Crafty Business and Word Games

Saturday dawned rainy and cold and it seemed a good time to get crafty! As you may (or may not!!) be able to see from the picture, we were creating 'sea creatures'. And yes, I, too, have never seen a red, orange and yellow dolphin, however as Miss 3 says it is 'pretty'.

Handy Hint Number 17: Put aside any ideas that craft with young children will be neat, easy, and that the end result will look anything like it does 'on the box', (and don't be surprised if you gain new respect for pre-school teachers!!)

To all you inventors out there: could someone please invent a tube of glue that is easy to use. Surely there has to be a better way than having a squeezy tube with a little tiny plug in the top that you have to pry out, because the pressure involved in prying the plug out, also means that once you get the plug out, glue gushes out all over the tube and your fingers!

Today I am experiencing a 'battle of wills' with Miss 3. From quite a young age she has had her own established little fashion sense. There has been many a morning when she has been terribly upset over the outfit I have chosen for her (and it's not as though I have dodgey fashion sense - I think my fashion sense is quite groovy, actually!). She would say 'It doesn't match' or 'it doesn't look good' - sometimes it feels like she is 3 going on 13! She is often dressed first thing in the morning now, which is possibly a way of avoiding my input! The problem often is that Miss 3 has the idea in her head of what she wants to wear and doesn't take into consideration the temperature outside! Her latest fashion look is wearing her jeans/shorts with a skirt being worn as a top. She puts the skirt over her head, around her neck, and pulls one arm out, so the skirt is slung diagonally across her body. It actually looks really cool. In fact, I'm close to going out in public wearing one!! It's fine for a hot day, but not when it is cold!! (I have suggested a top underneath, with the skirt over the top, but it just is not 'pretty, Mummy'). I have to say her fashion sense has its good points: It's pretty nice having a little person come into your room and say 'Oh Mummy, that looks bewfial'.

Miss 3 just came up to me and said 'sorry'. Mr 2 said 'sorry' as well - it is his latest word!!! Oh, they are so adorable! Miss 3 has quite an established vocabulary, and Mr 2 is definitely working on his. I feel like such a bad mother when I don't correct Miss 3's mispronunciations, but they are just too cute. Finished is 'fishinned', beautiful is 'bewfial', cockroach is 'cock - ar - hoach', pelican is 'peckilan'. I also loves that she calls toilet paper 'paper towel', and that she calls the high chair the 'up chair'.

I was thinking yesterday, that one day she will say the right pronunciation of the word. Just one day, she will stop saying things the wrong way and say it the right way, and I will miss those little mispronunciations. (I already miss some!). It hit me that you never know when it will be last day that Miss 3 wants me to snuggle in bed with her and I say 'OK, ten minutes' and she says 'No, five minutes' thinking that's more! Mr 2 used to love showers. The second he heard water running, he would crawl, at fast speed, slide open the sliding door, and clamber into the shower fully clothed. And one day, he just stopped..... Every time I sit on the couch or in the arm chair both kids climb on top of me and we snuggle together, and one day they probably won't want to do that, and I will miss it, and I won't have realised that the day before when we were snuggling was the last day we would be snuggling like that. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you never know when they are going to take another tiny step (or big step) in their growing up, and in doing so, leave some of their little gorgeous baby traits behind, forever...... SOB.............

Handy Hint Number 18: Cherish every moment with your kids.