Gardening & Frogs

All weekend long, daddy has been busy building mummy her garden. I got to help him level out the posts, shovel in the dirt and compact the dirt.

Then when it was all done i got to help mummy plant the veggies. If it all works out then i get to help pick cucumbers, squash, radish, carrots, corn, beets and my favourite peas. I hope they grow quickly!

Last night, daddy started work on getting the area ready for the patio stones and while he was moving things around we found a family of froggies. There was a big one that was the daddy, a medium one that was mummy and a small one that was a baby.

Daddy lifted one up for me to look at and then i got to hold it till it jumped out of my hands. They are much nicer to touch than slugs!

Dirt, Sand, Rocks - I Lov'em all!!!

If I could i would be outside all day playing in the dirt and rocks no matter what the weather. I have been very fortunate that other members of my family recognize this need to get dirty and have accomodated me by setting up areas at their homes where I can muck about.

At my grandparents housed I have my very own sandbox complete with diggers, tractors, shovels and buckets. I also get to scout out for dog poopies and as a plus i even get to chase those doggies around.

At Nona's house I used to be able to play in the tomato garden but it got planted so she built me my very own sandbox with a shade over it so that i can play no matter what the weather. I think she needs to get herself a shade though so she can play with me! I also get to help her scout out all those nasty slugs that like to eat her garden and sometimes I like to try and squish them with my feet.

Now at our house, mummy has thoughthfully left me a corner of her newly planted garden to claim as my own until my playground gets completed. This is a great garden with lots of smelly, dark dirt to shovel around and as a plus I get to play with all the plastic plant containers. But sometimes I also like to play in the wet clay dirt behind the house especially after i have just finished spraying the hose all over the dirt to make mud rocks.

Yup a boy can never get to much dirt, sand and rocks. I think my future job should be working in a quarry or something!

Mr. Brown can Moo - can you???

Last Friday we headed over to a friends house to see all her cows and tractors. They were really neat but i had a hard time deciding what I should do cause i really wanted to sit on the tractors but I was also having a fun time trying to feed the cows. Cows are just like children... they drink from bottles, they pee on the ground (like boys are apt to do), they burp after they eat (again like boys do) and they can be shy, they also like to cuddle with their mummies. Now I know why mummy would like to have one as a pet!!!

Long weekends mean extra daddy time

This past weekend was a fun weekend. First on Friday I headed over to my friend Keira's house and played in her yard (sorry for upsetting you about the swing) jumped on the trampoline, harasssed the bunny and piled rocks.

On Saturday it was a very warm day so instead of playing outside we went shopping to buy a new pool.

Later that night after it had cooled down enough, mummy and daddy set my pool up and then gave me my bath in it. While i was splashing around we had a visitor who didn't seem to mind the noise I was making.

Sunday morning it was just daddy & I as mummy had to go to a skating competition. I got to help drive the tractor and move the big rocks down to the end of the driveway. We discovered where the ants live and how when you step on them they don't move anymore. Then when mummy got home we headed out to my auntie Kim's and uncle Franks house for a BBQ. I had fun playing on uncle Franks toys until i scraped my knee and then I couldn't walk anymore so I sat and cuddled until my cousins arrived and then i was all better! We played soccer, ran around the pole until i fell over and shovelled dirt onto the grass. I also got to stay up real late. I like hanging out with my family.

On Monday we headed out to pick up some rocks so that daddy wouldn't mow them over with the tractor. I also played on the swing and climbed the fort and buried holes. Then to cool off I played in my pool till it was nap time. Afterwards it was just daddy and I again as mummy had to work.
Long weekends are great cause I get to see and play with daddy more!

Old Macdonald had a Zoo........

