Dreams

Dreams are boring. I mean there is nothing more mind numbingly dull than listening to someone else prattle on about what happened in their dream. So here´s my dream from last night: I´m playing with Aimee outdoors. It is busy. A high street maybe, or a beach. Then she disappears. I´m searching, I can´t find her, I panic. The swell of emotion makes me wake up in a cold sweat. But I hear Aimee laughing in bedroom next doors. Phew. It was just a dream. Here´s Cat´s dream: It is 2am. Cat can hear Dylan struggling in bed next to her. She thinks I am holding him but that I have fallen asleep and about to drop him. So Cat half wakes up in a panic and lunges into me trying to `catch´ Dylan. Only, Dylan is safely asleep and so was I, until I get clawed or half punched by Cat. I mumble something in my half sleep/half unconcious state, then she goes back to sleep and we wake up next morning, bleary eyed but giggling at the silliness of it all. I´m sure I have read that weird dreams and sleep paralysis hallucinations are common to parents of young kids. Maybe it is the lack of sleep, or the constant worry you have generally. So what do these dreams mean? Who knows? But the last thing I want to do is bleat on about them to everyone else. Oh, I already have.

Nursery

The kids have spent their first full week in full-time nursery. But it's been an emotional time with mixed results. Aimee is distraught every morning when Cat leaves her there, but she is reported to be having a good time once she settles down. Yesterday, she enjoyed her group singing so much, she could hold her wee in no longer and wet herself, but gamely carried on singing. Now that's stubborn.

Dylan also cries each morning when Cat hands him over. Wringing every last drop out of Cat's heartstrings as she leaves. Yet, the carers say he is having a good time and even eats and sleeps during his stay there (which he doesn't do at home). Last night, we think he may even have reached a milestone...a whole night without waking up. A complete evening to morning period where Cat and I could sleep without our usual blurry-eyed 4am trip to his room to console, cuddle and douse him with milk or painkillers. Let's hope it really is a turning point.

A New Beginning

Another corner turned, another milestone passed, another day that our babies become less babies. sigh...yesterday Aimee and Dylan began their first experience of their new nursery. Day was ok, only a short one hour introductory session. Aimee was in a bit of a daze and rather quiet and clingy. I had to be by her side all session and she freaked out at how boisterous and territorial the established kids were. She rather more used to getting what she wants from us, and to have to be more assertive on unknown territory was a new thing. On day 2 however, Cat managed to leave the room quietly without aimee noticing for a good hour. The staff reported that Aimee was happily playing and eating her lunch and did not cry. One beneficial (to us) side effect of nursery that I forgot when she was at the old place was that Aimee is so knackered when she gets home, that bed time is a very swift affair - a quick bath, brush, story and lights out. She is fast asleep within minutes. During her recent sabbatical (Cat's maternity leave) she would take ages every night to go down. Nothing too hyper, but she just wanted lots of stories and lots of toys and lots of this and that, it would sometimes be 8:30-9pm before I could get away from her room.

With Dylan I thought it would be more tricky to break into the nursery habit since he is Sooooo clingy at home. But no, he slept, he ate, he played, he destroyed (some artwork and pulled all the toys down off the shelf). Apart from a few murmers of disquiet, he was actually quite happy in the baby room. I guess we underestimated how flexible a more young child can be.

Generally I like the nursery, it is well run with good facilities and plenty of outdoor space. The combined cost as I mentioned before is expensive to us, but actually they are cheap compared to most other places. When I was there, I spent a great deal of time observing the kids and it is really amazing what miniature but very determined little characters they can be at such a young age. One little boy appeared to be quite a handful in the playground. But when I commented about him to a member of staff, they explained that he had recently lost his mother. Such things really make you look twice at yourself and realise just how lucky you really are.

Let's hope the kids settle well and going to nursery everyday will be as normal and routine as everything else in our lives.

BTW The photo above is Dylan covered head to toe in kiddie fun paint. He seemed to think it was fun to use his body as a paint brush. It was not fun to clean up afterwards. Anyway, its all good for his development, I think.

And here's Aimee as Bambam.

Parents Allowed

Hot news - parents of two actually make it out of their house and in to town shocker!
Yes, instead of our usual Sunday where we are still in pyjamas and chasing after our kids, we decide, totally impromptu, to drive in to Chinatown and sample some of their food. It was tough going, with tears, tantrums and long delays on the roads. But we managed it, and enjoyed the nosh immensly.

