October 2014

Things to remember about right now:
- How Luca will rub his little belly after his bath and say, "ça, c'est mon fuselage!"
- How Luca asked what the little rubber dots under his slippers were for, and while I was trying to work out how to explain in French that they were so he did not slip and they stuck to the floor, he asked perkily, "c'est pour la vitesse maman?"  What could I say but, "oui, c'est pour la vitesse ti-gars."
- How Annick had set up a lovely dinner for herself and her doll Sophia, complete with cake and sandwiches and plates and cutlery.  And a sausage in a teacup.  "Pourquoi il y a une saucisse dans la tasse ma belle?"  "Parce que c'est une saucisse-tasse maman."
- How Annick still stands up in her cot waiting to be retrieved after a nap or in the morning and looks so happy to see you, bouncing up and down (except on those days when she is in a MOOD)
- How Luca is building the most incredible structures and vehicles these days out of duplo, but is showing interest in moving into Lego (which sadly does not have the immediate largeness of duplo when built)
- How Annick wanders about looking after her dollies and cooking in her kitchen. Current specialty - pancakes (ingredients - yellow felt)
- How Papa is trying very hard to convert Luca to baseball during this World Series between two favourite teams, but Luca is steadfastly all about the hockey
- How Annick mixes up gruau and yoghourt
- How Annick sings 'Twinkle twinkle lootle star, wonder what you are, diamond in the skyyyyy".
- How Luca's last question and night and first question in the morning is always, "c'est quoi pour le petit dejeuner mama?"

Oven gloves!

Piling on papa at the Fitzroy Gardens.

Approaching the highly dangerous sport of gelato eating well-protected.

Luca has a new bed!  In preparation for Annick moving into the bed below (but still in the cot for now, because you don't give a 2 year old freedom until you absolutely have to).

Luca's amazing construction skills continue to grow.

Wearing training underpants for the first time.  EXTREMELY PROUD.

Still happy in her cot, still just lovely to meet in the morning.

Painting ah kong's wall.  Waited five whole minutes before deciding to find out what it tasted like.

Out in the sun with some bubbles and a remote control car from Uncle Harvey.

September 2014

 Things to remember from this month:

- How Annick says 'bonnah petit, tout le monde!" at the beginning of the meal
- How Luca wailed in despair, "Pauvre Annick!  Ma pauvre petite soeur!" as he heard her cry from her time out in the bedroom for playing up at the table
- Telephone conversations that go:
   Mama: hello darling, do you have something to tell me?
   Annick: I did a caca!
   (muffled prompting)
   Annick: In da potty!
   (more muffled prompting)
   Annick: It was a big one!
   All said with great pride and delight.
- How mama can be absent-mindedly singing Stevie Wonder's 'Ma Cherie Amour' in the bathroom while the kids are in the bath, only to have Luca join in with a cheerful, "ma cherie amour, mon camion vidange d'amoooooourrrr..."
- How they call out, "bonne nuit maman!" after I close their door at bedtime, just to hear me call it back to them.  Or more lately, "je t'aime!"
- How Luca's preferred breakfast pastry is 'un croissant nature', but Annick's is the chocolaty 'croissant-natine'.
- How we still cannot convince them that the French for 'to lick' is really not 'licker'
- How they both currently love to dance
- How they will say to me on the phone from Ah Ma's house, 'lu ho bo?'
- How I went to get some cream for some bruises on Luca's leg and told him, "look, here's some arnica for your bruises" and he replied instantly, "no mama, it's luca-a".
- How Annick calls bacon 'ban-con'
- How they love to watch Toc Toc Toc and pretend to be Youï and Alia - they will pretend to go to bed and call out to each other, "bonne nuit Alia!"  "Bonne nuit Youï!"

Exploring the Moreton Bay figs in the Carlton Gardens.

Luca is still all about the duplo and the towers.

He is also very interested in climbing these days.

Annick makes a beautiful card for papa for Fathers Day.

Cards and wine for papa!

Annick kept asking for "des trous mama, des trous!" and eventually I worked out she wanted a colander.

Learning fast on the balance bike - it helps to have a big brother to observe and learn from.

Park football.

"Papa voudrait quoi pour la fete des peres, Luca?"
"Une grosse boite!  Pleine de bouteilles de vin!"
So we went to the wine shop and Luca picked this $7 bottle of Lindemans merlot all by himself, because it had a blue label and had an 'L' on it.

Annick-in-a-basket.

Bouncing on the bouncy castle at the Finbar community fete - we got there early so they stayed on as long as they liked!

Face painting at Finbar - Luca got a shark and Annick was initially going to get a shark too but then all the girls before her in the queue got butterflies and she decided she had to have one too.

I have a photo of Luca with his ball pregnancy too, but he wasn't wearing a sombrero so it wasn't as funny.

The Royal Melbourne Show!  Luca got to meet Dusty!  This is the photo I got when I asked them to stand in front of Dusty and smile.

The best bit of the Melbourne Show wasn't the rides or the animals or the games or the food or the music or the show, but the umbrella that Annick got in her Peppa Pig showbag at the end.

