Sweet moments

Tom has been working evenings for the past many nights, and the kids are really missing him. Today he did take them to the park for a couple of hours for some much needed dad-time, but yesterday he was working for most of the day/evening, and Lukasz started crying after I put him to bed, saying, "I want Tatus" over and over again. I called Tom up and put him on speaker phone and he sang the kids their most recent favourite Polish lullaby - Tadorotka. Here is a short video of Lily (finally) singing the first little bit of it to me:

As Tom finished singing the song I told him to sing it again because I could see that Lukasz was starting to drift off. Halfway through the second song, Lukasz rolled over with his back to me... and was asleep.

I tucked him and Lily in and wished them good night and walked out of their room wishing I could sing them to sleep the way he does.

Tonight I kind of got my wish.

After I turned the light out in their room Lukasz started crying again. I went back in and Lily and I both thought he was saying "I want to be on my bed", which he was, so it didn't make sense that he kept saying it. I pulled him into my lap facing me, and he rested his head in the crook of my left arm. I finally got that he wanted to be off his bed... so I gave him some kisses and started slowly rocking back and forth. Its an amazing thing to sit with a child and tell by the feel of them that they are falling asleep. My back started aching, as did my neck and arm, but that didn't matter. My big boy was falling asleep in my arms. It was then I realized that my face was wet, with his tears. I rocked him for a few minutes more and then laid him down, fully asleep, in his bed.

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty

{this moment} - oh the cheeks!

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
Wishing you a lovely weekend!

*** *** ***

Lily just sang herself to sleep

It's the sweetest thing to hear through the baby monitor, the sound of Lily singing herself (and sometimes Lukasz) to sleep.

Here's what she sang herself tonight:

1.

Dinah Blow Your Horn

I didn't hear this one till the end, when she let out a loud "toot toot!".

2.

I'm a little teapot short and stout

Here is my handle, here is my spout

When I get all steamed up then I shout

Tip me over pour me out.

3.

I'm a tube of toothpaste on the shelf

I get so lonely all by myself

When it gets to nighttime

Then I shout

Flip my cap and squeeze me out

4.

I'm a little rocket, tall and thin

Here is my nose cone, here are my fins

When I get all fueled up then I ZOOM

Off the launch pad to the moon

5.

Hush, little baby, don't say a word,

Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird.

If that mockingbird don't sing,

Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring.

If that diamond ring turns to brass,

Mama's gonna buy you a looking glass.

If that looking glass gets broke,

Mama's gonna buy you a billy-goat.

If that billy-goat won't pull,

Mama's gonna buy you a cart and bull.

If that cart and bull turns over,

Mama's gonna buy you a dog named Rover.

If that dog named Rover won't bark,

Mama's gonna buy you a horse and cart.

If that horse and cart falls down,

You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town.

6.

I Can Sing a Rainbow

Red and yellow and pink and green

Purple and orange and blue

I can sing a rainbow

Sing a rainbow

Sing a rainbow, too

Listen with your eyes

Listen with your eyes

And sing everything you see

You can sing a rainbow

Sing a rainbow

Sing along with me.

Of course, once I realized what she was doing, I started recording. :) I absolutely LOVE the little yawns that get more and more frequent as she's singing.

October 2010 - what a month!

Wow.

It is incredible how much can change over the course of a month. At the beginning of October, both were still getting nightly bottles, Lily was crying before preschool every day, Lukasz was napping for 2-3 hrs a day, had a soother, was still in diapers.

Now? Lily LOVES school and sometimes is impatient to say goodbye to me so she can go in already. The kids no longer have bottles at all. Lukasz no longer has a soother. He no longer naps. And he's potty trained.

I'm still adjusting to being home with 2 children who don't nap. It's a major change. I think it's been a big hard on Lily because she always used to have this one on one time with me every afternoon and now she doesn't. But Lukasz does when she's in school and I think it's been great for both him and I. Lily and I get our time together when we go to her keyboard class on Saturdays, but it's not the same as just hanging out quietly for a couple of hours, which is what we used to do.

I had no idea that taking Lukasz's soother away would suddenly cause him to stop napping. Warning to moms and future moms! :o)

And he's talking in pretty complete sentences. He's at the stage where his vocabulary is exploding and I LOVE IT. The learning to talk phase has been my absolute favourite so far. His pronunciation is pretty good with most things he says, but I love how anything hot is still "hock" and one of his very favourite foods is still "blocklees". Yes, my son loves broccoli. Tonight he ate three huge helpings of it and refused to eat his chicken.

Lily's interests are blossoming and I'm having a hard time keeping up with her creativity. She loves to draw, paint, dance and sing. I have a huge stack of her artwork and am at a loss as to what to do with it all! I could cover all the walls in our apartment with her work, I'm pretty sure. :) It's amazing to hear what she has learned in school - she knows the continents, the days of the week, the months of the year, can count to 100. I only found out she knew the continents because she sang a song and named them all. I made sure to put up a little world map on the wall where she can look at it whenever she wants, and I pointed out to her all the continents and where we live. They seem to be introducing the kids to some pretty advanced stuff, and I know the kids are still sponges and just eat it all up, but I hope they are giving the kids enough visuals and examples and activities to make all these big words real to them. I watch how discouraged and difficult Lily can get when she doesn't get something about her keyboard class, and I don't want her feeling that way with anything she's learning in school.

Here are captioned photos from all of October. There are 180, so I'm not going to put them up here... click on "Show Info" at the top right and the captions I've written will drop down.

Slideshow of October 2010 photos

Enjoy!

First no-soother night.

