Dear Noah,

You are now a year and a half old. There have been some truly magical changes with you these past few weeks. You are really, truly no longer a baby. You walk, you talk, you dance, you run, you jump, you assert your will. I really think our baby is gone. I mean, it's hard to imagine that just a few months ago, you didn't eat and you were a breastfed baby.

You are nothing like that plump little baby from a few months ago. Now you're just this slightly chunky, watermelon eating machine who today ate his lunch, then ate his brother's leftovers. You eat that one square meal a day and the rest of the day, you graze and snack. You're pretty unpredictable as to when that meal might be, and we never know what you'll be in the mood to eat. But whenever the mood strikes, we attempt to feed you as much as you'll eat!

You eat with utensils - you have from a very young age, probably due to the fact that you want to do everything big brother Caleb does. You drink out of a cup, though you tend to get distracted and there are still lots of spills. You wake up in the morning and demand "LAIT!" (milk), though you often call it "jus" (juice), even when you are pointing to a glass of milk or water. Perhaps you're not confused at all - you're simply pointing out that this is not what you want, and what you want in that glass is juice. You really are a little talking genius, so I won't put it past you.

You love your crackers and your pastries. You have a definite sweet tooth - you can eat a mini ice cream cone faster than your brother, and you shovel spoonfuls of gelato down like someone's about to take it away from you (which is true). You love grapes, blueberries, watermelon, raisins, and occasionally you'll go for some pear and strawberries. You're still pretty limited in the vegetable department, but you'll entertain the odd potato or asparagus, and lately you've started enjoying eating salad. You eat sushi! Avocado rolls, that is. You have your moments when you'll try new things without hesitation - even if it's just a bite, but other days you'll give a definitive "NO!" with a shake of the head to tell us you are just not interested.

You love eating cereal with milk for breakfast. You rarely eat toast, unless it's raisin bread, and you will meticulously pull out all the raisins until your toast resembles swiss cheese. You are a fan of ketchup, there's never really enough of that.

You sing! You dance! You have always been a huge lover of music. Your dancing repertoire is quite impressive. There's the chicken dance, with wild flapping of wings and all. There's the running man, where you dance on the spot like you're jogging. There's the random lifting of the legs, doing the wave, and your specialty, spinning around in circles while saying "tourne! tourne! tourne!" (turn, turn, turn). You just started running this week, and you are getting to be quite fast and nimble. This will come in handy when you hit the dance floor!

You ask for music ("sic!") and you sing along to some of your favourite songs. You sing parts of the alphabet - the best is when you say "Q R S, T U V, wuh-wuh-wuh X..." You count to five. When you call me at work to talk to me on the phone, I say to you "Allo mon Noah" (Hello my Noah) and you repeat it back to me, only your version goes "Lo lo (random babbling here) Nwaaahhh..."

You scream "marche!" (walk) when you are in our arms and you want to be put down on the ground to walk. You say "main!" when you want to walk holding someone's hand. You greet your brother with an enthusiastic "ALLO!" when you see him first thing in the morning. You tell your brother "bouge!" (move) when you want him to get out of your way. You say "bas" (down) when you want to go downstairs, and "en haut" (upstairs) when you want to go upstairs. When asked where are your nose, cheeks, eyes, teeth, hair, head, tongue, and mouth are, you can not only say the French words for them, you can also point to them and say "là" (there).

And oh. Diaper changes are always entertaining. The minute your diaper goes off, you point to your manhood and exclaim "meh-mis!". Repeatedly. As if we didn't know what it was and hey, have you seen my meh-mis? I try to correct your pronounciation, and you repeat it back to me the same way all the time. Meh-mis. Yeah, Mom. Meh-mis. MEH-MIS. Uh huh. I got it. Meh-mis.

Your dad told me that the other day, you spotted your brother's meh-mis when he was going for a pee, and when he got up from the potty, pantless and without his underwear, you exclaimed "MEH-MIS!" while pointing to the meh-mis in question, and Caleb started backing away from you. You started following him with your finger outstretched, and proceeded to chase your half naked brother around the house while crying "Meh-mis!" It was quite the sight, I wish I had seen it.

You love animals! You make all kinds of sweet animal sounds, and you recognize many of them when you see pictures or photos of them, or even when you see them in the flesh. You do not, however, like dogs. If you are put at eye-level with one, you will scream and cry with fear. You love to see them from far, and say "woof woof" when you see one, but that's about as close as you want to get.

You have the benefit of playing with all kinds of toys that are not exactly age appropriate but way, way more fun than baby toys. You love to play with all your brother's big boy toys that we have in the house, from the make-believe tool set to the many trucks and trains. You make vroom-vroom car noises, you respond with a "choo choo!" when I say "All aboard!" and pump your arm like you're pulling the whistle. Your favourite toy is a ball. You LOVE LOVE LOVE balls. I think someday you are going to be great at ball sports - because at the tender age of 18 months, you throw a ball better than your big brother. You invented a game this week that I like to call Spoonball. You have a big plastic spoon which you stole from my utensil drawer in the kitchen, and you either run around with a ball in the spoon, or you hit the ball with the spoon like you're playing hockey. Actually, I'd have to say that Spoonball resembles lacrosse quite a bit, so perhaps someday you'll be an excellent lacrosse player. Your dad thinks that you've inherited his knack for sports (yeah, definitely NOT from my camp).

The biggest development from this past month has got to be the sleeping. A month ago, you were spending most of the night in our bed. It would take sometimes 45 minutes of rocking and walking and patting to get you to fall asleep in my arms, and then potentially even longer to put you into your crib without waking you up. when your father started being the stay at home parent, he couldn't duplicate the routine and had a lot of trouble putting you down for naps. Your father is always the one to take the bull by the horns and make the big changes around here - thank goodness for him because otherwise, we'd get stuck in our crazy do-what-it-takes routine and never make any progress.

It has taken about a week and a half to change things up, and while not all days are successful, we've made amazing progress. We can now put you down in your crib and you'll go to sleep on your own. Sometimes there's some crying, sometimes there's some convincing to do, but lately there hasn't been as much. Since you've started falling asleep on your own, you've been sleeping better through the night - probably because you're able to fall back asleep without us. Last night, you fell asleep on your own and you slept the entire night without crying out for us, NOT ONCE. It was truly amazing. By the time we write your newsletter next month, I imagine bedtime will be as simple as putting you down, blowing you a kiss goodnight, and walking out the door. Already the routine has gone down to just a few minutes, so it can only get better from here.

You've always had an interest for drawing. You love to scribble with crayons. You can't be trusted with them unsupervised, as you'll inevitably start throwing them or drawing on something other than paper, but I have a feeling that while you have your sporty side, you also have a little of your Mom's artistic side as well. I can't wait to see you turn into a total artsy jock.

You have a big, big heart. You have a ton of love to give in the form of big, sloppy, wet kisses, and your kisses are truly the best. You're always up for giving a hug. You especially seem to love your Papie - when you see him, your eyes light up and you reach out for him to take you in his arms. You wrap your arms around him, nestle your head into the crook of his neck, and you sigh with happiness. While you sometimes need to warm up around certain people, with your Papie, there is never a need.

You love to babble on the phone. You especially love to call your Grandmother (my mom, whom you refer to as "Ba Ngoai", meaning maternal grandmother in Vietnamese). You'll often go pick up the cordless phone, give it to us, and say "Ba Ngoai", as if to say "Dial it for me. Now." I love hearing your little voice on the line when I'm at work, even if you're just randomly babbling away in your sweet little mix of French, English, Vietnamese, and baby talk.

You seem to have really flourished since your father started staying home with you. You have developed an even stronger bond with him, and these days it seems like you're all about your Dad. Some days I come home from work and while you greet me with an enthusiastic "MAMA!", there are moments where you only want to be with your father. I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt a little, especially since I haven't seen you all day, but I couldn't be happier that you are enjoying your special time with your father and that you love him so much that you don't want to give him up. (I know what you mean, I feel the same way.) Your dad always has and always will be the hero in this household, and he definitely is WAY more fun that I am.

