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Magnus and I walk daily through the park to go to his preschool.  On sunny afternoons, I might take Magnus and Maya to one of the three local playgrounds.  On one of these outings we stopped to watch a local baseball game while Maya snoozed.  A few days ago I walked with Magnus to the library for a story telling and activity session.  A couple days later we bumped into the story telling girl at the mall.  We went back to the library yesterday afternoon and spoke briefly with an 11 year old boy we had met at one of the playgrounds.  (He was the one Uncle Reg quizzed about the social dynamics of his little group of friends).  We also took the opportunity to say hello to great aunt shirley, who was finishing up a class at the community meeting room next to the library.  Earlier in the summer, when the sun would set late, we would sometimes walk through the park to the supermarket after dinner and meet up with great aunt shirley for some late evening shopping. 

Magnus at his cubby hole at school:

Magnus' work on display:

Maya trying on the new outfit from the mall:

Accessorizing with a souvenir from the Calgary Zoo.  The straps, by the way, are too short!!

 

Bruising, Wheezing, Cruising!

Magnus fell in the sandpit area at school on Thursday morning and hit his front tooth.  Although he was in pain, and there was a bit of bleeding, the very nice dentist told us that it is most likely a bruise.  We'll be checking up with her in a couple of weeks.  It  is now Sunday and his tooth and gum looks fairly normal, so I am pretty confident that he is fine.  Would losing a tooth disqualify him for the role of ring bearer?  It might hamper his bagpipe playing, that's for sure. :)

At the same time, Magnus has been fighting a virus which started as a stuffy nose, developed into a cough, which then became quite a bad cough, and culminated in wheezing.  Having learned from experience, and having been coached by Auntie Clemmie on the stethoscope, I've been keeping up with all these developments.  Currently, his wheezing is under control and subsiding (phew!).  In fact he was out today with his aunts and uncle, scootering around and climbing up and down the playground.  It's been a rather rough week however.  If I were to choose a highlight reel, I think it would be last night when I was alone in the house (my parents were at a wedding).  I was putting the two kids to bed; trying to keep Magnus from taking off his clothes and putting lotion on himself in the dark; and trying to get Maya (who has a cold) to fall asleep.  My brother had left for the evening, or so I thought, sinced he waved goodbye to me from the hallway.  However, during a particularly trying moment with Maya, I suddenly realized somebody was actually in the house and coming up the stairs!  I was right next the stairs because Maya likes the noise of the bathroom fan and when I actually saw that there was someone at the top of the stairs I screamed in fright, scaring the daylights out of Maggie who had been there the whole time and was coming up to see if I needed any help.  Er.. sorry Maggie!

Finally, to reward ourselves a little for the tough week we had, I did a little shopping spree at Toys R Us.  Magnus instantly fell in love with a toy taxi cab, which was a returned item and damaged.  The only thing left in the store was a pink car and a truck.  At first Magnus wanted the pink car (because I thought that was all that was left in stock so I made him think it was his only choice), but the warehouse guy helped him change his mind by telling him, "you want this one, man!"

And boy, was he ever right:

Last night, Magnus was bouncing off the walls while waiting and watching uncle Jenning build his toy truck.  Today, he spent most of the morning in the truck making "deliveries" and giving his sister a lift in the trunk.  Popo tried to impose a media ban on those pictures because of Maya's pajamas, but they were simply too cute to keep under wraps:

 

Maya The Extrovert

Maya's recently taken a liking to strangers, most notably her Uncle Jenning, who makes her laugh and smile.  This is quite the opposite reaction she normally has when encountering new people.

Betty caught the wave of friendliness last night.  As soon as Maya saw Betty, she kept giggling and smiling and reaching for Betty's face.  If we let her, she would try to touch Betty's eyes! 

 

Munchkin Music

My mother likes to say that Maya is singing when she babbles.  Here is Maya and the babble-song, a clip from the end of August:

Here she is just a few days ago, giving the keyboard a go:

Magnus' latest vocal project was to tackle "This Old Man".  He had a lot of problems with the verse, "give a dog a bone".  Here he is at the end of August singing his own special version of the song:

And here he is less than a month later - he's got that chorus down pat but still gets stumped with some of the numbers!

