SPD

The Lull

This little family had a one day lull over the holidays - where Mama didn't have to work, nobody was visiting or going to visit anybody else, nobody was on the road, and nobody had any appointments.

So, might as well rearrange the furniture. No point wasting a good day off with relaxation.

But, the reward at the end of the day was chili! Yum. It tastes best when smeared all over your face, I hear.

More Christmas

Just when you thought Christmas was over...

Sebbie had a couple of Christmases, sort of. Regardless, this is still the first one! Part one was spent in Bruce Mines, with:

Oma and Opa,

And Johanna (and Mama noticed that a dress she used to have had been reincarnated as the pillow slip Johanna has her head on...but we digress.)

And Markus, who is teaching Sebbie the finer points of telephoning.

Not to mention Matthias of crokinole board fame, and Crystal, who has somehow eluded my camera...

And Lisa, and her little dog Tia, who Sebastien tried to eat with a spoon, and then proceeded to maul in the nude.

And the wind-down after all that?

Six hours in the Soo Airport! At least this time Mama didn't forget his lunch!

So This is Christmas...

Some of us demanded an early present. Matthias made a fabulous crokinole board, and then he taught Sebbie how to play.

He was apparently a bit vague on some of the rules.

And then Sebbie decided to see what was lurking in all that shiny paper. With his fork, no less.

Christmas dinner, with much decorum (but no fork, now that there is food to be had).

And then it was time to wear his new pants on his head. At least they match his pj's.

More to come...

Return of the Fairy Godmother

Faithful readers will remember that Sebastien has a fairy godmother, who was here when he was born. We were hoping that when she came to visit this year, we would be a bit more on the ball, and she would not have to spend her time here cooking and cleaning for us!

As it was, Heather helped us fetch a Christmas tree.

And she helped decorate it (with creative guidance from Sebbie. He thought the red apples should be featured prominently. He loves apples.)

But Heather had fun too - she got to horse around with Sebbie,

And then, Sebastien showed her a new and innovative way to play the trumpet.

Such fun. It might be our turn to visit her next.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday dear Sebbie! Sebbie is One Year Old! And so is this blog. To celebrate, we will upload a whole whack of photos, and then update whenever we feel like, rather than daily.

With no further ado, and in no particular order:

Birthday cake! There might not be icing, but there was ice cream. Mmmmmm....

Scotty was here (of course!), he is an old hat at this one-year-old thing by now.

Sebbie learned quickly that colourful bags hold exciting things. In this case, a great book.

Grandmaman sent some things with Uncle PJ.

A short-lived experience in a party-hat (but he loves his new chair).

And of course Peter and Morganne featured prominently in Sebbie's birthday weekend.

Stay tuned...we WILL be back!

T-1

There will no doubt be a gazillion pictures of the birthday - so here is the sweet treat for the day, just one happy boy.

Winding Up

It's a big weekend coming up - Uncle Peter is coming to visit, there is a birthday to celebrate, Heather is coming. We'd better rest up.

First a nap:

Then some nice quiet time with a book:

(Well. That was the fantasy, anyway).

Back At It

We're having a slow day. Mama is recovering from her first evening shift back at work, so by noon, we're still not dressed, and just getting around to brushing our teeth.

Being naked isn't so bad, though. Especially when you're this cute.

Under the Table

Sebastien used to practice standing under the table. We joked that one day he would just walk out from under there, and keep walking.

For that to happen, we'll have to get a taller table - he's already taller than this one! Of course, he slouched right before the shutter clicked, and so you'll have to take my word for it.

Misdiagnosis

Turns out he doesn't need that teething ring, after all.

It looks like he thinks he needs glasses. Or a monocle.

Non-verbal Communication

Mama, what do you make of this guy? I'm being as cute as I can, and he's STILL not doting on me!

We should get Sebbie a Sudoku shirt. Then he would be doted on with a pen.

Focus

The boys of the household, displaying their marvelous attention spans.

Well, Sebbie's is a bit shorter - he moved on to bigger and better things pretty soon. Like asking his Mama to peel his orange.

Battle of Wills

Papa said, "we're having a battle of wills." Papa thinks the very small child on the cover of the book is a bebe. Sebbie thinks it's a dada.

But then, Sebbie thinks everything is a baba, a mama, a dada or a la! Except for the wall, which he thinks is called regarde!

Paradoxical Effect

The alternate title to this post is Sopoforic Rooster. Here he is:

Medically, a paradoxical effect is the term for a drug causing the opposite of the intended reaction. In our case, we have a paradoxical rooster! Sebastien looooooves this rooster, and clamours to have him brought down from his perch on top of the cupboards. And soon as he is down, and Papa says Cocorico! (French), Cockadoodledoo! (English), or Kikeriki! (German), little Sebs lays his head down and nestles into Papa's shoulder all sleepy-like.

And when Mama does it? He just laughs.

More Life Lessons from Babies

Well, for starters, how come only babies know to look at the camera when the picture is being taken? Matilda and Sebbie obviously have this figured out.

Matilda has also figured out some cool new kicks, and she is kind enough to demonstrate them for the Sebster.

Tom, though not a baby, is no dummy either. He joins the skill-building effort and shows off his fine head-butting talent.

And last (but never least), our little Sebs. He shows us what to do if you can't find your soother, or in case you give birth to kittens. It's a multipurpose kind of skill.

And Mama's skill is stitching all these pictures together with outrageous lies.

Fluctuations

So, after yesterday's eating extravaganza, today was a non-eating day.

He is looking a bit pale...

Gastronomic Gestures

He's always soooo willing to share his cucumber. Not so much his banana cookies.

And here is an emerging skill:

Ta-da!

Short Days

The days may be short, but we pack a lot in. Not the least of which is learning to drive:

Under Samantha's tutelage. And then there is learning to sew:

This is self-taught. And all that makes Sebbie a tired boy:

And then there was bedtime (not pictured, as they say in the Sears catalogue).

'Tis the Season

For putting the skis on the chariot. Hooray!

Even downtown errands are fun when there are 40 cm of snow on the ground.

The Final Countdown

Sebbie is One Year Old! in two weeks (and a day) - and perhaps then, SPD will go down to a weekly blog. Or something like that. Something to do with Mama having to go back to work, at least every now and then.

But in the meantime -

The big storm was to hit this afternoon, so we snuck out in the morning and zipped down to Grand Portage, where we had stack of parcels (ok, 2) awaiting us, one of which was this fabulous new snowsuit for Sebbie. We love it. He even seems fond of it. And then, the snow came and made it a very timely purchase.

Some days, everything works out like it's supposed to.