I haven't been blogging this week, but I have been writing many posts in my head. If only my thoughts could just be posted straight to the blog, it would make things a lot easier, and you wouldn't have to wait so long between posts. Can someone get onto that technology please? That and the whole teleporting thing.
I haven't been blogging because I feel like every minute is devoted to saying "Don't touch!" and "Careful!" and the ever popular "Gentle with your brother, that's his eye Owen! He needs it to see with!" The boys, now sixteen and a half months old, have really gone to the next level of independence, curiosity and abiltity to get into everything they shouldn't. I've been pulling my hair out all week in exasperation because they've managed to get up and over, under and through every barrier or child safety measure we had put in place in the living room, one of our main "play" areas, other than the basement. I need the boys to be able to play safely in the living room so that I can make them meals and still keep an eye on them from the kitchen doorway, but also because as much as I love our basement playroom, there's only so much time you can spend down there without feeling the need for a change. And since our Canadian winter has been particularly awful this year, we haven't been getting outside as much. So safe, fun places to play in the house are at a premium.
But suddenly the living room has become a hot spot for trouble. We have a ficus plant in the living room, behind the sofa. Anyone who has a ficus knows how tempermental they can be. If you look at them the wrong way, all their leaves fall off. But Mark and I have somehow managed to keep this one ficus happy and healthy for seven years. We had two others that died horrible deaths during those seven years, but this one tree has survived. We're proud of this tree, we like this tree, we want to keep this tree for another seven years. But it looks like Will and Owen have other plans. They have been systematically pulling every leaf off the tree. Pulling and plucking with much glee. And no matter how many times I patiently (and more often than not, impatiently) tell them "Don't touch! Gentle!", those little monkeys just keep going back and destroying the tree. So either we move the ficus, which it will hate, or we give it away, which it will hate, or we leave it and the boys continue to denude it of greenery, which obviously, it will hate. I think our poor tree is doomed.
But it doesn't end there. My clever monkeys have also learned how to open the drawers to our buffet/sofa table (conveniently located next to the ficus for maximum damage). I wasn't too concerned about them opening the drawers, because I was fairly certain they just contained table linens, until they opened one drawer whilst I was in the kitchen and they found wooden skewers. Why on earth there were wooden skewers in this one drawer and why I didn't know they were living there, I have no idea, but you can imagine my expression when I came in to investigate why it was so quiet (have you noticed how kids are always super quiet when they're doing things they shouldn't?). Suffice to say the drawers are now clear of anything dangerous and Mark and I are contemplating putting kid locks on the drawers in case the boys yank them out onto their heads.
And the final danger zone (for now) is the bookcase in the corner of the room, which we'd placed on an angle to the corner. As I was typing this, I paused and went to rescue Owen who had managed to get trapped behind the bookcase in the little space between the furniture and the wall. Sigh. So of course, the bookshelf has just been pushed flush against the wall. It doesn't look as nice anymore, but hey, at least no one is peeking at me from behind it anymore. Now I just have to wait until the day they decide to climb up the bookcase.
Okay, I know I'm whining a little, and it probably doesn't sound all that bad to you lot, but there are just days when its exhausting and overwhelming. However, just when I think I'm going to have to resort to selling one of the boys to a travelling circus in order to keep my sanity, one or both of them does something really cute or funny and I decide I might just be able to survive for a few more hours until daddy comes home.
I've attached some photos below of their cuteness, and a video of them doing their funny yodel-talking. I can't even begin to describe what it is they're doing to make this funny noise, but it cracks me up everytime. This is actually a fairly calm moment in the day, despite the chaos of the room (please don't think badly of me, I swear I cleaned up the toys during their dinner), mainly because its "juice time". I've started giving them fruit/veggie juice from our blender since they're still refusing their veggies. So I sneak in carrots and broccoli into their pear and apple juice! Sneaky, huh?
I should also add as a final note, that my lovely friends Annie and Amber treated me to an aromatherapy massage at the Elmwood spa yesterday for my birthday AND I got to go for a haircut in the afternoon, so I have the WHOLE DAY OFF! It was lovely, and thanks to Annie and Amber (and Mark, who played with his boys all day) for making it possible. It was a nice break.
