Christmas-ing continues!

As this may be our last sunny weekend before the year ends, we thought we would take advantage. Since Matthew's class went on a bus for their most recent fieldtrip, Matthew's been asking to go on the bus again. We woke early on Saturday (again!) as it seems that Matthew likes sleeping in on the wrong days! Arghhhh!!! We caught the bus at Oakridge and rode it to the Cambie & Broadway train station. He was very excited about being on the bus. He said "Hello Bus Driver" when we hopped on (he even said thanks when we left!) He was looking out the window and around on the bus. He's been on the train now a few times but it doesn't seem to get old for him. Especially this time, he got to stand and hold the rail! He was trying out his balance. He stood without holding the rail and had to shift his weight. It was cute to watch and he kept his balance well. The passengers seemed to have gotten a kick out of this little show! We rode the seabus to grab lunch at the Quay again. We napped him late, around 2pm. Although it was late, it kept saying "no sleep". But once he got set up, he went out like a light. So much for listening to a 2 year old! We shopped a bit around downtown. Holt's was having a "Black Friday" sale - trouble! Then when he woke, we trained it to the Yaletown Candy Lane event in search for Santa. Before we went on this outing, I had showed him the previous years of photos with Santa. I told him that we will be looking for him and for him to think about what he wants when Santa asks him. So when we got to Yaletown, it was a zoo! We finally found the line for Santa, but it seemed to have wrapped around the block and couldn't even get a view of the jolly man so we trained it back to Oakridge where we knew the line couldn't be as long. Great call! We only waited for one other family to get theirs done and then it was our turn. Just as we were getting called for our turn, they had to reload the film. So we patiently waited with a good view of Santa. Santa was waving to Matthew and he was waving back. I wished I could know what Matthew was thinking! Then we settled in on Santa's lap and his chair. Santa asked Matthew what he wanted and Matthew responded with a straight face "May I have trains please?" Santa responded that he will work hard on it and that he's a big fan of trains himself. Then snap, snap, snap...I think the photographer must have taken 20 shots of us because the Elf was having lots of trouble getting Matthew to smile. She even tried to use a dust feather to tickle him but Matthew only swatted it away! This was very, VERY serious business for him!

it's ALREADY beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Growing up, Christmas was by far my favourite time of the year. So what better way then to make my favourite pastime Matthew's?!?! It's been a tradition of mine (and luckily easily adapted to James') that we start decorating during the November long weekend. Usually I try to wait until the day after Remembrance day, but this year we did it on the day of. So first, the tree went up, a Gingerbread house was made, tacky decorations up everywhere possible and voila - it's Christmas! Potty update: Matthew's been doing so well. He hasn't had an accident in a very long time. It seems like he's only had a couple since the weekend we trained. Last week, Matthew's class took the bus to Metrotown as buses are the big interest currently with his classmates. So the teachers decided to make it a learning experience. The main purpose was to ride the bus, but then they added a shopping component to it as well. They made a shopping list and took it to T&T supermarket. As they couldn't cart everything back that was on the list, they just bought Travis' suggestion of buns - light and delicious, great choice! The shopping list was funny. There was ice-cream, chips, buns, carrots, books...on the list. Matthew's suggestion was soup. Apparently Matthew and the gang had fun pushing the soup cans so nicely displayed into the shelf and destroying the displays. The 6 six teachers (volunteers included) quickly escorted them to a different aisle! The teachers did find everything on the list and the child who suggested the item got to pose with it. So the class was walking back to school from the bus stop when Matthew was saying "no oh oh bus" (no pee accident on the bus), "no oh oh shopping" (no pee accident in the mall). He kept repeating these two phrases and the teacher closes to him said, "Yes, you are doing so well. We are almost back at school". She clearly knew that Matthew needed to go. All his teachers were proud of him for being able to control his pee and knew it was coming! Just a minute away from the school, going down the steps before crossing the street, Matthew saids "oh oh down stairs!" (peeing right now while going down the stairs!!!) So Matthew had an accident for the first time in a very long time. Since the odds were against him, the teachers were so proud (as well as me!) that he almost made it through the whole fieldtrip without an accident. Oh well, at least it was only pee!

first homework assignment

Now that it's November, the school curriculum is in full swing. Matthew's class consist of 14 other friends who share the 12 full time spaces in his split baby/JK1 class. Since July, Matthew was joined by 6 new babies sharing 4 full time spaces. I was very in favour of the split as I knew Matthew (so selfish!) would learn empathy towards the young, the understanding that we need to give more time for the younger ones and just learn that every one is different and it didn't matter of age. In my opinion, this is the only split class/age that I prefer. I won't go into much detail (since it's not about Matthew and this is now Matthew's blog) but I feel that children should not skip ahead just because one stage of development surpasses another; that I feel every developmental stage should be somewhat equal before one can move on. Anyway, back to Matthew. So for the reading curriculum, one homework component is that each classmate gets to bring home a stuffed, pack back teddy bear with a journal. The point of this assignment is for the parent to document a weekend long events and then the student who had the turn gets to "show" the class what they had done. This bear's name is Georgie. Matthew had the first turn. The teachers wanted us to set the standards for all other entries...the pressures on! Matthew had his first sleepover weekend! We brought Georgie home on the Thursday before the November long weekend. (We've been taking Fridays off for Matthew's cooking class). So the adventure begins. When we first introduced

Georgie to Grandma, she kept calling him George. So Matthew had to keep correcting her - "No George. It's Georgie!" We ate dinner with Georgie (since Matthew likes to put his feet up on the table while he eats and has been learning "feet down", he didn't quite comprehend that Georgie's legs were too short to reach the bottom of the chair and kept telling Georgie "feet down!"). Then we had a bath with Georgie (well, Matthew did and Georgie watched). It was then bed time and Georgie just posed with Matthew and then he was booted out of the bed. The next day we went to cooking class, then took the skytrain to downtown, the seabus to Lonsdale Quay (yum yum steamed clams!), back to downtown and skytrain to our car. The next day, again we took the skytrain downtown with Grandma, Georgie, Matthew and I and then dinner with at the Keg with the whole family (Uncle Calvin, Auntie Kim and cousin Clayton and Cole as well). We had time before bed so we played peek a boo with Georgie before bed. The next day we met up with Connor. The last day with Georgie, we took him on the Metrotown train and then had dinner at home with the home family again. What an exhausting weekend and pictures to prove it!

more pics

potty update

I've been meaning to post an update on our potty training situation a couple weeks ago but then life got in the way! Work has been extremely busy and has even led into most nights with Kindergarten seminars, parent workshops, a drama work shop, PAC meetings... Phew, so glad that last week was over as I was just about getting sick. Luckily the bug only lasted that night as I really had no time to get sick. With potty training in full swing, my parents moving in, my aunt and uncle from out of town were flying in for the weekend for Baby Cole's "moon-yoot", there was just no time for any down time. So, what have we been up to since the beginning of the month...we went ice-skating, we invited Connor and Jacob along with their parents for a breakfast and then a baking cookie activity. It went as well as can be for an adult led activity for toddlers. All three boys had different interest in the process; Connor liked looking at the cookies in the oven, Jacob seemed to enjoy eating the uncooked dough, and Matthew just liked to eat the icing and the cooked cookie! Can't wait for the next activity! Then we were off to the Pumpkin Patch with the whole school. We got lucky as it had rained heavily the night before but there was no evidence of it the day after when we were picking out our pumpkins. Matthew was uber cute when we placed his empty bag down on the ground. We told him to pick one pumpkin and put it in the bag. He must have chosen four small pumpkins that were around the bag and thought it was clean up time! This weekend we carved one of the pumpkins. Matthew was not impressed with getting the seeds and gunk out. I asked "what should we name him" and Matthew replied "Cheese!" So "Cheese" the pumpkin it is! I think it's because of his great big smile - great carving skills, daddy! The cooking class that I signed up for started this past Friday. James had the day off too so we made it a family day. The class made potato cheese muffins infused with eggs. The kids took turns beating the eggs and mixing the ingredients together. Matthew tried twice to eat what was being mixed when it was his turn to mix but fortunately daddy was on the ball to stop him in time! Then my aunt and uncle came in that night but Matthew had already gone to sleep and wouldn't meet them till morning. Matthew slept in! I actually woke up naturally before he did! What a great sleep! We all went for dim sum and met up with my other aunt and uncle and cousin Lana (along with her hubby and two kids) at Kirin (City Square one). We went there because there was trick or treating in the stores starting at noon so it was perfect timing after filling our bellies with greasy chinese food! We bumped into Jen, John, and Jacob there, as they had the same idea. Too bad we didn't stay longer as we missed them and didn't get a photo op with the two boys. We had to go home to nap him as we had Baby Cole's moon dinner that night. Matthew had a nice long nap and was ready to party and he did till 9pm! He was super awesome all through dinner and afterwards. He ate lots and partied hard. My Uncle Roger took a picture of him pretending to smoke a cigar. It was pretty cute but wrong at the same time! He's starting to understand how to entertain people. If he gets a positive reaction from you from what he's doing, he pauses and does it again and again until the reaction from you dies down. Pretty darn cute! So the potty training update: I have to admit that I'm pleasantly surprised how great and quick it's been going. He barely has accidents at home and at school. He's still learning to push his penis down when he goes. When we were first training him, whenever we were out he would sometimes have an accident. Now, it's getting better. At first he was scared of public toilets especially the ones with automatic flushers. Now he's gotten more comfortable with them and will go and sometimes will ask to go. I think in the next month it will go even better where he'll start telling us he needs to go when we're out instead of us reminding him. Like at home, he either tells us he needs to go or he just goes. Matthew's phrase of the month is: "Owie, owie. I need a band-aid!". He keeps showing me this tiny little speck that could be mistaken for a mole and saids he needs a band-aid. His new obsession is dump trucks. He still loves his trains but when we're in the car or about to get in, he'll ask for dump trucks and get super excited if he spots one.

Stepping stone - potty training weekend!

So I have been feeling tremendously guilty for deciding to travel to Disneyland with my family back in April for a while. Although it was one of the best vacay by far,and I will always be fond of it, there was something that should have been done instead... Matthew was about 19 months when we went. He was showing sure signs of interest to potty training. Ignoring my instincts, we went ahead with the vacation anyway. Besides, it would have been a totally waste if we didn't go, so I shouldn't feel guilty, right? Well, this past Turkey long weekend I sure paid the price for it! I have been meaning to dedicate a weekend at home but have been putting it off for some time as the weather's been super gorgeous. But since Thursday and Friday, Matthew had peed a total of 3 times at school so I had no choice to ignore the sign this time. Since about 18 months, Matthew had an interest in using the potty. But these days he could care less since it's become habitual to go in his diaper. OMG, I was not expecting it to be this tiring and wet! My plan was to take the boot camp approach: lock ourselves indoors, feed him salty goodness and load him up with liquids. My plan didn't include accidents after accidents after accidents... It sure was discouraging! He had woken up by 8 Saturday morning and by noon, he had already 8 accidents! Yep, you read it right, a big whooping 8! I had the portable potty set up in the living room for easy access and he was reminded to visit the potty every 30 minutes. Sure enough, every 30 minutes he sat, and as soon as he pulled up his undies the pee drenched down his leg to form a nice size puddle for mommy to clean. No matter how long he sat on the potty, it was always guaranteed that he'd pee right after. It took about 15 minutes to clean up each time and wash him up just to have this whole routine reset itself. The second day was better. He made a pee when he got up (his diaper was pretty full already) and then didn't make a pee or have an accident for several hours. At this time, I was a bit worried as his pull-up was dry. We had gone to Confederation Park for Aydin's birthday party. Eventually half way through the party, he had peed in the pull up. We did try on the potty right when we got there and right when we left. He didn't pee all the way until we got home and had one before his nap. The third day by far was the best. He was making it to the potty on time and doing his business. It's cute too because he'll say "oh o" if he pees on the floor and "no oh o" if he makes it to the potty on time. We originally decided to reward him with a train set. So we got tracks and individual trains and the idea was to give it to him after so many pees. But now I've changed my mind. We do of course give him lots of positive reinforcement but my view is that he's not asking for trains, so why reward him when there's no connection anyway? Plus, when would you stop? So now Matthew has a train set to play with for being Matthew :) It's quite shocking how strong his love for trains is recently. So this figure 8 train set has been his favourite for the last few days. I can't believe my two year old has this long of an attention span for one thing! When we came home today from school, after of course his daily ritual of washing his hands and stuff, he played with the train set until dinner. That was like over an hour! Then after dinner he played with it until bath time. Day one of potty training at school was a huge bust. I know I shouldn't put too much emphasis and I know that it's not an overnight concept. He went through all 4 pairs of changes that I brought to school. The second day was better as it was only three. Lots of laundry the last few days! The Friday before this wet weekend started, we went to the Stanley Park Halloween Train ride. Matthew had tons of fun and really enjoyed it compared to last year. Last year, he was super scared and whined almost the whole ride. This year, he was looking left and right and pointing at things. I'm surprised he didn't suffer from whip lash! We also bought him a bag of popcorn which he wouldn't let go until the last kernel was in his tummy! He ate tons: his own dinner, the bag of popcorn, then we went to a Mexican restaurant on Denman and he had some of daddy's rice, mommy's soup and tons of chips. Yum yum! Auntie Christine has some serious competition. She better keep her eye on her popcorn!

Life after two...years that is!

We think Matthew enjoyed turning two. It's been great so far. I wouldn't say the temper tantrums are more than before. We've been working with Matthew to use his words instead of getting himself worked up...still a work in progress! His language skills have vastly improved. He can string words together (So many cars! Xennie, Lam Lam and Cindy Lou mad! - he reports to me when his teachers discipline him at school!)and actually have a conversation with you once in a long while! Just the other day, daddy asked Matthew to brush his teeth. Matthew's reply was a "no.". Dad asked "why not?" and our 2 year old's response was "I'm eating bunnies!" Duh, daddy! Just incredible! His comprehension is building as well and it's so amazing to see with my very own. I've seen these milestones with many other children before but seeing it with my very own, it's just out of this world! So Matthew knows he's only allowed to suck his thumb when he's sleeping. James and Po-Po are very strict with not allowing this in the car where I'm a little more lenient and the little guy sure knows I'm the more easy one on this one! But since daddy doesn't demand many things, I thought I would comply as well. So one day we were driving home from school and I looked back to Matthew. Indeed he had his wee little thumb in his mouth and he was sucking away. At the stop light, I turned around again to see that it was still in his mouth and I said to him "Matthew, thumb out please". He turned to me with his thumb still in his mouth, "I'm sleeping!" and then he closed his eyes!!! Holy cow, I almost stopped the car to give him a giant squeeze for being so incredibly cute and smart for putting the two together! So now, whenever I turn around to see if he has his thumb in his mouth and he sees me look at him, he'll automatically close his eyes and pretend he's sleeping! It'll just be our little secret! This weekend, we enjoyed a very fun and tiring family filled day. First we parked at Metrotown, then skytrained to Science World to meet up with Connor and his family. My cousin got us this awesome coupon which allowed up to 5 adults admission. This coupon was worth over $100 and we only paid $15 for it! I'm hoping to find a good deal to somehow get a family membership to Science World (and the aquarium!) We think Matthew enjoyed his time there. We were there just after 10am and left just before 1pm. There was so much to do and we only visited two sections. I love how hands on things are at Science World. I definitely will go back for a visit with Matthew. Then we sky trained to to sea bus terminal to go to the North Shore. There, we ate at my favourite seafood place (Screaming Mimi's). Before that, we walked up Lonsdale to pick up a pull pork sandwich. Apparently this place was famous for it based on James' research. He enjoyed it and felt sick after cause he ate too much! Then we sea bused it back to downtown to shop around. After that we just went back to Metrotown. What an exhausting day! But I think because we did so much for Matthew, I really, really enjoyed my weekend. I think James did too but he desperately wanted a nap before dinner! Then last night, we invited my whole family over for dinner. Uncle Fat Bear was in town (so cute to hear Matthew calling him that in Chinese!!!) Matthew seems to really enjoy people coming over as he goes crazy and is extra happy running around. Our place is coming along. We finally have a tv now! I haven't watched anything yet and probably won't until next Monday when my shows start again. It has been more weird to have a TV after two months of not having one than having one! It definitely feels more like home. I'm getting extremely excited for our first Christmas at our new place. I love that we have a chimney/fireplace so I can pretend that Santa has come through when Matthew's old enough to know. Until next time! About the pics: Matthew is very helpful. He enjoys watering the lawn and especially vacuuming. His also has a love for milkshakes but little does he know they are super healthy homemade smoothies.