Mia is 14 months

Where o where did the time go? Mia is now a walking baby-talking toddler with the sweetest nature and a great appetite for all things editable and bangable.

WHIMZ Live Animal Programs for a Jonah-man party

Jonah turned 5 and treated his friends to a face to face touchy feely meeting with some very cool live animals. There was a python, chinchilla, rabbit, field mouse and more. Here is Jonah beside his mom wearing the python.


The kids love WHIMZ, they have programs in their own space on St Clair, camp and school programs and they do house calls for parties.

Dinner with Lily Scarlet, A, H, Er and peanut butter man

Anita and Jay brought Lily Scarlet in from Montreal to meet family and it was great to hang with Er and H and see the two little ones together. Lily is a delight, easy going like mom and dad and all are enjoying this first treasure. Anita is a beautiful mom and Jason is having great success with his blogging, all of which is way way too adult for a link [look up "drinking for two" in Google] except for this pearl for the kid in all of us: "sometimes the smell of peanut butter can be so over whelming but that won't stop me from wearing it."

Sasha and Mia charms

For Valentines Day Dad bought Mom a mother of pearl butterfly but the silver chain was too small and so the gift was swopped in for an S for Sasha, M for Mia and ziconian ruby heart charm necklace. Mia just loved it, she went bugged eyes, then leaned forward in rapid succession to grab it!

Ethan is 5 years old!

The Singer-Sheps and Blumberg families gathered for Ethan's big boy dinner at home (we were not invited bowling with the 33 friend, smart move). Great food and conversation. Ethan walked all over his cousin's back and walked with cousin Katie on his shoulders. Ethan is quite the host, happy birthday big E.

Happy Eight month Mia!

This has been a very busy month with Mia cutting 3 teeth over the last two weeks, wanting to pull herself up to standing before she crawls, leaning forward to give kisses and just being a delicious and happy little girl. Here are some of the happy events this month starting with a play date with Siena Parekh.



Jennifer Gould returned home with Braidan and Caitlyn for a visit and Mom and Dad held an open house for all the family and friends. Here are shots of Mia grabbing Jonathan's face, Jennifer and her two cuties and me and the gals.

COOKERYDOO - Betsy is two plus two!

Betsy had a fun 4th birthday at the Cookerydoo, a cooking and crafts spot on Roncesvales. It is a lovely space that uses the front and back areas really well to prepare, bake, offer up the next craft and keep things nicely moving along. There is lots of space for parents or other aged kids to hang out in whatever area is not the centre of attention for the party. Betsy's Mom was very happy, her words later. Here's how the bash rolled out. Betsy started with rolling and squishing sugar cookie dough in the kitchen.


We then hung out at the work tables in the front and decorated cake boxes (that the sugar cookies were put into to take home) while the work area was cleaned.



Meanwhile the kitchen was preparing toasted cheese sandwiches and fries and its a good thing Mom had her funky shoes on because things really start to move.

We were lead back into the work area with a little game of tippy toe quiet to build up excitement for the snacks and then there was a little free for all toasted cheese and chips. When the kiddies had left their food, the big moment, a very pretty purple cake appeared wrapped in a pink boa with star candles and feather sticks for Betsy. After the candles were smoking, the cake icing sugar was all rolled off to avoid the sugar and the cake refrosted to serve. And it was deliciously moist. Bonus!

Here is Momma and Mia hanging out in the front during the lunch snack. Seems like Cookerydoo is doing something special turning quality family moments into fun creative adventures in the kitchen with an easy going and well organized team. Cindy, the birthday girl's mom, gave Cookerydoo the big thumbs up: It was awewsome, they were fun, professional and very easy to work with. One of the teachers has experience with kids with special needs and they were sensitive to Betsy's hearing sensitivity and kept the music low until Betsy wanted it louder. And Cookerydoo is SavvyMom approved.

Happy 7 month birthday Mia!

