And baby makes five...

Erin Beth, born on 6 October 2015 at around 6.30am. Yet another reason that I choose not to spend my time updating this blog, but a delicious, adorable, perfect one.

Children questionnaire

A repeat of the questionnaire we did a while ago, this time in June 2015.

BENJY

What is something Mummy always says to you?

Not to be mean to Chloë

What makes Mummy happy?

When I do what she says

What makes Mummy sad?
When I be really mean to her or when I hurt her so much

How does your Mummy make you laugh?

By telling jokes

What was your Mummy like as a child?

Mischievous

How old is your Mummy?

37

How tall is your Mummy?

Oh boy I don’t know

What is her favourite thing to do?

Kiss on the lips with Daddy

What does your Mummy do when you're not around?

Kiss on the lips with Daddy

If your Mummy becomes famous, what will it be for?

Having the biggest tummy (note – I am pregnant at this point)

What is your Mummy really good at?

Telling me off for messing around with Chloë

What is your Mummy not very good at?

Playing football

What does your Mummy do for her job?

Tells doctors when there are new medicines

What is your Mummy's favourite food?

Fish cakes

What makes you proud of your Mummy?

When she scores really cool goals

If your Mummy were a cartoon character, who would she be?

An adult from Tom and Jerry

What do you and your Mummy do together?

Go to the park and go to classes together

How are you and your Mummy the same?

By having a bottom

How are you and your Mummy different?

Cos she has boobies

How do you know your Mummy loves you?

She just says

Where is your Mummy's favourite place to go?

Melissa’s to have her nails done

CHLOE

What is something Mummy always says to you?

Stop fighting

What makes Mummy happy?

Doing everything she says

What makes Mummy sad?
Not doing as we’re told

How does your Mummy make you laugh?

When she does funny things

What was your Mummy like as a child?

She looked little

How old is your Mummy?

30?

How tall is your Mummy?

Really tall

What is her favourite thing to do?

Watch television

What does your Mummy do when you're not around?

Play with Benjy

If your Mummy becomes famous, what will it be for?

She will be a cook and a racing driver and then do a poo

What is your Mummy really good at?

Making funny faces

What is your Mummy not very good at?

I don’t know

What does your Mummy do for her job?

Work

What is your Mummy's favourite food?

Chocolate cake

What makes you proud of your Mummy?

When I say excuse me and then you listen

If your Mummy were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Peppa

What do you and your Mummy do together?

Play together

How are you and your Mummy the same?

If we’re in the same tummy

How are you and your Mummy different?

When we have not the same matching clothes and nails

How do you know your Mummy loves you?

Because she always smiles and kisses me and cuddles me and that is so stinky

Where is your Mummy's favourite place to go?

Grandma Lauren’s

Chloë's 3rd birthday

It seems that actually, I am still blogging every now and again after all.

So, Chloë's 3rd birthday. A huge Shabbat dinner for the family, as her birthday fell on a Friday, and then a soft play birthday party. Requested cake was 'Jack and the Beanstalk' - she is utterly obsessed with the story. It features heavily in every single imaginary game at the moment. Chloë absolutely loved every second of her birthday weekend - she's such a party-lover, and 3 is the age that they really understand about presents, and about all the fuss being about them - on that last note, though, poor Benjy didn't take it all so well!

Interview with Benjy

Inspired by my friend Cecily doing the same, I asked Benjy these questions - here they are with his answers.

---

What is something Mummy always says to you?
I love you so much 


What is your Mummy really good at?
Playing with me

What makes Mummy happy?
When I'm good every day

What makes Mummy sad?
When I'm naughty

How does your Mummy make you laugh?
When she's so funny

What was your Mummy like as a child?
Cute

How old is your Mummy?
36

How tall is your Mummy?
Very tall

What is her favorite thing to do?
Kiss and cuddle me

What does your Mummy do when you're not around?
Look for me and find me and play with me

If your Mummy becomes famous, what will it be for?
For being the best mummy in the world

What is your Mummy not very good at?
Nothing

What does your Mummy do for her job?
Tells doctors about new medicines 

What is your Mummy's favorite food?
Chocolate*

What makes you proud of your Mummy?
When she's so beautiful

If your Mummy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
A racing car**

What do you and your Mummy do together?
Tell jokes and play funny tricks 

How are you and your Mummy the same?
Our skin is the same colour* 

How are you and your Mummy different?
She has black hair and I have blonde hair

How do you know your Mummy loves you?
She kisses and cuddles me every day

Where is your Mummy's favorite place to go?
Israel***

A few asides from me:

*He didn't know what to say for these so I helped him. For the skin colour one, he was looking at me looking for physical similarities - it didn't occur to him that similarities could be something other than things he could see.

