Month: March 2020

I’m wondering how kids know about certain pop culture items.  Case in point, Superman.  I have not introduced Sierra to Superman yet.  So how does she know that he runs around with a cape singing his name all the time?

There are a few times in a parents life where the feeling of unbridled pride enters your soul.  Going to the dentist with Sierra was one of those times.  Going to the dentist for a child can go a lot of different ways but she was the most patient patient there ever was!  This wasn’t just a checkup, this was a full out cleaning of the teeth appointment!  I was shocked at how much they did to her at this age!  But Sierra listened to instructions and didn’t scream or anything!  There were a few times were you could see that she was closing her eyes under those sunglasses and trying to tune out the world and we would have to repeat things like “Open your mouth wider!”  

I think what really helped was having a book about Dora going to the dentist.  She brought that book with her and showed the dentist and the assistant.  Is that the right term?  I’m not sure what that other person is called.  Anyhow, the assistant read the book with her and showed her the same things that Dora would encounter…the chair, the pick, the floss, etc.  Then when the dentist came in it was go time!  When we left and went to the front desk they were surprised she made it through all the things we had to do.  I can only imagine that some kids don’t even get past opening their mouth!

The dental clinic in Embrun is quite neat.  They have a nice toy area for the kids to play with when you come in.  Also, they take your picture in front of this giant 8 foot tall toothbrush.  This picture goes up on a wall.  Then the next time you come in that picture is with your file and you get to take it home.  

Bravo Sierra!  Very impressed with you at the dentist!

I was wondering what was all over Sierra’s feet that night in the bath!

Ski Hill Park is by far the greatest park we have never gone to for sliding!  Let’s remember that we went the year before and it was an ice bowl.  Well this time I was worried that there would be too many people on the hill because it was such a nice morning.  Lo and behold, we get there and there’s one other family on the hill.  Score!  Here is Sierra and I catching some air at the bottom of the hill.  So much snow flying in our faces!

Sierra wanted to play on the smaller hill for a bit.

We switched up some toques to see if we would like it.

What a beautiful morning to go sliding!  We left Ezra sleeping in the car at the bottom of the hill but kept checking on him.

First time bowling!  I find bowling shoes to be a weird concept.  Is it because they don’t want rubber marks all over the floor from sneakers?

This Orleans bowling lane is pretty amazing.  They had this ramp for kids so you can just let the ball roll down.  They also have bumpers along the gutters so your ball would never go into the gutter.  What an improvement compared to when I was a kid!

Horsing around while waiting for the next turn

An impromptu dance/breakdance party started up

I chose this photo solely based on Aunt Krista’s intense face!  Sierra definitely enjoyed bowling.  So much so that she didn’t want to leave and had a meltdown when we tried to.  Aye aye aye!

I’m not sure where Etienne was this day but no matter, we had Marijo join us for our walk across from Parliament.  I remember the trail being very icy.

I wouldn’t want to take a dip in that river right now!

While we don’t put up every piece of art, I would say we put up 90% of it!

COVID19 gave birth to some pretty funny things on the Internet

Maman taught Sierra how to do a somersault!

I make up little songs in the house and I was very excited to see that Sierra caught onto one of them and made it her own to help with bath time!  My original line would be something that rhymed like: “Washing your toes, washing your toes, it’s surely not your nose, we’re washing your toes.”

I have a very strong memory of this photo as this was the first weekend of the COVID19 social distancing where we shouldn’t come within two meters of anyone.  Our neighbour dropped by with a buddy and they had just got back from Mexico.  I was glad when Vero told them to stay further away from the kids when one of them wanted to help Sierra with her pail.  You can’t take chances!

Roasting marshmallows!

Perfect!

Maman felt that Sierra looked like Daddy after eating some chocolate.

Snacks are always the most important thing during a trek on a trail

Sierra’s attempt at taking a photo of Maman

Dance party!  There’s a funny story behind us dancing to Tutti Frutti.  Sierra was asking what her first word was, what Maman’s first word was and then finally, what Dad’s first word was.  “What was my first word as a baby?” “A-wop-bop, a-loo-bop, a-bop-bam-boom!!”  Sierra didn’t even know how to comprehend what I was saying but she burst out laughing.  We then started showing her this song and she loves dancing to it.  Her signature move is going down on all fours and lifting one leg up.  She started dancing to Pearl Jam the other day with that move as well!

How can I say no to someone wanting to wash the car?

Look at this fantastic postcard I got from Andreane!

I go on a videoconference for work for two hours and I come back to find this!!  She said she’s due in the spring.

 

 

The headline might suggest that I have the virus named COVID-19 but that’s not the case.  Perhaps a more appropriate title for this post would be “What are we up to now that the entire world is on high alert to prevent COVID-19 from taking over?”

