Picnic in winter

We decided to have a picnic in winter on a weekend at our favourite spot, Cockle Bay Beach. We got some KFC and some drinks and off we go.

After the greasy chicken and flavoured drinks, the boys went to sweat it out at the park. Here, Noel's in the swing. He kept saying "Higher, daddy, higher".

Abel was exploring this spinning 'thingamajig'. He tried to climb on it afterwards. Very soon, he was joined by Big Bro Noel.

Cotton bud painting

I saw this method on one of Noel's kindy wall and decided to experiment at home. I found some cotton buds and an old unused ice cube trays and we set to work. I asked Noel to choose 3 colours. He picked Orange, Yellow and Blue.
For Noel, I could see he enjoyed painting with the cotton bud. The cotton bud was easy to hold and he was using the block colour first and then he started to experiment mixing the orange and the blue. Or yellow and the Blue. He made lines, he made dots and he did not make much mess at all.
For Abel, he was excited by the cause and effect of the cotton bud and the colour producing colour on his paper. Somehow, he found a highlighter and decided to dot his paper with the highlighter instead.

Benefits: Fine motor skills

Stamp stamp stamp...

I got these animal zodiac stamps from the Shanghai World Expo only to find out these stamps had been tampered by little hands. Anyhow, here Noel is practising stamping one morning.

Vroom vroom vroom..

I noticed Abel is really into his cars, and transport vehicles. I don't remember Noel playing with his cars that much when they are the same age. Photo is taken when Abel is 18 months plus. He went from making some grunting noise to saying 'car', 'truck' and now he would make the siren noise "nee naw", "nee naw" and attempt to say fire engine and ambulance..usually only saying the first and last syllable of the words.

Who's driving?

I secretly took this photo of Abel when he walked out one morning, wearing my hat that he's found from the dress up box, one hand carrying my bag and walked into his car and then he made sound as if he's driving somewhere. Maybe to the supermarket to fetch something?

Playing together

In this rare occassion, Noel and Abel played together on this bead coaster. Usually, one would either cry because the other would not let him touch or one is shouting for the other one to let him play.

Artists at work

Here, the boys were getting ready to paint. It is the first time Abel is willing to put on his painting smock. He usually runs away or said "No, No". (No is one of the first words he learned to say)

Below is Noel's painting. He said he's painted sky, water and a bridge. You have to put on your 'artistic' glass when you try to decipher his painting :)

More goodies

When Jake came back from Beijing/Tianjin he got Noel a luggage of treats. While the boys were clearly delighted, I am thinking of the potential tooth cavities, plaque that these food can cause...

Making Music

The Brothers enjoy making music with their music instruments (Noel with the drum and Abel with the xylophone house). I put on a children's song CD and they listened away and beat to the rhythm.

What's cooking?

Found these photos I took of the boys .They were cooking these fruits and vegetables in a repurposed drum.

Both the chef and sous chef were busy preparing for their casserole.

We can see who is obviously taking charge in the kitchen . Teehee..

They've now decided to grill their vegetables/fruits on the gas hob.

We are explorers

I got home one day and found the boys in their tent in the living room.

Me: What are you two doing?
Noel: Me and Abel are exploring in the jungle, Mum.

Check out what they've brought with them into the tent: Bananas, Grain waves, M&Ms, a big piggie bank, scarf, t-shirt, Thomas toy, Happy meal toy, mobile phone, tooth brush and half loaf of bread. That's a pretty good packing list considering he's packed that all by himself. Noel, you've left out baby wipes and Abel's disposable nappies :P

Outdoor Play

This photo taken in winter on a sunny day. Abel geared in gumboots and jumper was wheeling the wheelbarrow around.

Then he left his wheelbarrow behind and start to look for other things to explore.

He decided to play with the 'blue drum' and I hope he hasn't eaten any dirt in the process.

The making of the kitchen Pt 3

Here's the 3rd instalment of the making of the kitchen. So after we decided to lower the height of the kitchen cabinet, dad was left to finish off 'the kitchen'. He bought those spare rice cooker lid thingie to make Oven knob. He was inspired by my oven so he used those screws to make the 'timer'. We got our mixing bowl from Kmart and I found a broken tap from home which was perfect for the kitchen. Dad repurposed the CD rack as the gas hob. He found the remote for a broken eletric blanket as the knobs for the kitchen. Then he built a shelf for Noel to put his bric a brac. He used the leftover plywood to make a cleaver, a chopping board, a tray, a spatula, and a knife.


Noel utilised leftover wood blocks as his food.

Here he's stirring his food and the neat thing about pretend play is he gets to talk about the process of what he is doing, and he also gets to comprehend what adults do in the kitchen.
Below, Noel was concentrating on his cutting skills.

I've sinced added some plastic fruits and vegetables for him to play.

Thanks Dad for making such an awesome equipment. I wish I had this when I was a kid :P Btw, this photos were taken back in Apr '10>_<

Giddy up

We were very grateful to have Auntie YH to help us when MIL had an ops in June/July. Here Abel posing for a photograph with Auntie YH. Fortunately Abel bonds with Auntie YH very well.

Biking

Noel practised riding his bike in the house compound in winter.

Crawley Caterpillar

Abel and his first remote caterpillar. Jake got this for him from Taiwan. It can go front and go backwards. He gets very excited when he plays with it.

Rides 2

This one is adjacent to the library that we frequented.