Chef Dougie

A while ago, we bought a Learning Tower for Dougie. We finally managed to get it assembled and tried it out this weekend.

His first task was to help with dinner. Dougie was in charge of making the potatoes.





They turned out great! No lumps or anything. So next, we thought he could try his hand at baking.

First, there was a chat about who would be in charge


Dougie won


Okay, Dougie let Daddy help a little


Looks like we have quite the budding chef on our hands... now that he can reach the counter.

Passed Out

We heard rumours that, sometimes, children just fall asleep while they are doing something else. I had even seen pictures of other people's children sleeping in strange places. That sort of thing is just not something that happens with our child though, until today.

Grape Stomp

Today, we took Dougie to his very first grape stomp. The winery up the road does one every year. We've both been wanting to go for a while but just never did. Knowing how much Dougie loves to stomp his feet, we knew that we would have to take him this year. The day started off with some harvesting.













Then, we headed back to do some stomping. First, they loaded the grapes that had been picked into a machine that removed the stems. The grapes were then shot through a hose into the bucket.







Unfortunately, we don't have any great pictures of Dougie stomping grapes. He did go in there but hated it. Normally, he loves to stomp his feet but the texture must have been a problem for him so we got him out. We did get a picture of post stomping feet though.



We all had a wonderful time. Dougie was feeling a bit under the weather so he didn't get quite as into it as he normally would but we will definitely be back next year.

Finally, Updates!

We wanted to apologize for the lack of updates lately. My computer was randomly crashing and we were concerned about unloading the pictures on it (several files had become corrupt). We ended up getting me a new computer which has finally arrived. So, we'll be posted various updates from the last several weeks over the next few days. Hope you enjoy them!

Grandpa McCall's Birthday

My dad's birthday was last weekend and my sisters and I all flew out to spend it with him. It was great to actually be able to be with him on his birthday. We each brought a bunch of little gifts so he'd have one to open for each year. Our "special" gift was to pull together a great scrapbook of our family's history. We all had a blast flipping through old pictures of the family.

Dad with his presents


Dad beating Les at crib


The girls (and Dougie)


Dougie enjoying playing during the rain




Hanging with dad


Playing with the dog


Playing ball


... with Auntie Lou


... with Grandma

Dougie Reads "Red Hat Blue Hat"

Dougie loves to read to himself. We caught a little on video:

We Have A Climber

Baby Loves Disco

We went to Baby Loves Disco today. Basically, it's a dance party for kids. It's held at a local dance club but the music is much lower than it would be at night and the lights are all on. They have bubbles, scarves, hoola hoops and other various things to play with. Dougie had a great time though the concept of dancing seemed to elude him.

A few pictures from our day...











I tried to be subtle taking this picture but Dougie was totally trying to pick this girl up.

18-Month Check-up

We had Dougie's 18 month check-up today. He's still growing and remains on his curve. He's lost a little bit of weight since his appointment a few weeks ago but all in all, he's doing really well.

Stats:

• Weight - 22lbs 8oz (12%)


• Height - 32" (39%)


• Head - 19" (63%)

The doctor went through an Autism identification checklist and Dougie was put in the low risk category. He checked other basic health markers and Dougie was completely healthy. We have been having a small problem with vomiting but the doctor has already referred us to a Pediatric GI for that issue.

We went through Dougie's development. He is actually on track or ahead on all the markers. We were a bit surprised because we thought he would be measuring behind on language but I guess his 11 words were enough.

We got a DTaP shot and were on our way. Dougie did exceptionally well with this visit. We won't go back now until he turns 2.

Word List

Dougie has his 18 month check-up tomorrow. We know the doctor is going to ask us what words Dougie knows, so we made up a list and thought we might as well share it. As of now, he knows:

• Mama


• DeeDa (Daddy)


• Up


• Bubble


• All Done


• Knee


• Hi


• Bye


• Oh oh


• “Rarrrr” (roar)


• “Woof”

That's not too bad. He isn't the most articulate child we know, but he's getting there. Perhaps it's all the reading he does.



Or he may be taking an online course.

Father's Day

Another Father's Day has come and gone. It's amazing the difference a year makes in how involved Dougie can be in the day. He still isn't picking out his own gifts but he did help with Daddy's card and he decorated the bag that held his present.

Today, we decided to go to the zoo. We haven't been in a while and it was a beautiful day. The zoo was perfectly set up for the weather. They had misters to keep things cool near the popular animal exhibits. It was very comfortable all day.

A few pictures from the day.

Looking at the gorilla


Feeding the birds








We all had a great time! Scott loved the towels that Dougie had made for him. They'll be perfect to use next week at swimming.

We're in Trouble Now

For a while, we've know that Dougie loves to climb. He would pile up things and get on top, he'd climb on boxes, he even tried to climb into his own stroller. He never tried to climb on the furniture though, that is, until now.

I was sitting at my desk when I heard a strange sound. I leaned slightly and there was Dougie, on the coffee table.





I pulled him off right away. Well, right after I took a few pictures. He has done it several times since then but been quickly removed. It appeared that he may have been using the couch to get up there so I moved the table away a bit and that slowed his progress.

Tonight, Dougie found something else to climb. All the cupboards in the kitchen have child locks on them except one. We keep various things that we think Dougie may enjoy in that one cupboard. At the back, we keep a few things that we don't use often but aren't breakable (straws, disposable cups, etc). Tonight, Dougie decided he wanted to play with those, so he went in after them.







He ended up sitting up inside the cupboard to play. It took a bit to get him back out but we managed. The cups he was most interested in have since been moved to another cupboard. Hopefully, that will put an end to his climbing in there. If not, we'll have to look at getting a child lock for that cupboard too.

Let's just hope he doesn't learn to climb the baby gates any time soon.