Cohen's May teaching day

Cohen had his second to last teaching day with his grade three class today. The grade threes were all really shocked by how different he looked today. I think it makes such a difference that he wears jeans and shoes now. One kid said he looked like a rock star.

Today we were talking about the reasons for the names our parents give us. I told the class about how Cohen is names after Leonard Cohen. The teacher said she was sure none of the eight-year-olds had heard of him. But one kid was like, yes, he wrote "Hallelujah." I was impressed.

One kid said he was named after a store in Ontario (Carter's), and he didn't know why his parents had chosen that particular store. Another kid said he was named after his classmate's dad. His classmate is his cousin. Another kid said that her name meant 'hilarious' in German. I thought it was so interesting, and I would have loved to hear every single kid's name story.

The kids loved how Cohen walked around the class (gripping both my hands very tightly), checking each student out. Then the whole class got really quiet for a minute so they could all hear Cohen grinding his little teeth. It is so loud! I know it's normal, but still. The teachers asked me when I am going to cut his hair. Never, maybe? I can't imagine cutting those sweet little wispy hairs. I love them, and so does Jon. What a sweetie.

What to do on a Saturday in Clarenville

Usually after a few weekends refraining from traveling, I get the blues. It's the small town kind of blues, the ones where you realize the highlight of your day is a trip to a home building supply superstore. 

I definitely think that you can make any place a cool place to live, and I think my little town is cool. But. There are a few things I miss. There are lots of really good reasons to live here, but I am more talking about the things-to-do-on-a-Saturday (or lack-thereof).

Some stuff we like to do on weekends:

- Since we live right beside a beautiful harbour, a jog or walk, always. My little 4 km loop that I like to jog is so scenic. I get to run across two bridges and all along the water. And I don't have to drive anywhere. I can leave right from our house.
- Booster Juice. I love being able to go somewhere and order a green juice whenever I want. Sometimes it's nice to leave my juicer under the cupboard.
- Go grocery shopping. We don't have any really great/huge grocery stores, but we have three medium sized ones (no frills, sobeys, coop), and if you really take your time and look carefully, you can find most things you need. We (maybe lamely) make a date out of it and get coffees and stuff.
- OK, so there is usually some type of community event, and we pretty much always go. Most times it is a yard sale at the middle school or lions club. Last weekend it was a rubber duck race in the harbor.
- Movies. There is a movie theatre here, which has two screens. Movies are not something we really do anymore, partly because of Cohen, partly because I like watching movies at home.
- Go out for breakfast/lunch/supper. We do this all the time. There is no high-end restaurant here, but there is a handful of average priced places that serve the usual hamburgers, chicken fingers, pizza. We go to Dustabella's all the time (an average priced restaurant in a hotel).
- Hang out at home. I love this more than ever, which is good since it is something we do a lot of. Lots of people around here have cabins that they spend their weekends at. And lots of people have machines like snowmobiles and 4-wheelers and dirt bikes.
- And there are other things like throw a frisbee at the ball diamond, go to the little library, um, check the mail (even though mail doesn't come on weekends), go furniture shopping (though our house has a limit)

What I wish Clarenville had:

- Coffee Shop! This is huge. I would love to have a place that you can order a coffee or espresso and sit and chat and people-watch.
- Some type of food-selling establishment other than a grocery store, like perhaps a bakery where we could get fresh buns and croissants. Or a market where we could get local produce. Or a butcher that sold local meat. Or an ethnic grocery store.
- Hot yoga. I used to love hot yoga when we lived in Halifax, and then even Gander got a hot yoga studio right before we left. I would settle for normal yoga with hours that catered to people with 9-5 jobs.
- Bikeability. This may not be a word, but what would be cool is if you could bike around Clarenville. You truly can't. I am not just being wimpy about it. It is not possible because the roads are super narrow and hilly and dangerous. However, you can bike up and down the street we live on, which might get old really fast.
- Cool restaurant(s). I would be thrilled with sushi, indian, chinese (not the chicken balls and red sauce kind, which we have in spades), vegetarian, local (like how in St. John's there are all these cool places that serve moose meat and locally grown everything), fancy, deli, sandwich, etc. Most places here are diner-ish, which is cool. But sometimes it's nice to step outside that box.
- Some type of downtown area that you could walk around and see things and people. There is a small (tiny) mall.
- Bookstore. Though we have a little decent library, so beggars can't be choosers.

