Earth Hour

Power (MW) versus Time of Day (h)

Red is last Saturday's power consumption in Ontario. Green was yesterday's. I had to tweak in Paint to make the axes true.

I created this graph-like thing from data and images from the ieso. I was really surprised that I didn't see any comments on their front page about Earth hour. It must have made their scheduling nightmarish. How does one predict the effect of Earth hour?

I'm such a geek.

You know that you've been spending too much time surfing Wikipedia when you know that the every-day pronunciation of "writer" and "rider" are distinguished only by the consonants by British English speakers, distinguished only by the vowels by (many) Canadian English speakers, and not distinguished at all by most American English speakers. The writer/rider vowel distinction and house/houses vowel distinction in Canada are a result of "Canadian raising." This confirms my discovery during my 1999 travels that the distinctly Canadian pronunciation occurs when the following consonant is unvoiced.

The Diaper Chronicles meta blog entry

I followed a link from Strollerderby (ha ha, get it?), which is a group parenting blog at babble.com, to Kendra's blog entry about cloth diapering. Kendra and her husband admit that they are pretty hard core about it. They certainly are. And here was my reply. It's kinda rude, I don't know what possessed me. Sorry, Kendra.

That sounds like WAY too much work. I am more committed to disposables than ever. 17-20 per day. I don't know if you guys are martyrs or kamikazes. Good for you, though.

Kendra responds...

We're neither martyrs nor kamikazes (though we admit to being pretty hardcore) - and the number of diapers per day has diminished considerably. I did have to use an emergency paper one when we were out longer than expected two days ago, and couldn't even tell whether it was wet or not! Those are freaky.

I lightened up and responded...

Okay, okay. Lemme be a little more open-minded. Either my imagination is too vivid or I lack imagination entirely but I can't imagine the switch to cloth now that I'm a year into disposables. But we if we have more children and if cloth is really better, then it might be worth investing now. It's not just the folding and washing, the increased amount of changing and waking is also daunting. Or are these myths? I do know that I never used 17, let alone 20 disposables in one day. Disposables can be wet more than once (much more overnight) without bothering the baby. Some questions:

-Will an otherwise sleeping cloth-diapered infant wake up at night for diaper changings?
-How often does a cloth-diapered infant need to be changed during the day?
-during the night?

Kendra tracked me down here and gave me some helpful information...

Hi Karen - What a beautiful boy! Just wanted to respond to your comment on our blog. We cloth diaper for many other reasons - to save money, to save landfill waste, to avoid disposible diaper chemicals (some contain known neurotoxins!), and because we like the way it feels! We sleep with our son, so if I hear him poop in the middle of the night I change him. If he's just wet, and I am quick enough with feeding, he sleeps on. I haven't really been counting changes during the day, but yes, it's more than disposables. He feels it more when he is wet - and supposedly, this will help him not like being wet and potty train faster (may be a myth too!). In any case, we're pretty new at this, so we'll see how it goes. But I love being able to cloth diaper.

Kendra gives me more credit that I deserve. Of course, the question I meant to ask was, "Will an otherwise sleeping mother be awakened to change a wet diaper?" The baby feeling the wetness of a cloth diaper may help with potty training (less diapering later) but I'm guessing it means more diapering now.

I know that the new pocket styles make cloth diapering easier than ever and Dion and I are pretty, er, frugal, but ... I still don't think I'm game. Add that the jury is still out on the environmental considerations* and I'm sticking with the Seventh Generation disposables. Indeed Becky and I drove to Richmond Hill to get some on sale the other day. Of course, I bought many, many more than she (24 packs! versus her 4) because Becky has switched over to cloth. I saved 28% compared to my local health food store and Becky saved 39% compared to hers. I saved $124.

*A pretty major UK governmental study undertaken to justify a "real nappy campaign" proposal found that it was a tie. Hence, the campaign never happened. Advocates on both sides criticise the study's assumptions, which are pretty much worst case for both sides - cloth diaper service (transport, high temp/lots of detergent laundering) versus landfilling bleachy disposables. Many people home launder and disposables can go in Toronto's municipal compost.

overdue update - gross motor development

s I read on Baby Squared, hitting the walking milestone is not an overnight event. Adam was cruising at six months, standing at seven, taking a few baby steps at a time at eight months, and spent a month practicing walking at nine months. At ten months he was walking as much as crawling and now at eleven months, crawling is a thing of the past.

