Gymnastics Pictures

Hanging on the rings

Jumping on the trampoline with her new boyfriend

Climbing the ladder into the ball pit

Hanging out in the ball pit

Heading down the slide

This has been a busy week for Kira. She attended her friends first birthday party last weekend, she had a lot of fun and played very well with the other kids -- even sharing with them (thank goodness). We had her gymnastics again this week, but I didn't take photos as she managed to lose her glasses at daycare (!) and was a little cranky during gymnastics, likely as a result of a headache from not being able to see properly. We ordered her a back-up pair of glasses and daycare managed to find her glasses the next day, thankfully.

Today, we went over to Victoria for Nicholas' 4th birthday party. Kira played on the ferry the whole way over, then played with ten 4-year old boys and 1 girl her age with no issues (she even attempted to play simon says with them, so cute), and then played for most of the ferry ride home. Poor kid is exhausted! It was a lot for her to do in 10 hours.

Here are a couple of pictures of Kira that were taken this week...

Playing with the car at her cousin Nicholas' 4th birthday party

Bath time with cousin Marcus

Her new way of checking out what we are cooking

Vegetables?? Boo!

Hiding under her umbrella from the bubbles

The Olympics are over (sigh) and now things are starting to get back to normal. Kira's gymnastics started up again on Wednesday evening, she has graduated to the 2 year old class now, so we have to take her a different time. Most of the kids in her class are 2.5+, but she didn't even seem to notice. She had a blast with all the "older" kids. I'm amazed at how much difference a few months in age can make, some of those kids are potty trained, talking in sentences, and able to do some pretty remarkable things. As for Kira, well she blew me away with her progress. I haven't taken her to gymnastics in about 3 months (Jon has been taking her Saturday mornings while I sleep in, heh), so I was shocked to see her walk up to the rings, grab them and then lift her legs up and start swinging. After that she walked up a ladder and jumped into the ball pit --- she couldn't figure the ladder out last time I was there and was terrified of the ball pit! She also stepped up to the balance beam and walked across it on her own! That was the first time she had done that, so the smile on her face was extra wide. I will try to take some videos next week when we are there. The best part about this new class is that the teacher is a friend of mine from soccer, she just started her job yesterday and was very excited to see Kira in her class; Kira took an instant liking to her.

This weekend begins the month of birthday parties. We have one every weekend, all month! This weekend it is our friends daughters 1st birthday party. Next weekend is Nicholas' 4th birthday party, then the weekend after is Marcus' 3rd birthday, and then the last weekend is Kira's 2nd birthday party. Phew! She is going to be partied out, but it should be a lot of fun for her. Maybe she'll even start eating cake.

Here are a couple of pictures of Kira with her umbrella that she got from Uncle Simon and Auntie May - she loves walking around the house with it but still won't use it outside for some reason...she's a strange kid sometimes.

Spring comes early!

Thanks to the beautiful, warm weather the last week or so, we have been able to get Kira out of the house and playing in the park and school yard across the street. This is great for her as she is able to play with much more of the playground equipment than she was last summer. She is also slowly starting to recognize letters and numbers, and loves to run around and find them on the concrete (in the school yard). Yesterday, Jon and I took Kira on a bike ride around our neighbourhood. We didn't go too far as neither of us were too keen on hoofing it up hill, but Kira throughly enjoyed herself. We stopped off at a park, and when we tried to take Kira out of her bike seat, she pushed the lock back down - indicating that she did NOT want to get out and play, thank you very much. So, we kept riding. She has a knack of always getting her way...

Here is a picture I grabbed of her in her bike seat on Jon's bike. We take her glasses off when we ride as she has taken them off for no reason before, and we don't really want that to happen while we are out riding. You can see how her eye turns in without her glasses.

Last week Kira had her eye check-up, we were told that despite her eye turning in without her glasses on, her vision is doing well. It hasn't gotten worse, but it hasn't gotten better. She will be seeing the specialist at Children's Hospital at the end of next month as they are now monitoring her lazy eye to see if an eye patch or (gulp) surgery are going to be required in the next couple of years. My brother and nephew both had/have to use the patch, and my brother and I both had multiple eye surgeries when we were kids; so I guess this shouldn't be surprising news for me...but it is a lot harder on this side of the fence. When I was a kid it was cool to have surgery cause you got ice cream!! But, being the Mom, well, let's just say it will take more than ice cream to console me if she needs to go for surgery.

On a lighter note, her 4th incisor tooth came in last week, hurray! So, all we have left is the 2 year molars, which, at her rate, I figure will come in when she is close to 3. Ha.

Here are a couple of recent pictures of Kira from the playground and our house. She says "cheese" now when the camera is on her, very cute. The words are slowly sneaking up on us, not much longer before we have a talkative little lady.

Just for you, Grandpa Charlie

Go Canada Go!

So, the Olympics are upon us, and I am very excited; it seems that the city has finally come alive as well. I went shopping for a "Canada" hoodie the other day, only to find a mob of people sifting through the Olympic gear like it was a boxing day sale. CHAOS! Needless to say, I got the heck out of there as soon as I could. I did manage to grab a cute little Canada shirt, hat, and bib for Kira.

Yesterday, the Olympic torch run came past our office, so we headed out - along with hundreds of other office workers - to the street to cheer on the runners. Naturally, a down pour started right when we got out there, but it didn't dampen the spirit of the crowd. We were pretty far back, but here are a couple of pictures that I was able to snag...

My office sits very close to a few Olympic sites - the Village, Live City Yaletown, BC PLace and GM Place/Canada Hockey House. I took a couple of photos from the offices the other day, unfortunately my camera is not so great so it's hard to see these places...

The Olympic Village -- you can see a big Canada Flag on one of the cranes there. In the background is Science World, which has become "Russia House", dedicated to the 2014 Winter Games.

BC Place + Canada Hockey House. BC Place is where the opening ceremonies will be held, indoors. Smart thinking since it's raining today.

Live City Yaletown, there will be lots of concerts there as well as laser light shows and who knows what else.

This week we also got Kira's new bed, she hasn't seen it yet, but I'm sure that she will love all the extra space that she has. Here are a couple of pictures of the big bed...

Kira had a play date tonight with a new friend named Sophia. Sophia and her parents just moved here from Edmonton to work at Jon's company. We had met them before, but it was in a darkened restaurant, so we didn't really get a chance to have the 2 kids play with each other. When they arrived here tonight, one thing became obvious fast...these 2 girls look and act very similar! They had fun playing individually with Kira's toys, but they didn't get angry or possessive when one was playing with a toy that the other wanted, so that's a good sign. We hope to have Sophia over again soon. Here are a couple of pictures of the girls watching Yo Gabba Gabba...

This week we learned that my dear friend Maya will be moving back to Ontario with her family. I first met Maya about 8 years ago when we were playing soccer together and eventually became gym buddies, which was immediately followed by dairy queen blizzards and survivor. She was the matron of honour at my wedding and my very first friend to have a baby. This move is a great thing for them as they will both be back with their families, who all live in Ontario, but my dreams of Kira marrying one of her boys have been crushed. Maya, I'll miss you loads - but now we have another reason to come and visit Ontario. I can't wait to see pictures of your gigantic house and yard that you'll get in Ontario where housing prices are actually affordable :)