Maya had a fever about a week and a half ago. This was her first fever. She had a few nights where she was fussy in the middle of the night but it passed with no problems. Compared to Magnus, she's had so many more colds, coughs, and runny noses in the first 9.5 months of her life. However, they are never really that bad. I remember Magnus never got sick until he hit 1 - and when he did get sick my Mom and I were up several nights in a row taking turns nursing, soothing, and cuddling him.
Here's Maya getting ready for a boat trip before the fever struck:
Today I had a 10 minute parent teacher meeting with Magnus' new teacher. She's only had him in her class for 3 weeks, but she is quite happy with his progress. I raised the one question that Kendrick and I always want to ask: is Magnus socializing normally? Her answer was yes, he has social skills and interacts normally with the other students. There are however several situations where he will prefer to play on his own, and not join other kids unless specifically invited by his teacher. For example, when they all go play in the miniature town, Magnus almost always goes off and finds his favourite toys (toaster, toast, ice cream cones) and plays all by himself. We agreed that he was a bit of an introvert. No surprises there, right?
I snapped a picture of the Christmas concert stage on my way out (Magnus' show is in 2 days):
Introvert though he may be, Magnus is of course still yakking our ears off. Here are the latest quotes:
As we speed by on a boat:
Gina: Magnus, look, do you see that? It's the tallest building in the world!
Magnus: (nods) Mommy, is it the burj Khalifa?
Looking out the window from our guest room at all the skyscrapers:
Magnus: Mommy look at all the castles!
Looking out from Cesar's balcony on the Palm Jumeirah
Magnus: Mommy look, it's Treasure Island!
Chatting about his little sister:
Gina: Maya can't even walk, can she?
Magnus: No, she is just a baby, and her hands are so chubby!
Yummy is what matters:
Magnus: Mommy, apples are good for you
Gina: Yes, apples are good for you
Magnus: Mommy, cakes are good for you
Gina: No, cakes are not good for you!
Magnus: (pause) Mommy, are cakes yummy for you?
During the song "Over in the Meadow":
Magnus: Mommy, It's a hairy mother spider
Gina: Yes it is! Who else is hairy, Magnus?
Magnus: Gong gong!!
Gina: Um, his name is Harry, but he's not hairy!!
I have yet to explain bird reproduction:
Kendrick: What do birds eat?
Magnus: Eggs!
How many times have we played "this little piggy???"
Magnus: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven! Mommy, I have eleven toes!
Gina: Are you suuuure?
Magnus and fashion:
Magnus: Oh! Mommy you are wearing a merry-go-round!
Gina: Actually Magnus, that's a pattern called paisley.
No videos for this post, but something interesting has been happening with one of his recent videos. The video of Magnus watching Gangnam Style has been getting over a hundred hits - mostly from Italy. It's the only one of his videos that has so many views, and there are hits from all over the world (azerbaijan, finland, etc)- usually singletons. It occurred to me that Gangnam style is soooo popular that many people have mis-heard and/or mis-typed the name while searching youtube, and thus came across Magnus' spelling of the song, "Opee Ganna Sta," and for whatever reason watched his video. How very interesting....
Maya is starting to do things that Magnus never did to us. I specifically chose the words, "to us," in order to emphasize how her actions are spurring us to use more surveillance, baby-proofing, and all around kung-fu reflexes.
Here are some examples:
Maya will stand up in her crib and bounce. We lowered the crib 2 months earlier for her than we did for Magnus.
Maya will stand up in her stroller and bounce up and down. Magnus never, ever, did this. Ever. We now strap her down every time.
Maya will splash her bathwater so that it hits her face, and then giggle. She also tries to stand up in her bathtub and bounce.
Maya had a sparkly, pink sticker appear in one of her doody diapers.
Maya got stuck under the coffee table. She bumped her head a few times, and then screamed. In despair? No. In anger? Yes.
