He Ain't Heavy?

With the 1-year mark behind us, it is time to update the growth charts to see whether Scott is taking after mom (R) or dad (me). Apparently, mom barely registered on the growth charts for the first few years, always scoring in the lower percentiles. Conversely, I was born later and much larger than average.

According to the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey cited on Wikpedia, R is actually 0.6 inches (1%) taller than the adult female average. I am 6.5 inches (9.5%) taller than the adult male average. Based on some crude math, we would expect Scott to be about 5.2% taller than average -- if he landed exactly between us. That means that he should be 30.25 inches long at one year and 6.01 feet tall when he's an adult.

(Of course, this methodology is pretty flawed, since it does not explain my own height, or the height of any of my siblings.)



According to the charts, the predicted value underestimated Scott's height. At the 1-year mark, Scott was 31 inches tall, or 7.8% more than average. We will now assume that he will be nearly 6'2" when he is an adult, since these calculations were calculated on the back of a napkin in less than 4 minutes.



We have run out of time and napkins to run similar calculations for his weight, but we know from the chart that Scott's weight seems disproportionately low compared to his height. This seems strange, because we hardly consider him a featherweight. In fact, several people have commented that he is heavier than they expect. With his thick legs and prominent tummy, we assume he should be heavy for his height. Perhaps the following statement from the baby chart website explains the low weight:

Very busy, active children tend to be thinner from using up more calories than those who are content to sit and play quietly. Along with activity is the nutrition of the child. If your infant always carries a bottle or cup of juice with them they may weigh more than the average child from the constant ingestion of sugar in the juice.

If you have ever seen him "walking" around on his knees or his super-sonic crawl, you will understand why he might burn a lot of calories. On the other hand, if you've seen him scarfing down bananas, you would wonder how it is possible to burn through ALL of those calories.

Despite the mysteries, we can safely say that Scott is growing steadily, getting some height from dad and some cuteness from mom.

First Birthday

One Day Old:

One Year Old:

We celebrated Scott's first birthday over the course of about a week. On April 21 he got an early present from his grandparents because they were going to be out of town. Then we had a swimming party at Cardel Place with his Calgary cousins on his actual birthday, and a follow-up family party on the 27th with cake, presents and more cousins.

Here is the courageous Captain Nemo with his dear mother at the pool. Unfortunately, the Captain came down with some sort of stomach flu the week of his birthday and he wasn't feeling top-notch. He spent most of the time at the pool clinging to our arms and grimacing. He looked pretty cute in his surfing gear, though. His cousins had a fine time, but we decided to send them home instead of eating cake because Scott was still getting over his illness.


We had a quiet evening opening presents together with his Aunt K, the high school drama queen (literally). One of his presents was this sweet dump truck. His dad was probably more excited than him.

On Sunday (the 27th) the cousins came back and stayed for cake and presents. They didn't even wear surgical masks or anything. Here's a shot of cousin A taking Scott on a test drive through the book that he received from her and her brother H.

Since Scott really hasn't ever tasted sugar, we tried to find a cake that was only 90% glucose / fructose / sucrose. We ended up getting a carrot cake, because it trades fatty cream cheese for some of the sugar and fits in nicely with Scott's great fascination with rabbits.

He likes to point out the window at the neighbourhood bunnies that bounce past. He also likes to point at carrot cakes.

And he likes to eat carrot cakes. Actually, he likes to eat pretty much everything -- except some meats. We have to conceal his cooked chicken among his rice and other foods to fool him into eating it. Otherwise, he just dumps it on the floor with anything else that he's not interested in. Despite some exceptions, he's quite a ravenous eater and probably loves nothing in this world more than a good banana.


I had to throw this picture in even though it's kind of a sad thing to remember about your birthday. Scott's cousin H is 6 months older and much quicker and more coordinated than Scott. As a result, Scott usually comes up short in the competition to lay hold on the best toys. In this instance H had just received these two tractors as party gifts for coming to celebrate Scott's birthday. Scott had tried to muscle in on H's territory, but he quickly scooted away with the tractors.

Well, it's Scott's party and he'll cry if he wants to...

