Christmas Day

This is a Nativity given to us by Ryan's grandparents. Most years, I put out a lot of Christmas decorations and there has not been room to display this large scene. We usually display a small white ceramic one instead. This year, I went minimalist in my decorating, which gave us space to display it. Evelyn was really interested in setting it up and she made a lot of really good connections between our memory verses and other stories we had read.



















Each Christams Morning, before we open anything, we read the christmas story. I found a fabric book a few years ago that has text very close to the story in Luke. I sewed it up and this is what we read. Evelyn remembered our tradition from previous years and went in search of that book on Christmas Eve. She looked at several books, and discarded each one, then she found it and exclaimed "This is it! This is the Jesus book!"

As I had to work both Christmas and Boxing Day, we woke the kids up early on Christmas so we could open presents before I went to work. (How many parents say THEY woke the kids up on Christmas!?!?) Each time Ryan or I had a turn opening a gift, Ethan would exclaim "Happy Holiday Mom/Dad!" and gave us a hug. He really enjoyed watching everyone open their gifts. Thank you to everyone who gave us a gift. It was very kind of you to do so!

Decorating the Tree

After decorating the tree (Borrowed from the school) Ethan decided to see what the lights looked like from underneath the tree.










Above is our Muppet ornament collection and a hillarious 'Christmas Story' ornament that has audio from the movie from the scene with the stuck tongue. I always chuckle when I think of that scene, and the image of the little brother stuffed into his snowsuit with is arms stuck out at his sides.





Evelyn wanted to join in the picture taking and decided to pretend to be sleeping under the tree. These photos show a couple beautiful bulbs (Thanks K-A!) and our Snoopy collection.

Christmas Concert

Ethan enjoyed much of the concert from his spot at the edge of the stage. He sat so quietly and was out of peoples sight lines, so I let him stay. A similar photo of him was published in our local paper.








Evelyn really wanted to perform a 'Snowflake' song she had made up. We let her perform to us after the concert.

















During her classes presentation, she forgot to continue holding her "M" letter after she said her line :"M is for Mistletoe, but you can't kiss me!" She was constantly swaying and playing with her dress and her hair throughout the poem.

A photo of her omission was also in our paper. The caption read "This year's annual Christmas Concert at Caslan School was filled with laughs. The young kindergarten student in the white dress was so happy to be on stage, she forgot to hold up her ornament with the letter 'M' on it. Instead of CHRISTMAS, Caslan School had 'CHRIST AS'. "

A little later, Ryan made a incognito appearance as a Santa Puppet. Ethan was instantly enthralled and scampered up on the stage for a closer look (as did one other little guy). He was being so quiet and, I felt, added to the wimsy of the skit that I let him stay. I figured me hauling him off stage would be more distracting! I never got a photo of that event, but the local paper did! The caption for this one read "A little boy jumps up on stage to see the hand puppet Santa Claus". The teacher standing next to Ethan is one of his favorite people. He calls her "Miss. 'lissa" and he is pretty much her tiny little boyfriend. (I hope her real BF doesn't mind too much!) Ethan runs and hugs her at every oppertunity and loves to cuddle with her. Whenever she visits, he monopoloizes her lap for a large portion of the visit, and will ask for her days later.

So, of the 4 photos of the concert that were published, our kids were in 3 of them. While we are flattered, it's a wee bit awkward. What can I say? Our kids are very extroverted, gregarious, and they easily steal a scene!





















The kids friend Lauren spent the day with us before the concert. She and Ethan went to playgroup and had a great day together. Her Mom (Rachelle) is a teacher at Caslan, so Lauren was able to meet her Mom for the concert and spend some time with her Mom's students.

I love how Ethan is looking at Evelyn in the pic on the right. He certainly looks up to her! His smile in the middle photo could not possibly get any bigger!

New floors

I had forgotten that there were a couple of you (K-A and Ruth) that are not on Facebook. I posted these pics on there, but I'll put them here for you to see and exclaim "Oh! They look so nice!" too. We are very happy with our new floors.


Ilove that they are quiet (some laminate I've seen has a really hollow sound when you walk on it - these don't) and they compliment our wall colours well. We still have to replace the trim work. I plan to buy a wider trim that will match the new trim around our windows that were replaced last year. Now, to find someone to install it for us!





Below is a reminder of what the old floors looked like. The Princess Ethan Picture is from last year, but it showed the living room better than the other photo I took.

Merry Christmas from Evelyn and Ethan

We had not planned to get a Christmas Tree, but decided to borrow one of the artificial ones from the school for the holiday. We decorated it on Dec 23, and the kids decided to send out some Christmas Joy for everyone.

snowflake song

Evelyn made up this song and REALLY wanted to sing it at her Christmas concert. As that was not an option, we let her go on stage after it was over and perform it for us. Again, our budding entertainer.

christmas concert 2009.wmv

The kids spelled out 'Christmas'. I included the kids who I could understand.

This is Evelyn's kindergarten (ECS) class.

Christmas Jokes.wmv

I really think Evelyn has a career in media in her future. She loves to entertain.

Red River Jig Dec 2009.wmv

This is the finale of the Christmas Concert. The whole audience gets up to join in the jigging.

Kids: Unrepentant sociopaths

This is a hilarious tongue in cheek 'article'. Good for a laugh. Hope you enjoy it too!

New Study Reveals Most Children Unrepentant Sociopaths

December 7, 2009 | Issue 45•50 theonion.com

MINNEAPOLIS—A study published Monday in The Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry has concluded that an estimated 98 percent of children under the age of 10 are remorseless sociopaths with little regard for anything other than their own egocentric interests and pleasures.

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Data shows that many seemingly innocent children—such as this one—are not to be trusted.

According to Dr. Leonard Mateo, a developmental psychologist at the University of Minnesota and lead author of the study, most adults are completely unaware that they could be living among callous monsters who would remorselessly exploit them to obtain something as insignificant as an ice cream cone or a new toy.

"The most disturbing facet of this ubiquitous childhood disorder is an utter lack of empathy," Mateo said. "These people—if you can even call them that—deliberately violate every social norm without ever pausing to consider how their selfish behavior might affect others. It's as if they have no concept of anyone but themselves."

"The depths of depravity that these tiny psychopaths are capable of reaching are really quite chilling," Mateo added.

According to the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, a clinical diagnostic tool, sociopaths often display superficial charm, pathological lying, manipulative behaviors, and a grandiose sense of self-importance. After observing 700 children engaged in everyday activities, Mateo and his colleagues found that 684 exhibited these behaviors at a severe or profound level.

The children studied also displayed many secondary hallmarks of antisocial personality disorder, most notably poor impulse control, an inability to plan ahead, and a proclivity for violence—often in the form of extended tantrums—when their needs were not immediately met.

"Children will use any tool at their disposal to secure gratification," Mateo said. "And as soon as the desire is fulfilled, be it some material want or simply an insatiable and narcissistic desire for validation, they quickly become bored and lose interest in their victims, all the while thinking only of satisfying whatever their next hedonistic craving might be."

Mateo added that even when subjects were directly confronted with the consequences of their inexplicable behavior, they had little or no capacity for expressing guilt, other than insincere utterances of "sorry" that were usually coerced.

Because children are so skilled at mimicking normal human emotions and will say anything without consideration for accuracy or truth, Mateo said that people often don't realize that they've been exploited until it is too late. Though he maintained that anyone can fall victim to a child's egocentric behavior, Mateo warned that grandmothers were especially susceptible to the self- serving machinations of tiny little sociopaths.

Despite the overwhelming evidence presented in the study, its findings have been met with heavy criticism from people who associate with children on a regular basis.

Batavia, NY resident and 38-year-old mother Mary Corcoran echoed the sentiments of many other adults who refuse to believe they are sharing their homes with merciless predators.

"Not my Jimmy. Just this morning, he told me I was the best mommy in the whole world," Corcoran said of her son, 5. "In fact, he's been such a sweet little boy this month that Santa just may bring him everything he asks for."

According to renowned child psychologist Dr. Pritha Singh, author of Born Without Souls, diagnosing preadolecents as sociopaths is primarily a theoretical interest, as the disorder is considered untreatable.

"We've tried behavior modification therapies, but children actually learn from our techniques and become even more adept at manipulating others while concealing their shameless misanthropy," Singh said. "Sadly, experience has taught us there is little hope for rehabilitation."

"Just look at the way most adults act," Singh added.

goodnight moon

One final story time video. This one is the classic 'Goodnight Moon' by Margaret Wise Brown. Again, this needs to be in the library of all children.

Ethan chats with D

For those of you who have ever talked with Ethan on the phone, here is an example of what he's up to. I am not sure why he shouted the key words.

He loves to chat, so give him a call!

pat the bunny reading

More story time with Ethan.

Pat the Bunny is such a neat book. Those of you with babies, make sure you add this one to your library.

evelyn puts on a show

This clip is from August. Evelyn decided to dress up in her 'Dumbo' costume and put on a show. It's a bit long, but she loves to entertain others!

eveyln autumn song

Evelyn loves to make up songs. This one is inspired by the autumn weather we had, well, in the autumn. I think I filmed this at the end of September. Shortly after, we had our first snowfall - before the leaves even fell off the trees!

old mcdonald

Ethan decided to sing a version of Old Mc Donald after hearing one of our neighbourhood roosters crow. As you may guess from the climate of the clip, this is from a few months ago. I think I filmed it in September, so he's not yet 3 yrs old.

Some clips of Ethan

Ethan's 3rd Birthday

This post is a little long in coming, but finally, here are pics of our little man as he turns 3.

He is 39" tall and weighs 31 lbs. This puts him in the 42nd percentile for weight, and 94th percentile for height. So, long and lean is the phrase to describe Ethan! He's gained about 20 lbs and 17" since he was born. He describes himself in a very fierce voice with the phrase "I'm a Big Boy!"

He is potty trained during the day, but is wet most mornings. He loves to climb and run and dance and sing. He enjoys playing with water. He is starting to make up stories and engage in imaginative play.

I asked him the other day what he wanted to be when he grew up. His reply?

"I'm gonna be a superhero when I grow up"
"And what are you going to do?" I ask.
"I'm gonna climb a ladder... a really big ladder - and you can watch me Mom!"
"Sounds good hon', I'll watch you"

I LOVE that being a superhero seems like a viable career option to him!

Ethan loves to be a helper and is right by my side whenever I need to fix, install, or build anything. At the grocery store, he takes huge pride in carrying a bag out to the car. He'll state to the cashier and bagger "I can carry a bag because I'm a Big Boy" Often this comment is made with his hands on his hips and a fierce and determined scowl on his face. It's like he's daring them to disagree with his assertion that he's big enough to carry a bag. When is snows (yes, we've had several snowfalls this year, though the temps have been very mild) he loves to shovel the walkway. Unfortunately, his idea of shovelling involves moving snow ONTO the cement rather than OFF of it. He also likes to help me take the garbage to the curb.







His toolbox is one of his favorite toys, along with Hotwheels, Transformers, Toy Story, Dora, Wonderpets, and Little Einstein figures are also favorites. He has started to look at the underside of his cars to check if they have a 'Hotwheels' logo brand or not. He'll exclaim "This is a Hotwheels" or "This is not a Hotwheels" and then continue on playing. He loves to dress up as Batman or Spiderman and run around the house with his cape flapping behind him. He'll jump to a halt, and strike a karate-style pose and exclaim "I'm Batman" or "I'm Spiderman!"

Ethan is also a cuddle bunny. He loves to snuggle on the couch, asks to have his back scratched, and begs for cuddles at bedtime. His favorite song is "Baby's Boat" (a lullaby I learned when we bought a matching board book from the library discard pile) and he requests it every night. I love listening to him sing it with me.




His favorite object is a blue knitted blanket named "Hank". Hank was made by his Grandma Marilee and has silently endured a lot of abuse over the years. Most recently, Hank has had two HUGE holes torn in him. I am not sure I can fix him this time. Ethan still, determinedly, pulls the remnants of his favorite friend over himself each night and gathers the loose threads to his face. I really should take Hank away, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it yet.

Ethan moved to a twin size bed about a month ago. It was a smooth transition for him. Now, his favorite place to hide is between his bed and the wall. It is sort of like a fort for him.

His favorite foods are Yogurt, toast with butter and jam, and tuna sandwiches. He does not seem to like chocolate that much. When given the choice of a little chocolate bar and a gummy candy, he will always choose the candy, and when given chocolate milk as a treat, he'll ask for normal milk instead.

Every school day, I have to hold him back when the School Bus stops. He will scoot on board in a flash if I'm not quick enough. He climbs on and walks down the aisle greeting each child with an enthusiastic "Good Morning!" Each day, when Evelyn comes home, he greets her with an equally energetic "Hi Ella! How was your day?" Usually followed by the statement "You're my sister!" and a repetition of the first question "How was school?"

Ethan is a little less outgoing than Evelyn was at this age, but he is still very extroverted, and loves social situations. He is eager to give out hugs and has a way of making people feel happy to see him. He has a stubborn streak, but it is less intense than his sister, and he throws fewer tantrums than she did too. When he gets excited, he will stutter a little. It's always the first word he's trying to say like "We wwe we we get to go to the big mall!" This is happening less often in the last 3 months. I've had comments from others that he speaks very clearly and is very easy to understand (when he's not stuttering) . His language skills have become much more sophisticated lately. He pretty much speaks like an adult now. He loves to talk on the phone, though he will often point to things like the other person can see what he's talking about. He'll happily chat your ear off if you give him a chance!





For his birthday, we had two little friends over and several adult friends as well. The girls were both named Lauren. They all had a lot of fun playing in Evelyn's room with her big girl toys. We had a car themed party. I worked a lot that week, and was not able to make him a cake, so one of my neighbors made it for me. I liked that it turned out almost exactly as I planned to do it




.


The only thing I can think of that he's afraid of is Dogs. He'll act brave when they're at a distance, but as soon as they get close, he usually squeals and runs away.

So, now I have a 3 year old and a 4 year old for a couple more months.

Happy Birthday Little Man!

The rest of October

I figure I should probably get up to date on some blogging. I've been working a fair bit this past month, and volunteering, and the time has flown. I figure that for each 1 or 2, 12 hr shift that I work, I need a full day at home to clean up the mess, get caught up again, and re-establish boundaries and relationships with the kids. That's pretty much been October for me. Ryan went away for 10 nights total, 7 in Nashville and 1 in Minneapolis and 2 in Edmonton. Having Evelyn in school for most days makes it much easier to manage while he's gone. The weather's been hovering around zero. So, we get snow, it melts, it turns to ice, it melts some more, then we get more snow. The kids have enjoyed it none the less!

The kids also had fun building a fort out of the kitchen chairs and some blankets. I love how Ethan is looking at Evelyn. He's so happy to be playing with her!

I had my first 'parent helper' day in Evelyn's class. She is certainly the clown of the class. She will say or do things simply to make the kids laugh. Most of the time, it's distracting and causes her teacher to have to gain control of the kids, again. I've been talking to Evelyn about it, so I hope she stops soon. I volunteer again tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes. Though, Ryan called me this morning to say that only 46 kids were at school today (out of about 100) and 5 staff were off sick. Sick with what? Well, there are confirmed H1N1 cases at the school and it spreads like wildfire! So, the kids who are there will be getting some more one on one time!

Her class is working on "popcorn" words that pop up everywhere and need to be learned/memorized. So, she is learning: the, it, is, in, at, a, this, that... you get the idea. The kids have made 2 little books that she 'reads' to us. I'm pretty sure she has them memorized, but sometimes, I think she's actually looking at the words and reading them. One is called 'Run Turkey, Run' the other is called 'Five little Pumpkins'. I should take a video of her reciting them.

The playgroup had a halloween potluck party on Wednesday. There have been 4 new moms coming out with their kids. So, that is really great. Most of the kids are 3 and under. The youngest is a newborn (with a big brother). Several of us have brought in ride on toys that we don't use often. The kids spend much of the time riding around and around the large (gym sized) room we meet in. I took Evelyn to the party day (she missed the morning of school) so I could take her and Ethan to get vaccinated before I started work. She enjoyed being the big kid and the 3 yr old girls followed her around the whole time.

I have started working the H1N1 clinics. The hours are very flexible, and a bit sporadic, so it works out well for me. I am waiting to hear back from the 'healthy living' program to find out if I can work some mornings with them again this year.

Ethan is almost 3 years old now and has hit a new development milestone. He seems to be way more helpful and eager to be the helper. I think this is because he's figuring out sequencing and what tasks need to be done in what order. For example, I'll say 'let's have some cereal for breakfast' and he'll say "I'll get the bowl, and the milk!" He's finally starting to play by himself a bit. He likes to line up his 'Radiator Springs" 'Cars' cars, and build and take apart, and build and take apart... the mega blocks 'Cars' cars that he has. Sometimes I hear him making a story with the toys, but not too often. He's started singing more often and loves a new song we learned about a rocket ship.

Evelyn is very interested in friends right now. She wants to have them, she wants to play at their houses (not something we've done yet) and she is very aware of the social dynamics of her class. She is starting to divide boys from girls and make statements like 'I only play with the girls.' etc. Overall, she seems to be doing well in her class socially.


She's been assessed by the Occupational Therapist at the school for some guidance about whether she is right or left handed, and why she walks on tip toe so much. One possibility for the toe walking is that she has a sensory integration issue. This would also explain her finicky likes and dislikes about smells and how sounds can bother her sometimes. I read through some info on a website and I'm not sure it fits well. I think she walks tip toe in part because I did! I had thought for a while that she had decided to be left handed, now she's back to writing and colouring with both. I think she is truely ambidextrous. At times, she will write things in a mirrored script (like DaVinci wrote in his journals) so, I'll continue to monitor her as she learns written language to see if any dyslexia crops up. Her favorite subject is probably math. They are doing patterns, so she sees and points out patterns everywhere.

I took the kids to the Costume Parade at the school on Friday. Ethan wore a pirate costume that Ryan's mom made (hat and all!) He charmed the judges, oozed personality, and won the contest for 'under 5 boy'. This is his second win. Last year he was a safari man riding a zebra.

Evelyn wore a 'Snow White' costume made by Ryan's mom also. She looked so cute and she spent much of the time twirling around and admiring her dress.

When we sorted through the candy the other day, Evelyn immediately picked out and set aside the 'chokey candies' that were not safe to eat. I don't let the kids have hard, round candies becuase they're too easy for them to choke on. I like that label 'chokey candies'. Then, she decided how to sort the candy. Chocolates, gummies, suckers, and a small miscelanious pile with tootsie rolls and rockets.

Today, we are having some soffits and fascia installed on the house. We had lost a fair bit in some wind storms over the years. That's about it!

Thanksgiving Weekend 'Now Edited with Pics!'

Perhaps the caption for this first pic should read "Siblings that pee together stick together" or "We really need a second bathroom". They thought this was a great joke and giggled for about 5 min about sharing the toilet.

On Friday morning, after Ryan only managed to get about 90 min of sleep, we headed to the airport to send him on a conference in Nashville TN. He went into school after I got home from work, and the kids were in bed and stayed there until his sub plans were done. I think he got to bed about 4:30 am!

After dropping him off, I took the kids to Ikea for lunch and 'Smalville'. Ethan is pretty much potty trained during the day, so this was a reward for him. (Kids must be potty trained to go in the playroom) The kids had fun for the 30 min they could play before we had to head BACK to the airport.



As we were going to be in the area at the same time she arrived, I offered to pick up a travel nurse named Pamela at the airport and drive her to Boyle, rather than her having to take the Greyhound. Her flight arrived literally 2 min before Ryan's flight to Nashville took off. After, we went to Sears to look for a winter coat for Evelyn.

Evelyn fell in love with the first jacket she tried on. It's long and styled like the parka jackets worn in the north. I think it will work well. It came with a hat, scarf, and mittens to match too. The jacket and snow pants were on 25% off, so the total was **$90!**. I SO wish I'd been able to find something at a thrift store! I looked at a few thrift stores, and they had absolutely nothing! We tried on jackets in Wal-Mart and Fields, but they were all too big in the torso. With the -5 - -10 temps and snow we're getting, I needed something for her now! At least she really likes the jacket she chose and it should serve her well.

Ethan has been pushing boundaries and getting into things he knows not to. He put his Buzz Lightyear doll (his favorite toy right now) into the bath with Evelyn this morning. It no longer makes sound. I must say, I'm not that upset by this consequence to his actions. He, however, does not feel the same way!

Ethan has continued to push against the rules for the rest of today too. Grrr! He peed on our bedspread while he was supposed to be watching a movie with Evelyn. I was installing new window shades in our kitchen at the time. He spread apple sauce all over the railing and couch while I went downstairs to change over the laundry. He almost flooded the bathroom while he 'washed' his hands while I was changing into PJ's. Whenever I specifically tell him NOT to touch something, he is touching it a few seconds later. When we were doing errands today, he refused to hold my hand when I told him to while we were crossing the road and in the parking lots. Most of his disobedience is little things, but he's doing so much of it, it's getting extremely frustrating.

Evelyn just watches him do these things she knows he shouldn't do, then, when he's done, yells out "Mommy, Ethan just...peed on your bed, ...put apple sauce everywhere, ...got water all over me and all over the bathroom..."

Last night, despite my best efforts, I fell asleep before Ethan did. He went into the bathroom and took my jar of Vit E oil (I had been putting it on a scratch he had on his face) and the foaming soap dispenser and dumped them all over his carpet. I woke up a little later, heard him still awake, and found the sticky, gooey mess all over his carpet. Evelyn had been sound asleep for at least an hour at this point. I have no idea why he was still awake.

I am tired of having to watch him directly all the time. Even a couple minutes without me looking at him, and he's getting into trouble and making huge messes. This stage of his development can not pass too soon in my opinion!

Anyway, at this time, the cheesecake I'm making for tomorrow has 30 min left in the oven. Our Duvet has about 50 min left in the dryer before I can possibly head to bed. I'm going to fold some laundry, and figure out the timing of all the food for tomorrow. I set the table today. It looks good! I took some pictures with the old digital camera. The last of the window stuff came in today too. I like how it's turned out. It makes me want to get the kitchen finished.

I put Evelyn to work writing out some place cards for the table. I lightly wrote the names in pencil, and she traced it in Crayon. She thought that her card "Miss. Evelyn" was hilarious, and decided that mine "Mrs. Mommy" was the silliest thing ever. We also set a place for Teddy and gave him a place card too. His dishes are Evelyn's china tea cup and saucer from the set we bought her and his cutlery is drawn on paper by Evelyn and cut out by her too.

Here's an excerpt from an e-mail from Ryan. This is from his first night in Nashville.


"It was a long day but the city has lots of personality from the one small stretch we walked down looking for dinner. Every spot seemed to have live music. We stopped in a pub and I'm 99% sure one of the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica (the mechanic) was with a group of guys who were whistling at their male waiter. Kind of odd. Dinner was good. That's been about it so far."

He also saw a guy that looked just like Santa, and country music singer Teri Clark. Nashville is full of celebs!

That's all for now!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!