The Visitors

Our children had some very special visitors this last week. Their cousins, two boys ages 5 and 8, flew in from China on December 20th. The cousins had never seen snow before. Now I think they have had their fill.

They have been skating, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and sledding multiple times. Then 45 cm of snow descended on Montreal, and they made snowmen and went sledding again.

Our toddler had a few firsts of her own. First sledding experience, and first time skating... although I wouldn't call it skating!

Here are a few photos of her firsts:

First pair of rental skates

Skating with mama

Sledding with her aunt

Taking a post sledding break

notable quotes

The bag girl

I have decided to jot down some of the adorable things that our toddler, now almost three, has been saying.  Most are directed to her little sister:

I will be right back, wait here

Don't do that, I will be very mad

You can't have my toy, you will choke

Don't pull my hair, I will not have any

And to her parents:

Wake up Papa, it is time to go to work

Sing her a song, Mama

I am a horse, neigh, neigh

Mama, you are a cow!

10 months: in photos

Our littlest one turned 10 months old just a few days ago...She can now

Feed herself 

Clap on demand

Walk with the help of a baby walker

Brush all 7 of her teeth

Wave goodbye on demand

Think on her own!

Holding Hands: a photo moment

Every once in a while, my toddler's behaviour vis-a-vis her little sister pleasantly surprises me. The spontaneous declarations of affection ("I love you") and the little kisses are now more frequent than the slaps and kicks.

On the rare occasion that her sister is crying, she attempts to cheer her up by singing to her. Her really loud rendition of Twinkle Twinkle does not always work, but the effort is heart warming.

Just the other day, we were driving home from pre-school, and her baby sister started to cry. She reached over, said "hold my hand", and the baby instantly stopped crying. I looked back at a red light a few minutes later, and saw the sweetest hand-holding!

Sick week!

Eating raspberries the fun way, prior to getting sick

Actually, that should read two sick weeks. Over the course of the last 12 or so days, we all got sick.
Here is the timeline:

-First our toddler came down with her first cold in November. Nothing out of the ordinary.
-Next our baby caught our toddler's cold.
-Then I came down with the same virus.
-Nothing worrisome until mid week last week, our toddler developed a 48 hour fever. 2 visits to the pediatrician confirmed the diagnosis of a virus.
- I was thinking how lucky we had been that our baby, at 9 1/2 months, still had not developed a fever or a serious illness...and then last Sunday morning, she started vomiting. By Tuesday she had improved, but still slept a lot, and her appetite has just now returned to pre-sickness levels.
-Next, my husband developed a cold. Both he and I felt nauseous, but thankfully produced no vomitus.
-And just when I thought we were on our way to normal health, our toddler started vomiting Thursday morning of this week. Starting at 3AM, and for every hour for a total of 6 episodes. And as quickly as she got sick, she improved...

Were these all pre-school bugs? Perhaps the cold virus... but what would explain our baby developing a gastrointestinal virus before her big sister? Had I unwittingly brought it home from the hospital, and simply didn't get sick myself?... In all probability, we will never know... but one thing is for certain, there is nothing like appreciating the mundane after 2 weeks of sickness!