Well you know my name is Simon

We’re back after a very relaxing week at the cottage. I got to sleep in many times thanks to my wonderful husband and my fantastic mom. Simon normally has me up at 6:00, so it’s a huge luxury to sleep in until 8:30. Nana fed Simon breakfast almost every day, and they also spent the early morning playing with toys and dancing to Tom Petty. We had a great time and can’t wait to return next year. Christopher and I agree that it would be easy to get used to living the cottage life.

Unfortunately we were terrible about remembering to take pictures, so I don’t have any with Simon and the grandparents. Most of the following photos are courtesy of Laura and Cameron (thanks guys!) I promise we’ll be more diligent in the future about getting pictures of Simon with his family.

Simon had many firsts at the cottage, including his first ride on Gramma and Grandpa’s boat and his first dip in a lake. He really enjoyed the lake but was a little uncertain about the boat. Watching the water was fun, but he wasn’t a fan of the wind and he definitely did not enjoy wearing his life jacket.

After at least two months of trying to get Simon to wave bye-bye, he started doing it spontaneously at the cottage. It’s so amazing to see him learn. He was also cutting four (yes, four) top teeth, and the sensation was making him lick his top lip back and forth. My dad told him that that move would make him popular with the ladies.

It seems like after Simon learned to wave bye-bye he opened the floodgates and a bunch of new skills emerged. He now claps his hands and he plays peekaboo with us by pulling his bib over his face and then pulling it down with a big smile on his face. He also searches for a toy if we cover it up with a blanket. Most thrilling is that he is standing for a few seconds unassisted before sitting down. It doesn’t look like much, but that’s always how it starts. Small steps lead to big leaps. I’m having visions of Simon toddling around the house while I chase after him.

Christopher and I have also learned that Simon now recognizes his favourite foods. He loves berries and baby mum mums (a biscuit for babies), but his favourite is the fruit smoothies Christopher makes for breakfast. Topher always pours them into our set of blue mugs, so when Simon sees Topher holding a blue mug he makes a beeline for it. We’ve tried distracting him but he has a one track mind when it comes to fruit smoothies. He asks nicely at first (uh uh!) but if he doesn’t get it fast enough he becomes more insistent (UNGHHHHH!) If Simon considers fruit a treat I guess we can’t complain.

-Leila