Three Ring Circus

I told the big kids to put those candy canes up high this year. I did.

I told them that any that were put at toddler height would be swiftly devoured by small, ravenous beasts. I did.

What I didn’t tell them was that Naughties children are smart…way smart and that if they cannot reach the object of their desire they will find other ways.

Like… lie underneath the Christmas tree and shake the trunk until the candy canes rain down in a mass of fake pine needles and peppermint filled deliciousness and eat the lot while their mother is making dinner, leaving only traces of the sticky red goo on hands and little faces.

No, I didn’t tell them that.

Happy Happy Birthday my gorgeous Ivy and Noah!

At two Noah can:

Speak up to six word sentences.

Run.

Jump.

Dance.

Feed himself with a spoon (this is a very messy affair though).

Take his own nappy off (and his sister’s).

Tease his sisters ( a pre requisite for being male and having sisters, I think).

Climb into his own bed.

Draw (scribble).

Release himself from the confines of the house by unlocking the front door. (don’t worry, we’ve installed bolts now).

Likes;

Sleep.

Has a distinct penchant for plastic jewellery, dresses and pink handbags.

Books and having them read to him. Actually, seems to obsess over one book for days at a time. Prefers his reading experience this way.

Trucks, cars and particularly diggers.

To kick a ball and splash in the paddle pool.

Loves;

Chocolate.

Noodles.

His teddy.

The Wiggles.

Hugs and kisses.

Doesn’t enjoy;

Vegetables.

Sharing a room with his sister.

Not getting his own way.

Shopping.

Sitting for too long.

 

At two Ivy can;

Talk in two and sometimes three word sentences.

Feed herself with a spoon without making much mess.

Dance, dance and dance some more.

Run.

Jump.

Take off her own nappy (and her brother’s).

Draw (scribble… on paper, walls and herself).

Have womanly mood swings.

Likes;

Bok bok (her chicken)

Climbing.

Playing in water.

Dirt and getting dirty, making mud pies and playing in anything that is gooey, squishy or tactile in any way.

Loves;

Hi - 5

Any form of jewellery.

Helping her Daddy get dressed in the morning (shoes).

Having a make - up session with her sisters.

Rice cakes.

Doesn’t enjoy;

Sitting still.

Meat.

Sleeping.

 

Well, dear readers, it’s the day before my little cherubs turn two. We have had many ups and downs over the last 24 months (most of them chronicled on this blog).

My little guy is amazing, social, easy going, talkative, has a gorgeous dimpled smile and a wicked sense of humour, loves routine, kisses and cuddles. He lights up my life with laughter and joy. He is my second chance and I love all that he gifts to me.

My little girl is petite, beautiful and strong. She is a complexity of character, socially shy, yet cheeky and free spirited with those she is comfortable with. She has stolen the hearts of many. She is the full stop at the end of a very long chapter in my life. I’m glad that it was her. She completes me.

Here is Ivy and Noah’s birth story. Written about five months after their birth.

Here is a little movie montage for anyone who has five minutes.

Tomorrow for all those with a love of all things Ivy and Noah there will be another one.

Before Noah had his tongue tie snipped, he said very little. He had a few words but not alot was comprehendable. Afterwards he was trying out every sound possible. It was great. Until he pottered up to us one day…

He patted the lounge…"sh*t" he said

My eyes boggled and my jaw dropped. I looked to David, whose reflection mirrored mine.

"What did you say"? I asked him.

He repeated his action and the statement… "Sh*t". "Sheit".

He couldn’t be… David stuttered.

No, he doesn’t know the meaning, where would he have heard that word? It has to be something else.

Noah was getting frustrated. " Sh*t, Sheit, Sheit, Sh*t"! he exclaimed over and over.

Then it dawned on me.

Sit!

He’s trying to say sit!

Phew!

That was okay.

"Sit, sure, buddy you can sit", I said and pulled him up to the lounge.

He practiced hard to say sit but had not quite mastered it by the time we found ourselves in the doctor’s rooms with gastro.

"Sh*t", he muttered after the doctor had finished examining him, pointing to the chair at the desk. (Not now, Noah, not now).

"What did he say"? the good doctor asked, alarmed.

"SIT", I cried, "he said S.I.T."

"Sure he did" the doctor chuckled.

"Sh*t" said Noah as I sank lower into my own seat.

"That’s what you’ve got"! retorted the doctor and laughed, as my cheeks burned with embarrassment.

 

It’s a good thing that doctor has left town now because when Noah tried to say bucket today, it didn’t come out quite the way it was supposed to…

Who knew you could mistake the ‘b’ sound with an ‘f’ ?!?!?!?

After an agressive altercation with a boy and a bus door on Sunday our vacuum cleaner has been on the blink.

