did all the paperwork and payment to hold a spot until then. It felt a bit strange. For one thing I'm not used to filling in forms anymore. And for another, it felt like we were signing onto a whole new chapter of S's wee life.

Its time has certainly come as S showed that he's ready for a new social environment and new stimulation. After only about 10 minutes of being held, he was ready to get down to explore and play. Of course he loved the kitchen centre! And as the whole group moved upstairs to play, then outside, he followed along. As I sat and filled out forms and observed from a far, he was happy as a clam...no screaming, no crying, no hitting or grabbing. And he didn't miss me at all!

I'm not heartbroken that he didn't miss me...I'm just relieved to know that he can cope without me and that he'll be OK.