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Got a witty, profound or just plain silly caption for this picture? Then leave it in the comments below!
Then click on the little boy’s head here & you will be magically transported to the funsome Mammasaurus’ blog for many more pictures crying out for a witty / pithy #satcap caption.
Got a witty, profound or just plain silly caption for this picture? Then leave it in the comments below!
Then click on the little boy’s head here & you will be magically transported to the funsome Mammasaurus’ blog for many more pictures crying out for a #satcap caption.
Got a witty, profound or just plain silly caption for this picture? Then leave it in the comments below!
Then click on the little boy’s head here & you will be magically transported to the funsome Mammasaurus’ blog for many more pictures crying out for a witty / pithy #satcap caption.
It’s Potty Training Week here at the Jallie Shack!
So I wouldn’t advise reading this while eating…
We stuck them in pants on Saturday morning. Ellie was totally accepting, but Jake wasn’t having it. They had a reward chart each & every time they asked to use the potty they got a star sticker, then a reward of Maltesers or Smarties after 7 times. All the while we were pumping them full of as much diluted apple juice as they could take!
They were doing well in their scary new nappiless world, & Jake had become more enthusiastic about wearing pants, but there were the inevitable accidents. Which was when we realised we didn’t have enough pants, nor even tissues & paper towels. So the Mummy made an emergency dash to the shops while I manned the fort. She returned bearing gifts! They were doing so well they got them straight away: a shopping basket with toy groceries for Ellie & a mix & match Tumble family thing for Jake. They were pleased.
We were thinking we’d keep them at home after the weekend instead of going to playgroup but they were doing so well we felt completely confident sending them in their pants! By Monday Ellie was there! She was aware of when she needed to go, pulling down trousers & pants to both pee & poo, cleaning herself, then pulling her pants & trouser back up all by herself! Also Karen at playgroup is really experienced & has helped loads of kids toilet-train.
Jake has seemed a bit scared of pooing on the potty but now is fine. They’ve even been dry overnight the last couple of nights.
It must mean a lot to them: this morning they grabbed a couple of colouring pens (actually my highlighters!), asked for some paper then drew this:
I loved it as they were drawing together, swapping pens & chatting away.
Can you guess what it is? They told us:
“Pee!”
They then showed it to Karen when I took them in. Who then fell about laughing.
It’s not every day that anyone gives you a picture of their pee. Even on Valentine’s Day.
I think it helped that we left it ’til they were a bit older; also that their friends at playgroup haven’t been in nappies for a while.
I’m really proud of them: they’re like proper little grown-ups! It is a bit sad as well though: it seems as if they’ve shaken off the last vestige of babyhood
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I love you Daddy
I’ve done a poo!
Happy Valentine’s Day 
And in case you’re wondering about the bad spelling in the title…
One afternoon this week the twins kept yelling at me repeatedly & excitedly what sounded like “Bum! Bum!”. This is odd even by their standards. I couldn’t work it out. I kept suggesting possible words that they might be saying, to which they responded “No!”, then more “Bum! Bum!”, getting increasingly agitated. Eventually I figured out that it was a new cbeebies programme, ‘Tree Fu Tom‘. We’d watched the first one the day before & they absolutely loved it, jump-up-&-down-&-yell-with-excitement loved it. I’d kept it, in case of emergencies (as you do), but when I went to find it on the Box it wasn’t there! Apparently they’d asked the Mummy to put it on earlier, she’d watched it with them, didn’t like it & deleted it! Thanks! (I’ve kept all the episodes since; I quite like it too, but don’t tell anyone…)
We live in an odd house. Whaddya mean you’re not surprised?! It’s tall & thin – unlike me! – & has 3 storeys. The bedroom & nursery are on the top floor, the lounge & kitchen on the ground floor. We carry the twins all the way downstairs for their morning milk & breakfast, then usually back up again for a morning play & to dress them, then back down again ’til their bedtime. It’s OK when we’re both at home & we can take 1 each, but when I’m looking after them by myself it can be tricky. I have to carry 1 up or down then come back for the other. Almost always there’s grizzling & upset by whoever’s been left behind, although by the time I’ve come back they’ve usually calmed down. Thursday however I was getting ready to take them back downstairs. As usual I’d decided to take first the one who was most keen to go, this time Ellie. I explained to Jake, as I always do, that I was taking Ellie down then coming straight back for him. Instead of making a fuss he just sat there quietly, saying “Ellie then Jake. Ellie then Jake”. He was still sitting still, quiet & calm, when I came back up for him: what a little star!
