Lately

I didn't post anything last week....so sue me.

So much has been going on. Potty training, family news and gatherings, Easter, renovations. So much to talk about but no time to write. By the way, when did this person stop being such a baby and start looking like a little girl? Geeze, they say kids grow up fast but it really has been sneaking up on me lately.

I've been trying to post pictures in their original form without any editing or fake filters. What do you think about that?

Also, my baby boy is into everything now and so much more active than Maya was at his age. Quick, give me some ideas of things I can do to keep him entertained!

Mail

When you get something nice in the mail from someone you love, it is a wonderful surprise. When you get two nice things from more than one person you love on the same day, it is double the treat. 

That's what happened to Maya yesterday. I had stopped by our mailbox on the way home from picking her up from daycare and she yelled the usual "mail time!", as I grabbed the key to our box. When I brought the pile in and told her that her name was on two things, she was so delighted. 

I love sending things in the mail to people for a nice treat or just because. A birthday card, or a valentine, or a picture. I love it when I pick up the mail and someone does the same for us. It puts a little spring in my step, a little smile on my face, a little warm fuzzy in my heart. 

Boo and Bub

Do you have nick names or terms of endearment that you use with your little ones? When Maya was a baby for some reason we got in the habit of always calling her Maya Boo. Not in the Beyonce and Jay-Z sense, just in a fun little baby babble kind of way. After a while it became shortened to Boo and now this is her nickname at home. When Nolan was born I got into the habit of calling him Bub. Again, not sure why, it just kind of came out when I was fussing over him one day and making all kinds of noises and it stuck. Maya started calling him Noly and so that caused Chris to start calling him Noly Canoly. Again, totally random but it stuck. Sometimes he is Canoly for short.  

They are my Boo and Bub. 

I also have silly little rhymes that I say to them over and over again to a certain rhythm and Maya loves it when I do a little dance along with them:

Maya Marie, 

Is Cute as can be

Is Cute as can be

Is Cute as can be

Maya Marie

Is Cute as can be

Is Cute as can be

Is CUTE AS CAN BE!!!!

My Nolan, 

Is my Cute little man

my Cute little man

my Cute little man

My Nolan, 

Is my Cute little man

my Cute Little man

He's my CUTE LITTLE MAN!!!

Hey, I never said that they were remotely poetic or even interesting to anyone else outside of our circle!

Sometimes at the dinner table Maya asks us to say them over and over again and now insists that we make some up for the rest of us:

My Mommy, 

she's so so Pretty

she's so so Pretty

she's so so Pretty

My Mommy

she's so so Pretty

she's so so Pretty

she's SO SO PRETTY!!!

My Daddy, 

Is Fun as can be

Is Fun as can be

Is Fun as can be

My Daddy, 

Is Fun as can be

Is Fun as can be

Is FUN AS CAN BE!!!!

Our Gunther, 

Has lots and lots of Fur

Has lots and lots of Fur

Has lots and lots of Fur

Our Gunther

Has lots and lots of Fur

Has lots and lots of Fur

Has lots and lots OF FUR!!!

What do call your kids? I can't be the only one that has reduced myself to this behaviour. Ok maybe I am. Carry on. 

Sickly Continued

Maya and Nolan during our PJ day on Sunday

Ok so I thought that things were going to be looking up in the strep throat department but not so much. Maya is pretty much on the mend but the rest of us are not. We have all been at different phases of illness. Maya got sick first, then me, then Nolan, and now Chris is starting to get symptoms. Nolan and I are feeling the worst right now. My heart breaks every time I hear Nolan try to fall asleep only to be woken up by a coughing attack. I HATE it when babies get sick. I HATE IT. I hate it even more when my babies get sick and I get sick at the same time. Bleh.

I guess the plus side of being sick is we have had a few PJ days lately. The rules of PJ day are that you stay in your pyjamas all day and you don't brush your teeth or your hair until it's time to go to bed. You mostly watch TV all day and you only eat leftovers or toast (or anything else that requires minimal effort).  If you take a bath, you must immediately get back into a fresh pair of PJs.  You are also required to nap as much as possible and are only allowed to do a minimal amount of housework (like maybe pick up the dirty kleenex and throw it in the garbage bin).

And yes, those are peace signs on Maya's PJs.

Sick Day

Ok this household has been very sickly with fevers and strep throat and allergic reactions and we have literally done NOTHING this past week. Now it is Monday and we are at the tail end of it.... still sick, but able to move about and have some sort of normal routine. Oh, and Nolan has finally decided that he likes eating solids. Sweet potatoes!

Two unrelated things:

1) When you see that another toddler has mastered a certain skill that your kid has not (or even thought about yet) what is your reaction? Usually in my case I just kind of think, "Oh right, I should get on that".   A while ago someone with a kid the same age as Maya was talking about their kid drinking out of a real cup, rather than a sippy cup (and he had been doing it for quite a while) and I was like, "Crap, it hasn't even occurred to me to give Maya a try on the regular cup".  It's not like I feel bad about it in a competition kind of way, just more of a "why didn't I think of that" kind of way. Know what I mean?

2) Do you ever just pack your kids up in the car and go for a drive for no reason? Every once in a while I will do this with the kids on those days when we have been cooped up for too long and I just need them to both be locked down into one spot for a while. This came in handy around Christmas time because we could drive around and look at Christmas lights. Today was one of those days where we had not gone anywhere for two days and I had to get out. I didn't want to actually run any errands or go visiting or anything since we were still sick, I just wanted to get out and pass the time before dinner. Please tell me I'm not the only one that does this.

I hope you had a more exciting start to the week than we have!