Polar Opposites

As my children grow it becomes more and more apparent that my angels are complete opposites, maybe thats why they get on so well… the old opposites attract theory.

Lachie is still very ordered, everything in its place and to him everything is black or white. He wears his heart on his sleeve and is devastated if he gets in trouble. He is also somewhat of a perfectionist and if he can’t do something or perceives himself at not very good at it then easily gives up.

Charlotte on the other hand, will look you in the eye and blatantly lie and when in trouble she doesn’t care, just looks at you as if to say “whatever”. She will argue every point and minor detail and if there is a loop-hole she will find it… far to street smart for a 3-year-old! She believes if she can find a path to walk to her bed then the room is clean. She is also very determined and insists on doing everything by herself, she will try for ages until she gets it right or masters a new skill.

Yesterday Lachie was practising his spelling words for the week, one of which is ’school’. He spelt it out correctly only to have Charlotte announce that it doesn’t matter if he forgets how to spell it cause it is written on his shirt (uniform)… yep how to cheat from a 3-year-old!  The look on Lachie’s face was priceless, the thought of someone cheating horrified him… he will probably tell his teacher that she needs to cover everyone’s shirts/dresses so no-one can cheat!

We love them both to bits but Clint and I shudder at the thought of Charlotte as a teenager!

All grown up!

Lachie started year 1 today! Although he is in the same uniform as last year, he just seems so much bigger. He happily walked to his new classroom, put his back away then went to join all his friends. With Ramadan they only go from 8-1pm so a nice way to ease into the school year.

Charlotte has her orientation on Wednesday, then starts full time next Sunday.

My big boy…

Lachie turns 5!!!

Lachie turned 5 last Friday, and as that’s the weekend here in the UAE we were able to have his party and celebrate on the actual day.

He was able to open his presents in the morning and the joy on his face with each gift was priceless, he was just so excited. His got a keyboard, lego, board games, clothes, knex, books and a dinosaur thing.  He spent the morning playing plus talking to friends and family on the phone/computer. Although after telling everyone the same thing, by the end of the day the conversations were very short! My apologies to those who scored the short answers!

With the weather over here the party had to be somewhere inside so he chose to go bowling with 18 friends (20 all up with Charlotte and the birthday boy). He had an absolute ball, as did all the kids. And I enjoyed it too as all we had to do was make the cake and turn up. No cooking and cleaning… my sort of party!

He chose a pirate cake and to go with the bowling theme we found tenpin and a bowling ball candles, Clint decorated the cake and it was a hit with the kids. I think a few parents wanted to put orders in for their next party.

After the party we spent the afternoon at home where he opened the presents from his party and spent the afternoon playing with them. we headed out again in the evening as we had a farewell party to go to so by the time the kids got to bed late that night, there were both way overtired but had had a great day.

I wasn’t forgotten and enjoyed my birthday as well with a surprise cake at the farewell party!

A very long weekend!

While last weekend was actually a long one with a  public holiday, this past weekend has seemed so much longer… and not in a good way!

About 10 days ago a big sand storm came through, the following morning Charlotte woke up with conjunctivitis. We were told this happens heaps with the sand so gave her some drops and it cleared. Then a cough appeared that slowly got worse. Off to the doctor to be told she had bronchitis, 5 days and a zillion drugs later she seemed to be getting worse not better so last Thursday off to a different Doctor who sent her for  x-rays and blood tests (that was an ordeal) and then told us she had atypical (she always has to be different) pneumonia. So I left the doctor with a sick whinny girl and a million new drugs and headed home, on the way home my neighbour called to say she had picked Lachie up from school and he was sick with a fever.

So Thursday night and Friday was spent with Charlotte struggling for air and on drugs and Lachs with a fever and vomiting… fun fun.

But Saturday was better, both the kids were improving and I got to spend the day at a spa (Christmas present from Clint). It was amazing and I felt very rejuvenated, it couldn’t have come at a better time!

And today we got more good news… Charlotte has a place for next year (school year starting in September) at Lachie’s school… hooray!

Long Weekend

I love long weekends! Unfortunately most of them here are in the second half of the year but we scored one this weekend for the prophets birthday. It was a busy weekend with a farewell party (friends who were made redundant), a birthday party and then the family bowl off.

5 families in our street (13 kids under the age of 7…it’s sounding fun already isn’t it) headed to one of the bowling alleys for a family bowl off. We were organised enough to book but didn’t realise the alley we went to doesn’t have bumpers on every lane and the lanes reserved for us didn’t have any… beginners mistake!

