Avery's First Birthday

On Thursday my sweet nephew turned one and this afternoon we celebrated this wonderful milestone. It is hard to believe one year ago I was racing to the hospital to get a glimpse of this beautiful boy. What I can tell already about Av is that he will be the athletic boy in the family and is very social (much like his older cousin). Avery just loves to play with balls, he can entertain himself by throwing, kicking or chasing after them.

Tina, as you can imagine outdid herself in the food department. There was a delicious array of sandwiches and the most amazing birthday cake. The birthday cake was based on lucky charms...rice cereal cake, vanilla bean icing and marshmellow fondant. All shaped in blocks with Avery's favourite things made out of sugar.

Avery, we are looking forward to celebrating more birthday's with you and can't wait to continue to watch each stage of your development. I especially can't wait to see what kind of trouble you and Truman are going to get yourselves into.

Happy First Birthday Avery!!

I debated putting the next picture on the blog...my big pregnant self. Who wants to publish these pictures? But, I thought I would document it, as I am sure one day I will want to look back and see my pregnant self. One month today until we see our new little one! OMG!

I wanted to add this one picture of Truman - I think he looks much older than a three year boy. I can't believe how tall he is and how much he is growing and developing lately. We attempted toilet training this weekend and had plenty of accidents yesterday. But, to our surprise as we were leaving the house this afternoon Truman asked to go pee and did so in the toilet. I can't tell you how proud Jerry and I are of him. Later tonight when we were at Grandma and David's he asked to go again...and although we were too late, I was happy that he was letting us know. Maybe we are on our way?

Other than that, Truman is asking "why" in regards to absolutely EVERYTHING. I now have to think very quickly on my feet to come up with a good answer. I love the curiosity!

Happy Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! We started our Mother's Day/Birthday celebrations yesterday with Wanda, David and Baba at the Old Mill. Baba had suggested taking David and I for our birthdays and since it happened to follow on Mother's Day weekend we celebrated both. Lunch was smack in the middle of Truman's normal nap time, but he was very well behaved. We were sure that he would have fallen asleep on the car ride home, but surprisingly he stayed awake and went for a nap as soon as we got home.

This morning Jerry and I went for a walk before I went to pick up Truman from Wanda's and Jerry went into work. I couldn't wait to pick Truman up and I really missed him last night. He has slept over night many times at his grandmother's, but for some reason I could not wait to see him. We spent the rest of the morning at Wanda's relaxing.

Later this afternoon, my family came over to celebrate Mother's Day. Tina and I made dinner and Tina made a spectacular dessert (a duo of strudels). We also celebrated Pat's birthday - Happy Birthday Pat!!!

I love watching Truman and Avery interact...Truman, Pat and Avery were busy putting together puzzles. Avery was so sweet and kept handing puzzle pieces to Truman. These two boys I can only imagine are going to cause some trouble together in a few years. I also can't believe how well Avery can walk, he is so stable on two feet. It is so adorable!

Here's wishing all moms a very Happy Mother's Day!!!

Easter Weekend

The Topolski Family had another busy weekend! Friday morning Truman and I headed over to Pat, Tina and Avery's new condo. We stopped to first pick up our favourite pastries from Ma Maison. After we finished our treats, we took a much needed walk in High Park. While we were in High Park we decided to visit the zoo and Truman loved it. Later in the day he talked about the Yaks and Bison he saw. He is very interested in animals and we will have to take him to the Toronto Zoo soon for a visit.

Friday evening we went to Wanda and David's for dinner as Aunt Lilly came to visit us from NYC. Truman did not make a good impression as he had a hard time going down for a nap earlier, and was a little rambunctious to say the least. Combine that with some ice cream and you have a recipe for disaster. But to our benefit Truman slept in a little! Luckily we saw Lilly several times over the weekend so Truman could redeem himself!

On Saturday morning Truman, Jerry and I attended the first annual Wanless Park Easter Egg Hunt hosted by our good friend and neighbour Rebecca. There were about 18 children in attendance. My dear husband, the good sport he is, agreed to be the Easter Bunny. To my amazement Truman was excited to see the Easter Bunny and did not hesitate to greet him and give him a big hug. Needless to say the Easter Egg Hunt was a success and I hope that next year will be as successful. Plus, there will be another Topolski running around trying to gather eggs!

