HAIRCUTS!

I love haircut day. I love watching Lori transform the mess of hair into something manageable and cute!

Patrick didn't really want his picture taken, as you can see. I really wanted to get a shot of the back of it, but he wouldn't co-operate. At anyrate, he's still cute - despite the fact that his ears have ceased to work....but thats another story...

The biggest change was for Kathryn. Lori was able to trim up the back of her hair so it looks like a little bob and its all about the same length!! She had some very long pieces behind her ears - but now, it looks great!!
Cheese!! The front didn't change too much, just a bit off the bang area to make it the same length as the sides.
And yes, that is a bug bite on her little forehead... her first ever... poor thing ... I smacked the bug away but it was too late.

Better late than never! Here are some of the pictures we took last weekend in Perth visiting Shaun's Nana.



We basically took over a common room so we could all sit and socialize together.

Kathryn really enjoyed being able to sit with Nana. She also enjoyed sharing her book with her, and later, sharing the matchbox cars and puzzle pieces.


It was at least 100 degrees inside the residence. Here is a half-melted Shaun and Patrick:
Shaun with his Nana:
Gramma Dorothy was smart and brought a puzzle, some toys and snacks!
Which really helped keep the kids entertained!
Auntie boo and Princess buttercup:

We decided to move outside - it was a much more comfortable temperature and there was a nice breeze.
Patrick (reluctantly) had his picture taken with Nana.

Throughout this trip we discovered just how much Kathryn likes soda. Any soda. From anyone.

These next pictures were taken at a park with lots of memories from Shaun's childhood. We actually have a painting of this bridge hanging in the hall. Credit goes to Auntie boo for these ones - and she did an EXCELLENT job!!

Checkin out the fishes:

Checking out the water. And posing as directed!
I love this picture of Kathryn peering over the railing.
Patrick checkin' out the fishies!

After dinner in the hotel room (that was a complete blast.. ugh...) Shaun, Boo and Dad went back to the residence to spend more time with Nana, and Shaun's mom helped me with the kiddos.

They had a great time swimming in the hotel bathtub!!

We did have a nice trip, and the hotel night stay with two toddlers really wasn't so bad. It was nice to see Nana, and for her to meet our kiddos, and now we have lots of photos to bring back all the memories of the trip!

Today is a special day in our household. A monumental occasion that requires a special picture-full blog entry. Offocially today, we're Crib-less.

Kathryn has been BEGGING us for months to be able to sleep in Patrick's toddler bed. You're probably saying "a-not-quite-17-month-old-cannot'beg'". Well, you're quite wrong!

Everyday, several times a day, infact, Kathryn would run to, and crawl into, Patrick's bed. She'd pull his covers up to her nose and say "ni-ni" over and over and over. She'd get upset when she was removed, and although she loved her crib too, she had a special attraction to Patrick's wee bed.

So... I started looking at beds for Patrick. I checked Sears, and Leons online, and while Sears had some great deals and nice beds, Leons had none which was surprising!

Shaun's mom called this afternoon and offered to watch the kiddos for a bit so we could get out and run some errands and we decided to check the 2 funature stores in town to see what their pricing/availability was like. We ended up buying the first one we saw at the first shop we visited, despite visiting the other one too and being completely unimpressed.

We had to make 2 trips with the bed, headboard and matress because they only had the floor model to sell us. We brought all the pieces home and stashed them upstairs in Patrick's room before rushing to pick up the kids before dinner.

After dinner and clean up, Shaun assembled the pieces and put the bed where we had decided. Then I went up and re-arranged the rest of the room and made up the bed with sheets and blankets and stuffed animals.

In Kathryn's room, I disassebled the crib (using 4 different screwdrives AND 1 wrench) and put it in the spare room closet. Then I put the toddler bed back together with her sheets and blankets, and rearranged her furnature a bit to make her room safer.

When this was all finished, and I had cleaned up, Shaun brought the kids up to see their new rooms and beds.

They were so excited!!!

Here are the pics!!

K's room -
A second view of K's room. All the cords for the electrical things are hidden behind the laundry basket which cannot be removed because the change table blocks it being pulled out.
Kathryn immediately ran to her bed and crawled into it, pulling the blanket up. You can see how pleased she is!!!
Here she is actually sleeping in her bed. After I took the picture, I removed the pillow and helped her re-position.
Patrick's new bed!!
Another view - I still LOVE that closet!!

