Monday, July 20, 2009

Quiet as an Elephant

There is nothing like going to Mass on a Sunday evening with three lively little rascals in tow. They try to be good, but the prospect of sitting still for an hour is very difficult with so many things to look at and people to engage with.

This Sunday, however, there seemed to be more ants than usual in their pants. Maria kept making faces and laughing at her friends in the adjacent pew, Sam decided to practice his rhythmic gymnastics in the middle of the homily, and Bekah was imitating southern baptists and was adding her two cents 'amen' style at each pause.

I finally decided to take Maria and Sam outside right before the Eucharist to give the rest of the congregation some quiet time. They had a lovely time running around and climbing trees in the dark and cold.

Right before the 'Peace be With You', I took them to the door to head inside, and whispered "Ok kiddies, we need to be really quiet because it's praying time. Lets be quiet as little mice!" They liked this idea.

Unfortunately they took me literally and crawled into church up the aisles squeaking at the top of their voices. So much for quiet prayer time!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Painting the Town Yellow

Since my last blog there has been lots going on! Mark threw me a HUGE surprise party for my birthday! Was so lovely - had the best time. Mark is so thoughtful!! Lots of food, friends and kids.

Since then life has settled down back into the semi-predictable rhythm that characterises most homes with small children. Maria and Sam are both still recovering from such a fun-packed weekend, yet they are still colouring life brightly with their unique interpretations of beige everyday occurrences.

Yesterday, Sammy decided to toilet train himself. He woke up and announced to the world that he wanted to wee on the potty. Having discouraged the whole independent pee-peeing saga on the grounds of extra washing, I begrudgingly helped him organise himself and was mildly surprised when he succeeded in his endeavour.

Still not willing to entertain the thought of nappy-less Sammy, I put it down to a once off incident and went back to my thirty-seventh load of washing for the day. However, Samuel must have woken up on the 'toilet training' side of the bed that morning and throughout the day impressed me with multiple potty trips and only one very minor accident, despite outings and distractions.

Every toilet trip he declares his intentions and brings the fruits of his labour out to show us. Yesterday he even tried to empty it himself, but Mummy has reclaimed that joy after a potty full of wee-wee went splashing over the clean dishes when Sam missed the kitchen sink. He has yet to learn that in relation to potty-emptying, not all sinks are created equal.

Today he was dry all day and as you can see in the pics, very proud of himself.

Recently, Mum passed onto us a little round table made by her Dad back when I was born. I can remember drawing many pictures on that table. Maria really likes it. It is nice and low - Mum told her that I learnt to walk on that table. Maria likes it for morning tea time and for little tea parties. The other day I walk in and find her standing on the table. She says 'Look Mum! I'm learning to walk on the table like you did when you were little!'. I didn't have the heart to correct her!!

Bekah is still an absolute delight. I just want to hold her and kiss her all day - Daddy, Maria and Sam feel the same way. She is just beginning to roll over and is really getting into the little baby toys and rattles. In the car today, my 'favourite' song came on their kiddie CD, so I cranked the volume and belted out 'O When the Saints Came Marching In' with gusto. On the second run through I sung out "All together now!" and low and behold, Bekah-boo-bah joined in right on cue with lovely baby singing.

There never seems to be a bland day around here - always in technicolour.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Fabulous Evening Treat

All day we have been looking forward to the 'We have finally moved into the Brand New Workshop' BBQ that Daddy's boss very kindly decided to throw. Not only would there be trucks, chippers and chainsaws to look at, but lots of food and other children to harass.

Maria found a five foot 'stop and slow' sign and spent most of the evening trying to find people to stop. When she couldn't convince any of the adults in the workshop to stop more than once, she went out to the adjacent bike path and waved the thing at innocent bystanders. After nearly impaling a short sited bike rider jousting style, Mummy put an end to her traffic stopping days, distracting her with promises of impending ice cream.

Sammy with totally in his element. Huge trucks, tons of chainsaws and a big giant room with lots of echos for raah-ing. He alternated between playing soccer with Daddy and the boys, wearing a safetly helmet complete with ear muffs and visor, and entertaining himself and others with sagas about 'poorly trees' and how Daddy climbs with ropes. He also 'borrowed' a toy chainsaw off another little boy and spent a vast deal of time trying to fell a traffic cone.

Bekah spent the time playing pass the parsel from one person to another, then falling asleep in her pram. When we got home however, she really livened up. Ignoring Mummy and Daddy's attempts to talk to her, she had a very long and involved conversation with the bedpost.

All in all, a fantastic evening!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Bekah - The Flavour of the Day




Thanks for all the lovely comments on my page! Very exciting and encouraging. Been looking forward to adding to my 'diary' tonight.



Bekah seemed to be the hot favourite today. This morning Maria made her a tent while she sat in her swing, and Sam decided to play cars with her. The tent consisted of a blanket over the top of our mechanical swing, and playing cars consisted of Sam 'Ka-chow Ka-powing' his Lightning McQueen little matchbox car in her face. I tried to distract them in vain and all attempts of explaining that Bekah is too little to play cars and to camp out in tents resulted in deaf ears.

Sam then decided to sing her a song - 'Bananas in Pajamas....stairs. Bananas in Pajamas....stairs.' She quite enjoyed it until '....stairs' became feet through the playpen and very close to her face. Maria then took charge, booted Sam out of the way and very kindly hung up some of Bekah's toys on the side of the playpen with pipe cleaners. However, the weight of the toy and the load bearing capacity of the pipe cleaner were not taken into consideration and the hanging toys very quickly became floor toys again.

Ever serene Bekah patiently bore her siblings attempts to 'play' with her, egging them on with big smiles and laughs. Mummy on the other hand had to end the bonding session after she foiled attempts at a playpen coup when she noticed Sam trying to scale the walls and Maria assessing how to tunnel in.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

My Brand New Blog!


Welcome to my brand new blog! It is very exciting. I plan to use this page to record some of the funny things the little ones say, and as a way for the overseas/interstate family members to be able to experience the kiddies growing up. So without further ado, here is Wednesday July 8th!

Today Maria decided she wanted to get married. So she dragged Sam into the living room where I was feeding Bekah and tried to teach him how to waltz. As you well know, a groom isn't really a groom if he can't waltz. So after a few minutes of 'Sam! Put your hand here! Go on - move like this!' Sam typically got bored and went to 'help the poorly trees' (really the venetian blinds) with Lightning McQueen and his 'chainsaw' (a green peg).




Maria would not have a bar of this. With big tears splashing down her face, she tried desperately to convince me to put Sam in time out for not marrying her, or to talk him round to the idea of matrimony and waltzing. I tried to explain that Sam was already her brother, and that he couldn't also be her husband. I said she could marry Bekah. Maria very hotly replied that she can't marry Bekah because she was not only a baby, but a girl baby, and that she can't even walk let alone dance like married people do.
I then suggested she could marry Daddy when he got home. This sent her running in tears to her bedroom because I (unfairly and unjustly) had already married Daddy and therefore he was off the market and obviously couldn't marry her. I then told her that maybe she hadn't met the man she was going to marry yet, to which she replied, 'When I find a man, the man I am going to marry, I will let you look after my kids, but I'm taking Bekah and Sam with me, so you better have more kids then.'
All through this Sam was very carefully and tactically staying out of the way.