Magnus is seeing his monopoly over his toy empire slowly eroding, as Maya wants to play with just about everything and we are forcing him to slowly give way. Despite this, every morning is a new day, and he still loves his little sister. Here are some things that Magnus is saying these days:
Lunch pre-empted
Gina: (rapping) What time is it? It's time for lunch!
Magnus: No, it's what time is it? It's time for potty!
Gina: You have to go to the potty?
Magnus: Yeah!
Gina: Go, go , go!!
Not sure I get the joke..
Gina: Did anything funny happen at school today?
Magnus: Yes. All my friends ate my donuts. (laughs)
Magnus disagrees with Dr. Seuss
Gina: One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish
Magnus: No, it's one fish, two fish, three fish , four fish
Gina: No, it's One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish
Magnus: No, it's white fish, green fish, red fish , blue fish
Running away with the thermometer:
Magnus: (singing)You can't catch my temperature!
Opening the curtain and letting the sunlight in:
Magnus: Mommy, it's light time!
Gina: It's daytime, Magnus
Practising for the Christmas concert:
Gina: Oh what fun, it is to ride, in a one horse open...
Magnus: Snake!
Gina: No, it's sleigh, Magnus
Magnus: No Mommy, it's snaaaake!
Imitating his Mommy:
Magnus: Do you know what, Mommy?
Gina: What?
Magnus: Water will make you feel better…
Maybe he's right:
Magnus: I is for ice cream! Mommy ice cream is good for you.
Magnus chats on the phone:
And now, life in pictures. Maya now officially sits in the high chair, and Magnus sits in the booster chair. It only took a couple of days of training before Magnus was happily repeating after me, "High chairs are for babies!"
This morning was nice and sunny after a rainy day yesterday.
The jetlag is not over yet. The kids have been out of sync and it has been sleep-deprivation hell. Magnus asks us to go live in Toronto whenever he feels sad. However, I am so, so happy because:
1. The kids are not sick
2. We have a housekeeper
3. It's sunny and warm every day
4. Magnus is pooping like clockwork
5. Magnus' school has accepted him for the last four weeks of the semester. He starts in 2 days!!!
Maya has hit the ground crawling. The very first night, when she was keeping me up all night, I passed the time by turning on the iPad and moving it all over the room. She patiently crawled to each location. She sits at the table with us for all our meals now. She loves eating what we eat. I watched her pick up a grain of rice with her chubby little fingers and put it in her mouth. We're finding more and more bits of food around the house that she hasn't quite chewed up: rice, small pieces of lettuce, toast, fish, cucumber, etc. But I'm happy to report that she is quite the foodie and will tackle anything I put in front of her. On the down side, I've had to fish a few things out of her mouth that don't belong there: a paper label, a sticker. Maya is also enjoying ALL of Magnus' toys. When we left in July, she could barely do anything. Now, I can leave her next to a train track and she can destroy it in 5 minutes. She picks up puzzle pieces and tears apart whatever she can. Here she is with one of her favourite toys:
Magnus is also enjoying his old toys and his old haunts. I took him to his school and signed him up for afternoon French classes twice a week. He was very happy to go, and sent me off with a hug when I dropped him off at his first class. When I came to pick him up, I asked him: Gina: Magnus, did you like French class? Magnus: Yeah! But they have no french fries, Mommy!
This, coincidentally, happened on his birthday. We also introduced him to PSY on his birthday. Now he wants to watch the video all the time. Sigh:
Another bright spot - I have my camera back. Here are some sunny, happy shots I took in the past few days.
A secret birthday present. He had a party in Florida and we agreed not to mention his real birthday. But his Daddy couldn't resist some treats. He also made sure Magnus got some french fries the very next morning!
Our last two weeks in Canada went by extremely quickly. Just before Kendrick arrived in Toronto we had a very nice time with Maggie's very cute neice and nephew.
Magnus and Marcus set about making tea and snacks for all the guests in the house. They also had a little argument about a ball in the backyard. Uncle Jeff, a reluctant referee, knocked on the door and asked for backup. Backup was not necessary, however, as they quickly got distracted by other things.
