I had almost no experience with babies or little kids before having my own, so it's been so much fun experiencing their stages of development. Speech in particular has been particularly fascinating. One word at a time, then a few strung together, some phrases and sentences, and now for Ben, long stories and endless questions. He can recite entire books and recount situations that happened months or years ago. At nearly 4, his vocabulary is enormous but if he doesn't know a specific word or tense he'll just make something up so it's led to some interesting conversations. And of course you never know what's going to come out of his mouth in any situation. Here are a few of my favorites from the past couple of days:
-The boys were both running up the stairs and then Ben arrived at the top and Alex was a few steps below crying. I asked what happened and Ben said, "I winned!". I assume that means he pushed by Alex to get to the top first.
-We've all had some allergy problems the past few weeks and Ben has been waking up coughing several nights in a row. I tried to explain that he could drink the water by his bed to make the cough go away and he said "I like my cough. I want to keep it."
-I have moved their carseats several times lately and don't really care which side each boy has in the car when I put them back. Ben now has a preference for the left side and asked me to move his seat back. I asked him why he liked that side better and he said, "I want to sit on that side because it makes me a better person." If that's all it takes, maybe I should be sitting on that side too!
-The boys love, love, love running around naked after bathtime. It looks like their favorite time of the day. I always laugh at my "naked bottom boys" while they're doing it. Ben walked in the other day while I was changing my pants and called me a "naked Mama boy". We're still trying to teach the difference between boys and girls and he/she since he seems to get them backward all the time.
-Last night Ben cut his toe and was bleeding quite a bit on the floor. It must not have hurt because he didn't notice until I saw the blood, then he started screaming, "my toe is leaking!!".
I think he really talks all day unless he's sleeping or watching TV. It's really entertaining but the questions do get exhausting sometimes. Lots of why's and why did you say (blank). But I love that he's so interested in the world and learning so much about everything so quickly.
Alex is talking more each day but still gets so frustrated when he can't communicate what he wants and I can't guess it. Lots of screaming and throwing himself on the floor so I'm looking forward to him growing past that stage but can't imagine what it will be like with two little boys talking all the time! Alex did say his first real phrase (putting together his own words, not just repeating a phrase we say) when he climbed in my bed at 6am and said "play cookie". He wanted a toy that had been in our bedroom for several days and had been moved. I love these little guys!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Getaway to the Farm
Matt is still traveling for work so I packed up the kids and we took a little holiday to Margaret River. Most people go for the wineries and food but this time we went to stay on a little farm and let the kids run wild. I'm not sure who was more excited though...I get pretty thrilled about playing with animals myself. We rented this little cottage at Sunflowers Farm for two nights.
The kids LOVE staying in hotels. From the minute we hit the door they go crazy. Alex's latest obsession is this bucket, sometimes used for carrying his blankies and paci, other times for a handy helmet.
Ben was beyond excited to sleep in bunk beds again. This bedroom was pretty small so Alex's pack and play ended up right next to Ben's bed and that little monkey figured out how to climb out and get in bed with Ben. I'm finding fewer and fewer things that can restrain this child.
Their next favorite hotel pasttime is wrecking the couch and watching Dora. For some reason that's a show we only watch when we travel and never at home.
But the major portion of our time was spent outside, getting up close and personal (and dirty!) with all the animals. This place was great and very child-friendly so we were there every morning and afternoon to feed and cuddle the animals. The pictures aren't in order because I took so many so here are the highlights.
Ben's favorite place was the chick incubator. He keeps claiming he liked the joeys the best, but we spent the most time here playing with the soft little chicks.
Alex kept saying "chick chick" and "touch!". His touch knocked over lots of chicks so I didn't encourage him to pick them up. Ben is much gentler and could handle them with care so he held lots of them.
This pig was BIG. That face scared me a little but Alex went right up to say hello.
We met some big sheep....
...and some small sheep.
How precious is this little guy? He was just over a week old and had a little jacket to keep him warm in the morning.
There were several orphaned kids and lambs and we helped bottle feed them twice a day. Too bad human babies don't take their bottles this fast...they were usually done in less than a minute.
The boys also got the chance to ride the pony, Basil. Alex did really well and had a great time. He looks so big on the little pony!
