Stylin' Saturday #4

Red socks, 'ockey socks - no surprises there, including how quickly they were removed. Pooh jeans for Vanh and "Maz jeans" for Max - nothing new there either. I was surprised when Vanh reached for the red plaid, something he hadn't seen before, and that was bought with Max in mind. He chose a blue, green, white and orange striped onsie for underneath, and was very upset when his blue checked jacket wouldn't fit over top. And I guess Max has had an eye on that top his brother's been wearing for a while, as he grabbed it with a triumphant "race car shirt!". (Luckily they will have many years yet to share it - it's a size 5.)
So, with Vanh wearing Max's colour and Max wearing Vanh's shirt, they managed to confuse both their Daddy (who shoved them into the wrong shoes over their vociferous protests) and their grandparents (who didn't believe me even when I told them). And yet they are so different looking - how odd.

PS Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Tet Trung Thu!

It's been a crazy few weeks. Last Tuesday was a staff meeting, Wednesday after school the boys had their two-year checkup (everything's fine, but they screamed from start to finish), then on Thursday a visit to the dentist (ditto). This Tuesday was meet the teacher night. All this during my first few weeks of working in 18 months, a number of surprise challenges on the job, and a realization that any number of outside influences can make what limited family time we have vanish... It was so perfectly appropriate to grab this hour to focus entirely on feting our children. (Click here for a link with more information on this celebration.)

We added a mango mousse cake and a moon-like apple pie to the traditional moon cakes.

Ready for cake! (and realizing that posing in our outfits on the weekend when we had time and were willing to wear them was a good idea)

Setting off on our lantern procession to hunt for the moon. (No time for shoes, the moon will be rising any second!)

Max ran like this for pretty much the entire 800 metres, while Vanh rode in the wagon.

Where we are going... we saw the moon peek over the rooftops a few times on the way.

There's the moon! (The smaller circle on top) Next year the photos should be much nicer, as the arch is scheduled to be finished soon.

26 months old

The boys are wearing their Tet Trung Thu outfits for these commemorative photos, as they will probably have outgrown them by Wednesday. (Yes I know these are traditional Chinese outfits, but we bought them in Vietnam, and they're the closest we have.)

We visited Montreal's Chinatown last weekend and the boys chose these parasols for souvenirs:


We also found these traditional Vietnamese hats:


And lanterns for our parade:


Here's the biggest news of the day - photos of the boys having their very first naps in their firetruck beds:

They had their first sleep in them last night. Bye-bye cribs!

Happy 26 months of life, babies!

BABY, I LOVE YOUR WAY
Frampton 1974

Shadows grow so long before my eyes
And they're moving across the page
Suddenly the day turns into night
Far away from the city
But don't hesitate 'cause your love won't wait

Ooh baby I love your way (everyday)
Wanna tell you I love your way
Wanna be with you night and day

Moon appears to shine and light the sky
With the help of some fireflies
I wonder how they have the power to shine, shine, shine
I can see them under the pine
But don't hesitate 'cause your love won't wait

Ooh baby I love your way (everyday)
Wanna tell you I love your way
Wanna be with you night and day
But don't hesitate 'cause your love won't wait

I can see the sunset in your eyes
Brown and grey and blue besides
Clouds are stalking islands in the sun
I wish I could buy one out of season
But don't hesitate 'cause your love won't wait

Ooh baby I love your way (everyday)
Wanna tell you I love your way
Wanna be with you night and day

Stylin' Saturday #3

Today was going to be a really fun photo - Max requested a pair of red socks and insisted he didn't need anything else. But when I brought him up for a look in the drawer anyway, he couldn't resist his old-favourite yellow onsie from Nana, with little hockey players all over it. For pants he again demanded "red!" and quickly found some nike track pants that fit the bill.

Vanh, in a daring burst of (non-)originality, selected the same firetruck shirt from week #1. He was looking through the jeans when he saw pooh, so that was an easy choice too.
Here is his very best "smile for mommy!"

Then they both insisted on their favourite blue-checked coats for a trip to timmies.


Love them!

Things you do when you are two

You run through the house with peanut butter on your hands, somehow knowing exactly which items to touch to do the most damage.

