March 17/04 I'm really getting lazy about writing diary entries. John got his new bed yesterday and seems to like it fine! He slept in it last night and I was able to just lay down beside him while we listened to "Old MacDonald" a million times. Dad burned John an Old MacDonald CD..that's what's on it...one song repeated 34 times! I'm sick to death of it! He also loves Twinkle Twinkle and Happy and You know it. He's starting to communicate more with words now. He says "kle" for twinkle and just now he said some version of chocolate milk when he went to the fridge. He says ball, cheese, mom, dad, kittie (ee), star, car, hi, twinkle, and eiei (Old MacDonald). I took him to busy bodies today because I was off, but it was a bad move! I'm a little under the weather today and there were way too many kids there. These moms had their newborn babies there and I was worried John would pitch a ball at one of them. He got very upset when I didn't bring his bottle and the baby had one! To boot, people could just drop off their kids and leave, but there wasn't really enough supervision and the kids were screaming because they wanted their moms. John certainly loves the outdoors. He'll spend hours throwing balls around and flicking the snow, stepping in puddles, whatever. We just got another huge snowstorm so there's going to be snow around for a while! John now has 4 molars and 8 teeth! He bites really well and continues to gnaw on my arm. It's bruised! The worst time is when you're trying to dress him for outside. He gets mad and bites! I forgot to mention the bedding I got for John's big boy bed. It's a mate's bed and I just bought a neutral blanket (no theme) in a plaid sea-foam green. It's a Martha Stewart one. I wonder if she'll choose the same pattern for her jail cell! The new computer is running well, there was a slight problem due to overclocking, but it's running much better now that the core voltage has been increased slightly. The CPU is a AMD XP 2500+ but with the overclocking it's running as a 3200+ (so, basically I get the faster chipset speed, but at a much lower price). For you Intel fans, the CPU is running at a Intel equiv of 3.2GHz, even tho the chip is rated at 1.83 GHz (but running at 2.2GHz). Confused yet? There where some problems moving programs to the computer, some programs wouldn't work, but most worked fine. I just had to search for other programs to replace the ones that didn't want to work on Windows XP. We can finally transfer the videos from the video camera to the computer. I can burn DVD's, and CD's, but I have to learn how to do all the editing and burning so I can make copies for others. Feb. 25/04 I know I haven't been writing much! It's just been a busy time! John ended up developing pneumonia in addition to a stomach bug that daddy caught too. I'm just tired of feeling tired and looking after sick ppl! (Dad had to fend for himself) John is finally eating again after about 3 weeks of only pediasure and milk pretty much. He lost a little weight which he doesn't need to do. He seems to have a bit of an appetite again and is snacking a lot. We are slowly trying to do away with "bottie" and he's only having one before bed now pretty much and at night sometimes. He can say "car" now and is still learning letter names. His newest letter is "n". I honestly just wish this child would sleep through the night already! Having 17 months without sleep is really starting to get to me! From Dad: Another reason for not updating the diary is that our computer has become unstable, and we are waiting for our new one to be built - of which it should be done very soon. We didn't see the point in paying good money to replace out dated parts, so we opted to get a new system. We should have it soon, and then the fun begins - the transfering of all the programs I use, and all our info to the new system. I have lots of new photos of John to work on and post, but due to the computer probs, I haven't worked on any - and still have lots on the camera to transfer to the computer still. February 7, 2004 This one is for you Auntie Judy since you say I don't write much anymore in the diary. I must say that life is busy, busy, busy now that John's a walking, romping toddler. You literally can't let him out of your sight for one second before he has a remote control, has called China on the telephone, unrolled the toilet paper, pulled off mitts of fur from the cat, spilled your pop, dumped all of his toys out of the boxes etc. To boot, he's been cutting molars and developed an ear infection and a nasty stuffed nose and cough. I still say it's related to the molars, although all doctors will tell you not! I got about 13 hours of sleep in four nights (combined) and was very very grouchy this week. I had to take a couple of days off work because I just felt drained and sick myself. When I took John to the ER to see about his ears, he barfed all over reception! Nobody even thought to get me a towel at first...I had to ask for one. John still hates the hospital. I swear he remembers going there before his heart surgery and relates any medical stuff with the surgery. He's still not sleeping very well. I hope it gets better soon! John sure loves his letters. He knows "E", "D", "I", "O" and can say "K", "M" and "T". He says "bye" now too and we think he said "cheese" this week. He's not eating much this week due to his cold, but thank heavens he'll drink the pediasure now and again. He loves to play outside. He'll stay outside for hours I swear, except he gets cold. Of course, he heads straight for the road! Typical kid. I'd better get out my runners for the spring because of course the house is on a very busy corner. Gotta run and get some sleep myself! Jan. 22/04 It's soooo cold lately. Talk about cabin fever! The kids at school are driving me nutso! John's learning so much lately, it's unbelievable. He's obsessed with shapes (uh uh all the time...to tell him circle, square) and he can even find the letter "O" in his pooh blocks. When he says "O" he squishes up his face really funny. He's got a clogged nose again and has cut a molar on the bottom. I took him to busy little bodies last weekend and he loved putting the rubber chickens in the little basketball net. He definately liked it! Of course he has no concept of sharing toys and steals all the balls away from the other kids! He's growing like a weed. He's into 18 month size clothing now and I have to weed through his clothes again and take out what doesn't fit! He loves to play with his little farm and especially likes making the music play. I get tired of singing "Old MacDonald" and "The Farmer in the Dell". He's starting to play with his cars now and zooming them along the kitchen floor. I think he's making the car sounds too sometimes (from watching Dad play with the cars). He's definately turning into a little boy and not so much a baby now. It's hard to remember what he was like before this stage and it was such a short time ago! Sometimes when I cuddle him, I get very sentimental because I know that I won't be able to hold him like this much longer before he'll be a big boy and won't want his mommy to hold him anymore. Time goes so quickly. January 9/04 It's been back to work this week. I was sick on Tuesday (a 24 hour flu bug, that came fast and left fast). It's always nice to have your baby standing by the toilet while you're puking and pulling your hair! That was a new experience for me! It's been very cold so we haven't been getting out much. John can say "Brrrr", mostly because grandma always says "Brrrr it's cold!" The little guy hasn't wanted to take much of a nap for anyone this week. He's just so busy. He loves to play with balls...he spends time throwing them from one laundry basket to another laundry basket. We've tried a new series of baby movies "Brainy Baby" and he loves those! He really seems to like learning about shapes - very strange. He'll grunt "uh" and he wants you to say if it's a triangle, square, circle etc. He also seems to think there are kitties at Wal-Mart. He makes a smooching noise (the noise he makes to call the cat) up and down the aisles. © 2004 Derek Kennedy

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