Makayla 'talk'

How'd that happen?
That's a GREAT idea
Oh pickles
I the leader
Sun going to sleep
Sun waking up
Wee's not coming out
Can't hear wee's...

Happy Birthday Jesse!

Yesterday was Jesse's second birthday, and he had a fantastic day. We didn't do much, basically all stayed at home most of the day and played with the mountains of toys he got. Jesse, Daddy and Makayla had fun trying to put together the crazy coupe from Granny. Must have been hard....Daddy resorted to the instructions. Cars and trucks seemed to be the theme of the day, with the odd tractor, race car and fire engine thrown in. It was fantastic watching his face as he unpacked the bulk cars, his whole face just lit up and the smile was from ear to ear. He also got a play mat with the roads etc marked on it.

On a positive note, he went this week for a development assessment, to check on his speech and that he falls over so often. As is always the way, he didn't fall over once in there! But they have said he's doing everything he should, except the speaking. And he is starting to say a few more words which is great. They will refer him to get his hearing checked just in case. I did mention he had selective hearing...usually when I'm calling him back from outside on yet another occasion he's managed to escape. But again, I don't think there's a real problem there.

My big boy

At 16 months I was a bit worried because Jesse's rate of height growth had slowed down. He had been growing on the 50th percentile, but at 77cm dropped down to the 15th percentile. Now, I know these are just a guide, and with two short parents I guess it was to be expected. We had him checked and he was fully healthy.
Today we went back to Plunket, andwow, he's really shot up. He's now 90.5cm, and just under the 85th percentile. From 15% to 85% in just 8 months....no wonder so many of his clothes don't fit him!

Go and rest Mummy

Makayla: "Mummy, are you tired?"
"Yes Mikki, I am" (I had been busy with callouts till 1.30am)
"You should drop me and Jesse at playcentre and go home and have a sleep. You can come back and pick us up."
"Can I? That's a lovely idea honey, but I really need to stay with you at Play Centre today."
"But Mummy, you're tired, you really should go home and have a rest. You need a nigh-nies."
"Thanks for the thought Mikki, but I'll stay and play with you today."

Such a sweet and thoughtful girl

New addition to the family

Oh so much to catch up on. We have welcomed a new edition to our family. Billy the Kid Goat was born on 10 August and joined us on 14 August. She is ours to rear, but she is also part of a Playcentre project for the school calf club.

I am utterly amazed how great the kids (of the human variety) have been with her. They both love giving her her bottle, and can do it all on their own. They are happy to take her outside for her pitstops, and enjoy playing and running around with her. Billy has also adapted well to our family, and spends most of her time in the laundry or outside, although she has taken a liking to running around the house. Unfortuntely she isn't house trained yet and I tend to run around after her with the cloths. Although for that matter half her time is spent running after me as she seems to have decided I am her mother.

We have taken her to two Playcentre sessions last week, and the kids were awesome with her, amazingly all standing in line quietly to feed her. Of course there was a wee bit of almost pulling her head off as they tried to lead her, but on the whole it was fantastic.

Peanut butter anyone?

So yesterday morning I had got the kids up, feed, dressed and packed for daycare. They were playing nicely so I hopped on the computer and ended up writing this blog: http://holthamfamily.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-little-runaway.html
Then Daddy came home and it was time for him to take them to daycare. I was met in the hallway by Makayla with the jar of peanut butter...
'I cleaned it Mummy.'
'Cleaned what'?
'The peanut butter.
'Oh, good girl........hold on...what peanut butter?'
It was then I saw our 3/4 full jar was practically empty.
'This peanut butter Mummy.' She said as she lead me down to the bedroom her and Jesse share.
Jesse was sitting in his cot with peanut butter everywhere. On him, the blankets, the cot, the wall, the window, the steps...you name it.
And mixed all through this mess was a pile of wipes, all covered in sticky peanut butter. I'd hate to think what it was like before Makayla cleaned it. It was no more than 10 minutes I had left them alone, thinking they were playing really nicely in their bedroom. Huh!

