Two and a half next month

Busy month as usual. Boys are definitely becoming more independent and have no issues with telling you what they want. Alex is very good at "STOP" accompanied with the arm out, palm forward signal I use with them when they're mucking around on a height (ie the change table). Other frequently voiced words are "stuck" (enough said, we have boys), "careful" (Alex's personal mantra while he's running in circles) and "car!!!!" or "bus!!!!" (while we're out driving around). Daddy/mummy is still interchangeable as far as they're concerned and we get called either. We have no idea where he got it from but Alex yelled "spida SHOO" when he saw a tiny spider in the bathroom recently. Nik reckons it's not from him as he's so quick at exterminating them that he doesn't get a chance to say anything now - lol. Even funnier was the wriggle Alex attempted laying flat on his back mid nappy change to get away from it. Again, no idea where he got that from. Both dudes mimic being on the phone and Alex has definitely caught us out a few times when we though he was really talking to someone as you can hear him having a full on conversation. The "ok, bye" bit before he puts the phone down is priceless. Tajy has finally got some volume into him and I'm pretty sure he's said a few things this week that we've given Alex credit for. Will be interesting to see (hear) what Tajy's voice is actually like.

Something new, and interesting this month was Alex thinking other people were Nik and I. He got confused with another guy in the supermarket after Nik wandered off to get something, and he really thought I was a politician on tv even though I was sitting right next to him. You could literally see his brain ticking away when he realised there were two versions of daddy (and then two versions of mummy a few days later) to try and work out who was the right one.

Off to the play cafe again tomorrow so they can burn off some energy. And I'll continue to fight my urge to try out the super slide after reading of Mike and Mike's adventures with a plus size bottom! Going to get heights and weights checked next month as they've both definitely shot up again.

And that will do from me. Nik's watching Mama Mia and I have a burning desire to go sing along to some Abba songs. Ciao!

The daily paddle after lunch and snooze.

Rest time with Lily.

New olympic sport?? Nappy box racing.

Superhero in action. And recovering below.

Making breakfast this morning.

Welcoming 2012

Alex celebrated the new year by dacking Tajy. What an auspicious start to 2012...

Christmas 2011

Men in long red suits with long fuzzy beards don't make a lot of sense when it's stinking hot and everyone is wearing the bare minimum, but it is a great excuse for an annual photo. Think our Santa is so skinny as he would have sweated a lot over the past week! And do we like Tajy's bling? All his own doing.

Pressie time was a huge hit today and Tajy has nominated himself official present unwrapperer. He couldn't give two hoots about anything until there was not a shred of paper left to be seen, as evidenced by Alex enjoying the train set while Tajy was hidden away in a corner unwrapping Alex's gifts.


New trampoline is about four times bigger than last years version, but still low to the ground so little people can get up themselves. A huge hit that will be used for years and years (as the suggested age group is 3-10). Group pressie which was secretly erected by Santa's official helper (daddy) at 10pm last night. Also noticed a new trampoline in the neighbours yard this morning. No idea when they put it up as it definitely wasn't there when we came inside last night.

And finally back to the pressies - books (planes and boats for Alex, very clever shopping by mummy) plus various land and sea creatures.



Merry xmas everyone. We hope you've had a lovely day!

Two and a third

The month of the hollow legs - these two are starting to eat us out of house and home! Isn't that meant to start around puberty? If yes, someone forgot to pass the message on here. Good news is fruit is still high on the agenda (huge plus seeing it's summer here) so it's quick to throw them something out of the fridge - including grapes grown here and not imported from the US like they have been for the past few months. Apples are a big hit, as you can see. Gave Nik the next high GI lesson the other day, so hopefully that helps everyone go more than two hours between meals.

