First Days

Last week Emmett and Charlotte went back to school.  This year Emmett is in grade 4, Charlotte is in grade 2.  Charlotte started in a  new school this fall, as I took her out of French Immersion andenrolled her in her big brother's school. Charlotte is not missing her long bus ride at all and seems to be settling nicely in her new school.  I am not missing the parking nightmare at her old school and trying to juggle two school schedules!  Matthew started Kindergarten there today and handled drop-off like an old pro.

Here is the obligatory First Day of School in the Front Yard picture

Here's another one

Charlotte takes her Big Sister duties very seriously (when it suits her).

Settling in.

Summer Days

Summer is here.  We are playing outside.

File Under:

Some Day He Will Thank Me For This

Yesterday Matthew pulled Charlotte's tutu on over his PJs and danced merrily around the house while spinning her pink Barbie umbrella like a jaunty parisol.

I did not take a picture and post it online to humliate him in the future.

Do I get some sort of prize for that??

Caught on camera.

I caught the tallest and shortest members of my family goofing around on the deck today.  Aren't they cute?

Through their eyes.

 I did this interview two years ago. In honour of Mother's Day coming up, I thought I would ask the kids the same questions to see how the answers have changed.  If you look back, you will see that Emmett has not changed much,  but Charlotte has.  Matthew has never been interviewed before.
It is fun (and also rather illuminating) to see how your kids view you.  If you do the interview and blog it, please let me know in the comments so I can read yours!

Here are the previous installments: 

Enjoy!

Emmett, age 8, Charlotte age 7, Matthew age 4

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Emmett--You always say "Hello" to me in the morning?
Charlotte--Charlotte do not suck your thumb.
Matthew--Go!

2. What makes mom happy?
Emmett--When I'm nice to you.
Charlotte--Not sucking my thumb.
Matthew.  Pee and poop on the potty.

3. What makes mom sad?
Emmett--If I lie to you about cleaning up my room.
Charlotte--When Matthew hurts you.
Matthew-Fighting you.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Emmett--Well, you have nice jokes.
Charlotte--Funny jokes.
Matthew--Me laugh.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Emmett--Ok, I have no idea.
Charlotte--You liked dolls.
Matthew--You were a little baby when you were little.

6. How old is your mom?
Emmett--I don't know how old you are.
Charlotte--80?
Matthew--You are Big years old.

7. How tall is your mom?
Emmett--I don't know.
Charlotte--I don't know.
Matthew--Um, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Emmett--Now it's playing Skyrim.
Charlotte--Go shopping with your friends.
Matthew--work on the computer.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Emmett--Play with Matthew. And that is kind of obvious to me, isn't it?
Charlotte--Play with Matthew.
Matthew--Boring stuff.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Emmett--To make video games.
Charlotte-Will sing famous songs.
Matthew--Work on the computer again.  Every day you do.

11. What is your mom really good at?
Emmett-Playing video games.
Charlotte-You are really good at exercising.
Matthew--Eating and working and going on the computer to do work.  That's what you are good at.


12. What is your mom not very good at?
Emmett--I don't know.
Charlotte--You are not very good at doing cartwheels with your glasses on.
Matthew--Nothing.

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Emmett--Clean the house.
Charlotte--Taking care of your kids.
Matthew--I don't know.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Emmett--I don't know.
Charlotte--Mushrooms.
Matthew-Breakfast and lunch and dessert.

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Emmett--I forgot.
Charlotte--That you say "Good job" for me doing something.
Matthew--Climbing a tree

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Emmett--Maybe I can draw you in one! (and he did!)
Charlotte--You would be like Candice (from Phineas and Ferb)
Matthew-- An evil guy.

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Emmett--When Dad and Matthew are gone we went shopping.
Charlotte--we go shopping.
Matthew--We love to hug each other.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Emmett--I don't know.
Charlotte--We both have the same skin.
Matthew--We are not the same.  You are a girl.s

19. How are you and your mom different?
Emmett--Same answer as the other one.
Charlotte--I have blonde hair and you don't.
Matthew--No!

