Andrea and Ballet

Andrea's been taking ballet classes for about a month now, and she just loves it. Daddy usually takes her to class on Thursday evenings, while I stay home with the boys, so I haven't had a chance to see her dance yet. This week, before class, I asked her if she would put on a little show for me, so I could see what she has been learning. Ever my little performer, she was happy to oblige. Here are some of the basic positions she has been learning (I won't try to tell you what they are called, especially since Andrea's pronunciation of French is questionable at best!).

I also encouraged her to put some of her moves together into a ballet routine I could record on video. She created this on the spot, so I was fairly impressed. I asked her if she does any of this dance in class, and she said yes, the part with clapping and touching her toes. Then, Kevin wanted to have me take a video of him. When Andrea coaxed him to put on a show, he tried to imitate some of her routine. It was very cute. The funniest part to them, though, was that Kevin accidentally walked into the frame at the end of Andrea's video, so Andrea decided to pop in at the end of Kevin's video. I swear, they watched their videos about 20 times, and laughed hysterically each time one of them popped in at the end of the other's routine! It never ceases to amaze me, what amuses these two!

February Pictures and Videos

Family Super Bowl Party 2011

Andrea and Izzy in their matching colour-your-own-princess shirts

Kevin and Papa excited for the football party to begin

Hannah being shy, but a nice view of how she coloured her princess shirt

Pauline and Nathen

They've grown so much since the newborns they were last year, and can really interact now!

Aww . . . baby hugs and kisses

Great-Gram with her new grandbaby: Uncle Pook and Lori's little guy, Jacob

Nathen the Party Animal :)

Kevin being . . . well . . . Kevin!

Mikenna getting into our Kleenex ;)

Ryan showing Aunt Stephanie his football pjs for Super Bowl

Aunt Stephanie giving Ryan tickles!

Kevin falling asleep on Gram and Papa, while Gram rubs his back

Student of the Month

Andrea got the Student of the Month Award for January. Daddy was able to go to her school and see her get the award at a school assembly. She was so excited, and we are so proud of her!

Ryan's Bad Hair Day

We hadn't been able to get him a haircut recently because he had been so ill and cranky. He definitely needs a trim soon! ;)

Matching Red Jerseys

Ryan and Kevin wore matching red Canada hockey sweaters to daycare on Valentine's Day.

Same Sweaters, Different Expressions!

Ryan Making Progress

I said, "You hold it," and he did!

Ryan Sitting Up By Himself and Crawling!

Ryan Laughing at Kevin and His Truck

Ryan Hiding From the Pasta

February Update (Sorry, no photos/videos yet)

Goodness, so much has happened over the past 3 weeks or so with the kids, I feel I have to get on here and mention a few things before I forget. I have some pictures and videos, too, but we are already at mid-term time at work and I have been a bit overwhelmed as it is, adjusting to the back-to-work-with-three-kids-now lifestyle, so I haven't had time to upload/edit them. (Can you tell how busy my brain is by that crazy long sentence?) So, here's a point-form update of some of the highlights I'd like to mention.

• Annual Family Super Bowl Party here on February 6th: It was fun to see all of the babies who were infants (or not yet arrived) at least year's gathering playing together this year.
• Ryan's Gross Motor Skills progress: he started to get up on all fours about 2 or 3 weeks ago; he started getting from crawling to sitting position on his own, and remaining sitting with no support, last week; this week, he has finally started to crawl! It starts in four-point position, but then he usually flops down as he tries to go forward, then goes into a fairly quick army crawl.
• Ryan's Food/Drink progress: Well, he's finally eating "solids" again after refusing anything but formula for almost 3 weeks, while he had those viruses. The good news: by tomorrow, he'll be completely off formula, and the milk seems to be going over well with him and his tummy. The bad news: he eats like a champ, but only if it's infant oatmeal or pureed stage 1 jar baby foods. He still refuses anything with lumps, and doesn't like any "real" foods.
• Ryan's Fine Motor Skills progress: As it relates to feeding, Ryan still won't try to feed himself, and will only play with a spoon for a few minutes. He rarely tries to put a spoon near his mouth. As for bottles, I finally said to Ryan tonight, "Buddy, you're almost 13 months old. You can hold this bottle yourself! Do you want it?" He grabbed it and tried to put it in his mouth when I held it out, so I put him on his back on the floor and voila--he fed himself the entire bottle!
• Ryan and Daycare: He is doing fantastic. He almost never cries, sleeps great, and is always happy as long as he's feeling well.
• Ryan and Hearing: One thing the daycare teachers pointed out (and I had noticed, too) is that Ryan often doesn't respond to people talking to him, or noises, unless you are right in his face. I took him for his 12-month immunizations today, and asked the doctor to book him for a hearing test. I tried a few things myself, like clapping and calling his name from behind him, and even popping balloons--no response. However, he did turn around when I put on the vacuum the other day. Hopefully, it's just some temporary thing due to the ear infections he's had lately. (?)
• Ryan's Height and Weight: He's a big guy like his siblings were/are: at a bit over 1 year old, he is almost 30 inches tall and weighs almost 25 pounds!
• Ryan and Occupational Therapy: We are getting him into OT soon. He needs help with feeding himself and will soon need to learn to drink from a cup. He has low muscle tone just like his siblings, so we know from their history, we might as well get him some early intervention.
• Kevin's Developmental Assessment: Kevin's resource consultant from Children First conducted the LAP-D to see what his strengths and weaknesses are as we prepare him for the transition to junior kindergarten. Some results were as expected: his gross and fine motor skills are a bit behind the average child his age, but there is nothing that would really impede his learning/participation in regular classroom activities. The big surprise was in his language comprehension: apparently, he has a language comprehension level comparable to the average SIX-year-old. (!) However, his expressive language is right at the average level for his age. Another area of surprising strength for Kevin was counting and matching, where he was about a half a year above average.
• Kevin's Assessment--Concerning Behaviours: While he worked great one-on-one during the assessment, Kevin's teachers expressed concerns about his preferences for "solitary" play which is accompanied by "repetitive" actions during free time. I have had my own concerns about this for some time as well. What's interesting is these behaviours come and go: he has better days than others, where he interacts with Andrea (and his peers) just fine. Then there are other days when he will scream if someone interrupts his solitary play, or do something like walk on a line, pushing a chair, and watching his feet--and get very upset when the line stops. (?) After puzzling this over for a week, I think I have some ideas as to what's going on, but I'm no expert. My guess: it's some manifestation of a childhood anxiety disorder. (I won't go into how I arrived at this conclusion. It's complicated.)
• Kevin Signed up For Kindergarten: We took Kevin to the Lassaline (Andrea's school) open house tonight and got him registered for September. Andrea was too funny: since she's still in SK, she knows all the kindergarten teachers and helpers, so she was introducing Kevin to everyone. Kevin was excited to be there, and he enjoyed checking out the JK classrooms. He was walking around Andrea's classroom counting the chairs, and Andrea's teacher said, "He can count! I want him in MY class!" We also found out that Andrea is considered a "mother hen" by the kindergarten staff, and that's specifically why she was chosen to be in the split JK/SK class. They said they knew she'd be a great helper with the JKs in her class, and she is!
• Kevin's Transition to JK: We will actually have a on-on-one meeting with Children First and Lassaline staff in the spring, to ensure Kevin's physical and emotional needs continue to be addressed properly as he makes the move from daycare to kindergarten. Our hope is to place him with a teacher who will develop a learning plan which makes the most of his language comprehension and numeracy strengths, and flexible enough to accommodate any emotional/psychological needs he may have (re: the concerning behaviours).
• More about Andrea, the "Mother Hen": Quite frankly, at home, this trait is downright annoying. It would be alright if Kevin didn't mind her "assistance," but he gets very angry when she tries to "help" him or correct his behaviour. It usually ends with them screaming at each other, and someone hitting or pushing the other. Andrea's intentions are good, but her approach needs work. Plus, Kevin knows Mom's the boss; I can tell he totally resents it when Andrea tries to tell him what to do. However, Andrea is really sweet with Ryan, and he seems to enjoy her attention, unless she gets in his face when he's tyring to watch TV!
• Andrea and Ballet: Andrea is about halfway through her first set of ballet classes, and she is loving it. I finally got her some kiddie ballet slippers this week (long story), and she is happy her ballet outfit is complete. Daddy usually takes her to lessons, and I stay at home with the boys, but she shows me what she's learned when she gets home. I know they usually do a little "recital" for the last class at the end of March, so if I can't get to one before, I'll definitely go with them that night.

Wow, so this was supposed to be a brief update. Hmm. Like I said, so much has been going on over the past month, I had to start getting it all blogged! Now, it's 10:30 PM, and I'm off to do a few loads of laundry. Ack. Being back to work is nice for the mental stimulation and the money, but it seems like there's never enough time to do what needs doing . . . and I'm always YAWNING. ;)

Ryan's First Birthday!

