Cousins

Simon and Seamus are at the age that they are finally playing well together. They are also both in love with trucks, dirt and the great outdoors. Lynsey and I are happy with the occasional chance to sit down while they are keeping each other occupied! With Matt in the thick of year-end, Saturdays are all about keeping my sanity trying to keep both kids happy. Thankfully Lynsey was looking to do the same today because Miles slept all morning long. Here are some pictures of the boys.







And one from yesterday at playgroup with Shawn.

Simon and Miles

Simon at about 9 months:



Miles at almost 9 months:

News Flash

News flash for Simon - when your lights go out at 7:30pm, I kind of expect you to be asleep by 8:30pm. Of course it was hard to tell you this when I went into your room and you were singing:

"Simon is the champion, Simon is the champion. No time for losers because Simon is the champion."

This kid cracks me up daily. Urgh, he's at it again. I wish kids came with volume control.

Edited to add: Once I posted this I thought I'm such a bad parent for teaching my kid a song with the word loser in it. We've been talking a lot about winning and losing around here because I think it's important for Simon to know that he's not always going to win (and as parents, we no longer let him all the time). But loser is such a harsh word. So it's a good thing that the song has now morphed :) Yesterday, Miles was doing something champion worthy in the car because Simon would scream, "Yeah Miles, you do it" and then broke into, "Miles is the champion, Miles is the champion. On my nunuter (rhymes with computer), Miles is the champion." When I finished off the song with, "of the world", Simon decided it sounded better if it was, "of the cookie".

Fulton's

We made our annual trek up to Fulton's for our sugar bush breakfast and my maple flavoured cotton candy fix. This year, Grandma and Poppa were out of town so we needed to find some new companions. Lynsey, Shawn and Seamus joined us for the action. First off the pancake breakfast. Somehow I ended up on the side with 3 kids while the other 3 adults enjoyed a peaceful meal on the other side. I enjoyed mine mostly cold as I was working overtime to dole out puffs to Miles and to keep Seamus from falling off the bench! Simon and Seamus love spending time together and it's so fun to see Seamus watching Simon and learning. After breakfast, we headed out to go on a sleigh ride (the highlight for Simon, seeing the horses poop - he is such a boy), play in the park, eat some snow taffy and try not to freeze since after the recent bout with nice weather, we are no longer able to tolerate the cold temperatures. Miles couldn't handle all of the activity and passed out on the way to the car. Next year perhaps we'll get to leave the park and check out some of the trails through the production.







We captured this sweet moment between the boys on the way home. It's all laughter from both of them when they're holding hands.

Torticollis

At 6 months old, Miles was diagnosed with Torticollis which is basically a condition where the head is tilted toward one side and a result the chin is elevated and turned toward the opposite direction. Yesterday, we finally had our referral appointment at the Children's Hospital. Miles' case has largely corrected itself (I really only notice it from the back these days)and he is pretty low on the scale so that is good news. However, we still need to be more conscious of positioning him and objects so that he can strengthen his weak side (all stimulus should be on his left). He was such a happy baby during the assessment and was all smiles for the progress pictures, the assessment (which apparently never happens) and being the demo model. He was totally in his element with all eyes on him, showing off what we call his PlayBaby pose. We switched his positioning in the crib and plan to change the placement of his car seat as a starting point and we'll have to work on positioning Brutus to his left during meal times! Follow-up is in 8 weeks so hopefully there is a noticeable improvement by then.

Simon Funny

I haven't been great with capturing Simon's funnies lately but I can't resist with this one. The other day we were upstairs getting ready when I heard Simon say, "Mommy, I coming out of the closet". I glanced up and saw Simon coming out of the closet in my high heels.

Army Crawl

Miles has begun to drag himself across the floor army style. The incentive... Simon's puzzle pieces. Miles zeros in on them and is off, much to Simon's annoyance. Yesterday he shouted, "Miles!" and then turned to us and said, "Miles needs to jump" (aka get that kid confined so that I can play with my puzzle in peace). I sense we're about to enter a new era now that Miles can get into his brother's toys!

Simon @ 3 years

I can't believe that he is three already! No matter how many times people tell you how fast they grow, you just never realize. Simon has grown so much in the past year, at 3 years Simon:

-is attending preschool twice a week and he absolutely loves it.
-is 90% potty trained. Nights are still unpredictable but for the most part, during the day he is doing well.
-has a pretty extensive vocabularly and is picking up on our slang and mannerisms.
-is a master negotiator.
-is super bossy with people he's comfortable with but put him in with new people and he's pretty timid and subservient.
-likes to slap and kick walls when he doesn't get his way.
-likes things to be done in a particular way and for his things to be in a particular place.
-is obsessed with the usage of time even though he doesn't really understand the concept - everything happened yesterday, or Tuesday, or in March.....
-has started to develop an imagination and it's so fun to listen to him play now.
-loves to tell knock-knock jokes but again, doesn't really get the concept so they are usually nonsense.
-is still a little bit obsessed with trucks, construction machines and tractors.
-is "friends" with every kid he meets.
-asks "why?" about 100 times a day.
-can count to 40 and knows most of his colours.
-has an amazing memory and can recite most of his books and can tell you who bought most of the clothes in his closet!
-wakes up and starts from the exact point that he was at before he fell asleep - we have to make sure we're ready and able to deliver on our promises that we made before bed.
-is starting to play some simple games - tag, red light/green light and duck, duck, goose.
-can either shout or whisper and nothing in between.
-pretty independent - it's nice that he's able to be left unsupervised for a few minutes here in there when Miles needs tending too.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

From my two little 1/4 Irish leprechauns.

Miles @ 8 months

Eight months old already! It's funny how on one hand you wish for the growing to slow down, but on the other hand, you can't wait for them to do more things. At 8 months, Miles:

-is eating solids like a champ. He's a bit more distracted than he used to be but he gobbles up three meals and a snack most days. He is definitely a meat man but also loves carrots, pears and rice crackers.
-has a bout of excema that we think is a reaction to tomatoes.
-is still sleeping in his vibrating chair. Of course, now he is sleeping through some nights so Matt and I are even less motivated to move him!
-is still up on his hands and knees rocking but doesn't usually get any forward momentum, unless it is to go face first into the floor.
-loves when you sing songs.
-poops all...day...long.
-wears size 3 diapers and mostly 6-12 month clothing.
-still only has his bottom two teeth. We're not sure if there's more coming since we're not brave enough to risk our fingers checking.
-is always right beside Brutus (or more accurately, Brutus is always right beside him) and sharing toys.
-loves to be on the go. He definitely gets bored being stuck at home.
-takes two naps most days
-rolls everywhere - he usually starts on the carpet but once he hits the wood, he can really move!
-is such a social baby. When we're out, he stares at people until they look at him and then he gives them a huge grin.
-loves bath time. As soon as he's naked and heading for the tub, we need to hold on tight because his whole body wriggles with excitement.