You love to climb things. You've taken quite a few tumbles this past month. You're a monkey, what can we say.

When you turned one year old, we were in the craziest part of our renovations, and we kept meaning to have a birthday party for you, and things just kept getting crazy.

We finally got around to celebrating your 18 months. Maybe we're not the best at planning parties or keeping our house in a state where we can have guests, but what we lack in organization, we make up for in love. Whoa boy, did you ever love that cake. It was love at first bite. You dug your fork into the cake (because, puh-lease, get my hands dirty? I think not.) and looked at me like, "This is my piece, right?", meaning, THE WHOLE CAKE. (That's my boy.)

Promise you'll get a party when you turn 2.

Noah, I miss you SO much when I am at work. But I know you're having fun and learning new things and doing really boyish, awesome things with your Dad, and I'm so happy he gets to share some of the amazing experiences of your childhood. You are amazing. You have a sweetness that cannot be described.

We love you so much, my sweet little Noah.

Love
Mama

Dear Caleb,

You are a month shy of turning three years old. Lately I've been looking at a lot of baby pictures and I can hardly believe you were that mohawked, potbellied little baby who was so fat that you grew cheese between the folds under your chins. Seriously, how did this:

Turn into THIS:

Such is the magic of parenthood, I guess.

You are an independent, imaginative, witty, cheeky, and sweet little man. There is nothing left of that baby in the photo. You are fully toilet trained. You sleep through the night. You eat three square meals a day (OK, maybe more like 1 square meal and two where you graze.) You get in and out of the car on your own. You climb into your own high chair. You wash your hands with soap. You pour your own glass of milk. (Mostly into the glass, sometimes not.)

Gone are those terrible twos, and it feels like we're very much into what I've heard characterizes the age of three. Mostly angelic. Your not-so-angelic moments are really nothing in the grand scheme of things, but there is such a contrast between your loveliest and your not-so-lovely moments that make things more apparent. This morning, you went from giving your little brother a "magic kiss" (Mom's invention - to take away the pain that comes with a boo-boo) on the arm, to shoving him so hard that he fell because he was getting too close to your trains. I like to think that we all have our moments, and the way we are for 80% of the day should be what defines you. And if I were to look at your 80%, it would tell me that you are a trustworthy little fella, that you are happy, creative, logical, caring, and incredibly funny.

You are able to speak in these long, lovely sentences. Sometimes you get lazy and you start barking out sentence fragments ("want milk!"), which can be really frustrating considering it sounds rude and you're totally able to ask nicely. Your English has really come a long way in the past month. While French is still our primary language at home (and hopefully will always be), sometimes we speak in English just to give you some practice. You're doing really great and we are feeling so much better about sending you to an English school knowing that you will be able to get by just fine. Sometimes when you don't know the English word for something, you just put in the French word, which makes for some pretty funny sentences. ("Mommy, I want the caresse..." when you want a hug)

You've become a pretty good eater. Breakfast is always a little tricky, but you're usually happy to eat lunch and dinner. You're great in a restaurant, and you eat from all the food groups. Still working on those vegetables, but you're starting to be better with that. With your dad at home, I'm sure you will start eating all kinds of new things. You love to try eating with real chopsticks.

You love "your" computer (my old laptop). You play puzzles on-line, you surf the Disney Cars website, you play on the Starfall alphabet site, and when I left you with a colouring game on the Thomas The Tank Engine website, you somehow managed to find the Videos section of the website and started watching clips of Thomas episodes. Which reminds me, your father taught you how to turn on the TV and select a recorded episode of Caillou (a children's animated series), so now when Noah waddles into the TV room, points to the TV and says "Aillou", you say "OK, Noah!" and you go get the remote. Until Mom the party-killer catches you in the act and breaks up the fun, that is.

