Big News

We've had some significant happenings in the last couple of weeks.

The Girl
Violet is pretty much toilet trained. I remember an optimistic post I wrote almost a year ago about how she was almost toilet trained...but then she realized that toilets are for suckers.
In typical Violet fashion, she's gone from using a diaper 99% of the time to using the toilet 99% of the time from one day to the next. I don't know what the change was, she wasn't motivated by any of the incentives we kept offering (gymnastics class! taking trains with Nana!). She's very proud of herself, as she should be. Now I don't have to worry as much when she 's running around as a naked fairy.
The Boy
Jem crawled yesterday! He's also working on tooth number seven (but that's not as exciting for me- he's been biting me). He's also reached the age where I can plop him down with some Cheerios and he will happily feed himself, somehow picking up the little Os between his first and second fingers (who needs opposable thumbs anyway?). His lips pucker when he's concentrating.Still is a strapping boy. Here he is showing off his 'come hither thighs'.

The Student
Lauren has gone back to Kingston for the summer to be with her favourite man - HER FATHER, and also that guy she likes..what's his name?...oh yeah, Alex. We're going to miss her a lot.

Spring Day

It feels like such a relief to have the snow close to gone and the backyard accessible again. It was a long winter, and I was getting pretty sick of it. A couple of days ago Violet saw someone walking by wearing shorts and a tank top. She cried out "SHE'S NAKED!" at the top of her voice.
Today was so nice that we spent the afternoon cleaning up the garden and setting up the patio furniture. Violet took a few trips on her tricycle up and down the driveway and Jesse wore Jem on his back while we worked. Grandpa came over and we all had dinner together OUTSIDE. Glorious. Jem was very happy to sit in the grass, pulling up fistfuls and trying to eat them.
Violet put grass on her head and in her shoes, then tried to cram her feet back in to them. Happy Spring!

Who could resist?

It was only a matter of time before I was going to dress them in matching outfits.

Knees and bum

Jem is going to be 7 months old in a couple of days, and I don't know where the time has gone. He is just such an adorable snuggly boy...also quite stubborn and not at all shy about voicing his displeasure about things.
He's reached the next level on his way to crawling - getting up on his knees and rocking. This is sooner than UV did this (she was content, and still is, to have us fetch things for her). Jem wants to get places! In other news:
Yesterday I was trying to set up a tricky photo-shoot for a client involving small and expensive pieces of jewellery. Oma was cleaning up the breakfast dishes. Violet was wandering around between us trying to get us to smell her hand. We kept shooing her away, trying to finish up our tasks, but eventually Oma had to ask what her hand smelled like. "Like bum!" she announced.

Coconut

Jesse brought a coconut home to show Violet it's marvels. We all sat on the kitchen floor to watch them get it open. She had a good time hammering.
Jem had a good time watching her hammer (well, he finds anything she's doing fascinating). After much hammering and prying, the coconut was opened. Violet held a piece for a while as we encouraged her to try it, but in the end decided she wanted a yogurt instead. As Oma put it, it was a "little too organic for her".In other news:
Elsa's been feeling left out because I never post pictures of her. She insisted I post this picture of her with her coconut hat on.