Shopping for toys after Christmas

Today we took Max and Darwyn to the store to choose the toys they want to buy with the money they received for Christmas from Uncle Don and Aunt Mel.  Please pause for a moment to reflect on what it's like shopping for toys with a two-year-old and a four-year-old.  Our experience went very well.  Each kid eventually settled on a clear winner.  As I write, the kids have been playing with their toys ever since we returned from the store.  Photographic evidence below.  More pics here.  Thanks Don and Mel!

Darwyn chose a play dough Rapunzel

Max chose a Star Wars (TM) Lego (TM) toy.  Observe the deer-in-headlights expression..

Max sneaked in a chance to enjoy Darwyn's toy, too.

Leaky Feet

Darwyn, Max and I had just finished watching a movie together, curled up in my bedroom under the covers.  As soon as the movie ended Max turned to me and declared with some alarm, "Mom!  My feet are leaking!"

I was obviously confused.  "What do you mean your feet are....leaking?  Are they bleeding?"

"No, but they are wet."  Max brought them out from the covers and touched them with his hand to demonstrate.  His hand came away from his clammy foot with a little sweat on it.   He was absolutely right....his feet were leaking :)

[Edit by Gus: He's definitely mine.]

[Edit by Greta: Just in case it wasn't obvious until now.]

It's a wrench that can also be a gun

Today for the first time Max made a tool out of lego that is not a gun.

It's a wrench, but it can also be a gun.  Also, it looks like an uppercase "F".

Max: "Dad, look what I made!"
Dad: Rolls eyes, expecting another gun.  Then in a bored voice:  "What is it?"
Max: "It's a wrench!"
Dad: Startled, perks up, puts on a great show of interest:  "Really?  How does it work?  How did you make it?  What do you use it for?  Tell me all about it!"  etc.
Max: Eagerly answers a couple questions.  Then:  "...and it can also be a gun!  Pshew! Pshew!"
Dad: Grabs the nearest pointed object and jams it directly into an eye socket.

To be fair, Max makes many exotic creations out of lego: construction sites, cities, trains, trucks.  But if it's handheld then it's invariably a gun.  Also, the story is funny and the only exaggeration is me poking out an eye.

Naming Number Three

So for those of you who have not already heard, we are expecting a third baby in late May.  We have only just told the kids and we don't yet know whether the baby is a girl or a boy.  Both kids are very excited, especially Darwyn, who has taken to announcing to anyone who will listen that "mommy has a very small baby in her tummy".  She seems especially perplexed by the fact that my belly is not huge like all the other mummies she has met with babies in their tummies.  She often stares at it suspiciously and then asks me to confirm once again that there really is a baby in there.  It is quite cute.

In other news, Gus has recently been reading lots of 'Calvin and Hobbes' to the kids.  Gus love 'Calvin and Hobbes' and Max has also taken to the more "lower brow" parts of the humor.  Darwyn cares for the series less, but will often listen just to be part of things.  One of the effect of all this 'Calvin and Hobbes' has been to renew Gus's affection for the name Calvin.  He would like nothing better than to name the baby Calvin should it be a boy.

Greta: I don't mind the name Calvin, but I don't really like Calvinism.  It's like giving your kid a name that means "fundamentally horrible in nature".

Gus:  Yes but we aren't naming him after Calvinism, we are naming him after Calvin in 'Calvin and Hobbes'

Greta:  Yes...who was named after Calvinism.

We asked Max....

Greta:  What do you think Max?  Do you think Calvin would be a nice name for the baby if it is a boy?

Max: YES!  And if its a tiger, we can name it Hobbes!

I'm willing to concede on that one....

Happy Halloween

Halloween was lots of fun this year.  On Monday we got together with our friends Rachel and Robin and their two kids, Elliot and Emily, to do some pumpkin carving.  When we began, Gus sighed and said "every year my pumpkin face looks like crap.  Every year I tell myself that I will come up with a really cool design ahead of time next year, and I never do it".   Fortunately, Gus let the kids design our pumpkin, so he didn't need to worry.  They drew the face with markers and he cut it out.  Part way through struggling with his carving knife Gus had the bright idea that he could just use his favorite hole cutting set to cut out the pumpkin.  He wanted me to go get two more pumpkins so he can carve them with power tools.  He kept trying to convince me that "the kids would love it."   As it was, the kids loved their old fashioned pumpkin even with the absence of motors.  They attacked the pumpkin with butter knives, covering it with mini lacerations.  Then they coloured in their lacerations with a purple marker.  The final effect was....creative.  I said to Gus later, "well honey, the pumpkin face leaves something to be desired, but I'm really glad you let the kids design it."  Gus objected, "what are you talking about!  That is my best work!"  Anyway, you can see our pumpkin in the video at the end.  It is a very endearing little pumpkin.

Later in the week Max visited the pumpkin farm with school.  He brought home a tiny little pumpkin and Gus seized it to use with his hole cutting set.  The end result was quite cute.  Max made the hat.

Max spent the whole week looking forward to his last day of outdoor school, which just happened to fall on Oct. 31st.  Max loves outdoor school at the worst of times, but this day was going to be particular fun because they were going to have a Halloween party, outdoor style.  Unfortunately, Thursday night Max woke up vomiting.  He vomited again Friday morning and I just couldn't take him to outdoor school in good conscience.  Max was heart broken and I felt terrible.

Fortunately, Max was back in peak form by the evening and he and Darwyn could barely contain their excitement.  Max dressed up as a pirate and Darwyn as a fairy.  They raced from house to house.  At each door they would yell "trick or treat!" and then receive far more candy then is good for a child.  Afterwards I would prompt "what do you say guys?"  and they would stare blankly and then look back at the person who had just given them candy, hold up their bag again and say "trick or treat?"  Sigh....eventually we got the hang of it.  Darwyn would begin to say trick or treat and then Max would whisper out the side of this mouth "no the other one" at which point she would switch mid sentence to thank you with a result something like "trick or thank you!"

At a couple of houses the kids were prompted to do tricks.  Darwyn did a lovely fairy dance and Max pulled out a bunch of sword tricks.  Although rather stereotypical, both were quite endearing.  Part way through the night Max lost his sword and then his act became a little more perplexing.   We only did a short circuit, but by the end of it the kids were loaded with candy and I'm already trying to figure out how to keep them from eating it all.  I remember my sisters offering their kids the option of trading in candy for favorite activities or toys.  I may need to do the same thing....

Anyway, all in all a successful Halloween. You can see more photos here.

Newest Block Buster Release

Tune in for our newest block buster release....on his two hundredth reading of Willa the Wonderful, daddy can stand it no longer.  Hoping for some variety he adds in a twist to the usual story, with disastrous results.

Out of the mouth of babes

Everyday the kids say something funny.  In most cases, I forget to write these down, but I finally collected a few vignettes.  I apologize in advance for all the stories centered around the bathroom....

1) At an Ultimate game Darwyn declared that she had to go pee.  I carted Darwyn on my hip to the port-a-potty, a little worried that she wouldn't want to use it.  I need not have worried.  When we got there Darwyn looked at it with interest and excitement.  She kept staring between her legs into the disgusting chemical tank and declaring "Mommy, this is a muddy potty!"  I decided not to set her straight (although Max did later when he heard the story).

2) Darwyn came careening into the kitchen one day, slipped and did a spectacular fall on the tile floor.  Whimpering a little she righted herself and said, "well, that wasn't too bright".

3) It was Canada day and we had dragged our kids out to the middle of a crowded field to watch the fireworks.  Darwyn had been doing well with her potty training, but tended to take it upon herself to use the great outdoors whenever she pleased.  Suddenly, surrounded by the crowd, she pulled down her underwear and squatted in the middle of the field.  He face contorted with effort as I stared in shock.  Then she stood up with a huge smile and declared "just farts!"

4) A baby sitter had come over to watch the kids for the evening.  She noticed the kids huge dollhouse and said "Oh wow Max!  Is that dollhouse yours?"  Max looked at her as though she was missing a few brain cells.  "No....I'm too big to fit in there."

5) Max was doing his usual rough housing on the couch.  He did some sort of karate move and wound up landing on Anne.  Anne started to protest and Max proclaimed "I'm sorry I hit you Annie, but you were in the wrong spot!"

6) Darwyn was unusually grumpy at breakfast and I said "Geez Darwyn, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?"  Of course, the kids had never heard this expression and wanted to know what it meant.  I explained that there were a number of expressions we used when people were grumpy.  There favorite was "Who peed in your cereal?"  Max decided it would be fun to make up a new expression.  "I've got one mom!  'Geez, who chopped off your head?'....'cause that would make you grumpy, right mom?"

7) Darwyn was eating her meal at the river and spilled a little food on her lap.  She sighed audibly and said to herself "Oh Dar Dar..."

8) When asked her name Darwyn always replies "Darwyn Doodle."