Spring

It’s been a busy winter. The world’s economy has fallen through the floor, but that was less of an event for me, since my personal financial situation has been teetering on that same precipice for a number of years now.
The world’s just catching up to me.
This past Christmas was the first with a tree in the house since the twins were born, and Liam and Morgan had a couple of near-bouts of pneumonia this winter. They're pictured here at home a few weeks ago in the midst of a nasty flu virus.

I have had an even busier schedule at work, and there have been no real opportunities to take the kind of pictures worth sharing, so the blog fell silent - until today.
Maybe it’s no coincidence that we’re welcoming the end to a lousy winter here, and I’m returning to posting something. The occasion which prompted pulling out the camera was a trip to see Steve and Cheryl in Whitby. They're about 160-170 kms from Brantford. As you might imagine, that kind of trek makes for quite an undertaking with three-year-old twins, so it doesn't happen often.
Steve and Cheryl and I got along with each other almost immediately upon meeting more than ten years ago. Having said that, we haven’t seen each other in close to two years, and it’s been even longer since I’ve seen their kids.
Cheryl may be the most conscientious entertainer/hostess I’ve ever known.
From the moment of arrival – every time I have ever visited – she keeps herself busy ...putting out finger food, supplying drinks, getting a meal together and then serving it, and, all the while, conversing as if you’ve got her undivided attention AND making sure their two girls, Jocelyn and Elia, are following the 'house rules'. As a guy with four jobs, I’m just a little envious of her ability to multi-task that efficiently.
Speaking of the finger foods, I think Liam was a little more interested in his reflection in the glass coffee table -

although he did manage to devour almost all of the “circle crackers”, as we call them around here.
I managed to “let go” a little bit, too. While home, Liam and Morgan are restricted by baby gates at both the tops and bottoms of staircases, as well as away from the ceramic-tiled foyer and many potential hazards of the kitchen. Steve and Cheryl have taken the baby gates down in their house, partly because they have Jocelyn, who is older, to help watch over Elia. It seems to be working out quite well. So, I nervously sat back and watched Liam and Morgan negotiate the stairs up and down to the playroom – many times...and there were a lot of things to do - including many movies to watch - in the playroom.

At home, Morgan and Liam like to do the stairs themselves without assistance, but they know I always prefer to be right beside them. They did just fine at Steve and Cheryl's.
Was expecting Dave and Leslie with their two boys, Connor and Cole, but Cole was a little under the weather, so Dave kept him home. Leslie brought Connor, and although he and Jocelyn were a little bored with the 3-year-olds’ level of play, they at least had a bit of a chance to hang out together.

It was fun to watch how Elia reacted to sharing her stuff with a couple of kids very close to her age.

Having spent many hours explaining to the twins how important it is to share (only partly because we can’t afford two of everything, and wouldn’t have room to keep most of it anyway), and knowing that Elia doesn’t have to worry about that on a daily basis because Jocelyn wouldn’t be the least bit interested in playing with the same things, being four years older, these pictures really amused me.

It shows Morgan waiting for a turn to play with one of Elia’s toys and eventually giving up.

The funny part to me is that – if it were Liam playing with the toy (it’s a water-filled gadget on which you push a button to try to propel little plastic balls into a hippo’s mouth – kinda cute), Morgan would simply rip it out of his hands and run with it. Liam would cry, and I’d be back in the middle of a conversation about sharing, explaining to Liam to let Morgan have a turn occasionally, and to Morgan that forcefully taking the toy from Liam is not the ideal way to initiate the sharing process.
However, something must be getting through to Morgan, because she was polite enough to wait until Elia was bored with it, and then took her turn.


All in all, a good day with good friends.
Still wish MY life-long friends lived closer, though. Nova Scotia is too far away from me...
Going to have to get to work on that teleportation room.

Thankfulness

Very few words today.
Just so thankful - every day of the year, not just at Christmas - for this one gift of two incredible people with whom I get to share my world, as they share their wonderful worlds with me. They bless me with their presence, and their unconditional love. Someone recently said to me that they weren't sure they wanted to have kids - because they didn't want to be 'one of those people' who loses their identity, and ends up talking incessantly about their children - and they worried that they would no longer have a world outside of the one they shared with those children. My suggestion, then - were it my business to make one - would be to not have children, because you might be missing the point. You might be thinking too selfishly to fully understand what bringing children into the world is all about, and the responsibilities associated with the journey. It is a privilege. It should never, ever be considered a burden.
Every day, I'm being shown a brilliantly shining moment by my children. Every day, they make me proud to be their father. I have done nothing in my life to deserve the unbridled joy I get from simply being with them. Yet, every day, they give me more.







Merry Christmas to you.
My hope is that - someday soon - everyone, everywhere in the world, will understand that there would be unending peace and joy - if only we would pay more time listening to what our children are trying to tell us, instead of us filling their minds with all our own flawed and failed plans.

I wish you all a clearly lighted path through the year ahead.

Their First Santa Parade

On the second Saturday night of December, in a community not far from Brantford known as St. George, the townsfolk gather to watch a parade of lights put on by the men and women of their local Fire, Police and EMT departments. Because I knew it was going to be short, and the best fit for the attention span of two three-year-olds wrapped in their snowsuits in minus 9 temperatures, it was a perfect choice for their first exposure to the phenomenon known as The Santa Claus Parade. As well, one of the beauties of a small community, there was the added bonus of everyone gathering at the Fire Hall immediately after the parade, and for all the kids to line up and sit on Santa's knee while their parents drank hot chocolate and conversed. The community communes, as it should - and the idea of it felt good. I grew up in a small community outside of a medium-sized city, and I appreciate what both choices have to offer - but my heart is still in the small town.
We brought everything we could possibly need on this short journey for the twins, to the point where we brought along their snowsuits, rather than have them sit sweating in the car on the drive there, and then appended their wardrobe once it was time to get out of the car and stand by the side of the road to wait for the action. You haven't lived until you've re-dressed a three-year-old in the back seat of a car on the side of the road. Seriously.
In any case, Morgan and Liam were bundled all Charlie Brown-like, and the parade came by, and the lights were nice, and they enjoyed it, and Santa Claus waved right at THEM (because the crowd along the side of the road was only one person deep - single file along the entire route - pretty well ideal Santa-viewing conditions).
Two fun moments for me, the first of which wasn't supposed to be enjoyed quite the way I was enjoying it: Picture a woman - mid-50s - on a flatbed-type float, wearing a bad platinum wig, winter coat, black tights, and heels, standing next to a 'jail cell', the whole scene being displayed behind, and towed by a Crimestoppers vehicle. Add to this a microphone in her hand, and her efforts to dance around while being jostled along the jerkiness of a stop/start parade route, and the strains of the karaoke version of Feliz Navidad filling the air. Then, on cue, to the tune of the Jose Feliciano classic, as she's pointing to the 'prisoner' in the cage, she sings, "Police got his car. Police got his car."

I managed to summon enough decorum to laugh only on the inside, but it was beautiful. A small town moment like I had not experienced in many years.