Another view of P's room showing his 'reading cornor'.
Patrick was so excited when he saw his new bed. He ran over and jumped on it! He kept repeating 'new bed! new bed!' while jumping and laughing.
A happy boy in his new bed!
Pretending to sleep, snuggled in his favourite blanket.
Now the trick will be to see how much sleeping goes on tonight. We've put the pressure gate accross K's doorway, and we're keeping the gate at the top of the stairs latched so P can't roam downstairs. We've already put him back to bed several times each, but I do believe he's sleeping now!

A few days ago, Patrick decided he (finally!) wanted to use a big-boy swing. I kept forgetting my camera, but I remembred it today - a gorgeous sunny, blue sky day.

We're so proud of him!! Plus it was getting quite difficult to lift him up into the baby swing. He is about 35 lbs.
Kathryn, of course, has an anything-Patrick-can-do-I-can-do-too attitude... She does make me VERY nervous though... and she has fallen off... I don't push her very high at all.
But being beside Patrick on a big-girl swing makes her VERY happy!

Thrice upon the potty!

Patrick has now peed 3x in the potty! I am so proud of him! The first time was last Wednesday just before swimming class. For some reason, he decided to pee on the floor of the change room so I grabbed him and sat him on the toilet and he peed!! I was so excited I could barely contain myself! He sat on the potty again after swimclass, but he had nothing to give *lol*.

Today, at my mother-in-laws he ASKED to sit on the potty (this is a big big big step!!!). He didn't pee, but he did... toot a couple of times, and then tonight before his bath, he peed in the potty again!

Yay Patrick!! We're so proud of you!!!

We had my niece's birthday, Mom's day and Father's day celebration while we were visiting. Here's some random pics of us.... except me... cuz the only picture Shaun got of me was just hideous.

Snackin' on the deck:



Not so happy about riding the motorcycle instead of the car:

"Lil' ol me? I didn't cause him to cry, honest!":
One very sleepy boy and one sleepy dad:
Yes. His face may have cracked if he smiled. He's cute none-the-less, though:
Dolly must sit with me too:

It was a nice time! My niece got lots of nice things, and we had a great celebration together with family.

We spent the weekend in Orangeville! The kids had a great time playing with Gramma and Grandpa. A few shots from Friday night - playing with the plane up and down the hall! Fun times!

Kathryn got her 2nd eye tooth on May 18th!! Now she has 14 chompers!

This place is getting too academic for me.

Since I counted K's words, she's added 5-10 new ones a DAY. She must be up to 200 by now.

And she now counts 1, 2, 3 and 8, 9, 10. I'm sure she knows the rest, but thats what I've heard so far.

Patrick now counts up to 100 by 1's, and then by 100's up to 3200. He can also write all the numbers. The best are 0, 1, 2 and 8. I keep meaning to get pics of them (we use the magnadoodle to save on paper) but I have yet to snap any.

Kathryn drew an 8 yesterday too. It was accidental, and when I said "8" thats when she said 9, 10! Crazy. She also brings me the magnadoodle and says "numbers" because that is what Patrick says when he brings me the magnadoodle.

Oh... and I re-arranged the shapes on the wall and P got them right away. No hesitation, and no wrong ones. Next step? I'm going to organize them alphabetically and remove the names below them to see if he's 'reading' them instead of knowing them by shape!

I am beginning to be concerned that he was be bored next year in JK!

149! WOW!
Shaun typed out all the words in his blog - so I just have to copy and paste. Nice huh?
Oh and this morning she got 2 more words: hungry and spider!
Hi
Bear
Blanket
Hello
No
Kitty
Eat
Spoon
More
All Done
Mess
Cloth
Uh Oh
Patrick (atrick)
Doll
Wow
Yes
Help Please
Juice
Banana
Book
Teeth
Brush
One, Two, Three
Ready, Set, Go
Yay
Hi Sweetie
Fish
Pretzels
Nose
Toes
Ear
Shoes
Hat
Head
Hair
Swimming Pool
Up
See
Mommy
Numbers
Play
Coat
Truck
Krispies
Swing
Slide
Cart
Cookie
Cracker
Nuk
Ni-Ni
Button
Fork
Apple
Milk
Park
Tomorrow (Morrow)
Elmo (That's a dog)
Doggie
Dad
Daddy
Shovel
Truck
Grampy (ampy)
Gramma (amma)
Wagon
Snack
Row
Up Above
Thanks
Ball
Yellow
Blue
Bye
Out
Open
Mouse
hungry
spider

Im doing an experiment today. I'm recording every (unique) word that Kathryn says. Its 8 a.m. and I'm already up to 40 different words, with a couple of 2-word combinations too.

