Terrible Twos

Naomi has really hit this stage full tilt!  Everything is either "No!" or "I don't want to". Including those contrary moments when she actually does want to but can't bear to not be in control.  She has this fabulous pouty mouth thing she does at the same time which makes me want to laugh  - when I am not sighing with frustration!  This morning she insisted she wanted Peanut Butter on her toast but then threw a tizzy when I gave it to her and shouted "I want peanut butter". I was (I think understandably) bemused at this point until she said "and I'll get it" and then I realised she actually meant the Chocolate/banana spread which she can get herself from the fridge.

I am now volunteering for half an hour each Monday in Rose's Kindergarten Class. It's amazing what you can do in that short space of time.  I am sure it will make me a better Secondary teacher too.  Today, I asked Mel if I could leave Josh and Naomi with her.  And, bless her, she was happy to have them.  I prepared Josh yesterday and today he told me, "I'm going to Zeb's and you are not staying".  I was pleased he was comfortable with that. Naomi chipped in, "And we don't cry 'cos you are coming back".   I merely said, "That's right" but inside I was chuckling. I was also intrigued that she is internalising that concept of me coming back after leaving her.

Josh keeps telling Steve and I and Rose that he would really love to go to KILA (Rose's Filipino pre-school) next year and then to Rose's school which is quite the step forward for him.

Bubbles

It seems like I find time on Thursdays to write or something because here's another Thursday post!!  And, it involves another adventure of Joshua and Naomi!!

So, today I attempted to maintain a more supervisory role of my two darlings and got the bubbles out to play with (I think it was Josh's idea, actually).  I thought that was a great idea and fairly simple to keep on top of. I could sit in the chair on the porch and they could blow bubbles to their hearts' content (well, probably 10 minutes!).  However, as of course you've probably realised it took its own little twist.  Josh decided he would like the bubble machine - a good idea, I thought. But, no.  It decided it wasn't going to work so I got the screwdriver and and opened the battery compartment.  They haven't been changed since Uncle Simon bought it for them so it was a good bet. I was surprised to find 4 batteries of the biggest kind, which of course we did not have in the house.  

So, we decided to settle for old-fashioned bubble wands and mouths.  I found one wand easily enough but, of course, couldn't find the second for a while but did eventually and everything was still under control at this point.  Joshua and Naomi were having fun blowing and chasing and clapping bubbles. Naomi tried to blow a few herself but didn't have a lot of success but was happy chasing Joshua's.  I had to go back into the house for something else and when I came back out Joshua had spilt - well tipped - out all the bubble mixture over the porch and the two of them were sliding on their tummies all over this soapy mixture over the porch - which was pretty lethal by this time.  They said they were being like penguins on the snow.  How could I cramp their style?!

When I got tired of that they went in the shower to get all the soap off but this time under my watchful eye the whole time (am I learning?).  Cleaning the porch was another matter and even a few days later there were patches of extreme slippyness.

Thursday September 11th

Today Joshua and Naomi got all the tubes of toothpaste (at least three) out of the cup in the bathroom and by the time I came to check on them in the shower the toothpaste was everywhere - all over the shower, all over them, all over the floor. Is there anything worse than toothpaste to try and clear up?  It did remind me of the illustration that Steve often uses of once toothpaste is out of the tube you can never get it back in again (with the point that our actions and words can never be taken back once they are out there). It was at that point that I realised they had also emptied the liquid soap into this concoction! I think I kept my cool pretty well, considering...

On a more bizarre note, I put a piece of bread in the toaster for my breakfast and could hear it rustling.  Having heard of this before, I hurriedly checked to see if a gecko had got trapped. Unfortunately it had. The spring had caught it so it couldn't escape and its tail was stuck to the element. I stopped the toaster but, obviously it was too late.  It affected me more than I expected - being a fairly non-Animal lover!

Naomi's birthday

We had a low-key celebration of Naomi's birthday. Rose and Joshua were pretty excited about the fact but even though Naomi kept saying "it's Naomi's birthday" I don't think she was really that clued into what was going on.  I think it became clearer when the cake and the presents made an appearance!  We had been having ongoing discussions about what the cake was going to be for weeks. Joshua was determined for her to choose something from the cake book (this is actually one of their favourite books to browse on a frequent basis!).  I'm not sure if it was her, Josh or I who eventually chose but she got a whale cake.  I think it was recognisable as a whale.  You can decide from the photo!

Naomi did get really excited by opening the presents and we had to hold Rose back from helping her too much.  She liked everything but particularly the dresses and the "spotty dog" shorts and T shirt. It's a wonder they're not worn out already!!

For more photos click 

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid =155031&I=8232d&id+789895076

Thursday 4th September

This morning (and I realise the date this is posted is somewhat different to the date of the blog but that's how organised I am!!) Josh had climbed into our changing table and was liberally spreading nappy cream all over his legs and Naomi was stood next to him putting it on her arms. I stopped them and put them in the shower.

It was preschool and I was feeling tired before I began - not a good start! But it went well. I was particularly pleased by the colouring by numbers sheet.

Later, I was trying to copy some DVDs for Steve and got so frustrated with Joshua and Naomi grabbing CDs and throwing them around that I locked them out of the room while I finished.  Josh climbed on the stool (he is beginning to figure out he can reach all kinds of places previously inaccessible to him on the stool), got hold of the keys for the door and was trying to unlock it. When he couldn't get the right one he then got the keys for the car and, as I thought, was just playing with them to get the alarm on the car to go off.   When I was finally ready to go and see what they were up to, I realised they were outside our gate (because I had left the car on the road), they had got the car unlocked, were inside the car and merrily playing with all the buttons and wands.

In the afternoon I taught Josh how to do hopscotch.  He had the idea of jumping but couldn't grasp the hop.  He did a good job of throwing the bean bag and making up his own game though.  Of course when I went to get the video camera - which was inevitably out of charge - he and Naomi had given up on the game.  And Naomi was more interested in looking through the viewfinder than being on the recording!