The end of the week

The week has been pretty full on with two small children missing their daddy and a dog who wants attention as well. Bedtimes have been difficult with Isabel not settling is Isaac is around and Isaac wanting a 'real live human being' to stay with him while he sleeps. I finally hit on a solution...

the dog has had to earn his keep!

Dodging showers

We managed a lovely morning in the sun before running home in the rain and then sat inside at a friend's house watching the rain before going home in the dry again.

The game of choice is mostly Octonauts still and this was great as they both got to steer. Orders are shouted and it's hard to keep up with who is supposed to be who (especially when friends join in and you have two Captain Barnacles) but woe betide us if we get it wrong.

This sums up the boy at the moment - moving, swinging, climbing, jumping, hopping and always talking.

She was strutting her stuff in her brother's shoes. Very pleased she was too.

Isaac has gone to bed tonight (eventually) with the can opener which has become Bluebird from Everything's Rosie. She had dinner with us (complete with own bowl of pasta), went in the bath and has now gone to bed.

Busy doing nothing

There's been a lot of soup making today - it definitely feels like autumn! Isabel thinks climbing on the counters is the best thing in the world ever and to stop her from emptying all the crockery from the cupboard I let her stir the soup. It's her favourite and she kept wanting to eat it despite it being hot so we had to go and do other things whilst it cooked.

I was under instructions to build a track that went all the way into the front room - well the instructions were to build it so it went all the way around the dog who was full length on the hearth rug but we didn't have enough bits to go that far. One thing about building it into the hall is that I have to put it away before we do anything upstairs or outside or else I can't close the door and then the dog helps himself to whatever food might be in reach.

I support women who are breastfeeding and the bread and butter of our work is 'positioning and attachment' otherwise known as getting a good latch. The traditional advice is to have the child's tummy facing mum's tummy. My toddler laughs in the face of tradition! She much prefers having her back against me...

Isaac was being a flamingo.

Isabel decided that bouncing on his head was the best fun ever. He didn't seem to mind and kept going back for more.

And bubbles are always fun. More fun than dinner it turned out - I had trouble getting them to the (right) table.

All partied out

Today we had two birthday parties to go to. The first was a rainbow party and the invitation said bright colours so Isabel wore a dress.

It didn't make it out the house though between getting wet and being in the sand pit....

Dress number two is err... in here somewhere.

Oh here it is.

Isaac made some fetching headwear - this was him smiling for the camera. This is apparently his camera face and nothing could convince him otherwise.

Party number two ended with the small one asleep and then we had to stay there as she didn't want to wake up.

And then bedtime got extended tonight as Matthew is away and putting two to bed on my own is always a little hit and miss especially when there's been a late nap. Isaac decided he didn't want to be on his own but Isabel was messing around too much if we went to his bedroom so he made himself a bed on the chair instead (complete with nightcap). He stayed asleep when I took him up to bed - I never thought I would get to the stage when my child stayed asleep even when moved!

I don't fancy my chances of getting Isabel to bed without waking her though...

My life in yogurt by Isabel, 17 months

The problem with small children helping to unpack shopping is that they then see what's in it and want to eat most of it. So yogurt it was. Good job she wasn't dressed yet.

There was a bit of a snuggle in bed with her brother.

A common sound at the moment is a small voice saying "(s)tuck". This morning it was as she was climbing up the bed guard to get back into bed and then later a little voice from the other room where she'd taken herself to watch the rubbish truck. I didn't know she could climb on the windowsill.

Yogurt for pudding (t-shirt removed prior to pud). And no I don't know how she got it on her forehead either.

Isaac has been watching Life in the Freezer and was being David Attenborourgh.

Finger painting

There's been a lot of painting going on here. I bought a couple of preloved field watercolour kits and Isaac has been loving using them. He calls burnt umber 'burnt earth'.

Then there was tissue sticking for him and some painting for her. Isabel's word for painting and drawing is 'doy-ing' as she points to the art shelves. It's said a lot.

A bit of ninja action from him.

And babywearing from her.

Ride em cowboy!

Proof that the boy will climb anything....

The bike trailer arrived today and there was much excitement. Our house has a very narrow hallway and the alley to the garden is also narrow so it's a bit of a mission to get bike and trailer out of the house and set up ready to go but already we've been to the big park on the other side of town and it will be fantastic for exploring locally. I will need to work up to doing hills though - on the flat it's fine pulling two but up hill and my legs begin to complain, a lot.