Be Careful What You Wish For...

Having a boy and a girl I knew there would be a whole new kind of toys around. Basically I figure to have double the amount of stuff we had with the Boy since we would need all girl stuff. I also realize they would like some of the same things as they are brother and sister and the Girl always wants to do what her big brother is doing. At the point my thinking was that well maybe it wouldn't be a complete double amount of toys but a little less. As I sit here and type this the Boy is current watching one Thomas movie in the dark basement because it is like a movie theater he says, while the girl wanted to watch something and I asked her what and she said "train" so she is watching a different Thomas movie in the living room. It all must be a curse because when I was younger I wanted a train and my parents always told me it was under my bed... It never was! So now I get to live the life of 24/7 trains. Maybe if I can every find a large amount of time I will ist all the train stuff we have, even the Girl has a train all her own. I know it is a cliche but it certainly is true: "Be careful what you wish for because you just may get it."

Attitude, Art and Accident

The Girl is eating and growing at an alarming rate. Today she kindly finished off a 4 oz peice of NY strip steak, four strawberries and then a nice chunk of pear. I think she is really trying to catch up to her brother in height as she seems to just be getting taller and taller. She is learning more words and she is getting very good at letting you know when she is not happy about something you are doing, giving her or making her do. All in all she seems ready for the terrible twos.

The Boy is developing quite the personality as well. Some of the comments he makes crack us up and we often wonder where he learns this stuff (I realize it is probably school). We recently got him an easel with a chalk board on one side and a dry erase board on the other. In addition you can buy rolls of paper for the middle to pull over either side to draw on. The best part for the chalk, roll of paper and easel it was about $23 at Ikea. We bought him some dry erase markers at Michaels and he has crayons coming out the wazoo. He loves it and he will suddenly disappear to go draw. He has draw our house, hockey rinks, race tracks, etc. Plus we don't have a thousand sheets of his drawings laying around. One interesting thing of note, I was talking to his preschool teacher and he has yet to decide if he wants to be right or left handed and it seems she is starting to think he may be truly ambidextrous. There are very few things if any he does completely on one side unless necessary.

I have decided that I am ready to return to a nice beach somewhere (the Bahamas, Riviera Maya, etc.) permanently as this morning I fell down the stairs. I am sore but OK, just figure I need to get done with January and start a new in February.

Back from Vacation

This about the parents, a much needed vacation to relax and reset. The wife and I went to Riviera Maya for a long weekend recently. We had a great time and enjoyed the time to not worry about anything for a few days. Nothing like warm sunny weather, a beach waiter and a fire dancing show to help one feel at ease. The Boy and the Girl enjoyed their time with their grandparents which we are grateful to for taking care of them while we were gone. Here are a few pictures of how we spent our vacation:

What We did in the morning:

Where we ate lunch:

What we did in the afternoon, Thankfully there was a beach waiter so we didn't have to get up:
What we did later in the afternoon, is that swim-up bar over there?
Even a little play gambling for prizes and yes I won the Texas Hold'em portion:

Out on the beach bed for sunrise:

Where we ate breakfast:

Did I mention this is what we did in the morning?
Part of the fire show:
One more for the ride home:

Back to school

What a glorious day Monday was, back to school fro the Boy. I think we were both equally as happy. The girl can't wait until next year when he is in school all day 5 days a week, she has big plans. I hope she likes school as much as he does.

Just the other day the Boy asked when is summer going to start because he wants to wear shorts, I had to inform him that Winter just started and he wasn't really happy about it. On the other hand when it is summer he asks when it is going to snow so he can go sledding, so either way you can't win.

The Girl is really starting to learn words, only issue is she understands them and tries to say them but sometimes they don't come out as what she is trying to say. So on top of her Chinese from Ni-Hao Kai-Lan, I must learn another whole new language. I guess I really am multi-lingual, at least a 20 month, a 5 yr. old and maybe the cat can understand me. Her favorite activity sometimes seems to be hearing her brother burp or joining him in the fake burping that sounds more like growling. As for her eating she has been helping us with the lasagna as she eats about a whole piece herself, meanwhile getting the Boy to eat is like trying to sell a time share.

Happy New Year!

I know it is a few hours early, but wanted to wish my reader(s), I think there is more than one, a Happy New Year. This year has been interesting and they will probably only get more interesting as the years progress. It is fun to go back and reminisce over some of things that I have posted not only this year but last as well, it is hard to believe I have been blogging for two years now as it seems like just yesterday the Boy was born (even though he is five).

As an update to what has been going on here, I took the Boy to his second pro hockey game (he went to an exhibition NHL game with us when he was much younger and this time we went to an ECHL game with a skate on the ice afterwards. We had a great time and not only did we get to see 7 goals for the home team, he also got the pro hockey fight experience. He seemed to really enjoy so it looks like we will have to make another trip soon. By his request we also went to the art museum, even heard some bagpipes while we were there which I thought was neat while he was a bit unsure. I also think he is getting antsy for school to be back in session, well at least I am.

The girl is starting to communicate even better and we hear new words all the time. She still eats everything as a couple of nights ago she ate a whole enchilada and some strawberries. I love the fact she will eat anything but at the same time I am not happy about as that means there is less of the good stuff for me. I am convinced she will speak Chinese before English as she loves Ni-Hao Kai-Lan and seems to have no trouble making the sounds of the Chinese words. In reality she has probably been talking the whole time and I am the one that needs to learn a new language.

Christmas was good, the Boy really loved as the one thing he asked Santa for, Santa brought among many other nice things. The Girl was also happy with her Kai-Lan, Sid the Science kid, Wonder Pets Dolls Santa brought her, among many other great things.

Finally as a wrap up to 2009, I will be continuing to write about the kids, my frustrations, etc., but I was curious to my reader (or readers carefully assuming there is more than one) if there are any questions or things you would like to read about in the coming year. Happy New Year, 2010 promisings to bring some exciting things to blog about. Stay tuned...

Placek and Santa Questions

Well being the week of Christmas it is time to make the Placek and give the Kitchenaid Mixer a workout. I have posted guards outside the doors to guard against family from trying to steal them. Granted I was given the business a little bit because I don't hand stir the flour in, but efficiency has taken over and my shoulders and arms are sure thankful. This is something that we all look forward to every Christmas. Some of you may be wondering what "Placek" is, so I will leave it to you to figure it out.

This season has brought some interesting questions and comments from the Boy about Santa. We have been fortunate to have his Santa photo taken with the same Santa every year, but he can't figure out why Santa always looks the same, and we simply can answer because it is Santa. He seems to know something is up but I think he is smart enough to know not to say anything or ask the right questions, as he certainly believes especially when I threaten to call Santa to tell about his behavior. Of course my favorite was the other day when he asked, "Will Santa bring presents for you and Mommy too?" So from that we got a couple little things to wrap up from Santa so we have avoided that for the time being. Sometimes I think he is trying to figure out how Santa does things and magic is always the answer. Well, he certainly is excited and especially since he asked for something specific we should be able to keep the magic of Santa alive and well.

Santa Claus

The kids got to see Santa Claus recently. Last year the Boy wouldn't go anywhere near him as he hid behind the stroller and the Girl happily sat on Santa's lap. Well this year the Boy agreed to stand next to Santa and the Girl freaked out a whee bit:
The Boy actually then talked to Santa and told him exactly what he wanted. Santa said he would do his best. He is very excited and can hardly wait for Christmas.