** Perhaps this was the phrasing of the question, but I don't think he really knows what a 'cartoon character' is. Racing cars aren't something that feature in his life in any way at all. 

*** This is definitely a product of what he's learning at school! I don't recall him ever asking if I've even been to Israel.

My boy loves my girl

And I'm back - because I have to make a note here of the most adorable thing that Benjy said, which sums up beautifully how he feels about Chloë.


She was trying on new clothes, and Benjy, watching her, said, 'When she tries beautiful clothes on she looks so beautiful. I think it's because she smiles and it makes her cheeks get bigger and softer and beautiful. I think it's because I just love her so much.'

Other news this week - Benjy's first tooth came out! He was completely unfazed, and barely excited. I was really excited. Eddie was pretty squeamish. And Chlo was in tears because she wants to be 5 and wants her tooth to come out.

Other Chloë news this week is that, despite having been adamant I would never do this, I bought her shoes that flash. It made her so happy! Jumping constantly to check how they flash, contorting herself into all sorts of positions to see what her flashing sparkling shoes can do. She's just so cute and funny and she LOVES those shoes!

Just one more thing...

I started a game with Benjy last week which goes along the lines of 'Benjy + Chloë =', and he has to give an answer. For example, I said 'Mummy + Daddy =' and he said 'husband and wife'. And then I said 'Mummy + Benjy =', and he replied, 'Lovely'. I couldn't leave this blog without mentioning that.

Best friends

It's got to the point where I post so infrequently, I've decided there's really not much point. So I think this will be the last post. For now, at least. Maybe I'll come back to this blog at some point - but for now, I'd rather spend time laughing with my children and the cute and wondrous and amazing things they do and say, and enjoy them, rather than enjoy them for a moment and then quickly makes notes to remind myself to update the blog, and then torment myself for how infrequently I actually do so. I had made a few notes to remind myself of a few funny things Chloë says and does, so will note them while I'm here: she constantly dances, ballerina-style - she is always twirling (she has refused to wear anything but dresses for about 6 months now, because she needs to wear something that twirls), and back in the summer made up a song, 'I'm a ballerina girl, every morning, every morning, every mooooorrrrrnniiiinnnng'; when playing shops she says things cost, for example, 3 'sunny pounds'; and she has been through a rather confused phase when, upon being asked how old she is, replies 'C for Chloë'. But these few stories don't capture her energy, her hearty, throaty laugh, how funny she is simply because she is nearly 3 and absolutely brimming over with personality, easily matching her big brother. And him, he is just adorable and fascinating. I feel - cheesy as it sounds - honoured to watch his mind grow and his inquisitiveness kick in, and how he just absorbs and relishes information and knowledge. And on top of that, he is the sweetest, kindest boy. The relationship that Benjy and Chloë have is so special; they absolutely, unconditionally adore each other - 'best friends', as they so often say. Of course they bicker and fight as well, but they really are absolute soul mates. And on that note, that's all from me for now!

A few Chloë-isms

A quick one of a few Chloë-isms while I remember:

'Weat' = 'eat' as in 'bird weat worm wiggle wiggle!'
'Hippee!' - a cross between 'hurray!' and 'yippee'!
'Picturegraphs' - speaks for itself
'WEE-la' - swimming

Amendment - 'Dow-ie'

On closer listening, turns out Chloë pronounced her name 'Dow-ie'.

Christmas holidays

A rather delayed blog about the loveliness of the Christmas holidays. After a few weeks (months) of hecticness, we made pretty much not a single plan over the Christmas break. We just wanted to stay at home, be together, do nothing, so that's exactly what we did. And we had THE BEST TIME. It was almost as though Ed and I were falling in love with the children all over again. Things were helped by Chloë having an unprecedented need for sleep - she would have lie-ins until 7.30, 8.30, once even 9.00, so we would bring Benjy into our bed at his usual 6.30 getting-up time and doze while he watched TV. She went back to normal hours on the first day back after the holidays - so strange. Overall, we have now hit a much easier phase I think - they can both play on their own, or together, without needing adults to intervene or join in, for relatively long periods, making things much more relaxing for us, and when we have other children over or go to play at friends', they're off, and we rarely need to get involved.

