A Tale of Two Kids

A New Phase of Life

2007-09-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

I know you've all stopped reading this site, believing that I abandoned it long ago. And I pretty much had, but I'm resurrecting it to document a momentous couple of days.

Yesterday, Jordan started kindergarten. And today, Katie started preschool.

Despite the stereotypes and media portrayals of those first days, my kids entered this new phase of their lives without a tear, without a backwards glance, in fact, without even a goodbye (little snots).

For Jordan's easy transition, I give a lot of credit to his school and teacher. Last week each of the students in Jordan's class attended a fifteen minute individual interview. The interview gave the teacher a chance to subtly assess each child. The best part though was it gave Jordan a non-threatening chance to see where he would be going to school, allowed him to meet his teacher and learn about the routines. When he arrived at school yesterday, he knew where to line up, what to do when he got into the classroom and could concentrate on the most important thing... making new friends. Yesterday only half of the class attended and he's already made two friends, Logan & Alexander. He's already got a girl he really likes (but can't remember her name... I hope that's not a foreshadowing of the future). Today he'll meet the rest of his class (15 students in all) and I can't wait to hear about the new friends he made today. I'm so excited for him and for all of the new things he'll learn and the adventures he'll have.

For Katie's easy transition, I again have to give the credit to the school & teacher. Katie's preschool is the same one Jordan attended for two years. So she has two years of walking Jordan to preschool and wanting to stay and play. Two years of Jordan talking about the fun things he did. Plus, the wonderful teacher, offered a summer camp each of the last two summers. This camp was two weeks of 1/2 days where both Jordan & Kaitlyn attended. What a great way to transition Katie in, to be able to attend school with her big brother showing her the ropes. So, today when Katie walked to preschool with Mellicent & I, she was practically skipping. She was so excited and there wasn't a hint of nerves. She already knew a couple of the kids from summer camp and was off playing with them before we could even get out the door. The teacher had to make her stop and wave at us as we left.

Here's a pic of them from this morning (notice that Katie's already to go and Jordan's barely dressed)...

Happy Birthday Jordan!!

2007-01-20T19:24:00.000-08:00

Jordan turned FIVE today!! Can you believe it?!?

As usual he was spoiled rotten. We gave him his presents from us this morning before anyone arrived. He got Lego, Lego and more Lego... oh and a shelving unit to store the Lego. He's been building these amazing, intricate little space ships and robots. Now we lose him up there for hours on end. Around lunch time the usual suspects arrived (minus Grandma Noreen, Grandpa Larry and Uncle Mike as Grandma had a class and Uncle Mike had to work). We had hot dogs and cake and enjoyed Jordan's enthusiasm for presents. Oh and spring rolls! We had wonderful, delicious spring rolls (Thank you Mellicent for making them for us!!).

Jordan got a lot of wonderful presents from his grandparents and great grandparents, but the gift that will stand out in my mind for a long time is the gifts from his uncles Ty & Ian. Ty bought him a MINI BIKE!! He bought it and fixed it up for Jordan, which was sweet, except that it's a MINI BIKE!!!!! It can go up to 80 KM/H !!!! He's FIVE!!! Ian was the slightly more sensible of the two and bought Jordan a proper helmet for the bike (but that's still aiding and abetting and if he gets hurt I'm coming after both of you!!).

Jordan also got a giant dump truck and digger, though I think Katie enjoyed it more than Jordan as he spent at least an hour driving her around the house in it (check out the pics).

Happy New Year!!

2007-01-01T15:07:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!

As usual, my kids were spoiled rotten!! They had a wonderful Christmas!

It started on Christmas Eve with Little Grandma, Papa, Great Grandma & Great Grandad, Uncle Drew and Ronnie coming over for their traditional Christmas Eve festivities. We had a lovely time. Jordan was all about getting a present, it didn't even seem to matter what was in the present. Kaitlyn was the opposite. I had to take every single item out of the package so that she could play with each one and we had to encourage her to open another present.

Mellicent, her boyfriend Kevin and bestfriend Tin Tin joined us for Christmas morning and were sweet enough to bring us a Christmas morning feast. The present mayham continued. Midmorning Grandma Jo, Grandpa Skip, Uncle Ty, Uncle Ian and Michelle stopped by to see us. They only brought a few presents (the rest stayed at their house to be opened Boxing Day).

In the afternoon, Grandma Noreen, Grandpa Larry, Uncle Mike and Great Auntie Gay came for Christmas dinner. It was really nice to have my Mom and Auntie Gay there as they helped with the dinner prep and the feast was a surprisingly relaxed affair. Dinner was great and the kids were spoiled even more. Thanks so much Uncle Mike for the remote controlled MOUSE!! and the Rubix cube is a torture device (I will get even).

Boxing Day was a little more relaxed. I tried to get a sleep in, but Ty kept calling every 15 minutes. I think he was anxious for us to bring the kids over. To give you an idea just how spoiled my kids were, they have more garbage generated from their presents than most kids got in presents.

I'm posting some pics to the flickr thingy, so make sure you check them out!!

P.S. Jordan actually stayed up to ring in the new year with us. He's napping right now :-)

Christmas Tree is Up!

2006-12-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

Today the kids and I decorated the house for Christmas. As you can see by the pics (see the flickr thingy on the side), the kids helped with the decorating of the tree. They decorate the same way they play soccer, in clumps. It was a lot of fun and the house is a disaster, but I don't care. I'm off to make hot chocolate and play with the beasts!!