So Lukasz's nap earlier today only lasted 20 minutes. This from a boy who usually sleeps for 2-3 hours in the afternoon. He loves his nap. Usually. I guess it's not quite the same without a soother. This evening we let him bop around a bunch and just hang out and gradually got him into bed. He cried when we shut the door, saying he was too scared to sleep, and then that he wanted his soother. I let him cry for about 5 minutes, but I felt bad for Lily who I knew was trying to fall asleep in that racket. So I went in and sat with him (which going in, I thought was going to be completely futile). He saw me, perked up and decided it was daytime and he didn't have to sleep anymore. I told him to go to the window and look out and see how dark it was. He did, then agreed it was dark and nighttime, and came back to his bed. He asked me to sing "Row row spaghetti", which I've sung before thinking what he wants me to sing is the whole song but instead of "life is but a dream", sing "life is but a.... bowl of spaghetti!" Tonight I found out that what he actually wants me to sing is simply, "Row, row... SPAGHETTI!!!" So I sang that a bunch and he was happy with that; he didn't ask me for his soother and he didn't cry when I left the room. I just checked on him and...


I am SO proud of him. He has lost one of his biggest sources of comfort, and he is dealing with it so well, even with all the tears. I hope tomorrow will be even easier for him. Now I better go find the one soother that's kicking around. I know it's here somewhere...

** Update: Found it behind the couch!

January in a nutshell

In an attempt to catch up a bit on this blog, once my favourite place online, but now sadly neglected, here is a photo summary of January, birthdays not included (Uncle Derek's and Lukasz's). Those deserve a post all their own.

January was rainy, unlike last winter when it was snowy. I think this year snow might have been preferred, or at least would have been more fun. But we did manage to dodge the raindrops and get out quite a bit, or went out despite the rain just to get some exercise and fresh air.

Here are the kids with their funky toques, handknit by our Great Aunt Mary. :)





There were many days spent indoors, and I despised darkness arriving at 4:30... but I managed to think up a variety of things for us to do each day so it mostly wasn't too tedious.








Lukasz somehow came down with croup, which was a little scary. Poor guy had trouble breathing at times and that meant two late-night trips to the hospital where he got steroids and nebulizers and had a generally unpleasant time.



Lily is turning into quite the little lady. She loves to dress up, dance and pretend to be a princess ballerina. (See below.)



Painting was a popular activity this winter; I have stacks and stacks of paintings by the kids that I'm holding on to.



Lukasz seemed to be sick for a good bit during January, so when sleep finally came on those evenings, it was a relief for all of us.







Sick or not, he is VERY busy growing up just as quickly as he can.



Lily has turned into a little bookworm (they both have, actually) which I love to see. And there's something about hunkering down on the floor with the kids and a ton of books...








Lily still has an afternoon nap most days. She's started to fight it, but we have a little ritual where when I see her getting tired, we will take a couple of books to the "big" bed (while Lukasz is napping) and read them, then I will sing her whichever songs she wants, and then she generally rolls over and falls asleep. But I have to lie there with her, which led to me having a LOT of naps as well.



There always seemed to be blue sky on the horizon, just not much right above us.



Some indoor camping was another fun way to pass time on a long rainy afternoon...



... that, and trying to drive a truck that was clearly a few sizes too small...





If the rain stopped on the weekends we tried to get out geocaching. This is our family hobby and we love it. It gets us outside, it gets us to different areas near where we live, mostly parks, that we had no idea were there, and it's a treasure hunt which makes it fun for the kids, too.





Lily being a cat:



Whenever he puts on shades, he puts them on upsidedown. Not sure what that's about. :)



Made it to Como Lake park a couple of times, too, to see the ducks, play at the park and get some exercise, some of which the kids made up as we went along....









Mostly it was a sleepy month, but Olympic excitement was just around the corner!

More songs please.

I just put the kids to bed and I can hear Lukasz trying to convince Lily to sing him some songs:

Lukasz: shing? Lua lua?

Lily: No Lukasz. It's time to go to sleep.

Lukasz: No... (said matter-of-factly) No like.

Silver lining

Days with Lily can be a bit difficult around here lately; I think she's going through a growth spurt, and in more ways than one... she's back to napping during the afternoon, but she fights it, which means I have to be really sneaky about nap time, and never mention the N word.

After we've had lunch and Lukasz is settled down for her nap, I bring her into our bed to read some stories to her. Then I sing what ever songs she requests, and then I lay facing her and close my eyes. I'm sure she always knows what I'm up to, and often she'll yell, "I don't want to nap, it's too light, it's still day time!"

But on days when she's obviously tired (she didn't nap over the weekend) like today, settling her down for her nap can have its sweet moments. She was tossing and turning, but quiet, this afternoon as I lay with her, then all of a sudden she made a huge whump as she turned over one last time, and fell asleep. I opened my eyes after a few moments of stillness and found her face right in front of mine, our foreheads almost touching. And she was sound asleep. I guess it's her version of a touchless snuggle. :o)

When Lily won't sleep

There are nights, thankfully few and far between, where Lily just does not want to go to bed. There are times when we are strict and continually go into her room to tell her it's time for bed and to tuck her in until she falls asleep, but there are nights, like last night, where it gets really late and she just can't sleep. She's not hungry, or thirsty, or even particularly whiny. She just, it seems, wants to be near us.

So last night we let her out of her room and she climbed into the beanbag chair. She requested a pillow, then a blanket (apparently my sweater was good enough), and dozed off as Tatus and I chatted quietly a few feet from her.

Where's Lily?

Somewhere in our bed piled high with laundry to be folded, Lily is having a nap.

Can you see the tuft of blond hair?

There she is!

Our beautiful girl - 27 months old