Six months old

The Quebec Liberals win a majority government. An Australian ship detected two distinct, long-lasting sounds underwater that are consistent with the pings from aircraft black boxes in a major break in the month-long hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet, and the multinational search continues. The "Heartbleed bug" prompts a Revenue Canada shutdown. The Ultimate Warrior, the retired U.S. professional wrestler who just days ago was inducted into the WWE hall of fame, dies at the age of 54. And Oscar celebrates his six month birthday.

 

On this milestone birthday...

• He has expanded his food repertoire and has tried a variety of pureed products, including rice cereal, bananas, green peas, chicken thighs, avocado, oatmeal, applesauce and chickpeas. The chickpeas did not go so well.
• He does not sleep through the night, BUT he is going longer stretches and is only getting up once, sometimes not at all.
• He is a thumbsucker, unlike his big brother. Oscar LOVES his thumb.

 

• He waves his arms madly and excitedly when he says goodbye to Daddy in the morning - the best part of Daddy's day.
• Even though most of his 182 days on earth have been spent with his Mom, his first words/sounds are "Dadadadadadadadada" (much to Mommy's chagrin)
  
  

Come Hell or High Water - Stampede 101...

 ...and the show must go on. Emmett and his parents headed to Stampede Park last weekend for the annual agriculture extravaganza, deep fried food, and kiddy rides.  They managed to get to almost everything on their list, except for the deep fried butter. (And Emmett's Mom was devastated to learn that her annual beef on a bun food truck had been replaced with deep fried pickles. Tragic.)

42" for most of the rides in the kids area. Check.

Find the biggest tractor ever. Check.

Pretend to help a cow give birth with Dad. Check.

Milk and cookies for $2. Check.

Milk a cow. Check.

Play for hours with the mini tractor in the tub of canola seeds. Check.

 Practice powerboat procedures for next epic flood. Check.

Eat a corn dog. Check.

Keep corn dog away from Dad. Check.

Watch the Stampede Show Band. Check.

Prove that we all live in a yellow submarine. Check.

Practice helicopter flying skills for next epic flood. Check.

Pop a wheelie. Check.

Snag a duck and win a cheap prize from China. Check.

 Slam dance a two year old in a bouncy castle. Check.

Tryouts for the chuckwagon races. Check.

$2 slurpees and $2 hotdogs in Weadickville. Check.

Ferris wheel with Mom. Check.

Take a picture of Dad at the community association pancake breakfast. Check.

 

Prepare for barrel racing competition at 2014 Stampede Rodeo. Check.

Here's the scoop

Emmett's dad sources out a local 100 year-old convenience store complete with ice cream counter, and Emmett sources out his first-ever ice cream cone.  Much to his dad's dismay, apparently the days of the $1.00 kiddie cone are long gone.

 

Green Onion

Emmett provides a clue into the source of his chronic bad breath.

All aboard the Carnivore Express

Emmett got his first taste of the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train on Sunday.

Shortly thereafter he got his first real taste of Swiss Chalet, and gave his mom and dad a glimpse of meals to come.

Chew dat gum, chew dem bones

For Halloween this year, Emmett's parents thumb their noses at all the suffocation warnings, wrap Emmett in plastic and balloons, and call him a gumball machine. Then they do the same thing to themselves.

Trick or treating doesn't amount to much, but Emmett shows great interest in the graveyard on Cousin Rod's front lawn. He is particularly fond of the bones strewn among the headstones (clearly, his parents should have opted for the blood-smeared zombie costume).

Originally disconcerted by his behaviour, Emmett's mom fesses up that she vaguely recalls maybe introducing a 7 month-old Emmett to skeletal gorging at a BBQ ribfest in New Zealand.

365 days later

Emmett celebrates the end of his first full circuit around the sun with a splashy introduction to refined sugar. He also uses the accompanying media attention to showcase his revolutionary new guilt-free technique for eating birthday cupcakes: Grip cake firmly, extract chocolate juice, discard husk. Zero sugar, zero calories, all taste.

Emmett's first Stampede

Under an ominous dark sky,

Emmett and his parents headed to the Stampede grounds, sporting their finest in western duds.

Stampede attendance has been abysmal this year due to the weather; in fact, for the first time in 85 years, the rodeo and chuckwagon races were cancelled. The day they were there, the heavens opened with hail the size of golf balls, but that didn't stop Emmett from taking in the sights at Weadickville, the stock dog trials,

the agricultural barns, and of course, the midway. Emmett introduced his parents to all the kid stuff at Stampede, where he made his own button, had his free vintage Stampede picture taken, and won a prize at the duck races. He's been practicing for months with his ducks in the bathtub.

Emmett's parents, in return, introduced Emmett to all their favourite foods at Stampede, including $2.50 hotdogs from Weadickville, $2.00 slurpees, $1.00 milk and cookies, pulled pork parfait, beef on a bun (Emmett's mom's favourite) and corndogs (Emmett's dad's favourite).

They were on their way to get some deep fried Oreos when Emmett was distracted by the

He thought they would be a great addition to his mom's wardrobe. His parents had to explain that pink chaps really weren't appropriate...