W

We all know that Elliot is a pretty smart cookie, so it should come as no surprise that he's doing a great job learning all of his letters and is starting to get a grasp on the sounds that they make. When we practice the ABC's we've come up with associations for each letter of the alphabet, and when you have a little boy as social as Elliot it makes sense to use his friends and family for these associations whenever possible. For example, A is Aine, B is Blake, C is Cailey, D is Daddy and Dominic, E is of course Elliot, you get the idea.

So the other night I get home from a solo trip to IKEA and find Paul and Elliot putting together his alphabet puzzle. Before long they got to W and Paul asks Elliot who we know whose name starts with W. Elliot stares a little blankly, so Paul hints, "He lives across the street . . . ."

Still nothing, so I start making the w sound and say, "Wuuh, like water."

And then out of nowhere Elliot says "And walrus!"

Paul and I are very surprisingly pleased and congratulate him, but before we even finish Elliot says, "and whale . . . and wish . . . and worm . . . and WEE!!!"

Holy mack-a-no-ly!! Color us proud as punch. Our little guy knocked our socks off again. Sure, whale and walrus might be pictures in alphabet books, but worm and wish and wee. What can I say, the kid is a certifiable genius. Just ask 

Momentous achievements in the development of our young sons

Wow-zer! Today was a big day in the Thomas household with both boys knocking my socks off with their new revelations about the world.

Sadly Elliot's big moment wasn't the happiest one for this mom who has tried so hard to protect her little guys from life's horrible gender stereotypes. I've bought both play vacuums and chain saws, toy train sets and kitchen sets, dolls and trucks. I actively challenge any gender slurs said in their proximity, like 'throwing like a girl' and 'boys don't cry'. And we happily encourage Elliot's love for having his towel made into a dress after bathtime, the fact that one of his very favourite colours is purple, and how he is just over the moon for mermaids (he calls them nursemaids), fairies and Tinker Bell movies.

So you can imagine just how heart-broken I was when I gave Elliot a new little purple notebook with Tink and all the other fairies on the cover so that he'd have somewhere to stick his stickers and paste his animal cuttings (he loves cutting animals out of his Ranger Rick magazines) and he replied, "Mom, this is for girls." I tried to roll with it, but there was just no hiding how gutted I was by the comment. I guess I knew I couldn't protect him forever, but I was praying I had a bit more time before our messed up culture got its teeth into him.

Lucky for me, I hardly had time to feel the pain before I heard Oliver giggling hysterically. When I looked over in his direction I saw him standing wide-eyed, grinning ear to ear with his index finger jammed into one of his nostrils. Oliver had discovered the love of nose picking.

God help us.

Boys' first camping trip

Our first camping trip with the boys was a smashing success. Sure there were some small little hiccups like us not factoring in how hard it was going to be to get the boys down for naps and bedtime (ended up resorting to car and stroller rides) nor how difficult it would prove to keep them quiet in the tent so they wouldn't wake up everyone in the park after they woke up both mornings at 5.45!!! And then, poor Oliver spiked a temperature the second night so we decided to come home a day early (another ear infection and bout of tonsillitis, poor kiddo!), but Paul and I didn't really mind too much as we were really looking forward to getting some sleep.

But all of it was more than worth it to see how much the boys loved it.

In planning the trip, Paul and I were sensible and chose a caravan park in a tourist city only 45 minutes south of our home just in case things didn't work out as well as we were hoping. This particular park had a fully equipped camp kitchen, clean toilets and showers, and best of all a fantastic playground and jumping pillow just meters from our tent. We could just sit in our chairs out front of the tent and watch the boys play and play and play with all the other great kids staying there.

Oliver was content to play in the dirt or chase ducks or sit in his little camp chair and watch the big kids.

Elliot, on the other hand, was in heaven. He made friends with heaps of the other kids especially Justabent (his name for a cute little 4-year-old who was actually called Dylan) and Hannah a 15-year-old girl who was super sweet to him, always looking out for him on the jumping pillow especially when the big kids were on and he'd get bounced all over the place.

We kept things simple on the food front sticking with yogurt, instant oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, PB & J sandwiches for lunch and take-out for dinner.

And we ventured out into Mandurah a couple of times. Our first night there, we took the boys to the awesome playground on the foreshore and got Thai food for dinner. And the next day we took our bikes out and rode all along the harbour and canals and gobbled sushi on the shore fighting off sea gulls and massive pelicans who were blatantly trying to score tourist lunches.

We couldn't have asked for a better or more fun introduction to camping for the boys. And it's only  going to get easier as the boys get older and we get a few more conveniences for our camp set-up. Want to come and join us sometime?

P.S. I forgot to mention that sharing a tent with Oliver was enlightening to say the least. It turns out that the little monster is a prolific sleep crawler. We were woken up several times each night to him crying out, presumably because he was cold and/or disoriented. When we got up to check on him, it wasn't always easy to find him. He scooched himself all over the place usually ending up wedged into the corner of the tent face down on the cold tent floor with his bottom in the air. We'll have to work out a way to strap him down for our next camping trip.

Thank you Easter Bunny

Ollie and I had lots of fun this Easter. Of course I had to show him how to hunt for eggs and stuff, but I think he's like me and is a natural chocolate eater!

The Easter Bunny brought us some really great presents like books and chocolate eggs and even new toothbrushes. (Mommy and Daddy says the Easter Bunny is really smart to remind us that we need to take care of our teeth after eating all that chocolate. How else are we going to be able to chomp through all those carrots?)

