Building Sibling Bonds

For the past few months, Corey and I have finally been able to step back and enjoy the relationship Rudy and Maude are forming. It's a sweet friendship that's mostly nurturing, occasionally jealous and often silly! Watching Maude copy her sister's antics or watching Rudy help Maude get dressed is now one of my greatest joys as their mother. It's so crazy to watch them forming this bond that (hopefully) will last long past my own lifetime.

Until recently, their play still needed a lot of intervention. Rudy needed reminders to include her sister and they both often needed reminders to share but these days they seem to regulate themselves quite well. Sometimes, when we are out and about, the girls insist on holding hands the entire time. It melts my heart!

Many people ask us what we do to encourage the girls to get along so well. My first instinct is to say "nothing" and assume that it's just luck and their temperaments... and it is those things to a large extent! But when I think carefully, I see that we made some deliberate decisions early on to help curb jealousy and create a bond. Now these things have become habits for all of us but I'll share some of the conscious things we have done. (Not that we're experts, because we're certainly not! I'm equally interested in hearing your tips!)

• I remember when I was pregnant with Maude. We read so many books to Rudy and we made sure the books focused on the big sister more than the baby. We wanted her to feel really special in her new role.

• The first time Rudy visited me in hospital after Maude was born, I made sure not to be holding Maude so Rudy could climb into bed with me right away. Then I could gently ask "Shall we take a look at your baby sister?"

• In those early (newborn) days, "Baby Maude" seemed to find such cute little presents to give her big sister! Bribery works... and I learned this tip from my own mom!

• When Maude was a newborn (and still pretty boring to a toddler) we sort of gave her a personality by speaking for her to make it easier for Rudy to relate to her. "Baby Maude wants to know if she can listen to a story with you!" "Baby Maude thinks that's funny!" "Baby Maude wants you to sing a song to her!""Baby Maude loves you!"

• It goes without saying but we always make an effort to give them each individual time with each of us to show them how special they are so there's no need for them to compete for our attention. When either enters the room, they need to see our faces light up.

• We often speak as if they're a team: "What are you sisters up to now?" "You girls are so silly and funny!" "You girls are such awesome sisters!"

• We force them to share. If we are giving them a treat or even a snack, we usually give it to one and tell her to go and share it with her sister. This way, they get to practice sharing and they know it's their sister who usually brings them a treat.

• They each have several photos of the other in their rooms as well as photos of the two of them together. We like to weave a family culture into their daily life.

• We encourage them to kiss and hug their sister goodnight. Every. Single. Night. It's one of the last things each of them do.

• Finally, we encourage lots of silly, rough play! I think they bond more easily while running through the house shrieking or while jumping on the bed bashing into each other than they do playing quietly.

So now I'd love to hear from you guys. What do you do to build sibling bonds? Have I missed any really good tips? I'd love to hear what has worked for you! I'm especially interested to hear tips that may help as they get older. I hear the teenage years are tough! haha

Christmas Weekend Fun

It's almost Christmas and our gifts are finally wrapped and under the tree. Maude has been sick so we've been trying to stay close to home so she's comfortable.

Rudy had a blast this morning sliding down the hill in our yard and playing in the snow. There's something so sweet seeing kids all bundled up and toasty warm!

Earlier this month, we bought some plastic ornaments for Rudy to decorate. We use glitter and glue and tissue paper and it makes for the easiest craft. It might be craft time this afternoon!

While we were playing in the snow, we collected some fresh snow and made snow ice cream using this recipe.

Other activities we have planned for the next couple of days include baking shortbread cookies, tobogganing and watching this movie. Can you believe I've never seen it? We also may take this girls to see this festive street!

It has been non-stop action this month at our house between Rudy's Birthday, Hanukkah and now Christmas. I've also been really busy and work and Rudy started a new school this month. Our heads are spinning but we're excited to relax a bit over the next week.