Ben, on the other hand, wasn't a big fan and asked to get off after about 10 seconds. He liked petting the pony but was not interested in riding again.
We met lots of free-roaming animals around the farm. This little goat was like a puppy following us around and trying to steal food out of the boys' buckets. The black and white magpie also took a liking to us and wandered around next to us.
There were lots of ringneck parrots mixed in with the farm birds, like these turkeys.
These Ibis kept their distance but didn't mind picking up any scraps the kids dropped.
Alex was oblivious to the sneaky chook (as they're known in these parts) that kept stealing bites out of his bucket.
We took a tractor ride around the pastures of the farms and spotted some kangaroos.
These farms dogs were terrific. The white one was an Italian sheepdog and the black one was a border collie, and both were so sweet and calm around the kids.
Love this haircut on the alpaca!!
Alex was the only one brave enough to feed the big geese. I was proud of the boys because they got a few bites on their fingers but never slowed down. Once I watched Alex offer a plain finger to the chicken coop and take a nice peck without even wincing.
Ben said his favorite place was the joey pen (even though we visited the chicks a lot more) and I agreed because they're just so cute! These were also orphans that the farm had adopted. A few were old enough to be released but apparently liked the farm and came back.
They're so adorable.
We couldn't go in their pen because two of them like to box and we did get a little show, but not while they were busy eating.
Ben lined them all up and coached them on how to eat. He made sure they ate all their veggies, kind of ironic since he rarely eats all of his. But I guess that's like me telling him to finish his vegetables since I rarely finish my own.
There was a great little playground as well.
This really was a kiddy heaven!
These boys have endless energy!
Hi Mama!
Wouldn't you love to know what's going on in that little head?
The guinea pig hut was a lot of fun. We managed to coax them out with some grass but couldn't catch any of the little rascals, even with all my mouse-catching experience. Didn't help to have four little hands scaring them off, though.
Alex didn't know what to make of the noisy magpie that seemed irritated by us but refused to leave us alone.
The big emu was a lot of fun. Apparently they can make a kind of hissing/growling sound and so can kangaroos, as I learned when I watched them fight over some food.
I learned a lot about the boys' personalities through their buckets of food. They each got one at the front door every time we went into the farm. Alex would dump his entire thing at the first or second animal he encountered, then steal from Ben's bucket when he wanted to feed something else. Ben would carefully dole out his food to each animal and wanted to make sure everyone got something to eat. His food could last an hour or more. It made me laugh every time because my older sister and I were exactly the same way with everything! She'd carefully ration things and I'd blow everything right off the bat and beg her to share.
This beautiful horse was more than happy to help Alex empty his bucket anytime.
The view from the kitchen window was great - a hillside covered in wild kangaroos every morning and evening.
All in all, it was a great getaway. Nice to change things up for a few days before I got too crazy by myself at home, and relaxing to play with the animals and let the kids stay up late and watch too much TV. We did manage to hit the other important places like the chocolate factory, one winery (where I just tasted the one wine I planned to buy), the venison store, and Providore. It has all kinds of jams, jellies, oils, and dips, so it has baskets of little tasting spoons and trash cans to toss them. The kids caught on to the idea immediately and went down each row tasting every jar and throwing their spoons away. They are so funny. But still pretty exhausting. We are very excited that Daddy is on his way home this afternoon!
The kids LOVE staying in hotels. From the minute we hit the door they go crazy. Alex's latest obsession is this bucket, sometimes used for carrying his blankies and paci, other times for a handy helmet.
Ben was beyond excited to sleep in bunk beds again. This bedroom was pretty small so Alex's pack and play ended up right next to Ben's bed and that little monkey figured out how to climb out and get in bed with Ben. I'm finding fewer and fewer things that can restrain this child.
Their next favorite hotel pasttime is wrecking the couch and watching Dora. For some reason that's a show we only watch when we travel and never at home.
But the major portion of our time was spent outside, getting up close and personal (and dirty!) with all the animals. This place was great and very child-friendly so we were there every morning and afternoon to feed and cuddle the animals. The pictures aren't in order because I took so many so here are the highlights.
Ben's favorite place was the chick incubator. He keeps claiming he liked the joeys the best, but we spent the most time here playing with the soft little chicks.