Random events over the past few weeks:

* Alex pats the chair if he wants you to come and sit with him
* both boys are much happier to have their teeth cleaned now we've purchased battery operated tooth brushes for them
* Taj has taken over the reigns and now says 'gonk gonk' when asked what noise a duck makes as Alex now responds with 'quack quack' or 'cuckoo cuckoo' - still no idea where he got the last one from, and still upset that I can't get him to say gonk any more
* Taj goes to bed first at night, so Alex turns on his music seahorse while I'm putting Tajy in and gives him each of his Pooh Bears (accompanied with squeak, squeak, squeak noises as he bounces the toy up Tajy's body) before he'll head into his own room for the night - all was going well with this until Alex realised there were two spare Pooh's on Tajy's bed, so Tajy got buried under four before we moved the reject models
* Martian still appears to be the language of choice at times, as Alex will repeat and repeat 'a-but abo-dee' accompanied with a point in the relevant direction when he wants you over there
* Tajy has realised he's got more chance of getting up/over something if he throws his leg up first
* we've started water awareness sessions again and Alex loves it this time (no more trying to climb around your head), to the point he now willingly jumps off the side into the water and getting out is now the problem - and not getting in
* puzzles (jigsaws in particular) are required daily
* Tajy has wavy hair and those floppy ears are still floppy
* Alex is still airplane mad, with his latest favourite being "copter bane" (helicopter plane)
* be quick if you have to get on all fours in this house as you either get slapped on the butt (accompanied with "bum") or you get climbed onto for a horsey ride; occasionally these get merged and you get a "bum neigh"
* Tajy's squeal is so high pitched I reckon it could deafen someone
* the boys currently have co-ordinated scun knees

Playdoh is our new discovery, and it has to be the real stuff (or the home made version) as others are literally cheap and nasty - hence Alex and I having blue fingers for a day.


Xmas is going to be a quiet affair again this year. Nik's hung decorations (all out of little arms reach) but no tree and no visit to Santa (yet - might get there tomorrow). And not putting the tree up was an unknown blessing as the ceiling in our double car size garage decided to fall down over the weekend (apparently they just do), and it would have hit the ground if it hadn't landed on the xmas tree box which was still on top of the shelves as well as the top of the roller doors. They're going to have to take it out fully to replace it (took them five hours to temporarily reattach it on Sunday), so definitely time to get in there and empty out all of the stuff the boys have grown out of. Might be able to put the cars away again... And speaking of cars, Nik has finally got away on his annual fishing trip (the one he had booked for June but had to cancel as I ended up in hospital) - so it will be interesting to hear his review on our new Hyundai Tucson when he gets back. Think he's going to be giving that 4WD button a workout!

Two and a quarter

Not many photos this month - a combination of needing a new memory card for the camera and not getting out much due to both boys being off. Tajy started with a cold that he gladly shared with his brother, which resulted in a quick trip to hospital for Alex after I noticed a rash and hives appearing and disappearing at great speed all over his body (turns out it was roseola caused by a virus and nothing to be concerned of, which was great as we were starting to think he was allergic to a lot more than we already knew about) and has been topped off by Alex having severe gastro for the best part of a week (a result of the hospital visit??). We must give Alex acting lessons before we have to take him to emergency again as he raced up to the triage desk with a huge grin yelling "hi!!!!", so it was good there were only a handful of patients waiting as I'm sure we were given a low priority number as a result of one not-very-ill-looking child. Is he too young to learn how to fake a limp or hold his tummy or something? Ha ha. Alternatively, matey boy, could you just wait until the doctor or chemist is open when you next have a problem?

Both boys are just about good now, which is well timed as we spent yesterday driving around in our new car. We traded in the family car that we purchased just before the boys were born, and have ended up with the SUV that we nearly bought but didn't as we were attempting to save a few $s at the time. False economy there as we ended up with a lemon (classic example: the windscreen decided to spontaneously crack two days before we traded it), so we decided to cut our losses and buy a car that's nearly new so it won't cost us anything for repairs for a while. And we all love it. Except maybe Alex as the headrests on the front seats are solid, so he has to lean into the middle to see out the front window. Still laughing that Nik thought driving 1500 km (935 miles) to drop off our old car and back in the new car in 27 hours was an exciting outing... Can't half tell he's home full time.