For anyone reading this in the future, there was a virus outbreak in the year 2020 which made society halt in its tracks.  Schools and daycares are currently closed for a period of three weeks in Ontario.  If people are able to work from home, they do so.  Citizens of Canada have oddly stockpiled toilet paper of all things which is odd.  You would think they would have stockpiled beer.

Here are some things that are going through my head after a week of ‘social distancing’.

Leaving work

Last Friday it was becoming apparent that this was getting quite serious.  We were hearing rumblings of the virus over the past few months as it made its way from its origin point in China.  I was still going to work but adopting some ‘more hygienic than I usually am’ procedures.  For example, I washed my hands after going outside or for a break around the work building.  My hands have become more dry.  If you want to understand how my hands felt just look at this hilarious picture from Terminator 2 that I saw on Facebook when someone asked how their hands felt.

My ongoing joke at work was this virus didn’t make people more hygienic, it just made society realize that they weren’t even up to the norms of what we SHOULD be doing.

I made the decision on Thursday evening to ask to work from home for the foreseeable future and asked my manager about it the next day.  I packed my bag and headed home with all my work equipment.  In hindsight, me asking for permission to work from home was a little premature as we all received notice  to work from home on the Sunday.  There were still a few people going into work due to the critical nature of their job but I was at home.  However, the network could only handle so much of us at a time so we were ordered not to connect to the network at all in the first week.

Daycare closing

I’m not one to chat about work too much on this blog so let’s switch gears.  On the same Friday afternoon we received word that Sierra’s daycare would be closing for three weeks.  This was unprecedented.  Parents everywhere were scratching their heads wondering how they would deal with their kids for an extended amount of time.

Vero is still off on maternity leave with Ezra so me being home would only help her with the burden of looking after two kids.

After the first two days I was really struggling with this new reality.  What were we to do with Sierra during this time?  We have to practice social distancing which involved not hanging out with friends and making sure we were two meters apart for no more than 15 minutes at a time.  Kids don’t understand that concept so it’s just easier to keep them inside.  But how were we going to do this for three weeks?  In fact, as I type this, all indications show that this won’t be over in just three weeks.

My change of attitude

It was pretty early in the week that I changed my entire attitude to the whole thing.  Reports from Italy show a lot of the population dying.  I took a cold hard look at my reality and thought to myself “What would I be doing right now if I had won the lottery?”  The answer was clear: “I would be spending time with my family.  As much time as I could.”  I realized that I had been presented a blessing.  I could spend time with Vero and my two kids.  This really shook me up and gave me a little hope in this strange time.  If the worst thing that can hit me is I have to spend time looking after my kids every day for the rest of my life…is that really a bad thing?

My routine

Other than working, I decided that Sierra really  needed to burn off some energy each day so I tried to figure out how to do that while maintaining social distancing.

Day 2 – It was raining outside so I moved the cars out of the garage and set up some soccer goal posts.  We even had a chalkboard to mark the score!

Day 2 – Ty and Dana were putting on a St. Patrick’s day livestream as all the pubs were closed.  It was a great time and Ezra really seemed to enjoy it.

Day 3 – Wednesday morning we learned the fun of kicking a piece of hard snow down the road and how it reduces in size.  That morning I also introduced Sierra to a beloved past time of all kids in Canada….breaking the thin ice on puddles!  We also went hunting this morning…we were on the hunt for birds, squirrels, elephants and giraffes (real ones, not the one on the balloon that I was carrying).

Day 3 – Ezra and Maman sleep in quite late in the morning generally because Ezra doesn’t sleep well through the night yet.  So when the afternoon hits we go out for a break together.  Here is Sierra on her bicycle.

Day 4 – I was getting bored of walking up and down the street each morning and I realized that we live near some pretty great forests.  Sierra and I ventured out into Larose Forest one morning.  We were on the hunt for the big bad wolf and Swiper the Fox.  We didn’t see either of them.

Day 4 – I really contemplated ordering these things so Sierra could play with her friends.

Day 4 – We took a walk in the Larose Forest again in the afternoon.  We checked out a new trail which was quite icy.

Day 5 – It was raining this morning and was cool.  Sierra and I walked onto a ski trail in Larose Forest which was mainly ice so I don’t think there will be any skiers there for the foreseeable future.  We have been learning about the world during these walks.  The other day we talked about pirates and here in this video, you can see that she had been asking about rain and why did it rain on us.  Hilariously I think she was talking about ‘fruits’ but I misheard it as ‘frites’.

Day 5 – Snacks are always the best part about our walks.

Day 5 – It was 17 degrees outside on Friday afternoon.  Here was Sierra taking in the wind as it was too hot with her hat on.

Day 6 – Where is Sierra?!  We checked out the conservation area in Russell which was pure ice the entire walk but it’s still a lovely area to explore.

