steveprattfamily.com The adventures of the Pratt family in Vancouver - Steve, Lisa, Cedar, Dawson, and Sandy (the dog).

I took a few brief minutes of video around the tree this year and put together the highlights in iMovie.  Kudos to Sydney for providing a theme…

Posted under Children, Christmas, Humour

It’s been so busy the last two weeks that I’m very late in putting this up.  My brother, Brian, his wife, Kerri-Lynn, and their one-year old daughter, Sydney, came out here for Christmas week with my parents, so the whole Pratt clan was together for the holidays.

As evidenced in the top picture, Cedar wrote her note to Santa by herself for the first time.

The tree was ridiculous this year, with presents for 9 people, including 3 young children. 
There were lots of gift highlights:

Cedar:
-A Snow White doll
-A Baby Alive that pees itself
-A giant play kitchen where she now regularly whips up imaginary pancakes, muffins, and ice cream

Dawson
-A wagon
-A ton of wooden train tracks
-Trains, planes and automobiles

Lisa:
-A book on cooking omelettes from Courtney (a taunt, as there is an ongoing competition for reigning omelette champion of the Pratt family)
-Sweaters, shirts, and a cape / shawl from a local designer that transforms Lisa into Super Maggot
-iPod nano

Me:
-Blue Rodeo tickets at the Orpheum
-Steve Martin’s book about his standup comedy career
-Guitar Hero III for the Wii, which I’ve been playing constantly for the last week

Other good moments:
-My mother opening up the gag-gift of a stringy thong
-Courtney getting a brain-training game and quickly determining that his mental age is 80.
-Some gorgeous weather with spectacular views of the city.

Posted under Children, Christmas, Family

Fairy madness continued past the birthday and into Halloween.  Cedar added on to the original costume with a giant blonde wig and looked Fairylicious. 

This was Dawson’s first real year dressing up and understanding what it was all about.  He wanted to be a hockey player, so we stuffed paper into the shoulders of his sweatshirt, put a helmet on him, and gave him a black eye and the piece de resistance - a handlebar mustache. 

The night was lots of fun.  Maggot and I both took turns taking them out trick or treating.  Dawson was hilarious - he just squeezed through all the other kids waiting at each door until he got to the front, and when the door opened, he just raised up his candy bag until he got the goods, and then tore back to the sidewalk, never once uttering a sound. 

The night ended on a bit of a sour note, though.  We passed by a house in our neighbourhood called the "House of Death."  It featured a giant, one-storey painting of a bloody skull and was designed as a spookfest.  Cedar saw the skull and completely lost it.  She backed into a tree, where a guy from the house was hiding, dressed up in tree parts (like a mask made of bark with creepy eye holes cut out).  She screamed again.  And then someone let off a firecracker in the street and a HUGE band exploded and both the kids basically crapped their drawers.  End of Halloween.

Posted under Cedar News, Children, Dawson News

Cedar turned five last week and it was certainly a birthday to remember, not just for the fact that she was turning 5, somewhat of a milestone birthday, but also for the insanely extravagant party thrown for her by the Maggot.  First, the birthday itself…

On the big day (Oct 26), we got up early and opened presents.  Cedar headed off to school, where she had to wear a giant birthday hat in front of the class.

Later that afternoon, we went to a party with all the friends from our pre-natal group that all have kids born within a few weeks of each other (hard to believe we’ve known this crew for 5 years now!).  The kids has lots of fun (although Cedar got smoked in the face by an unknown assailant and now has her two top front teeth loose and painful) and ate lots and lots of cake.

Finally, on Saturday afternoon, Cedar held a birthday party for her friends.  The theme - Fairies.  Maggot went off the deep end preparing for the big bash, literally working for almost two weeks to get it all ready.  It was like Martha Stewart’s creepy spirit took over my wife and made her create food and decorations fit for high society adults… except they were all for 5 year olds.

I think we spent more decorations for the house than we did on gifts.

In the end, our dining room and kitchen were both transformed into fairyland utopias and the swath of sugar-addled fairies in attendance made mini-fairies as a craft, ate toadstool cupcakes, and beat the hell out of the only adult male in attendance… me.

This was the year of Disney Fairies. Just when you think Disney’s out of tricks and that the Dora’s and Diego’s of the world are leaving them in the dust, they pull another rabbit out of their hat.  There are now loads of fairies in doll, book, video, clothing forms, led by their grand poobah, Tinkerbell.  Cedar has become obsessed with them and received:

-2 large fairy dolls
-4 miniatiure fairy dolls
-3 fairy books
-1 fairy video
-2 fairy pajamas
-3 packages of fairy stickers

Other hit gifts included an art set, a winter coat, a very popular talking doll named Jolie that speaks English and French, and Webkins.