Managed to get the boys weighed last month and Alex was just under 15kg, with Tajy around 13.7kg. No idea of their heights as they were both taller than the ruler available, but we must get this checked soon as Alex would only be an inch or so off a meter now. So had to laugh when I was chatting to a girl who works with my sister (we work for the same organisation) who's 4yo daughter weighs 16kg! I'm going to put this down to our two being boys, and not the fact that Alex particularly is huge. The size difference was clearly noted by my nephew last weekend who agreed with me that we could get away with saying the boys are brothers that are close in age, and not twins.

We had another member of the wildlife attempt to join our happy household again this month - a snail. I'm happy to report that it didn't become a permanent family member and it was duly evicted after Nik found the boys playing with it in the lounge room. Baby Bird is still with us and sings up a storm ALL day. Lily is still camped out permanently in its vicinity, except when she's in our bedroom hiding from the boys.

Speech is kicking along well still, with Tajy coming out with more and more - again which he doesn't feel inclined to repeat too often. It's definitely words but it's more like sounds if you don't listen closely enough, such as "ar" being star and "rar" being car. The one thing I hope he forgets is 'quack quack' as Alex is now saying that correctly, instead of his incredibly cute 'gonk gonk' when you ask him what noise a duck makes. Was very impressed with Alex the other day when he was looking at whatever and then told me the number and the item without counting, ie 'two shoes'. He loves to count and point, so actually coming out with the number was a real achievement. Books are a huge hit with both, with Alex frequently coming to see what Tajy and I are reading and hanging around until we finish. Books for me (at least the pleasure variety) are about to become a thing of the past as uni starts again next week. So, so glad I've nearly finished. But the hardest thing I've faced lately? Trying to come up with a unique name for each of our monthly blog posts as this is the only place we refer to exactly how old they are!

The concentration...

and evidence that Tajy did survive after burying
himself for the nth time in the swimming pool come ball pit.

Two and a bit more

Gosh, this age is getting more fun by the month - and I think a lot of it is what parents normally go through when their bubs is around 18 months on, but I'm guessing we're a bit delayed due to the slow start with speech. Tajy continues to come out with new sounds and comes out with a few words (which he says for a day and then won't repeat), and has mastered those few very frustrated noises when he can't do what he's trying to and we haven't cottoned on quickly enough. Luckily the frustration is being demonstrated by a whinge or two, and no throwing said little body onto the floor and having a total meltdown. Yet. I'm still holding out the belief that the "terrible two's" is actually from 18 months to 2.5 years, so we're nearly there! But knowing that the cause of most of the meltdowns during this period is due to lack of ability to communicate, I truthfully don't think we're going to miss this delightful stage...

Alex, on the other hand, is doing enough talking for both of them. Shapes are his current thing and he gets super excited when he finds a star or hearts [sic] shape in whatever he's looking at. Circle is also still a huge hit, so gold stars for mummy for sticking hundreds of circles on the feature wall in their bedroom before they were even born! I still get the job of putting them to bed (around 7:15pm now) and getting them out of bed (around 7am), and Alex delights in pointing out all of the circles on the wall right above his cot to me every day. "Circle (point), circle (point), circle circle circle (super excited point at a big circle that I've stuck a smaller circle and then tiny circle on the top of )". And yep, the boys go all night and have since they were one. We continued to do a dream bottle for a while, but that stopped a few months back now. The boys sleep with whoever is the favourite (Pooh Bear x 2 for Taj, currently no-one for Alex but Elmo is still within arms reach and 'ted bear' is up on the shelf) plus their Fisher Price seahorse which plays beautiful lullabies when you push it's tummy. We hear these randomly being played during the night, so the boys self sooth when they need to. The sea horse's tummy lights up while the songs are playing, and Alex (as usual) has great delight in pointing out to me that their is a 'hearts' printed on it. Think he turns it on just as I walk in each morning purely to show me!

