The Wanderings and Adventures of Cole, Oliver and Sam Har-yuen

Old & new ways to have fun

2012-01-22T11:25:00.001-08:00

Spending Sunday morning mixing digital literacy with old-fashioned face-on-hand fun!

Cole's Advent Calendar 2011 task

2012-01-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

"Winter is a nice season 'cuz you can see the beauty in things." -Cole

water water everywhere

2011-11-21T08:52:00.001-08:00

'Tis the season - to pull out our raincovers and raincoats, and make funky hairdos after bathtime!

why just roll the die when you can make it a full body workout?

2011-11-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

pokemon creations and something from the dress-up box

2011-10-31T22:06:00.000-07:00

Phew! The boys' requests for Pokemon characters darn-near pooped me out! Their favourite part of the night? "The fireworks!!"

Creativity in blossom...

2011-06-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

Even if it involves a spider that eats mom & jook (congee), I love it!

Unconventional 'firsts'

2011-05-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

The kids are growing and of course still lots of firsts, but now they are more unconventional than the 'first tooth', 'first word', 'first steps' varieties. Of course we love those kinds of firsts too - first teeth lost, first fancy soccer jersey - all still very exciting to experience.

Last week Ollie got new sneakers and that night made me go out with him for a jog. So off we went for a jog to the nearby park and back. I had Sam in the stroller, and it was kind of surreal to be exercising with my 4 year old.

The other morning I decided to try on Cole's Montreal Canadiens hoody just for kicks, and it actually fit me pretty well! I wore it all morning and again got that strange feeling that life was moving waaaay too fast.

Nothing warms my heart more than seeing/hearing the boys playing joyfully and cooperatively, or hearing them invent games or sing songs with the intention of inducing mass giggles and laughter! The way they are squished into the backseat of the car is quite conducive to that. The photo of the boys and me was taken today at Jericho - Cole gave me a Mother's Day card that said I was as "cuddly as a stuffy, as lovely as a lullaby, as funny as a clown" and so I focused on showing my clown side today.

Advent Calendar 2010 - photo task

2010-12-13T13:55:00.000-08:00

Aunty Surya made a fantabulous advent calendar for our family. The task for Dec. 11: "take a photo of what Christmas means to you and post it on the family blog". Here's Ollie's contribution:

As for me, well, part of what the season is all about revolves around COOKIES. It's become really important to set some time aside to make cookies with the boys, or just by myself - as a way of remembering and honouring Grandma Yuen and Nana Dorothy. Linda's annual cookie party has now become a tradition for our family, as has our gingerbread house project. Today we did sugar cookies with over-the-top food colouring...it was lovely to have the table full of boys and their buddies, slathering on icing and silver balls and enjoying every minute of it. Here are some of my favourites from today - most of all the pink one-armed angel really speaks to me.

House and home tour with mr and mrs cockroach

2010-10-22T17:33:00.001-07:00

Summer 2010 - bug zoo, folk fest, Hornby...

2010-10-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

Better late than never!

Sick at home...what to do?

2010-10-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

The boys and I aren't feeling well today...hanging out, napping, eating...and making movies! This is Cole's. Enjoy.

Our future Return-It depot worker

2010-04-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

la-la-la-la

2010-04-29T22:39:00.000-07:00

We love singing! Sara's rendition of Blackbird and Michael's version of Ob-la-di-ob-la-da are not blogworthy...enjoy the stylings of the little ones. Oh, and a video of Sam showing off his bottle sorting skills - maybe he can get a job at the local Return-It depot soon to help pay for groceries.

Cole's forays into photography

2010-02-26T23:15:00.000-08:00

Cole had a homework assignment to collect 100 of 'something' and bring it to class as part of a celebration of the 100th day of class. Brilliant Katie suggested that he take 100 photos - to which he readily agreed. Armed with her camera he fired off these shots yesterday. Katie formatted them, sent them to us and we printed them out. Super easy and way more original than my idea of pasting 100 macaroni shells onto a piece of construction paper. What a great look at a day in Cole's life...

What to do, what to do...

