Things I learnt the hard way

Helping Hands

I was doing a rare burst of housework this afternoon. (Don't worry, I'm ok now) I discovered some Shake N'Vac in the box of cleaning products which I don't remember buying. Anyway, thought I might as well use it up. Citrus Blossom scent. Nice.

Anyway, I started shimmying along the hall, shaking the stuff around in light sprinkles, only to be distracted by Taya yelling because Gigglebiz had finished on the iplayer in the kitchen. Back I went, not taking enough care to put the Shake N'Vac out of toddler reach.

Well inevitably Brooke decided she would put the freshness back for me.  Thanks Brooke.

Baking with Brooke

We were sitting on the sofa whilst Taya was having a nap.

"Mummy, can I have the rest of my caterpillar birthday cake now please?"

"Erm - well that cake is all gone sweetheart (*massive guilt, solo eating binge two days after her birthday*), Why don't we make some cupcakes instead?"

"YES! You are amazing Mummy, I love you so much" (*more guilt, slight smugness*)

So we made some cupcakes using a recipe from my Hummingbird Bakery book. I was imagining gorgeous moist sponge with swirls of delicious vanilla icing. We followed the recipe pretty accurately, apart from things like "room temperature butter", which obviously in my world is rock solid, straight from the fridge butter put into a prep pot and left on top of the oven for a few minutes followed by a frustrated blast in the microwave turning it into liquid.

And obviously strawberry icing was requested, so a few drops of red food colouring later...  

"It takes like STRAWBER-RERRIES!"

 

I'd like to say that Brooke insisted us on using a flat baking tray instead of the little dented trays (what ARE they called? My brain is totally failing me at this moment.) that cupcakes are usually cooked in. But no, it was me. I wasn't sure if the heart shaped silicon cases would fit in so just decided to wing it with a plain tray. Hmm.

Brooke, however, was responsible for filling the cake cases. And repeatedly  licking the spoon apparently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was my "we're gonna need a bigger boat" moment. (I must clean the oven door)

As you can see from the grabby fingers, there was no "leave to cool" going on here.

It did cross my mind that these cakes didn't look exactly like the Hummingbird pictures, but hey ho!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I am pretty confident that Taya has joined the human race with some cutting edge technology embedded in her head which alerts her whenever food is ready, as she always seems to know when to wake up, or when to come to the kitchen if she is awake. She really could sniff out a slice of bread at 100 paces. She does look cute here though. Brooke insisted we recreate the birthday candle moment for both of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's the proud chef with one of her own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I'm not sure whether it's a blessing or a curse that Brooke only wants to lick the icing off and leave the cake, because guess who ends up eating her licked cakes?

My top 5 most overused expressions

I would quite like to be able to erase the following expressions from my speech patterns.

5 - Come on!

As in, "I am behind you on the stairs holding a buggy, Taya, two bags of shopping and one scooter, could you please move your butt up the stairs?"

4 - Eat it nicely

As in, "I know you like freeforming with your food Taya, but that yogurt works best on a spoon heading into your mouth, rather than vigorously rubbed into your hair and clothes"

3 - That's lovely

As in "Yes you are very talented standing on one leg. Thank you for calling me from the kitchen in a panic to show me that"

2 - Come back here!

As in "Please don't run out of the playground into the road"

and my all time favourite, about a hundred times a day:

1 - Hang on!

As in - "I'm in the bathroom, you'll have to wait to show me your empty plate" or

"I'll push you on the swing as soon as I've retrieved your sister from the gate" (see above) or

"Yes you can have a drink of water, I am actually just dishing up your lunch if you don't mind awfully waiting another minute" or

"I can hear you shouting from the toilet. However I am in the bedroom with one leg in a pair of tights, I can't get to you instantly"

And so on. Hang on is wonderfully versatile. So those are mine.

What are yours?

