Happy 2nd birthday to my secondborn child! 😘

Week 222 of motherhood with 4 year old and 2 year old(!): 

December 12 to 18, 2024:

• December 18:  For week 2 of the Little Chefs program, the kids made turkey sandwiches!  It was complete with sliced processed cheese, cucumbers, mayonnaise, and lettuce too!  Again, we arrived a little late and upon getting there, it was basically time to start the cooking.  The secondborn is used to washing her hands at the low sink with the stool (so convenient).
• The cucumber was so thick and difficult for her to cut so grandma assisted her.  The ingredients were put between the two slices of whole wheat and then the facilitators helped the kids put their sandwich into the sandwich toaster to heat it up.  It actually looked really good.  Grandma and I finished what the child didn’t eat (she only ate a bit of the melted cheese with bread — I think she wasn’t that hungry because she ate a lot at breakfast) and then I made a second sandwich (since there were so many extra ingredients left) to eat too.  It was a warm inviting comfort food to enjoy on a cold day.
• We took photos in front of the Christmas tree in the lobby.  Ahh, my alma mater.
• At night, we bought a variety of takeout from FMP to eat.  I was so hungry that I asked DH to buy 5 fish siu mai for me to eat from the usual place before we placed our other orders.  I gobbled it down to the car.
• That night unfortunately, I must have ate something really greasy or unsanitary because I ended up throwing up my entire dinner.  DH and grandma were a little affected too and grandma threw up too.  It was unfortunately not a good experience and affected my next day too.  I felt like I could only eat small meals to keep things down.  I ended up throwing up some apples I ate at night the next day too…
• Coincidentally, we had the potluck holiday party with the EarlyON Markham group on the Friday (where we usually have the Zumbini class).  We brought two dozen egg tarts as part of our contribution to the potluck.  It was really nice to see everything that others brought.  People brought homemade guacamole, sandwich platters, home-baked oatmeal cookies, mini sausage rolls, shortbread cookies, cupcakes, timbits, fruits, vegetable platters, cheese platters, crackers, chicken nuggets, spring rolls, fried noodles, samosas, chicken wings, bread, cucumber salad, and much more.  If the three of us were feeling better, we would have devoured so much more.  The staff set up a cookie decorating station and play things on the mat for the kids too.  They also hired a guy to sing and play live holiday songs.  It was really nice.  I thoroughly enjoyed the people watching too.  There was a photobooth station as well.
• On the weekend after the 4 year old’s Mandarin class (last one of the year before the winter break), we went to the Stouffville library once again for another year of the “Cooking with Santa” session with EarlyON Stouffville.  There were a lot more attendees this year and I felt like the room was crowded.
• We got there 15 minutes after the start and everyone was bustling around already at the cookie decorating stations and assembling various items.  My friend who attended the morning session told me how some parents didn’t practise safe hygiene so I made sure we tried to do the food-touching items first.  The 4 year old didn’t want to decorate a cookie but opted to bring it home instead to eat.
• Both kids filled the reindeer bag with Cheerios, rice krispies, pretzels, and sprinkles.  This was a better activity than last year’s where they put oatmeal and assorted sprinkles into a plastic jar.  This year’s bag, they could actually snack on and eat right away.
• The secondborn enjoyed sticking stickers on a paper bag and stamping with an ink pad.  The firstborn was at the table too but only stamped a few stamps.
• Next up, we created some cute Santa hats using chopped up bananas, strawberries, and marshmallows.  This was the cutest and best-thought-out activity ever.  I loved that two fruits were used (healthy) with one treat item (marshmallows) in a creative way to effortlessly make something festive.
• At the 2 p.m. point though (only 30 minutes into the entire program), the facilitators asked everyone to clean up as it was circle time and a “special guest” would be arriving.  We all knew who that would be.  I felt like the songs sang during circle time could have been more oriented towards the winter holiday (instead of doing the usual “if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands“, they could have done “if you’re happy and you know it, waddle like a penguin” or something).
• Once again, the kids got handbells to shake to the tune of Jingle Bells as Santa arrived.  He also had Mrs. Claus with him too!  So neat as we don’t usually see her out and about.  Everyone lined up for photos and that was kind of it.
• The firstborn didn’t want to look at the camera when we were doing our group photo.  Ah, well.
• Many of the families piled out and left after this.  We were the very last one still finishing up the Santa hat activity (the secondborn loved eating the strawberries).  Meanwhile, the staff were able to start cleaning up since the majority of the attendees had left.  I was reflecting on this with my friend afterwards and we both thought that the facilitators didn’t give the kids enough time to work through the activity stations.  If Santa and Mrs. Claus had arrived even 15 minutes later, it would have given everybody more time to play.
• It was still a really great hands-on session for the kids to play and make holiday-themed snacks though and I’m grateful we were able to sign up for it.
• As we drove home, the secondborn understandably fell asleep.
• We rested at home before we had a family holiday dinner that evening at a Vietnamese restaurant in Scarborough.  The firstborn stuck with grandma while the secondborn stuck with DH.  The firstborn ate part of her cookie after dinner too as her dessert.