2009-12-21T22:27:00.000-08:00

The boys have each found their ways of passing the time here on Kitchener Street: Sam was delighted to find the flour jar full of flour, and mommy preoccupied with the dishes...Cole has had some great dress up moments - here he is pretending to be "a grandpa" (go figure). As for Ollie, sweet sweet Ollie, well he has been practising for his future career as a mall Santa. Just has to brush up on his grammar, grow a gut, and he's good to go!

Fishbowl Sam

2009-11-06T22:21:00.000-08:00

Although this is hampering tonight's efforts to get some work done, I am having a grand ol' time with our new webcam-captured family moments! This one is seriously laugh-inducing - I challenge you to keep a straight face while watching this one!

2009-11-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

Little goblins, pink bunnies and spidey

2009-11-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

What happened to August? September? October? The Har-yuens have had a lot on the go over the last few months - when times get tough we....dress up! Dance to loud music in the kitchen! Eat chocolate and sweets! Scream! Have tantrums!

Hallowe'en was a blast and this year we tried a new approach to candy: pick your top 11 (which somehow ended up being more than that what with treats from grandma and preschool) and you can eat it whenever you want (after breakfast and before supper) until it's all gone. I thought that was a good idea but after a difficult week I don't think I'll propose that approach for next year...

I just bought a webcam and a camera with better video capabilities (thanks family for the birthday money!) so look out for some video postings soon....

skuuting and a fat rock star

2009-07-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

chopping mullets, ice cream pals and biking milestones

2009-07-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

Somewhere along the way Sam's hair became curly - really curly! Grandma volunteered to cut his mullet and in this heat, I'm sure Sam is appreciating the increased ventilation. Add the new sunglasses we bought him up at Whistler and he is, in Cole's words, looking like "a fat rock star"!
Aunty Lisa and Uncle Phil from the Bahamas were in town and the boys found an ice cream buddy in Aunty Lisa - yum! Cole went to bike camp through Pedalheads last week and by day 3 he had his training wheels off and was going great guns - Ollie is continuing to do his thing on the Skuut and wants to do bike camp next summer...Right now it's too hot to do too much of anything....except catch up on blogging and nap and eat!

A spring 2009 update

2009-05-13T22:10:00.000-07:00

Sam's "baby-sitting" and hanging with the aunties on the Sunshine Coast this past weekend - he was the only guy allowed to be at the baby-mama weekend for Surya...

Cole at Whistler last week (thanks to grandma for the Club Intrawest stay!) - once he got his goggles on he was much more confident going down the waterslide by himself...meanwhile, Ollie's adventures with the potty have been exciting and keeps us all on our toes (with towels in hand) - I crafted his "pee cake" up at Whistler and I probably ate half of it by myself.

Ollie wanted to try on Cole's soccer socks and cleats - Cole picked pink socks!! Go Tanzania go! Cole is excited in theory about soccer and loves the gear, but in reality...well...today he yelled at me because I passed him the soccer ball during his rainy practice because the ball got his sweatpants wet. I think he takes after his Uncle Todd in terms of being particular about cleanliness...

2009-04-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

recent photos that I really like - can you guess what Ollie is dressed up as here? (I crafted the headgear one rainy day with Cole).

Cole is really enjoying Sam - it's very cute to see how interested he is in his baby brother. Ollie is still definitely more aloof with the newest Har-yuen...

Other blog-worthy photos

2009-03-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

My boys at storytime...
Ollie's first day of pre-school, beginning of January....and
Sam giving his best grin.

Our little posers

2009-03-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

Here are the shots I took yesterday of the boys - we have so few photos of all 3 of them in the same frame. Even though they are blurry and not well framed I think they capture the essence of Cole, Ollie and Sam quite well.

Newest Har-yuen

2008-12-11T18:04:00.000-08:00

Well, the latest member of our family arrived in watery style on Monday Dec 8 at 1:44.

He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz.

We've picked a name - Samuel Wyatt Yuen Harstone. "Sam" was what I wanted to be called when I was young, and Michael really likes Wyatt. I'm having a bit of trouble giving up the "Sam" to my new son but it seems like the right time! Big brothers Cole and Ollie are making sure Sam gets lots of kisses and cuddles. Dad is busy with putting together the new beds for the boys and arranging the rooms so we all fit in this house! Mom is trying to rest and send photos and not think about Christmas too much.

