Brag for a moment.

I have to get this down...

It is Tuesday evening and Callum, Max and friend Teddy are in the backyard having races, running in a big circle around the yard.  Kelli opens the kitchen window so she could hear them in case of any argument that needed intervention.  Kelli looks up once to see Teddy beating Callum at a race, looks up a little later to see all of them racing backwards. The next time she looks up, Kelli sees Max running with all his effort a few feet ahead of a jogging Callum, who was kind of huffing and puffing while saying, "Oh Max, I can't catch up, you're too fast!".  Kelli's eyebrows raise and she stands in amazement, staring at her eldest son. Kelli watches as Max smiles from his triumphant race and Callum gives him a High-five.

Can a mother ask for a more awesome moment?  Can a mother witness anything more satisfying and rewarding than that? Well, I dunno, but it sure helps make up for a lot of the other crap that a mother puts up with, I can tell you that.

I'm a proud Mum.

 Callum has adapted to Kindergarten rather smoothly and has already learned quite a bit of French.  He is a such a sponge for information and is actually quite a keener and eager to please his teachers, Mme Paulus and Mme Sproule.  He is in one of three Kindergarten classes at Laronde and has made a few new friends.  During September, we tried to ride his bike to school most days, (he rides his bike while I ride my bike pulling Simon in the trailer and Max in the bike seat behind me), but now that the rain has started, I foresee a reduction in days of riding.  Callum gets up like clockwork every morning between 6-6:30am, so our mornings are actually calm and generally pleasant.  There are some mornings that he gets up before me and when I hear Simon wake up, Callum goes in to his room before me and I lie there listening to them play as Callum makes Simon laugh and giggle for up to 20 minutes before he comes to get me.

One of the activities his school participated in was the annual Terry Fox run, and the kindergarteners basically ran around the field in a circle for 20 minutes, though the circle managed to get smaller and smaller until it was more of a mosh pit.

We don't have Callum registered in any extra-curricular activities right now, since we were advised to let him get used to 6-hour days at school first.  Jeff and I had already asked him to choose between soccer and skiing, since we knew that Saturdays would likely be game-days when we would otherwise be skiing.  He chose skiing, so Jeff was satisfied, though I still think he needs some kind of team sport participation.  

Max's experience in Preschool thus far has been fairly positive, though he seemed unimpressed with singing the "Shake the Apple Tree" song during his first performance.

Max is just so darn cute right now - he is at at that cuddly, cute, entertaining age where everything he says just sounds adorable.  He has a bit of a temper too, though, that shows itself when his pants won't go on easily or he can't get the pancake on his fork.  I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned Max's un-affection for most animals.  When my brother had a cat, Max didn't want to go over there without holding my hand, or when we are riding our bikes and a dog comes up from behind, he will scream, or when I bought a groupon for 2 Equestrian lessons, he would have nothing to do with getting close to the horse.  I'm not sure what triggered Max's fear, but it affects him in other ways sometimes too, like freaking out when getting stuck in a tight space or refusing to go down the store aisle of certain Halloween decorations.  These fears kind of endear him to me even more, for some reason.

 Before the rain started, we got quite a few days at various parks, even with Jeff a few times (and our neighbour, Teddy)
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Of course, we celebrated Simon's 1st Birthday with a little party.  He had been standing up on his own for longer and longer periods of time and even showed off a few steps on his birthday.  

 

 Since then, Simon has gotten better and better at his walking skills.  For a while, he would take a few steps and just lose patience since his crawling was so much faster, but he seems to have begun to prefer walking now.  Simon's personality is developing into a clever and a bit mischievous little boy, no longer just a baby.  He likes to pull open drawers and the dishwasher, hiding things in them and I even caught him shoving a toy car and apple pieces (and whatever else he could find) into the floor vent after he pulled off the vent grill. He doesn't seem to understand why he can't have yogurt and bananas for every meal and snack, to the point that I have sometimes hidden the bananas so he doesn't see them and scream at me until I give in and give him one.  At 1 year old, he weighs in at nearly 30lbs (!), so I am getting some decent exercise carrying him around and as you watch him walk around in just a diaper you may instantly find yourself thinking of a mini Sumo wrestler.  He is now sleeping through the night without any bottles but wakes too often for soother-retrieval.