The Tale of Two Months

So this is going to be the super update. I totally blew it last month. Because of my hand surgery the two year entry was finished almost 2 weeks late. So two weeks later when it was time to do the 25 month update it just didn't feel like enough time had past to have anything to update. And I guess I could use that we have been dealing with colds for the whole family, my hand is still healing and Christmas!! But I will now make up for it.


There comes an age that toddlers go from everything they say being a repeat of something that someone said to them to the stage when their creative minds click in and they have the language to express what they are thinking. We have just hit that stage and I love it. One of the prize winners is "Doggy Bubbles" This is what you guys have renamed the movie "Space Buddies". A movie about 5 golden retriever puppies that are accidentally sent into space. The name came from the puppies doing a space walk and their 'bubble' helmets.

There are some great words on the go. "Buggy Cycle" for bicycle, "Co-Pee-Kinds" for Porcupines,
"Libbit" is the sound a frog makes, "Neoink" is the sound a pig makes and probably comes from the sound I make when I pull a Nuk out of your mouths.
Both of you tell us what a "Good Nap" you had every time you get up whether its morning or after naps. If something is broken, Gabe thinks it needs to be "Crips" (fixed)once it has been 'Crips' it is "All Cripsed". But really the funniest this month was when Bea saw the Frog shaped humidifier taken apart for a refill and said "Oh for God sake, the Frog".






And with December came another hair cut for Gabe. Bea other than a bang trim when you were tiny we haven't gotten you a hair cut yet.







You are both really into being "tucked in". In your own beds, mommy and daddy's bed or the spare bed.

There is also lots of singing, and chatting between the two of you at night after the lights go out. Bea is now tickling and kissing dollies, getting "Stuck" and needs our help, "sweep" with the broom, things being cute whether it is the doggy or your pants, and lately snuggles which you call "Suggs". You will happily run over and lay down for a diaper change because of the alone time. You want us to play with you and will have long conversations on the phone with Daddy while he is at work. As headstrong as you are Miss Bea you are great at taking direction and will happily clean up and put things where we tell you they go. You also spend a great deal of time in time out.

Gabe you are still completely truck and tractor obsessed. You know the names of many of the trucks and can spend hours on the floor with your trucks and the blocks to use as cargo. You also have really gotten into jamming the furniture from Bea's dollhouse through the door of the house and get really frustrated with the furniture that doesn't fit. You hate diaper changes and aren't good at taking direction and although almost never get a time out, I have to ask you a million time to 'come here' before you either come or I go get you.

We have tried to make a tradition of going out and cutting a tree down every year and this year was no exception. After a warm November we got hit hard in December with sleet and cold rain before the deep freeze set in. Our time out in the woods consisted of the chant "We are making memories here!!"And then Christmas happened......but first the Santa shot.....


This year was the complete opposite of last year. Both of you enjoyed your time at the mall and didn't mind hanging out with Santa, Gabe wanted to play with the toys on the floor while Bea wanted to chat with who she thought was Papa. In the end this is the one we sent out. Bea is pointing at me and I am jumping up and down trying to show Gabe some train or truck that might make him happy for a minute or two. It didn't work....but we liked the shot anyway. It is exactly what Santa shots are suppose to be.

Christmas Eve Shots


































And Santa didn't miss our house

In fact he exploded at our house. You were both very spoiled. Bea, you got a beautiful wooden dollhouse that is furnished and has 3 ladies that live there, a stroller and car seat for your babies.









Gabe, you got 3 Sprig trucks including one that lights up when pushed around. You both got tons of clothes, a bunch of wooden farm animals, books, a sled and shovel for the snow, art supplies, little hockey sticks and ball, new toothbrushes and tons of other stuff







































You guys get better everyday and my best Christmas present was and always will be my monkey babies.
love Mama

TWO TWOs

* This was started before your birthday on the date shown but posted well into November. I knew that we had a busy few weeks ahead of us, including hand surgery for me and knew there maybe a great delay while I recouped. I also waited until after your party so we could include that.xo

Dear Birthday Bea and Birthday Gabe,

I can't even begin to wrap my head around the idea that you are two. The first year of your lives was the longest year of my life. Filled with worry, stress, anxiety and more love then I could ever imagine. The second year has flown by and has been mostly joy, laughter and huge change.


The first year was also filled with amazing physical changes practically every day while now that has slowed down and the changes are mostly verbal and cognitive. I can't believe how fast you are changing from toddlers to kids. And Daddy and I have really had to start watching what we say around you guys. Not only do you repeat everything but you UNDERSTAND more. I will have conversations with you guys which is so weird. Instead of just making announcements ie. "All done", you are telling me what you want "New News pees" (noodles please) and starting to imaginary play which is so funny.

You both now understand the concept of people going away and will say "Daddy work car" because Daddy leaves for work in the car. And when Grammy and Papa came to visit I told you in the morning before they got here that they were coming and all morning you guys were saying "Grammy, Papa, Mawee (Molly) come car" and since they have left, you say "Papa, Grammy, Mawee home go byyyyyyeeeee" and we wave out the window.


This morning I went to get you guys out of bed and you both said "Goooood mowing" when I came in and then when I opened the window Gabe "sha shine inside" I said "thats right, the sun is shining" and Gabe said " sha shine o in doe (window)". This just seemed so crazy to me.

It has also become obvious the different ways that you guys learn. Some of the early landmarks of baby-dom just happen like crawling. I didn't have to crawl around to show you guys that that is what happens next but now it all gets more interactive. If you are going to learn numbers and letters I have to teach them and this is when I have realized the different ways your brains work.

Bea - if there is a song to sing you want to learn it. We sing the alphabet all day, a number song from Sesame Street, Wheels on the Bus, Elmo's World, and Thomas' theme song. You will start to sing the song and then say 'sing' to us and we all sing it but if we try to start it and you're not in the mood you just announce "NO" and shake your head and we have to stop. Gabe loves the big "yay" at the end of the songs

You are interested if there is some game in it for us to do together. We dress and undress Baby Dolly together....this can end in tears if you decide that you want to wear her clothes and no matter how many times I try to explain that they don't fit you.....well you can see where this is going. We put her to bed and check her bum for poo (luckily there never is any) but you will say "poo stinky" and I have to change her diaper.

Bea playing with her new birthday kitchen

Gabe - right now you are on a different page. You too are interested in the alphabet and numbers but you are coming at it another way. We watch an episode of Sesame Street everyday and sometimes a Thomas the Tank engine and I guess you pay a lot of attention to the learning games because you picked up one of your blocks the other day and announced it was a "twiyangle" and it was. This isn't crazy because you aren't smart enough to know what a triangle is but because this isn't something that we have ever talked about. We have been sticking to letters, numbers and colours lately. You also are much more able to identify a letter or number when you see it, pointing them out on our wooden blocks. This I know is from Sesame Street.


You are still crazy into cars, trucks, trains and planes but you are starting to get specific. Now we know what a "pee cup coowup", a "do-un buggy car", "wace car", "big bus", a "fy yer coowup" and an "ack ter" is. We have long conversations about the size of the "ooohweeeooo" (wheel)


One of our struggles this month has been trying to get manners down. Please and Thank yous please and thank you. The thank yous have been pretty easy and both of you are pretty good, saying it most of the time if not all the time whether appropriate or not. You will say it when you are handing me something. Gabe you're better at the pleases than Bea. When you ask for "more baba" I say "more baba please" and Gabe repeats while Bea, my little strong willed girl will say "no". Recently this has meant no more cookies for Bea while Gabe you have another and on another occasion Bea going back into time out 5 times when you wouldn't say sorry to Gabe for hitting him. Just "no" when I tell you to say sorry. I hope that 'stage' ends soon.

I have to give a jumping update. WE FIGURED IT OUT!!! WE ARE JUMPERS NOW!!! Both of you still have to hold on to something but you are getting some air and although cute.....not as funny as the earlier stage.