We have definitely explored a lot outside in the past week.  It’s been fun!  Some days Sierra is more excited than others.  It’s great when Ezra wakes up and we can all go exploring together.  We also spend a lot of time on the swing set in the backyard and have made a few campfires.  Vero and I try and squeeze some television shows in together during the evening when the kids are sleeping.  Generally Ezra’s naps range from 20-60 minutes so it’s a lot of pausing television when he gets up and needs something.  We are currently watching This Is Us, season 4.

What else are we doing?

I am playing a lot of Carcasonne on the iPad against Mom.  We video chat a lot more with family these days.  I had a video conference with some friends last night over a beer which was fun.

How am I feeling?

I think I generally have a positive attitude of the whole thing but the spectre of fear is always creeping in.  I worry sometimes about supplies.  “Do we have enough food?”  I went out on a Tuesday to Shopper’s Drug Mart and got one thing off my list of seven items.  Is this the new norm or are we just in a weird spot where everyone stockpiled their pantries and it will take a few weeks for more supplies to come in?  We are planning on going to Costco this coming week where we heard they limit the amount of people going into the store.  Will this results in hour long lineups?  We don’t know yet.

Facebook is an interesting wealth of information and misinformation at the same time.  One good thing that has come from it is I saw a video by Dr. Andy Thompson of London, ON and he makes short, informative videos about the virus.  I check out his videos every day to keep up to date.

A lot of the information needs to be fact-checked.  The other day we read an article saying that the World Health Organization says ibuprofen is bad if you have the virus.  Then a few days later Health Canada says that this isn’t scientifically proven yet.  But we just took it at face value considering an article mentioned the WHO.  We never even bothered looking at the actual WHO website to see if they had in fact said this or not.  So…all information has to be analyzed.  Even Dr. Andy Thompson’s videos could be fiction and I should double check his stats.

Vero is wondering what her return to work in three weeks is going to be like.  Will she have to report to work?  Can she work from home?  What will it be like with me looking after a baby who doesn’t sleep through the night and a toddler? (my theory: it will be just like my own mother back in the 1980s!)  Will we encounter pay issues in having me transition out of work for parental leave and Vero transition back in?  All these little questions are in our heads right now along with the constant ever changing landscape which is the world right now.

But for now, we’re doing really good.  I guess I have to figure out where we are going to explore today.  Bonus note of the day: I obtained a leaked copy of the new Pearl Jam album and it’s pretty great so far!

 

 

It is day of historical significance.  Perhaps there shall be an annual event commemorating this day in history?  On March 16th, 2020, the day before St. Patrick’s Day, our son slept from midnight until 7am.  Even at that, he probably woke from his slumber because Sierra got up around that time.

Let us hope this is the mark of a trend!

I imagine this is how he slept all night

Ezra is a great kid while he’s awake.  But we wish he would sleep a little more!  We are lucky if he gets a stretch of 3 hours at night.  When I say ‘we’, I really mean Vero because she’s nice enough to let me sleep so I can work the next day.  That will soon change when Vero heads back to work in mid-April and I take care of Ezra.  For both of our sanity I hope he starts to sleep through the night by then!  For reference, we found notes that Sierra used to sleep a good 5-6 hours when she was five months old.

Other than his sleep patterns, he is a very happy kid these days.  He loves eating most foods (although the faces he makes are hilarious for some foods!) and he likes hanging out in his circle of neglect, his jolly jumper and his high chair while we eat supper.

As I type this we are currently in lockdown due to the COVID19 virus.  It’s only Day 2 of a three week closure of Sierra’s daycare.  Here’s to hoping we find a lot of fun things to do (like update this blog!)

Look at how happy this kid is with food!

I saw this pop up in my notifications and I thought “That is the craziest pairing of two bands I love!”

Tante Andreane helping out

Mid-February and these were the only clean pyjamas we could find!

Playtime with Maman is always fun

This was the first time I strapped Ezra into this and I’m pretty sure it was the last time as he was already too big for it!  But it was a good spot for a nap.

Nice day for a walk out near the cemetery

Avocados!  Vero chooses a food and then feeds it to him for three days and then switches to another.  He seemed to enjoy these.

At the Embrun Community Center for family day

Pretty sure he is in training to be a river dancer

We gave some clothes to our friend who was expecting a baby girl and we got this baby Yoda in return!  It’s currently hanging in the car.

Ezra likes playing catch!

Never a dull moment at lunch!

Vero made some balloon animals for the kids

Sierra playing catch with Ezra

It’s really great to see them starting to play together.

Hanging out before some evening television

Look what I can do Ma!

Went to lunch for my good pal Clive’s birthday.  Kelly picked up this choice gift for him along the way.

Ezra always loves when Eric comes over for a visit!

Posing for some photos

Our plans to go out to friends fell apart but we had a babysitter lined up so we decided to leave Sierra at home and head out for supper.  Vero is a master at multi-tasking; breastfeeding and eating at the same time!

