Skate This Way

I think I'd better give Sarah Palin a call because I need some advice on becoming a hockey mom. Friends of ours keyed us in to open skate for tots and parents (which translates into tots and dad for this family. The skating gene forgot to make a stop for in my DNA) on Wednesday evenings. It may not be the competitive hockey league that John was looking for but it sure was fun (and pretty cute) and Molly was excited for it all -- from the helmet down to the skates. I was expecting the novelty to wear off the moment she stood up and was wobbly on her skates, but nope, she protested taking all her gear off in the end. My friend Jessie had said Sadie really enjoyed her first skating experience but I really was expecting to hear that Molly's skates were too tight, her helmet was too tight, her mittens... mittens? What are those? Some small people normally REFUSE mittens.

I would consider that she might become a figure skater instead of a hockey player except for the fact that at school today, her teacher was talking generally about the Olympics while the kids were doing their free play. She was chatting with some of the kids about seeing the athletes and was anyone watching the events and how exciting it was. The kids in her vicinity were sort of ignoring her, focused on their art, and all of a sudden Miss I-Don't-Own-An-Inside-Voice yells "HOCKEYS" and scared the bejeesus out of most people in the room. She sure does love those sticks and pucks.

Geared up and ready to go

Hi mom

Enjoying making John break his back despite being fairly steady on her skates

If only I could actually grocery shop this way...

In addition to the skating, somehow managed to figure out that skates create little ice shavings and she kept trying to shove them in her mouth. Gross.

Jack, on the other hand, is tuckering himself out after learning to roll from his back to his front. I'm honestly shocked that his giant noggin has cooperated in this endeavor. I expected that milestone to happen around the same time he took his first legal sip of beer. Will wonders never cease?

Getting Into the Spirit of Things

I may just be overtired and suffering from excessive mom-hormones but I don't think I've cried during any other Olympics as much as I have this year. Lindsay Vonn's first comeback win was awesome, for sure, and Shaun White is pretty dang amazing. Alexandre Bilodeau's win, though? And his story? Inspiring, exciting, so so cool. Kevin Pearce? Wow. I really need Bob Costas and all his guests to exit my living room soon so that I can rehydrate. And the ads don't even give us a break. The Superbowl ads were pretty weak this year; I think people on this side of the border were zapping up all the creative energy. There have been some tear jerkers during these Olympics that, well, send a few wet ones rolling down my cheeks each and every time I see them. You Yankees may not get the pleasure of seeing the Tim Horton's ads, but I assure you, there is one that sends me for the Kleenex each time it pops up (I'm going solo on this one. Not everyone in my house agrees with me).

Molly has even gotten into the Olympic spirit -- she likes the hockeys, curling (sorry to my Canadian friends, still don't like watching it), and the ice dancing (ick. sorry, don't like that much either). Jack really likes all the different skiing events and short track speed skating... probably because that's what he sneaks a peak of when I'm holding him and am glued to the television. John enjoys making fun of what the figure skaters are wearing.

Molly will probably try and convince him of the merits of her sports and she's pretty convincing these days. These two are rapidly becoming BFFs and my influence is likely diminishing.

Molly: "Jack, here is this plate. You NEED to have it."

Jack: "Really, mom? Do I really need to hold it?"

Molly: "Yes, Jack, you should do as I say. Don't listen to Mom."

Jack: "Sorry, Mom, she told me I had to."

Jack: "I wonder what she wants me to do with it, though. I hope she comes back."

Little Deuce Coupe

We

are driving to Seattle for a few days tomorrow (sorry to miss Eric, Mary, and the girls but those stinkers are in Hawaii so let's not feel too badly for anyone)

so we bid everyone an early good weekend! The XC skiing stinks right now so we're going to enjoy the 50 degree weather and forecasted sun down south instead. We've actually had some beautiful weather here for that past couple of days, too. Today was one of those take-your-breath-away evenings that we enjoyed out on a walk above the lake with the sun setting behind the mountains (I'm using the term walk loosely. Some people prefer to stand and run when threatened with the stroller. I just mean being put in the stroller -- not that I was going to run her down with it. Although...). If it happens to be your birthday this weekend, enjoy your big day!! None of you look a day over 25.

