My son, the genius

At 8 years old, Luke is at an age where he gets homework regularly. This includes weekly a spelling test, which he's been acing with 10/10 every week this term.

That's excellent, but not the main story of this post.

Ben has only just started school a few weeks ago, but he likes to do homework too. Teachers don't really give reception kids homework so we set him tasks such as drawing or sounding out his letters.

Yesterday morning I asked Luke to look at his spellings to prepare for his next test. Ben decided he wanted to do some spellings too, so I asked him to write a few basic words that he can read but not necessarily write yet.

He got them all right. Great. Still not the punchline though!

I left the room for a moment and when I came back he had written a word and asked me to look at what he had written. I was astonished to see he had written in excellent hand-writing (for a 4 year old) the word "synopsis".

Stunned, I asked him where he had heard that word and how did he know how to spell it let alone write it. With a big pleased-with-himself grin he pointed at the word printed further down on the piece of scrap paper he had written on!

What goes on in the minds of little boys....

...when one of them suddenly decides to say "ah, chippy chippy chippy!" (in an imitating snoring way) the other finds it hilarious, copies it and returns the sound louder, which makes the other start laughing hysterically, and it all spirals on and on and on for several minutes?

I don't know and I don't think they do either. Sometimes it's funny, well, at first. But not when it escalates....grrhh!

One hypothesis is that perhaps it's the little ones love of chips (as in the ones that go nicely with fish, especially with lashings of salt, vinegar and tomato sauce). Afterall, I think he dreams of dipping chips in ketchup.

Anyway, I'm tired so...[fake yawn]....ah, chippy, chippy, chippy....

Classic from Ben

As we drove home this evening Ben shouted,"Kiss me, I'm a frog!"

I'm guessing it's from a TV programme or an advert for a movie?

Nursery Nativity

It was Ben's nursery nativity and Christmas party today.

The little fella was dressed as a one of the three Kings, and it totally suited him - a promotion from being my little Prince!

They sang about half a dozen songs (or in Ben's case a dozen words spread over half the songs) which is was pretty good for a bunch of pre-schoolers.

On the way to nursery he warmed up with a quick sing song of "happy birthday" - As it was not anyone's birthday he sang "happy birthday to nobody" - bless!

Snort funny!

Ben made up his first "knock knock" joke the other day.

Ben: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
Ben: Pig
Me: Pig who?
Ben (points at me): There!

As ever I thought of the witty riposte too late - Cheeky little swine!

Okay, he's not quite grasped the concept of knock knock jokes, but it was so out of the blue that it was quite funny so laughed quite a bit. He now tells it at every opportunity and howls with laughter to encourage his audience to laugh too!

Heavy head

A couple of weeks ago we were on holiday in the English Lake District. For the majority of the time Ben was on my back in a "backpack thing" or on my shoulders.

One time when carrying him on my shoulders he started to nuzzle his head on the top of my head, trying to get comfortable, chatting away as usual. Then it went quiet and the weight on my head seemed heavier. I caught a glimpse of him in a car window - Ben was asleep. This was reaffirmed a moment later when his head slipped a little and he started snoring in my ear!

I had to chuckle, but not much in case I woke him up! Walking back to the apartment was a tricky balancing act because it was up a very steep path, which is hard enough without a precious little snorer on your head!

Wake up call

6.30am is actually quite late to be woken up by either/both of my boys.

This morning I woke up to find Ben sat next to my head, just below my pillow.

Aw, what a nice way to wake up. That is until I realise he has no pull-ups on. No pull-ups means they've been removed....by him. He has a habit of doing this in the morning, most often after he's done a poo.

On realising this I jumped ot of bed and lifted the somewhat bemused Ben out of bed to reveal a nice "streak" on the bed sheets, just inches from where my head had been!

I dashed through to the bathroom still holding the toddler (he's still only 2) only to find poo smeared on the toilet seat lid and the carpet.

Ok. I'm now wide awake. Thanks Ben.

Silly sausage

Ben (pointing at me) : Daddy a boy!

Me: S'right. What about mummy?

Ben: Mummy a girl!

Me: Well done. What are you then?

Ben: Ben a boy!

Me: Okay. What about Luke?

Ben (pointing at his brother): Luke's a sausage!!!

Feeling festive?

Little Ben's got in the spirit. Frequently throughout the day he walks up to people and says "oh oh oh, erry mistmas!" Bless :-)

Here's a picture of the festive little fellow last Christmas (at the grand age of 1)

Remote Control

Here's a quick breakdown of how the remote control is used in my house, in order or intelligent utilisation(in my opinion.)

1) Me. I rarely watch TV yet I know the numbers of all channels I like to watch, and know my way around the control very well. This is so that whenever I'm in the room and Wendy is watching some rubbish programme I can quickly change the channel to something I want on whilst she's out of the room (and back again!)
2) Wendy. Given the high volume of TV she watches in the evening the remote is not far from her reach, so she is pretty much the controller of the control.
3) Luke. Knows how to switch the TV on and knows he needs to key in some numbers to get his programmes (Ben 10, Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, Imagination Movers etc)
4) Ben. Uses the remote to whack Luke over the head.

And who achieves the most with their use of the remote? Ben, of course!

He gets what he wants:-
- Attention (for kids bad attention is on a par with good!)
- Inflicts pain on his big brother
- Gets Luke in trouble if Luke retaliates

Baby talk

Little Ben has a reasonable dose of words splattered amongst the babble, and generally when we point to something and say what it is he'll repeat the word quite well.

However, there's one we figured he might've got by now....