Of course they still adore each other, and Chloë thinks she can do everything Benjy can. Benjy got very involved in Chanukah songs last term, and when he would sing them, she'd pretend (although of course she thought it was real) to sing along with him. Benjy is absolutely thriving at school, is starting to read independently, and recently, reading words out of familiar context. Still a few lovely baby-ish things about him though - often a horse is still a 'horsey', for example (inexplicably, Chloë calls a horse a 'tap tap'), and he still loves Peppa Pig. He is starting to get more interested in 'grown-up' music which is nice, so when I am in the car without Chlo - who still insists on nursery rhymes - we put the radio on and he dances along in his car seat. And he still comes out with the funnies - when helping me put some plates away the other day I told him to be careful because they're delicate and made of china, and he replied that he'd be OK to help because he's the 'delicate chinaman'.

Chloë will be 2 in a few weeks. I LOVE this age. Nearly 2-year olds are just so, so funny. She does the most hilarious things, and still has no self-consciousness, but does have the awareness that she is making other people laugh. Saying more and more, some of which I want to capture here - she calls both grandmas 'Joo-joo' and both grandpas 'Col'; she took ages to say Benjy's name but then suddenly got it and uses it all the time, when she's excited to see him, wants to play with him, or is telling tales on him - 'Benchy!'; and now says her own name too - 'Cow-ie'. 

Hopefully an update soon, at birthday time - oh, and we have a trip to Disneyland Paris coming up too!

An answer for everything

A fine example of how Benjy is already way ahead of us, and has an answer for everything. Despite his frequent claims of 'Chloë's my best friend' he does, of course, love to antagonise her. One such way is to pretend to be a lion - as he crawls on all fours menacingly towards her, she doesn't like it one bit and cries and gets quite upset. On one such occasion, he started being a lion on his way to Chloë and Eddie told him to stop, as it was upsetting her. He immediately continued, getting really close up to her. Eddie said to him, 'I just told you to stop, she doesn't like it' to which he replied, without missing a beat, 'I was just saying sorry in lion language'!

Some photos

Just taking the opportunity to upload a few photos:

Playing in the kitchen:

Chloë playing a game of pretending to be asleep when I go to take her out of her car seat:

Playing with Sammy at baby gym, and showing him the way out as it was his first time and she, of course, is an old hand:

Cuddles amidst drawing:

And I love this one - despite how dark the picture is and how much it reminds me I need to do work on my house! - both lost in their own worlds, reading:

First day at 'big school'

It's over two months ago now, but here, belatedly, is a photo of Benjy's first day at 'big school'. Benjy LOVES school. Loves it.

Chloë's Yorkshire accent

Chloë is saying more and more now, and we find it hilarious that much of it is in a broad Yorkshire accent! 'Baby', 'toes' and 'row row' spring to mind - in fact, she'd been saying 'toes' for a while before I realised what she meant!

I also want to note here that Chloë is absolutely obsessed with Peppa Pig, and over time her word for 'Peppa Pig' has become 'Goo' - it started as her trying to imitate the snort that Peppa makes at the beginning of the show and even though she can now say both 'Peppa' and 'pig', 'Goo' is the word that she uses. And for a one-word syllable, she manages to use it in many different ways - as a question, when she asks to watch it as we walk through the front door; or as a teary request when we've put any other programme on for Benjy.

She still communicates enormously by gestures to the extent that someone asked me recently if she does baby signing classes. She doesn't, and never has, but certainly does communicate by 'signing', and very efficiently too. She is starting to put 'sentences' together, though - I use the term 'sentences' very loosely, it's more that she uses several words to tell me something - for the last couple of weeks, every now and again she'll say 'Max', 'woof', 'mummy', 'ah' and then point at herself - meaning that when we are at school the other day a dog called Max was with his mummy, he was sweet, and he barked at Chloë. You see? Simple to interpret!

'Baby'

There's a very sweet thing that Benjy says. Whenever he is referring to one of his friends' or classmates' little brothers or sisters, he always refers to them as their 'baby' - whether the sibling in question is 3 months or 3 years old. It's really sweet - almost as if he inherently believes that part of the older brother or sister role is looking after a 'baby', even when that 'baby' is two and a half and can run around and talk. And he seems to compare them to Chloë, however old they are - this morning at school he said to me, surprised, 'Jack's baby can say 'big' and 'tree'!' Jack's 'baby' is two years old; but now, as we hear Chlo talking more and more, it seems Benjy is comparing all other 'babies' to her and what she can do now. He adores babies, and small children - Benjy is drawn to any baby, whether it's one we know or one we see out and about, and play with them and make them laugh, and be sweet and gentle with them.