My little runaway

Yep, Jesse realised within about a week that I wasn't able to pick him up. So he will now throw himself on the floor if I try to coax him somewhere he doesn't (but I do) want to go. This has been fun! I'm having to pick my battles with him at the moment, knowing I can't just scoop him up and deal with it that way. Or the other thing is he will take off in the opposite direction laughing. On the up side it's got me out of a lot of stinky nappies because it is very hard to convince him he needs to climb on his change table! I think that one will come back and bite me when I can lift tho :-)
His speech is coming along and he's making a lot more noises and some of those sound like words. Mum is still his fav word, followed by Dad, but has been heard to say Kayla, Dowah, Tim, bubbles, two, and loves saying brom brom with his cars.

Dinner where?

Makayla was yet again refusing to eat her dinner. She's become very fussy but I refuse to cook only what she will eat. After refusing she was sent to her bedroom until she was ready to come out. This upset Jesse who kept pointing to Mikki's bedroom and then back to her food. The three of us finished our food and left Mikki's on the table for when she was ready to come out to it.
We thought Makayla was finally coming out to eat...but instead she informed us Jesse had taken her meal down to her bedroom for her. Oops! So ensued a search for the lost plate of food while Jesse looked innocently on. Finally located in the middle of our bed (!), luckily still intact on plate. But Mikki's still not eating it. Oh boy!

I'll get an ambulance for you Mummy.

I was quite sore last night after we all went in and did the groceries. I realised half way around it was actually quite a big walk, and the biggest I had done since the op. Oops. Anyways, I was lying down and Makayla decided she would call and ambulance because Mummy was sore. I tried to explain that I wasn't so bad to need an ambulance, but she was definite in that I was sore and ambulances helped people that are sore so I needed one. Every morning she wakes up and asks me if my tummy is better, and last night she decided she had a sore tummy too like Mummy's. So sweet, I know it's hard on the kids with me being so sore, and Makayla is being so caring.

Fun day outside

Yesterday morning Keith decided he was going to start the paths to the driveway and shack, and of course he had two willing helpers. Makayla and Jesse had a great time just pottering around, going for rides in the wheelbarrow, and generally helping out. Mikki was actually really good with the rake, cleaning all the paving stones. But she decided she didn't like it so much when she stood on the head and it came swinging up right into her forehead. Poor sweet, the look of surprise on her face! It was just so classic, exactly like you see in the movies, I couldn't help but laugh. A few moments after the surprise came the shock, and the tears flowed, with many hugs and then followed by a very impressive egg on her head.

On a different side, I recently had a hysterectomy, and the kids have been so great (and yes, Keith has been amazing too!). Jesse has figured out I can't lift him, and most of the time is really helpful climbing in and out of his cot, up to me on the couch, or onto the change table. Of course on the odd occasion he takes off on me, but not often. Makayla has been super helpful, we do the breakfasts together, I get the plate and cereal, she gets the milk and spoons. She does things for me like picking things up off the floor, getting things for me and helping with Jesse. She gets a little irritated when I can't play all the time, which is understandable. Great kids!

Moos and Bubbles

Jesse is slowly learning new words. He came out with bub-bles in the bath on Monday night, and as soon as he hears the cows mooing he'll start mooing back to them. Very cute. And he hears them often, whereas I won't even take notcie until he suddenly starts mooing back to them.
Makayla likes going arouns all the windows in the morning and wiping the condensation off them. We've just had a heat pump installed (thanks so very much Dowah) and it is fantastic, and cuts down on the cleaning Makayla does in the morning.
Keith and I went away for two nights this week, for some time out before my operation. Dowah very kindly looked after the kids, she was awesome, and the kids had a great time. It broke my heart everytime I spoke to Makayla on the phone and she would say "I miss you Mummy, I'm waiting for you...I love you Mummy. But when we got back I got a two second hug before she went to Dowah for a big hug then went on playing, she wasn't at all worried about it. Jesse on the other hand has been quite clingy, and wouldn't go to sleep the first night. I'm not looking forward to leaving him to go to hospital, and am now thinking he shouldn't come and see me in there. He won't want to leave. But he's always been a snugglebum!

