It feels like I wrote my last family update yesterday yet it was a whole month ago. Where is all the time going?
Wriggly (1 year 10 months)
· You are in your ‘big girl bed’ now. I had no intention of removing the sides of your cot bed until you were at least 2, but your siblings have been taking you out of the cot every single day before I get to you. I have to say your bedtime routine is a lot more tricky now, but your safety outweighs the inconvenience of a toddler getting out of bed ten times or so.
· When someone is sad, you give them cuddles.
· After a couple of weeks of good nights, your bad habits are creeping back in slowly. I also have to admit I am not consistent with the bath followed by massage every day. It is simply not sustainable in our busy household.
· A couple of nights ago, you were jumping in my bed at 11 p.m. and shouting “dump, dump!” (jump).
· One afternoon, you were so exhausted after running around that you fell asleep on the stairs! Falling asleep in random places is becoming a habit I have to say.
· You are starting to string words together.
“Dad phone” (call Daddy?)
“Go Bed”
“Buta Bed” (butter on my bread!)
“Mama pokek” (Mummy’s pocket)
· Other words you have been saying a lot:
“Pane!” (Plane)
“Miuk” (milk)
“Juice”
“Tota” (water)
Your siblings’ names
“Po-idge” (porridge)
“Chat” (cat in French)
“Maining” raining
Jumpy (3 years 5 months)
· Recently, you have been the first one to fall asleep at night, no matter how much silly behaviour your siblings get up to around you.
· You are a bath addict. If you could have a bath twice a day, you would.
Convincing you to come out of the bath is also a struggle. Every single time.
· Every morning, you empty your cupboard to choose your outfits despite me getting one ready for you.
· As I was wiping curry off my plate with my naan bread and eating it: “Why are you eating a wipe?” No matter how much I explained it was a thin sort of bread I had wiped the sauce with, you were convinced I had eaten a wet wipe!
· “I need mesisine.” (medicine)
· “Maman, I like blublies.” (blueberries)
Beanie (5 years 6 months)
· Everything seems to be about poo, smells, toilets and everyone (but you) being stupid at the moment.
· Me: “Mummy always…”
You: “smells.”
· Dad: “I had a great day. I taught RE and Geography. I had to teach 6th formers.”
You, interrupting: “Did you show your bottom?”
Dad: “No, I didn’t show my bottom.” (Just in case you were wondering).
Later…
Dad: “what will you be like when you grow up?”
You: “Dancing bottom!”
· As I was telling you to eat your lunch, you replied, “mange toi fesses!” Quickly followed by “Mange toi cheveux / yeux / pipi…” (Eat you bottom, in French, then eat you hair / eyes / pee – What a lady!).
· One of our friends gave you roller skates. I have not seen you this happy about something in a very long time. You were ecstatic over that heavy pair of purple and white roller skates. You rarely take them off.
· We spotted your first wobbly tooth yesterday. Exciting times!
Crevette (7 years 8 months)
· As you were filming the unboxing of our Playbrush,
Me: “Are you going to be a YouTube star?”
You: “No, I think the word is YouTuber, Mum!” (Oh, sorry!)
· When I was editing our Playbrush video, I realised you had done most of the work, so I decided to share my fees with you for that post. When I get paid, I will transfer your first ever earnings to your savings account. That makes you incredibly proud.
· In the past few months, you have been saying that when you are older, you would like to buy a house on our street so you can live close to us. That is so sweet!
· You are an avid reader, always asking to go to the library. I wish it were closer… the 40-minute walk with the four of you after school is a nightmare! Jack Stalwart’s adventures and David Walliams’ books are your favourites at the moment.
Us
· My mum was around for a couple of weeks, and in that time, she got busy crocheting infinity scarves for all the children. Orders, anyone?
· Wriggly and I went away together, just the two of us, to Nantes. It was a long journey by train, but we really enjoyed each other’s company. I also found it was refreshing doing nothing for a whole day but focus on my little girl, with no agenda, no work, not even a book to read. We played, we watched the world go by and we walked (a lot!).
· Our whole gang of NCT mummies got together. Eight years ago, we started with 5 full bellies and we now have 14 children between us! It is always so nice to get together and see our kids get along so beautifully. Love those girls!
· The six of us went to the Natural History Museum in Tring and had a lovely day trip.
Crevette more than deserves his pay for that video, he was brilliant!