Today we headed over to Nanny and Oopa's for Easter Dinner. We were joined by Pat, Tina, Avery and Misty. Both kids seemed to be having fun interacting at least a little bit together. Tina made an amazing cheesecake plus added her magic touch to many of the dishes. I was so full from all of the food and probably should have gone for a walk.



I have noticed a few changes in Truman over the last several weeks. Truman has become more independent and has been enjoying playing on his own. On Wednesday when we were at Wanda's for Passover, Truman watched TV in the basement by himself. He is also losing interest in sleeping in the crib. He has spent several nights sleeping in the big boy bed in the spare room. Jerry and I will have to get moving and buy Truman a much needed bed. He loves to ask "Mommy, can I help you?" and "Mommy can I do this?". However, my favourite new phrase of Truman's is "Mommy, I need a cookie to make me feel better". So sweet, yet so manipulative!

I hope everyone had a very Happy Easter!

Return From Paradise

The Topolski family returned from a fabulous two week vacation from the beautiful island of St. Lucia. It was simply paradise. St. Lucia is very different from other islands I have visited it has a very Caribbean vibe as compared to St. Martin , which is has a more European feel. To get to our villa from the airport we had to drive up through the mountains and through a rain forest. We saw many banana plantations and beautiful beaches. The drive took about 2 hours and we were anxious to get to our destination. Luckily Chris brought cool beverages for us to enjoy.

Jerry, Truman, Wanda, David and I stayed with Chris, Ivona, Ania, Paul and Dominic at their beautiful ocean front villa in beautiful Cap Estates. This is the view from our room....we were able to see the island of Martinique and in the evening we would watch the cruise ships travelling to their next destination. We woke every morning and feel asleep every night to the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.

Below is a picture of us on our last day as we were leaving to head to the airport. I only wish we were able to stay a little longer.

One Sunday the family piled into the van and travelled to the Pitons which are two amazing volcanic plugs in St. Lucia. We visited the hot sulfur springs and volcano and then went for a local St. Lucian lunch. Jerry and I were a little skeptical about the lunch at first, but it was delicious. Truman was great on this day long trip and had fun exploring. We were lucky that he decided to take a nap in the van on our way home.



The fruit and vegetables on the island were unbelievable and we would often stop at the local stands. The bananas and grapefruit were so good. One day I think Truman ate about four bananas in one sitting.


Wanda, David, Jerry, Truman and I took a drive into Castries, the capital city. We explored the city, looked at that cruise ships, and went to the local market for some shopping. Truman picked out a wooden turtle that he wanted to take home. On the turtles first day home however he had to be admitted to hospital to have his fin reattached. Poor turtle.

Our favourite past time was going to the beach, in fact I think Jerry, Truman and I went almost every morning. The first week we went to the Marina Beach in Rodney Bay. On our first visit there we were hassled quite a bit, until finally Jerry explained that we wanted to be left alone and we were then not bothered for the remainder of the morning. The Marina Beach was quite crowded as the cruise ships brought van loads of people to this beach. Truman loved the water and the waves and at first had no fear. Later during the trip, there were times he wasn't even interested in going into the water. We built many sandcastles, animals built of sand, collected seashells, and Truman also at times enjoyed eating the sand.

We later discovered a more secluded beach on Pigeon Island and on some mornings, we would have to beach to ourselves. After visiting this beach we never returned to the more hectic Marina Beach. Truman and I would sit by the shore, throwing stones and let the waves roll over us. Truman's favourite person at this beach was the fruit man, who would show up in his boat selling the most delicious fruit - pineapple, banana, and coconut.

We were told of a great place to take children called Pizza! Pizza! in Rodney Bay. It had a wonderful play ground that Truman was able to run around and burn off some steam, as well as yummy pizza. Below is a picture of Wanda, David and Truman enjoying some delicious pizza. It is sad for me to report that we visited Pizza! Pizza! three times on our vacation.

