Boys age. . . . . .

Apologies

Sorry I haven’t uploaded any pictures in a while. Life is busy, and I have been slack :(

The boys have been very good lately. E has a little temp today, but apart from that they have not been sick since that awful illness in July. Both boys had their 18 month vaccination (chicken pox) and did extremely well. It was the best vaccination so far. Ben got a mini chicken pox rash for a few days, but it didn’t really bother him at all.

The boys have adjusted very well to the new house and we all love living here. They sleep 12 hours over night 7pm-7am and nap a couple of hours after lunch. They walk, run, climb and get into all sorts of mischief on a daily basis.

Ben is getting very chatty and says about 10-20 words. His favourite word is car and he says it the most. Ethan still doesn’t talk much and usually only says ‘mum’ but he can say about 5 words.

Both boys understand most of what we say and can follow 2 step directions very well. They love to help around the house and enjoy doing simple tasks when you ask. Ethan’s favourite chore is to clean up spills with a moist cloth.

They are also cheeky little toddlers who equally enjoy ignoring what we say, or doing the exact opposite of what is asked. This usually happens when we ask them to “come here please”. They often smile, laugh, shake their head and walk backwards, thinking it’s a great joke. Cheeky boys!

I could go on for ages telling stories of my little darlings, but I’ve wasted enough time on the computer today. Better go do some house work!!

Hope you enjoy the following pictures :)

Kitchen Antics

The boys are still learning the art of feeding them self with a spoon. It’s a tricky process that makes a lot of mess. Below are some pictures of the boys eating rice bubbles this morning.

Ethan

Ben

 

A little later in the day the boys sat at the table to do some drawing with their crayons. We’ve been a little slack in the art department lately. They boys will be getting some art supplies for Christmas, so we’ll be getting to art again next year.

Ben

Ben

Ethan

Ben

Ben’s drawing

Ben – lots of concentration

Ethan’s drawing

Ethan – concentrating hard on putting the crayons back in the box.

Boys’ room

As promised a while ago here are some pictures of the boys’ room.

Ben at the door. Both boys love the fire truck pictures on their door.

A closer look at the pictures on the door.

Ethan and his cot, as seen from the door.

Another view from the door.

Also standing in the door way, looking towards the balcony. Ben’s cot on the left, Ethan’s on the right.

Ethan, Ben and Ben’s cot. Also see the new air conditioner we bought for their room. The boys’ room faces west and gets VERY VERY hot in the mid-late afternoon. The new AC is great. Very efficient and very quiet. We can leave it on while they nap in the day, and set it to turn off a couple of hours after they are put to bed at night on hot days.

 

Ben’s cot

Book case

A closer look at some of the pics on the walls 

Pics over Ben’s cot.

Sleeping Boys

We don’t often get to see our boys asleep as one boys usually starts making some noise to let us know he’s awake, and rouses the other boy into a lighter sleep or wakes him up. Both boys are usually awake when we walk into the room.

Recently I’ve managed to get a few pictures of my little darlings fast asleep.

Ethan

Ben

Early Christmas with Grandma

Last weekend the boys’ Grandma came to our house for an early Christmas. She is going to America for 6 weeks this Friday to spend Christmas with her son (Uncle Graham who lives in Texas). We celebrated last Saturday.  On Friday evening after the boys went to bed, Tracie and her mum put up the tree and wrapped all the presents (Sal was at work). The boys came downstairs on Saturday morning to see a tree and lots of presents in their living room. They LOVED it!!

Ethan examining the tree, Ben examining the presents!

Ethan – LOVES the Christmas tree. A few days ago he rode up to the tree on his elmo plane, looked at one of the decorations, tried to pull it off and pulled the whole tree over. He broke a few decorations, but luckily it didn’t land on him.

