Santa's Scary But Those Elves Do Great Art!

Well, we tried to make it to Santa's lap this year and got close enough to Hi-5 him. Thankfully, K wasn't afraid of the lady doing face painting and requested this flower work, in blue. Oh, and she just about forgot the stem until Kyra corrected her..apparently art critique runs in the family..

Happy Thoughts

I was contemplating what I could write in this post today and I reflected upon many of my previous posts.. Now, I don't mean to give the impression that all is bad with our lives or that children are a plague upon our household (even though I feel that way intermittently). But this seems the perfect outlet to rant about it and just 'get it out', sort of speak. So, I really should give the sunnier view of parenthood once in a while.

I was nursing Noelle tonight and trying to stir up some moments that make motherhood special for me and that I can freeze in cyberspace for my kids to read later.. Now, the nursing part of motherhood is a fairly special moment that, while it seems to take SO MUCH TIME, really is just a small fraction of life. I certainly have no regrets choosing that route - as I took the bottle route with Kyra - and I wholeheartedly believe that I have a closer connection to Noelle through it than I ever had with Kyra. I laugh at Noelle's ability now to nurse, fiddle with my shirt, play with her hair (her fuzz, really) and smile at me through her eyes - all at the same time. She's my multi-tasker! While this was going on, Kyra was running up & down the hallway - buck naked - singing to imaginary friends (named Cha-cha & Shiu-sa - don't know where she got those names?) and asking me if her 'hat' looked good on her.. The 'hat' being a huge bath towel wrapped around her head.. Like I always say - if only I could bottle these moments... Makes me smile.

Christmas Approaches and the Germs Just Keep Coming!

I hardly have time these days to prepare (as all good "Santas" should) when I spend every waking moment fighting the FLU or a COLD or some sort of GI disruption.. I mean really, take pity on a new family and let me remain healthy for at least another 3 weeks! That was my plea to the 'cold' Gods.. Today it's only Ernie that's hiding in the bedroom, dozing in self pity - but it could be ANY one of us tomorrow...

Another Day in the Life..

It's been 20 days since I last posted anything and well, it seems like just yesterday.. Time has just flown! It's a blustery winter day outside, the traffic is bedlam and the wind is cold. It's a good day to watch TV and bake cookies - which I'll get to in a minute...

On the kid front, Kyra is firmly entrenched in being the moodswing that she's become in these past few months. For the most part she's a giggly, inquisitive toddler. It's now difficult to watch movies or read stories now without a running questionnaire of "Who's that?", "Where's the other guy?", "Why's that there?". And Hide & Seek is the big activity of the day - which is hard to keep up when the hiding places include under the glass coffee table (plain sight), head under a cushion (butt in plain sight), head in the exersaucer (again, butt in plain sight) - you get the picture.

Noelle is on the move, officially. Today she's Commando-crawling with a bit of a crab-like leg - but it's a forward motion and well, that's as close to REAL crawling as we've seen in these parts! Hoorah!

Toddleristic or OCD??

It's funny, but I don't ever recall in all my minutes of babysitting experience just how weird a toddler can really be. I guess their little heads are learning/absorbing things at mind-numbing speed & capacity - so I suppose LOGIC is just another mind-numbing experience that they file away for better use later in life (some of us just completely file it..period). All this 'oddness' that I'm thinking about today pretty much began around the age of 2 with painstakingly lining up of all her Fisher-Price Little People on the foot of her bed. Tiny little queues of plastic smiling people. It reminded me of those looks into "Weird Homes" that a show took from a few years back on TV. Thankfully, Kyra outgrew this phase and has since moved on to lining up crayons, pillows and finally - cutlery! At least here's a skill that I can see useful for a future as an OR nurse or surgeon... At least she appears proud of her work -

All Hallow's Eve

So, Kyra's first REAL Halloween came & went. And as a newbie mom (I consider Newbie as someone that hasn't got a child in University..) I daftly figured that she wouldn't want to do the 'trick-or-treat' ritual that goes along with the spooky and sugar laden day. HA! She was so into going to strangers' doors that she was rather pouty for at least 15 minutes when I told her we weren't going until Grandpa offered her a chocolate and allowed her (well, she was bullying him anyway) to answer the trick-or-treating of other little ghouls, witches & fuzzy animals that paraded to the door. I did let her timidly call out to a few doors in her ballerina tu-tu until she got cold - thankfully not a flake of snow graced the sidewalks this year.. But let me tell you, we're ready for next year - I'm already planning the giant spiderweb, thunder sound-system and spotlights. Watch out! Halloween will become as celebrated as Christmas..Did I mention that there're about 54 days until that joyous occasion (I'm all a-tingle!)...

Shots!

Today marked Noelle's 6 month immunizations, hooray! We don't have to return to the health clinic for another 6 months..She did very well, remembering to breathe between screamings. Kyra was oblivious to all the goings on (as all caring sisters should be) and concentrated on colouring a halloween picture the nurse gave her. She's quite into colouring and drawing and painting lately - it's like a little artistic switch has just been thrown. And as any proud parent can say, we see some talent! ha ha. She does do a mean (and fairly recognizable) rendering of a happy face with lots of spiky hair. We're so impressed! Noelle's drawings aren't so impressive, as she merely attempts to chew the crayon at this stage. Which reminds me that her third tooth is making its way through her gumline. At this rate she'll be completely dentured by her first birthday! I guess I'd better introduce her to a toothbrush.. and a big steak!