The kids were playing this hilarious game where they stood up, spun in circles and then fell down on top of each other giggling. But of course once I got my camera, they refused to play that one anymore (possibly because Molly was too dizzy to stand by this point).
Instead, here's Molly perfecting her tackling and hog-tying moves on her brother. Additional highlight is me using my disciplinarian tone, to no avail.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Young Artists
To the children's probable detriment, my parenting mantra is that if you read enough books and learn enough ball sports, then the world is your oyster. Doesn't leave enough (any?) room for arts and crafts, which I hated as a child, and don't have much proclivity or talent for as an adult. Fortunately the kids have Kate.
Their first artistic endeavour was finger-painting during my parents' recent visit. It was an unmitigated failure unless you consider eating the paint to be an act of artistic expression. When Jacob looked disdainfully at the paint and refused to touch it, my genes took a withering attack from his mother.
- Molly with evidence of her paint eating
- Jacob willing to smile at the paint, but not to touch it
Next project was decorating the gingerbread men, which to my eye was a bit beyond their capabilities, but their mother was unfazed.
- The twins appearing unfazed as well
- Molly wondering if it will taste as good as finger-paint. Jacob giving me the "Dude, you're kidding me. Does mama realize I'm 16 months old? What does she expect me to do with this thing?" look.
The final project was to get the twins naked, roll them around in paint and encourage them to roll around on a canvas. You're hoping I'm kidding. Trust me, I wasn't present for this one.
Reminiscent of Yves Klein, except he did it with nubile young women - ah the French are clever. As an aside, the linked video above must be one of the few on Youtube with full nud*ty (not that I've conducted extensive research).
Anyway, the twins' project was deemed such a success that the work is now hanging in my parents' kitchen. Not that they're biased either.
And finally, for the diehard fans, here's a video of the gingerbread experiment.
Their first artistic endeavour was finger-painting during my parents' recent visit. It was an unmitigated failure unless you consider eating the paint to be an act of artistic expression. When Jacob looked disdainfully at the paint and refused to touch it, my genes took a withering attack from his mother.
- Molly with evidence of her paint eating
- Jacob willing to smile at the paint, but not to touch it
Next project was decorating the gingerbread men, which to my eye was a bit beyond their capabilities, but their mother was unfazed.
- The twins appearing unfazed as well
- Molly wondering if it will taste as good as finger-paint. Jacob giving me the "Dude, you're kidding me. Does mama realize I'm 16 months old? What does she expect me to do with this thing?" look.
The final project was to get the twins naked, roll them around in paint and encourage them to roll around on a canvas. You're hoping I'm kidding. Trust me, I wasn't present for this one.
Reminiscent of Yves Klein, except he did it with nubile young women - ah the French are clever. As an aside, the linked video above must be one of the few on Youtube with full nud*ty (not that I've conducted extensive research).
Anyway, the twins' project was deemed such a success that the work is now hanging in my parents' kitchen. Not that they're biased either.
And finally, for the diehard fans, here's a video of the gingerbread experiment.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Young Athletes
Multi-sport athletes simultaneously playing soccer, hockey, and doing some heavy lifting.
Molly shows great tackling technique and Jacob demonstrates that he may have inherited my touch around the net
Jacob with a unique form of celebrating Molly's brilliant free kick goal
Molly shows great tackling technique and Jacob demonstrates that he may have inherited my touch around the net
Jacob with a unique form of celebrating Molly's brilliant free kick goal
Catching Up on Early Christmas
We celebrated an early Christmas with my parents during their visit last week. Here are some photos of the festivities:
- Molly in a big stocking
- Molly under the tree, surrounded by presents (boxes decorated by cousins Sean & Erin)
- the family opening presents
- Jacob curled up with Grandpa
- reading some new books with mama
- glee and excitement at their new kitchen (which Sean & Erin generously donated)
- they'll be taking over the cooking duties any day now
- in the new toboggan
- reading with their grandparents
- Molly in a big stocking
- Molly under the tree, surrounded by presents (boxes decorated by cousins Sean & Erin)
- the family opening presents
- Jacob curled up with Grandpa
- reading some new books with mama
- glee and excitement at their new kitchen (which Sean & Erin generously donated)
- they'll be taking over the cooking duties any day now
- in the new toboggan
- reading with their grandparents
Monday, November 17, 2008
Playing with Fire
If I were asked to boil down the reasons for our happy marriage, I would say, "we compete, Kate wins, everyone goes home happy". There isn't room in most good relationships for two truly competitive people and in ours, Kate is the one who has to win, while I'm the one who takes the high road and seeks harmony over divisiveness. Which makes the events of yesterday all the more dangerous.