Thanks sweetie, I’ll get him to read your comment now 🙂
Sounds a lot like our house at the moment! Isn’t it great when the older ones get so into reading? My eldest is flying through the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. It is hear to believe that 18 months ago he couldn’t read a word.
Oh Crevette hasn’t read those yet. That’s definitely something I’ll be looking for when we next go to the library. He’s just finishing his last David Walliams’ book (I can highly recommend) and is running out of books he finds inspiring! x
David Walliams is just appearing in German bookshops now but from what I have seen of them, I imagine that Number One will enjoy them.
They’re brilliant! Now he’s read them all, Crevette has started borrowing the audio books from the library so he can listen to David Walliams reading them. x
Does he read his own books? That is wonderful. An audio book can be a let down if the voice isn’t right. They must be brilliant. (Note to self – put these on the birthday list!!!)
Do put it on his birthday list: David Walliams’ voice is really nice to listen to (to Crevette anyway). He does read a lot. He’s in Year 3 already (although to me, he’ll always be a baby boy!). xx
Here children don’t go to school till they are six, so my eldest is only in his second year of school. But he lovdes to read now that he can.
In France, children also learn to read when they’re 6. I was shocked when Crevette started learning how to read words in Reception!
Ah, all the talk of poo and Bottoms at Beanie’s age! I remember when my sister was that age, we were recording a cassette tape and she was constatly saying “poopie” on the tape. Drove me nuts. (Not that the recording was all that serious, but I, at age 8, took it very seriously.)
I know, my boy (7) gets really offended by her language. So do I!
Such a lovely family update! I love my NCT gang too – we now have 12 kids between the five of us and when we get together it’s sort of mayhem but the kids all get on amazingly well because they’ve grown up together. #ftmob
I wasn’t sure about NCT classes before we started them all those years ago, but it was the best thing I did in late pregnancy. These girls and their babas will always be in our lives!
Haha! My son is also obsessed with saying bum, poo, etc. I think it gets a pretty good rception from his friends at nursery. Not so at home :/
I always enjoy your family updates 🙂
x Alice
#ftmob
Thanks Alice! I just wish she’d stop with “stupid” and bum”…
To be honest, my son’s incessant minion-inspired babble is so hard to bear that I would settle for the bum and poo! x
Ha ha!
Aww what a lovely post. I love these little updates and the things they say. Way to go on Crevette for the video it is fab. I think Jumpy sounds exactly like my little 3yo, they would get on well. What a lovely family and this post really made me smile xx
I wish you lived closer! We could have a play date 🙂
Aw wow your little has such a hood vocabulary. That looks the bestest of fun with the mattress both my boys would be so jealous! I love the antidote about YouTube haha kids are so blunt arn’t they! X #ftmob
We had so much fun with the mattresses down the stairs! Probably not the safest of activities, but hey!
Always love to read your family updates Mel and read about what your children have been up to this month. Hope that Wriggly gets better at staying in her big girl bed too – definitely a good idea to move her if her siblings keep taking her out of her cot! I love that she gives cuddles whenever someone is sad and had to chuckle at her falling asleep on the stairs – Sophie does things like that too! Her vocabulary is really expanding now – love “Buta Bed” and “Po-idge” How lovely that you also got some one-to-one time with her on your trip to Nantes. So funny that Jumpy thought you were eating a wet wipe with your curry and Beanie made me chuckle with asking her dad “did you show your bottom?” and saying “mange toi fesses!” when you told her to eat her lunch! So glad that she is enjoying her rollerskates – that sounds like fun. Well done to Crevette on the Playbrush post and so funny that he corrected you over “YouTube star” vs “YouTuber”. I love that he wants to buy a house on your street so he can live near you when he grows up – so sweet. Thanks for linking up to #ftmob 🙂
It’s always lovely having something to link up to From the mouths of babes. I really love your linky and reading what the little ones has been saying is always so entertaining!
Hahaha what is it with bottom, poo and smells with the kids. Ha! My cheeky monkey daughter thinks it’s funny, the more I tell her not to keep saying it, the more it becomes so funny for her. lol
I know. I try to ignore her comments, but it’s not always easy…
Love it when they’re young and how they start saying words and mispronouncing them. Always cute. Had to laugh at the “did you show them your bottom” hahaha brilliant! #ftmb
She’s obsessed with bums, bottoms, poo and toilets… What can I say?