Maddy 2 years, 5 months

Finally out of the sleep sack and using her big girl blanket and pillow. "It's so cosy mama!"

I can't believe that Maddy is almost 2.5 years old. It seems like she is constantly surprising us with little phrases that she's put together on her own, or telling us stories of things that have happened a long time ago. Along with this verbal freedom comes the down side as she really knows what she wants and will go to long lengths to have things happen just so. It certainly is a funny phase to be going through with her. She is getting much better at dressing herself and likes to decide what she wants to wear. It's not uncommon to see her running around in just her underpants at home, or sporting stripes, with checkers, with heart patterns all in one outfit. On the potty training front, she is doing really well and has even had some long car rides without accidents. More often than not, it's just a matter of getting her to think that going potty was her idea and not ours.

Some of her favourite activities are colouring, crafting time, play clay and dancing. It's so funny to she her dancing to Benny and the Jets by Elton John or Lost by Michael Buble. She loves going to the park and each time we must head down to the creek with a few pennies to toss in the water. She also loves to watch me in the kitchen and I love whenever she asks if she can watch me cook. She likes to help do things like wiping the mushrooms and tasting the different veggies I'm cutting.

She loves taking her bike to the park too.

Maddy is getting better at recognizing her colours. I had a hard time trying to teach the concept of colours to her, but she seems to have picked up on it by herself. She's pretty consistent with purple and brown. (She says she would like a purple car when she's bigger! Hmmm we'll have to think about that). I also think she is beginning to understand the concept of numbers. She can count objects up to ten, but runs into trouble when she 'double counts' some of them. During crafting time she likes to use her little scissors to cut the tape. Yes, we use a lot of tape up around here.

Now that she's two going on three, I've noticed that I haven't been posting the monthly blogs for her. I have to make sure that I do post once in a while because if there's one thing I've learned, it's that you completely forget down the road.

"Papa, I want you to find me this frog!!" This picture just makes me laugh.
She was so upset that Josh couldn't actually find the real one at the Aquarium.

All is forgiven a short while after.

Ethan's 6 months update and the Olympics

Ethan is doing so well and I'm so excited about all the changes he's made since last month. Things are definitely getting easier and it's so fun to see his personality come out.

EATING: Our big boy is on solids now. Actually we started him on solids at 5.5 months. He just seemed to always be hungry and we could no longer ignore the screams coming from his highchair as he joined us at the table. The first time he ate was quite fun (he grabbed the spoon and shoved it in his mouth as if to say he knew exactly how to do it) and I was shocked at how much he ate. He's now had rice, apples, pears, carrots and oatmeal. He is usually tentative for the first bite. It's like he's testing to make sure he likes, then it's full steam ahead!!! At times I can barely keep up the pace of getting the spoon filled again and he'll already be crying for the next bite.

On the first bite, he grabbed the spoon and just shoved it in his mouth!

"Finally, it's my turn!"

"This is the best day EVER!"

SLEEPING: Another area in which he's come a long way! Looks like the binkie is another winner in this house. I'm so happy to report that Ethan is now swaddle free and can put himself to sleep and back to sleep between cycles. He also goes down with very little fussing and as of two night ago, he sleeps in his own room. He sure has changed from the 'vibrating, inclined bouncy chair, wrapped in a swaddle' boy he used to be.

Naps in the stroller are still a work in progress, but we'll take what we can get.

MILESTONES: He can roll over from his front to back and is working towards rolling from back to front. He's starting to reach for things and usually ends up turning in another direction. He certainly loves to be on the move. He is also getting much better at grabbing and hold onto to things, especially his Sophie the Giraffe.

POTTYING: Yay we started!! The very first time I put him on, he laughed and giggled. I think because of the cold feeling of the plastic on his butt. Then the next time he wanted nothing to do with sitting. His legs went ramrod straight and I had to hold his legs up to get him to sit. I think he's beginning to understand why he's there. We've caught numerous poops and I believe he's grunting now and waiting for us to take him to the potty. In the beginning we'd catch him grunting and by the time we rushed to the potty, he'd already pooped. We're getting there and I'm happy to not have to scrape poop from the diapers.

****I do have a picture of Ethan sitting beside his first poo-poo in the potty, but nor sure it's so appropriate for all to see! Hee hee!****

PERSONALITY: Ethan is really a happy baby. Now that he is getting better sleep he is much happier playing contentedly by himself. He has an infectious giggle and loves to be tickled, but as soon as the camera comes out, it's Mr. Serious. It's also a lot of fun to see him 'engage' with Maddy. He just loves to stare at her and see what she is up to. It's like he CANNOT WAIT to be able to get up and play right along with her.

I love these pictures of the two of them together. It'll be so fun when Ethan can play even more.

I've had so many things I've wanted to blog about, but time seems to just slip away. I didn't post a single blog about the Olympics and I don't think I'll be getting around to it down the road. In a nutshell, we didn't have any tickets to see any events, but we did get in a few outings to LiveCity Yaletown, Richmond O-Zone and the general downtown area. I've always been a fan of watching the Olympics on TV (mostly the summer games), and this time it was even more exciting because of all the buzz and excitement throughout the city. I'm still sad that it's all over.

Maddy is crying because she wants to get closer to the cauldron. Just Kidding!! She just woke up from a nap.

I got to hold the torch inside Sochi House. The best part was about this pavilion is that you get to bypass the line if you have a baby with you!!

Maddy climbing the play structure at Richmond O-Zone

Ethan was such a trooper.

Maddy showing off her Canada tattoo. By the way, those things are REALLY hard to wash off!

Josh and Ethan outside of Canada Hockey Place.