And, as this post is called 'baby', I may as well mention that it was one of Chlo's first words and one that she says with confidence now whenever we see a baby, always accompanied by hugging herself and saying 'aaaah'. She also loves babies - but I think it's just because Benjy does, wanting, as she does, to be just like him.

Photos

A few photos, from Joel's visit. We loved these because they showed the children's personalities so perfectly.

 Benjy full of beans and raring to go.

Chlo looking sweet and angelic...

... but in fact having a very wild tomboy side!

Exciting things

Just a quick one.  When Benjy asks me the day's plans - which he doesn't do every day, but whenever he does, he asks, 'What exciting things are we doing today?'. I seem to have brainwashed him into thinking that our daily activities, whatever they may be, are an exciting day for him. Love it.

Nine months in one post

It’s now been 9 months since I updated this. I am determined to keep it live but I think that in the interests of reality, it may need to be more about putting up photos and brief comments, than general updates – I must accept that life with two little ones and work just doesn’t allow for updates as regularly as I’d like.

Luckily I had made some notes last time I planned on updating the blog, so here follows an update from April 2012 – just five months late!

Months since the last update - but, they've been pretty busy - started a new job, had a 1st birthday, bought a house and moved. But here I am and there's a lot of catching up to do. I make notes along the way of things I want to write about - milestones (Chloë saying 'nyum nyum' when she eats, at 10 month; at 10 and a half months, doing make nice; at 11 months, absolutely loving doing the actions to 'wind the bobbin', waving goodbye, cuddling soft toys along with affectionate sound effects, and cruising everywhere) but these are the things that really, I should (and do) write in a baby book - here, I want to capture photos and anecdotes about who the kids are.

Chloë really seems to have come into her own personality in the last few months. I suspect I may end up saying this every few months though! She's very adventurous, fearless, wild and headstrong - in terms of physical preferences and capabilities, she's a very different baby to the one Benjy was. When we go to soft play Chloë's off like a shot on her own, climbing the ladder to the slide, sitting there watching how the other (and much older) children come down, and then going for it. She turns her little self around and slides down backwards on her tummy! In our new house we have some stairs dividing the landing, so she's had to get very competent at managing going up and down a few steps on her own, very quickly, and she had it mastered in no time at all. Her sense of humour is really developing and it's so lovely to hear her discover what makes her laugh and then seeing her doing it over again - such as kicking her legs in the bath so she splashes her face, and opening her arms as wide as they'll go to do a really loud clap. Of course, the thing she laughs hardest and longest at is Benjy, and he'll work tirelessly to keep her amused, and often has her laughing so hard that she, literally, falls over. And of course, our little baby is 1 now! It was her birthday a few days after we moved so we had parties for her at our parents' instead of at home - all I did was make a cake - should do it that way every year! She had a great day on her actual birthday but wasn't in the best of spirits for her party. Here's the obligatory list of what she's doing, at 1 year old - the actions to 'If you're happy and you know it' and 'twinkle twinkle', blows kisses, loves to cuddle, wants to walk everywhere holding on to our fingers, waving hello and goodbye by opening and closing her fist. I feel silly 'reporting' these milestones but I know I'll look back and be glad they're there. The other thing worth mentioning is that now that I am back at work, Chloë has started nursery, and she is absolutely thriving. The staff adore her, and she is so happy there - it didn't take long before she was jumping out of our arms at drop-off to go to Kim and Brenda. They are so delighted with her, seem really excited at her progress and development, and we are equally delighted with the care she gets and how happy she is there - we're lucky it's working out so well.

[Adding as a footnote later that she started walking at 14 months, very confident, running not long after. Onto Benjy - I had only noted down a few bullet points about Benjy so am turning them into text now – September 2012 – and hoping I remember everything].

Benjy still comes out with some absolute corkers – the funniest anecdote of all, which will no doubt become one of those family stories told across the years, has to be from Seder night. Benjy had been learning about Seder at nursery and was really excited for it. We were midway through and then Benjy stood up on his chair and said ‘I’ve got a story’, so we all listened, and then he said ‘But I don’t know the words’, and looked over to Jakey and handed him a Hagadah and said ‘Here, this might help you’. I then realised he’d been told at nursery that we tell the story of Pesach at Seder and that is all he was expecting it to be! So we asked him his story and he told us something typically imaginative and wacky which involved Pharaoh and a giant marshmallow. Not as funny in the retelling, of course, but it was just brilliant, and Benjy at his typically funny best.

