Two Monkeys: Nicholas & Joshua Read

Joshua words Owl Wow Wowo Mama Dada Yeye Nana Go go All done Elmo Bear Purple Out No Yeah Joshy Apple Cereal Juice Nainai Bao bao Up Fox Mut Mut Hai hai Uh oh Bye bye Turtle

Yesterday (Tuesday April 2) Nicholas and Joshua came to us for the day. Jean and Nicholas went to playgroup at 9:45 at Industrial Ave; Annik was the animator. Jean says that before circle started (10:45) she told Nicholas that Annik needed his help because the other children didn’t know the songs and he did. In the past Nicholas has been very reluctant to take part in circle time, but this time he sang every song: The more we get together Rolly polly Sleeping bunnies Old Macdonald had a farm 5 little monkeys Head & shoulders, knees and toes. He did all the actions too - the sleeping bunnies lie down, and then get up and hop-hop-hop around, and hand signals for 5-4-3-2-1 little monkeys. Jean was quite thrilled with this, and told him so! When they got home Jean made a milky jelly (strawberry flavour) as a special treat to mark the occasion. Joshua and I had been out for a push-chair walk, but had cut it short because it was...

Robert's post on April 11th This morning Cam returned the dentist's registration sheet all filled in, so Nicholas and I got warmly dressed and set out with the push-chair for Alta Vista and Bank St.  The trip there was quite straight-forward, we sang a few songs together but that was all. We parked the push-chair inside on the ground floor and walked up.  The receptionist was quite busy, so we asked for Patti and she came out from a back office.  I gave the envelope to Nicholas to give to Patti, and he passed it to her.  She crouched down to talk to him, but he didn't speak - there were some other clients there, so we didn't stay long; Nicholas said 'bye' and we went downstairs.  We were holding hands, and when we got downstairs Nicholas raced around and around me, turning me round until I was dizzy, and laughing.  Then I got him into the chair again and we started back.  We went via a sidestreet this time, with no traffic....

It's been over a year and a half since my last entry....sigh. I had every intentions of keeping track of Joshua's development, but the addition of a second boy has meant double the work. You quickly realize how much time you used to have when you have children! Now, there's virtually no time for anything but to survive. Joshy is now 18 months old . When I bring him to school with Nicholas, everyone marvels at how he is a replica of Nicholas. His personality is very different though - he doesn't have the serious nature of Nicholas and he is quite strong willed. He knows what he likes, and doesn't like. He has about 35 words now, so he's moved on from just "dada", which was basically his whole vocabulary at 1 years old. Current favorites: medeo means again; nooooo!; cereal; Johua (pointing at himself), purple, turtle, apple, nai nai, peck peck (after I showed him a woodpecker), elmo (whom he loves). He loves to eat, unlike Nicholas and lately we fi...

It's day 2 of Nicholas dealing with his cough and cold, and it feels like it's been a week. It began on Sunday afternoon with a loss of appetite, a slight cough, runny nose, that continued into the night with a fever. I knew Monday morning that I would be housebound for days to care for the little man. I think I've given a few thousand hugs already, and gone through a few boxes of Kleenex. Nothing can soothe a small toddler who barely can put a sentence together - only mommy has that magic touch. What it means is that it's 24/7 care for Nicholas and all he wants to do is hold my hand. Luckily, Joshua has been healthy through it all, and is quiet during all the fussing. My mom and sister have been over the past two days, providing food and company while we get through nursing Nicholas back to health. The nice thing is that he passes out at 6 pm, which gives us an evening of relief and quiet time for Cam and I to do our own thing. We haven't had that for months. ...

Today is Chinese new year, so thought I would start it off by writing in my blog again. It has been a year since the last post. I went back to work, and it kept me busy juggling life with a toddler. In a year, Nicholas has transformed into a little boy. We bought a house in the spring, moved in at the end of May, and welcomed our second boy on October 27, 2011. A little about Joshua Robert Chung Ching Read. On the second day after he was born, I noticed immediately that this baby didn't cry. When he does, it is short and his demand simple - milk. He is an absolute angel and a perfect boy. Content and smiling all then time. We also call him fat boy because he is so chubby. He is around 14 pounds now, maybe more at 11 weeks. Nicholas doesn't mind Joshua, but he often tells him go away. He finds any chance he can get to bop him over the head. I usually catch his haughtiness. Last week, I caught him with bus hand midway through the air, just about to commit the act when he just...