A New Tradition: The Birthday Interview

I decided to do Liam's first birthday interview over dinner tonight, since our day is pretty busy tomorrow. He wasn't willing to let that detail slide....

Mom: Liam, how old are you today?
Liam: Three.
Mom: Ok. How old will you be tomorrow?
Liam: Four.

Mom: What is your favorite colour?
Liam: Purple.

Mom: What is your favorite food?
Liam: Pancakes.

Mom: What is your favorite toy?
Liam: My laptop. (Mom's note: his favorite toy is actually his collection of garbage/recycling trucks. The toy laptop is what he was playing with 2 minutes before our little interview, and therefore got priority billing!)

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do?
Liam: Play basketball. (Mom's note: ?????? News to me.)

Mom: Who is your best friend?
Liam: Colin.

Mom: What school do you go to?
Liam: Friendly Forest

Mom: What is your favorite activity at school?
Liam: Building.
Mom: What do you build?
Liam: With wood and hammers and screws. I hammer the screws into the wood. No. Playing in the sandbox at school. With toys. You know what toys I use? Shovels. And I dig dig dig dig dig dig dig. Right down into the pipes! And I put water in the pipes and I make little sailboats out of paper to put in the pipes and float to the bottom.

Mom: Who was your teacher this year?
Liam: Teacher Lindsay.
Mom: Any others?
Liam: Yeah. Teacher Carol.
Mom: And?
Liam: Ruth.

Mom: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Liam: Uhhhhhh.......Fireman. And a garbage man.
Mom: Why?
Liam: 'Cause I just like those two things.

Mom: What was your favorite present you got this year?
Liam: The lock. (Mom's note: a lock/key that came along with a gift of swimming lessons. He is obsessed with locking everything in the house. Or he was, until he lost the key. I'm sure it will turn up eventually.....)

Mom: If you had a lot of money, what would you do with it?
Liam: Buy stuff with it.
Mom: What kind of stuff?
Liam: Another garbage truck. That's gonna be a lot of garbage trucks!

Mom: What is your favorite book?
Liam: The caterpillar one. (Mom's note: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle)

Mom: What is something you like about Mom?
Liam: Well...I like about Mom.....that she cooks noodles....that she cooks cookies in the oven for us so we don't burn ourselves. And then, you know what my favorite thing to do is? EAT! The cookies.

Mom: What is something you like about Dad:
Liam: [silly snorts and laughter]
Mom: No, really.....
Liam: [more snorts].....He builds things. Like tree houses!

Mom: What is something you like about Sarah:
Liam: Playing with her. Playing catch with the little birdie and racket.

Mom: What is your favorite TV show:
Liam: The skunk.
Mom: You've never seen that one. (Mom's note: we saw a skunk the other day and I told him about the skunk who thinks he's very handsome. He's never seen the show.)
Liam: Yes I have. I have when I was born. What's the skunk's name?
Mom: Pepe Le Pew.
Liam: P...Pep....Peppy...Yeah. That's a hard name to say!

I used a list of questions I found on the internet, and that was where it ended. He really enjoyed the process and watching me jot down his words, although I'm not sure I got the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in his answers! I wish I had asked him what he liked about himself, but didn't think of it at the time. I'll ask him in the morning over his birthday pancakes! My baby is turning FOUR!

School's Out For Summer!

Today was Liam's first official "Last Day of School" and the class celebrated with a family picnic. Too bad it rained like it was November instead of June!


Some end-of-year highlights:
* Liam's teachers telling me how chatty he is in class. He was pretty shy at the beginning of the year and he's come a long way. He talks quietly but he has a lot to say, and is often the first to pipe up and answer questions in the group.


* The teachers presented each of the kids with a photo album with pictures of them from throughout the year. Liam sat down and thoughtfully flipped through each page. I was watching from the sidelines with the other parents and noticed him smiling to himself at a few of the photos.
* Sarah feels right at home at the preschool and with the teachers. She sat down beside Liam at circle time and participated in the songs, keeping up with the actions to "Mr Sun" just like all the other kids. When we left she shouted "Bye, Teacher Ruth!" and gave all the teachers a big hug. She still has another year before she gets to attend preschool for real, but when she does she is going to rule the school!

Saving The Best For Last

Liam's preschool birthday celebration was this afternoon - the last one of the school year!
I got to spend the day with him at school and be there while his teachers and friends sang "Happy Birthday" and "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow". He played it cool but I know he loved every second of it. Especially sitting in the "Teacher Chair" while wearing the candle hat. :)

"Let's Not Go To The Dam"

Those were Liam's words as we were hanging out at our campsite at Rolley Lake this weekend. But now that the kids are into Big Kid Beds, the next logical progression to their maturity would be visiting museums, right? So off to the Stave Lake Dam Visitors Centre it was!
I have to give the kids credit, they paid attention through the 9 minute video about electricity. (Really!) They enjoyed the hands-on exhibits and especially loved the old rotary telephones. They will likely never use a rotary phone "for real" so spinning the dial was good fun. Meanwhile, Matt and I appreciated the old/new contrast:

But by the time we got to walking the floor with the old turbines, they were pretty much done. Matt was all about the photo opp, but I'll be honest: the following pictures were made possible by a threat to not make s'mores at the campfire that night. Egad! That got them posed pretty quickly! These two will do pretty much anything for a marshmallow.

In this photo Liam is saying "I don't want any more pictures this weekend!"