Should be an interesting day.

I was inspired by my January 2007 Babycenter board, where the topic of comparitive child development comes up a lot. It seems most kiddos are not speaking, or only speaking a few words. I did a quick search on babycenter, and there is a poll for 16-month-olds on words with the highest choice being "20 or more". I really hadn't considered that Kathryn was 'advanced' in this area until I happened to notice the threads about speech.

so, just for my own curiosity, I'm keeping track today. I'll post a list tomorrow (or possibly just a picture of my list - because there will be a LOT).

This was actually taken on P's 3rd birthday - April 29th!!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY PATRICK!!!

I am amazed at the speed Patrick learns new things. Really, its astonishing how quickly he picks up concepts and how well he remembers them later.

Yesterday, I went to see Shaun's sister. Together with the kids, we went to an educational store and I was overwhelmed by the variety and quantity of items I could purchase to help teach Patrick things. I had a hard time choosing - I wanted things relevent to his age, not too far beyond, but that he wouldn't easily learn and move on from.

I really wanted an alphabet set to go on my wall - you know, like classrooms have above the front chalkboard. I found a great train set of cards, and hung them above the number ones I purchased at the dollar store. I also hung up their "Tell Me About Today" date/weather chart that I recieved as a baby shower gift.
I also got Patrick a set of shape cards. I hung them on the opposite small wall. I was really pleased that the shapes included 3-D ones (cube, cone, cylinder, sphere, pyramid) and more 'obscure' shapes (pentagon, hexagon, octagon, trapazoid, rhombus), as well as the basic shapes (circle, oval, triangle, square, rectangle).
Patrick was so excited when he saw them! I got him to name the easy ones at the bottom first, encouraging him to say the colour and then the shape. I helped him with the upper ones by getting him to say the colour and then I'd tell him what it was called. We did that a few times (at his request) and then he started to know them... he had them all memorized!!

I pulled him away to have breakfast, and after we'd cleaned up, he was eager to go again. I was surprised he still remembered them all. In fact, he went through them several times this morning knowing them all, and after naptime, he still remembered. In a few days, I will re-arrange them, but I'm certain it won't matter.

It just blows my mind how quickly he picks things up!

And now that he knows, and recognizes the alphabet, numbers from 1-199 (and beyond), written out numbers one - eleven, and can write numbers 1-11, knows his colours, shapes, animals.... what should I teach him next?

Patrick got a package in the mail yesterday! It was a present from Mike & Lesley for his birthday! He was so excited to open it!



He immediately asked to put the clothes on, so I stripped him and redressed him. VERY nice! Love the outfit!!
Thanks guys for your thoughtfulness!!! (and great taste in little boy clothes!)

Hurrah for an eye tooth!
Kathryn got her lower right eyetooth yesterday! The other 3 are almost here too!! Yay Kathryn!!

Swimming lessons.

We enrolled both kids in swimming lessons. They go on different nights and are in different levels. I take them swimming and Shaun spends quailty time with the other kid at home.

Patrick gets really excited when its his pool night!! He talks about it all day, and practically runs towards the pool when we get out of the van. This past week, he graduated from having me in the water with him to being in a class of 5 with 2 instructors. I was very nervous, but he did really well! He listened, and did as he was told!!! I am so proud of him. He puts his ears, chin, nose, forehead in the water when asked, blows bubbles, can do an assisted front and back float and will kick his feet when reminded. He has a bit of an issue putting his entire head in the water, but he'll happily go under after going down the slide.

Kathryn is in the very first class offered for infants, so I am in the water with her the entire time. Due to lack of interest in an evening infant class, we are now the only ones enrolled in this timeslot. So we're essentially getting a private lesson!! Its wonderful!!

Kathryn is a born fish. She LOVES the pool. I love the way she says "swimming pool" - very cute. She will put her ears, cheeks, and nose in the water when asked, and she tries to blow bubbles but ends up drinking the water more than not. She doesn't mind being dunked entirely underwater and she's excellent with front and back floats. This past lesson she started kicking her feet when asked and will kick on her back or front, although she prefers to be on her tummy and travelling towards a 'goal' while she's kicking.

I am so glad my kids are loving the water. They actually get sad when its not their night to go! I am sure they will really enjoy our pool this year.