Dispatches from a happy Hullian

We've been running around madly lately — two of my cousins have July weddings; we went up to the Kitchener-Waterloo area for one last week, and we'll be heading back to Montréal for another next weekend. Oscar is a hit with just about everyone; we met his slightly-older second cousin Owen up at the wedding. My dad observed that they're in very different places in terms of sharing: the world is still Oscar's oyster (and anything he can get his hands on is sort of his), but Owen is both working on sharing and developing a sense of justice. The clash of worldviews took some parental finesse here and there to restore good cheer and make sure everyone had something they liked to play with.

Here are a couple of photos:

Earlier in the month, we went up for a day and a night to dagibbs' family's cottage. Oscar liked running around the grounds, and he got to ride with commodorified on the paddle board and share a hammock with her (photo: fairestcat).

Back at home, we hired one of my friends from back in high school to install and wire up a bathroom fan and update our somewhat vintage outlets and switches. It's going to take a little while to get used to the fact that all the switches are right-side-up and take less effort to throw than before, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. He also moved the 220V outlet down a bit so that our stove isn't perched on bricks anymore. It's only been four years that we've been living with the quirks and bugs in this house; it feels good to get a bunch of them fixed. Next things on our house list: some scraping/patching/paint, a new electrical panel, and a fence upgrade. Not all of these things are likely to get done before #2 is born, but we might get a couple of them done!

Speaking of #2, next month is August! Due date! Crazy homebirth adventure (if all goes well and on time)! That went very fast.

So, I guess it's time to mention it in here — Oscar will probably have a sibling in late August sometime! A sibling was always in the plan, and we won't be too used to getting sleep with Oscar just coming up on two years old. We've got midwives lined up at the Maison de Naissance (the same birthing centre where Oscar was born).

Oscar is having a rough teething week, but he should be out of teeth soon: his canines are all quite poked through, and his molars seem to be on the way. In general we're getting him to bed earlier, so Elizabeth and I can have a bit of time to ourselves a bit more easily. I'm having more success putting him to sleep, too, which is nice when Elizabeth is teaching late into the evening.

My parents' friends and neighbours gave Oscar a glorious hooded sweater for Christmas, and he's a bit more grown into it now (with the sleeves rolled up). Here he is in it; what you can't see is a positively medieval long pointy hood in the back:

click on the picture for a bigger version