Air Ambulances and Rugby Injuries

Today started with the usual Sunday morning of nearly 3 hours at the boys football club. Brandon has improved no end over the last few weeks and really enjoys going. He needs very little assistance and pretty much does everything the coach asks. However despite being excellent he is not quite ready to go up in to Joshua's class. This is unfortunate as today Joshua got promoted to the next class up with the other 4 year olds. So whilst this will be great for Joshua it makes Sunday morning a logistical nightmare as there is now an hour gap between the two boys classes. So I will need to take Brandon on his own, then go home for a quick coffee and get Joshua, then go back down the football club for round 2 with Joshua. Guess I better get used to being a taxi for the boys.

Anyway after football club and lunch we cashed in on the recent interest the boys have shown in rugby by heading over to Lakeside to watch their cousin, Amy, in a game. Unfortunately for Amy she got injured today and ending up pulling out of the game, but that didn't stop us from having some fun on the rugby pitch once the game was over.

A concerned Brandon looking on as his cousin gets some medical attention on the sidelines.

Once the rugby was over Brandon was keen to get on the pitch and play some football. Obviously football club this morning did not fully satisfy his needs or tire him out enough.

I was ordered by the little man to be the goal keeper while he cracked shots at me.

Joshua also enjoyed a touch of football and had a good run around the field. This did not last for long as he decided he fancied a go at rugby - namely tackling his Dad to the ground!

 

Joshua "tonk's" the ball down field then chases after it in hot pursuit.

As I mentioned earlier the boys have become quite interested in Rugby as we have been watching the 6 Nations tournament at home. Its amazing how after watching a few games on TV and then watching Amy's team play, that Joshua has picked up on the concept of a scrum and a tackle. He wasn't really that bothered about whether a ball was involved, he just wanted to get his head into a tackle and wrestle you down to the ground.

Joshua takes on his Dad in a tackle.

I decided to play along and show him how to drive in a scrum position.

After making him work for a bit and drive me backwards I would give in and fall to the floor with him in top. Much to his enjoyment. He even managed to get a tackle on his Uncle Dave.

After all that exercise today the boys were pretty famished by dinner time tonight and both ate exceptionally well. We are trying to teach the boys the concept of "5 a day" and by my count Joshua has managed 8 today and Brandon and equally impressive 7. But during dinner we were interrupted by what appeared to be a very low flying helicopter. We couldn't see anything out of the windows and thus gave this no further thought and continued with our dinner.

However after dinner I took the boys outside to play on their bikes and scooters and we notice a huge yellow air ambulance helicopter which had landed in the park right opposite our house. So we quickly ran over there to get a birds eye view. The pilot said hello to the boys and then we had the pleasure of sitting about 25ft away and watching as the helicopter took off. The two boys absolutely loved watching this, although Brandon didn't like the initial wind and dust caused by the propellers as the chopper took off.

Josh and Brandon posing in front of the air ambulance helicopter.

Once we got home the boys wasted no time in seeking out their toy helicopters and role playing what they had just witnessed.

Role playing air ambulance helicopter rescues.

No.1 Best Seller

For this blog update I am going to completely, unashamedly blow my own trumpet. Never have I been prouder of my blog than I am today. Why am I so proud? Well it is because the 1st Volume has been published to hard back book to treasure for eternity, and in my opinion it is a No.1 best seller and is as valuable to me as my own wedding album. The book makes for a fascinating read and will be absolutely invaluable when it comes to sharing the boys early years and memories with them. The plan will be to hand the boys the complete set of hard back books at some point in the future (assuming I can part with them).

Volume.1 published to hard back book, absolutely stunning!



The English and grammar may not be top notch, but who would have thought this blog would still be going after nearly 5 years ago and over 560 blogs? The 1st Volume is an amazing 340 pages thick with 1,500 pictures and yet only covers the period from Aug 2007 to May 2009. Already the blog is large enough to compile a further 2 volumes each of around another 300 pages each! So just as soon as I get some spare cash I will for sure be ordering the next instalment. If you had of asked me 5 years ago to write you a 900 page book with thousands of pictures, I probably would have told you where to go. I didn't even put this much work into my Masters degree dicitation.

The pages look stunning with all the pictures and text laid out beautifully.

I know the boys are not supposed to see the books for many years to come, but I couldn't help sharing Volume 1 with them already.

Amazingly the boys loved looking at all the old pictures. I think even they were surprised to see baby pictures of themselves in moses baskets, or learning to crawl etc.

This picture needs duplicating in about 20 years time or so (or when ever I decide to hand over the complete set of books over to the boys). However Joshua and Brandon will no longer be boys, but young men ready to take on the world.

