The terrible two and a halfs

I don't know if it's the fact that we're on holiday with them and they're out of their normal routine, the fact that Kendra's been in hospital or the fact that they're two and a half.

Well, nearly.

But these two are kicking our butt, big time.

Today we had some 3am friends over for lunch - and I asked her to bring half so it wouldn't be too hectic for me.

The babies were sleeping when they arrived so we had about an hour of proper chat.

They then woke up.

Connor came out fairly quickly but was glued to D. It was fine at first because D was sitting.

When D wanted to stand and do something else, C started tantruming like I have NEVER seen before.

All because he wanted D to pick him up and hold him all the time.

Kendra heard the strange voices in the dining area and refused to come out of her bedroom.

A cute moment - she'd had long-sleeved stuff on before sleep and when they woke, it was hot so I wanted to change her.


K (to me) No, only Daddy 
Me Too bad, Daddy's busy
K What did you say Mummy? Too bad?
Crazy laughing from K

(I'm glad it was such a big joke but it is too bad she only wanted her father)

Anyway, so then K wouldn't emerge from the bedroom.

When she eventually came out, she was walking with her hands over her eyes because she was so shy.

!

Yes, they were impossible.

I can't explain in words just how loud and annoying and frustrating it all was.

Especially since times of connection are so important to me. And we usually have a fabulous time with this couple since they are SOOO good with the kids. 

Eventually we had some good times but the slightest thing would set Connor off and Kendra just attached herself to D like a limpet.

Our friends left, we tried to feed them (C ate okay; K dismal failure), medicate them and put them to bed. The putting to bed was the easiest and best part because then I could have a cup of tea while coaching my favourite client.

I thought about how this current holiday's been such a difference from last year's one.

I am seriously frazzled and scared of our 10 days in Ballito.

I emailed my friend Caren yesterday to find out how her holiday's been going.

Caren is a very special person - she never, ever complains BUT if you ask her pointed and direct questions (as I do), she answers honestly.

So she said, "holiday? what holiday? the kids are being so naughty and the house is a mess"

For which I love her.

Because it instantly made me feel better.

That I am not alone stuff :)

In other news, remember K was discharged on Tuesday. Wednesday her temperature spiked twice - late afternoon and around 9 - 10. And the same thing happened on Thursday.

Today I had the paed paged and he got a script ready for her ......4th batch of antibiotics this month.

Beautiful.

It took me 1.5 very long hours in Clicks to fill the prescription but that's a story for another day.

Back to the 2.5s...


Does something happen around 2.5 or is it just my crazy kids seriously kicking our butts?

PS I'm going to do a post on Sunday (1st) where I'll tell you how my word of the year went for 2011 and my new word of the year. Please play along. You can post before or after and just link up then. Are you in?

Oh My Word, our first wedding with kids

One of my friends got married today in Pretoria.

It is hot as hell in Jhb and even hotter in Pretoria. I've said it a million times, "I don't know how those people cope!"

We were considering letting V come in to babysit for the afternoon but she can't leave later than 6pm otherwise won't find transport home which means we would have had to leave at 5pm from Pta.

Since the wedding started at 3, that seemed silly.

So we took them with us.

They were all excited to go to a wedding (their first) and they looked very cute - a pity I got about 3 photos since both D and I were too busy chasing after those two.

I think they sat still in the chapel for about 10 minutes before Connor started going crazy.

It was very hot inside and he (like me) doesn't like the heat.

So D took him outside to let him stretch his legs.

Well, he never made it back.

Kendra and I sat and listened to about 80% of it thanks to the book and crayons I had in my bag. But then she'd had enough too so now both our kids were running around outside with their parents in hot pursuit.

In the heat! In heels! In a tight skirt (because I've put on a kg somewhere - I need to stop my Monday evening baking)!

I heard the crucial bits - the vows, etc - and afterwards managed to say congrats to both of them, and her mother. I met her mother 19 years ago............... had never met the sister or brother but both of them came to me and said, "you must be Marcia". I checked just in case we'd met but they said I still look the same as the pics of us together at 17/ 18 years :)

And here is wher it went south, fast.

