About the kids.

Seems like all my posts are about what we do, and I'm sure you get an idea of what our two little munchkins are like, but here is a post to share some kid updates.


Princess Lottie...

Yes her nickname is officially Lottie, and she picked it herself. She talks in the 3rd person quite a bit, and never really got the Char down in Charlotte and just started referring to herself as Lottie. It suits very well.

She is a wonderful big sister. Of course every now and then she gets rough with Robbie but after all she is only 2 1/2. But lately I've noticed a big change in how much she'll put up with. Good thing because Robbie is getting to be pretty aggressive towards her. I am also happy to say that sharing is not a foreign concept anymore, and she will actually share on occasion. I am very proud of her.

She is 95% potty trained. She still sleeps in a diaper, but other than that she is in panties all day long. It does help that we splurge on character panties. What a rip off though... you need to take out a loan to buy panties with Curious George, Dora or Disney Princesses. But it works, she carefully picks out her panties for the day and we constantly celebrate that she can keep Cinderella or Little Mermaid dry.

Lottie is also the QUEEN of bedtime stalling. For a while she was playing her daddy like a fiddle but he has caught on to the act. You know regular toddler tricks, drink of water, another book, I need to pee... you name it she's tried it.

She is still our thrill seeking Lottie, climbing to the top of the monkey bars, swinging on the big kid swing as high as we'll let her go and her latest attempt was to slide head first. That was stopped immediately! And today as she was riding her bike she was trying to take one had off. She's only been riding solo for a couple of weeks and now she wants to do stunts! Oh my nerves.

She loves to dance, sing, and have picnics/tea parties. She also loves Cinderella, Little Mermaid, Dora, Bo on the Go and Curious George. But her favorite are her bunnies... she has Honey Bunny that she sleeps with, and Hopsy that we can take out of the house (he is filthy), then we have all sorts of others like Little Bunny, Sleepy Bunny, Baby Bunny... she loves her bunnies.

And clever, wow is she ever clever. She knows most of her colours can count to 12, and if I actually sat with her I know she could go higher, I just don't seem to have the time. She is learning her ABC's and recognizes A, B, C, E, M, O, Q, S, P, R, W, and calls K and X which is pretty close. About the K and X thing... I've tried to correct her, and no way. In the World According to Charlotte (which should be a book), K is actually X!

Prince Robbie... Robbie Bobby Button is his nickname. Mike has made up a cute little song and Robbie smiles every time Mike starts to sing it.

Robbie is an absolute maniac. He does not sit still for a split second and cracks his head on the floor a least half a dozen times a day. Oh, and don't even get me started on diaper changes. The other day I had to put diaper cream on his bum, I normally don't put anything on because he is so wriggly. However it was needed so I decided to tackle the job. I lost! After a battle of pulling, grabbing and grunting Robbie finally broke free. As he crawled away all I could do was laugh... there was diaper cream on the back of his neck, his ribs, his arms and his legs and not a drop on his bare bum, and in his dust he left me holding a wet diaper in one hand and a clean diaper in the other.

Robbie can also eat, and eat and eat, I don't know if he has ever been full. Oh and don't you dare try to spoon feed him, finger foods only for Robbie. But since he has no teeth and swallows without chewing this is a bit of a problem. So far so good, but I do spend a lot of time cutting food into the tiniest portion I can. The latest news on the food front is that he is on bottles now. Just over the last few days we've turned a corner and tomorrow we plan on only using bottles. It is a sad time for me, I love nursing my babies. Oh I do have to say that even while nursing, Robbie still won't sit still. He is always kicking a leg and loves to rest his foot on my cheek or chin.

He is constantly smiling, and gives his biggest smile to Charlotte. He adores her! She'll walk into his room just before bedtime every night and give him a kiss... he smiles so wide that my heart just melts.

We may have found his favorite teddy. It is a monkey that we've named Mr. Murphy. It is suiting that Mr. Murphy has become a big part of Robbie's days lately because his latest sound is OOOO, so it almost sounds like he is imitating a monkey.

Robbie is also a super kid and so patient. Charlotte demands a lot of attention and Robbie is usually good to play on his own and simply explore the ridiculous amount of toys that we have. But when Robbie does get my 100% attention he just lights up with smiles. Lately I've been trying to chase him around the house, but he doesn't quite get it and comes crawling right towards me laughing away to excited for the hugs and kisses he's about to recieve. They really need to figure out a way to make edible versions of your kids, becuase I could just eat these two up they are so cute.

Tues. August 26th, 2008

Before I start my actual post here is a picture of Robbie's first tooth, the second is barely visible. Robbie was enjoying his first chocolate ice cream cone. Wow, if it wasn't obvious before, this kid can EAT. He polished the entire thing off faster than I'd ever seen a kid eat ice cream. Good thing I only buy the mini cones!

