Jalen's Birthday

Today we headed to Launceston for Jay's 10th birthday. We celebrated by going to the Launceston Aquatic Centre. Our kids had a great time at the pool and loved being thrown up in the air and jumping into the pool. Maddi is getting more confident in the water and started to let go of us and kick small distances with her kickboard and floaties. This morning she reminded me that we needed to take her "keyboard" to the pool. I automatically assumed she was talking about her toy piano and said there was no way we were taking it to the pool! Then in frustration she kept repeated it over and over that she was talking her "keyboard and floaties" and then I got what she meant.


Since it's school holidays we thought it would be a good idea to buy ourselves a pass to the program pool, which was a pool a bit warmer than the rest. Since you have to pay a bit extra it is more private and more enjoyable as you can pretty much do what you like without considering the many other patrons of the pool. We pretty much had the whole program pool to ourselves which was great, and the kids had a blast. The good thing was we spent at least a couple of hours in there and we never got cold.



Up


Down

In between our pool time we celebrated Jay's birthday. He had a Chance Bateman number 10 cake which also matched his age. He had 5 friends from school to celebrate with him and they seemed like pretty cool kids. Maddi loves Jay and is always pointing out kids that look like Jalen and always says, "Harri and Jay are my friends. I love Harri and Jay." It was important to us that we got to celebrate Jay's 10th birthday with him and there was no way that we would of missed it as Maddi was looking forward to Jay's party all week!


After spending several hours at the pool we headed into town to do some shopping. Since it was such a beautiful spring day we made a spontaneous walk to the monkey park. Maddi carries around a pink teddy that Mum gave her as a newborn around with her all the time now. The thing is it is a pink teddy and it says "Princess" on it and she has named it Baby Isaac (after Sarah's son). She gave Baby Issac a view of the monkeys and told him what was going on with the monkeys.




The kids spent a good while at the playground, and we kept on walking onto Kmart (with the kids!) as it was such an enjoyable afternoon. Little Alex was pooped after his pool swim and play in the park and had a nap in the pram. I think the kids would of walked about 2kms altogether today and they were so good natured all afternoon, which made it a pleasure to be around them.

At 20 months

Just an update of what our boy is like at 20 months. There has been lots and lots of mischief!

Showers are never a luxury it our house even for a few minutes, as it means either mischief is going on and you end up dealing with consequences later, or you end up with a little boy joining you in the shower or banging the door down to get into the bathroom to play. A jar of peanut butter was consumed one day while I was in the shower.


The cupboards are supposedly child proofed! Sometimes he reminds me of those little Gremlins that are so cute but so mischievous and destructive. In a matter of minutes he can leave the place like a bomb has hit it! He loves to get into the weetbix and eat them dry and scatter the mess around the house. Smashing sounds, and toilet clogging is still a norm around here. Sleeping is unpredictible with this boy. I have no idea what has happened, as he went from being an okay sleeper to a terrible one, who rarely sleeps through the night and will wake several times, sometimes for hours at a time.

But that's enough about the not so good stuff, as there's lots to LOVE about this little boy, like:

His love of cuddles and kisses, I was always told that little boys are more cuddly than little girls, and he loves to have a cuddle for the brief time that he will sit still. He loves having cuddles with his "Mumma".


His passion of food and cooking. He's so hands on when it comes to cooking and loves lick the beaters and try things and is insistent to have every bit of sauce and dressing that we have on our food. He even eats spicy foods, with no troubles at all. He's my little shadow in the kitchen and will pull up his little stool beside me to watch what's going on. He still makes a lot of noise while he eats and often hands his bowl to us after eating a meal with "tah," for more food. He loves drinking water, which is definitely a good thing.

The way he's become so dilligent at folding his arms during prayer time.

His energy for all things physical. He loves to jump and run and can even do forward rolls after copying Maddi. His constant fiddling with things and being 'hands on.'


The way he helps me around the house with just little jobs that are a great help. Like putting the dirty clothes in the washing basket and passing the clothes to me while they go on the line, or filling up the clothes dryer (which has been the case of late). He loves to unpack the dishwasher, but now I have to literally sneak emptying it, as he breaks a lot of things or makes them dirty again. His other favourite job to do is cleaning the toilets. The toilet brush sits in the laundry sink, but he still manages to get it and will scatter toilet water all over the floor and will fill the toilet up with a whole roll of toilet paper.


His love of music, and appreciation for all types of music. From the rhythym of the clothes dryer going around to head banging to heavy metal. As soon as the music comes on in the car he is moving and grooving. He is obsessive with touching big Alex's guitar and amplifier and will often strum the guitar.

His love of trucks, cars and machines (really anything with wheels). His face lights up with excitment when he hears a loud car of sees a truck or train etc. He even loves TV shows with car action scenes and will jump up and down with excitment when he watches shows with his Dad.


He's such a boy and not afraid to get dirty. I still have to change his clothes a couple of times a day,as he gets so dirty from food, dribble or just being a boy. Maddi and him are in a bad habit of making "mud pies" outside by piling up dirt and adding lots and lots of water.