Ethan opening his dump truck from Grandma  

Ben with his dump truck 

Ben and Ethan checking out their new musical chair from Grandma

Ben’s turn on the chair

Ethan playing peek-a-boo “Where’s Ethan??””Peek-a-boo”

We also had Tracie’s cousin Keli and her 4yr old son Bailey come for a BBQ lunch. We exchanged presents, played in the back yard, and the boys swam in their little paddling pool. We had a wonderful day. We were having so much fun I forgot to take pictures later in the day!!

Chipmunks Indoor Playland

 

Today we went to Chipmunks Indoor Playland with some friends. The boys had a great time and played happily for 3 hours! They were both very adventurous (a little too adventurous for mummy’s liking!). The played with balls, climbed up the maze and went down the big slides. Lots of fun!!!

Ben and Cead (friend)

Ben thinking about climbing up the big jumping castle/slide. He only got part way up before coming back down.

Ethan was surprisingly more adventurous and climbed up the big slide.

And then slid down, on his belly, feet first. He was so proud of him self when he got down. It really was a big slide.

Ethan in the toddler area. He’s standing on a keyboard that played different noted when you stand on different keys. Very cool :)

Ethan

Their favourite slide. Up and down so many times. . . . . Ben climbing up, Ethan is about to go down. 

Ethan about to go down the slide 

Ben

Ethan

Ben negotiating the maze.

Ethan in the ball pit 

Ethan  

Ben in the ball pit  

Ben 

Ben

The big kids maze – Ethan is climbing up near the top!

Ethan

Again, Ethan right up the top. He’s standing behind the gun.

Ben going down the slide

Ben

Ben and Cead in the car

Ben

Ethan in the ball room. He’s pointing at another machine that blows wind into the air and makes the balls hover mid air. He had just noticed the balls mid-air.

18 Months old – Allergy check-up

We took the boys for their allergy check-up yesterday. Jane, the dietician was very pleased with how they are going. She re-tested Benjamin. His egg allergy is improving.

For those who’ve never seen it, when you get a skin prick allergy test, the stamp your arm with a grid, then place a little drop of all the potential allergens on the skin. One drop in each box. They then prick the skin on each drop so we can see if there is a reaction. They also have 2 control drops. A histamine that everyone reacts to, and one that nobody reacts to. The histamine reaction each time the boys have been tested has measured at about 4x4mm. The previous times the egg box was also 4x4mm. This time it was 2x2mm. A smaller reaction shows the allergy is getting better :) No other allergies came up. (except a small reaction to cats, because we have cats!)

The dietician said we are still to avoid egg in all forms, all nuts and shellfish but we are now allowed to give them certain processed foods that warn on the label “may contain traces of egg or nuts” which we were previously avoiding.

She also encouraged us to give them a diet higher in protein and good fats to try and fatten little Benny up a little more. Ben was born smaller than Ethan, and has always been the little one. His weight has always sat in the 10th percentile, and he is still in that 10th percentile. She doesn’t want to see him drop any lower, and would like to see a little more meat on him for times that he may get sick and lose weight (which happened in July this year – both boys dropped about 1kg in about a week). She says we can drop the morning bottle, but keep the night bottle. She encouraged us to put a scoop of formula in their cows milk for added nutrients and protein.

In general we can now give the boys a wider diet, including all types of fish (except shellfish) and trying some higher salicylate fruits and vegetables. Both boys still react if their diet is too high in salicylates. Ben gets eczema, Ethan gets diarrhoea. If you’re interested, you can click HERE to see what foods are high in salicylates. Ben and Ethan seem to tolerate the ‘moderate’ category quite well. If we give them more than about 2-3 serves of ‘high’ a day in combination with only one ‘very high’ food, we get some reaction. The combined effect of the salicylates builds up in their system for about 3-4 days. We have to keep their diet stable over a period of 3-4 days, Sometimes it’s tough remembering what they got to eat yesterday, let alone 3 days ago. It’s also hard when Tracie and I are home with them at different times. Overall they are coping quite well with their allergies and intolerances. 