Power of Santa

2008-10-10T09:50:00.001-07:00

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. Those are rubber gloves on Ollie's hands - but he was just trying them on for fun. And yes, that is a washcloth in Cole's hand, and he actually is wiping the cabinet doors. These were taken on a day when Cole was being particularly helpful - pushing the stroller for me, helping me up off the couch...and wiping the outsides and insides of the cabinet doors (I suggested he wipe down the cabinet doors instead of wiping down the stove top elements, like he had asked to do). Cole has always been quite helpful around the house - but never to this extent. I think it was due to the fact that he's coveting a 2-foot-long garbage truck that he really really hopes Santa will bring. I thought I'd never say it to my children, but "well if you're a good boy, maybe Santa will bring it for you...." came out of my mouth a couple of times in the last little while....

more from summer

2008-09-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

With Aunty Lisa...

And climbing on Uncle Glen at Hornby - we were up there for 10 days this year - much more civilized than a paltry week!

summer 2008

2008-09-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

What a great summer - folk fest and Salt Spring Island in July, Cathedral Lakes camping (Michael and the boys only, I stayed home...to work!) at the beginning of August, cousins Lauren and James from Toronto visited after that, Aunty Lisa followed, then to Hornby for 10 days.

When things got a little hairy I looked at this "free box" photo to lighten up my mood...

There were 3 family birthdays in August - cousin James, Cole and Uncle Todd! (check out the belly I'm packing!)

Here are Cole and Ollie on the farm equipment at Stowell Lake Farm on Salt Spring Island. Thanks to the Young-Kellow family for letting us invade their sanctuary and pretend we were farmers and heavy machine operators!!

easter is for dressing up, isn't it??

2008-05-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

Found grandma's homemade Hallowe'en costumes at Easter dinner in March. Fun times! Cole's been enjoying Jack Johnson (or as he calls him, "John Jackson") and one day he wanted to play the guitar just like him. The other photo is probably the best photo we have of our two kids in the same frame.

brushing up on communication skills

2008-05-03T15:50:00.001-07:00

Caught Cole brushing up on his communication skills before bed the other night. He let me snap a photo and the photo is posed only insofar as I asked him to move the book a little lower down so I could get his face in the photo, too!

Life in 2008 - actually, the end of 2007

2008-02-13T21:31:00.000-08:00

It's been way too long since a blog update. Here are some recent photos of the stars of the show. New Years and Jan 2008 will come soon...

Oliver experimenting with balance

2007-10-22T22:59:00.000-07:00

Oliver, looking very much like a drunken toddler...

Forklift Party at Kelsey's shop!

2007-10-22T22:49:00.001-07:00

Cole is still in love with machines. Kelsey, Surya's lovely boyfriend, took us to his shop in Bellingham and Cole had some personal time with the forklift. The other day Cole said, "I hope I can do that when I am bigger", in response to seeing a big bulldozer going up and down the lanes picking up the extra bags of garbage. He was so excited that it made me excited to think of him as a happy bulldozer driver.

Hornby Island fun

2007-08-27T23:31:00.000-07:00

Just came back from a relaxing and mostly sunny weekend on Hornby Island. Ollie and Cole loved exploring...on land, that is. Our canoe adventure was short-lived - Ollie started to howl after about 10 minutes, so we stopped here for lunch and then paddled back to the canoe rental place. We figure the next time we get in a canoe, we can shoot for 20 minutes, the next time, 40 minutes, and so on until we can do a canoe trip with our little ones. (sorry about my baby voice on the video - do I always sound like that when I'm talking to my children??)

Ollie took his first unassisted steps at Hornby, and Cole celebrated his 3rd birthday there, too. Aunty Emma took the cake by baking one in the shape of a train. We also visited a farm and Cole got into feeding the animals. Don't worry, all of you germ-o-phobes out there, we washed his hands well afterwards!

The photo of Cole and his buddy Wei Tian is blog-worthy, I think. Wei Tian was standing on the rocks, waiting for me to take the picture and waiting for Cole to come over and pose with him. Finally Cole decided to join him and draped his arm around WT like an old buddy, and both boys leaned into each other a little bit and broke out into very happy grins. We are certain that Wei Tian is going to become a pro athlete, an olympian, or something of the sort. To see what I mean, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZdZC3RqXTs - it is sure to impress!!

