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?

Pop Aimee Idol Factor

Here's a little Xmas video I only just got round to posting online:

And here's something we're saving for the next X-Factor audition:

Top of the mornin'

It's not all sweetness and light. Sometimes being a top model can be a downer when you are not in the mood! to be fair, Cat took this picture first thing in the morning for work reference purposes, not for the family album, and Aimee is not at her best at that time. This actually is the best of the batch!

Good Lord and I nearly forgot to mention...Dylan now sleeps through the night, ta da!
Every night for 14 months the wee lad has yelled out at the top of his voice twice, sometimes thrice nightly and poor old mumma would drag her tired bones to tend to his whim. Not now. Oh no. And you know the trick? Daddy time.
Yep, all last week we switched from Cat putting him to bed to me doing it, and you know what? He must have thought, oh darn, no mummy time, might as well go to sleep properly...and he did, crossed fingers. maybe it was a coincidence of timing (Aimee also slept through at the same age) but I can;t help feeling a large sense of achievement on my part.
Mind you, our travails are nothing compared to many parents I speak to. One Mum reminisced at how her 8 year old (EIGHT) year old son finally went to sleep all night without waking and crying out for his mummy. That's not the worst, Cat's work mate's daughter would not sleep on her own until she left...FOR UNIVERSITY! Man, that takes some beating!

Diction

Aimee's chickenpox doesn't seem as bad as Dylan's, however her surface marks are nothing compared to her general emotions. So far since we've been back, she's been a lot more irritable, whingey, clingy and upset at the littlest things. She sleeps poorly and eats barely at all. We do our best to help her recover, with applications of 'magic' itchy cream and 'magic' biscuits. Everything has to be 'magic' or 'fairy' in order for her to accept them.

Oh yes, almost forgot to mention the biggie news of Dylan so far is that he can talk. Yep, I got witnesses to prove it. His first proper word came out over Xmas in front of Granny and Mummy. I fed Dylan some yoghurt and he blurted out the word 'Yo-Urt'. I was stunned. He said it again. And everyone heard. I got him also to say Grandma (gan ma) and then more words but by then he got bored and started fiddling with his straps. So far, Dylan can say just those words, plus mama and dadda, but I'm working on Nainai and yeye.

I also noticed that in between his squeals, screams and yelling, Dylan has started humming tunes. Yes, actually humming little dittys. How cool is that?

Aimee of course has a pretty staggering vocabulary now. But every now and then we giggle at her cute mispronounciations. Like; chickenpox is 'chicken pops', ABC is 'ab seed', the chinese cake ji-way-bao, is 'Jimmy Bao' and so on, too numerous to mention. It is so cute I am torn between correcting her every time and letting her continue with the error just as it amuses me so much. Evil dad eh?

Oh yes, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas 2008

Christmas for a 3 year old must be one of the most magical events of the year - easily better than a birthday. I mean you get loads of presents, loads of cake and chocolate, loads of attention, loads os going out to see cool Xmassy things, and there's Santa and panto and carols and zillions of other things to keep an active child wild with excitement. We think Dylan enjoyed his Xmas too with his constant cheeky grin and excited state of being.
Christmas is also a time for sharing, and what better present to share than that of chicken pox passed from brother to sister. Yes, as drove home after spending 3 fun filled days at the MacCallums, Aimee complained of an itchy stomach and feeling a bit unwell. When we got home and checked her tummy sure enough, the tell-tale mini-spots were all over her torso, exactly the same as appeared on dylan two weeks previous. Ha well, another New Year spent indoors - no different to any other year I guess.

A small Christmas surprise

Spotty Boy

They say chickenpox is mild in babies, but poor Dylan is covered head to toe in volcanic pox.

Most have scabbed over and dried up now and I can;t see any new ones, so hopefully he is over

the worst. Not a nice thing, but ultimately harmless. Mind you, it is interesting how many countries offer vaccination for chickenpox. In Germany it is an option, but in the USA I believe it is compulsorary before primary school. what are they afraid of eh? It's not like it's contagious is it? Oh.

Lurgy

Uh-oh, poor Dylan has the dreaded chicken pox.

It spread like wildfire at nursery. I think every kid in the baby room has it.

But Aimee appears so far symptomless.

The silver lining is that at least it will affect him over Xmas, which, in our selfish eyes,

means less time off work to look after him since chicken pox requires quarantine from

nursery.

Weird me watching you watching me videos

Dylan watches Oscar watching Dylan

Let's all clap hands with Oscar!