The second moment was the process of 'unloading' the twins at the fire hall. Anyone with little ones understands that "getting out of the car" is more along the lines of a full scale "disembarkment" at the best of times. I was on the 'road' side of the car, to remove Liam from his seat, while their mother was delivering Morgan from her restrains on the 'sidewalk' side of the car. As I lifted Liam up above my shoulder height, and turned him toward the street so I could close the door, SANTA WENT BY! He was arriving at the fire hall to go inside and sit with all the children! For that brief moment, Liam had an exclusive-no-other-kids-around-one-on-one exchange with the Big Man, who waved and said hello to Liam, while Liam beamed up toward him. That GREAT-looking Santa, making direct eye contact, smiling and laughing heartily. At that point, Liam could have gotten back in his car-seat and gone home, perfectly satisfied with the night's turn of events.
However, we went inside to see if the kidlings were 'ready' for a personal visit with the man in the red suit. As it turned out, neither of them would be interested in meeting any strangers and leaving Mommy's or Daddy's side once the very crowded fire hall had been entered.
However, once they heard the words, "You guys want to get some hot chocolate?" ...both Liam and Morgan came back to life. I stayed in the 'Santa line' with them 'just in case' while their mother went to hunt and gather some warm chocolatey goodness. She returned five minutes later, disappointed, saying, "They ran out on the person in line just in front of me."
I immediately suggested that we forego the Santa line for a trip to the local coffee establishment for some hot chocolate, since the twins seemed more excited about that option - and off we went.
So - to recap -
First Santa Parade? Big hit.
First Taste Of Hot Chocolate? Even bigger hit, as pictured here.
(That's right, they had never had hot chocolate before. How terrible, right? ...depriving them of all that sugar for three whole years.)
Anyway, here are the after-parade hot chocolate pics...as well as one taken while Daddy waited with Liam and Morgan alongside the parade route.
Happily Sipping Away
The Classic Chocolate Moustache
Oh - forgot to mention - about two dozen people walked past us during the parade handing out candy cane after candy cane after candy cane to us - and everyone - who stuck their hand out. ExTREMEly generous with the candy canes in St. George, just in case you're into that - something to keep in mind for your future Santa Claus parade-viewing plans.

Preparations Are Underway...

Don't know if you've heard about this, but apparently Santa Claus is coming to town. Something he does every year, I'm told. This year, there are two three-year-olds who have become intensely aware of this tradition. This is the first year in four that John and Janne will have a tree. This is the first year EVER that either Janne or John will give shelter to a tree other than one of the cut-down REAL variety. In years past, we have dragged home a Douglas Fir (incredibly overpriced) from the grocery store parking lot five minutes away from our last home. We have gone to tree farms and 'cut our own'. When time-strapped, we have purchased them from schmancy 'garden centres'...but neither of us have ever had a - dare I say it - 'artificial' tree. So, this is a 'first tree' for Liam and Morgan, a 'first' for Janne and myself.
Our daycare provider had a pyjama party for all of her charges this past Saturday evening, partly to give their parents a night to do Christmas shopping, or decorating, or just an evening out for dinner. We chose to use our 'night off" to surprise the kids with the tree. The most amusing part was deciding what was twin-safe and what wasn't from among the decorations. For instance, Janne has a metal tube full of 'icicles' (not to be confused with flimsy old tinsel) - which are essentially solid flat metal strands, about six or seven inches long, which are twisted in a spiral, and reflect light rather nicely when they are hung from the tree. This year, however, Janne referred to them as "sharp, pointy things", and they will remain in their packing tube, quite possible for a couple of more years.
Janne and I are also from the same school of tree-trimming. Although we won't be using tinsel this year, the one rule we both follow is "You don't throw tinsel. You place it on the tree." Yes, it takes longer, but it looks much better. Obsessive Compulsives make good partners, in case you were wondering.
We were both pleasantly surprised by the look of the artificial tree. Full to the point of being lush when all branches were turned out and arranged, it was easy to stop decorating and be happy with as much as we had done - because we're always late, and had to stop to go get the kids from their pyjama party. (The O.C. habit of constantly stopping to fix and straighten things takes up a lot of one's "free time", it seems.)
Morgan and Liam enjoyed - and continue to enjoy - the finished product, and have kept their hands off to this point.
The first picture here is my tribute to the now-defunct talking Christmas tree from Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia called "Woody". The very odd marketing creation actually had a "Save Woody" Facebook group for a while. (Go ahead and take the chance of searching "Save Woody" and hope that you don't get a pop-up ad for something manufactured by Lilly or Pfizer to see a picture of the former Talking Christmas Tree on Facebook.) My version below only has arms in the first pic, then somehow develops an awkwardly-placed head in the second.The New WoodyOne might call this practice "Tree Peeking" A Healthy Glow

The final pic is where we left it, and the kids seem to like it just the way it is, which is what's important - because it's time for them to start their Christmas memories - for all of us.