I'm so sexy with my bowl cut

2007-07-06T21:41:00.001-07:00

Our friend Lucia, who is much more bold with scissors than I am, gladly trimmed Oliver's hair. It has been the subject of much discussion with friends and family of the coiffed-look persuasion. I love it and think it adds to his endearing cuteness. Especially when he opens his big puppy dog eyes and stares at me. And when he wears his "I love mom" pyjamas.

Turning one, pink construction hats and waiting for summer to arrive

2007-06-30T14:43:00.000-07:00

playing ultimate with a large (albeit small in stature) fanbase

2007-06-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

Michael and I play ultimate with a group of other parents - hence the sideline looks a lot like a daycare group outing. I'd say there's at least 20 kids for about the same number of players..it's fun. Our team name and logo says it all!

Peekaboo, Capoeira and the only time I can get Cole in a photo

2007-06-06T22:05:00.000-07:00

Recent photos - hence this entry's titles.
Cole is a chatterbox now - constantly talking, asking questions, and "why, mom??" Today he said, "Why don't you know why, mommy?" Hmmm. Ollie is trying to keep up on the noise front - either by babbling along to a song that's playing on the radio or by vocalizing in the stroller or crying loudly as he bangs his head on something (a pitfall of his newfound mobility). It is wondrous to see them on the days they gobble up things like beans, brocolli, asparagus...(I am trying not to villianize veggies but somehow it just happens!)...and it is exhausting on the days when Cole decides to exert his power and strength over Ollie - taking away whatever toy Ollie has in his hands, rolling over him with a wheeled-vehicle. Until Oliver can respond back in some way, I am compelled to help defend him and keep him safe. At the same time, I don't want Cole to think I am never "on his side". Any advice out there??

Ollie chasing Cole

2007-05-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

Oliver's on the move! He can get around in a roundabout sort of way now, and had his first proper crawl in the bathroom, as he was really wanting to join Cole in the tub! Cole was really excited: "Look mom look! Ollie's crawling!" - it is very cool to see Cole excited about Oliver's developments.

See Ollie laugh

2007-04-02T21:56:00.000-07:00

Little chubb-chubb

2007-01-25T23:46:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the diligent photographer Grandma, we have photos of the kids in daily action - here are a couple from today and last night...little chubby cheeks playing with an old toy that was a crib toy of mine. Check out the old-style springs on it! Don't think it would pass the safety standards today...Ollie's first tooth has come up as of a few days ago...I think that's why his cheeks are so red.

The other photos shows Grandma's way of making sure Oliver didn't fall over while she was making the bed. He's sitting up pretty well now - not much toppling going on!

car on mom's sausage

2007-01-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

Conversation (as I remember it) between Cole and mom earlier this week:
(c) Look on there! (pointing to my sausage that was speared on my fork, in motion on its way to my mouth) Car!
(m) Where?
(c) There! (pointing to underside of sausage)
(m) that's a sausage, not a car, Cole.
(c) No, car! there!
(m) You mean that spot on the sausage looks like a care?
(C) Yes!
(m) oh....you mean kind of like jesus on the wall?
(c) Yes, jesus on the wall.

Hopefully that will make sense to some of you.

Living with a 2 and a half year old is for the most part such a wonderful adventure - so much curiosity, creativity and fun in the house. I'm loving playing - building duplo towers, pushing trains around the tracks, hide and seek, making houses out of the bedsheets, having dance parties in our living room, playdough, colouring...it's so good for the soul.

Ollie is lovely, too - at 7 months, 19 pounds, and 28 inches he's just a wonderful little jellybean. He seems to be enjoying his forays into solid foods, loves being around his brother (so long as there's no major suffocating or steamrolling going on), and is a pretty mellow kid so far. I am grateful that Cole seems to have a very strong love for his brother, and so far is just a lovely big brother to Oliver. I'll take that over being toilet trained any day!