Daddy Magnum PI and Engineer Gabe

We had a big birthday party for you guys on Halloween. It was a great time with lots of food and friends. The pictures will explain although I wish I had better costume pictures. One surprise was how much you guys liked Trick or Treatin. It was way past your bed time and you had been over stimulated for hours but you were both great about holding hands and happily went up to every house and said "HI" with even a few attempts at "Twick or Tweat" and you both were so cute in your costumes I thought I was going to kiss you raw.

Gabe my lil'train engineer and Bea the scary witch with Mama Medusa

I could go on for ages about how cool you guys are right now cause I love yah so much. FI this is the terrible twos.....well bring it on

Birthday girl eating cake

xxoo Mama (or more recently Mommmmmmeeeeeee)

forward

I have come to realize one of the things that I really have to learn to stop doing. I have always said that I have to learn to live in the moment more but I think I have something even worse than that. I project my happiness into the future too. We have had a very busy summer...full of social events and obligations and I keep ticking them off the lists like I can't wait for them to be over instead of looking forward to them. So life becomes a long list of things that need to be ticked off before I can relax and enjoy? Is that any way to live?

I think this same illness manifests itself in many ways. Like my day dreaming of the pride and self worth I will feel when I have finished my cook book instead of enjoying doing it or feeling challenged by the challenge. It makes it so you aren't doing things for the right reasons and probably have a smaller chance of actually ever following through. You are living for something projected into the future instead of the reality of now.

How do you stop doing that?

23 and counting

Dear BeaZee and Littleman ,

So one month and counting till TWO. It seems crazy that it has only been two years when I don't remember life without you.....did I have a life before you guys? Certainly not one that counted, mattered or felt as meaningful!

Most of September was a busy month. We did another trip to Ottawa, this time for Daddy to work but we stayed a couple extra days to visit and go to Sarah Jane's Birthday party. There were a million other little kids there and we kept loosing the two of you in the sea of little people. They had set up the same bouncy castle that had been at Granny's internment in May, the one that Gabe loved and Bea was scared of. But what a difference a couple of months can do. This time Bea we couldn't keep you out of it. There was lots great fun to be had with bubbles, mini ice cream cones (this was a first this month...you had had small bites of ice cream when we ate it but you got your very own cone at Scoops on Wednesday September 9th. You both had 'no sugar added' vanilla on a mini cone and asked about 'ceeeem' every day after. You were very happy when you got to have it again at the party) You guys really are great in social situations. I worry sometimes that being at home with me all the time is going to create some social issues for you later when you do start school but you guys jump right in with the other little kids. It was a late party night for the two of you and you fell asleep in the car on the drive home.

One thing I keep meaning to add every month is the enormous amount of help it is when you guys started pushing you arms, legs and heads through the clothing we were putting you in. This started ages ago but you guys just keep getting better at this and it really makes getting you dressed soooooo much easier then trying to push a floppy arm through a sleeve. The draw back of course is that you have figured out how to UN-dress yourselves as well, Bea mostly, and there have been a few time I have come to grab you after naps to find nakedness, including a frightening lack of diaper. This included a time where the diaper HAD been full of poo. Poo was now all over hands, the crib and the wall behind it. Ooooooohhhhh so many Pooventures

I read a book lately that went through the developmental stages of the toddler and it said that the last months coming up to the second birthday is crazy talking time. That kids go from the huge list of single words they know to using them in sentences. This couldn't be more true. When talking most of the connective tissue is mumbling nonsenses but there is a complete thought in there and we can catch the meaning especially if it is in the right context. The hard part is following what you are saying about something earlier in the day. The funny part is I am starting to hear the the beginnings of talking about yourselves in third person. Gabe holding up Bea's baba, "Bea Bea Baba" then his own "Gee baba". I guess I always thought this was something that parents got going from the way they spoke to their kids but I think it has more to do with not knowing/understanding possessives. You guys are getting good at adjectives though.


I love some of the funny stuff about toddlers. The jumping kills me. Neither of you can figure out jumping but you love doing what you think jumping is. For Bea this is bending knees and coming up to standing on one foot, both arms up in the air. For Gabe it is holding on to something and doing what would be jumping if you got any air but you don't. You both love doing this and will do it when ever I ask. I make a point of really cheering you on.

We didnt take very many pictures this month and for that I am sorry. We need to get better about video too but we have been so busy and so are you guys. Daddy and I will be good about remember to take a camera where we go but you guys keep us so occupied that we never remember to take any pictures.

We have another busy month ahead that includes a crazy two year old birthday party and I promise to remember to take pictures.

love Mama

2 months from 2

Dear Bea and Gabe, aka Beas and Gabes, Cups and Little Man, B Z (your hip hop name) and Geeeeb, lovey and little...

Every month that rolls by I cant believe another month has rolled by. And I can't believe how much more I like them everytime. OK THIS one was my favorite!! We are now 22 months old and getting close to being TWO!!! How did that happen?? The first year of your lives was the longest year of my life. Filled with unbelievable quantities of stress, panic, worry and lack of sleep. But the second year has been very joy filled and has flown by.

This month was filled with huge changes. One of our parent friends (I cant remember who, Susan maybe) said that once kids start talking you can't believe how fast the words come, and they were right. Here is just some of it

Mama, Dada, up, down, Bea Bea, Geeeeb, more, Baba, Melmo, ball, puppy, Mini, bubbles, cracker, new new (noodles), bean, boo ball (blueberries, all other berries are just ball) gookie, shoes, car, truck, bus, park, diaper, eye, toes, poo, bum, cup, apple, pear, book, potty, tub, all done, night night, kiss, out, light, phone, one, two, three, four, five....to ten, bear, umbrella, hat, go, flop, ouchie, plane, and a million others. These are just the words that you use regularly not just the words you understand. You guys understand EVERYTHING!

The amazing thing about this list is how much you can communicate with a limited list, how much you can say. Just yesterday you were snacking on green beans and Gabe pulled one out of the bowl and announced "one bean" or when I asked why you were crying and upset, "Baba toe ouchie" I had heard a small bang but you explained that your sippy had fallen off the table and landed on your toe.......really the best part of this story is that Bea started kissing your toes, asking after each kiss and pointing to the toe she had just kissed "ouchie toe?"

The physical changes have been amazing too. In the last month the two of you have gotten so brave and sure of yourselves at the local park I take you to that I can sit back and watch you run around like manics. Bea you have always loved the slide and for a while now you spend most of your park time going up and down the slide (if you aren't in the swing) but just yesterday you started throwing yourself down it head first. It surprised me at first and Grammy who was there with us said you had done it a few time already that day. WOW!! Gabe saw how much fun you were having and although not a huge fan of the slide gave it a try too and he liked it a lot too. but Gabe really your favorite thing to do there is running around the empty wading pool yelling.

This month we made two trips to visit Grandparents. First an over night to Gramma and Grandy's in Stratford. We spent time running around in their local park, picking and eating peas, playing with sidewalk chalk, and playing with cousin Max's toys....oh and drinkin beers..

Really one of the silliest part was these ladybug hats they gave you that neither of you would take off

And another trip out to Pakenham for a week long vacation with Grammy and Papa G. You guys really love it there and find a million rotten things to get up to....most of them involve being nakedlike learning to swim with daddy or running around in the sprinkler

This month we also had your 20 month (corrected age) developmental testing. This is a series of follow-up appointments at Sick Kids to make sure that your premie status isn't delaying any of your development. The doctor seemed pleased with everything and the big news was a week later when we got a copy of the letter they sent to your doctor. The letter said that you are both a good height and weight (with Gabe being a little tall for his age) with slightly large heads (geez I wonder who you got that from?) You are both right on track developmentally but are way ahead verbally!!! WEeeeeeee!! Smartest babies ever!!! One of the recommendations that they had were drawing toys, so we went and got a magna doodle and an aqua doodle, both of which you love but the real prize are the tub crayons (mostly with Gabe)and the bubble machine (mostly with Bea)None of the pictures show the dancing you were doing....you actually look really serious in all of them.

I love you guys more all the time
Mama

21

Dear Cups and Little Man,

NO this was my favorite month!!!

We have been so busy that this month flew by. Event after event, party party party......

