guys' morning out

dominic and mathias decided to go to the park together one sunny morning.

dominic sees mathias putting on his hat: "oh, i have to get my buzz lightyear hat like papa!!" [runs to get hat.]

mathias says, "i'm going to bring a book."

dominic: "oh i need a book too!!" [runs to grab the first book he can find in his collection]

playing with timothy

dominic LOVES it when timothy comes over to play... they play crazy like these pictures but they also play with lego and other things.

swimming lessons

dominic took swimming lessons for about 5 weeks. it's amazing how much he learned! he's like a little fish, he loves to go underwater and keeps his eyes open the whole time. he learned to float on his back, to kick his legs, to breathe out underwater, to kick while breathing out (!), pool safety (stop and look), and gained a huge level of comfort in the water. but it was tiring and some things he didn't want to do (like jumping in without being caught). so for now it's good to have a swimming break. i took some pictures but they did not turn out at all. here's a picture of him looking a bit dorky in his swim suit (like a wetsuit) with just his hoodie over it. what a goof.

starbucks

must... drink... coffee...

actually zoe has become quite a grabber. she reaches out for anything that comes within about two feet of her. pouncer might be a better description. she waits and when it comes kinda close, she leaps for it. quite amusing.

bathing al fresco

zoe had a bath on the sun deck...

...and of course, whatever zoe does, dominic must do as well.

opa went to "eye-gee-ah"

opa went on a trip to nigeria with DMI. he was gone nearly three weeks. we've been counting down the days till he gets back. last night was the night! dominic was soooo tired at bedtime due to no-nap, getting-a-cold, and playing-like-a-kid. but after an hour he was still making a racket in bed!

i finally went in there and his bed was a wreck. he had almost pulled the fitted sheet off. i told him that opa wouldn't come if he didn't go to sleep. this made him cry a little. then i promised him that opa would wake him up when he came. he went straight to sleep after that.

an hour later, opa came and tried to wake dominic... impossible! the child could not be woken!

but first thing this morning he asked where opa was. mathias said he thought opa would be upstairs.

"ok!" dominic said and promptly turned around and trotted upstairs to find him. (normally, he won't even go to the living room by himself first thing in the morning.)

aunt michelle

this super awesome aunt got to spend 6 weeks (ish) here in BC.  woot!

(isn't she adorable?)

we did so many fun things... walks in the park, lunch at white spot (pirate packs!), a super-duper picnic in the park...  what good times.

zoe & aunt michelle are so cute:

dominic and aunt michelle are so fearless:

my favorite people

tigers

dominic today at lunch: sometimes tigers bite me.  

me: oh really?  when do they bite you?

d: um.... when they're in the jungle.

me: where do they bite you?

d: on my arm.

me: what do you do when they bite you?

d: uh... i make them dead.

[wha...?]

me: what do you make them dead with?

d: a sword!  

[at this point, he's getting more excited.  this did not seem to be a scary story for him, he was getting really into it.]

me:  what kind of a sword?

d: a red one!

really, where does he get this fearlessness?  and i don't think i'm teaching him about things like swords and fighting...?  funny boy.

brother and sister

when i was a kid, my mom used to always tell me that my brother was the most closely related person to me on earth. so much that i used to get annoyed. but now i think i'll tell that to my kids. :)

how he loves [auntie melissa]

often dominic says "what's this song about?" so today in the car we were listening to how he loves and i said, "dominic, this song is about how much God loves us. he loves you so much! he loves me, he loves papa and zoe too."

dominic says, "and he loves auntie melissa?" (how cute is that?)

"yes!" i said "he loves auntie melissa too!"

"and she will give him funny kisses?"

haha! what a guy! (auntie melissa gives dominic tons of funny kisses at bed time)