Nearly Five Year Olds and Two Wheeled Bikes

Big Brother learnt to ride a two wheeler this week.  He's been riding around on a bike with training wheels for a couple of years but has shown no interest in his Glide2Ride bike.  Last weekend I thought he might be ready to start learning to ride, so we headed down to the local school.  We forgot to take the pedals off before we went but he was happy scooting with them on.  A little bit of practice scooting on flat ground and then he started rolling down the wheelchair ramp to get used to balancing.  A couple of abortive attempt at pedaling with Daddy holding on behind, but he wasn't really getting it.

Today we went back down to the school to try again.  Big Brother started off rolling down the ramp again and after a few tries I suggested he have a go at pedaling when he got to the bottom.  And that's all it took... off he went, a two wheel riding boy. I'm very proud of you Big Brother.

Say What?

Big Brother, on arriving at the breakfast table:

My tummy is well below 'E'

A Visit to the Beach

Labour Day... the day we celebrate the 40 hour working week by taking the day off ;)

We headed for the beach for lunch and a play.

Big Brother enjoyed tempting the waves 

But Little Sister preferred to focus on more artistic pursuits.

Feeling Small

Google Sites

I'm not sure how I managed not to know about this for so long, but I've recently discovered the wonder that is Google Sites.  I have set up a site for Big Brother and Little Sister so that they can find links to all the interesting things I'd like them to discover on the internet right there on their home page when they start the computer.  And more importantly I can do it from my own computer whenever I happen to discover them, quickly and easily.  Yay!

Conversation with a Two Year Old

Little Sister pooed on the grass today.  ick.

This evening we were talking about it.

Me: where should you put your poos.
LS: my put my poos on da lawn.
Me: yes, you did.  That was yucky.  Where should you put your poos?
LS: in da toilet.
Me: that's right.  Only dogs poo on the grass.  Girls poo in the toilet.
LS: (after giving this some thought) and penguins poo in da water!

Do you think she got the message?  I sure hope so!

Acids and Bases

Big Brother has been asking to try this ever since he saw it on Suzy's World (more than two and a half years, oops!)

One purple cabbage, chopped up and soaked in boiling water.

Strain - voila, indicator!

Mummy may like to over organise things a little... but it looks pretty :-)

Add kids, mix and enjoy!

Ranking the results:

Big Brother wanted to test some more things too, so we added toothpaste, hand soap, milk, apple juice, mandarin juice and yoghurt.  

On discovering that coke, apple juice and mandarins are all acidic, but toothpaste is slightly alkaline, Big Brother thought of a reason why cleaning his teeth is a good idea.

The Lonely Giant

Creatures Under the Floorboards

Daddy had to do some work under the house so Big Brother and Little Sister wanted to have a look too. After lots of exploring and much giggling and playing with torches this is what emerged.

And then it was straight into the bath!