Snow Day

2006-11-26T20:42:00.000-08:00

So last night when the snow first started falling, we realized that we hadn't outfitted the kids for winter yet. So off we went to the store and got the gear. We had a blast playing in the snow. Katie especially liked playing with our snowman (though it looks more like a snow pile) and Jordan was mixing stuff (yeah, I don't know what he was doing either). On the side board of this site I've added a link to our flickr account (essentially an online photo album) so that you can peruse pics of our kids at your leisure. There's also pictures from Mexico. I'll add more pictures as I have some time (the final project of my courses is due Tuesday).

We're Back!!

2006-11-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

After a very long day and night of travelling (our flight was delayed 6 hours), we're back in the land of never ending rain. I haven't gone to sleep yet as we didn't get home until 5:30 am and knew the kids would be up soon. We could have slept in Richmond for a bit, but I was anxious to get home to my babies.

Our trip was wonderful! Beautiful beaches, amazing mayan ruins, friendly people, hot sun and lots of relaxing. The resort we stayed at was huge. We were there for 3 days before we even went to the other 3 lobbies and even then we never did see the whole resort. We did two tours: the Coba ruins and Xel-Ha/Tulum.

The Coba temple was amazing. It was 128 steps high (very steep steps too) and believe it or not, I climbed to the top. Of course, about half way up I remembered that I'm afraid of heights. Not a good time to make that realization. Oh well, there wasn't much I could do, but go to the top and then come back down. After the ruins, we went to this amazing sinkhole for a cool down swim. There were stalagtighs/mights that were like 9 million years old. Our guide Jorge, was great and was of Mayan decent. We visited a Mayan village which was pretty neat. I thought it would be uncomfortable wandering through peoples homes, but in their culture, they would have been insulted had we not visited. It was very interesting.

Xel-Ha was pretty cool too, sort of an ecological theme park. There's snorkling, a floating village and drifting down the river in inner tubes. We spent most of the day there and it wasn't nearly enough time. We went as part of the tour, but if we were to go again, we'd just take a cab and do it ourselves. Had our picture taken with parrots and got a little drunk. Almost missed our bus due to a lovely nap in a hammock.

After Xel-Ha our bus took us to the Tulum ruins. Coba was neat with it's huge temple, but Tulum was facinating as it was a trading port city with lighthouses, a temple and palaces. The ruins themselves were worth seeing, but our guide was horrendous, rude and lecturing. He almost ruined the whole tour.

We also took a cab to the Akumul beach for a brief appearance on a webcam there for the entertainment of friends back home. Felt pretty self-conscious, but was fun to do anyway. After ward we went to Playa del Carmen for some shopping. Lots of stores and everyone is trying to convince you to visit their store. Bought some fun stuff.

Oops

2006-11-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize how long it's been since I've updated this blog. Sorry everyone!

Let see, what's been happening...

Halloween was great. Jordan was a dinosaur and Katie was a zebra. Very cute. Daddy took the out trick or treating and they had a lot of fun and got some great loot.

We went to the pumpkin patch as part of field trip with Jordan's preschool. It was Katie's and Mellicent's first trip to a pumpkin patch and was a lot of fun.

Jordan has been taking riding lessons and is doing really well.

Here's a video of him trotting...

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Scott and I head to Mexico on Friday morning! We're very very excited. Grandma Jo is going to stay with the kids. We'll be gone for a week.

We're staying here: Gran Bahia Principe Tulum

Katie got her first official haircut today. Someone trimmed her bangs for her and it wasn't pretty, so we took her to the hair salon. Sandi was wonderful and did a great job. Katie wasn't too sure at first, but loved the sparkles Sandi put in at the end.

I'll try to post some pictures to go along with this post later tonight.

Camouflage

2006-09-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

So, this is the reason you need to supervise your two year old while she's colouring...

More Pics

2006-09-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

So Kaitlyn decided to get dressed up before she started to work on her "Art" - see below for pictures of her "sick" clothes (her words, not mine... I even have it on video)...

But I did get one truely beautiful picture of Katie that I just had to share...

I tried to get some nice ones of Jordan, unfortunately I got these instead...

Little Tiger - An Adventure in Patience

2006-09-03T18:31:00.000-07:00

So Jordan got his first set of golf clubs. And his Dad braved the driving range with him on a busy Sunday afternoon. Now, I know what you're all thinking......."he's nuts". Well, yes...but I did it anyway. I'll back up a little, and tell you all about BUYING the clubs, because that was really the beginning of the adventure.......

We walked into Golftown together and 4 feet into the store I lost him. Yes they had a putting green inside the store. So, he was off, grabbing a $400 putter along the way and proceeded to "baseball-swing" at any ball he could see.........Luckily I managed to replace the $$$$ putter with a $12 clearance one before anyone else could see the potential "sale". After 10 minutes of this, he got bored, dropped the club and started wandering again. Over to the ball section. Great. Four year old and seven million little hard surlyn covered balls of destruction. Not a family shopping destination I quickly discovered. He wanted the bright pink ones..........and of course I quickly tried to think of a responsible, politically-correct, fatherly way of explaining to him that "pink" golf balls just aren't very macho............Try it now, not so easy is it? So I told him the pink ones are WAY too expensive. He got $1.99 wiffle balls instead. What can I say, I work with what I got. Finally, we made it to the back of the store where they keep all the kids clubs. Jordan picked up the first box he saw and loudly proclaimed that these were HIS clubs. And like sharks smelling blood in the water, 3, count them 3 salesmen appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Why? Because what father could say no to their kid enthusuastically starting down the road that Tiger paved. After what seemed to be hours listening to the salesman "convince" me that I should buy the $140 set that fits him now, as opposed to the slightly larger single club that will last him until next summer. After thanking and disposing of the salesman, I proceeded to negotiate with my entirely too brilliant son, who must have attended the same school of negotiating as the NHL owners last year.......He ended up with, yes, a full set of clubs, including bag, and rain cover. All for only $125. And the deal breaker point my son so brilliantly pointed out....."Dad, I should get THIS golf set because it's just my size, and then at Christmas you can buy me new ones that are my new size, AND we can give these ones to my sister!!!!!!"

