Flying Tired

The weeks are flying past. Already we are into the third quarter of the year. Scary stuff.

Emma and Daniel have both developed dry coughs at night which is not fun to listen to. We're dosing them with multi-vitamin syrup plus cough syrup and honey which seems to work for a bit. Otherwise we are both exhausted as usual. I have a lingering sore throat.

This weeks trick is that we wake up at about 06:00 and ask to sleep with Mom and Dad - Emma will only sleep if she is lying on top of me and Danel settles for a half on top position. Quite exhausting as we are not really used to getting up at 06:00. And it is really cold in the mornings which makes it so much harder.

They've also developed a likeness for long cuddles at night - in fact until they fall sound asleep (NOT almost sound asleep please!!!). Anyhow, we decided that this was not a good habit to get into and so we've had some screaming after we've put them to bed at night. Last night, we got back to normal with very little of a performance.

The challenge is to keep up as when they start causing trouble due to boredom (cold weather means less exploring). Trouble means they start destroying.
They have developed a great love (even greater than before) for opening and emptying the drawers in the kitchen. As soon as you turn your back for a minute, they are into the drawers which is becomng quite stressful.
The video drawers below the TV were last weeks attraction with videos being unpacked and packed every night. Interesting to see Daniel doing things that Emma did a few weeks ago.
Then other night we had a dustbin with mostly old post being unpacked all over the floor. The mess was solved by giving them a container to unpack into and so nothing was left lying all over the floor. Luckily they are very willing helpers in clearing up messes.

Daniel is starting to say and remember far more words than was the case before. Quite nice to see (and hear). Emma continues to gallop along. If one listens very, very carefully, you can pick out understandable sentences. The pronunciation needs lots of work though!

They seem to enjoy looking at the moon and the stars every evening (we have a family expedition out to the front gate every night to collect the post and lock the gate).

Emma loves books and I've often mistaken a request to pass a book for a request for biscuits - much to my shame! Anyhow, I now pull out a new picture book in the evenings when their behaviour goes into destruction mode (as they are probably bored). The impact is fantastic to watch as all the behaviour that stresses us disappears.

Good news is that the days are beginning to get longer and spring is a matter of weeks away. Yipee!

Tomorrow night, Fiona and I go out with her boss and his management team to dinner. A nice night out. Sharon and Tim are going to look after the twins.

Enjoy the weekend - it looks as though we are going to be cold again.