They told us that they were going to take pics and we could have something to drink.

The venue was very disorganised (Deja Vu, Laura), not enough waiters and remember it was HOT so lots of disgruntled people.

Add to this that we weren't allowed into the reception area because they were still putting the last touches up. Crazy.

So I parked my behind on a stair and eventually D followed suit.

Our kids got bored and were getting hungry so started throwing tantrums when I said they couldn't just run anywhere.

They literally listened maybe 10% of the time we spoke to them - there were too many people and I also felt like I couldn't just start counting because by that time they'd be off in a forbidden place causing havoc so we had to run after them and grab them before they 1) pulled glasses off the tables 2) ran out into the road 3) messed with the sprinkler systems 4) wrote with crayons on the paved patios.....

I had water (always have), a yoghurt, one pumpkin muffin and 2 ProVita for each of the kids.

Connor told me, "Mummy, want food. Hungry." Uh oh.

I gave him the yoghurt and the 2 ProVita.

Kendra then followed suit.

We waited outside for about 1.5 hours with me getting more and more shrill with the kids.

Eventually they returned, we went in and we looked at the order of events.

D then said, "I think we should go" but I felt like we'd waited so long and I wanted food!

Kendra then said, "Daddy! Kendra want food!" and I quickly hauled out the pumpkin muffins which they polished off.

The kids were crabby, hungry, and Connor said, "Connor tired. Want bed"

This boy almost never asks to go sleep so I knew.

D and I exchanged a look and we started packing up.

We left at eactly 6 pm and on the way home, stopped at a McDonalds (I haven't had McD for about a year - I may have had a cone more recently though) for supper.

D and I had shovelled in a starter (savoury pancake), Kendra had some but Connor didn't want any.

So they had chicken nuggets and chips tonight. Their first takeaways. Hmm, not a milestone I want to really note down but there you go.

We dumped them in the bath when we got home because they were filthy and needed to calm down. I gave them bottles and they were out like lights.

I do hope tomorrow is better - you can be sure we're going to stick to our normal routine of church, a nappy run and home so they can get back to being the children they normally are.

As I've been blogging I just had my first cup of tea for the day and it was DIVINE.

I'm going to get started on my Christmas lists now and by the way, D overruled me - he says we're DEFINITELY getting them presents so I said, "no problem. that's now on your list" Teehee.


But enough about me... how was your Saturday?

And seriously, you guys in Pretoria, what do you do to cope with that heat? Airconned houses? Live in the swimming pool, what?

Let's talk tantrums

Is it not supposed to be the terrible TWOs?

I honestly had a huge shock when the babies started throwing tantrums about 2 - 3 months ago.

What on earth, babies?

Don't you know it's the terrible twos?

And by the way, you're two months premature!

I have to tell you that I can't stand the screaming. But I do not give in. D, on the other hand, is a lot softer than I am and Kendra knows this.

When I'm around, I can tell him, "she's working you" because it's strange but men don't know when they're being manipulated.

Anyhow.

Connor throws tantrums when he wants to go into my bedroom/ the study/ the bathroom but I have rules - "no kids in the bathroom without me, D or V, no matter how LOUD you scream".

Kendra throws tantrums when I say no to her - hates hearing no (!). Usually it's because she's opened drawers or cupboards and wants to throw my crockery onto the carpet or fling my neatly folded tablecloths, placemats, etc ALL over the dining room.

What seems to work most of the time is a firm "no" and then either distraction "oh look, there's a bird" or just ignoring them and walking away. The crying continues for about 10 seconds and stops because I'm in another part of the house by then.

It's very tempting sometimes to give in just to stop the screaming because Connor screams really loud while Kendra screams at a really high pitch.

I joked the other day that her scream is like that scripture in the Bible, Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow."

That's how she screams - piercing!

I know that I'm consistent but as for D and V? Who knows? I have my suspicions but I've told V my views on the subject and I trust her to get on with it. Although she is very soft...