Oh and here's a little gem I forgot to post.  Uncle Reg gave Magnus a lesson on pitch in early August, and Magnus demos for me:

 

Saturday in September

This morning we discovered that a nocturnal furry intruder had dug up the yard and then perhaps tried using Magnus' slide as an escape route:

unsuccessfully:

Here's Maya still in her hand-me-down pajamas watching  Gong-gong survey the backyard mess:

You can't see it, but I am also in my pajamas.  Since there was no school this morning, I blissfully slept in until 9am.  Maya was up every two hours last night, and Magnus wet the bed (again!), so I felt entitled at 7am, to mumble, "go find gong-gong" to a bright eyed Magnus.  He did find his Gong gong who was also trying to sleep in, but as I heard afterwards, he just staged a quiet sit-in at the foot of the bed until Gong gong couldn't bear it anymore (15 minutes later).  The two of them had breakfast together and then a trip to Canadian tire.  I was a little shocked to see Magnus come home wearing a bright orange jacket paired with red and blue striped pants (i.e. his pajamas) but that is price of sleeping in a mere 2 hours.

In the afternoon, I took my two monkeys out to the park. 

Trendy new shoes from Grandma:

 Maya is escorted by her personal security guard:

 who is taking her to a safe and secluded playground:

 Relaxing in the shade:

 

 

Mentally preparing for play:

 

Magnus finally did the little rock climbing wall today.  These clips are taking after an attempt where both his feet slipped off and he was hanging on the edge just with his hands.  What did he say to me?  "Mommy, this is harder than it looks!" 

And other monkeying:

 

 

Maya's Mommy

The hair is different.  So are the eyes, the eyebrows, and the lips.  But something about this expression reminded me of Maya

 

So How Are the Kids?

Kendrick calls us every day to see how we're doing and to catch up.  Yesterday, he asked for a new blog update, which I provided, and today, he asked how Maya was doing.  I guess my blogging left out key stories.

Maya weighed in last week at her 6 month check up at 8.1kg, and she is 69cm long.  She naps 3 times a day (10am, 2pm, 6pm) and sleeps from 10pm to 7am with several night feedings.  I haven't measured or weighed Magnus yet, but the size 3 pants that grandma bought him last year fit him very nicely, with no need to roll up the ankles.  He doesn't nap at all, and he generally sleeps from 9pm to 8am, or 8pm to 7am now that he's been going to school.

Maya has been eating solids for a few weeks now.  She's eating two meals a day (9am and 5pm), consisting of cereal mixed with breast milk and apple/pear sauce that my dad makes for her.  Her pooping frequency slowed considerably, and yesterday she had a MEGA solid (ie pasty) poop.  We actually considered just throwing away her soiled outfit it was that bad.  Her fine motor skills jumped a level this past week too, as she learned to pick up her toys and wave them around in front of her.  Today I let her hold onto a grocery receipt and the next thing I knew she had bitten off a piece.  Sooooo, I sat her in the high chair and gave her a Mum-mum.  Less than two weeks ago she had neither the interest nor the fine motor skills to eat a Mum-mum, and today she demolished it.  Go Maya!  Here is a clip of her eating her cereal and holding on to the second Mum-mum, which she eventually did not eat.

