The Joys of Boys - The Sequel

Parenting the Y chromosome...

They like mud...  a lot.

The little one will be very sad when the new garden beds are finished.  

I will not be.

Cardboard tubes provide hours of entertainment... (as do sand and mud).

You find surprise additions to the shopping list, (considering how well he reads his spelling is atrocious!)

They can entertain themselves anywhere.

(Me: "darling, what are you doing?

Boy: "I am spying on the people downstairs")

Got to love the excuse to be able to decorate with vintage cowboy prints though!

And... yes little pirate Prince, I forgive you for the mud! (Lucky you are as cute as you are though!).

The school dilemma

My little pirate is a June baby.  In terms of school enrolments this is not such a great date of birth.  In NSW children are supposed to start school if they turn 5, on or before the 31 of July of the year they would start school.  If everybody followed this guideline then Baby Pirate would be one of the youngest in his class but there would be no more than a years gap between the children.  However, what is more common is that children that turn 5 from January on are held back to start the following year, yes so already 6 or almost 6 when they start kindergarten.  

The Captain, born at the end of October is the third youngest in his class.... 

So the dilemma is if I send Baby Pirate to school next year he could be up to 18 months younger than some of the kids.  In his pre-school group there are kids that have already turned 5 in January/February.  He doesn't turn 4 till the end of the month.  Are you following?  I barely can make sense of all of this!  He is fine in Pre-School and academically he is so far ahead of some of these kids that I know he would be more than fine at School.  Physically however, these kids are huge compared to him and they are probably more emotionally confident.

When I have discussed with friends and family the situation we are in almost universally people have said, "send him next year."  I have decided not to though and not because of noble thoughts about an extra year at home of play based learning or because I don't think he would cope or because I have read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers.   In fact I know he would be totally fine and would settle very happily into school next year, but I am holding him back (and yes I really feel like I am holding him back) because I think that it is absurd that he will be in a class room with kids up to 18 months older than him.  In primary school this won't be such a big deal but when it comes to high school it will be and so another year of Pre-school it must be little Pirate!  Anyone else out there with thoughts on this?  

The Tooth Fairy has paid us her first visit.

The Captain has lost the first two of his little baby fangs, interestingly the first two to make an appearance have been the first two to vacate the premises.  It has been a long time coming, he is the second last kid in his class to lose any teeth so he was starting to get a little antsy about it all, even requesting that we pay a visit to the Dentist to "check everything is ok?"  Which reminded me... he was the last baby in my Mother's Group to get teeth in the first place!

So on Monday morning when the first one finally fell out whilst he was getting dressed for school he was literally beside himself dancing around and squealing "aren't you proud of me Mummy?"  I took the opportunity here for a quick parenting lesson... "oh yes, so very proud darling but you make Mummy ever so proud when you are a good listening boy who is kind to his brother and" ... he lost interest in me about then and danced off....

Later that afternoon on our way home from swimming lessons the second little fang fell out in the car.  Oh my was he delighted with himself!  We then had to ring his Dad (in New Zealand) to share the excitement and then when we got home the teeth were very carefully placed under his pillow.

                                                              7:05pm his lights were out, bless him.

The tooth fairy brought him a lovely certificate that he can glue into his scrapbook to mark the occasion and she also reimbursed him for his gorgeous little fangs with a $5 note stamped with gold fairy dust, carefully folded up inside this little pouch.  The Captain is quite the fan of the tooth fairy now!  

The little one's room

A few snaps of the little one's bedroom.    We don't really follow any specific theme with the boys bedrooms so they are a bit of a blend of nautical, cowboy and vintage, plus they both have the ubiquitous expedit!  I am so not an Ikea person but I do love an Expedit for storing kids books and toys on!

I found this chest of drawers in my grandparent's garage when my Dad and I were sorting through everything after they had both passed away.  It was covered in layers and layers of different paint but I could tell that it was made of cedar so I figured that it was worth trying to restore. It still needs a lot more work done on it but I kind of like the industrial look in a boys bedroom, so I might leave it how it is.

This chair was my uncles.  Still going strong and must be around 50 years old now.

Some favourite toys.

A tolix stool as a bedside table!

The boys made these out of the Djeco Mosaic kits and we framed them in cheap Target frames.  

This mobile hung over both their cots and I can't bear to pull it down.

The suitcases store toys that aren't in regular circulation.  The cowboy fabric in the corner is a teepee. Speaking of cowboys, I just saw the most divine flannel fabric in a cowboy print and am now longing to make the boys some pjs out of it.  Anyone know a good easy boys pj pattern? Easy being the operative word here! xx

  

My first ever "Friday Phone Dump"

So, I have finally worked out how to do it....  and yes, some of these photos are very old!  Have restrained myself and only included the favourites!

How can a dandelion ever be dismissed as a weed?

The most beautiful crown ever, pity it fell off!

Nicasso's most recent masterpiece, 'tis very Hundertwasser.

Out of several hundred photos I only posted a few!  Well, admittedly a lot of them were more along the lines of Emma's wish list items and not so much photos of the kids! Maybe I should do a post on that next! Have a lovely weekend everyone! xx

The kitchen

Husband has been requesting that I do a blog post about the kitchen.  Intrigued?  I was.  Apparently friends of his read the blog and wanted to see some photos of it.  Who are you anonymous readers that are friends? Identify yourselves!  The main reason I haven't posted photos of the kitchen already is that it is pretty much constantly in use.  Yes, the heart of the home it is.   So here are some photos of the kitchen that aren't perfectly styled because... well, you know how it is.  I have to actually use this room! 

The shelves in the island store the most frequently used cookbooks and bits of my enamelware collection.

Looking back from the dining table into the kitchen and the pantry beyond.

The island bench.  I  need to find some stools to go here and am leaning towards getting some basic bentwood ones but haven't found the perfect ones yet.  Also haven't hung any pendant lights as I can't decide what to do... I swing between hanging cane, industrial enamel style and various different vintage pendants....  what to do, what to do...

Love the porcelain sink and the mixer. It is one of my favourite parts of the kitchen.  Plus the view out these windows is stunning.

Looking into the pantry.

Appliance shelf in the pantry.  Little one has been into the muffins and left the tin sitting on the kitchen stool!  Busted!

Open shelves on the other side of the pantry.

Looking back into the dining room from the pantry.

Kitchen island from inside the kitchen.  Love the drawers underneath the stovetop.  Last kitchen we did we installed a big freestanding Ilve.  This one we did the separate stove/oven.  So pleased we made this decision in the end.  As it means that you can cook and still be involved in whatever is going on in the room and you don't have to bend down to get things out of the oven!  Both R and I love cooking and entertaining and this way you can be chef and still be part of the party, not stuck facing a wall!

Side view from kitchen to study nook. 

Awww, my assistant hard at work!  Big thanks to everyone for all the links and suggestions that you made regarding cushion making.  I will keep you posted! xx