You have been in heaven for the past few weeks with your father now at home with you and Noah. Not only is your father your hero, he also takes you guys out for way more fun activities than I ever did. You go to the park almost every day, most of the time while riding your two wheeler bike. You guys have been doing the museum tour - the Museum of Agriculture, the Museum of Science and Technology, and the Museum of Cilivization, which is by far and away everyone's favourite. He even took you guys to the War Museum, thinking there might be something of interest for you boys, but it ended up being pretty gory and non-age-appropriate, so now you tell me, as we drive by the War Museum, that "This one not fun Mommy. Not the toys here, Mommy."

Speaking of your bike, I never took you out on your bike because when you originally got your bike, you needed a lot of supervision on it as you were just learning to ride, so I was never able to run after the bike while having Noah with us. Well, now you're older and much better with your bike, plus your Dad is much more fearless with this kind of thing and frankly, just a whole lot better at it, so you've since become really, really good with the bike. Going to the park is mostly about getting to ride your bike. Your dad tells me that sometimes you get to the park and barely stay there 5 minutes before you ask to get back on the bike to go home.

You love watching the movie Cars and it's amazing that you can watch the entire movie from start to finish. You love the characters, the story, and sometimes you like watching it in French and tell me that Lightning McQueen in French is "Flash McQueen". Even though you are really into Cars, you still continue to play with Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends. You showed a renewed interest in Thomas after having met the train in the flesh, so to speak. Strangely enough, a few days before the big date with Thomas, you started telling us that you didn't want to get on board for a train ride, so we ended up needing to bribe you with a new toy to get you to go for a ride. Weird. Who knows, being almost-three is complicated, I guess.

Every day, you send me to work with one of your cars. It started with the red Jeep, then it was the orange fire engine, and lately you've been giving me some real precious cars, like Fillmore and Luigi, character cars from your favourite movie. Some day if you give me the Blue Lightning McQueen (your favourite car), I'll know I am #1.

Next week, you start nursery school. I am anxious and nervous about it, but I'm sure it will go great. I hope you'll enjoy the new environment, the new people, the structure, and the change of scenery. I can't wait to hear all your stories from "school". You've always been imaginative, and you're so great at making believe.

You're really great with Noah. You help him down the stairs. You love to run around the house holding his hand and trying to rope him into playing with you. When you go to pour a glass of milk, you take out two cups - one for you, one for him. You love when it's his nap time, because you know that's when you get a little one-on-one time, or get to do something special like have a popsicle or watch a bit of TV.

You usually wake up around 7am - though lately you've been getting up around 6:30am, which is really tough because you start to get a little cranky in the afternoon. It's rare, but sometimes you'll fall asleep in the afternoon while watching TV, or if there's an afternoon car ride. You go to bed, reluctantly, at around 8:30pm and you fall asleep like a rock. I could play the drums in your bedroom and you probably wouldn't wake up. You're a good sleeper.

You are an awesome little guy. You're well adjusted, you have all kinds of love in your heart, and you are just hilarious. We love talking to you and laughing with you, and we still go to bed every night talking about all the amaizng stuff you do in a day. we love you lots.

Love,

Maman

Dear Noah,

Hey, little Jellybean. You are losing your baby fat, growing longer and leaner with every passing day. Everyone keeps commenting that you have lost your infamous chipmunk cheeks, and as your Aunt Sarah described it - the rest of your face finally caught up with your cheeks.

You are 17 months old now - the same age your brother was when you were born. You continue to wow us with your sparkling personality and cheeky sense of humour. You love to laugh (and still get the hiccups when you laugh too much) and you are always in a good mood. Except when you're not, and when you're not, WHOOOOAA baby watch out. It's headbutting, thrashing around, big crocodile tears, and crying so loud that my ears will be ringing.

