First skate

Just a quick entry. We met up with Sam, Woody, Max and Van on Sunday morning and went skating. We bought Van a pair of bob skates (two bladed strap on beginner skates). When we were at the sports store we did eye the hockey skates but decided they would probably be a tad big and it would be better to start with the bobs. I was actually surprised that there were hockey skates as small as a size 6. They were so cute and almost irresistible! In any event, we got to the park and of course Van just wanted to play in the snow. He really didn't understand why we had to pin him down while struggling to attach something to his boots, much crying and struggling ensued. After 10 minutes we finally managed to get the damn things attached. He continued crying until he actually began to feel the sensation of sliding on the ice. Then he was all smiles and giggles. Not sure we'll be tackling this again anytime soon though. I think he really is a bit too young. Not so much for the skating per se but for the time and effort it takes to get him ready for the actual skating. At 17 months old he still has no concept of time or future experiences. So telling him that once we get these skates on he can skate and have fun is useless lol. To him it is a case of mommy and daddy torturing him when really all he wants to do is toddle around in the snow. I am one of these parents that feels really awful when my child cries. I know I know, no parent likes to see their children crying but that it comes with the territory. They can get past the crying and know that once the child is distracted they will be fine. Me on the other hand has these visions of my child in therapy as an adult talking about his first traumatic skating experience and as a result just the mere sight of skates causes him to recline into a fetal position and rock back and forth. Hehe.

Anyway, here he is with daddy. Future hockey player? One can only dream :)

Happy New Year!

Happy 2011 to everybody. Hopefully it will be a good year for all. We had a quiet new year's eve which turned not so quiet for Pat the next evening. We ordered Chinese food from a restaurant that we had been going to for awhile. We had noticed that the past few times we had eaten there the food was sub-par. We thought perhaps it had been a few bad nights. Well our meal Friday night was horrible. One of the dishes had shrimp and as soon as we opened the container we could tell that the dish was not going to be good. The broccoli was very overcooked and the shrimp smelled a little off. We had a bit anyway but soon tossed the rest in the compost. Pat paid the price the next evening. He became violently ill and was out of commission on Monday. Luckily he recovered quickly but sufficed to say we will not be going back to that restaurant again! Thankfully I didn't get sick so we figure he must have eaten a particularly bad shrimp. On a brighter note, we spent a couple of hours on new year's day at a friend's who recently returned from Vietnam with her baby son Matteo. It was our first time meeting him and as always it is so nice welcoming a new "member" into our little community. Pat wasn't yet sick so managed to take some pictures.

Ready to go in spiffy new clothes:


Cute baby Matteo:




V-man looking handsome in xmas sweater set from Cape Breton family:




Like daddy like son lol. Woody and Vanh (I think hehe):


The boys:


Here are a couple of funny pictures of little dude's favourite pastime, making out with his reflection.

Doing the deed:


Interrupted..."Huh?":


Good times!