Maya Superstar!

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?





 

Magnus GreyTooth and the Green Eyed Monster

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. :)

What Magnus Said...

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?


 

Happy 35th Birthday Kendrick!

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!!!

 

Swingers

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:

 

 

Community

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: