Tag Archives: A

Sep 7 2010

King Mountain

For the last day of summer vacation, we headed up to Gatineau Park.  I had hoped to spend the day on the beach, savouring every last second of summer before grabbing some ice cream at La Cigale, but Mother Nature decided not to cooperate.  Instead, we put on our jackets and headed out for a hike.

King Mountain is a pretty good trail for younger kids.  There are a lot of stairs on the way up, but then you’re rewarded with great views of the Ottawa valley at the top.  Interpretative signs along the way also offer an educational element for the scientifically inclined.

One of my many critics has pointed out the scarcity of posts or photos about my wife on the blog.  I shall endeavour to be more inclusive in my posts about family events, and am pleased to offer a number of photos that prove B does, in fact, exist (and in a most beautiful way, I might add).

Enjoying the view from the top of King Mountain

B, A and K.  K is working on his winking – he’s getting there.

Me and B.  A took the photo, and with some cropping it turned out O.K.

Another photo by A.  K is trying to decide whether the stick will fit inside his nose.

K wanted the chance to take a picture too.  If I only had some Photoshop skills we might be able to put together an actual family portrait.

May 28 2010

The Best of Ottawa – Kids and Teens Dentistry

Like many people, I developed strongly negative feelings about my dentist when I was a kid. Perhaps it was the time I had four teeth pulled and then went back to school with bloody gauze stuffed in my mouth, or the numerous fillings, or the 36 months I spent wearing braces. Whatever it was, visits to the dentist were always met with fear and apprehension.

So, I was particularly sensitive to A’s situation over the past couple of months. When his cheek ballooned back in March, I thought he might have the mumps. It turned out he had a badly abscessed molar, and on further inspection, he had a number of cavities.

I sat with him at our regular dentist and watched helplessly as this large man spent 45 minutes trying to save the tooth before finally deciding it had to come out. After several needles and having his mouth pried open by multiple fingers, pliers, and suction tubes, A decided he had had enough and refused to open his mouth again. The dentist threw up his hands and said he couldn’t continue.

Fortunately, we were referred to Kids and Teens Dentistry, and we couldn’t be happier. The dentists and staff are completely focused on making the experience as kid-friendly as possible, and I only wish we had something like this when I was younger.

The mood is set as soon as you walk in the door of the funky, modular office. The décor is whimsical, there are Xbox games to play, and a movie room where kids can hang out. The dental suites have themes, and kids can watch movies on the ceiling and listen through headphones while work is getting done. When the visit is over, they get a token to put in the Treasure Tree and get a little knick-knack to take home.

For the extraction of A’s molar, they used conscious sedation, a combination of oral sedative and nitrous oxide. He was awake for the procedure, but completely zoned out, and he didn’t feel a thing. We’ve been back a couple of times, and despite the extensive work that has to be done, he genuinely gets excited about it.

If you’re looking for a dentist for your kids, or if your current dentist isn’t that great with children, I highly recommend you give Kids and Teens Dentistry a call. I know they have a long waiting list so you’ll probably have to wait a few months for an appointment, but it’s totally worthwhile.

Aug 20 2008

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Wow, 13 days since the last post, and not one message, e-mail, or wall post complaining about the lengthy layoff. Either you’re a tolerant lot, or it’s a sign of overwhelming indifference.

I’m nearing the end of my second week of not going to work. Some people refer to that as a “vacation”, but I have some thoughts on that subject that I’ll save for later this week. All in all, it’s been a pretty busy time, with lots of time spent in the car traveling to exotic locales. To summarize, we:

- visited with Grandpa, Grandma, Lindsay, Riannon, and Meillyn in Ancaster

- attended my nephew Ian’s first birthday party in Kitchener

- watched a big boat travel excrutiatingly slowly through the Welland canal

- spent some time in Niagara-on-the-Lake and decided it would be a great place to live someday (which I consider some undefined future point, and which B considers tomorrow)

- enjoyed quick but meaningful visits with Evan, Ed, Cristina (x2), Patrick, Mark, and Miss

- took the GO train to Toronto and rode the subway

- checked out the dinosaurs and mummies at the ROM

- hiked to Webster’s and Tew’s falls

- went bowling, where I again failed to break 200, causing me to question the value of the 10 years of Saturday mornings I spent at the bowling alley in my youth

- picked fresh vegetables in Gerry and Claudette’s awesome garden

Rather than bore you with the details (if you’re not already there yet), here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks.

My nephew Ian at his first birthday party. Just looking at this picture makes me start thinking that having a third boy wouldn’t be the end of the world.

A going all medieval at the ROM.

K playing with his Cars toy at his Cars table.

A is the picture of concentration as he tries to master the drum part to Weezer’s Buddy Holly.

Aug 3 2008

This Is Why We Don’t Have Nice Things

B and I came home from our date night to find our remote control wasn’t working.  The power button was lit up, but it refused to do anything.  I tried a few different things to fix it, but nothing worked.  The cause of this sudden malfunction was a seemingly unsolvable mystery.

I spent about an hour this afternoon setting up the fancy new universal remote control – installing the software, checking for updates, entering the make and model of our modest collection of home entertainment devices, etc.  Towards the end of the tedious process, I mentioned to the boys that we’d have to be careful not to drop this remote as it could break.  This comment resulted in an interesting conversation…

A: “Yeah, I dropped the other remote lots of times.”

Me:  “Really?  When?

A:  “Last night, when Grandma was here”

Me:  “Why did you do that?”

A:  “Well, I wanted to see where the batteries go.  When I dropped it before the batteries came out, so I kept dropping it until they came out again.

Me:  “Wow, how many times did you drop it?”

A:  “I don’t know.  A lot of times, I guess.  They just wouldn’t come out, so I kept dropping it on the floor.”

I was more amused than angry.  I could just picture him dropping the remote over and over again until finally the battery cover popped off – kind of like a Herring Gull dropping a clam on the rocks in an attempt to smash the shell and get to the juicy flesh inside.

I can’t wait until he tries the same trick with my laptop…

Jun 29 2008

Little Kid, Big Plans

Wednesday was A’s last day of Junior Kindergarten. For the next 68 days, he’s a little man of leisure. It’s been a little daunting trying to figure out a daycare plan for him – we’ve settled on a patchwork of vacation time, visits with various relatives, and two different day camps.

His afternoon teacher sent home a nice yearbook with pictures taken throughout the year. The last section also had individual profiles of each student. Along with their name and age, each picture had a caption that reads “When I Grow Up”. The answers are pretty typical for 5-year olds – a lot of police officers, firemen, and race car drivers.

B and I were a little stunned and amused at A’s caption, though, which read:

“When I grow up, I want to be a security guard / metal scanner at the airport”.

This came as a complete surprise to us. He talks about being a pilot, a Jedi, an explorer, but we had no idea he was considering a career with the Canada Air Transport Safety Authority. It’s nice to know that he values keeping the airlines safe from nail clippers and shampoo bottles above all else.

We wanted to find out more about his thoughts on this job, so we conducted a little interview.

So there you have it – either an airport security screener or a pilot. Given the poor business outlook for airlines, he’ll probably have to reconsider his options at some point.  Perhaps he’ll be influenced by his classmate Scott, who said “When I grow up, I want to work for the Government of Canada”. Poor kid…