Melanie’s Bow Hat

I got an email in the fall, from a mom of a girl in my son Mackenzie’s grade 1 class. It was a picture of her daughter’s hello kitty pink jacket. I emailed her back asking her if she sent it to me by mistake. Her reply was “I emailed it to you because Mackenzie told Melanie that you would knit her a hat to match her jacket”.

Oh, that funny 6 year old of mine!

So, what’s a mom to do?

So, as promised, I knit her the hat.

I knit up the Ribbons and Bows Beanie by Lillebarn by April Lowe. Here is my ravelry project. I used Berroco Vintage in a pink shade that is now discontinued (51106) along with white (5100) on 4.5mm needles. Hat weighs 56g total.

Melanie absolutely LOVES her hat & wanted to go to sleep that night she got it, in it…

Mr. Quentin

 

Ah… Mr. Quentin. My baby. Our source of entertainment. He’s quite the comedian. At almost 3.5 years old, he truly keeps life interesting, eating dinner with his backpack on (as he cannot take it off), or watching Caillou on the computer, through binoculars.

 

He plays very nicely by himself (on the benches at Sean’s baseball practice, while Mack runs around with a classmate of his, whose brother is on Sean’s ball team, while Mommy knits). He comes up with stories beyond my imagination, for the toys he brings with him to the ball park. (In his backpack of course). Quentin recently had a vernissage at daycare, and I got the most beautiful piece of artwork from him. I need to find a place on the wall to hang his art.

 

About a month ago, I traveled to Toronto with Quentin, a good friend & her daughter who is in Quentin’s class at daycare. While visiting a friend in Toronto, Quentin fell in love with the superhero cape that belong to my friend’s son. He was so cute in it, that my friend made some capes for each of my boys. (Thanks again Jen!)

 

Quentin is just a cutie. Always making us laugh.

 

I just want to eat him up! He’s talking up a storm now, far from from his speech delay, which is now the past. Some words we are still working on, but he’s slowly but surely getting them. He uses full sentences (though not always in the right tense, but that’s ok!) and when I used to say “I wish he would talk already”, now I say “does he ever stop talking?” LOL!

I cannot believe my baby will be 4 this year. FOUR! Where on earth does time go?

Lellow

Quentin’s got a new word, Lellow for Yellow and I think it’s the cutest thing ever. I had to share. Enjoy & Happy Thursday!

Goldfish

Yesterday Sean & I went to the fish store to buy some Goldfish for the boys. The each got one and we picked up some fish food too. My grandmother left them each some Chanukah Gelt (coins) for the holidays, so they used that for the fish. Sean named his George (I think, that’s what he settled on), Mack’s is named Finding Nemo, (not just Nemo, in full, Finding Nemo) and Quentin’s is Elmo. We have a large tank at home, so we’ll be using these goldfish to mature the water in the tank.

When we were in the fish pet store yesterday, Sean asked me what do we feed the fish. I told him we will have to buy fish food as we didn’t have any at home and then said to me, "fish food? Like lox?" I almost died! It was too funny. That one is going into his baby book with the other funny stuff that comes out of his mouth!

How Do Babies…

From yesterday morning, Oct 17, 2012

Out of no where as we are getting ready to walk out the door to catch the school bus…

Sean: "Mommy how do babies get cut out of your belly?"

Me: "My doctor at the hospital used a special knife and opened my belly and took out the baby and then sews back up my belly with either stitches or staples, I don’t remember."

Sean: "Oh, really?"

Me: "Yes, really."

Sean: "So you had this done to you 3 times?"

Me: "No, actually, only for Mackenzie and Quentin, I had you another way."

Sean: "There's another way?"

Me: "Yes, you came out of my vagina."

Sean gives a strange quizzical look.

Me (in a panic to come up with something but don’t want to get to much into it): "You know how boys have a penis and girls have a vagina?* Well... you have to catch the school bus right now, so put on your jacket and get your hat and gloves and let's get out the door before I have to drive you to school.”

Hopefully I dodged that bullet for a little while...

_______________
* The boys are aware of boys and girls private parts. They have asked me how come I don't have a penis, so we have educated them on the differences between girls and boys bodies… so body parts have been explained already. This wasn’t new words for him.

