A Dylan update

Dylan is now five. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it in the past but I’ll say it again – sometimes it really is hard for me to believe that he’s only five. When I have a conversation with him or when I watch him, I find myself thinking that he’s so much older than he really is. But other times, like when he won’t give up on hassling me to play ‘light sabres’ with him – it reminds me that he is still only a kid.

In the past six months or so, I’ve really noticed just how much more mature he’s become. As his little sister gets older and has started to come out of babyhood and now toddlerhood – he teaches her. He loves her, cares for her and teaches her – he shows her how to do things she might not know or shows her how to do things the proper way. He is a beautiful, patient (though not always), loving big brother and that makes me so proud.

The last time the kids stayed over at our place, I had the privilege to witness just how beautiful their sibling relationship is. I was helping Lara wash her hands before a meal and as she’s only little and couldn’t reach the kitchen sink taps, she climbed on a stool that I had sitting next to the kitchen sink. After she washed her hands, she started dancing on the stool and just as I went to grab hold of her before she could fall off, she did. She fell off the stool onto our floorboards and though I don’t think it hurt, the fall shocked her and the poor thing started bawling. I quickly picked her up and gave a her cuddle and hug. She was still crying and started asking for her mum. I continued with the kisses and cuddles and explained that mum was at home. Lara then went on to ask for Dylan. Dylan at this stage was sitting at our dining table colouring in a picture… And as I carried Lara to him, he put his crayons down and reached out for her once he heard her ask for him. Lara quickly reached for him and Dylan gave her a cuddle before getting back to his colouring.

Those 10 seconds right there? Though so short and fleeting? I can tell you that it brought a tear to my eye. It proved to me two things – one, though only aged 5 and 2, these two obviously know they are family and that family stick together. You love family. Lara wanted her big brother and needed her big brother at a time she was scared and hurt. She reached out to him and he reciprocated. It just shows that little kids learn so much and that they really do as you teach them. Secondly, it proved to me that Dylan has grown and matured so incredibly much that he now knows to comfort his sister when she’s in need. He assumed responsibility as a big brother and was there to protect his sister. This was a kid who maybe a year ago wouldn’t necessarily show affection towards his sister.

I tend to see these magical sibling moments pop up now and again and they really are so awesome to see… Not to say that these kids don’t fight! Oh yes they do! Fight, push, shove, smack… All of the above! But underneath all that, they love each other and it’s the sweetest thing to witness :)

Weekend of babysitting

We spent most of our weekend babysitting my niece and nephew. They stayed the night at our house and we pretty much spent most of our time at the park, out in the front yard playing soccer, cuddled up on the couch watching cartoons and I even organised for them to complete an Easter arts and crafts project.

My strategy when having them stay overnight is too wear them out as much as possible! This will make them a lot more tired than usual which would make them go to bed with no hassles and they would even sleep through the entire night. Success.

I used to find babysitting just Dylan (before Lara was born) exhausting, but with the two of them? I can’t even describe it. They are just full of beans and very fun but also very, very energy draining. I love being with them, entertaining them and caring for them but on the same token, I absolutely cannot stand the fighting and bickering!

They love each other and play well together most times but like any other sibling relationship, they are competitive and they fight. I swear, it’s going to take me awhile to build my level of patience which is currently horribly low… I have never realised just how much patience you need to be able to be the adult in any challenging situation involving kids.

Overall we had a really great weekend and I think the kids enjoyed themselves. I’m sure they did because though I do carry out discipline when they are under our roof, we also do spoil them rotten with treats – fish and chips for dinner and ice cream for dessert is a given, occasional biscuit, muesli bar, sometimes even chocolate from the milk bar down the street… And of course Marc’s famous milkshakes which they absolutely love!

I put a lot of time and effort, rightfully so and gladly so, into building a lasting, bonding, meaningful relationship with my niece and nephew not only because I love them with every piece of my heart but also because I want us to be some of the best parts of their childhood memories. In 20 years I want them to be able to look back and reflect – to remember that part of being a kid was being able to spend weekends at their aunty and uncle’s house where fish and chips and ice cream were a must and that they most certainly came with lots of love and affection.

Shopping with kids

Have you ever been shopping with kids? I had never been shopping with kids until this past weekend. And holy moly was it an experience!

Since Dylan and Lara were born, most of our time spent with them have been at either their home or ours. We normally pop in over the weekend – have lunch or dinner at my sister’s, general playtime in the lounge room, sometimes we’d watch a DVD, sometimes we play in the front yard or many times before we’d just head down the street to the park. Pretty much your average day to day kid activity!

My sister and I had planned to go shopping for my wedding shoes last weekend and we thought we’d bring both kids along so that we could also suss out page boy and flower girl outfits for them. Unfortunately the first few children’s boutiques that we went to did not have the outfits we were after so we eventually stopped shopping for the kids and started looking for my shoes instead.

Of course while I tried on shoes store after store, the kids started to lose patience and they were either running around the stores, fighting or just going around touching whatever was in sight. My poor sister had to juggle between helping me find the right pair of shoes and keeping the kids in line! No easy feat, bless her heart. I honestly don’t know how she manages two kids by herself at a shopping centre which happens quite frequently.

In all fairness I don’t blame the kids at all and to their credit they were overall pretty well behaved for having to endure four hours of shopping! At one point I asked Dylan if he liked shopping with us and he said ‘no’. I expected that to be his answer and for a split second couldn’t exactly comprehend why – he seemed to be enjoying it, he seemed to be liking having his sister here for company – but it didn’t take me long to realise that what kid would ever enjoy walking around a giant shopping centre? Sure, us adults are there for a purpose but to the kids, they have no purpose being there, of course they’d rather be at the park or a swimming pool or they’d rather be watching cartoons. I did feel a little guilty for having them there!

