Fearsome 3's

Well Brandon's birthday 3rd birthday is now history. Archived to the pictures and videos. Now all that remains is a house full of toys which I have got to find homes for (and to think we have only just got things all straightened out after Xmas). The boys now keep reminding me that it is my birthday next, but we don't need to remember that - I say we all forget the Big 40.

Anyway how about this lovely pictures of Joshua giving his birthday brother a hug (both wearing their Mickey mouse party hats).

And here is Brandon starting to tuck into some of his presents. Unfortunately he had football club first thing in the morning, so he only got to open 2 presents before leaving. The rest had to wait until he got back. Notice the new 2012 Olympic track suit he is modelling.

You can almost forget all of Brandon's presents. The key requirement for his birthday was that he got a grey/silver No.3 balloon. All hell would have broken out if he didn't get his birthday balloon.

Here are a selection of presents which Brandon got in the morning. Lots more to come from the family throughout the day.

Now just how apt is this. Brandon sitting on a pile of presents - any guess who bought these presents? Yes Auntie Nicky - hummmm, didn't she used to sit on her toys as well to stop me, Lisa and Min playing.

Eventually he rips into them to find his ice cream play doh making set.

How much attention have you been paying to the previous pictures? Have you been counting how many shirts Brandon has changed into throughout his birthday? It seems that every time he gets a new top, off comes the previous one and on with the new one. He did take quite a liking to this yellow and grey stripey hoody.

His motorbike toy from Nan. Kids have a brutal habit of saying what they see without thinking. When Brandon opened this his comment was "I'm not a baby!". But then he has spent a considerable amount of time playing with this toy yesterday and today so he obviously likes it. Then there was the pink t-shirt that he opened and made the comment, "I'm not a girlie!".

Anyone for some chewy play-doh ice cream with sprinkles?

The second birthday cake of the weekend. Brandon's very own pick of Mickey Mouse. Clearly he is looking forward to Disneyland holiday soon.

Brandon was a bit more successful blowing out the candles today.

So the terrible two's is behind us, and now we are into the "fearsome threes"!

STRIKE TWO

In preparation for Disneyland Paris we have been teaching the boys the Mickey Mouse song (M - I - C -K - E - Y          M - O - U - S - E..........Mickey Mouse), and Joshua has now got it off to a tee. I have a great recording of it on my phone.

But onto more important matters - only 1 more sleep until Brandon is 3. Today he started his birthday celebrations a bit early with a game of bowling over Bas Vegas with a few friends and relatives. Out of the four boys on Brandon's lane, Brandon hit the top score of 107 and was the only kid there to get a strike (well two in fact). Unfortunately he doesn't quite understand the scoring and sees a strike as a negative thing as it means he only gets one bowl and not two.

As everyone knows Brandon is a chocoholic (like his Mum), so we bought him a nice little chocolate cake to share out with his friends.

"I'll huff and I'll puff"............I think he needs more practise as it took about 4 or 5 attempts to blow out four candles!

Roll on tomorrow for the big day.

Masters 2012

An Aussie may have won last weekends final in the UK Masters Snooker Championship. But rest assured the future of British snooker and pool is in good hands. Just check out these two hot shots.

Brandon hasn't quite got the idea, but by hook or crook he insists on getting a ball in a pocket every time it is his go.

Joshua is actually getting quite a good cuing arm on him and has grasped the concept of using the white ball to hit the other colours.

Brandon just forgets about the cue ball and targets the blue ball for the middle pocket.

Check out that cuing arm!

After tonight's bath we finally talked Brandon into taking the plaster off of his poorly eye. As you can see the cut has healed nicely. But the bruising is starting to show up rather nicely.

Cruel to be kind

As all parents will tell you, having children is a bit of a roller coaster and whilst I tend to write about all of the magical moments, there are plenty of equally frustrating times. Last night was one of these times. I am a strong believer in all four of us sitting down at the table each evening for our dinner. However last night Joshua and Brandon both decided for some reason that they were not going to touch their dinner.

Now I tend to be very easy going with the boys and  probably the more jovial parent. However when they are naughty I let them know they are and discipline them accordingly. So after last nights episode the boys were made to sit at the table the entire evening until they ate some food, and if they didn't eat then it was no pudding and up for a bath and bed. I think they thought I was joking at first and that they would sit there for 20 mins and then get down and play.

How wrong they were. After 30 mins at the table me and Tina had finished dinner and cleared our plates away. Joshua and Brandon then asked if they could leave the table and were told no because they had not eaten there dinner. Once they realised I was serious we then had around 45 mins of non stop screaming and crying from both boys whilst we all remained sat at the table. Joshua learnt his lesson and finally gave in to eat his potato and vegetables and was therefore allowed a yogurt for pudding. Brandon was so stubborn and wouldn't eat a thing, so we all sat there until 6:15pm, then got down from the table and the boys went up for a bath and bed. Total time sat at the table was nearly an hour and a half!

