Last weekend we took you up to Mount Washington for your first go at tubing! The mountain has been open for only two weeks and the snow was patchy way up the slopes but the tubing was great.

We were a little but worried about how you would do but you loved it!

Daddy was actually a little freaked about how fast you get going in those tubes but you took it all in stride, lol! We saw lots of little guys and girls your age skiing and it made up certain that we'll get you into skiing next year. Mommy is off the slopes for this season, but we'll be a skiing/snowboarding family next year!

Two peas in a pod

Funny fact: every once in a while Daddy tries to dress you and himself the same. Apparently our tastes in clothes reflect this ability as he is often able to chose a very close 2t replica of his outfit.

Big, little news

I haven't posted anything for quite a while now but I must be forgiven as I have been ILL! The reason being that I am 3 months pregnant and have never been so sick in my life!
Poor mommy has been down for the count and poor daddy has been picking up the slack both at work and at home. Now I see what they mean when they say that the toddler is the one that really wears you out...I get tired just watching you these days!
So we're all very excited about our new addition which will arrive in June and you yourself seem to be able to grasp the idea too, even naming the baby "Baby Banana."
We have moved you into your big boy bed and that has been as easy as pie. We thought there would be a huge transition process involving you getting out of bed and us putting you back, repeat. But as it turns out you are quite happy in your bed and have only ventured out two times. It is as if there is some kind of force field around your bed keeping you in??
The first time you got out of your bed was in the middle of the night when you bee-lined it to our door which was blocked by a laundry basket to keep the dogs in our room. You fell into the laundry basket head-first and screamed bloody murder (which greatly startled mommy and daddy by the way). The second time you left your bed I came out to the hall to find you lurking in your doorway and I automatically yelled "Get back into your bed!" which made you jump in fear and run back. I think the combination of these two experiences will ensure that further ventures out of your bed are few and far between (fingers crossed).
So yeah for Baby Banana and here's hoping I am able to keep up the steady stream of updates more regularly since I am partially functional again :)
You on your first night in your Big Boy Bed:

Oakville!

On November 7, the three of us flew to Oakville to visit the Tower/Gyory house. Since we won't be together at Christmas Grandma and Great-Grandma decided to spoil you early and spoil you they did! This was just the cutest and most perfect present I can imagine...A Mini-Cooper just for you! There was a definite learning curve but you drove your litte car like a pro in short order! Thanks Grandmas!

Oh, and if that wasn't enough you also got a bike to ride with training wheels and you could really motor on that! You loved it!

Some of Mommy and Daddy's friends came by to visit and you got to see little Lauren again. You are two real cuties!

While Mommy and Daddy took a little side trip to NYC you did so many other fun things with Grandma and Papa, you rode the GO train to Hamilton, went to the Toronto Zoo with Sophia, went to a local farm where they had so many toy diggers to play with. What a great time you had!

First time Ice Skating!

We went to Beban Park last week for your first skating lesson in the class Boots to Blades. You loved being on the ice! That's not to say that you didn't wipe out....you did, but you got right back up again and kept on going!
The class consists of three kids including you so it's great! This is you moving around on the ice with the teacher "skating arms" out :)

My little skater boy!

You couldn't wait to get your hands on a little hockey stick during the free play time at the end of class. Uhoh! Maybe I'll be a hockey mom after all!
No concussions please.

Trick or Treating

We weren't sure how this was going to go in our neighbourhood, but we gave it a try. It turned out that about every other house did have their lights on, with candy purchased and ready to go in big bowls...it's just that there were no children other than us!
It was quite an evening since all of the houses on our street are quite spaced out which made for lots of walking, but it was well worth it. We were so glad that we gave our block a chance because if not for us our neighbours would have been so disappointed! Will was the only little guy that came calling!
On the way home we discussed maybe going into Nanaimo next year to see all the other little kids running around but then I was so sad to think that the neighbours would be counting on Will to come back again! Wondering what will Will be this year etc, haha!
You were the star of Shetland Place this Halloween for sure!

Pumpkin Carving!

We finally got around to carving our very own hand picked pumpkins on the weekend. At first you didn't seem too interested in the task but I assured you that there would be slimy gooey yucky stuff inside and that really got your attention. Soon you were up there with me scooping and de-seeding like a pro!
You also enjoyed covering my arm in the pulp and mashing it around the counter. You did get some of the pulp out on your own though, good helper!
Daddy got in on things too and soon enough we had three gorgeous pumpkins to show for it!
To be revealed next...

