Unbelievable...

For fun Paige tried on her old Halloween costume size 12 months--the one Rose wore this year for Halloween.  IT ACTUALLY FIT.  I thought 3 years of the beaver costume was a lot, but she could have gotten 4 years outta this sucker! Obviously it looks a bit silly and babyish on a 4 year old though.

Rose's day...

The blog is long overdue for an update of what Rose is doing.  I read back on my blog from Paige at the same age and I have all these great notes about what she was doing.  I wish I could make the time for more description and funny anecdotes.  But at any rate, here is an idea of Rose's day and what she's like lately.

• Usually wakes up at 7:30 talking away or yelling "momMY, momMY"
• Eats instant oatmeal or cereal for breakfast.  When she wants a sip of her milk she says "done" and puts her bowl on the table, or passes it to me.  It took a while for me to realize she wasn't neccessarily done for good, just wanted a drink.  At breakfast time, like every other meal time, she often makes a big mess.  Food on the floor, a plate turned over on her head to make a "hat", the spout taken out of a sippy cup, a spoon chucked on the floor, etc.  3 times daily sweepings of the floor are neccessary. 
• Sometimes after breakfast Paige and Rose watch a show.  Rose says "Chair!! and runs to the Dora chair. Rose's favourites are Blue's Clues, Curious George, Backyardigans, and Dora.  But Blues Clues is the absolute favourite.  She does the actions to the song.... "think... think...Thiiiiiink" with her head cupped in her hands...so cute.
• On school days Rose is very cooperative to ride in the stroller to Paige's school and back.  I had great plans of taking Rose to the park after dropping Paige off at school every day, but at 9:00 it is often too cold, or we have plans with friends. 
• On Thursdays Rose has her class.  She loves seeing her friend Marlowe there and playing with the parachute.  She hasn't really grasped the concept of crafts and usually takes off when we've applied the glue and haven't stuck anything on yet. 
• She still naps every day after lunch, usually falling asleep around 1:00.  Every day I walk on eggshells as I worry she will go the route of Paige giving up naps so early.  I can't deal with no naps.  I really could not mentally deal with it.   I need this time in the afternoon where everyone is occupied at school, sleeping, or work in order to get some stuff done around here. 
• She is really into climbing and I have found her tummy scooting across the kitchen table, standing on the toilet, bringing a chair over to the sink to see what is in it, etc.  I hope she doesn't try to climb out of the crib, but usually she falls asleep pretty quickly without too much monkey business!!
• Her talking is really insane.  So many words now. New ones every day, and she'll always repeat a word if you ask her to say it.  Some of my favourite new words are "jammies", "funny", "undies", "Paigey", and "yes" instead of ya.
• Some other frequently used words..."NO!" and lately "MINE!!!!!".  Paige didn't do the mine thing since she didn't have to.  Rose is saying it constantly, but not even to stuff that is close to being hers at all...like grabbing Paige's pyjamas when Paige is trying to put them on and yelling "Mine!!.
• She likes to sit on the potty, especially during bath time at night.  She asks to sit on it, and then usually uses it as an excuse to run around with no clothes on after.  She has never managed to actually go on the potty, but has often gone 2 minutes later in Paige's room.
• Her sleeping is fantastic.  She goes to bed with no problems at 8:00ish and sleeps all the way till the morning (7:00-7:30ish), never waking up.  Actually, correction--I think she will be a sleep talker.  I have heard her say things in the night before but never making a fuss and falling asleep right after. 

I feel like there are so many more things I could write, but that will have to be in a part 2 down the road.  Perhaps a video would work to capture the essence that is Rose. 

Cute comment from Paige...

Paige: Mommy do you want a Halloween candy?

Me: Oh thanks Paige, that's so nice for asking!

Paige: That's what sharing's all about!

Halloween night...

 Again Rose was upset getting in her costume.  Mike gave her a chocolate to tempt her, which worked.

 They went around to 10 or so houses on our street, and had to come home halfway through to unload.

 Mike brought them home when they looked cold and had a lot of candy but Paige wanted me to take her to a few houses too. 

 I tried to leave with just Paige but Rose freaked out so I put her in the stroller as we were going to the other side of the crescent.  I think I should have gone as Rapunzel for Halloween.  I see how long my hair is in this photo. Rose sucked on a lollipop and just came along for the ride.  I didn't take her up to any houses.

 We weren't left with much in the end, and I had raided their round 1 for the "crap candy" that I could redistribute to the older kids.  I had playdough and chocolate for the little ones and chips for the bigger kids.

At the end of the night the girls came in to look at the candy and share some chips.  By this point Rose was right into it and said "More....chips!!" She thought she could have as much as she wanted.  Rose was tired, but Paige was ultra tired as she had been up since the morning of course, with 2 rounds of trick or treating.  We let her watch a Shrek Halloween special before bed instead of reading her books. 

I kept a tally as I usually do, and we had close to 85 kids (a few were babies in costumes who didn't require candy, but they'll be good to go next year).  Last year we had 35 and the weather was the same.  Soooo...good to know.  I'll buy even more next year as the number can only go up!

Halloween Morning...

