January update

It's been a fairly quiet month around here -- a lot of that owing to the fact that mommy sprained her ankle on Jan. 9 and spent almost 2 weeks on crutches. It definitely wasn't my finest hour -- slipping on a patch of ice, rolling over on my bad ankle and landing flat on my butt. Luckily, it wasn't broken, but being unable to walk still wasn't any fun.

So, the kids and I moved into my parents house in Brampton for 4 days so that they could look after the kids and I could stay off my feet. And even when we moved back, my mom still came by a couple of times to help me out.

Now I'm crutch-free, but still have to be careful when walking around -- and I can't be on my feet for long periods of time. Sigh.

The kids are both registered in a bunch of programming this winter. Austin is back in preschool on Tuesday and Thursday mornings; on Monday mornings all three of us go to a jump and play program (which is basically a whole lot of outdoor toys piled into a gym so the kids can run around for an hour -- a perfect indoor activity during the winter); and both kids are once again taking swimming lessons -- this time on Saturday mornings (Alex is still doing the parent-tot program).

On Jan. 24, we took the kids to see Playhouse Disney Live at the Rogers Centre and they both had a blast. Austin was totally into the show and Alex, although a little unsure at first, wouldn't sit down for the entire second half because she was too busy dancing! And when it was over, she was completely devastated because Mickey Mouse had left. She just couldn't understand why he would leave her!

The big news with the kids, is that Alex has started potty training herself! Seriously, I had no idea that kids did that! She first used the potty months ago, and ever since then would sporadically ask to sit on it -- although it was really just a fun game to her and she'd rarely do anything when she was there. Then, about three weeks ago, she suddenly started asking to go to the potty -- and she'd go! And then two weeks ago, she started asking to go all the time (figures, because I was on crutches and had a hard time taking her).

Now she uses it several times daily and I think she might actually be ready for big girl underwear! Or, at the very least, pullups, because although I'm getting very good at putting a diaper back on her while she's standing up, it's a pain. I hadn't expected this, and I certainly wasn't planning for it -- I was thinking of maybe training her this summer -- but it would be incredible if she could be out of diapers by the time she's 2!

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December fun and Christmas craziness

A few things I forgot to mention in my last post about December events:

- On Dec. 15, Austin had a 'graduation'/concert at his preschool. It's a graduation, because it's only a 9-week program, except he's signed up to go back in January, so he wasn't really graduating. But the concert was cute. Here's what happens when you ask a bunch of 3 year olds to sing for their parents (at least Austin was singing!)


- On Dec. 17, Austin, Alex, my mom and I saw the Olympic torch run almost right by our house as it headed towards downtown. It was pretty cool to see.

On to the holidays:


This is the first year where we did not travel outside the GTA, yet the holidays were any less busy than normal. Christmas saw Ryan's two sisters, dad and partner come for dinner -- the very first time we've cooked Christmas dinner at our house. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. And honestly, even though it was a lot of work -- it makes me want to always stay home for Christmas.


Ryan's sisters actually arrived early, one arriving on the 22nd and the other on the 24th so they were both with us during the present frenzy of Christmas morning. Once again this year, Austin was the last person out of bed, just after 8 a.m. Even Ryan's sisters were up before him! Both kids were super excited about Christmas morning, although Alex was far more intersted in unwrapping the paper from all the presents than she was in what was under the paper.

And the frenzy started all over again when Grandpa arrived at noon to spoil them with presents. After Christmas dinner, everyone stayed the night and into the next afternoon.

After half a day's downtime, we headed to Brampton on the 27th for Christmas with my family, where yet another present frenzy insued. We stayed all day -- from before lunch until after dinner. Not 48 hours later, on Dec. 29, we were back at my family's house for another gathering, this time with my cousins, aunt and uncle from the U.S. In total, there were 21 people at my parents house. It was fun, especially since there were two new babies since the last time we got together, and some of them had yet to meet Austin and Alex. With Christmas now done (well, we'll be doing it one more time in late January with Ryan's mom), we had one day of downtime before New Year's Eve. This year, we took the kids to the Zoo with some friends and their daughter for their annual New Year's Eve party. Only a small part of the zoo is open -- three pavillions and any animals between those pavillions have their cages lit up -- but we all had a lot of fun. There was also a stage in the main entrance with performances and, a countdown to midnight at 9 p.m. The kids loved being at the zoo (even though it was raining lightly the whole time were were there -- which I guess is better than freezing cold or snow), and had a lot of fun dancing at the main entrance and counting down to 'midnight'. And 9 p.m., was perfect, because they were both pretty exhausted when we got home! Once home, our friends also put their daughter to bed at our house, and the four of us sat up drinking wine and playing cards until midnight. Low key, yet a lot of fun.

And here we are in January, back to the old routine. There are more pictures in the slideshow, at right. Happy New Year everyone!

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