XL weekend in the homeland

We took a 4 day weekend up in Canada - Kanata, Ont, to be exact. My Parents arrived in the morning at Ainley's and we rolled in at approx. 10pm. Left the house at 2pm and Dylan immediately crashed for a 2 hour nap. Sophia rejected a nap, unless you count the 30 minute one she took in the beginning. Yup, 7.5 hours in the car. Fun. Sophia also took another 40minute nap at 9pm and that got her going until 11.30 or later - oh joy. Started the weekend with a end of year school recital of singing and reciting poetry. S and d were VERY tired and HUNGRY, so they didn't do so well through this. Once back home they took good naps and the weekend officially began. We lucked out and got lots of sun instead of the rain that was predicted for us. Yay! Sophia remained shy among her cousins, however, Dylan was happy to be led around by his big cousin Rhianna. It was very cute to see him take her hand and just go where she led. Even on that first day!

On day two of the trip, Princess Sophia was re-born. She first emerged in a blue dress and then the hoop skirt dress was found and she wore that ALL the time. Here she takes the arm of Prince Kieran. It was so funny when Sophia walked in the house once while Kieran was sitting in the living room. He looked up at her and casually greeted her with, "helllo, princess!" (he is 4)
This was SUPER sweet. My mom called me over to see Sophia sitting next to baby Declan and "reading" to him. She got the book herself and set herself up too. She took her "babysitting" duties very seriously.

She kept asking to hold him. It was fun to see her imitating the things we would do - shhh-ing, plugging him with the pacifier...

Partial family portrait. The ones with all of us were not zoomed in. take what you can get...

Princess on wheels.

Kieran teaching Dylan how to make lego cars.

Even Ethan got his turn being toted around in the green wagon.

And we all got our shot on a bike.

From the very young....

To the, ahem, very old? Heheh, Sorry dad. You know how they say that you can't teach an old dog new tricks? What about re-teaching an old dog old tricks?

When in doubt, just say B

Dylan is replacing words more and more with the letter B. The first to come was "B-bar" where the letter B replaced the word cereal. The next to come was B-bus. Here the letter B replaces either school or city. I will keep adding the list of B's as they arise.

Another interesting kid note is the extension of Sophia's music. She has always walked around singing all day. Her songs have taken a new twist, though. Now, she will sing a sentence and add "TCHSHHH TCHSHHHH" to the end. ie: she will sing, " take my shoes off mommy, tchshhh tchshhh". Pretty amusing to me.

Another cute Sophia-ism is her conversation starter. It is always started with "remember when..." and then the second part is a random memory. "Remember when Dylan hurt his head?" And then I have to think - WHICH time? She remembers the littlest things that happend long ago (relatively speaking, of course) and it amuses me to see what she remembers.

A star is (re)born

I was at my sister's place in Ottawa this past weekend (full post on that later) and was going through the box of Dylan's old clothes for the THIRD time. Re-folding and re-sorting them. Strolling back through memory lane.... Well, third time's a charm they say. I was folding a little jumper and felt something hard. Hmmmm, what could that be? There was a little pocket and inside this pocket was the missing PURPLE STAR from our shape puzzle. My spring cleaning this year was in part brought on in attempt to FIND this star. I had been bothered by it's disappearance. I mentioned this to Ethan as it was a little difficult for hands of a 1 and 2 year old to stuff in there and he smiled and said it sounded familiar. Sigh.... At least my puzzle is once again complete :)

Beantown adventures

I took the long anticipated trip to Boston with the kids today. I have been wanting to do the "ferry" thing with them for a while. The morning started out cool and damp but I had hope in the weather reports. We got off the ferry and headed for the playground. Then passed this carousel It was only 10 and it didn't open until 11, so we toured Quincy Market for a while. Then we got here at 10.50 and they were 10 minutes late opening. I had to listen to "can we go on yet?" for 20 minutes. Ugh.

Went back to the park and were sure to stop and smell the roses.

Ok, I guess that was one too many smiles to ask for. Getting goooooofy...Yup, and back to the ferry to head home. Great morning.