Some photos - one of Cole and Addison, the two blueberries all ready for bed. I thought they looked so "big-boy" in this photo. The other one - a group shot of us heading off to Surya's family cabin on Galiano for new year's eve - check out the innovative use of the chariot as a vehicle for bushwacking through a tree-fallen trail...the Iron Aunties showed their true grit as they pushed it up and down hills, carried and pulled it through the trees on the trail, and generally displayed great humour and positive energy to get us all there unscathed!

Wee-ooo-wee-ooo!

2006-12-03T13:39:00.000-08:00

For the second time this week, we visited the nearby firehall. Visitors are welcome at the local firehalls and it's so great for little kids! Cole had a blast - sitting in the fire trucks, watching the firefighter slide down the pole.... This time, as the firefighter was talking to us in the truck, a 911 call came through and we were quickly ushered out the door so the firefighters could rush off to the call. It was pretty exciting stuff and we have watched the video clip of the truck leaving the hall non-stop since coming home an hour ago!

Snowtime!

2006-11-26T15:11:00.000-08:00

We flew to Toronto recently to make a snowman...just kidding - this is us on our back deck earlier today! Fun stuff in the snow.

Dress-up is fun...really it is!

2006-11-15T22:11:00.000-08:00

So who do you think is having the most Hallowe'en fun at our house??? Actually it doesn't look like it but Cole did have a fun time once Wei Tian and Tom came by and the guys (Ollie not included) went out door to door. I think once Cole saw that people actually do give treats just for wearing a costume and saying trick or treat (or in Cole's case, "bik-bee!!"), he pepped up. Lucky for me he has a short memory and thus had forgotten about his Halloween goodies by the next day! Ollie and I stayed at home and handed out our chips and fair trade chocolates http://cocoacamino.com/ to the kiddies. I had one little girl in glasses and a fairy outfit ask me, "what's fair trade chocolate?", so at least one seed has been planted...

new B&W photos

2006-10-31T16:11:00.000-08:00

Just got these developed from my old Pentax K-1000...

Party at the Pumpkin Patch!

2006-10-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

Took the photo of Ollie and Kali at Surya's this Thanksgiving weekend - it is so similar to the one of Cole and Silo from January 2005. Compare and enjoy!

So about the pumpkin patch.....today we went for our first pumpkin patch adventure - tons of pumpkins and even more cars and people. It seems like everyone driving a car was either on their way there or trying to find a parking spot. We finally arrived and were swarmed with the excitement and awe of a bijillion little kids on the cusp of a pumpkin patch. Once we made it through the ticket booth it was quite the event: full of entertainment, music, hay wagons, corn stalks, and of course pumpkins. The highlight for Cole was finding his way through a corn maze.

A close second was bouncing around the muddy field finding the perfect pumpkin - roundish, good carving face, not too big, no rotten marks, not too small. In the end, we got some good ones. The highlight for mom and dad was the haywagon rides with the boys with the fiddler leading the tunes with 'ole macdonald', well and the mini donuts.

Worth waiting for

2006-09-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

So it finally happened - Cole asked to hold Oliver. It took me by surprise, but we all managed to stay calm and not make a big deal out of it. Didn't whip out the camera until Michael made a comment about how he and the boys were all wearing the same colour, and that gave me a reason to take a photo that didn't focus on the fact that Cole was holding Oliver. We haven't encouraged Cole in any way to hug, hold, or do anything with Oliver - we've just let him decide what to do and how much attention to pay to Oliver. Okay, well maybe we encourage Cole to say good night and good morning to Ollie...Hey wait a sec is Cole pulling Ollie's hair or is it a love pat in the form of a fist??

Went for a lovely hike up at Cypress Mountain on Saturday - it was hot and sunny and Cole scrambled up a good length of the Mt. Hollyburn trail himself, and Ollie didn't make a peep the whole time he was tucked in tight in the baby carrier on me. I felt triumphant as I made it up and down without too much pain...my body is slowly gaining muscle back after 2 years of serious inactivity. This morning before we headed to the beach to meet Aunty Emma we tried some sunglasses on Ollie. As you can see, they are too big.