On Saturday, mummy & daddy took my cousin Meagen and me to the Zoo. On the way there we got to listen to the animal songs so that we were very excited to see all of Old Macdonalds animals. We even met up with some of our friends. We got to ride the train, go on a safari to the wilds of North America , watch the tigers and lions being fed, throw rocks at the goats (yup got in trouble for that one) and play on the playground. I even managed to stay up past by nap time, of course I think mummy and daddy regreted that later. Mummy even bought me my own baby giraffe, rhino and dude to take home and play with. It was lots of fun and as the song says

"Mummy's taking me to the zoo tomorrow and we're going to stay all day".

Nice Weather = trips outside

This last week has been pretty good in the weather area so mummy and I have been outside experiencing all that we can. On Wednesday we met up with some of our friends and went to the Blue Heron reserve. Unfortunately we didn't see any of those birds but I did manage to meet a ucky slug and a neat little frog. I also tried several times to escape and do my own exploring without mummy trying to foil my attempts at getting closer to the water. Then we got to climb some very high stairs to a lookout which was good cause there weren't any bugs up there to bug us. At the end of the tour we went inside to look at all the wild animals that were stuffed after they died. I tried to take the stick away from the beaver but again mummy foiled my plans. It was a nice day to explore!

Then on Friday, the weather was very nice to play outside so mummy, Carson and I met up with our friends at Ogopogo park and stayed for 2 hours. I got to slide down the slides, swing, drive a jeep, throw sand, and burn off a lot of energy. I even managed to play nicely with my friends and even offered to push Keira on the swings.





























Here we all are, while our parents try to convince us to stand still long enough for this picture!





On the way home from the park, mummy stopped at Dairy Queen and shared an ice-cream cone with me and i even managed to get most of it in my mouth!

Hectic weeks

So the last couple weeks have been fairly productive and busy here. Mummy & daddy are trying to get ahead of the blackberry problem so they have been busy cutting and burning. But the burning has now come to a complete halt since the firemen visited us last weekend. Daddy was almost done for the night when 2 firemen came walking up our driveway and told daddy that he had to put out his fire. He couldn't cause it was quite big and smokey so they put it out for him. Mummy and i got down to watch just as they were finishing but the fire captain let me sit in the big loud truck. It was very large and kinda neat to see.

Then with the weather not being so nice to us recently, mummy has been going house crazy so she has been taking me outside to play no matter what the weather is like. I don't really mind as this tends to make the dirt a fun consistency and fun to play with. But it is also hard work and a boy needs to replenish his fluids so I figured that the muddy water looks like that chocolate milk that mummy let me taste and so it must be the same thing. Nope it wasn't, it was just muddy water and it didn't taste good at all!

Mummy has also been trying real hard to get me to learn to share and not throw my toys when i get mad or frustrated. I have been trying but sometimes I foget so instead of just sitting in my naughty chair, my parents have found a better method of punishment. This might just work!

When I behave, then I get to help daddy with the yard work and he lets me drive the tractor. But I i think that daddy may have to take some more lessons from me cause even I know that you don't try to mow down the hill or the tractor can get stuck!

Mummy is still waiting for my slide to arrive from the store and then she is waiting ever so patiently for daddy to get the man to come up and level our yard so that they can put up my playground. As much as I like to play with all the stuff up here, it will be way fun to have a big sand box to dig in and my own slide to fall off of ( please daddy can you hurry:( )

So there should be lots of stuff to keep me busy this summer, now I just hope that the weather cooperates!

Hanging out with some cuz's

Yesterday, three of my cousins came to spend the day with me and play tractors and dig in the dirt. Mummy & I went in the morning to pick up Meagen, Tessa & Craig and brought them back to our house. It was kinda chilly but I was determined to get outside and enjoy the sunshine.
It was a fun day and i really didn't want to nap so when mummy went back outside to cut more blackberries, I decided to get up and play with Megan and Tessa. Finally mummy was called back inside and told all of us that we needed to stop watching TV and come out and enjoy the sunshine. So off we went to play in the sand and watch mummy and Craig try to start a fire.
When it was time to come into make dinner, my cheeks were a nice rosy red and i was starting to get tired but I wasn't going to let that stop me from running my cousins ragged.
Then my aunt Leasa & uncle Pete showed up for dinner and I got to sit beside uncle Pete and sample his dinner for him and let him know if it was alright to eat. Afterwards, my cousin Meagen gave me my bath and i got to play a little bit more before mummy decided that I was way too tired to be up and be socialable.
It was a great day and Thanks to my cousins for coming to play with me. When are you coming back?????????

