Catching Up

It's been a long, long time since I posted (the longest I've gone without I think) so here's a few tidbits of our lives in the past 6 weeks:

There was a petting zoo at a nearby outdoor mall (think downtown Silver Springs, but it's cold here) in November. Marc bought animal food, Samuel did not feed the animals, Mathew ate a pellet of animal food (or two):

The kids play with each other all the time. We block off the hallway so they can access both bedrooms. Matthew loves the bag Samuel is holding here, and they often fight for it (tug of war style), he also tries to put on the red backpack which he can't do yet but it ends up on his head - it's quite cute. Renee and Matthew also fight tug-of-war style over toys, books, clothes, scraps of paper. When they do, they let out a very unique screeching cry they they don't use at any other times. I think it's a precursor to the "it's miiiiiinnnnnneeeeee" whine.

Another favourite game is hiding in Samuel's closet

"where's Matthew"

"There he is"

Wearing their "If I could get into Queen's I'd Quit Daycare T-shirts" (Thanks Alex!!)

And, after an-unseasonably warm November, December came with cold, cold days and snow:

Who said activity tables were for playing with?

Matthew much prefers to sit on them!

Birthday Boy

At the end of the big day, after dinner at his favorite restaurant, Terroni.

Neglecting NaBloPoMo

Yeah, not having any time these days to blog.  Yet there's so much to blog about.  Samuel's birthday party, Samuel's approach to fixing the subway, Samuel going to Jack and the Bean Stock concert with Marc and telling me about the giant caterpillar, Renee waving goodbye and closing the door at bedtime, Matthew loving the theme from StarWars, how Matthew and Renee fall asleep, Renee reading books in the dark.

Teenager in Our Midst

This morning when I went to kiss Samuel good morning and sing our good morning song, he turned to look at me with disdain and said "no, I don't like that".

Renee seems to have decided that she's ready for the toddler room at day care. She tries to get over there anytime she can, including following the teachers and asking to be carried from the baby room teacher to the toddler room teacher. When she's in the infant room, she stands at the door to the toddler room and cries.

Matthew decided last night that he only wants pasta with tomato sauce. I guess we'll need to bathe him more often.

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

Marc had Remembrance Day off and spend the day with Samuel.  They went to the Remembrance day ceremony (accent on the 2nd syllable according to him) at Queen's Park, the Museum and Marc's office.

A Samuel Story, by Andy

Today's entry is brought to you by my sister Andy:

_______________

I asked Samuel what he wants for his birthday.

He said "A duck."

I asked "what kind of duck?"

"a real one. With a pond."

"I don't know if I can buy that."

"Yeah, at the store!"

"I've never seen a pond with ducks at a store."

"Then you can get me a dolphin."

"Where would you put it?"

"In the ocean. Because the pool is closed. But they should open it because it's not snowing."

Day of the Dead

We went to a festival for the Mexican Day of the Dead yesterday.  A teacher from Samuel's school was performing in a dance / play / show.  We took the three kids and at first I wondered how they would do with a dark theater-like environment for the 15 minute show.  They LOVED it.  Matthew was enthralled, Renee wanted her own chair and watched every move, Samuel stood on Marc's lap and followed the show with fascination.  At one point, I turned to Marc to say something and Samuel responded with a finger over his lips, shshing me. 

We got the card of a Mexican restaurant and decided to check it out for dinner.  We called ahead, made a reservation, asked for 2 high chairs and settled for 1 high chair and 1 booster on a bench.  Didn't realize though that it was a fine dining, $25 entree, no kids food, lengthy tequila list type of place.  One patron asked to not be seated near the kids.  At the end of the evening we had confirmation that:  Matthew and Renee love guacamole, Samuel doesn't like homemade lemonade, food that comes on hot plates is not a good idea, fine dining and bring all the food as soon as each dish is ready don't go hand in hand, and once again my parents are amazingly supportive and generous.

5 of 7

OK, so I'm not off to a stellar start with this year's NaBloPoMo, having missed two days already. Not sure why I thought I could do this while working 12 hour days and 3 kids who don't sleep, but I have figured out how I'll get it done. I'll use my trusted BlackBerry (ok CrackBerry as I am addicted) to post, short posts and pictures. Hence today when I posted lots of pics.

We had a great day starting with our regular weekend pancake breakfast followed by baths. Visit to the doctor for our H1N1s (Samuel was a champ, didn't even flinch and asked for no band aid), lunch at Ikea where we ran into an old friend of mine from grade school. Our local parks, as you can see in the pictures, in the afternoon. Dinner of leftovers from my grandmother's mole dinner last night. All in all a great day.

They all ate sand . . .

So we decided it was time to go home for snack.