On Friday they played together in the most independent & cooperative way we’ve yet seen. They were taking turns – that’s right, you read that correctly; I’ll write it again: taking turns - without any prompting at all from us, in getting into a stroller & pushing each other around. There also appeared to be a ritual involving a pretend onion on a plate which had to be carried by the occupier of the stroller & transferred with great solemnity as they swapped over. The Mummy & I had our flabbers truly ghasted & were very tempted to leave them to it, get a brew & go watch telly. But it was nearing their bedtime so we didn’t. I did take a stroller upstairs though so they could carry on!
Another eventful week! I’m looking forward now to reading about others’ in Chris’ ’Things They Say & Do’ blog hop at her ‘Thinly Spread’ blog. Have a look, it’s a great read!
And I’ve just realised, as now it’s past midnight, that’s it’s now their 2nd birthday!
Silent Sunday’s great! For more go see Mocha Beanie Mummy
We went to our first local Twins Club of the year this morning. Unusually there were only a handful of parents & twins there; usually the place is heaving. Jallie seemed to enjoy themselves anyway
I don’t know why there weren’t as many there as usual. It seemed to result in there being a lot fewer toys out for the little darlings to play with. The room is always divided between a baby area & a toddlers area: mostly so the little ones don’t get squished by over-excited kids running around. The baby area’s toys are usually the soft colourful mat with cute dangly things hanging off arches kind, designed for babies to lie underneath on their backs. There are also things like spinning tops for the more mobile baby. Probably due to fewer babies there were a lot fewer toys too. Ellie seemed quite happy just socialising, but Jake was different. He’d decided that he was bored with little baby stuff: he wanted to play with the Big Boys.
So off he sped, crawling at top speed into the toddlers’ area. There were identical twin boys, aged 2 1/2, playing on a mini slide, throwing themselves / cars / bricks / anything they could find down it. Jake wanted a piece of this action! I gently slid him down the slide & he enjoyed it. There was a big plastic rocking horse there, which he enjoyed even more.
Trouble is, we didn’t realise we’d crossed some sort of child picket line. The toddler equivalent of “scab!” began ringing out (the odd muttered “Shoo”, & “our toys!”) , & a fair bit of stick waving took place. A baby with the big boys?! There are rules about this sort of thing!
It looked like the demo was about to turn ugly; the “Out Babies Out!” signs were up & there were rumours of a group of hardcore bike-riding kids heading here fast, complete with an arsenal of very sticky puddings. Postman Pat in his van was looking nervous.
So for the sake of Peace I removed Jake back over the Line of Demarcation. I’d smuggled some Big Boys’ Bricks back though!” Which, to be honest, Jake didn’t really know what to do with.
Well, it was too late; we’d caused Anarchy. The lines between the realities had become blurred! The kiddie cosmos was crumbling! I can see now why these rules exist. The Big Boys followed us over!
They’d decided that I was some sort of brick expert, & that we had to build towers & constructions, shapes so unconventional that they’d be worthy of Gaudi. I found myself backed into a corner. There was at least 1 muttering (I think) of “Dad”, which always makes me nervous, & often results in a quick & heartfelt explanation to my wife.
Fortunately they quickly concluded that I’m actually very dull - & not ‘Dad’ – & went back to their Zone. Not before I’d built a mean tower though!
As it did at Baby Sensory, it’s further dawning on me that in many ways our babies aren’t really babies any more. Too old & mobile for the little ones’ toys, too young & immobile for toddlers’ toys. As someone said of them there: they’re Middle-Aged Babies!
