Dominic - 3.5 years old

Because of COVID (or maybe in spite of COVID), the last 6 months seemed to go by in a span of 2 months. Dom is already 3 and a half! There has been some significant development on his part, and he is totally a little preschooler now. Hopefully he can go to preschool in September, but COVID dictates our lives now, so we'll see!

Weight: 40-42 lb (97+ percentile)
Height: 41 inches (90th percentile)

Likes:

• Lego (mostly building Millenium Falcons, Tie Fighters, and Anakin's freighter apparently). 
• Star Wars, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
• Cars - This has been a constant for about 2.5 years now. 
• Reading books
• Playing "pretend" and other imagination games. 
• Riding his bike, and driving his BMW
• 7pm cowbells (every night our neighbourhood bangs pots and pans and rings cowbells for the first responders in the COVID crisis - this is the cue for bedtime)
• Singing: ABC's, Rewrite the Stars (from the Greatest Showman), Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You
• Benny - definitely his best friend ever. They play so well together. Benny is gentler with Dom than other people, and Dom has the right amount of assertiveness vs. playfulness with Benny. Super cute!

Dislikes:

• Surprises - he's naturally pretty anxious, so I try to prepare him for everything that may be different than he's expecting. 
• Feeling pressure to react a certain way - oh this boy... He got it from his mama :)
• Loud noises. Anything he perceives to be loud upsets him and he plugs his ears. At mom and dads last week he was playing upstairs for a long time. I went to check on him and heard a bunch of crashing through the closed door. I peeked my head in and saw he had dumped marbles down the marble works and was standing back watching and plugging his ears. 

Notes:

• NO MORE DIAPERS! About the day before COVID quarantine started (March 15) we went to my mom's house to see their new kitchen. We sat at the island, and Mom asked what we were doing this week. Dom proudly announced, "I'm potty training!" It was the first I'd heard of it, but we were prepared with potty training gear from an attempt a few months earlier. The next day we woke up and put underwear on him, and he never looked back. To this day *knock knock* he has never had an accident. It was literally the flip of a switch. Hallelujah!
• Size 5T clothing, and 10C shoes.
• We bought him a helmet for riding his bike that should fit 3-5 year olds it says, but we could not get it on his head... we have now upsized and he's wearing a helmet for 5+ year olds. I forget sometimes that he's 3.5, but the size of a 5 year old. 
• I could copy and paste my note about his love for cars from his three year post. He still knows them so much better than I do. He's also constantly talking about their engines. He knows about combustion chambers, spark plugs, pistons, fuel lines... 
• He wants to know how everything works. Other than cars, he's especially interested in the human body and sewer system (preschooler potty humour anyone?). He can tell you about the digestive system, "We chew our food, and then it goes down down our esophagus, and then into our stomach. Then it goes around and around in our intestines and our large instestine, and then its poop and goes in the potty from our bums!" He knows that liquid turns into pee that goes into our bladder and out his penis.
  He's super interested in the heart and how it works to pump blood around the body. He asks me multiple times a day to explain the 4 chambers and how blood picks up oxygen and how it gets around our body. He knows it has 4 chambers, goes into the heart, through two chambers, then to the lungs to pick up oxygen, back to the heart, through two more chambers and then to the body.
  Speaking of circulatory system and blood, he got a scratch one day and noticed it a while later. He said, "Mommy, I got a scratch!" I said, "Oh no, are you okay?" He says, "Ya, my platelets came and fixed it." Alrighty then! Smarty-pants. 
• While he's all smart about the human body when talking with me, he seems to get a little mixed up when trying to tell Emilia or while playing. He was playing cloud dough this week and I overheard this:
  "The poop and pee gets mixed up by oxygen. And comes right out our penis and bums. Then it brings oxygen all the way back to our lungs." ... So close...
• Can count to 20, knows his 20's if we prompt him. Can count (with the Mickey Mouse song) by 10's to 100.
• Knows his ABC's very well and is teaching Emilia. 
• He can read an analog clock. He doesn't know specific times very well yet, or grasp what 9:30 looks like, but he can look at the clock and know it's lunch time, breakfast time, quiet time, cowbells time, dinner times, etc. He asked to learn this completely on his own. 
• He is starting to write letters. He can't quiet do it 100% on his own, but if I write the letters in pencil, he can trace them. 
• Tries to stay in the lines when he's colouring. For about two minutes, and then it's a free for all. 
• He's pretty bossy with Emilia (typical first born). He dictates the games much of the time, and reminds her (and me) of the rules.
• He's still very attached to his one blanket, and has added some stuffed animals to the mix now. He has a little teddy bear he got when he was born (or maybe even before as a baby shower gift), a stuffed puppy that looks like Benny, another stuffed puppy, and a little sloth that was actually a gift for Emilia for her second baby - not sure how Dom ended up with it!

