A trip to The Big Smoke

I didn't mean to make anyone worry by not posting for a few days. We spent the weekend in Toronto visiting Aunty Steph and Uncle Mike. Friday was a busy day around the house, and we left home after giving Liam an early dinner and changing him into his PJs. He was out cold in the car in no time, and slept peacefully until we stopped at the Burlington Ikea around 8 p.m. to return the rug I no longer wanted and pick up the corner unit to convert our two loveseats into a sectional sofa after all. With all the noise and bright lights and things to look at, Liam had this look on his face the whole time we were there (over an hour, thanks to a very slow-moving stockroom) that was along the lines of so this is what you guys do after I go to bed?? We made it to Toronto in one piece and got Liam settled into bed before going to bed ourselves - Steph and Mike were out for the night so we didn't see them until the following morning. Liam was up bright & early as usual, so there was no rest for the wicked. Spent a relaxing day on Saturday puttering around the house and strolling around the neighbourhood. Unable to restrain herself, Steph, who spoils Liam rotten, broke out the Christmas presents early. Not only did Liam come home with a new pair of Robeez, he also got to play with a set of Stack'ems (or something like that) that were supposed to show up under the tree. Thankfully his memory is super, super short, and he will be giddy all over again when he gets them (a little slobbered on, but no worse for the wear) at Christmas. (I'm not trying to make you feel bad, Steph; I did, after all, buy Liam's Christmas presents with him in tow.)

Early in the afternoon, he developed a really intense red rash on his face. Not so much a rash, I suppose, as very flushed cheeks (see photo below). And, for the first time in months, he refused his afternoon nap. We were starting to wonder if he was getting sick. We left for home and he slept most of the way, but woke up about half an hour from home literally crying his eyes out, despite the fact that he was clean & dry & well fed, and even Chad sitting beside him trying to entertain him was not working. At that point we were convinced that *for real* this time, the teething fairy was visiting. But here we are two days later - still no pearly whites. The red cheeks resurfaced a little yesterday - it's so odd - he woke up normal-coloured, got a little red mid-afternoon, and was normal again by bedtime. Weird, weird, weird.


I'm loving the new little Robeez. As luck would have it, these are size 6-12 months, and the ones I bought him (being as cheap as I am) are size 12-18 months, serviceable but a little clown shoe-esque for the time being. Now that he has two pairs, he can wear the better fit for now, and grow into the others later. I felt like $30 is a lot to spend on a pair of baby shoes until we stopped in at a kiddie shoe store in Steph's neighbourhood on the weekend. We looked at a cute little pair of Ecco's for Liam, but left them behind when we found out they were $70. Good grief. The Robeez suddenly got a lot more reasonable.