Halloween Parties!

Last Saturday all three of us got dressed up as our Wizard of Oz characters and went to no less than three parties to show us off!
It was a hit!
You were too adorable! You practiced your "Roar!" and it was really scary ;)

At Nikki and Bryce's we got to hang out with Finn, Tavish, Emma, Claire, Sam and Natasha et al. Everyone looked fabulous.

You loved your costume and wore it for days prior, making me take you downstairs to the big mirror so you could see yourself in it. The head part of the costume seemed to bother you though, you were always trying to get it off your head and sometimes wore it around your neck for a while. But you were a really good sport about it all in all.

Mommy's New Car!

Well Daddy's not the only one who gets to have fun! Mommy got some new wheels this month and we said goodbye to both Jeepy and Libby. So sad! They were our first cars!
Mommy has always wanted one of these and you seem to love the new Range Rover too. You even call out "Range Rober" if we see another one on the street. I had no idea you would be able to recognize another one but you can!
Best of all it will keep us safe on the roads out there :)

Fleep

I have to write a quick entry about this funny saying we've discovered lately. You are having trouble pronouncing the "S" sound if followed by "L." So when you try to say sleep it comes out fleep.

Daddy and I have been trying to get you to say it properly so we have been playing a little game with you. We say a word and have you repeat it. It goes like this:

M+D: "skate"

W: "skate"

M+D: "swim"

W: "swim"

M+D: "snow"

W: "snow"

M+D: "sleep"

W: "FLEEP!"

Ugh! We don't even know if you're joking any more because when we roll our eyes you laugh and laugh....you bug!

Halloween!

Guess who's idea this was?? Right! It was mommy's. The Wizard of Oz is on eof my all-time favourite movies and I think we brought justice to the characters!

You looked so adorable in your lion costume. It had been well-worn already prior to our wearing them together since you had insisted on wearing this costume nearly daily since we got about two weeks ago!

We had three parties to go to today, one at the Tremblay's, one at the Lam's and of course the annual Chase Halloween party! It was a marathon!

Mommy made Mummy Dogs as our treat and they were a hit :)

With all the other little munchkins!

Your new passport photo!

Mommy and Daddy booked us a trip to Cabo this Christmas the other day! It will be such a fun trip for us, as it was this summer. Your passport was due to expire within the requisite six months so we needed a new one for you. Unfortunately this one will only be valid for another years again so we will have to go through the ordeal again sooner than I'd like! Apparently adults are going to ten year passports and I say "Yeah!"
You were such a doll at the photo store where we got your picture done. You put your hands on your lap as we asked (no hands in the picture) and at first you smiled but of course they want a neutral face only. So we asked you just to be natural and you did that. But then your tongue started sticking out and you mouth started opening, let's just say it was a bit of a struggle to get the PERFECT picture. You tried really hard to listen to what we were saying, you were such a darling.
And what a beautiful picture it turned out to be! What a difference two years makes!

Our annual fall Seattle trip!

We had such a fun time last weekend with the Thorntons! Ian is in Vancouver now becoming a prosthodontist and we couldn't be happier!
Secora, Alyssa and Noah were all there and you all had fun together, you with Alyssa mostly :)
This is all of us at the Pike Place Market.

The Seattle Aquarium was lots of fun too. This is where you can actually touch the sea urchins and star fish:

Your funny face again:

Of course, Daddy also went to his football game on Sunday with Claudio and Ian and Erin and I went shopping. You were an angel in the car (didn't sleep at all I might add) but you seemed to have a hard time throughout the weekend with being away from home. Every once in a while you would say "Going home now?" We'd explain to you that we were away for the weekend, on vacation in Seattle. You would get weepy and ask "Go home right now?! Why???"
So sad. Of course we would really play up how much fun we were having and that we were going home shortly. You are a real homebody I guess.
I wanted to find out exactly what you missed about being at home so I very casually asked what it was that you missed and you replied "Playroom. Jenny." I think you like your familiar surroundings and get a little anxious when away for too long, even if we're there with you.
You were just fine most of the time but you would sporadically ask about home and be sad, maybe about 4 times total. You did that when we went to Mexico too so it's not new to us.
We'll see if that changes as you get older! Other than that you were a super star traveler!

