207 + 103 Weeks

Carmie has been a bit sick with a cold this week, so she had the day home from school today.  Despite her sniffles, she has had a great week.  She went to her friend Hunter's birthday party and drove his new car, which she loved!  And I also took her up to Nowra to see the Octonauts Live show, and you should have seen her little face when they came on stage, she was so excited, it was just about the best thing to ever happen to her :)  She had an absolute blast, which made it really fun for me.  Poor Arley didn't get to come, even though he loves "Attan Arcles" (Captain Barnacles) too.

We also had lunch with Lolo and Dida and the kids's cousin Baz, to cheer them up, as poor Zach is very sick at the moment, and everyone needed to take their mind off it.  And little Arley had some more alone time with me - we went for a Mollymook Beach walk, and a walk down our country road which ended in Arley playing in a dirty puddle despite the freezing cold.  He spends much of his day still playing with his trains (even though they are broken now), but today he also got very caught up in building blocks, and it was good to see him doing something else.  He also tried to say a full sentence to me today, but he gave up, but at least he is trying!

The following is a video of Carmie dancing to Emma from The Wiggles, from earlier today (not so sick after all!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgYXLhnqTYI&feature=youtu.be

Ready for her licence!

Lunch with Baz

Just before the Octonauts show

Morning walk with Mum

206 + 102 Weeks

We have had a very busy week, with trips to the park, a show at the theatre, fun with grandparents, arts and crafts, and a hair cut.  Arley has had a good week, except for learning to climb out of his bed :(  Last night he kept Carmie up until 9 because he wouldn't stay in bed.  Tonight he tried to do the same, so we put Carmie to sleep in our bed, and shut the door to their bedroom so Arley couldn't get out.  He banged on the door for 20 minutes then gave up and all was quiet.  I went in 20 minutes later to check on him, and he had climbed back in bed, but he was still awake, and he started giggling like he had the best night ever.  Pain in the butt!  Jeffrey and I drove him up to Nowra today to get a hearing test done, and it turns out that his hearing is fine (yay!), and while unclear, his speech is not too bad, as he is starting to string two words together.  So, that is a relief.  I tried practicing with him to lie on his back and roll over, but he got so distressed that I'm not going to do it again.  So, we are keeping his appointment with the ENT next month, to make sure that it is nothing more than just odd behaviour.

Carmie and I went to a show at Milton Theatre - her first show.  The local theatre group put on "Seussical the Musical", and while Carmie was a little disappointed that she didn't get to see the real Cat in the Hat, she was very taken with all of the singing and dancing, and she was very excited to clap between each song - she was beaming.  We also had a visit to the farm this weekend so that the kids could have a play on the tennis court and see their grandparents.  And Carmie had her hair lopped off this week.  She has been begging me for months to cut it - she was miserable every morning when I had to brush all of the knots out.  Some mornings it would take half an hour to do her hair.  I was just clinging to the baby curls which will never come back.  Anyway, I took her to the hair dresser, and we decided to go for it and they cut off 7 inches.  Carmie wanted more off, but I couldn't do it (she wants to be like some of her friends who have shoulder length hair, but she doesn't realise that they are all trying to grow their hair long like hers was!).  Anyway, it is much more manageable now (only five minutes in the mornings!!), and it looks really healthy and lovely.  Also, Carmen feels very grown up :)  

All in all, a really good week :)

Morning tea at Mollymook Beach

Arley's new wheels

At the library cafe.  The library was closed, but Carmie was appeased with a chocolate chip cookie.

Feeding Arley her yoghurt at dinner time

Holding her theatre ticket

Pre- hair cut

And lastly, Carmie's awesome drawing of Hootabelle the Owl

205 + 101 Weeks

The kids have had a great week.  Arley has suddenly started copying everything we say, the last word of every sentence at least.  He will try to say any word that you ask him to, except for the word orange - he just says "heiyeahhhh" and moves on.  And now that he is talking more, he is no where near as grumpy!  In the past three days, his language has improved so much, and he hasn't had any angry moments either.  He has been such a cute little guy to be around.  I have been taking him on morning tea picnics while Carmie is at school.  We went to Lake Conjola one morning, and we were visited by a kangaroo.  We went to the Inlet park, where Arley insisted on scaring the life out of me and going on the giant slide that is about 4 metres tall.  He loves his mornings when we take Carmie to school too, and hates to leave.  Jeffrey also gave him a much needed hair cut this week, but he HATED it, and I think we will just grow his hair out from now on, as he was completely traumatised, but once it was started, the job needed to be finished!  He looks pretty cute now though :)

 The Scarecrow Festival was held this weekend, so we took the kids up to Milton to see all of the scarecrows.  They had a blast, particularly Arley when I let him out of the stroller so that he could run around with the big kids.  That is, until he booked it though the crowd and ran straight for the Princes Highway.  Carmie ate candy and bought herself a butterfly balloon, so she was very happy with her morning.

Carmie has been a little angel.  I took her to our neighbour's house to pick fruit from his garden, and she felt very special as she took some of it to school the next day so that they could all make juice.  She is very into collecting things, and comes home every day with her pockets full of leaves and rocks, and sometimes even very special shiny pieces of rubbish that she calls treasure.  She also does about 4 drawings a day - so many that we are using them as kindling for our fire (let's hope she doesn't find out!).  She is getting her hair cut on Monday - she wants it cut to her shoulders, as she is fed up with the tangles that we deal with every morning.  I am not sure, as it is so long now (down to her waist), and we all know how I can get attached to long hair!  It grows like mine did, very long and very fast.  If we cut it, all of her baby curls will be gone for good though, which is rather sad!  Decisions, decisions!

 At school

 Picnic at the Inlet

 At the Scarecrow Festival

 Arley's serious look

 A wubby in the mouth, one in the hand, and one in the eye - typical Arley

 Posing while fruit picking :)

 Racing Mum home - of course I was carrying 100kg of fruit!

 Picnic at Lake Conjola

 Bathtime is his favourite part of the day