Elliot Anne, Fabulously Four

 Oh sweet girl, Happy Birthday.  You turn four years old today, which sounds rather grown up to me, especially as I look through all these baby photos of you.  

Look how teeny weeny you were four years ago! 

 

And four years later you are bigger, but you still sleep the same way.  

When you're asleep, when you've finally stopped talking for the day, when your wriggling, dancing, running, jumping, shouting body has finally slowed down enough so I can really look at you, I see your perfect little face and body and its all I can do to stop myself from picking you up and cuddling you until morning.  Thankfully something in my brain tells me you'll be up sooner rather than later and I should probably enjoy what little sleep you'll let me have and we'll have that cuddle in the 

 morning.  

You love to cuddle with your Daddy too.  At the moment he's actually your favorite person in the house.  If Daddy's around, I might as well not even bother!  Every night you request demand to sit next to Daddy at dinner.  Every night you wonder inform us that Daddy will be reading you a fairy story and cuddling with you in bed.  He sometimes pretends to be a little tired of this arrangement - I don't think fairy stories are really his cup of tea - but I'm positive he loves your hugs as much as you love to give them.

You're a pretty busy bee these days.  You're at preschool three mornings a week with your besties Caleb and friend Miles.  You've known them since you were a baby.  I think this is the earliest photo of you and Caleb.  Kinda sums up your relationship, doesn't it?  You can't live with him and you can't live without him most days.  

And here you are with Miles, having a little discussion about your favorite time to wake your mummies up.

 

 When you're not at preschool you're into lots of fun activities like swimming and dancing.  Sometimes you like to multitask by dancing whilst wearing your swimsuit.

 

Your independence is flourishing, as it should at this age.  We hear a lot of "no,  I can DO it! All by MYSELF!!"  Unless its cleaning your room, which generally leads to tears and you informing us that in fact you're still a baby and you couldn't possibly clean this mess up all by yourself.  But you're a pretty resilient little monkey and you've figured out how to shove most of your toys and clothes and hair elastics and rocks and scraps of paper and twigs and ribbons and whatever else you've collected during the day into purses and grocery bags and backpacks for us to find later.  Your collections and your "cleaning" of said collections are fairly epic.  

 

You've had some pretty awesome adventures this year too, El.  We went to France, where you fell in love with barefoot living, suntanning, Orangina and chocolate mousse.

With your little blonde bob, your summery dresses and your perfect pout, I think you truly immersed yourself into the french culture.  Bravo, cherie!

 

 In the winter months, you screamed your way through your first few attempts at ice skating, but grinned your way through tobogganing.  Apparently we should plan for the bobsled rather than ice dance as your event for the 2030 Olympics.

The other thing, or should I say things, that tend to make you scream a lot are your brothers.  You're either screaming in frustration or screaming with laughter.  The three of you are quite something these days.  When you're playing nicely with William and Owen it is the sweetest, cutest and nicest part of my day.  I love how you thoughtfully pack their lunches into their schoolbags for them, or how you can't wait to tell them about your day when they come home.  I love how they read to you and how they let you win games, just like Uncle David used to do for me.   I'm hoping that you turning four means we'll have more of these awesome sibling moments, rather than the other, more angry, yelly, hitty, bitey stuff we sometimes have going on. 

But I do think four is going to be fun for us, Elly.  Four is going to mean a lot more big girl stuff and a lot more chatter and a lot more Elly!  And who could ask for anything more?

Happy Birthday, shining star.  I love you to the moon and back!

Happy Birthday Owen & William!

Its your birthday!  Again!  Is it just me, or didn't we just celebrate not that long ago?  Yikes, the years are flying by and all of a sudden, you're seven years old.  Wherever did my little guys go?  It seems incredible to me that in seven short years you've gone from this

to this:

 

 That's a lot of growing and changing and learning and a whole heckuvva lot of eating in a relatively short period of time, wouldn't you say?

You're still best buds, the two of you.  

 

People sometimes ask me which twin is the "leader" or the "dominant one".  Luckily for both of you, I think you swap roles fairly often.  You're pretty good at listening to each other's ideas for games, fort designs, team sports, birthday party ideas...You both tend to hear the other one out and then contribute your thoughts and then you weigh the options together and come up with the solution you can agree on.  Of course, it doesn't always work that way - we often hear you having heated, physical arguments about who's sitting where at the dinner table, which piece of lego belongs to which sibling, etc, but more often than not, I'm impressed with your problem solving and sense of fairness.  Of course everything I've just said is void when it comes to your little sister, but I suppose that goes without saying.

Speaking of Elly....she loves you, you know that right?  She's so excited to give you your presents tomorrow - she chose superhero tshirts for you and birthday cards that she's "written" in for you.  She has somehow managed to keep your presents a secret for two whole weeks. I'm mightily impressed with her!  But I think it all stems from her deep love of her big brothers.  Have you noticed how much she's copying you guys lately?  She may drive you crazy, but she's yours for life guys! 

 

I think the two most impressive skills that you have developed in this past year is your ability to cope with change and trying new things.  We went to France for a month this year to stay with Gaga and Pops and you embraced French living with gusto!  Everything was exciting and wonderful to you - perhaps not the copious amounts of puking when we first arrived, but that was mostly due to jet lag, dehydration and a very windy trip to La Rouquette.  

You astonished me, Owen, with your willingness to speak french to everyone.  You, who had been so reluctant and stressed out in your french immersion classes this past year, stepped out of your comfort zone and shone!  You spoke more french than all of us, I think, and you understood pretty much everything going on around you.  You made new friends and seemed thrilled to meet all my french family.  I was so proud of you. 

William, I loved how fiercely attached you became to France.  You informed me that you were "very sorry, mummy, but I don't think I will live with you forever after all.  I think I'm going to become a French farmer and live in France." And you sobbed and sobbed and sobbed as we left Gaga to fly home.  I don't think I've ever seen you so upset.  "I...sob....just love France....sob....SO MUCH!  We've...sob.....had SUCH a wonderful holiday!"  You tried lots of french food and I think your favorite thing to eat was brie, Will.  You ate so much brie and baguette I thought we'd have to roll you home!

Both of you came up to me daily to hug me around the waist and say "thank you for bringing us to France".  Both of you commented on a regular basis on the beauty of the area and the charm of the villages.  When we organised the trip, I'd hoped you'd have a nice time, but I never dreamed you'd fall in love with the country so quickly and so deeply.  I guess what's bred in the bone...

This September you've started Grade Two and so far, so good.  The drama of last year seems well and truly behind us, Owen and you are a far more confident and settled student.  Your teacher was commenting to me today that she loves how you're willing to just try - far more so than any other student in the class - even if it means making a mistake.  I love that about you.  And Will, I can see your confidence in the classroom.  You know you're surrounded by friends, you know you can do the work, so you just get 'er done and have lots of fun doing it. 

Physically, the two of you have shot up this year.  William, you're still about a half inch taller than Owen, but you oddly weigh the exact same amount, to the decimal point.  There is not an ounce of fat on either of you, despite how much I feed you, but I think a lot of this has to do with the crazy amount of swimming you've been doing.  You both bravely tried out for a swim club and made it, and now you swim twice a week for 75 mins, amazing me with your endurance and those muscly little bodies.  I smile every time I see you in your swim gear - little athletes, the two of you.  I'm very proud of how hard you work in the pool, despite the tiredness you must feel after long days at school.  you still come out of there smiling and saying "That was awesome". 

Its been a great year, Will & Owen, and I'm really looking forward to what 7 is going to bring.  I've seen signs of more mature, less confrontational and argumentative kids the past few months and I think we're heading along an interesting path together.  We understand each other a little better and, with lots of talking and a healthy dose of patience on everyone's parts, I think we're entering a really fun year!  Here's to my beautiful blondies turning 7, and to a new and exciting year ahead!

I love you, my lambies!

Grade Two!

"Its the most wonderful time of the yeeeeeeeeaaaaaar!"

Well, unless you're Owen, in which case, its the most torturous time of the year.  Yep, school started today and so did the worrying and the "what if"s and the crying.  Oh, the crying at drop off.  Its just not fun for anyone.

Poor Owen.  I know he'll be fine today and more importantly HE knows he'll be fine, but he just can't help freaking himself out about it all.  We talked last night at bedtime and I reminded him of all the times he'd been scared of something new and how he would cry at the beginning (which is fine, its our body's way of dealing with stress) but when I go to get him he always says...."That was AWESOME!"  It made him smile last night but by this morning he was completely lost to his fears and worries again.  It is what it is though, and I know within a few days he wont even hesitate to go in to school.  Its just hard when you're standing there with him and he's sobbing his heart out not wanting to go in!  But he did and my friend saw him later in the morning and reported back that he was fine and smiling, so there you go. We're on our way to "awesome" already.  And of course, Will had no problem going in as usual.  He's in a 1-2 split class with his teacher from last year, so he was actually being the big kid comforting the little guys who looked freaked out. 