Meanwhile, Magnus was out in the front yard with Gong-gong, playing with his scooter and helping with some weeding.  This means he was hunting down dandelions to pick for Mommy. :D  His day has been full of activities so far.  He spent the morning in school, then we picked him up and walked over to the local dim sum joint for dim sum with YeePo (great aunt) and BakBak (great grandma).  He complained quite a bit that we didn't pick him up in the brown van; his expectation was built on the fact that we dropped him off at school in the van.  Then we walked home and Gong-gong took him for a drive to cheer him up.  When they got home they walked to the mailbox to get the mail, and when they got back Magnus had a nice snack of raisin bread and pomelo.  Gong gong played with him for quite a while indoors, rolling balls back and forth, and then Mommy took over and we listened to some barefoot book CDs.  Afterwards I took him out to the backyard to play on the slide and to cut his fingernails and toenails.  He likes to stand up on top of the slide and pretend to be SUPER tall, but I taught him to always ask Mommy to 'spot' him if he does that.  As usual, he tries to slide down really fast and land on his bottom so that he can exclaim, "Oh!  I landed on my butt!".  After a few rounds of that, he'll then take off his shoes and climb up the slide.  (By now Popo had come outside with Maya to watch).  Tiring of climbing up the slide, he decided to go down the slide backwards; on his belly, feet first.  Then he started to get really adventurous, just as I was chatting with his Daddy on the phone, and he asked Popo if he could slide down "headways".  I guess (rightly) that it meant he wanted to go down head-first and Popo said noooooooo (I said ok, with a warning).  He didn't try it after all, instead, he ran down the slide on his feet and freaked out Popo.  It was such an amusing scene that I didn't have it in me to scold him.  Soon afterwards we wrapped it up, came back inside, and handed him off to Gong gong in the front yard.  Here he is demonstrating to me how to "walk like Popo" on the curb:

The days hardly over yet at 5:30pm: there's still dinner and naps and sunset watching and baths and bedtime stories coming up.  But there you have a day in the life of Maya and Magnus!!
 

Back To School

Just a few days before Labour day, I looked up a local daycare which advertised free spaces.  When we walked into the converted church basement, I initially wrote off the place as unsuitable simply because it was so different from Magnus' nursery in Dubai.  But after a closer look, they did have a good amount of educational toys, a lot of space, and some nice people working there.  Magnus is signed up for 5 days a week, 3 hours a day.  We walk to school together: it's only 500 metres away with no major street crossings.  At first I would let him ride his scooter to school, but I have since banned it after having to haul a cranky Magnus on one arm and a scooter on the other arm to and from school.  Cue entrance of his latest toy, the umbrella stroller:

And now our walks to school go quite smoothly!

Magnus' classmates are all Chinese and Indian.  It's much less multicultural than his class in Dubai, which initially surprised me, but now it does not.  Other than the things they see and do on their daily walk, I'm not really sure what Magnus is learning in school because he doesn't tell me! 

While Magnus is out of the house, I am schooling Maya on falling asleep in her crib.  She's not a very willing pupil: it takes about 15 minutes of crying before she falls asleep on her own at this point.  I pick her up every five minutes to a) reposition her back to the centre of the crib and b) help her calm down a little.  She cries like it's the end of the world, but every time she wakes up from her nap, her cute little face is wreathed in smiles.

In wardrobe news, Maya is leaving her sleeveless look behind:

 

for warmer combinations (thanks to Auntie Goldie for this outfit):

Here we are enjoying a warm September afternoon:

and games:

 

 

What Magnus Said...

Quotes from this summer.  Magnus still tells people he is 2.5 years old, but I'm teaching him to say, "almost 3".

Magnus gets frustrated when sitting on a chair:

Magnus: Mommy I need help!

Gina: with what?

Magnus:I can't touch the ground

Gina: you want to touch the ground with your feet?

Magnus: yeah!

Gina: sweetie you can't because you're too short!

 

 

He sees Maya:

Gina: Does maya look like mommy or daddy?

Magnus: Like maya!

 

 

You just won't let me forget, will you Magnus?

Magnus: Mooommy I found the chicken store, with my new red car! <red is parked on one of the mats>

Gina: Good job, Magnus! Mommy had trouble finding the chicken store, right?

Magnus: Yeah, and Mommy got lost and had to make a u turn!

 

 

During one of Popo's chain sneezes:

Popo: achoo!

Magnus: popo say excuse me!

Popo: achoo! achoo! achoo!

Magnus: say excuse me! say excuse me! say excuse me!

Popo: AI-YA! Excuse me!

 

 

Hwan is apparently dating a suitcase:

Gina: We're going to have dinner with Uncle Reg, Auntie Elena, Uncle hwan, and Uncle hwan's... <hesitates..>

Magnus: suitcase!

(Magnus has fond memories of Hwan's suitcase from our Maui trip)

 

 

Often heard while Gina is driving:

Magnus: Two hands on the wheel please mommy!

 

 

Pointing up at the night sky:

Magnus: Look Mommy, it's a circle moon!

 

 

Gong gong fishes for compliments, but then...

Gong gong: Magnus, who do you love?

Magnus: I don't love anybody!

 

 

Stubborn pupil:

Gina: What are you eating Magnus?

Magnus: A Clemen-TEEN

Gina: Actually, you are eating a clemen-TINE, and Auntie Clemmie's name is Clemen-TEEN

Magnus: No, I am eating a Clemen-TEEN

(repeat)

 

 

Correction:

Goldie: Magnus, are you coming to visit me in Boilington?

Magnus: It not Boilington, it Bur-ying-ton!!

 

 

Just not ready to tackle that slide:

Gina: Magnus, are you going to slide down the big round slide today? You're a big boy now, you can do it!

Magnus: No Mommy, I'm just a medium big boy, I am not a SUPER big boy

 

Here he is at the top of the slide which he never slid down:

 

Summer Socializing

The last few weeks of summer was crammed with socializing (and when I say crammed I mean two or three playdates a week).  It was particularly important to see our schoolteacher friends who become incredibly busy once school starts.  Unfortunately, socializing is not exactly Magnus' forte, as you will soon see.

One of our first visitors were Melodie and Abigail (1yo).  Abigail was a little angel, and when no one was looking very innocently took one car from Magnus' car collection (which were all parked on the mats).  We would never have noticed, but it took Magnus one glance at his car configuration before he started screaming, "No! No! No! My car!"

Who me?

Lucas (1yo) and Helen came for a visit.  We call him "Little Lucas" so as not to confuse him with "Cousin Lucas".  Lucas was also a sweetheart.  But, for some reason Magnus was convinced that Lucas wanted to put on his favourite green shoes.  Despite the fact that Lucas was 20ft away and minding his own business, Magnus would hold on to his shoes and yell at Lucas from down the hallway to not touch his shoes.  Siiiigh.

 

 Another playdate we had was with Adam, Naomi (3yo), and John (1yo).  This playdate went much more smoothly, as Magnus remembered Naomi from her visits last year.  Also, he got to play with all the toys and gadgets at Naomi's grandparents house.  Adam also introduced him to Chocolate Flavoured Soya Drink in a box.  Unfortunately there are no pictures from that day!  We had a couple more playdates after this one, and Magnus really enjoyed all of them.  He was once rebuked by the soft-spoken Naomi, however, for not sharing the big lego blocks, but he didn't seem to notice.  Hmmmph.  Again, sharing is not a strong point here.

Here we have pictures from Wendy's camera from a playdate with Izzy and Little Lucas.  Magnus was obsessed with the Little Tikes coupe, and spent most of his time playing with it.  He did share it with Izzy and Lucas, albeit a little grudgingly.

 Maya's first go on a bumbo chair

Izzy is not as impressed as she looks:

Hustling back to the house after Magnus asks to do number 2:

 

 

We also had a really great visit with Darwyn, Avery (3yo) and Maverick (1yo).  Not only did Magnus enjoy the huge trampoline and the big treehouse, but he also learned how to play Simon Says.  Well, not exactly.  He used Simon Says as an excuse to run around the tree.   He also enjoyed Avery's sassy sense of humour.  He so enjoyed a particular exchange Avery had with her mum that he asked me to tell the story over and over again.  Here is one of the re-tellings:

 

 

Last but not least, we had several family gatherings with Popo's family.  Our last party was specifically orchestrated so that my grandmother could have a picture with ALL her 9 great grandchildren.  It was challenging coordinating nap times and getting all the pre-schoolers to sit still, but we finally snapped a few good shots. 

 

That's about as happy as Maya got during the shoot - she was ready for a nap!!