Happy Birthday - 3 TODAY

Well the count down is over and today Joshua was 3 years old. Who can believe just how quick it has gone and just how big he is already. The day started at 5am!!!!!!!!!! but after a little negotiation we managed to talk Joshua into going back to bed until 7am, albeit in our bed and not his. After a wash and teeth we distracted him from new presents long enough to get both boys breakfast. Even that was a struggle as Joshua was keen to play with his new toys from yesterday. In the time it too me to prepare breakfast both Joshua and Brandon had managed to use the art sets and play on their laptops at the kitchen table. Anyone once breakfast was out of the way then we opened the living room door to expose all Joshua's presents. The initial reaction was "wooooowwwww".

Without any encouragement Joshua dived into the pile requiring no guidance or instructions for Mum or Dad! He was a man possessed and on a mission. The first present was his remote control Brewster which his little brother brought him.

Then it was his Chugginton interactive track set which was his joint main present from Mummy and Daddy.

Then the all important PlayStation 3 steering wheel. The logic here is that he can use it to play his Lightning McQueen game. But the ulterior motive is that I get to use it next month when Gran Turismo 5 finally comes out.

Surprisingly Joshua never noticed the big box that all his presents were placed on. Underneath the big box was his main present - a Toy Story go kart. Boy was he excited and pleased with this present. We had a few fights initially as Brandon wanted to have a drive as well.

But then we distracted Brandon with his new sit and ride train which his Nanny and Grandad brought him yesterday so that the little fellow does not feel too left out on Joshua's big day.

This left Joshua time to really explore the in and outs of his new wheels.

After a bit of a battle we managed to get the Chuggington train set up and running. This was a real challenge with two very impatient little boys, some very poor instructions and about 100 pieces scattered all over the living room floor. Krypton Factor eat your heart out.........

After present time we decided to treat Joshua to a couple of hours over Party Man. Monday morning is a great time to go as there were only about 3 other kids there. So the boys pretty much had the place to themselves. Of course we mentioned it was Joshua's birthday and they kindly gave him a little toy train set.

I am pretty sure they do not allow kids to come down the big slide head first. But Joshua is now 3 going on 18 and seems to do what he pleases.

A bit of football club practice. Getting Brandon ready for next year when he can join Little Kickers.

For the first time Brandon noticed his unusual reflection in the wibbly wobbly mirrors.

After Party Man and lunch Brandon went off for a nap and that was the opportunity for me and Joshua to spend some quality time tearing up the streets of Wickford with his new go kart. I think I need to buy an adult size one as this one can only take up to 30kg's.

Forget battery powered cars. I was running hard to keep up with Joshua when he got going.

At the end of a another long day we decided to head out to Outback for a "nice dinner" as Joshua would put it. Brandon was extremely well behaved..........

Joshua was a little excitable and was constantly standing up on the chair and looking around the restaurant. But he still ate very well.

The staff made the mistake of giving Brandon a balloon to play with. He is such a little comedian these days........this picture proves it.

The staff kindly put some candles in Joshua's ice cream and everyone sang happy birthday to the little guy.

After all that both boys were completely pooped and we headed home to get them washed and put to bed. Now the countdown starts for Xmas...........

By the way............when did opening presents, building toys, playing with toys, running around Party Man and playing with a go kart become such hard work (I must be getting old). I am sure that when I was a kid, I would do this sort of thing day in and day out. But as a near 40 year old man...........today has left me completely shattered.

1 More Sleep......

Well only 1 more sleep until Joshua's 3rd birthday. Thanks to everyone who came to see the little guy today and bring him some presents ahead of his big day tomorrow. He has certainly enjoyed his day and loved his presents so far. This year has been really great as it is the first year Joshua has really understood his birthday, the fact that he is 3 years old and more importantly for him - that he is getting loads of presents. Something tells me he takes after his Dad with getting a bit over excited for such occasions which probably explains the 5:15am wake up call this morning. So if it was 5:15am on the eve of his 3rd birthday then I guess I might as well not bother going to bed tonight.

His Nanny and Grandad brought him this fab little laptop which he has not stopped playing with. Even tonight at about 6:45 we struggled to get him upstairs to get washed as he was sitting at his little table with his laptop saying he had work to do!

Tearing into presents is childs play. No assistance needed this year. In addition to the laptop Joshua also got a load of art stuff, some Toy Story Duplo, a Southend Football kit, and lots of clothes.

Despite Toy Story featuring heavily in this years birthday, Joshua has not forgotten his beloved Chuggington and specifically requested this as his birthday cake.

Joshua is usually pretty good at blowing out candles. But as you can see from this picture he was otherwise occupied with a lolly and so today it was a bit half hearted. Maybe tomorrow will be a bit better.

Brandon didn't really care much about how the candle was blown out. He just wanted to dive into a big chunk of cake.

All this and its only the Eve of his birthday, what ever will tomorrow bring?

Muscles

Only 5 more sleeps until Joshua is 3 years old.............

