I really love this video of Magnus and Maya interacting. It shows how Magnus can be very patient and gentle despite his frustration with his sister, and it shows how interested Maya is in spending time with her big brother.
Kendrick and I can't even fathom what it will be like when the third one arrives. We should start, I suppose, by picking a name. Magnus has supplied us with two nicknames. The first nickname was "Mr. Rabbit", named after a character in one of his books - an absentminded gentleman who gets firmly stuck in cement. The second nickname was coined just one week ago: "Nitro" - inspired by his favourite racing game on the iPad.
Lately I've been reading a lot of my past entries on this blog - and I realized that if I had not written so many stories down, I would have forgotten so many of them. There are probably dozens and dozens of sweet stories of Magnus and Maya that have already faded from my crowded memory banks. I sat down tonight to write a few, and I couldn't think of anything until I starting reviewing my youtube videos. Thank goodness for those videos!!
There is one story that is not captured on video, and for good reason: Maya's ongoing potty training. My mother and decided on April 11 to start Maya potty training, here in Toronto. Magnus would be at school in the mornings, and I did not have to go to work, so it seemed like a good time to try. I had brought seven pairs of cute little panties with me (courtesy of Grandma) and we did away with the diapers and explained to her what she was supposed to do. She understood us. She could even tell us what she was expected to do. However, she didn't do any of it. And she still, to this date (which is 1.5 months later), has willfully NOT done anything she's been instructed to do. Which is, of course, to tell us when she needs the potty. Most kids don't like being wet or dirty. Maya doesn't seem to mind at all. She likes to tell us that she wet herself or dirtied herself - AFTER the fact. We have tried every trick in the book (and trust me, my mom has potty trained dozens of kids so she has a really good playbook) but nothing has worked. The only silver lining is that Maya consents to sit on the toilet if we put her there and do her business if it happens to be the right time - for her. So we've pretty much surrendered for now, put her back on pull-up diapers, and just try to get her on the toilet regularly to save some diapers.
Some other moments that are not captured on youtube are our evening storytimes. Every evening, since arriving in Toronto in April, I let Magnus and Maya choose a story for me to read. (Every evening, Maya complains loudly until it's her turn.) As much as possible, I encourage Magnus to read some or all of his stories to me - and it is such a thrill to hear him working on his reading. He improves gradually, but steadily, but the best part for me is to see how much he feeds off my encouragement. Maya on the other hand is now enjoying her stories because she is starting to understand them - and she has now has the ability to memorize stories by rote. She simply insists that I read the story she likes to her over and over again, night after night, and as I read to her, she commits the words to memory. At some point she knows the story well enough and she loves to read stories back to me, just like in the video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPcjMUHaaRc&feature=share&list=UU675HvYb3EyvJ_JPWmvVZoQ&index=13
In addition to the book in the video (Eat Your Peas), she has mastered:
- Goodnight Moon - by Margaret Wise Brown
- Ollie - by Oliver Dunrea
The last two books were library books from the local Toronto library branch, so we have to leave those behind when we go back to Dubai next week! Luckily, I already know which book she is going to master next - Aunt Lisa and Uncle Michael came for a visit this past weekend and brought a copy of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" for Maya and she is already fascinated by the story.
She has a couple of songbooks memorized too:
- Over in the Meadow - by Louis Voce
- Journey Home From Grandpa's
- Wheels on the Bus
I should also mention that she's memorized many dialogs from her favourite show - Max & Ruby. Sometimes she will sit at her table drawing some pictures and recite a few lines from an episode she watched the other day. She also likes to incorporate some of that dialog into her conversations with us, often without us realizing it until much much later. Here are some examples:
"It's me again, <Mommy/Popo/Gonggong>"
"How about... harshmallows?"
"Ladieeeees and Gentlemeeeeen!"
Sometimes she just takes a dialog snippet out of context and has fun confusing the heck out of us:
"Please Po po, tell me you found my greeting card for Aunt Clare and Uncle Nate!" (except it was much more garbled when she told us the first time - so we had to resort to asking Magnus to translate for us!)
