Toddlers are easier!

I know each phase of a young child's life has it's own challenges and rewards. But my kids are toddlers and beyond now, so shopping is a breeze!

We had to race out to the shops today to grab just something quick and it was so nice to just throw the kids in the car...and nothing else!! We left the nappy bag behind because Alex is pretty regular with that area now and I could be pretty sure we weren't going to have any poo explosions while we were gone. We didn't take a change of clothes because there are toilets at the shopping centre for Megan. We didn't take food or drink bottles, because the kids can survive for 15mins being hungry or thirsty and if they are really desperate, something bought from the shops is good enough.

We did visit the parents room for the toilet stop (which for Megan is fun when we are out...not so much at home!!) and there were several mums with littles, heating food, breast feeding, etc. It was great to race in, visit the loo and be off again with little disturbance to our shopping trip!

An eye on Dad

The past few days I have been sick. Nothing drastic, but enough to make me feel lousy and need to rest. Luckily Mike saw the need to step up and take control...and has proven entirely capable.

He has come home from work the last two nights and cooked dinner. The meal was already decided and all he had to do was cook it, but the point is he did. Without the innate skill of multi-tasking, the cooking process took MUCH longer than normal and many, many more pots and pans were used than usual, but the meal was good, the kids ate most if it (well, at least the same amount as they would for me!), and I didnt have to do it!

When I crawled into bed early, the dishes got done, the house was tidied. This morning, Mike took the kids to creche at the normal time so that I could spend the morning resting properly. He got them dressed and even did Megan's hair. As I watched them leave I was actually impressed with the choice of clothes and the style of Megan's hair-do.

So I started thinking...if anything happended to me, my little family would still get fed and leave the house looking respectable! If left to Mike completely, I think the kids' vegetable intake would diminish drastically, (because he seems to have some deep-rooted aversion to vegies), and it would be interesting to see the choice of new clothes purchased by him, but I'm sure he would look after them.

Rather morbid musings...but nice to know my two littlies (and the big one) are in capable hands :)

Introducing Moo!

In previous posts you will have read about the trouble of having to wash Megan's cuddly comfort toy. As you can see, Moo is a very much loved "friend" of Megan. The world just isn't right without Moo and her thumb going to bed...

Simple pleasures

Alex is almost 20 months old and loves balls. All shapes and sizes, any time of the day. He has just learned how to throw a ball up in the air or in his words "up there". It was so funny to watch him try to throw the ball above his head, without actually letting go!

Tonight our family went out for tea with our extended family and unfortunately in our area, the choice of eateries is restricted to good food OR child friendly. Naturally with our little ones and my brother's slightly older little ones, we chose child friendly. The only problem is that the pub we went to is child friendly to older kids capable of climing onto the McDonald's-style play equipment.

The saving grace was the goody-bag that Mike bought for the kids for two bucks. The yo-yo got chucked out, Megan liked the colouring book and crayons (for about 5 minutes) but the absolute winner was the balloon.

That thin piece of rubber kept Alex going all night. He threw it, chased it, kicked it, hugged it, squeezed it. He entertained us and those around us with his antics. It was the absolute best thing that could have kept him engaged for such a long time.

And so now...stashed in my handbag and the kids' bag is a little balloon...waiting to be blown up and deliver the same excitement as tonight!

The lesser of two evils

Motherhood is constantly full of choice...breast or bottle...cloth or disposable...boarding school or slave traders!!!

The choice at this point in time was...
1. Let the kids play together, unsupervised, and have a little time to myself.
2. Structure their playtime with educational experiences worthy of a teacher.

Duh...easy choice!! However the amount of effort involved somehow manages to even out.

For example...the effort to choose and participate in fabulously educational and family-bonding rich experiences is surprisingly on par with the ENORMOUS clean-up, pack-up, tidy-up effort needed of free time!




...and yes...the design of this blog has changed. That's me, I like change :)

Super-sonic Mum Powers

I'm a superhero! Come on, we all knew it...I'm just putting it out there!!

