Nursery Phase In

Today Brandon had his first phase in session at nursery. He seemed to behave really well and didn't cry at all, in fact he was so well behaved that I slipped off and got in a quick 10K run whilst we waited for him. The biggest challenge was sneaking past Joshua's room without him seeing us at the window. Anyway Brandon now continues the phase in's a couple of times a week and then starts 2 days per week in January.

Poor old Joshua yesterday had a major case of constipation - the worst I have seen with a baby/toddler. Every time he tried to squeeze he just burst out crying and pointed to his bum saying "hurt". Fortunately a few leg shakes, scrunches, a belly rub and a warm bath and we managed to help him clear his bowels!!!!

Whilst we are on the subject of bowel movement I might as well get all the disgusting stuff out of the way in one blog. Last night at dinner was not for the weak stomached. Brandon figured out how to pick his nose and was routing around for his brains, and Joshua had some serious wind and was f@rting like you wouldn't believe (and before you all comment, yes I know, Like father like son!!!).

Xmas is coming.......

..............so up go the decorations and just look who was first to get busted playing with the Xmas tree. What makes it worse is that the little guy found it completely amusing to pull things off the tree. Later today he crawling over to the tree, rolled underneath, and then continued on his path of destruction!!!

Now tell me, is this the face of someone with guilt!!!!!!! NOT

And to make things even worse Joshua joined in and both boys were laughing at the destruction of the Xmas tree.

Once the novelty of the tree wore off the boys got down to some playtime with Joshua showing his younger brother a few tricks on the old toys.

Finally another nice picture of Brandon sitting in his high chair with a "sort of smile". Check out those toothy pegs now.

Crawler Lane

Here is a little brain teaser for you............. Joshua has recently just turned 2 years old and Brandon is rapidly approaching 1. There is just under a year and half between the boys in terms of age (well 15 months to be exact). Yet Joshua is about to have his 3rd Xmas and Brandon has yet to have his 1st - just doesn't seem right does it????? Speaking of Xmas it has just started to dawn on us just how expensive Xmas is going to be from now on having two little ones to buy for (and from).

Brandon has now moved into the crawler lane. He isn't quite darting around here there and everywhere, but he does get up into a crawling position and shuffles around a bit. Also it looks like the little guy now has tooth number 7 coming through (touch wood we have not had so much grief with this tooth as we had with the previous 6). Anyway it has been a while since I posted some video clips on the blog - so here are some of Brandon's first crawling.

So as Brandon moves into a new phase in his mobility, Joshua is also embarking upon another major development - potty training. He is doing extremely well with his use of the toilet and potty and is now building quite a collection of reward stickers. The nursery have also started letting him use the toilet and were very impressed that he flushes and washes his hands without any help or prompting. This week we are changing him over to pull-up nappies in a bit of a drive to try and get him dry through the daytime.

So by Early 2010 we could see some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of 1) No more sterilising once Brandon is one year old, 2) No more formula milk and switch Brandon to full fat milk (the down side of this is that I will have to start buying full fat milk for Brandon and semi-skimmed milk for Joshua), 3) No more rear facing car seats as Brandon transitions to front facing and finally 4) Hopefully no more nappies for Joshua (except for nighttimes). I don't like wishing my life away but the above 4 actions will make life so much easier for us (and cheaper!).

Josh Dundee

Today we took the boys along to a reptile encounter where they got to get up close and personal with some lizards, a turtle, a tortoise, some snakes and a crocodile. A great little event for the kiddies and an absolute bargain at just £2!!! Joshua still showed a lot of fear when confronted with the various animals and would not touch any of them. But he still enjoyed seeing them.

First off was a bearded dragon lizard. Note the slap nut in the background!!!

After the bearded one was another lizard which had a really soft belly.

To build the tension and excitement a race was organised between the tortoise and the turtle (wake me up when its finished!!!).

As you can see Joshua wanted nothing to do with the corn snake.

Brandon looked on intently.

The fianle was the crocodile itself. Joshua was very curios but despite lots of encouragement he still wouldn't touch the croc.

New Chair

Joshua will soon need a group 3 type car chair and after Xmas Brandon will be ready for the transition to a front facing car seat. So we figured we would buy Joshua a new Lightning McQueen seat and then Brandon will have his old one. The chair was an absolute bargain and as you can see from the pictures, both boys seem more than comfortable.

At the weekend we will measure Joshua up and see if he is big enough to use it, however I suspect he will not be ready until early next year.

OXO Cube

Joshua is still showing a keen interest in cooking and with this comes lots of new experiences in terms of trying new foods and learning the names of new foods. He has already done the cake mix bowl finger licking and tonight whilst helping me cook dinner he advanced to one of the major childhood milestone - licking an OXO cube!

Anyway the main purpose of this blog is to track the progress of our two boys and share some pictures of them growing up. However lets not forget that this journey is also about two new parents who are learning all the time. Its been a while since I wrote any mushy stuff about how parenting is going and feelings towards the boys. So for today's blog update I will focus more on me and Tina than the boys.

