The Beaches With Little Cousins

Yay!  It's March break!!  What to do...  I could only picture the Science Center, the ROM, the AGO, all the toddler gyms being packed full.  A better option with this warmer weather--outside!  And we have Jordan's sister Rachael here visiting for a couple of days. It's not a lot of time with her, so we wanted to get out and enjoy the nice weather and spend some time with her.  Aren't we so lucky to have such great family that are willing to fly in to see us??

So we met up with cousins at the Beaches today, walked around and had lunch and took the little cousins to the park.  Honestly, having cousins in Toronto is seriously my favorite part of living here.  Our children will likely be years older than their first cousins, if and when they are born some day (no pressure, guys!), but it is really sweet to know that they have little second-cousins that are around the same age.  I know I certainly love and spend plenty of time with my own second cousins.  In fact, I talk to one of them EVERYDAY. 

We had a lot of fun today at the park splashing around in big cold mud puddles, crawling up and down the slide and bouncing on the teeter-totter.  Magdalene was really into playing in that park already and I am constantly fascinated by how she is really becoming her own little person with her sense of how the world works and her own wishes.    

The little cousins are so adorable with each other.  I just cannot get enough of that look they get in their eyes when they look at each other, the way they talk about each other--that complete look of fascination, adoration and kinship.  I hope that it is a relationship that they continue to develop and cultivate as they get older. 

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I Wuv Mud Puddows!

Spring weather has FINALLY hit Toronto!  After months of cold cold weather, a short break in the cold and weather warm enough to start melting it all away. Even the rink in the back yard is finally staring to melt.

I don't even remember the last time I took the kids out for a long walk.  These days, even our trooper of a boy has been resisting going outside.

But it was warm enough that I actually let Gabriel go out without his snowsuit.  We celebrated spring by letting him drive through every puddle again and again and again.  He kept asking and asking to stay outside, one more lap around the park, one more puddle.  He declared with a throaty laugh, "I WUVE mud Puddows!"  He splashed and got stuck and came home dripping wet.

And then he spent what seemed like a good hour in the tub splashing around to clean up.  I cannot say how good it felt to be outside today, my bare face and hands basking in the sun.  It was tempting to take off our coats and just run around in sweaters although it's still a bit early for that I guess. 

I can't wait for Maggie and Gabriel and I to get our bright splash suits on and hit up the massive puddle in the park like we did last year.  YAY spring!!

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This age, this stage.

This week I got an email from my sister begging me to send her pictures of the littles.  The funny thing is that I feel like I have a ton of material to share, but so little time to share it!  Which I suppose is in some ways a nice problem to have.  The littles are doing great and I can't say enough about how much I am loving this stage of our lives. Ok, so there is a reason two-year olds get a bad rap, and we certainly endured our share of "spiritedness" this year.  But so far ONE and THREE are really looking up. 

Now that Magdalene is walking (lolling side to side like a drunken sailor), she is such a real playmate to Gabriel who encourages her to walk to him.  Recently, in a desperate attempt to bring some sort of order to our lives, we moved ALL the toys to the basement and only allow a couple of toys up on the main floor during the day.  The funny thing is that now the littles play much quieter (sometimes) and with each other rather than their toys half the time--rocking in their boat, playing "where's Maggie" in the curtains, building towers with pots and pans, covering the fridge in magnets and playing chase.

And while I am on constant guard to break up spats, enforce time-outs, impose calm-down sessions, and be on the watch out for hazards, I sort of feel like the pressure is off just a little bit to be mama/counselor/chef AND playmate extraordinaire.  Phewf!

I love the way these tease each other--Maggie grabbing toys and dashing away under the table with a foolish grin on her face, the way Gabriel directs the play, "Maggie, come and play house with me," the way they get each other giggling about some secret toddler joke while they eat lunch.   

Magdalene is really starting to develop a strong little personality.  She is definitely dramatic, loves to dress up and put on necklaces, hats and mittens.  She can be found sporting at least one necklace any time of the day.  And talking up a storm saying all sorts of words, including, according to Jordan, "Onomatopoeia." He may think I am slightly exaggerating on the words in her vocabulary, but we all heard her say "raspberry" very clearly today.  All her s's come out as whistles through those two adorable front teeth.  She loves to wrinkle her nose and show those two teeth while she laughs mischieviously and gets her brother going.

Meanwhile Gabriel is the doting older brother, keeping Maggie in line with all the 'rules' in the house, as well as spoon-feeding (literally) his little sister.  And we are pretty sure we can owe Maggie's extensive vocabulary to his never-ending chatter.  They are definitely two characters with big personalities.

I'm definitely loving this new stage that I'm in.  I've found over the past year, there have definitely been some tough moments.  But I have tried hard to focus and take little snapshots in my brain (if my camera isn't handy) of the precious/quiet/endearing moments to tide me through the harder ones.  But recently, I've found there are more and more of those moments I keep logging away.  I'm sure we'll be moving into a new stage any day now, but right now, I'm logging this for posterity sake!

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