What are you doing over the break? Do you have plans for NYE? Friends of ours are having a bunch of families with kids over and we're going to have an early countdown at 8 so the kids can crash after in the basement and the adults can stay up for the real countdown. Fun, right?

Season's greetings and have a wonderful and safe holiday! Happy Tibb's Eve, if you like to drink! ;)

Our BIG News (and Q & A)

Yes, I know it's been ages since I posted but we've had some big news brewing... I'm pregnant with a little sister for Rudy and between chasing an energetic toddler around the house, renovating the new house, the busy spring market and CRAZY pregnancy nausea that lasted until a few weeks ago, there hasn't been much much time or energy left over at the end of the day for blogging.  Forgive me and I promise lots of cute baby photos in the future along with another nursery "before and after" post!

We announced our happy news to family and friends on Facebook and Instagram yesterday and so many people shared kind words and advice that we were overwhelmed.  I also chose a particularly busy day of work to announce it, so I had no time to respond to anyone until after I got home at 10 or 11.  I felt awful each time my phone rang and I had to say "Thank you... but I can't chat now" and so I thought I'd also answer the most popular questions people have been asking us.  Here goes:


Did anyone know?  

Our immediate families knew from pretty early on but most people actually didn't know.  In the past few weeks, my stomach has started to resemble a basketball and it's beyond the point of just looking like I ate too much at a sushi buffet so I've also been sharing the news with people who have seen me recently.  So immediate family, friends who've seen me recently as well as active clients and colleagues of mine have known for a little while.


How far along are you?

I'm about half way to the finish line.  Which is how I look at it.  Those of you who know me, recall that I don't love being pregnant.  The end result is pretty awesome though.  :)  The baby will be here in the second half of July, which was no accident- My work slows considerably then and it will mean about a month of guilt-free recovery and bonding time for me and baby before my work starts to get active again.


What's the deal with the photo?

Last time, our gender reveal was anything but low-key.  We found out along with all our wedding guests as we opened a giant box filled with pink balloons.  It was amazing, but we wanted something more private the second time around.  This time, we had the ultrasound technician write down the gender for us and we carried it around in a sealed envelope until we worked up the courage to open it one day over lunch.  I cried... happy and surprised tears.


Is that why you moved?

Haha!  We weren't pregnant when we bought this house but we were definitely hoping to need a little more space.  We've been referring to the third upstairs bedroom as the nursery since the day we made an offer on this house so yes, that is certainly a part of the reason we moved.  We actually learned for sure that I was pregnant with this baby the day we got the keys to this house!  It felt like fate!


Why did you wait so long to tell people?

Like a lot of women, I had some struggles getting to this point in a pregnancy.  Corey and I are incredibly lucky to be able to get pregnant quite easily (first try each time and once by accident!) but I had some trouble staying pregnant.  I ended up miscarrying very early on three times in the past year so it took us a while to really feel confident about Baby M.  All three early miscarriages happened in such a short time and it was frustrating and emotionally challenging and I think we needed some time to accept that this time it was really going to happen for us.

Add to that the fact that my first trimester tends to be my toughest, and we really just wanted to power through my worst weeks without having to talk about pregnancy with anyone.  Now that I'm feeling better, we're happy to share our news!


Are you excited for maternity leave?

So many of you have asked- especially those of you due around the same time.  Like last time, I'll be going back to work pretty quickly and Corey will be doing the REAL work by staying home with baby for the first year.  Corey will be happy to have lots of play dates and I'll join in if I'm free!


Oh no!  Are you sad about that?

HAHAHA!  Let's just say that Corey doesn't envy me and I don't envy him.  I love a new baby but I'd never be able to stay home.  It's hard and lonely and... WOW babies poop and sleep a lot!  No thanks!  The baby is coming during my slowest time of year (when I'd likely take family holidays anyway) and colleagues will help my clients in my absence so I can take some time to bond with baby.  Once the fall market hits, I'll be back to work though and probably eager to get out of the house.  Don't feel sorry for us though- Just the way it's so hard for a lot of women to imagine how it's not sad for me to go back to work, it's nearly impossible for me to understand how someone would be excited for a year at home with a baby.  The thought terrifies me but (luckily) Corey's man enough to handle the challenge!


