Synchonized Sleeping and Maliciously Delicious

It's been a while since I wrote an update, but there is no shortage of material, just a shortage of time.

Samuel is hilarious and sings all the time. He loves signing in Spanish which is a great way to keep up his vocabulary. He keeps us entertained non-stop. He's looking tough these days, sporting a scab under his right eye due to a slip down the carpeted stairs.

The other night while out for dinner, Matthew bit my finger really hard (I have still have teeth marks). My response wasn't exactly positive and Marc said "it wasn't malicious" and without missing a beat, Samuel said "Mommy's delicious".

Matthew and Renee are starting to talk. Renee says Mama (to me, Marc, my mom), no (to being put down, having her diaper changed) and sometimes she'll say Maa to Matthew. She also says Ro-o (Rojo = red in Spanish). Matthew says "g-en" (with hard g sound, he means again) and cacker (animal cracker).

Renee took a few steps a few nights ago, but has had no interest in repeating it. Matthew loves, loves, loves climbing the stairs.

The last few nights I've had a hard time sleeping so I've had plenty of opportunity to sit up in bed watching them sleep. They move in synchronicity. They roll to the right, or the left at the same time and often end up in the same position, be it with their legs crossed, or arms out, or on all fours with their bums in the air.

The One Year Olds and Their Big Brother

"Get us out of here"

Waiting for Breakfast

"Hi Buba Ruth"

"I like the card"

Dancing with Bubbles

Watching the Dancing with Bubbles


Birthday Girl

Birthday Boy

Big Brother

It's cliche, but really, where did the year go? Matthew and Renee are one. It's official, confirmed by a birthday party and the eating of cake.

More to come about the three kids each of whom is amazing and all together they fill my life and heart in ways I could have never imagined (I'm just a little tired to write right now, but wanted to share pictures. I'll share more when those who had free hands with which to operate a camera send them to me).

Eleven (and a half) months

I'm well behind, lots of reasons (three kids and a full-time job).

Some random thoughts on Matthew and Renee being 11 months old:

- they both crawl. Renee was first. Matthew started at a Shabbat dinner at my parents a few weeks ago and never stopped!
- Matthew climbed up the stairs today
- Matthew loves music, dances all the time. He really likes pivoting in one spot.
- Renee claps and waves
- Renee says "Mama" (at me, at my mom and when ever she doesn't like her circumstances). She says "up" when she wants to be picked up. And, at daycare she says "no" when they put her in her crib for naps.
- Renee cruises and walks holding someone's hands
- they love, love Cheerios, especially Matthew, and are starting to feed themselves (i.e. make a mess of the kitchen and themselves)
- both love putting things in and out of containers
- Matthew loves looking at light fixtures; Renee likes turning lights on and off
- they are not so keen on their exersaucers, but love their activity table

Our typical weekdays:
- wake up, nurse, get dressed, play without adults while adults get ready, go to day care
- pick up from day care, get home, nurse, play, eat dinner, play, bedtime
- wake up 1-2 per night (per baby), or more if sick (as an aside, of the 6 ears in our house under the age of 4, 4 are currently infected!)

Our weekends are a blur of fun and non-stop "things to do" (like laundry which we do daily, cleaning the kitchen, diapering and dressing, grocery shopping). The fun is mostly time we spend together, both the 5 of us and the 5 of us plus Abbeywood (my parents, sister, nephew) with whom we have dinner every Friday and Sunday. The three kids are at an age where they are a lot of fun.

Samuel continues to be hilarious and perpetually happy. He has really embraced the Judaic and Zionist aspect of his school, although when asked "are you Jewish?" he says "no" and then says "I'm Samuel". He loves reading from an illustrated children's Bible. In the section on the 10 Commandments, he denies the existence of the 5th commandment, honour your mother and father, and has instead replaced it with "you won't break your bicycle". Everytime he sees blue and white, he breaks out in song "kahol velaban" (blue and white and my colours, blue and white are the colours of my flag). He has taken to saying that he'd "like to be a baby again in Washigton DC" - we think all the changes of the last year have caught up with him now that M&R are older, mobile and starting to invade his physical and social space. I hope he continues to take change in stride when school ends in 2 weeks and he starts attending M&R's daycare for the summer.