Below is a picture of Truman and the kids bouncing on the trampoline having a wonderful time. Truman had no problem fitting in with the children and at times could be quite bossy. Unfortunately, Truman learned to spit on this vacation, as one of the boys taught him how to do it and it has now been a struggle for us to get him to stop!

Truman, Jerry and I also liked to visit the Marina and take a look at all the beautiful boats. One afternoon we even toured a pirate ship which Truman was very excited about, especially since Truman kept asking if he could go on the boats. The Marina as well had a fabulous little place that had such yummy gelato and coffee. We visited this cafe more times then I'd like to admit. Truman's favourite flavour was chocolate. If we lived closer, I'd send Jerry out for a scoop right now!

Truman had a wonderful trip and he seemed to really enjoy himself. I am a little worried as to how he is going to be tomorrow when I drop him off at preschool. I think what amazed me the most is how "grown up" he seemed in both his actions and the things he would say. I think there were a few times when Jerry and I would laugh out loud at some of his comments. His new favourite saying is "Mommy, can I have a cookie to make me feel better". Ahhh and the manipulation starts.


Jerry, Truman and I would like to say a huge thank you to Chris and Ivona for being such wonderful hosts. It was wonderful to spend time with the family and we are looking forward to having Ania visit in a few months.

Tomorrow, it's back to reality!

Weekend Fun with the NYC Cousins

This weekend we had our cousins from NYC visit...and we had such a great weekend. Sabrina and Mary arrived on Friday afternoon. After work we had Wanda, David and Baba join us for a lovely Thai dinner (not made by us however).

Here's a picture of Truman and David relaxing after dinner watching a movie together. Truman's favourite movie again lately is "Finding Nemo" and I can't tell you how many times we watched at least some parts of the movie this weekend.

Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast before heading downtown to the ROM. I never realized what a great place the ROM was for children. Truman loved the dinosaurs and we even did some excavating for some bones. His favourite part was going through the bat cave (which I think he went through at least half a dozen times). We will definitely have to go and explore again sometime soon.

This afternoon Wanda graciously offered to babysit Truman, while Sabrina, Mary, Jerry and I went to Unionville for a little stroll in the sunshine. Truman I have to say was playing hard to get with both Sabrina and Mary all weekend, but of course, as soon as we dropped them off at the airport Truman asks when we'll be seeing them again.

Meeting Noah

On Friday evening we had the pleasure in meeting the newest addition of our family little Noah. Truman was a little jealous when I first held Noah, but quickly warmed up to him. So much so, that he wanted to hold Noah, help change him and help put him to bed.

Noah is a happy, sweet boy. Anya and Wolf are blessed with another wonderful baby. On Saturday night Jerry and I babysat Noah and we heard two little peeps from him all night. Jerry rocked him back to sleep while I heated up a cherry pit bag and within seconds he was back asleep. I keep hoping that our new little one will be half as good!

On Monday I received a call from daycare letting me know that Truman will be graduating to the preschool class in two weeks. What a bittersweet feeling for me. Truman has been asking for months to go to preschool (ever since Emma moved up) but I felt a little sad that he will be moving up. This morning when we talked about it, he told me he didn't want to go and that he wanted to stay with Carol (his teacher). My heart was breaking. I know that he is going to love being with his friends again and he's already enjoying his visits.

Thanks to Dora, Truman has learned to count to 10 in Spanish. Thanks to the several movies Truman has been watching (Ice Age, Jungle Book, Madagascar) Truman had been asking all types of questions about animals, where do they live, what do they eat, what do they like doing, and what colour are they. I am learning to think quickly on me feet and when I don't know the answer I call reinforcements (for example I had no idea what a crab said, so we called Tina for advice).

Now that Jerry's trial is over we finally feel like a family again. This weekend we ran a lot of errands together and went shopping for a big boy bed for Truman. Jerry desperately wanted a bunk bed, but unfortunately it won't fit in either of the rooms without it taking over the entire space. So, we are still on the hunt for a new bed. We are hoping to have the new bed in place by the time we return from our trip to start the transition. The countdown for vacation begins!