Here I am a week before my 7th birthday at a big pool and I am really not sure about all that water and those noisy splashing kiddies. For my birthday we went over to Rachel and Doron and Zoe and Meeka for brunch and met lots of new people who wanted to meet the little girl down the street and then we hung out at home because it was so cold, brrrr. I'm eating fruit and vegetables and drinking a little less milk and I love my sleeps. Everyone is surprised my hair is still blond and my eyes are blue. Now I am on the top level for the exersaucer and I love to rock as I sit and reach far for things. I get really excited when I wake up and when its bath time and when I get my mushy food in the colored bowls. I am happy in my crib though sometimes I have bad dreams. When I wake I sing until the funny big people come by to play.

Here Auntie Raina gets a giggle with a jiggle on New Years day.

Thinking of others: two stories of brave women

Dear Mia, you grow strong and give us lots of big smiles and laughs. We are so happy you are happy and I hope you will grow up like your mom to speak your mind and go where your heart takes you. So I wanted to share with you two remarkable stories from the paper today of brave women who made a difference. Love Daddy.


"Life in New Orleans turns tragic for Canadians" tells the story of Helen Hill, 36-year-old animator and filmmaker, who set up the Halifax chapter of Food Not Bombs with husband Dr. Paul Gailiunas while they lived in Dalhousie and who moved to New Oleans in 2001 to make a difference. They inspired their neighbors with their love and generosity. Paul worked with a medical clinic for the poor run by the Daughters of Charity religious order and Helen was part of the community of artists, poets and anarchists. Paul was a musician in his spare time and left Canada to practise medicine in a Third World environment (in the US!). On Thursday Helen was killed by a bullet through her throat and Paul was shot 4 times protecting their two year old son Francis. “They came back to New Orleans because they wanted to be part of the reconstruction and they wanted to come to help,” said Helen's brother. “They are wonderful people, two bright spots in New Orleans,” said Sheri Branch, who was taking care of Francis while Dr. Gailiunas was being treated in hospital. “They gave us hope that people could live together.”

"Amid the intifada, a courageous friendship" tells the story of Tali Fahima who journeyed to Jenin to meet with Zakaria Zubeidi, the local head of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade after he survived an assassination attempt. “I went to meet with the enemy. I broke the walls that the state built. And I'm not a lefty; I come from the Israeli mainstream. It's something that really scared them.” Tali was freed Wednesday after 28 months in prison and she intends to work from Jaffa to support the children's theatre in Jenin that Zakaria was part of as a kid.

Dancing in the new year

Mia rang in the new year with her first cold but it isnt slowing her down too much. Happy new year!



We went to La Palette to ring in the new year with a very tasty meal and then had a tasty brunch with the one and only Yvette.



Mia and I met with Shlomit and hung out with baby Zohar for the first time at the local coffee joint.



A lovely dinner with Jill and Jeremy featuring Cumbrae Farm ribeye and buffalo, Pam's famous brussel sprouts and steamed tilapia and whole fish in salt crust for the fishertarians.

Mia is 6 months

It was the festival of lights and good food and Mia got her appetite in gear.



Our little girl is 24 lbs at 6 months and started gobbling cereals two weeks ago and is now starting on pureed fruit and veg. Amazingly Dr. Peer is betting she will only be about 25 lbs at one year. Ummm. We'll see. She just discovered her ears; we thought she might have an ear ache. Mia is content but loud when hungry or tired or in the mood to sing. She has a lovely laugh and a big wide smile. When she gets excited she gets really big wild eyes, just like her sister. She enjoyed the exersaucer for a while and then when we finally got her into the jolly jumper she was heavy enough to drag it down to her knees. So no jumping. But she started sitting up in the last two weeks and does pretty well supported by a breast feeding pillow. We went awhile not knowing who she looked like but Dad now sees his head and Moms eyes while Mom sees her Dad's head and Dad's eyes. At least we know whose hands she got - those yams are made for bowling. And watch out if you get your face too close to her, she loves to grab your cheeks and really hold on. Yeoow. Mia you are such a delight! Ohh, and after not taking a bottle for the longest time she now sucks back milk from a cheap storage bottle. A foodie after my own heart; can't wait until she is eating with us. Watch out. And that means, oh yes, mom and dad can go out once in awhile without elaborate plans. Almost forgot, she is really drooling, maybe time for some teeth to pop out.