Today I took Clara out on a date. We went downtown and bought shoes, had lunch, and ate ice cream cones. It was so fun. My little girl is not so little anymore - we didn't bring a stroller and Clara was just fine walking everywhere. We held hands a lot and that was a real treat for me. Papa and Leo had some quality time too except Leo slept through it all. Oh well, Marc enjoyed his quality time!


My smiley boy.


This is Clara hugging Leo, not suffocating him as it may appear!

Another busy, busy day for Clara a Leo. Leo, my big boy spent the whole morning at the Halte-Garderie today! They didn't have to call me to feed him or comfort him or anything, he just played, took a nap, and played some more - I'm thrilled. I'm so gonna miss that place over the Summer.

This afternoon we were over at Mariella's house playing in her tee pee, with bubbles, and then messing around in paint. Due to our extended stay (Natasha even made Clara dinner) and a bit of parent brain on my part, I didn't have enough diapers for Clara so we used one of Mariella's. When we got home and I was changing Clara's diaper for bed and she got so upset that I was throwing out Mariella's diaper! Not only that, she proceeded to beg to wear another one of Mariella's diapers. Whats that all about?

Marc is off in Philly and I am home with a funny pair of kiddos. So far so good, Papa's absence has been altogether manageable. I even accomplished this tonight (for a whole 10 minutes)...


Today was a good. Carrefour, a quick romp in the park with some Parc Drolet regulars, a visit with Phil. at the bakery, home for lunch and a visit from Jenne and Cohen.

During Dinner, Clara and Leo were playing the Yes-No game by themselves, except Leo can only shake his head "no". But, like any good little brother, he dutifully shook his head no while Clara nodded yes, giggled, and then shook no. They both seemed to find it very amusing. I say, if they think it is fun then milk it for all its worth... I used the time to eat my meal in peace without having to shovel carrot into Leo's open grunting mouth.

After dinner, while Miss Clara was watching "one cartoooon" I decided to scrub the bathtub - don't ask, it just really needed to be done. I hooked Leo up in the doorframe in the Jolly Jumper and what I saw can never be captured by words alone. My sweet chubby little guy was a veritable ballerina, or is it Irish dancer? The moves this little guy was pulling off would make you laugh until you cried. The entire show was performed with a big toothless, drooly grin as Leo moved from Swan Lake to Riverdance and back. The bigger the leap, the bigger the squeal and the louder I laughed. I have a feeling my guy would really appreciate the experience of weightlessness (heck, I'd appreciate it if he were weightless, then I wouldn't find myself lugging a 20 pounder on my hip all day!)

By the way, for all who are interested, the stomach bug seems to have stopped at Marc; Leo and I never got it - fingers crossed.

Happy Birthday Auntie Ann Marie!

I thought Clara being sick all day sucked...I was wrong, having Marc AND Clara sick all day is worse. So far Leo and I seem to be keeping healthy but I admit I'm scared. I do NOT want to come down with this virus, it is nasty! I'll spare you all the details but suffice to say our apartment is NOT smelling like roses.

Send healthy thoughts our way please.

Blech - Clara has some sort of yucky stomach bug.

Poor girl started throwing up at 1am and heaved regularly until 7:30am this morning. She was pretty subdued all day and didn't eat much but she did have the energy to insist that watching cartoons on the couch would make her feel "much bedder" when she woke up this morning. Whenever Clara was feeling talkative today she was quick to remind me... "I puked in the bowl mommy, I puked in the bowl!" When you are two I guess there is something to be proud of in any situation!

Leo seems to have remained healthy so far. I've been excessively washing my hands in hopes of avoiding cross contamination so hopefully he'll skip this unpleasant experience. I do have to comment, all through Clara's hours of sometimes loud upchucking, Leo was an angel and hardly woke last night. It is as if he knew Marc and I needed to focus on his big sis. What a cool kid :)

Clara: Mama, can I go splish splash in the puddles now?
Me: yes, Clara go ahead.
Clara: Spiderman, Spiderman,
Does whatever a... SPLASH... spider can,
Spins a web...SPLASH...any size,
Catches theives...SPLASH...just like flies
Lookout, here comes the spiderman...SPLASH

Yep, she had fun in the rain on the way home this afternoon!

He slept! For those of you who listened to my ranting and raving yesterday and this morning about Leo's inability to sleep I can now happily report he took a proper nap this afternoon. And, to make me even happier, Clara napped too! What did I do with the precious 30 minutes they were both asleep? I washed dishes.

Blogging has been difficult these last few days - can you say TEETHING. Poor Leo is experiencing the highs and lows associated with growing those pearly whites. He can be happy and smiley one second just to start sobbing the next. His cheeks have become the most impressive shade of scarlett just about every evening for the past 3 or 4 nights and he seems incapable of sleeping more than 20 minutes at a time. Poor baby, he hurts, he's tired and even Tempra doesn't seem to be making things better. He's been spending lots of time being held thats how Papa captured this cute pic...


Teething aside, Clara and Leo were pretty busy this weekend. It was so warm outside we couldn't resist some quality family time at the park. Clara impressed Mama and Papa by scaling the ladder to the big kids slide and scampering up all the levels to the very top. We always knew she was a monkey!

Leo also showed us a new trick he can do, he seems to be at the very beginning stages of commando crawling. On Sunday morning he was on his tummy and just lifted his butt in the air and kinda kicked with his feet. He moved forward – oh, I'd say maybe 10cm but I did say it was the beginning of self propelled movement.

Sunday afternoon was Mommy's time off. I don't know exactly what Papa, Clara and Leo did but I know a trip to the Tam Tams and the park was made. Leo was not particulalry happy with the situation and let Marc know while I, completely oblivious was SHOPPING!

Since I have not be keeping up with the blog I haven't been able to share some of the recent funny things Clara has said or done. Since I want to remember these here are a couple of my favorites:

- The revival of Clara's belief that dogs should be wearing diapers so their caca-poo won't be on the sidewalk.

- Clara on the phone with Chloe. “Coco, I don't understand what you are saying! I just don't understand.”


- “The Pope died mommy, he just died” How does Clara know this piece of information you ask, the same way her Papa learned about it some 27 years ago – the cancellation of morning cartoons to cover the Pope's funeral mass! She also associates the purple cross on Mount-Royal with the Pope's death and happily announces “THE POPE DIED” whenever she see's it.

- When Clara would not allow me to put on a clean diaper after having already taken off the dirty one at Jayne's house I said fine, you can walk home like that. I slipped her shoes on, and opened the front door inviting her to join me on the sidewalk. She stood in the doorway in nothing but a Tshirt and shoes, looked and me said, “mommy, I'm cold. I need my diaper and pants on to go home”. Can you guess how easy it was to get her dressed to leave after that?!?!

After a morning at the Halte Garderie, a picnic in Laurier Park, and lots of running and sliding with Chloe and Zach, Clara was all played out ...


While his sister was napping Leo had his first taste of pear using his babysafe feeder. What a success, he loved it! I'm not sure if it was the taste or just the cold on his gums but he happily stuffed it in his mouth and gnawed away for 5 minutes.

"L'escargot Leo" is a song we learned at the Carrefour des Petites Soleils. Marc and I sing it to our Leo often. Today Clara started singing it to calm Leo down while I prepared dinner. That was pretty cute in itself but when she started singing the song replacing "L'escargot Leo" with "L'escargot Clara", "L'escargot Mommy" and "L'escargot Papa" I had to smile. She's such a cutie!

Today Marc dropped Clara off at the Halte Garderie. Apparently it was an easy transition, she never even said "good bye" was what Marc told me when I quizzed him about it this afternoon. When Leo and I arrived to pick her up at noon we were greeted with a big smile and hugs. And, to make the morning even more perfect Catherine said she did great all morning - she played well alone and with the other kids. I can't tell you what a relief it is to know that she can behave and more importantly enjoy time away from Marc and/or I. Last year at this time I never would have believed she'd transition so well into a daycare setting.