I find it pretty amazing that you're able to talk at this age and that you know so many words. Sometimes you only say the second or last syllable of a word, but we know what you're talking about. Amongst the words you know: Mommy, Daddy, chien (dog), 'seau (short for "oiseau", meaning bird), avion (plane), 'lon d'eau (short for melon d'eau, meaning watermelon), biscuit (cookie), craquelin (cracker), lait (milk), eau (water), pipi (pee), caca (poop), lélé (your version of "télé", short for television), dodo (sleep), bain (bath), nez (nose), tête (head), yeux (eyes), pied (foot), 'teil (short for "orteil", meaning toe), chup chup, (ketchup), livre (book), raisin (grapes), toast, van, taxi, and ca (that). Add to that the half-dozen words that you know in Vietnamese! I swear you can count too - you know several numbers between 1 and 10 in three languages.

You say yes to just about any question, and sometimes just to mess with you, I will ask you something completely made up, like "Did you have a bad dream about hippopotamuses again?" and you'll moan "Ouiiiiiii..." (yes) This is a far cry from a few months ago, when the answer to every question was no. You're able to understand a great deal though, even though you may lack the words to respond.

You also know a ton of names for various people and toys - you can say many of the names of the characters from the movie Cars, including 'Queen (Lightning McQueen), 'Mone (for Ramone), and Sally. You always ask for James, the red engine, and 'Rold (Harold) the Helicopter, from Thomas the Tank Engine. You recognize our neighbours and even some of their pets - "Lelen" (Helen), "Ma" (Emma), and Max (their dog). You love to call out for your grandparents - I swear, if I had a dime for every time you said Mamie, Papie and Ba Ngoai, we wouldn't have to work for a living.

When asked what your name is, you tell me that it's Bob. You've been doing this for a few months now. We hope someday you'll go by your real name, but hey, nothing wrong with Bob for now.

You are a bit of a picky eater and I feel like you should be eating better, but I know this will come with age. There are a few things that you will reliably eat - chicken strips or nuggets, Greek gyro meat, French Canadian meat pie, Lebanese meat pie, and anything from the pastry/cookie/cracker food group (what, not a food group? are you sure?) You're pretty good with your fruits but you're not a huge fan of vegetables. You'll entertain a piece of asparagus or cucumber from time to time, and possibly a french fry or roasted potato, but that's about it. You've started eating cereal with milk in the morning, which is always a bit of a mess but you eat a lot of it. You love yogurt, though it tends to be part play thing by the time you're through with it. You, like your brother, love ice cream. In fact, I'm pretty sure you down it faster than he can. You love to dip everything in ketchup! Even somethings things that aren't meant to be dipped in ketchup, which is why I never eat any leftovers off your plate. Not after I had a leftover piece of watermelon with ketchup. Blech.

You've recently learned to twirl around in circles (then dizzily fall over), you throw your arms in the air and do little mini-leaps into the air, and you can kick a ball better than your older brother. You have always been great at throwing - balls, toys, food. You playfully call out the name of a victim and stumble towards them with a mischievous smile, your fingers wagging, doing what we call the tickling fingers. I love it when you do this from the backseat of the car.

You've been sleeping a good part of the night in bed with us, and for the time being, it doesn't bother us and allows everyone to get some sleep. We'd love it if you would go to sleep easily and sleep the entire night, without interruption, in your own bed - but there are really no two babies alike and you'll do your own thing at your own pace and whenever you're ready. You still nap in the afternoon for an hour or two, and you go to bed around 9pm, usually after your brother's already been put to sleep. You usually wake up in the morning around the same time we do, and sometimes you wake up demanding that we serve you some milk.

You love doing all the things that your brother does. You want to sit on the potty. You want to wash your hands. You ask to have your teeth brushed. You love being able to roam free when we're out and about, and it's starting to get a little bit easier going out with you and Caleb. I find that I'm taking a stroller less and less these days.

You make all kinds of wonderful animal sounds. You love fish ("wiff!"), ducks ("quack quack"), cows ("moooo"), birds ("cheep cheep"), dogs ("woo woo"), cats ("meow") and sheep ("beeeeh"). You love to see city buses ("bus! bus! bus!") and planes. You even get a little excited when you see trains, though I think because you see so many of them at home, it's kind of old news to you. When you walk backwards, you say "beep beep beep" like a truck does when it backs up. You are able to recognize many of the characters when we are out and about - you'll recognize Thomas the Tank Engine, Caillou ("you!"), and even Cars-themed stuff.

