Here's Some Laughs

A few days ago, I was changing one of Kevin's diapers--and it happened to be a stinky one. Andrea came into the room, took one look at his diaper, and yelled: "It's a yucky Jell-o one!" Jell-o? How, and why, did she come up with that?! Anyway, I laughed so hard that now every time she sees me changing his diaper, she yells, "It's a jelly one!" even if it's just pee.

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Last night I was feeding Kevin an early dinner, and Andrea came in, saying she wanted her supper. I jokingly offered her Kevin's bowl of pureed sweet corn and chicken. She took one peek at the brownish-yellow mush and declared, "That's too di-gusting for me!" Evidently, Kevin felt the same way. About two minutes later, he gagged and spit up his meal. I guess that means sweet corn is off the list for now. Poor Kevin!

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Andrea has started to colour pictures with great concentration and intensity recently. Where before she liked blank paper and random colours, she now prefers colouring books, and only shades of pink and purple! She will sit and colour for several minutes, completely focused on her work. Well today, she ran out of pages to colour in her Dora mermaids colouring book. It was quite a tragedy! But Mommy's quick thinking saved the day. I got out one of her blank books, and drew some pictures of Dora with a black marker. Voila--colouring pages! However, it's times like these that I wish I was a graphic artist--or at least had some drawing talent. But I will share me and Andrea's combined effort here, because it is worth a laugh!

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Kevin has the greatest giggles right now. The best way I get him to laugh is to pop up at him from somewhere below his swing or exersaucer, and say, "I'm gonna get you!" He even giggles like crazy when I disappear--I think it's a reaction to the suspense, knowing what's coming.

I've got a video here, but you can only hear the giggling. Unfortunately, I had the camera in a bad position, so Kevin is in the shadows, and none of my editing software could fix it. Thus, the picture above, which gives you a sense of the expression on his face when we are playing!

Family Fun Continues

We spent Easter Monday with family, too--just on a smaller scale.

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Brigitte stayed overnight with us. In the morning, she spent some time reading to Kevin.

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Ah, the beautiful sight of the kiddies playing peacefully together. It's a good thing.

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When Daddy got home from work, we went over to Gram and Grandpa's for dinner. They had a nice chicken dinner for us, in honour of Mommy's birthday (which is Wednesday). Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Tony and Isabelle came, too. Andrea helped Gram put the candles on Mommy's birthday cake. (Thankfully, they only put on a representative amount!)

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Gather around to sing Happy birthday, and help Mommy blow out the candles!

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I told you Kevin got the tongue-twisting talent from Daddy!

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After dessert and presents, it was play-time for the kids. Andrea spent a lot of time colouring, and Izzy did some, too.

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Izzy played very nicely with Kevin. She gave him a plate, and pretended to cook him some food!

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Andrea found a toy comb, and everyone had to have a turn getting their hair brushed.

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Then Grandpa took the girls downstairs, to show us their "routines." He has special activities he does with them when they visit. He and Andrea get together for a few hours every Wednesday morning. I've heard what they do, but this is the first time I got to see it!

They like to play with the maracas. The girls were shaking the maracas and singing their ABCs with Grandpa, while he dinged the bell to the beat!

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Andrea is Grandpa's soccer buddy. They always go downstairs to play soccer when she visits him on Wednesdays. I don't know why Andrea is so into soccer; neither Daddy or I ever played it, besides in gym class. But Andrea has liked kicking soccer balls since before she could walk!

Last night, I finally got to watch a game. Izzy wanted to get into the game, too, and it became quite the soccer match! Andrea resorted to some aggressive tactics, but what Izzy doesn't have in size, she makes up in speed! They were so funny to watch.

Easter Sunday 2008

The Easter Bunny came! Kevin was awake first, and he surprised me by spotting the first eggs. I noticed he was leaning out of his swing to stare at something--he saw the shiny eggs nearby!

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Andrea got up about half an hour later. She saw her pretty basket and dove in right away! The toy camera and the crown caught her attention first.

Then, she noticed the chocolate eggs on her couch. That led her into the egg hunt. The Easter Bunny hid about 20 mini eggs around the living room, in places that Andrea could find them with a little help. She was very excited when she found the eggs! She's a good egg hunter. Of course, she wanted to stop and eat some, too. :))

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Kevin took a look at his basket while Andrea hunted eggs. He's finally starting to sit up steadily!