Is Rudy excited?

Oh my goodness, she is SO excited!  Our goal was to get her excited about the concept of a baby so that she'd actually want one long before we told her.  We've been reading this book to her (she requests it several times each night and recites some of it by heart) and here's why it's so brilliant: It's all about a new baby coming home but the baby's actually a secondary character in the book and it's really all about how great the big sister is and all the cool things she does with the baby!  We always stress the part where it says "And as baby grows, we'll play together" and we remind her that babies don't stay babies and they actually grow into friends to play with.  She gets really excited about that!

Since a week is like a year in toddler time (I'm not sure of the exact conversion but that must be close) we had planned not to tell her until I was heading to the hospital but (apparently) kids aren't THAT dumb and when she started patting my belly and saying "baby" we figured she knew something was up.

When we finally told her that she was going to be a big sister, she got so excited (like, pre-teen backstage at a Justin Bieber concert excited!) and was jumping up and down on her bed and shrieking with excitement.  We hope she feels that way when the baby actually arrives.


What does M stand for?

We're not sharing her name yet.  Like with Rudy, we had both a boy and a girl name chosen before we learned the gender.  It made it feel more special because we were finding out WHO it was and not just WHAT it was.  We are keeping her name in the family for a while still (maybe until she's born) but it's another strong name (like Gertrude) and probably another name that some of you will love but will make other people question our sanity.  We love it though!


Have you finished the nursery?

Oh, we're so close to finishing!  Actually, our baby announcement was almost our nursery reveal. (We were going to pretend it was a guest room and then show you all in a blog post that it was actually a nursery!)  Like with Rudy's room, we chose everything before knowing the gender so it works for both a boy or a girl.  It's very different from Rudy's old nursery but we love it and can't wait to show you!  We're waiting on a rug (which we've ordered) and a coat of paint!


Did you have a gender preference?

I had always wanted a boy and a girl.  That's always how I pictured my ideal family.  And yet, when I learned I was pregnant I was desperate for another messy, loud girl running around the house, climbing the furniture and trying to put baseball caps on the dogs!  Still, I had really thought we were having a boy but I was struggling to picture a boy and told Corey I was worried because I could only imagine a baby girl.  I hesitated so much before opening the note because, while I have no real gender preference (I love cuddly little boys too!) the picture of a baby boy was still so fuzzy in my imagination, whereas I could clearly picture another girl.  Corey says that when I saw the note, relief washed over my face and I couldn't stop crying.  I think I was really hoping it would be Baby M!  I'm really excited to help raise another strong woman!


How are you feeling?

Some of you who know I hate pregnancy have been kind enough to ask.  I'm actually feeling okay.  I still hate pregnancy but I feel lucky to be pregnant and excited for M!  It's true what they say that you're so busy the second time around that you actually forget that you're pregnant!  It's also a lot easier for me to forget now that my nausea is under control.  ;)


So there's our big news!  We're thrilled to share it and I'll be posting more about our house but also about our lives in the weeks to come!

A Week in the Rockies

A couple of weeks ago, Corey and I sat down and he reminded me that it's been 14 months since our last vacation and he can't think of a single day where I haven't done at least some work.  Yikes!

Luckily, we had already planned a family trip to Alberta.  Corey and I had never seen Banff, and we thought that some fresh mountain air and lots of hiking would be the perfect remedy to Toronto's brutal summer heat.  

We set off for a week of travel from Calgary to Banff to Jasper to the Icefields and back to Calgary again.  With a toddler, we knew we'd need to plan our travel time carefully and we thought any drive more than four hours in a day would likely be pressing our luck.

