I Don't Matter

The twins have combined "I don't mind" with "It doesn't matter" and it's the cutest and saddest thing ever.
Me: It looks like your art work ripped."
Twin 1: "It's okay. I don't matter."

Like

Picnics and Raccoons

Yesterday, the twins and I packed a picnic lunch, loaded up the car with bikes and toys, and headed over to one of our favourite places in town. It was a beautiful day with white fluffy clouds in the deep blue sky, and the weather was cool and breezy.


We played a little at the park and then quickly dove into our lunches. I don't know what it is about eating outdoors, but the kids love it!


After lunch, we hopped on our bikes for a ride around the B-Ville Creek. Beautiful!


We even saw a baby raccoon on the path. Poor little guy was a little scared of us as we passed by.


I love these glorious summer afternoons.

Je Suis Fatigue

Each day, usually during dinner, we talk to the kids about their school day. We ask the usual questions like, "What did you learn?", "Who did you play with?", and "What was your favorite part?". Typically, it's like pulling teeth to get the twins to remember anything about their day but we keep asking nonetheless.

Last night, as we finished reading stories before bed and as the twins settled into the dark to close their eyes and fall asleep, Pea turned to me and said, "Je suis fatigue." It took me a few repetitions to understand what he was saying ("I am tired" in French) but when I did, I took out my phone and made him repeat the phrase (along with two others he said to me). Here is the result. I guess they are learning something at school!

Bed Time French Lesson from K & J on Vimeo.

Another Trip To The Lake House

Last December, we spent a few days enjoying some time at my brother's Lake House and we throughly enjoyed every second.  So, when he invited us to come and spend the day this weekend, we jumped at the chance.
A couple of things set us back a bit, unfortunately.  Pea's nasty middle ear infection and fever were factors in delaying us as we were sidelined with clinic visit, prescription pick-up and a wait to see how well he could become before leaving.  Secondly, when we finally had the car packed up and were less than five minutes into the trip up North, I was sidelined by a sudden onset of cramps and nausea.  I begged J. to turn the car around and speed home as I didn't want to be sick in the car.  We made it home in just enough time.  I spent the next hour lying on the cool floor of our bathroom trying to keep my stomach contents from spilling.  Dizzy, sweaty, and weak, I felt AWFUL that the kids, who were so excited about finally getting to see Uncle J. and Auntie L., perhaps wouldn't because of me.
After the hour was up, I told J. that we were going to push forward with the trip.  I couldn't disappoint the kids no matter how awful I felt.
Two hours later, we arrived to a warm welcome by my brother and his family.  We played in the pool, took several rides on the seadoo, watched as my nephews and niece (and friends) went tubing in the lake, played games in the yard, and enjoyed the company of family.  Despite all the setbacks, it turned into a lovely day.

Plant Strong Food Festival

Yesterday, we packed up the kids and took a ride on the GO train into Toronto to participate in the 10 000 Tastes 10 Billion Reasons Plant Strong Festival.  It was the kids' first time on the GO and they were THRILLED to experience being on a real train for the first time.

Chick enjoyed her veggie burger on the trip home.

We walked from Union Station to Yonge Dundas Square to enjoy a plethora of tasty plant strong foods (for free).  Afterward, we walked over to the Eaton Centre to browse the shops and toy stores. We bought a little school bus for Pea (he has wanted one for a while now) and a medical kit for Dr. Chick.  Both were ecstatic to get something new!

The twins did great after being on the train for over two hours (an hour into Toronto and an hour home) and we were so proud of them. Additionally, we received compliments from two separate passengers along the way. One passenger named Mark, a University of Waterloo student, was on his way to Port Perry to visit his girlfriend. He kept turning around in his seat to smile at us and then finally began asking us questions about the kids. He said it was nice to see the way we interacted with the kids and complimented the kids on their behaviour. It was so sweet of him to do that.

Then, when the train finally came to a stop, a woman and her daughter came up to us to tell us how well mannered they thought the twins had been. It was the best feeling in the world to hear those two compliments and it made our hearts swell with love and pride.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Yesterday was the hottest day on record for the year.  Considering the newness of the twins' skin, I decided to keep them indoors for the afternoon instead of subjecting them to heat stroke and the like.  I'm a good mom like that. Heh.
Sadly (for me) neither child naps consistently any longer.  If we get one nap a week out of Chick, we count ourselves lucky.  Pea could nap every single day if I were to lie with him and coax him to sleep, but I refuse to do so.
What to do?  Well, as my glorious cup of afternoon tea turned ice-cold, we constructed a castle out of a cardboard box, painted it and then decorated it once the paint was dry.  What a great work of collaborative play!

Painting is serious business!