They were also weighed and measured:

ETHAN:

Weight – 11.52kg (25lb6oz)

Height – 83cm (32.6inches)

 

BENJAMIN

Weight – 10.28kg (22lb11oz)

Height – 82.5kg (32.4inches)

When you look at the boys standing side by side, it looks like Ethan is more than half a CM taller than Ben. I do wonder if she measured them wrong!! The boys will also have a community nurse 18month check-up soon. They will be re-weighed and measured then.

Fun at the park

The boys always love a trip to the park. We try to go every Wednesday morning with Leni, a friend we’ve made who has a 2yr old son named Cead (pronounced Cade). We always have a great time. Today Ben worked out how to climb the stairs and go down the slide all by him self. He must have gone down about 50 times. He was very proud of himself!!

Ben (red jacket) and Ethan (blue jacket)

 

Ben 

Ethan 

Ethan

Ethan and Ben standing on the slide 

Ben climbing up the stairs Ben about to go down the slide

Ben

Ben

Ethan and Ben 

Ethan

Our new house

As promised, here are the pictures of our new house since we’ve moved in. We’re not finished decorating yet. We still need to put up most of our pictures and buy some small furnishings and finishing touches.

Here’s most of the house. I took these while the boys were sleeping, so I don’t have a picture of their room yet.

Entry way

Lounge Room with boys play area in the corner.

Lounge room

Lounge room and play area  

Kitchen, Dining and Living room.

Living room

Living room  

   Living and dining area

Dining area and view of the garden

Kitchen 

Kitchen

Kitchen

Our room

Our room

Guest room 

Pictures of the boys room to come . . . . . . .   

Playing at the new house

Hello all. Sorry we haven’t updated in a few week. Moving house has made it a crazy few weeks!

We found the camera the other day, so I’m going to try and take some pics of the house while the boys are napping today.

In the mean time, here’s a couple of short videos of the boys playing in the living room. We propped the rubber mats up against the couch, and the boys had a great time climbing up and sliding down.

Here’s both boys. Notice when we count to three, Ben says three. Both boys are starting to learn some numbers. They say two, three and six!

 

Below is Ethan playing on the “slide”.

Been so busy lately

Sorry to all who read this blog. We have been so busy with packing and sorting and cleaning lately that I have not had a chance to update the blog.

We will be moving into our new house next week. We’ve managed to pack about half the house. We had a garage sale and sold about $200 worth of stuff we don’t want anymore. We were pretty happy with the results. We’re excited to be moving next week, but dreading all the processes that actually go along with moving. I’ll be happier in about 2 weeks when it’s all over!

It was very windy on the morning of the garage sale. This video is of Tracie and Ethan in the wind. Ethan had not experienced wind like that before. He thought it was funny.

The boys have been very helpful at packing (in their own way). They like to be the centre of attention. They climb in boxes, steal your tape, unpack boxes you’ve just packed. Whinge when you pack their toys. Like I said – very helpful!!

Life is good other than packing. The boys are growing well. We went to Nana’s for lunch a few weeks ago. Here’s some pictures of the boys playing at Nana’s (Sal’s Mum)

Ethan – later in the day, looking very tired

Ethan and Ben playing in a storage container with some water at the bottom. We put them in their swimming clothes, and they ignored the water, so we changed them back into their regular clothes and then they got in the water……… typical! Ben holding the ball. Ethan playing with the washing. Ethan had GREAT fun playing peek-a-boo using the blanket on the line!

Meal times are becoming my most hated time of the day lately. Ethan is a great eater, and is not a problem. Benjamin on the other hand is driving everyone nuts. He is very fussy, and will only eat a decent meal if he’s given risotto! Risotto is his favourite food of all time. Most foods he squashes, then throws on the floor. We are struggling to deal with this behaviour. I don’t want to give him attention, so I try to ignore it, but then Ethan copies him (Monkey see, Monkey do!). I also don’t like to ignore him too much as I don’t want him to make too much mess, and I actually want him to eat some food. He’s still a skinny boy. Anyone with any ideas?!?!? Please tell me!

Below is a pic of both boys who decided it was a good idea to squash blue berries on their heads!