I’m Not Ready for This Convo…

Sean and I were talking yesterday in the car on the way home from picking up his brothers at daycare. He noticed that our daycare coordinator was driving her niece home and thought it was her daughter. I explained to Sean that it was her niece, and that she only had a son. He didn't understand what a niece was, so I explained to him, he is the nephew to his Auntie A (Jamie’s sister), and her son M is his cousin, M is also my nephew, which is the boy version of niece. I then told him that one day his Auntie A (my sister) and his Uncle C (my brother) would each have kids of their own once they get married & settled into married life and their kids will be my nieces and/or nephews, and they will be his cousins. He then thought about it for a minute and this was our conversation:

Sean: "Mommy, did you get married 3 times?"
(Realizing what he was asking/what he meant, so I said...)
Me: "No, Sean I did not, what do you mean by that?"
Sean: "Well, you have 3 kids, so did you get married 3 times?"
Me: "No, Sean, Mommy and Daddy only got married once."
Sean: "Then how did a baby get into your tummy?"
Me: (Not ready to explain the birds & the bees to him yet....) "When a mommy and daddy love each other, they have a baby".

And then he got distracted by something else, and the conversation was changed. Thankfully!

He's quite the funny/smart kid....! This one is going into his baby book!

Baseball

Sean started baseball today, but I think we’re going to move him up to the next level. The 4/5 initiation program is not stimulating enough for my all-around athlete. The 5/6/7 year old program will be 2 nights during the week instead of Saturday mornings. He still had fun today. A lot of the kids there today were 3 turning 4 or 4 turning 5. Sean will be 6 this year, so he was the eldest there.

Enjoying a freezie after an hour and a half of hard work on the field.

It’s been all baseball talk around here. All he wanted to do all afternoon was toss the ball some more.

Speaking of baseball, Jamie had a ball game recently and after when he got home, he was stretching his knee because he was sore. This is the conversation he had with Sean:

Sean: “What are you doing daddy, stretching?”
Jamie: “Yeah, my knee is bothering me, so I’m stretching it".
Sean: “That’s good daddy, stretching is good when you get old”.

I swear, I don’t make this stuff up. Sean’s been on the ball with the funnies lately.

I don't make this stuff up

Sean: "Mommy, do you know this song: "I Love you like a love song"?"
Me: "No Sean, I don't think I do, who's it by?"
Sean: "I think it's by Lady Gaga".
Me: "Sorry, I don't really know Lady Gaga's songs."
Sean: "She's the best. But Michael Jackson is better".

Uhm, ok!

Looked up the song, it's by Selena Gomez.

You're a Kid

Overheard in the den while the boys were playing Wii last night:

Mack: "You're a duck. You're a duck in a pond. Maybe you're a fish. But you're in a pond."
(Please note they were not playing any game with a duck or a fish or with any pond).
Sean: "What are you talking about Mackenzie?"
Mack: "You're a duck."
Sean: "You're such a kid".
Mack: "I'm not a kid, I'm Mackenzie."

This never gets old. I smile inside and out each time Mackenzie is told that he is cute, funny, adorable, handsome, etc and he responds with "I'm not (insert word here), I'm Mackenzie."


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bedroom Chatter

Tonight, at bedtime, this was my conversation with Sean:

Me: "What book should we read tonight?"
Sean: "I don't know."
Me: "How about Madeline loves Animals?"
Sean: "No, that book gives me nightmares. How about the one with the Pigeon and the hot dog?"
So we read The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog.

Uhm... nightmares? What on earth is he talking about.

Creativity

So I have a funny story to tell you. After we boarded the plane to leave to Florida last Wednesday, just after we took off in the air, once the seat belt sign was taken off, both boys had to go to the bathroom. So I took them to the front of the plane as there was only one gentleman waiting for the bathroom as opposed to the 3 people waiting for a turn to use the washroom at the back of the plane. Sean kept saying while we were waiting that he "couldn't hold it in any longer" numerous times. The gentleman in front of us didn't care and didn't let us use the washroom ahead of him. So Sean peed a bit in his underwear. Anyhow finally it was our turn. Sean finished his business in the toilet and a nice flight attendant got me Sean's backpack with his change of underwear. Luckily his pants were dry. Sean changed his underwear, got back dressed and I sent him back to our seats, in the middle of the plane. My mom was at the seats with Quentin. Then it was Mack's turn to pee. However we discovered that he could not reach the toilet seat, he is a too short. If I lift him, he becomes stiff and can't pee (we tried. He is also too heavy for me to lift anyhow & obviously there is no stool on the plane, so I asked the flight attendant if she had any ideas (while telling Mackenzie to hold it in). She said "hang on" and left to go get something. She then came back with a "barf bag" (you know, the white ones that are in the seat pocket in front of you on airplanes) as they are leak proof. So I convinced Mackenzie to pee in the bag and then I dumped the pee in the toilet. Creative & got the job done. Later on during the flight he went to the bathroom again the same way. He thought it was funny. Then, while we were descending to Fort Lauderdale airport he said he had to pee very badly "now". He said he couldn't hold it. So I pulled out the barf bag from the pocket of the seat in front of us, got him to stand up and pee in the bag quickly to be able to get him back into his seat for landing. As he was peeing though, he had to announce it several times quite loudly for everyone to hear (as the plane was quite silent besides the normal humming of the plane), "I'm peeing in a bag! I'm peeing in a bag!" He had everyone in the rows in front and in back of us laughing hysterically. I almost died!