Rudy turned out to be a trooper and she seemed to thoroughly enjoy our trip.  Here are some photos, if you'd like to see.

We loved seeing the stunning turquoise waters of the glacier-fed lakes.  We had a few "must see" sights such as Lake Louise, Moraine Lake and Spirit Island (pictured above) but we left some flexibility in our schedules.  One helpful waiter encouraged us to visit Peyto Lake (below) which was spectacular and was shaped like a wolf's head.

The crowds at the popular lakes get crazy by mid-morning, but Rudy kept us on Toronto time (we were waking up at 5 a.m.!) so we were usually some of the first people to arrive at the lake in the morning.  It gave us some quiet time to privately enjoy the sights.

We encountered several bears on our trip and this grizzly was enjoying some berries in a parking lot one morning.  He walked right past us and we were lucky enough to observe him for a few minutes from the safety of our car.

Bears weren't the only wildlife we were lucky enough to see.  We also saw mountain goats and several elk.  It's their rut season so we were able to see the bulls antler wrestling more than once!

A major highlight for us was a visit to the Icefields.  We booked a tour that takes you up a mountain and allows you to walk on the Athabaska Glacier.  Again, we went early and were on the (nearly empty) first tour of the day.  Aside from about ten other people, we had the glacier all to ourselves.  We had bought spikes to slide over our shoes before the trip and we dressed really warmly.  It was exhilarating to walk on the glacier and fill our waterbottles with clear glacier water.  Rudy fell asleep on the ride back down the mountain.

We ended our trip in Calgary and we took advantage of our reciprocal membership at the Science Centre.

I think the highlights of the holiday for me were just being able to focus on Corey and Rudy for a full uninterrupted week.  We loved exposing Rudy to our love of wildlife and the outdoors and Rudy loved collecting rocks.

Corey and I keep saying that this was probably our favourite trip ever and we're already brainstorming ideas for next August!

Planning Family Photos

I was watching Rudy play the other day and, for the first time, I kept thinking that she's starting to look more like a child than a baby.  Sometimes, it's a little hard for me to remember her at this time last year.  I'm glad when social media reminds me that she was crawling and getting ready to take her first steps while holding furniture.  Now she's an energetic toddler who runs and climbs and twirls and tries to somersault.  As I watched her play, I felt myself tearing up because I have loved every stage with her, but there are so many adorable and hilarious toddler mannerisms that I'm sure I'll have forgotten in a couple of years.

We are heading off to Western Canada shortly for a family vacation and I thought it would be the perfect place to have some professional family photos taken.  What better time in our lives to memorialize than when we're happy and relaxed on holiday?  Right now, Rudy is at this magical age where the world is a place to explore and she's still our baby but she's on the verge of being able to do so much!

Being a planner, I wanted to manage everything long before our trip and I agonized over choosing a photographer, locations and wardrobe.  I wanted our clothes to look great on us but not distract from the scenery and I wanted to be coordinated but not too matchy!

So how do you look coordinated and polished but not like your family uniform is jeans and black t-shirts?  You choose a basic colour palette with coordinating colours and start there.  They say that if colours are found together in nature, they'll work.  They don't all need to be from the same colour family, although I find that many shades of the same colour also look nice.

I used this site for my colour palette inspiration.  Some of my favourites are below.  I can't say I'm surprised by the number of photos containing succulents.  ;)

Our first outfits are mainly J. Crew with the exception of my dress (Gap) and Corey's Jeans (American Eagle).  Shopping at the same store when they have a new seasonal line out is a great way to find coordinating colours and fabrics.

We also wanted some casual clothes for the photo shoot.  We chose clothes that would be more reflective of how we dressed on a regular basis. We chose a palette of blue, teal and mint to compliment the lake and mountain backdrop of the photoshoot.  The photo below is terrible (it was taken hastily at night while we were packing) but I'm actually really excited about these outfits.

