A Visit from Nanny

Nanny came to visit M&M on Saturday. Molly was in her element with her favourite play mate. She repeatedly told Nanny "You have to......". We tried to add "Would you please ......?" to her vocab but it didn't seem to stick very well!

We had a picnic on the lounge room floor (it was VERY hot outside).

Look who wears her hair up now!

One of Molly's favourite games right now is to give her toys voices and act out scenes, usually recreations of our daily activities. Here she has Nanny giving a voice to "Mummy Tigger" while she voiced "Baby Tigger".

Feed the Man More Meat

Max had a lamb cutlet for dinner again tonight.

We had the camera ready this time.
Do you think he enjoyed it?

A Day at the Beach

Yesterday we headed to the beach to take advantage of the lovely weather. We were all looking forward to a swim right up until the moment we stepped into the freezing cold water. So after a brief paddle, a spot of lunch, some sandcastle building and a little time in the playground we called it a day.

The Bond Between Siblings

Molly and Max have such a close bond.
The love and admiration are mutual and just beautiful to watch.
Here they are enjoying some TV together.

Don't ask about the Santa hat. Nobody knows why she is wearing it!

Dummies are Ditched .... Nappies are Next!

Molly has relinquished her dummies to the dummy fairy with very little fall out. The first night was tough, the second night was a little unsettled but by the third there was not even a whimper. This morning I feared a setback when Molly came into our bedroom in the morning. As she went to climb into our bed she turned and ran to her room saying "I'll get my dummy". I waited for the pleading and protests but they never came. Instead she said, completely unprompted, "I'm a big girl. I don't need a dummy."

After a false start in the middle of December, we are again tackling TOILET TRAINING! We have talked a lot about Molly being a big girl and big girls not wearing nappies and it may be getting in. Yesterday we went shopping and bought some new undies. Gotta love Dora the Explorer, My Little Pony and Dorothy the Dinosaur undies and just how much they can motivate a two and a half year old girl. Day one saw about Four accidents and one successful trip to the potty for a wee! The success was followed by a "Potty Party" complete with balloons and cake. Later the balloons moved to the trampoline for some fun to bounce off all that sugar energy.

Toast

What's this stuff you're giving me Mummy?

Mmmmmmm toast! Can I fit both in here at once?

Just you try and take one away! I dare you!

The First Family Ride

Today the four of us went for a bike ride together. Our first family ride!

Finally the weather, equipment and sleeping patterns were all working in our favour and we got our chance to turn the legs over and give Max his first taste of cycling. He loved it.

Here he is getting ready to go.

Can't Talk ... Bouncing

Molly has the most amazing imaginary telephone conversations. If you didn;t know better you would swear there was someone talking back to her and asking questions on the other end of the phone. Today even the phone was imaginary. This conversation was with our neighbour Morgan and took place while bouncing enthusiastically on the trampoline in her party dress. Priceless!

Feed the Man Meat

Our baby boy became a carnivore today! Max took to a lamb cutlet like a lion cub, growling and grunting like we had triggered some primitive instinct. He continued with this behaviour long after dinner. Here you can see him attacking the lounge chair.

Operation Dummy Ditch

We are into night three of Operation Dummy Ditch and all is going better than expected.

I'll start at the beginning...... Molly is, or rather was, a confirmed dummy addict. For a long time her dummy use has been restricted to her bed and the car, but being such a clever little girl she found all kinds of loopholes to have as much dummy time as possible. The biggest loophole was to say she wanted to go to bed during the day when she would actually just be playing happily in her bedroom with the dummy firmly in her little gob! It was time to instigate OPERATION DUMMY DITCH!

We enlisted the help of the Dummy Fairy who is a close relative of the Tooth Fairy and friend to Santa. The arrangement was that we were to leave said dummies in a marked box, along with suitable refreshments, on the coffee table before going to bed. The Dummy Fairy would then pay us a visit overnight and collect the dummies, leaving a highly desirable gift in their place. The fairy would then deliver the dummies to a new little baby.

Molly was happy with this arrangement right up until the time she had to put the dummies into the box and she realised the finality of it all.

Here she is having one last suck....

and reluctantly putting the last dummy into the box.

Night one was quite challenging to say the least. There were lots of tears and cries of "I can't go to bed without my dummy!", "I'm not finished with my dummy yet!", "I need it!" "I don't want her [the Dummy Fairy] to come!" I was eventually able to calm her down by reading about 10 favourite stories and she finally went to bed at around 9pm and fell asleep. She stayed asleep all night long which was a pleasant surprise.

The next morning she woke and had forgotten all about the Dummy Fairy but when we mentioned it she said hopefully "She didn't come." She was pretty happy with the FP Little People Nativity Set though and the card the Dummy Fairy had left for her, complete with fairy dust.

Fast forward to night 3 and Molly has gone to sleep dummy free without a fuss. Hallelujah!

Colouring In

Molly has suddenly developed a keen interest in colouring in.
This is quite a large video ofher colouring in and talking about it


Hard work this colouring in gig!

Special Moments

We had a lovely family day at home today. It was just great to spend the day together enjoying each other's company and we captured some very special moments on "film".
I think these images speak for themselves.
I love them all!

Family Fun in Our Own Backyard

M&M had fun clowning around on their little bench

Max had his first chance to sit on the grass today.

I'm not sure he was all that keen

"Oooh! A cup!"
A little distraction can do wonders

A New Cycling Enthusiast is Born

We tried Max out in his bike seat today for the first time.
Now before anyone calls DoCS the bike wasn't moving. We'll be buying the helmet tomorrow so the real riding can begin.

Didn't Dave do a fantastic job of designing and building the bike especially for M&M!

Max was very interested in chewing on his handle bar.

The family that rides together..................

And so it Begins!

This is Max mesmerised by Thomas the Tank Engine today.

I see a very expensive train collection in our future.

TEETH!

I seem to be taking a lot of photos of Max in his high chair these days.
Maybe it's because he spends so much time in there these days ..... our little man LOVES his food.
Maybe it's because I can hold him captive in there and snap away.
Today I managed to photograph his two new teeth. He has had them for a couple of weeks now and don't I know it! Our breastfeeding days may be numbered!

"More photos Mum? But I'm hungry!"

"Put that thing away!"

"Look! I'm serious OK! Put the camera away and get my food!"

"OK, OK! Here's my teeth now get my food!"

"Pleeeeeeeease Mummy??"

An Illegal Tackle? You Be the Judge

Was Molly's tackle on Declan a legitimate one?
Did he have the ball?
Was he held too long?
Should Molly be sent off the trampoline?

Let's go to the video referee and see .....

A Bouncy Playdate

Today Molly had a playdate with Emily, Declan, Jack, Sophie, Eliza and Evan. They had a great time putting the trampoline through its paces between rain showers.

Max can't wait to be big enough to join in the fun.

Look Who's Sitting Now!

All we needed was some motivation in the form of a Twirly Whirly Garden!