That's all the time I have for now for this blog entry. Nitro is schedule to arrive the first week of July, and if he lives up to his nickname, I predict some havoc in our little family's future. :)
Kendrick and I can't even fathom what it will be like when the third one arrives. We should start, I suppose, by picking a name. Magnus has supplied us with two nicknames. The first nickname was "Mr. Rabbit", named after a character in one of his books - an absentminded gentleman who gets firmly stuck in cement. The second nickname was coined just one week ago: "Nitro" - inspired by his favourite racing game on the iPad.
Lately I've been reading a lot of my past entries on this blog - and I realized that if I had not written so many stories down, I would have forgotten so many of them. There are probably dozens and dozens of sweet stories of Magnus and Maya that have already faded from my crowded memory banks. I sat down tonight to write a few, and I couldn't think of anything until I starting reviewing my youtube videos. Thank goodness for those videos!!
There is one story that is not captured on video, and for good reason: Maya's ongoing potty training. My mother and decided on April 11 to start Maya potty training, here in Toronto. Magnus would be at school in the mornings, and I did not have to go to work, so it seemed like a good time to try. I had brought seven pairs of cute little panties with me (courtesy of Grandma) and we did away with the diapers and explained to her what she was supposed to do. She understood us. She could even tell us what she was expected to do. However, she didn't do any of it. And she still, to this date (which is 1.5 months later), has willfully NOT done anything she's been instructed to do. Which is, of course, to tell us when she needs the potty. Most kids don't like being wet or dirty. Maya doesn't seem to mind at all. She likes to tell us that she wet herself or dirtied herself - AFTER the fact. We have tried every trick in the book (and trust me, my mom has potty trained dozens of kids so she has a really good playbook) but nothing has worked. The only silver lining is that Maya consents to sit on the toilet if we put her there and do her business if it happens to be the right time - for her. So we've pretty much surrendered for now, put her back on pull-up diapers, and just try to get her on the toilet regularly to save some diapers.
Some other moments that are not captured on youtube are our evening storytimes. Every evening, since arriving in Toronto in April, I let Magnus and Maya choose a story for me to read. (Every evening, Maya complains loudly until it's her turn.) As much as possible, I encourage Magnus to read some or all of his stories to me - and it is such a thrill to hear him working on his reading. He improves gradually, but steadily, but the best part for me is to see how much he feeds off my encouragement. Maya on the other hand is now enjoying her stories because she is starting to understand them - and she has now has the ability to memorize stories by rote. She simply insists that I read the story she likes to her over and over again, night after night, and as I read to her, she commits the words to memory. At some point she knows the story well enough and she loves to read stories back to me, just like in the video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPcjMUHaaRc&feature=share&list=UU675HvYb3EyvJ_JPWmvVZoQ&index=13
In addition to the book in the video (Eat Your Peas), she has mastered:
- Goodnight Moon - by Margaret Wise Brown
- Ollie - by Oliver Dunrea
The last two books were library books from the local Toronto library branch, so we have to leave those behind when we go back to Dubai next week! Luckily, I already know which book she is going to master next - Aunt Lisa and Uncle Michael came for a visit this past weekend and brought a copy of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" for Maya and she is already fascinated by the story.
She has a couple of songbooks memorized too:
- Over in the Meadow - by Louis Voce
- Journey Home From Grandpa's
- Wheels on the Bus
I should also mention that she's memorized many dialogs from her favourite show - Max & Ruby. Sometimes she will sit at her table drawing some pictures and recite a few lines from an episode she watched the other day. She also likes to incorporate some of that dialog into her conversations with us, often without us realizing it until much much later. Here are some examples:
"It's me again, <Mommy/Popo/Gonggong>"
"How about... harshmallows?"
"Ladieeeees and Gentlemeeeeen!"
Sometimes she just takes a dialog snippet out of context and has fun confusing the heck out of us:
"Please Po po, tell me you found my greeting card for Aunt Clare and Uncle Nate!" (except it was much more garbled when she told us the first time - so we had to resort to asking Magnus to translate for us!)
That's all the time I have for now for this blog entry. Nitro is schedule to arrive the first week of July, and if he lives up to his nickname, I predict some havoc in our little family's future. :)
