Saturday, 19 March 2011
Puzzle Passion
Both Nicholas and Daniel have a passion for puzzles. Hardly a day goes by without doing at least one puzzle in our house. Nicholas likes teaching Daniel things, and puzzles are no exception. I love watching my two little guys interacting in such a positive fashion. Daniel can now do peg puzzles and 2-piece puzzles all on his own. Nicholas is good at focusing, so he happily tackles challenging puzzles, albeit with a bit of help. He is very bossy when it comes to puzzles - once he has decided on his strategy he sticks to it no matter what - even though I find this a bit too inflexible I suppose it is a good thing that he is so sure of himself. At some point we're going to have to stop getting new puzzles and games because the bookshelf is getting full!
Friday, 18 March 2011
Soul Gardeners
We decided to get a gardening company to come and get our garden into shape before spring arrives. It was a good decision because they did an excellent job and carted a whole truck load of green waste away. Now we feel like we have a great base to work with!
Thursday, 17 March 2011
St Patrick's Day
Claire and I decided to use St Patrick's Day as and excuse to do something different with the kids. The boys and I baked some green cupcakes to take over for the party. Even if I must say so myself they looked really nice and tasted delicious too. Claire cooked up a lovely lunch of pea soup followed by kiwi jelly while the kids built a trap for the leprechaun (or a patrickorn as Nicholas called him) . I think the end result was perfect because it enticed the little guy dressed in green to leave a whole pot of gold coins for the delighted little children!
I'll leave you with this ...
An Old Irish Blessing
An Old Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Look who's talking!
Can you believe that Daniel is 21 months old already. How time flies when you're having fun. But how I wish it would slow down a bit. This post is all about Danny and his latest skill: talking. Quite unusual for me this post is going to contain a lot of text and only one photo of this special little boy!
One day, round about the time we got back from SA, Daniel started repeating everything we said and since then there's been no looking back. As you can imagine he is learning new words at a rate of knots. His pronunciation has also improved a lot and he no longer drops the end of the words. So I guess this means that my little boy has started talking!
He says his own name beautifully (sometimes Danny sometimes Daniel with a emphasis on the l), he also says his brother's name nicely (sometimes Nic-Nic and sometimes Nicholas with a slight lisp at the end) and of course mommee (or mamma or mam) and daddee (or dad). Who would of thought that someone as small as this could pick up our real names too. Every now and then he says Faye (dare I say it's when I don't respond to him immediately) and he walks around the house looking for his dad shouting Maaart (dare I say in the same way I do). He is good at remembering other people's names as well like: Oupa, Ouma, Gogo, Noa, Claire, Pippa, Annabel, George and Stewart (his Little Gym teacher) just to mention a few.
This gorgeous boy of mine does the most adorable 'aaahhhh' when he gives cuddles. He says funny things like 'wow' (not rhyming with cow but rather with crow). I'm not very good at writing things in the way that they say them but there are a few words that he says incorrectly that are quite cute and worth remembering: 'jejamies' (pjamas), 'scuzi' (excuse me), 'storbellies' (strawberries), 'lellow' (yellow) and 'zezagna' (lasagna). He also says some less desirable things, which I am too embarrased to repeat, but it does make me realise that I need to be more aware of what I say in front of him. Danny can be very possessive so there's no wonder that his favourite word at the moment is 'mine' (said with great gusto).
Right on cue he has started speaking in two word sentences. His favourite phrases tend to be demands - he is a bit of a dictator - like 'go away', 'sit down', 'come here', 'show me', 'fix it', 'want it', 'pack away'. He also has a soft and polite side though - my favourite is when he says 'more please' and 'thanks mam' - it's so cute. 'Oh no', 'oh wow' and 'good boy' also feature frequently. The latest thing that he said which surprised me is 'like it' when I put his plate of lasagna down in front of him. Now isn't that is nice thing to say to your mom. He also gives running commentary about the food on his plate while he is eating. And when he is finished he always says 'All gone' and 'bibby off' followed by 'scuzi'.
We are also learning a new sign at Little Gym every week and he loves showing off his growing knowledge, always accompanied by a verbal explanation just in case you're not up to scratch on your sign language. Maybe I should have taken baby signing more seriously!
One day, round about the time we got back from SA, Daniel started repeating everything we said and since then there's been no looking back. As you can imagine he is learning new words at a rate of knots. His pronunciation has also improved a lot and he no longer drops the end of the words. So I guess this means that my little boy has started talking!