Me (pointing to Mummy):- "Ben, who's that?"
Ben: Me Mummy!
Me (pointing to me):- "Who am I?"
Ben: Daddy!
Me (pointing to Luke:- "Ben, who's that?"
Ben:- Jukie!
Me (pointing to Ben):- "Okay, what's your name?"
Ben (patting his tummy):- Baby!!!!!

He does it on purpose nowadays because he knows it gets a laugh and from time to time we do get a "Ben", "Ban" and on one occasion "Bum"!

Loadsa words

Ben is stringing words together like no-ones business. okay, most of it seems like gobbledegook but the he put such meaning into his expressions when he's saying it that there's gotta be some meaning behind it!

Okay, there are quite a few clear ones coming through now (on top of the Daddy, which he's been saying clearly since before he was 1, and Mummy, which he says ever so sweetly.)

And then there's a bunch of other words which Mummy and Daddy can understand but not every one else. For example, babir=blackbird. bro-ah=brother uke=Luke aye=mine, and of course humph=I'm angry (Okay, that's not a literal translation but it's what it means. the arms are either crossed or slapped onto any object to emphasise the point!)

Ben's new trick

"Ben, where's your tummy?"

Cheeky grin creeps across his face, pulls up his shirt to reveal his podgy belly and pats it, proudly chanting "pat pat pat."

Earlier this morning we were looking at some old holiday photos (me in Florida in 1994) and he spotted his good friend Mickey Mouse. After a bit of pointing and squealing he said "Mmmm. Mmuh. Mic....key!"


Image sourced from Disney Records

Stair Master

Oh great....Guess who was found standing on the bottom step this morning? Yup. Ben.
He's been trying to clamber up onto it several times in the last few days and he finally did it today.

Shortly after achieving this feet, he then showed it was no fluke by climbing two more steps.

A short nap (dreaming of conquering the whole flight of steps, no doubt) later and his efforts were now thwarted by the arrival of stair gates.

Only thing is, he can still stand on the bottom step, and now has something to hold onto, thus standing up and shouting the odds about why we've stopped his fun.

Shocking Stuff

Even by my standards, the time between blogs has been pretty poor. And the excuse? Well I was on a course for 2 weeks away from home and although I had web access I didn't really have time for blogging. And the past weeks, well, just laziness tbh!

A lot has gone on in that time. The Olympics have come and gone. Congrats to Team GB, and boo hiss to the dodgy Chinese officiating. The Ruskies have been up to their usual tricks and invaded Georgia. Ever since Putin came to power they've been heading back to their cold-war ways. More worrying than that is the start to the Premier Football season by my beloved Baggies. 2 league games, one cup match, 3 losses. And, biggest news of all.....Ben has started crawling!!!!

Yep, the litle blighter has been trying for ages and has been getting around quite well despite not quite getting the need to keep both knees on the ground. And over the last few days he's been getting nearer then finally today, inspired by the desire to fetch Mummy's smelly trainers he crawled properly. Suddenly I'm filled with the need to hide absolutely everything because in addtion to this new skill, he already has the ability to haul himself off the ground and stand up holding on to whatever he can find.

And once he's got his balance sorted he'l be waddling around too as he's alreadt fathomed out that he needs to put one foot in front of the other (by holding his hands he'll merrily walk along with us....for a few seconds before falling on his bum!

Happy Pop

Today was a good day.

After several weeks of being sent out of the swimming pool during his weekly swimming lesson for not behaving, Luke finally went an entire session without being told off!

And before that he'd spent his first couple of hours at "Big Boys School" so he could meet his new teacher for next term. And I heard good reports back from that too!

He rang me up at work to tell me his news in his usual efficient manner.
Me: Hey Lukey. What've you got to tell me then?"
Luke (in really quiet voice): I've been good. Bye.
Mummy: He's gone.

BareNaked Ladies!

Ok that got your attention.

Whenever I put Luke to bed I sing some nursery rhymes (grand Old Duke of York, Twinkle Twinkle, Baa Baa Black Sheep etc). Now, I don't know why, but when he was really really young (we're talking weeks or months I guess (I can't remember) I started singing "Brian Wilson" by the Barenaked Ladies.
It's one of my favourite songs, and about the only one I just about know all the words to. Although any cats and dogs passing by didn't appreciate it, Luke seemed to. Not many nights go by nowadays when he demands I sing "Brian."
I guess I'm writing about one of those great parental moments because nowadays he sings the song too, without any prompting. Okay, there's a whole bunch of words missing/wrong, but as a parent it makes me chuffed to bits to make him recognise a tune and appreciate it, and even to try to understand the words.

Here's the original BNL video.


Oh, and one of Brian Wilson too!

Chuff Daddy

Yesterday Luke swam 4 lengths of the swimming pool (100metres) -okay no continuous but not bad for a 4 year old.

Apparently his tutor repeatedly threw a toy in front of him to encourage a straighter swim! AWE, HE'S MY PUPPY!

Also he raised a few quid for Macmillan's Nurses too, do that was nice.

As I type I have Ben asleep in my arm - Typing with one hand is a bitch and my arm (underneath Ben)is dead! Oh great - he's started snoring!

This in NOT one of my kids....

...I found it on YouTube, and there's loads of great clips of kids absolutely laughing their socks off for no reason.

A few days ago....

Ben seemed to be choking, or stuggling with something in throat.

Then we found out......as the sonic boom rushed outwards and I wasn deafened by the loudest baby burp I'd ever heard!

The poor little fella didn't know whether to laugh or cry; mainly because Daddy and Mummy were in hysterics.

After a second big burp he grinned. Several more aftershocks followed, not as loud, but still funny.