I felt like his hair looked a little dweeb-y, so I wet it a bit haha. 

Thankful Thursday - 226 (And Little Life/Work Update!)

This week I am thankful for...

1. Book Club! I'm a part of a legit book club and just finished the book this week. Our last meeting is planned for next Thursday, but it's been lots of fun. My sisters in law and Aunty Sonya are in the group with me and we've been meeting over Zoom a few times throughout the book. FYI, I highly recommend reading this book :)

2. Highlights! I get my hair done usually once a year at the start of summer. I spent some time with Toba (same hairdresser I've been seeing since I was a toddler), read my book, and got freshened up!

3. Snuggle buddy. I'm so aware that Sherlock is turning 6 this year. God-willing we have many many more years with him, but it's crazy that our first baby is almost 6!

4. Lego. It's been fun this week playing regular little legos! These are the same legos I grew up playing with. My building techniques have not advanced much since then though...

5. Dom's writing! Something about this milestone is extra special - probably similar to when they first start reading. He's tracing my letters I wrote out in pencil, but still. All of a sudden his motor skills are connecting what he's seeing in his head with what comes out on the paper. 

6. Another job... So a few weeks ago I posted that I'd gone for an interview at the Midwife Clinic for a Medical Office Assistant position, and was offered the job, but declined. Well, they called back and weren't really taking no for an answer, so I reluctantly agreed to come give it a try. The schedule makes me nervous for when Spartan Foundation work picks back up again, but it's a little security in case of a second COVID wave; who knows when we'll be back to the office there! I had my first training day today, which was three hours with the office manager and the MOA I'll be taking over for. 
You guys... if today was any indication, this job is going to be everything I'd always wished (except for the pay... we'll have to work on that). When I was a client I always told Dave I could see myself working there and loved the environment and the midwives. We spent the morning learning their EMR program (electronic medial record), touring around the clinic, looking at some of the supplies, and talking. Lots and lots of chatting. If you know me, you know one of the things I love talking about most is pregnancy/birth stories/newborn babies. Well wouldn't you know it, that's the topic of most conversations at a midwife clinic! I got to hear all about a home birth the other MOA (who is also a doula) attended the previous night, and about the births the midwife (who happens to be the one we saw with Emilia and who delivered Emilia) has done lately.
The whole time I was thinking to myself, "Ahhh crap... This is going to be perfect." I was mentally prepared to go in and not love it. I was telling myself this was just a trial run, and I can always decide to leave the position. Well... if it keeps up this way, I'm not going to want to, but I also have zero intentions of giving up my SF position. What an interesting pickle to be in! 
For the month of July I'll just be doing Thursdays for training, then in August I'll do Thursday and Friday training days, then hopefully start on my own after that with my regular schedule (which would be Th/Fr). These days don't interfere with my office days at SF (Mo/We), but I can't expect Dave to watch the kids 4 days a week when he also works. We'll cross that road when we get there I suppose. Still keeping an open mind. 

No pictures for this, so here are some Dave sent me from his phone from the last few weeks.

Soaking up the rays on our new grass!

Ahhh, his monthly nap.

