Two-and-a-half

Dear Matthew and Renee,

You are two and a half, the quintecential 2 year old girl and boy.

Renee, you are a girl through and through. You love dolls, especially Emma (Hanukah gift from Regi and Tocayo). Upon sighting a Barbie in Regi and Tocayo's basement, you picked it up gently and said "my baby".

You are precocious and recently told Daddy that you were six and when he asked if you were older than Samuel you said yes. You also got a Walt Disney purse kit from daycare, complete with a brush, compact and fake lipstick which you love "applying". Despite being the yougest and smallest, you act as a second mother to Matthew and Samuel (and Daddy and me for that matter). This morning everyone was downstairs and I was enjoying a few minutes to myself. You came upsatirs, openned my bedroom door asked "Mommy, what you doing?' I said "watching a little of Mommy's TV" and you said "OK Mommy, I go downstairs to see what boys doing". You often say "boys is silly" and cover your mouth in a fake laugh when you see your brothers being rambunctiouis.

You love "witing" (writting) which is a series of squiggles that look like WWWWWs in a row across a piece of paper, or sometimes, just a few WWWs on one page and then you move on to another page and another page and another page. You also love reading. There's a Spanish picture book you really like with animal pictures - when you name the animal in English, I give you the Spanish word and sometimes you repeat it but other times you argue back "no perro, doggy".

You take the normal toddler possesiveness to a different level, saying "my" several times in a sentence. "I want my Mommy my lap", "I want to my make with my Mommy" whenever I an cooking. After seeing Niagara Falls out of the car window, you exclaimed "my window my waterfall", and in the week since our trip there you've said "I want it my window my waterfalls" several times, as if we'd be able to make them re-appear.

Matthew, you are a boy through and through. All about trucks and trains. You love playing with train tracks. Tonight, at bedtime (or an hour after as you refused to go to sleep), you insisted "I need duba decka in bed" ("I need my double decker bus in bed") but then agreed that "duba decka can stay on floor".


We went to the Royal Ontario Museum today, or as you call it "dinosar house" (dinosaur house) or "muzemum" (muresum) and saw a marshal arts demonstration which you were enthralled by. You have been trying to immitate their moves all day, coming quite close to doing summersaults and cartwheels. I think if you had a little bit of instruction in gymnatics you'd be flying through the air.

You love eating, and ask for "befast cheerio pasitas" when you wake up (breakfast with raisin bran cereal, as all cereal is referred to as cheerios). You actually cheer when food is placed infront of you. A couple times, you have wanted a banana badly enough that you have bitten through the skin before I could get to peel it for you. You love "smoka sama" (smoked salmon). You also love coffee, asking for it by name when Daddy and I drink it. For a while you used to call is focky (reversing the consonants) which really confussed us.

Despite this love for food, you are ever generous with it. You frequently offer us bits of your food and don't like it when we say "no thanks", you reallty want the recipient to enjoy as much as you do. When you give something to Renee, you give it to her, she takes it, and then you say "tank-you Nene" - it could be that you are telling her to say thank-you, but it sounds more like you are thanking her.

You hate the cold, and get cold very easily whether it's outside or even inside, you are quick to get the shivers and have chattering teeth. You always want to wear your hat, scarf and "goves" (gloves).

Renee and Matthew - you are a joy to be with. You keep us euqally entertained and on our toes. On our way home from a restaurant tonight, you had the following conversation:

Matthew - "Matthew superman"

Renee - "No, Saml superman, Matthew Batman, Renee ABCD" (for the boys it is a reference to what super hero they want to be, for Renee it's her favourite You Tube video)

Matthew, emphatically - "No, Matthew Superman"

Renee - "No, Matthew naughty, boys silly"

Matthew - "No Matthew superman"

Marc - "Renee, Matthew can be superman"

Renee - "Matthew superman, Saml superman, Nene ABCD, boys is silly naughty"

And so on and so on, I was laughing so hard I could barely drive.

Here's to many more fun conversations!!