Happy Father's Day Cal!

Today is Father's Day and we'd like to wish all the wonderful Dad's out there a very happy day :) I always knew Cal would be a great Dad, but man is he ever GREAT!!! Actually that doesn't even describe it, but you know what I mean! He rocks!! We are very blessed indeed :) We enjoyed a nice dinner out with Cal this evening. There was a 1/2 hour wait at the restaurant, which didn't fit in with my feeding plans for Emerson, so we were expecting an unhappy baby during our meal! Thankfully she stayed asleep!! Blake told Cal repeatedly through out the day, "Happy Father's Day Dad!" I'm sure that in itself made Cal's day :) Blake's also started saying, "I love you Dad" and "I love you Mom," which is the best gift any parent could ever ask for!! He used to say it when prompted, but now it actually feels like it's coming from the heart! Couldn't ask for anything more sweet!!

Saturday was the first official day of summer :) On Friday we headed to Cross Lake Provincial Park. Cal came home early from work and we were set up in our campsite by 4 pm! The weather was gorgeous, but Blake was impatiently waiting for "the boys" and Brad and Julie to arrive! They got held up at home so were late arriving. We took turns taking Blake for walks and wagon rides to distract him. I think he thought we were lying to him - that they actually weren't coming!! LOL! He was SO excited for camping. I told him on Friday morning that we were going camping and that was his whole focus ALL day. I would say, "Blake it's time for lunch." And he'd say, "NO! I go camping!" And I'd say, "Yes Blake, we are going camping after we eat lunch, have a nap and Dad is home from work." And on and on we went!! "NO! I go camping!!" We definitely have a lil camper on our hands! He had an absolute blast this weekend. Just go, go, go, go, go! We spent some time on the beach, in the water, going for walks, going for bike rides, and playing in what Blake called the sand box at our campsites. We camped at this campground last May long weekend and really, really like it. The water is quite clear and the campsites are really nice. Both kids slept really, really well. Which is a huge relief for us! We tend to be sleep Natzi's (hate using that word, but not sure how else to describe it?!) and get stressed out when the kids don't have their regular naps, etc. Kinda anal I guess, but we've found that a well rested child means a happy child, a well rested family and a happy family!! Not sure I can say Em loves camping yet, as she pretty much behaves the same way she does at home, but I suppose that says she doesn't dislike it?! We are looking forward to our next trip, which is to Saskatchewan in the middle of July for our Smith family reunion. Should be a great time with all my cousins and their kids together! Blake will have a blast running around with all his little cousins!!

Blake had his last "My First Preschool" class on Wednesday for the Spring II semester. He's really gotten into it the past few weeks. He's now a "veteran" instead of a "rookie!" LOL! He really enjoys the crafts and the songs. We catch him singing some of the songs at home every now and then. Although we've learned not to mention it to him, because he gets shy and mad!! He wants to sing to himself I guess! It is SO adorable!! Today he was singing "Bringing Home My Baby Bumblebee!" And he was even doing the actions. I love it!!! His preschool teacher gave all the kids a certificate and a CD with their preschool songs on it as a gift. We'll be playing that every day I'm sure! We will enroll him in the fall semester when registration opens in August. My First Preschool is for ages 2-3 and then they move onto Fun Factory which is for ages 3-5. They have to be potty trained for Fun Factory and parents don't attend. And it's a 2 hour class. So hopefully we'll be able to move onto that class when he's 3! I'm pretty sure he'll be potty trained by then. We kind of think he may be able to be potty trained now if we had the time to devote to it. It works really well on Cal's days off, but when I'm alone with Blake and Em it's very hard to be with him in the bathroom, when Emerson needs feeding, changing, etc, etc. It would be fine if he just went and got up and that was it, but each visit to the potty is at least 20 minutes, if not more! One day he was on the potty for 1 hour! He loves seeing the final product in the pot, so dribbles a little and hops up and gets excited, gets hugs and high fives and flushes it down the toilet and uses his special soap to wash his hands and then we think he's done and nope ... sit back down and repeat the process!! We're glad he likes it though and for the time being we'll continue with the random visits and hopefully this fall we'll take a week or so to devote to a "potty training boot camp!!"

Emerson has her 4 month immunizations on Tuesday. Of course, I am not looking forward to that appointment, but on the other hand I know it's so much easier to have done when they're this little! I think she has grown a lot in the past couple of weeks, so it will be interesting to see what the scale says. Something she's started doing the past couple of weeks, is trying to sit up in her bouncy chair and in her car seat. It almost looks like she's doing a little sit-up!! LOL!

We are anxiously awaiting my parents arrival home next weekend! Blake is constantly asking to go to Bamma and Bampa's house. Seriously ... CONSTANTLY!!! And this weekend when he found out we were going camping, he thought we would see them there. Poor guy! But I think he does understand that they are on holidays and we will see them soon. He just has to check every day if this is the day! And he sees Bampa's truck everywhere! We'll see a white truck and he thinks it's Grandpa's! We told him that they visited the North Pole where Santa Claus lives and the look on his face was hilarious! He looked a bit confused and surprised all at the same time!! He will be very excited to see them after their 3 week holiday.

Have a great week everyone!

Tracy ;)