Nailbiter!

Vancouver Winter Olympics. Gold medal hockey game. Canada vs. USA.

The neighbours drop by Emmett's house to watch one of the most exciting match-ups ever. The game is exciting beyond belief. Team USA ties the game with seconds left in the third period.

Emmett's mom chews her nails down to the nub.

Emmett is completely riveted.

Then, Sidney Crosby scores the winning goal in overtime, Canada wins gold, and Canadians from coast to coast to coast go completely crazy.

All of Canada, that is, except for Emmett.

If Chucking was a full medal sport...

...Emmett would own the podium.

While lunching on the patio at the Laughing Bean, Emmett partners with his dad to score high marks for artistic impression and even higher marks for technical merit. Here's how the action played out, in reverse order:

Stargazing in Vancouver

Celebrity sightings are a regular occurrence at the Olympics.

Exhibit A: Mike Reno and Loverboy, in concert at one of the victory ceremonies at BC Place (inset: Emmett's mom givin 'er at said concert)

Exhibit B: John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee. Given that Mr. Furlong's stress level was expected to continue red-lining for at least another week, Emmett's dad opted to not ask to have his photo taken with him.

Exhibit C: Emmett, strolling down Robson Street wearing his flashy yellow shades. Almost as if he won a medal in snowboard halfpipe, complete strangers asked if they could take his photo. Here he is with one of his groupies.

Introverts vs. Extroverts

The Chinese women's hockey team locked up 7th place (out of 8 teams) with a 1-4-0 record in the Olympic hockey tournament yesterday. Seeing them in action on Saturday, Kate's dad and Emmett's dad pretty much decided that winning might be more likely if they make like the Swiss and focus on their opponents rather than on themselves.

Emmett, of course, couldn't care less about the Chinese hockey team. He tends to cheer for one team and one team only.

Olympic curling rocks the casbah

Emmett's mom and Kate's dad trundled off to the Vancouver Olympic Centre yesterday to check out the curling preliminaries...

while Emmett and his dad successfully executed a hackweight takeout in the kitchen sink.

Inspired by the Olympics

With the TV on constantly during the Winter Olympics, Emmett has been forced to watch all kinds of winter sports. After observing the spins of Patrick Chan, the aerial flips of Alexandre Bilodeau, the crashes on the women's downhill, and Maelle Ricker's gold medal in snowboard cross, Emmett started practising his own twists and turns (and his podium smile for the cameras).

While Emmett's dad is away...

...Canada wins it's first gold medal on home soil in men's freestyle skiing. Oh, and Emmett's mom gets to play...with Emmett, and the blog. (volume up!)

Five months old

The Olympic torch is almost at the cauldron, with the final torch bearer still a secret. (Maybe Wayne Gretzky?). Bill Clinton undergoes heart surgery. Astronauts finish a big addition on the International Space Station. And Emmett celebrates his five month birthday. He continues to grow at an astronomical rate, remaining in the 95th percentile for his height. He's added breakdancing to his list of tricks (making a photo shoot extremely difficult).

His parents are relieved at another recent development. He lost most of his dark hair in the weeks after his birth, and sported a mullet for several months. Thankfully, he has outgrown his Shorty Longback stage (for now) and is sprouting fine blondish hair all over his head.

Emmett makes a salad

Emmett discovered celery the other day, and thought "Eureka! I could make a salad with this!"

He set about gathering the ingredients, including a bag of spinach.

But when he realized he had to part with the celery, he had second thoughts.

The salad did not have celery that night.

Kitchen craters begone

It wasn't the Home Renovation Tax Credit that finally motivated Emmett's parents to get the kitchen floor fixed. It was the fact that Emmett was starting to show signs that locomotion was imminent... and nothing peels up crumbling tiles like an crawling baby with a stuck throttle.

Mobility quotient exponential increase

Special thanks to all the family and friends who chipped in for Emmett's sweet new ride. With wheels like this, he'll be trolling for slimmies in no time.

Shake, shake, shake your sillies out...

...and wiggle your waggles away.

Emmett's parents thought their days with the bouncy chair were numbered, given Emmett's length and size. Once upon a time, it served as a great place for Emmett to just hang out. Today, Emmett discovered how to turn his bouncy chair into his own personal amusement park ride, and kept himself entertained for almost an hour.

Groundhog Day

According to the National Post, and various groundhogs across the continent, we've got six more weeks of winter ahead. Ironically, Emmett discovered his toes the same day, and happily sucked on them for a few hours. At least now he's got an indoor activity for the next six weeks.

Emmett's first 'swimming lesson'

Emmett has so much fun in the tub during his bath that his parents figured it was time to introduce him to deeper waters. They enrolled him in the "Starfish" program at a local pool, and he joined 9 other babies for his first swim class. Emmett's mom and all the other first time parents stood on the pool deck, armed with cameras to capture the moment.

Of course, swimming at this age does not mean backstroke, sidestroke and fancy diving. Emmett's dad took Emmett through the fundamentals of bobbing in the water, floating on a noodle and chasing colourful balls, all while singing nursery rhymes.

Emmett was surprisingly blase about the entire experience. He didn't complain, nor did he splash and giggle and kick in the water. He kept up a 'ho-hum' expression for the entire lesson. Next week, the instructor will take it up a notch in the hopes of getting a reaction...cannonballs off the high diving board.