And Then There Were Two.....Two-Year-Olds, That Is!

The kids had fun using the easel this week to draw with chalk or crayons. Aidas is really great at making vertical lines, and seems to enjoy drawing the most, at this point. They also like to go under the easel, but we have had to make a strict rule about not moving the easel. It's amazing how toddlers can turn almost any toy into a push-toy!

The kids are loving outdoor play. They now spend at least half their time at Lithuania Park running around in the field. 

M. has reluctantly decided that she will put in the effort to eat a cookie or cracker with her mittens on, so she is also a happy camper. In the picture to the right above, you can see that Noah has mastered the mitten-wearing-cookie-eating skill, even with one hand. This is not easy since, with the exception of Aidas, none of them are able to keep their thumb in the thumb-hole, and so fine motor skills are severely limited.

L. wasn't too into running around in the field on this day, since he had discovered the delight of sliding down the hill in the leaves. 

We had a really nice time painting this week. It wasn't meant to be finger-painting, but as you can see from the photo, Aidas just couldn't help himself! 

All five of the children's paintings are now on display in the living room. I am loving the fact that the children periodically look up at and talk about these paintings. It is our little art gallery.

On Friday we celebrated Aidas's 2nd birthday. We decorated with balloons (which Aidas calls "bayoons") and paper chains that we made the day before. At snack we sang happy birthday to Aidas. He blew out his candles, and we all enjoyed some cupcakes.

Noah and I gave Aidas a birthday gift. It was a firefighter costume. He absolutely loved it! 

It amazed me how well the other kids dealt with the amount of attention given to Aidas. They all understood that it was Aidas's special day. M. kept singing "Happy birthday to Aidas". L. requested to try on Aidas's costume, but handled it well when he was told that it was Aidas's present, for Aidas's birthday. He did have fun fitting himself completely into Aidas's birthday bag! Everyone seemed really happy to celebrate Aidas, and I think that Aidas did feel really special on this day.

Some amazingly cute comments from Aidas on this day:

• "No problem." (In response to me saying "Thanks, Aidas", for doing me a little favour.)
• After yawning...."Oh...I so tired! I need to go to sleep!"
• Coming into the kitchen (in his firefighter costume) as I was cleaning up and saying "Aidas to the rescue. I save the baby!" (This was not something that he mimicked from me. He came up with this completely on his own!)

In the afternoon, after naps, we went to Lithuania park. It was a very foggy day. The kids each brought a balloon to continue the celebration.  

M. is really getting into pretending. Here she is (above) making her famous spaghetti. We ask her when our spaghetti will be ready, if it is still on the stove, etc., etc. We even came up with a pretend oven at the playground. Noah is learning from her pretend play and really getting into it as well. Noah and I visited a Dollarama on Friday night and bought more toys for outdoor play. Hopefully it will keep us engaged outside during the cold winter months!