Mommy's Birthday

The three of us had a low-key birthday celebration for mommy last week. We made this cake ourselves and mommy was spoiled by daddy (and you) as usual.
I woke up to you running into our bedroom and saying "Hassy Berfday Mommy!" My favourite! And you can almost sing the happy birthday song word for word now!

You are such a doll.

Henry's 3rd Birthday!

Mommy's friend Kat invited us to her son Henry's 3rd birthday party at the Nanaimo Gymnastics Club last weekend. You have been here many times with Grandma and Jenny so it's just old hat for you, but you still had a blast!
I love this shot!

You were not wanting to let go of Daddy's hand when you jumped so there were a couple of problems at lift off!

Even the big kids had a go:

What a great idea for a party!

Grandma's Birthday!

Birthday are so exciting for you whenever there is a birthday it's as if it's your own! Grandma was here to celebrate her 65th with us this year and we went to Cuckoo at Coombs market to celebrate. They have the most tasty woodburning oven pizzas.
Mommy made this cake for Grandma and it was also very tasty. Of course, you helped with the blowing out of the candles.
Happy Birthday Grandma!

The dolphin in the forest

Yesterday I took you to school (you are still protesting all the way but that's another story) and at the end of the day I always have a chat with the girls to see what you've been up to. Maria told me that you all had gone for a walk in the forest and that a little animal was making a chirping noise from afar. Apparently you asked "What's that noise?" and Maria didn't know so you said "Maybe dolpin?" LOL!
I had to explain to her that we had been in Mexico last month and met Eggshell the dolphin who made a whistling/clicking sound in the water. It didn't make it any less funny, the girls were cracking up about it. Oh, Will!

Trains at Heritage Acres

This was such a fun day! We went down to Victoria a couple of weekends ago to see the trains that the Tatras had been telling us so much about. They have four or five weekends a year where the public is invited to have a ride on these trains that are the hobby of some retired men who enjoy it.
There were alomst 2km of track winding through the forest, over trestles and through tunnels. It was so much fun! Will even pulled on the whistle!

There were all sorts of other things to see too, like old carriages and tractors. Well, tractors are always a hit...

First day of School!

This was taken on your first day at Aspengrove!
Mommy and Grandma took you for a half day in the infant and toddler room and you did really well. We sat with you and lingered around until after snack time and we said goodbye to you when you were just about to go outside for a little playin the sandbox. We thought it was a good opportunity to part with you and it was but it was still a bit of a scene. It was very scary for Mommy to leave you with others alone for the first time, even for only an hour.

The teachers do insist that the parent go to the child and say goodbye so that the child is not taken off guard when they try to find them again. So Grandma and I did go to you and say that we were leaving but that we were coming back. There was a moment when you were just outside the door with Grace and you were crying for me and trying to push the door back open while she was trying to pull it closed. I hid around the back of a bookcase to watch and that was really hard. I was counting on Grace to distract you and she did a great job of redirecting you to the activities outside and then we watched from the window for a while. You went to the sandbox and found a digger (what else?) to dig with and you seemed to be just fine. I had a little cry which I didn't expect at all, and the Grandma and I left to have a quick cup of tea before we came back to get you.

The teachers told us that you had been just fine playing and exploring for the hour or so that we were gone and that you were adjusting really well. I just can't believe my little baby is two and ready to start learning about the world.

Day one was a great success!

Basking

This is mommy's favourite part of swimming in the pool. The brief moment when you will let me wrap you up in a big towel and hold you tight.
It is basically the only time you'll let me do that without being on the go.
We were nice and warm and snuggly, it is the best!
And I got a kiss!

We jump together!

Mommy jumps.

And Will jumps:

We all jump together!

Weeeeee! This was my favourite weekend by the pool. It was how I pictured the whole summer being. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side most days, so we're hoping for better next summer. At least the Labour Day weekend was good to us so we could get a last dose of sun!

Auntie Shannon

Auntie Shannon came to visit this weekend. It was her last weekend here since she's moving back to Ontario :(
We spent the weekend by the pool and soaked up the last of the summer sun!

Watering with Mommy

Have I mentioned that you LOVE to water the garden? You have your very own little watering can but much prefer the hose:

By the end of it you (and Mommy) are usually soaked but it sure is fun!

Three generations

This is just a super cute shot of Grandma, Mommy and Will just about to go out for the day!