Sunday, December 27, 2009

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Starting to write!

 

this was the picture Christian drew last night. He's been asking me to spell things for a while now, and then he writes them down. For the past week or so, he's been attempting to spell words all on his own (he wrote "dog" on the bookshelf the other day - thankfully in chalk - didn't know whether to praise or scold him!!). This one says: "Christmas at Bhmus (Bahamas) wth (with) Momy and DDAey (Daddy)" I only helped him with "Christmas" and he did the rest on his own! and then he wrote: "I AM GTB5" - "I am going to be five" - I think he was getting tired of spelling/writing at this point, since he didn't even attempt to write out the whole words...either that or he was texting :)

Today at daycare, he drew a pictureof a dragon, and on the back wrote "th maji drgn" (The Magic Dragon).

I am a little stunned that he's doing this already - and also proud! I don't think that they're at this level in JK yet, as they've just started "Jolly Phonics" in November (basically learning the sounds of the letters by connecting them to songs and actions), but he's in a JK/SK split class, so perhaps he's been absorbing what the teacher is doing with them. He's got a wonderful Preschool program, and his teacher, Miss Kathy, has been doing Jolly Phonics with them since he was about 3 1/2, teaching them to write letters, numbers etc, so a lot of this he already knows. They don't do report cards on the JK kids in the fall, so I haven't really gotten a good idea of what/how he's doing in school other than what he brings home and what he tells me, but I'm looking forward to talking to his teacher in the new year.
Posted by Picasa

Monday, December 14, 2009

Visiting Santa

We made Saturday a "photo day." First stop was to Sears for family photos. Got some nice ones there, but they won't be ready for a couple of weeks (we're not on the ball when it comes to getting these things done in time to send out for Xmas, so Xmas cards will have to be late this year (again)

Next stop was to The Bay on Queen St to see Santa. For the first time, Christian was all for it - last year it took some convincing before he'd go up. Jacqueline, on the other hand, would have nothing to do with it, starting to cry the instant Hugo put her on Santa's knee, hence why she's not in the photo.

Here's my shot:
 
Posted by Picasa

And the "official" shot by the Santa photog.
 
Posted by Picasa

Very serious...not sure what Santa is telling him here
 
Posted by Picasa

Friday, December 11, 2009

Walking!!!

Here's a recent video of Jacqueline Walking
Finally, at just over 16 months. She slowly and steadily has been taking more and more steps, but last weekend, she finally just "got it" and started walking more and more. She has improved amazingly in the past week, and she's moving faster and faster. won't be long before she's running after Christian!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

First School Picture

Finally received Christian's school pictures yesterday. How did he get so grown up??!!
 
Posted by Picasa

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Friday, November 6, 2009

Thursday, October 29, 2009

They didn't have these subjects when I was in school...

On Wednesday, Christian's class calendar said he was having gym class, so that evening, I asked him what he did in gym class. The following is our conversation:

C: We didn't have gym class today.
Me: What did you do then?
C: We did the Thriller dance
Me: What do you do in the thriller dance?
C: The moon walk.
Me: Who showed you that?
C: Mr. Butters
Me: Is Mr Butters the gym teacher?
C: No, he’s the Thriller Dance Teacher

(For the record, I looked him up on the teacher contact list, and he is the gym teacher)

Monday, October 12, 2009

Giving Kisses

I love this shot. Jacqueline's version of giving kisses - ask her to give you a kiss and she'll lean her head onto yours. Here she is giving kisses to Christian.
 
Posted by Picasa

Hmmm....what should I eat?

