1.
Ever since R climbed out of his cot, strolled into the living room and declared, "it's not nigh-nigh time anymore", the boys have slept in beds. This means they can basically come and go as they please.
R does. Usually anywhere between 10 and 50 times every night before falling asleep.
One evening, in desperation, we offered a bribe. If he could stay in his bed all night, he would get a sticker. Stickers are like gold to toddlers. The challenge was duly accepted.
Five minutes later R came out. He shook his head sadly and said, "I'm not getting sticker".
2.
One time when going out they were allowed to take one toy each.
R chose a plastic guitar that makes sounds when you push its buttons. The standard annoying toy that doesn't get the batteries replaced when they go flat.
J went with a shoelace from my old Volleys I use for mowing the lawn (or "lawning", as the boys call it). Then he exclaimed "my shoelace!" with great pride to every random we passed while pushing the pram.
3.
On toys, someone spilled the beans about Santa, so they had an expectation about getting presents at Christmas. When we asked what kind of present, J wanted "play-doh present", while R said "dinosaur present".
Both were delivered by Santa, but the dinosaur was then "too scary" for R, who then said it needed to be "put away".
Here is the dinosaur next to my hand:
I shouldn't have been surprised, as R is scared of the following things: his cousins' 14-year-old pet chihuahua, the plug being pulled from the bath, every animal at the petting zoo, and sand and waves at the beach.
Meanwhile, J had other ideas for the dinosaurs:
4.
I was watering the backyard garden and lawn, and the boys were running through the water too. J asked if I could hose his back. Then his feet. And so on. Eventually he asked to "hose my hands". I did. Then he clenched his hands into little fists and said, "hose my rocks".
5.
We went to a public swimming pool and were getting all changed in the disabled toilet/parents room. This was adjoining the female change room. As with most pools, it was brick, with a considerable gap between the top of the wall and the roof. It was not soundproof.
The boys get changed. Mum gets changed. Then dad starts getting changed, when R points and yells "put your doodle away!".
6.
One time at home they wanted to do "drawing". They have special books and textas for this, and I have a wall, dining room table and fabric lounge covered in blue pen that demonstrates why this is important.
But I couldn't find the drawing stuff and said so.
The boys were dismayed - "we can't find drawing", "where is it dada?", etc. And then R said, "it's in the ocean". J agreed - "drawing in the ocean". And they went and played with Duplo.
7.
Mum was driving home one time, and we got stuck in the right lane when someone unexpectedly decided to make a right turn. Eventually the traffic in the left lane cleared enough to move across and head off.
From the back, J called out, "we did it! We made it Mama! We made it!". Now it wasn't a bad move, but this was like she had landed Apollo 13.
Another time he yelled out in the back of the car, "excuse me!". We asked why he said that, and he replied, "I did bubbles out my bottom".
8.
Toddlers have lots of tantrums, mostly because they can't explain how they feel and why. So R is crying on the floor for awhile, he then comes up to mum and wails, "I'm not very happy anymore!". So he's getting there.
9.
At Christmas, the boys also got sleeping bags with air mattress inserts from Santa, as they are getting too big for port-a-cots. These had Spiderman on the front and they were pretty excited because somehow they know who Spiderman is.
A few days after Christmas we went away and tried them.
After a few hours asleep we check and both of them have rolled off the edge of the mattress onto the floor. And because the covers are stitched around the mattress, both air beds are now 90 degrees from the floor, like a sail on a yacht.
10.
For New Years Eve we let them stay up to watch the 9pm fireworks. The broadcast was supposed to be co-hosted by Humpty Dumpty, the wall-loving egg from Play School, but he was missing.
So for the next thirty minutes both J and R are wandering around the lounge room going "Humpty missing", "who going to find him?", as well as less obvious statements like "maybe he's in the car". It was getting very desperate when the big reveal occurred - Humpty had climbed to the top of the Opera House!
And then it cut to the fireworks, which the boys didn't notice at all because they were too busy saying how "he's on top!" and "Jimmy Giggle finded him" over and over again.
Then they went to bed and R came out 15 times.
Happy New Year and have a great 2016!
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