We went to the Oakville Tiny Tots parade again this year.  Rose didn't really want to put on her costume, but then got distracted by the crowds and excited when she started to accumulate candy (and was even more excited when I let her eat a few chocolates).  Paige was having a great time too, and wasn't afraid to approach people for candy as she has been in the past.  It made it easier if she could just go up and Rose and I could hang back--she didn't need candy from every store.  I hope the candy tonight doesn't follow suit of the candy this morning--there were lots of lollipops and candy, as opposed to chocolate....we're more of a chocolate family!

 Back home. We needed to take a picture of the pumpkin we carved yesterday before it gets dark.

 Paige is sorting the candy.  Rose was yelling "Candies!!!" and Paige was sorting them saying, "I think I have one hundred candies!"

Rose's costume was covered in chocolate, so now it's in the washing machine being cleaned up for tonight.

Hats...

You may have noticed, or I may have said that Rose is always in a hat.  Even in the house she says "Hat! Hat!" and needs someone to get one for her.  If she sees a bike helmet she'll wear that too.  She often prefers the bike helmet to the hat.  I don't get it! Every other person I have ever talked to, says that their kids hate hats.  Paige is great with hats too.  Who knows!?

Pre-Halloween festivities...





The Tuesday/Thursday Kindergarten class had their Halloween parade today.   The parents were invited to come into the foyer to watch the parade.  The rest of the school will have their festivities on Halloween of course.  Paige's class along with the 3 other kindergarten classes paraded through the school to show off their costumes to the parents and some of the other younger kids who were watching in the hall.  In the video above the first "witch" at the beginning is Paige's friend Katie, followed by Paige's teacher, and then Paige in the beaver costume.  Later on in the video in the white dress is Paige's friend Rebekah.  The boy in the Thomas costume is Yusef from our street who we walk home with sometimes. I'm hoping Paige can tell me who the other kids are. 

While Paige was at school I took Rose to her Thursday morning class, where the kids were also allowed to wear costumes, although only a few did. 

Check out the similarities here....Paige wore the same costume to the same class 3 years ago.  Rose kept her costumes on the entire time, including the hat.  She loves hats, so she wasn't phased by it at all.

Dance Class

So far Paige really likes her dance class.  Although she said it "isn't very long" (only 1/2 hour), she seems to really enjoy going.  Putting her in her bodysuit, tights, and smoothing her hair into a bun and getting out the door actually takes longer than half an hour, but it is a nice Saturday morning activity.  We haven't had that many lessons yet where we've all been home, but the general plan for the future is for me to take Paige to the lesson giving Daddy and Rose some time to hang out at home together and get ready slowly.  At first there was a window for parents to view the kids in the class which was nice, but now the blinds are closed over the window, leaving the moms to text message and browse the internet on their phones.  I wish I could watch her class, but the lady who owns the studio mentioned that it was too distracting for this particular class.  I understand, as they are supposed to be learning and not looking at the mob of parents peering in the window. Some kids were crying, etc. As this is a private blog and I feel I can vent, I am quite irritated by the liberties that some parents are taking with the dance costume!! I went to the dance store they recommended and bought the specific shoes, etc that were required for the class. There was a long note about how it is important to have the proper attire, matching, etc.  Some people clearly are not following the rules which irritates me.  We also have random dress up clothes and sparkly slippers, but that was not what was on the list!! I am definitely all for following the rules and I hope to teach Paige to follow the rules by example.  Anyway, this is her all dressed up and ready to go to her lesson. 

Her friend Rebekah from school is in the class after her.  I'm glad they aren't in the same class as I feel Paige is a better listener and all around better student when she is by herself! And she will make seperate dance friends over the year, I assume.  As part of the "tuition" we had to pay for the costume which she will wear at the recital in June.  The recital is at Hamilton Place....a big deal.  Huge stage, big theater etc.  I am definitely looking forward to that.

Dino friend...

This morning Mike, Rose and I went to check out the new Toys R Us by our house while Paige was in school.  We just wanted to look around and ended up finding these large squishy dinosaurs.  We thought Paige would love one for Christmas so decided to just buy it.  I made the mistake of letting Rose hold it in the car.  She kept saying "thank you" over and over.  She clearly thought it was hers.  So when we got home I tried to hide it, but she was asking about it after lunch.  We couldn't take it away from Rose at this point, nor could we tell Paige that we went to a toy store while she was at school and bought Rose a present!! Mike decided to go out and buy a second one for Paige.  We told them they each had one and they could share.  Lesson learned!! Can't shop with Rose any more!

Good thing we bought another one because Rose loves this thing.  She wanted to hold it while Mike read her books, and then she refused to put it down and hugged it under her arm in her crib when he put her in there to sleep.  

I checked on her after she'd fallen asleep and the dinosaur's head was on her cheek.  I took it off which caused her to wake up a bit and cry.  Hard to sleep with a big rubber dinosaur in your bed though!

Owl suit...

I ordered Rose a one piece fleece suit from MEC for those cold walks to Paige's school.  It's nice because it's roomy enough to allow for layers underneath, cozy enough to wear with jammies in the morning walk to school, and lightweight enough to wear in the car.  I wish I had one myself...

Here she is modelling it after wearing it to pick up Paige yesterday.
She seems to like it and likes the owl picture on the front. I don't know if it will hold up on its own in the middle of winter, but I think she could wear a jacket on top to be ultra warm, and could cozy up under some blankets. The fabric in the feet and hands sections flip over to cover her feet and hands so she doesn't neccessarily need mitts or boots. 
Love it!!