Happy 2nd Birthday Son

No sooner is Xmas out of the way and suddenly here we are at the end of January and its Brandon's 2nd birthday. Not quite sure who was more excited about today out of me, Brandon and Joshua. Needless to say I have had hours of fun playing with all Brandon's new toys and presents. Thanks to everyone who brought him presents came over to see the little guy on his special day. He seemed to really enjoy his day and has gone to bed completely shattered.

As you can see from below his pile of presents was very impressive.

And he needed little guidance in tearing into the wrapping paper.

When the little guy did get a little stuck there was always an older brother never far away to provide a helping hand.

And even to test out some of Brandon's new dress-up costumes.

Judging by this expression I would say Brandon was pretty pleased with his box of match box cars.

But so far the star present appears to be this dumper truck which both boys absolute love.

Brandon posing in his Woody cowboy hat and his bob the builder construction jacket.

And then the adapted version with hard hat and pink hand bag.

The bargain of the birthday was this impressive construction site from ELC which cost a mere £12. Both boys will get hours of playtime out of this one.

And everyone knows just how much Brandon likes his cars. So one of his main presents was a new, bigger, better garage to play with his cars.

Joshua again playing with some of the dress-up costumes. This is a mixture of a Tomas Tank Engine hat and the Bob The Builder jacket. Joshua also sang Brandon a lovely version of Happy Birthday (completely unprompted) using the microphone on his piano which was nice. Fortunately it was one of those moment where the video camera was readily available as well.

And finally what birthday is complete without a cake. For Brandon it was a Handy Manny cake this year.

Absolutely Stunning Pictures

As Brandon is about to turn 2 it was time to use up his final pixi photo voucher. So here are are the latest stunning pictures which will line the walls of our stair case. Let me know if you would like any copies of these pictures and if so what size - I promise I will make an effort to actually print them this time.

3 more sleeps

Only 3 more sleeps until Brandon's 2nd birthday. If anyone is stuck for gift ideas then let me know as there is a birthday list floating around.

Painting By Fingers

This weekends painting session took messy play to an all new level. Both boys spend more time painting their limbs than the sheets of paper laid out for them.

Joshua managed to achieve a nice rainbow effect on his hand.

Of course Brandon copies everything his big brother does............

And ends up with a gooey mess on his hands.

At least they used their hands to do some painting afterwards, so it wasn't all a waste of time. Of course cleaning the paint off of their hands is another task all together and 2 days later the evidence is still there.

Why did I bother with the aprons and rolling the sleeves up - like it makes much difference. Brandon took painting to an all new level as he found a half eaten chocolate on the table and decided to paint that as well. I turned away for 5 seconds and next thing I know he is trying to eat his painted chocolate!!!

The aftermath of the paint pallet - anyone fancy a guess at the original 5 colours poured into the tray?

The Long Arm Story

Joshua came out with another one of those classic children’s comments a few nights back which gave me a good chuckle. When I take him to bed now we usually read a 2^nd story laying in his bed and to save disturbing him I have started to take the remote control for his lights/fan with me. So once we finish the story I can turn the lights off without having to get up and disturb him. Anyway we finished the story and I hit the button to turn the lights off which took him by surprise. He asked how the lights went off and I told him that I turned them off. His comment was, “have you got long arms then Daddy” – obviously he was confused as to how I reached the light switch from laying on his bed.

Brandon seems to be showing a very keen interest in dressing up. I think I previously mentioned that he wears Joshua’s Fireman costume more than Joshua does. Well at nursery he also loves dressing up and 9 times out of 10 when you go to collect him he will be walking around with a hat on, or some sort of jacket with a bag thrown over an arm. Apparently the nursery staff say he loves dressing up and wears the costumes all day. So it looks like we will be buying him some costumes for his birthday.

Final update today is regarding table manners. I have often been criticised for eating the right way – i.e. with the fork in your right hand. I have always argued that the whole purpose of using a fork is to transport food from plate to mouth. So if you are right handed then why would you not use your right hand for such an important function. Well both boys also use the right hand for the fork – woohoo. Looks like I win that battle. So no matter how many restaurants we go to where the cutlery will be laid the wrong way around – me and the boys still eat the right way around.

Hop Scotch Football

A rare thing happened today - there was this really odd big yellow thing in the sky that seemed to make everything bright and feel just a few degrees warmer. It seems like the boys have been couped up in the rain forever so it was nice to get outside today as we headed off to Maldon to let the boys play on the pirate ship.

Here are some pictures of me trying to teach the boys some number recognition and how to play hop scotch. The co-ordination just isn't there yet and it was quite funny to watch.

Brandon with one of his super Frisbee throws.

Little Brandon may be too small for football club at the moment. But give him a football and some open space and there is no stopping the little man.

Action shot..........

Tag Team Box Jumping

With all the toys the boys received over Christmas storage (tidy storage to be more specific) has become an issue. Today some of hour prayers were answered when we found this bargain 189 litre storage container and lid. Perfect for a robust toy box. Clearly Joshua has been taking lessons off of auntie Nicky with the "sitting on the toys" and decides to lay across the box to stop Brandon from getting in.

Brandon on the other hand uses his imagination and ingenuity to adapt the lid into a giant size ramp to race his scooby vans down.

And when you get bored with that game, then you drag your elder brother over and tell him to stand at the bottom of the ramp with his legs astride to make a tunnel.

Boys will be boys an before long the toy box had suddenly been turned into a climbing frame with the sofa being the soft landing zone. Not a great idea!!!

This is Brandon's devilish little smile before he launches himself upon the helpless victim laying on the sofa.

3....2....1......lift off. Now thats a big Daddy splat.

To try and preserve the sofa for a few more years I decided to adapt the boys launch pad to utilise the bean bag as opposed to the sofa. Initially the boys found it fun launching themselves off of the box individually.

Check out the air time........

But soon they got bored with waiting for one another to clear the landing zone and either, one was landing on the other, or they were jumping off side by side in tag team formation.

So all those toys they got for Christmas and yet they get more fun from a storage box which we buy them to store all the toys in. Go figure............