It's summeant to be.....

Glee

Oh Tannenbaum....

Helmet head

Our boys went out on their bikes on mon evening instead of watching their allocated hour of telly after dinner. It was LL's first time on the open road and he turned into the littlest hobo. He just didn't want to come home. I think we did a couple of miles, which for short legs and no pedals is a long way!
I think he has gotten the bug as yesterday the bike helmet went on after lunch and didn't come off again until bedtime! He wore it in the car, he wore it in the park, right through BB's mini kickers, at the dinner table and on the sofa watching his cartoons before bed....

This is the picture I was left with....

Ironically taken outside playgroup before we went in, this was the face that I saw just before I walked out and left him! I'm not sure why, but this morning LL insisted on carrying this blue ball with him from when he stepped outside. He hasn't formed an attachment with this ball before, and I'm not sure if it was a kind of sub-conscious safety blanket - but he wasn't to be separated from it - even when he was climbing into his car seat!

The boys dutifully posed for pics this morning saying cheese on demand before we all set off for what will now be a twice weekly drop off of both boys to their relevent establishments!

LL quite happily toddled in behind me - grasping his ball and proudly sporting his brothers backpack containing some nappies and a toy car (I did try to get him to leave the ball in the car!), but when we went in there wasn't a name peg for him to hang his backpack on so we went inside to enquire as to whether he was actually due to start today. Yes! was the reply - they are just still in the stages of getting organised....

The play leader took me next door to show me the set up of the room in which LL would spend a majority of his time. LL didn't follow, and upon coming out I decided that it would be best to just leave rather than to go in and say goodbye in case this upset him, but as I captured a sneaky glance to make sure he was okay I was left with the above picture.....a pretty forlorn little soul with his backpack on, clutching his ball looking a bit unsure about what was going on in his immediate vicinity!

Tugging at the heartstrings commenced...





However when BB and I went to collect him, we did some spying of him playing in the garden and he seemed pretty content. Yay.

I was assured that he was fine.

I never did blog about his adorable Sean Connery stylee 'Yeshhhhhh' which I hope he never drops.....I digress......I asked him if he had fun at playgroup - he replied 'Yesh' I asked if he'd like to go again....he replied 'Yesh'

What more could you ask?

I'm cheating!

(Update - here's the pic I sent to playgroup for his peg. Face covered in birthday cake - but adorable all the same!)

I've crawled off to bed and I'm not giving this post the true care, time and attention it deserves....my baby boy LL starts at Playgroup tomorrow and I've been shockingly blasé about it. Even this post is being scrawled on my phone and there will be no pics.

Have I let his toddlerhood pass me by? I've been very happy to let him follow his brother like a shadow. It's the easy option - a babysitter on tap! I find it utterly adorable the way he dotes on his brother, how he watches from the corner of his eye and copies every cross of the legs, sip of a drink, tilt of the head and noise shouted in glee, but has this been to the detriment of our relationship???
Don't get me wrong, he turns to me when he falls, will happily provide kisses and cuddles on request, and snuggles up for stories and tv before bedtime, but he is also fiercely independant and fearless and not nearly as reliant on me as his big brother was. I think this sends a wave of guilt over me on occasion.
Right now I suppose I feel gulity that this huge thing for him has been overshadowed as his brother started back at nursery a couple of days ago, and because I actually don't feel in the slightest bit nervous about dropping him off tomorrow morning. I just have it taken for granted that he'll be fine...is this niaive of me? What if he isn't? I suppose secretly a part of me will be happy. It will be confirmation that perhaps, just maybe I have devoted enough time to my baby boy after all.

And if he is fine? Well maybe I should just accept that maybe he actually has more of his mum's genes in him than I was willing to admit ;0)

P***ed Off!

Last night I picked up a message on my phone from the local leisure centre saying that BB had finally made it to the front of the waiting list for the 'mini kickers' class after a few months of waiting! Woo hoo ..... and could I call back to confirm that he wanted a place in the class.

I asked BB if he would like to join his friends in the class when nursery started again. His face lit up and he made me play footie in the garden with him until daddy called us in. I made a big show of calling the centre whilst he was there to confirm his place- only to be told there were no places left.....Hold on a minute, she surely hadn't heard me right- they'd called ME and told ME there wad a space for him. There was no deadline placed on the return call and this was less than 24 hours later. I was informed that we were at the front of the queue - if that helped. Well no it doesn't bloody help, we've waited months for this and I seriously doubt anyone will drop out now until at least next year - do they want to come over and explain this to what will be a devastated three year old. Talk about dangling a carrot. Who did they give his place to? How many people did they call for this magical place in the class. I didn't realise it was a race..... boy did mummy fail in this simple task. I feel like shite, and I'm seriously pissed off!

Mummy - do you know what it's called when...

.....a car pulls over to the side on the road? Asked BB on a drive this afternoon (may I point out this was just after watching the grand prix with daddy....)

No - I replied

It's called a pissed off! Replies a very pleased with himself BB.

A WHAT!!!!???