I remember reporting at his nine-month check up that he was taking 3 or 4 little steps at a time but it didn't really seem like that counted as walking. There are two times I might say marked the official start to walking. At almost exactly ten months, we went to Indigo where he'd take around 20 straight steps towards the Thomas train set table. If he got down to crawl, it'd be too high for him to see, so he was pretty motivated. Then at 10.5 months, the first day of our visit to Great Auntie Joan's, Adam decided he was done with crawling. I counted 98 steps one time.

My brother took some video with his cellphone while Adam still doing the zombie walk. Now he still holds up his left hand for balance as he toddles along. That leaves his right hand free for doing stuff. He's more and more clearly right-handed these days.

some recent photos

These are all from when Adam is 10 months old, except the first shot (almost 10 months old)

"See Adam, I know I wasn't in many of the pictures, but I was around while you were a baby."

pretty chill. And horizontal stripes do add ten pounds. :P

I like to call this piece "Over-exposed."

Not the best shot but it captures the delight from the piano.

A bit of a cleaner shot.

still chill

My cousin Bruce was in town on business one day and my Aunt Joan tagged along for the ride.

Things that make you go .... Hmmmm
Photo credit: Rebecca Ho

Pretty in Primary!
Guess Who.
Photo credit: Rebecca Ho

Eye Colour Ten Months Edition.
Click the photo to enlarge.

By the way, I tried the crop in on my own eye. Don't try it at home folks. It weren't pretty. I really didn't need to see the circles under my blood shot eyes, the crows feet, or every enlarged pore on my nose in such detail.

Adam's protovocabulary

Adam has been crying, "mum,mum,mum,mum" from his crib for months now. Certainly since well before New Year's Eve, when Steve Caranci gave us third-party verification.

Adam also performs the signs for "up," "yay," and "squeeze/squish." Squeeze is fun because it can make his rubber froggies "squirt" and his rubber giraffe "squeak." He's been waving for a while but is inconsistent in its application and often waves some 30-60 seconds after the triggering departure or arrival.

We think Adam might be saying "duck" to refer both to his rubber duckie and his rubber froggies. On Friday, Sai, Heather, and Kaitlin gave third-party verification to "banana." Banana is less frequently "banana" than it is "nana," "anana," "nanana," or even "banane."

Old Stuff Part III

These are all from when Adam was 7 months old.

still lookin' pretty babyish at the beginning of the eighth month
He gets much older looking pretty quickly.

in need of a haircut


Mom and Adam posing


Dad and Adam posing

Dad and Adam candid


"Yay! Guitar!"

"Whaddya mean I'm not supposed to be playing with the guitar?"


"But _Dad_ lets me!"


"not CDs either?"

We have since purchased a CD storage album. The discs haven't made it into the album yet, but they will soon. Soonish.

"The Diaper Genie, then. Surely! ... No?"

"I'll settle for the camera."

The following series is Adam's reaction to not being able to reach the camera. That - and - this was just around the day his first two teeth broke through.

"Please, can I have the camera?"

"Why can't I have the camera?"

"But... but... but... I want the camera. PLEASE!"

"It's not fair!"

"Now you're just making me mad. You know I can't climb on the bed to get it."

Adam only just learned how to climb onto our bed by himself at around 9 months (two or three weeks ago.)

"This is the worst day of my life."

"And this is the best."

"Mango. mmm. all gone."

apres coif

ready for the Toronto Northern Lights Christmas party

I can't remember why Adam and Dion went but I did not. curling?

Something's funny.

7 months's edition of the eye colour series

Other events that occurred while Adam was 7 months old:

- Marlies' game with two of Dion's WoW buddies. Adam drained 6 oz of milk in about two minutes right before the third period, which he slept through entirely. The other thing I remember in particular is that Sparty pulled out the classically funny, "I can see who wears the pants in the family" when he greeted us because Dion had Adam in the Snugli. I bit my tongue and let it slide without comment but I wanted to say, "Yeah, cuz I so obviously wear the pants. That, Cult Leader, er, Guild Leader, er, Sparty, is why Dion's still playing 30 hours of Wow every week - perhaps more. Ha ha ha. Joke's on me."

