Order in the Court

Please Stand Up

     We resumed our music classes this week.  I couldn't believe Liam's transformation in his class.  He was eagerly pointing at the basket of animal puppets we use when singing "Old McDonald" where I vividly remember him being afraid of those same puppets on the first day of class back in September.  He also put out his hands to shake with the other kids during our "Good Morning" song where he used to pull his hands away when other kids or parents in the class would try and shake.  Liam really wanted to play with the balls on top of the cabinet, so much so that he said "ball" for the first time.  Even our teacher noticed how much Liam wanted to use the balls to sing "Roll Catch".

     We've been listening to lots of music and I really believe that music has a calming effect on Liam; at the very least we know he is enjoying his class and listening to music at home as he mimics one of the songs on Christian's old Music Together CDs ("bah, bah, bah, ba ba ba ba bah").  His vocabulary has grown so much in the last week: baby, cake (for rice cake), Paul (for the baby boy doll Paul), mommy (instead of ma and ma ma), bee (for Ruby), and stop (one of the more frequently used words used in our house while refereeing the two boys) adding to some of the words he already knows such as hi, Kee (for Kiki), cheese.  Liam is also moving to a new physical level.  On Monday he tried to stand up by himself and managed to stay up for a half second.  He loves playing with his Radio Flyer push wagon, cruising around the coffee table and standing on the couch.

Back to Reality

With school resuming tomorrow, our Christmas Holiday 2007 comes to an end.  Mommy wanted to keep the Christmas tree up as it was sentimental to take down all the meaningful ornaments adorning our tree.  The morning after the Christmas tree came down, Christian was a bit upset at not seeing it and said "I want another Christmas tree".  Our Holiday was very relaxing; it seemed as though we were off for months, when in fact it was just two short weeks.

Oh What Fun-Ho Ho Ho

We stayed in Calgary this year while Grandmama and Grandpa visited from Montreal.  The boys really enjoyed their visit as they gained two instant playmates.  Liam really took to Grandpa, especially Grandpa blowing in his face.  Christian had lots of time with Grandmama and even an occasional nap or two with her.  Christian and Grandmama would have some downtime in the late afternoons where on one occasion Christian said to Grandmama, "Grandma, you have a beautiful face and you smell nice".  We put out reindeer food for Santa's reindeer on Christmas Eve and left two cookies for Santa.  

On Christmas morning, Christian came downstairs and was really interested in seeing whether Santa ate his cookies and drank the milk we left out for him.  He was questioning why Santa had left an half-eaten cookie on the plate and why he did not finish his milk.

So many generous gifts from family and friends:

Mom and Dad-Hockey Helmet (Christian), Wood Puzzle (Liam)

Grandmama & Grandpa-Radio Flyer Bike and Wood Wagon, French Books, Coloring Books, Flying toy, Grandmama's baking

Auntie Jeannette-shaking McQueen toy car (Liam), shaking Doc Hudson toy car (Christian)

Gong Gong & Pau Pau-clothes and money

Auntie Sue-Melissa & Doug Architectural Building Blocks

Auntie Eva-Clothes and a viewfinder for Christian

Auntie Laurel & Uncle Chris-Eric Carlisle Panda Bear Panda Bear, Brown Bear, Brown Bear and the corresponding game

Auntie Diena-Parents set of 4 cars (Liam), Discovery Projector (Christian)

Auntie Shannon-Gears building blocks (Christian), Peg picture game (Liam)

Santa-lots of vehicle puzzles for Christian and Liam

The weather was actually pretty mild in Calgary over Christmas.  No new snowfall and the temperature stayed between -2 and 5 C- - perfect for skating.  Daddy's friend Ron gave Christian his first pair of skates and on Boxing Day, they went out on our neighborhood pond to skate for the first time.  Christian did well and did not seem afraid of the unknown.  We spent most of the Holidays eating well and trying new recipes including leg of lamb, crab ravioli, turkey, roast beef, Jamie Sale's Angel Bars and of course, homemade waffles courtesy of Daddy and the new waffle maker Mommy wanted for Christmas.  We also went to the 12 Days of Christmas at Heritage Park with Grandmama and Grandpa.  It was nice to walk around the old village and see all the vintage wares that were for sale.  Christmas 2006 was such a blur as we were busy with Liam's birth, but this year Mommy was pretty thankful for emerging from the infant fog and really being able to enjoy Liam as a little boy with a strong, lively and loving personality and, of course, those killer smiles (such a yummy, gummy bear).