Nothing but rain and illness

It's friday evening, and it's has been raining since Tuesday. It's rained over 200mm since Tuesday and everything is SOAKING WET!
Our roof continues to leak, the study flooded, the windows are wet with condensation and I am sick of the rain!!!!!!!!

Poor Benny has been sick this week too. He had an infected gland in his neck that the doctor said was enlarged from a recent tonsil infection. We knew he was sick about 4 weeks ago with coughs and temps, but didn't know he had tonsillitis, poor boy.
The lymph node (gland) in his neck swelled so big we noticed it just by looking at him. It looked like a lump slightly smaller than a golf ball in his skinny little neck.
He is on another course of antibiotics this week. He has had 2 days of temps and one day of vomiting and nausea. Thankfully today he is better, no temps or nausea for 2 days and the neck lump is shrinking. He is more tired and grizzly than usual, but getting better :))
Ethan remains healthy :)




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Great Central Coast Playground Tour of 2011

I have recently decided to visit every park in the local area. A friend of mine is going to join us, and has called our adventure the “Great Central Coast Playground Tour of 2011” (as a joke!). There is probably about 20 good parks, and 50+ average to poor parks in my (semi) local area. I am going to write a “review” of each park that will be published in our local multiple birth club news letter and website. My information will be a bit more twin specific than the average park information that is available on the local council website. Things like fences, pram accessibility and age appropriateness of equipment is on the list of things to talk about.

Last week we went to our first park together…. I haven’t been to this park before, it was amazing. It has a fully fenced younger kid area that attracted the under 6 crowd. It had a pirate ship, sandpit, house, swings, rockers, slide and  heaps of great stuff. There was also a HUGE bigger kid area that had a massive spider net, slides, rock climbing wall, round-a-bout, bike track, picnic tables, BBQ’s and so much more. We will defiantly be back to this park again!

To save me writing about every picture, Ben is in the yellow/green jacket and Ethan is in the orange.

I should also mention that these jackets are reversible jackets that came from Uncle Graham in America. The boys LOVE to wear them with the fleecy side out, as they have seen the men who operate the diggers, bulldozers and construction equipment wearing these bight coloured safety clothing. They call them “digger man jackets” and think they are just so cool wearing them!

 

View of the smaller child area from one side

The park from the other side    

A great morning at the park.

We are looking forward to another park next week :)

Day out with Aunty Shell

Last week we had a day out with Aunty Shell. We took the train a few stops down the line and went to the park. It was a beautiful sunny winter’s day and we all had a great day.

Ethan on the train with his ticket.

Ethan (practicing his winking) and Aunty Shell (Sal’s sister) 

Sal and Ben on the train.  

Aunty Shell and Ben watching the water

Ethan

Ethan – bit blurry i know, but i liked the picture anyway :)

Ben, trying to wink.

Ben and Ethan in the boat at the park 

Waiting for the train home.

It was a great day. Thanks Aunty Shell for coming to spend the day with us!

First bus ride

Ben and Ethan have been asking for months to go for a ride on a bus.
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny winter day, so we went for a bus ride.






The boys loved it, and so did we.

Defiantly have to do it again!


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Write my name

Ben often bring us his magnetic drawing board and asks us to write his name. This morning for the first time I got him to trace the letters. I was surprised how well he did. We don't really do much drawing with them, as it turns into a contest of possession, and who has the most crayons. Disaster really!

Here is Ben's 3rd attempt to trace his name this morning.

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3 year old conversations

Ethan: Benny, will you please come fix my toaster in my work shop, because it's broken

Ben: No thank you Ethan, I am not Handy Manny


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Height and weight 3yrs 1.8months

For my own records
Weighted and measured the boys today. They have both been sick and lost a bit of weight recently

Ethan
H- 97.5cm
W - 15.1kg

Ben
H- 96m
W- 13.4kg

Weighed at 4pm wearing trackies and shirts. No shoes


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No More Dummies!!!

Ben and Ethan are 3yrs, 1month, 3weeks and 3 days old….. and they have FINALLY given up their dummies (pacifiers)

We have been working on them giving them up for a while now….. slowly slowly as the addiction has been HUGE!