Will You Be Mine?

Yesterday Truman and I spent Valentine's Day by going for a nice long walk in our neighbourhood. Truman isn't too fond of the stroller these days, but wanted to ride in the stroller to our destination (Mastermind) but wanted to walk home - and he walked the entire way home. I am truly amazed by his stamina! We went to Mastermind to buy a gift for Sabrina's birthday party. Sabrina is Emma's best friend and she is in Truman's class. Truman was so excited to see Emma and the two of them spent a lot of time together as well as the other children from his class. It was nice to see all of the children playing so nicely together.

After the party, we took Truman to Grandma and David's house for another sleep-over. Truman seems to now understand the routine on some weekends. So much so, that when we dropped him off and set him up with his video he told us "Just go now". This gave me a glimpse of what I am to expect during the teenage years....oh my! So with a night off, and being a fabulous wife, I took my husband to the auto show. Jerry and I had such a nice evening together and we finished off our evening with dinner and then home for dessert (courtesy of my sister Tina). Delish!

Tomorrow is Family Day, our relatively new stat holiday and I am looking forward to the extra day with Truman. Unfortunately my dear hubby has to work (federal court), but hopefully he won't be at work too long so that we can all spend some family time together. I am counting down the days until Jerry's trial is finished (7 more business days), so that life can get back to normal.

I also should mention that the Topolski Family will be expanding come July. We are all very excited (well, Truman is some of the time). Truman is hoping for a sister which he would like to name Mogli. For those of you who don't watch cartoons, Mogli is the little boy in the Jungle Book.

Also a thank you to Danka and Ola for visiting this weekend. It was so nice spending some time togther and Truman has not stopped asking about both of you. He's been asking if you will come back and visit us soon!

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Family Day!

Terrific Two's?

The last few weeks have been extremely challenging with my dear son. The challenge and stress could be a combination of things....Truman has recently undergone another growth spurt (all his 2T tops are now belly shirts), his father has been working long hours (busy on a trial), and he's in the midst of his second year. I go from dealing with non-stop boundary pushing and aggressive behaviour leading to many time outs to Truman acting nothing less than an angel. I guess this is all part of dealing with the terrific two's!

We recently taught Truman how to say his last name...and it is quite adorable to hear him say it....it sounds like "taposki" He also knows that my name is Michele and Daddy's name is Jerry. He thinks he's rather clever when he calls us by our given names! We are also working on teaching him his phone number...we're getting there, he can usually tell us the missing numbers.

Truman's new favourite toy is this wooden pizza that Misty have him for Christmas. He loves making pizza for everyone and will give you the toppings that you ask for. He already knows that his father does not like vegetables (sigh), and mommy likes mushrooms! I was worried this weekend when Masha, Lana and Mario came for a playdate. I was so afraid there was going to be a major confrontation over this pizza, but Truman was such a gentleman and shared the pizza immediately with Masha. I noticed that Truman played so nicely with Masha this weekend and was so willing to share his toys with her.

Truman loves to sing....his favourite song is "Life is a Highway" from the movie "Cars"...we have heard it a few times in the car and whenever we play piano it's the only song he wants to hear/sing. He is however, growing out of the movie Cars (thank goodness) and has moved onto "Four Square" and "The Wiggles" again.

The Topolski Family has been keeping quite busy over the last month meeting up with friends and family. We're looking forward to checking out the skating rink at the park across the street (we just found out about). Let's hope the weather warms up!

My spell check is not working on this post, I apologize for any spelling errors!

Merry Christmas!

This year we celebrated Christmas, as we do most years by gathering at my parent's home on Christmas Eve. There is always a lot of eating to be done and this year was no exception!

We all woke up fairly early Christmas morning to start opening all the gifts. This year Avery and Truman were both quite spoiled and in turn it took us a few hours to open up all the gifts. In between gift opening sessions we all enjoyed a lovely breakfast as we needed to keep up our strength. Avery seemed to enjoy his first Christmas and I am sure next year will be even more exciting.

