Brotherly Love

We had a lovely pre-Christmas dinner at Auntie Melody's last night and my sister snapped this photo of Leo and Henry.

Leo's girlfriend

I remember my first crushes. Crushes of varying degrees, obviously depending on my age. I don't remember any of them really predating grade 4. So I'm having a little bit of trouble relating to Leo's current crush at the age of 2. It's been going on long enough now that it's pretty serious. Leo's starting to bring her to dinner, take her with him on the way to daycare and even wanted to bring her to Nana's this past week. Admittedly, she is a bit of a looker; however, I find her a bit hollow.

May I present to you, "Mermaid":

Mermaid came into our lives many months ago, when Holly met her in a bin of Mega Bloks at a garage sale. At the time, Mermaid was pretty cliquey with her buds Flounder and Sebastian. But when they were introduced to the boys, Leo only had eyes for Mermaid. Flounder has been invited along for a couple of things this past week, but Sebastian has been left at the bottom of the bin more often than not.

It turns out that Mermaid is actually quite popular and has been featured in a couple of films. Recently, there has been a pile of merchandise available with Mermaid's face all over it. Needles to say, Leo is pretty fond of these things. The other day at the bookstore, Leo squealed three times: when he saw a toy helicopter, when he saw the Thomas train table and when he saw a Disney Princesses compendium. He's going to grow up so metro.

Anyway, I just thought I would make some introductions. No need to buy her any gifts this year for Christmas, but maybe next year...

Been a while

Hello. Yes, we're still alive. Just very, very busy.

It's been a crazy month since our last update. I've returned to work and the boys and I have tried to hammer out a reasonable routine for the mornings. Holly and Henry are unknown quantities in the morning - sometimes we get to see them, sometimes we don't - so we try to a) get out without help and b) not wake any sleeping mommies or babies.

Henry still sleeps well at night, but is getting a little bit harder to coax to sleep. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how or when he'll knock off...rested or tired, happy or wailing, Henry makes his own terms. During the daytime, though, we have had a major breakthrough after a close friend of ours lent us her swing. This is not just any swing, but a MAGIC swing. Seriously. We plopped Henry in the swing at the party and unlike our old one (instant dislike), Henry chilled in the swing for quite some time. Now, most mornings, he's most happy to hang out in the swing (and sometimes even sleep!!!) for 30-60 minutes, giving Holly a bit of a breather to get some chores done at the start of the day. Henry also likes the mobile we got when Leo was born, but it's nothing like the swing! The other big highlight for Henry is that he is starting to smile. Yay!!

Max is really getting into school. He is really engaged in writing and drawing and is starting to find some motivation to trace letters and colour - two things he was never particularly interested in doing until recently. He loves working in activity books, has really gotten back into puzzles after a short hiatus, and likes taking grown-up board games and turning them into kids' games. Max got his first mini Lego set the other week and that has been a monster hit with the boys. Also, we've been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Finally, Max has been doing some extra-curricular activities as well, such as a marimba workshop this past weekend and his weekly independent swim classes. He's such a good kid at swimming: Leo and I go into the pool at 8:10 and Max sits quietly with a book on the deck until 8:30 when he goes in with his class. I have a feeling Leo won't be so trustworthy at 4.

Leo has turned into one hilarious little dude. While his letter sounds still aren't quite there, he is communicating up a storm and is really starting to use his manners. Leo is really loving his time with Vieda and the morning drop-off blues finally came to an end about 2 weeks ago. Leo is obsessed with wooden peg puzzles these days as well as magnet boards where he can stick picture magnets to make tableaux. He has also gotten into the habit of plunking himself down in front of a bookshelf and then pulling books out, one at a time, and leafing right through them until there's a pile of 20-30 around him on the floor. Sure, he doesn't pick them up, but he sure loves to look at them!

