the jellyball family blog

Sometimes as parents we have this bad tendency of comparing ourselves to each other or even to other parents. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about how Luc and I are really different when it comes to the things that we like to do with the boys. I'm so grateful to have an active partner and see the boys picking up things from both of us.

Luc is great at inventing games, building elaborate ramps and forts, he's rough-and-tumble with them, and is great at doing boy stuff with them like going to the park and playing in the dirt. He's especially good at just letting them BE KIDS and explore their personalities.

Me? I'm the singing, dancing, goofball, arts-and-crafts person, let's pretend kind of person. I can't tell you how much I love that they're getting into colouring. In the past week, they've both really gotten into colouring books. On Saturday, we went out and got a fresh new stash of crayons and some more colouring books, and the boys did a LOT of colouring all weekend. There was more colouring than cars.

Caleb is starting to really "get" colouring and is learning how to colour inside the lines. I can't tell you how amazing it is to see your kids get into something you enjoy. I guess that's why so many parents aspire for their children to grow up to be just like them.

The boys went out trick or treating for the first time last night. Caleb was a real pro - saying "Crick or treat!" and making conversation with everyone at the door ("You have a big dog!" or "I like this house!"). Noah followed along well and while he couldn't say "trick or treat", he managed to say "merci" and "bye bye" to everyone.

We just got back from a short trip to visit our friend Sarah and her two lovely twin girls. We were so busy getting ready for the trip, then going on the trip, and now just getting back into the swing of things after the trip, that I totally didn't realize that the boys just had their month-a-versaries. Uhhh... yeah, so no newsletters just yet!

Instead, let me distract you with these photos of Sarah's lovely and delicious twins.

Ava:

Gabrielle:

Oh my, were they ever yummy.

Caleb's newest obsession is the Disney/Pixar movie, Cars. He knows all the characters, their names, their colours, and what they do in the movie. Every once and a while, we run into someone who shares the same name as one of the characters, and Caleb spins into a tizzy of excitement as he quite literally thinks they're somehow related.

Like when we met Luigi, the guy at the grocery store who helps people bring their bags out to the parking lot. ("All kids know my name," he tells me.)

I spoke to a Ramon the other day on the phone, and Caleb could hardly believe his ears, and thought that I was talking to THE Ramone, from the movie.

One of the characters from the movie is called The King. So the other day, I told Caleb that our friend Bundy's last name was King, and his eyes widened to the size of saucers. Yesterday, in the car, I heard him say to himself, "Bundy. Bundy KING. Bundy THE KING. The KING... Bundy KING!" And then he chuckled to himself in a total "awww yeah" kind of way.

Caleb's English has been improving by leaps and bounds for the past two weeks. He's been so keen to learn English, he'll try to speak it with anyone who will look in his general direction. He has, thankfully moved beyond reciting passages from Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs, although one of the things I hear him say as he's playing and babbling to himself is "Every day magic on DVD!" or "Welcome to the Thomas DVD experience!"

When I tuck him into bed, he wraps his arm around my neck in a headlock and plants a big wet kiss on my cheek, and then we have a conversation in English:

"Good night, Mommy."

"Good night, Caleb."

"I love you too."

"I love you, Caleb."

"Bye bye Mommy."

"Bye bye Caleb."

I leave the room.

"Bye Mommy," he calls out from his room.

"Bye, Caleb."

"I love you Mommy."

"Good night, Caleb."

"Good night, Mommy."

Silence. For a few minutes. And then the series of good nights, I love you's and bye byes start up again, this time for Daddy, and then for Noah.

Knowing that I only have a few weeks left in my life as a stay at home mom, I am trying to make the best of the remaining time with the boys. I took them to the art gallery yesterday, and they had a blast, especially running around outside the gallery where there was so much room to just be boys.

I'm going to miss days like these SO, SO much.

Lots more pictures here.

We are so very lucky to have both our parents in town. The boys have a great relationship with both sets of grandparents. This week, my father-in-law came by to watch the kids for a couple of hours while I went to an appointment. The minute the doorbell rang, the kids dropped what they were doing and made a mad dash for the back door - Caleb running, and Noah doing a fast waddle.

I don't even think the kids noticed when I left. I'm sure if they did, they surely weren't very heartbroken about it.

Here is a wonderful photo of the boys with their beloved Papie, a mere five minutes after he arrived. They were already clamoring for real estate on his lap, because no one tells a story like Papie.

We're very proud to say that Caleb's been successfully toilet trained. It's been a long and, honestly, not very difficult process. We've shown a lot of patience and waited for Caleb to proceed through the various stages at his own speed.

Along the way, we had a lot of help from the Thomas the Tank Engine underpants, and in the past couple of weeks, the Cars-themed underpants too. As in, "Caleb, you wouldn't want to pee on Lightning McQueen, would you?"

* Caleb shakes head violently *

AMEN.

About two weeks ago, he finally made a breakthrough and started being able to tell me when he needed to pee. He's been doing the number 2 in the big toilet for months now, but holding his pee and expressing the need to do it has been very recent. He's had dry diapers through the night for a couple of months now, too!

A few nights ago we finally went to underwear at night, and the first night he had an accident, but it's been clear sailing since then.

Congratulations, Caleb!

P.S. Oh, and this photo above was taken at the museum the other day. If you can believe it, the last time we went there, he was a bit younger than Noah is now.