How can I argue?

From there we needed food. Onto our usual Father/Son hang out, Boston Pizza. Fairly uneventful except for the fact he kept pointing out that he was drinking Jordan "beer", and that he should drink TOO much of it, but a couple cups are ok. So, he enjoyed his apple juice, me a much needed beer by this point. Pizza came, I ate mine, he wore his. Paid and piled into van and headed over to the driving range.

Well, I was planning on telling you all about the trip ito the range. But I am exhausted after reliving the purchasing escapade. check back later for the next chapter of "Little Tiger"

Mommy got her hand slapped!

2006-08-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

Apparently, Mommy has been a bad Mommy 'cause she hasn't been updating the blog. Shopping Grandma called to give me heck. You'd think she'd cut me a bit of slack since I did have surgery :-)

So what have we been up to? Well, you'll have to wait for a post from Grandma Jo to find out what Jordan's been doing. She kidnapped him most of the summer and forced him to go camping. They did awful things like hiking and swimming in the lake and riding bikes in the park and making new friends. What a cruel women, eh? :-)

Katie suffered horribly this summer too. She had Mellicent's undivided attention during the day. Mellicent took her to the water park and shopping and to chucky cheese. The horror! In the evenings Katie had Daddy all to her self and from the giggles I could hear, he tortured her endlessly.

Anyway, I'll try to post more frequently!

2006-07-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

Jordan has been a busy guy - camping, kite flying, swimming, biking and hiking. Above all he has been entertaining his grandmother.

Any kid that passed our camper was invited in and asked by Jordan if they wanted to be his friend..I had to say no when he invited teenage girls to stay the night in the camper! What a boy..wait until he gets older, eh?

The things this kid says..

He was having trouble putting on his underwear and I helped him. He looked at me and said, "It's great having a Grandma like you"

One camping morning he woke up and looked out the window and commented that he was not happy..he said, "no one is getting up this morning and it's getting on my nerves"

His dog, Koda, chases him, herds him and tries to stop him when he runs ahead. I explained to Jordan than Koda wasn't trying to hurt him but is trying to protect him. Jordan looked Koda in the eyes and said, "That is very sweet"

I gave Koda a wiener that had fallen off the stick and into the fire. That night Koda was sick. In the morning I told Jordan what happened and he looked at me and told me that what I had done was UNACCEPTABLE!

I told Jordan we had to pack up and head home because the weather was changing and starting to get cold. He informed me that, "I have a breaking wind coat and it breaks wind so we don't need to leave."

I could go on - he does!!!

More Camping Pics

2006-07-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

These pics are from Grandma Jo's camera and I should probably let her post them, but they're so bloody cute I just had to get them up. Which is your favourite?

Naked Fishing Anyone?

Or How 'bout Peeing like Jordan?

Naked Girl on Rock?

Camping Kids!

2006-07-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

Camping Tips learned this week...

If you have a bug in your eye, don't spray it with bug spray.

If your child is stubborn enough, she can keep herself awake for three hours in a camper by playing with her flashlight, playing peek-a-boo through the camper window and by perfoming bed acrobatics.

Squirrels can break into tuperware containers of dog food and eat it all while you're sleeping

It doesn't matter how cold the water is, the kids are going in, so bring towels.

Bathing is fun and it doesn't matter if its in a tiny little tub, they're still not going to want to get out

Jordan is part mountain goat and can hike anywhere. Katie thinks she can and therefore refuses to hold your hand.

Jordan is very social and will invite anyone to your campsite, or if you're going to the bathroom, is happy to tell everyone he passes that you're "going for a poop".

Jordan likes girls and is quite happy when his "girls" are there. His girlfriend count has now hit four.

Jordan and Kaitlyn like to sing.

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Too Funny!

2006-06-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

I might be catching on OR he really does just take me literally. I'm beginning to wonder about my grandson. I think he just might be "fooling" with me. You see, the other night when he was over he was asking for Koolaid. I said no, it was too late maybe the next day he can have some. He asked another couple of times and I finally said, "Beat IT!" He looked at me all innocent and said, "You don't beat it - you slurp it!" He still didn't get the Koolaid but he did make me laugh.

OFF TO WORK!

2006-05-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

I had Jordan stay over knowing I had to work the next morning. I told Jordan he would have to come work with me. No problem! We talk about "work" and I ask what he charges. He hops down and starts running around..confused I ask what he is doing - Charging of course! Go figure. We leave for work, which is a preschool program, and as we near the facility I say to Jordan that we are almost there and as soon as we get there we'll have to get all the toys out and get to work. It was at this point he advises me... "Grandma, I am a child. Kids don't work. I am just gonna play. "

Just like Grandpa Skip

2006-05-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

Apparently Jordan want to be firefighters just like their Grandpa Skip...

But, firefighting was hard work for our hero...

