Happy Birthday Leo!

Leo turned three today. I cannot believe that he is three. Three sounds so old, yet I look at him and he's still my chubby little baby, gorgeous and pink and soft. Ah, who am I kidding? Aidan still looks like that to me sometimes and he's almost nine.

We had Leo's family party yesterday. He enjoyed himself thoroughly and loved his cake, presents and balloons. Or at least we thought he liked his balloons. He seems to have developed some fairly intense feelings of aggression towards Pablo, the penguin from The Backyardigans, and has taken to beating the air out of him...quite literally. Things look innocent and happy here but believe me, they took an ugly turn. The poor balloon is currently lying in a crumpled, defeated heap in the corner of our living room. Leo goes over and tackles it from time to time, just to make sure it will never rise again.


I don't know where this sudden and inexplicable anger came from. He normally loves Pablo and especially Surfer Pablo. Leo has a thing for surfing. He tried it for the first time with his dad this weekend and he's sure that he's a natural.
Today, we took Leo and Aidan, Cousin Manny, Auntie Erin and Gramma to Binbrook Conservation Area to celebrate. The kids seemed to have a great time. Manny and Leo had the thrilling experience of dual diaper changes. I've edited the photo because of graphic content but it was quite a sight. And yes, I know, he's now three and still in diapers. We're working on it.









Binbrook is a great place. I feel really fortunate that we live in an area filled with so much green space and things for families to do. The kids loved the lake and the splash pad and in August, they open up the park at night so that the Hamilton Astronomers club and the public can go and view the Perseid Meteor Shower. We went last year and it was fun. Both of the kids were fascinated. Aidan was enthralled by the meteors and the telescopes and Leo was just completely amazed at the idea that we were out, in the middle of the night, lying on the ground and being quiet, looking at the sky.













Overall, it was a great birthday weekend. We had lots of family around to help us celebrate and Leo spent some quality time with his cousin Manny to practice being a good big brother, just like his own big brother. He's working on sharing and being gentle and I'm sure he'll be wonderful when the time comes. As long as his little brother never wants to dress up as Pablo for Halloween. That might get a little scary.
Well, I'm exhausted and need to get to bed. I'll leave you with one last shot of cute Cousin Manny, just because he's so adorable and chunky and such a great snuggler.

Look at those gorgeous chubby arms and giant eyes.

look what we found...

...
and no poop, as of yet.

Thanks Leo...

...I wasn't finished writing or editing that post and Leo came along and started pushing random buttons on the keyboard. So, I'll just finish up now.

As I was saying, Aidan's a great big brother, loves to hang out with his brother...and wrestle with him. which I can't stand but I think I'm just going to have to get used to it, as a mother of boys. I'm trying, I'm really trying.



So, to finish off this interrupted post I think I'll get a little cheesey and say how much I love my two amazing boys and I can't wait to add another to the mix. In fact, I love all my guys, so much, even the one with the giant, rescuing hands. Yep...there's the cheese factor for all of you. Hope you enjoyed it.

one day and so much to say

How can so many small things have happened in our lives since I last posted? I can see how these things quickly derail when you start skipping days.

First off, one of the things that keep Kurtis and I up at night finally happened. Leo fell in the pool. It happened on Sunday. Kurtis was skimming the pool before taking the boys in for an evening dip. He had Aidan on one side of him and Leo on the other. Aidan was saying something to him and neither of them were looking at Leo when suddenly they heard a splash. Kurtis says that although it took him less than a second to look at the pool, when he did Leo was floating face-down in the dead mans float. Kurt was in the water in nanoseconds and had poor, crying Leo out in no time. Then promptly had a near heart-attack himself.

Here's how Leo puts it...

"I fell into the pool and then I saw Daddy's hand reaching and I thought it was a giant and he grabbed me and he saved me."

All I can say is thank you, Kurt.

Unfortunately the tiny bit of healthy fear that the experience instilled in Leo didn't last long.
My paranoia is now insisting on at least two adults in pool area when both boys want to swim. I'm certain that, come summer, this will annoy Aidan to no end. Especially when he wants to swim and the only person here to supervise the two of them is a heavily pregnant me. He's already annoyed that he's not allowed past the pool gate without an adult. Two adults seems utterly ridiculous to him.

In other news, Aidan got his report card today and he has officially completed grade three with straight A's each term. He expects something big as a reward for his accomplishment. I told him he could have an ice cream cone. Needless to say, he wasn't impressed. I am really proud of him, though. He's a great kid. All of his teachers love him. He's thoughtful and generous with his friends and, most of the time, he's a wonderful big brother, constantly reading to Leo and doing puzzles with him.

Sudden, freak storms

I often wonder what makes a quiet moment of play suddenly turn. One minute, my kids are quietly playing with Lego. Aidan is building ships for Leo and Leo is finding parts of men and assembling them for Aidan. They seem happy. They're sharing. Suddenly, there are screams and by the time I get to the living room, all of the ships are in pieces and Leo is sitting on his older brother's head, pressing his face into the carpet. I never did get the full story.

And I can't only blame it on brotherly squabbles. Aidan can spend hours, seemingly at peace, working on paper airplanes, then suddenly explode with frustration, crumpling the paper into twisted bits of wreckage and crying. Leo is the same way. It's amazing how some quiet time with stickers can go so drastically wrong.

Neither of the boys is very good with Zen. I used to know a little boy who, even at five, drank chamomile tea and took warm baths when he was stressed. Not my boys. They're little tempests, just waiting to be unleashed on unsuspecting moments of calm.




We had our own storm today. The morning was clear and beautiful but the afternoon brought thunder and lightning and even little pebbles of hail. It rained really hard for close to an hour and we were left with huge lakes in the backyard and a bit more water damage on our dining room ceiling because of the leaky window in Aidan's room. Ah...how I love old houses.





Can you see the bits of hail in our flower pot?

Leo loved it and I'm sure Aidan would have been even more impressed, considering his obsession with extreme weather, but he was at a birthday party this afternoon at the East Hamilton Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club and didn't even notice. Obviously the noise of fifteen eight and nine year old boys playing, almost without supervision, in a gym was at a sufficient decibel to keep them all oblivious.


Here is Leo, enjoying the puddles. Actually, his expression makes him look like he's not enjoying them at all. I promise you he was. We could barely drag him back inside.

OH NO!!!!!

AAAAH...The Dutch are perilously close to losing...I may have to cry now.

I knew I shouldn't have posted before the game was over. Damn.

birds and bragging rights

The bird is back on our porch. We had a robin nesting on our porch earlier in the spring but the eggs hatched, the hatchlings flew away and so did the bird. I was really hoping she wouldn't return. I tried to clear up the nest but Kurtis wouldn't allow it, thinking it added a certain wild ambiance or something. Personally, I'm not fond of cleaning bird poop from all over the deck. Well, the bird is back and nesting again. All I can say is if she poops on my furniture, I may have to bake her in a pie with a two dozen of her closest relatives. I love the wonder of nature, just not in my house...or on my back deck.




Other than that, so far today is shaping up well. It's been rainy (yet again) and poor Aidan is at an outdoor birthday party in the park but the Netherlands are playing Russia today and that promises to be a good game. In fact, Kurtis and Leo are curled on the couch right now with their popcorn and a beer (well, Kurtis has the beer). I'm going to join them momentarily to cheer on my team. Being half Dutch I have rights, bragging rights since they're doing so phenomenally well. Kurtis says he has bragging rights as well because he's conquered a Dutch woman. Can you hear my eyes rolling?

Countdown begins

Well, school is almost over. Aidan is counting down by hours now...by the end of the day there will be 27.5 hours of school left (if you don't count lunch hours). He's thrilled and can't wait to spend his days in the pool and in front of the Wii (not going to happen, buddy!) He's hoping to only ever wear his pajamas or his swimsuit and keeps trying to sell me on the benefits of this, not as much laundry you know. As you can see...he's already getting a jump start on all of this and spends weekends in his pajamas whenever he can.



Leo is counting down the days as well, but he's anticipating his birthday. He has very specific ideas for the party and several times a day he gives me instructions about the exact kinds of balloons, cake, guests and wrapping paper that should be there. It's a long litany of details and they're pretty much written in stone. Diego will be there, as well as his Gramma and cousin Manny, cousin Olivia and possibly cousin Austin (whom I have never heard of before this week). Everyone will go swimming, except for Diego who will drive around the pool in his rescue boat, of course.


We've finally finished getting our back porch in order, just in time for the party. Kurtis tells me that the back porch is his favourite room in the summer and I'd hoped to get it done for Father's day but the weekend after had to do. Leo chose all of the flowers. His main criteria seemed to be that they be pink and expensive and the biggest in the world. He loves it back there and spends hours sorting through seashells with me, dropping them down between the cracks in the boards much to my chagrin.


Speaking of Father's Day, the day was pretty low-key here. Poor Kurtis, he even had to make his own breakfast. Leo did paint him some pictures and wished him Happy Father's Day about fifteen times in one day, which was adorable...at first.


I'll leave you with a shot of Leo's artistry hanging on the line. Isn't he a little Picasso?