Sassy in front of Sassafraz

For those of you that are familiar with Toronto, Yorkville is the chi-chi part of town where the stars hang out during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Isaac went on a walk to Yorkville on Thanksgiving Day and needed a diaper change outside of one of the most trendy restaurants in the area - Sassafraz. So sassy, Isaac!

Namesake

This Thanksgiving Sunday found Isaac Albert Allan Smith face to face with Alan Shaw. Al is a former neighbour of Jen's and she long ago adopted him as a grandfatherly type. Despite our spelling mistake (now a permanent fixture on his official records), Isaac is named after Al through his second middle name.

At the spritely age of 86, he had apparently never held a baby before. Upon hearing this, Isaac promptly assumed the crash position :-)

Surviving Thanksgiving

Don't worry, Isaac. At 12 pounds or so you are not yet in the same weight class as that 14 pound turkey. It's him we are after :-)

Next year you'll have a whole lot more meat on your bones so it might be a different story...

Milk Coma

From what we've heard and read, breast milk is an amazing thing. Its composition and amount changes according to the time of day, season, baby's age, baby's demand, and probably more.

The initial milk that a baby receives in a feeding is referred to as the foremilk. It is high in carbs and is thin. I guess this serves to wake a baby up at the beginning of a feeding so he can get down to business. The composition changes as a feeding progresses and becomes creamier. This is referred to as the hindmilk and it also contains tryptophan. I guess this would help to knock baby out so he can dream of his next dairy cocktail.

While what I have said is anecdotal and based somewhat on hearsay, it seems to bear out. The little turkey sure looks like he got run over by a milk truck :-)

Mixed-Member Proportional

Isaac attended his first political gathering last night at an all-candidates debate in our riding, St. Paul's.

We are having a provincial election and referendum here in Ontario on October 10th. Isaac is not able to vote, but if he could he would definitely vote for the proposed new political system, mixed-member proportional (MMP). MMP would allow us to select both a preferred local candidate and a political party. The new system would have us choose "local" MPPs (Members of Provincial Parliament) in the traditional way in 90 newly created, larger ridings instead of the existing 107 constituencies. Then, we would also vote for the party of choice, on the second part of the ballot, to select an additional 39 MPPs from lists of candidates compiled by the parties prior to the election. This is the way that democracy has already evolved in New Zealand and Germany, ensuring that parties that have a percentage of the popular vote aren't completely frozen out of winning seats. For more information, see http://www.yourbigdecision.ca.

Isaac started fussing when the Conservative candidate got up to speak, subtly indicating who he won't be voting for :)

9 pounds 11 ounces

The midwives, Lindsay and Myriam, came for their last home visit on Saturday Sept. 22. The evidence that Isaac is eating well? He's gained 22 ounces in 10 days, weighing in at a whopping 9 pounds 11 ounces. If he keeps gaining a pound a week, the little butterball will be heavier than the Christmas turkey in December!

Isaac's first trip on the TTC

On Saturday we ventured down to Bloor Street to pick up some sushi. The weather was lovely, and Isaac slept soundly in the Baby Bjorn, woke up to snack at the sushi restaurant, and then started to make more stirring noises on the walk home. Plus, it was getting dark so mom and dad decided to jump on the Christie bus to make it home a bit faster. We rode at the back of the bus, and our punk kid wore is hat at a jaunty angle to intimidate the other Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) riders :)

Flatjacks

Every Thursday morning, my mother would make us pancakes for breakfast before school. This weekly meal fueled my life-long appetite for pancakes. Or perhaps it was her recognition of such.

In any case, whenever I had the opportunity at a restaurant, I would seldom pass up the opportunity for a fluffy, flour, milk, and egg-based excuse for maple syrup. Other people could never quite capture the way she made hers, though, and the difference lay in that one word: fluffy.

Dad's efforts would more closely resemble the traditional, fluffy variety. Mom's version more closely resembled a really dense crepe. I didn't necessarily prefer one variety of the other. Like I said, it's all about the maple syrup :-)

This weekend, I was curious to discover where the difference lay. Yesterday I made the standard pancakes as per The Joy of Cooking. This morning I dug out Mom's recipe and gave it a go. The key was a much smaller proportion of baking powder: 1 and 3/4 Tablespoons (TJOC) versus 2 teaspoons (Mom's). Given that baking powder is a leavening agent, this now makes sense.

For mainly my sister's benefit, below is the recipe for Mom's pancakes:

Pancakes

Add wet to dry

Beat together in 4c pyrex measuring cup:
1.5 C milk
2 eggs
1 T oil
1 t white sugar

Sift together in large bowl:
1.5 C flour
2 t baking powder
0.5 t salt

Turn when bubbles pop

New Family

What does it mean to be a family? Staring at Isaac every day for the past two weeks have given me lots of time to contemplate the meaning of this word. I've decided that it boils down to loving each other as much as we can and helping each other live happily and peacefully. Lots of cuddling is the key!

Baby Open House

Over the past week Isaac has become quite the hot commodity. To satisfy the demand, we decided to hold visiting hours today for a few friends.

Many thanks to the Bobocktons and Gulywags for the bounty of food! We'll be eating well again this week.