• The eventful weekend continued with the celebration of the secondborn’s 2nd birthday!  We ordered Chinese takeout, sushi, and pizza to eat with the in-laws and DH’s siblings.  The kids played with balloons in the party room.
• We bought the seaweed pork floss cake from T&T to try this time.  It was a unique cake and not sweet at all.
• That evening, DH and I got to go on a long-awaited date night.  We went to watch a movie at the VIP cinemas for the first time in many years.  I chose Wicked to watch.  It was really nice to gobble up good food (I had buffalo chicken poutine) while watching the long-awaited film adaptation of one of my favourite musicals.  We were gone from 5:15 to 9 p.m.  I was so glad that grandma was able to hold down the fort at home.  She had dinner with both kids, bathed them, and nearly put both of them down to bed.  Had we arrived home 10 minutes later, the secondborn would have fell asleep too!
• Monday and Tuesday, we just stayed at home.
• On the Tuesday, I had a facial in the morning.  Grandma actually “let” me go out for lunch afterwards too and I gladly took the invitation.  It was really nice to dine out by myself — I went to Bingz and had their signature pork bugger and cold noodles.  (After battling the craziness at Costco; now I know why two of my friends despise going there to shop.  Even a weekday trip wasn’t enjoyable.  People there are inconsiderate and only look out for themselves for the most part.  And why are the shopping carts so huge?!  — I understand why, but it doesn’t make it any easier to maneuver the carts around so many people who are pushing the same big carts.)
• At night, I had dinner and caught up with a friend who I haven’t seen since June.  It was nice to chat and catch her up.
• We had the final class of the Twinkle Toes at the Richmond Hill EarlyON location.  This week, they didn’t sing the theme song a second time, didn’t do the “Tap your toes” (I love that one), and didn’t finish out the session with the theme song either.  It really is a big difference to how Thornhill EarlyON put on their program.  Alas, it was still a great opportunity for the secondborn to move around instead of sitting in one spot all the time.
• They played with balls, kicked soccer balls, and walked along a balance beam this week.  The 2 year old enjoyed that a lot.
• In the afternoon, for the third session of Creative Chefs at Markham EarlyON, the kids made a holiday fruit tart, a holiday yogurt drink, and decorated cookies!  (Lots of cookie decorating this year.)
• The fruit tart and holiday drink were exactly the same as what the firstborn made last year at Creative Chefs too!  I felt like the steps were kept more simple this year (and with fewer families in the room).  The pastry skin was so soft and the child was able to cut it herself.  However, she didn’t want to do much of it after one cut so I did it for her.  We didn’t do any intricate shapes this time but simply cut apart the pastry skin and layered it into the tin foil container for the facilitators to bake in the oven.
• I was surprised that the child actually drank most of the holiday drink (made with Yakult, cranberry juice, and sparkling water).  She wanted to open the mini candy cane too to dangle on the side of the cup like we were supposed to.
• And because the tarts took a while to bake in the ovens, the kids were given frosting and sprinkles to decorate a cookie with too.  The child practised squeezing frosting from the tube to put on her cookie.  She took a few bites of the cookie after she was done decorating it but I could tell it was on the hard side and difficult to bite through.
• DH once again picked up the firstborn and then came back to get us.  By this point, the tarts were ready.  The child scooped yogurt into it and then put the cotton candy grapes in it too.  She cut the strawberries so, so nicely and actually ate them as she cut them.  So smart lol.  She didn’t like the grapes (probably too sweet?) but finished all of the strawberries.  I tried the pastry tart after and it was actually really crispy and nice.
• The day didn’t end.  After this, we picked up a small cake and muffins (for the potluck tomorrow), picked up grandma, and we all went to local church where DH was scheduled to do his second blood donation!  I had been looking forward to this because I was curious what snacks they would have for the donors this time.  Thankfully, the 4 year old woke up from her quick slumber and joined us inside the blood donation clinic.
• DH did his blood donation while we waited for him.  The 4 year old enjoyed a bag of Goldfish crackers, 2 Oreos, 2 digestive cookies, and a juice box (the only time I’ll allow her to eat so much junk food/sweet processed food).  The 2 year old was crying in the car so grandma brought her inside too.
• That evening, we went out for dinner at one of my favourite Mexican restaurants.  Yum.  I was really glad to see the 4 year old occupy her time with drawing on the back of the kid’s place mat/menu.  After filling up on food, the secondborn wanted to walk around (as usual).
• We also had the in school team meeting for the firstborn in between all of this too.  Phew, what a day!  I really liked what the school psychologist had to say and I think she hit the nail on the head.  She simply listened to what the teacher said about the child and what we said as parents and she already pinpointed what the problem was.  It’s a relief to know that this problem is fixable.  I’m sure her teacher is more reassured now too that it’s not just a school problem but a whole child problem.  We will get through this. 💪
• And I can’t believe my little secondborn is now 2 years old!  She is no longer 1.  The “terrible twos” are upon us!