You're a rough and tumble kid. You love climbing the two-step in the kitchen. You can go upstairs on your hands and knees, but you love trying to walk up them by having us hold your hands. You're pretty stable on your feet but you still have the occasional tumble. A few weeks ago you fell while in the bathroom and landed face first on the ceramic floor. You have a teeny tiny chip on one of your two front teeth - so tiny that only I would notice it, and I'm pretty sure it hurt me more than it hurt you.

You are a super affectionate little guy. You love to hug and plant juicy open mouthed kisses on our lips and cheeks. Often, when I am trying to rock you to sleep, you will lift your head up off my shoulder, say "Mama", plant a kiss on my lips, and go back to snuggling on my shoulder. You will grab our faces with both your hands, and plant kiss after kiss on our cheeks until we are soaking wet. (And loving it.)

You have a really expressive face. You have this great expression where you raise both your eyebrows and open your mouth in mock surprise - something you surely picked up from your mother. A bit like this:

You are starting to sing along with your brother and I! It's amazing. You are chiming in with the odd word and you happily clap your hands together during and after a song. There is always a huge round of applause and a chorus of "YAAAAY!" after the alphabet song or Itsy Bitsy Spider. Lately, we have been singing this one Thomas the Tank Engine song about a duck, and there is one part in the song where there is a big long high note that we all howl at the top of our lungs - and this is your favourite thing to do now. You will howl the words "sooooooo happy!" along with us when it's that moment in the song, and chime in with "quack quack choo choo choo" when we get to the refrain. You have always been a huge music fan, and we love to see you dancing in your own personal style.

You love to play with your big brother Caleb and I often hear you howling with laughter as you two are inventing some game. He likes to build train tracks; you're all about destroying them. You hold your own with him - if he tells you to do something and you don't want to, you shake your head and say "NO!" I really love seeing you two being play buddies. Your dad isn't sure that you two will continue to stay close because of your distinct personalities, but regardless of that, I know there will be lots of time and opportunities for adventures together.

In a few days, I will be starting a new job and spending my days away from you. I can't tell you how much I've thought about this in the past month and a half since I accepted the job. I will definitely find it more difficult to be away from you than your brother; it's not because I love you more than I love him - it's just that you are, in my mind, still my precious little baby. However, I take a great deal of comfort knowing that your father gets to share in experiencing some of these precious, fleeting baby moments.

You are a sweet monkey and we absolutely adore you.

Love,
Maman

Dear Caleb,

You are 34 months old now. Really, truly, a big boy. In just two months, you will be 3 years old, and that's when I will write my last monthly newsletter to you. I'll still aim to write them from time to time, and I hope to keep the blog updated with your latest adventures.

This past month has been bittersweet for your mama, because I'll be heading to work on Monday. For the past three years, you have been my constant companion, and I don't know what I'm going to do when you're not there to point out all the big Mack trucks, to sing songs out of tune with me, or to to give me what you call back massages, except you massage everything BUT my back - my boobs, my arms, my leg, etc.

When I'll be sitting at work on my computer, I'll think about how you love being on computer. I hooked you up with my old laptop - which you now call "your" computer. You do online puzzles, play on the Disney/Pixar Cars website, and sometimes you humour us by playing one of the educational games we bought for you. Sometimes when you haphazardly click away while navigating a website, you end up on random pages that you don't recognize, and then you tell me that there's been an accident, and would I fix it? Damn those banner ads with their flashing animation. I'm starting to think about parental controls and you're not even three years old.

You have made incredible progress this past month speaking English. I find it amazing that you can now have a fairly good conversation in English and that you're able to express yourself now. When you don't know the word, you use the French one, so sometimes your sentences are half in English and half in French, like today when you wanted the Dustbuster and you said "Mommy, I want the aspirateur." I used to worry that you would be going to nursery school in the fall and have a great deal of difficulty because English was not your primary language, but just seeing the progress you've made this past month, I know you are going to be just fine.