 
Posted by Picasa

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Jacqueline update


Jacqueline is now just over 14 months. She's had a lot of changes and adjustment over the past month and a bit, and more to come over the next month. I went back to work on August 31, and she went to an in-home daycare. She had a difficult time adjusting - about 3 weeks before she started to really settle in. Just as she has gotten into a routine, her daycare provider gave 2 weeks notice! Long story short, she knew that a move was likely imminent before she took on Jacqueline and another one year old boy, so I am feeling pretty peeved at her inconsideration (if that's a word) of two little babies who are now going to be disrupted yet again. J's last day is tomorrow, and on Tuesday she will be starting in backup care at Kids & Company downtown, and finally moving to Peek-a-bears, where Christian has been for the past year, at the beginning of November. She'll be moving into the toddler room 3 months early (15 months as opposed to the usual 18 months) so I hope she does ok.

Now onto happier topics...

Jacqueline is not yet walking, but starting to stand on her own and has taken a few steps here and there. hopefully we will have walking video soon!

For now, she'll push around anything that will move and of course loves to walk around holding out hands



She has been saying (and trying to say) a few words for a few months now. So far only 3 really discernable ones: cat (ga), dog (gaw) and more (muh).

On the other hand (no pun intended!) her signing has really picked up lately. She's signing fish, children, milk, more, fan, cat, bird, light, cheese, tree and music so far. Managed to get some video of some of the signs. I've included a link (Click on the word above the video) to what the sign should be as well. as you can see, she doesn't always do the sign the same as we do - babies often approximate the sign, or do it their own way, because they don't have the physical coordination yet. Just like Christian, her first sign was "light" but her many of her subsequent signs are different than his, and it really gives an idea of what motivates different kids.

Cheese and More

Posted by Picasa


Cat



Children


Jacqueline is bigger than Christian was at this age! She was just over 22 lbs when I last weighed her a couple of weeks ago. She's not even really big for her age, it's just that Christian was, and still is, on the small side. She eats unbelievable amounts, and she likes almost anything.

And of course, the sun rises and sets on Christian. It's amazing to see the relationship developing between the two of them. He's the only one who can really make her laugh all the time. He's so good to her most of the time. Of course he has his moments when he's a bit overbearing and she lets it be known she's not happy with that, or he gets frustrated with her taking his toys (or taking HER toys from him!), but all in all, I wouldn't have it any other way.

That's about it for Jacqueline for now...stay tuned...I will post an update on Christian soon.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Family fun in July

Aunt Michelle, Uncle Bradley, Melissa and Aidan came to visit for the last week in July. It was a fun week with visits to the zoo and Niagara falls, as well as get-togethers with friends and family.

Here are the girl cousins on Jacqueline's birthday - Estella, Jacqueline and Melissa. I was unable to get all the boys together for a photo - Christian was not in the mood for posing that day.

Posted by Picasa
Cousin Mika:


Aidan at the butterfly conservatory


Jacqueline at the conservatory:


Always love a trip to the butterfly conservatory. My fave butterfly pic of the day:


A Blue Morpho (yes, I realize that this butterfly is not blue...the other surface of its wings are a vivid electric blue. One of my two or three fave butterflies, but incredibly hard to get a shot of these ones, as they rarely stay still for long) landed on Jacqueline's toy. this was snapped just seconds before J. made a grab for the butterfly - luckily, she was no match for the butterfly, who took off to safety!



Everyone except Jacqueline and I went for a ride on the Maid of the mist. I went for a walk while Jacqueline slept peacefully in the stroller.

Here's Christian with his ticket, just prior to going on the boat. He was a little excited :)


And here they are on the boat:


After Maid of the Mist, we headed off to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Once again, very difficult to get all 3 kids posing! I have renewed respect for school photographers!

I got Christian to pose here by telling him I'd take a picture so that it looks like the giant Hershey's Kiss is on his head!


Finally, just before we headed home, I managed to get Christian to pose in front of this fountain.
Posted by Picasa

Sprinkler fun

Summer finally seems to be here...finally! I promised Christian I would put on the sprinkler for him if it was nice today. I was very shocked at how much Jacqueline liked it! She crawled right over to it all by herself and got right into it, totally soaked. Didn't mind at all when she got sprayed in the face.






Posted by Picasa