For more inspiration and tips, here are two great articles on the topic by other bloggers:

http://www.kristendukephotography.com/what-to-wear-in-family-portraits-2/

http://www.designmom.com/2012/03/prepping-for-a-family-photoshoot/

Family Date

This time of year, work is so busy that I'm lucky if I get a couple of hours to play with Rudy in a week.  I can almost count on any weekend activity requiring heavy juggling and scheduling and there's always the possibility that I'll have to work last-minute.

Corey's a champ and handles house, pet and baby responsibilities but it can still be hard to find the time to be a mom and a wife while the market is so busy and my clients all need my time and attention.  I'm very grateful for my work and I love my job but Rudy grows so fast that I make an effort to make my time with her REALLY count!

Sometimes the stars align though and I had one of those rare weekends where all most of my work appointments sort of melted away and I ended up with a whole weekend (minus a very few appointments) to hang with my two favourite people!

It was heaven and we spent lots of time outdoors in the beautiful weather playing and chasing our shadows and exploring and just making good use of my time off!  It was one of the best weekends in recent memory and I think we're all feeling happy and exhausted!

I posted lots of photos from this weekend on my Instagram.  I'm making an effort to stop paying attention to all the social media "rules" (not posting too frequently, sticking to a theme and style, etc.) and so I'm just posting any photos that I like and would like to look back on later.  I'm not going to lie, it's mostly photos of Rudy.  ;)  There are also a few of the house, the dogs, food and other pretty things.  Here are some family photos from this weekend, if you'd like to see:

The weekend of fun ended after our final post-dinner walk tonight, when Rudy almost passed out and had to be carried home.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  Did you do anything fun to celebrate?  We're not religious but we love traditions and the Easter Bunny will probably start visiting Rudy at home next year.  I already have a stash of plastic eggs (I think it was wishful thinking that she might understand it this year.) and we'll probably fill them with stickers, bouncy balls, fun shoe laces and other treats.  

Do you try to recreate your own childhood traditions with your children?  I loved dying eggs (I loved crafts even back then) and I loved searching for eggs at home with my younger brother.  Our Easter Bunny labelled them with our initials to keep things fair and they were always filled with little treasures.

I remember one year, the Easter Bunny left me a small unicorn figurine.  It had a small heart tied around its neck and I treasured it because I felt that it meant the Easter Bunny loved me.  Another year, I remember spending it with my cousins at their cottage.  We collected clams and cracked them open, hoping to find pearls.  

While Rudy probably won't remember the things we do for the next year or so, I think it's never too early to begin making our own family traditions.  We took her to a farm today and she enjoyed collecting eggs, visiting the animals and riding on some of the bouncy toys.

Just in time for Easter, she seems to have discovered her giant rabbit toy that we bought for her before she was born.  Here are a few of our favourite photos from the past weekend.  Next stop: Passover!

Happy Weekend! (And an Update)

I know this blog has been silent for a while.  It happens every spring when the market gets busy and I find myself working longer hours each day.  I can't promise to post frequently again until the summer but I have several posts which are close to being finished so I'll make a push to publish some over the next little while.

Last Friday I found myself with a solid three hours between meetings.  Corey was also off from work, so we scooped up Rudy from daycare (She is walking now!) and headed to Reptilia!  We ended up having a blast during our little impromptu family date.  Although Rudy LOVED seeing (and even getting to touch) the reptiles, I attribute a lot of her excitement to the fact that we were using her new backpack leash harness.

Before Rudy was born, I had never thought much about toddler leashes but I was vaguely aware that their use was a source of minor controversy in the parenting world.  Here's an article outlining both sides.  And I still see both sides... However I happen to have a toddler who doesn't want to hold my hand or be carried.  Perhaps it's pent up frustration from being a late-ish walker but Rudy now wants to walk everywhere on her own and she often writhes and squirms like an eel when we pick her up.   At her age, she still too young to understand the concept of staying with Mummy and Daddy so while we work on our "Hold Mummy's hand now." and "Don't touch that!" understanding, the harness lets her explore a bit while practicing her walking and remaining safe.  At this age, you can take your eyes off them for a second and they're gone, so the harness also gives us some added security in public places.  Rudy loved it and was so proud to carry her water and sweater in her very own backpack!

