Spencerisms

This afternoon I heard Spencer refer to his brother and sister as "you bunch of buzzards!" I was quite taken aback and when I mentioned it to Gary, he informed me that the other day, he had also called them "chumps". I attribute this interesting new vocabulary to pre-school. It's so nice to know I can send my kids to school and they will return well educated!

It's tiring to be two

We've had a busy day today. We've been to the YMCA, to two grocery stores, (Mommy absolutely has to have a cereal called Wheetabix which is made in the UK and only one store in town sells it and it's not our regular grocery store!), to the pre-school library field trip, and then finally to get Leia from school at 3.45pm. Nathan had a fabulous time in the library with all the other kids. They sang songs and listened to stories. He was the only one to get as excited and stood up to dance during every song. As a result of this boundless exuberance he fell asleep on the way home. This meant that he was grumpy for the rest of the day.

This is the scene that awaited me when we pulled into the driveway at 4pm. Leia as usual has a smile for the camera any time. Spencer will rarely smile unless prompted, more often than not he needs persuading, and Nathan is out cold. Thank goodness Daddy was not far behind so he could take care of the grumpy two year old for me!

Legos

Spencer has always had an interesting personality. He hasn't in the past been too bothered by our confiscating his things as punishments. I've often wondered might be his currency so that I can work with it. I feel like we might be getting close. Today he literally spent three hours building with the legos he got for Christmas. In fact now I really think about it, he's played with them for at least 30 minutes every day for a good long while now.

More than all that however is the pleasure I get from seeing his creative side. I value creativity and enjoy it when my children use their imaginations in their play.

Christmas round two

This last weekend we had a visit from Grandpa Bob and Grandma Cinda. They brought presents and we had a little mini Christmas. We saw Keith, Kari and Lukas over the weekend as well as fitting in a visit to an RV show where the kids had a blast. It was a whole lot of fun!



Spencer with his new digger. Also notice his trendy eye patch. It's been our latest parenting challenge to convince him to wear it.




I just love Nathan's expressions of joy. It's infectious!




Leia with some hair things she got from Grandma and Grandpa.




Lukas and Grandma.




Dog piling Uncle Keith!

Toothless grin

First we tried the "grab it with a tissue" method!

Next we tried the "tie some floss around it" method!

Success!

Spencer is ahead of the game as he is only four. But then it is that little tooth which showed up when he was 2 1/2 months old so I suppose it stands to reason that he would lose that one early. Here is a little picture of that tooth when it first put in its appearance.

Optimism

When I look at this picture I remember the feeling of optimism that swelled within me before going to church this morning. It stayed with me until, when I tried to "persuade" Spencer to return to his seat in Sacrament Meeting and he fell on the way, he yelled amid the screaming for the whole congregation to hear, "BUT MOMMY PUSHED ME".

I knew underwear had to be more fun than it looked!

Kick-off to 2008 Toilet Training

In the spirit of pressing on with my New Year resolutions, I took Nathan to the store and bought him some exciting Lightening McQueen underwear. He chose them and when we got home, he took his own diaper off, threw it in the trash and put on a pair of undies. It's really only in the spirit of planting a seed as it's late in the day and he's unlikely to need the bathroom again before bed. He seems okay with it. He doesn't like the label in the back but he has already taken them off a few times to sit on the pot and do nothing. And of course as I'm writing this he has peed in the underwear. Fairly typical behaviour I've noted in the other two. We'll see what happens in the morning. I'm pretty much expecting a battle and that way I won't be disappointed!

Hibernation Day

One thing I love about the early years of school in this country is the emphasis on playing and using your imagination. Pre-school is certainly like that and today at pre-school it is Hibernation Day where they wear their pyjamas to school and take in a teddy bear in a closed brown bag. They talk about how bears and other animals hibernate over the winter and then they release their bears from the bags at the end of the lesson.

When I told Spencer that he was going to be wearing his pyjamas to school he wasn't at all thrilled with the idea. He said "I think everyone will laugh at me." It took me a while to convince him that everyone else would be wearing them too and he finally agreed. He was kind enough to strike a couple of poses for me.

Once Spencer was safely dispatched to school Nathan had two friends, Avery and Bryant over. They had a great time playing with Nathan's crash speedway where you are actually meant to crash the cars into each other. There are smashing glass sound effects and great racing noises. It gave me a little headache but what more perfect toy for a boy could there be? It was boy utopia at my house this afternoon!

Impetigo

Before.

After. The mark on his cheek is not infection. It's from Spencer throwing something at him. If it's not one thing it's another!

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As promised, here is the little story of Nathan's infection. Just before Christmas he got a cold sore under his nose, thanks to me unfortunately! It started to spread and I was slathering anti-viral cream all over it to no effect. Finally on Christmas Eve when I found myself irritable I knew that we would need to get it seen to in order for me to enjoy the holiday. Nathan kept touching his nose and saying "t'hurts". I hate to see my kids in pain. Gary bless his heart drove him to Children's on Christmas Eve night to the Urgent Care. They were amazing and had him diagnosed and medicated in under an hour. The cold sore had gotten infected. The infection was called Impetigo and needed antibiotics. I was able to put him into bed with an easy heart knowing he was on the mend. It has taken a while to heal but finally he is back to his handsome self. I am so grateful for modern medicine. The doctor said that without antibiotics it wouldn't have healed. It makes me wonder what would have happened to a child back in the 17-1800s. Would it have taken over his face? Maybe it would have spread to other parts of his body? The New Year always makes me reflective. And I am so blessed. One look at Gary and my kids and all is well.