Planes, Trains, and Automobile

The grandparents took the train, the godparents flew in, and we drove east on the 401, converging in Quebec for the big event.

Last weekend was a pretty exciting one for our family. We went off to Montreal for Dexter's baptism. It was a small little party: Lolo and Lola from Calgary, Grandma and Grandpa from Tatamagouche, Ninang Gina from Calgary, and Ninong Richard from Toronto. In Montreal, there was Tito Rene and Tita Joyce who were the bestest hosts ever!

The ceremony was on Sunday during the 10 am mass. Dex was so amazing, he actually smiled when he had water poured on his head. Mind you, not everyone gets baptised by their aunt (thank you Revd. Canon Joyce Sanchez!) and not every priest ensures that warm water is used for the occasion.

Dex looked so handsome in his little knitted outfit and his cute little baby blue shoes. Here's a short little video taken right after the baptism with Tita Joyce showing him off to her congregation. Notice that he only has one shoe. During the mass, one fell off and therefore ended up in his Dad's pocket for the reminder of the event.

Peachy

We can add peaches to his list of non-life threatening things to ingest.

It's official. He now eats more fruits than his father. Come to think of it, Dex has probably eaten more fruit in his lifetime than his father in his.

Wookies, and Klingons, and bears, oh my!

Dexter's geekification has begun. Let's put it this way, Dexter is going to grow up thinking Wookiees, Klingons, and pikachus (thanks to Ate Rose for that last suggestion) happily co-exist on Old MacDonald's farm.

It all started when I tried to make "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" a more interesting song. I tried to come up with outrageous creatures with good sound effects and, after introducing gorillas, elephants, snakes and bears to the farm, I found myself mining popular culture for other ideas. That's how it escalated to Star Wars and Star Trek characters.

It's all in fun, I thought, but then I started to worry... What if Dex gets teased for not knowing the rules of Old MacDonald's farm at daycare? What if his kindergarten teacher has no sense of humour? Is this going to backfire on us? Will he write nasty things about his parents when he grows up? Will it be the root of future transgressions like the wearing of an ermine cape to school and the inexplicable urge to play Dungeons and Dragons between classes? Have I condemned him to a life as a social outcast? And what the heck is a pikachu, exactly? Rodent?

Dexter's diet

We've been very conservative with the solids. As the doctor said: "Remember, he's really two months younger than what you think he is."

Not too much variety yet, but here's what he can eat:

- oatmeal cereal mixed with breastmilk (every morning)
- rice cereal mixed with breastmilk (every evening feed)
- fruits: apples and pears (one or the other during the morning feed)
- vegetables: carrots, peas, sweet potato, squash (lunch and dinner feed)
- protein: chicken, homemade free-range organic (Tried it for the first time today and Dex made a very funny face after the first spoonful. Understandable since it was the only non-sweet thing he's ever had in his life. I'll try again in a week.)

Food is still strained or mashed but we're supposed to start making it lumpier. Now's the time to start introducing lumpier foods since apparently, there's a small window to do that. If we miss that window, Dex might reject it and insist on the strained or mashed until he's eighteen or eighty. Don't want to do that to my boy. But seriously, Dex is an excellent feeder and he is quite adept with his spoon. Must post a video of him feeding himself...

One diet no-no: barley. We tried barley after the rice cereal and it necessitated a trip to emerg. The poor guy broke out in hives -- red blotches all over his body. Luckily, he was okay, but that was enough to frighten me into this conservative food path.

First Bite - part deux

Not "THE" first bite, but the first bite with his six new pearly wedges on my (ladies, hold your hands over your chest for this one...) person, if you know what I mean.

I pulled him to bed with me last night and I think he was partially dreaming when he just chomped down deliberately. My loud, surprised yelp woke him from his slumber. I just hope he doesn't do that again. Ouchie!

First cold

Not one of those milestones I necessarily want to commemorate, but I thought it was worth noting here. Poor Dex has had a drippy nose since Monday. He had a bit of a dry cough, too. I didn't sleep well that night. Can he breathe? Does he have a temperature? Is he in pain? These were the thoughts that went through my mind that night. The following day, we got him a humidifier and that seemed to help a bit. At least he wasn't coughing that horrible-sounding cough. I thought the drippy nose was just related to the teething thing, but since Jon and I now have it, I can absolutely guarantee that it wasn't.

The little trooper seems to be on the mend now. He's still a little cranky, but even at his crankiest day, he is an angel. We did have a few more rough nights where he'd wake up crying and he'd refuse to go back to his crib. He's been sleeping with us on the big bed every night, probably more for my sake than his.

**Update: Dexter officially beat his first cold after five days. What a trooper.

First Halloween

It was a short trick or treat stint -- really just a photo op and a quick stroll down our little street to see the neighbours. Dex didn't even come back with any treats!