drawing and coloring

M has entered the stage when she wants to draw actual pictures and color. This is a picture of a dog she drew. It is her first picture that is easy to identify. Her favorite item to draw with is magnadoodle, she has had this for about eight months and it is used everyday. At first she would just completely black out the board with the magnet and erase it and repeat this over and over again. She then went on to adding faces to a few of the magnet stamps that came with it. This has been used so often that I am thinking of getting her a new one, because some of the magnet pieces no longer erase and the surface is all scratched up. There are so many different variations of this toy, I have already picked up a Thomas the train one for L when he is older. From having play groups at our house I know this is one toy that having multiple items will help to prevent arguments. I have narrowed it down to two lake shore learnings abc tracers and fp little people school bus. There is something about drawing on the board and then erasing that she finds soothing.

I am also looking for something to help M learn she does not have to push so hard on the paper to make a mark. She pushes so hard, it makes her little hands hurt. I've heard "It's ruined - tape it mommy" so many times I've lost count. I was so happy to come across crayons that are in a plastic case that you twist up. This has eliminated so many tantrums since they can't break in half I just wish they came in a bigger size.

Life with M - brief little notes

Life with M she is good she is the easiest child, we did not realise how good we had it until little L was born. He is a pretty easy child compared to most, but with M she just loves to be with us.

At 3 she wakes up around 830 plays in her room until 9 then gets daddy up. Still wants her hot chocolate with protein powder in it and a Caillou. Then she likes to do a crafts while I get breakfast ready and empty the dishwasher.

She loves going to story time and playing at the park with her friends from playgroup. Has just recently just started to ask to go to preschool. She seems to be ready to be on her own, she understands that I will take her and drop her off and will leave and then come back to get her.

Loves the idea of having a bike but does not actually want to ride it just add accessories.

Is so nice to baby L. The second she hears him she screams I'm coming L, don't worry. She is up those stairs so fast and on the bed beside him. She loves to play with him and understands that he can only play with baby toys.

She is able to pick up new skills so easily, we have been watching a show called Ni-Hao, Kai-lan and she picks up the new word and is able to use them in everyday life immediately.

Loves anything that is related to building (mega block, wooden, railways, manipulates), caillou, dora and any book she can get her hands on.

She thinks she can read, she can a few words. She has so many books memorised she can do them without the book.

She loves to be a little scientist like her daddy and we are always doing some sort of experiment

Does not nap anymore, I only put her down for a nap if she needs it (she will actually tell me - weird child) otherwise she has quiet time where we do are own thing - like we are now for an hour or more.

Loves to garden and play in the dirt and collect rocks.

Loves to cook with me

Is finally potty trained. Yeah!!! Only one more child to go.

cute sayings
ok ok ok, ok mis a mama- when she feels i am being bossy, Daddy did it, Daddy said I could,

M hunts for eggs

We let M look through her basket and find the eggs on her own. She did really good at finding 36 eggs. We spent the rest of the day doing crafts, eating tons of chocolate and having fun.

L photo was a little harder than i had hoped still turned out cute, but I will have to try again later on in the week when there are less distractions. M's friend S was out with her brother hiding eggs for each other and M wanted to join in. She ended up playing with S for an hour while daddy looked after L.

For dinner we ended up having Alfredo which daddy ended up making in the end while i fed L. Until the kids are older holiday dinners are going to be simple, I don't want to be stressed out about preparing it and cleaning. Or at the very least until they can eat it.

Happy Easter 2008

Happy Easter

We took the kids to see the Easter Bunny yesterday, L fell asleep on the way there the poor little guy. He ended up waking up on our search for the bunny, but I decided he was too germy. M missed going last year. After visiting Santa, i didn't want to put her through that again. This year she was all excited about meeting him, we had been reading books about Easter and she understood what was happening.

I posted M first photo with the bunny, she was so cute she looked just like a dolly. This year she seems so grown up in her bonnet. O how things change.

first blog

Well scrapbooking is on hold for a while til L is a lille older. I am getting scared i will start to forget things before i have a chance to scrapbook them. so here i am doing my very first blog post, with L sitting on my lap who is trying to touch both of his toes. I always thought all babies could do this.