Alexis - 5 Months Old

Dear Alexis,

It's hard to believe that you are already five months old. You are such a character, it's so much fun to watch you develop into your own little personality, entirely separate (and different!) from your big sister. You are MUCH louder - screeching, yelling, growling, fake coughing - and also very, very easy-going. Happy and content and vocal, you are a delight to be around. We all love you so much, probably Mercedes most of all. She loves to sit with you, and bring you toys, and help change your diaper and entertain you. She'll dance and sing for you and you will giggle hysterically, which brings me to tears it's so darn cute. You are rolling and squirming up a storm, and just yesterday, you decided you wanted to try sitting on your own! You end up leaning forward a lot, and you most definitely aren't steady, but you are getting there! It's 'almost' completely unassisted, and that's pretty darn amazing.

Love,

Momma

Mercedes - 32 Months Old

Dear Ceecee,

Sometimes, you say the most hilarious things to us, and we can't even attempt to control our laughter. Sometimes it's not a nice thing you say, and I have NO idea where you'd EVER learn language like that (oops), sometimes it's something innocently funny, sometimes it's something so sweet and complex that it just blows my mind and makes me laugh. Having you fully verbal is truly amazing. Here are some of your recent gems:

Mommy: yawning really loudly
Mercedes: Mommy don't 'rawr'! There is no dinosaur here!

Duke: (rolling around on his back)
Mercedes: Duke! Go back to puppy school! I don't want to see your penis!

You also love to tell Duke to "kick rocks!" and you frequently say "oh my GODDDDDD" or "Jeeeeee-sus" when you are exasperated (I'll blame those on your father).

We have a broken kitchen chair that yes, I broke one day while I was pregnant with your sister. The other day you asked Daddy about the broken chair and he said "Why is it broken?" and you said "Because of Mommy's fat bum" (not nice, but hilariously true unfortunately!)

I never want to forget how sweet and funny and hilarious you are at this age. It's something new and awesome each and every day.

Mercedes - 32 Months Old

Dear Mercedes,

Every day you make me proud. You amaze me in so many ways - watching you navigate through the world and seeing the little personality you are rapidly developing is truly astonishing. This weekend we finally took the plunge and converted your crib into a toddler bed! This means you are FREE, although so far you haven't attempted to actually get out of bed when you are supposed to be sleeping (thankfully!). You are having some sleep issues currently (wanting us to sit on the floor until you are asleep, waking in the middle of the night to sleep with Daddy, etc), so we had hoped that a change and some encouragement on being a 'big girl' might help, but so far, no dice. It hasn't gotten any better, but at least it hasn't gotten any worse!


Today, you brought literal tears to my eyes at the park. There was a group of about four 5-6 year old kids (3 girls, 1 boy) all playing in the sand at the playground. You, ever cautious and shy, but curious, clearly wanted to play with them. You approached them, ever so slowly, and stood there, quietly waiting for some sort of invitation to play. One of the little girls asked if you wanted to play with them, and you kinda just stood there, not saying anything. I felt a bit mama-bear-ish when one of the little girls said "why is she just standing there like that?!" but the 'leader' said "she looks like she's only 2" and then asked you again if you wanted to help them build in the sand and tried to give you sand. It truly warmed my heart to see you playing with other kids (much older kids!) at the park... it gave me visions of my future - standing back, resisting the temptation to referee your interactions with other kids, despite the fact that some of them may be slightly negative. I can't believe I already have a child old enough to play independently, of her own volition, with neighbourhood children! It's really amazing that just a few short years ago, you were nothing but a fetus, and now, you are this tiny bundle of personality.

Love always,

Momma

Alexis - 4 Months Old

Dear Alexis,

Today was your four month appointment, and as usual, you made me smile and laugh at just how cute and sweet you are. Your official stats are 25.5 inches long (90th percentile for height! You probably get that from your father ;) ) and 14.5 lbs (60th percentile for weight). You are growing big and strong, and the doctor was amazed at your muscle tone and how strong you are (yes, did we mention you've been rolling for nearly two months already?!). You took your needles like a champ, but wasn't so fond of the rotoavirus vaccine. It's an oral vaccine, and nurses prefer that parents put it in bottles to disguise the taste. But of course, you don't drink bottles! She tried to squirt some in your mouth and the face you made was epic. As was the vomit that you spewed all over me a couple of seconds later. We managed to get the rest of it into you - slowly but surely - but not without much complaining, squirming and face-making from you. It was hilarious, if time-consuming!