For those not in the know, Webkins are pets that are plush toys that you also take care of online in a bit of a twisted e-commerce land for kids where you have to play games and win money so you can buy food to keep your pet alive. Cedar got one that she loves from Uncle Beef and Aunt Kaka which looks
like it was retrieved from a dumpster and has been affectionately named
‘Hobo Cat’.  Here it is:

It’s a week later and I’m still exhausted.  Happy Birthday, Cedar!

Posted under Cedar News, Children

So Cedar and I are sitting at the table having lunch together today and this was our conversation.

Cedar: Daddy, I’m worried about dying.
Me: I think most of us worry about death, but it’s something that happens to everyone and something we can’t change.  But it’s normal to be scared of dying. What part are you worried about?
Cedar: What if I die and come back as something else and the person I am is gone?
Me: Well, no one really knows what happens after you die - some people think you come back as something else, some people think you go heaven, and some people think that after you die, you go to sleep and don’t wake up again.
Cedar: (beat) You know what? I REALLY like French bread. It’s the best.
Me: (relieved) I like French bread, too.
Cedar: What if I come back from being dead as a Princess!  That would be exciting, hey?

I’m SO not ready for these little chats yet.  She’s not even 5!  At least she’s not asking about babies and boys yet.

Posted under Children

Okay - Cedar is not even 5 yet.  This isn’t supposed to be happening already!  I got  a call while in Toronto on business this week and Cedar excitedly told me that she had a loose tooth.  I came home a couple days later and there were TWO loose teeth, caused by the eruption of a MASSIVE tooth behind the two loosies.  Yesterday, Cedar was off at a birthday party and POP - out it came.  She was the hit of the party, apparently, because no one else her age has lost a tooth.  Needless to say, she was thrilled with the attention.

Lisa and I were put in the awkward spot of realizing that the Tooth Fairy hadn’t prepared very well for a visit, so last night, the Tooth Fairy delivered cash and Cedar was over the moon in the morning.  She announced that she would be using her newfound riches to buy a hot chocolate for herself, a water for Dawson, and a mocha for me.

Early tooth activity is nothing new to Cedar .  She got her first teeth when she was two months old, way ahead of schedule.  I just hope that when it comes to early development it sticks to teeth.   Praying that I don’t have a child who gets her boobies when she’s 6. (dear lord, I sound the grandparents in ‘Sixteen Candles’ - “Look Ed, she’s got her boobies!”)

Posted under Cedar News, Children

Driving in the car minivan today, Cedar was having a massive meltdown and wouldn’t give up.  I used the pathetic parenting technique of threatening to withhold something she likes for the day and got smoked for it.

Me: “Cedar, if you don’t stop screaming, there will be no more treats for you all day!”
Cedar: “You’re too late!  I already had a crepe!”

I got burned by a four year old.  (At least I didn’t lose to her at Wii bowling)

Posted under Cedar News, Children, Humour

It’s a cliche that’s been used too many times, but behind every cliche, there is some truth.  For the last two weeks, Cedar and Dawson have been LIVING inside a cardboard box.  It’s cramped, it’s now covered in dried glue and marker drawings, and it’s getting ratty and tattered… but it’s still by far the most popular ‘toy’ they’ve had in months.
I hope this doesn’t mean that they’ll grow up to be corporate raiders hell-bent on success and destroying their rivals
(Anyone remember Adrian Pasdar in Profit?  No? He lived in a cardboard box, too.  Rent it on DVD - you won’t regret it.)

Posted under Children

Posted under Children, Dawson News, Humour

This afternoon, we went to our friend Anthony Fajardo’s 40th birthday party in Steveston.  The theme was Fajardo Idol - Anthony is a huge fan of the show and they rented a karaoke machine to put on their own version of the big show.  We couldn’t stay for the full adult showcase, but for the afternoon, the kids had a turn at the mic and we discovered that both  Anthony’s son Tristan and our own Cedar take to the singing spotlight quite well.  The best part were the lyrics - Cedar first grabbed the mic as You Outta Know was playing and narrowly missed the ‘go down on you in a theatre’ lyric - close call.  Then, she sang her heart out to Life Is A Highway, which she knows because it’s in the movie, Cars.  Very funny.

Posted under Children