The boys are up at 6am. I think I am very clever by persuading them to go and play in their room while I get another 30 minutes sleep.
I hear some commotion coming from their room - laughing, naughty giggling - and I know they're up to something. They've climbed up onto the change table and found the nappy rash cream and are spreading it up and down each other's arms with cotton buds. SamSam even has some in his hair and on his tshirt. ARGGH!
(Note to self: Once boys are up, don't leave unattended because mischief will ensue.)
I take off SamSam's tshirt and JJ takes his off too. They take off down the hallway running up and down the apartment like wild animals laughing and shouting - like they have been liberated from their clothes - which must be some sort of symbol of parental authority.
I'm wondering if girls also do this sort of thing.
Eventually they settle down, and do some drawing. They show Grandpa their handywork.
After breakfast they play on their bikes outside while I hang the washing.
I relent to SamSam's persistent call of "play choo-choo train". These boys LOVE to play with the IKEA train set and Thomas the Tank Engine trains. We 'rotate' the train set, in that we purposely keep it away from them and only let them have it maybe once a week.
It's a great idea to do this with toys so that they don't lose interest in them, plus 'rotated toys' work really well as a reward for good behaviour.
When we first bought the train set, we left it out in their room and they could play with it whenever they wanted. After less than a week the novelty wore off.
Now that I only take them out occasionally, they are totally absorbed with the set and they'll play for ages with it!
The only trouble is that they love the trains so much, they find it hard to share them with each other. I have learnt to designate certain trains to each child (eg. Thomas for JJ, Percy for SamSam) and remind them before we play which train belongs to who and that the repercussions of any fighting is that the trains will be put away.
I can say it works pretty well :)
We go to Box Hill for lunch with Grandpa and Daddy. The boys like to walk around shopping centres as there is lots to see, and usually $2 rides to sit on. I need to buy some kris kringle prezzies so we go to lots of $2 shops today, and the boys get to play with the toys while I browse.
Lunch is turnip cake, BBQ pork bun & congee - very Chinese!
At home it's a very lazy afternoon. I try and have a little nap in SamSam's toddler bed, but JJ tells me it's only for SamSam, so I have to leave the bed. And then he tells me that actually, it's JJ and SamSam's Room and that Mummy and Daddy's room is 'over there'.
So I leave gratefully, and actually, they play really well together for the longest they have done ever - about 20 minutes without scuffling! I can hear JJ talking with SamSam and trying to get him to co-operate with him. It makes such a difference now that they can talk and understand each other!
Eventually JJ comes out crying because SamSam won't hold his hand. We watch the Heffalump movie, and play with Lego. SamSam makes two dinosaurs and I am a proud Mumma.
We play a new game with the Lego, collecting eggs from the 'hens' in the hen house. I line up some fluffy toys and put the small blocks of Lego underneath them. I give the boys an empty egg carton each and tell them how to go and collect the eggs. This is quite amusing for a while.
Then they find two boxes, and they are going around the house filling them up with Lego and anything they find lying around - this is apparently much more interesting than mum's egg-collecting game (!).
After showers, and milk, I leave them in Daddy's capable hands - I'm going late-night shopping! Hooray!
I hear some commotion coming from their room - laughing, naughty giggling - and I know they're up to something. They've climbed up onto the change table and found the nappy rash cream and are spreading it up and down each other's arms with cotton buds. SamSam even has some in his hair and on his tshirt. ARGGH!
(Note to self: Once boys are up, don't leave unattended because mischief will ensue.)
I take off SamSam's tshirt and JJ takes his off too. They take off down the hallway running up and down the apartment like wild animals laughing and shouting - like they have been liberated from their clothes - which must be some sort of symbol of parental authority.
I'm wondering if girls also do this sort of thing.
Eventually they settle down, and do some drawing. They show Grandpa their handywork.
After breakfast they play on their bikes outside while I hang the washing.
I relent to SamSam's persistent call of "play choo-choo train". These boys LOVE to play with the IKEA train set and Thomas the Tank Engine trains. We 'rotate' the train set, in that we purposely keep it away from them and only let them have it maybe once a week.
It's a great idea to do this with toys so that they don't lose interest in them, plus 'rotated toys' work really well as a reward for good behaviour.
When we first bought the train set, we left it out in their room and they could play with it whenever they wanted. After less than a week the novelty wore off.Now that I only take them out occasionally, they are totally absorbed with the set and they'll play for ages with it!
The only trouble is that they love the trains so much, they find it hard to share them with each other. I have learnt to designate certain trains to each child (eg. Thomas for JJ, Percy for SamSam) and remind them before we play which train belongs to who and that the repercussions of any fighting is that the trains will be put away.
I can say it works pretty well :)
We go to Box Hill for lunch with Grandpa and Daddy. The boys like to walk around shopping centres as there is lots to see, and usually $2 rides to sit on. I need to buy some kris kringle prezzies so we go to lots of $2 shops today, and the boys get to play with the toys while I browse.
Lunch is turnip cake, BBQ pork bun & congee - very Chinese!
At home it's a very lazy afternoon. I try and have a little nap in SamSam's toddler bed, but JJ tells me it's only for SamSam, so I have to leave the bed. And then he tells me that actually, it's JJ and SamSam's Room and that Mummy and Daddy's room is 'over there'.
So I leave gratefully, and actually, they play really well together for the longest they have done ever - about 20 minutes without scuffling! I can hear JJ talking with SamSam and trying to get him to co-operate with him. It makes such a difference now that they can talk and understand each other!
Eventually JJ comes out crying because SamSam won't hold his hand. We watch the Heffalump movie, and play with Lego. SamSam makes two dinosaurs and I am a proud Mumma.
We play a new game with the Lego, collecting eggs from the 'hens' in the hen house. I line up some fluffy toys and put the small blocks of Lego underneath them. I give the boys an empty egg carton each and tell them how to go and collect the eggs. This is quite amusing for a while.
Then they find two boxes, and they are going around the house filling them up with Lego and anything they find lying around - this is apparently much more interesting than mum's egg-collecting game (!).
After showers, and milk, I leave them in Daddy's capable hands - I'm going late-night shopping! Hooray!
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| Daddy reading to the boys. |
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