Simon Says - Simonisms

Simon has had a huge explosion in his vocabulary in the last month - he has grasped the English language pretty well but he also has a little language of his own. Here are some of the most notable translations:

"Barbies" = Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries
"Ah-pple" (emphasis on the Ah) = Pineapple
"Bru-Bru" = Brutus or any other dog that he sees on television
"Couscous" = Ursula's cat and also the name of every other cat we see
"Doooo" = The sound that a rooster makes and Simon's Baby Einstein videos (which incidently showcase a rooster)
"Hawd-key" = Hockey
"No" frequently equals "yes"
"Yaw" = Simon's Sweedish version of the word yes - also frequently equals "no"
"Nack" = Snack

Let's Make Cookies

One of Simon's favourite books and his fun activity today at daycare.

"Simon was in charge of putting lids back on tins and tubs and he also got a turn stirring the batter. He was very proud of himself!"

Steve Penney Photo Session

Before Christmas we had Steve Penney (http://www.stevepenneyphotography.com) come and do some photos of our family (mostly just Simon though) in our natural environment. Simon was not at all cooperative, and mostly just wanted to "pose" with his books. Surprisingly, Steve managed to capture some awesome shots so I thought I would share some of my favourites (warning - picture overload)

We're Thinking About Retiring the Dishwasher

After seeing how much Simon enjoys doing the dishes, we're thinking about retiring our dishwasher. We figure, Simon doesn't complain (no matter how many service calls we've had, our dishwasher always sounds a little laboured), we don't need to pre-rinse or load and it keeps Simon happy and playing independently (which is rare around here).

Christmas Tradition: Gingerbread Houses

For many years, we spent Christmas Eve with our old neighbours and their kids and the night always consisted of decorating/helping to decorate gingerbread houses. Michael and Melissa are all grown up now though so the appeal of hanging out decorating gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve is gone. The Christmas Eve tradition at my parents seems to have fizzled out as we all have multiple families to accommodate so this year, we focused our gingerbread house decorating into January. Braedon and Emjae did their houses on New Years Day and Simon used them for inspiration on January 2nd. The decorating started off well for Simon, he quite liked sticking the candy to the icing, that is until he realized how good the icing and the candies were. After that, it was mostly Matt, Granddad and I that decorated. Simon did instruct Granddad on what candies were acceptable and where not to place them - much like the christmas tree trimming earlier in the season.

Happy New Year Bova Style

Debbie and Eric were the hosts for our New Year's Eve celebration in their brand new home. They prepared a classy spread, concocted a fancy drink to ring in the new year with and invited a bunch of adults (with the exception of my husband) to ring in the new year with some food, fun and a Wii tournament. The evening started off tame enough with some Wii bowling and some point between then and the hula-hoop competition (which Matt threatened to do topless), Matt must have consumed a few too many Bovatinis. With his indulgences, Matt wasn't able to pull off a winning performance in the Wii tournament, despite having practiced with Terry for days on end. And to top it all off after I left the party Matt passed out on Debbie and Eric's bed and then woke to redecorate their wall in an abstract style. I doubt we're getting invited to the event again next year!

The beginning - Wii Bowling

Toasting with a Bovatini

Wii Hula Hoop - notice the shirt is undone but thankfully we managed to convince him to keep it on.

The Wii Tournament Champion - My Brother John

Just before it got bad....

The Ouch Game

A few years ago at a soccer game, I observed my friend's two sons playing a game that they had coined does it hurt. Essentially it consisted of them taking turns hitting/kicking each other as hard as they could and then asking, "does it hurt?". Well I'm starting to wonder if this torture game is a boy thing. Simon takes great joy in hitting/kicking you and screaming, "Ouch". Usually we just try to ignore him because the game ends quickly without any response. Sometimes though, he gets us and we inadvertently reinforce the game. I'm hoping this stage ends soon.

"Stuck" and "Broke"

Simon's two favourite words. He can incorporate them into every conversation. As you could probably guess, Matt and I are spending a fair bit of time fixing and unsticking things :)

Expecting #2

Although Matt and I have known for quite a while, we wanted to pass that first trimester/ultrasound marker before sharing our news with everyone. Simon is soon to be a big brother with a brother/sister arriving sometime in July (estimated due date is July 11th). It will be a hectic month for Nanna and Granddad Barker who already have two grandsons born (July 7th and July 13th). We're hoping this little one gets his/her own birthday too! This pregnancy has been much like the one with Simon, constant nausea that is getting increasingly worse as I progress into the second trimester - my glow of pregnancy is definitely greenish.

Here's a first pic of our newest little Fuller.