An exchange overheard yesterday between Action Man (2 years 10 months) and Flipper (1 year 9 months) while playing together with puzzles on the floor.
Action Man: 'Ma (he has called him Flipper 'Ma' since he was born, we're not sure why) you need to say Grace before we play puzzles'
Both boys immediately bow their heads.
Action Man: 'Dear God, thankyou for the lovely puzzles. Amen. You have to say Amen Ma'.
Flipper: 'Amen'.
It made me laugh.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Boys and dirt
What is it with boys and dirt? Or is it just my boys and dirt? They are obsessed with it, they find it, it finds them. I just don't get it.
As one of two daughters of a fastidiously clean (and I really mean fastidiously clean) mother, dirt is just not something I have had a lot to do with in my daily life. I don't mean that to sound like I am some sort of princess - what I mean is that I inherited (albeit a watered down version) my mother's liking and tendency towards cleanliness and order, I work in an office, and as a general rule I don't tend to come across many opportunities to get dirty. The dirt I am referring to is not just the ordinary scruffiness of little boys, I am referring to seeing a patch of dirt, a garden bed, a pot plant, a bit of mud, and moving immediately towards it and covering themselves with it. They love it, and do it without fail.
It is true that at the moment they have opportunities to get amongst the dirt thing all around them - we have a relatively new patch of lawn that we have recently top-dressed, we have a new sandpit for them to play in which results in sand everywhere, we have relatively new garden beds, and our local park has recently developed a very large, dry mound of dirt right near the children's playground - but the gravitation towards it just amazes me.
As one of two daughters of a fastidiously clean (and I really mean fastidiously clean) mother, dirt is just not something I have had a lot to do with in my daily life. I don't mean that to sound like I am some sort of princess - what I mean is that I inherited (albeit a watered down version) my mother's liking and tendency towards cleanliness and order, I work in an office, and as a general rule I don't tend to come across many opportunities to get dirty. The dirt I am referring to is not just the ordinary scruffiness of little boys, I am referring to seeing a patch of dirt, a garden bed, a pot plant, a bit of mud, and moving immediately towards it and covering themselves with it. They love it, and do it without fail.
It is true that at the moment they have opportunities to get amongst the dirt thing all around them - we have a relatively new patch of lawn that we have recently top-dressed, we have a new sandpit for them to play in which results in sand everywhere, we have relatively new garden beds, and our local park has recently developed a very large, dry mound of dirt right near the children's playground - but the gravitation towards it just amazes me.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Copycat
As a 'ps' to my previous post, a new development is the insistence of the 20 month old Flipper that he be allowed to wear underpants over the top of his nappy, and his exclamation of 'wow' every time he puts them on after his nappy is changed.
Cute.
Cute.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
My grown up boy
Had to share this.
I mentioned a little while ago about the stop-start progress we are having with Action Man (now 2 years and 10 months old) and toilet training. My approach has been decidedly lazy, hoping that he would catch on himself, but giving him encouragement, etc etc. Since announcing a few months ago that he no longer wanted to wear nappies, and after two weeks of underpants wearing then lapsing into day to day decisions as to whether to wear a nappy or underpants, we have simply been 'going with the flow' (pardon the pun).
Anyway, yesterday saw significant progress. He had been in underpants all day, no accidents (admittedly, the underpants days had started to outweigh the nappy days, but trips to the toilet had to always be instigated by me or Hubby). I was cleaning up after our little craft session - they had made 'lollipops' from painted paper and paddle pop sticks - when I noticed he had disappeared. A quick search of the house indicated that he was in the bathroom on the toilet. After being told 'Mummy,go away. I'm doing a wee by self', I lurked around the corner and saw him do said wee, flush the toilet, get up on the toilet seat to reach the sink and wash and dry his hands, put his underpants and tracksuit pants back on (albeit the tracksuit pants were on backwards, but who cares?) then come out and announce his triumph.
This has since happened a few times today.
Am cautiously excited, but not counting my toilet training chickens. My baby is growing up!
I mentioned a little while ago about the stop-start progress we are having with Action Man (now 2 years and 10 months old) and toilet training. My approach has been decidedly lazy, hoping that he would catch on himself, but giving him encouragement, etc etc. Since announcing a few months ago that he no longer wanted to wear nappies, and after two weeks of underpants wearing then lapsing into day to day decisions as to whether to wear a nappy or underpants, we have simply been 'going with the flow' (pardon the pun).
Anyway, yesterday saw significant progress. He had been in underpants all day, no accidents (admittedly, the underpants days had started to outweigh the nappy days, but trips to the toilet had to always be instigated by me or Hubby). I was cleaning up after our little craft session - they had made 'lollipops' from painted paper and paddle pop sticks - when I noticed he had disappeared. A quick search of the house indicated that he was in the bathroom on the toilet. After being told 'Mummy,go away. I'm doing a wee by self', I lurked around the corner and saw him do said wee, flush the toilet, get up on the toilet seat to reach the sink and wash and dry his hands, put his underpants and tracksuit pants back on (albeit the tracksuit pants were on backwards, but who cares?) then come out and announce his triumph.
This has since happened a few times today.
Am cautiously excited, but not counting my toilet training chickens. My baby is growing up!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Feeling useless
Am now at home and it is lovely - I am still at the stage where I am tickled pink and get a little thrill at things like being able to roll over in bed without pain, lie on the couch and watch tv, and get up and go to the toilet when I need to - small things as they say!
But, the current state of my back has left me in an unusual predicament in that I am pretty much good for nothing, but not completely incapacitated, so am in this middle ground of being of no use to anyone in particular, but not so bad that I'm bed bound. Its difficult in its own way.
What I mean is this - I can't go to work because I can't drive and can't sit for more than 10 - 15 mins or so at a time, I can't look after the boys by myself because I can't (or shouldn't be - am being a little naughty in this respect) lift them, carry them, wrestle them into their clothes, get down on the floor and play with them, get them in or out of bed, etc etc. But, I am also not bed bound - I don't need to be, nor is it good for me, to lie down all day. So I'm left in this middle ground sort of place, wandering around like a lost soul, generally feeling like I'm getting in the way.
Don't get me wrong - this is not a complaint, and I am so appreciative and aware of how far I have come, but its all a bit weird.
But, the current state of my back has left me in an unusual predicament in that I am pretty much good for nothing, but not completely incapacitated, so am in this middle ground of being of no use to anyone in particular, but not so bad that I'm bed bound. Its difficult in its own way.
What I mean is this - I can't go to work because I can't drive and can't sit for more than 10 - 15 mins or so at a time, I can't look after the boys by myself because I can't (or shouldn't be - am being a little naughty in this respect) lift them, carry them, wrestle them into their clothes, get down on the floor and play with them, get them in or out of bed, etc etc. But, I am also not bed bound - I don't need to be, nor is it good for me, to lie down all day. So I'm left in this middle ground sort of place, wandering around like a lost soul, generally feeling like I'm getting in the way.
Don't get me wrong - this is not a complaint, and I am so appreciative and aware of how far I have come, but its all a bit weird.
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