It's amazing to me to see the differences in you and your sister - you are SO smiley and happy and easy-going... willing to let just about anyone look at you, talk to you, or even hold you. At this age, your sister would scream bloody-murder if anyone else but me even got too close to her. I am thankful that you seem a little more laidback in that regard. You two also look very different - I think you have more of your father's facial features, while Mercedes looks more like my family. Time may change all that, but all I know is that, different or not, you are both extremely beautiful!

Mercedes - 31 Months Old

Dear Mercedes,

Today marked a number of 'firsts' for you, and a very, very proud day for Mommy and Daddy. While you think you are adventurous, you don't usually tend to be - you are wonderfully inquisitive and observant, but a little tentative in new situations, particularly physical ones. You love going on slides, but small ones you can tackle yourself - you won't go on the swings, or walk in the sand at the playground, or climb too far or run too fast. Yep, you're my kid all right!

But today you challenged yourself and made us all proud! This morning we went to your first Kindergym class - it consists of a lot of free play on 'kiddie' gymnastics equipment, and some circle time (including with a parachute!) You had an absolute blast. And by the end of the hour, you were already miles ahead of where you were when it started! For example, there was a plastic slide with five ladder-type steps. The first few times, you would only go up one or two steps and then needed my assistance for the rest. By the middle of the class, you were climbing up and going down all by yourself! The look of pride on your face made my heart swell.

But the best part of the day was later this afternoon. I took you and your sister to the park, and my shy, tentative girl decided once and for all to conquer that pesky sand!! You actually walked around in the sand, climbed on the animal rockers by yourself, went on the swings (briefly, but it still counts) and best of all, CLIMBED a big flight of stairs on the playground equipment and went down a BIG metal slide, all by yourself!! You were thrilled with your bravery, and so was I. You always amaze me and make me proud - today was no exception.

Love,

Mommy

Alexis - 4 Months Old

Dear Alexis,

4 months have come and gone, and we love you more and more each day. This has been a big week for you - 4 months old, laughing for the first time, sleeping for more than 8 hours, and discovering your inner 'squeal'. It's a super-cute noise, although you do it over and over and over and over again ;) It's so funny watching you react to your own voice, but you don't necessarily have to screech SO loud.

The laughing you can feel welcome to try over and over again! The first time you laughed, it was at Duke, being the silly puppy he is. You are also ticklish, as we've discovered, and today you laughed because I said your name? It's okay, I'll take the baby giggles however I can get them! (Oh, and I'll also take more of those 8+ hour sleeps please!)

We love you oh-so-much, it's impossible to put into words. You are such a sweet, happy, easy-going baby. Smiley and lovely, you have brought nothing but absolute joy to our lives.

Love,

Mommy

Duke - 6 Months Old

Everyone knows that having children and having pets requires a certain level of un-squeamishness. You have to change diapers, scoop kitty litter, pick up dog poop, deal with vomit, wash bums, etc, etc. You have to be an adult and just 'deal' with the disgusting bodily functions of people other than yourself, and really, it's not SO bad. You just get used to it, right?

But Duke... ah, Duke. He brings grossness to a whole other level. And each time I think he's maxed out his grossness, he manages to one-up himself yet again!

So Duke has a little problem with separation anxiety. He doesn't like being left alone, and he most certainly does not like being left alone in the crate. He poops. And then steps in it, rolls around in it, flings it out of the cage... makes a big ol' giant mess that requires much cleaning, swearing, and a bath for the puppy. So we abandoned crate training and decided to use baby gates to keep him confined to only part of the house.

Which worked great until he HOPPED the gate and pooped in all the bedrooms upstairs. Lovely.

So pooping. Fine. He's basically paper-trained, so now we close all the bedroom doors and as his anxiety lessens as he gets older, he's either not pooping, or poops on the paper. Awesome.

Except... except for the fact that sometimes he EATS his poop. It's a nervous, puppy reaction, and it sucks. No one wants a shit-eater to kiss their human-babies, right?

But fine... eating poop is a fairly common thing among dogs, particularly puppies, and we are hoping he grows out of it as he gets older and less anxious and the separation anxiety wanes. We are working on a number of strategies, both behavioural and physiological to get him to stop.

BUT... to top the grossness pyramid... not only does he EAT the poop, he then THROWS UP the poop. Because like, poop doesn't agree with his stomach I guess? Yes, I told you that parenthood is gross!

But wait. There's more. How can there be more you ask? Well. How about you take a recently neutered dog who is forced to wear a cone for a week (and incidentally can't be bathed!), add in a poo-eating incident, and then a poo-vomiting incident... add that altogether and you have poo-vomit running down his neck, pooling in his cone around his face, dribbling out on his dogbed... and a tired mom who breaks down into tears and forces her husband to come home from work to help clean up.

I told you. Having children, whether furry or not, is just plain gross. It's a damn good thing he's cute.