Animals, Animals, Animals... Charlotte (and Robbie of course) have met all sorts of new animals recently. This past weekend we went to the Valley and stayed with our friends Linda and Mike. Charlotte of course loves their dog Lilly, and spends most of her time chasing Lilly around the house and yard and I actually think Lilly enjoys it! This trip to the Valley included another trip to Linda's parents farm where we got to feed the horses apples, then we got to see a live skunk that they trapped (apparently a skunk won't spray while in a confined area). Linda's mom also has a new kitten, which Charlotte decided to also chase around the house the entire time we were there. But the icing on the cake for the valley was that Mike's mom had just bred a litter of golden retriever puppies. They are 3 weeks old and Charlotte was over the moon seeing 9 little puppies. I was very impressed how gentle she was. She is still 2 and did try to pick a couple up by their necks, but overall was very cuddly and gentle with them. And no she did not try to chase the puppies! she just wanted to hold them. Awwww.

The animal loving is not just for the valley, however all of those animals were mamals. Closer to home, we've been finding everything that creeps, crawls, slithers, or hops. At the beach we found a hermit crab. At first Charlotte didn't want to touch it, but I kept showing her how and eventually she became close friends with "Crabby", and loved to pick him up and watch him run across the sand. I did have to laugh when Mike came along to see what we were playing with, although some may argue it was a small bit of torture. Anyway it became instantly obvious that Mike doesn't like crabs, and he can actually squeal like a school girl. I also got past one of my little fears and managed to pick up a spider for Charlotte. I don't want her to be afraid of them (since they are everywhere) and thought the best way is to lead by example. I put the spider in a bucket and she was thrilled to carry it around, while singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Then tonight we went for a walk and found a snake, which no one was willing to pick up. Too bad one of my cousins Kiyra or Caine weren't with us, they love snakes. Then later in the walk we came across a small toad. As a child I used to love catching frogs, so I had no problem getting this little guy. Charlotte nearly touched it, but it jumped out of my hands just as she was getting ready.

As I mentioned we had been in the valley. Here are a couple photos of our time.
Robbie on top of hay bails. Charlotte in the corn maze.
Jessica, Jacob, Mike, Mike & Robbie doing Water Pump Duck races.
Charlotte going down a really, really fast slide.
Robbie and I at the pool

Saturday August 16, 2008

Last night Mike and I went on a date. Yes an actual date, we got a babysitter, and headed down to the waterfront for supper and to watch the busker festivel. It was very nice to be a grown up with my hair done and my heels on, but as most mothers my mind was never far from my little ones and hoping they were doing okay. Charlotte did fine, Siena got a kick out of her babbling before bed. Charlotte will often lay in her bed and sing songs like "Mary had a Yittle Yam" and then without skipping a beat turns into "Yottie had a Yittle Bunny". Apparently the "L" sound is one of the last to develop, which makes Little Lamb sound like Yittle Yam, and Lottie sound like Yottie... too cute. Robbie however woke up and gave Siena a run for her money, but she was eventually able to get him back to sleep.

Other big news in our neighbourhood is a fire at the rope making factory. Apparently it is arson and wow did it ever burn. It was a dangerous fire with all the chemicals and the roof collapsed with 4 fire fighters barely getting out before it did. No one was able to leave the subdivision for hours.


I did get a few photos.

The front of the building, wasn't looking to bad as the fire was started at the back.

View from our deck, we were so lucky it had rained heavy a couple days before and that their was almost no wind.
View from our neighbours deck.
Cleaning up... they ran hoses and pumped water from the bay. There were around 12 + fire trucks in total.
The next day... here you can see the collapsed roof.

Update on the kids, well Robbie's second tooth is coming in and it is his other top tooth. Awwe my little Bucky... he is too cute! Once that second tooth comes thru I will take a photo, it should be priceless with his big grin. I know I've said it before that he is busy, but you have to see this kid! I've never seen the likes of him. I can barely get him dressed and Mike nearly dropped him today trying to zip up his jacket. He just won't sit still! And he is standing on his own. He'll let go and he can balance for only 2 seconds then he plops onto his bumb but at this rate I won't be surpised if he is standing or even walking by Halloween.

I have a super story about Charlotte... today I took her to the mall to buy Janelle a birthday gift. Being the observant little girl that she is, she starts to point out all the letters on the signs. It might seem strange but instead of a boring way of teaching letters I make up little sounds or rhymes for each letter... well she is sure taking it in. At one point we were infront of BEN MOSS and she impressed everyone around her by saying,

"Bumpety Bump B"

"MMM Mountains"

"Ssss Snake"

Then I said "Do you see an O?"

She said "Right there" and pointed to the "O"

If that wasn't enough she turned to a smaller sign and said "There's a little O, and an A", the A was in the word SALE. I tell you it was something else. The woman at the counter asked me how old she was, her jaw dropped when I said she just turned 2 and a half today!

I don't have many new photos. We went to two birthday parties last weekend. Here is Charlotte at the sprinkler park for Aleadian's birthday, yes a park of sprinklers and she plays in a mud puddle! That Girl!

Here is Robbie at Drake's birthday having his first taste of birthday cake. It was a good weekend for him cake at two birthday party's and I'm sure he'll be having some tomorrow at Janelle's. Lucky kid!