Personalization is important to two-year olds.

Not one to miss an opportunity for some learnin', I put up a number line.

We also decided to make our castle Canadian.

Furnishings are important, too.

Time to play while Mommy warms up her tea in the microwave...AGAIN.

Security

If we ever lose one or both of the above items, our entire lives will change.

The receiving blanket on the left was "lent" to us by a dear friend when the twins were first born.  She will never get it back (and knows it) because it turned into Pea's beloved security blanket.  Pea never took a soother (though we willed him to take one quite desperately) and we tried a myriad of items, all of which failed,  to help soothe him.  I'm not sure when it happened that he took the blanket on as his security item, but it had to have happened over the course of feeding him his bottle each night before bed.  I used the blanket to catch any spills and to wipe his mouth.  I suppose there may have been times when I put him in his crib with the blanket as I made every effort not to disturb him too much as I left him. Now, he sleeps with it every night and for every nap.  When he is hurt, he asks for his "Bankey" and his whole being lights up when he sees it.

Chick used MANY soothers (often at the same time) for the first two years of her life.  They helped her sleep like a champ, but I was getting more and more concerned about her bite after age two.  So, after our trip to Disney in January, we cut her off cold turkey.  It was TOUGH for a while and there were many occasions when I wanted to give in and give the soothers back to her, but I knew that the difficulty wouldn't last and she would be okay after a while.  Interestingly, her new security item became "Daisy" (pictured above).  Like, Pea, Chick sleeps with Daisy for every nap and at night and cries for Daisy when she is hurt or scared.  When she was having a tough time at pre-school, the teachers told me that she could bring something from home to make the transition a little easier.  So, Daisy went to school with Chick.

I love that each child has a meaningful attachment to something that helps them feel safe, but losing either one terrifies me more than anything I've ever known.

City Bus

About a month ago, I took the kids for a ride on the city bus.It was a very exciting adventure from start to finish.

Last Day Of Nursery School

Since February, the twins have been attending nursery school on Mondays and Wednesday for a couple of hours each day and today marked the kids' last day.  Over the past few weeks, I scoured the web looking for ideas for teachers' gifts (you'd think I'd have a handle on this given my profession) and decided to make some yummy vegan fare for each of their four teachers.  Two teachers received vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (see yesterday's post for pictures) and the other two teachers received vegan chocolate zucchini loaves.  I ran with M3's idea for the gift, so THANKS!

Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Loaves

Our card read, "We 'loafed' being in your class!"

The cookie card read, "Thank you for making us smart 'cookies'!"

These four women are the BEST!

From left to right: Miss Cindy, Miss Joy, Miss Susan, and Miss Holly.

Swimming Pool Fun

The twins have come a long way...I mean, a LONG way since that first sad foray into swimming at just 5 months of age.  Now, not only do they love to swim, but their passion for the water is so strong that J. and I both knew a pool for the backyard was needed in order to keep them happy through the summer.
It's not a large pool (just 12 feet in diameter and only about 30 inches tall) but the kids have been having a blast in it and that is all that matters. We were in the pool this afternoon when I told J. that I thought Pea would be swimming under water within weeks. Just minutes after, Pea decided he wanted to dive for Chick's goggles.  Once he started, there was no stopping him.  Cute li'l bug.

Height Chart

I am aware that there are some pretty fancy-schmancy height charts for sale out there, but nothing is as sentimental to us as this "height chart" we have been keeping in the play room.

Every month or so, we measure the kids on this beam (the one that holds up the house, interestingly enough) and it is always SO fun to see how much they have grown. This particular side shows how much Chick has grown and the other side shows Pea's growth.  Currently, at almost 34 months, Chick is measuring 37 inches and Pea is measuring 36 inches.  I imagine that these markings will stay here until long after the kids have moved out. I also imagine that I will come down here often to run my fingers along the length of the markings reminiscing about their childhood.

A Perfect End To January

This morning, the kids and I woke up to fluffy white snow covering everything in sight, so after breakfast we got all bundled up and drove over to our favorite park.

Is there anything better than making footprints in freshly fallen snow?

Pea fell on his bum trying to get up this little ramp.  He was not impressed.

Even in Winter, Chick loves a good swing.

This photo was taken right before Chick decided to jump backwards off this structure.  She landed flat on her back, cried so hard she had a breath-holding spell, then collapsed in my arms.  Not fun.

The aftermath.

It didn't take long before she was back to her giggly self.

All the while, Pea kept a concerned eye on the goings on with his sister.

We made shapes in the snow.  Pea is standing in the middle of my heart. 

We took a little time to practice our letters in a fun way. Pea followed my footsteps as I made the letters.