Posing beside the Audi that was parked at a house in our neighbourhood where we picked up some masks.

Good morning!

Some days I am so touched out by the end of the day, but these are the times I'm going to look back on so fondly one day. Slow down and enjoy, Renee!

Father's Day Weekend & Complete Champion Challenge

On Saturday we had our Complete Champion Challenge virtual event for work. A LOT of work from a LOT of different people went into the event, and I think it exceeded everyone's expectations. We raised $140,000 net, and our goal was $100,000. I had the live stream on our TV all day so I caught lots of the events and videos - it was all really well done. This week I get to process the hundreds of donations that came in and catch up on emails. Exciting and encouraging weekend for sure!

There's another $2,000 added to that amount now. Amazing what happens when people all over the world come together for one goal!

This weekend was also Father's Day. David and I celebrated his father's day on Saturday evening, since we knew Sunday would be super busy celebrating our dads and others. During the day, while I was half-watching the event, Dave and Scott were filming and editing for a 72 hr film challenge. They filmed something awesome and original that is about 1 min 40 seconds long. WATCH IT!

Dom JUST started writing letters, and wrote "DADDY" for the first time ever while we were making his card <3 Oh the joys of celebrating the special successes of your first born!

Emilia got a little haircut

We borrowed the little lego from my parents place. So many memories building with these sets growing up!

Love these people <3

After the kids went to bed, I gave David his card we made, and gifted him some brewskies. We shared a few of them and played a couple games. He beat (skunked) me in crib, but I dafted him in sleepy-head, so we'll call it even. 

Then we went to watch a movie downstairs. Dodgeball was the choice this evening and we had no regrets. Such a classic.

On Sunday David was able to take a break from church duties to be able to celebrate with the family. 

These cousins were reunited after over 3 months of separation. Dom was super excited to play with Rebecca. She's changed a lot in the last three months! The way she moves, communicates, and her looks. 

So... brunch was AMAZING and I ate WAY too much. 

Look at these three at the kids table! <3

The weather held out! We were trying to remain semi-distanced, so we planned to eat outside. No rain, not too warm, and even a little bit of sunshine!

This photo reminds me, I also got highlights last Friday! It was lovely to sit in a chair and be spoiled for an hour and a half!

Rachel made the most delicious carrot cake I've ever eaten. This is probably what put me over the edge indulgence-wise. I was going to just have a bite of Davids, but then after that bite I dove in and had a whole piece. Haha oops...

We went home for naptime, and then headed to my parents place for dinner. We were celebrating Father's Day for Dave and my Dad, and birthdays for Dad and Ashleigh, as well as Jeff and Marta's wedding day that should have been (June 26). We had a menu of food from around the world where they've travelled, which is what they were planning to do for their wedding, and indulged in some Polish vodka, which would have been another wedding tradition.

SO heartbreaking that the wedding has had to be postponed. I hope that when the day comes where they can have their wedding that it is just that much sweeter.

Caprese for Italy

champs to start

All our celebratees

We got Dad this v-spin. It's some device that aerates your wine in a decanter and supposedly makes a $300 difference! Haha. Tasted side-by-side I did taste a difference, so I guess it works! 

Croquettes for Holland and Greek salad for Greece

My movie star <3

Cheers with a shot of Polish vodka. 

I don't know how we messed up the timing on the shot so badly haha!

 

Pierogie pizzas a la Scott for Poland and Italy(?)

I was on cupcake duty, and Mom bought these little labels, so I put my lettering to good use! 

We played some ladder ball that Jeff and Marta brought. It turned into such a beautiful afternoon.

7pm came and went before we knew it. We had brought the kids' sleeping stuff, but agreed that by the time we got them to bed and they fell asleep it would be time to leave. I was a cool, relaxed mom and let them stay up and watch TV in Opa and Oma's bed for a while, knowing it would make the next day a mess! (If you know me, you know how hard it is for me to be flexible like that! My schedule/routine is everything!)