(If you were in my situation - what would you have done? Let your child pee in the leak proof bag or let your child pee on himself, all over the airplane seat too? Going to the bathroom at the front or back of the airplane, was NOT an option).

And during the rest of the trip, Mack has had to go to the bathroom at the oddest times. So he has now been marking his territory on trees and poles outside too. I love how easy it is to take a boy to the bathroom while out! For this, I am glad I don't have any girls. Girls can't just whip it out and pee on a tree/grass. I fear that when we get home and his teacher asks him what he did in Florida, I fear he will tell them he "peed in bags and peed on trees & poles".

He was very excited to pee in the bag again today on our flight home. I don't know why this was exciting, but I guess to a 3 and a half year old... it must be quite funny.

More tales of my adventures with all 3 boys (with my mother! we both left our hubbies at home) coming right up! I've got lots to talk about/tell you about!

Conversation with Sean

I had this conversation with Sean a few nights ago around dinner time.

Sean: "Can you put the cheese spread on my cracker please mommy?"
Robyn: "I will be able to do that in a minute Sean, as you can see I'm in the middle of doing something. When I am done, I'll come over there and help you."
Sean: "But I'm hungry now, I want you to put the cheese spread on for me."
Robyn: "You're going to have to be patient and wait a minute Sean."
Sean: "I need you to have more hands mommy".
Robyn: "Trust me Sean, I wish I had more hands."
Sean: "I'll give you 65 of them for Christmas."
Robyn: "Sounds good my dear."

Saturday Morning Funnies

Mack: "Daddy, please kill that spider."
Jamie: "I don't want to."
Mack: "But I want."
Jamie: "And I want a million dollars."
Mack: "But I can't get it alone, I can't even drive."

Things Kids Say

I love the things that kids say. Sean recently said to me "Mommy, next year, I'll be older than Caillou, because he'll still be four." He takes a minute and thinks about it, and then says "And the year after, he'll still be a boy who's four, and I'll be 6." Can't believe he caught on that Caillou never has a birthday.

In Case of Fire

Mack's class at circle time today were discussing 9-1-1 and when you would need to call them. The teacher asked and one kid said "if your house is on fire". Mack's teacher said "that's right". Mack then pipped in and said "if my house is on fire I need marshmallows and chocolate sauce". He made his teachers laugh so hard, I'm sure they almost cried. I was told today by Mack's teacher that if my house is ever on fire to look out for Mack eating marshmallows in the kitchen.

Field Trip

On Friday Sean & I took a school bus with his class to visit the Montreal Biodome.

We had a great time.

Sean loves the penguins, just like I do. (My fave part!)

We had fun exploring & discovering new things.

It was a perfect day!

While we were in one of the rooms, Sean notices a bird standing on one leg and turns to me and says "Mommy, the bird has a broken leg." So I turned back to him and said "No Sean, his leg isn't broken, he's just standing on one leg, it's what some birds do". He looks at me and says "If the bird's legs aren't broken, and he can stand on both of them, can the man with the broken eyes see when he takes off his sunglasses?"

I.almost.peed.my.pants.of.laughter. (Because it was too cute).

You see, a long time ago, Sean was watching an episode of Sesame Street with Stevie Wonder. He turned to me and asked why he was wearing sunglasses indoors. I told him that Stevie Wonder was blind and he couldn't see so he wears sunglasses so people don't see his eyes. So, from that point on, when that episode would come on, he'd call Stevie Wonder, the man with the "broken" eyes.

Gosh, is he smart the way he thinks sometimes.

Minor Surgery, Friends & Marshmallow Tushies

Mack turned 145 weeks old on Thursday, March 31, 2011.

