Lily of the Valley

You are now six and a half; it was official on the day before Valentine's Day. After we plunked some candles into a muffin when Finn turned 18 months, you wanted to know when your half birthday was. Now it's "a thing" and we celebrated with beet chocolate cake with beet icing. Delicious and fudgy and a perfectly good excuse to eat cake.

Things change with you almost as fast as they do with Finn, though they are things that could easily be missed. Not asking me or Dad to call and ask for Carly, but just asking yourself. Just going over to Carly's without anyone to knock on the door for you. Eating supper or lunch at Carly's with her family.

You've just started an after-school program one day a week called Artrageous Minds. It impresses me that you make your way there, all by yourself, without prodding or help. You went to Sparks camp for a day and thought it was the funnest thing ever. You cooked your own lunch, you played games, did crafts. You actually really like Sparks so it looks like you'll go into Brownies in the fall. You worked a tea about a month ago and though it was a little frightening to ask people if they wanted more cake, it got easier as time went on.

School is going well. You've been bringing home lists for weekly spelling tests. So far you've only gotten one wrong. But you're happy. You have a crush. Some girls drive you bonkers. You think M. Dubé is funny. And you criticize, rightly so, Mom and Dad's French pronunciations.

On a book front, we've been reading chapter books. In the fall, we read some Ramona books (by Beverly Cleary) that were mine when I was little. On Sunday, we just finished all 79 chapters of Peter and the Starcatchers, a prequel to Peter Pan. Now we're reading Charlotte's Web, also mine. We have Peter and the Shadow Thieves reserved from library, the follow-up to the Starcatchers. It's super fun to share these books with you.

You surf Pinterest, madly pinning all the cute animals and babies. You and Dad (and Carly sometimes) play Minecraft constantly. You eat frozen mangoes and raspberries and smoothie popsicles. You jump across the couches. You walk home from school by yourself. You can be sweet and fiery. You throw tantrums and ignore our barking orders to get dressed, brush your hair, brush your teeth. Good days and bad days. But we enjoy them all.

Oh, Finney

You are now twenty-two months old. Over the past five or so days, your personality has exploded. You are funny and grouchy and oh, so sweet. On Saturday, we found you having fallen into the toilet, a wad of toilet paper in your hand for wiping. Of course, you still had your pajamas and diaper on. The next day you were "washing your hands" in the bathroom. When I heard the water and came to haul you out, I saw that you'd submersed the cordless phone into the water, the screen three-quarters full and lighting up with things we'd never seen before. You often get hauled out of the tub for continually turning on the cold water when you and Lily and having a bath, so water in the kitchen, bathtub, sink and toilet are kind of a problem...

You love to vacuum. You eat apples whole – core, stem, seeds, all of it. You walk up and down the stairs without hands now. You love to be scared when we run the loop around the kitchen and living room. You yell at Lily when she's freaking out, pointing out the absurdity of her poor behaviour. You love talking on the phone or being on FaceTime. When you are having a general conversation, you just jabber on without distinct words, mimicking the style and flow of a conversation. But you know how to talk and will surprise us by saying things. You helped me do laundry one day and were so proud, you just kept saying "I did it!" then went and got Dad to show him what you did. You also say, "Yesh! I did it" when playing basketball.

You know all the Muppets on Sesame Street from their website because we do a fair amount of video watching. My favourite is when you laugh like Bert, say Ernie and do the Snuffle Shuffle with Snuffy. You play kitchen, often pouring me drinks or cooking "tupper" for your baby that cries and giggles. You put her in the high chair when she eats and into the crib when it's time for bed. You know when something's hot, whether it be food, water from the tap, the toaster, the microwave, the oven, the coffee maker. You love warming up Dad's warmie (aka: magic bag) in the microwave because you get to push buttons. You like dinosaurs and trucks and polar bears and owls. You lift your shirt or undo you jammies when you want to press your tummy against my tummy. You have a waning obsession with belly buttons. You often put your head down on our shoulders when we hold you. You and Lily hit each other; rather, you hit her and she hits back until it gets nasty. You easily say good night to me and Lily when Daddy takes you to bed, even though you are less of a fan of going to sleep lately. You watch the same episode of Elmo's World every time we go in the van. You don't watch t.v. at home at all.

You're still our baby, but you're getting to be such a big boy. It's an amazing time and we enjoy (almost) every second of you.

He's here!

I'm an auntie! Chris is an uncle! Lily and Finn are first cousins! Ferguson Clarence Hood was born this morning at 9:20 a.m. in Edmonton, Alberta to Nigel Hood and Jessica Telford. He was 7 lbs., 10 oz. and absolutely perfect, I'm sure. We're so, so excited to meet him!

Look at the perfectly round little head!