He says his own name beautifully (sometimes Danny sometimes Daniel with a emphasis on the l), he also says his brother's name nicely (sometimes Nic-Nic and sometimes Nicholas with a slight lisp at the end) and of course mommee (or mamma or mam) and daddee (or dad). Who would of thought that someone as small as this could pick up our real names too. Every now and then he says Faye (dare I say it's when I don't respond to him immediately) and he walks around the house looking for his dad shouting Maaart (dare I say in the same way I do). He is good at remembering other people's names as well like: Oupa, Ouma, Gogo, Noa, Claire, Pippa, Annabel, George and Stewart (his Little Gym teacher) just to mention a few.
This gorgeous boy of mine does the most adorable 'aaahhhh' when he gives cuddles. He says funny things like 'wow' (not rhyming with cow but rather with crow). I'm not very good at writing things in the way that they say them but there are a few words that he says incorrectly that are quite cute and worth remembering: 'jejamies' (pjamas), 'scuzi' (excuse me), 'storbellies' (strawberries), 'lellow' (yellow) and 'zezagna' (lasagna). He also says some less desirable things, which I am too embarrased to repeat, but it does make me realise that I need to be more aware of what I say in front of him. Danny can be very possessive so there's no wonder that his favourite word at the moment is 'mine' (said with great gusto).
Right on cue he has started speaking in two word sentences. His favourite phrases tend to be demands - he is a bit of a dictator - like 'go away', 'sit down', 'come here', 'show me', 'fix it', 'want it', 'pack away'. He also has a soft and polite side though - my favourite is when he says 'more please' and 'thanks mam' - it's so cute. 'Oh no', 'oh wow' and 'good boy' also feature frequently. The latest thing that he said which surprised me is 'like it' when I put his plate of lasagna down in front of him. Now isn't that is nice thing to say to your mom. He also gives running commentary about the food on his plate while he is eating. And when he is finished he always says 'All gone' and 'bibby off' followed by 'scuzi'.
We are also learning a new sign at Little Gym every week and he loves showing off his growing knowledge, always accompanied by a verbal explanation just in case you're not up to scratch on your sign language. Maybe I should have taken baby signing more seriously!
Friday, 11 March 2011
Bathtime Fun
I wanted to take some photos of Daniel's hair because we're planning to cut it soon. I ended up with whole bunch of shots that I really love so I thought I'd keep them together and just do a quick post about bathtime. It's mayhem in our house - good mayhem - the boys always have loads of fun together and, strangely, it seems to calm them down for bedtime!
Who is terrorising whom?
Danny's hair is long!
Nicholas has always had lovely hair!
Danny is crazy most of the time!
He makes the cutest 'kissing lips' I've ever seen!
And those eyes!
My two gorgeous boys!
Who is terrorising whom?
Danny's hair is long!
Nicholas has always had lovely hair!
Danny is crazy most of the time!
He makes the cutest 'kissing lips' I've ever seen!
And those eyes!
This hair will all be gone soon!
He hasn't succeeded yet but I think his determination will pay off!
He hasn't succeeded yet but I think his determination will pay off!
(photo removed because of perverts!)
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Carnival
I decided to have a fancy dress party with some mask making followed by a pancake feast to celebrate Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday/Carnival/Pancake Day. It was an excellent idea because the boys loved every minute of it. They liked the fact that their friends were coming over to visit, they enjoyed making their masks and they ate ALL the pancakes. First we had pancakes filled with salmon, brocolli and cream cheese for supper followed by banana and blueberry pancakes for dessert. I think they liked the flipping of the pancakes most of all!
Monday, 7 March 2011
Steam Train
On Sunday we met our friends from Belgium, Amanda and Jan and their two boys, Wolf and Max, for a fun day out in the countryside. First we had a delicious sunday lunch with Amanda's mom and then we went for a ride on a real old steam train called the Bluebell Express. As you can imagine the four little boys loved all the excitement and we enjoyed catching up with good friends!
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Skype
The boys love our weekly call to Oupa and Ouma. Daniel recognises them right away and likes playing the 'where's your body parts' game. He also loves giving them high fives and kisses. Nicholas is a bit camera shy at the moment but he enjoys showing off something new that he can do like playing his favourite tune on his Dora's Follow The Music Book. You gotta love skype!
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