Over the last few months, we have been warning them that their supply is limited. Their favourite dummies aren’t made anymore. The company has replaced that design with a new one, and they don’t like the new one. The 15 or so dummies that we had have been slowly lost or broken. Ethan chews his dummies, and has managed to break lots of them in the last few months by chewing them so much the silicone cracks and they get holes in them. They were down to the final two…. a green on for Ben and a blue for Ethan (typical!).

A few nights ago Ethan announced that his dummy was broken and he needed another. We had been telling him for a while that it was the last one and we told him again. He understood, and sucked his broken dummy sideways for one night (vertically rather than horizontally in his mouth). The next night he told us his favourite dummy was broken and he didn’t want it. He slept without a dummy for the first time in years!

The next morning he said we can throw his dummy in the bin, he didn’t need it anymore!!!

We praised him so much, and told him he would get a special present because he was such a big boy now….. we intentionally made a big deal about it, and of course Ben listened in….

Ben decided he would like to have a special prize too… so, of course we told him that special prizes were only because Ethan gave up his dummy. Ben got told he could have a special prize if he gave up his dummy too. Without any hesitation, Ben took his dummy and threw it into the bin!  

If you know Ben, you will know this is a HUGE thing to do. He absolutely loves his dummies….. you can see, when he is tired and puts one in his mouth, it just relaxes him. It’s like a drug for him. I am almost sad that he has given up something that he loves so much….. but it’s a necessary thing in life. 3yrs is long enough to have a dummy.

Last night was Ben’s first night without a dummy (and Ethan’s second night). As soon as Ben came down from his bath to put his PJ’s on, he asked for his dummy….. like he usually does. He cried when we told him he’d thrown it away, but quickly settled when we reminded him he’d get to go shopping for a special prize in the morning. Both boys managed to go to sleep as well as they normally do with a dummy. They both slept their usual 12-13hour night :) YAY!!

Tonight Ben asked for his dummy again, and he was so very tired tonight. He cried and cried as I rocked him in my arms. He so desperately wanted his dummy :(  We reminded him that he’d thrown it in the bin, so he went straight to the bin to try and get it back. Poor tired boy… He did get a bit happier when we reminded him about the special prize we bought….

 

We searched and searched for their special prize today. Mid year toy sales are starting all over the shops this week and the catalogues have been arriving in our letterbox…. After much catalogue research, Ethan decided he wanted a toy laptop, Ben found a battery powered red quad bike.

Ben didn’t want a laptop like we got for Ethan, but Ethan sure did want a quad bike too. You can’t possibly have one boy with a quad bike and one without, so lucky Ethan got two presents today…

Straight out of the box, Ethan cant wait to try it out, we didn't get to put the stickers on yet!

Ethan’s laptop is very cool too. Unfortunately Ben really likes it, and it annoys Ethan… who, like a typical toddler doesn’t want to share! I forgot to take a picture of Ethan with his laptop, but here’s the picture from the website

Leapfrog - My Own Leaptop

The boys are starting to get a few toys in the Leapfrog range, and both Mums and boys think they are great toys. Age appropriate, educational and fun! The laptop that Ethan bought can be customised so it says his name, and special messages from Mummy, Mumma, Grandma and Nana. Both boys LOVE it!

Cardboard House Fun

Last week it RAINED AND RAINED AND RAINED…. there was flooding in parts near here…. luckily apart from our ongoing roof leaking issues we did not have and problems with the rain. It has now been dry for 3 days, but the grass is still soggy….. it was that sort of rain.

Needless to say we have been playing inside a lot this last week. Luckily we found a great bargain at a local discount shop. We found a cardboard house for $12.95!!

It came completely white, and we have been having fun decorating it and playing inside all week.

After a week of some rough boy play, it’s still standing……. JUST!!

It’s much more colourful and has been a great source of entertainment. All the pictures were on the cardboard box that the house came in. A great use of resources. Hardly any packaging wasted :) Obviously we coloured them, and the boys had a great time gluing them on…. It’s hard to see, but the also did a lot of stickers.

The rainbow on the roof was done by Sal, with the help of the boys. We drew arcoiris (Spanish for rainbow) together. I asked for the coloured crayons in spanish and the boys got them for me. I have no idea how to speak Spanish, but with the help of Dora and Diego, we are learning together.

Inside the house. More drawings, and toys…

A closer look at the pictures. They are very environmentally friendly little pictures. Very cute.