Pointing out body parts is also a fun game in this house (eyes, nose, hair etc), with the pointing either being to your own features or that of the closest toy/parent/sibling you can reach. They both crack up laughing when we get to the lower extremities as we shake legs and then do the compulsory tickle of the feet. I was going through parts with Alex a few weeks back ("where's your nose?"), to which he'd repeat the word and touch said item - and I then realised that Tajy was also doing the pointing even though he was off doing his own thing. So now we all do it together.

New funny boy thing this month (I'm still quite sure that a mother would never come up with half things a Mr Mum does) is Alex now copies Nik when he's pretending to sleep - or is really trying to have a nap, which I'm quite sure would be highly unsuccessful most times with our two around. Alex's version is to say "night night", lay down (or pretend to fall asleep sitting up with his head tipped over to the side) and then snoring. All three of them think it's hilarious, so Nik yells out "night night" from where ever he is and Alex responds with a loud snore.

Tajy is in about month three of his "I must be connected to my mother at all times stage", so he's either sitting on my lap or walking around with me holding hands unless he's scored whatever toy is the most prized possession without his brother realising. This child is sneaky! Had a huge laugh when I realised that Alex now isn't letting Nik out of his sight, but at least he's not permanently attached to his dad. Yet.

What else? I've been reading a bit as I'm not studying this semester, and the funniest baby/toddler books ever are my latest discovery - Vicky Iovine. She writes the series 'Best Friends Guide to ....' and they're hysterical. Started with her third book (toddler) and have just finished her fourth (getting your groove back). We've also got a new addition to the family this month - Baby Bird. It's a canary which was definitely someones pet that we assume somehow got out and decided to keep flying into our house instead. So Nik caught it, we shoved it an empty cage from the parents and the cat hasn't budged from its vicinity since. Looked in the paper for a good two weeks after we found him, but nothing in the lost notices. Nik's decided now that the previous owner let the bird out on purpose as it sings and sings and sings. And sings. Even with a sheet over the cage. And the name for the newest addition? Courtesy of the chatty child first time he saw it - "BIRD!!!!!!!! BABY BIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". It stuck.

Time for the compulsory photos over the last month...

One way of keeping your brother away from the toy cars...

I think this is the look of a happy little Vegemite face,
but could be wrong.

Shoes with no feet in them - not good!!!

Tajy deciding that his lunch will be more palatable
if he adds water.

Quick or the dead - Taj demonstrates the lunch
steal from his unsuspecting brother.

Boys were given their first balloon-on-a-stick
at the shopping mall, HUGE hit.

Latest bargain buy from a garage sale - $10 bike
that somehow fits two.

Taj modelling his bday pressie from Miss A.

Fashionistas...

Two and a bit

Loving this stage - we're up to the everything has to be right in the world so all shoes without a foot in it have to find their owner quick smart (think Cinderella - Nik is very thankful that I don't wear heels) and every door that is normally shut must be shut quick smart if it's been left open thank you very much! Tajy thinks getting dressed or undressed is a hoot, where Alex hates anything going over his head. But then there's not much use putting something on him that has a zip as he'll undo that quick smart. Good thing it's getting warmer here, especially as the only place these two want to be is outside.

Alex is coming out with a new word daily, and my personal favourite is still "gonk gonk" - you know, the noise a duck makes. We say "quack quack" to him or ask what noise a duck makes, and it's always "gonk gonk" back. So be it. "Bane" is also a favourite, so it's great that we're on the flight path so lots of planes ("bane") fly over. The other super cute thing is that Alex always says hi to whatever it is first (stuffed toy, real live animal, picture in a book) - so it's always "hi cat", "hi dog" etc. Tajy's still observing and secretly practicing, and our bet is that he's going to come out with full sentences when he can be bothered. Clever little dude is letting his big brother work it all out first again. Eating is good. Sleeping is good. Life is great.

Loving the spring weather.

LOL - didn't even realise it was me in this photo
with Taj (my new hair colour is still confusing me);
cheeky Alex with Nik.

Tajy in the shower, and Alex pointing out to Nik
that he was taking too long to get him undressed
to get in the shower (the green is his jumper, and the
neck hole is around his waist).