Celebrating Three

They each have very distinct and beautiful personalities, and are the people who make my heart grow bigger by the day...especially when they say things like, "Daddy, when I get older, I'm gonna have a coffee with you"...or, "Daddy, sometimes - I just like watching you."
Imagine what kinds of feelings would swell through you, hearing something like that for the first time from one of your children - who are yet to turn three.
Well, yesterday, the little miracles we routinely refer to as Morgan and Liam finally did turn three. I only say "finally" because their birthday comes after a couple of months of their father publicly referring to them as his "three-year-old twins", which is just easier than saying "almost-three-year-old twins"...and we had an amazingly successful birthday celebration with them.
Yes, both of them 'melted down' at different points through the day, with the incredible amount of (mostly 'fun') input they were challenged to absorb, but I stayed open to it, knowing that it was inevitable, and just continued to concentrate on making it "their day".

My friend Mike brought his family for the celebration, and my friend Shelly brought her lovely little Lucy. Mike's son, Owen, who is four, was so wonderfully well-behaved, and played so well with everyone, that I wish he could be a regular visitor. Owen's a very giving and well-mannered guy. (He can be seen in the picture above to the left of the birthday cupcakes.)
Mike's wife, Carolyn, came - and, although she had to spend most of her time looking after little Juliana, their extremely cute baby girl, she and I managed to get a word in with each other every once in a while. It was then that I re-discovered how much I enjoy her sense of humour. Carolyn and I once worked together, too, and I'm pretty sure that's where she and Mike initially met. She now has her own photography business at In Bloom Photography. (Check out her kids' pictures. Well, check out all of it, but don't miss her awesome kid pictures.)
Speaking of pictures:


Birthday cupcakes. Mommy put a big blue "L" on Liam's, and a giant red "M" on Morgan's.


Part of our day was spent at a Kid's Indoor Playground. Mike and Carolyn brought Juliana and Owen, and Shelly brought Lucy. We're all pretty gentle people, and - after about an hour or so - there seemed to be a quite noticeable influx of somewhat aggressive children, so we all gathered ourselves up and came back to our house for pizza, pop and cupcakes. Before things had gotten too out of hand, however, Morgan and Liam and the rest of our group had some fun, particularly on the Big Slide:


One of the more humorous (to me) moments of the day came early. I wrapped some foam puzzles (a Tinkerbell puzzle for Morgan, and a "Cars" - the movie - puzzle for Liam), and, apparently, I must have somehow made them look like floor cushions in my wrapping efforts. When they were presented to the Morgan and Liam on Sunday morning, the following pictures showcase how they reacted to them:


However, once it was explained that they should rip them open, bits of joy followed:




I need to apologize to everyone who came to share the fun with us through the day and evening.
I don't think I do a very good job of communicating with anyone anymore. I'm fully aware that I am very much consumed with my children, and, because of that, I tend to neglect some very commonly accepted social graces.
So, thank you all - for helping make Liam's and Morgan's day such fun. It is something they will talk about for a very long time.

You are all great friends.

Halloween '08

In less than a month, Liam and Morgan turn three years old. Every day, they continue to astound and entertain me with their brightness, precociousness and love of life. This Hallowe'en marked their first as trick or treaters, and the first time CANDY will carefully and selectively be introduced to them - something they have not been 'allowed' until now.
If Liam's taste for candy is anything like his initial opinion of cake, however, candy won't stand a chance. Liam flatly rejected his homemade chocolate birthday cake (on their 2nd birthday), a shock to both of his chocolate-cake-worshipping parents. He then tossed it on the floor. Turned out, a few months later, we discovered that he loves cupcakes. (Talk about particular! Jeez!)
Anyway, some Hallowe'en costume shots for you. Both the Daytime and Nighttime celebrations for these two were fun-filled. Morgan had some issues with some of the scarier costumes when walking among them, and - having a neighbourhood full of people who did their best to qualify for some kind of 'best-decorated' award, there were a few houses where Morgan wouldn't even go up the walk.
All in all, they made out okay, and looked good doing it.