I value my quality time with the boys very much and don't like having to discipline them. After last nights events I felt really really bad. However you have to be cruel to be kind sometimes and the boys have got to learn (the easy way or the hard way). So whilst I felt bad about things, deep down I know it was the right thing to do and will make meal times better in the future. I think Joshua definitely learnt his lesson, not so sure about Brandon. On the plus side they both slept through all night and then woke very hungry - and guess what - the ate very well at the dinner table tonight.

Anyway changing the subject slightly, of the two boys there is absolutely no doubt Brandon is the clumsy accident prone one. Tonight was yet another point in example as he lept onto the bean bag at break neck speed and split his eyelid open on the TV unit!!! However you will be pleased to hear he is fine and all smiles with his tiger plaster protecting his eye. Looks like he might have a nice shiner for his birthday this weekend.

Finally here is a picture of the two boys ready for bed and wearing their new Lightning McQueen dressing gowns which they got for Xmas.

5 more sleeps till Brandon's birthday

Who can believe it is under a week until Brandon’s 3^rd birthday. We all still think of him as the little baby, but he is growing up so quickly. To think this year he will start pre-school and next year infants’ school. The little dude is getting pretty excited about his birthday this year and knows his special day is coming and also knows how old he is going to be on his birthday. Surprisingly when you ask him what he wants for his birthday, he actually hasn’t got any ideas – not sure whether he has made the link with getting lots of presents for his birthday. I am sure that will change and from next year onwards there will be large lists of toys and electronic games etc.!

Anyway all the birthday preparations are taking place this week. Bowling for his friends and family is booked. Birthday cake selection is nearly made. All his presents are bought (just got to wrap them all up). Of course depending on what time he gets up Sunday will dictate whether he has his presents before or after football club. Typically the lazy tyke just about gets up in time for a wash, gets dressed, has his breakfast and then straight out the door. So his presents might have to wait until he has finished (unless he is like his old man and wakes early with excitement).

For the first year ever we gave Joshua a budget and let him personally walk around Toys R Us to find a present that he wanted to get for Brandon. We are also going to let Joshua wrap this present up so it becomes a special present from him to his younger brother. With all this pre-birthday activity I think Joshua is getting a bit jealous about Brandon having a birthday and keeps asking when his birthday is!

Man Hug

One thing that is very important to me is “work life balance”. I am a strong believer in the motto “work to live and not live to work” and hopefully this is something that I will instill in the boys as they both grow older and wiser. I am very mindful about making sure I get “quality time” with the children on a daily basis and always make sure I take them and pick them up from nursery at least once a week. I am doing my best to be a Dad that in 15 years time will not be looking back with regret having missed out on their childhood days and wondering when they grew up so quickly. I believe that putting in this level of family commitment and dedication now will help forge a really strong father/son relationship that will pass the test of time.

It’s funny how over time you develop your own funny little ways and patterns with children that become part of the daily routine. One of mine is what me and the boys call our “man hug”. We all sit together for story time prior to going to bed and at the end of story time we snuggle up for our “man hug”. After the “man hug” Brandon usually races off the find Mummy to tell her “you missed it!” referring to our man hug! Also weekends are not called weekends anymore, to Joshua and Brandon it is known as “day off with the boys”. They now know I do 5 days at work and then it is 2 days off with the boys. Quite often they will wake up in the morning or be sitting at the dinner table and will ask if tomorrow is a “day off with the boys!”. So clearly my “quality” family time is starting to pay off as the two boys seem to get so excited about their “days off with the boys”. In fact, Joshua has now even commented that it is not fair that I do 5 days at work and then 2 days “at home with the boys”! If only that ratio could be turned around!!!!

Lake Meadows Squirrel

So the big question on every ones lips - does the Go Glow clock work. Well I'd have to say yes so far. Joshua has largely stayed in his bed and clearly understands when it is morning and when he can get up. He did wake once at 1:20am, but once I explained Mr Moon was still glowing on his clock, he then stayed in his bed and went back to sleep.

It may have been -3 degrees when we left the house this morning, but it was such a lovely crisp, sunny winters day that I had to get out and do something outdoors with the boys. So we headed over to Lake Meadows for a spot of football and a play in the park.

Here is a lovely picture of the two boys on a swing chair thingy.

Anyone for a spot of horse riding?

Despite the time of year and the cold weather, the lake its self was abundant with geese, ducks and swans.

I also found these two rare monsters lurking around, fortunately they were caged up.

What is the significance of this picture? Why have the boys run across the field and what is Joshua looking at? Any guesses?

It was this lovely little squirrel which has come out of hibernation early to round up a few more acorns.

Finally some picture of little Brandon proudly traversing the big log swing all on his own (of course he had to start from the yellow ropes!).

Disney Cars Go Glow

Be careful next time you shop in Tesco's everyone. You have heard about various bugs and spiders getting into shopping bags. Well check out the little monster we found in this weeks shopping.