You'll be starting at our local nursery school in September, going there three afternoons a week - and while I say "afternoon", it's really just a little over 2 hours, but it will be the first time you'll be spending any amount of time on your own, away from us or a direct family member. I am definitely nervous about it, but I know that you're going to be fine, or that you WILL be fine, and I'm glad your Papa is going to be the one taking you there, because I know I would be a big fat wreck about it. I have a feeling that within no time, you will be all "don't let the door hit you on the way out". Kind of like when our neighbour Helen shows up for your playdate and you tell me to hit the road ("Mommy, not go here.") or when you are anxious for some alone time with your father when he gets home ("Maman, va prendre ta douche." - Mommy, go have your shower)

You are still a huge fan of trucks, cars, and trains - as you have been since you were old enough to play with a toy. The movie Cars has been your biggest obsession in the past month - perhaps even surpassing your current love of Thomas. All we've heard about in the past few weeks is Lightning McQueen this and Lightning McQueen that, and now, when you meet complete strangers, instead of spouting off about Thomas, you will be all "Hello, how are you, Lightning McQueen race car goes fast fast fast! Vroom vroom! I am speed!" We've started a small collection of toy car characters from the movie, and damn all the merchandising - it seems like you can't go anywhere without seeing Cars branded stuff. You have Cars themed pyjamas, underwear, sandals, backpack, books, and toys.

We're officially back to no naps for you, though there are definitely days where you wake up too early and end up being Mr. Crankypants all day long, and forget it if there is a late afternoon or early evening car ride, because then it's snoozeville. We've dropped the nap because it just made bedtime unbearable - you just didn't want to go to bed and you spent hours wailing about the injustice of it all. I remember the good ol' days where we would put you to bed wide awake at bedtime, close the door, and that'd be the end of it.

When we moved to the new house about a year ago, all the changes brought on a huge sleep regression and since then you haven't been able to sleep with the door closed. The protesting at bedtime started when we told you that you couldn't suck your thumb anymore (this happened a few months ago), so instead of quietly sucking your thumb in bed until you fell asleep, you had nothing else to do and decided that incessant babbling, wailing, and acrobatics were the way to go. And then there are the million excuses - I have to go pee, I'm thirsty, blow my nose, I need a hug, I want to give you a back massage (this was my favourite one from last night's hour of procrastination). Quite frankly, I'm looking forward to the day where we put you and your brother in the same room and you guys can commiserate to each other and leave us out of it altogether.

You've become a pretty good eater, and most of the time you eat all your food groups (though you're still fairly weak in the vegetable department). Occasionally you will consider a new food, though normally you're happy eating what you always eat. You love eating watermelon, pot roast (or roast beef, if we call it pot roast), fish sticks with lemon juice (I think you mostly love squeezing that big plastic lemon with the juice in it), and you're pretty much a world traveler when it comes to food - you love Lebanese, Greek, Vietnamese, and of course, good old French Canadian meat pies. Ice cream is by far our most valuable currency.

You're now officially toilet trained and you no longer wear diapers or Pull-ups. It was a little scary at first, because I never knew how long of a window we had when we did outings, but now we can do our normal routine of a quick outing before lunch without really having to worry about toilet stops. We haven't had any accidents out and about - I think partly you're just too busy when we're out to remember that you have to pee. We've had a few accidents here at home which included a couple of nightime accidents and one afternoon one where you were sitting with me at the dining room table, playing on your laptop, and you looked right at me and said "It's no big deal" in French, and then I looked under the table to see a river of pee streaming down the chair. That was NOT COOL, and I think that particular instance was pure laziness - I mean, you were in the middle of colouring Lightning McQueen. It's pretty amazing overall that you are doing so well with your toilet training.