I haven't been blogging because I feel like every minute is devoted to saying "Don't touch!" and "Careful!" and the ever popular "Gentle with your brother, that's his eye Owen! He needs it to see with!" The boys, now sixteen and a half months old, have really gone to the next level of independence, curiosity and abiltity to get into everything they shouldn't. I've been pulling my hair out all week in exasperation because they've managed to get up and over, under and through every barrier or child safety measure we had put in place in the living room, one of our main "play" areas, other than the basement. I need the boys to be able to play safely in the living room so that I can make them meals and still keep an eye on them from the kitchen doorway, but also because as much as I love our basement playroom, there's only so much time you can spend down there without feeling the need for a change. And since our Canadian winter has been particularly awful this year, we haven't been getting outside as much. So safe, fun places to play in the house are at a premium.
But suddenly the living room has become a hot spot for trouble. We have a ficus plant in the living room, behind the sofa. Anyone who has a ficus knows how tempermental they can be. If you look at them the wrong way, all their leaves fall off. But Mark and I have somehow managed to keep this one ficus happy and healthy for seven years. We had two others that died horrible deaths during those seven years, but this one tree has survived. We're proud of this tree, we like this tree, we want to keep this tree for another seven years. But it looks like Will and Owen have other plans. They have been systematically pulling every leaf off the tree. Pulling and plucking with much glee. And no matter how many times I patiently (and more often than not, impatiently) tell them "Don't touch! Gentle!", those little monkeys just keep going back and destroying the tree. So either we move the ficus, which it will hate, or we give it away, which it will hate, or we leave it and the boys continue to denude it of greenery, which obviously, it will hate. I think our poor tree is doomed.
But it doesn't end there. My clever monkeys have also learned how to open the drawers to our buffet/sofa table (conveniently located next to the ficus for maximum damage). I wasn't too concerned about them opening the drawers, because I was fairly certain they just contained table linens, until they opened one drawer whilst I was in the kitchen and they found wooden skewers. Why on earth there were wooden skewers in this one drawer and why I didn't know they were living there, I have no idea, but you can imagine my expression when I came in to investigate why it was so quiet (have you noticed how kids are always super quiet when they're doing things they shouldn't?). Suffice to say the drawers are now clear of anything dangerous and Mark and I are contemplating putting kid locks on the drawers in case the boys yank them out onto their heads.
And the final danger zone (for now) is the bookcase in the corner of the room, which we'd placed on an angle to the corner. As I was typing this, I paused and went to rescue Owen who had managed to get trapped behind the bookcase in the little space between the furniture and the wall. Sigh. So of course, the bookshelf has just been pushed flush against the wall. It doesn't look as nice anymore, but hey, at least no one is peeking at me from behind it anymore. Now I just have to wait until the day they decide to climb up the bookcase.
Okay, I know I'm whining a little, and it probably doesn't sound all that bad to you lot, but there are just days when its exhausting and overwhelming. However, just when I think I'm going to have to resort to selling one of the boys to a travelling circus in order to keep my sanity, one or both of them does something really cute or funny and I decide I might just be able to survive for a few more hours until daddy comes home.
I've attached some photos below of their cuteness, and a video of them doing their funny yodel-talking. I can't even begin to describe what it is they're doing to make this funny noise, but it cracks me up everytime. This is actually a fairly calm moment in the day, despite the chaos of the room (please don't think badly of me, I swear I cleaned up the toys during their dinner), mainly because its "juice time". I've started giving them fruit/veggie juice from our blender since they're still refusing their veggies. So I sneak in carrots and broccoli into their pear and apple juice! Sneaky, huh?
I should also add as a final note, that my lovely friends Annie and Amber treated me to an aromatherapy massage at the Elmwood spa yesterday for my birthday AND I got to go for a haircut in the afternoon, so I have the WHOLE DAY OFF! It was lovely, and thanks to Annie and Amber (and Mark, who played with his boys all day) for making it possible. It was a nice break.
yo yo yo its me, O to the D, in my Sens cap
Will getting jiggy with it in his Sens cap
Playing with Jack's toys, again, despite the fact that mummy tells us not to.
Owen actually managed to carry the giant bone around like a mobile phone on his shoulder, but it took it down before I could snap the photo.
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