Last Swim Class for Now

This morning the kids had their last swim class for this session. Andrea, Kevin, and Ryan each completed their level successfully and will move up to a new class next time: Andrea to Preschool 4, Kevin to preschool 2, and Ryan to Parent & Tot 2. I tried to get a few pictures of each of them in their class, but it's always a bit crazy since we've started all three in swim class. In fact, we've decided to take a break for next session, and let Andrea try a ballet class instead (that will start in mid-January).

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Kevin's done well in his swim class this session. It was his first class without Mommy and Daddy, and he handled it fairly well. He was a bit shy and hesitant at first, but for the most part, he's cooperated well with his teacher. He still needs to get more comfortable with putting his face in the water; however, he's made a lot of progress with jumping in and bobbing his head under water. As the pictures show, he still needs a little encouragement to jump in, but when he's ready, he makes it a good jump!

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I'd have to say that of the three kids, Ryan seemed to be the one who most enjoyed swim class this session. It was his first time in swim class, and despite class time interfering with nap time, he's usually in a great mood once he's in the water. He kicks really well and enjoys splashing. His favourite part is when they sing songs and bob up and down in the water. He was so absorbed in his swim activities that I couldn't get him to look up when I tried to get a picture! When I finally got him to look at me, his expression seemed to say, "I'm busy here. Do you need something?"

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Andrea's swim experience was mixed this session. She started out loving it; then she had a bad dunk and got scared for a few weeks; then we worked with her teacher to overcome her fear, and she liked it again. One thing she was really excited about was the teacher told her he would take the class down the big water slide on the last day. This morning she was a bit nervous, but we kept reassuring her she would have so much fun if she tried it. For the first slide down, the teacher went down with her, to make her feel a bit more secure. She loved it! The next time, she went down the big slide all by herself. Then, she kept asking the teacher to go again! Unfortunately, time ran out for her class, so she only got two turns. Now she keeps saying, "I love swim class! I wish swim class could just be going down the big slide!" (We might take them for a few family swims this winter since we decided to take a break from classes. I hope they will let Andrea go down the water slide!)

Here's a video of Andrea's two trips down the water slide. I only got her on the last stretch, because that's all you can really see from deck level. Keep in mind, this is a full-sized water park slide! I was so proud of her for being brave, and happy she didn't miss out on the fun. :)

Andrea's Kindergarten Christmas Party

The JK and SK teachers at Andrea's school arranged a special Christmas party for them yesterday, and invited parents to join the fun. I'm glad I'm still on maternity leave, so I was able to attend the event. Andrea was so happy to have me at her school. She kept giving me big hugs and saying, "I wish you could come to my school every day!" Yep, I was feeling the love. :)

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They assembled the little ones in the gym, sang Jingle Bells, and then Santa and Mrs. Claus appeared. Santa read the kids a story about Rudolph.

Then, we went back to Andrea's classroom. They had several Christmas craft centres set up, and a snack station, to keep everyone busy until it was Andrea's class's turn to visit Santa. The first thing we made together was a box snowman.

Then, Andrea wanted to have a snack break. She had a lovely Christmas cookie and a juice. She was loving those cookies. Look at this happy, messy cookie face!

Next, we went to decorate a Christmas tree. We used ribbons, sequins, puffballs, and snowflakes. Andrea designed it all herself.


While we were working on the tree, it was time to head back to the gym for Andrea's class to visit with Santa. Each child got a turn to go up and sit on Santa's lap, get their picture taken, and have a chat with him. Then, Mrs. Claus gave each child a colourful candy cane at the end of their turn. Andrea said afterward that she felt a little shy, but she didn't seem nervous at all!

Andrea and I moved to sit with her best friend, Emily, while they waited for everyone else to have their turn with Santa. The girls got into their candy canes and were full of smiles.

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We went back to Andrea's class. Then, she finished her Christmas tree. She went on to decorate a bracelet with Christmas stickers. She paused to have another Christmas cookie and some hot chocolate, and then it was time to go home. All in all, she was one very happy little girl. :)

Kevin's Christmas Concert 2010

Tonight we attended Kevin's daycare Christmas Concert. Kevin is in the Preschool 2 room, which has kids from age 3-4. Kevin seemed to enjoy his time on stage, although he occasionally hesitated when he noticed all the people in the audience. Andrea and I moved to the front row when Kevin's class was ready to perform, so I could get some good videos (the pictures never seem to turn out here). Just by luck, we were seated near Kevin's end of the stage.

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Song 1: "Good Friends Around the World": They were passing along a globe-styled beach ball and singing about everyone being good friends. Each child said their name when they had their turn holding the ball.

Song 2: "This Little Light of Mine": Each of the kids had a little paper-and-tissue candle to use for the actions while they sang the song.

