December 25/03 Merry Christmas. I'm typing this diary entry as John is napping. It's been quite a year to say the least. I can't believe that at this time last year I was worried about John getting sick prior to his heart surgery and we couldn't get together with all of our family because I was protecting John from all the flu and cold virus germies. He's come so far in a year. To see him now running around and responding to me and learning new things just makes me smile from ear to ear. He's a challenge too, but I thank God for him every single day. John is rather oblivious to Santa. He doesn't care much about him either way. We let him open one present last night from Grandma and Grandpa Kennedy (the little toy cars) and he was enthralled with putting them in and out of the case. He sort of gets the idea about how to drive them and giggles when I drive them up and down his back. This morning he opened his presents from Santa (stocking) but wasn't much into it. He loves to watch his Christmas Barney movies, but is scared of Barney at times. He comes a running for me to protect him from the big purple dinosaur. The time-out thing is sort of working with him. If I say to him "Do you want to go to time-out?" he'll shake his head "No!" Then I say "Then don't bite mommy". He's been there quite a few times but I'm hoping this will have some impact on him because he doesn't like being confined. I'm using the playpen for time-out now (great gift eh Cathy and Brad)? It works well because he doesn't associate his crib with being punished and I don't think the high chair would be a good time out place either. I'm cooking Christmas dinner (the stuffing and cranberries are done!). Have to run now and do some tidying before the company gets here. We are going to open Christmas presents when daddy gets home from work! Dec. 12/03 I haven't written for a while...life has been busy with Christmas preparations etc. John continues to grow like a weed. I must admit this stage is challenging because he is such a handful! He gets into EVERYTHING! Today I caught him trying to tip the end table over on the Christmas tree. The biting continues to be a problem. I've even tried time-out's in his playpen. He doesn't get the picture yet! His vocabulary is growing (receptively anyhow). He understands lots of words now and I think he is trying to say the word "peas". He has baby einstein flashcards and when you say this word he says lots of ssss sounds. He seems to be over his virus now, but I'm not too optimistic he'll not catch something else. Everyone in town seems to have some sort of flu thing going on! He can find Santa in his books now too. The man in the red suit does not really excite him though! He's more excited by stuff he can throw, demolish or destroy! Don't get me wrong, he can also be very very cute, affectionate and funny! Just at the end of the day (after I've put up with the kids at school), he gets more whiney. Page 2 Go To Start Of Document Go To Top Of Page Nov. 24/03 I'm off work today because John is sick! I took him up to the ER yesterday with a very high fever, and after a battery of tests (urine, blood, chest x-ray - poor baby) they think it is a flu virus of some sort. If he still has a fever tomorrow, we'll take him up again for a re-check. My Aunt Judy is here this week for a visit. Due to Grandma's recent heart problems, she decided to move up her trip a little bit. She's been enjoying the visiting and bought John a really nice furry pooh chair. He doesn't really sit in in conventionally, but likes to tip it over and make sort of a tent thing out of it. I've had to move the big chair out of his toy room, because he can climb now and fell off of it twice this morning! I like for him to have one room he can go in and I don't have to watch him every second! Things in town are gearing up for Santa! I've been working on some Christmas shopping and cards, but it's so hard to find the time! I'm not doing much baking this year, only a few things and a batch of our traditional sugar cookies for Marla and I to decorate (I don't think John will be too much of a help!) November 5/03 I haven't written for a while because I've hurt my back. I was lifting John a couple of weeks ago and then bent over to pick up my briefcase (bad move!) I heard a crunch and then felt pain. It didn't feel too awfully bad for the first couple of days, but then progressively got worse. I finally decided to go into the hospital to see what was going on because I couldn't stand the pain anymore. The doctor said it looked to him like a herniated disc pinching a nerve because I had leg pain in addition to my back and no reflexes in my right foot. Anyways, mom and Derek are doing overtime. I've been off work and start physiotherapy next week..hopefully I can go back to work though next week as well. It's hard because report cards are due on Monday and it hurts to type. John's been busy, busy. He's still cutting teeth and biting everything and everyone! He's been sleeping lousy again and due to my back problem, I can't rock him to sleep. I have to bring him into bed with me and he likes that fine, except wants to stay there. Last night, he didn't even want that..he kept tossing and turning and tossing and turning! He's a smart kid though! Today he wanted his diaper changed so he ran to the bathroom, pounded on the door (he knows that's where you go for pee pee and for tubby time) and then ran back to his change towel on the couch and hit that. He wanted me to change his pants! He also has great receptive language skills. I say to him "Go the fridge if you're thirsty) and he goes. He's eating more and more solids now and is on whole milk entirely. He is 30 inches tall and weighs 21 lbs. I don't know why the woman in Winnipeg told me he was 36 inches tall..that did seem awfully tall to me! He wasn't impressed with Halloween. He didn't go out (due to my back) but when the kids came over, he cried because we gave them candy and then they went bye-bye. He wanted them to stay. He loves kids. That's all my back will take! I'll write again when it's better. October 18/03 John's racing around like crazy now..he sometimes staggers a bit like a drunk, however, it's very very cute. He races around and around the house, chasing the cat, running from daddy, whatever! He's big time into books! He'll bring you a book, plop it on your lap and grunt at you. That means "Read the book". He loves books with flaps and has pretty much destroyed lots of them already. He loved his Thanksgiving turkey...gobbled it down, and then had to have a nap. He was pretty much falling asleep in his highchair tray! We're having a few problems with biting right now. He's teething AGAIN and wants to bite anything ... the couch, the table, the cat, me, whoever! If you see him coming towards you with an open mouth, you'd better pay attention or face the consequences! Sometimes he only takes one nap a day now. It's sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon! It's hard to schedule activities right now because he's very unpredictable! It's really hard to buy him clothes right now. All the pants are too big in the waist! Don't they know there are some tall skinny kids left in the world? Oct. 5/03 Today we celebrated John's birthday! He had a great time opening his gifts and sincerely loved each and everyone of them. He got a Pooh Bear wagon and blocks from Auntie Cindy and Uncle Wade and Marla, money from his grandma's, puppets from us (he had a huge grin when he saw BARD from Baby Einstein!) an outfit and blocks from Jackie, Guy and Lhea and a sweet green tracksuit from Auntie Cath and Uncle Brad and girls. Thanks so much! He loved messing around in the cake with his hands (what a mess) and required a bath afterwards. We captured the main parts on video (with our new camcorder) so we'll be able to remember. He refused to have an afternoon nap and by 5:30 was flopping around and I was unable to keep him awake. We'll see if he sleeps the night or is up until 2 a.m. or at 2 a.m. When he won't sleep, he won't sleep! The kitty cake was adorable! Sandy did a great job. It was an incredibly nice day outside to boot. The breast cancer walk was on and I remembered that when I was in labour, Dr. Mazurski was doing this marathon. She had to keep coming up to check on me. I must say, I'd rather deal with John being sleepless than going through that whole labour thing again! © 2003 Derek Kennedy

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