At the moment I think I've figured them out but I know the tantrum success will be short-lived because they'll try some new tricks. I know this is normal baby behaviour just to keep me on my toes and keep the baby books people in business :)

So how do you handle the tantrums in your house? Are you the soft one?

P.S. Some feedback on other things I've posted about

• We've had no biting for 17 whole days.
• I decided to use Rebecca's tactic when leaving for work to avoid the crying. I say a quick "bye", act all cheerful and LEAVE. They don't even have a chance to realise I'm going before I'm gone. It also works well when they're playing or reading.

The start of a photo organising system and today's naughtiness

As you know, my normal style is severe procrastination with photo downloading/ uploading. It's almost a rule that at least a month needs to pass before photos will be up/ downloaded.

But I'm determined to get this photo system working better.

I'm actually up to date up til 31 August which is a miracle.

Also, I delegated some of the photo stuff to D :)

So I download from camera to laptop and then he goes through, deleting duds, cropping, and so on. And then I organise into the respective folders (babies, organising and project 365, as well as my "crazy" folders like skies and food :))


*********************

My usual custom now that it's hot is to get home, strip out of work clothes and put on shorts and then get on the carpet and play with the kids.

By "play" I mean Connor pulls my hair and crawls all over me while Kendra circles us, avoiding the roughness and only ventures in when it's safe. If Connor occupies himself, then I chase Kendra up and down my open-plan section and she SCREECHES with laughter.

It's huge fun and I love their giggles.

So I'm waiting for some furniture to arrive (don't ask - this is the reason I want to do that customer service blog) and I have a lovely clear white wall at the moment. Remembering how Claudia's been saying to work with a clear background, I thought this boring wall is perfect for pics.

Unfortunately someone forgot to tell the babies to co-operate.

They don't sit still so I had the not-so-bright idea to give them the rattles V was using to try and get them to look in one direction.

Big mistake.

Connor has one but wants Kendra's too so this is what happened.




This is the naughtiest I have ever seen him. I am VERY afraid.

Had I carried on taking pics (the battery went dead), the next one would have shown Connor throwing a temper tantrum because I was Tough Mom and confiscated BOTH rattles.

Tomorrow I have literally back-to-back-to-back meetings (and hellishly long ones) right from 8 until 1:30, a half-hour break, and then another one.

Are you having a good week?

P.S. I'm feeling very virtuous - I went to gym twice this week :)

Oh, the screaming

I am not a fan of the screaming.

In fact, it's the one thing I'm not enjoying about these kids getting bigger.

They have bigger lungs and can scream much LOUDER than before!

They are still on one sippy cup a day, when they have their 100 ml milk after lunch.

I had the "bright idea" to give them their bedtime bottle also in sippy cups but OH, the screaming.

(Mandy, that's why I said you're a brave woman for simply throwing all the bottles out!)

They alternate crying and screaming and staring at me like I'm trying to feed them poison.

So I cave in and pour the milk into normal bottles and they go from the terrible twins to my happy children again.

Since I'm determined, I then try again a few days later.

Again the screaming.

I think I tried the third time yesterday and that just about sent me over the edge.

Connor has this new thing where he gets himself worked up into such a state that he becomes impossible to calm down.

Red face, kicking and screaming, hitting if I try to hold him.

This is what happens when I offer him a bedtime sippy cup and the last two mornings waking.

This morning he woke at 3.30 (I think he couldn't find his dummy and he got frantic and couldn't calm down). It was so bad that I woke up - these days I sleep like the dead - and even I couldn't calm him down for a few minutes.

While all this is going on, Kendra pops up from her cot, blinks those little eyes and when she saw Connor screaming, she took her dummy and offered it to him.

Too sweet!

Eventually, I put the dummy in his hand, another one in his other hand and just kept rubbing his tummy.

When the screaming stopped, I tucked him in again and left the room.

This better not be a "new thing" because I'm already over it.

I've also decided that so what if I have the only kids at pre-school still taking milk from bottles :) It's either that or my sanity.



P.S. It's not too late to give me your ONE word to describe me :)