Neither of us has run much since the kids arrived, and Kate didn't run at all for the previous year. Yesterday we decided to dust off the treadmill and each of us did a 40 minute run. I ran 450 metres further than her during the allotted time. Not just a victory, but a complete trouncing. I know, I felt a little sad about it too.
Signs that Kate May Have Lost Some of Her Competitive Fire
- she agreed to run first, somehow ignoring the fact that I would then have a target to beat
- she told me how far she had run before I ran, thus relinquishing the chance to lie about it later
- she appeared to be supportive and congratulatory when I told her how far I'd gone
Signs that Kate May Still Have Some of Her Competitive Fire
- she claimed the only difference between us was my new shoes
- while I was still sore from my over-exertion she insisted we take the kids sledding in the afternoon, repeatedly running up and down the hill pulling the sleds
- after my repeated gloating including an "it's a good thing we weren't running on a track because I would have lapped you", she looked me square in the eye and quietly said "you are going down"
Neither of us has run much since the kids arrived, and Kate didn't run at all for the previous year. Yesterday we decided to dust off the treadmill and each of us did a 40 minute run. I ran 450 metres further than her during the allotted time. Not just a victory, but a complete trouncing. I know, I felt a little sad about it too.
Signs that Kate May Have Lost Some of Her Competitive Fire
- she agreed to run first, somehow ignoring the fact that I would then have a target to beat
- she told me how far she had run before I ran, thus relinquishing the chance to lie about it later
- she appeared to be supportive and congratulatory when I told her how far I'd gone
Signs that Kate May Still Have Some of Her Competitive Fire
- she claimed the only difference between us was my new shoes
- while I was still sore from my over-exertion she insisted we take the kids sledding in the afternoon, repeatedly running up and down the hill pulling the sleds
- after my repeated gloating including an "it's a good thing we weren't running on a track because I would have lapped you", she looked me square in the eye and quietly said "you are going down"
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Molly Walks
Will recap the past week with some posts, hopefully tomorrow.
But first wanted to share some video footage of Molly walking for the first time tonight. She spent all day wanting to walk laps everywhere, holding a finger for balance, and then just before bedtime she flew solo.
Oh, and this one too.
And this one even though she doesn't quite walk, but you can see how hard she was trying and I love how she never stops laughing.
And this very short one is a classic "out-take"
But first wanted to share some video footage of Molly walking for the first time tonight. She spent all day wanting to walk laps everywhere, holding a finger for balance, and then just before bedtime she flew solo.
Oh, and this one too.
And this one even though she doesn't quite walk, but you can see how hard she was trying and I love how she never stops laughing.
And this very short one is a classic "out-take"
Friday, November 7, 2008
Video and Vocabulary
By popular (read: wifely) demand, here's a great video of Jacob walking on the bridge between Windsor and Eton.
As this is ever-changing, I should note the kids' favourite expressions this week are:
- "Uh-ohhhh" whenever anything is dropped (or thrown) or whenever anyone falls down
- "Nooooooo", especially as a response to "now we're going to change some diapers"
- "down", which Molly says on every stair during her descent
- "more", for more food, more books, more swings, more anything
- animal sounds - they seem to have quack, baaa, and mooo down pat and occasionally a meow and a twit twoo. Woof substitutes for all other animals.
- "Baba" which is what they call me
- "Molly" is pronounced by both of them as pretty close to "Mama"
- "Dayka" is Molly's usual pronunciation for Jacob. For a while she called him "Jay Jay", which is pretty funny because "jie jie" is the Mandarin word for big sister, so I thought she was reminding him that she's the older of the twins.
- "Mama" is occasionally what they call Kate, although quite often when we say "where's mama" they look at you like you're asking where Elvis might be. Kate's not amused.
My parents arrive this afternoon and Kate and I are escaping to the Muskokas tomorrow for a night away.
As this is ever-changing, I should note the kids' favourite expressions this week are:
- "Uh-ohhhh" whenever anything is dropped (or thrown) or whenever anyone falls down
- "Nooooooo", especially as a response to "now we're going to change some diapers"
- "down", which Molly says on every stair during her descent
- "more", for more food, more books, more swings, more anything
- animal sounds - they seem to have quack, baaa, and mooo down pat and occasionally a meow and a twit twoo. Woof substitutes for all other animals.
- "Baba" which is what they call me
- "Molly" is pronounced by both of them as pretty close to "Mama"
- "Dayka" is Molly's usual pronunciation for Jacob. For a while she called him "Jay Jay", which is pretty funny because "jie jie" is the Mandarin word for big sister, so I thought she was reminding him that she's the older of the twins.
- "Mama" is occasionally what they call Kate, although quite often when we say "where's mama" they look at you like you're asking where Elvis might be. Kate's not amused.