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After her egg hunt, Andrea followed me around, taking pictures of everyone. She did that all day--you'll notice the camera is with her in a lot of the pictures.

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I thought Kevin would like his soccer ball or ducky best, but he was barely interested in them. We couldn't get him to let go of the book! Kevin likes to play with and look at books. He must get that from Mommy. :))

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Here's Andrea, showing off her princess-themed press-on nails. She loved them at first, but she couldn't get used to how they made it feel different to pick things up. So, they only stayed on for about an hour! But after we took the press-ons off, we painted her nails a pretty pink for later.

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In the afternoon, we went to a big family dinner at Great-Gram's (Rod's grandma). Andrea was thrilled that she finally got to wear her "princess dress" again (she's been begging for it since we went for spring pictures), and was ecstatic over her new shoes. That's my girly-girl!

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Here's Kevin sporting his Easter look. It's similar to the one in the spring pictures, but he outgrew that one, so I had to buy him a new one!

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Since we were going to have Brigitte stay overnight with us, we invited her to come to Great Gram's, too. Andrea's always thrilled to have "my Brigitte" around.

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Poor Kevin--the teething continues. Thankfully, he was so busy checking out all the new people that he forgot to let his teeth bother him much. Still, it was a non-stop chew and drool fest; I had bibs on him all day, and he was chewing on whatever anyone offered him. Grandpa seemed to think a little alcohol might help! No, it was just that the glass is hard and cool on the gums. :))

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My drool-baby also exhibited a new talent yesterday, and he did it all day long. He can twist his tongue right over in his mouth! I can't do it, but I've seen Rod do it, so I know he got that genetic mutation from Daddy.

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Great Gram wanted a picture of her great-grandchildren. You see, three have been added just in the past eight months! You know how it is to get a whole bunch of little ones to cooperate for the camera, though. But here they are: Isabelle, Andrea, Jordan, Baby Morgan, Jocelyn, Baby Addison, and Baby Kevin.

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Kevin was intrigued by Baby Addison, who is only about 4 weeks old. I had been holding her, and Rod sat next to me, holding Kevin. Kevin kept reaching out to touch her arm and her head, and he was very curious about her. Even in the great-grandkids' pictures, he was reaching over and gently touching Addison's hair. Addie's big sister Jocelyn was a little concerned, but we assured her that Kevin wasn't hurting her baby. :))

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We stayed pretty late for the little ones, so they were all put into pyjamas after supper. Here's Grandpa snuggling Izzy and Kevin.

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Andrea was tired, but wired with excitement and sugar. So, she was playing a game with Gram where she would say, "I'm baby--I go to sleep," and Gram would pick her up and rock her like a baby. She makes quite a big baby! But then, she would say, "I wake up!" jump down, and try to run over to Aunt Claire--while Gram held onto her pyjamas!

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Andrea disappeared for a while, and I wondered what she was up to. They told me she was in the kitchen. I could see the sly glances I was getting from the adults--what was Andrea up to? Oh, they were just encouraging her to help herself to the cake!

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When I made her get out of the cake, they smeared whipped cream on a lid and gave it to her to lick! By then, I knew it was a lost cause. Pick your battles . . . :))

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So, with the kids hopped up on sugar, and overtired from all their partying, we made our way home for bed-time. Kevin went right to sleep; but Andrea kept getting out of bed until about 10:45, and Brigitte was awake until midnight! But it was a good day. :))

Getting Ready for Easter

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So far, we are having a quiet Good Friday at home. Daddy has to work today (not officially, but he's so busy), so the kids and I have been doing some getting-ready-for-Easter activities.

When Daddy was in Toronto on business a few weeks ago, he found a Dora the Explorer egg decorating kit for Andrea. I decided we'd colour our eggs this morning. It's a family tradition to colour Easter eggs on Good Friday: my mom always did it with us, and I've been doing it since Andrea was born, too. :))

I did the egg dyeing while Andrea and Kevin supervised. Andrea was in charge of putting the Dora stickers on the eggs, and then placing them in the Dora-themed egg holders. Naturally, toddler excitement led to a few casualties . . .