Anyway, I guess my point is that sometimes I feel a little down about our little town. But this is our first full summer here, so maybe a month from now I will be loving this place, and feeling like there is tons of stuff to do. In the meantime, our pantry and fridge is jam-packed from all the grocery shopping we do. And we have had numerous Tim Horton's and Mcdonald's dates. We might start hanging out at the seasonal craft/overpriced candle store that just opened last weekend. We have options.

Cohen's flat bear

We only got Cohen a few things for Christmas last year, because he was only 5 months old, and he was really more interested in the wrapping paper. One of the few things we got him, though, was his flat bear. 

I ordered one for Cohen, and one for his future cousin (my sister's sweet little girl, Grayce, who was born in March). They were kind of expensive for stuffed animals, but they just looked so soft and well-made.

Once we started sleep training, our sleep book recommended a transitional object. The idea is that the object reminds baby of his momma (and dad), so it calms him down when he is left alone to sleep. We started out with the flat bear in bed with the three of us while we were cosleeping so that the bear would smell like us. Then when we transitioned Cohen into his own room, we would cuddle him up to the bear in his crib. It worked. It probably helps that the flat-out bears are super soft and cuddly, but Cohen is completely attached to his bear. Every night when we put him into his crib (awake), he excitedly grabs his bear and cuddles in. We leave the bear in the crib so that he will associate it with sleep time. When we get him up in the morning, he is still holding tight to his bear. I think it is the cutest thing.

Grayce is only a few months old, and she is already sleeping with her flat bear. I am so curious if she is going to love hers as much as Cohen loves his.

PS: A post about loveys that I liked. And another one.

On the long weekend

(Coco and Nan at Two Whales coffeehouse) 

(checking out the sweets) 

(bedtime stories with Nan) 

 (he loves chocolate chip cookies)

(playing on the back deck) 

(practicing his walking)

My parents came for a 40-hour visit this long weekend. We loved it. First of all, they brought a whole extra huge suitcase with treats for us. Cohen must have eight new outfits, a bunch of new toys, and a few other things that I had requested on his behalf (a big bib for my messy eater, a container for cereal for long drives into town, some tupperware to make travel with homemade baby food easier). 

Cohen warmed up to my parents a lot faster than I thought he would. Within an hour, he was cool with them holding him, feeding him, reading to him, the works. I think maybe it helps that he sees them on FaceTime a few times a week. I loved seeing Cohen rest his sweet little head on his Nan and Gramps while reading or watching a youtube video. 

Another thing in the extra suitcase was a new set of nightstands for J and I. If you want to see our new nightstands, keep reading.

10 months old!

(baby yoga. it looks crazy, but he loved it)

(grocery shopping)

Dude is 10 months old (yesterday)! Lately...

- He just (yesterday) got his fourth tooth. Now he has two on top and two on the bottom.

- He eats a lot! Typical day: breakfast of applesauce with berries and yogurt, lunch of meat and potatoes, and supper of veggies and mango sauce. And we give him little bits of whatever we are eating, like cheese, crackers, bread, pasta, whatever. Favourite food thus far: blueberries.

- He is nursing four times a day now. He sleeps from around 7:30 PM to 6:30 AM straight through usually. Then he naps twice a day. I am loving our schedule. Jon and I love that extra half hour with him in the evenings.

- Favourite things to do: stand at the living room window and watch cars go by, rip toilet paper into tiny bits, sit at the kitchen cupboard and pull every single thing out from the bottom shelf.

- Another thing he loves to do lately is walk (toddle?) around with us holding his hands. He seems so proud of himself. I am betting that he will be walking in another month, though J thinks it will take maybe another 2 or 3 months.