I've tried to do a little something special for boy Will and Owen to let them know I'm thinking about them during the day when they're at school.  So I cut some fun school-themed paper to size and wrote a joke to put in their lunch box.  Kind of cheesy, but I thought it would be fun for them to share with their friends at lunchtime, something for them to look forward to.  If you know any good jokes, let me know.  I'm going to have a lot of lunches to cover!

I got them to pose for the annual "first day of school" photo, and Owen even managed a smile.

But he couldn't fake it for this one.  The closer we got to the car, the more upset he got.   

Elly doesn't start back at school until tomorrow so in the meantime she and I are on kitty duty.  Because I went completely insane and adopted two kittens on Friday.  Sigh.  I know.  Insane.  Why couldn't I just have left our life the way it was instead of bringing in two furballs into our home?  Well, partly because they're adorable and how can you not say yes to kittens?  And partly because I really want the kids to have a pet and I couldn't handle a puppy right now. 

So let me introduce you to our new little boys Tim and Colin!

Tim is grey and white, a little bit younger than Colin, sometimes shy, but very playful with Colin.  Lots of surprise ninja attacks and quick retreats to the litter box when things get scary.  He isn't terribly cuddly yet, preferring to sleep somewhere quiet rather than curl up with us. His first reaction to a cuddle is to take a swipe at your hand - but gently.  So we give him his space for now and let him come to us.  Right now he's sleeping on the sofa a foot away from me, but has swatted my hand away when I've offered to scratch his ears.  Oh, now he's come over purring and is trying to eat my watch. 

Colin is our cheeky black and white kitten.  As I type this, he's sitting behind me on the sofa swatting at my ponytail.  

He's very curious and generally likes to hang out close to me or the kids.  When I open the door for them in the mornings (they spend the night in the basement bathroom.  I don't think Mark would take too kindly to being woken up in the night by a cat on his head), he trips over himself to get to me and say hello. 

He's rather inquisitive....

They aren't actually from the same litter - they were rescued a week apart, both weighing 300+ grams - but went to the same foster home and have spent their first month as brothers.  Just...brothers from another mother.  So you can imagine the fun they have together - the chasing and wrestling and exploring.  Its like a fuzzy version of William and Owen.  Hilarious!

I'm sure you'll see more photos of these guys as time goes on.  The kids are totally smitten and so far, all three of them are being careful and respectful of boundaries.  Elly, who has been gradually getting over her fears of our friends' pets, has completely accepted these two new members of our family and shows no fear of them and their claws and teeth whatsoever.  Will and Owen just want to get their hands on the red laser pointer I bought to tire Colin and Tim out. Unfortunately/fortunately, the cats were neutered the day before we got them, so we're supposed to limit their activity (snort!  how do you limit a kitten's activity?!) for a week.  But after that....look out!  There's going to be some catrobatics going on, I'm sure. 

I also have a ton of photos from our amazing holiday in France to share.  I might do that on Thursday afternoon, so stay tuned.

Happy First Day of school to all the parents out there and I hope you and your kids had a good start to the year.  And if there were tears, just remember - as I'm telling myself today - it won't be long before you're hearing "AWESOME!". 

Last Day Of School!

Aaaaand exhale. 

Whewf. 

They We I made it to the last day of school. 

Its been a long year, this Grade One business.   Owen in particular had a rough start, to the point where I was seriously considering pulling both boys out of public school and paying $40,000 per year for Montessori. 

Thankfully,  by Christmas things had calmed down and Owen's insane class had settled into a new, less destructive normal.  His confidence has grown, as has his french vocab, math skills and concentration.  Will has become Mr. Social.  Everytime I go into his class, five or six girls come running up to me and ask, "William's mum, can I have a playdate with William?  Pleeeeeeease?" And despite an initial struggle with the concept of addition and subtraction, both boys love nothing more than to do math drills at the dinner table.  Okay, that last one is just weird to me, but I'll find it in me to support them if they decide to become Mathletes. 

Actually, its been kind of amazing to see the jump in knowledge from September to June.  At the beginning of the year, neither William nor Owen could read very well, in either english or french.  And now they're reading Elly and me Elephant & Piggie books at bedtime and are sailing through their french storybooks.  What was a huge effort at the beginning of the year, now seems like old news.  The brothers regularly talk to each other in french and often speak franglais to me.  Owen's teacher is forever telling me how enormous his vocabulary is.  When he reads to her in class he doesn't stop at a word he doesn't know he just offers up about six other french words with the same first letter - "Manque?  mange?  marche? magazin?  motocyclette?  marsupilami?"  It might not be the word she's looking for, but it cracks her up every time because he clearly has it all in there! And Will...really, he's had a great year socially and seems to have been mostly unfazed by the academic side of things.  He's put his head down and plowed through it all. 

