and he speaks several languages...

I took the boys to the Magnetic Hill Zoo in Moncton on Saturday. We went into the reptile exhibit to cool down a bit. I noticed Elijah looking intently at one of the snakes. As I leaned in closer I could hear Elijah hissing at it, he told me he was talking to it. My son apparently speaks 'snake'.

He's clever

Elijah made a huge toy mess today. I mean big that spread out into 2 rooms (his and the living room). There were so many toys out that you could not walk in his room. (I've been sick, so I really didn't care what he was doing as long as it was safe). Just before he left for his swimming lesson I told him that he would have to clean up the mess when he returned. He looked at me and said, "that's okay mom, you can do it while I'm gone, it was a lot of work making that mess, and I'm tired now."
He did clean it up when he got home.

Mother's Day Give Away

Everyone loves a give away and this one is a big one. Check out 5 Minutes for Mom's Mother's day giveaway and you could win: Blu-Ray Player, Crock Pot, a mini-vacation...you decide and have fun!

A little gender identification?

So I was walking home from the park with the boys today when Elijah asked why I like taking them to the airport to look at planes, girls can't like planes. Then he continued, "Girls only like beautiful stuff, but not cool stuff like hockey and firetrucks and castles and knights and dragons" I'm definately outnumbered here.

How time flies

This past couple of weeks I've been working on a music from around the world unit with my grade 6 and 7's. As part of the introduction, I've been playing music by different artists from around the world who are either very popular in their own country or who have had success around the world. THey have to figure out what country the musician is from and bonus marks for knowing the song and artist. Some of them the kids know like Great Big Sea (Canada), Shakira (Columbia - though they had a more difficult time with the country), & Bob Marley (Jamaica). Some of them are new to the kids like Freshly Ground (South Africa), Se7en (South Korea) and Yothu Yindi (Australia). What caught me was the music that they don't know because I think it should be so obvious until I start thinking about how old they are and how old the song is. Like Beautiful Day by U2 (2000) and La Copa De La Vida by Ricky Martin (1998) - really? These songs are that old? I can't believe it.
Here's a little nostalgia for you:

How'd it go?

We made it through, sanity intact. Elijah adored his first on his own day (hour) at kindergarten. And I behaved myself too. I'm still curious about the notes that they took on him, but I can let that teacher part of me go. What I can take away is that his first experience at school was positive and that he's really happy about it. I was a little concerned at him when he told me he printed his name funny, but I found out later that all he did was print his l too big and asked if he could do it again (which he did). The most exciting part of the morning for him was getting ride a school bus, which he declared he'd been waiting his whole life to do. Here's a little picture blog of the morning.


My super excited boy at home with his little brother who wanted in on the action. You have to note that Elijah is wearing his England jersey which he picked out because he wanted to wear something nice.

We dropped Jeremy off at the sitters a little early so Elijah and I could have a 'date' for breakfast, here he is at his favorite breakfast place, the Zellers restaurant (he loves the pancakes and the pictures of Elvis)

At the school

Come on inside

At the classroom door

We're going on a school bus

In the bus

Welcome to the other side

I have been looking forward to and dreading tomorrow. Tomorrow is Elijah's first day of school...kinda. It is a practice day. He will join 7 other little ones for an hour getting to be in kindergarten, and I tell you I'm nervous. He's as excited as anything. I know what these days are like. Heck, I've led these days. I've just never been the parent before. I've never had to say good bye at the door. I've never had to wonder how my kid is doing. I've never had to wonder what notes are being taken on him. I've never had to wonder about a teacher's opinion. And I tell you it's driving me crazy. I know he'll be alright. I just want to know the rest of the story. I want to know everything that happens. I want to take my baby by the hand and lead him through. But I can't. Tomorrow is my turn to let him go (just for an hour, thank goodness), but I can't help but wonder if I'm like this for a one hour practice session, what am I going to be like in September for the real thing?

Easter Morning at our house

Elijah woke up a little bit earlier than Jeremy and I (and of course a lot earlier than Jonathan enjoying his sleep in Sunday morning). Here's a little video I shot of the beginning of the egg hunt. Or, what I thought was the beginning of the egg hunt. Unbeknowst to me, Elijah had already done some egg hunting and rehid the eggs he found all into one spot. He told me he wanted to be the Easter Bunny too.

What kind of day is this going to be?

Today, being Good Friday, I got to sleep in a little. When I wandered into the kitchen there was Elijah, sitting at the kitchen table, digging into the baba ganoush with pita bread, smiling away. The baba ganoush and pita bread that is part of our Easter Dinner on Sunday. That I bought last night, so I don't have to go into the grocery store tomorrow.

Announcement!

My friend Jill and I are excited to announce the birth of our new mom blog, Clever Mamas! It's our little place on the web to 'talk' about motherhood. Check it out and keep checking back over the next few months to see what's going on in 'mom world'!

This is gross, so don't read it

I learned a valuable lesson today: when your child is sick in their bed, and their bed has drawers underneath it, make sure you open the drawers just to check if there is any sickness inside, otherwise your child will bring you a toy with sickness on it a day later and then you'll have a worse mess to clean up.

Help! I'm buried in Duplo

Apparently this is something that moms are good for. Jeremy continued to pass me more and more Duplo blocks tonight to hold, that I could not get up to answer the phone without injuring myself by some sort of duplo contact. When I tried to give him some of the pieces back, he said, 'no Mom, Duplo yours'.
Elijah believes that I make a good horse. Tonight while we were all supposed to be cleaning up the toys in the living room, he climbed onto my shoulders are started to sing a cowboy song from the Backyardigans (Yee Haw, Yippie I-O, Texas here we come!).
I just want to know - was any of this in my job description?

Teddy Bear Fair

Last Saturday was the 18th annual Teddy Bear Fair at the Regional Hospital. 18th for them, 2nd for us. Last year I was stunned at the sheer number of people that take their kids to this event. I ran into one friend of mine there that looked like he'd been in a train wreck he was so taken aback with the crowds. This year, I was more prepared. We went early.
The premise of the Teddy Bear Fair is great. Your kids take their teddy bears (or monkeys in the case of my kids) to the hospital to get checked over and treated. For my son Jeremy, who has developed a fear of doctors, this is great. (you can't blame the kid for his fear, it started last fall when he had his 18 month needles and allergy testing all within a month of each other - would you want to see a doctor if all they did was stick you with needles?) Here, the kids get to play parent, nurse, doctor, pharmacist, and occupational therapist as well as interact with all sorts of hospital workers that give them free stuff.
Elijah was very much into this. He's at that great age of make believe. When registering Curious George he noted the complaint (in his most serious voice) that George had a broken funny bone. Jeremy was a little more wary of some of the stations, but whatever he saw his big brother do, he wanted to do too. Overall I think it was a good experience for the two of them. I also got out of there before the crowds got too big (or just as the line-ups would have been unbearable). Here's a little bit of our day:

Jeremy and Elijah plus Curious George and George meet Zeddy


George gets checked over


Elijah the pharmacist mixes up some 'medicine'


Elijah checks out his pulse


Elijah gives Curious George his puffer


Jeremy administers George some oxygen


Jeremy gives George some back physio to clear his chest


Elijah helps put a splint on Curious George's leg