A update on life in general

It's been awhile since I updated on life in general so here's a few quick highlights:

Alexandra

Alex is now 18 months old and at her checkup yesterday, she weighed in at 22lbs, 15 oz. She's a lightweight alright. In fact, in the last three months, she only gained 14 oz, something the doctor is not concerned about but wants us to keep an eye on because it's below normal weight gain. I wish I could tell you how tall she is (because she very tall for her age -- at at her 15-month appointment, she measured in the 95th percentile for height) but she refused to allow the doctor to measure her no matter how many different ways we tried. Maybe later in the week, I'll try to get her to stand against a door just so I can get an approximate height.

She still has very few words to her vocabulary but she understands absolutely everything you say to her. And because of this, she uses non-verbal ways to communicate because she can't say the words. (For example, if she wants her soother, she points to her mouth.) The words she does know are cute, because it is often the same word for various items. For example, mama means me; meme (which sounds a lot like mama) means Mickey (her favourite doll), mama means more milk. So you have to listen carefully and figure out the context of what she's trying to tell you. Her newest word, this week, is mine. And it's pretty clear and is usually yelled when Austin is trying to take something from her!

Along the lines of her vocabulary; she's facsinated with everything around her. So if a plane goes by overhead she's pointing and yelling at it. And if we drive by a bus, she's yelling 'BA' from the back seat.

She's taking swimming lessons this fall -- a parent/tot program -- and she loves being in the water. She'll jump in, put her face in, do front floats (assisted of course) and splashes around with all the toys. But even though it's a 30 minute class, after 20 minutes, she's ready to get out.

Because Austin's in preschool two mornings a week, I get some alone time with her -- which we've really been enjoying. Sometimes we use it to do the groceries or other errands, whereas othertimes we drop in at a toddler playgroup where she has a blast. It's a different dynamic when she's just playing with other kids and her big brother's not around and it's neat to watch.

Austin

As I mentioned above, Austin is in preschool two mornings a week now. It's a program that's run through the city and it's at a nearby community centre. It's only for two hours on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and he loves it. It's a nine-week program and I've signed him up for the fall and winter so he'll be going to preschool until March (at which point I hope to sign him up again for a session) with just a three-week break in December.

They do crafts, songs, stories, playtime and every week they learn about something. Last week he came home and told me he learned all about good and bad foods. And they even took a field trip to a nearby grocery store last week to buy a pumpkin for the class.

He is also taking swimming lessons again this fall and once again loves it. And on Wednesday morning, we go to a sports class where for 45 minutes he runs around a gym and learns basic skills for various sports.

On another note, even though we keep very busy, Austin has given up napping. It happened around the end of the summer -- he would go into his bed every afternoon and he just wouldn't fall asleep. So now, I make him go into his room for 'rest time' every afternoon, but he only lies there for about 20 minutes or so before he's calling me to come back. At this point, I try to convince him to read books or play quietly with toys for a little while longer. Sometimes it works, and somtimes I get suckered in to letting him sit and watch a movie until Alex wakes up.

Mom and dad

We're keeping pretty busy as well -- aside from how busy the kids keep us.

My business is going well and I've been getting a steady stream of work. Right now, I actually don't have any projects on the go, but that's the nature of the business -- it's always feast or famine. But I'm trying to use this down time well and get a lot of other things done, because once more work comes in, I'll complain that I don't have time to do anything!

Aside from that, I also completed my first 10km race earlier this month -- which many of you know about. It was something I set my mind to many many months ago and have been training for ever since. I finished it in 75 minutes with the kids and Ryan at the finish line (and catching me around the 5K mark) to cheer me on. Austin even ran the last few metres with me to cross the finish line. It was fun, and I'm glad I did it. I'm even crazy enough to think about doing it again next year.

I don't think there's much to report on Ryan. He's still keeping very busy at work. He's still out in Mississauga building the Mississauga Transit hub and will likely be out there through to the spring.

That's about all from us for now.