Truman must have been a very good boy this year because Santa brought him exactly what he asked for....an apple! He was very excited to open his gift from Santa and has been letting us know since that Santa brought him an apple. I wonder if we will get off as easily next year?

On Boxing Day we headed over to Wanda and David's and enjoyed a yummy dinner, and had the most delicious cheesecake (baked by Tina of course). I wanted a second piece but refrained from giving in to my sweet tooth! Truman and Avery were both angels. Our little man who never eats meat, ended up eating two pieces of veal schnitzel! He also asked for ice cream (as he is now accustomed to having it at grandma's house).

We took Truman skating for the first time on Saturday evening and to our surprise he had a great time. It did take us however, almost a full half hour to convince him to put on his skates, but once we did it was hard to get off the ice. Jake, Rebecca, and Ryan also joined us, and Jake is a natural on skates. He was amazing to watch and I am sure next year we will see him with a hockey stick in his hand. His Jake Starkman the next Wayne Gretzky?

I hope everyone had a very happy holiday season. I am looking forward to spending the next week with Truman and Jerry.

Birthday Bashes

This weekend we celebrated Jerry's 35th Birthday! Happy Birthday Jerry!

We started the weekend with a family dinner to one of our favourite pizza places. After dinner, in the bitter cold, we purchased our Christmas tree. Truman had a great time running around trying to find the perfect one. Jerry and I decided that this year we would decorate the tree while Truman was asleep. The next morning I brought Truman down to see the tree, he said "it's big and beautiful" and with hands on his hips he said "Who built this? I like this!".

On Saturday night, we headed out in the winter storm to have dinner with my parents, Pat, Avery and Tina to celebrate both Jerry and Tina's birthday. My dear sister turns 30 on Thursday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINA!!! It took poor Pat, Tina and Avery an hour and a half to get to the restaurant. By the time they arrived, Truman was ready to leave, but not before he shared some french fires with his favourite cousin Avery.

Sunday afternoon we went to Jerry's work party to have a second visit with Santa. Truman was very excited running around the building and seeing so many people. Eventually he found some smarties in the cookie making room which put him over the edge. This was one of his first experiences with chocolate...and he kept telling me for the rest of the day how much he liked it! Needless to say, we had a short visit at the party and missed seeing Santa. My dear son had too much fun spinning around and pretending to fall on the floor. I decided it was time for Truman to get home and have a nap. Besides, I was completely worn after chasing him for a few hours.

Monday night Truman and I went to Tina, Pat and Avery's house to celebrate Tina's birthday. We were joined by aunt Misty who loved playing with little Avery. Truman gave Avery about a hundred kisses, and Avery didn't seem to mind at all.

Weekend Update

This morning we headed to Hot House to have a delicious brunch and listen to some jazz music. We joined Tina, Pat, Avery, Misty, Troy, Karyn and Nick. We were all stuffed, including Truman who must have ate about 10 slices of watermelon. Truman loved the music and was dancing for most of the morning. Jerry and I were not expecting him to be on such good behaviour...it was not until the end of the meal when he began to lose his patience. Luckily we had all had our fill.

Here's a pic of Truman posing, he asked me to take at least a dozen pictures

Troy, Misty and Truman...Truman was just not interested in posing this time

Pat and rosy cheeked Avery

So, Jerry and I finally caved and got Truman's hair cut. Some may say he was long overdue, but we loved his beautiful curls and big hair. I asked the stylist not to take too much off...so it is still longer in the front...and it's curlier than ever. Truman, however almost had a nervous breakdown while getting his hair cut...Jerry had to hold his arms and legs down, while I held his head. All the while he was screaming as if he was being tortured. This was not my idea of a fun time. As soon as it was over, Truman acted as though the previous ten minutes never happened.

Here's Truman on Thomas the Train after getting his hair cut, as he wouldn't stay in it while scissors were near his head....

Last night, we went to Canadian Tire to buy Truman a sled, as there is a great hill up the street that is perfect for Truman's age. We took him this afternoon and he loved it. I think Jerry must have taken him down the hill at least fifty times.

I also wanted to wish Misty a very Happy Birthday, we hope that you had a wonderful day!