New Do's

The kids got lice for the 3rd time this year (yes 3 times, although different combinations each time). So we all got our hair cut to make it easier to comb through which we do every other day for 2 weeks. Samuel and Matthew wanted theirs "short, short", and Renee "like Mami". Much as I miss Samuel's curls, he looks so handsome with really short hair. Matthews stands up a bit which he doesn't like "no standy uppy hair, I want it downy". And Renee insisted on using the blow dryer herself.

Samuel and the Dentist's Treasure Chest

Samuel had a check up a few weeks ago and at the end of the appointment he got to choose a toy from the treasure chest. He could decide what he wanted, insisted on getting more than one toy, but I held to the "one toy" rule. When we were in the car though, he proudly showed me that he had gotten 2 toys and a few stickers. I didn't have time to go back to teach the "you need to return them" lesson so instead I told him that when we went for the follow-up appointment he had to tell them he couldn't take a toy because he had taken two the previous appointment.

Fast forward 2 weeks and we miss his follow-up because I locked my keys in my office.

Fast forward another 2 weeks for the re-scheduled follow-up. At the end of the appointment, the dentist told Samuel he could get something from the treasure chest. I had forgotten all about the previous visit and the taking of the extra toys, so I got the chest down and gave it to Samuel to choose. He looked at me and quietly said, "but remember last time and the deal Mami?". The dentist was so touched though that she suggested a sticker instead, Samuel beamed, and so did I.

The best laid plans

We had to postpone Samuel's Tae Kwon Do birthday party because one of the teachers was quite sick.

The birthday boy's disappointment faded as we came up with an alternative plan for the day - lunch and a movie with two friends. The lucky chosen ones were an older girl S and a boy his age O. The movie was Puss in Boots. Renee almost sat through the movie, the allure of sitting next to an older girl kept her in her seat more than other movies.

All in all, a good day.

Once Upon a Saturday

A few highlights from today.

Samuel took off in skating today, he skated around the rink twice, going through pileons and following lines. And, to quote him, "I stood up by myself 20, no even 30 times". (you can imagine how many times he fell)

This morning Renee said she wanted to talk with me in the Kitchen later and when I agreed to do that in the afternoon her eyes lit up. So sure enough, in the afternoon, we sent the boys upstairs so Renee and I could talk in the kitchen. We sat at the table and she talked and talked. I tried to take notes so I'd be able to blog about it but wasn't so successful because she wanted to write too, and erase my white board, and write more and the boys interrupted, etc. She was quite serious about our talk, gesturing with her hands, resting her chin on her hand. She told Matthew and Samuel to leave us alone a few times. At one point she started talking about Jewish holidays, used a Hebrew word here and there with gibberish in between.

And, during breakfast, Matthew and Renee had a little twins love fest (Samuel slept over at my parents). "We is sharing because we is twins". "I love you Renee". "I love you Matthew". To answer my "what is a twin" question, Matthew said "a friend".

random quotes

Renee: Mami what is matthews name?

Me: Matthew. What's your name?

Renee: oeiueo, thats letters of my name.

Matthew: Mami, I'm happy

me: Thats nice. Why?

Matthew: Because im not sad

Me: When were you sad?

Matthew: When you go away yesterday to montreal

And from a recent car ride to school, Matthew started singing the ABCD song, only to be told by Renee to stop because "ABCD is a girl song"

Teeth

(or lack there of)

And a look back . . .

Will I Really Miss This?

Everyone says to enjoy the moments, one day you'll miss ______ (fill in the blank).

Makes me wonder though, will i really miss this conversation from dinner tonight:

Marc: Matthew, are you wearing the same pants as this morning? Did you stay dry all day?

Matthew: yes, i pooed in the toilet at school, yay.

Renee: I pooed in my pants

Matthew: i farted in the car

Renee: Yeah, a big fart

and on and on.

And a little while later, a call from Marc "Come, there's poo on the floor." Sure enough, Matthew, not fully recovered from the stomach bug that hit us had poo up his back, down his legs, on the floor. i had to carry him airplane style down the stairs to keep it contained. As I was cleaning him in the laundry sink, Marc calls out "Did you wipe Renee's bum?". Apparently she had also pooed but in the potty. But then she put on her footed pajamas, dirty bum and all. While Marc dried Matthew, I took a shower with Renee.

