Brandon 1 : Joshua 2

Earlier this week Brandon somehow managed to bend his index toe back whilst running around in a soft play down the David Lloyd. Fortunately nothing was broken or fractured and after 3 hours down A&E to get an x-ray they confirmed that all he had was some soft tissue damage and a bit of swelling. So we had about 2 days where he wouldn’t put his foot on the floor and pretty much demanded to be carried everywhere. The cheeky bugger would even ask to be picked up to be moved around when sitting on the floor playing with his cars! Anyway all is better now and he is back to his usually self charging around, pedalling his bike and go-kart etc and more importantly back to being mobile before our next camping adventure.

Despite Brandon being the more fragile of the two boys and definitely the more accident prone, this was to be his first trip to A&E. So not bad really as he is nearly 4 years old and this was his first time. So the current score line is Joshua 2 : Brandon 1. Joshua has been to A&E on two previous occasions, once due to sickness/dehydration as a very young baby and more recently when he slid over on the conservatory floor and slit his eyebrow open. However Brandon is about to level the score to 2 a piece as he becomes the first of our children to undergo surgery. In under a months time he will finally go under the knife in order to have a cyst removed from his eye brow. I have to say I am a bit nervous already, but the doctor assures us it is a very simple 10 minute procedure, but it has got to be done under general anaesthetic. So Brandon gets to be the first to make use of our private health care policy but more importantly we will get his cyst all sorted out before he starts school next year.

Brandon can swim!

Brandon has achieved 3 major milestones in his development this weekend. Firstly he no longer wears pull up pants to bed of a night time and is now completely dry. Secondly he has learnt to do a wee whilst standing up - so now he can play ping pong pee. Thirdly and probably the biggest achievement of them all - he can now swim without the use of arm bands or his float belt. Today I managed to get him to swim about a 3rd of a length of a 25m pool all on his own. I was so proud of the little guy, he must have spent about 15 mins in the big pool with no arm bands or float belt. One thing for sure is that Little B is no longer our little baby, he is a proper little boy himself now.

 

 

Little B holding his Nan's new guinea pig called Honey.

 

All in all me and the boys have had a very sporty day today. We started with Little Kickers football club, then went swimming for an hour or so. After that it was home for a spot of lunch before loading up the car with all the kayaking gear and heading over to Papermill Lock again. So our HMS Wick II (Hudson) got its second outing out in as many weeks. As usual it was lovely over the Lock and it was quality time spent with the boys. We probably rowed further up the Chelmer than we have ever gone before and then coasted back with the wind and current in our favour. After our long row we had a coffee, ice cream and scone, then the two boys wanted to go out on the kayak in their own!!! Maybe in a few years me thinks!

 

Quality time with the boys.

HMS Wick II

The two boys are thoroughly enjoying our weekends down Papermill Lock for a spot of kayaking. However one thing has quickly become apparent - a two seater kayak just isn't working as both boys always want to come out with me at the same time. Neither of them are old enough to have a single seater and two 2-seaters is not an option as Tina is not that interested. So I opted for the next best thing - a 3 seater! Decathlon were offering the fantastic Sevylor Hudson reduced by £100 and it was just too good an offer to turn down - we were dead lucky as we managed to get the very last one and even this had been reserved for someone else. So last weekend we headed off to the Lock for the first launch of HMS Wick II.

 

HMS Wick II's maiden voyage, Josh at the stern and Brandon at the bow.

If anything I would say the Hudson was easier to set-up than our old two seater inflatable kayak and took no more than 10-15 minutes to inflate. It is surprisingly much longer and wider than our old boat. On the plus side the seats provide far more support and leg room and there is a dry bag which is concealed in the back. The only real downside is that it is too big and heavy for just me to carry down to the water.

 

And off we all head on the Hudson's first cruise.