 

We’ve also decided it’s time to let the boys teach them selves to self-feed with a spoon. They (mostly Ethan) are getting good at self feeding off a plate with a fork, so it’s time for a spoon. Probably should have done this a while ago, but it’s such a messy procedure, we’ve been putting it off until the weather warmed up. Below is some pics of today’s efforts. They are eating pureed fruit and yoghurt. For those who still can’t remember who’s who……Ben is wearing a green bib, Ethan is wearing a yellow bib.

Chatty Little Benny

Benjamin has been babbling for months, with the occasional few random words. In the last 2 days he has made a HUGE leap in his talking. He now says teddy, kitty and car while pointing to the appropriate objects. He’s said these 3 words close to 100 times in the last 2 days.

Yesterday we were doing the grocery shopping and we bought a packet of kitty little tray plastic liners. The box had a cartoon picture of a cat on it, and he picked it up and pointed to the cat and said “kitty”.

There have been several other small incidences like this when he’s used words appropriately and in ways i didn’t expect him to be able to do. He will also attempt to say a greater variety of words if we ask him to. He’s very proud of him self and smiles a lot when we praise him for talking.

Ethan is still our quiet thinker and observer. We get the impression Ethan understands more than Ben, while Ben talks more than Ethan. It’s interesting to watch them develop.

Impressive Comprehension – 16months & 1week old

Our little men still aren’t talking much, but they sure do understand so much of what is said around them. We have to be careful of what we say. We’ve even started spelling words!

They are still learning body parts. They can now point to:

• eyes
• nose
• mouth
• teeth
• ears
• hair
• belly
• chest (but mostly they aim a little low and get their belly again!)
• hands
• fingers
• legs
• feet
• toes
• willy (penis)

We are trying to teach knees, arms and shoulders at the moment.

They have a book where “baby elmo” does various actions, and when we read it they try to follow the actions. They can copy baby elmo:

• stand up tall
• reach up high
• touch your nose
• touch your toes
• play peek-a-boo
• wave bye bye
• turn around
• sit down
• say ‘ma ma ma’
• say ‘da da da’
• sing ‘la la la’
• laugh ‘ha ha ha’

They also understand other simple commands/questions:

• can point to, or go and get almost any familiar object you ask them to, then they can take it where you ask them to. – this is most helpful when you’re changing a poopy bum and the nappy rash cream/ clean nappy/wipes etc are a few meters away. My little helper (who initially moved it away) can bring it back to me now! They are also good at putting their dirty clothes in the dirty clothes basket. We have yet to teach them to put their toys and books away!
• stand up
• sit down
• lie down
• spin around
• dance
• walk backwards
• ride your bike
• go down backwards (steps etc)
• take your dummy out
• put your dummy in your mouth
• put your dummy in the box (little container to store dummies next to their cots)
• ta for mummy (and they will usually give you what ever they have in their hand. Rarely they consider it too good to give up, in which case they will shake their head)
• shut the door/drawer (only works sometimes, but they understand what i mean, they just choose to ignore me!)
• are you hungry?
• Would you like some……… (name various foods and they will shake or nod their heads – sometimes)
• would you like some water?
• would you like some milk?
• where’s …….(mummy, mumma, ethan, ben, your brother, grandma, nana, kitty, melissa(cat), zazy(cat)…… etc)
• let go into the ………….. (kitchen, bedroom, living room, outside etc)
• would you like to read a book?
• go and choose a book you’d like to read

They are also starting to learn about their clothes. They know:

• pants
• singlet
• socks
• shoes
• nappy
• hat
• sleep suit

They are still learning shirt and haven’t started wearing shorts yet this season.

Amazingly, with all this comprehension, they have yet to listen to me when i tell them to get out of the cupboards, draws, cat food, store room, bathroom, nappy box etc!!!!! They truly are curious little toddlers who have an incessant need to explore, manipulate and learn about EVERYTHING!!!!!!!