Exploring Parksville

Saturday morning after a great sleep in the funny bed, we headed out to breakfast. I got to sample food from mummy and daddy's plates (I ate all of mummy's blueberries and mixed with the ketchup made a pretty picture on my face).

My parents told me that my day would be jam packed with sights and the first one was a trip to a Cheese farm (though if you ask me it was a John Deere place). We went to Qualicum Cheeseworks where we got to visit all the farm animals and where mummy bought me two new John Deere tractors.

I liked seeing all the animals but my most memorable experience that I will remember from this excursion will be when the piggies took my boot off my foot and tried to eat it and daddy had to go into the pen and get it back and wash it off. This made me sad at first and also very leary that another animal might try to take my boot so that everyone I saw after I told them " don't take my boot off"!

After we had finished exploring the farm, we headed off to Butterfly World. They had butterflys flying all around which I must say didn't excite me as much as seeing the fish in the ponds or the turtles. They also had some pretty flowers but I wasn't allowed to pick them.

Finally after all our wanderings it was time to head back to the ferry boat, but first we stopped at Coombs Market to see the goats on the roof but they must have been sleeping cause they weren't standing on the roofs. So instead we ran around the place and as I was starting to get tired I experienced a few melt downs. On our way again we decided that since we had some time to blow we would stop and have a picnic at the coolest park I have ever been to. There were so many things to climb on. They even had a mini zip line, tons of teeter-totters, a helicopter, swings that spun around like a merry-go round, and a really neat water park that i wished it was summer so that i could run through it. I'm gonna have to convince my parents that we should come back in the summer to play.

Then it was finally time to board the ferry and head for home. We went on a brand new ferry on the way home and they had a really cool pirate ship to play on. This was a really fun trip and we hope to take some more fun trips this summer.

As a foot note- Jacob finally fell asleep after we got off the ferry around 4:45 and then we paid for it later that night when he wouldn't go to bed till after 10pm. Ah, I can't wait for the times that naps don't play into plans!

Big boat trip

On Friday, mummy, daddy and I went on my first boat trip to a place called Parksville (and ya know what they have a really awesome park right by the water!). We had to get up early and drive a long way past all the tractors and then we finally saw the water that daddy called the "Paficik Ofsean". Then daddy drove the car right onto the big boat and when we got out to explore somebody talked and then blew this really, really loud horn and scared the tears out of me. Finally we made our way up some stairs and then went outside on the boat to explore. We saw the birds fly by, sailboats, bouys, lighthouses and tug boats with barges. I was really hoping to see some fishies or whales but sadly none swam by.
When we went inside I got to explore some more and found this really fun room to play in and mummy even bought me some new whale and dude puzzles to throw around. When we had enough of the playing, daddy let me fall on my head from a bench near the boats window. Did you know that you can bounce off of glass windows and do a cartwheel and then land on your head all without breaking anything? Well now you do!

After all this excitement you would think I would be done in, but nope we headed off to our hotel where we were going to sleep for the night. I got to sleep in this neat little couch that folded out to a bed and when daddy sat on it it flipped the bed up off it's legs. Then we went outside to the Ofsean and looked for "craps".

We only saw one "craps" leg but we saw lots of neat shells.

Then to top off my fun day we headed to the rink so mummy could work and daddy and I got to scope out all the cute girls in their little tu-tu's (daddy says that if I'm smart I will let mummy get me into skating so that I can meet some more of these cute girls when I'm older). I really enjoyed watching the skaters but mostly liked all the different music that was played. Though I was kinda sad that the "boni" didn't come out while I was there.

