Kindergarten

It's been awhile since my last blog and I'm not sure why that is.  Funny things happen every day and the kids are as cute as ever but for whatever the reason I've been lacking the motivation to blog.  Whatever on to the next chapter.

There are many firsts in a child's life and one of them just snuck up on us totally unexpected.  This week was Juliette's first week in kindergarten.  The daycare didn't even warn us it was coming.  One day I got to daycare (attached to the school and providing before and after school care) and I was informed that Juliette would be with the big kids from now on.  Juliette was so excited to be a big kid that she has had no problems with the change.  Nicholas however, who is going through separation anxiety since his mom left for a week long business trip is now losing his sister during the days as well.  I hope soon he will let me drop him off at school without the waterworks.  This morning I even had Juliette give him a pep talk.

Juliette: "Ok, now Nicholas you be a big boy and go to the daycare and I'll be in the big kid room next door.  I can come if you need me."
Nicholas: said nothing and continued crying in my arms :(

Other things that happened since my last blog include: Nicholas doing an amazing job at potty training, now if I can only get him to stop playing with himself so much (I've been told all little boys do this). Juliette confessing to us that she loves practising writing letters.  She will even write a few on a piece of paper and ask us what is says.  Since half the "letters" are not from any alphabet I recognize some of the answers are pretty creative. Juliette riding her bike with training wheels on at high speeds.  She's still very scared at the beginning of each ride but every time we go out she gets more and more confident. Nicholas talking French and English.  The French daycare is really paying off for both of our kids so far. 

Kids Fighting

OK, so my kids are too young to really fight just yet. Sometimes my son picks on my daughter but we can usually find a middle ground without too much trouble. Then the other day during breakfast something happened that reminded me of what my mom used to always tell me. I was doing the standard "First one to finish their breakfast wins the race." trick and my daughter did her standard "It's not a race." response. Usually that's the end of that except this time my son responded with one word, "Race". Which my daughter interpreted that this was a challenge to her authority so she became a bit more animated and said, "It's not a race!” Well my son was so impressed with his new power over his sister that he repeated the magic word that caused such a strong reaction and sure enough my 4-year-old daughter fell right into the trap of reacting even louder. This continued for a little bit with me enjoying things from the sideline. I realized that this is the first time but definitely not the last that my son will go out of his way to annoy his sister. It was at this point that I remembered my mom telling me that my brother was doing (insert annoying thing here) just because he knew it would bug me. For some reason I couldn't quite grasp the idea but now that I'm on the outside looking in I can't believe how obvious it is. Also, my son idolizes his big sister and follows her and imitates her in everything that she does. They are great and I love every minute with them.

Yesterday my daughter saw a guy with long hair in braids (with tons of tattoos). She told me how funny he looked and asked me to put it in my Blogger; I told her that I only put funny stories about my kids in my Blogger and besides, that guy was more scary than funny. Then in the bathtub she started folding herself in half and then asking me if it was funny enough to put in my Blogger. At the time I said no but she managed to get the story in here anyway. Boy do I fell like I've been duped or what.

Dad, put that in your Blogger

Kids are way more observant than you think. Yesterday during supper Nicholas (like any child) wanted to imitate his parents. At the time his parents were using hot sauce to spice up their food. Nicholas insisted that he should get some as well. We told him several times that it was not a good idea but he was becoming more and more difficult. At this point we had a choice, let the boy try the hot sauce or let him work himself up to the point where he would be screaming and crying. My parenting theory has always been if it doesn't hurt them let them do it. So I put a little bit on the end of my chopstick. He tried it and asked for more. So I gave him a little bit more and he immediately stuck out his tongue and started to blow zerberts. He then picked up his water and blew bubbles. It was very cute and very funny and probably the last time he will be trying hot sauce for a while. Juliette was laughing and proclaimed "Daddy, you have to put that in your Blogger". I guess she's heard me talk about it to my wife. I always though I'd tell them about it when they were much older, kind of like a surprise birthday present, she probably doesn’t know exactly what it is so I should still be able to keep it a secret. Another thing that happened yesterday was Juliette got a hold of a bicycle horn. She was honking it over and over and over and over again. My wife and I asked her nicely several times to stop. She would stop for 30 seconds and then honk it over and over and over again. At the same time my wife and I were trying to prepare things so that we could go out to the airport to pick up some family. Finally the honking and the stress became too much and my wife exploded with a very loud JULIETTE. I don't like it when the kids are yelled at. I tried immediately to repair the damage but it was too late. Juliette started crying quietly. Don't get me wrong; I have no problems disciplining my kids. I can sit and listen to them cry longer than most people but I'm a firm believer that you should never discipline them when you're upset. That's why mom apologized right away and we tried to explain to Juliette that we weren't angry but it was the very loud constant honking that drove us temporarily insane.

Things Kids Say

Just a quick post to highlight some things that my kids have done in the past couple of days that I want to try and remember.

Juliette: I want to speak English
Dad: You can speak English and I'll speak French, it's a free country.
Juliette: Well, I'll get the Government of Canada to make a rule that everyone has to speak English
(when mom and dad try to explain to Juliette what we do for a living we say we work for the government of Canada. The government makes all the rules in Canada)

Juliette (from the 2nd floor washroom): Daddy, daddy, daddy.
Dad (from the basement): Yes Juliette.
Juliette: Mom farted, 3 times.
Dad: Tell her to cut that out.

Nicholas just started at Juliette's daycare and boy is he sad. But it's OK Juliette is there to hug and hold him through the entire ordeal. In a few days he'll be fine but for now the guilt on his parents is almost unbearable. Let's hope today went better.

Shopping Mall

It's perfect really, I play with the kids and my wife does the shopping on her own. That way I don't have to walk, my wife gets her errands completed and the kids have a great time. What is there to do at a shopping mall you might ask? Well any toy section at any department store is great distraction (please see previous blog for details) or even a ride on loonie machine. We found two machines close by that the kids spent all their time on. One was a fire truck and the other a Tonka dump truck. The kids played on these two vehicles for almost an hour. Juliette was making a loud DING DING noise and Nicholas was always driving (just like his father). Juliette would even pull out the imaginary hose and put out the imaginary fire. I'm actually amazed the kids could spend that amount of time playing together without fighting and without me spending even a single loonie to make the ride move. My wife was able the shop in peace and I was overjoyed to see my two children play so well and so imaginatively together.