Dylan. Crash!

I've done a few video compilations of Aimee in the past but so far have never made one of Dylan. So here is the cheeky chappy, in all his high octane glory. Enjoy!

Chinatown

The kids love Chinatown. Maybe its the Hello Kitty shops, maybe it's the dim sum. Who knows? We're not complaining!

Happy Birthday Syl!

A little message for my sis...

November 2009

Novembers looks set to be always a busy month. Dylan and Aimee had their respective birthdays, and then a big bash to jointly celebrate with all their friends, then there was fireworks nights, and lots of warm clothes to get out the attic...

October 2009 slideshow

What happened in October - photo slideshow summary:



Oh, and HAPYY BIRTHDAY DYLAN!!!!!!!!!

Bubble Boy!

Aimee Art - August 2009

The bumblebee and butterfly reign supreme this month...

Flying kids

It's so sweet to remember old times with the kids. That's why I take so many photos. Time moves fast and the kids grow so fast its hard to keep track. Photos help me remember the fun times.

I've changed photo accounts by the way. FROM NOW ON, ALL AIMEE AND DYLAN PHOTOS WILL BE ON FLICKR.
Click this link to see the August 2009 selection:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/meerkatsu/collections/72157621933868313/

Kungfu kids!

Wonder what happens if I show a few training drills to my kids...

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes

Umm, no posts for a while so apologies. I hope to be getting a new camcorder soon so I can post more amusing/interesting/cute stuff soon.

Aimee Art 2009!

Some recent aimee artworks all painted in April, apart from the last one.

This was a back of the envelope job, a smiling Sunflower I think...



Lots of smiling faces, our family maybe? And an attempt at writing her name...

A wide-eyed face with lots of eyelashes. Or maybe it is upside down and the face is crying tears?...

But here's my favourite. Painted in February at nursery. It is neat. It is smiling. It is Aimee through and through...

Out and about

Just some photos from out and about.

Bit of a mean look there son.

Award

Aimee was awarded her first gymnastics certificate today. She managed a few forward rolls and even a head-stand. there's no stopping her now. I collected her from nursery last week and she was doing forward rolls on top of the stairs - made my heart stop a beat!

It's all fun to her. Hope she progresses well and becomes a bit more active.

Surprise!

Our boy is growing up fast. Weirdly I think he still has virtually the same appearance as he did when he was just a few months old - that round face, big eyes and lack of hair. But in reality, he is a boisterous, full-blooded, boy's boy and it is tiring keeping up with him.
In the photo above, you can see a red scrape to the left of his forehead. That's when Dylan slid down the nursery's outdoor kiddie slide head first and landed on the astroturf, scraping his face as he did so. That's just one example of his self inflicted injuries, but he also likes to inflict injuries on others. In the baby room, he loves to push over other babies, then sit on their heads. At home, he rugby tackles Aimee to the ground then, well, it doesn't go much further because Aimee's ear-bending wails are enough to send us scurrying to her rescue. Yup, the boy Dylan is going to be a bit of a bully bruiser. We'd all better watch out.

Numb nuts

I call this video numb nuts because everything Dylan says sounds like the words
'numb-nuts'. It doesn't help that I chant this to him to help him say it better!

Today was a good day for the kids. We took Aimee to her first ever Gymnastics lesson. She was a bit scared and needed Mum by her side all the time, but she did get to do a few forward rolls and a couple of bounces and leaps off the trampoline-like launch pad. It's not much but at least it gets Aimee to be a bit more active, which has concerned us recently.

Dylan observed the gymnastics and was itching to have a go himself. All in good time.

Orient Xpress

The 'Chinese' issue rears itself every now and again. Surprisingly never from my mum or dad who being fiercely proud of their culture you would expect to nag me about heritage. No, I get comments from people like my chinese hair dresser or the old ladies in Chinatown who coo and aagh over Aimee and Dylan and then say why you no speak chinese to little one?
I did manage to get Aimee to learn 1-10 in chinese when she was quite young, I think maybe 18-24 months. She would mimic anything I told her so it was easy. It's much harder these days.
I don’t have the energy or will power. But hope is on the horizon. Most schools in London and maybe in Herts now offer Chinese as a language option for GCSE and maybe A-levels. I think you have to go to a specialist college for A-levels and it does depend on expert langauge staff, but it is something on offer that was never around when I was a kid. Heck, when I was at school, home computers were but a twinkle in Bill Gates's eyes and cookery and metalwork were 'important' subjects.
The environment in which kids grow up is different too.
Schools are much more multi-ethnic and politically correct, which reflects society at large. If Aimee and Dylan grows up not knowing any Chinese, then they'll probably not be alone amongst other BBCs (British Born Chinese) or half BBCs (HABEEBIES?). And it won't really be an issue as it was with me.
But with the internet, cheap travel, good teachers and other resources, if they want to learn Chinese, it will be pretty easy to do so in this day and age.

I Scream

Just had a really fun lunchtime sesh out with kids and my Mum at Toby Carvery. I can thoroughly recommend it as a family friendly gaff. Much much better than Harvester. cheaper too. Fiver for roast dinner and all you can eat sides and ice cream. Blimey guv.

...and in February, it snowed

Year of the Ox

Chinese New Year has come around again. Just like Xmas's and birthdays, they certainly come round faster each year. This year is chinese year of the Ox. Mum's birth sign. Ox's are hard working, caring, nurturing and kind. Isn't that right mummy?