. . . but most of the eggs survived.

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Grandma and Grandpa G. stopped by to drop off some Easter presents for the kids after lunch. It worked out well that this morning I had dressed the kids in the Easter outfits Grandma and Grandpa had bought for them when they were on vacation last month. Andrea's shirt and Kevin's jumper look really cute, and suited today's Easter activities. :))

Some of the plastic Easter eggs in Andrea and Kevin's gift baskets were filled with sour candy keys. Naturally, Kevin's never had sour candy; and I don't think Andrea's ever tried any, either. Leave it to the grandparents to get the kids to "pucker up"!

"What the @#$% is this?!"

"OOOOOOOO . . . " (shudders)

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Grandpa also tried to get Kevin to stand up, holding onto the couch. Kevin isn't very confident yet, but he does put the weight on his legs, if you encourage him.

"You won't let me fall, right? Thanks, Grandpa. "

Nail Polish Fiend

Andrea and Daddy went to watch Daddy's little cousin play hockey tonight. Grandma and Grandpa Gagnon were there, too, and of course she came home with a box of Smarties and a smile on her face.

But she also came home demanding that I paint her nails. You see, Grandma always has nicely polished nails, and she sometimes paints Andrea's nails when they spend time together.

By the time they got home from the arena, it was time for Andrea's bath; but she kept insisting, "I want nails, Mama!" (She doesn't call it nail polish yet.) I tried to put it off until tomorrow--I promised her we'd do it in the morning. Nothing doing. She cried all the way into the bathtub, and could only be coaxed in by giving her more Smarties while she was in the tub! That sufficed for about ten minutes. Then she declared, "I come out--I'm all done, Mama." As soon as I went to get her out of the tub, she insisted, "I need nails, Mama! My nails, Mama!" She wouldn't even let me help brush her teeth with her Princess toothpaste (which she loves) until I finally caved and said, "Alright! If you stop crying, and be a good girl by brushing your teeth/hair/getting your pj's on nicely, we will do your nails." I hate giving in . . . but it worked. She behaved.

And so, after she was all ready for bedtime, I pulled out a shiny mother-of-pearl nail polish, sat on her bedroom floor, and painted her fingernails and her toenails. I was worried she'd want a more showy colour, but she was happy just getting her nails done. Right away, she was wriggling with excitement and exclaiming, "I'm so pretty!" Considering her nails are so tiny, and I wasn't too worried about this light polish smearing on anything, it only took about five minutes. I tried to get her to sit still, or blow on her nails so they could dry, but that part was lost on her. Once she had her "pretty nails" she was quite content to go to bed.

She will probably request a touch-up for Easter!

(Actually, I've spoken with the Easter Bunny, and he has found a set of the cutest little decorated press-on nails for toddlers. :)) I'm eager to see her reaction to them!)

Which cartoon character does Kevin look like?

This question has been at the back of my mind for some time now--which cartoon character does Kevin look like? It especially comes out after he gets a haircut. I had a feeling it was one of the minor "Peanuts" (Charlie Brown) characters . . . and I was right! After a little research, I found out who I'd been thinking Kevin resembles . . .

SHERMY!

(I think it's the haircut, and the cheeks.)

Shermy was one of the four original characters in the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles Schulz. Schulz named him after a friend from high school. Shermy was often portrayed as Charlie Brown's superior at the things that mattered to Charlie Brown, especially athletics. He was mainly utilized as a "straight man" for Charlie Brown. Shermy's major physical characteristic was his short, dark hair, which he usually wore in a crew cut. Apparently Schulz himself was not a big fan of this look, even though he never changed it, as he once commented that he "disliked" the way he drew Shermy's hair. Shermy appears in several of the animated Peanuts TV specials, beginning with A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965, where he has one line of dialogue. Upon being cast as a shepherd in the gang's Christmas pageant, he laments, "Every Christmas it's the same: I always end up playing a shepherd." Shermy's last actual appearance in a Peanuts strip came on June 15, 1982. Schulz expressed no regrets at dropping Shermy from the cast, remarking many years later that it had gotten to the point by then where he only used Shermy in situations where he "needed a character with very little personality."*

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Well, at least Kevin has a lot more personality than Shermy!