Horsing around in the booth at Eastside Mario’s

While I had fun in Rob’s hot tub, Ezra got to visit with Aunt Jan

Ezra always enjoys seeing Mon’oncle Jon

We went over to Victor’s third birthday party which had a great dinosaur theme

Every kid  needs a Spider-Man toy!  Word on the street is that he carries that thing around with him everywhere!  Good pick Vero!

We can’t tell if he loves or hates chickpeas judging by his reaction!

Would you sell this gentleman a firearm?  I had to renew my firearms license and we weren’t sure if they would accept this highly suspect individual.

Fun with Maman!

Not sure if the kid likes apple sauce either judging by his reaction!

Ezra has upgraded to the large backpack!  He definitely is getting bigger in the last month as we have had to adjust the jolly jumper height as well.

Ezra definitely enjoys his bathtub

Peek-a-boo!

Hanging out on a Friday night.  I also love how my clothes rack is in the background.  For historical reference, Ezra was in the process of flip flopping between sleeping in our room and his own room.  I got caught with my pants down (or no pants at all!) one morning when I got ready for work and all my work clothes were in his bedroom and I didn’t realize Vero was putting him there overnight!  I had to hobble together some clothes lying around with the house.  From that point on I moved a lot of my work clothes into the front closet and this clothes rack that sits in our living room.  Ah yes, life of a parent is always interesting.

It was a such a beautiful Saturday afternoon that Ezra and I decided to take a walk in the woods while Sierra took a nap.  Ezra loves this backpack!  Also, it’s springtime so the R2DToque makes an appearance!

It’s great that we have the woods all to ourselves most of the time.

When we got home from our walk Ezra wanted to get some sun.

Having fun in the backyard

I’m not sure if I would want to be in Ezra’s position but he seemed to like it.

Taking Ezra for a spin.  This was the first (and possibly last?) time he tried out this sled.  It’s interesting how depending on when a child is born, they aren’t big enough for certain activities during the winter.

Sunday afternoons when Sierra naps are always good for a campfire!

When snapping photos of kids, you always stumble upon those ones that become your all-time favourites.  This is currently mine.  I find it hilarious that I took the photo right when he blinked.  He looks like a zen master practicing some yoga!  He is starting to crawl backwards at this point.

 

For years Jean-Francois and Marie-Claude have been telling me to listen to The Lumineers.  I didn’t bother for a couple of albums and then when I started I told them “Why did I wait this long?!”  When we saw they were coming to town we knew we had to go see them.

JF managed to get some pretty great seats as seen in the photo above.  I arrived around 7PM, just in time to catch J.S. Ondara.  This would also be the maiden voyage of recording a concert inside an arena with my iPhone.  All in all, it turned out quite good as a keepsake of that night!  I’m really excited for the future of recording live concerts that I’ve been too.

J.S. Ondara was interesting…three string players coupled with him singing.  

not my photo

I listened to Mt. Joy a few days before and I liked what I heard.  After seeing them live they now have an instant fan.  They have some catchy tunes that vary between folk to some jamming psychedelic tunes!  Also, anyone who can segway into Gorillaz’s Clint Eastwood is worthy of praise.  Special shout out goes to the woman on the keys!

This photos demonstrates some fancy footwork I need to work on while playing guitar for an audience

The Lumineers hit the stage around 9PM and put on a great two hour show.  With three albums in their repertoire they have enough time to play all the new tunes as well as their hits.  They had some great interaction with the crowd along the way and the musicians are top notch.

The crowd at the Canadian Tire Center did not disappoint either

I think that the music of The Lumineers is better suited for a small theatre but considering the amount of fans they have, they had to transition to a larger arena stage production.

Merci pour l’invitation!

All in all, it was a great show and while I was a hurting unit getting to bed after midnight and waking up around 5am (thank you daylight savings time coupled with a kid who doesn’t sleep in yet!) I managed to survive on the power of good music from the night before.

Mt. Joy setlist:

Jenny Jenkins
Astrovan
Let Loose
Dirty Love
Sheep
Strangers
Come With Me
Julia / Ain’t No Sunshine / Clint Eastwood @Info[One of Sotiris’ cymbals fell off during Clint Eastwood]
Silver Lining

The Lumineers setlist:

Sleep on the Floor
Life in the City
Flowers in Your Hair
Dead Sea
Gun Song
Subterranean Homesick Blues [Bob Dylan]
Ho Hey
It Wasn’t Easy to Be Happy for You
Slow It Down
Angela
Gloria
Jimmy Sparks
Gale Song
My Cell
Left for Denver
Leader of the Landslide
Cleopatra
Democracy [Leonard Cohen]
Big Parade

Donna
Ophelia
April
Salt and the Sea
Stubborn Love