A pissed off Mummy! (slight consternation now.....)

Oh - do you mean a pitstop? (It clicks with mummy)

NOOOOO IT'S A PISSED OFFFFFFFFFF!!!!

Hey - I'm not going to argue with this 3 year old......are you?



(Actually we had another conversation the other day along the same lines - a tractor pulled in front with some kind of tank trailing behind it.....

BB - Look mummy that tractor is pulling a cabbage

Me - Don't you mean a carriage?

BB - (With rolled eyes) no mummy, then it would have people in it!!!! - it's a cabbage!

Me - Why do you think it's called a cabbage BB?

BB - Cause Grandad Terry told me it was!

Me - Oh!)

Domestic Goddess?

I surely do feel like one today!.

Yesterday was utterly miserable - starting with full blown falling out with BB (All because there were no bananas to go with the cereal), piddling rain (which added to the dripping roof problem from Monday) a V. cranky LL, who to be honest (I think) is hating toddlers at the moment as he is constantly getting picked on. More whining from BB, the insurance people calling me up and telling me to arrange my own repairs, the repair man telling me the roof had been done wrong in the first place and that I'd have to do some serious blagging to get the insurance people to cough up (otherwise it could cost me in excess of £3k and that's just to fix the roof - never mind the internal repairs), my tenant calling to say that the shower is cracked and that they'd be moving out in 7 weeks time - did I mention the rain?(actually I omitted that I'd left the car window about 5 inches open and the interior of the car was soaked!) Parking next to a 2 inch puddle at the supermarket......oh it goes on!

One bright spot was getting to meet a beautiful 5 day old baby girl.




Precious!

Today however? - completely different ball park. After severe insomnia, coupled with two rude interruptions by my eldest I was dreading the worst.....

I was awoken by a call from said tenant at 8am asking where the hot water tank was situated (for the plumber) and although there was silence in the house I didn't drift off. I lay awake for about 20 mins before I got up. BB got out of the right side of bed, as did LL. In addition the sun was streaming in. WOW.

After brekkie, I opened the sun room doors, popped on some shoes to the boys and let them romp outside in their pyjamas whilst I ironed 2 loads of washing......and there it started. I completed a further 2 loads of washing and air dried them, blew up a water slide for BB and filled a paddling pool for LL, set up a sprinkler in the garden for the boys to run through (LL was having none of it though.....I think he has a morbid fear of any flying water after his brother drenched him the other day with the hose!) I did the motherly thing and took turns with the boys pushing them down the water slide (after I'd soaped it up so it would be super slippy!) I cooked pancakes and made sarnies for lunch, I texted friends to invite all and sundry over (kinda pleased I got a bunch of polite refusals though!) I washed two cars, watered our greenhouse plantation, raked the vegetable patch, read stories up in the climbing frame and even managed to make some lemon sole goujons (in breadcrumbs) for dinner. I edited some pics and sent them to a friend. I am a bit annoyed at myself though - as I had planned to cut the grass - but it's clouded over and I think it may be damp with dew.....Doubt we'll get sun two days in a row!

I am now planning an early night with some photo mags, location location and a cup of tea!

Pics from last week!

Last week we filled in a rainy day by visiting my cousin and her two kids. The boys had a ball and romped about all afternoon without stopping.

Here are some pics I meant to post earlier!!

Afternoon at the park.

We had a lovely visit today after lunch from a friend who cycled here with her two kids. All kids involved played together in the garden for what (finally) was a lovely afternoon. It did threaten once again to relinquish into a sogfest (as it has for the past few days - we had a lovely leaky livingroom and two bedroom roof incident which I may expand on another time!) However Mr. sun lingered long enough to for BB to request a trip to the park after his friends had gone home.

Let's face it - they are probably suffering fresh air withdrawal due to the atrocious weather - so what good parent could possibly say no?



BB got to grips with the climbing ropes



LL loved the big dish



and they both had great fun on the swings...





Then by request we stopped for a little ice-cream on the way home...



Let's hope it doesn't rain tomorrow......

Tarzan Boy....

LL has upped his level of monkey antics a step too far......for those of you who have never been in my home - you may think this is a lovely picture of two brothers playing nicely in their playroom.......for those of you who have been in my home and are pretty sharp eyed - you may notice that there is something amiss with this picture

Notably the fact that the curtain which should be hanging in front of the doors are in fact folded over the back of the sofa!


The reason for this? Angelic little LL decided that he would test their strength by swinging on them like a monkey.... I should have actually taken the pic of the curtain poles hanging, the plasterboard dust and the bracket on the floor and the curtains hanging limply! Instead you have lovely pic of the gaping hole which he has left as his Tarzan legacy.




I'm currently on number 5 of a very slow count to ten!!!

Sunny Summer Days...

A trip to see tractors!!

Today we went to the ANgus Show to see some tractors - luckily there were some there as I found out that the 'show' part of the show (ie not the horse trials) isn't until tomorrow! Those and a bouncy castle kept BB very amused! Ach weel - we saved £13 entry and we had the place to ourselves!

