Granddad's Christmas Party

This year's Christmas party was held at the local bowling alley. I had no idea what to expect ... first problem was that it coincided with Simon's naptime and the second problem was that a 2 year old and a heavy bowling ball seemed like a bad combination. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. We only had a minor meltdown getting shoes but once Simon started bowling, there was no turning back. He must have thrown 300 balls in the hour we were there. 6 balls going down the lane at a time seemed to be the norm. Here's a video of Simon towards the end when he had mastered his technique.

Miles @ 5 months

This boy is growing up so fast. When I was off with Simon, the first 6 months were so hard as I was recovering from a difficult birth and dealing with an undiagnosed thyroid problem which made the days feel endless. With Miles, I have had a pretty easy go of it. I can count on one hand the bad days and as a result, time is just flying by. This month saw an explosion in his skills. At 5 months, Miles:

-is on the last few days of 3-6 month clothing
-has starting waking twice in his night to feed. Thankfully, it's still only once in mine!
-is still sleeping in the vibrating chair - we are total suckers
-goes to bed between 6:00pm and 8:00pm most nights, depending on when his last nap happens
-is happy to be along for the ride, which is good because Simon definitely demands to be the centre of attention
-has a thick head of hair which is still on the darker side
-still has blue/gray/green eyes - I can't wait to see how they end up
-loves to watch his big brother and Brutus
-has just started going in the exersaucer. He loves it as it gives him a better view of the action.
-loves to be facing out, particularly in the Moby where he can kick his legs and check out the action
-is starting to be weaned from the swaddle one arm at a time
-is wearing size 3 diapers
-is rolling both back to tummy and tummy to back
-doesn't sit independently yet - could be because we can never put him down in Simon's war path
-naps after being awake 1-2 hours
-hasn't tried solid foods yet .... we'll probably break out the green beans for Christmas
-is such a wonderful addition to our family

A Letter to Santa

Simon is totally into the whole Santa thing, probably because we've been talking him up and using the whole Santa's coming thing as a bribe for good behaviour. Tonight we decided to sit down and write Simon's first letter to Santa. Obviously I prompted some of the text so that Simon wouldn't be disappointed come Christmas.




Simon's letter to Santa spawned an obsession with making handprints so we spent the rest of the evening making cards for Lynsey, Nanna, Shawn and Philippe who all have December birthdays and another one for Lynsey as a get well wish as she spent her birthday in the hospital today getting her appendix removed.

Gymnastics Open House

Simon has been enrolled in gymnastics since he was about 10 months old. It's a great way for him to burn his non-stop toddler energy, particularly in the cold snaps of winter. At the end of each session, parents are invited in for an open house to check out his progress and take pictures. Here's some of the highlights of our little monkey showing off for his Mum and Dad.

As heard tonight....

Simon: Daddy, look at my picture
Matt: What is it Simon?
Simon: Mumble, mumble, mumble
Me: I think he said it's an engine
Matt: It's an engine
Simon: Nope, it's a little S&M

I am seriously rethinking my kids initials :)

The Santa Claus Parade - Part I

We went to our local community Santa Claus parade this weekend. We've been getting Simon pumped about Santa lately and were excited to get the Christmas season started. We stood with our neighbors (who have a boy that goes to daycare with Simon) and it was so much fun to see their excitement. Miles was just along for the ride but he got lots of comments because he was so darn cute. Aside from getting rained on, and Simon totally missing Santa (for some reason, he was on a float about 15 feet in the air - I guess they thought kids were going to rush him), it was the perfect morning.

Finished Basement

We've been spending most of our weekends underground working on getting our basement finished. It's amazing how long the whole process takes when you're only able to work for a few hours on weekends. Plus, Matt and I have no clue what to do so we relied heavily on the expertise of my parents. We started out hoping to finish before Miles was born. We were only off in our estimate by about 4 months!

The basement is probably one of the nicest spaces in our house now. The trim work is gorgeous, we have a few built in touches, it's painted in non-builders colours it's a huge space and I finally have my black doors! Here's some pictures of the final stages of handi-work and Simon testing out the integrity of the shelves.

Simon Says

Lately at bed time I'm hearing a lot of, "Can you do me a favour?". It's a great stall tactic but he hasn't quite figured out what to ask me for.

Overheard at potty time today...
Simon: "Knock, Knock" (where did he learn this??)
Matt: "Who's there?"
Simon: "Daddy"
Matt: "Daddy who?"
Simon: "You're a gorilla" (well I guess he doesn't totally get the concept)

And the grossest thing we have heard around these parts. "Muummy threw the vitamins in the toilet" (as he was chomping on something suspiciously gummy). Apparently he washed them first or so he said but yuck!

At the change room after swimming.
Simon: "Is that a baby Daddy?"
Matt: "Yes. Are you a baby Simon?"
Simon: "No, I'm a big boy. A huge boy, just look at my belly."

At gymnastics
Simon: "Can you hear the tractors Mummy?"
Simon: "I can hear them smiling"

Miles @ 4 months

Miles is the perfect addition to our family. He is such a mellow, happy baby (except for Monday's after the Lonestar). At four months, Miles:

-has the chubbiest cheeks, which is the reason I think he doesn't love tummy time because it's so hard to keep that head up!
-has ever changing eyes - some days they are clearly blue, others grey and others hazel. The only colour they are definitely not (yet) are brown.
-is still sleeping in his vibrating chair by the bed - we're thinking a custom, larger one may be in order :)
-is a pretty good sleeper and usually wakes once, sometimes twice a night to eat.
-naps a lot...he can hardly go two hours before he needs to crash.
-goes to bed between 6:30pm and 7:30pm and wakes between 6:00am and 7:30am.
-is wearing mostly size 3-6 month clothes and 6-9 month sleepers.
-has more than doubled his birth weight and is now 15lbs. 10oz. and 26 inches.
-is still wearing size 2 diapers.
-has started rolling from tummy to back - no more tummy time for him.
-has his first tooth poking through.
-always has his fist shoved in his mouth causing frequently gagging and puking incidents.
-loves to watch his big brother.
-smiles a lot and gets his whole body in on it.
-is doing a lot of belly laughs - particularly when you're kissing his chubby cheeks.
-loves to chatter and is quite pleased when you imitate his noises.
-is still swaddled tightly in the miracle blanket - again, not sure if we're going to be able to give this one up.
-looks so much like Simon at the same age - just with different eyes and without the crazy cowlick.
-frequently launches himself backwards without warning.

Carving Pumpkins

We have come very close to having uncarved pumpkins the last few years because we always leave things until Halloween. This year, we wanted to get Simon involved so Matt got to work on carving the pumpkin and scooping out the guts. Simon did not want to touch the pumpkin innards since, "they feel gross". He also told Matt that he would scrape the inside because Daddy couldn't do it. He also had great fun helping sort out the seeds. Unfortunately, I cooked them for 2 hours; they are roasted for sure!

Here's some pictures of the festivities. We tried to get Miles in on the action too...