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'Tis the season of miracles!

Monday December  20th 2004

We're all in a Christmas frenzy, and counting the days. The equivalent of a small toystore will be arriving here so we are in the process of clearing out the existing clutter.

Most toddlers have a special toy/teddy that they are attached to. Kate has a small army of her "friends". This means that if we have to go anywhere, including to a different room in the house, she screams hysterically, "Bring my friends!". Thirty odd little stuffed toys of various sizes are quite a challenge to carry, particularly into the car and heaven help you if drop one. She also has her plastic friends who are little figurines. When she grows up she will probably be either a teacher or a leader of a cult.

As you can see from the picture above, Aiden is well on his way to being toilet trained. Some gentle pushing and stamps helped seal the deal.

An article from a magazine:

Because I am three!

• I will ONLY wear trackpants
• I will ONLY wear trackpants with no pockets at the front
• I will ONLY wear the BLUE trackpants with no pockets on the front
• I will NOT wear the superman underpants
• I will ONLY wear the superman underpants
• I will make you regret taking me to childcare in a way that you will be on the verge of throwing away your career and staying home with me. THEN I will happily run into crèche and be having too much fun to even wave goodbye
• I will ONLY eat sandwiches that have been cut into triangles. No squares. No rectangles. If you guess wrongly the shape for today I will make you pay
• I will only drink orange juice from the red cup. Once you have poured this, I will only drink orange juice from the blue cup. Once you have poured this, I will only drink it from the bottle
• I will NOT wear slippers. I will NOT wear a jumper. I will NOT wear a coat. I will NOT wear trousers
• I WILL wear slippers to bed. I WILL wear my coat like a Batman cape without the sleeves on
• I will ONLY wear the Bananas in Pyjamas hat. I will wear it all day, in the bath and to bed.
• If there is a puddle I will jump in it.
• If there is mud I will put my hands in it and rub them on my clothes
• If you are wearing your best suit for a meeting with the director, I will rub my dirty nose on your shoulder
• I will wake up three times during the night if you have an important meeting tomorrow
• I will sleep through on your day off
• I will ONLY watch the story about Percy and the Trucks. I do not know which one of the 30 Thomas the Tank Engine videos it is on. You find it. Now!
• I do NOT want dinner, under any circumstances. Until it’s in the bin.

Only 5 more sleeps to go.......

Aiden typing his name on the computer	Swinging on the gate when Daddy gets home	On the Merry-Go-Round at the Magic Cave	Elves!	Aiden goes on Nipper
Where eating disorders begin - crazy mirrors	Eating on the bridge	Anyone home?	Still eating
	They got a balloon from the Magic Cave....	....and ate with it...	.....and rode their bikes...	...and went to sleep!
A clown at the Playgroup Breakup Party	A poodle with a severe problem	Grooving	Aiden shows the table manners he learnt from Mummy

Decorating the tree

Kate ready for a walk

Friday December  3rd 2004

It's a busy time of the year....the tree is up...Santa has come to town via the Christmas Pageant....and playgroup has finished.

We took Kate and Aiden to the Magic Cave. We lasted 1.2846384 seconds in the line to see Santa before we told the kids he was too busy to see us so we had better explore the magic cave. We'll happily see a second-class Santa at a smaller shop if it stops us having to line up for an hour just so our children can demonstrate the logical stranger-danger they should feel when they are asked to sit on the lap of an obese man with a fake beard. No thanks. Kate ate her way around the Magic Cave. She chose food over most other treats, including a stocking full of toys....ahh a girl after her mother's heart. Aiden shows no hint of that crazy, tantrum filled boy of a few months ago. He happily went on all the rides, including Nipper as pictured above. Kate lined up but when it came to her turn she cried, "My brover, my brover....where's Aiden?" which was rather touching. She wouldn't go on without him but rules said only one child at a time so she missed out. Didn't matter as she had so much food to occupy her.

They've had their playgroup break up party and now we are almost upon summer holidays. Next year in first term they will be starting pre-entry at Kindy. I heard that twins can sometimes start early if the Kindy supports this idea so that is why they are starting in Term 1 instead of Term 2. I had rung the Director and talked despairingly about Aiden's speech problems in the hope that they could start early. I think I did too good a job because she was ready to refer me to a Speech Pathologist. She will be a tad surprised when he arrives next year speaking in full complex sentences (a recent huge burst of language has occurred), knows his whole alphabet, including letter names and sounds, can count to 40 and recognise numbers, knows all of his shapes, can type his names and ours too on the computer and can navigate computer programs like a 6 year old. Luckily Jackie will be taking them to Kindy in the first term so I won't have to face the Director!

Nanny asked Aiden to give her a kiss the other day, to which he replied, "No Nanny, no kisses." Nanny was sad and said that she would have noone to kiss. Aiden told her this;

"Nanny you can kiss a puppet. Go over there and get the frog puppet. Put it on your finger....that's right...now you can kiss it...ok?"

Unfortunately the frog didn't turn into a Prince. Keep trying Nanny....