And so I ask, will I really miss this particular part of having young kids?

I will miss the wonderment of a first loose tooth though, Samuel's tooth is really, really loose so loose he now knows what horizontal means because the tooth is almost horizontal. He is making amazing things with the Cars lego he got for his birthday - spaceships and fireplaces and race cars. at bed time, he asked me not to touch his back because it hurt from all the spy push-ups he had to do on his spine. This I will miss (a great reason to blog about it).

And a great quote from Renee "Mami, can we connect tomorrow about Samueli's birthday party?"

Why yes, Ms Sharrett, your people can call my people, and "we'll connect". As Marc says, we hope she uses this for profit one day.

Good Morning

Everyone woke up in a good mood this morning, and especially the players in this musical band!

Sunday with Bubba and Zaida

Marc's mom and step dad came to visit today from Ottawa. When we told the kids that they were coming, comments ensued:

are Milo and Maggie coming (the cats)

can we have a sleep over (the standard question, they want sleep overs with everyone, everywhere)

is Conor coming?

and Renee asked about Rachel.

We had a lovely day. Samuel built another Cars 2 lego set largely by himself. Matthew loved his transformers car, and Renee had fun brushing her new Barbie's hair. The best part though was seeking the kid / grandparent interaction.

And, a bed time anecdote. Samuel said to me "I'm going to tell you something, but don't believe it. At school everyone makes fun of me because of my wiggly tooth. They say Na Na tooth, tooth" i said that he was probably the first kid in his class with a loose tooth. He responded that J G had his tooth fall out yesterday, so i asked him how he knew that since he hadn't seen J since Friday. The response was simple "because we are spies and we know".

Saturday

Matthew and Renee enjoying time at the park with Daddy while I picked Samuel up from his sleep over. We went to another park this afternoon with Samuel's friend J, well Renee, Samuel and I did, Matthew stayed asleep in the car and didn't want to be outside in the cold.

There is a stomach bug going around the school, all three kids have/had it. I'm hoping for a puke free night.

and i remembered a quote from the kids i don't think i blogged. A few weeks ago, Samuel and Matthew choose the same shirt (long sleeves, stripped, with a fire fighter hat), when they saw each other, Samuel ran to Matthew and said "cheers brother, we're wearing the same shirt". Renee's response "you can't do cheers, you're brothers, not cups".

Selection of Quotes

The kids say the funniest things, but by the time I get to write them down I've usually forgotten them. I tried to remember a few today, and I hope I got them right.

I have a voicemail message from Samuel that I'll transcribe: "Hi Mama, Hi Mami, um, my loose teeth is really loose now, it's the left side of my tooth, it's really wiggly, all right Mami, bye-bye"

Samuel went out for a special birthday celebration weekend with Tocayo, Regi and Babby at a restaurant of his choice - McDonalds. So Marc and I went out for dinner with Matthew and Renee. They were in fine form at the sushi restaurant.

Renee gave a little soliloqui about "I not people, i little kid, and this (pointing to some of our food) is for people, and and i not people, your is people and daddy is people. i was little baby" and on an on. "People" is her way of saying adult.

Matthew picked up an edamame, and said "this is little, i am little, but this is more little".

And tonight at at bed time, Renee choose a pair of pajamas, pink of course, with little snowmen. Matthew gave her a different pair of pink pajamas and told her "you can't wear those Renee, those are for snow". She responded "No, they is for tonight".

And as he was telling stories about his school day, he told us that S (a little girl in his class) kissed him on the lips.

What more can I say?

6

The big 6. Exactly 6 yeras ago (pretty much to the minute, I think), Samuel and I were enjoying our first mother/son bonding, and I made up his little song, and I knew then that he would be the sweet would he still is today.

Samuelito - you have blessed us with your sweetness, generosity, imagination and ability to tell tales. You continue to be wonderfully creative and very empathetic. You love, love, love legos. And have been making the 6-10 year ols ones by yourself for a few weeks. Tonight you did a pretty good job at a 7-12 box. You still talk about Plop Plop and Ding Dong, but not as much. You love Cars and Cars 2, the movies and the characters, Scooby Doo, and Sonic the Hedgehog. you pretend to play video games on any reclangular surface you find. You also love Tae Kwon Do and have broken many, many boards. You are starting to write cursive letters and words, and some in Hebrew too. You have made vast progress in in area and I'm very, very proud of you. you love doing math at school. This morning, while putting your shoes on you looked up and said "Mami, Daddy, I have something very important to say. Thank-you for take-caring (sic) of me when I was five".