Hair tales

Dylan is slowly starting to grow some head hair. Only a very light fuzzy growth, way less than most 10 month-olds. I think that's one of the things that make his appearance so distinctive and, I have to confess, adds to his baby-like cuteness. Babies born with a full head of hair I think look a bit too mature for their face. One person at work (who doesn't really like kids) once screeched that she thought babies with lots of hair look like freaks! Well I wouldn't go that far.
He still doesn't have enough hair to tell what colour it will be. It's definitely lighter than Aimee's. At one point we thought he might turn into a copper top, and in strong sunlight, you do see a bit of the red in it. A harkback to his Scottish heritage I suspect. Now that would be a look to stun my kiddie-hating colleague - the half chinese ginger haired kid.

Aimee had a similar slow showing of head hair. At ten months, it was also a fuzzy peach fluff. Today, as she approaches 3 years, it's a messy mop of curls and tangles which desperately needs cutting. She does finally lke having her hair tied up into a vertical bunch though - just like Bam Bam from the flintstones. I'll try to get a snap of Aimee in BamBam mode, but in the meantime, here's the cartoon version.

Gold

The Olympics are over, boohoo. Every morning, for two weeks, when the kids wake up at their unGodly hour, I would turn on the TV and watch Team GB win Gold, live. It weas brilliant being able to actually enjoy early early mornings with the kids. Aimee had a special fascination for the British National Anthem. She insisted she hear it loud and she stood to attention while the flags were raised and medals honoured. Lucky for her and for Team GB that there was lots of opportunity to hear God Save the Queen.
Last weekend, we all went to a neighbouring child's Pirate themed birthday party. What a blast it was to dress up and don make-up. Aimee was the star of the show in her mummy-made treasure chest outfit. Check out the Yangwood photo gallery website for all the pictures. She was pure gold!

Dylan stands

Not to be outdone by his big artists sister, Dylan proceeds to show

the world he can stand unaided. Sorry, don;t know how to rotate the video.

Seal of Success

This is Aimee's drawing of a seal, with a happy smiling face and a glowing sun above his head. Ahh, bless her creative skills! And still only 2 years old, I think it is remarkable.

Poo Bare

Poo. Before babies, I would say dealing with poo would have been my biggest fear. Fast forward nearly three years and I can honestly say, sorting out nappies and potty training for my kids has not been the phobia that I thought it was. Yes, it stinks and yes it is messy but most of the time, you simply clean up the bums, buff to a fine polish and place on new nappy without so much as a blink of the eye. Cleaning the bums of your own kids is no different than cleaning your own bum.
On the other hand, any other kid and I would probably retch. I have helped on a couple of occasions a couple of other Mums clean up their babies soiled nappies and the smell is so different that I really thought I would puke. Why is this? Is there some sort of family odour (bad or otherwise) that bonds us Yangs together? I guess science could answer this question but I have yet to come across any research on this subject (and I read a lot of science papers everyday). Maybe it is just the shear daily drudgery of nappy changing that makes one immune to these things. Mind you, when you have had liquid poo projectiled into your face, wee all over your clothes, had to scoop poo from the bath and had to manually fish out half-stuck constipated poo from your kids, then I guess not much else can phaze you.
Last week, Aimee successfully pooed into her potty. Upon getting up she was really curious to see the product of her efforts. All the books say this is normal so I let her peer into the bowl (although I was actually worried she would pick it up – I haven’t let go of all my squeamishness!). After studying it for a few seconds, she looked at me and beamed a big grin. What’s up Aimee I said, she replied, Oh wow, poo has got sweetcorn in it!
And sure enough, poking out of the poo was a couple of kernels of undigested corn. I laughed out loud so hard, I thought I would poo myself!!!Ah, the joys of poo. Now, enjoy your breakfast.

Dylan Climbs!

Making plans

I think we hit an important milestone with Aimee. Yesterday she went through a whole day without once leaking or missing her cue on the potty. Everytime she needed to go, without fuss or noise, she simply went over, pulled down her briefs and did the business. It helped that she spent all day indoors at home (she wears nappies when going out). The only bit need to do now is to teach her how to clean up afterwards, as her wiping technique is a tad sloppy. Now, we up the stakes and at some point we will venture to take her outdoors without wearing nappies, cue the inevitable whine of 'I need wee weee mummy...NOW!' that you hear up and down shopping centres and on streets everywhere - basically in places where there are no loos.