Diggers on PJs and puppets that brush teeth

2006-09-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a month since our last post and in that time we've had a visit from Aunty Lisa and cousins Lauren and James, gone to Hornby and Victoria for a little late summer holiday, and we've started renovations on our house. By October we'll have another bedroom upstairs so all of us can sleep on one floor without having to share one big room. For now, we're shacked up at "bam-ma's" (= grandma's in Cole-speak) and so far she is not too sick of us or our mess (at least she hasn't said so, yet!)

Oliver is 3 months old tomorrow and is still kicking his legs a lot, which serves to reinforce my predictions that he will be the runner that we will be having to chase around. He's still a hungry fella throughout the night, which makes for some tough evenings, but a good midday nap is all I need to take care of that. Here of some pics of Oliver's first visit to Victoria - he's with Great Aunty Susan, Great Uncle Wayne, and Great-Grandpa in one photo, and then he's hamming it up with his Great Uncles Gil and Phil. Finally there's a photo of Oliver and Finlay - his new pal in Victoria.

Cole is into diggers, cranes, dump trucks, buses, trains - anything with wheels, really. His new pj's are the cat's meow - I've never seen him so excited to put on pj's before. He's also currently getting quite a kick out of teethbrushing time - we've got a dog puppet that we put on, then the dog holds the brush in its mouth and Cole opens wide to let the dog brush away! Life is so much more relaxing when you are not struggling over the daily routine with your toddler...

graduation from Westside Midwives

2006-07-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

Today was Oliver's last visit with the midwives, who have moved from BC Women's Hospital to an office in Kitsilano. It was sad for me, as I have enjoyed and appreciated the care and attention that Jeanne, Camille and Marion (the office coordinator) have given us throughout my pregnancies and postnatal time. Oliver, however, seemed quite happy and alert - upon seeing Oliver so happy, Camille announced today was his "graduation" day from the clinic. No longer a newborn, now an infant? He's gained 3 pounds (he's now 10 lbs 4 oz) and grown 10 cm (now 59 cm) since his birth.

Oliver still has the newborn eye colour which is so hard to describe - brown, gray/slate, sometimes looking blue or even a little purple. I wonder what his final eye colour will settle down to be? He's gurgling more, staring at mommy's face a lot, and just taking in more of his world.

Cole is hilarious, talking a lot, being a lovely little guy. He's now in the stage where lots of what he says is only decipherable by us - for example: "no bips" = "more chips" (yes, he is definitely my son!). Things he's into these days - anything about vehicles (there needs to be more bikes in the books, sticker packages, clothes...), bathtime, the kiddie pool, brooms, money (especially taking the coins out of his piggy bank and putting them back in). His veggie of choice? Broccoli. Hallelujah! We'll see how long that lasts.

These are recent photos of little O - The CBC shirt is from Aunty Surya, who is always looking out for the boys' intellectual development. The one with my dad in it is one of the rare photos these days in which Cole is a) looking at the camera, and b) smiling.

The village has expanded by one

2006-07-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

Well, our family unit has grown to 4 - on June 17th at 3:15 a.m. we welcomed Oliver Finlay into our home. I thought it was time to post a few photos for anyone out there who is still optimistically thinking that we may update this blog at least once a month! The photo of Oliver was taken on the day he was born, and the one of "my boys" was a few days after that.

Right now I am upstairs, Oliver is asleep in the nursing pillow beside me, Cole and Michael just got home from the park, Cole is crying and doesn't sound happy at all. It's lunchtime, naptime, a generally tricky time of the day at the best of times. Michael can't find his wallet - and that makes for a bit of a sombre mood in the house. It's unusual for Michael to misplace something like that (whereas for me it's almost a daily ritual), and so it feels like a very odd day. Why not stop looking for the wallet and update the blog?

Oliver seems to be doing alright so far - he is 3 weeks old tomorrow. He's got the baby zits, had the jaundice, and might have a little cold (as evidenced by a stuffy nose). He's already gained a pound from his birthweight (7.2 lbs), so we figure he must be eating well. It's hard not to compare his every move/feature/noise with what Cole did...I am aware that I will have to stop doing that. I also have to start taking more pictures of him - the fate of the 2nd child always has something about smaller photo albums!