*info. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shermy_(Peanuts)

Sleepy Time

Poor Kevin was so tired . . . he fell asleep at 5:30 p.m., and slept until almost 7:00 the next morning! I had laid him down for a brief nap, and ended up letting him sleep all night. As you can see, I didn't want to disturb him, so he slept in his clothes all night. I've never seen him fall asleep in this position, all sideways with his foot propped up. He must have passed out in mid-wiggle!

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When I went back into the living room, this is how I found Andrea and Dada. How cute is my family?! :))

Sibling Interaction

Andrea finally seems to be taking notice of Kevin over the past few weeks. This is both good and bad.

The bad thing is that noticing him more also means being irritated by him and being jealous of him. Her irritations shows when he tries to touch her, or when he grabs one of her toys. Her response is to whine at him, or roughly push him away or snatch her toys out of his hands. "Sharing" and "Being Gentle" are two big themes in our household right now. Yesterday morning, we had another incident. Kevin was on the change table, and Andrea came to peek up at him. He laughed when he saw her, and he reached out to touch her face. Her response? She bit his finger! Argh. Of course he screamed with shock and pain, and Daddy and I were furious. After punishment and apologies, peace was restored, and she's been sweet as sugar to him since. It's always like that. I swear she has to get the violence out of her system once in a while, or something.

But it's not always so negative. One day, Kevin was playing with my hair. Andrea saw this, came running over, and yelled, "'evin, stop hurting Mama!" I had to laugh, and then explain to Andrea that we were playing, and he was being gentle. :)) I would have to say Andrea's jealousy comes out in a harmless way, at least. When I've got Kevin in my arms, she'll say things like, "He go to bed" or "He go in his chair" or "He go to swing." Basically, she just wants to put him on the sidelines! :)) Also, if one parent is paying attention to Kevin, she'll run to the other one and be all cuddly and affectionate. If I'm holding Kevin, she'll say, "That's 'evin's Mama," and then run over to Rod, give him a huge hug, and declare, "That's Andrea's Dada!" and vice versa.

The positive interactions between Andrea and Kevin are heartwarming. :)) She'll stop and talk to him every now and then, pointing out something she's doing or discussing what he might be trying to do. She also knows which items are Kevin's, and takes great pride in bringing them to him--his blankets, his slippers, his bottles, his toys, etc. Every once in a while, she'll bring him one of her toys and let him hold it for a bit, before she remembers, "It's mine!" and grabs it back. She even brought him her Dora one day. She held Dora in front of him, and made her dance. He laughed, and she said, "Here, your turn 'evin--hold her!" I couldn't believe it! Naturally, Kevin's turn lasted about 5 seconds, but that was a huge gesture, coming from Andrea. We all know Dora's her favourite doll.

Kevin, of course, thinks Andrea is the most entertaining thing around. All she has to do is walk close by him, and he starts to giggle. If she is excited, he gets excited! If she is talking to him, or being silly, he laughs hysterically. I think Andrea's going to have a little tag-a-long once Kevin starts to walk!

I got a video of Andrea entertaining Kevin during his dinner the other night. She always likes to crawl under his high chair while I'm feeding him, and it's quite the distraction . . . but Kevin thinks that's hilarious. She also hides in the blinds and plays peek-a-boo with him (which I always tell her not to do, but she does it anyway!). Anyway, I wanted to point out that: 1. Kevin is fully strapped in to his high chair, even though it looks like he's leaning right out! and 2. Kevin isn't laughing hysterically like he usually does, but it gives you the idea. :))

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P.S. Speaking of Kevin leaning out of chairs--he crawled right out of his bouncy chair the other day, and did a face-plant on the carpet. He cried, but wasn't really hurt. I thought, if I make sure he's strapped in tightly, it will be okay, right? Nope. Tonight, at dinner, he leaned over so far in his bouncy chair that he was hanging upside-down . . . held in by the straps. Yep, I guess he's outgrown that one! No crawling yet, but goodness, that child rolls and flips himself like it's nothing!

Spring Pictures 2008

I am REALLY happy with the kids' pictures this time! Here they are:

Aren't they cute??? :))

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If you'd like some of these pictures let me know ASAP. Just let me know which ones you want, and what size you want them to be. I think my new computer, and the new printer I got for Christmas, will make really nice copies of them.