After reading our new books, it was time to go hunt for eggs. And I was really into it this year! I found them all in no time. (Alright, I listened to Mommy and Daddy and let Oliver get a couple of eggs too.) And guess what?!? There were dinosaurs and little chocolates inside all the eggs! How cool was that? I had so much fun finding all the eggs that Daddy and I took turns hiding them all again and again. ~ Elliot

Oscar-worthy performances

I've just posted a heap of new videos. We've got birthday parties, Easter egg hunts, Ollie dancing and spraying himself with the hose (no not at the same time; he's a baby, not a stripper), Elliot reading and singing his ABC's, and both boys being little monsters.

Check it out on my you tube page.

Spanish

Me: Elliot, would you like a piece of toast?

Elliot: Heh.

Me. What does 'heh' mean? Could you please say, 'yes, please' or 'no, thanks'? I don't understand what  'heh' means?

Elliot: (indignantly) YES! When I say 'heh' I'm speaking SPANISH!

. . . but of course!

Couscous, anyone?

Ollie at One

Oh my sweet little baby monster. I can't believe you're one already (well, 13 months but let's not be pedantic--I get to things when I can these days!) It seems like just a few months ago when I was pregnant with you and dreaming about meeting you one day. Or when you were just a littlish (you've never been little, I'm afraid!) brand new baby and only wanted milk and me (in that order!).

And now you're getting to be so grown up so very fast. Every day in every way you are making your place in the world and amazing your dad and I with everything you are learning. For instance, it wasn't so long ago that I was beginning to worry if you'd ever start to talk. Don't get me wrong, you've been saying "Adios" (part of our good-bye ritual for Daddy every morning when we shout "Adios" repeatedly and increasingly loudly to Daddy as he walks out to his car) or "Row Row" when you want to play Row Your Boat, for some time now. But I kept waiting for the "Mommy's" and the "Daddy's", and frankly I'm still waiting to hear either with any regularity. But that doesn't mean that you aren't talking. Lately, it seems like you're adding a new word every day. You say "bird", "ball", "book", "car", "no-no", "Nacho", "banana", and I'm not sure what else. But my absolute favourite is when you say "ahnk kooooo" (Thank You!) or when you cover your mouth when you cough. So unbelievably cute, trust me!

And your language skills aren't the only things you've been impressing us with. We've always known you were one extra-coordinated baby, but lately you've just been showing off with the way you can run after a ball while kicking it like you've played soccer in a previous life or something. Or the way you can stand on one foot while tapping your other in time to the beat of the music blasting on the ipod. Or how you crouched down and then tried to a two-footed jump while putting your hands over your head when you saw me trying to teach Elliot how to do a star jump (jumping jack).

And speaking of Elliot, boy oh boy, do you idolize your big brother. Ever since you've been able to get around on your own, you've followed Elliot everywhere he goes and tried to do whatever it was that he was doing, usually making yourself a right pain in your big brother's bum in the process (not that he's ever been super tolerant of you). And heaven forbid you accidentally touched one of the toys that he may have touched or thought about touching at some point during the day, and he would tear it away from you with all sorts of righteous indignation about not snatching (And if he's not telling you off for snatching, he's telling you off for one thing or another and acting like he's the boss of you.)

But this is about you and not Elliot, so I should probably mention that the days of you quietly finding something else to play with are OVER!!!! I can't pinpoint exactly when you started standing your ground, but I can't imagine you ever giving it up now. If Elliot tries to grab something off of you, you yank back. If you decide that you aren't getting enough attention, you growl or giggle or shove in. You get our attention. And if that isn't working or if we take something off of you that you really shouldn't have, lord help us!!! You have mastered the tantrum at such an impressively young age, my little knuckle head. Your dad and I have learned to recognise the signs: the screwed up face, the arching of the back. We jump to cradle your head before you smash it on the hard wood floor boards, lower it to the ground and then STAND BACK! There is no way to misinterpret your sentiment. You want what you want, and you want it NOW!!! And we used to feel bad because you've always been so content playing on your own (and still are) that we felt like we neglected you. Now we sort of fear your toddler days.

Speaking of your impatience, I really should mention that your impatience for food, especially milk, is something quite remarkable. This really isn't a new phenomenon, you've always been impatient for food, however what is impressive is the intensity of your impatience as you've gotten older. Again, we've learned to recognize the signs and act quickly. Trying to appease you as we prepare a healthy meal or snack is not pretty. So much to our dismay, you end up getting more milk arrowroot biscuits (a lowish-sugar cookie) and rice crackers and cheerios and other fast toddler foods than we'd like.

And can I just mention right here how much you are capable of eating!?!?! As much as Elliot, sometimes more. At breakfast time, definitely more. 220 mL (8 oz) of milk, a whole banana, a piece of toast, maybe some cheerios or a pouch of yogurt. And you'd keep eating as long as we gave you food. I'm so afraid of our food bills once you and Elliot are teenagers, mijo!

Good thing you like other things besides eating. You still are so content to play with your toys. You love the Little People or pushing cars around or listening to Diego or the Dinosaur Train dinosaurs talk. And the phone! You pick up anything that looks remotely like a phone and gab away! If Daddy can't get you to lay down for a nappy change, he pretends you have a phone call and passes the remote control, nappy cream, whatever to you for you to chat while he gets down to the dirty work.

And you love to climb! Anything! And once you get to the top of the play gym, or the couch, or your dad, you climb down just so you can climb up again. And again. And the red car that Sam and Reuben gave you, I think that you would be happy to sleep in that thing. You climb into the seat, put your foot on the dashboard and wait for somebody to push you around the yard with that beautiful smile and gorgeous wrinkled up nose. Gosh I love you, kiddo, and can't wait to watch you teach us all about you as you figure the world out!

Oh and P.S. Your running smiley hugs when I get home from work or your clingy cuddles when you're feeling a little under the weather are just magic. I hope I never forget how good they feel. Ever.