Halloween 2008

Andrea was SO excited for Halloween this year. For about a week before, she started asking, about 20 times every day, "Is it Halloween yet? Can I wear my new princess dress?" She also practiced trick-or-treating with me and Daddy (pretending at home), and would ask us every night, when it was dark out, if it was time to go get candy!

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Anyway, Andrea got to have a little early Halloween fun. Aunt Stephanie and Isabelle came over a few days before to show off Izzy's costume, so I let Andrea and Kevin put theirs on, too.

Excited Princess!

Dragon Baby :))

Cute Little Cousins (Izzy is a chicken!)

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Daddy brought home a pumpkin for Andrea on Thursday night. She was thrilled. It was perfect timing--we had just finished watching the episode of Max and Ruby where they carve their pumpkin! Andrea designed the face, and Daddy carved it for her. She even helped remove the pumpkin guts!

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They don't get to wear their costumes to daycare on Halloween. The kids' daycare has a "black and orange" day instead, so I bought them matching "Mommy Little Pumpkin" t-shirts. ***
Here's my cuties together on Halloween night: the Princess and her Dragon!

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Daddy and I took Andrea and Kevin to visit Great-Grandma Maurice; then over to Mike, Michelle, and Parker's for a few minutes; and then we visited for a bit at Gram and Grandpa's. Soon, we were working our way back home, and trick-or-treating along the way. I pulled Kevin in the wagon, while Daddy took Andrea to the houses. Andrea was so funny; more often than not, she would greet our neighbours with "Happy Halloween!" when they opened the door (instead of "trick-or-treat"). Of course, they thought she was precious! When we got home, the kids and I handed out candy (Daddy left to pick up Grama Marty at the airport). Andrea was a great helper. She wanted to hand out the candy to everyone! It was funny to see her handing out candy to kids twice her size. Again, they thought she was adorable. Kevin was a good boy, too. As long as I kept feeding him chips and candy, he was quite happy to sit outside with us!

Mini Update: October

Mommy's finding it a lot harder to get on here and do frequent updates. Working full time with two little ones is taking a lot more out of me than I expected! I feel bad about not keeping up the blog like I always did, but it's just too much right now. Things are going fine; I simply don't have that extra time/energy anymore. I am trying to get the important events up here, though.

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Overall, things are pretty much status quo here. Kevin has started to do a bit of an army crawl, and took a few steps the other day while I was holding his hands. He also raises his arms when we say "Touchdown!" He likes to colour with crayons/markers. Grandpa G. says that he has gotten Kevin to say "Papa," but I haven't heard it yet. (Gram says she heard it yesterday.) Besides that, he is a quiet, generally content little guy who seems to be doing things in his own good time. I'd like to see more progress, but there's not much I can do at this point. We have a follow-up with the pediatrician we saw two months ago, in about a month.

Kevin still enjoys feeding himself, and yes, he still throws it all off his tray when he's done. (We need to work on that.) Last night, he had lots of fun with his pasta. You know pasta is always a huge mess with the little ones, but Kevin was totally hamming it up!

Silly Guy! ;-)

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In Andrea news, we are starting to have some hope that the potty boycott is gradually disappearing. We got Andrea to poop on the potty twice in the last four days, and that's the first time she's ever done it! Of course, we still have to go through 5 changes of clothes a day whenever we try the panties . . . but still, we'll take any encouraging signs at this point. Daycare is working hard to encourage her progress, too. Like her teacher said, though, a month or two can make a world of difference at this age; maybe she'll be ready soon.

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Andrea is very much into playing pretend now. She likes to pretend to plant a garden and pick flowers; go to the store; make a trip into outer space; cook and eat food, etc. She also likes to make "tents" and "forts" in the living room with chairs and blankets. Lately, she's become interested in being a "ballerina," and she dresses up in her princess clothes and dances all over the place. She likes to put on little shows for Daddy and I. She's now obsessed with "helping," too. Whatever Daddy and Mommy are doing, she wants to help. I find this sweet, but difficult. I want to encourage her to be helpful, but at the same time, it often takes more time and makes more work to let her help. So, I try to find little things she can do like pressing the buttons on the microwave for me, or putting things in her room, or getting things for Baby Kevin. She drives me nuts sometimes with her whining and her stubbornness, but she is at a really cute stage right now. We are amazed at some of the things she says ("I think NOT, Mama!"). Thank goodness she can make us laugh all the time!

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Here's a video of Andrea entertaining Kevin. She jumps, and then he jumps, and he always gets so excited when she plays with him!

Thanksgiving 2008

We celebrated Thanksgiving 2008 at Grandma and Grandpa G.'s house on Sunday, October 12. We also celebrated Daddy's birthday with his family that day, because it had been earlier in the week. The weather was GORGEOUS (sunny and 80 degrees!), so we spent most of the afternoon in the backyard.