Hope you had a fun, safe and Happy Hallowe'en..

Autumn

We were in the middle of summer 2008 (August 13th, actually) since anything was last published here. More responsibility at work led to fewer opportunities to get here, and the free time left after my work is done is far better spent actually being with the twins than writing about them.

Writing 'the twins' just now felt weird - because I never refer to them that way. I never refer to them as "The Tinks" anymore, either, because any semblance of smallness - or being smaller than others their age - has long since vanished from either of them. Morgan is still the size of a ballerina, mind you, but Liam's a bruiser. Lots of boy traits are bubbling to the surface. Actually - Morgan, Liam and I have a tendency to act like we're out of our minds when we play together, which is perfectly acceptable for them at their age. I, however, no doubt appear insane to any observers of our play on occasion, with both the noises and faces I make when deep in the throes of play. It's quite heavenly, really.

Speaking of Morgan still being the size of a ballerina, and the whole 'Tinks' thing - there's a new Disney movie coming out about Tinkerbell, almost as if the Disney company was somehow paying really close attention to my thought processes over the last three years.

There are some really nice Fairy Princess costumes out this year for Hallowe'en, and Morgan has one. Wait, that's not true. Morgan has two fairy princess costumes - one from her daycare provider to wear during the day on Hallowe'en, and one for the night's trick or treating which her Dad found - which is an 'authentic' (merchandising opportunity) Tinkerbell (did I mention there's a Disney movie coming out?) costume! Dad's no doubt more excited about that aspect of it than Morgan is, of course, considering the origin of the 'Tinks' name.
Liam will wear a train engineer (daycare provider-provided) costume through his daytime Hallowe'en celebration, and then transform into a lion at night (Dad-provided). He initially wanted to be a pumpkin, but I reminded him that he'd already done that.
There will no doubt be hilarity this Hallowe'en, and pictures will follow.

Since my last post, both Liam's and Morgan's language skills have at least doubled. Liam can tell me stories at bedtime now (he has a few of his books memorized), although he still prefers me to tell him. Morgan speaks so clearly and fluently, it never ceases to surprise me. Parroting things is certainly a skill set, but Morgan clearly knows what she's saying when she says it, and it's just fun to be here as that's happening with both of them. The everyday adventure continues.
...and they both love to sing so much, too - which is a thrill for me.

This past Canadian Thanksgiving weekend (first weekend in October, for those non-Canadians reading this), we went to a place close to home called Brantwood Farms. Hay rides, corn mazes, pumpkin patches and apple pies abounded...and the weather was beautiful. As a matter of fact, September and the first part of October kept most of us here in Southern Ontario from complaining any further about the 'bad' summer.

Some shots of Liam and Morgan enjoying the day...




Morgan was not a fan of the corn maze, but when we showed her a pumpkin-headed figure which was supposed to look like Dora The Explorer while wandering around in there, and trying to find our way, she settled down a little. She doesn't like scary things, and I have no intention of thrusting any upon her - just because of the pagan rituals associated with Hallowe'en.
For years, Hallowe'en has always reminded me of the loss of my mother, who died on October 25th, 1970, when I was only 13. Hallowe'en, and the whole 'conjuring of spirits' stuff that went along with it, was not something I cared to be involved with since that day. This year, however, October 25th passed without a word mentioned about that event in my life...and I'll be more than happy this year to spend Hallowe'en night with Tinkerbell, the fairy princess...and her lion protector.