Quentin had his follow up with ENT (Ears Nose & Throat) at the Montreal Children's Hospital on Thursday. He is doing exceptionally well, and only has to go back for a follow up around his 1st birthday. We see Respirology in 2 weeks or so, and I'm hoping they say the same thing then too, to come back around his 1st birthday, but we'll see what they have to say.

While we were there, Quentin had minor surgery. The doctor took care of his Tongue Tie and it was a quick procedure. It would have been even quicker if she had froze him properly the first time, I didn't like that she started the job, and then said "Oh, I think he can feel it, I think I should freeze a bit more" Uh.. What?! And halfway through, he was screaming so much (hysterics) that he vomited on the doctor (serves her right for not freezing him properly to begin with). I'm glad it's over & done with. I'm hoping that it heels nicely. It looks like a huge blister under his tongue right now, it's quite upsetting to me to see. I'm hoping he doesn't feel it. He slept for a good 3 and a half hours afterward, he had exhausted himself screaming.

Friday we had our last Friday Music class at our friend's house. It was a fun class, I really enjoyed it, and the people that were in that class. Glad that I joined it. We'll be doing another session in the later part of the spring, that I'm actually organizing with friends, I can't wait.

After music, we headed over to Tara's house, and we were joined also by Kate-the-Enabler.
We had some lunch, some tea, and Kate got her baby fix.

Tara gave Quentin a gift. She knit him Duck feet. (Non-Ravelry link). It's soo flippin' cute.
Thank you so much Tara! Quentin loves them.

Tara & her daughter made dessert for us.
It's the most appropriate snack for any knitter.
I just enjoyed looking & photographing them.
(I didn't actually eat one... darn diet!)
They even have little marshmallow tushies!

Quentin was all smiles last night when he was supposed to be in bed, asleep.
It was my own fault for letting him sleep while we were out for dinner with my in-laws.

Today we had Jenn come over with the boys, as they've all been asking us to see their cousins. The boys played very nicely together, and had lunch together. The photo above kind of is funny, because none of them are actually "playing" together.

Other stuff going on:
- On Thursday, Sean asked us to remove the guard rail off his bed. It's been 2 nights now, and he hasn't fallen out of bed yet (knock on wood).
- Took Quentin to the CLSC on Thursday to get him weighed, he's been a little piggy this week, and has gained 34 g per day since last Thursday. He's now 10 lbs 15.5 oz. I plugged that in his growth chart, and he's still under the 3rd percentile for weight, at 4 months old. While we want him to eat, I don't want him to gain too much too fast. He's supposed to be gaining between 20 & 25 grams a day, so we're going to put him slowly onto regular formula. I'm going to be weaning him off the high calorie formula slowly, and see how he does. Maybe he was just having a growth spurt, who knows.
- Conversation between Jamie & Sean the day before April Fool's Day:
Sean: "I'm going to hide your slippers tomorrow, it's April Fool's day".
Jamie: "You're not supposed to tell me, it's supposed to be a trick/surprise."
Sean: "Well, I won't tell you tomorrow then."

Today's Link Love:
- Free Pampers Gifts to Grow Reward Points: 10000LATINASFBK, SPRINGHASSPRUNG & CesarChavez2011.
- Love this Etsy Shop. Especially these signs and these custom baby ones too.
- Love this bathing suit.
- I'd love to make something like this for my home office. It's so cute.

3.23.11

After Quentin's swim class this morning (which I dunked him fully in water today & he handled it like a champ), Quentin and I took a drive into the city to my grandmother's condo. She got back yesterday from Florida from being there for the winter, and hadn't met Quentin yet. He was born exactly 3 weeks after she left (and he was 4 weeks early). I had heard a rumor that a certain hockey player bought a house across the street from my grandmother. It's true. And it's being renovated. Too bad his Hummer wasn't parked outside the house today. If it was, maybe I'd have taken Quentin (in his Habs bucket (though, that's Mack in the link)) and asked to uhm... borrow a cup of sugar? Maybe I ran out of eggs and needed to borrow one?

When I went to go pick up Mack today, one of his teachers tells me that one of the girls in the class today, turns to Mack and says "I like him, he's cute" and Mack turned back to her and said, "you're cute too". Oh my. I think we might have to watch out for those 2 later on! They used to be in playgroup together when I was on maternity leave with Mack. (The 2nd playgroup I was in). Sean's actually friends with her older brother, so we see them outside of daycare too. Oh, my heart melted when I heard that. Too.freakin'.cute.