But its still a relief to get to the last day.  I can't tell you how sick I am of making lunches.  I did a little dance this morning because its Pizza Lunch.  Thanks to class parties, I didn't even have to think of snack.  Homework has been finished since last week, so we haven't had to go through our usually routine of nagging and crying (all me) to get things done every night.  I haven't had to shove dictee practice down their throats every morning for two weeks.  Bliss. 

And now we have a whole summer ahead of us!  I won't be rushing everyone out the door in the mornings (always harping on at William to "get a MOVE ON!" He's deaf, it seems, to the warnings that "we're leaving in 10, 5, 2 minutes so get ready"), I won't be searching for homework books and agendas to sign, or scrounging through all our coat pockets to come up with 75¢ x 2 for milk. I won't be gritting my teeth at early morning traffic or muttering under my breath as I stomp back in the house because library books were forgotten, again. 

Instead I plan to be breathing deeply and calmly, to be zen in all my interactions with the kids, to appreciate their joyful presence.  Until tomorrow at least.  Then I'll start the countdown to September. 

Little Sisters, Or The Tale Of The Freaky Easter Bunny

Ummmm....I might have overreacted tonight.  

I might have regressed to my 7 year old little sister self. 

I might have had a massive tantrum that made my eldest son cry.

Yeah.  Once a little sister, always a little sister.

~~~~~

Let me explain.  When I was a kid, my brother used to terrorize me by messing with my imagination.  We would be swimming at a pool and he'd take me down to the deep end and then suddenly yell "SHARK!" and swim away from me as fast as he could, leaving me hyperventilating in the deep end.  Or he would tell me that the bad guys from movies we'd watched were hiding from me in my closet.  To this day, I can't sleep with any closet doors open.  In case evil is lurking and watching.  

So today, Elly began expressing her fears relating to the Easter bunny ("I nuh-vuss, mummy"). Apparently the Easter bunny had visited her school last night and left treats for all the kids in her class.  The thought that some ninja nighttime rodent was sneaking around her school totally freaked my girl out.  The teachers said she was incredibly jumpy and looking behind her constantly.  This Easter Bunny dude is clearly very sketchy in Elly's mind and she did not want him popping out and surprising her, no matter how many delicious treats he might have with him.  

All the way home, Elly wanted to know where the bunny was, if it was at our house and where he would be next.  She crept into the house, bug-eyed and twitchy.  I had to hold her hand and show her there were no rabbits lurking.  We went to volunteer at the boys' school in the afternoon and she refused to sit with her back to the door in case he came through.   I tried to tell her he wasn't coming anywhere near our house, that he was a shy guy and only came when no people were around but nothing doing.  Freaky chocolate carrying bunnies!  You've traumatized my baby!

Anyway....this continued on and off all day.  We had many discussions about said rabbit's whereabouts.  Finally it was time to tidy up toys and get ready for bed.  I asked Elly to carry her bag of toys to the basement and she balked.  I mean, she generally does that anyway when it comes to cleaning, but tonight she flat out refused.  "Da Eastuh Bunny...." she muttered.  

"Boys, could you please take your sister down the stairs?  She's frightened that the Easter Bunny might be down there, but of course he's not.  Go down with her please and hold her hand," I said.

So the three of them started down the stairs.  "Come ON, El," Owen muttered.  "Or the Easter Bunny is going to get you." Cue whimpering.

"NO!  We do NOT say that!" I yelled from the other room.  "Elliot, you're fine.  The Easter Bunny IS NOT going to get you and he's not downstairs.  Its fine.  Boys, enough.  Help her down the stairs already!"  Clearly I should have gone down myself.  When will I ever learn that delegating does not work well for me?

They get a bit further down the stairs and then suddenly I hear William shout "RUN!" and poor Elly's terrified screams as those little buggers abandon her down at the bottom of the stairs.  As I race down screaming at them to stay with her, she stumbles and trips and screams her way up to them.  You should have seen her little face.  She was so pale and she was actually shaking.  

 

I took one look at her and all those times David scared the pants off of me came flooding back.  And, well, I just completely lost it.  I yelled at William, let me tell you.  I really gave it to him.  I told him what an awful trick that was to play on someone and I said it had been his job to keep her safe and he had failed miserably.  I said, gulp, that he was behaving like a "horrible brother".  And he cried.  I made him cry.  "You hurt my feelings!" he yelled back at me. 

Oh dear.  Deep breaths everyone.

So we went upstairs and sat in Elly's room and I apologised for making him cry, but I also explained why I was upset.  How Uncle David used to play that kind of game with me and how much it always scared me.  How it wasn't nice to run away from someone who was trusting you to keep them safe.  And that that was their job as big brothers, to keep their one and only sister safe.  Hugs all round, bedtime stories, cuddles and then lights out.

But as I kissed Elly goodnight, she said in a little voice.  "I don't yike da Eastuh Bunny, mumma".  And I sighed, paused and said, "Honey?  Can I tell you something?  He's not real.  Its the mummies and daddies who put the chocolate out for the kids.  Okay?  So don't worry, sweetie.  There's no bunny.  Okay?"  

"Its just da mummies and daddies?"

'Yes, lovely.  Goodnight."

Sigh from the bed.  "Night, mumma"

I have no idea how I'll explain that there's no such thing as the Easter Bunny to the boys tomorrow, but I figure I'll deal with that rabbit when we get to it.