I know it’s normal, i know it’s healthy, but after 12 hours of two toddlers getting into everything……. it’s FRUSTRATING and I love bedtime!!!

They are still sitting at the table eating their meals like big boys. Ethan, who’s always been the better eater, is getting very very good at eating all his dinner on a plate with fork. Benjamin prefers to squash his vegetables with the handle end of the fork, but will eat them if you hold his hand and the fork and help him. They both want to have the opportunity to try and feed them self from a bowl with a spoon (yoghurt or cereal etc), but we haven’t had the guts to let them have free reign at that one yet. Soon i suppose! I’m not looking forward to the mess! They haven’t quite got the idea of holding the bowl still with one hand, while the other uses the spoon. Last time we tried, they basically stabbed the yoghurt with the spoon until the bowl almost fell off the table.

Their allergies and diet restrictions are going quite well. We have slowly been introducing more foods. At the 12 month appointment we were given about 6-8 “challenges” to do, which tested certain additives. They have had a few very mild reactions, but nothing bad at all. I think we only have dried fruit and food colourings to go. We should do them soon, but it’s hard to find the right time. We must choose a 3 day period when Ben’s skin has been good, and his diet as been good, and try to keep it that way so we can test properly. Life seems to get in the way! For example, we were going to do it last week, but we had a BBQ chicken, chips and salad for lunch (from a chicken shop). We gave the boys some chicken, chips (fries) that had chicken salt on them and some of the salad (cucumber, fetta and olives) They had not had chicken salt, fetta or olives before, so we didn’t want to do a food challenge near that day in case they were reacting to the other new food. Today we went to the shops, and Sal had a fruit salad with yoghurt and muesli on top. Of course the boys wanted some, so they had some. These are all foods they are allowed to eat, but as it’s food from a food court and we can’t read the ingredients label, and we don't know for sure that the chopping board that they used to cut the fruit salad was clean, and didn’t have any allergy products on it – we take a small risk. The boys were fine with the fruit salad, it is a risk we’re willing to take occasionally, and I don't want to deprive them, but it makes it hard to fit in these challenges to make sure the results are accurate. Life just gets in the way!

Ethan seems to have had a growth spurt recently. He looks bigger. I’m sure he’s about 2-3cm (an inch) taller than Ben now. He feels heavier too. Ben is still a little skinny light weight. He feels very light when you pick him up compared to Ethan.  We haven’t had them weighed and measured lately, I’d actually be curious to know what they weigh. I think Ben is a little skinny, but I don’t know how to fatten him up. He eats and drinks less than Ethan. I don’t think you can force a toddler to eat more. Can you?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, what else? There are so many things our little toddlers are learning and doing every day. I may complain about the toddler insanities, but I really am enjoying this age. Last week they discovered that the front tap was dripping. Such a simple thing that an adult wouldn’t think twice about provided so much enjoyment. They spent ages feeling the water drip on their hands, laughing, squealing in delight and running around the garden. It brings a smile to my face to watch them play, learn and just be happy.

I’m sure there are many more things that B&E are doing at the moment but that’ll have to be another entry….

We bought a house!

Today, after 2 stressful weeks of waiting, the bank has finally given approval on our home loan. We are officially able to buy our first house!!!! We put down our 5% deposit and we are so excited about moving into our very own home :)

Below are a few pics of the house we’re planning to buy.

 

Front Entrance

Front living room  

Second (back) living room, dining area and kitchen (also see combustion fire in the corner)

Kitchen 

Kitchen (we love our new cook top and oven!!)

Different angle of the second living room. 

Master bedroom (note it has a balcony, walk in robe and ensuite!) 

Second bedroom (will become our spare room)

Third bedroom (will become the boys room)

Fourth bedroom (will be a study for us too)

Main bathroom

First part of the back yard just out the door from the dining area

Lower entertaining area (see the hot tub – we get to keep it!) 

Grassy area of the back yard

Shed 

Cubby house (we get to keep this too!) 

We’re looking forward to moving into our new place in the second week of October :)