David has been fixing it as best he can. (He can feel my panic in not being able to clean for the twins’ party).

Every morning Noah has come in and pointed to the poor plastic heap in the corner of our room.

"Carleener" he states, "Broken".

To which I reply in the affirmative; yes, it is broken.

The boy who is deathly afraid of said ‘Carleener’ (cleaner) would then proceed to give the machine a kiss on the top of it’s body and proclaim it "all better".

For three days this has gone on.

This morning, we limped the vacuum out to de - crunch the floor. As it whirred into action Noah sprang into my arms, shaking and crying. He cuddled in close and, totally believing in the power of the kiss, whispered to me, his eyes as big as saucers,

"I fix it".

In preparation for their birthday party, Ivy discovered party bag bling for the girls and took a liking to it. ALL of it

View more Wordless Wednesday here.

What’s a girl to do?

When you are a shoe hound, like Ivy is and you are going on an excursion out into the front yard and you have just too many shoes to choose from.

You wear one sandal (to show off your toes) and one gumboot (to splash through all the puddles)!

Of course.

See more Wordless Wednesday here

Something a bit lighter for you after a couple of days of heavy stuff.

Noah is your normal rambunctious boy.

He likes to run and play with cars.

He likes to be outside. He rarely plays with stuffed toys, except for ‘Ted’.

He is two this month. (Both Noah and Ted).

Of all our children, he is the only one to be attached to a stuffed toy in such a way that Noah is with ‘Ted’.

Ted is taken to bed, he is stroked until his fur is gone. He has been dragged outside to play in the sand, had his ears sucked on and his clothes pulled off. Ted comes with us to the shops and is often found being pulled around by the boy in his wagon.

He is Noah’s best friend.

I bought Ted for his first birthday. He is designed by Kate Finn. Soft, brown terry towelling - like fur. Just the right size for a little boy. Dressed brightly in a red shirt and red, white and blue pinstriped pants.

He is the perfect companion. A boy and his bear.

My toddlers eat really well. Ivy especially.

Can you see my tongue pressed firmly on the inside of my cheek?

Today I made lunch, which Ivy and Noah pulled apart, smeared over themselves and then threw to the ground.

I gave them banana.

Noah told me, in no uncertain terms, that banana was only good for one thing; face masks (and not his own either, mine, in case you were wondering).

I gave them sultanas.

When I responded in the negative to Noah’s query of whether the fruit was chocolate he threw the offending brown pieces at me. Like a seal trainer offering up some fish, or throwing the dog a bone…maybe. That’ll teach me for answering honestly. I need to become a stealth Mummy.

I have come to the conclusion they are existing on chocolate, air and their beloved vanilla flavoured formula ("nilla shake - shake").

Linus the dog sits under the highchairs. He knows where his bread is buttered (pardon the pun).

There is nothing wrong with his appetite, nothing at all.

His girth is ever expanding, thanks to the six extra meals (plus snacks) he is getting.

Perhaps I should be more worried about what he is eating, rather than what the twins are not.

He was originally a mini foxie!

Ivy is a bit better today and so, I am too.

Noah hasn’t deleted any email, tried to post his disgust at the lack of attention he felt he was not getting on my blog or in anyone elses comments section, therefore, I have come to the conclusion that he is feeling better about the events of today as well.

We read books. ("No - No, read it Clarey? Yes? Yes?"). Translation: Please read me Hairy Maclary 500 times or until I get bored with it.

We snuggled while Ivy slept from 9 until 12:30.

We watched some Wiggles ("I like it, Mar - mee, the big red car!"). Translation; I do enjoy watching those men driving the big red car.

We danced to the Fisher Price Piggy Bank music.

 

"O - oh, I’m a piggy bank with some coins big and small,

with lots of colours you can learn them all.

We’ve got red and orange, we’ve got yellow and blue!

What’s your favourite colour? We’ve got green one’s too"…

 

I know, I know, I seriously need some adult conversation!

Ivy only grizzled and wanted to be a velcro baby for half the day today (the other half she slept) so I’d have to say a little bit better for the Ivy girl means a whole lot better for everyone else.

Here’s to more ‘a whole lot better’ days.

After a few horrible days in the hospital Ivy is home. Re-intergration into the house has not been smooth but we’ll get there. Thank you to everyone who sent their well wishes. It meant alot and helped us to get through.

I know I am a little behind but I need to do a little bit of house keeping.

The 1st of November marked the beginning of NoBloPoMo, which I am taking part in. I haven’t quite worked out everything yet but I do know I’m supposed to post every day of November! So far so good, even if I did have to get the technical consultant/new sub editor to post for me.

The 1st of November also marked our official countdown to Ivy and Noah’s second birthday, which falls on the 30th.

It is one of our busiest months with dance concerts, camps away, end of school activities and that all important lead up to Christmas.

Today is David’s mum’s birthday! Happy Birthday Grandma, hope you have a wonderful day!

Now, back to our regular program!

*Thinks to self: I should know not to bag out my paed (ever) because karma has a way of teaching you a lesson.*

Ivy is sick again. *sigh*. Will this never end?

With a tummy bug and a very sore bottom, my poor little girl, the one who is usually constantly on the go, has been very still today.

Get well baby. One day Mummy will learn that what goes around comes around.

 

 

On the weekend we bought and decorated Ivy and Noah’s new pottys. Ivy’s has stickers of handbags and shoes all over it and Noah’s is adorned with pirates. (Yes, they are waterproof stickers, friends).

With the other kids, we introduced the potty slowly. Imogen and Madeline went shopping and chose their own and their first pairs of undies. Lily was more or less the same but she didn’t like the potty, so she chose a toddler seat.

Initially we sat them on to ‘get a feel’ for using it before bathtime and progressed to them sitting on the potty when a parent was… sitting on the ‘great white throne’. For us, this worked really well (especially for the big twins) and they all trained quite easily. We had some cute little quirks along the way, like Maddy insisting she wear her pink sunhat everytime she needed to go but all in all, it went quite smoothly.

Summer is rapidly approaching, as is Ivy and Noah’s 2nd birthday and thoughts are turning to toilet training the toddlers (I think mum just wants to see me do away with my obsession with modern cloth nappies, just quietly) and I’m not sure this pair are going to be so easy.

For one, I have no idea how to toilet train a boy. I’ve never had to do it before. When Mal finally trained out of nappies he went straight to the standing position.

Secondly, we are almost nine years down the track from TT from scratch, I think I might have become rusty in my skills.

Thirdly, I have never had children sit on the potty and then proceed to race them down the hallway, scooching it along with their powerful legs, laughing at each other’s attempts to outscooch the other.

Finally, even though I spent a large part of today explaining to Noah, that you sit your bottom down on the potty he still insisted on wearing it as a hat. (Gives new meaning to the phrase ‘potty mouth’).

Truthfully, I am no hurry to have them using the toilet. Nappies are sometimes messy, sometimes they are inconvenient but having a two year old in undies brings about a whole new set of issues, let alone two toddlers in undies. I think the fact that the boy is wearing his as a fashion accessory speaks volumes about how ready they  are aren’t.

The start of Daylight Savings means you sleep in.

Did. You. Hear. Me?

Sleep in, ie; sleep past 4am.

Not the other way around.

It will not make for very personable parents come, say, oh, about midday.

*Sob*

This morning I was disorganised.

Slow to get moving and generally dragging the chain. I wanted to stay in bed. I wanted to lie in and read. I wanted to pretend that I didn’t have to get up and get the kids moving for school, the babies dressed and fed…it was a stay in your PJs kind of day. It was raining, grey and the morning air was cool.

Of course at about 4:30 this morning my reality set in with the entrance of Ivy and Noah. Ha ha ha hahahahahahahahahaha (insert half crazed laugh here).

My little rays of sunshine!

Thank goodness daylight savings starts this weekend. I don’t know what I’m whinging about really. Getting up at 4:30 when you only went to bed at midnight is just so refreshing!

The key point in this story so far is that it was raining…alot.

What do you think I spent a large part of my day doing?

Can you guess?

Does the title give it away?

Sometime after breakfast Immy came screaming out of our bedroom.

"Mu - um! Noah has just found his birthday gumboots and he won’t put them back"!!!!! (Darn, I knew it was way too quiet)!

So what would you do? Would you insist on the (not very well hidden) wellies going back in their hiding place because it was still a full month until their birthday or would you just give them to the little guy, with eyes shining bright, because he had aquired his very first pair of gumboots?

Me too.

And if you gave those boots to the almost two year old boy would you then deny the almost two year old little girl because she hadn’t been snooping?

Me either.

So, here I was on a rainy day with twin toddlers and their brand spanking new (almost) birthday gumboots.

Gee, what will I do?

Of course, after a nap and some lunch we went outside and splashed in the rain puddles. What else would you do?

It’s not like I really had a choice.

I think if I hadn’t have released them into the yard, our house would be lacking a door right now because, you know, a glass door can only take so much rattling, head banging and smacking. You can only bellow at a door so often before it breaks, so you see, the choice was really taken out of my hands.

So we went outside, in the rain.

Ivy, Noah, my mum (who had arrived during nap time) and I. They had a ball. They got wet. They splashed around.

Did I mention they got wet?

It was fun and I took photos.

Want to see?

I’ve hidden the rest of their parcels, again, so they will have something left come the end of November.

Where are you going,  my little one, little one?

Where are you going, my baby, my dear.

Turn around and you’re two,

turn around and you’re four.

Turn around and you’re a young girl walking out of my door…

(Lullaby)

 

When Imogen and Madeline were little, way back in the Summer of ‘97, there was hardly a dress to be found. Unless you were in one of the higher income earning brackets and could afford boutique label frocks (don’t you just love that word, frock? It kind of just rolls off the tongue). I was not one of those people, so it was Best and Less and Target when we really wanted to dress up.

I’ll just pause here to say it still is mostly those shops that we frequent. Not because of income brackets but because they are affordable and nice and wear well.

Anyway, the best you could get were these sort of wash and wear sack like things. They were…functional but not pretty, girly dresses.

The majority of clothes available for little girls included shorts and t - shirts. Bike shorts were all the rage. (Sorry for anyone out there who still owns bike shorts and likes them). I think there were some denim overall type dresses but the girls claimed them too hot for our Summer and  would peel them off at the first turn of my back.

It was the same deal two years later when Lily was a toddler.

When I was a little girl, it was the 70’s. A time of gender equality. I did own some dresses but I was mostly in brown cords and skivvys in Winter and shorts and tops for the hotter months. I remember having a beautiful lime green number, which I wore with white knee high socks (are you getting a visual here? I looked luscious!). I thought I looked nice. I felt pretty but my peers didn’t think so. They thought I looked like a booger… in cork high heels and told me so, often.

So, when Ivy started to get past that growsuit stage and I cautiously looked out into the brave new world of clothing  for baby girls, imagine my glee (ok, I have been reminiscing my 70’s childhood, people, so I think I can use some of the  language of that era, just for tonight) when I found dresses, lots and lots of pretty, flowery, twirly, pastel shaded, gorgeous dresses! Since then, Ivy has been mostly clothed in them. With the exception of the middle of Winter days, frocks are her norm.

I love them! I have so many for her, I think her wardrobe is about to explode but I just can’t seem to get enough. David has tried to curb my buying them but it is no use. If I see a dress in the shop I like I have to have it. I don’t know what it is. Or maybe I do. Maybe I just explained my need for all things frock in the above paragraphs.

Ooooh, self analysis.

Scary stuff.

At first, I found Gymboree, through the internet. Their little dresses had me drooling onto my keyboard. Then the Spring and Summer range started to come out here. I discovered Cotton on Kids and a few other internet stores and went crazy.

Today, after waiting six weeks for a parcel, I was sure was not going to arrive, it landed on my doorstep containing the most gorgeous skirts and dresses I have ever clapped eyes on (I’m a freak, I know).

Today my mind is already ticking over with the different combinations that I might dress Ivy in tomorrow. Ahhh frock therapy… thank heaven for little girls, especially little girls who are toddlers in 2007. (Photos to follow. Ivy is not a willing muse most days).

***************************************************************

My friend Trish has given me this:

 

 

Nice matters. Oh yes, it does. In these times when everyone is rushing and some can’t stop to help others or offer a kind word, to me, nice is important.

Thank you Trish. She said that I was one of the nicest people she had met over the internet and I could say the same for her. So, right back at you, friend!

I’m going to share this with some people.

Triplets plus one mum, Michele S: for sticking up for another multiples mum. (See post above).

Meg from Dipping into the Australian blogpond because when you comment on her blog she always comments back. it’s like a conversation between friends. Something I need to work on, my commenting skills.

Finally to JohBlogs from Because I can…well, because I can really and because she wrote a very nice comment about my post on communities, that boosted me up, made my day and made me feel as though I had made a contribution out there in blogworld.

Thank you all for your niceness. Please pass it on.

He stumbled into the room this morning and crawled into our bed. After some time he started grizzling for his bottle. His father asked him if he would like some milk. Noah sat up and cradled David’s face in his hands, looked directly in to his eyes and said…

"No, coffee".

Ahh, Noah-ry, boy, you’re in fine form today!

After his coffee…err, his bottle and all the children had finished their breakfast, we prepared for our morning walk. For the life of me I couldn’t find my shoes. I asked around with little response, except for Noah who started to look under my bed.

"Where’s the stinkys?" he asked.

After a bit more searching he produced first one and then a second sneaker.

"There’s the stinkys." he said and handed them to me.

Oh, my little guy, you were not wrong, I thought as I placed my odorous sneakers on my feet. It was a simple toddler play on words but you were not wrong at all.

Coffee and stinkys on a Saturday morning, what more could anyone ask for?

 

A friend of ours gave us the toddler property laws when Imogen and Madeline turned one. After a very full on morning with Ivy and Noah, I was reminded of how true they were.

1. If I like it, it’s mine.
2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
5. If it’s mine, it must not ever appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I’m doing or building something, all of the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.
8. If I saw it first, it’s mine.
9. If you’re playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.
10.If it’s broken, it’s yours.