Jesse...Our gorgeous, dirty, fun Jesse.

It's amazing to watch Jesse becoming so much more aware of his surroundings and life in general. We've been telling him when his food is hot to blow on it. So he purses his little lips and blows on his food, my food, and any other food he sees. When I told him the other day to be careful of the heater because it was hot, he went towards it and started blowing on it to cool it down too.

Mikki had a runny nose, so Jesse trots over to the tissue box, gets one out, goes over to Makayla, wipes her nose, then puts the tissue in the rubbish.

As soon as we can put clothes on the drying racks...he's taking them down and putting them in the washing basket. Dirty clothes come off and if we're lucky go into the dirty washing...if not they go into his drawers.

I'm scared to think what might have gone into the rubbish. We found the portacot bassinet supports when they stuck out of the bag....who knows what else he's put in there!

And still those puddles. He has so much fun in them, and comes in absolutely dripping wet, but with a smile from ear to ear. It's good old fun and he loves it.

Proud Mummy

I took the kids to daycare yesterday and while Erana and I were talking Makayla sat down at the little table and started printing letters. I was so impressed! They are very clear, a similar height, and in straight lines. I don't usually like to boast about where my kids are at, because for everything they do well, there is generally something they don't do as well as another child, and I prefer to just keep quiet. But I really feel this was awesome. And since I'm on the subject, Mikki can count to 13, fully dress and undress herself, including doing the buttons, sing a lot of songs, and put's herself to bed. I'm not allowed to help her, she informs me she can 'do it all myself!'.

Makayla, Dowah and I went to town on Wednesday, and had a fabulous day. Mikki was extremly well behaved, and was an absolute joy to be with. We had a lot of fun, looking at a lot of different shops, seeing Mrs Shirly at the fabric shop, and visiting Auntie Barb. Makayla entertained us with her constant chatter, seeing choo choo train tracks, fire engines, ambulances, 'Donalds, and so many other things. And of course using her fav word 'why'?

Signs of the future?

Makayla is playing on the town map, sending her ambulance along the roads going weeeooo weeooo weeeooo weeeooo, ambulance going to someone who's sick. She tells us that Mummy drives and ambulance and Daddy drives a Fire Truck. She knows sometimes it's the other way round, but that's ok.
We've been telling her about her last name, but she insists her name is Ma-kay-la. Yesterday, for the first time, she said her name was Makayla H..... Yay! Next we'll work on her two middle names, but that could be a bit harder!

Oh pickles!

Makayla's new favourite word is 'Oh Pickles', which sounds so cute when she comes out with it! It's much better than some of the things she could imitate ;-)
She spent a day with Auntie Margaret the other day, and when we dropped her off kept saying goodbye so that we would hurry up and go! She had a fabulous day, feeding the chickens and emptying the goldfish pond, going out to the Black Beagle for a lunch of chips and marshmallows, and playing with a spinning top with Ashley. She was a bit of a nightmare when we left tho, not wanting to say thank you and good bye to Auntie Margaret, which she's normally so good at. But she was certainly one tired girl.

Boys will be boys...and Jesse is definitely a boy!

When unpacking a load from the car into the shack yesterday the kids were running around outside. After playing in the puddles for a bit Jesse made straight for the paddling pool which was laying on an angle, and of course had a couple of inches of water from the rain in it. Well, he had an awesome time, jumping, filling his gumboots, and of course over balancing and falling straight in the water. I didn't worry, he was having such a great time.
However it was a different story when we tried to call him inside! He took off towards the sheep paddock to talk to Auntie Maree's new sheep (who thinks it's a dog) who is really friendly. Not content with that however, he decided to fall face first into the pile of dirt Dowah and Grandad had recently delivered for the garden. Head to toe in lovely black dirt.
He's actually really heavy when you have to carry him from the shack to the house while trying to keep his wet, dirty body away from mine, and him squirming to go back to the dirt. Luckily Dowah was here to help, and we put his little cold, red body straight into the bath.

