Author: Suzanne Robinson

Glad that playgroup is back for this year. The girls had a blast today, sand castles, craft, play dough and ate fresh carrots from the garden. It was a rare day that we had sunshine today and it was quite warm, I know unusual to say for summer but lately it has been cold, rainy or windy.

It was nice to see all the mums and kids again, it was great to catch up with everyone. The girls even ate their first pop corn and had pikelets and went back for more for both. Good start, normally trying things they want nothing to do with it. Very pleased with this eating new foods, hope it continues.

Today was also the birth of a friends second daughter from playgroup, welcome Mia. Tomorrow the girls and I are going to go to the hospital with a bunch of flowers from our wonderful yard t0 congratulate our friend. I am sure if it was me giving birth it might have been another 3 days of labour, who knows. Not sure I want to do it again. Currently the 2 girls are enough.

I am exhuasted so off to bed for me. Might take some tablets for some pains and heat up my wheat bag for my sore body, not sure what it is but think that I moved or sat in the wrong position for a while. This happens every now and then, as I have 2 girls sitting on me often it is hard to move and get comfortable.

Still on pre-school countdown – currently have 26 sleeps to go before the girls are off to school.

Today Lillian was most insistent on telling Daddy not to eat the lions, they are for the jungle or the forest, not for eating she said, Daddy!!

Not sure where this came from. We did watch Shrek today and maybe with all the animals that might have made her think about it.  Also why would she think Daddy would eat a lion? Has he done so before now? Is there something I don’t know about Daddy? Does he go out on his own and slay a lion and cut it up for the bbq? Maybe it is something men do, but in Katoomba, NSW, I don’t think so. Even if there were lions about daddy would not entertain the idea.

Lillian was even wanting daddy to call his friends at work and let them know not to eat the lions. Maybe people at work are leading Daddy astray? Maybe it is a good thing there to eat lions, as it gives you strength for the working day…ROAR!!!!!

Not sure what she was thinking but it was very cute and she had a lot to say about this topic. Does your little one have a wonderful vivid imagination? Do they tell you all sorts of things? Would love to hear about them.

I think that the girls are very creative, however every mother says that. Currently we are at the point in their development that their art is looking like what they are drawing and telling you the picture is.

For  a while the girls are not sleeping during the day. This is very hard when you are on your own and have no help. You cannot get anything done while the girls are awake,the day is all about activiites, spending time with them and trying to make them tired for evening sleep. Although with all the running around with the kids you end up getting very tired yourself and have no energy for what you would like to achieve once you have the time and kids are successfully in bed asleep.

This constant activity is making me very frustrated, and not ever having a break is just so annoying to say the least. I love the girls and spending time with them, but mummy does need some time for her and to recharge her batteries. Not only is there no time for me but there is now no time to do housekeeping or things of that nature.

I have been trying but with the last month or so not feeling 100% it is hard to push yourself when you really should have a rest to make sure that you don’t fall asleep the next day or can get up and be active with the little monkeys. The girls are just a hive of action, activity and it is hard when all you feel like doing is going back to bed.

For at least the last 3 months Julia has taken to being scared of everything when she goes to bed. She is saying that, “Mummy, I will cry for you, Please mummy I promise you I will sleep in the big bed”, and more along these lines. The girls want to be together all the time, playing, bed time and now in the same beds.

While I write this Julia is crying away wanting me to go back in there, however if I do, she will jump at me and attach herself and not want me to leave. She looks so tired, we had a big day, off to the park, lunch in the park, then off to see Rod at the airfield. While at the airfield they ran amock and managed to get themselves wet from head to toe and soaked their clothes through.

Then we were off home for a snack and some milk, a story and bed time/rest time. They told me they would be good but that was not to happen, so have seperated them. Lillian in the lounge room and Julia in the bedroom. Now, I have the screaming to live with before she finally has some sleep if it happens at all. She is exhausted, her eyes are hanging out of her head, she is rubbing her eyes, and just looks very sleepy. Although she is saying that she is not tired. I would like her to just have a least an hour or so before dinner.

It is interesting that although Lillian was upset with the situation she handles it better, there is no noise currently coming from the lounge room, I hope that she is falling asleep or at least resting. Julia seems to be worried about the smallest things. I have spent time with her, cuddling, making her smile and think about nice things, like faires, butterflies, and pussy cats, kissed her and made sure that she knows that I am hear and that she needs to rest before dinner.

Great, Julia’s high pitched scream has woken Lillian and now they are both screaming. Might wait and see if they end up settling, if not, will get them both up and they can play in the backyard. Just hard as I had planned to get some things done around the house. Once they are up it becomes near impossible to do any task. Oh well, maybe my deal is to have no sleep and do it all in the evening and the early hours of the morning.

Wonder when it is ever going to be me time…Think it might be when they start pre-school. The countdown is on, 36 days to go…cannot happen sooner for me.

Geez the carrying on is getting worse, will get them up now and they will have an early dinner, might be a blessing having them get to bed early as we need to be up early tomorrow.

Update: I got the girls up, they wanted to do about 5 different things, drawing on their blackboards and on the concrete, then wanted to go into the pool. I was trying to clean up the house and at the time their room, but could not finish. Oh well, they splashed about in the pool and now just about to feed the little monkeys and organise for them to go to bed. Yes, cannot wait, then I might be able to sit down and have a rest. Although I need to organise dinner for mummy and daddy still and to clean a messy kitchen. Oh the joys.

The girls for ages now have been asking to do about 5 or more tasks/toys/play things at the same time. It is hard to keep them entertained. I get an activity organised, say, play dough, painting or drawing. Then not 5mins later they ask to do something else, a puzzle, a movie, go to the park, go swimming and much more. I give the girls an activity to do while I try and get some things done, however this seems to always fail due to sister disagreements and issues with the toys, and then deciding to do other things and then wanting to help mummy at times when helping is not all that helpful.

I do try and have the girls help me so that they learn and are part of the family and contribute but it is really hard to get things done with little helpers when you have a narrow window to get some things done.   I was at a friends birthday party for her 1 year old boy on Saturday and I explained this issue. She is having the same problem with her 3 year old as well.   She mentioned that at 2 years this was no issue, and now 3 it is like someone has flicked a switch and changed all things again. The child cannot sit still and be entertained with just one task. They must find all toys, and open everything and play with as many possible things as they can, this however leaves me the parent in the same but terrible postion of having more mess to clean up and never getting anything done.

I hear you say that this is the perils of young children, I have decided that if the house is reasonable clean and tidy that is fine. The thing that is hard to get used to is falling over things, never having the time to finish anything properly and always getting interrupted so you find it hard to get back to the task you were intially motivated to complete.

Currently the girls are in the living room, eating lunch while watching “Elf” the movie and they have play dough all over the piece of material to hopefully protect the rug on the floor.  My husband goes back to work tomorrow so it will just be me to entertain the girls during the week. Will try to be inventive and see if we can do some creative things, art, collage, and outings. Although once I do things with the kids, I find I am exhausted myself.

Is anyone having a similar issue with their child/children regarding activities and pulling out all toys that they own to play with? Would be interested to hear from people with intersting tasks to keep 2 little 3 year olds entertained for longer.

Today Julia has managed to flush the toliet herself, by standing on her tippy toes and doing it all on her own. However Lillian’s technique is to close the lid, climb up and try to hit the button that way. She did not manage it as it was not the enough force. I helped a bit and she was pleased as punch that she managed to flush the toliet on her own.