After we watched skating we went out for dinner where I entertained some older couples with my very good behaviour. It was a very exciting first day of our trip and I finished it off with a bath in the hotel tub and then falling asleep in my funny bed with mummy and daddy in the big bed beside me

Hospital Visit #3

Well I got to visit that exciting place called Emergency again last night. But this time didn't involve any torture devices inflicted upon me as I wasn't sick for this visit. Mummy and daddy took me cause the bandage they put on didn't help my owie.
It all happened at that dangerous time called dinner! I was sitting ever so nicely in my chair eating my yummy ham when all of a sudden I moved and daddy thought that maybe my fingers got stuck between the arms of my chair and the table. Mummy kissed my fingers better but that didn't help and even her magical cuddles didn't help. So after much deliberation that maybe I was tired and clingy, my parents thought that giving me a shower would make me feel better. So up we went but when daddy tried to take my shirt off I winced and cried more so that clued in my parents that something wasn't kosher. They tried to ask me where it hurt so they could put a nice blue bandage on but they weren't sure when they put it on my elbow. At this point daddy said that maybe I had dislodged my elbow socket as apparently one of my siblings had this happen when she was young too. So off we go to emergency to visit the nice doctor who would fix me up . We didn't have to wait too long and mummy brought my book and doodle pad to amuse me. Finally the doctor saw me and asked mummy to take my shirt off and then he touched my elbow and made it feel all better. 10 minutes later I was all ready to go home and get a good nights sleep.
Daddy has said that if this should happen next time that maybe he could apply his vast medical knowledge himself and put my elbow back together. Yup I don't think mummy will let him but we'll let him think he can!

P.S a note to all you other kids, apparentaly this elbow can pop out quite easily at this age and is quite easy to pop back in again with a little medical help (not daddy help).

Jacob & Keira

On Thursday, my friend Keira came over to play while her mummy had to run out. We had lots of fun playing with my toys and I was even nice about it. We played with the puzzles, my tools, rode the bikes and even played in mummy's sheets. Then Keira's mummy came back and we invited them to have lunch with us. It was a really nice visit and way more fun to have a friend to play with.

Whiterock beach exploring

Last Sunday, Mummy,daddy and I went to the ocean to see if we could find the whales and fishies. We didn't see any whales but we did discover upon a few dead fish that the seagulls hadn't gobbled up yet. I also met two little boys who helped me build sandcastles. Mummy was really quick and so i got to stomp at least 6 castles.

Later we wandered down the beach and I danced in the water, chased the seagulls so they would fly, dug for some shells and touched some gooey sealife. Then as we headed for the boardwalk we found a new sea creature- A starfish! Mummy chased the seagull away so we could go in for a closer look, it was still alive but missing one star. After we had looked we let the seagull finish his lunch. Man those birds are crafty and quick at getting and scarfing food. I was a little disturbed at first watching them eat the poor little starfish but then daddy explained that the seagulls need to eat and it was the starfishs turn.

We finally made it to the boardwalk and i got to run down the walkway and it made great sounds, but halfway down i got tired so daddy got the opportunity to give me a piggyback ride.

Then we walked back to the car and ate our lunch while i got to pretend drive. It was a very fun day and I even managed to fall asleep on the way home which prompted daddy to take a scenic tour so that i could sleep longer.

Sunshine & ducks

Yesterday Mummy & I went to the duck park to feed them ( yes we know you're not supposed to)and play on dude. Mummy was also hoping that now that my nap times have been bumped back to 1ish that the fresh air and running and around would tire me out. NOPE!