My favourite Leo story from the past month happened at a pumpkin-carving party (the same night Henry found THE SWING). Leo and another 8-year-old girl were in the basement watching Beauty and the Beast. I heard the TV getting a bit loud so I went to check on the volume. Not only was the movie loud, but it was at a fairly scary part. I went to the front of the couch to go sidetrack Leo only to find him snuggled right up to the 8-year-old who was taking great care of him. Leo rode out the scary part in the arms of his love (but not his true love, that's James) and then when it was over, he nonchalantly sagged back into his corner of the couch like she wasn't even there. What a dude!

Here are a few pictures taken over the past month:

Leo rocking his awesome hand-crafted sombrero, lovingly transported from Mexico by Auntie Laramie and Uncle James.

The boys at their very own table enjoying some Swiss Chalet at Auntie Melody's place.

Is it just me or do babies look really, really good on Auntie Laramie?

Baby foot!

Henry and the octopus. Max also enjoyed this seat with the octopus - check out the similarities here.

Some tidbits

Everyone else is napping right now so I can jot some things down.

I wanted to put in writing (before I forget) my three favourite things that Leo has been saying over the past couple of months.

My absolute #1 is when Leo is looking for something and can't find it - he says "anywhere". As in: "Leo, where is the guitar?" "Guitaaaarrr. Anywhere!" (in a mega-whiny but super cute voice). This has already been upgraded to "Can't find it anywhere", but when he only said "anywhere", that was the best.

Also, when Leo eventually finds what he was looking for, you get the awesome "[squeal of delight] Right theeeere/heeeeere" (still whiny). It's a wonder we don't set Leo out looking for things all day long. Although it must be said that he is extremely good at finding things in "finding books".

Another popular Leo-ism is when he wants to let you know that he's hungry or wants a bite of what you're eating. He says "I humvee". Or maybe sometimes "I'm humvee". But in either case, he's definitely all about the Hummers.

Leo and Max have both settled into their daily routines now. The three of us (Holly is usually comatose with Henry in the mornings) are getting pretty good at waking, eating, dressing and mobilizing in the mornings in order to drop Leo off at daycare around 8:10 and Max at school for the 8:30 bell. I think we've only been late once in six weeks, which is pretty good for me. The routine will have to tighten up a bit this next week to accommodate my return to work, but I am optimistic things will work out.

Leo is having a great time interacting with the other boys his age and worshipping Max's old daycare mate (a 5 year-old! how cool!) while playing, eating well, making crafts and occasionally visiting the Children's Village playgroup. He has even (finally!) stopped crying upon drop-off, although it was more of a separation thing rather than a hating daycare thing - he would always turn off the waterworks within 5 minutes of my departure.

Max is doing all sorts of things at school. We still get the daily blurbs from his teacher so that helps us engage him on some of the things he's learning. He just went through a week of covering the five senses and now the kids have started a "letter of the week" initiative, where they learn about words starting with the letter of the week and make attempts to write the letter. Max has developed an interest in drawing and writing lately, due to some of the school initiatives and this has been helped along by his LeapFrog learn-to-write-and-draw toy he got at Christmas. It's become a great tool for him.

The wild card for Max is that we never really know what he gets up to at daycare. Every now and then, he'll rattle off a poem or song that we'd never heard before and then nonchalantly mention that he picked that up at daycare. In fact, over the past couple of days, he has come home singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight and has started to teach Leo how to sing it. It's pretty cute.

Anyway, here are some pictures from September:

This is your brain on McDonald's.

Our favourite game: which child is this?

I bet Holly misses this.

Mom and Max, cooking up a storm at the Children's Museum.

Max and a hot dog trying to escape a stalker . . .

Leo at an Ottawa Fat Cats game (Thanks Auntie Melody!)

Some face painting at the Fat Cats game.

Photo evidence of our helicopter ride (A birthday present for Max that Leo and I got to share - Thanks Uncle James!). The take-off spot was the Aviation Museum, one of the boys' favourite spots. A pretty cool way to see the city.

I can't believe I neglected to post these pictures from Max's birthday on the 9th. Here is the birthday boy with some star pancakes.

And here with some lunchtime birthday dessert at Scores.

