Miss Negotiator

She seems so cute, sweet actually, but in reality she is a .... master negotiator. You want proof, listen in on this exchange E had with her dad last week:

DoT: "E do you want strawberries or blueberries for dessert?"

MN (Master Negotiator): "grapes!"

Dot: "E that was not one of the options, do you want strawberries or blueberries?"

MN: "grapes!"

MN: "please dad may I have grapes?"

DoT, heading to fridge to get grapes: "grumble, grumble".


A sure sign you have more than one child happened yesterday when I had to ask everyone "OK now who put the stickers on Abby's bum (our cat)?" No one ever did fess up to that one.

After our scare two weekends ago, A seems to be perfectly fine. She seems to be into egging her sister on over who is first for everything (i.e. getting out of the car seat, getting a bib on, etc).

The kids had fun last weekend at our travel group reunion (the group we travelled with to get the girls). We had brunch then the kids played in the foyer. The funniest part was when some spa employees came out and asked the kids to be quiet (we didn't know there was one there - who knew 10 kids uttering piercing shrieks wouldn't be considered part of a relaxing day at the spa?)

Mom also had to explain to our girls that once you threw a coin into the wishing well, you didn't climb in to get it back...

Here a a few pics:


The hula rabbit (those ears need some coffee)

Our China travel group get-together last weekend

Busy ironing



New bunnies from Grandma M!

The Master Negotiator works best when no one can read her eyes...



The mandatory spaghetti face picture

The snazzy new vehicle the kids ride in at daycare (I am sure this thing is worth more than our Sunfire).

Wrestling...

What a week

Hi again all,

Sorry for the delay in posts. It's been quite a week around here. Last weekend, A had two febrile seizures that landed her in the hospital from Saturday to Tuesday. As much as I like the Children's Hospital here in Ottawa (CHEO), I'd rather not visit it again. All of the doctors have assured us that febrile seizures are scary for parents/caregivers, but are not dangerous and cause no damage to the child. I'm trying to remember that while I prepare for our next one. (I have no doubt that we'll have more since E and A both have frequent recurring fevers - about every 4 to 6 weeks.)

The only good thing to come out of the whole experience is that it gave us an "in" to the infectious disease group at CHEO. They ran a whole bunch of checks and have decided that E and A's fevers are not caused by anything chronic. They suspect they have a familial fever syndrome -- but have told us it is quite likely that they'll never be able to diagnose it for sure. So, we will just have to live with the uncertainty - which is not the easiest thing for me.

When A had her seizures last weekend, she stopped breathing and her lips turned blue, which completely freaks me out. The doctors have said that this is not unusual, that when she needs a breath she'll take it, and that she will breath again when the seizure ends. But if any of you have experience with seizures and can reassure me of the same thing, please let me know. Maybe if I hear the same thing from many people, I'll stop being so worried. (PLEASE, if you aren't going to reassure me, than don't comment at all. I'm worried enough, thanks.) Looking on the positive side, we're also told that by the time children reach the age of about 5, their brains are developed enough that they won't have seizures anymore. So, we just have to get through the next year and a half, or so.

For right now, we are all well. No fevers in the house now, and aside from some crankiness and whining over the same toy, the kids are all running around and generally happy. I'd post a picture, but we aren't able to transfer pictures to our computer directly, and I'm too lazy right now to transfer them to the laptop and then onto the computer. Maybe DoT will post more pics this week.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

K...

Beef, Beef, Wonderful Beef!

OK I guess I should explain the title. There is a Robert Munsch book where the girl sings "socks, socks, wonderful socks". We were at Lonestar for lunch having fajitas and A decided she wanted to try the beef (we always give them chicken, but she saw dad eating the beef). Once she tried it and liked it, she started singing "beef, beef, wonderful beef!" It did take me a while to figure out where she got the song from.



Yesterday I discovered something about B. You have a pretty good hunch that your son is going to be an extrovert when he says "hi" and waves to people......who are in pictures on your fireplace mantle.



Last week B was discovered to have parasites in his poo samples so we had to give him 33mL of medicine a day for three days. Thankfully he didn't seem to mind the medicine too much. The lady at the adoption agency said "so now he will probably start gaining weight". Oh man, I better start working out now to be ready to heft him around, he already weighs close to what E does. The urine test also revelaed that he may have a bladder infection (they want another test) and the blood people also want another test. Hopefully nothing serious in any of this. I sure hope he does better on school tests than on these ones because he is 0-3 so far. Here are some pics (relax none of them are of the poo samples):





The gang hanging on the stairs





B getting ready for what is becoming our daily wagon ride (we've already lost one set of mits that he tossed).

Limbering up for practice

Just hanging out

Playing with my cousin M's robot

A accessorizing

Monkey see...

Don't believe the picture - they still like books more than he does.

Dancing queens...

Mid March Update

It feels like Spring is here at last! I have been asked what words B is speaking so far, so here are the ones I know of (sorry but I can’t identify any Mandarin ones he may be using):

Daddy (used interchangeably for either parent)
Up (so far not really used in context – he just puts his arms out and whines to get picked up. He also catapults himself off a stair at you if you are below him)
Hi
Bye
Thank you (he can’t pronounce it right but uses it at the right times)
Yeah (doesn’t bother with “yes”)
Naaa! (his “no”, he gets lots of that from Daddy and his sisters so he is getting quite used to it)

The girls have a few cute phrases I should note before I forget them:

Here is it! (here it is)
Cocadotties (polkadots)
Elewhips (used to say that for elephant but haven’t in a while)
What you laughin about?
Day-Gee-Oh (for Diego of “Dora the Explorer” fame)

There are probably more and if I remember them I’ll add them to a later entry.

I have learned you shouldn’t ask children rhetorical questions. Yesterday as I was struggling to loosen E’s seatbelt, I asked her why it was so tight. Her unexpected answer was “because you drive so fast daddy”.



Below are a few photos from the last week or so. B has actually taken a slight interest in books which is a step up from his previous state where he would just try to shut the book on you and escape.



E pauses from her busy schedule for a photo op






A makes me wear one of these "helmets" too sometimes.







I want my own car Dad






There must be a musical toy in here somewhere...

Peekaboo!

A new sport - Chair Diving

Play Ball!

Since Spring Training is here we decided to get a few swings in last night. I think A is playing for the Texas Rangers and of course E is playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates. They hit the ball then run screaming to jump on the pillows so they are safe. I chase them with the ball to keep them honest.

A decides enough baseball, she is hitting the town.

Let's go get my sisters from the daycare

Yay we're home!

Snazzy shades...

It was too much work wrestling that tiger last time so I picked an easier opponent...

After a hard day a guy needs to relax.