Otherwise, what is he up to – amazing at drawing – creative, meticulous . Almost speaking absolutely perfectly but still getting the occasional thing wrong, my favourite being ‘turtoise’  - he doesn’t seem to realise that a turtle and tortoise are two separate animals – but most likely that’s because when he points at one and asks me what it is, I am never quite sure either.

He continues to be a brilliant negotiator – coming back at a ‘no’ with ‘But I’ve got a different idea’, or using someone else to voice his wishes e.g. when told we wouldn’t get an ice cream from an ice cream van during Pesach, and asking why other people were queuing there and I said it’s because they’re not Jewish, he replied ‘But Haman said I’m not Jewish’. Hmm…

And Benjy and Chloë together. These two LOVE each other. When they see each other at the end of a day apart, they are literally pushing me out of the way to jump into each other's arms. Benjy looks out for her ('shhh, Chloë's sleeeping), reaches out to hold her hand in the back of the car, pats her back to comfort her if she's crying, and just wants her to be  happy. Most of the time, that is - he is her big brother, after all, and being a little mean is part of the job. And she just wants his attention all the time - if we tell her to go and get Benjy, she'll crawl over and pat and prod him, or lie on top of him, until he responds. I think a defining Benjy/Chlo relationship characteristic is playing on the landing before bathtime - they chase each other, he pretends to come after her, she pretends to - rather coyly - come to me for safety, they play together on his bed - it's everyone's best time of the day.

                                  

And so back to now – September 2012. Benjy started big school last week. Strangely, it didn’t seem weird – didn’t seem as though he was too young, too little, not ready – it just seemed right. And he has loved it, settled straight in, ran right over to the drawing table – still his favourite pastime and he gets better and better at it – and got stuck in. He is also, gradually and slowly, becoming more interested in the physical, like kicking a football, bouncing a ball – he was always much less interested in this than other kids his age but he is now getting there. We tried him with a swimming lesson at the weekend and he hated it – he has never loved swimming, or getting wet generally  - on holiday in May it took until day 4 to get in the pool – so we will take it slowly and hold off on the lessons for a while. Besides that, no specific stories (that’s what happens without regular updates) to illustrate what I want to say about him which is that he is smart, funny, wild, certainly a handful, but also very loving (and he LOVES his sister – his ‘sweetie pie) and opening up worlds of discovery for us all the time.

Chloë is 18 months now and she is a little madam! She says a few words – says ‘Mummy’ now (‘Mameeee’) and quite a few other things too although still a lot less than Benjy was (I know – I shouldn’t compare) – however, having said that, she has no problem at all making herself very clearly understood, so there is little need for her to speak! She knows what she wants, and is very determined to make sure she gets it, along with having to throw whatever tantrums she feels necessary along the way. Physically, she is totally fearless, which is lovely but occasionally terrifying, and she thrives on speed and recklessness – a lot of what she does is accompanied by a delighted ‘wheeeee!’. She is loads of fun – at such a lovely age, she knows what she does and doesn’t like, knows how to attract attention and draw us all in, and is so cuddly and delicious with a smile that turns her whole face into a ball of utter delight. And she utterly adores Benjy – however nicely or otherwise they have been playing, when he is upset she drops whatever she is doing to comfort him, and if he ever gets sent out of the room, she has to go right after him to make sure he is OK, and holding her back makes her so upset that it’s almost easier (almost…) not to ever give Benjy any time out!

Photos to follow when I get chance  - hopefully in less than 9 months.

A general update

We had some photos taken a couple of weeks ago, so I'll use that as an excuse to update here and try to capture how the kids are and what they are up to, at 3 years and 5 months, and 9 months old.