Song 3: "Up on the Housetop": Kevin did a good job with the singing and actions on this one. He especially seemed to enjoy the "out JUMPS good old Santa" part, and when they got to use percussion instruments for the break in the middle of the song.

Song 4: "Away in a Manger": Kevin did well with his actions for this song, but got a bit distracted at the end. The little girl next to him was yelling to her mom, so Kevin spotted me and pointed and said, "My mommy's right there!"

Song 5: "Where is Santa?": This is a cute one with a Santa face. Kevin looked more like he was singing TO Santa, but he was having fun!

Song 6: "Snowflakes Falling From the Sky": This was a pretty song, with a little interpretive dance, involving snowflakes festooned with long trailing ribbons.

Song 7: "123 Jesus Loves Me": This one is funny because it was a simple song, but turned into the classic jockeying-for-attention fest associated with little kids' concerts. The kids on the two sides of Kevin started to block him. I think he knew Mommy was trying to tape his show, so he stood up and came right to the edge of the stage! Eventually, Miss Lynn had to come and take him and Landon back to their seats . . . hehehe.

Song 8: "Twinkle Twinkle": This song started out the traditional way, with the little ones singing slowly and waving gold stars with streamers. Then, the tempo picked up, and they went wild! They were jumping, running, and waving their stars all over the place! Kevin hesitated after the first burst of excitement, but Andrea cheered him on and coached him from the audience. Then, he started copying some moves Landon was doing, and it looked like they had choreographed the dance! The best was Andrea yelling out at the end, "You did a great job, Brother!" The audience got a good chuckle out of that.

After the show, they always have cookies and juice for the performers and their families. I was trying to get a picture of Kevin, but he wouldn't part with his refreshments (or his Papa!).

I'm kind of sad that this is Kevin's last daycare concert. He'll be in JK next year! However, we'll have Ryan's performance with the Toddler Room to look forward to. :)

Preparing for Christmas

We started decorating our house for the holidays on the last weekend of November. Daddy and Andrea decided to get creative with the tree decorations. Yes, those are Andrea's socks tossed on the tree. Needless to say, the socks were not allowed to remain in place.

Now, this is more the look we (well, Mommy was) were going for!

We had about 10 mismatched styles of stockings in our collection, so I decided it was time to get a nice set for the family.

A couple of days after we decorated the tree, Ryan helped me wrap the presents. Well, he had fun getting into everything, anyway.
"Where do I start?"

"Oh, I'm getting it now."

"Wrapping paper: both crinkly and tasty!"

"Sorry, Mama. I thought it was for me." (No, it was actually Kevin's!)

He was worn out after getting into all that mischief.

This is Mommy's favourite new thing this Christmas!

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Not much changed in our outdoor decorations, so I didn't take any photos, except this one.

I felt sorry for this little shrub by our front door. It reminds me so much of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I decided to decorate it like Charlie Brown did his, and got the same results. When I hung the ornament, brittle needles fluttered to the ground, and the shrub bent over a bit. However, it survived. "All it needed was a little love."

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We've only had one really snowy day so far, and even then, it was less than a half inch of accumulation. Still, it made for a pretty picture that evening.

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Ryan isn't crawling yet, but he rolls like a champion. It is his main mode of movement, and it gets him where he wants to go. It also gets him where he shouldn't go.

He is constantly derailing the train and getting into the presents!
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By the way, Andrea and Kevin have been SPAZ since the tree went up. There is no better word to describe the insanity around here lately. I provide photographic evidence below.

I guess it's an expression of pre-Christmas excitement. :)

November Moments

November was a pretty routine month. I think things were fairly tame to give us a break before the upcoming Christmas rush. However, one thing we decided to do a bit early this year was get our Christmas photos done. Really, this year, it was an opportunity get an updated family portrait, with Baby Ryan.





The kids handled the photos well this year. Considering their ages and different personalities, we managed to get a decent family photo, and some good photos of each of them individually.

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Andrea went to her first birthday party at a friend's house on the 20th. It was her best friend Emily's 5th birthday, and the party had a princess theme. It was Andrea's dream come true. They even had a Princess there to entertain the girls at the party. She was so excited to go!

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Andrea has developed a passion for putting on puppet shows. The puppets are usually paper bag puppets she makes, or she uses some of her small dolls. However, she kept complaining because she didn't have a good puppet theatre to present her shows. Mommy, who is not at all talented in the craft area but was tired of the whining, finally found some big cardboard packaging and voila--puppet theatre! Andrea added on the poster she won at school to give it some visual interest.

Her first puppet show in the new theatre was a great success. It was about Andrea and Emily having a party (big surprise there).

We brought the puppet theatre down to show Kevin and Daddy. Kevin wanted his turn to put on a show, too.

In typical Kevin fashion, a minor disaster ensued. Conveniently, I was snapping a photo of his puppet show just as he knocked over the theatre. I love the genuine reaction of shock and mischievous laughter on his face.