Speech day

Off to speech therapy for Makayla today. This is the third of four weeks, and she is still having problems with the 'k' sound. She can say car fine, but coin is toin, can is tan etc. We'll keep working on it.
Jesse has a mysterious new bump on his forhead. Not sure how he accumulated that one. This morning he pointed at Makayla, then tapped his head, then clapped to let me know he wanted the hat Makayla was wearing. Not much speech, but his communication is great.

Learning times

I can't believe within one day Makayla has figured out how to play a game on the computer. From never before using the computer, to actually playing the game in just 24 hours. Dowah showed her how to play it yesterday, it's s simple childs game where they have to recognise the different parts of the cake to build it, from the shape, to the colour of the cake and icing, and the decoration. They probably spent half an hour learning it. And today Mikki is happily playing it, and completing it successfully.

Jesse is now saying 'Kaya' for Makayla, and has the 'come' hand motion down pat. He's still tantruming, throwing himself on the floor when he doesn't get his way, but I think he's starting to figure out it doesn't work, it's not happening as often.

I looked at some of the other kids at play centre the other day, and we really are lucky. Our kids are so well behaved, and play together so well, they really are best friends. I see other kids tantruming, and it's so much worse than Jesse. I see other kids push their younger siblings out of the way to get to what they are playing with, whereas Makayla will sit next to Jesse and play with him. Don't get me wrong, we have our moments, and at the moment they seem to enjoy pushing Mum to see how far I can go. But that's life. I just gotta deal with it.

Why? Why? Why?

Time to go to bed Makayla. Why?
Let's go to the Rugby Club. Why?
Put your shoes on. Why?
Hop in the car. Why?
Up to the table for breakfast. Why?

Oh this is such a fun stage. I can't believe how often she says 'why?', and even if I explain something she will still say why. I know 'Because Mummy said so' is a bad answer, but somethimes it's all that will come out!

Naughty Wasp!

Poor Makayla, she was playing on the chair tonight and managed to get stung by a wasp, that was pretty much dead anyway. Poor thing, she screamed and screamed. I was torn between hugging her, trating her, and getting rid of the wasp before Jesse got to it. So I screamed for Keith and just held her. It's such an awful feeling when your child is hurt, and all I wanted to do was take away the pain. We put vinegar on it, then she sat with an ice pack on it for ages, curled up in front of TV. Amazingly the pain seemd to fade after an hour or so, and she went off to bed at 7.30, and was asleep by 8. Touch wood she's still in there, but I don't think she'll last the night in there. She's been coming in to our bed most mornings, anywhere between 1.30 (too early, she gets put back to her own bed), and usually 5.30-6.30.
Jesse doesn't miss out, he's also been in the wars. He decided to go head first down three concrete steps at daycare the other day, and has a massive bruise on his forehead with some grazes going down his nose. Erana said he cried lots, but was ok after that. When she texted me about it I just said cool, that'll match the other two bumps on his head he's had the last few days, but when I picked him up it was a bit worse than I realised! But he's a strong little trooper, and is not at all worried about it. The tests have come back for Jesse, and he doesn't have haemophilia, which Keith and I were pretty sure of anyway, for the amount he bumps himself if he was he'd be covered in bruises. When Makayla was crying on me Jesse come up beside her and gave her a big cuddle, it was so cute. And it was gorgeous when Makayla told the wasp off and told it it was naughty!

Wall art!

Oh dear. Makayla seems to have decided her walls aren't decorative enough, and that she needed to add some art to her bedroom walls! Thank goodness she used some purple chalk, so it was hard to be too angry at her, but I had to pretend to be to get the point across it is naughty to draw on walls. Unfortunately I didn't catch Jesse drawing on the doors with pen, and that doesn't come off so easily!

Makayla was talking to Dowah this morning on the phone (as she always has to do), and it was really lovely to hear her ask Dowah if her back was better. She's very thoughtful.

Jesse's language is coming along well, with a real litany of grunts and finger pointing. I'm still not fully proficient at his language, but can generally understand him by the time he gets to the screams.

I shot a video of Makayla singing and dancing to The Wiggles this morning. She looked so cute, and she really does love dancing, singing, and especially The Wiggles. I'll attempt to upload it...but I can't promise anything!!!