Matthew on the swings

Matthew (who, according to my 6 year old nephew is named after the subject Math) as his usual happy self. Have I mentioned he can carry a tune?

The new park behind the pool

Matthew on the slide

Renee at the park

Soon she won't stay in the baby swings

Saturday at the park behind the house

Wordless Wednesday

(it's still dark so it counts)

Endendino

When Samuel has a decision to make - like what pants to wear, what book to read, what parent puts him to bed - he does the Hebrew version of Eenie Meenie Miney Mo (sp?).

En-den-dino, sof al hakatino,
sof al hakati kato,
elik belik bom.

Like Ennei Meenie, it's non-sense syllables strung together.

As he gets close to the end he'll stop pointing to the choice he doesn't want and just keep pointing at the choice he wants, or he'll slow down to get the option he wants.

Tonight he had a variation though. Tonight he sang and when he was finished we had to put our hand up and the first one to raise their hand got to go to bed with him. I won, mostly because I understood the instructions.


And Renee says "pato" (duck) and Nicky (daycare teacher).

Today

My day started off waking up in Matthew and Renee's bed (although she barely spends time in it), Matthew and I hung out, had fun, but I couldn't see very well without my glasses. So I looked around in Matthew and Renee's room and couldn't find them. I heard Renee talking in our bedroom so I went in to check on her and, again, to find my glasses. But alas they were not on my bedside table. So where were they?

Those who guessed that Renee had them in her hands win the prize! And she was so proud to hand them to me.

I spent the day with Samuel who stayed home from school after having a fever, sore throat, cough and runny nose yesterday. He was fine today so we had a great day full of playing, arts and crafts, baking cookies and going to the park. We laughed hysterically when he turned on the mixer too fast and flour went flying everywhere. We drew happy faces on our toes. He watched Madagascar while I was on a conference call and he treated my colleagues to his rendition of "I like to move it move it". He'd like to be sick again tomorrow.

Barefoot Sage

The Barefoot Sage is among the most magical places, the embodiment of pure relaxation and the ultimate indulgence. Picture a large open space, with overstuffed couches on raised platforms, and basins at the feet of the couch. Now, picture yourself getting up on the couches, and enjoying a fantastic foot massage and treatment from a registered therapist while drinking lovely tea and eating the most delicious chocolate and hazelnut treats. I've only been lucky enough to go once, 6 years ago, and I still feel my shoulders relax when I remember my visit. The Barefoot Sage is in Portland OR, otherwise I'd be a regular!

So why am I writing about it now? Sadly, the Sage has recently suffered a fire and has had to temporarily close. And this being NaBloPoMo, I thought maybe someone who knows someone in Oregon would read the post and buy a gift certificate for when the spa re-opens. Believe me, you will be thanked. If only there was such a place closer to home.


www.thebarefootsage.com

And a tid bit about the kids and their feet - Samuel proudly puts on his own socks "super fast, like this, zoom, zoom, one and the other like that Mami, not like yesterday and before, but fast like today", and gets the shoes on the right feet more often than not. Matthew loves his feet and can identify them in Spanish and English, he also likes eating his shoes which we try to discourage and prevent as best we can, his favourite shoes are a pair of black patent leather booties that his daycare teacher gave him, and he loves playing with my shoes, not with Marc's just with mine. Renee also identifies her feet and she brings her shoes and says "apo" when you ask her for her "zapatos" (shoes in Spanish).


(For my aunts Cuqui and Sue, proud owners of the Barefoot Sage, with all my love and support)

NaBloPoMo Here We Come

A few Halloween pictures to get November started. Samuel was a dinosaur and went trick-or-treating and loved it although he did find some of the houses and costumes a little scary. He got 2 bags of candy. Matthew and Renee were Pebbles and BamBam (remember, from the Flinstones?). "Dark Vader" (as Samuel says) is my nephew.

"Raarrrr"

40 Years, new words, and Samuel-isms

My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary last weekend so I thought it fitting to have a small tribute to them. Two weekends ago we celebrated by going away all together to Nottawasaga Inn - you can imagine how many different pronunciations Samuel had!. This past weekend they were supposed to go to Chicago for the weekend, by themselves to celebrate. But instead they canceled to stay home and spend time with Samuel, Matthew and Renee (and help us out along the way). Words can't express how appreciative I am for their unending support, love and generosity. I think my favourite thing to do is whatch them interact with the kids - there's nothing better than seeing the generations having so much fun. One day Samuel, Matthew and Renee will read this and what I want them to take away is that their Tocayo and Regi would rather be with them, playing, feeding, observing, than anywhere else. What I took away is that parenting is an unending commitment with unparalleled rewards.

