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?