Our stubborn boy

I really think that Jesse is a lot more stubborn than Makayla was at the same stage. He has a very definate head shake if he doesn't want to do something, will scream and throw a tantrum if you take something off him, and has a death grip on anything he wants. Than he can be the perfect little angel. I think we're going to have fun with him.
Meanwhile Makayla is so much fun. I couldn't sleep this morning, so instead of disturbing Keith and Mikki (who came into our bed at 5.30) I came out to the lounge. Not long after she came out and lay on me, and we spent about 20 minutes talking and playing together. She is now out in the kitchen getting her cereal for breakfast 'all by myself'. So independent!

A brave little boy and a protective big sister

We took Jesse through to Thames Hospital today for his blood test. I have a problem with my blood, and to rule out if I am a carrier of haemophilia, Jesse has to be tested. Keith sat there holding Jesse, and I sat in front of him to distract him. One nurse held his arm and the other drew the three vials of blood. My poor little boy, he screamed and screamed, the tears ran down his face. I hated it, but it had to be done, although I felt guilty it was because of me. hjnnbefd3546 - That a hi was from Keith -
But once it was done he was fine, and even gave the nurse a hug. Meanwhile Big Sister Makayla was waiting out in the corridor with Granny, and was about ready to break down the door to get to her Jesse who was crying.
But persepctive hit me when I read todays post from the blog of Aria, a 3 year old girl from Auckland. http://aria.org.nz/category/news/ She's just gone on the transplant list for a second bowel, kidney, liver and pancreas. Her parents are incredibly strong, and I admire them coping with these huge hurdles. We only had to do a blood test!
We are so lucky to have such fantastic, healthy kids.

Just another day

Kids were at daycare today, then we went to see Dowah when I picked them up. At least we aren't going out tonight, on days where we do I feel like I hardly see them. Jesse is getting very expressive and communicative at the moment. Even with his few words he can get his point across. He has a very expressive shake of the head for no, and a very persistant 'Mum Mum Mum Mum' when he wants something. And the expressions on his face, and body movements, are just gorgeous to watch. He had a haircut yesterday and looks such a little boy. This morning while getting ready he climbed up beside me and cuddled in, giving me such a gorgeous big hug. He's a lot cuddlier than Mikki was at the same stage.

Makayla is going through a stage we aren't liking much at the moment. She is pushing boundaries, talking back, and blowing raspberries and really inappropriate times (but still looks so cute when she's doing it). Needing a firm hand at the moment. Fingers crossed it doesn't last for long!

Pic: This was taken on 25/3/10, Jesse is trying to clean up three seperate plates! Check out the full mouth :-)

Mummy, you have to share

I was lying on the couch watching my programme (I'm not feeling overly well), when Makayla asked if she could watch her TV. I said no, I was watching something. I was then informed that I should share the TV!!! I guess something of what we're teaching her is getting through!

I'm proud of my kids on ANZAC Day

Even though we live in a small community, the people of our area get together for a lovely little service each ANZAC day. We meet at the Red Fox, and march across to the Monument where the Fire Brigade has seat up seating and a sound system. We have a number of speakers, hymns, and the other bits and pieces of the ANZAC service that never fail to move me to almost tears. Daddy is the MC, and gets better with every year he does it.
I was so proud of my kids today. They were fantastically well behaved, maybe they were absorbing the solemn atmosphere, but I could not have asked for better behaviour. And at the end, when we were laying the wreaths, I took Makayla, and Ann took Conrad, and together we layed the wreath that the kids had made at Playcentre. We had made one each for all the kids from clay, shells and cutout flowers and leaves, but unfortunately they broke in transition. But they did it so well, with such solemnity, that tears came to my eyes as we returned to Dowah and Jesse. They really are awesome kids.
This afternoon we were watching the Gallipoli Dawn Parade on TV. Makayla informed me they were at the Fox and that she was there. I was amazed she could relate what was on TV to where we were this morning. So cool.