Max and I went go-karting with Nana after lunch, while Auntie Laramie and Holly spectated. Surprisingly, go-karting is not recommended for pregnant women!

Max and I also played some video games. Nana played her first ever game of air hockey too.

Then we went mini-golfing...

And Max won two free rounds in a game of chance!

I think Max had a good time.

It's official: before Henry popped out, we had actually started working with Leo and the potty. This was his first time in underwear.

Giving thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend here at Casa Stardom so a quick post is in order. The weather was absolutely spectacular all weekend so we took advantage with plenty of adventures.

On Friday night, Max had his first successful sleepover at Nana's. They had smelts (one of Max's new favourite foods) and other treats for dinner and watched a movie. Max slept in until after 8:00 am! We took Leo to Cosmic Adventures for some awesome playtime which he loved. He kept asking where Max was for a while then settled in and enjoyed some time with both of us. Henry obliged as well with lots of quiet and alert time in the ball pit. We had a funny exchange with Leo on the way home from Cosmic. I told Leo that he was one of the loves of my life and then John asked Leo who the love of his life was. His response: "James". Priceless.

On Saturday morning, we had a lovely brunch then set out for Mackenzie King Estate with Auntie Laramie and Uncle James. Going to Mackenzie King on Thanksgiving weekend was a family tradition for my family growing up and Laramie and I had a blast reminiscing about our exploits. We hiked the Waterfall Trail and then had a nice picnic lunch on the grounds. Henry definitely elicited some oohs and aahs! Back in the day, we brought John's mum, brother and sister-in-law here for Thanksgiving when Max was a wee thing. The big boys were so exhausted that they both passed out before we got out of Gatineau Park.








We hosted our third annual family Thanksgiving dinner at our place on Sunday. A few people have remarked that we were crazy to do this with a 13-day old baby but it was great. Everyone pitched in, from stuffing the turkey and prepping side dishes to cooking and doing dishes and bringing pies and wine. In the afternoon, there were games of Settlers and Carcassonne while Auntie Karen and Max had a two-hour walkabout in the neighbourhood after they got slightly lost on the way to the park, and Leo had a three-hour nap. Henry also conked out on Uncle James' chest for a nap.

I probably don't say it enough so I'll say it here again - my family is amazing and super supportive and it was a real pleasure to sit around the table with them to share a delicious meal and celebrate all that we have to be thankful for - new babies, new homes, a medical miracle for a family friend, our health, being together and so much more.

Leo provided us with another priceless moment as everyone was leaving our place after dinner. Laramie and James were heading to Mexico on vacation the next day and we told the boys to say goodbye. James offhandedly mentioned that Leo could come in their suitcase. A minute later, Leo had his Crocs on and was at the door saying "I ready. I ready." It was funny and heart-breaking at the same time. Leo definitely adores his Uncle James. We've been joking that Leo will be more jealous of Laramie and James' baby when he arrives in January than he is of Henry but I don't think we are far off the mark!









On Monday, we headed out to the Agricultural Museum for the morning. The Ag Museum always has wonderful activities on holiday weekends. Max and Leo participated in an apple cider making demonstration and learned about the importance of pollination. Then we met our dear friend Chris and his awesome mum for a dim sum lunch at our favourite place. The boys actually associate Chris with this restaurant because they have gone with him so many times. The boys have been going there with family and friends since they were tiny babies and the staff all know us so it was great to introduce Henry to this tradition. I grew up around the corner from this restaurant and have been going there for almost 30 years so it is pretty amazing that the boys are now "regulars" as well.

More about Henry

Hi there,

So we're two weeks in and still alive. Actually, we definitely measure things in weekends, when we have to switch to a zone defense*. In any case, everyone is still doing well and we've only had to discipline the older boys once each for hitting Henry (their contacts with Henry have been about 1/34 violent so far...not too bad).

