Playing...

There are two times of the day where I can (almost) guarantee the kids can play together nicely....first thing in the morning and bedtime.

First thing in the morning- straight after getting up, before breakfast, before getting dressed, mainly before mum and dad get up. Perhaps they feel fully rested after a good night's sleep. Perhaps they missed each other overnight. Perhaps they liike having the house to themselves to do whatever and play with whatever they like. Either way, for my kids, the imaginiative, co-operative play comes second to none first thing in the morning.

Bedtime is another calm, friendly playtime. Perhaps a bath does have calming effects after all (I always thought the kids seemed more revved up after fun and splashing in the bath!). Perhaps they realise that they are about to spend 12 hours in their own rooms away from each other. Perhaps they know that if they play nicely, they might get to stay up a little longer!

Who knows? All I know is that I aprecieate those NICE playtimes....proof that they CAN play without fighting!

The dawn of a new era....

It's begun!! And I'm a bit excited about it, too! Tonight was the first time that we got out the Leggo. Yippee!!

Megan wanted to make a city out of a large cardboard box that she found. The first suggestion was to use blocks... but of course we needed trees for our city. What to do?

Hubby remembered the big stash of Leggo in the cupboard from when he was a kid.  The kids were intrigued and both hubby and I were happy to dive in and start building. 

There's nothing like that clink and crunch of Leggo and you dig for a piece!!!!!!!

Current phrases...

We seem to have cycles of phrases that go round and round our house, then slowly disappear.

There are 3 phrases currently ( though I suspect one will be around for quite a while!)

1. I WANT TO DO IT ... ALL BY MYSELF!--We hear this for everything, so naturally EVERYTHING takes ages! Independent little buggers!

2. SIXTY HUNDRED-- Apparently this is the most you can love someone!!

3. MU-U-UUM-- long and drawn out. I was so excited when they first said Mum....but now.....!!????

Yes or No...!

I don't like making decisions. Especially large, could-go-either-way, type decisions.

Hubby and I have been discussing the possibility of me going back to work full time next year while he cut down to part time. Both our jobs would make this switch easy, and part time work would allow him more time to complete his Open-University degree. Plus, he gets to be a semi-stay at home Dad, shunting kids back and forth to Kinder, doing the washing, cooking dinners etc.

But I just don't know if I can do it....yet. Can I give up that lovely home time with the kids? Do I want to give up that delicius feeling of Wednesday nights being the end of my working week? Can I miss meeting my friends from Mother's Group every Thursday?

The financial benefits of us swapping would be helpful, as well as the job-satisfaction of starting something and being there at the end of the week to finish it.

BUT....

The kids are only young once and I don't want to miss anything.

Even though Megan will be at 4yr old Kinder 3 days a week next year, Alex will only do 3yr old Kinder once a week. Hubby really wouldn't get that much time to himself to study.

Once I'm full time, I think it will be very hard to go back to part time if I needed to.

Hubby loves working and might struggle being home so much.

Are these valid reasons for things to stay as they are? Or am I being selfish and not allowing him the special time of being at home with the kids?

Please weigh in to this debate...I'd love to know your thought and opinions!!!

His new bedroom...

Alex doesn't like going to bed. Even when he is really tired..

This is how we have found him on several occasions lately!!

Clearly quite comfortable!!

Let there be Light.....!

Alex broke his bedside lamp last week and doesn't like to go to sleep without a light on. We replaced his lamp with this groovy lava lamp which I'm hoping has hypnotic qualities...sending him off to sleep easily...

Will I jinx myself....?

I hummed and harred over writing this post or not. I really don't want to jinx myself and stuff everything up!

Toiletting post about to begin...look away those not interested!!!

We FINALLY started making Megan wear undies to bed rather than a nappy. I can hear your cries of shock and horror that a 4 yr old was still wearing night nappies. It was part laziness by us and part respect for the "she'll do it when she's ready" adage.

For those not up with the 'Megan toilet saga', she trained herself with wee really easily after she was 2. But we had a whole world of trouble with her going to the toilet to do poo. She has only just got the hang of it after 2 years of cleaning up accidents.

Surely now you can understand our hesitation in taking the leap into night training?? Changing sheets and pyjamas at 3in the morning isnt appealing. And since she had had difficulties in the past we didn't want to rush her before she was ready.

However I'm happy to say that Megan seems to have worked out the mechanics of emptying out before going to bed and holding on during the night. She had an accident the first night but has been dry all this week...even at a sleepover with her aunty in a different bed/environment.

We do make her go to the toilet before she goes to bed and we wake her up to go again when we go to bed. This probably isn't teaching her to wake up herself, but since it causes no big inconvenience to us we will stick to this plan for now.

Any other ideas on getting her to wake herself up would be greatly appreciated!!

Hopefully I haven't jinxed us all and she wets the bed each night from now on!!