You grab eggs out of the carton and throw them.

You negotiate with your brother:
V: Watch monster trucks
M: No watch monster trucks, watch (reggie) regular trucks
V: No reggie trucks, watch monster trucks
M: Watch reggie trucks first, monster trucks after
V: Watch reggie trucks

You demand we sing, "Weeo bus mommy!" every time we are in the car and your favourite verse is the one we made up together, "The diapers on the bus go on the cute bums..."

Speaking of, you remove your diaper, throw its contents around, then go again in your bed.

You identify matching items as "V-Vanh's!" or "M-Max's!" by reading those letters/ names.

You go to a restaurant without any "gear" and eat and drink using regular dishes and a normal number of napkins.

You make your mommy and daddy laugh every single day.

You make your daddy curse almost every day, under his breath of course.

You are utterly and completely adored.

Fashion Friday #2

Friday morning was such a flurry I didn't remember the boys were supposed to chose their own clothes so it got bumped to today again. Really I should just give up and call these Stylin' Saturdays.

The boys seemed clearer about what was happening today and were very definite with their choices. Max chose a long sleeve polo, perfect for this time of year, then selected a classic pair of dockers. He looks like an ad, or at least he did until he added his Raptors cap (deeo-saur 'at, mommy). Vanh started with socks (bue socks. No bue socks, 'ockey socks.), then carefully reached right to the back of the drawer to pull out his tractor tee-shirt. Again, he looked pretty good until he insisted on his Pooh hat - I know it sortof matches, and HE doesn't know how many brand names he is broadcasting, but I still find it jarring. Especially as we were heading off to our once-a-year, two-hours-away, picnic reunion with lots of people we only see a few times a year, and were expecting lots of photos... (We had the wrong day for the picnic, but that's another story.) But I resisted convincing them to change. And so they posed proudly for photos - again, they seemed to understand that the photos were being taken because they had picked their own clothes.



Then something happened. You can see it beginning here - Max decided he didn't like his hat. I think it was itchy. Vanh then decided he wanted to match Max more. I pulled down all the accessories and left them alone for a bit...

Here they are!


Brother high five!

'ockey socks


When it came time for shoes, Vanh was torn. He so wanted to wear his tigger crocs, but he wanted even more to match his brother, so they both put on sneakers (Max won't touch his tigger crocs). In the end he brought them along to wear later.

PS This last photo was taken in Montreal, where we drove for the picnic. Unfortunately it was tomorrow, so we shopped in Montreal's Chinatown for Tet Trung Thu lanterns and parasols (?boys' choice).

First day of school

Those are actually photos of the bath the night before the first day of school. We all had our first day back on Tuesday (me teaching grades 1 and 2; them attending preschool with Daddy)and there hasn't been a lot of time for photos since.

Here is our best effort from the actual first day:

Yeah, that's pretty much what the entire first week's been like - confusion, laughter, wet hair, forgotten pants, and lots and lots of hugs.

Fashion Friday

It was actually a Saturday morning, but these outfits are quite indicative of the boys' current sense of style. You will note overall theme takes precedence over colour matching.

Both requested "fire-truck shirts", with Vanh choosing the t-shirt for Max. I tried to find sort-of matching bottoms. Max questioned why he was wearing "Vanh's shorts" (he's right, they've been Vanh's since a few days after we met, you can see him wearing them towards the end of this post from Vietnam). He was okay with the shorts when I told him it was because they matched, and showed him Vanh was also wearing "Vanh's shorts" (he doesn't mind wearing Vanh's stuff, he was just worried Mommy was mixed up).

Vanh didn't want to wear any shorts at all, but acquiesced when I showed him all the pockets and told him he could put rocks in there (he did, all day).

That was it for my influence. Max got Daddy's Viking's hat from somewhere, and decided his size 9 sandals-for-next-summer were the best footwear option. Vanh choose a standard hat and a daring sock-less sneaker combination.

PS The idea of "Fashion Friday" as a day to display your children's personal fashion sense came from this blog. I've been waiting forever for the boys to start choosing their own clothes so they could participate. Now if I could just figure out how she gets them to stay still and look at her for photos...

Sarah Kay performs " B "

For mothers; mine, me, and everyone.