Here are some pictures from the school celebration today. (in reverse order, I can't copy and paste on my laptop)

Matthew eating fruit

Renee watching other kids eat fruit

Samuel at his table, with his buddies

getting up from lighting the "sun"

walking around the sun with the Earth in hand

After being very shy, Renee insitsed on being in the center of everything

And, not leaving Samuel or me be

Walking arounf the sun

being pushed around the sun

before the ceremony began. (i love the detail, can you see how November is pulled out a bit? That's where the earth moving around the sun starts)

A few quotes from today

In reverse chronological order:

At bed time:

Renee took her blanket and covered me with it, tucked it in and all: Mami, this so you are not cold, ok Mami?

At dinner tonight:

Matthew: Mami, Mami, Mami, Mami
Me: Matthew, I'm busy getting dinner ready, can you count to 20 and then I'll help you
Matthew: 20, 21, 26, 25, (etc)
Samuel: No Matthew, you have to start at 1
Matthew: Oh ok, 1, 2, 3, (etc)

At 5:00 am, when Matthew and Renee woke up (yawn)

Renee: Mami wake up, I have to pee
Me: go by yourself
Renee: no you come, turn on light
Me: go in the dark
Matthew: I come with you Renee. And I get the stool and I turn the light on for you and you can pee, ok?
Renee: ok

(And no, Renee did not sleep through the night, she came to get me at 2am and was up at 5 for the day. All I can say is that make-up primer is a great thing for covering skin that looks as exhausted as mine:) )

Renee and Sleep

Renee is not a great sleeper, never has been. And as all good rules, there is an exception - when she is exhausted.

Then she falls asleep standing up. literally, for real.

The first time was earlier this fall. She fell asleep in the car on the way home from school. i carried her in and kept her in my arms. When our chinese delivery arrived, i put her down, standing up next to the couch. by the time i came back up stairs, say 90 seconds later, she was asleep, standing up next to the couch. and she stayed asleep until the next day. She even stayed asleep while I changed her into a pull-up.

She did it again a few weeks ago, and again tonight. I came home late to find Matthew asleep, Samuel pondering if it's one or two days until his birthday, and Renee was asleep on the couch, clothes on, no dinner. i put a pull-up on, the touched my ear for 5 seconds and stayed asleep. Here's hoping she stays until tomorrow morning.

Staking lessons, and developmental leaps

Samuel tends to develop in big leaps, always has. When he was little, he couldn't articulate differences in colours and then one day he got all the colours right. He wasn't getting writing a few months ago, and then the next week he was writing in English and Hebrew.

The latest case in point is skating. After 3 lessons without being able to stand, today he did it 4 times.

Where things belong, and Tocayo's School Observations

Samuel, Matthew and Renee slept over at my parents house last night. And aside from Renee's temper tantrum at the fact that I wasn't there, all survived the night. My Dad served as the "enforcer", keeping Renee from leaving, reminding her she wanted to sleep over. And this morning, he bore the consequences when she refused to sit next to him and gave him the cold shoulder this morning. Samuel took care of things by putting a chair for Renee between him and Matthew and giving her a big hug. These pictures are what happens when Matthew doesn't use the potty, and there are no more clean pants at my parents house.

When we picked them up we talked about our plans for the day, skating for Samuel and going to H and M's house in the afternoon. H is a 5 1/2 year old girl in Renee's classroom and M is her 7 year old sister who was in Samuel's class last year. The kids get along really nicely, and so do the parents. Renee answered to our plans by saying "H and M are my friends, Matthew and Samuel can't come, they don't belong, and you (pointing at Marc and me) can't come to the basement".

The concept of where things and people belong is big for Renee right now. When Tocayo went to observe the kids at school, Renee didn't want him in her classroom at all, telling him "don't be in my class, you belong in your car".

Tocayo did get to observe Matthew who worked on matching Hebrew letters, building a ceiling high tower with the Brown Ladder (a material that is meant to be used horizontally, but he used it vertically), and drawing on a large piece of paper which was subsequently rolled up and used as a sword.

Samuel worked with a "10 Snake", a material used to do math by adding numbers to 10, wrote and read in Hebrew.