~~~~~

I should now add that I love my big brother dearly and despite going through a "Scare Sister Shitless" phase, he quickly grew out of it, we moved on and he took on the role of Bodyguard and Defender of Sister with great gusto.  I'll never forget the day that 14 year old me got spat on by a bunch of stupid boys at a bus stop and when I came home in tears, Dave tore out of the house and drove down there to pulverise them to smithereens.  Luckily for those jerks, he didn't find them.  

I'm not entirely sure how many boys from his school heard his 'Touch my sister and you die" speech, but I'd like to think it explains why I didn't date until my late teens (and had absolutely nothing to do with my braces, my hair or my ridiculously awkward self).  

And I'm pretty sure that if there ever really WAS a shark in the pool or a bishop in my closet (you know, the evil bishop of Aquila from Ladyhawke, Oscar-nominated movie from 1985 that scared me silly?  No?  Oh.  Maybe it was just me then), David would have pulverized them to smithereens too. 

She's Three

She's three.  Elly is three today. 

Do you remember when I posted the day before she was born?  How excited we all were that this little being was finally going to be born? It feels like yesterday and also a lifetime ago.  She's always been with us, it seems. 

~~~~

Oh Elliot. Three?  How are you growing up so quickly?

What can we say about you on your birthday that will do you justice.  You're our sunshine.  You're our stormy night.  You're our dramatic flair and our quiet cuddle.  You make us laugh with your craziness and shake our heads and shrug our shoulders at your definitive will.  Without you this family would be incomplete. 

Today, at three, you're tall and graceful and full of energy.  You bounce and run and dance and sing your way through the day.  You've recently discovered that you can annoy your big brothers simply by poking them when they try to do their homework.  As a little sister myself, I have to say "well done".  As a mother trying to get homework done so I can set the table for dinner...well its another story entirely. 

You take after your me, you know - Chatty Cathys, the two of us.  You never seem to stop talking.  I'm not in the least bit worried about your social skills, that's for sure.  At the very least, you and your "best fwiend Cayeb" will keep each other company til the end of days...you're like an old married couple, you two.  Can't live with each other, can't live without, it would seem.

 There's definitely a confidence that comes with three.  Maybe its the toilet training now under your belt (so to speak), or the fact that you're at preschool and starting to learn the alphabet.  Maybe its the independence you're starting to actively seek, washing your hands on your own, dressing yourself with such interesting flair... whatever it is, you've got it covered and you're clearly going places.  We know not to stand in your way.  Instead, we just sit back and enjoy the ride!

Love you, sweet girl.  Happy Birthday from all of us.

Short But Sweet

Some things I don't want to forget.....

The way Elly says "thlum" instead of "thumb" and "paul" for "small".  "Dese mittens are too paul for my thlumb, mama!"

Sitting at the library and watching the big brothers walk away from me as they hold Elly's hands, taking her to the water fountain on their own.  Their gentleness and protectiveness made my heart grow about three sizes.

Listening to William sobbing his heart out after Mark finished the made-up-on-the-fly knight's story he had been telling the boys every night for a month.  He just didn't want the adventures of Sir Frederick and the Dark Knight to end apparently.  He's been promised a sequel though.

Owen's random hug, kiss or I Love You, Mummy attacks.  Nothing beats a quick fierce hug from a small boy.

They might drive me crazy on a daily, sometimes hourly basis.  I might want to pull my hair out at my daughter's screeching or my sons' wrestling matches.  But goshdarnnit!  I love these three kids!