Luckily, his Sister stepped in and carried on the family duty...

Jordan's New Bed

2006-05-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

So last night we put together Jordan's new loft bed. It took way longer than we thought it would, so we had to put Jordan to bed in our room and then move him after we were done. Just before we were going to put Katie to bed, she decided she was hungry (as always); so I left her at the table eating and went back to helping Scott with the bed. I came back a couple of minutes later to check on her...

Once we were finally finished the bed, we didn't want to just move Jordan as his new bed is a loft bed and we were worried he might wake and not realize where he was. Waking up Jordan is about as easy as waking Scott (in other words, just about impossible).
This morning Jordan is quite happy with his new bed. The biggest challenge will be keeping Katie from leaping off it.

The Floor

2006-05-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

For those of you that would like to see the flooring we've put in the main room, here are a couple of videos of our progress...

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PICTURES WITH JORDAN

2006-05-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

Look I'm a bubble boy!

We went to Aunty Doll's farm today and this is what I thought/said .....

Grandma, they look like they are in school.

.

He looks very grumpy

Zach is bigger than that horse!

More Pics

2006-04-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

Well, Angel seems to be settling in well. She's pretty much attached herself to me and follows me around. Jordan and Angel are starting to bond. So far, Katie just spends most of her time chasing Angel. Angel is amazingly patient with Katie whenever Katie catches up with her. Anyway, here's the pics...

New Puppy!

2006-04-28T00:43:00.000-07:00

We picked up our new puppy at the airport tonight. Meet Angel... she's a Havenese (basically a cuban bishon frise). She's non-shedding, hypoallergenic. She's almost a year old. She's been raised with 3 kids (the youngest is 3) and other dogs. She's delightful and playful and wonderful. Tomorrow morning when the kids wake up, they'll meet each other for the first time.

Catch up...

2006-04-28T00:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've been a bad mommy and haven't been keeping things up to date so here's a bunch of pictures...

Kaitlyn's Birthday... April 2nd...

Girl likes her bling!

Easter Weekend...

Aren't kids on chocolate fun!

GIRL CRAZY AT FOUR!

2006-04-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

Jordan is in trouble...he has a thing for girls and is only four. The other day Jordan watched his Uncle Ian get up off the couch where he was sitting with his girlfriend, Denise. Jordan immediately hopped onto the couch and sat by Denise. When Ian came back into the room Jordan put up his fists and said he would fight Ian for her! This boy is four!!!
Jordan amazes us. This morning his Grandpa is walking in with the newspaper and Jordan says, "Hey - let me see the front page"
We hear he will be getting a puppy soon, and the puppy will be coming from New Brunswick. We found out because he told us he was getting "Angel" from the airport. His Grandpa mentioned the dog and asked Jordan if the puppy was coming from "Newfoundland or New Brunswick" as he couldn't remember. Without losing a beat Jordan said "We are getting Angel from the airport"...with such an attitude like "Don't you ever listen???"
We had Katie sleep over with Jordan a while back and when I say Jordan is in trouble because of girls....I don't just mean girlfriends. His sister is nothing but trouble. Oh and cute, too. She is such a bully to her big brother. Thank goodness he is so big he doesn't notice her pushing him around. She does not put up with any guff from him. It is so funny to see because she is such a bit of a thing.

I'VE MISSED THIS BOY!

2006-03-31T18:45:00.000-08:00

Jordan and I went shopping for his sisters birthday. After buying a dvd for himself and a puppy for his sister we decided to stop at the dollar store for a candle. At the register he helped push our purchases forward and the cashier thought he was so cute she gave him a water gun. (Poor dogs!) On the way out I asked why she gave him a toy and he said, "Because I'm a good helper.)
When we got home he went out to shoot. Uncle Ty put a dust mask on him and sent him in to tell us he was a Jewish boy. (I hope that doesn't offend anyone.) Well, Jordan did rush in yelling "I'm a Juice Boy"

Katie's New Bike

2006-03-30T21:36:00.000-08:00

So for Katie's birthday, we bought her a trike. And so that she would have someone to bike with, Jordan got a scooter. Katie looks so cute. She can't reach the pedals and her helmet's about 3 times the size of her head. Here's a couple of pics...

**WARNING** NUDITY AHEAD

Check out how Jordan likes to ride his new Scooter...

Katie's Turning Two!!

2006-03-28T12:40:00.000-08:00

Yup, Katie will be 2 years old on Sunday! It's hard to believe that it's been two years already.

We've decided not to have a big party for her. Jordan didn't get his party 'cause he was sick and since she's at an age where she won't care either way... (that and she doesn't really like people anyway).

Katie went for her blood tests yesterday (follow up from the ones last month) and has her appointment with the pediatrician on Friday. We've noticed a difference in her colour and her demeanor, so we're hoping that everything is resolved.

Thanks to Grandma Jo for helping with the blood tests when Daddy couldn't make it!!

Bampa Pretty!

2006-03-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

Here's some pictures Grandma Noreen took. Katie had a great time making Bampa (Grandpa) pretty. What do you think? Isn't he pretty?!?

Though I think Katie's cuter! And she sure loves her puppies!

Here's Uncle Mikey giving music lessons...

Here's a couple cute comments Jordan has made to my Mom
"We can go to Toys and us cause i'm four now and you can buy me four toys."