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Emmett--You are happy at me.
Charlotte--Because I am your daughter.
Matthew--No.  I'm not coming in.

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Emmett--I don't know.
Charlotte--To the store?
Matthew--I'm not talking to you.  

This is Emmett's depiction of me in a dungeon, getting ready to fight bad guys.

One is Silver and the Other's Gold...

Isn't it funny how when two kids meet and they are the same height they almost always befriend each other?

Yesterday, after Matthew and I got home from a lunch date with a friend of mine, I wandered into the house and left Matthew playing outside.  He decided Ding Dong Ditch was a super fun game with the front door and I lost interest after two rounds.  I figured he'd come in when he was ready.  After a few minutes I heard him yelling and looked out the window to find him running circles around a little boy and his mom on the sidewalk.  These are neighbours of ours that I have seen around but have never formally met.

Matthew fixed that in a hurry.  Before we could blink, the two little boys moved from the sidewalk to the backyard where they happily amused themselves digging  a hole in a pile of dirt. (Why do I have toys??)  I shrugged and invited the little boy's mom into the back yard where we made small talk.  I told the voice in my head that was listing off my to-do list to be quiet.

 It turns out this mom and I have something in common.  Her little guy is 3 1/2 and doesn't speak yet.  She is navigating the therapy world.  She does have the added challenge that she is new to Canada and does not speak English very well.  I told her a bit about what we have gone through with Emmett and her shoulders sagged with relief.  Not alone anymore.  She hugged me.

By this point we had moved into the house.  Matthew and his new friend were just fine,  there seemed to be no language barrier between them.  The little boy's mom politely ignored the dirty dishes on my table and the messy counter tops. 

Two hours flew by.  We exchanged phone numbers.  I invited her to playgroup.  We said goodbye.

I am thankful to Matthew that he found someone that is almost my height to play with too.

*In the video you see American Girl Scouts Singing Make New Friends.  We sing it in Girl Guides in Canada too!  If you are a Guide, then I apologize for embedding this song into your brain for the rest of the day. 

My boys

Emmett and Matthew have a pretty great relationship when they aren't trying to kill each other.  Today was a fine example of a big brother helping a little brother with his bike on the way to the park.  My heart grew three sizes watching Emmett being so kind and patient with Matthew today.

Oh, and just so you know, Charlotte is not forgotten about.  She was half a block ahead with her Dad helping her out.  She would also like to share this picture of a butterfly she took in our back yard today:

Matthew's first movie.

Yesterday we decided to take the whole family to the movies.  We chose Cars 2 because Matthew loves Lightening McQueen so much.

As we stood in line to get our tickets and popcorn, Matthew spotted the theatre's arcade.  He then totally forgot why we were at the theatre and I had to drag him crying off of a video game so we could get to our seats.

He gobbled up his candy and popcorn during the previews in between holding his hands over his ears.  He asked to go to the bathroom during the Toy Story short before the movie started so I missed the ending, which made me sad.  Matthew then decided that running up and down the corridor to the bathroom was much more fun than sitting still and watching a movie, so he asked me one more time a little later, and then Richard took him a THIRD time after that.  When he asked a fourth time, Richard left me with Emmett and Charlotte and he took Matthew to run a quick errand.  When the movie was over we found them in the theatre arcade.

The movie itself was OK.  Not Pixar's best.  I didn't feel the heart and soul like I usually do.  Emmett loved the action sequences and I saw him bobbing excitedly up and down in his seat through them.  Charlotte actually curled up and fell asleep in her seat through the middle of the movie.

My favourite part was Tokyo.  The Pixar-fied city was luminous and beautiful.  The rest of the movie just felt like it was rather lazily written and patched together. I am glad we didn't pay extra to see it in 3D.