The hard back book also includes every comment that has been left on the blog and some of them are just amazing and make it so much more personal. I would like to encourage readers to leave more comments as it will make future volumes of the blog so much more meaningful.

Dental Care Success

All this week we have been playing doctors, dentists and patients with the two boys using their toy doctors set. We have been taking it in turns being the patient and opening your mouth so that the dentist can count the teeth in your mouth. At times it has to be said that this experience has been more painful than going to a real dentist with the vigour and enthusiasm that the boys will shove stuff in your mouth and try and pull your teeth out.

But the hard work and suffering was worth it as we had our first major success at the dentist today. Both boys sat in the dentists chair and voluntarily (without any encouragement) opened their mouths wide to let the dentist check their teeth (a first for both boys). Brandon was a brave little soldier to start the ball rolling and once Joshua saw him do it, then he stepped up to the plate as well. I was so proud of them both as previously they have gone very shy and not gone anywhere near the dentist of the chair.

For their efforts the dentist gave them both a sticker which they have worn proudly all day. At dinner tonight I asked Joshua what his favourite part of the day was and he replied with "going to the dentist"! Success.

Play Doh Alphabet

Both boys are getting very good with their letter and number recognition now. Joshua has started learning the phonics of the letters rather than the conventional type alphabet which I have been teaching him. This is starting to confuse me somewhat as I never learnt the phonics before and do not know all of the sounds. Guess I better do some homework myself! To further develop these skills Joshua has a set of letter phonics and word sounds cards which the pre-school have given him for his homework.

At the weekend the boys were playing with the play-doh making all kinds of shapes and ice creams etc. So given their recent interest in the alphabet and letters I decided to carve their names out of play-doh to see if they could recognise each letter.

Both boys are starting to get a real grip on their numbers as well. When driving around they will look out for road signs and tell me when the see a three and a zero “30”, four and a zero “40”, five and zero “50” etc and then promptly tell me I need to go slower. They are also starting to get to grips with basic finger arithmetic’s. I can say to them things like, if I have two fingers on this hand and 1 finer on this hand, how many do I have in total? Brandon has really picked this up well and in nursery last week he picked up two cards both with a “1” on them and then went up to his teacher and asked “what does a 1 and a 1 make”? How cool is that?

On holiday in Spain last year Joshua was introduced to Phineas and Ferb for the first time and has been an avid fan ever since. At the weekend we was in a clothes shop and I picked out a nice shark t-shirt for Brandon which had the number 72 on it (the year I was born). Because Brandon was getting a t-shirt Joshua decided to rummage through the racks and find himself one. Within seconds he had homed in on an orange and white striped t-shirt saying he wanted this one because it is a Phineas t-shirt. We were complete confused by this because it was just a plain striped t-shirt with no pictures, characters or anything on it, but he was adamant this was what he wanted and so we bought it for him. Anyway we got home and put on a Phineas and Ferb cartoon and low and behold guess what Phineas wears – you got it, an orange and white striped t-shirt. How observant is that of Joshua?

Joshua proudly showing his Phineas t-shirt.

Spot the resemblance? and no comments about the red hair please.

Joshua (a.k.a Phineas) demonstrating the only way to eat a pack of Hula Hoops,

Brandon with his "72" shark t-shirt.

Shark boy chomping down on a Kellogg's chocolate cereal bar.

Captain Peg Leg

Be it right or wrong we have always been completely honest with Joshua and Brandon when it comes to the difficult questions regarding their Nanny and Grandad's health. We feel it is important they understand that Grandad lost his leg through smoking and that Nanny has the horrible cancer disease. It doesn't make answering their questions any easier but at least they know the truth and deal with it face on without being afraid. Both boys will quite happily help their Nanny with her feeds and are always curious with Grandads false leg. In fact yesterday they were both trying to figure out just how exactly Grandad fits his foot into his prosthetic leg. I think because they see the foot at the bottom of the false leg, they somehow assume the foot squeezes down through the metal tube and into the shoe.

Here is Joshua trying to figure out how to fit a false leg.

And as you know whatever Joshua does, Brandon soon has to try for himself as well. Not sure hiding an able bodied foot in a prosthetic leg will get them into the 2012 Parolympics though!

Its no secret that the two boys are completely spoilt and have a house FULL of lovely toys. However it is still the simple things that often please them the most. How many times have you been told over the years that kids are more interested in the box than the present.


This brings new meaning to living in a box!

Boxer Shorts

Yesterday was a new first for me. I finished my early morning workout down the gym (no, that’s not the first) and had a nice shower to freshen up afterwards (and no that is not a first either). I then go to get dressed only to find I have picked up a pair of Joshua’s boxer shorts instead of mine!!!!!! That’s a sure sign that your children are growing fast when you mistakenly pick up their clothes instead of yours. Unfortunately as fit as I am, even I struggle to squeeze into a pair of 4 year old boxer shorts!