Sofia and Maya sat around a lot. They were very cute at it. Sofia made me realize two things about my daughter: 1) Maya does not like to go to strangers at all 2) Maya has a deep voice!
The day Kendrick arrived I drove Magnus to go pick him up. Magnus was really excited about seeing his Daddy - doubly so because we were also going to the airport. Unfortunately, he fell asleep on the way there and slept all the way through the arrival and the drive back to my parents' house. When he finally woke up, as we unloaded him from the car, he asked his Daddy sleepily where his car was (couldn't bring it on the plane, Magnus), and then he asked to be taken to the airport. Poor thing!
A few days later we headed out to Niagara-On-The-Lake for a three family cottage outing. The babies did not interact much, but the boys, all approaching three, tore up the house together. Two new games were introduced/invented: a modified duck-duck-goose, and roly-poly. But most of the time, they just wanted to run and yell. (Guess how they modified duck-duck-goose)
Some flirting happened too:
After the kids all went to bed, the parents had a bit of fun playing Taboo. It was nice to kick back for once!
We did a stopover in Burlington on the way back to Toronto and were treated to Elena's fabulous cabbage rolls and homemade apple pie. Yum!!! Thank you Elena!!!!
Maya has changed so much in the past month it is incredible to watch. She went from a cute fat blob to a rolling, skootching, crawling, yoga master! (It's true, she does a better "Downward Dog" than Kendrick.)
Here are a few videos of her recent developments.
1. Solids - these days the easiest way to calm Maya down is to shove a mum-mum in her hand. She wolfs it down in 2 minutes! She loves water and soup and she is game when it comes to fruits, vegetables, and even some of my mom's pureed chicken. Peas were a challenge though:
2. Sitting up - She's been working hard on sitting up, and she is so good at it that she's already working on the next step: flying.
3. Humour - Maya's eyes are forever twinkling with amusement. She is such a fun baby and very easy to entertain. She even likes Madonna, with a Magnus twist:
4. Sign Language - My mom tried to tell me she was waving goodbye at 7 months but I simply did not believe her. Until one day, I randomly said something that sounded like bye-bye and my little baby daughter turned around, looked me in the eye, and waved bye-bye. I grabbed my camera and got her to do it again:
5. Crawling - she was really motivated to hit this purple bird. This is one of the first examples of forward motion from Maya:
6. Yoga - sadly no videos or pictures on my devices, although I think Kendrick might have some. From sitting position, Maya can prop herself up on her arms and straighten her legs, just like the downward dog pose. Maybe she is trying to work off all that baby fat?
Exactly two weeks after Magnus banged his front teeth, one of them started turning grey. After a follow-up visit to a very good local dentist, we think there is a good chance the tooth will have to come out early. At the moment, with no indications of infection or pain, the necrotic tooth will stay right where it is.
Here is Magnus flashing his choppers at the library (with his finger painting project):
Thought I would throw in this one for fun:
Magnus, in the meantime, is not having any issues at all using his grey tooth. Just the other morning he sank his teeth into his sisters finger in front of his horrified Po Po. After some yelling, scolding, and much crying (both Maya and Magnus) everything settled down. But, possessed perhaps by a naughty grey devil, Magnus' tooth got more action at bedtime when he sank his teeth into his sisters toes. More yelling, scolding, teaching, and crying ensued. I finally got Magnus to admit that he bit Maya because he wanted my attention. I taught him to ask for my attention instead of biting, and we all eventually settled in for the night.
In the aftermath, Maya still adores her older brother, and Magnus still shows a lot of affection for her. Toddlers and Babies don't take these things personally - perhaps the best way to forgive and forget. :)
These days, it's hard to do justice to what Magnus says, since the funniest part of what he says tends to be in his intonation or facial expression. Nevertheless, we can still enjoy the transcript:
He's been making the same mistake since August... Gina: Spell it with me! Magnus: P-E-N-G-U-I-N-S... exclamation book! Gina: You mean exclamation mark.