For the last month or so Brandon has had some really bad bouts of coughing (especially during the night time). Initially we thought it was due to his winter cold, but then the cold went and the coughing stayed. So we decided to get the little guy checked out by the quack and it appears he may well be yet another asthma sufferer. So he now has his own mask and pump which needs to be twice taken daily. Fortunately the mask is yellow (his favourite colour), so at the moment it has been no problem getting him to use this.

And he was so proud of his medicine that he wouldn't part with it and took it upstairs at bed time because apparently it needed a lot more shaking.

We have also been having some problems with Joshua's sleep pattern lately. It seems more often than not he has been waking up anywhere between 1 and 4 and wanting to come into our bed. We are not sure whether he is having bad dreams or what? We have tried various combinations of night lights, star lights, leaving the hall light on etc.etc. Clearly he does not need as much sleep as Brandon who takes after his Mum in that respect and will often sleep from 7pm to 8am no problem. Joshua rarely sleeps in past 6am and is definitely an early riser like me. Sometimes its just too early and he doesn't seem to grasp the concept that he needs to go back to bed.

So the latest trial is with the Disney Cars Go-Glow trainer clock. With this the picture turns from a night scene to a day scene at a time which you can program in. So there is a very clear picture of the moon which indicates that it is still bedtime. The clock also doubles as a night light which also goes out at the programmed morning time. At the moment Joshua is quite excited about his new clock, but tonight is the first trial so lets see how it goes.

Anyway here is Joshua with his new clock all ready for bed.

"Bobend"

Like most families with young children the expressions, “Father Christmas won’t come”, or “Father Christmas will take your presents back” have been used on more than one occasion over the last month or so. However Christmas now seems a distant memory having been back at work a week already and we can no longer use Santa as a negotiating tool for good behaviour! This is where Mickey Mouse comes to the rescue – what I here you say? Yes we have booked our first holiday of the year for late March to take the boys to Disneyland Paris. So whenever they are naughty now the expressions are more along the lines of  “Mickey Mouse won’t be happy with you”, or “You won’t go to Mickey Mouse Land”.

Other than holiday most of our attention is now focused on a certain little mans 3^rd birthday which is only approximately 3 weeks away! Late January is always difficult to arrange something as a lot of theme parks, zoo’s, farms etc are closed and even if they were open it would probably be cold and wet. So we are left with indoor activities. One possibility we are considering this year is to take him and some of his friends bowling as her thoroughly enjoyed his cousins bowling party over xmas. On the subject of Brandon, does anyone know what “bobend” means or where it comes from? When Brandon gets frustrated or told off says the word “bobend” in a sulky sort of manner as if he is saying “bothered”. We have asked him what he is saying?, where he learnt it from? and who says that word? – but have drawn up blanks.

Joshua has now started to get homework from his pre-school in preparation for starting junior school this September. We have made his school selection already so now it is a case of fingers crossed and wait. Hopefully we will get our first choice as the decision we have made will ultimately affect Brandon as well. Anyway here is Joshua proudly showing off his homework folder outside of his pre-school class today. 

Joshua seems to be getting very cleaver lately and grasping a real understanding of numbers and their sequence. At the dinner table last week we had garlic bread and he had memorised that he had eaten 3 slices and Brandon had eaten 2. There were still 2 slices on the plate which I went to take for me and Tina and he responded with “No they are for me and Brandon so that Brandon has 3 and I have 4”. I was so impressed that he remembered two numbers and then also had the ability to add 1 to each knowing the next number in the sequence.

Joshua is also getting very good at football club and I am convinced he is now ready for the next class up. He can now do some good jumping headers and if you bounce a ball towards him he really gets his laces into his ball strikes. Brandon has shown good improvements but is not ready to go up into Joshua’s current class and for this reason I think the coach is holding Joshua back as he know it will give us a problem with the gap between the two classes. It is already a bit of a marathon on a Sunday morning to take Brandon to football whilst Tina waits for Joshua, then Brandon waits whilst Joshua does his club afterwards. So to then add an hour gap between the two classes would make it really unmanageable,  I doubt Brandon will be ready for the next class until around April at the earliest.

Alvin & The Chipmunks

Here is a nice picture of the two boys sporting their first ever tattoo's. These are monster truck tat's from Brandon's Monster Jam set that he got for Xmas. They were so proud and immediately wanted to go around and show their Nanny. Amazingly after 2 baths, an hour in a swimming pool and multiple washes, the tats are still going strong. How cheeky does Brandon look?

Another nice picture of the boys with 3 of their cousins all wearing their new Xmas Peppa Pig jumpers which were hand knitted by Nanny King.

We all had a great start to 2012 and took the boys to see Lion King at the cinema. This was the first time they had seen this film and sat through the entire movie really well. Joshua got a little scared every time Scar came onto the big screen and we had a bit of explaining to do when Sinba's Dad was killed!

Also at the cinema the boys got to meet Alvin & The Chipmunks. Brandon was funny trying to replicate the "hang loose" hand gesture of the middle chipmunk.