June news and updates

June has been a fun, but busy month for us. So busy that rather than posting after each event like I usually do, I'm just putting together one big post on the last month.

Austin's preschool graduation

Austin is now offiically done preschool -- having had his final graduation on June 3. The kids all walked in wearing paper graduation hats, sang a few songs for us parents and then got a certificate from their teacher. It was cute. As part of the concert part, Austin even led the class in a round of 'Wheels on the Bus'.
Now, it's a summer at home and then off to JK on Sept. 7!

A day at Canada's Wonderland

On June 5, Ryan's sister Jamie and her boyfriend came down from London and we all went to Canada's Wonderland for the day.

Like last year, the kids both had a blast and because they're both taller, they could go on more rides. So Austin was now tall enough to go on (with an adult) one adult roller coaster (Thunder Run) and the Ghoster Coaster in the kids area. He loved both of them. In fact, he loved the Ghoster Coaster so much that when him and I got off and went back to find Ryan he wanted to go again with daddy.

Alex too was now tall enough to go on all the kids area rides except the roller coasters. That meant that not only could she go on the rides that needed adult accompaniment (which for both of them actually, were most kids rides) but she was also tall enough to go on three rides by herself or with just Austin. She was very proud of herself when she went on her first ride all by herself.We got to Wonderland at about 10:30 and didn't really know how long we'd last with the kids. We figured that it would depend on whether or not we could convince Alex to take a nap in the stroller. Well, she wouldn't nap. Wonderland was just too much fun for her to waste any time lying down and sleeping!
But somehow, the kids kept going and didn't once get whinny. So, after riding ride after ride all afternoon, and eating giant ice cream sandwiches for dinner, we packed up to go home at 7:30 p.m. -- 9 hours later! Needless to say, they both passed out in the car on the way home. They were so asleep that when we carried them both in, they didn't wake up and spent the night sleeping in the clothes.
It was definitely a fun day.

Father's Day at the Jays game

On Father's Day, we all went to the Blue Jays game. It was a huge adventure for the kids, which started with catching the subway from York Mills to Union and then walking over to the Rogers Centre. It was a beautiful sunny day and the roof was open.Austin was captivated right from the start, and even when the Jays were losing badly 7 innings and more than 3 hours into the game, he didn't want to leave. Alex on the other hand, lost interest in the game quickly. All morning, she was SO excited to go and she was very content while eating her hot dog and watching the first inning.

And when that was over, she promptly announced 'all done Blue Jays'.

So, I spent the next couple of innings wandering around with her and checking out the kids play area. We made our way back to our seats at the end of the fourth and then managed to bribe her with popcorn to stay put for a few more innings. Or at least until we convinced Austin it was time to go.It was a tiring afternoon, but a fun one. It's just too bad the wrong team won.

In other news

In other news, Ryan has been transferred from Mississauga to a job site in Toronto. And, not only is it in the city, but it's only a 15 minute drive from our house (without traffic -- and when does that ever happen in Toronto? But even with traffic, it's not a bad commute).

I've been working a lot lately, having picked up quite a few freelance jobs. So it definitely keeps me busy (hence the lack of blog updates lately -- when I'm busy with work, I'm too busy writing to have time to write blog updates.)

The kids are both playing soccer and Ryan and I are both playing softball --which means there are activities on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings this summer.

That's all the news from us for now. There are more pictures in the slideshow on the right.

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Soccer monsters

It's soccer season time for Austin and Alex.

Alex is registered for the same tots soccer that Austin played last year and the year before. All the kids are 2 and 3 years old and parents participate each week. Alex is amongst the youngest there and, to be honest, she doesn't really have the attention span for soccer. But, regardless, she loves it.

Every Monday, she is SO excited to put her uniform on and head out to the soccer field. And for the first 15 minutes or so, she kicks her ball around and follows the coach's instructions. After that, she just wants to do her own thing. But the whole point is to have fun, and she's having a blast. Austin is now playing kinder-soccer with 4 and 5 year olds. He has a practice for 45 minutes every Tuesday night and plays an actual soccer game every Wednesday night. (Well, it's called micro-soccer -- they play 5 on 5 with tiny popup nets on a small part of the field, but still...) I have to admit, it's pretty funny watching a bunch of 4 and 5 years old 'play' soccer!

He's having a blast this year, and is doing quite well. He hasn't scored any goals yet, but he kicks and passes the ball down the field and even played goalie one game. He stopped all but one shot!
With two kids in soccer this year, and Ryan and I both still playing softball in different leagues on different nights, it sure makes for a busy sports summer!