I have more than one super-hero power, too. Apart from super-human abilities to juggle 3 saucepans of dinner, talk on the phone, remember that bill hasn't been paid yet and settle domestic disputes all at once (pffftttt...so mundane!!), I have SUPER SENSES!!

Yes, I can smell THAT smell eminating from a certain fella's behind from the other end of the house, when no-one else seems to notice...AMAZING!!!

And...my super-sonic hearing is unbelievable. I can be sound asleep and hear the faintest murmer down the baby monitor and I'm wide awake, alert, not going back to sleep even if the little bloke didn't wake up.

Clearly I should have my own comic book hitting bookstores very soon!

...oh wait...hang on....I think I have just listed the pre-requisites for mum-hood...

Proud as Punch

Gotta love it when someone notices something that you try really hard at...

Megan was playing with a ball in the shops today and accidently hit a lady in the leg. Naturally I was ready to pounce in with reminders of manners and so forth, when, before I could say anything, she automatically said. "Woops, I'm sorry". The lady turned around, smiled and said, "That's ok. What lovely manners!"

Ahhhh, such a proud moment...

The waiting game...

The waiting game is usually a huge hassle. Take someone as impatient as me, coupled with 2 young kids and waiting is not something we do well.

We were shopping in Baby Bunting today when that tell-tale smell wafted past. At first I thought, "Oh no, it's Megan and I dont have a change of clothes for her!" Luckily, Alex was the culprit (ha, who'd have thought I'd be happy he had pooed!!). Nappy bag was easily retieved from the car and I happily thought "Thank goodness Baby Bunting knows it's clientelle so well that they have a parents room."

But it was occupied and we had to wait. "Oh God...come on...waiting for someone to finish breast-feeding, we could be here all day with a smelly kid...kids are gonna go crazy waiting..." were the thoughts bumping around my head.

"Yippee...toys...wow, look at this....balls...nice lady talking to me....toys...wow...." were clearly the thoughts going round the kids' heads!! They could not have been more happy to wait while playing with all the great baby/kid related items around them. Mum and Dad weren't dragging them off anywhere so they took full advantage of the opportunity to stay right with all the cool stuff.

All the while, I was champing at the bit to get in, get clean, get going....impatient to the core!!

Of course, once the offending bottom was clean and we had to leave all the cool toys...the fun really began!

Sorry Mum!!!!

Sorry Mum. ....I mean it.....I'm sorry!

I now know how you felt. I now understand your frustration. I have a daughter who, at dinner time, wont eat anything, wont even try anything. And thinking back....that was me!!

I wouldn't eat much as a kid...only what I knew. I would never try anything new. Mum would have to cook seperate parts of diiner just for me, because I was so fussy. Sometimes she would even make a completely seperate meal.

Now, I'm the mum. Now, I'm the one who cooks lovely dinners only to have them ignored, pushed around the plate, left to go cold. Meals, that I know Megan would like...if she tried them. Often something as simple as chicken cut differently or in a different sauce. But it looks different so she wont have a bar of it. I'm not up to the point of cooking sepertate meals for my fussy eater, but if I want her to get the nourishment I need, I just might.

So...heartfult sorries are sent out to my mum. My wonderful mum who put up with years of a fussy child who would not eat the perfectly good food put in front of her (most of which, now I actually love...once I tried it!!)

Gaga-riffic!!

We were driving with the kids in the back seats the other day when "Edge of Glory" came on the radio. I started humming away to myself when Megan piped up with "It's Gaga". Naturally we checked to see if we had heard her correctly (which we had) and then started questioning about how she knew it was "Gaga".

She kept saying it was the "dancing Gaga" and eventually we realised there was an add on TV with Lady Gaga and lots of people dancing to her song. Amazing...she had recognised the music after just a few seconds and remembered "Lady Gaga"'s name.

She certainly didn't get her incredible memory from me!!