You play really well with your brother, most of the time, though you do have a tendency to steal his toys on a fairly regular basis. It's pretty funny to hear you talking to him - sometimes you repeat word for word the things we say to you, and you say them back to him in a really parental tone. Like how I just heard you say to your brother that he has to hold your hand because you're both walking in the parking lot, except of course, you're not in the parking lot, you're in the kitchen, which you tell me is the shopping mall. You guys are really cute together.

You are truly an easygoing little guy. You're trustworthy, eager to help, and affectionate. You have your difficult moments too, when I have to tell you a thousand times to do something, or you get upset over not getting your way. These moments, while they sometimes feel like they go on forever, are really few and far between. You're truly a good kid and I'm always so proud of you.

I know you're going to have a great time at home with your Papa. You tell me that it's OK for me to cry at work when I miss you. I know I will be itching to get home every night to tackle you with a million hugs and kisses, and it will only make me appreciate more and more what a wonderful person you are.

Love,
Maman

We just got back from a short trip to visit our friend Sarah and her two lovely twin girls. We were so busy getting ready for the trip, then going on the trip, and now just getting back into the swing of things after the trip, that I totally didn't realize that the boys just had their month-a-versaries. Uhhh... yeah, so no newsletters just yet!

Instead, let me distract you with these photos of Sarah's lovely and delicious twins.

Ava:

Gabrielle:

Oh my, were they ever yummy.

Caleb's newest obsession is the Disney/Pixar movie, Cars. He knows all the characters, their names, their colours, and what they do in the movie. Every once and a while, we run into someone who shares the same name as one of the characters, and Caleb spins into a tizzy of excitement as he quite literally thinks they're somehow related.

Like when we met Luigi, the guy at the grocery store who helps people bring their bags out to the parking lot. ("All kids know my name," he tells me.)

I spoke to a Ramon the other day on the phone, and Caleb could hardly believe his ears, and thought that I was talking to THE Ramone, from the movie.

One of the characters from the movie is called The King. So the other day, I told Caleb that our friend Bundy's last name was King, and his eyes widened to the size of saucers. Yesterday, in the car, I heard him say to himself, "Bundy. Bundy KING. Bundy THE KING. The KING... Bundy KING!" And then he chuckled to himself in a total "awww yeah" kind of way.

Caleb's English has been improving by leaps and bounds for the past two weeks. He's been so keen to learn English, he'll try to speak it with anyone who will look in his general direction. He has, thankfully moved beyond reciting passages from Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs, although one of the things I hear him say as he's playing and babbling to himself is "Every day magic on DVD!" or "Welcome to the Thomas DVD experience!"

When I tuck him into bed, he wraps his arm around my neck in a headlock and plants a big wet kiss on my cheek, and then we have a conversation in English:

"Good night, Mommy."

"Good night, Caleb."

"I love you too."

"I love you, Caleb."

"Bye bye Mommy."

"Bye bye Caleb."

I leave the room.

"Bye Mommy," he calls out from his room.

"Bye, Caleb."

"I love you Mommy."

"Good night, Caleb."

"Good night, Mommy."

Silence. For a few minutes. And then the series of good nights, I love you's and bye byes start up again, this time for Daddy, and then for Noah.

Knowing that I only have a few weeks left in my life as a stay at home mom, I am trying to make the best of the remaining time with the boys. I took them to the art gallery yesterday, and they had a blast, especially running around outside the gallery where there was so much room to just be boys.

I'm going to miss days like these SO, SO much.

Lots more pictures here.

We are so very lucky to have both our parents in town. The boys have a great relationship with both sets of grandparents. This week, my father-in-law came by to watch the kids for a couple of hours while I went to an appointment. The minute the doorbell rang, the kids dropped what they were doing and made a mad dash for the back door - Caleb running, and Noah doing a fast waddle.

I don't even think the kids noticed when I left. I'm sure if they did, they surely weren't very heartbroken about it.

Here is a wonderful photo of the boys with their beloved Papie, a mere five minutes after he arrived. They were already clamoring for real estate on his lap, because no one tells a story like Papie.