While not a substitute for teaching her how to behave and actually supervising her, the leash/harness is a great tool for us.  Looks like I'm on team leash.  Which side are you on?  ;)

Here are some more links from around the web:

Teaching girls to be brave.

Check out this great mom and her beautiful baby!

This app will solve your baby naming disputes!

A million years ago, I nearly sublet an apartment from this girl.  Now she has a fabulous shoe line and is sort of famous.  I follow her instagram.

A small but pretty kitchen.

Would you try a blueberry pancake flavoured shot?  I'm planning on trying one tonight!

I love these shoes for spring!

A fun tooth fairy idea if you live in a country with small bills... or a wealthy tooth fairy.  If we try this one day, Rudy will have to get American $1 bills... or Canadian $5, depending on which is worth less.  :P

If you've ever lost a pet, get ready for a cry.

I love this backsplash.

Cute cookie cutter.

The other night we had a craving for fried food, so I made these.  I'm definitely saving the recipe!

This made me laugh.

I don't normally share what I'm reading privately but I feel really compelled to share an essay with you today.  Many of you may have guessed that, as a blogger, I also follow other bloggers.  I have a few favourite blogs that inspire and entertain me and A Cup of Jo (written by Joanna Goddard) is often open in a background tab on my computer for light reading on breaks.  Over the past year, I have followed closely as Joanna's brother in law passed away from cancer and her family both mourned his loss and remembered him.  His name was Paul Kalinithi and he was a Stanford neurosurgeon and a new father to a baby girl who was not yet one at the time of his death.  As his final days approached, he penned essays, which are both profound and frank in their exploration of a young father's final days.  Before pursuing medicine, Paul considered writing and his essays almost read like poetry.

Becoming a parent has strengthened me in many ways and shown me levels of bravery and compassion within myself that I wouldn't have believed I possessed.  Thinking of Rudy's future makes me weep for the world and at the same time, vow to do my part to make it a better, more fair place for her and her children.

When I hear of other families facing tragedy, their pain cuts me more sharply than before and I can imagine Paul coming to terms with the end of his life and the realization that he would never get to share so many of the things he had dreamed of with his wife and daughter.  His book is next on my reading list, but for now I'll share with you one particular passage from one of his essays, that resonated with me as beautiful and honest and devastating:

"Yet one thing cannot be robbed of her futurity: my daughter, Cady. I hope I’ll live long enough that she has some memory of me. Words have a longevity I do not. I had thought I could leave her a series of letters — but what would they really say? I don’t know what this girl will be like when she is 15; I don’t even know if she’ll take to the nickname we’ve given her. There is perhaps only one thing to say to this infant, who is all future, overlapping briefly with me, whose life, barring the improbable, is all but past.

That message is simple: When you come to one of the many moments in life when you must give an account of yourself, provide a ledger of what you have been, and done, and meant to the world, do not, I pray, discount that you filled a dying man’s days with a sated joy, a joy unknown to me in all my prior years, a joy that does not hunger for more and more, but rests, satisfied. In this time, right now, that is an enormous thing."

- Paul Kalanithi (from his essay, Before I go)

We Attempted a Pinterest-Worthy Recipe

... And nobody ended up in the ER with food poisoning.  ;)  At least, that's what the rest of the caption for this post should probably say.  But the truth is, not only was it not a disaster, I'm actually pretty pleased (and proud) of the outcome, so I wanted to share.

Here's what happened:  I am a serial recipe hoarder.  There, I said it.  I hoard more recipes than I will ever have time to attempt.  I always bookmark these amazing looking recipes that I see friends posting on social media and I often write down (and occasionally even shop for) the ingredients.

