Didn’t do too bad today. Got the gifts wrapped, ruined some gingerbread cookies, made some snickerdoodles, cleaned a bit. All-in-all, the todo list shrunk a reasonable amount.

The sleigh ride through Stanley Park was ok. Different. It was arranged through the Church. So, we were a horse-drawn wagon full of people singing Christmas carols. That might have seemed only festive if it weren’t for the sign advertising the parish on the back. That made it feel a little bit like evangelizing.

At any rate, Aidan seemed to enjoy it. It was a little cold, but he was bundled up in his fleece-suit (it’s definitely not a snow suit) and seemed to be ok. He watched the lights, people, cars, trees, and everything as it drifted by while the wagon sung (and reasonably on key as well). He didn’t seem too excited, but also seemed to enjoy it. Afterwards we put him in the backpack and took him through the Christmas Lights display that the firefighters put up near the miniature train. He also seemed to be enjoying those lights, but it was getting harder to tell … he was obviously pretty tired.

And, oh, got the car seat into the truck. Man, that’s a big beast. Complicated too. I probably spent a half hour or more reading through the installation guide and trying to maneuver all the straps and clasps and everything to set it up for rear-facing mode.

It’s quite a bit bigger than the infant seat. That makes it impossible to see him now when you’re in the driver’s seat. Conversely, he can’t crane around to look at the driver either. Needless to say, this makes him unhappy. I’ll be happy when he crosses that magic 12 month threshold when we can change the car seat to be front-facing (it’s really designed to be front-facing much more than rear-facing).

What is it about suddenly being 12 months old that you can sit forward, eat chocolate, peanut butter, and engage in all kinds of risky behaviour? Why the restriction at 11 months, 30 days, but not at 12 months?

Lies, damned lies, and statistics I guess.

OK, I’m going to try this as a way to keep everyone up to date with how we’re doing out here on the Left Coast. I know it’s hard beind separated by 6000 km, but we’re trying to make it easier on everyone. As such, Gwen & I will try to post something here every day, just a little update as to what’s going on in our lives and Aidan’s as he teaches us how to be parents.

So, in that spirit, we went to another movie last night. Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Of course, the movie was at the drive-in — the only way we both get to see movies at the same time that aren’t playing on the TV. The drive-in’s some 50+ km outside of Vancouver, in Langley. Well, almost Abbotsford. Closer than the Coldbrook one (is that where it is?) just outside of New Glasgow where Gwen & I used to go when we lived in Halifax (that one was over 150 km).

Good thing we were planning on going there anyway, since it turns out that Tammy’s car’s brakes failed on Friday night (she’s OK, but I think the car’s getting the boot soon) and she wanted a ride from North Van to the clinic in … Langley. So, we were out in Langley a little earlier than expected, but that was ok.

In Langley, we went to the Sears in the Sea of Infinite Malls (really! no roads, just parking lots connected to one another. Many parking lots.) Car seats were on sale, and apparently The Boy weighed in at some 20 lbs, 14 oz on Thursday, bumping up against the upper limit for his infant seat. So, another $200 purchase in Baby Gear. Merry Christmas, kid.

Anyway, the movie was ok (very dark!). I haven’t taken the car seat out of the box yet, but that’s a project for later today. Along with Christmas cookies. And cleaning. And a horse-drawn carriage ride through Stanley Park. And wrapping Gwen’s stocking stuffers. Whew, busy day ahead, and it’s already half gone!

I guess I’d better get to it.

I’ll try to get Gwen to write in here too.

According to the various grandmother MSN names, it seems like 4 days until we’re back in NS.