The boys had swimming this afternoon. I had no issues getting either of them into the water.

Quentin however wanted to eat while they swam, so no knitting for me. Maybe next week.

Baby boy clothes (and other items) box #1 packed and ready to go to it's new owner. Why am I having separation issues? It's some stuff he's outgrown in NB size, depending on the company. There are still a few NB items lingering in his wardrobe that will go into the next box. Quentin's in 0-3 month size now finally. Also some extra blankets and stuff I don't need and some stuff wrong season. It's super hard. But I'm going to do it.

Today's Link Love:
- This image.
- This made me laugh.
- I wish this was my bathroom.
- Love this mystery knitter.
- Backwards knitting!
- These knitted leggings!
- This yarn.
- This mug is amusing.
- This free baby hat pattern.

3.17.11 :: 143 weeks old/ 33 months old

Mack is 143 weeks old today and also 33 months old.
Getting him to sit still is becoming quite challenging.

Sean's sick today again (runny nose + a cough), and yesterday, while I was in the middle of feeding Quentin, and Mack needed to get dressed to go to daycare. I'm arguing with Mack to start getting ready and Sean turns to me and says "It's hard having three boys, eh mommy?" The stuff that comes out of this kid’s mouth kills me in laughter. Then tonight, we're at the dinner table (I was solo parenting tonight) and Mack turns to me and says "You're going to try to get me to eat this, right?" I swear, I almost chocked on my food it was priceless. I had made a pot roast in the slow cooker. Turns out, Mack convinced me to make him Kraft Dinner, Sean convinced me to make him Chef Boyardee (yep, the crap my kids actually like, right?) and I had pot roast. It was absolutely delicious (pot roast, not the other crap).

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
(Mack wore a few different shades of green to daycare, I had a green shirt (I don't own green pants, which is fine by me, Quentin wore a green sleeper today and Sean refused to wear green).

This morning I took Quentin to the CLSC to get weighed in, and he's finally hit the 10 lbs (and 1.5 oz) mark. The last 2 weeks he gained 25 grams per day, and this past week he gained 22 grams per day. I wonder if he's finally slowing down and the weight gain won't be as fast anymore.

My boys hanging out in bed today.

Any of my readers do graphic work that will work for yarn? If that's you... and this interests you - please email me at knitpurlmama at gmail dot com.

I was a bit tired last night (as I am most evenings) and I totally forgot to announce the winner of the copy of Arranged by Catherine McKenzie. I printed out all my recent comments since starting this contest and put them into a hat. The winner is.....

RHODA!

Congrats!

Today’s Link Love:
- Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards Points: BKKCSBBMSPNSPGB
- This dinosaur tail tutorial!
- I find this article funny!
- 10 free Pampers Gifts to Grow Points: T9PDXPKKGA3M4GK (This code will expire 03/22)
- I love this Moma Umbrella stand!
- Love these hand knit socks.
- Love this appointment clock.
- Love these knitted postcards.
- This is a funny video. I am still laughing!

2.25.11

Last night, Quentin went to bed around 9:20 pm just before my sister and I started to watch Grey's Anatomy. (We waited 20 minutes in, so that we'd avoid commercials and could zip through them). Quentin slept until almost 7 am this morning. It would have been a beautiful night rest, but unfortunately a certain 4 year old had an accident in the middle of the night and called out for me to change his sheets/pjs, and take him to the bathroom. (He still has accidents once in a while). I am praying for a repeat tonight of last night's sleep pattern... let's hope it wasn't fluke.

This morning Quentin and I had music again. Quentin is starting to be more alert when it comes to noises around him, and I hope he is enjoying the music class. The guy who sings is quite fun and he even does some Beatles songs.

After music we were invited out to Quentin's friend Nate's house for lunch.

We spent the afternoon hanging out and chatting while the babies also just hung out. It's been a crazy busy week full of play dates and I started to feel run down by mid week. I'm not sure what next week entails, but I am hoping there is a bit of rest in there.

My in-laws came over for dinner tonight and after dinner, Sean asked his Zayda Marvin (Jamie's dad) to play poker. Marvin asks Sean if he knew what a pair is. Sean thinks about it for a few seconds, and then responds "Yes, it's a fruit". It was priceless.

Today's Quick Link Love:
- Pampers Gifts to Grow 10 free Points: SEP3PGW7NRKYWX.
- This Billiard Tee Tutorial.
- Don't forget you have a few more days to enter my contest for a free copy of this book.