- Nathan Tsang's birthday party

- Nathan and Shana's open house (party), where I took quite a bit of ribbing because I was still dressing in Adam in sleepers day and night. I finally gave up on the sleepers a couple of weeks later because he'd worn through the feet of all his 12-month sleepers. They really aren't made for crawling.

- The snowsuit shopping saga. Actually this began while he was five months old and finished when he was getting close to eight months old.

- Smile and duck. Adam really started to show a definite preference for his mama while he was 7 months.

- Still not close to sleeping through the night. We were getting four straight hours out of him maybe twice a week. I posted this on the Tsang blog:

Back in October, Dion convinced me to try letting him cry. I was doing pretty well but at about the hour-and-a-half mark, the crying became pathetically sad. I collapsed into sobs myself. And then Dion betrayed me completely and took him out of the crib. He said that he can handle Adam's crying but not mine. I think Adam was still too young for it to work. For now, he's still getting up every few hours and I rationalise that it's a good thing because Christmas can't ruin his sleep. Although, I suppose he could unlearn day and night.

- We met Isabel Sophia Kwong.

- Most of Adam's babbling resembled Zulu more than English. Lots of clicks, clucks, and tsks.

- Adam developed a love for I Love You Through and Through. Its recitation still settles him nearly instantly. Dion and I particularly love "Youououououour MAAAAD side!" Adam's favourite page to look at these days is "Your happy side." It's not in the book, but we're using "Your LOUD side!" quite a bit these days.

- I don't remember if I mentioned his fake laughs and fake cries. Usually the fake cries turned into genuine laughs because he'd be peeking through squinting eyes and would catch my laughing at his fake crying. The fake, exaggerated smile was usually reserved for me. He still uses the fake laugh when he wants to be the centre of attention.

snow

I love snow. It was a beautiful walk into school this morning. So pretty and quiet. Adam and I played in the snow briefly in the afternoon. He wasn't as interested by it as I thought he'd be. Ah well. Good photo op anyway. Yes, that is a down-filled Roots snowsuit. I got it so late in the season that it was marked WAY down. I can't remember if I blogged the snowsuit shopping saga. 'nuff said.

just chillin'

Adam and Dion played before bed, too.

9-month check up

Another clean bill of health and growth on Friday.

age	WEIGHT			HEIGHT
mos	lb,oz	%ile		in	%ile
0	7,1	25		20.5	75
1	9,11	50
2	13,4	84		24	85
3
4	17,12	93		27	95+
5
6	20,4	90		28.7	95+*
7
8
9	22,12	82		30	94

Percentiles from http://www.mybirthcare.com/favorites/babygrowthchart.asp. Although our paed has never been more specific than "Adam remains taller and heavier than 90 percent of his peers" - even for his most recent weight. And I'm sooo happy with our paediatrician, Dr. Aaron Lindzon. That man runs a tight ship. I am almost always on my way out of his office as I am scheduled to enter it. But I never feel rushed and get all of my questions answered.

The only bad news at the appointment is that Adam has excema. I had it when I was a young child, until about grade one or two. Hopefully he'll outgrow it, too. We've switched back to baby detergent for his things. He also has a fragrance-free body wash and moisturiser, which we're supposed to use after every bath, which he is supposed to have EVERY DAY. I was quite surprised at this advice and disappointed with the increase in bedtime production. I've also bought a pack of 7th Generation diapers because they are chlorine and fragrance free. I really ought to have been buying them all along out of environmental conscientiousness but I've been too cheap (Pampers BabyDry approx 26 cents each at Shoppers, 7th Gen approx 54 cents each. ouch but still not going cloth. fuggetaboutit.) Hopefully all these steps will clear up the excema and we won't need to apply hydrocortisone cream often, if ever.

Some recent photos of Adam

I think I'll call this series Camera Shy. They're rare shots because Adam loves, loves, loves the camera.

Sweet and innocent, eh? No, no. Serious carnivor:


Just kidding. Beets:



Beets. Only on bath night. Diaper only. Seriously.


And the most recent in the Eye Colour series. Click the photo to enlarge it: