The Brave Travellers

Having organised a holiday in Jindabyne to show the kids what snow looked like we approached the approximately 6 hour car trip with much trepidation. Our friends Deb and John with their boys Sam and Tom accompanied us down to Bergen Lodge where Sarah's family are members. I don't think we would have contemplated going by ourselves.

The trip was planned around stopping at McDonalds with play places so the kids could use up some energy and get happy with happy meals. For your information, there is one such McDonalds at Sutton Forest and another at Queanbeyan and then a great park at Cooma. We also swapped kids to avoid the not infrequent bickering between siblings Simon and Ben. This plan exceeded our expectations with all children behaving unnaturally well for the other children's parents. Then we still had Ella to contend with. She was dealt with using a tip from another friend Penny who recommmended taking one of those magnetised drawing toys where you can keep drawing and clearing the picture. Ella loved this, along with lots of unhealthy snacks along the way.

Once we finally made it to the destination there was great excitement from the boys to see they were sleeping on bunk beds. For once we were being asked " Can we go to bed now please?" Of course they didn't go to sleep till much later. They also enjoyed playing hide and seek in the empty lodge which has lots of rooms.

We had two day trips into Thredbo. On the first day the weather wasn't good enough to go up the chairlift to see the snow so we went swimming in the pool (also recommended to me). The heated pool felt like there was snow in it but it turned out to be a "training pool". Remember for next time training pool means COLD. Anyway the kids didn't notice. They loved it. Following the swim we all had hot chips for lunch at the pub. This was later identified as the highlight of the holiday for Sam.

On the second day in Thredbo we managed to make it safely to the top of Crackenback chairlift although there were some hairy moments where Ella decided she didn't want to be held and wanted to sit by herself on the chairlift and Ben kept wanting to lean forward! We found a patch of snow not too far from the top of the chairlift --- necessary as the little ones were too lazy to walk very far. There John made us a little toboggan track and we slid down it on the cardboard poster of Joe Hockey Deb had kindly brought along. We also made a little snowman and good time was had by all. However, this was not enough excitement for some and once down the mountain the boys all had a turn on the bobsled ride. Tom and Sam being more experienced had two rides each. On the way home all 3 Harris children slept and Sarah and Michael had a well deserved rest that afternoon.







The next day bike riding was planned for all but the weather prevented this and we ended up playing at the park and making an early exit home. The trip home was pretty good as well except for the last hour and a half where we got our own children back and they pretty much went back to bickering again. Oh well as they say it gets easier all the time......

around the bend rather than driving us potty

yes, Ben has finally "turned the corner", embraced the s-bend and is toilet ready for preschool next year. The pressure of having him toilet-trained by next February was really getting to certain members of the family. But he is now happily wearing "big boy undies" despite much resistance.

How did we do it? In the end it was down to simple bribery and positivity. And although Ben has forgotten about the rewards and stars he used to receive for every no 1. and 2, Simon helpfully reminded us today that Ben wasn't getting anymore stars. We haven't had the courage to remove the star chart yet but it will be going very soon....

Meanwhile Ella is already telling us when she has done a poo and trying to remove her nappy. She is happiest without any clothes at all and we have to make sure she always has pants on so she doesn't take her nappy off. We can't face toilet training her yet. We are leaving that to be an achievement for next year.

Where does he get it from?

Simon at playgroup: I am not a messer, I am an artist

The shopping instinct has kicked in.

The other day without prompting Ella went to the cupboard and got two handbags. She then came and started tugging on Sarah to come and follow her in the toy room. A few hours later they emerged with the bags full. Mother and daughter had shared their first shopping experience. At least this one did not cost us anything. We probably wont be so lucky the next time.

The Christmas Child

As you know Ella was born around Christmas time a little less than two years ago but thats not why her nickname is the Christmas Child, or more specifically Noella. Rather its because of the frequency with which we have to say to her "No Ella !".

Maybe she should become a hairdresser

A few weeks ago we decided Ella needed a haircut since we couldn't see her eyes anymore due to the out of control fringe. Well five minutes and twenty dollars later here are the results.

I work that out as an hourly rate of $240. Not a bad career option.

Father's Day report

Just like any recent day in the Harris household, Father's Day got off to an early start. Ella woke up at 5AM to wish me a happy Father's day. As part of the special treats of the day I got to go back to bed from 6 till 8:30. Then I got a wonderful breakfast of fresh cheese pikelets.

The morning just got better with a trip to every dad's favourite store: Bunnings or as Simon calls it the "hard work shop". The highlight of Bunnings is the toy set for the kids which Mum usually heads straight for with the kids while Dad gets some quality shopping time. The main purchase for Father's Day was some vegetables to grow in the family vegetable patch.

In the afternoon we hosted some of the male cousins and their dads for a small afternoon tea.

Spring has sprung

We have emerged from blogging hibernation - it has been too cold to expose the fingers to typing up blog entries.

Here is the winter roundup on the three characters of most interest:

• Ben: Remains as stubborn as ever. i.e. still not toilet trained. He is confirmed for three days of preschool next year. We think this may be a bit of a shock to someone who has a few hours in total in the gym creche as his only exposure to group care. His speech is improving every day. The most used expression at the moment is "XXXX is annoying me". You can substitute a persons name (primarily Ella) or any object for the XXXX.
• Ella: Still waking up at 5AM. Bring on daylight saving! Starting to make more noise. Still as irritating as ever. She is also known as the Christmas child. See previous post.
  
• Simon: Simon is as garrulous as ever and now likes telling jokes and making rhymes. The jokes aren't alway funny but he's got the rhymes right. He gets very jealous of Ben but is not threatened by his little sister although he does find her annoying some times. He is very competitive especially with Ben and this can get quite tiring for his parents. He is really enjoying school and so are his parents.
  

All in all they are still as gorgeous as ever, bringing a smile to their parents and grandparents and we love them very much.

A rite of passage

We can now proudly say we have passed another rite of parenthood. Head lice hit the household about a week ago. Simon was furiously scratching his head but I couldn't see any of the critters. I put it down to the fact he was at soccer camp (Yes he occasionally does something sporty) and was wearing his hat all of the time. On Tuesday this week he was scratching his head again. I finally got him to sit still for long enough so I could check out his head. Critters were spotted.

On Wednesday morning (which luckily happened to be a day off for the parents) Sarah dashed off to the chemist and returned with something organic and a fine tooth comb.

We checked everyone out - Lizzy (aka The Craft Nanny), Michael and Ella were nit free. I am very empathetic so I had a few scratches anyway. (I am so empathetic I still have the remains of the belly I grew when Sarah was pregnant with Ella.) Lice were spotted in Simon, Ben and Sarah. The treatment consisted of rubbing the cream onto your head and then sitting with the green shower cap on your head for ten minutes. Simon was treated first. Ben needed some encouragement - 1/2 a packet of jelly beans. Once he was delirious with a sugar high he agreed to sitting for ten minutes with a green shower cap on his head. Okay maybe agreed to is stretching the truth a little bit.

Sarah had doubts about the effectiveness of the organic stuff after she discovered some living creatures still in Simon's hair post treatment, so dashed of to the chemist again for something with more chemicals in it. We had a beautiful moment of bonding as we rubbed head lice moose into each other's hair.

Everyone is clear now.

Wacky Races

The Wacky Races came to the house last weekend

'B' is for BEN

Last Thursday was Simon's news day and the letter of the week was 'B'. Simon went to school with a photo of Ben his blond brother with brown eyes.

Gina for a day

Since Simon was born our dream for our children was to have them sleep from 7 til 7 as Gina (of Contented Little Baby fame) said is quite reasonable. We thought so too. However, none of our children so far have agreed with us. Ella, however, teased us with one night of sleeping from seven til seven. And it was bliss! Alas, a teaser was all it was. Today was back to 4:35.....

what's a record mummy?

Simon, a record (as in world record) is when you do something that's never been done before.

This week Ella showed Simon what a record is when she slept through the night till 6:45am!

Last night she almost repeated this record. Although crying out at 3:40 she slept on till past 7:20!

Simon and Ben were up about 6:20 but anything past 6:00 is civilised in our world.

Looking on the bright side of life

When you have to get up before 6AM everyday there is one benefit:
You get to see the sunrise every day.

Winter has arrived

For those avid readers of this blog some important facts:

• this is post 100 of the the BLOG
  
• which is also just over a year old.

Winter has arrived in Sydney this week. The daily maximum temperature has gone below 20 degrees. The forecast for the next six days is rain and showers. We have had heavy rain and strong winds for the last two days. You would think we were living in England. A guy from work is going to Melbourne for the weekend because the weather is better down there. This is just the sort of forecast you want when the long weekend is starting and you are going to spend the next three days stuck inside with three little terrors.

The reason this post is about the weather is that not much else exciting is happening at the moment. If Sarah was writing the post it would proabably be about sleeping.

We are just settling into the winter routines of chopping wood and foraging for food in the freezer.

In a few weeks we will go to our first parent-teacher night to find out about Simon at sKool. Hopefully his spelling will be better than his Father's. We manage to get occasional bits of information out of him. For example:
Michael: Simon how was school today? What did you do?
Simon: Good, not much.

Ben remains the most stubborn child I know. I would love for him to be able to go to preschool in July. However he steadfastly refuses to use the toilet and remains in nappies. His speech is improving all of the time. Sometimes he is even understandable now. He has quite a few stock expressions:

• Mummy/Daddy you are a bully.
• It wasn't my fault - this gets used quite a lot on some days.
  
• I hate everything
  
• I hate [substitute any adult here]
  
• I get [substitue any Thoms character here] for my birthday!
  

Ella is stil trying for the most annoying child award. While being very cute she does cruise around the house looking for trouble and leaving a trail of mess behind her. As normal for a Harris child she is quite advanced for her age: The 2 year old tantrums have already started at 18 months.

The best sort of hand me downs

A few weeks ago Tony Boyd dropped off a collection of video tapes that his sons no longer watched. Madeline and Thomas the Tank Engine just aren't that interesting for teenage boys.

Tony was most impressed that Ben could name all the videos. I would be more worried that a 3 year old has watched so much TV.

Star of the week.

Last week Simon came home with the trophy for star of the week - awarded for "being a positive class member"

Well done Simon.





Ben and Ella thought it was pretty cool as well.

ParentingTip for Mothers - Number 612.

Do not let cute daughter play with expensive mobile phone - They will break it.

The Mother's Day Report

Well it didn't start with breakfast in bed. Sarah's mothers day started with me (Michael) getting up at 3:30AM to look after a sick Ella. Sarah relieved me some time around 5:30AM - (Author's note: There is some conjecture on the actul time 5:30 is a compromise to ensure marital harmony).

Simon gave Sarah a lovely gift that he had purchased at school - after Sarah gave him the money. We had made a feeble attempt to hide it in his cupboard so it could be a surprise but it had been found - Hint: Try the garage next year she doesn't ferret around the tools very often.

At 9AM I went to the gym for some much needed 'me' time.

In the afternoon we had all of the Boyds and Granny and Grandpa after for a big afternoon tea.

Ellas was the star - There is nothing cuter then a little girl with a silly hair style.

Here are some photos:

Simon at 5

inquisitive, garrulous, annoying, delightful, cuddly, sensitive, jealous of his brother, caring big brother, a great constructor.

Simon is a busy boy. He is interested in everything and exhausts his parents with his questions about everything.