The Brothers Gip

Yesterday E, Ari and I went on an adventure. Lelly and Isaac came round to see us and persuaded us to come with her to Granny Ruthy’s on the bus. This may not sound like a big deal but it was for me.

The monster buggy has always meant that I couldn’t go on a bus as it is too big to fit on if it is busy. The boys have been better and better at walking distances recently so I decided to brave it and take them on the bus and the metro on foot.

They were awesome, they walked up the road holding my hand and waited patiently at the bus stop for the bus. Then once we were on they sat still and behaved. Then they walked to the train station and we all got on a train which they loved. We got off at Granny Ruthy’s stop and they walked to her house holding on to Lelly’s Buggy. Once we got there they had a special biscuit because they were such good boys. Baby Isaac slept quietly all the way there so I think Lelly and I can give ourselves a pat on the back for a job well done.

Here are some pictures of our journey. It is so cute, Arthur and Elliott look so solemn. I think it might be because I explained how important it was that they were very good boys. They must be concentrating very hard on not defaulting to crazy running about…

At the weekend we decided that a sandpit was a waste of money. We, instead, opted for a bag of play sand from pound stretcher and a plastic box that had been housing VHS tapes in the loft. When the sand isn’t in use we keep it in our new outhouse. Notice the recently erected archway, just beyond it are two outbuildings that are now ours and can be filled with all our stuff. Yay! Here are some pictures of Ari & E having fun with their new sand tub.

Supernanny. I dont know about any of my other parent friends out there but when I was preggers Daddy and I watched it like it was 24. Every week tutting and shaking our heads at the parents on there and rejoicing when supernanny saved the day. Well since the boys were born we seem to have very quickly lost our holier than thou smug attitude. Mainly because it has become blaringly apparent that parenting is a muddle through affair. All it takes is a few wrong turns and you too could end up with the child from the black lagoon.

Now there are a few schools of thought when it comes to child discipline. According to an article I just read in the Guardian something like 60% of Brits agree with the old fashioned method of walloping the living daylights out of kids. The other options are rewarding good and ignoring bad, the naughty corner and distracting (basically when your dearest does something bad show them something very exciting straight away to distract them away from strangling the family pet.)

Well I don’t want to be a smacker, though I don’t totally disagree with it in extreme circumstances. My generation was smacked and we turned out ok. The distraction technique is not for me, mainly because I would like a life. If I am in the middle of putting the washing on the line I don’t want to have to break off and start singing and dancing or showing them something cool. Besides I can’t get the logic of doing something exciting when they are badly behaved. Surely it wont take them long to figure out that acting up gets them play dough or a story. The ignoring bad and rewarding good doesn’t do it for me either as a fight involving brio tracks is difficult to ignore.

So that left us with rewarding good behaviour and the naughty corner.

You may ask why I am obsessed with child discipline theories at the moment. Well recently Arthur and Elliott have discovered that they can do certain things to get a particularly spectacular reaction from Mummy and Daddy. From running at the hot oven to throwing brio trains across the room. There is a whole variety of things in their repetoire that are sure to enlist excitement in onlookers.

So for our own sanity we have introduced the naughty corner.

I wasn’t sure if they were a little young to get what the hell was going on. Though my logic was that if they knew what they were doing was unacceptable (and by the mischievous look on their faces as they drew all over the lounge wall we can put a big tick against that one) then they were ready to see that bad behaviour had consequences.

It has (so far) been very successful. If they do something bad they get a warning. Then if they do it again we put them down in an isolated spot explain why they are there and tell them to stay there until we come and get them. After a minute or so we go back explain again why they are there, ask them to say sorry, give them a cuddle and it is all forgotten about.

I think it is one of the only ways to go with twins as it prevents a toy throwing session escalating into a war. They have figured out things that are totally unacceptable pretty quickly and no longer do them. Mostly it was things that would injure themselves or would be very embarrassing if we went out somewhere. Like pulling the heads off flowers, throwing things, hitting and investigating things that obviously weren’t toys like ornaments and televisions. I also use the technique if we are out and one of them decides to leg it.

They walk a lot now so I have taught them to hold my hand or on to the buggy when we are out. It makes my life much easier as I can take them to places on my own without worrying about them both running in different directions. The only time when this doesn’t work is when they are shattered and walking is too hard. This is signified by the dual leg collapse and the lying flat on the floor pose.

The great thing about the naughty corner is that it is an abstract concept so is fully portable. It has come with us to IKEA and to the park.

Here are some pictures of them looking totally well behaved as at present I have not had the heart to photograph them in the naughty corner.

Well today it is boiling! I don’t have the buggy due to the fact that the normal buggy dumping area (the drive) is full of cement mixers and power tools. I also have a slight problem in that the back garden is full of floor insulation and 4 metre long bits of timber.

So what does one do in that situation? I think such a scenario should be a challenge on the Crystal Maze (or whatever the kids are watching nowadays as we have no tv). I decided to improvise. First I thought we would do a jigsaw. This worked for a while but then Elliott started clawing at the French windows saying ‘side ‘side (outside) then he went and got his hat and shoes and handed them to me. Arthur pointed out he also needed soooooos and Aaaat Aaaaat.

So I checked for noticable spikey objects and anything they could injure themselves on and let them out.

Now a while back Granny Ruthy bought a second hand cot from a Polish couple who were emigrating to Canada. They threw in a whole load of other stuff they couldn’t fit in their luggage. Apart from an extremely disturbing Polish kids book about a giant evil round cheese that tricks a fox most of the stuff was great. The best thing was a toddler outdoor activity trough. It was this that saved the day today. I filled it with water and gave them lots of bits from the kitchen to play with.

Hours of fun.

Though they did manage to get hold of some chalk. The planks of wood are now multicoloured but I don’t think the builders mind…

So I have just realised I was making my life difficult.

All the recipe following and food colouring. It seems that it was purely for my benefit not my kids. The other day I did probably what countless mothers over hundreds of years have done before childhood became a commercialised plastic electronic mess.

I, as usual, cooked my weekly budget meal. Dahl (lentil curry) with homemade chapatis. it costs about a pound in ingredients and feeds us all for lunch and dinner. It is also probably on the list of Jon, Arthur and Elliott’s favourite foods.

So I made the Dahl whilst the boys were asleep using my pressure cooker. Then I made the chapati dough after they had woken up. I gave Elliott and Arthur a ball of it each to play with. They happily made it into shapes and rolled it between their hands and squished it for ages. It was then that it dawned on me that they did not care one bit what colour it was and it didn’t need any salt in it as it was boring to eat anyway. They are way past the stage of eating everything they can get their hands on.

So there you go Mummies. Don’t bother with Play Dough. Just cook a curry once in a while and entertain your children at the same time.

Well it has been a bit of a busy few days. My gorgeous sister in law Lelly went into labour on Sunday night and spent a long time having on and off contractions. Arthur and Elliott and I did our best to keep her and Uncle Lala company on Monday whilst they waited for something to happen. I was very lucky to be able to be a birth helper when Lelly went into labour so I was more involved, I suppose, than I ordinarily would have been.

Anyway by 3am on Wednesday 16th it was decided to get Lelly to hospital to see what was going on. That is where we stayed until Arthur and Elliott’s gorgeous cousin Isaac was born by C-Section weighing in at a whopping 10lbs! Lelly was absolutely amazing. She kept positive and managed to do really well through what can only be described as the labour from hell. Baby Isaac was facing the wrong way round so her contraction pains were absolutely awful. Rob and I took it in shifts to hand out gas and air and general encouragement. She was a trooper and coped amazingly. I felt as Rob’s sister I could keep him positive too as I know from Jon just how hard it is to see the love of your life in excruciating pain.

I have new respect for all birth partners as it is a very difficult job (not as bad as labour by any stretch but very tough none the less). Rob was fantastic and got to see his son being born. Whilst I waited in recovery and took lots of random photos of the door and clock and floor because I was nervous. At 10.46 I heard the best screaming ever coming out of theatres as little Isaac was born. Half an hour later I got to
meet him and he is lovely. I am a very proud Aunty and I am also incredibly proud of Rob and Lesley.

I have had a tough time for the last week which I won’t go into but having something like this to focus on has been an amazing tonic. I am so privileged to have been able to help two of my dearest friends through a grueling few days and feel very special to have been allowed to share the experience with them.

I would like to thank Jon for being amazing and doing my and his job for a couple of days whilst I helped out. Arthur and Elliott seem none the wiser to my absence other than the occasional ‘mumma?’ yesterday. though they were very pleased to see me this morning.

So here he is, the star of the show and the cause of all the bother! He has cheeks like a lttle round peach and loads of black hair.

Here is our new playhouse. It took a weekend to make. Arthur and Elliott absolutely love it. It is made of wood with windows and a felt roof to keep the water out. It has a balcony and a little ladder up. I painted it and made vinyl ‘curtains’ for the windows with different animals on and a vinyl ‘castle gledhill’ sign for the outside. We also put down a rug inside to make it a bit cosier.

Many thanks to Uncle La La and Aunty Lelly for all your help! we couldn’t have done it without you.