The first word that always spring to mind when describing Benjy is 'hilarious'. But to try to be more specific. He has bags of energy from the minute he starts his very early day. Benjy is all about his imagination - he very rarely plays with toys, and has never had any interest in typical 'boy' toys - give him a car, train, plane or soldier and he'll promptly pretend they're a cup of sugar, a block of butter, some flour, eggs, cocoa powder, chocolate and sprinkles, and bake a cake with them. It's always been all about food with Benjy. The one thing he has played with consistently has been his play food, and it's still a big part of each day for him. We bake pretend cakes (and often real ones too - he loves to bake), have picnics, go to the shops, then we draw pictures of the food (he loves to draw and colour, so this amalgamates his two loves nicely). His favourite book at the moment is what he calls the 'cake book', a recipe book for children's birthday cakes, and he takes it to bed with him every night. He used to do this a long time ago too, which I may have written about on here before, and we have just recently found the book again since our move.

He still loves nursery and is so enthusiastic about learning, which I am delighted about - long may it last! The excitement in his voice when he sees any of the letters in his name is delightful, and he looks out for them as we go about our day. At nursery last week they were learning about shapes. This seems to have really struck a chord with Benj. He has talked about shapes constantly ever since. So lovely to see him really excited to learn about new things and apply them to his day-to-day life. On the same note, he asks a lot of questions - he is 3, after all, although we only get the occasional 'why?', not 'why? why? why?' just yet. And he wants detail! Whether it's a real question, or a question in a game, a short answer isn't enough. When's he's being a doctor, for example, he takes a very thorough medical history ('What did you hurt? Which thumb? What did you hurt it on? Which wall? When did you hurt it?'), which shows perfectly what I mean. And he has picked up on a little game Eddie does with him. Ed had, occasionally, asked him something along the lines of, 'What would you rather be, a dog or a cat?' - sounds strange written down, I know. And now suddenly Benjy asks the questions too, and is really clever in both the choices he gives - they're always related, never two unconnected things - and is very 3-year-old in his reasons when you ask him why. For example, he'd rather be a circle than a square because his eyes are round. Of course.

He still loves books, and remembers them word for word so he can read them himself. He brings them into everyday life too - yesterday his fingers were poking out of his glove and he said 'Three fingers poke out of an underground house, can these be the fingers of the big bad mouse?' - with apologies to Julia Donaldson. He makes up stories which frequently begin with 'Once upon a time there was a little boy called Benjamin' - the only time he ever calls himself Benjamin - and they are told in a very story-telling tone of voice, or certainly the one I use for stories. And he makes up songs too. Love it.

And of course he has his 3 year old behaviour. Loving and sweet with Chloë, and then pushes her over. Is told not to do something then promptly replies. 'I'm doing it anyway'. But my goodness can he be funny with it too!

What else? He is sweet and affectionate. Gives great cuddles, when he wants to - when he doesn't, you don't stand a chance. Adores babies, and will ignore an older child to play with a baby. Strokes my face while he's talking to me without realising he's doing it. Just gorgeous. These photos capture his personality perfectly.

And Chlo-Chlo. Gorgeous squidgy little Chloë. Our 9 month old is on the move, crawling on hands and knees now and pulling herself up on everything (and inconveniently, as soon as we sit her in the bath too). She spends a lot of time in what I can only describe as a yoga-style downward dog position, which I understand is important for perspective, and I suppose strengthens her arms and legs too. She ADORES her big brother and now that she can, she follows him around, much to his irritation seeing as often she does so to get whatever he's playing with. And he'll edge further away, and she'll follow him, until the two of them are at the other end of the room, having got there inch by inch. He loves to make her laugh and she's a fantastic audience, squealing with delight as he dances, sings, kisses and cuddles her, and he is often quite rough and tumble with her but that makes her laugh hardest of all.

She has recently started to be a little clingy - the start of separation anxiety? - but along with that comes shyness and cuddles right into the nape of my neck, and how can that not be a good thing? She's started crying when left in a room alone, and now that she can, will follow us out. There's a lot of 'mamamamama' and 'dadadadada' but I don't think that it's directed at us, yet - she does say 'mamamama' as she crawls towards me, but I'm pretty sure she's saying it when she crawls in the other direction too.

She loves peekaboo; it never fails to amuse me how hilarious babies find that. She finds looking in the mirror pretty funny too, when she looks at me in the mirror, turns to look at the actual me, then back in the mirror again. Wants to stand up ALL the time. Loves books - for the first time, last week, when I went to check on her before I went to bed, one of the books in her cot was open so she must have been reading it after I put her to bed. Overall, she really seems to have made one of those leaps into being in a new stage of a little person, those leaps that happen when you don't even notice it. She's less 'baby' and more 'person' more and more now. She's scrummy. I feel that these photos don't capture her personality though - we only had 15 minutes and unlike her outgoing big brother, that wasn't enough time for her to get used to it. So they mostly show her looking pretty serious (although not the selection I've included here), and they don't do what I really wanted, which was to capture how she and Benjy play together and the way they look at each other, especially her at him, but they still show her in all her pretty and delicate glory.