Jesse meets a girl

We went to rugby yesterday to watch Daddy play. Luckily it was at our home ground, so it was only a few hours down there instead of all afternoon as it is when he plays away. The kids were both great, Jesse stayed in the pram the whole game, and Makayla just played around us and watched for Daddy on the field. It was great to see MMR field a full team of 15, even if a couple of the players were from the other team. As the game went on and more players arrived we were able to have a full MMR side - although without subs - and kept the green and black alive for another week.
Afterwards, in the clubhouse, Jesse and a little girl, slightly bigger than him, provided entertainment for our table with their antics. They circled each other then came together in a big hug. As they pulled apart Jesse shot me this huge smile, 'Look what I got Mum!' and then pulled her back into a hug. Moments after the hug ended she came to him, gripped his face in her hands, and planted a huge kiss on his cheek. They continued to play together, and just looked so cute. He really warmed the hearts of our friends.
Makayla was playing really well, until she bit Curtis on his back. I told her that was very naughty, and asked her to say sorry. She flatly refused. We talked a bit about doing mean things etc, but she was absolutely adament about saying no. So I strapped her into the pram until she said sorry. Both Daddy and Dowah talked to her, but to no avail. She was dead set, and sat in the pram, watching the other kids play, without complaint. She probably sat there for 45 minutes before finally giving in and agreeing to apologise to Curtis, which she did very nicely. Let's hope we don't have a repeat of that!

More hugs!

So cute... After talking yesterday about Mikki hugging Jesse when he was crying, Jesse did the same to Mikki. I had told Makayla not to do something, so she stood in the dining room and started crying. Jesse went straight up to her and wrapped his arms around her in a big hug. It was just so cute to see, they really are fantastic. (I'm just blocking my mind of the 2 full glasses of juice that Jesse has managed to climb up and knock over in the last 24 hours. But the good point is he is very good at drinking out of a glass...when it's not full!).

Welcome!

Finally, I've managed to get myself sorted. So often I see little moments from our family that wrap a warm blanket around my heart, and these are so important to the make up of our family life that I don't want to loose them. Also, I want to share them with family and friends... Of course who knows if anyone else will ever read this, but that doesn't matter. It is a record of those precious moments that make our life fantastic.

Makayla is 3.5 years old now. She is a beautiful little girl with lovely blond hair and hazel eyes. Her speech is improving all the time, and she constantly amazes me with what she comes out with. Mikki has lovely manners (most of the time!) and is very thoughtful. Yesterday Jesse was crying and she went over to him saying 'it's alright Jesse, it's alright' and gave him a big hug. Jesse hugged her back too which was fantastic. We are very lucky they are such good friends. Makayla loves her daycare and playcentre, she is a very social and outgoing young girl. She is toilet trained during the day, but depending on who is with her as to how much she 'can do it all myself'. With us she can do it all, but if Dowah (Makayla's name for my mother) is here she needs a lot of help...
Her favourite thing is Mickey Mouse, although she also loves the Wiggles and we currently have to have the Wiggles CD in the car constantly, so we are all getting very good at the words :-)

Jesse is now 19 months old, and an innocent horror! He too has blond hair, with big blue eyes, and the cheekiest expression you have ever seen. He somehow contactly manages to get into things that he really shouldn't be into, but when we tell him no he just looks up with these big innocent eyes and a cheeky grin. Or alternatively he will throw a tantrum and kick, scream, hit and be a bit of a nightmare. I'm really looking forward to this particular 'stage' moving on. He doesn't have a lot of words, just Mama and hello, and has said Dada and Kaya (Makayla) once or twice. But he has a wide range of squeals, grunts and moans. He generally gets his point across! But he is very good at comprehension and can gp and hop into his highchair after being asked only once...he knows it means food is coming! He just loves cars, and will push them along, making the noise of the motor. He also loves shoes, and often put on the first shoes he sees, doesn't matter if they are mine, Keiths or Mikki's.

Poor Makayla. When we stop the car and I reach over from the front to undo her seatbelt, she always tries her door to get out on the passengers side. But it's always locked, so she has to get out Jesse's side with Mum. Now I wonder who keeps locking the door?