Ryan's first birthday was a mix of ups and downs. On the up side, we had an opportunity to have some family over to celebrate Ryan's day. On the down side, Ryan is STILL sick, and was having a particularly rough day (feverish and coughing). We also had some guests who couldn't attend due to illness. I guess it's that time of year. Still, we decorated with balloons and banners, catered in some good food, and had a cupcake cake and gifts for Ryan's birthday.

Ryan relaxing in his swing before the party--and he actually looks happy!

After family started to arrive, the kids went downstairs to play. Kevin was having fun on my old exercise glider.

Andrea was playing with Daddy's mini putting green.

Brigitte was hard at work drawing pictures of Andrea and Kevin as they played.

Andrea wanted to model her new jean skirt and colourful tights from Grama Marty.

Later, when the kids came back upstairs, Kevin and Papa had some fun rolling his favourite truck back and forth.

Papa sent one across with an empty beer bottle. It kind of looked like a missile launcher!

Andrea was playing monkey-in-the-middle with the balloons.

We got pasta, salad, and bruschetta from Koolini's for dinner. It was so good, but we ordered way too much!

Ryan's cupcake cake

When we lit the candle and sang Happy Birthday, Ryan didn't look impressed.

He was more interested in looking to see what Daddy was doing: "Why are you singing?"

Ryan's first cake experience was a disappointment. He was miserable, not feeling well, and totally uninterested in his cupcake. He kept dumping it off the plate, but he barely touched it.

He did, however, appear fascinated with the plate. He kept bending it and scratching it. (?)

What is that? Do I actually spy a SMILE? :)

He put a couple of fingers in to test the texture of Gram's cheesecake, but eventually went for the plate again. When we tried to feed him some, he got mad. :(

Present time didn't go much better. Andrea and Daddy opened most of the gifts, while Ryan cried.

He liked the little car from Grama Marty, but look at this sad/sick expression. :(

We noticed he kept watching the football game that was on TV. I'm sure next year he'll be more interested in presents than TV!

Kevin helped with the presents, too, while Brigitte and Izzy looked on.

Each of the kids got a goodie bag after Ryan opened his presents. Kevin was loving his candy necklace.

Ryan cheered up a bit when we let him have his party blower. He liked the sparkly tinsel on the end of it.

It took Kevin a few tries to get the proper technique, but look at the extension on that party blower!

***

Overall, I would say our guests had a good time, but Ryan had a pretty miserable and sick birthday, poor little baby. I hope his 2nd birthday is a much healthier and happier event!

Mickey's Rockin' Roadshow

Since we got digital cable and the DVR back in May, the kids have fallen in love with the Playhouse Disney channel. All three kids enjoy the cartoon Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Back in July, when they announced a live Mickey show was coming to the WFCU, we had to get tickets. Six months later, and it was finally time to see the show!

Opening Act: The premise is Mickey and his friends are putting on a talent show, and are travelling around to different places to find performers for the show.

on the Mickey Bus

Got a flat tire? Turn your bus into a hot air balloon!

the shoe shop run by Cinderella and her mean stepsisters

visiting Buzz, Woody, and Jessie out West; rope and hula-hoop tricks

Woody and Jessie's hoe-down

Buzz Lightyear with his alien buddies

Buzz doing his juggling tricks

Cinderella singing, with her back-up singers and dancers

Tigger doing his bouncing routine

This was the kids' favourite part. They all got out of their seats and jumped like crazy to the music, with Tigger.

The Grand Finale

(The floor-level audience had inches of ticker tape dropped on them!)

***

Overall, the Andrea and Kevin had a great time. (Unfortunately, Ryan was still not well, so we decided to leave him with Gram and Papa.) There was some drama throughout the evening, thanks to Mommy forgetting her purse at work over the weekend. ALL my credit cards and ID were safely, but inaccessibly, locked in my desk at work. I needed those things to pick up our tickets at will call. The lady at the window almost refused me the tickets, but Andrea was standing right there, and she started crying her poor little heart out: "Why can't we go?" Daddy came up and said to Andrea, very seriously, "I don't know. The lady won't give us the tickets. Why don't you ask her why we can't have the tickets?" The lady was totally mad, but how could she refuse a child in tears? For once, Andrea's melodramatics worked to our advantage! We got into the show just in time. ;)