And then they were off...


And back to the fun stuff outside:

The End of an Era

Fall/Winter 2006. Okay, maybe it was a little early, but we bought a crib shortly after the two little lines appeared. Turns out it was from a family just down the street from us. We walked it up the street to our house.

April 8, 2007. Liam's arrival was still more than 2 months away, but I couldn't wait to have the nursery ready. (I can't believe I rolled all the little washcloths just so they'd look pretty in a basket. I probably expected to keep it up, too!) I'm sure I pestered Matt for months to set up the crib, and it was finally done. Woo hoo for nesting! (Note the painters' tape still on the wall? We miss that pretty yellow paint, but there's no way Sarah will let us change the bubble gum pink now!)


Mojo senses his world is about to change:


January 3, 2008: Thar's a baby in that thar crib!


September 12, 2009: And another one!


May 21, 2010: Liam had an interim crib during the overlap, and then this:


June 9, 2011: Matt pulls out the tool box once more...


.....but this time he has "Helpers"!


They won't be fenced in any more...


Big changes, for Big Kids!





I was a little sad to see the crib go. But the kids are mighty proud of themselves, and I am proud of them. Best line of the night goes to Liam as he climbed up onto his new bed: "I can see the future from here!" Guess there's no need for a book after all!

Que Sera, Sera

The other night Matt was putting Liam to bed. As he was about to close the door, Liam piped up:
"Dad, can you buy me a book about the future?" When asked why, he replied "because I don't know what will happen in the future, so I thought we should read about it."

Don't Mess With The Big Girl

Ah, Sarah. She has a....strong personality. People who don't know us too well have been known to hesitate and say "She's so....independent!" or "Wow, she is really...spunky!" But we know. She's stubborn.
Sometimes that leads to tantrums and tears (mostly from her) and I cringe to think what her teenage years may have in store for us, but every now and then it works in our favor.
Take Friday night, for instance. It was time to get rid of the soother-at-bedtime habit. We had stalled long enough. Another month and we'll never be able to afford the corrective dental work!
So Matt asked her in the morning if she was ready to be a Big Girl and go to bed that night without a soother. A resounding "yes!" from Sarah. We asked her this question a few more times throughout the day, figuring that bedtime would be the big reality check and a super sized tantrum would be inevitable. But.....it never happened! I read her a "Big Girl Book" (Robert Munsch - "Pigs") and she happily climbed into bed without the soother and waved goodnight. She had made up her mind.
I kept going upstairs to listen for her, expecting she'd need some extra cuddles....but all was silent! She slept through the night, and has now been soother free for 3 straight nights (and days, of course)!
She's a "Big Girl". Don't you dare tell her otherwise.

TMI

Last week Liam and I spent a day in the allergy clinic at Children's Hospital. No big revelations to share except that wheat is still on the "Do Not Eat" list. We're used to it. :)
Liam was under observation for hours, but eventually we were given a longer leash and allowed to roam the hospital lobby (ie. Mom finally got to Starbucks).
Next up was a quest to the gift shop for Silly Bands, but before we could embark on that adventure a quick potty break was in order. Almost made it out when Liam told me "I like your panties, Mom. They're pretty." Now, I realize there will come a day when this sentence would only be categorized under "Totally Messed Up". And yes, the woman in the next stall was trying (unsuccessfully) to stifle a giggle. But for now a compliment is a compliment, so I just said "Thanks, Liam." And then I flushed.

(No photos from the bathroom - obviously! - so here is Liam painting fences at the Children's Festival this week. He couldn't get enough of it!)

The Good Stuff

Can you believe we went camping last weekend and didn't take a single photo? The kids did great, but definitely kept us hopping. I won't get started on our obnoxious camp neighbors. I'm trying hard to forget about them, but there are a few things I do always want to remember from this trip....
* The way Sarah shouted "Yeee-Haawww" out of nowhere, and used the phrase throughout the weekend at entertaining times. Climbing into her sleeping bag? Yee-haw! Sitting down to pancakes? Yee-haw! Peeing in the outhouse? Yee-haw!
* Matt had the kids in giggles and Sarah was doubled over laughing. She pointed at Matt and said "funny guy....you....".
* Liam and I let an overtired Sarah and a jetlagged Matt take an afternoon nap, and we headed to the open field to play. Liam was running all over the place "be-tendin' to be Luongo" when all of a sudden he spotted a little patch of daisies growing in the grass. His focus immediately shifted to picking as many as he could carry, then he came running full speed back to me, huge smile on his face, ran right into my arms and said "I picked these for you, Mommy!" Ah, love.
* The first morning Sarah woke me up with a big sloppy kiss on the lips and an enthusiastic "Hi, Mommy!" At 5:40am. Just a little too early, but so adorable I had to snuggle her into my sleeping bag for some cuddles. And then Matt got up with her. Ah, love.
* Liam spent a looooong time tapping a hammer on an old tree stump that was behind the tent, pretending he was Handy Manny. He named all his tools and I could hear him softly singing snippets of the Handy Manny song...."twist and turn, make it tight!"
* Making s'mores and singing "This Old Man" around the campfire. I love the way Sarah focuses on the last word of every sentence. If Sarah were to sing it herself, it would go like this: "Man! One! Drum! Bone! Home!"
No camping pictures (what were we thinking?!) but here's one of the kids making a new friend at Granville Island yesterday......