A milestone - Benjy starts writing his name - and other updates

And yet again it's been another two months. I suppose not much of particular note had happened so nothing compelled me to write, but I like to keep this updated with photos if nothing else. However, a noteworthy incident this week made me log on here again. Both at home with me and at nursery, Benjy is encouraged to recognise and write his name. Again, both at home and at nursery, he hadn't shown any interest in writing his name, just asking other people to write it for him. Then a few days ago, I was writing it for him at his request and he stopped me and said, 'I think I know how to do it', and wrote a perfect 'B', half an 'e', no 'n', and then a perfect 'j' and a near perfect 'y'. I was so impressed - I'd had absolutely no idea he could do any of that! He's been drawing some brilliant pictures lately, all very recognisable for what they're intended to be, but no letters. Since then he wants to write it all the time, but always only the 'B', 'j' and 'y'. Nursery are doing a brilliant job at encouraging the 'e' and 'n' while at the same time, all of us know it doesn't matter if he can't write his name at all for another year or so, so there's no pressure on him. But while the interest is there we're encouraging him along! He is still loving nursery, is getting wittier and sharper and funnier all the time, pretends not to love kisses and cuddles but then makes up games where he gets hundreds, and is, as always, just brilliant.

Chloë is also doing brilliantly. Crawling speedily on her tummy now, at 8 months, and just starting to get going on hands and knees. She is still - and long may it last - the happiest, most placid, easy baby, barely recognisable from the very difficult newborn. After a short period of leaving her to cry she now sleeps brilliantly, has no interest in any food from a spoon but will eat very proper finger food, albeit frustratingly tiny amounts, and is becoming quite the expert at getting attention - to say that she beams at people until they can't help but smile at her and engage with her is absolutely the right description. She waves all the time, but not at anyone or anything, and can't yet do it on demand, but a classic, defining Chloë-ism is that waving arm, that beaming smile and a whole bundle of scrumptiousness.

What's also great about now is that they are really starting to play together. They adore each other, they are desperate for each other's attention (particularly Chloë forBenjy's and she will shout him until she gets it) and as the photo below shows, I often find them lying on the floor playing together. Of course there's plenty of Benjy being a bit mean to Chloë too, especially now that she can move, and only wants whatever he's got, but that's all part of the fun of being brother and sister!

Benjy's birthday

Benjy turned 3 a few weeks after we moved to Leeds. We hadn't known what to do for his birthday - we had to do something, as he was really excited for it, but knew he wouldn't have made any friends yet. So we just asked a few people we know, with kids around Benjy's age, and had a small party at home. It was lovely - just the right number of people, at home so no stress, and Benjy loved every second of it. He must have talked about his birthday for about three months beforehand and in the morning, when we told him it was today, he was so excited, it was so sweet!

Dummy

Just a reminder to myself about Benjy's dummy. In perhaps April, so three months short of his 3rd birthday, he put the dummy in his mouth one bedtime, took it out, told me it wasn't working, then threw it across the room. In a panic, thinking that he wouldn't be able to go to sleep without it, I gave him a few others to try but apparently they 'weren't working' either. And then he just went to sleep! I'd always thought he couldn't sleep without it but just like that, he stopped using it. I always kept one by his bed because he was going through so many changes and I didn't want to take it away if he wasn't really ready. For about two months he didn't use it, and then suddenly started using it again. And still is. Odd.

Summer holiday

How things change - our summer holiday this year was a few days in Blackpool! We were all in the same room which was quite stressful, worrying that one would wake the other up, but we had a lovely time, and most importantly, so did Benjy - the holiday was for him, really, not us. He loved it that we were all together ('in our family', as he says) and he swam every day, had ice creams, stayed up late,built sandcastles, went on pedaloes, played crazy golf, went to the zoo, and pretty much had a 3 year old's perfect holiday. It was Chlo-Chlo's first time swimming and she loved it too, and she looked so adorable in her little swimming costume!

