Claustrophobia

I am getting some major claustrophobia with all of this snow. What if I have to escape from the back of the house...we will all sink into the snow! It's like our house is surrounded by water and the only way out is through the garage. It's as if Moses parted the Red Sea of our driveway with the huge walls of snow on either side (as our mailboxes are disappearing). And to top it off, I was profusely apologizing to my kids this morning as I dragged them to daycare at -9F/almost -23 Celsius. It felt like a heat wave when I picked them up at 24 degrees in the afternoon. To make matters worse, there's a heavy snow warning flashing on my blog for tonight! Lord have mercy! Florida here we come!!! [This picture is taken before the foot of snow that is supposed to hit us tonight-good luck finding our mailboxes, and you can barely make out our driveway between the two walls of snow.]

Almost There...

A short video of Sylvie in her final non-crawling days. I am cherishing each one.

Regression

Jonathan's potty training has been going amazingly well. He used to make funny noises or point to his tushy when he had to go, but now he says "Mamma, pee pee!" or "Daddy, Kahki!" to go. Also, he used to tell us that he needs to pee pee after some had already leaked out and he just finished the job in the bathroom. Now he tells us before he does anything and even waits for us at the toilet if we are busy. I am so grateful that I only have one set of diapers to change now... HOWEVER... As enamoured as Sylvie is with Jonathan, he seems to be jealous of her... or maybe he feels neglected and is in need of more attention. Sylvie puts everything in her mouth and lately, Jonathan's been taking Sylvie's blocks/toys/books and putting it in his mouth too so they are both sitting there with something in their mouths. And Sylvie is working on her "pincer" grasp and is trying to feed herself, but occassionally drops her food on the floor. So, during breakfast this morning, when Sylvie dropped her food, Yoni threw his toast on the floor. It's been a challenge telling him that it's ok for Sylvie to do it because she is "just a baby", but I don't think he gets it, or maybe is starting to resent it...so I've been telling Sylvie that "it's not ok to throw food on the floor". I was worried that he would want to start wearing diapers again too, but the potty issue has only been improving, to my relief. Here's a video of Sylvie feeding herself (it takes both hands) and of Yoni wearing Sylvie's bib (his preferred bib now, of course). Boy are they loud eaters!

Eating

While we're on the topic of eating....I mentioned before that meal times are a symphony in our house as both Yoni and Sylvie are noisy eaters....must be genetic. Sometimes the kids are so loud that Mike and I can't even hold a conversation. Here's a short clip of them in action...it seems like whenever I pull out the camera, the noise subsides.

Dessert!

After dinner, we usually give Jonathan a dessert. So, as usual, tonight after dinner he asked for dessert:

J: "I would like dessert now please."

us: "You're ready for dessert?"

J: "I all finished eating. I'm all done and I'm full now and I would like dessert."

us: "Okay. No problem. What would you like for dessert?"

J: "Dessert!"

us: "OK, Yoni...you can have dessert, but what would you like to eat for dessert?"

J: "Dessert!"

Mike: "Would you like a cookie? Ice cream? What would you like for dessert?"

J (now becoming increasingly frustrated at his parent's lack of understanding): "DESSERT!"

Mike: "Jonathan, 'Dessert' is a general term. There are all types of desserts. You need to be specific. Would you like chocolate, ice cream, a cookie...what would you like for dessert?"

J (now nearly in tears): "I want dessert, dadda. PLEASE!"

Mike: "Ok Yoni, I'm going to get you dessert." And he returns with a cookie. Jonathan almost bursts out crying...

J: "I NEED TWO desserts!"

Mike: "Two?! Ok...ok...no problem." And he breaks the cookie in half..."here you go."

And with that, Jonathan breaks out with a huge smile on his face and the whole dessert fiasco comes to an end.

Did I mention what I got for Valentine's Day (/5 yr anniv coming in June)? It's a good thing I have a job :) Thanks to the world's best hubby (and to Uncle Brian out in CA).

Hudson is a celebrity!

Since I have nothing too exciting to report about my own kids, I'll report a little something about my brother's kid...he is the featured puppy on dailypuppy! He's recieved over 2000 votes already...we are so proud!

What we are up to these days...

We are slowly recovering from our trip to CA...it's really amazing how much cleaning/laundry/etc there is to do after a week long getaway with 2 kids! Since our return, Sylvie hasn't been going down to sleep like she did before...she has started with the protest cry after being put down...sometimes we're going up and down every 5-10min for a whole hour after we put her to bed. Hopefully she'll catch on soon that we mean business...for her nap today, she only cried for 5 min and then fell asleep, so maybe there is hope yet. Here's a short clip of us having fun after dinner.

And Jonathan has had a set back in his potty training, as well. Of course it's all our fault because the entire trip in CA he was in pull-ups to avoid any accidents (though still pooping only in the potty). So, it's taken a week to get him back on track (first naked, then underwear only, etc w/a favorite treat), but a breakthrough happened at dinner tonight...he actually said "pee pee!" during dinner and we took him to the potty where he made his business and then promptly returned to the dinner table. Of course, after he was done, he said "I'm so proud of you! Now I get pot-pie!" (That's what the word "surprise" sounds like when he says it). He knows exactly what we are going to say. Here's a video of him and Mike sledding in the snow at our neightbor's slope from yesterday.

California Love....

We spent last week in California enjoying the endless hospitality of Brian (Mike's Uncle) and Julie (thanks again!!!) who are now in their 7th month of pregnancy - yay!!! The weather was warm (70's) and sunny (except for Superbowl Sunday, which looking back was probably an omen). We loved seeing the family and also loved hanging out with Matt, Einat, and Ella who just turned one! Here are all the pics. Our trip back home was quite distressing, as we returned home at midnight on Saturday and couldn't get into the driveway for all the snow that fell while we were gone. Once Mike dug a path for the car (with both kids screaming in the car, mind you), we entered a 40 degree house! Our heating system broke while we were gone (what are the odds?!) and we all slept in our clothes that night in our one electrically heated room in the basement...what a mess! At least that's all behind us now and we are left with beautiful memories from sunny California.
Here's a great video of Yoni, Ella, and Sylvie having fun at the Ogden's