Firstly I have to say that I am really pleased that we held off until later in life to become parents. I feel far more prepared for the challenge and the life skills that you develop over the years have been a great benefit in applying to parenthood. For me personally I am not sure I could have been half the Dad I have been to the boys had we of decided to have children 10 years earlier. That's not knocking the later by any means, everyone is different and each to their own. Also I feel that at this stage in my life I can be more of a role model for the children and hopefully inspire them and give them something to aspire to.

We are still learning about being parents every single day and using as many sources as possible, i.e. websites, books, news letters, magazines, other parents, mini mend clubs etc.etc. One thing I have learnt is that you will never know all there is to know about parenting and every child/parent development is different anyway. My tip to new parents would be to simply be open minded, listen to everyone and don't be afraid to try things out. Only last week we took a tip off of Tina's little sister regarding milk feeds and have successfully weaned Joshua off of full fat milk and onto skimmed milk.

The boys are growing so fast and it will not be long before Brandon is classed as a toddle. He already eats pretty much the same as us, he doesn't particularly like sitting there having baby cuddles anymore and loves being on his feet. Despite these changes I think he will always be our little baby (even though I think he is going to be a bigger lad than Joshua!).

There are several aspects to parenting which are absolutely priceless though and no matter how much they boys grow up I will always treasure these moments. To name just but a few;

• watching the boys squirm in pleasure as you massage and tickle their backs or feet
• having them run up to you and ask for a cuddle or kiss completely voluntarily
• having them grab on and hold behind your leg when they are scared and need some security
• having them give you a book and ask to ready them a story
• watching them mimic your own mannerism's and movements
• sitting down at the dinner table to eat as a family
• having them bundle all over you when you are laying or sitting on the floor
• the first time they try a new food or drink
• they way Joshua says "lub you Daddy" when he goes to bed or I leave the house

Bonoween 09

Oh dear, a pink police Woman's hat - whats going wrong?

That's better, Scooby Doo complete with hair spike!

And then it all goes wrong again - the blond bombshell.

The little guy playing with a balloon.

And finally standing on the chair reaching over and grabbing a handful of his brothers home grown cress!

Bonfire Night

On bonfire night we took the boys to their first firework display. Brandon and Joshua's cousin, Amy, tagged along to be a helping hand with the boys and was chief child minder for Joshua on the fair ground rides. Both boys seemed to really enjoy the fireworks although Joshua did appear to get a bit bored about 2/3rds of the way through and only turned around when a big bang made him jump. I realised just how heavy the little dude is getting after carrying him for about an hour in total then having him on my shoulders for another 20-30 mins during the firework display (what a shoulder workout that was!). The finale to what was a good event was the debacle of an exit from the car park - it took us approximately 30 mins to get out of Gloucester Park, poor Brandon was shattered and just wanted his milk and bed. Anyway here is Amy and Joshua on one of the rides.

Joshua posing on his big Tonka Fire Engine which nanny got him for his birthday.

And here is the big guy posing with his home grown cress from his Mini-mend club.

Little Brandon managing to stand up on his own whilst holding onto something.

And then every now and then he forgets that he needs to hold on and just lets go to see what happens. Look no hands...........

Check out soldier boy with the matching hat!

The Artist

Joshua is really getting into his art these days. Yesterday he bought home another folder full of all his artwork which he has done at nursery and some of it is really good. The easel we bought him for his birthday has turned out to be a very good buy and is probably his second favourite toy right now (2nd only to his Police Car). Everyday he does some drawing on there and every night I draw a little picture or leave a message on there for him to see in the morning when he gets up. At the weekend we got the paint pots out and let him loose with some paint brushes as opposed to just the pens and chalk.

Since sparklers will be a bit dangerous for the boys we have improvised this year and gone for some light sticks. Joshua showed an initial interest but then went back to his toys. Brandon on the other hand was fascinated with the green glow and thoroughly enjoyed waving it around in front of his face. Tomorrow we are off to a firework display so both boys will be blinged up with the light sticks and bracelets.

I know Halloween has passed but Joshua's pumpkin still lives on a provides him with some entertainment each day. He now has a new face kit for the pumpkin and therefore has his green and black Frankenstein on one side and then this new red and yellow demon character on the other side.

Tonka

Have you ever seen such a happy pair of chappies..............

Brandon gets ever closer to becoming mobile - the days of the little guy just sitting in one spot and playing are numbered. We are at the bum shuffle and backwards crawl stage now and given his keenness to be on his feet I doubt it will be long before he is trying to walk. As you can see from below he can now stand quite happily on his own whilst leaning against an object. Unfortunately he forgets he cannot walk yet and often turns away to make a step without holding in!!! As a result of this standing and pulling himself around we also had to lower his cot sleep height at the weekend before we get the "thud" on the floor. Joshua helped me fix the cot with his little plastic tool set and bag.

Other breaking news on Brandon is that he now has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on the bottom. More teeth grinding now..........

For Joshua's birthday his Great Nan bought him a Tonka truck. Its good to see that Tonka's are still built as solidly as when I was a kid. Brandon is just the right size to sit in the back of the Tonka truck and have a free ride along side his brother in his Police Car.