This picture exemplifies our son's personality to a tee.  He's going to be THAT kid.

Cheeky monkey!

Happy Chick!

Happy Pea!

Goodbye, January 2012. Bring on February!

Size Is Overrated

When we arrived home from Florida, the kids discovered that their snowman had melted and there was only a little mound of snow where its body was. Almost every day since, Chick and Pea have been asking to build another snowman and since we finally received a little more snow, J. was happy to take them outside to build another. Sadly, the snow wasn't as sticky this time, so J. had to use water from the house to build a smaller scale model of the large one that melted. No matter, though, as it still made the twins happy to have another snowman to see.

Traveling Home

After a glorious week in Orlando soaking up sun, fun and everything Disney, it was time for us to head home.  Though our flight was only set to take off at 8am, the shuttle to take us to the airport left the hotel at 4am, meaning we had to be in the lobby of the hotel by 3:45am.  Waking toddlers that early is never on my "fun" list, so we left them in their PJs and put them in the stroller in its reclined position hoping they would continue to sleep.  However, it was so cold outside that between traveling from room to the lobby of the hotel, they woke up shivering.  Thankfully, they weren't grumpy about it, so it made the early morning wake-up a little easier to deal with.
The airport check-in and security went well and we were able to grab some breakfast before boarding.  The flight was a mere 2 hours and 15 minutes from Orlando to Toronto and, while Pea fell asleep for most of the flight, one little girl stayed wide awake.  That is, until we began our descent into Toronto.

Poor little thing. Just as she was nodding off, we had to wake her up to go through customs and baggage claim.

Catherine and Hannah were waiting for us when we arrived at the airport and after hugs and loading our luggage into the car, we were on our way home. There really is no place like it...not even Mickey's home.

Disney World Day Six - Port Orleans Riverside and Magic Kingdom

After the spontaneous and adventurous day we enjoyed at Animal Kingdom, we decided to stay put in our hotel on this morning.  Our touring plans had us heading back to Magic Kingdom for the day, but we were all dragging a little and decided it would be best to have some fun (without traveling) in the hotel's pools.  Sure, it was only 54˚F (12˚C) but we're CANADIAN, dammit, and we weren't going to let a little chill stop us.  The hotel's pools were heated, but not overly.

So, after a lovely breakfast at the Riverside Mill (the hotel's quick service food court), we donned our bathing suits and spent the morning shivering swimming in the pools. I took these photos of my super-cuties at breakfast.  J. was gone to get some food for all of us and we were entertaining ourselves by smiling big into the camera.

Since it was SO cold on this day (warm by our winter standards) we were the only people in the pools.  We started off in the quiet pool by our room, then headed to the main pool and wading pool afterward.  I even dipped into the hot tub while J. played with the kiddos in the wading pool.  Bliss.

After naps, we headed out to Magic Kingdom.  Just inside the entrance, Chip and Dale were signing autograph books and taking pictures with kids.  Chick and Pea had no idea who these large characters were, but they were drawn to them nonetheless.  Chip and Dale hugged the twins and took pictures with them.  Then, Chip (or was it Dale?) grabbed Chick again and gave her more hugs.  It was super cute.  We were putting the kids back into the stroller and Chip and Dale were signing autographs for other kids when one of the chipmunks stopped and ran back over to Chick in the stroller and hugged her again.  She was beside herself with glee.

We walked around the park, rode the carousel and played in the Swiss Family Treehouse before catching the Resort Monorail to the Contemporary Resort for our dinner at Chef Mickey's.  J. and I had had enough of the buffet style eating for one week and opted to stick with a light salad instead of gorging on the other foods before us.  Chick and Pea also didn't have much of an appetite on this night.  The characters, as usual, were a huge hit with the kids.  In particular, Goofy made Chick's night when he came to our table.  I told Goofy that he was Chick's favorite and Goofy gave her some special hugs and one on one attention.  Chick was still her the high chair and Goofy kept motioning for me to take her out.

When I did, he grabbed her hand and walked away with her!  Chick and Goofy walked a little bit, then turned and waved, then walked a little more, turned and waved, etc. 

She had NO reservations whatsoever about going along with Goofy.  She was happy to head out with him and say goodbye to all of us.

What a sweet experience for Chick.  Usually, Pea is the one who is outgoing and personable with people, but this was certainly Chick's night to shine.

After dinner, we took the Monorail back to Magic Kingdom and rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin before calling it a night at catching a shuttle back to the hotel at around 7:45pm.  I really, really wanted to stay to watch the Wishes Nighttime Spectacular  at 8pm, but we had to be on a bus for the airport by 3:45am and I knew we needed to get back to the hotel to get some rest.  Next time!