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A day or two later, Andrea lost her third tooth. This one was a big front tooth, so the gap is quite noticeable. Daddy loves it. He calls it her "hockey player" smile. It's too cute.

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Ryan loves remote controls, just like his Daddy. Whenever Ryan sees one in my hand or within reach, he grabs for it . . . typical little man. I told Santa about this, so I'm pretty sure Ryan will be getting a toy TV remote this year.

In other Ryan news, he is making some progress. He rolls all over the place now, so the safety gate has officially gone up at the stairs. He also sits unsupported more steadily now. He's really building strength in his arms, and pushes his upper body up well. In fact, he's started to scoot/crawl backwards a bit. Now he just needs to figure out how to lift his bum and get his back legs going, to go forward. I think he'll be crawling soon. He still puts good weight on his legs, but is not making any attempt to take steps yet. He isn't pulling himself up yet, but he's getting stronger when I hold him by the arms/fingers.

In terms of communication, be says "Dada," "Mum/Mumma," "Baba" and makes a lot of other word-like sounds. I think he's said "all done" a few times ("ah dunnn") and we've even caught him saying something like "Aya" for Andrea once or twice. He loves to hum, especially when he's falling asleep (probably because I hum to him when I rock him).

His eating and sleeping habits are still fairly infant-ish, which is frustrating. He does not tolerate lumpy foods well; he always gags and/or spits them out. This concerns me because he's starting daycare in 3 weeks, and it's much easier for everyone if he's on regular solids by then. At this point, he won't even eat lumpy baby food, though. We're working on it. As for sleeping, his naps are still irregular, and he's still up once or twice a night. This was also something I had hoped would be settled before I go back to work. My other two kids started sleeping through the night around 5 months old, when they started on solids (baby cereal). I'm not sure why Ryan isn't doing this yet.

Generally, though, Ryan is a happy baby and I just love cuddling him. His eyes are beautiful, his smile sweet, and I love his giggles. I am not looking forward to returning to work in January!

Halloween 2010

We had a great Halloween this year. First, it was on a weekend, so the pace was a bit more leisurely; second, we also celebrated Gram Gagnon's birthday (which is Nov. 1) on Halloween morning; and finally, it was Ryan's first Halloween (yay!).


We carved our pumpkins the morning before Halloween. My "Little Pumpkin" was happy to sit in his high chair and watch. He also tried to use some of the mini-pumpkins for shot-put! One landed on Mommy's toe (ouch!), but I guess it was my fault for letting him play with them.

Andrea was asking if we could make pumpkin cookies and pumpkin pie. I suppose that's why Kevin got hungry!

I was trying to get them to say "Cheese," and Kevin was squinting his eyes shut every time!

Andrea wasn't all that impressed with the pumpkin guts. It took a lot of persuading to get her to participate in this part, but Daddy can make her laugh anytime.

Kevin dove right in to the pumpkin guts. He thought they were kind of weird, but he didn't mind holding them for a bit.

Here is Andrea posing with her finished pumpkin. She wanted it to be a girl (thus the drawn-on hair bow), and she named it Andrea Pumpkinhead.

Daddy was having fun grossing out the kids with his pumpkin-guts antics.

They're all done! Here's my gang, posing with their finished products.

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On Halloween morning, we went out for brunch with the Gagnons and then back to Gram and Papa's house to celebrate Gram's birthday (which would be the next day).

Hannah and Izzy wore their costumes in the morning for Gram and Papa to see, since they couldn't stop by at trick-or-treat time. Our little gang dressed in orange-and-black theme for the morning: Kevin and Andrea had Halloween shirts, and Ryan had Halloween socks.

The bigger kids got Halloween treat bags from Gram and Papa, but Ryan got a special soft vampire toy. He was quite interested in checking it out. It was too cute to be scary!

Meanwhile, the others were getting into their Halloween treats. As you can see by the look on everyone's faces, choosing which candy to eat first is serious business!

This is what little faces look like after an injection of candy: happy!

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Later, at trick-or-treat time, we started out from Gram and Papa's like we usually do. Here, the kids collected even more candy, and we got some pictures of them in their costumes:

Kevin as Thomas the Train

Andrea as The "Pretty" Witch

Ryan as a Cute and Cuddly Lion

Ryan's enthusiasm didn't last too long. He's getting over a cold, teething, and hasn't slept well in 2 weeks. He was already sleepy by the time we left Gram and Papa's--and we hadn't even started trick-or-treating yet!

Anyways, we left Gram and Papa's and trick-or-treated our way toward home. Papa came along with us. Ryan and I settled in to hand out candy at home, but the others continued on down the street. About 45 minutes later, they dropped off Andrea (she was ready to eat some candy!), but Kevin went back out for more with Daddy and Papa. He was loving it this year! When they finally got back, Daddy and the kids took over candy distribution. We had a good turnout: probably 120-150 kids this year.