The boys have now got quite a good collection of duplo Lego which they have accumulated between them from various birthdays and Christmas’s. The main theme of their duplo is Thomas Tank Engine, although they do have some Buzz Lightyear bits and some Lightning McQueen as well. Joshua recently bought Brandon the Thomas Carnival track set for his birthday – he picked this present for his little brother all on his own and wrapped it as well. Between all of the various sets we can build some pretty big train tracks now with cranes, loading yards, heli pads, fuel stations etc. Brandon in particular loves playing with the Lego and whizzing the trains up and down the tracks.




This is one of the smaller tracks which we built recently.

Brandon playing with the new carnival wheel that Joshua brought him.

PC Literate

At the age of 3 and 4 I can't really remember too much about what I used to play with. I am sure at this age I would have been too young for "action men" or mecanno, maybe some Lego or stickle bricks? Can't really remember, but one thing for sure is it was not a PC! Not only have our boys got their own touch screen electronic devices (namely the Innotab and the Mobigo), but they are both little Einsteins when it comes to using a PC already.

Joshua can quite happily sit on a lap top and navigate his way around the screen opening and closing little games from websites such as friv.co.uk. Brandon hasn't quite got the mouse co-ordination yet, but set him up on the Hot Wheels Monster Jam game and show him what keys to press and he is well away. So much for me getting on with some work at home as I lose both the laptop and the desktop!

Joshua showing his ability to navigate around Windows using the mouse.

Its incredible to me that a 4 year old can already be start to get PC literate. The new generation eh!

Little Brandon warming up his Monster Truck on the PC.

And he is off, he even knows what keys to press to make his truck do flips in the air.

Poorly Painting

Another busy weekend with the boys and unfortunately still trying to manage their colds / flu's from last week. Brandon seems to have caught it pretty bad now and neither of them have eaten much today. Fortunately they both perked up yesterday and we had the pleasure of taking their Nanny to the swimming pool with us as she was really keen to see how the little dudes have progressed with their swimming. I think her comments were along the line of "fearless....".

Anyway as the boys have been feeling a bit worse for wear and the weather is so cold outside, I have been trying to keep them entertained indoors without resorting to the TV. We spent about an hour this afternoon doing this rather spectacular painting mural.

Believe it or not the big green blob on the right started life as a good old fashioned steam train.

 

Brandon painting over my aeroplane. Apparently you do not need windows to see out of.



You can never have enough green...........





And here is the finished work of art, the bidding starts at..................

Frosty The Snowman

Well it was nearly a month late but well worth the wait. Joshua and Brandon were so excited when they woke up on Sunday morning to find their velux windows covered in snow! They then went running all around the house looking out of each and every window at the snow. One of the first comments from the boys was, "Is Father Christmas coming again?". They have clearly made a link between snow and CChristmas. Anyway due to the extreme weather the usual Sunday morning football club was cancelled which meant one thing - a day playing in the snow.

How festive does our little Xmas tree look?

The boys took it in turns to Christian the gardens with the first foot prints. Joshua had the honour of the back garden and Brandon did the front garden.

I would say that having both boys tag teaming me in a snowball fight is a bit unfair. But to be honest, with Brandon's throwing arm you don't stand much chance anyway.

Here is Brandon making the first steps in the front garden, as you can see the snow is almost as high as his little wellies.

Joshua catches a snowball right on the forehead.

Joshua takes after me and enjoys a nice run down the street in the snow. Great workout for the legs.

Pretty much from the time the boys got up there was really only one thing on their mind though - sledging. The problem here is that Wickford has got to be the flattest place on the planet. Needless to say I had a great workout dragging a 3 year old and a 4 year old around the park and the streets of Wickford.

After sledging it was time to start building. So we set to work on the biggest snowman in the Wick - aptly named "Frosty"!.

The boys loved building the snowman and thoroughly enjoyed digging the snow. In fact later in the day Joshua helped me and one of the neighbours pretty much dig up all the snow off of the driveway.

And after several hours out in the snow here is the final masterpiece, meet the 7ft tall Frosty the Snowman.

As with last year Brandon clearly takes after his Mummy in the snow and isn't a great fan. He had a little play, but then once he gets cold he quickly retreats to the warmth of the house (Nicky stop laughing at that last comment). Joshua however is like me and just doesn't know when to stop. He will stay out in the snow digging, sledging, snowballs all day long and eventually you have to drag him indoors kicking and screaming. Clearly he completely over did it on Sunday as the little guy was completely pooped. Usually he is awake by 6am sharp, however he slept right through to 7:30 on Monday which is unheard of for him.