Alex kept saying "chick chick" and "touch!". His touch knocked over lots of chicks so I didn't encourage him to pick them up. Ben is much gentler and could handle them with care so he held lots of them.
This pig was BIG. That face scared me a little but Alex went right up to say hello.
We met some big sheep....
...and some small sheep.
How precious is this little guy? He was just over a week old and had a little jacket to keep him warm in the morning.
There were several orphaned kids and lambs and we helped bottle feed them twice a day. Too bad human babies don't take their bottles this fast...they were usually done in less than a minute.
The boys also got the chance to ride the pony, Basil. Alex did really well and had a great time. He looks so big on the little pony!
Ben, on the other hand, wasn't a big fan and asked to get off after about 10 seconds. He liked petting the pony but was not interested in riding again.
We met lots of free-roaming animals around the farm. This little goat was like a puppy following us around and trying to steal food out of the boys' buckets. The black and white magpie also took a liking to us and wandered around next to us.
There were lots of ringneck parrots mixed in with the farm birds, like these turkeys.
These Ibis kept their distance but didn't mind picking up any scraps the kids dropped.
Alex was oblivious to the sneaky chook (as they're known in these parts) that kept stealing bites out of his bucket.
We took a tractor ride around the pastures of the farms and spotted some kangaroos.
These farms dogs were terrific. The white one was an Italian sheepdog and the black one was a border collie, and both were so sweet and calm around the kids.
Love this haircut on the alpaca!!
Alex was the only one brave enough to feed the big geese. I was proud of the boys because they got a few bites on their fingers but never slowed down. Once I watched Alex offer a plain finger to the chicken coop and take a nice peck without even wincing.
Ben said his favorite place was the joey pen (even though we visited the chicks a lot more) and I agreed because they're just so cute! These were also orphans that the farm had adopted. A few were old enough to be released but apparently liked the farm and came back.
They're so adorable.
We couldn't go in their pen because two of them like to box and we did get a little show, but not while they were busy eating.
Ben lined them all up and coached them on how to eat. He made sure they ate all their veggies, kind of ironic since he rarely eats all of his. But I guess that's like me telling him to finish his vegetables since I rarely finish my own.
There was a great little playground as well.
This really was a kiddy heaven!
These boys have endless energy!
Hi Mama!
Wouldn't you love to know what's going on in that little head?
The guinea pig hut was a lot of fun. We managed to coax them out with some grass but couldn't catch any of the little rascals, even with all my mouse-catching experience. Didn't help to have four little hands scaring them off, though.
Alex didn't know what to make of the noisy magpie that seemed irritated by us but refused to leave us alone.
The big emu was a lot of fun. Apparently they can make a kind of hissing/growling sound and so can kangaroos, as I learned when I watched them fight over some food.
I learned a lot about the boys' personalities through their buckets of food. They each got one at the front door every time we went into the farm. Alex would dump his entire thing at the first or second animal he encountered, then steal from Ben's bucket when he wanted to feed something else. Ben would carefully dole out his food to each animal and wanted to make sure everyone got something to eat. His food could last an hour or more. It made me laugh every time because my older sister and I were exactly the same way with everything! She'd carefully ration things and I'd blow everything right off the bat and beg her to share.
This beautiful horse was more than happy to help Alex empty his bucket anytime.
The view from the kitchen window was great - a hillside covered in wild kangaroos every morning and evening.
All in all, it was a great getaway. Nice to change things up for a few days before I got too crazy by myself at home, and relaxing to play with the animals and let the kids stay up late and watch too much TV. We did manage to hit the other important places like the chocolate factory, one winery (where I just tasted the one wine I planned to buy), the venison store, and Providore. It has all kinds of jams, jellies, oils, and dips, so it has baskets of little tasting spoons and trash cans to toss them. The kids caught on to the idea immediately and went down each row tasting every jar and throwing their spoons away. They are so funny. But still pretty exhausting. We are very excited that Daddy is on his way home this afternoon!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Big Storm
Perth apparently doesn't get a lot of thunderstorms. Ironically, I was just wondering about this yesterday morning because I saw that the forecast called for some showers and wondering if I'd ever see a true downpour and storm. We haven't had any recordable rain here since early December and the rain we did see last winter was usually light and blowing sideways in the wind, so I've been missing a nice rainy day and a thunderstorm to shake things up. Let's just say I got my wish yesterday afternoon! You can read the official story about Perth's biggest storm in decades here.