It was the first time Lachie and Charlotte have been bowling and they had a ball. Even without the bumpers Lachie managed to get a strike which he was very proud of. I helped my kids self esteem by doing worse then them while Clint battled it out in fun with some of the other Dads. The balls were to heavy for Charlotte but she developed her own distinct bowling style as seen in the photo below…

After we got home and put all the very tired but excited kids in bed (Lachie went to sleep counting bowling scores…. if I got a strike and 2 nines and then a 5 I would have….) it was the parents turn to enjoy themselves out on the street as has become the weekend norm.

Great Grandma’s wrap up

We have just returned from taking Great Grandma (Clint’s Grandma) to the airport, hopefully the trip home will be comfortable for her.  I think she enjoyed her time her and if we live here long enough may even come back for another visit. The kids really enjoyed having her here (as did we) and Charlotte has already asked who will sleep on that (the spare) bed next… any takers??

We spent the last week doing more sight seeing and some shopping for her. She even survived a couple of dust/sand storms that blew in over the last week. They come across amazingly quickly and even with all the doors and windows shut manage to leave dust and sand throughout the house, thick enough that you can write in it! It really is annoying but a part of living in the desert I guess.

Early Birthdays

While Great Grandma is visiting she wanted to get the kids their birthday presents. So on the weekend we all went shopping and the kids were able to choose their present- they were very excited about this. We went to Toy R Us first, it is a very small shop though and doesn’t carry a huge range. It came as no surprise that Charlotte wanted nearly every doll in the shop but Lachs looked around and apart from a trampoline there was nothing he wanted. But we found success at a second shop.

Charlotte chose a scooter (3 wheels) and lachie a car track with loops. they were both excited to get  home and play with their new things.

Charlotte is learning how to glide on the scooter, she pushes quite well and has mastered the use of the break (not that she requires this till she gets some speed up!). Lachie loves his car track and has mastered getting and holding the friction in the tyres before firing the car off.

Thank you Great Grandma!

No training wheels

Lachs has been ready for a few weeks now to have the training wheels off, but as he still can’t touch the ground while sitting on his bike he has been hesitant to try. However, yesterday while I was out with Mum and Dad (they arrived early yesterday morning) Clint removed the training wheels for him to try.

From all accounts of those out on the street there was no looking back for Lachie. He got it straight away and spent the rest of the afternoon riding around with a huge grin on his face! Still has to master how to get the pedals in the correct position to start but for day 1 he is a little legend!

It’s a miracle!

My darling Lachie will probably never be an artist nor in an occupation where he gets dirty, the signs have been there from an early age…

• Standing outside the sandpit to dig at daycare (from 8 months of age)
• Demanding while in his highchair that any spills be cleaned up before he would continue to eat
• Refusing to paint  unless it was with a brush
• Having to pack everything up and have all toys in the right place before going to bed (this one I like!)
• The list could go on..

He also has never shown any interest in drawing/painting/gluing and only does it when there are no other options. We had hoped this would change at school but it hasn’t thus far. So while he excels at reading and maths he has to be cohered into any art and will only write when he has too.

So we were thrilled and amazed when we were cooking dinner last night that he got his etcha-sketch board and wrote we maid chocoalait slise. (we made chocolate slice) It is phonetically correct and all the letters were round the right way and the same size.

We are very proud of our clever little man! Perhaphs I should bake with the kids more often!

Exciting News… well for us!

It’s hard to believe it’s already December, but the first few days have been good ones for us.

On Monday (1st) the kids finally became residents! Hooray, now Lachs can be legal at school. Mine of course hasn’t come through yet but I have been for the medical so it shouldn’t be too long. That said, all government offices are closed for the next 11 days so nothing will be happening till after Eid.

The schools are also closed for the next 11 days, then reopen for 5 days before closing for Xmas for 2 weeks. It is because of national day (2nd), then Eid (religious holiday timed by the moon) is the 7,8 and 9th. So they decided to close schools and all government departments for the whole time plus a few extra days. Pity Clint doesn’t work for the government, he only gets the 2nd, 7th, 8th and 9th.

More exciting news for the kids was the discovery that one of the supermarkets is currently selling weetbix. Called bixies but made by sanitarium, from Australia- even has the Aussie made sign! The kids are thrilled as they have been eating a dodgy substitute, good cereal is hard to find over here, plenty from America but it’s all at least 30% sugar. I have learnt that if you see something at the supermarkets you stock up as it is unlikely to be there next time, so I now have enough weetbix to last us a few months!

We also put our Xmas tree up on the first. It was lots of fun this year as both the kids were really in to it, it’s amazing what they remember from a year ago. Charlotte was very quick to point out that the special balls don’t have to go so high cause she is big now and wont touch them! As soon as we got the boxes out, Lachs was asking where specific decorations were.  Charlotte couldn’t put enough decorations on, and you can see how tall she is … the bottom branches are heavy with decorations.

They both had to put the star on…