Dylan offers us new tricks to his repertoire of cheeky behaviour every day. His new one at the moment is to clamber up the entire flight of stairs all on his own. It is at once an amazing spectacle and at the same time, really scary as at any moment, he could slip and fall onto the unforgiving hard cold floor tiles below. Well, let me first explain that his stair climbing is strictly supervised and yes, we will have to buy a stair gate for the bottom as well as the top now.

Cat has confirmed her date to go back to work - late October. But already, difficulties to our carefully laid plans may arise with the juggling of who will drop off kids, who will pick-up and who will cover in emergencies. Her new bosses are not really sympathetic to her idea of taking off every Monday and not happy about her having to leave early enough to pick up the kids on days when I cannot. I'm sure things will work out in the end, but it would help if employers could be more flexible.

Before then though, and despite the trauma of our Wales holiday, we are considering another weekend family break. This one is only 3 hours drive away so I reckon we can just about handle that. More details later.

Da, Da, Da

Dylan be the bad boy of babbling, oh yeah!

Do The Math

Holy Smoke! It has just really hit me how much we will have to spend on childcare.
I just got a letter from our new nursery and the good news is that they have a place available for both Aimee and Dylan in September, thus allowing Cat to go back to work after her maternity leave expires. But, and here’s the shockingly awful part - the new nursery costs £1416 a month to cover both kids.
It doesn’t sound too bad until you look at it over a year, a sum total just shy of £17,000 a year!! And that's not even for a full time placement, as they will only attend 4 days a week.
I wonder if instead of nursery, I can hire an au pair or nanny for the same amount or less? Mind you, I am permanently traumatised by the horror flick The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, so that alone rules out personal childcare.
Still, it's not all bad news. The government offer a voucher scheme that means we don't pay income tax on £243 a month, effectively saving about £1900 annually if both parents use the scheme. And we get a few bob in child maintenance and child tax credit, but ultimately it is just shaving snowflakes off a £17,000 iceberg into so-called Early Years Education.
Now I know why a lot of Mums, and increasingly dads too, give up their job to look after their kids full time. It simply is not economically viable to put two or more through nursery. It’s not long term fortunately. When Aimee turns 5, she’ll go to proper school, but even here, there are uniforms and breakfast/after school club fees to pay for.
A newspaper article about the lifetime cost of raising a child makes depressing reading.
Still, at least we have their happy little faces to cheer us up…well until they reach that moody age.

Cleanliness next to Godliness

Last post I mentioned that I wished all aspects of bringing up kids were as easy as Aimee's noodle eating antics. Whilst most skills that I have to nag my kids about are met with stern resistance, eg reliable potty usage, there are a few rare other habits that Aimee gets wonderfully adept at straight away. Brushing her teeth is one of them. She loves brushing her teeth and staring in my shaving mirror as she beams her pearly whites. Of course the technique is sloppy and she probably swallows more foam than she spits out, but by and large, it's been quite easy to show her. Better still, she lets me finish the job when I say to let Daddy do a final polish (thanks to Dai for that tip). And as for rinsing her mouth and spitting out the remnants, she spews out the water with great enthusiasm. Sometimes too much enthusiasm and I get an early shower.

Today, I can report that Aimee passed another hygiene milestone by letting me, nay willingly and obligingly, letting me wash her hair. For months and months, this singular act has become increasingly fraught with tears and screaming tantrums. Most times I give up trying and just let her run around with greasy smelly hair. But recently she has begun to relax bit by bit until today, she positively begged to have jugs of water poured over her scalp. I can't begin to describe how small incidents like this make one completely forget the endless trauma and battles of the past on this issue. As for Dylan, well he only has three teeth and no hair, so we've yet to cross that bridge.

Noodle Girl

I love noodles. And judging by the gusto with which little Aimee-san here gobbles up her ramen, she's a chip off the old block. I always thought chopsticks would be hard to teach, but I never taught Aimee. She just grabbed them off the table and started shovelling away. Bless her. If only all apsects of kiddie rearing were as straight forward and easy.

Today, I took Aimee to the cinema for the first time in her life. We saw Kung Fu Panda. I certainly enjoyed and I think Aimee did, but I suspect most of the jokes, plot and concepts were too much for her. Still, she liked the Tiger character and screamed in joy everytime she saw her, followed by me frantically shooshing her to keep quiet.