"I'm not bathing in that water! It's stinky!!! It's full of Kaitlyn's farts. "

Not a Baby Anymore

2006-03-18T16:34:00.000-08:00

Katie's not a baby anymore, as of last night she's sleeping in a bed. Yup, we took apart her crib (mainly because her brother has figured out how to "help" her get out of the crib). Here's a couple of pics for you...

I'll post more pictures soon!

New Pictures

2006-03-17T19:10:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness Mellicent's been taking pictures, 'cause we sure haven't been. Here's a couple of cute ones...

Okay, maybe not cute...

If you want more posts, leave comments so that I know someone's actually reading this :-)

The Terrible Twos or Just a Girl?

2006-03-06T22:41:00.000-08:00

Now that Katie has learned the word "no," she's using it quite a lot. She used it this afternoon when getting ready to go out with her Daddy. He tried to put her socks on... "no no no no no"

I convinced her that she should get her shoes and socks on because she was going shopping with Daddy. She happily meandered back to her Daddy and lifted her feet in the air. Two socks and one shoe later and apparently she changed her mind again... "no no no no no"

So, I reminded her that she could get chocolate when shopping with Daddy. Back she went for shoe number two and then gave her Daddy the biggest hug.

Let's recap...

Changes her mind for no apparent reason at the drop of a hat
Is willing to do things for shopping and chocolate
Does not like to cooperate with men, but will listen to another woman.
Can say "Visa"

Yup, false alarm! Katie hasn't hit the terrible two's, she's just a girl. :-)

Katie's Talking up a Storm

2006-03-05T20:35:00.000-08:00

Apparently all we had to do to get Katie to start talking was spend $190 for a speech therapist to do an assessment. It seems that she has a couple of new words everyday and she's learning that if she says something, she almost always gets what she says... Katie say thank you to Daddy for the cookies!! You'll be happy to note that while her vocabulary is made up with many food words, she doesn't just eat "cookies", "pitta"(Pizza) & "Fies" (fries). Her newest words include meat and apple!! The first set she learned from her Daddy & brother.

Speaking of cookies, Jordan has become my enabler. Daddy bought Katie cookies and happened to buy the one type I can't resist. After we'd each had one, my son says...

"if your stomach says you need to eat a cookie, that's okay. And if Katie's stomach tells her she needs to eat a cookie, that's okay too. And if my stomach says it needs to eat a cookie, well then that's fine too. Let's eat another cookie!"

So we ate another cookie!

We went to Grandma Jo's for a delicious roast beef dinner with carrots, turnip, yams & sweet potatoes, potatoes and gravy. Of course, Jordan had a PB&J and Katie ate everything. How is that Jordan is healthy and Katie's anemic? I just don't get it. Anyway, the point to this... Grandpa Skip was watching the Academy Awards behind us while we were eating and Dolly Parton came on to perform a song. Kaitlyn stood up on her chair as soon as she heard the music and wiggled her little butt in time with the music. It was like she was compelled to dance. It was so cute. My mother will be thrilled since I grew up listening to my Mom's Dolly Parton records.

Jordan's New Word

2006-02-26T21:23:00.000-08:00

**Warning** Course language ahead

Jordan has a new word and it's my new favourite word. We were watching TV and he saw a volcano erupting. "Look Mom, it's a fuckano!" Can't you just see all the potential uses for that word? "If you don't stop, I'll go fuckano on your ass!" We all had a hard time not laughing whenever he says it.

Grandma Noreen, given his interest in fuckanos, was nice enough to show him how a baking soda/vinegar fuckano works. She even added food colouring and used her whole bottle of vinegar for him. Both kids thought it was great!

We had dinner at Little Grandma & Papa's for Uncle Drew's birthday and it was great. We haven't been over there for a while thanks to some wonderful colds floating around and it was great to see them. The kids were relatively well behaved and Drew had a blast pretending he was a T-Rex.

We got a great picture of Papa.

Update on Katie

2006-02-24T13:38:00.000-08:00

The appointment with the pediatrician was moved up to this morning. It was a 2 hour appointment. The doc wasn't too concerned about her height, though we will keep an eye on it. It might be a result of the other concern. Kaitlyn is definitely anemic. Normal hemogloben levels are around 115, Katie's were 52. She'll be taking an iron supplement 3 times a day for the next month and then we have a follow up appointment. We go back for the follwow up blood tests in three weeks. Whee! That'll be fun. Anyone else want to take her? Please? I don't blame you, I don't want to either. Looks like we'll be eating more steak for the next month. Scott will be so sad. :-)

VISIT TO GRANDMA JO'S

2006-02-23T16:45:00.000-08:00

I love to have Jordan stay over. He is always soooo amusing.
Last night his Grandpa asked for a hug..Jordan said he was all out but could give him a kiss. I then told Jordan I couldn't hug him because I'm saving my hugs for special. He looked at me and said, "I'm special to you - I'm your Grandson!" He got a hug for that.
Earlier in the day Jordan and I were looking through old Lp records.. Jordan looks up at me and comments "These are sure big CD's"-you have to love this generation.
I took Jordan on his field trip to bowling. He was a way better cheer leader than he was a bowler. When the little girls got up for their turns he would raise both arms and chant..go Chelsea go (or the name of whoever came next.) When they turned around he gave them a two thumbs up. What a kid. What a charmer!
We headed over to the mall to kill some time. We got into the mall and Jordan said, " You are my Grandma and I have to listen to you." I said, "Yes" He continued.."and I'm your Grandson so you have to listen to me." I said, "Yes" He then looked me right in my face and said.."I want a toy." I told him he doesn't get a toy everytime he asks and he said, "It can be a cheap one."
We left and came home, without a toy.
I like to think I'm the boss.
The poor boy had to play with his two toys I bought him yesterday.