We'd gone to a friend's house about 30 minutes away and left around 4pm. It was obviously raining to the east but the skies were clear in the west looking toward our house so we headed home. Maybe 5 minutes away, the skies were suddenly dark and a torrential rain started. Then this monster hail started falling, pretty close to golfball size.
It sounded like bombs hitting the car and the volume made my ears ring.
Alex was silent and wide-eyed in the backseat. Ben started getting nervous then I explained it was ice falling from the sky and the car was getting a good wash (which it needed!) and he was pretty excited. He sang and talked the whole way home while I drove white-knuckled through flooded roads and the hailstorm. I was not in a place to turn around to my friend's house and couldn't find anywhere protected to stop, except under a lightning rod tree so we kept going towards our own dry garage.
Perth is NOT built to handle large amounts of rain. Many roads flooded seriously, there was a small landslide into an apartment complex, and roofs collapsed at the airport, hospitals, and schools. Lots of friends reported leaks in their houses and power outages. It made for quite an exciting afternoon and turned into a beautiful evening once the sun broke through the rain right at sunset.
Matt missed out on all the action because he's in London for work this week. Turned out to be fortunate because at least one of our cars was protected in the garage and now doesn't have dents all over it. I've been keeping busy with the kids to pass the time. We had a great Sunday brunch with Kim (whose husband is also in London) at Indiana in Cottesloe. What a great venue!
Hard to beat hearing the waves while we enjoyed our food.
The kids are both still going to gymnastics each week and loving it. I attend with Alex but Ben is old enough to go by himself and I can watch from the side or upstairs cafe. To find Ben in this picture, just look for the one kid doing something completely different from every else in the gym warming up.
We're not supposed to take pictures or else I'd have a lot more of Ben's antics. He's much better at listening now and waiting for his turn when they break up into small groups to do their activities on all the apparatus, but for weeks he'd be the one kid running around or chasing butterflies off on his own. He's completely in love with the instructor Andre on the left and always does his best to sit right next to him or hold his hand...so sweet. It's a great way to burn off some of that little boy energy!
We'd gone to a friend's house about 30 minutes away and left around 4pm. It was obviously raining to the east but the skies were clear in the west looking toward our house so we headed home. Maybe 5 minutes away, the skies were suddenly dark and a torrential rain started. Then this monster hail started falling, pretty close to golfball size.
It sounded like bombs hitting the car and the volume made my ears ring.
Alex was silent and wide-eyed in the backseat. Ben started getting nervous then I explained it was ice falling from the sky and the car was getting a good wash (which it needed!) and he was pretty excited. He sang and talked the whole way home while I drove white-knuckled through flooded roads and the hailstorm. I was not in a place to turn around to my friend's house and couldn't find anywhere protected to stop, except under a lightning rod tree so we kept going towards our own dry garage.
Perth is NOT built to handle large amounts of rain. Many roads flooded seriously, there was a small landslide into an apartment complex, and roofs collapsed at the airport, hospitals, and schools. Lots of friends reported leaks in their houses and power outages. It made for quite an exciting afternoon and turned into a beautiful evening once the sun broke through the rain right at sunset.
Matt missed out on all the action because he's in London for work this week. Turned out to be fortunate because at least one of our cars was protected in the garage and now doesn't have dents all over it. I've been keeping busy with the kids to pass the time. We had a great Sunday brunch with Kim (whose husband is also in London) at Indiana in Cottesloe. What a great venue!
Hard to beat hearing the waves while we enjoyed our food.
The kids are both still going to gymnastics each week and loving it. I attend with Alex but Ben is old enough to go by himself and I can watch from the side or upstairs cafe. To find Ben in this picture, just look for the one kid doing something completely different from every else in the gym warming up.