So what is new with the boys. Well at the dinner table tonight guess who counted to 3 for the first time all on his own. Yep, little Brandon. And even more impressive, guess who likes homemade chicken biryani and ate it all up. Yep, little Brandon. He is so good with his food and far more adventurous than Joshua, but even I was surprised he ate a huge plateful of biryani. Fortunately I will be at work tomorrow so I will not have to deal with the aftermath in the nappy.

As any parent will know, sometimes it can be a real challenge to get young children to eat vegetables. Well just lately I have started to explain to the boys what the different foods do for you. So for example the meats give you muscles, peas make you run fast, carrots give you good eyes, all the carbs give you energy etc.etc. So far it seems to be working well as both boys now tuck into their peas knowing they will run super fast. But the funny part is the muscles - I've have taught them to show me their muscles with a front double bicep. So now they both eat a bit of chicken and then the big guns come up to show me their bulging muscles. The way Brandon says "muscles" as he pulls his double bicep pose is just hilarious.

Final bit of news is that Joshua's phase in sessions into the "Toy Story" class at nursery are going really well. Once he turns 3 the nursery will move him up into this bigger class permanently.

One final final cute bit of news for today...................whilst sitting at the table tonight Joshua was telling us all how Brandon is his best friend. How nice is that? Lets just hope it always stays that way and the brothers both grow up as the very best of friends.

You spin me right round baby........

Little Brandon has recently taken a real liking to the blue spinning pod chair in Joshua's bedroom. So today it was a long over due trip to Ikea to buy the little dude his own one for in his bedroom. As you can see from the pictures below, Brandon is not in the slightest bit happy or interested in his chair (NOT!).

After tonight's bath-time it was a bit of a challenge to try and get the little dude out of his chair. He seems to think its a really funny game to spin himself around and pretend to be illusive as you try and grab him after each revolution.

11 sleeps and counting

Only 11 sleeps until Joshua's 3rd birthday. Can you believe my little man is nearly 3!!!!!!!! If anyone is stuck for ideas for presents for him then let me know as I have a list prepared of all his favourite things.

It has been a while since I wrote much about the boys development as recent blogs have focused more in places they have been and things they have done. Obviously both boys are developing there own personalities and traits as they grow into young men. So for today's blog I have pulled together an interesting little comparison which highlights some of the differences between the two of them.

I would be interested to hear if anyone agrees or disagrees with the above characteristics or even if you have observed different personality traits between the two boys. One thing is for sure, they are very different, individual little boys - but get on like two peas in a pod (brothers in arms).

Little Kickers Update

I think Joshua is now in his 3rd term at the Little Kickers football club and he still seems to enjoy it very much. He has made a good friend there, called Samuel, who also goes to his nursery. The last 2 weeks Joshua has been absolutely outstanding at football club. He has required absolutely no guidance or direction from me and has completed the whole class all on his own. He participates in all parts from the warm up, to the games, to the ball control, to the big kicks the goals and then the wind down. Its as if someone has flicked a switch and suddenly everything seems simple and fits into place. Maybe it is because I have backed off a bit, maybe it is because he has his little friend there..............what ever the reason, it is great for him, but bad for me. Why? Well to be honest I enjoyed chasing him around and kicking the ball with him? Now I just get to stand at the side talking with the other parents.

Anyway here he is taking a good crack at the goal.

 What a strike.



This is one of the games they play. The cones on the floor represent a snake and the kids have to straddle walk the length of the snake without touching the snake (because this will wake the snake). Once they have passed the snake they have to run along the court and then blast the football into the goal. The little boy you can see to Joshua's right on the yellow snake is his partner in crime, Samuel.

Day 7 The Finale

So we reach the final day of our holiday. The morning was more of the old routine, down the beach, then to the swimming pool, then to soft play and finally lunch and nap time. As you can see from the pictures below the sunshine blessed us nicely and we got some stunning pictures of the coastline showing the wind farm in the distance (or "spin spins" as Joshua calls them.

We had fun running away from the incoming waves. Both boys timed their retreats completely wrong and ended up with soaking wet shoes and trousers.

Brandon is interested in two things - cars and stone. If he can't have one then he will find the other and this was definitely the case on the beach. He thoroughly enjoys just picking up stones and pebbles and lobbing them into the sea.

The boys have become expectant of Dad building them some kind of sit on vehicle at soft play. So once again our imagination was let loose and this was today's soft play vehicles.

Notice Joshua even has a steering wheel this time.

And even a blue step at the side allowing the boys to climb into their vehicle.

I was asked to add a digger to the vehicle, the green and orange attachment was the best I could manage.

After lunch and a nap we headed into Great Yarmouth for the afternoon. Brandon was still asleep in the buggy so me and Joshua went on a few rides whilst we waited for him to wake.

Once Brandon finally decide to wake up and grace us with he presence we decided to have a scenic tour of the Yarmouth coastline from a horse and carriage. The trip was a couple of miles up and down the coastline but well worth the £15 for all 4 of us to go. The boys seemed to really enjoy the ride.

And the kind driver took a picture of all four of us in the carriage. Unfortunately Brandon would not let his cloth go and has it hanging from his mouth in the picture!

Mummy showing the boys the friendly horse and trying to encourage them to stroke his head. They were having none of it though.

THE END (UNTIL 2011 VACATION)