Rhys At Age Two: Things I Love & Don’t Love

LOVE: Massively improved communication methods.

DON’T LOVE: Massively exaggerated meltdowns when improved communication methods fail.

LOVE: Ability to eat almost anything we eat.

DON’T LOVE: That he chooses not to eat most it.

LOVE: Frequent 10 second ‘hug’ breaks.

DON’T LOVE: The squirming-away-from-me-crotch-kicking that ensues when the 10 seconds is up.

LOVE: That he has his own distinct interests (helicopters, airplanes, balloons, dinosaurs, Elmo, robots, guitars).

DON’T LOVE: His desire to satiate all these interests at the exact. same. time.

LOVE: How much he idolizes his Daddy.

DON’T LOVE: The tears that flow when Daddy has to leave.

LOVE: The full on lip to lip kisses (and the Eskimo kisses are pretty awesome too).

DON’T LOVE: Knowing that the he will someday recoil is disgust at the thought of kissing his mom.

LOVE: The sweetest little voice in the whole wide world, and hearing that voice say ‘Mommy’. Tack-u mommy. Bess you mommy. Go away mommy (okay, maybe not that one).

I've been trying to capture his sweet voice on camera, but he always gets distracted as soon as he sees the video camera. He just wants to 'watch Rhysie' (I think we're raising a narcissist). Anyway, here are my best clips so far.

Rhys ABC's:

Love List

A few things I am really enjoying these days...

1. CBC Radio 2: What's that? AMANDA? Is that YOU? Yes, I'll admit. I'm not usually one to push or promote the CBC. I'm just not a fan of government run media in general. It's the principal of it. I mean, you can dislike Fox News' Bill O'Reilly all you want, but at least you can sleep at night knowing your taxes aren't paying his salary. But, I digress.

I am a big fan of top 40 hits. I like the catchy beats and hooks and like to sing a long. So my usual radio station of choice was Calgary's Vibe 98.5 (now Virgin 98.5). Recently though, I've had it. Just because I like a song, doesn't mean I want to hear it 8 times a day. So I searched for something new and stumbled across some classical music on CBC Radio 2 'Tempo', and loved it. There is this whole underworld of people out there who love classical music, and actually know stuff about it. Fascinating. Then, I discovered 'Shift' and 'Drive', the later hosted by one of my favourite Canadian musicians, Rich Terfry aka Buck 65. Just yesterday I heard 'Girl' by the Beatles, then Katie Lang's version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', then 'California' by Led Zepplin, then an acoustic version of Alanis Morissette's 'Ironic', all in a row. Commercial free. Seriously. Awesome. I have to swallow my pride (and principles) while I enjoy the government run radio tunes that fill a niche market that apparently I may be a part of. GULP.

2. Organics Delivered: With Warren on a real health bender these days we decided to try this new service called 'Organics Delivered'. I'll be honest, it was the 'delivered' part that attracted me more that the organic part. But while in Maui I was a bit disillusioned when I bought a mango at the Maui Safeway, and the sticker said it was from ECUADOR. So we decided to give local, organic produce a shot. And did I mention it's delivered?

Now before you run out and give it a try, a few warnings. Although you can set preferences, you don't actually order specific produce items. The bin comes to your door with a variety of stuff and you don't know what will be included until you receive it. It's like Christmas morning every two weeks! If you live with picky eaters who may not enjoy things like Swiss Chard or Beets, this probably isn't for you. And you have to like salad because each delivery usually includes several varieties of lettuce. And, it's not all local. They say they do their best to include as much local produce as possible, but a large amount still comes from the states. But so far, we're enjoying the deliveries, and the way it forces us to consume more vegetables :-)

3. This brings me to the next love item, Produce Savers. They work. The key is to remember to store your produce in them.

4. 5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Cook Book: This is a recipe book I accidentally stole because it was hidden by Rhys' carseat purchased at Superstore. I love my slow cooker, and this cookbook is great because, as the title says, each recipe has only 5 ingredients. And they're all 'normal' ingredients, stuff I usually buy already. I'm predicting to use it a lot more once I'm back to work.

5. "All Out Of "Pad: This is an impulse purchase I nabbed at Chapters, and I love it! It's always on the fridge, and as soon as we run out of something I tick off the box and voila! An instant shopping list whenever I'm heading to the grocery store. The best part? Warren has FINALLY caught on and now he ticks things off too :-)

Friday Love List

A friend and fellow blogger made a list of things she currently loves, and that inspired me to make a list of my own.

Some things I am loving this month...

- Body Butter. Ever since we came back from Maui, my skin has been dryer than ever before. I seem to be going through about a tub a week of the stuff. My faves are The Body Shop's Grapefruit scented butter, and Sephora's Tropical Jasmine. If anyone knows a great generic/drugstore brand, please suggest it to me!

- Invisalign Braces. I haven't thought much about my braces lately...they've just become a part of my life and I'm used to them. Then, the other day I was looking through some recent photos of myself, and I thought that my teeth looked nice. I loved that.

- My PVR. With my PVR, I can watch a 2 HR episode of American Idol, in 40 minutes. Same goes for The Biggest Loser. That's fantastic.

- Blogging. This feels like The Year of the Blog in my circle of friends. We're all posting more. Some friends are starting up blogs, or thinking of starting up blogs. I can't get enough.

- Cappuccinos. I'm laying off the homemade lattes, and opting for the more frothy and creamy homemade cappuccino this month. Uses less milk, and is just as satisfying.

- Baby Mum-Mums. They keep Rhys occupied while I eat or when we're on the go, and they teach him important hand to mouth motor skills.

- Almay Smart Shade Anti-Aging Make-up. This was suggested by a friend/make-up expert, and since I've started using it, it has become one of those 'where have you been all my life?' type of products.

Okay people. It's your turn. Tell the world what you're loving these days.