The First Year

Scott,
Last night we put you to sleep as our baby and this morning you woke up as our little toddler. So much has happened in just 365 days and you've grown so much. With each day you learn a little bit more, grow a little bigger and get even cuter. We think you are the greatest thing on earth.

In the middle of the night one year ago, we raced off to the hospital, having just sold our family's first house in Ottawa. We were planning big changes for that year, but nothing could compare to the excitement of having you join our family. Until that point, we had only seen blurry ultrasound images of you moving around in your mom's tummy. As the sun rose above the horizon on April 25th, it filled the long windows of delivery room at the Ottawa Civic Hospital with rich, bright light. Minutes later, at 7:34am, you were born.

It had been a tough journey for you, and your head had been squeezed into a leaning cone shape. Squinting against the unfamiliar sensation of sunlight, you waited quietly while the nurse wrapped you in a tight bundle and let me hold you for the first time. For the next hour I held you in one arm and your mom's hand in the other while the doctor took care of her. Finally, after 9 months of living together, you got to meet your mom. You two have hardly been apart since then.

... but your head isn't cone-shaped anymore.

When you were first born, you really didn't do much but sleep, eat and lift your head. We were very proud that you could lift your head so well. With time, you became much more aware of the world around you, and you decided you preferred to look at things from a standing position. You have strong little legs and you have always been happiest when you could hold onto us for balance and jump, jump, jump.

And you laugh, laugh, laugh.

Not only are you a cute little boy, you are also a happy little boy. Everyone we meet loves your big blue eyes and your wide, toothless grin. They also comment that you are exceptionally well-behaved. Although you love to romp around and play at home, in public you go mute. When faced with strangers, you prefer to carefully observe before venturing forward. That hesitation fades fairly quickly and you are very open to strangers, willing to climb into anyone's arms after a brief period of acclimatization.

At home you are hilarious. You crawl circles around the house and you hoot at everything. Point and Hoot. When you see something interesting, you point a chubby finger at it and say "Oooh, Ooooh!" in a surprisingly husky voice. What a change from the first few months, when your uncle thought you sounded much like a squeaky toy. Your range is impressive.

So far, your favourite toys are the remote control, the phone, car keys, the computer mouse, the piano, and anything else that is electronic with buttons. Some other favourites are your white monkey and the ceiling fan. I used to always lift you up to let you pull the cord for the fan -- which you loved. I would point at it and say, "fan". You would even make an attempt at it, saying "Rah". We were sure that your first word was going to be fan, but now it will probably be something else, like rabbit. [Point and Hoot]

There is so much more to say about your first year -- more than I can say here -- luckily, we have a blog and more than a thousand photographs to help us tell the story.

Happy Birthday Scotty.

From Mom and Dad.

Camera: Found!

I got a call this week from a guy I know from church. He was at the building Tuesday night and found my camera tucked in my hat in some back corner of the stage (even though I left it down in the audience seating). I had posted some notes up so he knew it was probably mine. I'm so relieved, but I little disappointed that I don't get to upgrade to a newer camera. I'll wait until I have some cash and then I'll strategically "misplace" it.

Missing: One Camera Full of Cute

It was bound to happen. I take that camera all over the place. I've taken it on trips to England and Quebec, on camping trips in Alberta and Ontario, and down hills on iceblocks and snowboards.

Now it's gone.

We took it with us to a church event on Saturday night where I was dressed like a rapper and R had Scotty wrapped up in a maman kangourou baby sling. We were on stage near the beginning and changed seats twice. In all the fuss of moving around and changing outfits, I managed to leave the camera under my chair, sitting inside a baseball cap that I bought in San Diego in 2000. It is sad to lose the hat and the camera, but it's the pictures inside that are the real loss.

We had a few weeks worth of photos (and we take a lot of photos in a week) of Scott, including a few videos. We were trying to capture some of the really cute things that he's started doing lately, as he's getting more mobile and more vocal. In case the camera is never recovered, I am going to describe these cute habits here:

1. Head shaking: Since he was born, we have given Scotty "Eskimo kisses" by rubbing noses with him. I think he has equated the related head-shaking motion with contentment, because he often does it when he's playing or when he's happy. With his limited motor skills, the motion comes out pretty wobbly and very cute. It can be confusing when shake our heads and tell him not to play with power cord for the piano, because he just smiles back at us and shakes his head too.