We have had a few challenges this last week with nap time. I am now able to sleep in my bed but I have only actually slept in it once and only after mummy helped me fall asleep. You see the thing is it's way more fun to climb out of the beds and get into things and play. Then when mummy takes all the fun toys to play with out of the room i find new things to play with such as the garbage can, my slippers and things like that. I also used to like to shut the door but since Tuesday when i couldn't get it open and i got upset i prefer to keep it open a bit. Mummy tried yesterday to just let me stay in my room but when she heard me pulling my diapers off she kept having to come back in to check on me. Finally after trying for 2 hours and continually putting me back into bed she tried threats. Yup she told me if i didn't fall asleep that i wouldn't get to go to Nona's house that afternoon. Finally she put me back in my crib and shut my door and i managed to sleep an hour before mummy had to wake me up to go. Of course i don't have these problems at nighttime. I want to sleep in my bed and then 5 minutes later i want to sleep in my crib and that is where i have been sleeping at night.

king of my domain

With the weather being nice (& sometimes not so nice), mummy and I have been spending time outside. We either go for a long walk down our road or we play on the tire swing and fort or play in the rock pile. The other day was a nice day so i got to bring my John Deere tractor outside to play on. I had mummy put it on the top of the rock pile so that i could practice my 4-wheeling and survey my kingdom from high up. I must say that I like my kingdom but I am looking forward to some upgrades to it this summer.

Time to move on

Well my latest escapades have prompted my mum to get my dad to finish my room. I have decided that it is way more fun to climb out of my crib and get into mischief then it is to stay in and nap like I'm suppossed to. Of course I could probably get into more mischief if i didn't insist on opening the bedroom door and telling mummy that I'm awake cause that just makes her come up and tell me to get back into my crib. But since i know how to do that too, i sometimes oblige but sometimes i try and hide under my blankets on my big bed. So all this moving around has gotten mummy into nag mode and so daddy needs to get to work on finishing my room. So if things work out to mummy's schedule then i should be able to sleep in my big bed next week. I don't think my parents have figured out that with me really loose that i can get into even more trouble!!!!!!

Happy Valentines day

Mummy & I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Valentines Day. Mummy told me that this is the day that you give extra kisses and hugs to everyone so I started out the day giving mummy some extra loving (of course i also woke her up at 6am!)

This last week has been a learning week for me. I learned that when daddy sets up the video camera to tape me that it is not the time for me to shove noodles up my nose at dinnertime. I figured a noodle was a safe bet but it really didn't feel that nice up my nose so i don't recommend this to any of my friends.

Then the other day i learned to peddle my bike while mummy pushed me down our hill. I also learned that laying in sawdust is okay but then when you try to itch your face with your mitten which is covered in sawdust you should avoid contact with your eyes cause it makes them sore.

I have also developed a real interest in "Cartoons" much to mummy's dismay. She has been letting me watch the early morning cartoons such as Dora, High 5 and Word world and Magic school bus but now I figure that I should be allowed to watch cartoons whenever the TV is on. She told me that now that the weather is improving we can go outside more so I don't need the cartoons. I must admit that I do like playing outside way more than watching TV.

I helped mummy with some yard cleaning yesterday and she told me in a couple months she will have a surprise for me that will make outdoor playing really fun.

Catching up

So I am working on getting internet but i need to get Steve past the price shock so hopefully by the end of the month I can gently push him into getting the dish installed. In the mean time i have been able to borrow my mum's computer and now that i have a flashcard I can post some pictures too.

We have really been enjoying the snow the last little while and have become quite good at making snowmen and tobagganing down our driveway. We manage to keep our snow a little longer than everyone else which suits me fine as I really like it.

Jacob really enjoys playing in the snow and likes to take his tractors and buckets out to play. He has also developed a real liking to eating the snow and we can usually find him with his face planted in a snowpile licking it. This licking has also transferred to inside where he will lick furniture, the floor or whatever suits his mood. The other day while I ran upstairs to quickly vacuum the landing I came back downstairs 5 min. later to discover my son hiding behind the counter with a frozen block of butter that he had taken from the fridge freezer, unwrapped and was in the process of eating it. When i caught him he smiled and said "Eating it". Yup the days of being able to leave him in a room unsupervised for even a minute are gone as he has learned to entertain himself in the most interesting ways. Mind you we can't leave him in the room with us either while we are making dinner as he has learned to hide behind the couch and get into trouble.

I must say that I was hoping that I would have a smart child but some days he is smarter than even I had hoped