I'm not sure who hurt more!

2006-02-22T20:33:00.000-08:00

Since Jordan was spending the night at Grandma Jo's (I'm sure she'll post soon to share some Jordan stories), we decided to get Katie's blood test out of the way. The doc was concerned that since Katie's so pale, that she might be anemic. Considering her reaction to having her check up (she completely freaked when she saw the scale & the nurse), we weren't expecting this to be fun.

It was worse than I thought it would be. Daddy had to hold Katie in his lap while I helped hold her down. The first attempt involved two technicians trying to draw blood from her left arm. They dug around for what seemed like for ever, but I'm sure was less than a minute. Katie screamed and screamed and sobbed and screamed. This brought over another technician and they tried the other arm with success (the third technician was able to find the vein much faster), but Katie was beyond hysterical. My heart was breaking for her already and then she looked at me and cried "Mommy" and then "owwie" and "Mommy" again, all while reaching for me. But, we got it done. Hopefully we never have to do one again.

She did milk it for all it was worth. She would cry everytime she moved her arms or anyone tried to touch her arms, so I ended up feeding her. She sat on the couch and everytime she was ready for a bite she'd say "Pitta" (her version of Pizza). Once I put a long sleeve top on her, she was much improved and played with her Daddy quite happily until bedtime.

We're going to wait a few days before we try to collect the urine sample...

Dinosaurs At Storeyum

2006-02-19T17:51:00.000-08:00

Scott and I decided to be brave and take the kids downtown to see the Dinosaurs at Storeyum. We drove to the King George Skytrain station and took the Skytrain end to end. Jordan loved being on the Skytrain and spent most of the time looking out at the back window. Katie was amused by looking out the window for about half the trip. (Doesn't Daddy look like a thug?) Then, being the independent cuss that she is, she decided to stand the rest of the way. Anyone ever tried to stand on a Skytrain without holding on? Yeah, not a good idea. I had to catch her every time the train slowed or sped up. And every time I caught her, she'd get mad at me. Brat!

Once we got downtown it was a short walk to the exhibit (especially for Jordan who conned Daddy into carrying him). We bought our tickets (thank you Great Grandma & Great Grandad Gilbert) and went inside. We arrived just as a show was starting so we rushed in to catch it. It was very well done and Jordan loved the star attraction. He was the first to volunteer to help with the T-Rex and got to go behind the curtain and pet the T-Rex's tail! He was in heaven. After the show we wondered around and looked at the other exhibits. Another show started while we were still there and Jordan dashed into the front row. Just as the announcer was going to start the big climax bit where they drop the curtain and show off the big T-Rex, Jordan pipes up from his seat... "Excuse me, sir, is there a T-Rex behind the curtain?" and as while we groaned, the very nice announcer said "yes, I was just getting to that." It was very cute.

The ride home was much more relaxing as both kids were too tired to cause much fuss. Though Katie did flirt with the couple behind us and always has time to make ugly faces at her Daddy.

Helping Katie Talk

2006-02-17T10:22:00.000-08:00

As you know from previous posts, we took Katie to a speech therapist because we were concerned that her language skills aren't where they should be and that we found out that while she isn't where she should be, she's till within the "normal" range. The speech therapist gave us some handouts to help develop her speech. There were three handouts: The Two Year Old Talks, Help Your Preschooler's Language Grow and Children Who Have Trouble Learning Language. Now not all of the last one applies, as Katie's comprehension is above average, but it's still worth reading.

Jordan's Feeling Better

2006-02-15T15:06:00.000-08:00

Apparently Jordan is the more efficient puker. Katie, when she got sick on the weekend puked from 8 am until 3 am (19 hours). Jordan fit the same number of pukes into a 4 1/2 hour time frame.

I'm very happy to report that Jordan slept in until 10:30 this morning and hasn't puke at all today.

Happy Valentines' Day

2006-02-14T21:11:00.000-08:00

Katie's speech therapy assessment went well today. While she is talking less than she should be, she's still within the "normal" range. The therapist wasn't concerned as her comprehension is above average. We'll touch base with her again in six months.

As Joanne mentioned in her post, Jordan has now caught Katie's stomach bug. He doesn't handle puking very well at all. He gets himself into a full blown panic. Poor little guy. He's puked twice so far. At least the second was contained in a bucket. The first one was all over the van and I'm not looking forward to the drive tomorrow.

Okay, make that three times.

Update:
Okay, make that 15 times. Yup, pretty much every 5 - 10 minutes from 8 pm until after midnight. Yuck!

Grandkids

2006-02-14T20:19:00.000-08:00

If you ever think you are doing fine, feeling great...think you know lots, have your grandkids over. Today I spent the day with Jordan. He is so sweet and thoughtful (kind of.) You see he was thoughtful enough to spend his money on buying gifts for almost everyone. I took him to three Dollar Stores and he proceeded to buy gifts for most of the family. When he did not buy me something I asked "Are you going to buy Grandma something?" He answered, "No, you are too greedy." Brat!!!!! He gets that from his Mom, I tell you. The other family member that did not get a gift was his Uncle Ian because as Jordan says, "He has too much?" He even bought his uncles girlfriends gifts. I guess he had to seeing as he asked both of them to marry him.
After dinner tonight we decided to draw a dinosaur landscape...trees, lakes, a volcano. When I said we need to draw something coming from the volcano he looked at me like I'm an idiot and said "LAVA??" I momentarily forgot the word...geez, I am almost 49. I took him for a walk with the dogs and he comments on what a "nice and peaceful" day it is. This kid makes me laugh. He is so smart - he is actually scary. His mom just called to say he was sick on his way home. Great. I'm sure it wasn't the chocolate he ate or the frozen yogurt bar. My luck is he caught what his sister had. Which is just great because being the wonderful grandma I am, I
finished eating the frozen yogurt bar that he couldn't. If it is a flu bug...I'll be..............lets say "losing weight" in the near future. I'm off.. I think I'll change my handle from Joanne to Greedy Grandma!