We're not supposed to take pictures or else I'd have a lot more of Ben's antics. He's much better at listening now and waiting for his turn when they break up into small groups to do their activities on all the apparatus, but for weeks he'd be the one kid running around or chasing butterflies off on his own. He's completely in love with the instructor Andre on the left and always does his best to sit right next to him or hold his hand...so sweet. It's a great way to burn off some of that little boy energy!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The Technology Generation
I bought my first stereo and CD player with babysitting money the summer before I started high school. I heard about the internet in high school but never actually used it until I took my first college class in summer school after graduation. My college graduation gift was a cell phone and I had to keep track of those 200 precious minutes each month or risk paying a fortune in extra charges. Things have come so far since then and that was only 10 years ago!
My kids are growing up thinking any song they want to hear will come on the radio, thanks to our ipod. Every picture is ready for immediate approval on our digital camera. They assume every TV show is ready to watch the second they ask for it because of the DVR. Ben thinks every VHS tape is Dumbo because that's the only video he's ever watched (and don't ask me why we have several old videos here and no VCR). They both love seeing pictures and playing games on my computer, so I finally introduced them to the world of youtube today. Just things like funny animals and silly accidents but they are HOOKED. Before I realized it, we'd spent half an hour laughing at cats doing flips and old men falling off trampolines. Wow, technology is great. Then I have a heart attack about what it will be like when they're older and on facebook or youtube themselves...but one day at a time! For now we'll enjoy the innocent pleasures of the internet.
My kids are growing up thinking any song they want to hear will come on the radio, thanks to our ipod. Every picture is ready for immediate approval on our digital camera. They assume every TV show is ready to watch the second they ask for it because of the DVR. Ben thinks every VHS tape is Dumbo because that's the only video he's ever watched (and don't ask me why we have several old videos here and no VCR). They both love seeing pictures and playing games on my computer, so I finally introduced them to the world of youtube today. Just things like funny animals and silly accidents but they are HOOKED. Before I realized it, we'd spent half an hour laughing at cats doing flips and old men falling off trampolines. Wow, technology is great. Then I have a heart attack about what it will be like when they're older and on facebook or youtube themselves...but one day at a time! For now we'll enjoy the innocent pleasures of the internet.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Mama's Little Helper
I love Mondays right now. Ben goes to school at 9:15, then Alex and I get to hang out together for several hours. We go straight to his gymnastics class then have a little time for errands or house cleaning before naptime. Today Alex was determined to help me do everything around the house...this is such a fun age! I love getting to spend some one on one time with my little guy. He helped me sweep the porch outside...
...and vacuumed with me inside. Good thing these are such fun activities because they happen a lot! I'm really enjoying seeing Alex's sweet personality and helpful nature when no one else is around to fight with him.
We had a really nice weekend but the only pictures I got were Sunday afternoon at Port Beach, just a couple miles down the road from our house. People were lined up along the coast as far as we could see to watch the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner pull out from the Port of Fremantle. I think these faces tell you how interesting this was to the boys!
We happened to run into a friend and her boys so they got dirty in the sand while we watched the big boat get moving.
This is one huge boat...I wish I could give better perspective of the size. We're looking across the shipping port at it and it just dwarfed everything. It was carrying 3,800 passengers and crew and was the biggest cruise ship in the world a few years ago.
Pulling out through the channel.
And finally out to sea. Too bad it was a hazy day.
At home we got to watch it turn out to sea while we ate dinner on the porch. It was pretty impressive.
Here's a fun little video to show what happens every night after bath time....two little naked boys running around like mad before they collapse for the night.
...and vacuumed with me inside. Good thing these are such fun activities because they happen a lot! I'm really enjoying seeing Alex's sweet personality and helpful nature when no one else is around to fight with him.
We had a really nice weekend but the only pictures I got were Sunday afternoon at Port Beach, just a couple miles down the road from our house. People were lined up along the coast as far as we could see to watch the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner pull out from the Port of Fremantle. I think these faces tell you how interesting this was to the boys!
We happened to run into a friend and her boys so they got dirty in the sand while we watched the big boat get moving.
This is one huge boat...I wish I could give better perspective of the size. We're looking across the shipping port at it and it just dwarfed everything. It was carrying 3,800 passengers and crew and was the biggest cruise ship in the world a few years ago.
Pulling out through the channel.
And finally out to sea. Too bad it was a hazy day.
At home we got to watch it turn out to sea while we ate dinner on the porch. It was pretty impressive.
Here's a fun little video to show what happens every night after bath time....two little naked boys running around like mad before they collapse for the night.
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