Cross Dressing

One thing that Lena loves to do lately is be everything 'princess'. We haven't exactly encouraged it, but she has gravitated toward anything girly. She frequently wanders around the house with a handbag, requests to have her hair 'done up like a pretty princess', dresses up in tutus and prances around the house, and turns her brother into frogs with her magic wands. Oliver adores his sister, and wants to do everything that she does. He isn't really old enough to grasp the concept of gender-appropriate dressing, and nor have we really cared to set boundaries, so the outcomes have often forced me to stifle giggles. 

One of Lena's favorite accessories right now are headbands. She wore one to Claire's wedding, and ever since then we have had to hide the darn thing so she won't wear it constantly.

I love her gesture in this picture.

So, I guess it was to be expected that Oliver would notice how much Lena loved her coveted headbands. And I guess it was also expected that when he happened across one of these beloved accessories he would wear it with pride. And I guess it was to be expected that, since he is a boy, he would wear said accessory the wrong way. Jeez... get it right, son.

Which reminds me... I am pretty sure I never got around to sharing this picture. It is from about a year ago. I forgot how dark his hair used to be. A lot has changed since then... Well, you know, apart from Oliver's desire to accessorize with Lena's stuff.

I Couldn't Resist

We bought the kids new beds on Saturday. Twin beds. Lena was outgrowing her toddler bed, and Oliver was most definitely outgrowing his crib. But they both look so tiny in their new beds. It makes our hearts melt. Their room isn't done all the way yet, and I was going to wait to post about it all until we had a finished product, but I couldn't resist sharing this:


That tuft of hair is Oliver. Doesn't he look tiny? When we checked on the kids last night I thought he had fallen asleep on the floor because I didn't see him in his bed at first.

Now to get around to (finally... after more than two years here) painting their room. More pictures to come.

Rainbow

This happened back before Christmas, but I never got around to sharing it.

The jist of things was this:
Lena: Mummy!! Mummy, look!! A rainbow! It's a really really is a rainbow!! LOOK, Mummy!
Me: Hmmm?
Lena: It's a RAINBOW!
Me: (Look outside at the cloudless, sunny day) ...Yes, Lena. Very nice...
Lena: No, Mummy. A rainbow on the floor, a rainbow!
Then she tugged me over to the floor where a beam of sunlight was hitting a vase just perfectly and refracting into a rainbow on the floor.
Lena: See, Mummy? A RAINBOW! It's sooooo beautiful!

Proceeded by much ooh-ing and ahh-ing by Lena, and me trying to snap pictures of her unadulterated glee. It was fascinating to see her try to work out what was happening as she did all the usual toddler investigative stuff like sniff it, trying to grab it, kissing it, licking it...



Oh, to be a child....

Hmmm... It's a Bit Furry...

Growing up, one of my dad's old standby stories was of the first time he visited Ireland. He was there for a rugby match (All Blacks vs. Ireland if I remember correctly) and spent the whole day trying, without success, to figure out this strange race of people. He arrived at the stadium, where some NZ company or the Department of Agriculture or someone of that nature had set up booths giving away free kiwi fruit for the Irish to try. Dad made his way to his seat and found himself behind two Irish men who were trying to eat their free kiwi fruit like apples. Skin and all. "Hmm... It's a bit furry...", one said to the other, as my dad stifled sniggers. Oh those poor, silly Irish folk.

So, naturally, I just had to share the day that Oliver decided he would call upon his Irish heritage and eat his first kiwi fruit, skin and all. Appropriately, he was wearing an All Blacks shirt at the time. (Thanks Evan for getting the camera out.)