It is the best thing we have done yet, in terms of entertainment for Elliott and Arthur. They love climbing the ladder and shouting ‘Hiya’ from the balcony. They also love hiding in the house and playing Peepo through the windows. We use the space underneath to store all their other garden toys so it is a great use of space. Here it is!

Today I made play dough. I kind of made up the recipe after finding about 20 variations online but it turns out it is a bit of a no brainer. For any of my Mummy friends reading this here is what I did.

I put 2 tbsp of salt and 2 tbsp of oil in a saucepan on a low heat with a teaspoon of almond essence. Then I added a mug of water and a mug of plain flour. I just stirred it until it looked like dough (it kind of needs to cook a bit in the pan as it starts off quite runny) and took it off the heat. Once it was cool enough to handle (use some extra flour if it is a bit sticky) I divided it up into balls and coloured them with food colouring. Whilst I was doing it I had given A&E a shoe box I had cut holes in and a bunch of blocks so they could post them through the holes. It kept them occupied for the whole play dough making.

The almond essence is an essential part of the process. I really remember the smell of play dough when I was little and it was the almond essence that did it. There is something very special about fresh warm play dough and it’s lovely smell.

Arthur and Elliott played with it for an hour. I improvised what they could use as tools but they didn’t seem to mind what they used. Elliott liked making things out of his play dough. I asked him what he was making at one point and he said ‘hat’ then put his creation on his head. Arthur liked squishing it flat and making lots of different marks in it. He loved my icing nozzle for making big circles on one end and stars on the other.

They didn’t try and eat it which surprised me. Especially as it smelled so nice. They seem to have grown out of the eating everything phase some time ago. Though I do on occassion find Arthur looking guilty whilst harbouring a tiny farmyard animal in his mouth.

So play dough saved a rainy morning and soft play land saved a rainy afternoon. I always find it is a bit harder being stuck indoors as you have to make twice the entertainment. Hopefully I will make it outside tomorrow.

Yesterday it was 27degrees. It was too hot to move. So we decided to head to the beach. Tynemouth is only 25 minutes away in the car and has a lovely long beach with road access at one side so Daddy could drop Elliott, Arthur and I off on the beach with our mountain of stuff and go and park the car.

We took a picnic and a giant quilt to lie on and our umbrella. When it is too hot the beach is great as there is always a lovely breeze off the sea to take the edge off it. We put our blanket down next to a little stream. Arthur and Elliott played for hours and paddled in the sea and made sandcastles. They helped lots of other children make things too and made some friends. They had lunch and then had a nice long nap under the umbrella so Daddy and I could have a long sunbathe.

When they woke up they played more in the stream and we found a big crab which they both got to touch as I held it. Though they thought it was hilarious when it ran sideways up my arm!

We had a fantastic time. We have never spent the whole day at the beach before. I think we will again as it went really well. Daddy went a bit pink so is getting me to cover him in Aloe Vera at every opportunity. No doubt he will wake up this morning and be completely brown as he is lucky like that.

On Tuesday last week it was a fairly nice day so I took Elliott and Arthur to the park over the road. Our house is on a main road which is a bit noisy at times (though to be honest I often find so called ‘quiet’ places noisier than our house, being woken up at 5am by the sound of birds is not my idea of fun)

So yes we live on a main road. I don’t mind it, it is quiet at night and during the day there is always a helpful Geordie about to give me a hand with a buggy crisis or tell me my kids are gorgeous when I feel frazzled. Another advantage is the fact that I have the park over the road to my house.

It is a nice park as it is locked at night so drunk teenagers can’t pull up all the flowers and pour cider all over the kids play area. Off we went to the park, I didn’t bother with the buggy as A&E are good enough at walking now to just hold my hand and walk up the road to the island and then down the road to the park. They know that they have to be very careful next to a road and both held my hands very tightly. A very kind ambulance driver stopped to let us cross. We got to the park and played football, then Elliott and Arthur played on all of the climbing frames.

Both can now climb up the steps of the climbing frame and sit at the top of the slide and slide down without any help from me so I sat on the football and yelled encouragement whilst they demonstrated their climbing skills.

I think that is one of the hardest things to do as a parent. To let go a bit and give your kids the freedom to do their own thing without too much hand holding and hovering. I think if they rely on you too much they become careless and think you are going to be there to catch them every time they do anything. It was actually Grandma Alison who made me feel confident enough to let them just get on with it. She said ‘if they can do it, they are ready for it’ wise words indeed.

Here is a video, I will say my heart was in my mouth watching them sliding down the slide. I dont think I give them enough credit, they are better at sliding than I am that is for sure.