Some recent pics

(dude with a friend)

(staring) 

(another friend) 

(organizing) 

 (he ran straight to the skidoos in this store, and climbed right on)

(would not get off the skidoo) 

(who can resist a big puddle) 

(these two. Cohen was basically swimming in that puddle)

I may have mentioned a time or two that our little town is lacking a few luxuries (like a coffee shop, a bakery, a market, a baby/kids store, etc). But the parks are cool. We have three that we frequent. One has the baby slide, one has the baby swings, and the third one has no baby stuff, but it's newer and closer. 

Anyway, there is this little girl who is always at my "main" park when we go. The first time we saw her there, she ran over and sat with Cohen in the rocks. He started eating them, and she started reprimanding him, and actually forcing the pebbles out of his mouth. He kept eating them, she kept grabbing them directly out of his mouth. I just sat 5 feet away, trying to keep my helicopter parent feelings from taking over. After that she picked Cohen up, and carried him up the slide. She sat him on her lap and went down the slide with him a few times. She assured me that she knew what speed to go down a slide with a baby since her friend's mom was a pediatrician. I kind of loved seeing a 9-year-old playing with Cohen. I think it's good for him, and it's probably good for that little girl. And Cohen never tried to eat pebbles again. 

Thanksgiving weekend in St. John's

This is my family's second Thanksgiving in Newfoundland. Last year, we had a three month old, so everyone came to us, which was so great. But we wanted to try something different this year, so we rented a house and a car in St. John's. When my sister arrived at the airport, she called me, and was like, ok, they have a Focus for us. I was like, no, bigger. So she said, ok, an Impala. I was like, bigger. We are a huge family. She was like, ok, an Escape. Bigger. So we settled on a Flex, which was the right size with seven adults, two babies, and a ton of gear. We also had our vehicle, but still, we were crowded. We had such a great weekend, and I think it's nice to stay in a rental home because then no one person/couple feels like they have to be the host. We all took turns doing meals and dishes, and I loved that. 

(The dude took a few baths in that sink.  I want that sink)

(when he is naked, he runs) 

(Cohen did not love me cuddling Graycie)

 (walking around downtown)

(my sibs and the harbor) 

(dude) 

 (sweet)

(uncle duties) 

(lots of walking*)

(getting ready to go) 

(Cohen in heaven with his new toy box and his grandparents)

(baby on a sheepskin)

*When we were getting ready to leave for a walk downtown, Kryssy and I were deciding who would get the Ergo, and who would get the stroller since we only had one of each between us. My brother was like, well, Cohen has legs that he can walk on. So shouldn't he walk? I was like, ok, point taken. So Cohen spent a lot of time walking between Jon and Spencer and loving it. 

A little girl

(yes, I did a whole project on dentures)

Yesterday  (actually Thursday)at work a patient came in, and the first thing he said to me was that he had heard that there was a little girl here who could help fix up his teeth. I was the little girl he had heard about. I said yes, I could, and quickly figured out his problem, gave him some freezing, and left the room to let my assistant take an x-ray. When I left, he asked the assistant if I was a dentist. Yup, she said. He said he couldn't believe it. How could that little girl be a real dentist? When I went back in to take out his tooth, he asked me if I was strong enough to take his tooth out. My assistant, who has watched me take plenty of teeth, laughed and told him not to worry. Then I took the tooth out, just like I do at least five times a day.

The thing is, I am not a little girl. I have not been a little girl for a long time. This scenario has played out countless times in my 3.5 year career. People think I am the assistant. People think I only clean teeth. People think I only treat women. People think I only deal with kids. People think I am not strong enough. People think I don't do extractions. It's the reason I never go by my first name at work. My husband goes by "Jon" at work, and has never been asked if he is really the dentist. Sometimes I think maybe when I am forty, I will be taken more seriously. Or maybe if I wear a white coat that says "dentist." I don't know.

It's not something that bothers me on a day-to-day basis. Not at all. I guess I just find it interesting. We are still really surprised to see women in certain roles, and we still trust men more than women for certain things. I'm not trying to change the world, but I am happy to be showing people in my community that women can be professionals too.

15 months

Little guy is 15 months old today! Here's what's going on with him lately:

- Our sitter recently taught him to say 'hot'. He loves pretending to touch our coffee cup and saying 'hot'. Loves it. His words are still pretty minimal, with dog, dad, and hot being the favs.

