We walked Fitz to his first day of kindergarten at Howard PS. He was excited and showed only a little bit of trepidation. Luckily, he’s in the same class and after-care with Emmett, which made the transition easy. Dennis stayed in town over the weekend and was able to join us.
We finally did it — a professional haircut. We were tired of dreadlocks tangled on the back of his head, not to mention that he sometimes looked like a hobo. A very cute hobo, to be sure. He looks more boyish by the day and the haircut only perpetuates that.
ABOVE & BELOW: We hosted a little get-together with Fitz’s daycare friends Leo, Eli, and Kallum. They ate a lot of chocolate and treats and had a sugar crash (Paw Patrol helped ease them into a lull, no doubt), which is how Matt got these photos of them sitting still.
ABOVE & BELOW: Fitz got to play along the Humber River Bridge, one of the city’s waterfront icons. His new love of throwing rocks into sewers reached new heights with this visit.
Over the last few months Fitz’s vocabulary has expanded with ferocity. Throughout May, we made a list of all the words he was using.
No
Yes
Mommie
Daddy
Car
Truck
Van
Streetcar
Jump
Cheese
Chair
Milk
Bike
Car
Mikey
Bubbles
Hiding
Running
Walking
Orange
Apple
Chicken
Soup
Up
Shoes
Socks
Tea
Cracker
Cookie
Nana
Dada
Nanny
Eyes
Ears
Nose
Penis (menis)
Bath
Park
Hockey
Soccer
Doggie
Tractor
Bus
Big
Step
Book
More
All Done
Soother
Hello
Bye bye
Hot
Wet
Duck
Cup
Choo choo
Train
Blanket
Brush
1, 2, 3
Teeth
Water
Sit
Baby
Tree
Flower
Ee-er (Fever)
Poo poo
There
Why
Yellow
Green
Look
Abigail
Callum
Leo
Zelda
Taxi
Wow
Beep-beep
Blue
Ball
Wheel
Berries
Digger
Belly
Hug
Buddy
Jacket
Bed
Go
Back
Home
Lake
Ambulance
Shovel
Stop
Bathurst
Dip
Fitz
Pork
Matt
All done
Boat
Door
Nina (Kristina)
Table
Wagon
Subway
Heather
Bok choy
Party
Dip
Yazoo
Stinky
Monk
Party
Ready
Red
Blue
Cracker
Dump (truck)
Big step
Yeah
Where
Pig
PeaCock
Dirty
Bag
Somehow we managed to document each week of Fitz’s first year. There’s no guarantee we can keep it up forever, but we’ll try to see how long we can take it.
Fitz and Grandpa Dennis celebrated their shared significant birthdays in Ottawa over the Labour Day weekend. Grandma Lee planned the joint 1st-65th birth bash, which included a cake adorned with one of Matt’s photos.
The party started just as Fitz was finishing his afternoon nap. After waking up, he spent about 10 minutes in an anti-social mood before he perked up and started the charm offensive. And the tackling offensive.
ABOVE & BELOW: Cousin Declan came out to celebrate the birthdays and was at first greeted by shared play toys and small-chat time.
ABOVE: Then Declan decided it was time to bite Fitz’s fingers.
ABOVE & BELOW: Then Fitz pulled his patented tackling move.
BELOW: …and then his patented shirt grab move.
ABOVE & BELOW: Play time returned to normal where cuteness again reigned supreme…
ABOVE & BELOW: The next generation — Will, Fitz and Declan.
BELOW: It was at this point that Declan decided to vent his jealousy of Fitz’s flowing locks by trying to rip it out by the handful. Either that, or this is the baby-version of paddy-whacks.
Watch how it unfolds so quickly…
While at the cottage in the Gatineaus, Fitz got to experience a lake up close as well as show off some of his new skills: throwing stuff and pulling himself up.
As Fitzy hits 10 months, Canada reaches 147. We celebrated the long-weekend by playing on the porch and visiting the Legion Hall on the Lake Shore, not far from our place, for an authentic Canadian experience.
ABOVE: Our boy has become a very good waver, even with a mouthful of peaches.
ABOVE: Aunt Meghan joined us on the legion’s patio / BELOW: So did Aunt Heather.
Fitz and Matt got to spend an entire weekend together for the first time while Carly relaxed at a cottage with friends near Collingwood. Fitz reached the 9-month mark during the weekend so he celebrated by knocking down stacked blocks and pointing at everything.
ABOVE: Look at all those teeth coming in! Seven so far, with three more about to surface.
ABOVE: One of the play stations on the Circle of Neglect is this slot machine-like feature. Fitz has really mastered spinning it.
ABOVE & BELOW: One of Fitz’s favourite things to do is take two of these blocks and knock down any stacked blocks within swinging distance (or trying to eat them).
ABOVE & BELOW: Over the last few weeks Fitz has started pointing at everything. His index fingers are getting a lot of work these days.
The warm weather is allowing us the chance to explore the nieghbourhood more thoroughly with FItz. On Sunday (and Mother’s Day!) we went up to a park and put Fitz on one of the baby swings, and boy did he like it! (There are three videos near the bottom of the post)
ABOVE: Fitz has now taken up his own space on the porch.
ABOVE: This is one of Fitz’s new things — leaning his head onto his right shoulder when he’s tired.
ABOVE: Fitz caught in the middle of a sneeze while out for a walk on Roncesvalles.
While away in Hilton Head, it became quite apparent that our little Fitzy wanted to start eating solid foods. He reached for bacon strips, chocolate ice cream, and whatever else we were putting in our mouths. So upon arrival home we began to feed him rice cereal, the medical community’s preferred first food. Carly was disappointed that we can’t add flavour to the food just yet but we all know Fitz’s exposure to food will not be limited.
BELOW: When Fitz is not eating he is trying to put any and everything into his mouth, including Mr. Sun who was Fitz’s sworn enemy less than 2 weeks ago.
The biggest development this week is the arrival of a bottom tooth! It seems to have just poked through the gum. This may explain Fitz’s Niagara Falls-like drooling. We can now add “teething” to our list of Reasons Fitz Might Be Making Noise.
ABOVE & BELOW: Fitz has developed a little case of eczema, so we took him to the Just For Kids clinic around the corner from us.
ABOVE: A 9-week comparison montage: 6 weeks / 15 weeks / 24 weeks.
BELOW: This is another one of my montages comparing Fitz at certain stages (this one in 5 week intervals).