Andrea loves to play dress-up, especially in anything pink and sparkly!

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Kevin's not so sure that Daddy should be wearing this hat.

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Andrea and Izzy both love to play soccer . . .

. . . and chase each other!

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Kevin is content to sit on a comfy lap with a fun toy.

He's also really started to like colouring lately.

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Andrea and Izzy helped Daddy open his birthday presents.

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Izzy tried to show Daddy how to tie his tie. It didn't look too innocent!

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Andrea: Always the actress. Here she is modeling Daddy's new hat for us.

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Gram was showing the girls how to "shake their booty."

You know I had to get a video of that!

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I couldn't get over how grown-up Kevin looked, sitting at the little folding table. Sigh.

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After the delicious Thanksgiving feast Gram made, we had some yummy desserts, and sang Happy Birthday to Daddy. Izzy and Andrea helped him blow out the candles.

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This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. Andrea looks so disgusted with her Daddy!

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However, it's clear she wasn't really offended by his behaviour. Imitation is, after all, the sincerest form of flattery!

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Kevin had been overtired and miserable during dinner, but a bowl of whipped cream soon cheered him up.

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After dinner, we went downstairs (where it was cooler!) to relax, and watch the kids play. They were trying to tackle the "Blanket Monster"!

"Blanket Monster": a.k.a. Grandpa!

We had a great time with our family for Thanksgiving Sunday. Kevin even perked up in the evening, and got super silly. He was wiggling his tongue at Mommy, and thought it was the funniest thing ever!

So Happy Together

This evening, we were all playing together in Andrea's room. I put Kevin up on Andrea's bed with her, and they both thought that was great fun. At first, Andrea was jumping up and down on the bed (until Mommy stopped that!), jolting Kevin until he fell over onto her pillow. Kevin thought that was hilarious; he'd pull himself back up to sitting, and wait to be toppled over again! Then, they were both laying on their backs, with their feet in the air, and shrieking with excitement. Next, Andrea decided she wanted cuddle under the blankets with Kevin. At first he thought it was a joke, so every time she put the covers on him, he's laugh and kick them off! Finally, he caught on that she really did want to snuggle with him, so he settled down at her side, under the covers. It made me so happy to see them enjoying each other's company; it's becoming more frequent lately, but they're still rare and precious moments, that do Mommy's heart good. :))

Can you say ADORABLE?!

Aw, so nice and snuggly!

Shh . . . don't tell Mommy; it's a secret!

. . . inside joke, I guess . . .

New Swim Classes, Fall 2008

Andrea and Kevin started their swimming lessons again a few weeks ago. They are both in new classes this time, since they both had a birthday in July. Andrea is in Preschool A now, which means she gets to swim with a teacher, and a few other classmates (usually 3 others). We don't go in with her. She was a bit uncertain for a few minutes the first week, because she's never swam without me or Daddy before. However, the water at Windsor Water World is only up to her chin in the Tot Pool, plus they keep it nice and warm. She loves it, now! This week, the other students arrived a bit late, so Andrea had Miss Stephanie all to herself for a while.

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Later, a classmate showed up. He watched while Miss Stephanie helped Andrea float on her back.

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It worked out perfectly this time, that Andrea's class and Kevin's were offered at the same time, and in the same pool. As you can see, Andrea, Daddy, and Kevin cross paths every now and then.

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Miss Stephanie is helping Andrea to swim on her belly, with her hands folded in front of her.

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Kick, Andrea, kick!

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Andrea LOVES her new big-girl swim class!

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Andrea and her classmates are headed to the play area, with their teacher. (Andrea's best swim buddy, another little girl, didn't show up today.)

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They usually spend some time playing in the shallow end, with water toys, at the end of class.

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Kevin is in Parent & Tot 2 now, with Daddy. He only took Parent & Tot 1 once, with me, back in February to April. So, I was pleased that he took to the water again so easily. However, I'm not surprised--bath time with Kevin is like a mini hurricane!

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Daddy is demonstrating how to blow bubbles in the water. Kevin thinks it's hilarious!

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Neither of our kids is keen about floating/swimming on their back, but at least they don't fuss too much.

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Kevin got to ride on a noodle today. Judging by the splashes (and the tongue sticking out), I'd say he liked it!

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Here's Kevin and his class singing and bobbing to "Alice the Camel." Kevin loves being bobbed in and out of the water.

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Finally, a video, of course! Like I said, Kevin's favourite part is getting bobbed in and out of the water. So, he likes it a lot when Rod sits him on the side of the pool, and encourages him to "jump" in! Of course, he enjoys kicking his feet in the water (and splashing Daddy) just as much. :))