Matthew and the Stairs:
Daddy and Babies:
One night Eduardo came for dinner, they outnumbered us 2:1 - good thing they can play together:
The activity table:

Mother's Day (x3)

10 Months

Not sure how it happened so fast, but Matthew and Renee are 10 months!

Dear Renee (or Reneenena as I call you),

You love to crawl, always on the move exploring your surroundings. You are little Miss Independent, you can entertain yourself by yourself for long periods of time. I feel quite guilty sometimes because I think I spend more time with your bothers, but I think they need the interaction with me and you genuinely seem to be happy on your own. We did have a mommy daughter day this month though when we went to Sick Kids to test your bladder and kidneys. You hated the tests because you had to lie still, and you sensed that you were in a different place as soon as we walked into the hospital - you hung on to me, you fingers clenching my clothes. You got a clean bill of health, and after lunch with Daddy we got to spend the afternoon together - what a treat! You love watching little girls, boys don't seem to interest you as much, but if there's a 6 or 10 year old girl around you can't keep your eyes off her. You're close to your first word and you imitate language and song. The other day you babbled the tune to happy birthday (one of Samuel's current favourites). You've also said "MMMMM, MMMMMmaaaaaaa" deliberately both towards Matthew and me. And when Samuel said something about yellow you responses "elo".


Dear Matthew (aka Matthew Matthew Man, sung to the tune of Macho Man),

You did not have a good 10th month which dealt you a series illnesses. You started with an ear infection in your right ear that ruptured your ear drum, then strep, then an ear infection in your left ear, and then salmonella. During these 10 days you also got three new teeth. You were a real trooper though, a bit fussy for a few days, but for the most part we hardly noticed you were sick (except for the green puss leaking out of your ear and the diarrhea) . Now that you are better you are back to your happy self. You're not crawling yet, but you do move around, usually backwards and sometimes end up wedged under a couch or bed.


Watching your interactions is fascinating - Renee, when Matthew was sick and fussier than usual you would try to calm him down by talking to him and stroking him. Unfourtunately, your touch often had the opposite effect.


Now, a bit about your older brother. Here he is on Yom Haatzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) and at "his museum" (the Royal Ontario Museum) exploring for dinosaur bones.

Before and After Pictures

Making chocolate matza (before)

Eating chocolate matza (after)
With sweaters - handmade by Phyllis Greenberg (before)
No sweaters (after)

Passover 2009

Samuel was the star of the show at both our Seders. Not only did he sing MaNishtana (which he calls "HaLayla"), but he continued to sing and turned it into a medley including Dayenu and what he calls "levanika" but most people would know as "Kol HaOlam Kulo". He sang beautifully, siting up tall with full composure, he clearly knew he was signing by himself in front of a large group (14+) including strangers but wasn't shy or self-conscious or silly as many kids are. The main theme of the Seder is to "tell your child on that day", well my child blew me away, made me so proud and left me speechless.

Nine Months In, Nine Months Out

April 1st marked Matthew and Renee's 9 month birthday - they have lived in the outside world longer than their time in-utero.

Today, April 4, marked two big milestones for each of them - Renee crawled for the first time and Matthew pulled himself up. Renee is independent as ever, she sits and observes her surroundings, and you can tell her brain never takes a break. She moves by turning and shuffling her body around. Her hands are always busy with purposeful handling of whatever object is within her reach. Matthew is a total mama's boy, he watches all my comings and goings and his moods reflect whether I am in the room. He's big and round.

I hope to be able to write more soon, but truth be told I am exhausted. Between their discovery of object permanence, movement, illness and the never ending teething process Matthew and Renee are waking up 2-3 times per night, meaning I'm up 4-6 times. Samuel has been waking up too so make that 5-7 times. I am exhausted.