- We are in the weird stage where he definitely needs two naps a day, but only just. I am trying to enjoy these morning naps to get in a peaceful shower while I can.

- He is sleeping from 7:30 pm to around 6:30 am with his best friend Ted, the bear, by his side, always. We recently bought a backup Ted that is stored safely in our closet for emergencies.

- When we are out and about, people sometimes think Cohen is a girl, no matter what he is wearing. People also love to comment on how quiet he is (very, very quiet), and how red his cheeks are (very red).

- Favourite foods right now: Sardines, by a landslide. He eats a whole tin for a joke in about 5 minutes. He also likes peeled apples (hates the peel, and always spits it out if we leave it on), and pumpkin flavored baked goods.

Hotel review: Luxury Vacation Rental, Colonial Street, St. John's, NL

We stayed in a huge vacation rental in St. John's for three nights over the thanksgiving weekend. We used Airbnb to book it. We were looking for something with four full bedrooms with double beds and more than two bathrooms. We also wanted to be right downtown. This place was it. 

(this was the third-largest bedroom) 

 (The master bedroom)

(a view of the living room on the main floor)

Price: $350 plus tax per night. This was the off-season rate.

Bathroom: Three full bathrooms and one half bath off the kitchen. All good. 

Pool: No, but the master bathroom did have a huge whirlpool we didn't use. 

Breakfast: No, but there is a huge kitchen. 

Wifi: Apparently there is wifi, but it was so spotty, and you pretty much had to be sitting on top of the modem to use it. Not cool. 

TV: The host claimed they had cable, but we couldn't get it to work. We called a few times to try to get them to fix it, but they said they couldn't help. 

Location: So great. It was a two minute walk to all the cute shops and coffee shops downtown. The location was the best part of the whole thing. 

Parking: There was a permit for one vehicle to park on the street. We never had a problem finding parking. We had a second vehicle that Jon had to park a few blocks away, which was no big deal for us. 

Notes: I'll start with the negatives: The host doesn't live in the province, so there is no one to welcome you or to come help you get the tv to work. In all my communication with him (all over email), I found him pretty...rude. There were a million rules. The weirdest one is you have to strip the beds and do all the laundry before you leave. For real, I have never, ever heard of doing that. We spent the whole morning before we left cleaning, which was a bummer. Also, there were mice. It's a really old house, so maybe mice are inevitable. I didn't bother me as much as maybe it should have. Also, the furniture. There is no place really to hang out and lounge. There are a couple old loveseats in the hallway between the kitchen and the living room that a few of us could sit on (behind Jon in the picture above), but there was nowhere we could all sit together really. Also, the gas stove. Maybe some people love them, but I found that thing unwieldy. I would try to turn it on a bit, and I would get a huge flame a foot high. OK, the positives: The shower in the master bedroom is amazing. It sprays steam, so you can hardly see in front of you. Amazing. Also, the place was huge. We all felt like we had plenty of room, and no one ever felt crowded. Also, they have a ton of puzzles and board games, which we liked. 

Bottom line: For the price, I found it decent. Way better than booking four hotel rooms. I probably would never stay there again, but only because I found the host not fun to deal with. But if you are four couples with or without kids, this place is awesome. 

Cousins

We just got back from an amazing weekend with our family. These two were the stars, for sure. They are eight months apart, which is huge right now, but will feel like nothing when they are a few years older. Cohen enjoyed handing his toys to Grayce, while Grayce liked holding on to Cohen's arm. More details to come.

Library list

When the evenings start to feel colder and darker, I feel more like reading. And we are in this really sweet phase with Cohen where he is happy to play by himself near us, which means we can read magazines beside him. Such a small thing, but I really love these moments in our house with Cohen sitting on the floor piling blocks on top of each other while talking to himself, and Jon and I sitting with our backs to the wall, reading magazines and drinking a coffee. It's the best.

I am loving the Orenda so far. Jon just finished it, and loved it. I love the way he writes so much that I know Jon and I will end up with all his books. I liked Mindy's book, though it wasn't nearly as hilarious as Bossypants. I found it about as funny as The Mindy Project, which makes me laugh out loud maybe once per episode. But weirdly, if you want a book that makes you laugh super hard out loud, I think the best I've found was Let's pretend this never happened. The best, the weirdest.