Oliver's Favourite Things

Oliver is starting to branch out and become a fan of so many things, and he's not afraid to tell you what they are! Like many kids his age (and a certain big sister!), the little dude adores ice cream. He went out last weekend for his first DQ visit of the spring and clearly enjoyed himself. You will notice that he also sported his favourite shirt that day, basic white but with a giant Cookie Monster on the front. Ask him who is on his shirt and he will tell you with gusto "Cookie....MONSTER!!!!!"

But it's not all clothing and sweet treats for this guy. He is also very close to his animals. He has quite the collection of Schleich animals from his many trips to Chapters and Tiggywinkles. Those trips always start with the choo-choo table but end with a new animal for his menagerie. He began with wild animals from Africa but has broadened his interest to North American species like the moose and even into the water with sharks and dolphins. We had to order him a whale tonight due to his recent love of Julia Donaldson's The Snail and the Whale.

Oliver's Zoo - not sure all these animals would really get along together!

He has to bring at least one or more of these animals with him to school every morning, with only one missing turtle so far as a casualty. Who knows what classmate grabbed hold of it when Oliver let down his guard!

Lastly, the outdoors...it's a rare night when Oliver doesn't want to be outside, and luckily the weather is starting to cooperate. He will often take the baby for a walk or go strolling along the sidewalk solo (although he seems to prefer the road, like most kids that want to stress out their parents), last night he even took out his tricycle. The good news is he will be outdoors more and more as the days progress, Nanny Caitlin will be back soon and will have the two kids all over this fair city. Parks and playgrounds, be ready!

Happy Birthday to Gran!

Normally we would be sending birthday wishes East to Halifax but we are lucky to have her in our home province for her birthday this time around. The four of us are happy to bestow very special happy birthday greetings to Gran! We love you and we hope you are having a great time visiting family in Toronto on your big day. It's timed so well every year: raise a glass and celebrate your special day, then head south for relaxation in the Florida sunshine. The beach is waiting for you and we look forward to joining you there soon. Happy travels and happy birthday, Gran!

Long May You Run

Oliver has been a running machine of late. Whether upstairs or downstairs, he will often turn to Mom or Dad, say "I'm running!", and start taking off for the other side of the room immediately. Once he gets there, he runs back to his original position, waits for you to say "Ready Set Go!" and he is off to the races again. He even changes it up from time to time, if you get to see his "sideways walk" in person you will double over with laughter, or even his newest skill of walking backwards. How the boy avoids running into things when going forwards or backwards is astounding. He has this knack of avoiding couches, tables, even sisters at the last possible second. Oliver also has taken a liking to sticking his arms out while running, referring to himself as an airplane. (He will be so thrilled to ride on one in just a few short weeks.) Last but not least, if you ask him, he will show you his spins and, if you're really lucky, his jumps. It's priceless to see someone jump without actually leaving their feet. Needless to say, Oliver is developing quite the personality and to say he is entertaining is certainly an understatement. Look out, USA, Oliver is taking his show to the Sunshine State soon! Athletic recruiters and talent scouts be ready!

Flight Oliver is cleared for takeoff

Stopping to enjoy a good read with big sister

Post-dinner exercise regimen

Another break to work on counting skills and truck knowledge

Bye bye, folks! Thanks for coming!

BFFs

Anyone that has a four and a two year old will tell you that it can be challenging at times. Things are no different around here. We're not going to claim that Isabelle and Oliver don't have disagreements (or maybe battles...) once in a while. But in reality it could be much worse. To no one's surprise, Isabelle has settled into a great big sister to little Oliver. Whenever she is practicing her letters, she writes the same words, Isabelle, Oliver, Mom, Dad. These words are all over any artwork she brings home from school. Tonight she went through one of her bags of art from school for the past month and started doling it out. Most of her pictures or paintings she wanted to give to her little brother. Even though she isn't feeling 100% the past few days, she is always looking out for Oliver, involving him in games and running wild down the halls with him. 

Oliver adores his sister, she is the first thing on his mind when he wakes up in the morning. When she didn't come into school with him yesterday, he kept saying "Belle, Belle, Belle?", wondering where his schoolmate was. Two years is a big gap when they are so young but we are lucky to have two kids that can reach a common ground. I'm sure now that this has been written we will be jinxed and they will stage World War III tomorrow but even if it does happen, they will get past it and remain best buds. They will always have a special bond and be able to enjoy things as brother and sister, and a big part of this will be their age proximity. Ups and downs are surely in our future but we like our chances with these two awesome kids. 

Out for a Stroll

Even though the temperatures haven't skyrocketed around here, we have still had some nice days over the past week, enough so that Oliver is desperate to take a walk every night. After dinner, he grabs his toy stroller and heads for the front door saying, "Walk! Walk!". He loves to push the baby up and down the street, stopping to check out birds, airplanes, neighbourhood kids playing hockey, puppy dogs, whatever he finds interesting. He sure enjoys his time outdoors, this kid. Saturday night his Mom and Dad had date night and he was not too thrilled to see our car pull away. He was quickly consoled when Nanny Caitlin suggested they go outside. The tears disappeared immediately as he followed Isabelle on her maiden bike ride of 2011. This summer will be a blast every night of the week, as one of our favourite pastime is a walk along the canal before bathtime, feeding ducks and enjoying the tulip beds. Let's hope winter doesn't come back and spoil our nightly fun, but it doesn't really matter, sunny Florida is in our sights!

Gymnastics lessons were money well spent!

Run wild, dapper dude!

Curling Up With a Good Book

It's been really busy times around here and we can't wait to have a vacation. March is such an up and down month in Ottawa; we go from plus 10 to minus 10 from day to day, teasing us with a taste of the weather just around the corner before jolting us back to reality. We even had snow yesterday, causing Dad to get the shovels out of storage in the garage! Isabelle and Oliver have been enjoying the more frequent sunshine, but today we headed back to sub-zero temperatures and we will hover around here for the week. So on a cold weeknight it was best to cozy up with The Gruffalo before heading off the bed...

Speed Demon

If you are looking for a good workout, bring Oliver to Chapters and introduce him to one of the plasma cars they have for kids to try. You might not see him again. If you do, he will be blurred like the photo you see below. The boy is like the Tasmanian Devil when he gets a hold of one of these vehicles. The first time we experienced his love for these cars was a couple of months ago. We were checking out books in the kid's section, then suddenly this car blows past us and all we saw was blonde hair out of the corner of our eye. Oliver was on the loose! He loves cars and good luck getting him off this thing when it's time to go home. The good news is warm weather is on the way and we have one of these very cars in our garage. Canal walkers, look out, Oliver is coming through!

Night at the Museum

Tonight seemed like a perfect night to check out the recently-renovated Museum of Nature, a place we last visited to celebrate the marriage of Matt and Rhiannon last October. We have many fond memories of that night but tonight we got to make our way through the various exhibits, and with two kids that love animals, we couldn't be in a better place. Oliver was slow to get started in the dinosaur room; we're not sure if he realized how big these things actually are in person after playing with the miniature ones he got from Santa! He warmed up once we got to see the fish and the animals on the second floor, however, and was thrilled to see some of his all-time favorites. Isabelle was happy to play the role of tour guide, showing her little brother from one exhibit to the next. The two little ones had a blast together and we are sure to back again soon. Oliver has been talking about the huge moose he saw all night long, and will surely share the news with all his classmates tomorrow morning. We are all looking forward to a fun weekend with springtime temperatures and lots on the agenda as always. Hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day, Isabelle has been fascinated with the concept of green beer ever since she heard of its existence. Hold on kiddo, many March 17ths will come and go before you get to try it out!

Playing it nonchalant is easy when it's not real!

Ship's hard working crew

I see a bunny rabbit!

Hanging out with the grizzlies

 Pop goes Isabelle!

Oliver traces back his Manitoba roots

Dance Fever

On Saturday, Isabelle finished off her set of winter dance lessons at her favourite teacher Kailena's home studio. She had so much fun each and every week and showed tremendous progress as well. From the arabesque to the pirouette, she has a working knowledge of a variety of dance moves. She learned more than enough to keep her interested in more lessons, while also gaining an appreciation of what she saw last year at The Nutcracker. Above all else, she enjoyed the weekly trip to see Kailena and her best pals Kaitlyn and Brooklyn, who were also enrolled. The girls got the chance to meet up every week, catch up on what's new and learn some dance steps too. For now, we are taking a little break from lessons until we return from our vacation, but we expect that Isabelle will be back in her ballet shoes soon enough. She loves a stage and to put on performances, just ask her and she'll show you!

At the last class, Isabelle and her classmates worked with their teacher to choreograph a mini-recital for the parents. Here is the result of their hard work. Always a treat to see this little ones dance their hearts out, they are so focused on the task at hand!

Making a Splash

It's a springtime rite of passage around here, one that Isabelle partakes in year after year. This time around she has Oliver the willing apprentice, a quick study who is ready to be shown the ropes. The recent warm weather combined with rain/snow mixed precipitation has created a perfect playground for puddle jumpers. Isabelle and Oliver set out to get soaked yesterday afternoon and found many puddles just waiting to be disturbed. Isabelle is a wily veteran, passing by some early ones because she knew bigger ones were ahead. Oliver started out gingerly, not quite knowing what was in store for him, but once he realized he could jump, run and splash as much as he wanted, he was all in. They had an awesome time goofing around and generally just making a big mess. Within minutes their snow pants were sopping wet and, in Oliver's case, weighed about as much as he does. Needless to say, they were not deterred in the least. They pressed on in search of deeper water. If only Oliver could master the jumping part! He gets the motion right, bends his knees, moves his body, but his feet stay pretty much anchored to the ground.  You'd be lucky to slide a piece of paper under him. So if he plans on a basketball career, he will need to pull up his socks. For now, he only cares about having fun, and with his sister leading the way he is having a grand old time. Wait until the spring hits, we'll be lucky to keep up with these two!

It's OK, Oliver. Just run right through it!

Off to the races

Thanks, sis, now I got the hang of it!

Now I remember how much fun this was...

I can't see my feet!

Are you talking to me? I'm busy.

That was a blast! Can we go again tomorrow?

Fast Forward

Crazy, but doesn't it seem like we could take this exact same picture of Oliver 14 years from now? Don't grow up too fast, kiddo!

Cutest snowboarding punk ever

2 minutes for high sticking, bud!

Honey, I shrunk the kid!

Best buds share a hug

Magical Mickey

To comfort the blow of Grandpa heading back to Halifax, Isabelle and Oliver were told they were getting a special treat Wednesday night. So after they were picked up at school, they discovered that we weren't headed home, we were heading down the highway. Once we pulled into the parking lot at Scotiabank Place, Isabelle figured something was up. "Hey, this is the place where they had Disney on Ice!" We parked and were walking in when Isabelle still wondered why we were there, she asked if we were seeing Katy Perry. She finally figured it out and she was thrilled. Oliver, on the other hand, was also happy but just kept saying "Gabba! Gabba!", clearly remembering this place from when we were here back in September. When we took our seats, Oliver saw the big ice surface and said "Hockey! Hockey!". Guess again, bud. The show began and they were both riveted to their seats from start to finish. The kids totally forgot about their giant box of popcorn and focused on the skaters. The show had something for everyone. Oliver loved the animals from The Lion King, Isabelle revisited her beloved Princess Ariel, and even Mom and Dad appreciated the Elvis tunes of Lilo and Stitch. The show came to a climax with a full telling of the story of Peter Pan, including a gliding pirate ship and an enormous crocodile that Oliver just LOVED! For a little guy like him to sit still for close to 2 hours was amazing. We all had an awesome night out, although capped by a drive home in blowing snow with two weary kids that were a bit spaced out from all the excitement. Nevertheless, we made it home safely and Isabelle and Oliver nodded off quickly. Isabelle woke the next morning asking to go back and see it again. Oh, will the treats ever stop around here?

Mommy and Isabelle can't wait for the show to start

Oliver hams it up for the camera

Dude, don't eat our tickets!

Eric and Ariel or Virtue and Moir?

Ariel on frozen water, instead of under the sea

Yo ho ho! A pirate's life for me!

Tink zips around with her pixie dust

Captain Hook's arch-nemesis makes an appearance

Isabelle, eyes still fixed on the ice surface, enjoys her brand new Dinglehopper Ariel brush