Happy Halloween

Aimee as a little pumpkin. Despite the gloomy face, she did actually love being
a Halloween pumpkin this morning. My accuracy and artistic skills are slightly less
than full at such an early hour in the morning (6am). But I did my best and Aimee
was bursting with excitement at the prospect of everyone at nursery seeing her
facepaint.

Being a Mum

Monday was my very first day all alone looking after the kids for the entire day. Yes, I know it is unbeleivable but with Cat starting work and me with a more flexible working arrangement, I have opted to look after the kids on Mondays until they begin nursery for five days a week next year.
It is not an easy task for the amateur like me so I planned the day to be very active to avoid midday slumps, whingeing and me getting too stressed. So the day began with a trip to the leisure centre for some softplay fun. Dylan loved it and was hard to chase after. Aimee just loves one thing and that is the slanted foam structure that acts as a slide. She really goes for it there. After softplay, we lunched at the cafetaria and then went home to be met by the Homestart assistant Anne. Homestart is a charity that offers volunteers to come round to families with young kids and offers emotional support and a person to just help play with the kids while you take a break. It is a lifeline that Cat very much needed when she was going through a tough period and I guess we just carried on with the scheme. But I suspect our needs are no longer as valid as other families anymore so it is a relationship that may soon come to an end.
With dylan sleeping most of the afternoon, I could take time to paint Aimee's face as you can see.
Finally, dinner and bath, then Mum comes home to kiss the kids goodnight. The day was a complete reversal of how we were when I was working and Cat was home on maternity leave. I felt very motherly all day!
And the good thing I realised at the end was that I did not need to use the TV as a distraction all day.

Fetch

On a dreary Sunday afternoon, the women of the house were off partying so father and son are at home doing what men all over the world do - play ball:

Drawing Skillz

Call me biased but I think Aimee's art output is astonishing for her age. Granted, my pool of knowledge about how good nearly-three-year-olds are supposed to be is limited, but from what I've seen hanging up in her nursery and what they show on the segments in TV, I think this is seriously advanced.

When I was a youth, I was very good at drawing. But I used my powers for bad (getting caught graffitting walls, drawing teachers without clothes on to get cheap laughs...then getting caught, drawing caricatures of the bullies at school, then getting beat up - you see the theme here) I hope Aimee can use her powers to enlighten and entertain. We'll see. In the meantime, here is her most recent output, all drawn without any assistance or copying, on a little notepad in October, cue Tony Hart music...

Having a houseby

Buying a new house and having a baby share many similarities. You conceive the idea, you go through 9 months of waiting and waiting at which stage the whole thing could fall through at the drop of a hat, but then comes to big day, which is painful but exhilarating. However, it is only the start of your problems as you settle in and come to terms with a new lifestyle. Over the years, your new home/baby will grow and become part of you, will have good times, and bad times, will drain you of money, but reward you with happiness. Yup, many similarities. I only say this because ONE year ago today, we moved into our new home and Dylan will soon be one years old (next month). And let’s not forget Aimee will be 3 in November too.
Already we are thinking of how to celebrate. By now, we’ve been to more kids parties than have had sleepful nights, so the pressure is on to do something BIG. But I guess we may end up keeping it a small family affair.
Nursery news. Looks like Aimee has got over her phobia of the nursery and can be dropped off without a fuss now. However she has become fixated on just the one nursery carer who she follows around all day. If this girl ever has a day off or leaves, Aimee will be distraught. Dylan seems upset whenever we hand him over at nursery, but he quickly settles in his baby room – demolishing and bashing everything he can. Bless.