My parents arrive this afternoon and Kate and I are escaping to the Muskokas tomorrow for a night away.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Molly's Feet and a Warm Fall Morning
Molly had her regular 6-month appointment at Sick Kids yesterday and got two thumbs up on her feet, which are looking perfect. Two other families were getting in trouble as they had both stopped using the boots and bar at night because they thought their kids' feet were looking fine. People are strange.
We dropped in on Jo and little Benjamin for a quick visit on our way home too - everyone looking fantastic.
I spent part of the morning raking leaves in the backyard, while the kids burrowed in the leaf piles and generally got mucky. I was in shorts as the warm weather is giving it one more college try before winter truly descends.
- Dirt makes you grow
- Jacob helpfully bringing leaves to the pile
- Both kids in the leaf pile
-Take this leaf from my grubby hands
- Molly too
- Doesn't she look kind of Bond-esque in this photo
- Twins at work
- Twins at work II
We dropped in on Jo and little Benjamin for a quick visit on our way home too - everyone looking fantastic.
I spent part of the morning raking leaves in the backyard, while the kids burrowed in the leaf piles and generally got mucky. I was in shorts as the warm weather is giving it one more college try before winter truly descends.
- Dirt makes you grow
- Jacob helpfully bringing leaves to the pile
- Both kids in the leaf pile
-Take this leaf from my grubby hands
- Molly too
- Doesn't she look kind of Bond-esque in this photo
- Twins at work
- Twins at work II
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
More From England
We're back from the old country and just about over our jet lag (we had to take it on faith that Obama would win last night as we couldn't last beyond 9pm).
- Last Wednesday was the low point of our trip. A 45 minute drive to Oxford went to hell when we ran dead-stop into a traffic jam. The wonderful English traffic authorities routed the 6-lane highway through a few country lanes. After 4 hours we had moved about 10 miles, and had no idea how long it would take to go the remaining 20. We tried to find a hotel in Wycombe, but apparently they haven't heard of hotels there. So, we returned to Lindsey and Serge's with our tails between our legs, and two very tired, sick, grouchy twins.
- The following day we made it to Oxford in less than an hour, no problem and we had a fabulous visit with my old CEGEP friend Heather and her family, including lots of walking around the town, a tour of Merton college, a visit to the natural history museum and a couple of drives out into the country.
- The flight home was a dream as the kids slept the whole way. One guy on the plane said, "I'd always thought that twins were hard, but after this flight it looks like they're pretty easy". On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that neither family we visited in England will be rushing to expand their family size as the kids were a little short on sleep and therefore not quite at their best. But, a great trip regardless.
Here are some more photos from our trip.
- Jacob at Eton, watching rugby for the 1st time
- The 3 of us watching together
- The bridge to Windsor - Jacob's perma-grin
- In front of Serge's "house"
- Proof of the snow in England - the view from Lindsey's front door
- Kate and Molly in front of Lindsey's house
- Horse getting a little frisky
- Horse getting a lot frisky
- Horse chasing Lindsey and Jules
- Lindsey and Jules
- Molly and Jacob with their new bud, Julia
- Heather, Kate and I with all 3 kids
- Last Wednesday was the low point of our trip. A 45 minute drive to Oxford went to hell when we ran dead-stop into a traffic jam. The wonderful English traffic authorities routed the 6-lane highway through a few country lanes. After 4 hours we had moved about 10 miles, and had no idea how long it would take to go the remaining 20. We tried to find a hotel in Wycombe, but apparently they haven't heard of hotels there. So, we returned to Lindsey and Serge's with our tails between our legs, and two very tired, sick, grouchy twins.
- The following day we made it to Oxford in less than an hour, no problem and we had a fabulous visit with my old CEGEP friend Heather and her family, including lots of walking around the town, a tour of Merton college, a visit to the natural history museum and a couple of drives out into the country.
- The flight home was a dream as the kids slept the whole way. One guy on the plane said, "I'd always thought that twins were hard, but after this flight it looks like they're pretty easy". On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that neither family we visited in England will be rushing to expand their family size as the kids were a little short on sleep and therefore not quite at their best. But, a great trip regardless.
Here are some more photos from our trip.
- Jacob at Eton, watching rugby for the 1st time
- The 3 of us watching together
- The bridge to Windsor - Jacob's perma-grin
- In front of Serge's "house"
- Proof of the snow in England - the view from Lindsey's front door
- Kate and Molly in front of Lindsey's house
- Horse getting a little frisky
- Horse getting a lot frisky
- Horse chasing Lindsey and Jules
- Lindsey and Jules
- Molly and Jacob with their new bud, Julia
- Heather, Kate and I with all 3 kids
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