Messy, moving, monster Max

It seems an impossible task to get a picture of Max since he is constantly on the move, as the shot above shows.

Jeff and I are exhibiting minor stress in our own ways during this turbulent month and I feel particularly neglectful of the boys - too much TV. Hopefully we will be able to focus on them more after the move in less than 2 weeks. We managed to find a place to stay in White Rock - a 1-bedroom basement suite with no bathtub, so it should be an interesting few months. We also managed to rent out our apartment (which turned out to be more difficult than we had anticipated, so we are much relieved that's taken care of).

Yup, less than 2 weeks before I say Goodbye to my urban life and say Hello to, to, um, well, I'm not really sure what life will be like out there. Sigh. Well, I borrowed my sisters minivan the other day and managed to parallel park it on the first go, so somehow I feel like I can handle any suburban task ahead of me! Soccer Mom, here I come!

First Day of School!

Since we are still living in Vancouver and Callum's Preschool is in White Rock, Callum, Max and I get to to commute to White Rock twice a week for September to Callum's school! And since we still have only one vehicle and Jeff needs it for work, this involves taking the Skytrain, which the boys don't really mind that much.

My Mom picked us up from the end of the line and then we borrowed her car to get to White Rock. All-in-all, about a 2-hour commute! I'm still glad we are doing it, though, since I didn't want Callum to miss his first day at Preschool.

I have to say, I have been feeling rather bursting with pride of my boys lately - Callum really is a great big brother and Max seems to be 1.5 years going on 3.5 years old. Let's see...

Callum participated in 3 separate weeks of Day Camp over the summer, so I think this really helped him gain alot of independence - carrying his own backpack, going to the bathroom without help (except with his button), inviting new friends to play with him and not being shy. He does tend to have his stubborn moments, when he has his heart set on something that he can't have (for example, after Daycamp one day he wanted to go to the park with his friend Noah, but we already made plans to go to Grandma and Grandpa's, so he was grumpy the entire drive there and for about half an hour after we got there he hid beside the house!). He is beginning to understand, though, that he has control over his emotions, so he comes to me and says "I'm trying real hard to be happy, Mom, but it's too hard!" The other day I was surprised at what a big boy he was when he was in his room for a while and came out changed out of his pajamas and into his clothes without me even asking him, then we were at the park and he was pumping on the swing all by himself, he shared his snack with Max without me saying anything, he went up and introduced himself and Max to another kid , then when I had to run to catch Max, Callum noticed I had to leave the stroller behind so he grabbed it and brought it to me. There are a few things we seems to avoid doing himself, however - if I want him to eat a meal before 2 hours has gone by, I better spoon it into his mouth or it will take forever. He has a mild obsession with Star Wars and I'm afraid computer and video games are already a favorite pastime that I need to decide how to deal with. Hmmm.

Max, my little troublemaker, is still quite a handful. I really took for granted how clean Callum has always been when he eats since Max is a disaster. He really doesn't understand why he can't do everything that Callum can do, so he gets frustrated when he can't climb up the side of the couch or when his food rolls off his spoon, or when I drop Callum off at Day Camp he really doesn't understand why he can't stay too. He is SO anxious to join Callum in Nursery at church, so I am counting down the Sundays before he turns 18 months. He still only has his front teeth, 4 on top and 4 on bottom, so I think he is teething now, actually, which would hopefully explain some of his moody behaviour lately. He talks pretty much non-stop - we think it is some obscure Asian dialect that someone somewhere would understand, but certainly not us. If you count "rrroooaaarrrrr" as a word, then I guess that would be his first word since he uses it every time he plays with a dinosaur toy. If Max hears the faintest sound of music with a beat, you will see him show off his moves - this kid sure can dance which makes me laugh and laugh!!

Speaking of Max, actually, he really needs to go down for a nap, so I better help him out (and if there's anything Max is good at, it is going to sleep, if not staying asleep).