Bug = 2 years 8 months
Bub = 10 months 6 days What was Linus up to at this age?

A few days ago, I had a chat to Daddy about Linus wearing nappies at night. Since he (Linus, not Daddy) is completely toilet trained, even for naps, I wondered when the same would be the case for nights. (I should clarify – Daddy has been completely toilet trained, but just not recently.) But I decided that nights was a whole different kettle of fish and we probably should forget about doing away with night-time nappies for a while. (I should further clarify – I don’t mean that Daddy has recently regressed to incontinence.)

The next night, Linus went to bed with his night nappy on as usual. After about 20 minutes I saw him on the monitor throw something out of the bed. You guessed it – his nappy. So I went in and put on a disposable that was handy, and re-kissed him goodnight.

Later at around 11pm he awoke again and started complaining that his nappy was too tight, and ripping it off. It seemed clear that we wouldn’t have any luck forcing him to wear a nappy that night, so we let him sleep in pyjama pants with no nappy and put the potty beside the bed for him.

We were pleasantly surprised in the morning that his bed was dry. Daddy was slightly less impressed, however, with Linus bringing the full potty into our bedroom and passing it over him to me so that his crawling little sister wouldn’t get into it!

We’ve since done this once more, and he was dry again. We’ll persist with putting a night nappy on him, but I don’t think we’ll make a big deal if he doesn’t want to wear it.

Bug = 2 years 8 months
Bub = 10 months 6 days What was Linus up to at this age?

Our two 11-year-old cats, Squee and Jasper, weren’t around when Linus was a young baby – they were returned to us (after having been adopted by some Wellington friends for four years) when Linus was around one and a half.

Squee + Linus

Since they’ve arrived, Squee – who had never been around children – has marvelled us with her tolerance of Linus. No matter how much he pushes her around she doesn’t move away and seems to adore him. I’m sure cats don’t smile, but Squee gets as close as it comes when Linus is around.

Jasper + Linus

Jasper has been far more wary of Linus, and in the initial months tended to shoot out the cat-flap whenever he saw Linus coming. Their relationship has since matured to one of mutual avoidance.

Squee + Ada

Squee seems to have something against Ada. Perhaps it’s that Ada is more into “slam slam slam” than “stroke caress nuzzle”. Even though we’ve tried hard not to let Ada actually hurt Squee, and despite Ada having become far more gentle as the months have gone on, Squee glares at Ada whenever the baby dares look in her direction, and it takes very little provocation for Squee’s claws to come out!

Jasper + Ada

Jasper and Ada… well, I guess Linus must have broken Jasper in, because although Jasper is still not particularly interested in Linus, he can’t get enough of Ada. Check out the video to prove it:

Bug = 2 years 8 months
Bub = 10 months 5 days What was Linus up to at this age?

As of next week, my little baby boy will be a kindy kid!

I was vaguely thinking that I’d probably send Linus to kindy when he turned three, but that was a bit old-fashioned of me I suppose. (In my day kindergartens were for 3- and 4-year-olds, but these days they cater to 2-year-olds as well.)

However my friend RAH – who lives a few blocks away from me – recently mentioned that she was thinking of sending her daughter SSO to kindy very soon, so I thought the two kids, who see each other more than they see any other 2-year-olds, would be helped in the transition by going through it together. I also thought it would be nice (for all concerned) to get him settled in there before I start back to work in the New Year.

So this past Monday two mummies, two 2.5-year-olds, two babies, and one Nana attended the afternoon session of the kindy to get a feel for the place. We all enjoyed the environment and had nice talks with the main teacher there. Linus and SSO disappeared as soon as we got there, and we hardly saw either of them for the next two hours, they were having so much fun!

Yesterday I signed Linus up, so he’ll now spend two hours on three afternoons each week (starting next week) at the local kindergarten with his friend SSO singing songs, listening to stories, climbing on jungle gyms, playing music, sliding down slides, riding trikes, and moving toy diggers and trucks around in sandpits.

Bug = 2 years 8 months
Bub = 10 months 3 days What was Linus up to at this age?

When Linus was a baby – probably around Ada’s age – I made him some items to play with that have lasted very well, both in terms of durability and interest. (As far as I remember they were my idea, but I could be wrong.)

At the time, I had heaps of photos of my baby, but there were only so many places to put framed photos around the house (and our offices). At the same time, Linus was just discovering his mobility and enjoyed hanging around the fridge and pulling off any magnets he could reach.

So I ransacked the photo albums – in which photos were languishing unseen – and took to the photos with scissors. I made some photo fridge magnets for Linus to look at and play with. It was very simple and relatively quick to do, and meant that we’ve had our favourite photos – especially those of absent loved ones – permanently present, even for The Little Ones.

Making the Magnets

1. Stick photo to stiff cardboard using double-sided tape (or glue if you like mess). If you use softer cardboard – like a cereal box – the baby is more likely to scrunch the magnet up and it won’t last nearly as well. (The ones I did on stiff cardboard are still going strong despite being sucked on, walked on, and generally enjoyed for two years!)
2. Cut photo and cardboard so that only the relevant content (e.g. two people’s faces) is left. Make it an interesting shape like a magatama, an icosagon, or an arbelos. (Ok, I confess, I mostly went for squares, circles, and the occasional rhombus when I was feeling adventurous!)
3. Cover both sides with some Duraseal (the stuff you use to cover exercise books).
4. Trim off excess Duraseal, leaving a border of about 8mm around the cardboard so that the two layers of Duraseal don’t come apart.
5. Stick some adhesive magnets to the cardboard behind each photo. You can probably get the magnetic sheet from a stationery shop, I found mine on Trade Me.

Done!

Linus on the phone in the Octagon

A few weekends ago Linus and I got up early (for a Sunday) – around 7am – and after having breakfast we realised that there wasn’t enough milk for Mummy to have her ritual morning coffee.  We got in the car and went for a drive.

7:50am at Countdown is a pretty quiet time, so we breezed in, grabbed some milk and then had some races in the car park in a trolley.  After that we went for a jaunt down to the wharf where we saw a guy fishing and then before returning home Linus proclaimed that he wanted to go to the Octagon.  “Ok!” I replied and we zoomed through the empty streets and took our pick of park.

We ran around in the Octagon for about half an hour, and texted mummy to get her to look at the Octagon webcam where she saw us cavorting.  Linus wanted to talk to Granny on the public phones and I was willing to assist but unfortunately we needed a phone card. Back in the car and home again.

Outing fun, and done.