It's been quiet here in the Stewart house lately. Not much activity I think. Dave's working, biking, and fixing the car and I am taking care of little one all day long. He's crawling everywhere and now he's standing and when he realizes it he falls down. Still not there but he's finding out the difference between falling at the crawl height and the walk height. They are not the same!

His daycare is found and ready in March to take him in. It's multicultural which is awesome because I want him to learn other languages other than "cat" and "dog". He says thing we can't understand other than saying "hi". He's quite a chick magnet in the malls in Richmond. He smiles and flirts with every person that walks by and especially children. He reserves his "hi" for them only, oh and Samantha, mom's dog.

Speaking of Samantha, she has turned into a babysitter for Darren. She has a funny way of shepherding him back the way he came. Sometimes she does it if we ask her to find Darren and other times she will do it on her own. She lowers her head and blocks him from getting past her. It's really weird to see a dog doing something she's never done in the passed 9 years. She's amazing!

Some of you may know that Darren's great grandfather, Alfred Myhre, died last week on the 23rd of January. I thought I'd jot down a memory I want Darren to know when he gets older. We saw great grandpa on the 21st which is Darren's grandfather's birthday.

In his last days Grandpa couldn't move his body anymore which was our sign that he was going to leave us soon so I made a special effort that day for Darren to see him one last time. You see Grandpa loved seeing and visiting with Darren in the hospital these last few months. I thought it must be frustrating for him just laying there staring at the ceiling, hearing everyone whispering but not being able to see them. His body was gone but not his mind (sharp as a tack). So I lifted Darren up so grandpa could see him and Darren took one look at grandpa and put on the biggest smile I've ever seen. Grandpa's eyes lit up and I could see he was happy and proud to see his great grandson for the last time. It made his day I'm sure.

Children bring so much joy into the world.

Yesterday Darren tripped at a friend's house and smacked his lip on the side of the smooth glass table. His first reaction was shock because he didn't know what happened but then the pain registered. He bled quite alot for a little cut on his lip and he didn't appreciate the kleenex. Granny consoled him until he calmed down long enough for her to look. He was so distressed that he peed through his diaper onto mom. Poor little guy!

Today everything is better and it seems like it never happened. I was calm through it all and hoping he didn't damage his teeth. I mean he only has six and we want him to keep the ones he has intact until the tooth fairy takes them away.

His first word seems to be "i" which is interpreted by us as "hi" since he answers us when we greet him. Today he initiates hugs when people leave him. Whether that will be the same tomorrow is the question tomorrow. Here's a few pictures I've taken since Christmas.

The second from the right is Dave's immediate family. His dad came visiting so I got them all to sit long enough to get a picture for the family tree. The last picture is three generations of Stewarts. I like these pictures the best.

Darren has what looks like to be a runny nose. Two days now he's been needing a kleenex and now I need something for my swollen throat. He loves looking at the snow from his bedroom window and he gets all animated looking at it. I wish he could go out and play but the runny nose stops me from letting him out. We are snowed in but I planned ahead for our captivity so we're doing fine.