November

We had some extremely warm days to start the month. The week before Remembrance day highs of 16 - 18. This was great for being outside, but not so great for our rink. November 17 Hugh decided enough was enough and he got the rink going. Here it is November 20th:

Unfortunately, two days later the weather got warm again and it even rained. What work Hugh was able to do was melted away. You an see Hugh working on the lights here. The electrician came this week and got them hooked up to the breaker box. Hugh is more than a little excited.

There is a website called hockeyshare.com and Calder's hockey team set up an account to keep track of the player's shots. The first day Calder went out and shot we logged on and added his 200 shots. We also looked at the rest of his teams shots there were a couple of kids with over 1000 shots already. Calder immediately put his gloves back on and went back out to shoot. Can you say competitive? Since then Calder has literally shot until he got blisters (about 700 in one day). We have gotten good at knowing approximately how many shots he can take by himself in 10 minutes (about 100), so we know he's not cheating. He actually never has cheated (that we are aware). He was just taking so many shots that we actually counted along side him a few times to see! Sometimes Hugh or I pass the puck to him. It only takes about 6 minutes to do 100 this way. Calder doesn't have the best shot on his team, but man is it improving! Calder currently has 5,758 shots. Wait until that rink gets going!

Boone is starting to have quite a vocabulary. He says things like, "This soup is delicious" and "Calder's not being a bucket filler" He also says "her" instead of "she". For example, "Her want to watch Paw Patrol". "Her isn't listening to me". Hilarious! Boone is also at the stage where his first reaction to anything is to whine or cry or scream or just throw himself on the floor. Sometimes he is just asking for something as simple as a drink and will start crying. Sigh. This has been more than a little exhausting, but a time-out will usually cure any fit with him on the first try. Sometimes Calder would have a string of 4 or 5 time outs before he figured things out! So, we are reminding ourselves it could be worse with Boone!

The last week of November, Lawson starting consistently telling us when she has to go to the bathroom. When we started this whole potty training business she couldn't even say, "Pee". (Thus, we had an accident at the table when we thought she was saying "McQueen", but after she peed in her seat we realized otherwise). Her new found word has meant way more accident free days. In fact, as of December 1 she has been accident free for 7 days. Yippee!

Our Christmas shopping is done. Pretty much. Hugh and I booked in a date night December 1st to get a few small stocking items, and I'm sure the odd thing will come up, but for the most part I am saying we are done. I kept a spreadsheet this year to track the gifts I bought and the cost. I'm not sure why I've never done this before. I can't keep track of all the little items, but now that we have the list, I am way less stressed about ensuring I've got it all. Now, I just wish our Christmas cards were done.

For my niece, Maddy's, birthday we got her a night out at Wet Paint Pottery. You pick the item of your choice and can paint it. A week later it is ready for pick up. Calder made a breakfast plate and Maddy made a breakfast bowl. Calder LOVED it. In fact, I think that will be part of his birthday gift this year.

We had a great month and are hoping for some snow for Christmas and some colder weather for our rink in December!