Matthew and Renee's vocabulary really started to take off. Both say "up" when they want to get out of their high chairs. Both requested either "a-ah / aga/ auga" (agua = water) or "ugo / u-oh" (jugo = juice at lunch lat weekend). Matthew says "pie" (= foot) and points to it when you ask him where it is, he can also identify his bellybutton. Last week when I asked him where his foot is, he pointed to both his feet and grabbed my hands and brought them to him feet. And, Renee took her top off by herself at bedtime. Leaps and bounds of growth and development!!

And, Samuel's potty training seems to have gotten back on track again. He is full of funny stories and sayings. Like "on your markers, get set, go". He loves asking "how wants to go to my birthday party, raise their hands". He has a new imaginary friend whose name is Rocker (hilarious name as he goes to a Jewish school where there are lots of Davids, Daniels, Joshuas, but certainly no Rockers!). Rocker goes to his school and pushes people in the playground, Rocker will also marry him and his friend J one day. Rocker is not as big as Plop Plop and Ding Dong are though (interesting as Plop Plop and Ding Dong are babies). He also loves pretend play about camp and rockets. He loves telling secrets, although sometimes all he does is whisper nonsensical syllables and other times he just whispers "Mami, I have a secret to tell you, but you can't tell anyone".

We were supposed to go to DC this weekend for Big Birthday Bash #4, the joint birthday celebration the Milk Moms have every fall for our firstborns' birthdays. It was the right decision to cancel the trip, Samuel needed the stability, but I'm quite nostalgic thinking about not being there.

Samuel's Castle

Samuel build a castle last night. Not just any castle, but a "house-castle only for three people, Mami, Daddy and Samuel like the white house in washignton dc when I was a baby and with no bathrooms, and full of googly eggs". Wow. Not sure what the googly eggs are about, but there a message in the rest of the construction's description (did I mention the second potty training regression that started last week?). The next sentence was "and J (his friend from school) can come live with us, and Matthew and Renee, and J's parents because they will miss her". Back to his happy self, but the first sentence was brutal to hear.

Transitions

At Lick's, our hamburger restaurant of choice given the kid's house in the corner and that they play music from the 80s for those of us who don't fit in the plastic house

We transitioned Matthew and Renee to mattresses on the floor last weekend, and it has greatly improved their (and my) sleep. Its also shifted where we spend time int he evenings. before everyone would gravitate towards Samuel's room, full of toys. Now the gathering place is the giant mattress created by two twin mattresses on the floor of Matthew and Renee's room.

Rosh Hashana-nana

We had a lovely Rosh Hashana (or Rosh Hashanana as Samuel says), with the kids all donning new clothes, most amazing of all is that Renee left her hair band in all day.

First Day of School Year, Contemplations on Being Born First and Shoes

Marc and Samuel were talking about going to the hospital (conversation prompted by reading a Little Critter book in which Critter breaks his foot during a soccer game). They talked about how Samuel had only bee to the Hospital twice - once when he was born and once when Matthew and Renee were born. Samuel asked if Matthew and Renee visited him when he was born. When Marc explained that they weren't born yet so they weren't here, Samuel responded by saying "I was sad then, if Matthew and Renee weren't here".
___________

At his first day of school last week, Samuel held my hand as we crossed the parking lot. As soon as we left the parking lot though, he let go of my hand and said "Mami, this isn't a parking lot. I don't need your hand". Sigh - I thought I had a few years yet before this happened.
___________

Renee has her first pair of "real" shoes. They are hot pink running shoes that my grandmother bought her. She spent much of that day, and the next, and the next, "running" with her arms outstretched yelling with glee.

Matthew didn't take to shoes with his sister's keenness. He screamed in horror when we tried shoes on his feet. Both at home and at the store. He's not walking yet, still insists on holding our fingers while he walks.


(pictures to follow when I have time to download)

Car Conversations

While driving back from the Royal Ontario Museum today, Samuel kept asking us to turn the music up, then down so he could talk, then up so he could listen to music, then down to talk, at intervals of less than a minute. But with conversation like this: "Next time we move, let's move to a bear house in the trees" pause "but first we'll need to become bears" how could we resist his requests?

She's Walking

It's official, Renee walks. She's been close for a while but she's all out walking now. Her previous moves were great though - she'd take a few steps, fall on her knees and keep walking on her knees. She didn't crawl, she just walked on her knees.


Samuel wearing silly pajamas - pants on his head, top around his waist. A consequence of saying "Samuel you're big, you can put your pajamas on by yourself". He just went through a big growth spurt - he and Matthew have the same size waist!

Wordless Wednesday

Samuel's Firetruck

Matthew and Renee's First (and last for a while) Day at a Table

(hence the last time for a while)