Henry is coming along nicely. After a couple of days at the start of DEMANDING BETTER FOOD NOW, like a new hospital patient, Holly's milk came in and he became a lot happier. He is a good eater and, after a snack, routinely spends long blocks of time quiet (or at least hiccupping) with his eyes open. This is something I don't remember the last one doing much early on (what do you call that, black-coloured glasses?). Henry also likes being held by pretty much anybody, as long as he's not hungry.

Sleep-wise, Henry does really well. We've broken the rules a bit by letting him have a couple of extra-long sleeps, but his weight and bodily functions are right on track so we're not too concerned about sacrificing a feeding for more parental functionality. The trouble is coercing Henry to sleep. He doesn't seem that soothable at this point...at least not the rocking/shushing variety. Holly's had some success with this sort of soothing, but after punishing him with a typhoon of breast milk. For me, it's all about walking and wearing (thankfully, the October weather has been more than accommodating!!!). I should have a pedometer.

Given that this is our last go-around with babies, we are breaking our own mould by trying to dress Henry in things other than sleepers as much as possible. You know what, babies look pretty cute in all these baby clothes! I look back at how many pictures we have of Max and Leo in sleeper after sleeper and it's kind of funny.

Here are some more pictures of our cutie-pie:

*Actually, this line (which I've heard from a few people now) got me thinking that with a much larger family, we could use some other defensive alignment analogies from the sporting world. I'd love to say that we'd have to employ the neutral zone trap, the Tampa 2, taxi, 40 minutes of hell, a shallow outfield, or a nickel package. Given a bit more time or energy, I could figure out how those would translate to parenting but for right now, I just think they'd be fun to say.

Max's 4th birthday

Believe it or not, this is our 300th post. Crazy.

At the start of last month, we all threw Max a party for his 4th birthday. This is probably that last awkward year where the list of invitees depends more on who Holly and I know, rather than who Max knows. It will be interesting to see who shows up next time around!

It seems to be the thing to do to theme it up with preschoolers so we decided to go for it this year and give Max a special parrrrrrty. (That's pirate speak for pirate party). We looked online for some ideas and it's MIND-BLOWING the lengths to which some parents go for a four-year-old's party. So we took it down a few notches and planned only two activities (seriously, some parties seemed to have four or five).

We started off at 10:30 in the morning with a craft for the kids - Holly unearthed a pile of her decorating supplies and everybody decorated their own treasure chests. At the end of the party, once all the paint dried, everyone got to stash their loot in the chests.

After the chests were all decorated, all of the kids and parents went outside where Max was presented with a giant treasure map (it was delivered to the mailbox - wink, wink). The map led Max and his fellow marauders to a few different locations around the block where we had stashed some pirate accessories (hats, eye patches andswords), chocolate coins, and a treasure chest filled with jewels at the end.

Once they were all kitted out, the pirates returned to the house for some grub (pizza, and lots of it). A really cool moment kind of happened organically: all of the kids were quietly eating at the table with minimal supervision while the parents got a chance to chat in the next room. It was neat to allow our friends to meet one another while their children took themselves off their parents' hands. Considering the age of the crowd and the energy levels at a birthday party, I was really surprised that this happened.

Finally, before everyone started tucking into their pirate cupcakes, I treated the crowd to the telling of a pirate story, read from a book that Max's Winnipeg Grandma bought for him this past summer. It was a big hit! Max's Auntie Laramie did an awesome job fusing some cupcakes and decorations together to create a pirate ship for Max (including a Twix plank - awesome!).

All in all, it was a great party. Everyone had a lot of fun and it wasn't even that stressful for me (for those of you who don't know me, this really isn't my kind of thing). The only bummer was that the party couldn't line up on International Talk Like a Pirate Day (the 19th of September). A big thank you to Kerry, Laramie, James and Jessa who helped out a lot with the set-up, execution, and clean-up of the party. Laramie and James even came in costume. It definitely wouldn't have gone as smoothly without you guys! Big thanks to Auntie Jan who sent the amazing pirate chest all the way from Victoria, BC. Also, thanks to Henry for deciding to stay inside a little longer to let Max have his special celebration.