Like every month I am amazed by the changes. These last couple of months the physical changes are with your physical growth not so much ability. Both of you have gotten taller and are starting to look like little kids not toddlers. This frightens me a little, why do you have to grow up so fast?? Gabe you are officially going to be TALL like Dada, you have sprouted past Bea and when I measured you up against the wall, you are a full inch taller than her. Except when she has done her hair.....The big changes were really language. This was the month that we started putting sentences together. Gabe -"Go car Vooom", "Dada car byyyyyye", "Baba more", "Bye Car", "Poo Bum", "Baba Guk"
Bea - "Nye nye baby", "Poo Bum", "All done bum" or sometimes "All Bum", "Baby bum", "

You have both gotten heavily into Elmo. This is because we started taping Sesame Street to see if you would like it. And like every kid....you LOVE Elmo, but in this house he is known as "Melmo". Bea you will even start to sing his theme song "lalalalala" when you want us to sing it or put the show on.

There are a couple of funny routines that started this month. You both run away and want us to chase you doing monster sounds when it is time to get in your high chairs. And Gabe you are really into whispering......I don't know how this started but now the routine is that we have a little whisper of I love you and baba and guk as I put you in your crib for the night. The funny thing about whispering is it happens with you pressing you forehead against my cheek

This month was Isabelles 3rd birthday party and it was at the park. We had tons of fun running around. Bea you have decided that you like walking the dog. You will hold the leash and be dragged around for hours. There have been a couple of mishaps and falls when Gertie tugs just a little too hard and you come crashing down.

Here you all are singing Happy Birthday

And to give Gabe just a little more attention.....Gabes you got your first haircut this month!! Heres a before and after.

I couldn't even begin to tell you how much I enjoy your company. You are both the silliest, funniest, sweetest.......holy...just the best!!

xxoo Mama

OOOhhhhhh to be 20 months old

Dear B Z and my Handsome Boy,

Oh how we have changed!!!

And I know I say it every month so I will stay with tradition......THIS was my favorite!! You guys just get yummier and more fun all the time.

I have to admit, this monthly letter is getting harder and harder to write every month. Not because you guys aren't doing anything amazing but because SO much is happening and I am stuck as to where to start. I can't say something as base as "walking" because the changes now are subtle and life altering but hard to explain.........like.......you both seem to 'get it' more now. When I explain something, ask you to do something, point to a toy across the room, give direction or tell you what we are going to do....you seem to get it. Today I sang the 'clean up' song and you both cleaned up!! You are also both starting to string a couple of words together. They aren't full on sentences but you are starting to get it. "Dada.....CAR!" after watching Dada drive away. "Poo Bum" when you need to be changed or want your "cute little bum pinched" which is what we do when we check diapers and they are clean. Unfortunently this bit of cuteness is getting in the way of potty training.....

We have both learned the magic word "NO" or as Bea says "Neeeeeeoooo" and Gabe "Nnnnnnnoh". At first I found it kinda sad that no would be one of the first heavily rotated words and not yes but then I realized that I never really say yes to you. When something is right or correct I say "thats right". One of the benefits of you now knowing the meaning of no is when I tell you no, you generally stop doing whatever you are doing.....with you two monkeys it is usually a safety issue like this one

One time I found you both standing on the dining room table but it freaked me out way to much to think to grab the camera. Or this one....yes this is the cabinet that I tv and stereo are in














This scares the crap out of me and you are both so fast it only takes a second for you both to be back there. This is also your favorite place to go to hide to poo. Both of you are pretty good about telling me you have to poo so I say, "Lets go sit on the potty" and you say "Neeeeeooooo" or "Nnnnnnnoh" and then run back here and poo in your pants while I beg you to get out. Dada and I are trying to devise a plan on how to block it off.

You also shifted nap time this month. When I would put you down at 11, it wasn't always successful and often I would listen to thumbing around over the monitor. So I pushed it to 11:30 and that seem to do the trick. Not only that you are both taking really good 2-3 hour naps and now bed time is 7 instead of 6:30. You guys are big kids now and I only love you bigger

Mama

Here are a few of my favorite shots from this month