I Like To Move It

Sometimes the little people are doing things that you'd really rather them not be doing but they're having so much fun, you just can't kill the joy. I had a lovely Valentine's morning but I'm thinking that Princess Pantsless had even more fun than I did.

She has also apparently inherited my love of furniture-moving. I would rearrange a room a day, if I could. Now, I often find chairs in places I didn't leave them (like by the sink). The other day I found Molly's bedside table in front of Jack's changing table. Since I'm pretty sure I don't need a boost to get up to the changing table, Molly the Muscle may have been been up to no good.

I'm also thinking of getting a trailer hitch for her Cozy Coupe (does U-Haul sell those, Holly?) so that she can go retrieve some furniture from storage units from around the country. She has been taking longer trips in her little car lately (she had been just running out for a few minutes to do some errands) and recently took a trip to Florida. So, there may be hope for our parents to be free from the bonds of storage sooner rather than later with our new little traveler/home decorator.

Hearts on Fire

Jack decided to reprise Molly's Valentine's day shirt from the good ol' days. Much love to you and yours -- and good luck with the little guy with the bow and arrow.

Oh Canada

Olympics update:

1. Bryan Adams during the Opening Ceremonies??? Nice. Yes, I love him. Yes, you can make fun of me.

2. The Finnish hockey team??? Va va voom. Hockey had never been my favorite sport until I saw the Finnish hockey team... er... until I met my husband.

3. I cried when both the Americans and Canadians came out during the Opening Ceremonies. What can I say?

4. Don't watch the video of the Georgian athlete's luge crash if you haven't already. It's horrific and sad.

5. Molly loved the Aboriginal dancers, did not seem to like Nelly Furtado, but really enjoyed clapping along whenever the cameras flashed to the clapping crowd.

6. Jack forgave me for putting toothpaste on his bum instead of diaper cream. Note to Weleda: mark your tubes of goo a little more clearly, please. He didn't really care about any of the Olympics, just about his fresh smelling bum.

7. San Marino? Who knew?

8. I have now been educated on famous Canadian citizens (probably the last to know, here). Michael J. Fox? Bobby Orr? (John laughed at me for that one since apparently all good hockey players are from Canada. Or Finland.) Donald Sutherland? k.d. lang? Wayne Gretzky? Okay, I knew that one.

These pictures don't have anything to do with the Olympics... I just felt like I needed to post them to justify having a post at all. You may want to skip checking the blog for the next 16 days...

Whistler Dixie

My brain is occupied by the excitement of the opening ceremonies tomorrow so I can't think of what we've been up to. Here are some pictures of the peanuts instead.

Are you so excited? Opening. Ceremonies.

Who knew that February 12 was going to be such a big day? Olympics, my nephew's first birthday, and my parents are giving my childhood home the heave ho. Yowza.

Yes, mom, you've told me a bazillion times how much you love the bleeping Olympics.

Lady, why don't you get it?

Here's someone who is sharing my excitement.

Oh wait, it's about her smoothie, not the Olympics.

Lean On Me

Aside from occasionally wanting to use Jack's head as the first rung on a ladder, Molly has been doting on her Buddy Man lots still. It's funny to hear her repeat what I say to him -- like if he's crying but I can't get there right away, one of us will yell "Don't worry, Buddy, I'll be right there" or she'll come get in his face and say "THAT'S a big smile". I love how much toddlers love babies in general -- all of Molly's little friends love to come give toys to the babies in the group and Jack's gotten more hugs than might be healthy from the kids at school. It's sweet to watch their capacity for giving and how they light up when they get a smile in return. Simple pleasures.

Molly tickling = Jack trying to hightail it out of there

I think Jack wonders how much longer he has to indulge his sister (who was insistent on holding him just so) and his shutterbug mom and dad -- get used to it, my friend. Get used to it.

