Playhouse

AK's house!

Peekaboo!

This is where I wash the dishes.

Pretty proud home-owner!

Come on in!

We had a great time washing off the playhouse and assembling it. Unfortunately AK seems to have inherited my allergy to grass... her legs up to her knees developed a rash later on in the day. It is much better already today, and Benadryl helped to keep the itching away.

Busy busy busy

The weekend coming up is going to be incredibly busy. We have three birthday parties to go to!

We'll also hit up gymnastics tomorrow morning, so am thinking we might take it easy and stay in tonight. I also hope to put up the playhouse on Sunday morning.

Wish us (me) luck and lots of energy! xo

Pictures

Forgot to mention in my last post that AK pulled out her album of pictures of people in MB and we went through them and all the names.

She is now saying "grandma" and "grandpa" quite well! She says those names without prodding. I think "baba" is her favorite of them all... she needs no help remembering that one. "Holly" is a close second, then the grandparents :) She needs a bit of help with all her cousins' names but who can blame her, she has so many cousins!

Allo!

AK's newest word is "owl" which comes out more like the French "allo"!

We've been up at the crack of stupid (aka 530am) the past two mornings. I wonder if the little monkey has some concept of time and numbers and, as she has messed with the clock in the bedroom and it shows an hour later than actual, that she thinks it really is an hour later than it is.

Counting is coming along very nicely. She doesn't actually count so much as recites all the numbers. It is easy to tell when there are seven fish to count but she counts up to ten!

Those teeth are giving her a bit of trouble but still no need for painkiller. How great is that?

Someone in the apt above us was banging away last night for about an hour. AK must have been tired as she slept right through it. Had it woken her, I would have gone upstairs to say something!

Still no internet at home, but the LIME guy came by last night (on his vacation!) and checked on things and confirmed that someone has to flick a switch somewhere and hasn't yet. So hopefully his phone calls last night will spur some action and get my service hooked up!

Collected a playhouse from Jeremy's boss yesterday. Will need to clean it up before I can assemble it this weekend. That will be fun for AK to play in!

Weekend shots

In the box with Matthew!

AK's in the house AGAIN!

Drumming with Jenni

Snack time!

Wee Care Newsletter

AK is in the Wee Care newsletter this month. Here she is with a few of her classmates.

I donated her exersaucer to Wee Care as well as I wasn't able to sell it. There is a picture of a baby using it in the newsletter :)

We're going to a party!

The invitation for Milanna's birthday party was dropped off last night. The invitation is a customized coloring book and crayons wrapped with AK's name on top. If this is what the invitation looks like, I can't imagine how great the party will be!!! xo

Two new teeth!

The little princess yawned really big yesterday and I saw that two of her second-year molars have started poking through. I wasn't surprised as she has had her hands in her mouth a lot recently and I suspected teething. Seems to have been a minimum of pain, which I wasn't expecting, considering AK's previous teething distress and the fact that the second-year molars are supposed to be the worst! Nice of AK to keep me on my toes :)

At the duck pond (again)

Mommy and me - we matched!

Linda and Cameron

Discovery Day weekend

We had a lovely, lovely weekend together...

Friday night, we had supper with the Mosers. The supper the cleaning lady made was WONDERFUL. Rice and beans, and BBQ chicken. Christie and I took AK out for frozen yogurt after supper... it was a riot. I picked a rainbow hard serve for her, and she was so concerned with it dripping on her hands. She kept wiping her hands off with the napkins but little did she know that she had it all over her face!!! It was a nice treat for her and she was so tired when we got home that all I was able to do was wipe her face clean before she fell right into bed.

Saturday morning, AK woke me with her usual, putting my glasses in my hand. We then headed straight into the bathroom so she could wash her hands and brush her teeth. She is such a clean kid!

We spent most of the day with the Mosers... hanging out by the pool on a beautiful sunny day. We had a good BBQ steak supper that night. While we were there, hanging out in the pool, AK counted to ten!!! What a surprise! I'm so glad Christie was there to hear it as I would have wondered if I'd imagined it otherwise! She did it again the next day so I know it wasn't a fluke :) I also noticed that she sings along with her ABC songs now.

We were up bright and early on Sunday morning... 545am! Crazy kid. Anna and Sofia came over for breakfast and play time. Sofia really enjoyed AK's big girl bed... we had two little monkeys jumping on the bed! We also took a short walk down to the duck pond.

We went to a housewarming party on Sunday night for friends who have moved in just around the corner from us. It was great fun :) one girl brought her puppy along and at one point, AK was chasing the puppy, then the puppy was chasing AK! It was pretty funny to see that. The kids had a great time playing together like they always do, and AK even ate half of a hot dog. Pretty good for a kid who usually turns her nose up at hot dogs.

AK let me sleep in until 7am on Monday... bliss... it was nice after all the playing and sun the past two days. It was rainy and dreary yesterday so we spent most of the morning just hanging out at home, then met Christie and Mack for lunch at Eats. After that we headed out to West Bay to have a visit with Priscilla and Luke. We don't know them very well and it was a lot of fun to get to know them better.

It's Weekend Time!

I've got about an hour left of work before I can head out and pick up AK from daycare. We are going to pop by the Mosers' tonight for supper - Mearl the housekeeper has made chicken, rice and beans for them.

Tomorrow, we'll hit up gymnastics, then the Mosers are going to look after AK so I can go to yoga at noon. I think we're heading back the Mosers for bbq steak that night.

Sunday, Anna and Sofia are going to come for breakfast and then we have a housewarming pool party. AK will have a great time hanging out with her friends.

Not sure yet what's up for Monday but it's a public holiday here so we can take it easy together. I don't have internet access at home yet so won't be updating at all. I will charge up the camera batteries and take loads of pictures so look forward to that on Tuesday! xo

Counting... one, two, three, four!

When AK and I were walking through the backyard the other night, I started counting the lamp-posts as we walked past them. I pointed at the first one and said "one". AK pointed ahead to the second one and said "two". She then pointed at the third and fourth ones and said "fee" and "fo"!

I checked at daycare and they are working on counting!!! What a smart cookie. xo

Trip to the Duck Pond

There is a duck pond a short walk down the street. The goal is to get AK to walk to the duck pond and back by herself. She is capable of it but doesn't like to walk sometimes!

DUCKS! This is after we fed them two pieces of bread. Note to self: two pieces of bread was not enough. A loaf of bread is more like what is necessary!


A turkey! Ha ha, no, it's really AK! She enjoyed the feeling of the wind blowing through her hair. She was busy quacking and pointing out the activity going on around us.


See the turtles in the water? They also eat the bread.


We followed this couple around for a while. The white one (male?) quacked and quacked and quacked. I think he wanted us to leave them alone. When we left, they were grooming each other. Uh huh.


This iguana is HUGE! There was another one there too but I wasn't close enough to get a good picture. They were both much larger than George, the iguana who hung out on my dock in Snug Harbour. This guy seemed a bit aggressive and didn't like it when we came too close to him so we stayed away.

Two stories about AK

• Yesterday morning, AK woke before I did. She got out of bed, walked around to the other side of the bedroom, got my eyeglasses from the bedside table, walked about around the bed, and woke me up by placing my glasses in my outstretched hand. Even at the tender age of not-quite-2-years-old, AK knows Mommy's day doesn't start until she has her glasses on!!!
• She is quite keen to brush her teeth and wash her hands. I've purchased a step-stool that is in the bathroom so she can stand on it to wash her hands and brush her teeth. I think she washed her hands three times and brushed her teeth twice this morning alone! She is also quite happy to be able to turn the bathroom light on and off. Unfortunately she also fell off the step-stool this morning. Oops. Bet she won't do that again though!
• She also loves bubbles in the tub. She is always asking for more soap to lather up with.

Oh, so that's three stories... guess you got a bonus one today. xo

All dressed up with nowhere to go :)

New shoes, a purse and a necklace make AK a happy girl!

Not quite used to wearing heels yet!

Happy Mother's Day!

Yummy Ritz breakfast!!! Sadly, the best part of breakfast (in Annabelle's opinion) was the boxed cereal. Chocolate mini pancakes are lost on this kid.
























All the mommies and babies - except for Katie, who was too interested in running to sit still!



















The three amigos checking out something in the fountain...



















AK enthusiastically giving Molly a hug that Molly doesn't seem too pleased about!


























Red Velvet cupcake to end the celebrations :) thanks to Christie and Mack for making them!

Friday Tidbits

• When I picked AK up from daycare the other day, she did the following in the space of about two minutes: laughed when the daycare ladies told me how she had just bitten herself (who knows why, she just put her arm in her mouth and bit, didn't even hurt herself, I don't think), pointed at a picture on the wall, said "rabbit" and then jumped while saying "hop hop hop", then when I asked her to say "bye bye", she said "no bye bye" and walked out the door without a backwards glance. What a goof.
• We went to play with Nicole, Katie and Chaz the other night. When we left, Chaz said "love you Paula". Way to melt my heart, big guy!
• AK squealed with delight when she saw Angella last night. I asked her to babysit so I could go to a 40th birthday celebration for a friend!
• I bought some mac and cheese from the deli at the grocery store. AK took a bite, gagged and spit it out. When I tasted it, I was tempted to do the same. The taste was fine but the texture was gross. Won't buy that again!
• AK is definitely scared by random things now. She saw a feather on the sidewalk last night, pointed at it, got closer, then backed away, crying. Who knows why?
• AK loves to hear the roosters crowing in our backyard. They are LOUD!
  
• Every morning, she hops out of bed, and brings me her soothers one by one (she sleeps with three - one for her mouth and one for each hand). If any of them have fallen under the bed, she looks under the bed and waits for me to come help her retrieve them.
• We read "The Hungry Little Caterpillar" last night. We hadn't read it for a while and I was happy to hear that AK was able to repeat all of the words from the book back to me, and even tell me what some of the fruits were without prompting! Very fun. I asked her to read the book to me and she "read" each page to me before turning the page. I will try to take a video of that next time.
• This kid LOVES juice boxes. Too bad her mommy is too mean to let her have them all the time. She also loves her vitamins, M&Ms and freezies.
  

Sneak peek from photo shoot

Great weekend!

On Friday night, Christie came over to Jenni and Kevin's to help me babysit Matthew as I had AK with me as well. Anna and Sofia came by as well. It was great to watch the kids play together. Matthew and AK both went to bed quite well, although Matthew did manage to sneak out of his room as I didn't close the door properly! Christie and I were able to enjoy a nice glass of wine together after all our hard work :) AK was awake most of the ride home but she went right back to bed as soon we got home. She is loving this big girl bed.

Saturday morning, AK and I did a Mother's Day photo shoot at a studio that was recommended to me. AK was quite shy at first but she warmed up after a while and I am hoping we got some great smile-y pictures. After that, we had gymnastics and she actually participated the way she is supposed to, which hasn't happened for a while! When we got home, I told her that I had to go to the washroom, then she'd have a snack and then have a nap. Well, when I got out of the washroom, she was already on her way to her bedroom, climbed right into bed and laid her head down. She had a wonderful nap - over 2 hours - which hasn't happened for a while.

After the nap, we went to get a few groceries and ran into our old nanny, Angella, at the grocery store. It is always nice to see her. We then came home and got ready for our BBQ! We had lots of company, and the kids had a great time running around, they got a bit wet in the pool, chased a rooster, played with the palm trees, ate lots of food! We bathed Molly, Matthew and AK together, then they were all asleep in no time at all. We watched a hockey game and just chatted.

Sunday was another busy day - we had company for brunch - two babies as well! It was a bit chaotic but the food was good and the company was great :) AK had another 2-hour nap while I visited with Tanya and Amilcar.

Last night, we headed over to Nicole's to play in the sprinkler with Katie and Chaz, and Jenni brought Matthew over too. It was fun to watch the kids play and get wet. I've never heard so many giggles and seen so many smiles! Nicole had a lasagna in the oven for supper, which was yummy. We all ate it up.

The kids amaze me - they are so smart and so talkative now, and they are turning into copycats too, which is not so great when one misbehaves and the others follow suit :) discipline is starting to become more important and I have to say that's not my strong suit. I will learn - but AK is a very easy-going kid, although I am expecting her to become more strong-willed and disobedient!

AK was so tired out from playing last night that she slept until 730am! She was in a great mood when she got up and was happy to head off to daycare. I am tired today but happy for such a wonderful weekend. xo

ps - forgot how great AK was eating this weekend. She was all over the fruit - even the melon which she doesn't normally like. She would sit for a good 45 minutes, eating more and more and more. She even ate about 3/4 of a banana this morning, which is a lot for her!