2. Monkey: R's mom gave us white toy gorilla during R's baby shower last spring, and it sat on the sewing table in Scott's room since we moved here in August. A few weeks ago, R took it down and let Scott play with it. The pair of them have been best friends ever since. We say, "Where's you monkey?" and he points to the gorilla and says "ooh-ugh-ooh" through his trademark puckered lips.

3. Rabbits and Cars: Scott loves to point and hoot at other things too -- mainly rabbits and cars. He loves to stand on the couch and look out the window as the cars go by. He frequently points at the cars (and sometimes the trees) and chants "Doo, doo, doh" with husky voice and a very solid "d" sound. You can see his little body bracing for each syllable and I can't help but chuckle.

4. Dishwasher & Fridge: If you open the dishwasher, you had better work quickly, because you've got between 6 and 10 seconds to get it finished before the self-appointed dishwasher king arrives on the scene. He's learned to climb up on the door, which puts nearly any dish within his pudgy grasp. The fridge is not much different -- just harder to climb on.

5. Keys: When R locks the house or opens the car, she is careful to shield her keys from Scott's view. Otherwise, he demands that the keys be handed over to him for safekeeping. We've given him his own ring of keys which satisfies him some of the time.

6. Tooth #1: Scott broke his first tooth a few days ago (about 10 days shy of his 1st birthday) and we've noticed that he sticks his tongue out a lot more -- possibly because he is getting used to the feeling of having this new fixture in his mouth. Add the increased tongue activity to his hooting and pointing and you have quite an assortment of facial expressions coming out of this little guy.

It's hard to believe that just a few months ago he would just lie on his back and stare at the world...

Credit Card Protests at U of C

This morning I was studying in the MBA lounge here at the University of Calgary and suddenly I heard a loud rumbling. As it turns out, right next door to us there is a meeting of the University Board of Governors this morning to review a decision to discontinue the use of credit cards as a method for tuition payment, and a group of students decided to rally a protest. Campus security is standing by, but it is certainly distracting to have such a ruckus going on just down the hall.


There's a guy on a bullhorn leading the chant and a lot of people are banging garbage cans, but I'm still waiting for them to break into "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from Les Miserables.

You on the barricades listen to this...

iPod Baby

I finally brought my cord to download all the pictures from my phone. Here are some good ones from the last few weeks:

It was so warm earlier in March that we were out on the playground down the street almost every day before dinner. Scott really likes the swing.

I was trigger-happy with the phone at a family dinner one Sunday.

Here are Grandma M and our little niece A with some nice sunlight effects.

Back on the swing, but still wearing a jacket. Look at how his little legs dangle!

No snow, but plenty of brown grass.

Here's another one from the MBA lounge at the University. Scott's new buddy AV let him borrow his iPod (don't worry, the volume was turned down low). Scott loves to dance so much, he will start bobbing and swaying to the sound of a power drill (which is a sound devoid of rythmn), so he was quick to respond to actual music.

This shot was taken at 10:30 this morning. When I arrived at school at 7:15 there was no snow on the ground. I know the quantities don't compare to Ottawa, but it's interesting how much variability there is in the weather. I expect this will all melt within 24 hours.

Babies, MBAs and Excel Lovers

Some Mondays, R drops off baby Scott at the University so that I can watch him for a few hours during the afternoon while she does performances with her singing group. Scott puts on a little performance of his own, distracting a large number of MBA students who don't need much of an excuse to drop their accounting homework. Here he is sitting with Toronto native and former investment banking analyst AV. I am certain that AV is teaching him Excel shortcuts to help improve his productivity. Right now, Scott mostly tries to tear the keys off of the computer, so any tips would be helpful.


