A few things of note in recent days. Firstly, we were the proud owners of a baby bird for about a day and a half. Liza's friend brought it over one afternoon from who knows where and Syd promptly named it Tweety. I don't know my birds so have no clue what kind it was. Wasn't a pet store bird, that's for sure. Anyway, it stayed the night in an empty Schmirnoff Ice box and I put an end to the happiness the following evening on the grounds that…well, who brings a baby bird into a house unannounced? Nonetheless, Syd was pretty upset when we let Tweety go and even had herself a little cry a couple of days later because she “missed Tweety”. Odd how the logic of parenthood has overridden my unconditional acceptance of strange animals in my house.

Went to church for the first time in many sins today. Liza's been feeling guilty (like every Catholic should) about not going and friends of ours recommended a church that wasn't quite as Reverend James-ish as the others in the Bahamas. My chest didn't burn too much when I walked through the doors so it's either a sign that God hasn't forsaken me or that He's got bigger fish to fry (so to speak). Service was good, people were friendly, and Syd was bored out of her skull. We'll be back next Sunday.

Got a copy of The Sims 2 last week. I've heard it's already on track to be the best-selling game ever and it's easy to see why. Syd loves it. She spent an hour and a half building The Smudge Family (parents Kyle & Jessica Smudge, daughter Sam Smudge, and aunt Tita Smudge) and has been in here every five minutes while I type this asking if we can play some more.

Had the first of five scheduled visits with her teacher last week. Not much to tell. Teacher seems nice and Syd's adapting well to Reception/Kindergarten. One item of note is that Anthony is apparently no longer Syd's boyfriend at school (not sure how he feels about the break-up ‘cause I don't think he really knew about the courtship). The new flame is a boy called Oliver. Seems all the girls in reception like him. When I asked Syd why that is, her older-than-her-years response was, “because he's new”.

Off to bake me some pumpkin pies. Happy Thanksgiving to all Canucks!