At least they were there for a reason – not long after we found my shoes, we headed to another children’s boutique where the kids tried on a ton of outfits for the wedding. They both looked extremely adorable and over the top cute! And very much so like the day I found my dress as well as the day my bridesmaids found their dresses, I just wished the big day was here so that I could show these beautiful kids off to everyone! We ended up getting all of Lara’s outfit and part of Dylan’s. A very productive day indeed!

Luna Park

Over the long weekend, my sister and her husband took the kids to Luna Park here in Melbourne. What’s a trip to a little amusement park without the kids’ favourite aunty and uncle? So of course Marc and I tagged along :)

Luna Park is just a small amusement park overlooking the bay in Melbourne. It’s certainly no Disneyland but that’s ok! It’s still cute and fun and has a ton of history… I think we read somewhere in the park that it’s been around for over a hundred years! Yikes.

So we started off late morning and the day was beautiful. Perfect autumn weather… It wasn’t cold and it was warm enough for a hat and sunscreen but not scorching hot. The first thing we had to do was figure out what tickets we were going to get for ourselves and the kids. We ended up getting the kids an ‘unlimited’ ticket each which meant they could go on any of the rides for an unlimited number of times. Marc being the big kid that he is also decided to get an unlimited ticket for himself. The rest of us just bought two or three single rides each.

The next order of the day was to determine which rides the kids could go on! Seeing as they are still only 5 and 2, Dylan could go on a few rides but Lara was only able to go on a couple of rides. This was all based on height. Luckily there were other rides that Lara could go on as long as there was an adult with her.

We spent quite a few hours at the park and had a lot of fun. I loved taking the kids on rides – Dylan and I conquered the Ghost Train (through a haunted house) together and I took Lara on the carousel and flying elephant ride. Lara really was a trooper – there were so many rides where she asked to go on but obviously couldn’t because she was nowhere near the required height and I only had to explain to her once the reason why she couldn’t go on those rides with the promise that when she does get ‘bigger’ that we’d come back for sure! She was easy to reason with and completely understood! No fussing, no tantrums. What a sweetheart. I think she was just glad to be able to ride the flying elephants at least three times :)

I also managed to convince Marc to hop on the ferris wheel with me where we got a stunning view of the ocean. It’s not the most exciting ride and Marc may have gotten just a little bored but I loved the ferris wheel. I kind of associate a ferris wheel with romance… I’m not quite sure why!

All in all it was a super fun and exhausting day! We had a great time with the kids at a small amusement park… I can only wonder what it would be like at Disneyland…

Party at a traffic school

Dylan celebrated his 5th birthday at a traffic school yesterday! His birthday was actually over a week ago and I can’t quite remember why his party was only held a week later… But so it was and it was different and fun.

I’ve been to a few kids’ parties over the last few years since Dylan & Lara were born and since our friends started having kids as well… So I know what a standard kid’s party would entail.

But I thought Dylan’s party was actually a little different which was nice to see. Firstly it was a somewhat educational shindig! The party was held at a traffic school – kind of like a mini school with its own little roads, traffic lights and various road signs. The area is of course closed off to the general public as well as other vehicles. The kids bring their bikes, trikes or scooters to the party and the lady running the traffic school spends about 15 or 20 minutes teaching them about general road rules! Like, stopping at a red light, giving way at a roundabout, stopping at a pedestrian crossing and most importantly looking both ways before crossing the road.

After the teaching session the kids could just go off on their own and ride their bikes/scooters to their heart’s content! Because it was a safe and closed off area to other vehicles, parents didn’t have to worry about the kids going off on the ‘real’ roads and getting in to accidents. The only ‘accidents’ that happened were when some of the kids fell off their bikes or bumped into each other :)

The other different thing about the party was that it only went for 2 hours. Which doesn’t seem long at all, but when you have a group of 15 kids or more, it’s a good thing! The party was on a schedule which meant no delays, the cake was cut in time and guests had plenty of time to enjoy themselves and when it was time to go, it was time to go! There were other parties scheduled at the traffic school for the day so we had to keep to our 2 hour schedule to ensure parties did not overlap.

I honestly think 2 hours for a kid’s birthday party is more than enough! It can be quite exhausting. Ha ha! I’m pretty sure Dylan had a ball with his little friends. He even had a couple of his daycare teachers come to the party and it was quite sweet to see how loving he was towards them… These are ladies who have cared for him since he started going to daycare when he was 9 or 10 months old!

Its still hard to believe that he’s five but sometimes after a conversation with him, it’s not hard to wonder how he’s only five and not ten! Happy birthday, Dylan!

Look who’s five

Yesterday, Dylan turned five! Holy crap balls! He is seriously growing up too quickly for my liking… Although I wouldn’t have him any other way than he is right this moment (and I say that no matter what age he is) I still can’t help but feel all nostalgic about when he used to be a teeny weeny skinny scrawny little living thing when I held him for the first time! Clearly I’m going to be one of those mothers who never want their babies to ‘grow up’.

Anyway so the little guy is now five… He completely made my day when I called him first thing yesterday morning to wish him a brilliant birthday (Aunty Jan, what does brilliant mean? – bless his heart). I sung him happy birthday over the phone because that’s a must. He then told me about his new scooter – something he’s been wanting for forever now!

The cutest thing was that he was telling me about his ‘birthday badge’ (see above!) which he wears every single birthday but for some reason it just didn’t register in my mind so I asked him to have his mum take a photo for me. It says ‘birthday boy’. It was actually quite funny (and cute) how he was so excited about the badge. I wonder how many more birthdays this excitement towards the badge will last?

Happy birthday my ray of sunshine… I love you to pieces!