Snuggles

One of the things I miss most now that Henry and Milly are no longer little babies, is they no longer need or want to be hugged or snuggled. This makes any willing hugs I do get from them extra special. It is feeling the warmth of their bodies when they are snuggled into me, or hearing their slow, deep breathing when they are relaxed and asleep that I miss the most.

With them both recently being sick with dreadful colds I was lucky enough to have them needing me again. A big snuggle with me helped get them off to sleep and make them feel better - it also made me feel pretty good to.

Also, Henry has started going to day care for one day a week. He's adjusted well to this addition to his routine, with the occassional teary eye when Michael drops him off in the morning. When I pick him up later in the afternoon, I spy on him before letting him know that I'm there. He always looks like he is having fun and is playing with other kids. We've already noticed he is more social with other children and he's speaking has improved. He's still a shy boy, but he is slowly coming out of his shell. The picture below was taken just as he was leaving for his first day of day care.

The green machines

Being a parent, you kind of get used to changing nappies, dirty faces and hands, and the constant loads of washing. But when your kids have colds, the never ending stream of green snot seeping out of noses is.... well, it just is gross.

In the last three months, Milly has had six colds. She has two weeks of a snotty nose, sometimes accompanied by a cough, then she is fine for one week before it starts all over again. Two weeks on, one week off. Henry has faired a little better, he has had three colds. His pattern is one week on, three weeks off.

Milly hates having her nose wiped and when she sees an incoming tissue or hanky she wipes her nose with the back of her hand and smears it all over her face. Yuck. Being two years older, Henry now knows when he has a "booger" and asks for it to be wiped away; however, there are times when he also likes to wipe his own "boogers" and his nose wiping skills are similar to those of Milly's - he just smears green slime on his face.

This past week has seen another unsightly green substance added to the mix. Conjunctivitis. So not only are we battling the green slime of the nose, but the green slime from the eyes as well. It wasn't enough that we were greeted each morning by two children with blocked snotty noses and dried up snot smeared on their faces, sometimes in their hair and on their bed sheets, clothes and teddies. No, now we were also greeted with eyes crusted shut, with crusts stuck to eyelashes and puss seeping from their eyes. So now when we do battle, we are armed with tissues and eye drops.

The good news is Henry's eyes have cleared up, but he still has a green, snotty nose. Milly is not fairing as well. Her eyes haven't gotten worse, but they're not looking improved either; plus her nose just keeps producing.

So the war against the green slime continues.

The feeling's mutual

Following on from a previous blog entry "Access All Areas", I am starting to wonder when a child's fascination with their body parts crosses the line. Henry and Milly always have their bath together. They play with their bath toys and splash about, and generally have a great time; however, sometimes Henry likes to encourage Milly to touch him in the bath. And when I say "touch him", I don't think I need to tell you where he likes to be touched. He also tries to play with Milly's nipples, but most of the time she just pushes him away. Yes, I know it is all innocent child's play and it doesn't happen every bath night, but at what stage or age does it become wrong?

Also, Henry's actions do not make them the only ones in question here. I am guilty of having a chuckle and not stopping him. I've also filmed some of these episodes thinking how funny they will be to show at his 21st birthday party. So by filming and not stopping him, am I encouraging him to behave this way? Should I notify the Department of Children's Services that I am a risk to my children? I just don't know.

So having said all this, Henry and Milly actually have a lot of fun together - 80% of the time. Of course there is the usually bumping into each other, pulling, pushing, not wanting to share toys etc, but they really get on well and look out for each other.

We couldn't be more proud or happier.