Chloë gets happy

Chloë was a difficult baby - no two ways about it. It was certainly partly because of the reflux but also part of her character I think - spirited and feisty, and not one to wait and see how it goes. So when things finally started to settle down at about 4 months, it all because so much easier, and really lovely - finally, two children became fun and enjoyable for the majority of the time rather than the minority. And she is SO much fun - so happy, smiley, with a gorgeous, quite throaty laugh which is sometimes a giggle, but sometimes so loud and sudden that it'll make us all jump. Her smile is amazing, with her little tongue sticking out as the smile gets bigger. And the things she smiles and laughs at the most is Benjy - she utterly adores him, laughing at pretty much everything he does, and as I write, at nearly 6 months, the second he comes anywhere near him she holds out her arms to him and grabs on, and he gets the Chloë cuddle and that big open-mouthed slurpy kiss. They are so sweet together - love each other to bits, have a great time playing with each other and just being in each other's company. The big brother/little sister protective/adoring bond is well and truly there and blossoming every day!

The move to Leeds

After much discussion and planning, we finally made the move to Leeds at the end of May, when Chloë was around 12 weeks or so. It was heartbreaking to take Benjy away from Anne, his childminder. She was absolutely all that we could have asked for in a childminder, and so much of who Benjy is, is down to her and her family. More than anything, I dreaded him leaving Anne. And of course, dreaded him leaving everything else that was familiar to him - all the playgrounds he loved, the soft plays, the local shops we'd go to, and that all he ever wanted to do, if I asked him, was 'walk to Waitrose'. It was a very difficult time, not made any easier by the newborn baby and lack of sleep. But within a few weeks of being in Leeds there was no doubt that it was the right decision. Benjy settled into nursery brilliantly - by the third day, he cried for less than a minute when I left him, and there was no more crying at all after that, apart from a few times when I picked him up because he didn't want to come home! No clinginess at all - in fact, he wanted me out of there as quickly as possible when I dropped him off. Everthing is so much easier and less stressful - in part because we are in a bigger house, I'm sure, but there's definitely something about not being in London, and about having family right around the corner, that is fantastic and so far, we're loving it all.

The photos are from Benjy's first day at nursery - before and after.

Four months later...

So it seems that two children makes for busy times and I suddenly find that almost four months have gone by without having had chance to update the blog! So here comes some quick catch-up of the major events since I last wrote, along with a few photos.

Capturing more Benjy-isms

Just want to note some of the things Benjy has been saying lately, so I don't forget them. These are from the last few months - so from nearly 3 to just over 3.

Many statements will start with 'I've got a question for you' - for example, 'Mummy, I've got a question for you - I love Driver Dan'. He pronounces 'mine' as 'mide' - still, at over 3, which I love. He likes to do things 'all by my own' and if he wants to do something immediately, it's 'straight now'. He has recently started using the word 'actually', and uses it correctly, which I find very grown-up and slightly at odds with the 3 year old who says it. He has also started properly singing now - he sings along to songs, joins in, and makes up his own. And lastly, for now, he listens to his Gruffalo CD a lot in the car, along with others by the same author, and so now introduces every book as being 'by Julia Donaldson'. This extends into other areas too - recently, he mentioned that he'd been to the cinema with Eddie to see The Smurfs and when I asked him what it was about, he replied, 'Julia Donaldson'.

Chloë at two months

Two months already - in those early weeks it seems impossible that you will ever be able to put the children to bed at 7.30 and enjoy a normal evening, and yet here we are already. It goes so quickly - good for sanity, a little bit sad how quickly that newborn stage has passed. But, what a lovely stage we are at now. Beaming smiles with absolute delight, the smile getting bigger and bigger until it seems it's about to go past the sides of her face! Trying to laugh - we get the occasional squeal of happiness. And lots of time spent, as Benjy puts it, 'having a lovely kick', fascinated by something on her playmat, or just the way the light is shining, or, most often, Benjy - Chloë's little eyes can't keep up with the speed at which he moves. I remember this age so clearly with Benjy. He used to love lying in his cot looking at, and kicking to, his mobile. We haven't yet got a cot or mobile for poor little Chlo-Chlo, what with the move to Leeds coming up so soon, but I know she will love it, it's the first thing I plan to get out for her in our new place.

Benjy adores Chloë - he tenderly wipes her chin if she has dribbled milk, he goes up to her and says 'little chubby cheeks' while prodding said cheeks, and is always asking me to make herPublish Post smile. He gives her so many kisses and cuddles, not only for our praise any more, and that love is most definitely requited - she could watch him all day long.

Here she is in her two month photo, and in a photo (that I don't seem to be able to rotate) where I got her mid-enormous-smile.