One person is still happy to ham it up.

If I smile again, will someone make it stop?

Seriously, guys. No, seriously.

Adventuring

I haven't been good about bringing our camera out and about with us so we've relied on John's camera phone for documentation of our recent weekend outings. The pictures aren't great quality but we've been having fun exploring what goes on during the relatively quiet winters up here. We've been getting outside for some:

drooling at the just-out-of-our-reach alpine conditions at Apex. We had Molly measured up to see if she could get on some skis. She's this close but needs another inch or two to really make it.

so we settled for tubing instead.

It's been warm but we've also found ways to entertain ourselves indoors too. We took Molly to her first Penticton Vees game where we "watched the boys and girls play hockeys" (no, just boys but I'll let her think that some of those skaters were representing)...

Jack liked it, too.

Molly did like the game but I think she liked...

going up and down, up and down, up and down the stairs and...

checking out the amenities in the suite and...

trying to make an escape all a little bit more.

This weekend we went up to the Science/Children's Museum over the lake and through the woods (just kidding, it was just up north a bit. Actually, all of us went as far north as we'd ever been this weekend. The Doyle family enjoyed life in the fast lane at the latitude 50 degrees 25 minutes).

We're looking forward to some visitors at the end of the month. The nordic and alpine conditions are both amazing if anyone is looking to get rid of any winter wiggles... just saying...

Working Hard For The Money (Or At Least Room And Board)

These two are working hard enough for all of us -- enjoy your weekends!

In addition laboring hard during tummy time, Jack's also working really hard at...

a nice, big, slobbery,

wad of drool.

Heady Hands

Jack is in love with his hands. Totally infatuated. I'm not sure any potential love interest could compete with the hands at this point. It's probably just as well because with his enormous head, I'm not sure we'd have any other takers. Like his sister, his noggin is big, bald, and (I think) beautiful.

We went to see the nurse for shots yesterday and when she measured his head she told me that his head circumference is in the 95 percentile. She then explained "that means his head is bigger than 95 percent of boys his age." Yeah, I know what it means. I pushed that sucker out so I'm on board with what it means.

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

I've decided that parenting a two year old mirrors actually being a two year old. The highs are so high and fun and amusing and the lows are, well, trying at times. I love how funny, brazen, wacky, intractable, and curious Molly can be. I love how much she laughs when someone jumps out and says boo to her. I love that she says that Paul McCartney is her favorite Beatle. I love that she marched right up to the top of the big slide at the park today and muscled the teenage boys out of the way for her turn. I love that she does a little finger pointing dance to Stayin' Alive. There are times, though, that getting through the whirlwind of emotions that can accompany the thirty-fifth head bump (when the preceding thirty-four times didn't faze her at all. Believe me, there are at least that many in any given day, too.) can be a bit disorienting. It's a little exasperating when her tongue stays on the gross, iron train statue the entire time that her eyes are watching me and ignoring the words "that's gross, let's make a better choice" coming out of my mouth. It's a wild ride that we're on in the Doyle household many days. I refuse to call them the terrible twos because they're really not terrible at all -- Molly is just trying to figure out how to be a little person, she's not being terrible -- but I feel like I earn my comfy bed at the end of the day. Don't get me wrong, I really do love my current job more than I've ever loved anything and we have lots of good times here. Even in (most) of the lower moments, I can still conjure up that sparkling little devious laugh and wish that I could enjoy life as much as she does. To be so carefree is such a gift and the more I can remember that while I'm picking up the broken spaghetti or the eggs off the floor, the better off we all are. Still, being two only lasts 365 days, right?

Notice how her little friend Chase looks so sweet and is following his mom's directions to smile at the camera? Notice how my child is licking the gross metal contraption? Nice.

For what it's worth, this little guy enjoys keeping an eye on his sister and her antics

Even if that means "holding" her colored pencils and coloring book.