The rains of yesterday and more prodigy updates

Dylan was cute as could be during our rainy Sunday morning. Once inside, Ethan dumped out a boot full of water from Dylan's firetruck boots. He was fussing about "something" at one point while we were out and I thought he was complaining of a rock. Then I thought, there was no way a rock could be in there and brushed it off. The "booter" explains it.

Earlier in the week I made blueberry pancakes for the kids. Note in addition to Sophia's very "beautiful" hair (her new favorite word), her nice clean face. Markings of a true little lady.

And then we have D. Blueberries ALL over his face and hands. SO cute. Markings of a true blue little boy.

Today I went to REI with the kids so Dylan could test drive a Skuut. I was very disappointed that it was TOO BIG! They are supposed to fit 2-5 year olds. He needs another couple inches. Sigh... Sophia, on the other hand did amazing on the 16" two wheeled bike! It has training wheels and they are especially needed as her feet don't reach the ground, but she road around the store about 20 times. I didn't even follow her after a while, just let her make a solo loop. That bike was a little $$$, but I will definitely be getting her one this summer. She is doing really well on the tricycle and has been enjoying her bike rides. Toddlers look so cute peddling really fast on those, don't they?

Reading Dylan stories tonight, he surprised me again. I hadn't done the alphabet book in a while so I asked him "want to do A B C's?" and he replied "ALPHABET". I never even mentioned that word. Brilliant.

Back to Sophia's "beautiful". She has been using that word a lot lately and I think it is so cute to hear her describe things with it. Thank you for buying me these shoes, mama. They are very beautiful".

Dylan counts to THREE!

Dylan was trying to climb up the side of the front steps (garbed in a diaper only) and I told him to get down. I decided to try the "1 2 3" thing described to me this weekend and I told him I would count to three. I said ONE and then HE said ooo (two) eeee (three). He is really quite advanced :) I have already mentioned his advanced "jump" move - being able to get both feet off the ground at the same time already. Well he upped the ante on that one and jumped off the third step of our little slide on the lawn and landed on his feet. He also is getting quite good at throwing rocks in an overhand motion. A skill my "baby center" update thing-y tells me is mastered at a much later age.

So those were the highlights of my day. Things involving myself were less than stellar. First I started with getting into someone elses car after buying groceries. I was reading my receipt and clicking the lock on my key chain at the same time and not really paying attention to the car. It just so happened the door was UNLOCKED, so I didn't even realize anything was wrong until I was INSIDE. I sat down and first noticed that the seat was really far up and was trying to figure out how that happened. Then I noticed that the seats were more firm and covered in fabric, not leather. It then took me about 5 more seconds to put it all together and realize I just sat in someone elses car! I immediately got out and hurried to my car two cars away. YEESH!

Then I went to the paint store to pick out some house paint colors and stopped and DD on the way. I got my iced coffee and felt the car keys were pretty light. I was almost at the car when I realize the car key fell off the chain! I traced my steps back to the store and again back to the car. I finally realized that I could still open the car with the unlock button and found the missing key all the way over on the passenger seat.

My third mishap was minor - forgot to put the eggs into my banana loaf and had to take it out of the oven after being in there a few minutes and stir them in. Not a disaster, but not great. I think I might be getting TOO much sleep now adays, haha. Dylan has gone 4 for 4 now and slept as late as 6.30! Go D!

Rainy day shopping spree

The rains couldn't hold me back today! Took advantage of "the babysitter" and got to buy groceries in the morning without kids jumping in and out of the cart and asking for treats the whole time. Then I was able to finally hit the Wrenthum Outlets and do some serious shopping and damage to the ol' credit card. I left after getting Dylan down for his nap and flew to the outlets. I made out SO well in Gymboree with all the sale merchandise. I paid about $4 or $5 for most items. The raincoat was a STEEL - $4.27 HA! They mix and match VERY well too. Yay, me!

So, we have had a strange thing happen in our house this past week. Dylan has slept in past FIVE! He made it past 5.30 even. THREE TIMES. Today was the latest yet at 6.15. Wahoo. He was coughing for about an hour between 3.45am and 4.45, though. He didn't make any other sounds and I lay there praying for him not to be sick and to please please please not wake up completely.