If Only

We went to the library the other day and Brooke needed to go to the toilet. (This is becoming a repetitive theme on here I know) So off all three of us went.  When we got in there I saw there was a 5p coin at the bottom of the toilet bowl. Thought "I'd better not let Brooke see that or she'll want to get it".  So I put her on the toilet.  Her "I need a wee!" turned into something more. When she was finished I lifted her off and she immediately wanted to see what she'd done. Except... it had disappeared up the u-bend, leaving behind... yup, just the 5p coin.

 

Well you can imagine what she thought, can't you?

And I thought "If only I had 5p for every time you had a poo"

Oh

We left the playground this afternoon and started to walk home. As we walked down the road, a little girl ran towards us. We walked on, me pushing Taya in the buggy and Brooke pushing Teddy in hers. Brooke suddenly stopped pushing her buggy and began to run forwards herself, shouting "CICI!"  (Cici is her name for her cousin)

Needless to say, the little girl wasn't Cici. I saw the scene unfolding, instantly knowing that embarrassing and discomfiting moment so tried to lessen the blow a little bit with "Oh she does look a bit like Cici doesn't she?" (wrong race, wrong hair, wrong face, wrong clothes but hey ho!)

Brooke stopped in her tracks, arms still outstretched. "Oh". The girl ran past us.

You should have seen the look on her face. "I'm a little bit sad Mummy.  Can I play at Cici's house tomorrow?"

Magic Car

Well if your tv remote also happened to operate your child's toy car, wouldn't you feel compelled to play tricks on them? Poor Bob, I am mean!

 

Bob

Remember Mrs Jeffers? AKA TayTay, Tay-Zilla etc.? Well she is talking a bit more now. When I say talking I really mean shouting her head off. Every morning we are woken by the sound of one of the girls yelling "Mummeeeee, Dadeeeee!" (Brooke) or "DAAAA DAAA! DAAA DAAA! DAAA DAAA!" (Taya) Every request is yelled repeatedly until fulfilled.  No idea where their volume controls are located. The mute function would be helpful sometimes.  So anyway, more words. Taya can now say Mama, Dada, MORE (most favourite word ever), Dat, Dere, Yeah, No, Bubble and a particular version of DAT which means Cat. And now, when I ask her to say Brooke, she says Bob. Brilliantly getting her own back then! Here she is in ASBO mode at Jeanne's party.

And here's Bob, who wants to know exactly when she can go to school like her friends. January hopefully!

 

 

New places

I haven't learnt much lately, I've just been muddling along as usual. We went to the library yesterday, which has recently been completely rebuilt and now has a fab children's section which the girls can't escape from (doors too heavy).  Clearly this is now a very enticing place for me to take them.

   

Afterwards we went to our new playground at Broadley Street Gardens. This park was shut about 2 years ago due to subsidence, and was due to open approx 18 months ago. It has been a long time coming, and now that is here I am a little disappointed that the playground is geared towards much older kids but I have to say the huge floor slide is a big hit. No edges to fall over anymore!

 

 

Guess what again

Feeling a bit pleased with myself about now!

Snapshot of my life

Today so far.

Soft play - Brooke went down the big slide, shortly followed by Taya, shrieking with delight. Brooke then stuck her head back up the slide to greet Taya. Heads bashed together, lots of crying.

 

Home via Tesco.  On the way, have to stop and lift the buggy up so Taya can partake in pressing the crossing buttons. At Tesco, have to lift buggy again to let Taya recycle batteries. At the checkout, Taya pulled over all the Freshmint Extra display. Brooke found a penny on the floor. "TREASURE!"

On way home, Taya desperate to open packet of Cheerios, wailing along Bell Street.

Starts to rip packet at communal door. Abandon buggy. Carry shopping and crying Taya upstairs. Half way up, Brooke declares she can't walk anymore and stops.

 

Take Taya up, put her on doorstep with shopping. Back to get Brooke and carry her up. Find Taya playing with bananas, Cheerios abandoned, packet half open. Open the door, Taya goes in crying. Settle both with a bowl of Cheerios. Back  downstairs to get buggy.

 

Both are asleep now.