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When a kid is being too quiet, it's not usually a good sign

Every morning, when I dry my hair, the kids usually come with me. They like it when I 'dry' their hair as well. But this morning, Alex didn't want her hair dried, so she went off to play in the living room while Austin and I dried our hair in the bathroom.

Five minutes later we were finished and I noticed it was awfully quiet in the house. So, Austin ran off to find Alex and all of a sudden he yells down the hall to me: "mommy Alex isn't wearing any pants and she has a pen".

Oh oh.

I found her sitting in her pink princess chair with her hands covering her eyes. As I got closer, she gave me a coy look and quietly said "peekaboo mommy". I look at her. Austin's right, she's not wearing any pants because she was wearing a dress, so her legs were completely exposed. In her right hand is a ballpoint pen and on both her legs is a rather interesting design. A design which runs from her toes to her diaper -- on both legs.

It took everything I had to not laugh out loud and instead tell her that pens are for drawing on paper not legs. I then carried her off to the bathroom, sat her on the counter and spent the next 10 minutes scrubbing her legs, as gently as I could. But not before snapping a picture with my phone.

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An update on the kids

It's been awhile since I've written about just the kids, so I thought I'd post a quick update.

Alexandra

Well, we all know that Alex is now 2, and I think it's suffice to say that she has the attitude and the temper of a 2-year-old. She's very strong-willed and I don't remember the terrible twos being quite so difficult with Austin. Then again, my memory may have just faded in the two years since we were last there.

But she's also very sweet and loves helping out. She's always pulling her chair up to the counter to help me with dinner, putting dishes away from the dishwasher, working with me in the garden and even attempting to fold laundry (this last one usually just results in me having to redo it, but it's the thought that counts).

She also wants to be self-sufficient --trying to get undressed and dressed by herself, and even putting on her own shoes. The cutest part of that is, as she's putting the first shoe on, she'll always look up at me (or Ryan) and ask: "right feet?".

Her language abilities have finally come along and she's now talking in two and three word sentences. And along with finally having the ability to speak more than a handful of words has come the ability to sing. She loves singing and is constantly singing the songs we learn at the Early Years' Centre or ones that Austin teaches her. In fact, there have been mornings that she wakes up and, instead of crying out for me to come and get her, she just starts singing. Her favourite song is Roly Poly because it gets loud, Loud, LOUD!

At her 2-year checkup, she weighed in at 26lbs and 34 inches tall -- still tall and skinny for her age. It's amazing that she's still so light, considering her favourite activity is to eat -- there are some days that she can out-eat Austin!

Just this week, I've restarted potty training her. I'm not rushing her, but since I know she knows how and just doesn't want to do it anymore, I figured it was time to try it again. We'll see how it goes.

She's still in a crib -- mainly because unlike when Austin was her age, we're not in need of the crib again -- but we'll probably make the transition to a bed in the next few months.

Austin

There's not as much to write about Austin.

His preschool finishes this week, which will be sad because he loves it there. But he starts JK in September and he's pretty excited about it. He's definitely ready to start school. We've been doing a lot of learning at home -- the alphabet, numbers, writing, etc. but there's only so much I can teach him. He's even interested in learning to read so we've been teaching him a few basics.

Like Alex, he too loves helping out. Last week, he helped me plant all the vegetables and flowers in the gardens -- digging holes, placing plants and watering. (Oh yeah, and watering me with the hose too! Good thing it's 30C out!)

At his last doctor's appointment, he weighed in at 40 lbs and 41 inches tall. This means that he's heavy enough and old enough now to be transferred out of the car seat and into a booster seat -- but so far we haven't done that. We figure he's safer and has no knowledge that he's allowed to be moved to a less restrictive seat (and he's still not too big for the one he's in) so we're just going to keep things as is for now.

Finally, in the when-did-he-get-old-enough-for-that-category, we bought Austin a big boy bike with training wheels. We thought he might have a bit of trouble with it at first, but so far he's doing great. With Alex on the bike seat of Ryan's bike, the four of us have been already out on a few bike rides this spring.

This summer is going to be a busy one for Austin. He's registered for soccer again and this year, he'll be on the field two nights a week. One night will be a game and the other night will be a practice. He's also going to all-day camp for one week in July and I'm thinking of signing both of them up for swimming lessons in July as well. And Alex is registered for the same toddler soccer program that Austin was in the last two years.

Busy summer coming up, that's for sure. I got a little behind in posting pictures, so there are two new slideshows on the right-hand side.

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