A good day

Today was pretty good all in all. Nice weather - much warmer than I had anticipated. Started the morning cleaning the house a bit after Ethan took off with the kids for a canoe adventure. Then went on a hike with a couple girl friends around 9.30. Funny how much later other households with kids THE SAME AGE as ours start out. One mom rolled out of bed 8.45 and her kids were STILL SLEEPING. The other just doesn't get going until later and thought 9am was early. It's like our household is from a different planet. ANYWAY, the kids had a good time on their adventure and then Sophia and I went to the grocery store for some lunch fixings. As usual, I decided to pick up a few more things. Sophia carried her own basket that was about as big as she is and kept wanting me to put the fruit and other food I was collecting in HER basket. So cute to see her struggling to lift it and carry it like a big girl. She slowly let me help at first by carrying it with her and then taking over all together.

The kids BOTH decided on an early nap - noon. Ok, sure. Sophia had a good nap and Dylan went all the way to THREE HOURS. Apres-nap, we headed off to Houghton's Pond. On our way out from the parking lot, as we passed by part of the pond we came across a little clearing down to the pond. Sophia stopped and informed me that this is where we could launch a boat. Hilarious! Once at the beach, Dylan and Ethan hung out by the water and Sophia and I went where else, but the playground. Sophia then started thinking about snacks and we joined back up with Ethan and his snack bag. Ethan went so far and took the plunge into the pond in his shorts. There were a lot of people in the water and he couldn't resist. Dylan took a less intentional plunge. As he was studying his toy boat he lost his balance and rolled over into the water. Poor little guy. He is just so sweet to watch - all that concentration, slow, careful movements, studying "things". He was pushing his boat up through the sand and then lifting it up and watching the sand drop out from the bottom. He wanted to know all about this amazing act. After coming home we slapped some chicken burgers on the grille and the kids played while we ate outside. This is about the BEST play day ever with the kids. They were laughing, chasing each other, Sophia would swing Dylan around and do ring around the rosie... They played together for about an HOUR. Then they were laughing and playing together in the tub. So sweet :)

Tortoise and the Hare

So, first we had our yard bunny and now the playground turtle. Ok, the turtle visited us once before, last year, but it is a new visit this year. I was in the playground with the kids waiting for our playdate friends to arrive when we came across this guy. He hung around about 10 minutes after climbing out and then sllllllloooooowwwwwllllllyyyyyy waddled away. Ethan "rescued" this turtle (or one very similar to it) last time we saw it in the playground. Playdate went well. Sophia didn't drag me away and interacted with some of the kids a little. She REALLY liked baby Julia (1 year old).

FIrsts and cuteness

This morning Dylan woke up at FOUR. We had passed that stage a couple weeks ago. I know there could be a link to our weekend's visit to Maine, however, it was no less appreciated. When I first heard him there was the age old debate - do I go to him or not? He wasn't crying - singing, rather. Kind of cute - I heard him say "where are you?" (of course not that clearly, but I knew what he was saying). Anyway, while in Maine, he woke around 11.30pm the first night and I went to him, stroked his face and sang twinkle twinkle. I thought, maybe he would think it was like that and went to him, did that and left. He said night night, and then continued to sing until about 5am and then here is the first.... WENT BACK TO SLEEP! And sleep he did until 6.30am. I even got up before him, haha.

And now for the cuteness. There are actually two. At around 5.45, Ethan's alarm went off. He got up and I heard Dylan's door pop open. I didn't hear Dylan and wondered if he was going to get him up. Strange. Then I lay there and didn't hear any steps on the stairs. strange. About 6.10 I got up and saw Dylan's door ajar. I peaked in and there Ethan was on the rocking chair, with Dylan's blanket, waiting for Dylan to wake. CUTE! He has really taken to liking getting up with Dylan. Second act of cuteness is from Sophia. Last night I remember her walking around before bath with my robot jammy top. Then this morning when I went to get her I saw she had SLEPT with them like a little blanky. Awwwwwe.

Now, even though Dylan is hacking away and had a fever of almost 101 yesterday, he is zooming around the house - pitter patter pitter patter.... SUPER CUTE! I guess that would be a third, right? What a difference waking up at wake up time makes :)