Early Birthday

The most spoiled kids in town were at it again yesterday. An early birthday celebration at the Jenkins' - over 3 weeks before the actual day. I'm guessing this won't be the last cake of the month.
- Molly looking pleased as punch. For a change, she's the one with the scrape on her head.

- Molly blowing from afar. Jacob inspecting the trains and the berries, which he calls "beeyah". So when he shouts for more berries (very often) he sounds like a beer vendor at Fenway Park.

Moving Right Along

Man, you post irregularly for a month and the kids are completely different people! Molly knows all her colours (Jacob knows them all, some of the time). She counts to ten obsessively, over and over (Jacob jumps in when he's feeling the vibe). And she loves to jump - actually she does this funny, little skip jump which I have to try to capture on video. She ends each one with a beaming grin. The kids are also getting big enough to semi-reliably take them out for dinner. We went for sushi the other night with two other families with toddlers (yes, new sushi restaurant in our little town!!). And when we were in Toronto last week to buy camping gear, we managed lunch at a Greek place (Jacob loves his tsatziki). We're in two-year old heaven right now because the construction across the street is causing an excited and steady stream of "where da blue truck go", "orange truck full sand", "guy helmet on", "truck no guy, truck park", etc..

Best Video Ever - Learning to Count

I think this one is pretty hilarious. Molly and Jacob demonstrate two different approaches to counting to ten. Molly in the conventional base 10 (missing out that pesky # 6), and Jacob sticking to his adapted binary system.

Molly's Formerly Club Feet

I went to Sick Kids yesterday with the kids for Molly's first check-up since November. The surgeon and resident were completely happy with her feet, so we won't need to return for a year.

It really is amazing that she started out like this at 2 weeks...

then went through casting from less than a month old...

to having her feet gradually corrected to the right position (about 3 months old)

to her first day out of casts and into boots and bar at 4 months

to her first day out of the boots and bar, just shy of 6 months

to her current, gorgeous, amazing, running, jumping, climbing self

We almost never even think about her feet anymore, and I don't think I've blogged about them more than a couple of times in the past year. The wonders of modern medicine, a great treatment program at Sick Kids, Molly's indomitableness (if that's a word), plus a decision on our part that if we don't treat it as an issue (we tried to nip in the bud any "poor Molly" comments) then it won't be an issue.

The Last Few Weeks

Here are some photos and snippets from the past two weeks:

1. Actual conversation, at the beginning of nap time. I stand by their door for a few minutes and then sit down just out of view.

J: Where Baba go?
M: In da car.
J: Baba in da car?
M: Da blue car.
J: Yah, da blue car.

Our car has become the blue car since we rented a silver car in Thunder Bay.

2. We had a fun trip to Thunder Bay. It snowed almost every day that we were there. Gotta love early May in northern Ontario. On the bright side, we did get to go on some lovely hikes and runs through the melting, boggy muskeg.

3. We're having a bad couple of weeks on the injury-front. I pulled both quadriceps playing soccer, which may put this weekend's 10km run in doubt. If I do run, at least it will provide a good excuse for why Kate beats me by 5 minutes. Jacob did a nasty faceplant on our concrete steps in front of the house (photo evidence below). And Molly took a dive while running down a ramp and cut her chin. Kate is fine.

4. We are beginning to master colours. We get blue every time, red most of the time, and green/yellow/purple/orange on a fluke.

5. Jacob doesn't stop talking from morning until night. I asked him what else he wanted for lunch the other day, and his rapid-fire response was "juice, cheese, cookies, apple sauce, TIPPY-TOES!!". Tippy-toes is his favourite thing to say.

6. We have an agreement in place to sell our BC property, but the buyer has until the end of the month to lift the conditions so we're holding our breath.

7. We're off to Montreal tonight for the long weekend.

And some photos:
- On papa's lawn tractor in T-Bay

- Jacob's not one to let a little head injury stand between him and a bowl of ice cream

- and he seems equally enthusiastic about a slice of my birthday cake

- Molly demonstrating her skills with a fork

Weekend in snowy Thunder Bay

We're leaving for the airport in a few hours. Will report back early next week.

Apples Falling Close to the Tree

I suppose it won't be surprising that my children are blessed with extraordinary athletic talent. Around here we think it's a little crass to brag, but seriously, check out the hand-eye coordination on my two 22-monthers!!!

And in other sporting news, I'm still hobbling around like an 80 year-old after the combo of Sunday soccer and a Monday morning leg-destroying run with Kate. So, with my athletic career apparently on the downward trajectory it's time to put all the pressure on the kids to fulfill my unrequited dreams.