As of Late

Before I post more pictures of our trip to Jasper, I thought I would bring you up to speed as to other happenings in Ember's life as of late.

Ember went curling.
My dad would be so proud. When Andrew had a work event centred around curling, I couldn't resist getting Ember in on the action. Without delving too far into a tangent, I spent a lot of my childhood in a curling club so Ember + curling was a bit of a thrill for me. Turns out it was for her too. Not exercising any caution, Ember would walk on the ice and start playing "skip". The photos below are from before game... when she had little interest. It was once the game started, with all the yelling, sweeping and sliding rocks, that she tuned in. There are no photos because it was all hands on deck trying to control her.





Ember has allergies. Boo.
An incident with yogurt when Ember was 9 months old lead me to believe were dealing with a dairy allergy, and I expressed this to my doctor at Ember's 12 month check up. (Before then/post incident, we had decided to avoid dairy until this landmark birthday.) Anyway, Dr. decides that Ember go in for a RAST test. I was expecting the dairy to be positive, but was quite surprised to learn that she is allergic to wheat and egg whites as well. What fun! This was a blow to me as I love to bake and cook and was hoping to turn Ember on to white flour and buttery decadence early. Alas, Ember (and us too) have taken quite a shining to Earth Balance - a delicious buttery flavour spread. I wish I had more information about the severity of the allergies but the earliest we may see a pediatric allergist is September ... so... we go with what we know is safe.
Anyone out there dealing with allergies? I've been told wheat is a misnomer. Help!

Ember may be an only child.
Why?, you ask. Simply because she is 15 months going on 16 years. We have entered tantrum territory already. Oh my girl, she's a strong self advocate. Her style is a little different than the traditional tantrum though. Instead, Ember more or less stages a sit in. Her protests are usually staged on the elevator of our building, after I've picked her up and she can no longer run up and down the hallway. As soon as she's in my arms, Ember lets out a disgruntled shriek,and goes boneless. I set her down once we're on the elevator, hoping she will stand but she opts to lay flat on the ground, and she just stares at me, with a look that says, "Now whatcha going to do? Huh? Huh?" Quiet it is, but oh so adamant. I fear the "terrible two's".

Ember loves Kitty.
Andrew and I clearly lack imagination because Ember's new BFF is named Kitty Cat. Kitty Cat was a gift from Ember's great grandparents when she was three months old. While it (Kitty's gender will be determined by Ember) has been a bedtime buddy since then, only recently have they become true snuggle buddies. And, Ember doesn't like to share Kitty - she hangs on to it no matter the activity.





Ember had the RS Virus.
Oh lordy! This was a knock em' down battle for a good five days. It started off as the normal stuff - slight fever, sniffles and congestion. And when they didn't clear up within 24 hours like all her other colds previous, Andrew and I simply thought she had a her first real cold and was going to take a few days to kick it. Well, by day three she was looking worse, and wasn't eating all that much. It was that night that her breathing changed; it sounded like her lungs were crushing plastic. Clearly, we went to emergency. After a barrage of tests that were all the more traumatic because of the sleep deprivation we were experiencing, a few doses of oxygen and some antibiotics, we were sent home knowing that Ember was a statistic in the number of kids who will suffer with RSV this winter. Despite needing a second round of oxygen treatments the following day, she rebounded quickly. She walked out of the hospital that second day and didn't look back.


Day two in emergency. You can see my poor little lady lost some weight while sick.

Ember is one.
Her new party trick.


Ember has a budding imagination.
She now plays peek-a-boo with her stuffed animals. Dress up is up there as her favourite activities: she wears the pumpkin hat and I wear the cat/bear/whatever it is. Daily she goes into my closet and pulls out a pair of my flats, and then comes clomping out of our bedroom.





Ember has new words.
Shoes. Cheese. These are her favourites. They're more "shzz" and "cheezz" though.

Ember has her own chair.
When Ember saw this gift from Grandpa at Christmas, she beamed. The affection has not desist since and every morning she drinks her milk (rice) and eats her puffs (kamut and corn) in the comfort of that chair.



Ember sleeps through the night. Regularly.
Pop the champagne! This has been a long time coming. We had gotten there, only to have the RSV ruin all our hard work. Now, several weeks later, Ember is back sleeping 12 hours straight. I credit Andrew on taking night shift (I'm no longer nursing at night, woo!) Ever since, I have been working hard at catching up on 14+ months of sleep deprivation.

Ember loves swimming lessons.
Ember is back in the pool every Saturday and just loves it. It's the same program as last time, because let's face it, she couldn't take direction then. The difference 10 months makes! On command, she can now blow bubbles, splash and kick. Most notably, she is brave enough to jump from the side of the pool into Andrew's arms. She's part fish and I'm all delighted.




Waving at folks in the bleachers.