Ace

A friend introduced me to smilebox this week - I thought I'd try it out for myself - so here it is....

This picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Random statement of the day...

Mummy, frogs don't need trampolines do they? Unless they jump high in the tree and get stuck.....those frogs need trampolines.

I want a studio too.......

You'd think it was a warm sunny day....

Well it wasn't!




I dragged home two very sodden and bedraggled boys from their cousins this evening!



But they had fun!

Why working and childcare don't mix...

Perfect example of what kids get up to when you sneak onto the pc to e-mail your boss!

Is he trying to break his brothers record???

Not so long ago my BFS wrote a blog about how if his boys didn't have at least one Casualty visit by the age of 18 then they'd not had a proper childhood. Well ironically the very next day (I kid you not - and indeed this has been thrown up on many occasion) BB had his first visit with a very bust lip that required part of it to be snipped off. Not a pleasant experience I can tell you!

Well anyway - his accident prone little brother today came very close to beating that record for the youngest visit. To start off the story where it should start I will revert to yesterday where he took an impressive almighty tumble down the stairs (and anyone who knows how steep and high our stairs are will know that's no minor feat)....I didn't think to mention it as I witnessed the landing and it wasn't on his head! Anyways - he topped that one off a belter today. We were over visiting their cousins (little Woo Woo has finally contracted pox - and since this bout of it technically started with BB it was the least we could do to provide little playmates for her to moan at......). K and I were over at the other end of the newly extended lounge (so about 20 feet away) when we heard the sound of shattering glass - glass which seemed to continue shattering for a good few seconds. A bit taken aback by this, we rushed to the other end of the room stumbling over obstacles (including a sofa) to see what the source of this was (please god don't let it be the 60" plasma.....) just as the delayed scream kicked in.......

The source of all the noise? A 6' x3' framed mirror which had been leaning onto the wall had toppled over and shattered into hundreds of pieces. My heart stopped - I couldn't see LL and quickly realised he was under there. At least he was screaming......but I had visions of recovering a blood covered morsel from beneath the devastation. K later informed me she was more worried about a huge shard falling from the frame into him as we lifted it to retrieve the bewildered little soul.

Amazingly he escaped with only the most minor of cuts - one near his ear and one on the top of his head. The tears didn't last long once he got distracted by a paddling pool - but that's another story altogether!

I'm just hoping that on this occasion things don't actually happen in threes - I don't think my ticker can take it.......

ps. The post pic is of the discarded mirror in the garden!

It's for the core strength, balance and discipline - honest!!!

My big boy made his stage debut today. I'm not sure if the broadway directors will be banging down my front door- but he had lots of fun he tells me!



Looking somewhat bemused amongst about 15 other bewildered little dancers he frequently put the dancing aside and grasped the opportunity to use his 'I'm the only boy here girls, check me out' card whilst poking his tongue into his cheek in what can only be a 3 years olds' seductive manner!!!

Or that was my -' hey my boy's not gay because he's dancing - just check him eyeing up the girls' translation of his concentration face........



For the rest of the time - bless him he was concentrating on getting his footwork right - and a mighty good turn out he had on his pas-de-bas (god knows how to spell that?) too. Proud mum indeed! (well until he used his t-shirt at he end during the bows to wipe his nose flashing his tummy to everyone!)

Our friends little girl Izzy had me in knots for every performence she was on - just stood right at the end and did her own thing bursting with pride to be up there. She did get so enthusiastic at one point that she fell on her bum! Hilarious!

I'm getting a stick with a little bit of hot on it!

We were role playing today and BB made me a birthday cake..... He needed the above to light the candles!

Yaaaaawn

Posting this at 1:30 am having just been up again to poor LL! He has overwhelmingly trumped his brother on the pox front- I think he has as many on his face and scalp alone than his brother had on his torso! He is scratching up a frenzy- and whereas the ailment turned his stroppy teenager ten years before his time brother into a placid little angel, he has no clue what is happening to him, and feels mighty sorry for himself. He's off his food and spends all his time wanting hugs and howling loads.... And here was me thinking I'd been let off lightly- wondering what all the fuss was about. Oh and James- we didn't get round to counting BB's today- I may have to revert to photographic evidence for the task as he's healing quickly!

Now there's one you can't kiss better...

Poor BB has just awoken howling (again), but I wasn't expecting the reason to be ' my willy hurts' ........
hmmm a gentle ' there there' and a stroke of the hair was the most I could do on this occasion!

I'm wondering if I should start a pox top trumps - LL's suspect spots yesterday are most definately of the same ilk as BB's now...

LL started the day with a blinder- one right on the tip of his willy! BB clawed back with some on the soles of his feet - no getting away from those ones unless you spend the day horizontal, but I think his wee brother trumped this evening when he also popped some on his soles! Willy and soles wins over bollocks and soles I think, but all you men out there can feel free to correct me on this!

Talent Envy!!

My eyes are green - check out these amazing pics of the boys - all from an impromptu visit to my brother's today. Can you see why K is branching into this professionally???