As for Cole - well we're taking each day as it comes, and so far we are grateful that he hasn't seemed to be too upset by Oliver's arrival. He has shown a lot of sensitivity towards Oliver, that is when he isn't putting his fingers into his eyes or mouth, or touching him on the head with a bit of force! Yesterday evening I was putting Cole to bed while Oliver was on his own in the baby chair...and Oliver started to wail...I couldn't get to him and so Cole went over and just stroked his head, and put his hands on his feet. It looked to me like Cole was just trying to comfort Oliver by being there and giving a gentle touch. Cole just looked at Oliver, didn't say anything or make any noises. It was a lovely moment to witness. Other than that, he seems curious about "baby", and baby's hands, eyes, hair, and mouth. The changes I've seen in Cole have been around going to sleep (needs us there for much longer), eating, and more crying/tantrum moments. I'm not convinced that these changes are because of Oliver - I'm thinking it's part of an almost-two year old's world?...Well, we'll never know.

Belly Power

2006-06-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

The picture speaks for itself. 3 women, big bellies, due June/July/August of this year. There is something about the power of the belly - we spent a weekend with our partners and kiddies on Pender Island just eating, talking, relaxing, playing and resting. It was just what the midwife ordered! (Although in my case, Camille said I should limit my travelling to no later than the Victoria Day weekend, just to make sure I wasn't birthing on a BC Ferry...)

Still finding firsts

2006-05-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

Firsts - first tooth, first smile, first burp...I didn't really think of firsts as continuing past the first (of course) year. But why not - firsts throughout one's childhood? Cole had a ride on the Stanley Park train with daddy last week, and he painted his face with coloured pens for the first time today. It was quite funny - as I think it it was more a test of my reaction since the first time he did it I carefully and slowly showed him that "pens were for paper, not for the face..." - so attempt #2 - will mama say the same thing? Yes. Attempt #3 - again? Yes. A few sideways glares from him (now where does he get that from?), and I traded the pens for less-face-marking crayons (which promptly got thrown to the floor).

I am really appreciating having a school across the street - lots of things to explore and play with, which makes for a great after dinner/before bedtime activity. It's the time when Cole can be the leader, deciding which way to go and what to play with, and mom/dad just follow and play along.

Also really loving the predictability of Cole falling asleep after the bedtime routine that we started when he was 6 months old - bath (sometimes), pj's, milk, stories, toothbrushing and then bed. Watching his body relax, his eyelids get heavy - as I sing "You Are My Sunshine" - I feel like a miracle worker! It doesn't always work that way - sometimes he wants to fall asleep on his own and he'll stand up and kiss me as if to say, "okay mom, you can leave me now". But on nights like tonight, where I can sing him to sleep and scratch the back of his head and his little back, it is the best moment of my day.

Potty stories and baby dolls

2006-05-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

Cole only gets a few weeks left as an only child...what a change we are all in for! Now that he's over his colds/fevers/flus of the last few months he's been pretty happy. Spending a lot of time with Grandma this week, since dad's in Hawaii with Uncle Glen on a bike trip. Also having Aunty Surya time every Wednesday - last time she took Cole to the MOBY site and they had a great time! Aunty Sur took this photo on that day.

Current favourite stories? Once Upon A Potty and Where's My Binkit. Also in love with Bob the Builder, and anything about diggers and big vehicles. I did get him a baby doll - it's cute and soft and he seems to really like it. It has been welcomed into the crib at night along with teddy. That is a good sign. We'll see how baby doll gets handled once real baby arrives...!

I am currently thinking about names for #2 - we have some favourites for boys but girl names are eluding us. Any suggestions are welcome!!

2006-04-22T23:57:00.000-07:00

First post - excited by these B&W photos I just got developed. Had them in my Pentax K1000 for 10 months...shows Cole from last June to now. This one is Cole's first camping trip - June 2004, Tofino BC. I think this moment may have been how he developed his crush on Iuliana, who is now 5 years old and very loving and careful towards Cole!

This was taken in March - Cole doing one of his favourite things: playing in the bathtub! He seems to be happiest when he is watching water pour from one vessel to another. Lately his daily ritual involves dragging a chair from the kitchen table to the sink, climbing up on it, and playing with the soapy water and whatever dishes he can get his hands on.