A Star(dom) is born: 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!