Speaking of Excel lovers, yesterday morning we had a hilarious incident during our decision modeling class (basically an Excel course). Our class meets in a lab with windows running down each side that look out across a narrow hallway to a row of glass-walled study rooms and another computer lab. The whole class became uncomfortably distracted when two students started making out in one of the study rooms right across from us. Finally, our instructor decided to bang on our windows and wave her arms to get their attention, effectively throwing a bucket of cold water on their intimate little moment.

When they realized what was going on, the girl turned beet red and dropped back to her books and the guy grabbed his backpack and bolted without looking up once. I took a picture after everything was over, but you can see the study room through the windows on the left.

Oh, it still makes me laugh to think about it.

Haskayne MBA Lounge

Since the MBA lounge at the University of Calgary is the place where I spend the majority of my time, I thought I should take a few pictures. Walk with me on a tour of the facilities...


This is Scurfield Hall, the home of the Haskayne School of Business at the Unversity of Calgary. The building is conveniently located near a light rail (C-Train) station and an LDS chapel. I have received parking tickets at both locations.


Here is the interior of Scurfield Hall, as viewed from the 4th floor, which is where the MBA lounge is located.


MBA students have access to a lounge with 7 "breakout" rooms, a lunchroom, a computer lab and a common area. The lounge is in constant use from about 7am to midnight (you can stay late if you want, but the doors to Scurfield Hall lock at about 11pm).

Some MBA students hard at work.

We have lockers in the basement of Scurfield Hall, which is not that convenient, given that we do all of our studying on the 4th floor. Our classroom is on the 2nd floor, but I didn't take any pictures of that. Just try to imagine a room with wood panelling and stadium seating for 50.

Cracker Poses With Rice Rusks

Scott is 11 months old and he still doesn't have any teeth. He's all gums, and he's not ashamed in the least. In fact, his lack of teeth doesn't really stop him from eating his favourite foods. He just relies on us to cut his food into small pieces -- everything but his rice rusks:


There's a company called Hot Kid that makes their own brand of this cracker-like treat which they call "Baby Mum Mum". It's kind of like an oversized rice crispy and it just melts in your mouth -- so you don't really need teeth. I came down the hall the other day and saw Scott sitting on the ground with a whole risk rusk sticking out of the side of his mouth. It was so cute that I had to run grab the camera.


By the time I got back he'd already gummed most of it to pieces, but he still looked plenty cute.


And when he'd had enough of the photoshoot, he took off in search of other mum mums.

Spring & Winter In The Foothills

I went camping with the boy scouts this weekend in the foothills near Calgary, in a spot called Waiparous. It was a great spot and the weather forecast called for less than 1 cm of snow overnight.


I think we had a little more than 1 cm by morning:


We had twice as much snow by the time we rolled out of there in the afternoon.

Helping With The Dishes

Scott isn't quite walking yet, but learning to pull himself up on the furniture has certainly increased his reach. He knows how to open the closets and how to pull out the drawers, so we've had to lock things down a little more. For example, I had to screw the furnace vents to the kitchen floor because he kept pulling them out all the time. His new abilities come at a price: several times a day he pulls himself up on a table leg or a doorframe and loses his balance, crashing headlong into said table leg or doorframe. This week he's had matching bruises on either cheek from such encounters.

I'm pretty sure he believes that the dishwasher belongs to him, because it is down at his level. Whenever we open the door, he scoots over there as fast as he can.
He is very enthusiastic about the dishwasher and hates it when we pull him away from the utensil tray and the sharp knives. We don't mind it when he helps to unload the clean dishes, but we'd prefer that he keep his hands off any of the dirty ones.

Of course, we'd also like him to steer clear of the toilet completely, but we don't always remember to keep the door closed or the lid all the way down.

Rocking The Widow's Peak

One of the first things you would probably notice about Scott is his hairline. As one of our friends commented on this blog, "He's really rocking the widow's peak." He was born with a good head of hair, but the front part fell out and then grew back in twice as thick.

...and twice as pointy.

The other day he woke up from a nap with a total rat's nest in his hair, so I decided to spike the rest of it up with some gel. Now he's really rocking the widow's peak.

Welcome Home, Dad!

Here's what greeted me when I came home yesterday afternoon. He is kind of hesitant to crawl across the threshold because he had a bit of wipeout the other time he tried it. Instead, he just stopped there and beamed at me.