Goofy Faces

2006-02-13T22:05:00.000-08:00

Katie's feeling much better. Tomorrow is her speech therapy appointment. I'll let you know how it goes. We took a bunch of goofy pictures of us making faces...

Can't you just hear him telling you off?

Ain't Daddy Cute

"Would you please stop taking my picture, I'm busy"

That's what I go when I asked for a funny face.

Anyone actually believe I'm Angelic?

Princess Pukes-a-Lot Strikes Again

2006-02-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

I don't know what it is with Katie, but she seems to have a sensitive stomach (like the rest of her). I don't know if she's more suseptible to stomach viruses, is allergic to something else that we haven't identified yet or what, but she seems to puke more than your average kid.

Pukes so far today: 5 (pretty much any time she ate)

The worst one was after eating lunch, she had a nap on me (not the usual, but we were at Grandma Jo's, Jordan had hockey and Katie was tired), she woke up and then puked a ton all over both of us. It was all Gran Jo and I could do not to join her. Sorry! I promise I won't go into any more details.

We were supposed to go to Steve's 30th surprise party tonight and I was really looking forward to it. Oh well, I hope Scott has a great time. I don't know who was more disappointed, me, Scott or Grandma N who was going to babysit the kids.

I'll let you know how she's doing.

Bad Memory

2006-02-08T20:31:00.001-08:00

Apparently Kaitlyn has a great memory and the ability to make associations. Last week she had immunizations. This week was her check up. As soon as she saw the scale, she started crying uncontrollably and whenever medical personnel came near, she'd cry harder. We got through the appointment finally, but it wasn't fun. I'm not looking forward to taking her for blood tests next (the doc just wants to check her iron levels 'cause she's so pale).

Jordan was cute today. Michelle, Ty's girlfriend (and Jordan's future bride (see "Here Comes the Bride" post below), had to leave for work. Jordan looked up at her and said, "you have to work? that sucks!" Gee, where'd he pick up that phrase? :-)

Guys night out (with a 4 year-old)

2006-02-07T01:13:00.000-08:00

So Jordan and I decided to go out on the town on Friday night....prowling about town for Dinosours and Big Trucks......We decided to hit the movies for some Guy-Flicks.......Wallace and Grommit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit......(quite funny actually!)....We then continued on to the local watering hole (Boston Pizza)...We had beers (apple juice for him)....My picky eating son (just like Dad!) decided on a Pepperoni pizza, thinking "great, he'll eat two pieces and I'll get a midnight snack too!" Nope. He inhaled the whole thing in about 12 mins. He then promply informed me that it was time for dessert. Chocolate Fudge Caramel Cake. Biggest piece of cake I've ever seen. Krista and I usually share one and don't finish. He ate 3/4 of it himself. Me being exhausted at this point wanted to go home. Jordan on the other hand was just getting started. He dragged me to Chapters (or as he calls it...the Library) and spent 45 minutes reading every Dinosaur book in the store. Finally deciding on the one with "only T-Rex". At 10:30pm, we finally headed home. He was still hungry when he got home and once again I relented and we ate chocolate chip cookies while reading his new book, and we promptly fell asleep midway through the story......

Reading Baby

2006-02-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is too cute! Katie got a hold of my new J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) book and she's sitting on the bed with the book open pointing to the words on the page. As she points to each word, she says one of the words she knows. Puppy. Fries. Rice. Flowers. Dragon. Gee, do you think she'll be a book lover like the rest of her family?

The Vest

2006-02-03T08:17:00.000-08:00

Check out Katie's new, way too cute, vest...

My friend went shopping for her stepdaughter and saw the vest and couldn't resist buying it. It's so cute. Katie kept picking it up and trying to put in on herself. Oh and try to ignore the goofy face, this is what I get now when I ask her to smile for the camera.

Jordan's friend gave him this really neat gift for his birthday. It's essentially a box of coloured straws and connectors. Well, Jordan and his Daddy have been building structures and airplanes, and all sorts of weird contraptions. Other than the fact that I have permanent imprints from those connectors in the soles of my feet, it's been a great toy.

Thanks for the comments!

Painting with Daddy

2006-02-01T21:29:00.000-08:00

Now part of the purpose of this blog is to record some of the things my kids do ('cause my memory is not so good these days). So here's a story from a little while ago...

Scott finally got around to painting the living room and stairwell. Of course Jordan wanted to help his Daddy. Cringing yet? Now, keep in mind Jordan already has some painting experience (he helped paint Mellicent's room - picture on the top-left)... though come to think of it, that might be why Scott was cringing (click on the picture to see a larger version, so that you can see the paint dripping off the brush).

But Daddy was very brave and let both Jordan and Katie "help" him paint the downstairs hallway. Doesn't he look like he's having fun?

Ouch!