Smart alec: Magnus: Gong gong you cannot talk with food in your mouth!
Apparently not business minded: Magnus: Honk! Honk! Delivery for Gong Gong! Magnus: Here you go, Gong Gong, here's a coin too Gina: That's not how it works, Magnus. Magnus: That's how it works!
Beyond skeptical: Gina: You cannot cross the street all by yourself Magnus, because a car might hit you. It's dangerous! Magnus: It not dangerous Mommy Gina: Yes it is Magnus: No, it not dangerous, Mommy
Old man Magnus: Gina: Magnus, do you like to watch Yuan Bao Bao? Magnus: Yeah, and I watched Yuan Bao Bao when I was young!
Over-apologetic: Gina: Magnus, look, you spilled all your food on the floor. Say sorry to Po po! Magnus: Sorry Po Po! Sorry Mommy! Sorry Auntie Margaret! Sorry Uncle Jenning! Sorry Gong Gong! Sorry Maya!
Under-apologetic: Gina: Say sorry to Po Po Magnus: I already did.
Fashion sense? Gina: Who's getting married in Florida, Magnus? Magnus: Auntie Tristany! To Uncle Alex! Gina: And what are you wearing to the wedding? Magnus: A queen! Gina: Actually, you're going to be wearing a kilt, just like uncle Alex. Uncle Alex wants you to wear the same thing he is wearing. OK? Magnus: Yeah!
Gong gong and Magnus come back from Walmart (with a McDonald's in it) Gong gong: He kept looking for M-A-C... Magnus: Mommy I couldn't find Old Macdonalds!!
Magnus demonstrates the digestive system:
Who taught him astronomy? Storyteller: Do you what this is called? Magnus: A telescope Storyteller: That's right! A telescope!
Sometimes the grandparents say funny things too:
Grandma: Magnus where are you? Here I come, whether you like it or not!
Gong gong: Jenning! Take your finger out of your mouth! Gina: You mean, Magnus, not Jenning, right?
When I first met Kendrick 11 years ago, he wanted very badly to retire by the age of 35. Based on his tastes back then, he might have imagined post-retirement to involve listening to U2 all day, ordering some pizza and wings for dinner, then washing it down with a few stingers. It was around this time in our newly blossoming relationship that he showed me his five year plan. It had a lot of career aspirations, maybe an MBA, perhaps something about a car. What I remember most clearly is turning to him and saying with a grin, "that's funny - my five year plan has a baby in it!". Well it was the truth - I simply had not made a five year plan until the moment I saw his plan. Composing my plan on the spot, I felt I needed only one item on it. :D
Today Kendrick hits 35 years old, and I wanted to remind him of his very best accomplishments to date. And yes, his accomplishments miss him and love him very much. Happy birthday sweetie!
Magnus picked a birthday balloon for his Daddy. Co-ordinating the Pre-schooler, Baby, and Balloon proved to be too ambitious. Here are the outtakes. You can see me in the balloon in the last shot!
Magnus picked a cupcake for his Daddy's birthday. He also picked the pink candle and squashed it all the way in by himself. I had to pull it out a tad.
These videos speak for themselves!
Here's the piece we left for you, Kendrick. Enjoy!!!
I put Maya into a swing for the first time last week, and she loooooooved it. Today I recruited Po po to come with us so that I would have some freedom to snap a few pictures. Maya was a bit sleep deprived and thus very grumpy, but the swing still managed to work its charm on her.
Maya
Popo and granddaughter:
Mommy and Maya:
Maya's swing close up video (sorry about the breathy "hi"s):
Maya and the lonely swing:
Compare: Magnus at 7.5 months on a swing for the first time:
Present-day Magnus (not) shinnying up the pole:
Magnus demonstrating the "Lucas Kick", invented by cousin Lucas who was flouting a how-to-swing lesson from his Po po (Magnus' Yee Po):
Now that she's a swing expert, Maya found it necessary to tell off Dora the Explorer once she got home:
