An afternoon with the kids

Yesterday, I looked after Aidan and Claire because our nanny had to attend a funeral. I came home just after lunch and was given the run down of the day so far - who'd eaten what, who'd had a diaper change when, and when they'd gone to sleep.

Yes, they were asleep, so I had a few minutes to myself.

Claire woke up first and wanted milk and a book. Half through the cup of milk and This Is London we heard Aidy and both went up to see him. He seemed pretty happy to be greeted by his, "daddy."

After both the kids were fully awake and fed, we set off for an errand. Then we went for ice cream. Or Ow-ceem, or I-Peen, depending on which kid you talk to.

After we'd all wiped our faces, we set off for a walk. Well, Claire and I walked and Aidan took his big red push car.

There was a moment, during the walk, which I saw myself in Aidan. And it wasn't great. I took my phone out and asked them to say, "Cheese." But as soon as I did I saw panic all over Aidan's face and he just shouted, "Cam-ma."

In the last few days when Aidan has been out with his car he's taken a black alarm clock with him, which he pretends is his "cam-ma". It wasn't there. And Aidan pulled the same face you've all seen me pull, when I've misplaced my keys or lost my wallet.

We went back in the house and found the cam-ma. I then took picture of Aidan and Claire while Aidan took pictures of me.

It's great witnessing kids learn the English language. First you have the unintentional swearing. Aidan loves trucks, and lots of the time says TRUCKS but if he says FIRE TRUCK, the TR gets changed for an F. And if he gets excited and sees two trucks, sometimes the same thing happens but he adds an ERS at the end. It sounds like he doesn't like them, but he really does. A lot.

Also, it's funny how out of context words can get. Obviously when someone bumps into Aidan they say sorry and he's picked that up. A bump on the head means sorry. So when he got bumped by the fridge door yesterday, he turned round to it and said, "Sorry."

After some food Aidan and claire finished their homework and waited for Claire's mum. It was a great afternoon but I did sleep well last night.

Aidy's words

Two things have happened to Aidy recently. He hasn't been very well. Over the last three weeks he's had two fevers, a fair bit of vomiting and hasn't been sleeping well, at all. The other thing is that his vocabulary has exploded, and he repeats everything we say.

When he wasn't well he learned the word cry. He'd cry then finish by telling us he wanted to "cry".

The other morning, when he was much better, he woke up, a bit too early, calling for, "Daddy, daddy, daddy." He stopped for a little bit then tried, "Mummy, mummy, mummy." He stopped again. Then he just simply said, "cry, daddy, cry."

He knows how to pluck at my heart strings. I went to him right away.

Babysitting

Last night we looked after Sophie and Allie. Aidy loved it. They all did.

You'd have thought with all the exercise we put Allie through she'd be exhausted. We got that wrong. She didn't want to miss any excitement and stayed up until 9:15.

Aidan at 2 years, 1 month

We haven't sat down and wrote what the boy's up to for a while. So here's a list:

As soon as he turned 2 he seemed to latch on to words. He still speaks long wah-wah sentences but now ends these with an understandable word or two.

No has entered his vocabulary - a bit too often.

He loves riding on his Big Red Push-Car. And other favorites include his toy car park, train-set, and shopping trolley.

He recognises most farm animals, shapes, body parts and different vehicles. And shouts out when he sees them.

He's started eating better with pancakes, butter and syrup being a breakfast favorite - of course. He even helps out when making it. He likes spicier food - but we're skeptical at giving him too much.

He goes swimming on Thursday evenings. Well, he splashes in the right places when it comes to the actions during all the songs we sing.

He's started singing along to at least the first few lines of nursery rhymes.

He likes to zip his footie PJs up and down, pretends he is a 'big scary monster' a little too much and still loves to chase around as much as possible. He has become somewhat bossy when we stop out of exhaustion and he points at us to 'Go!' and giggles with anticipation of the next chase.

His sleep has become much better in the last two years, sleeping-in sometimes until 8.30 (hallelula!) and with hardly a peep overnight. Unless of course he has a tooth or two bothering him. Then we know it will be a disrupted night. Luckily he has a lot now so we hope the worst is over. He goes to sleep at 7pm like clockwork and has only occasionally refused a nap.

Fun in the snow

Winter doesn't always provide great photos. But yesterday it was warm enough to go outside, slide, build snow-people and have fun.

Aidan at his playful best.

Great idea to slide into the snow, mum.

Daddy, mummy and baby snow-people. Twigs for arms and smiles, leaves from shrubs for eyebrows and berries for eyes.

Walking to find the ducks who didn't fly south.

Happy birthday Amelia

While in Wausau we celebrated Amelia's first birthday. She loved her party.

Great birthday dress.

The 1st of many to come.

Aidan, it's Amelia's cake.

Winter ice cream

We went up to Wausau for new year and visited the local art gallery. Aidan breezed past the art pretty quickly but loved serving everyone at the faux ice cream parlor.

I hope these guys tip well.

You want more, mum?

There you go.