2006-02-01T14:22:00.000-08:00

Katie's getting her shots toay. Her 18 month shots at 22 months (oops!). I hope she's not feeling too bad tonight. Will update more later. Katie and Daddy came to pick me up at work after her shot. I tried to take her around the offices to say hi to people, but whenever she was walking she'd start to sob. Her little leggies were sore. She's feeling better now and will hopefully sleep through the night.

Katie has another new word. While at the shot place, her Daddy called her over so that he could put her pants on. She shook her head and said "sorry". He called her again. She said "uh uh, sorry". Too cute, but is she ever going to be a handful as she gets older.

Leave comments!!

Bedtime Excuse

2006-01-31T20:28:00.000-08:00

Jordan's newest reason he can't go to bed? The dinosaurs are still thirsty (picture to be posted soon). At least he's creative. And cute too!

New Underwear

2006-01-30T20:33:00.000-08:00

Jordan finally got to open his birthday presents at Grandma Jo's today. He got the board game chutes and ladders, some cool pants and a couple packages of underwear. He was ticked right off about getting underwear. he he he. Serves him right, he told anyone that would listen at Christmas that Mommy and Daddy wanted underwear for Christmas and that was all that we wanted.
Sorry... I've been corrected. Jordan also got a playdough set, some trucks, Bambi DVD, a toolbox, etc. In other words he was spoiled rotten as usual by his "not mean" Grandma Jo ('course I still reserve the right to call her my wicked stepmother :-P).

Katie's been working hard on her words with Mellicent. She might now say many words, but she's starting to master her letters. So far: A, D, G, O and "me". We had steak for dinner tonight and does Katie love her steak. She was practically climbing onto Scott's plate because he wasn't sharing fast enough. I couldn't get her to try asparagus though.

Hockey Star in the Making?

2006-01-29T20:04:00.000-08:00

My son went to hockey yesterday (floor hockey at the community center) and it was so cute to watch. Thank God the instructor has so much patience. My son spent entirely too much time wandering around in his own little world. He's not bad at shooting (even when he's not supposed to be shooting), but he's absolutely hopeless at puck handling. Of course, this is only his second class, but there's one kid in the class that looks ready to join the NHL (isn't there always one). I'm hoping that DH will find the time to practice with him (and that the weather cooperates) so that next week will be better. The best thing is that he seems to be having a blast and I hope he continues to enjoy it.

Oh and Katie has two new words this weekend. Fries. And Pizza. Gives you an idea of how healthy our eating was this weekend, eh? Oh well, DH just bought groceries for the week and we're back to healthy eating.

P.S. Would be really nice to get some comments. Just click on the word comments to add some.

Here Comes the Bride!!

2006-01-27T19:55:00.000-08:00

I'm pleased to announce the pending marriage of my son Jordan to Michelle. Yup, my four year old has now declared his intention to marry my brother's girlfriend. He called my brother (Ty) this evening to inform him of the decision. At first Ty was relucted to allow the nuptuals and tried to convince Jordan to marry Koda (Ty's dog) instead. Jordan confirmed with us that he couldn't marry a dog and restated his intention to marry Michelle. Ty's counteroffer was to suggest Jordan marry one or both of Michelle's sisters. Jordan however was steadfast in his commitment to Michelle. Ty finally agreed and Jordan asked to speak to Michelle. Jordan then proceeded to ask Michelle if she would marry him. Once Michelle verified that Ty was okay with the engagement, she agreed. Welcome to the family Michelle!!

Jordan on Speed

2006-01-26T10:08:00.000-08:00

Well, you can tell Jordan is feeling better. It's like someone gave him speed. He's jumping around and driving me absolutely nuts. I guess after feeling sick for several days he's just happy about feeling better. Both Katie & Jordan still have their coughs and are still waking in the night, but otherwise seem on the mend.

Presents Make it all Better

2006-01-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

Mellicent is a goddess! Jordan was starting to feel better and after four days with mommy, I was I afraid he'd be upset when I left for work, but Mellicent brought birthday presents and he barely noticed I was leaving. Other than a bit of a lingering cough both kids seem to be feeling much better.

Oh, I forgot to tell you... before the evil sickness descended upon our household, Jordan went to his first floor hockey class at the community center. He loved it!! Apparently he's a bit... well, let's call it tenacious in the boards, but he's got skills and had a great time. Scott and I are terrified that this will the be the thing he excels at (here we come 4 am hockey practices and $1000 per year in equipment - ouch!!). We really were hoping not to be hockey parents. Soccer, yes. Baseball, yes. Basketball, yes. Any would be preferable to hockey. Don't get me wrong, I'm a true Canadain and love the sport, but I'd rather be a fan than a hockey parent. Yikes!! Anyway, I'll keep you posted.

Miserable Monday

2006-01-23T11:33:00.000-08:00

Well, my Mother is always telling me to write things down when I tell her stories about her grandchildren, so here I go...

The weekend was a bust. Katie was sick on Saturday and all she wanted to do was cling to me. We decided to cancel Jordan's birthday party (he turned four on Friday), which turned out to be a good thing because Jordan was sick by Sunday afternoon. I wouldn't want to suggest that gender played a role, but Jordan is a way worse patient compared to Katie. The children also infected me and our wonderful nanny, Mellicent. So I find myself home with the kids, trying desparately to get some work done and meet some deadlines.

Jordan just anounced that "I'm broken" - did I mention that he doesn't do sick well?

Anyway... I'd best go make the kids lunch before the kids get ugly (I don't know where they get that from).