The Hudson handles and performs soooooo well. I was amazed at how much more stable and fast it was compared with our old kayak. It handles extremely well and is very manoeuvrable considering the length of it. The sides are a little lower than our old kayak which enables the boys to use the ores with much greater ease and efficiency. This really became apparent with Joshua and at times you really had to put the power down on the opposite side to where he was rowing as he was really starting to propel us along.

 

Much more stable and no bending in the middle of the kayak.

The Hudson seems to be built much more durable as well with all the inflatable parts concealed in a heavy nylon material. Then the bottom is lined with a thick rubber base. The chances of ever getting a puncture through the materials it is made of has got to be slim to none. Hopefully this kayak will last us several years until the boys are old enough to start going out in single seaters on their own.

Amy taking her nephews out for s spin on the mill pond Chelmer. in.

Brandon loves being on the water and every time he gets out of the boat he says something like, "well that was a good day out wasn't it?". Despite his enjoyment he often only likes little trips down the river and then wants to turn around and come back. So Amy dropped Brandon off after a while and then took Joshua off for a long haul down the Chelmer (probably further than he has been before). 

Amy and Joshua returning after their long haul down the Chelmer.

Fingers crossed this nice weather stays for a little longer so we can get a few more trips out on the Hudson (aka HMS Wick II) before the winter months set

Ultimate Breakfast Bowl



As a parent of the modern 21st century we have stumbled across many inventions to either make life easier with children or simply to aid in their development. Obvious examples that spring to mind are the doidy cup, the door bouncer, the balance buddy, in car bottle warmers and the list goes on and on. But this one is pure genius and I only wish I had one of these as a kid. So what is the amazing invention that we have discovered for the boys................ a simple cereal bowl with a built in straw!



What a genius idea, a breakfast bowl with a built in straw.



How many times as a child did you get told not to pick up your cereal bowl to drink the milk from the bottom? Problem solved, leave the bowl on the table and drink through the straw. This invention has got to be a dream come true for anyone who likes cocoa pops.

Joshua trying it with rice crispies, he even managed to suck a few crispies up the straw.

Works well with Brandon's favourite breakfast, weetabix mixed with coca pops.

Tooth Fairy

Well it is not often that Brandon gets to be the first to any major milestone as his older brother usually takes that honour. However today he chalked one up for himself by being the first one of the boys to lose a tooth. Finally his damaged front tooth has come out at the tender age of 3 (somewhat earlier than we were expecting as typically the milk teeth start falling out at around 5-6 years old).

Brandon proudly showing his new smile and his fallen tooth.

Needless to say tonight's bedtime story was the Peppa Pigs tooth fairy book. Before the story Brandon put his tooth under his pillow and now awaits the tooth fairy to bring him a shiny coin. I am not sure what the going rate is for a tooth fairy these days as this is our first experience of this. I have been advised everything from £1 to Wii games! I think the tooth fairy will go for a fiver this time.

Wide mouthed Brandon

We have had all sorts of questions and funny statements from Brandon as he tries to compute what it means to lose a tooth. He has told us he cant eat anything, cant drink anything, cant clean his teeth but funniest of all is that he can't close his mouth and is walking around the house wide mouthed as in the picture above! Fortunately we already had a dentist visit booked in for next week so we can get his mouth checked out properly.



And here is the first tooth, complete with blood stains.



Christopher Nibble

My last blog update was all about animals and also referenced a kangaroo book that I read to the children at night time. The title of this blog references another one of their books about a guinea pig called Christopher Nibble who saves the guinea pig world by growing the last remaining dandelion plant and spreading the seeds. So what has guinea pigs got to do with Joshua and Brandon? Well last week the boys got to look after their Nanny’s 2 guinea pigs for a few days and they absolutely loved it. Although I think Joshua renamed the pair of them about twice daily!

I set the guinea pigs play pen up in the back garden and within no time at all there was two guinea pigs and two little boys playing inside it. Brandon was hilarious to watch as the guinea pigs crawled over his feet or ran through his legs. He was constantly shoving dandelion leaves under their noses and saying “yum yum”! We made several trips over to Wick Park to stock up on plenty of fresh juicy dandelion leaves. Joshua confuses these with rocket leaves and thinks they might taste good in a salad.

Here are Nanny's two guinea pigs.

Yum, yum, munch, munch.

Through the legs he goes.

Brandon definitely took a liking to the white one.

You will eat this dandelion leaf.

You see he can be gentle and just stroke the pets.

More dandelion feeding.

Joshua looks after the brown one as Brandon seems to have adopted the white one.

Yum, yum, anyone for some rocket leaves?

The guinea pigs how now returned to there rightful over but the pressure is on from the boys to now get some guinea pigs of their own!!!!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo.......

I have had so much material to put in the blog recently that some things have just had to be put on the back burner for a while. So finally I have got around to adding a blog about a family trip to Colchester Zoo which took place about 2 weeks ago. So school summer holiday is complete without the zoo featuring somewhere in the calendar. So on this scorcher of a day we four kings along with the Little Bentley Crew and Nanny headed over to Colchester.

We rented a wheel chair for the boys Nan for the day as Colchester Zoo is very hilly and its just too much walking for her on such a hot day. However she was more often than not fighting the boys off to have a ride in it.

Amy pushing Josh and Brandon around the zoo in a wheel chair.

First stop was the penguins.

Per, picker per Brandon.

The underwater seal tunnel is always a favourite. We timed it perfectly to catch the seal show inside the tunnel.

Brandon and mummy in the seal tunnel.

Little Brandon in amongst some big seals - are they real?

Now that's what a call a meerkat.

And that's what I call a cheeky meerkat!

Of course they have real meerkats there as well.

The boys were fascinated by this lioness who was licking some food that had been hidden in a brick size ice block. What a great way to keep cool on a hot day.

Anyone want to lick a lion lolly.

New for 2012 is an absolutely stunning enclosure for the otters which allows you to get very close and personal.

A lovely picture of Auntie Nicky's favourite, the otter.

With the sun gazing down on this metal croc it got pretty hot and poor Brandon burnt his little legs when he tried to sit on it.

Joshie's tribute to Steve Irwin nearly 6 years after the great man passed away.

Monkey see, monkey do!

One of the boys favourite bedtime stories is about a wallaby. Ive read it so many times I pretty much know the words off by heart. So without further delay, "Willaby wallably bibbly bobbly bounces off to the blue billabong!".



"Theres an ouch in my pouch and its making me grumpy, its making me grouch".

The pouch is a bit of a tight squeeze for big Joshie.

Even Brandon was brave enough to hand feed some of the billy goats. He is getting so much more confidence around animals when you consider how scared of them he was not so long ago.



The boys hand feeding a little goat.

Now that's what you call a giant tortoise.

Brandon's current favourite animal is still the giraffe and Colchester Zoo has a stunning "Out of Africa" display with some of the big five. Take a look at the picture below and see if you can spot Brandon?

Is this a mother and baby giraffe or a sneaky little Brandon lurking between its legs?

And a real giraffe in the "Out of Africa" enclosure.

Given how fast Brandon can run now, this is a rather apt picture of him with a statue of the fastest land animal.

And from the largest to the biggest.

If only this was a real elephant. I have had camel rides in the past, but never had the opportunity to ride on a real elephant.

A nice photo of one of the real elephants. Joshua was commenting how disgusting they were covered in all that mud.

My two cheeky chappies on a train ride through the zoo to the hidden lemur enclosure.

Joshua took this picture of a sleeping lemur about 2ft away from us. What a good shot.

Cousin Amy teaching Brandon how to hand feed a big old shire horse.

Who has the reddest hair, Amy of the little goat.

One of my favourites at the zoo, the big old rhino. 

Finally a picture of the two boys on the train with their Nanny.


For me one of the funniest parts of the day was seeing what animals we could run as fast as. I was desperate to get to wolf speed (which I think was about 40kph) but missed it by about two miles an hour and had to settle for an elephant. Can't quote remember what the boys speeds were, but I seem to recall Joshua hitting around 17kph.