Neither Marc nor I are especially athletic but it is entirely possible that Clara may have picked up some sort of sports gene along the way. Case in point, today she notices a bat and plastic baseball at the park. It belonged to a little boy whose mom said we could go ahead and play. I thought "okay, we'll try this once and quickly move on, there's no way she's gonna get how to hit a ball with a bat". Guess who was WRONG?!?

So I give Clara a quick run down on how one might hit a baseball with a bat, stood back, tossed the ball in her direction and BING she made contact, then BING the ball was heading back towards her. Yes, Clara managed to hit her first base hit straight into her brother's unsuspecting FACE! Oops, I guess pitchers are not supposed to be holding a baby when they do their job.

This is why I decided to have two children. As I type Clara is performing a song and dance for Leo who is literally giggling until he chokes. It is hilarious. I remember performing for Ann Marie when she was a baby and I know the more she smiled and laughed the more I threw myself into my performance - the same seems to be true for this big sister. Oh, now she is playing the guitar and singing for him... the lyrics have something to do with Winnie the Pooh and Toy Story.

Clara can blow bubbles this year - without putting the wand in her mouth! We're so very proud.


Here is Clara at the Tam Tams. She was totally in the groove and beating that drum with abandon. I've seen her accompany Isabelle at the Carrefour des Petites Soleils so we were not surprised to see how enthusiastic she was when she actually had a drum to keep the beat!


This picture of Leo looks a lot like ME when I was a baby! He's a pretty cute kid don't you think?? Oh yes, the picture is taken on our back balconly in the afternoon sun... Summer is on its way I can feel it, or maybe I'm just wishing it.


Papa and Leo having a moment together this morning.

I'll preface this entry by saying Clara's taste in fashion must come from her father.

Every morning my big girl reaches into her dresser and selects her outfit for the day. Most days I'd say she does a fair to good job picking coordinating tops and bottoms. This morning though was a fashion nightmare. I never did get a picture of her but I will describe the look for those who want a laugh.

Picture it, April 8th, 2005 Clara is sporting a horizontal striped shirt in shades of pink and purple along with her engineer overalls (yes, they have vertical stripes) and a pair of bright yellow socks. She finishes off the outfit with a pale blue tight fitting cardigan and her black spiderman running shoes. I'm not sure the runways of Paris, Milan, and New York are quite ready for Clara's vision of fashion just yet!

This evening Clara asked me what I dream about. Whoa, not a question I was ready to answer while changing diapers! I made sure I understood her question before launching into my response "do you mean when I am asleep?" "Yes, mama - do you dream Toy Story?" Whew, ok, this kind of dream I can handle. I told her I dream about people I know, that I dream about her, Leo and Papa. Clara listened, nodded and replied "but, do you dream about Winnie the Pooh and honey bees?" "No sweetie, I don't think I dream about Winnie the Pooh, did you?" With a big smile on her face "Yeah, I dreamed of Winnie, an Piglet, an Tigger, an Eyore, and Kistoffer Yobin"

Another gorgeous sunny day in Montreal! We went to Laurier Park with Jenne, Cohen, Annie and Camille. Karen and Chloe joined us while Coco had a nap strike (oh I so know all about those!). Unfortuantly we were too late to meet up with the littler girls... we'll do better next time Mariella and Anissa!



Oh yeah, Leo is still drooling tons - excuse the bib, we dare not go anywhere without it!

Are my children telepathic? I just heard a one sided conversation between Miss Clara and Leo.

C: I'm not happy Leo
L: nothing
C: I'm really not happy Leo
L: smile
C: Leo, I'm not really happy
L: grin
C: Leo, NO I'm not happy... stopit!

I dunno what Leo was saying but it was really annoying his big sister. I kinda enjoyed the whole exchange though.

There are several ways to know Clara is sick. The most obvious sign is her feverish glassy eyed face and second is her willingness to turn OFF a movie so that she can fall asleep on the couch in peace. Even though she has already seen The Incredibles and Toy Story 2 this afternoon I was still shocked to hear her say “that's enough” referring to the TV! So now Clara is sleeping fitfully on the couch while Leo blows raspberries at me. What a way to start the week!