Luca gets to grips with a proper sharp knife for cutting beans.  Good work Luca!

Annick shows off her fine motor skills building a tower.

First shorts day!  September 27.  Last year it was September 1, but that was freakishly early and then the weather turned cold.  

Making pasta with Papa and Ping Ping the Panda from daycare.

Months have passed

So much has happened, the kids have done so much growing!

Things to not forget about right now:

- how when you go in to check on Luca at night, he has tucked in his two bears under his Montreal Canadiens blanket on top of the duvet, so they are comfortable
- how Annick sings 'North Star' from Peppa Pig
- how Annick will call, "yoo 'oo!  Je suis là!" when she wants your attention
- how Luca still cannot say his English Rs and says things like 'owwinge bear', 'wun!  Wun faster!' and 'turn awound and awound'.
- how Annick will give you a squeeze and say, "squeeeeeze!"
- how Luca makes fantastical vehicles and large-scale operational buildings out of duplo
- how they both still love the post-bath nudie run and subsequent tickle
- how they only want to help in the kitchen so they can lick the utensils ("je peux licker le bol maintenant, mama")
- how Luca quietly talks to himself when he's playing, narrating the events
- how Annick puts her little dollies to bed and gives them bisous and sings them songs
- how both of them ROAR when you mention dinosaurs (Luca's favourite still being the "dinosaur rex")

Enjoying the winter sun in St Kilda.

Port Phillip Bay in winter.  Probably still warmer than Lake Ontario in summer.

Definitely not a little baby any more :(

Watching Sam le Pompier with great intensity.  I don't let them watch it any more, the stupidity of the 11 people who live in Sam's town was making me crazy.  How are they not all dead from fire by now?

Annick puts a selection of toutous (including Stephen Harper) to bed.

In the park, well protected from head injury.

Luca has decided it is time for him to start climbing the rope ladder and coming down the fireman's pole.  Some practise still required.

At the Pastello children's art exhibition in NGV.  They drew with their heads in perfect synchronisation, it was very entertaining.

Unnervingly fascinated by this ridiculous video art installation of a man dropping small things through a hole in his pocket so they came out his trouser leg.

The awesome feathered bears currently in the NGV foyer!

At the NGV Kids Club, doing le bricolage.

Getting to grips with a glue stick.

One expert balance biker, one novice, one human training wheel.

Vroom!

She sat under this stool for a good half hour, wrapping the telephone wire around the legs.  Who knows how two year old brains work.

Bringing the bricolage home!

Luca tries out some phonics programs.  He's great at recognising his letters (has been for a long time!) but still grappling with the idea that letters correspond to sounds.

 Great helpers, expert bibine hunters.

Luca - 4 years old

Luca at 4
- Nicknames: garçonnet, ti-gars, mini-beau, mini-gars, cheeky monkey, honeybun
- Personality: a squishy little bundle of oddity, punnery, vehicles, contrariness, smartarsery, affection, reservedness, self-control, no self-control (depending on what for), laughter, imagination
- Favourite books: Tintin, Dr Seuss, books about vehicles, Maisy, Put Me In the Zoo, Rapido dans la ville, SamSam
- Favourite things to watch: documentaries about vehicles, Peppa Pig, Toc Toc Toc, Bananas in Pyjamas, Caillou
- Favourite toys: Duplo/Lego, trucks, planes, groceries
- Favourite things to do: build things out of duplo or Lego, cook, organise, make the shopping/faire l'epicerie, deliver things, watch the rubbish trucks

Luca is a boy of imagination, who creates worlds to play in that you can almost see as he goes about (and narrates) his business with whatever tools and toys he has to hand, and the infinite resources of his ordered little brain.  He especially likes to play the grown-up - shopkeeper, construction manager, homeowner.

He prefers to do things only when he is ready.  He might LOOK like he needs to go for a wee, wiggling about on his bottom like a hyperactive beetle, but actually "I'm just warming my bundt mama" and he will tell you when he needs a wee when he's ready (which is generally at the very last minute).

He is brave even though he tells you things are scary, although he'll run to the other side of the room with a cheeky smile when the dark bits of storybooks come up (or when a tickle is about to happen).  He is stoic in the face of scary things such as needles, and understands that scary things sometimes have to be endured.

His grasp of both of his languages is improving exponentially, although he is still mixing them up (probably mama's fault) and comes up with sentences like "Annick va sleeper chez nous Nonna?" or "Nonna va sitter là Papa?"  A month in Montreal has done amazing things though.

He is quick to tears and easily frustrated, but easily comforted and distracted with nicer things.  He loves to help and to take responsibility, but equally likes to have things done for him and would rather have someone put on his shoes than put them on himself.

He likes to get his little sister into trouble - if he is told not to do something, he sneakily tells Annick that maybe she should have a go at the forbidden action.  He LOVES to read stories and ask questions that he already knows the answer to.  He says he doesn't love Papa, but boy does he love Papa.  He also adores his little sister and especially his Mama.

Bonne fête ti-gars - on t'aime, toi aussi!