Around Our House Lately

Around our house lately, everything seems to be going fairly well.  Jordan is plugging away at his Masters due in October--mostly revising and editing and spending countless hours in the basement doing so.  Abe's eyes have never looked so good.  (In case you didn't know, Abe was diagnosed two years ago as having secondary glaucoma, was in excruciating pain and nearly had to have both his eyes removed until our ever diligent vet found the right medications).  We found a veterinary eye doctor here in Toronto who put him on some new medication, which worked immediately and we are all pretty happy about it.  The children are growing and eating and sleeping through the night (!!!!) and generally really content.  We are excited for nursery school to start soon and for the regular routines of fall. (Even if we are really sad to see summer go over the next few weeks).  We have a lot to look forward to this fall, including our big trip to Newfoundland for Chouchou and Fizey's wedding.

I can't believe how fast these two are growing!  Gabriel is talking in big sentences and it's a rare moment when I don't understand him.  Maggie is moving all over the place and just about to crawl any day soon.   She has gotten stuck under the sofa and under the chair.  I found her sitting up in her crib the other day. Gabriel is really excited for Maggie to grow up and be more mobile.  He keeps trying to flip her over onto her tummy and wanting her to learn to crawl.  All of his c's come out as t's.  "Tawl, baby tawl!" he says.  And just to prevent her from crying while on her belly, he tickles her, "Ticko, ticko."  And the two love having baths together--squirting and splashing and sharing toys.  Gabriel, of course, likes to be the boss. 

Here are some other things the littles are up to:

Magdalene loves her big brother so much and wants to do every thing he does.  She has abandoned her baby toys in lieu of trains, trucks, airplanes and dinosaurs.  When he walks in the room, Magdalene shrieks and her arms and legs flail in the air with excitement.  She could be nearly sleep but the moment she hears his voice, she squeals and kicks and jolts wide awake.  It's like she hasn't seen him all week!  When really it's just been a couple of hours.

I don't know if many babies like blenders and other loud mechanical sounds, but the second our baby bullet blender comes on, Magdalene let's out a big loud, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"  as if she knows that her food is coming.  She is a voracious eater.  I cannot believe how quickly she took to food.  I think she's just so thankful I'll give her real food that she'll eat just about anything!  

Dinosaurs are big in this house lately.  Everything is about dinosaurs--toys, books, movies, shows.  T-rex is the favorite.  Obviously.  That and the "brak-daw-wass."  Every page of every dinosaur book has a "BEEEEEg Daw-wass" on it.  His dinosaurs go in the sandbox, the car, the bath, get fed grass from the lawn, they get their teeth brushed sometimes, they have joined the occasional tea party and they get tucked in bed and kissed goodnight too.

When Gabriel's been out with his dad, the moment he gets home, he runs into the room where I am with his arms in the air.  "Hi Mom!"  When I pick him up, he gives me a fierce hug and then squishes my face between the palms of his sweaty little hands.  "It's cute," he tells me.  I wonder where he picked that up from?   

The other day, we went down by the river to throw some rocks.  Along the way, I started picking flowers.  Gabriel was so excited.  All of his f's come out as s's "Pickin' a souwers." He wanted to pick them too to take home with us and so we came back with a fistful--a beautiful bouquet we put in Maggie's room. 

Along the way back from the river, while picking flowers, we accidentally frightened a mama bird from her nest.  We stopped and I lifted Gabriel up to see the nest of newly hatched baby birds who were chirping loudly in protest.  As I set Gabriel back down on the ground, he made a big pouty face and with all the sadness in his voice that a little boy could muster, he said, "Babies sad.  Babies crying."  We had a big long chat all the way home and for days after about mama bird and the babies in the nest crying.  We talked about where daddy bird might be and how mama bird feeds the babies.  It went on and on, apparently leaving quite an impression.

It's so amazing watching these two as they grow and change and make us scratch our heads in confusion.  I'm not going to lie.  There are definitely some really, really hard days, especially the moment Gabriel turned two and both babies were up every couple of hours and night and then overtired and melting down over and over.  But I feel like we are moving past that and into a new stage with a whole new slew of required parenting skills, but also the sweetness and warmth and fun that two young children can bring at these ages.