And they’re growing up – fast.
Travelling with the twins to be with family at Christmas: for many reasons, the main one of course being the weather, it seemed the Christmas destined not to be.
Through thick & thin however we made it happen! Timing our journey so that it fell between blizzard & big freeze, we actually made pretty good time & found that there wasn’t too much traffic on the roads. A cunning detour to avoid a potential huge delay helped.
The only other time we made a long journey Ellie cried nearly all the way. It was awful. Being older we were hoping she’d be more tolerant, but I sat in the back between them anyway. They slept for the first hour or so but when they woke up they cried, so we stopped at the nearest services & had a coffee. Why these places don’t have facilities for children I don’t know! There were enough of them there to justify it.
Back on the road they were still unhappy. I had a few toys to hand, but when even they didn’t work I had to resort to feeding them the muffin – toffee & fudge muffin no less – that I’d brought as an adult snack. All that sugar, normally a huge no-no! But desperate times call for…
Anyway they couldn’t get enough of it, & I hope I was able to feed them just enough to keep them happy, but not so much as give them a taste for unhealthy food. I don’t think they’ll need my help for that in years to come…
When we got there they were excited! They seemed really happy at being reunited with more of their loving family & all the new & exciting things to see & explore. Or maybe it was a sugar-rush! Probably both…
The first thing they did? Made a bee-line straight for the largest present & starting ripping off the wrapping as quickly as possible. It’s almost as if they knew what it was: these kids scare me sometimes…
After we managed to pull them away from there they had a great time crawling around & socialising, then we were able to settle them without much trouble into the padded playpen we’d brought with us. They did however both end up in bed with us when they woke up overnight, as they often do now.
Then it was Christmas Day! We of course had to dress them up as little Santas! Ellie especially seemed really excited:
Then: Presents! This time they were allowed to rip away at the wrapping to their hearts’ content. But of course, babies being babies, they now seemed less enthusiastic than the day before when they weren’t allowed to!
It was a very generous gift from our hosts. But it ‘required some assembly’. A bit of prodding, head-scratching, hammering, & – as a last resort – reading of instructions & we had a horsey! OK: technically, a Zebra. It can be wheeled,
Ride 'em cowboy!
You must figure I'm a reeaal dangerous man
Yee-hah!
and rocked:
Cool-hand Jake
Next up, & thankfully needing slightly less assembly, a spinning car arena!
It's a serious business, this car-racing
Um, I'm pretty sure it's cars you're meant to put in there, Ellie. But sure: we could try the big squeezy ball!
A lot of smaller toys later – including an alien robot – & Jallie were as happy as kids in a toy shop! Which they pretty much were.
Then of course there was the inevitable ‘playing with the packaging’…
Not surprisingly, they wore themselves out with all this & had a nap before Christmas lunch.
They woke up while we adults were eating though, & were very happy to be with us; first Ellie
Cheeky!
Yes, I do think that was funny!
Right, I've had enough of this silly hat!
and then Jake:
Jus' like that!
A cracker? Don't mind if I do!
I won!
After a great lunch & a bit of resting & TV, the twins again settled without much trouble – but again both ended up in bed with us.
In the morning we packed up, somehow managing to fit everything into the car despite it seeming full when we’d left home. Unfortunately Ellie didn’t get the memo, & decided to have a sleep after I’d packed the playpen / bed!
We set off after lunch, not forgetting to feed the babies of course:
Feed me!
Oi! What do I have to do to get some service around here?!
Going back we were very well prepared. I sat in the back again, & we had a bottle each for them, some rice cake snacks to chew on & plenty of toys. After a slurp & a chomp, they were soon asleep & slept right through ’til we arrived home – to a very cold house.
It was a terrific Christmas, one which we all I think thoroughly enjoyed. For Jallie’s first one I couldn’t have asked for much more; they had a really happy time, & you can’t ask for better than that. Our hosts were just fantastic 
Whatever the future may hold we’ll all always be able to look back on Christmas 2010 as a happy time.
So a very merry Christmas to you & yours!