Then, I get busy with work and there never seems to be time or motivation to experiment in the kitchen when Rudy needs to be fed and put to bed.  I find there's always something thawing in the fridge or some meat I need to use and the recipe I had been so excited about gets put on the (pardon the pun) back burner.  Often I'll print the recipe to file in a black hole binder for later but I honestly can't imagine revisiting my binder in the forseeable future.  We have good intentions but whenever it's time to cook as a family, we end up making one of the same five or so favourites (I'd list them for you but it would be depressing) and eating leftovers all week.

With Corey rejoining the work force very soon, (Seriously guys, it's sooo soon and we're a little sad about it.) I didn't want to continue in this rut of living off the same few meals.  I'm not looking to reinvent the wheel, but I am making an effort to add maybe ten more easy (few ingredients)
and relatively healthy "go to" meals to our dinner repertoire.

A friend posted the awesome video (below) on Facebook and, as someone who entertains frequent sushi cravings, it seemed like a good place to start.

The full recipe can be found here and, I must say that I was really impressed.  It was really easy to make and I think that the presentation (Confession: Our 1 cup measure resides in the dog food container so I used a ramekin instead.) made it kind of exciting.  I found that packing everything down helped it to maintain its shape and I think I'll try making extra Sriracha mayo so that I can store it for next time.  A small squeeze bottle also would have made spreading it a little easier.  I was a little terrified of collapsing all my cucumber.

All in all, this was a yummy dish and it actually did satisfy my sushi craving.  It was surprisingly filling and the spicy mayo (although not my favourite on real sushi) sort of makes the dish.  The best part is that everything is already cut into toddler-sized pieces and Rudy could totally eat this while we supervised.

What are you making for dinner this week?  I'm waiting for the next really cold, snowy night (that I'm not working) to try this recipe.

(new video) Spicy California Shrimp Stacks – so excited to share this EASY recipe I'm simply addicted to! I use Trader...
Posted by Skinnytaste on Sunday, 10 January 2016

Family Holiday Traditions

This was a weird holiday for us.  Last year, Rudy was a newborn so the holidays flew by without us even noticing.  I actually think we even forgot to decorate for Christmas.  Still, she was so young that we were able to take her to parties or shops or even the Christmas Market and she would just sleep.

This year, we found that Rudy is too old for us to upset her routine by just taking her everywhere with us and yet, she's still a little young to get excited about the magic of the holidays.  That leaves us in a weird transitional year where we "celebrate" the holidays with a toddler who would prefer that we let her climb the sofa instead of trying to get her to point out Santa in yet another book.

That's not to say that this hasn't been an amazing couple of weeks.  Seeing things through the eyes of a toddler has filled our days with laughter and wonder.  We've also been working on beginning some family traditions.  Here's a peek at a few:

We celebrated Rudy's birthday early so that would could decorate for Hanukkah and Christmas.  We put her regular books away and filled her bookshelves with holiday themed books.

Rudy carefully helped to light the Hanukkah candles each night.

We extended bedtime one cold night so that we go for a late evening walk with Rudy and the dogs to enjoy the lights in the neighbourhood.

We visited Santa.  Corey teased me because I was so focused on pointing out Santa in books (I would point to pictures and ask "Who's this?" so that Rudy wouldn't be frightened when she met him.) that he joked that she would wake up from naps shouting "Santa!  The answer is Santa!"

We baked cookies together as a family.

We visited the Christmas window displays at the Eaton Centre.

We had a traditional Christmas morning of opening stockings and presents.  Rudy received some lovely gifts but we could have just given her an old box, a plastic Perrier bottle and an empty medicine container, since those are her favourite toys right now.  

And once Rudy was in bed, Corey and I watched movies (and binge watched legal dramas) while I worked on crafts.

We stayed in more this year and it was very different but still peaceful and lovely.  We have a lot to be grateful for.  What are your holiday traditions?