Captain Nemo

In my opinion, the best swimming pool in NW Calgary for little children is Cardel Place, in Panorama Hills. We took the Captain to the pool to put his swimming togs to the test. He's been swimming twice before, but the sheer size and din of the place seemed to put him off a bit. You can see the look of concern on his face.

He eventually warmed up and started playing with the boats.

Lullaby

Here's a cute shot of Scotty sleeping in his crib from two weeks ago. There's something enchanting about a sleeping baby.

Won't You Be My Neighbour?

The house next door just went up for sale yesterday. This is the opportunity you have been waiting for.

Blue-Eyed Boy

I never seem to get around to writing a real post lately, but I've still been taking quite a few pictures. Here's a cute one from about a week ago of Scott and his mom. Look at how big he is getting!

The Graveside Service

I had the honour of being a pallbearer and saying the prayer to dedicate my Grandpa's grave. It was an experience I'll never forget, so I'm glad that somebody managed to take some decent pictures of the occasion, like this photo from my cousin's blog.

Byron J Anderson 1921 ~ 2008 Byron J Anderson, age 87, beloved husband of the late Shirley Taylor Anderson, passed away peacefully at home early Sunday morning, Feb. 3, 2008.He is survived by his sister Moselle Baker of Raymond, Alberta; and his brother Gordon Anderson of Lethbridge, Alberta; his three children and their spouses: Lynne Wride (Marc) of Murray, UT; Dr. Douglas Anderson (Lisa) of Naperville, Illinois; and Margo Denning (Robert) of McCall, Idaho; his 13 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. Byron was born Jan. 12, 1921 in Taber, Alberta Canada, the oldest son of Joseph LeRoy Anderson and Annie LaVern Fairbanks. He moved with his family to Raymond Alberta Canada when he was 12 years old, completed high school in Raymond, then attended University of Alberta and graduated with a bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering. On Dec. 28th, 1945 he married Shirley, whom he had known since he was 12, in the Cardston Alberta L.D.S. Temple. After living in Calgary, and Montreal they moved to Tuscola, IL where he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. They retired to Salt Lake City in 1984 to be closer to family. He truly felt a responsibility to leave the world a better place and thus his favorite phrase was "the world is run by those who show up". Because of that, no matter where he lived he was always very active in his church, community, and politics. But above all he knew that he was a child of God and treated others as such. His passions were family, music, Scouting, sailing, amateur radio, gardening, and beekeeping. He was much loved and will be greatly missed. Funeral services will be held Sat. February 9, 2008, 11 a.m. at the Murray Little Cottonwood 6th Ward Chapel, 6410 S. 725 E. Friends may call Friday, Feb. 8th from 7-9 p.m. at the Holladay-Cottonwood Mortuary, 4670 S. Highland Dr., and Sat. at the ward from 9:30-10:30 a.m. prior to services. Interment, Holladay Cemetery, 4900 S. Memory Ln. (1990 E.)

Goodbye Grandpa A

I am flying from Calgary to Salt Lake today for my Grandpa's funeral. He passed away in his sleep between Saturday night and Sunday morning, four years after my Grandma left us. Grandpa spent at least one full year on oxygen because of a degenerative pulmonary condition. He could feel the clock ticking, but it didn't bother him much. He described himself as "playing out the endgame of his life" -- as if it was all one big game of chess. I like his comparison because it implies two things: 1) that he was winning the game; and 2) that he still had moves to make. I don't know if that's quite what he meant, but that's how I like to think of it.

For the last 7 years since we got married we have alternated between our respective families for Christmas vacation. This is mainly because we only had the time and money to visit one during the break. Now that we are back in Calgary, it was possible to spend Christmas with R's family and New Year's down in Salt Lake City with my family. This was a particularly good thing because it was the only opportunity little Scotty ever had to meet his Great Grandpa A. I think they both appreciated the opportunity:


We will miss Grandpa. He was a remarkable man. There was no end to the man's gusto, and I don't think I've ever met his equal. It is sad to think that we'll not seem him again, but that feeling is partially offset by the thought of him being together again with Grandma.