Marius, one of my colleagues, was working at my office today. He arrived early and joined us for breakfast and was impressed that the plates were warm. Then Donné pulled this one out of the bag for lunch…

I was taking this photo when Marius came in, and he said, “Ah, photos for the Hotel Drennan blog.”

Thanks my love for taking care of us all in your brilliant way.

Grace’s swimming keeps getting better and better. Keep watching the video for the last part when she uses her special racing technique to beat the instructor.

Grace and Eli enjoy birthday parties. Grace finds some girls and then just has fun playing with them, and Eli potters around, eating chips, smiling and making friends, playing with toys and giving cuddles. We were are Matthew’s party today, and Grace got to hang out with some friends she hasn’t seen for a while.

The three girls, Grace, Isabel and Leah, hanging out and having fun at the party

Eli and Ben got some help checking out the musical table

Both of our children are feeling much better, with lots of laughs and giggles this afternoon. Both of them were laughing on the swing while I was dodging them, Eli was having a cackle in the bath when I said, “Don’t eat the baby!” after he put one of the little bath dolls in his mouth, and he was giggling away when turning the book back to the first page while we read. And his laugh is infectious – it especially seems to get his sister laughing along with him. We’re just very happy that they are both doing better.

The poor little munchkins are sick at the moment with what seems to be a gastric flu – both running high fevers, Grace just lying on the couch all day (which is very unusual), Eli sleeping terribly (but somehow managing to be chipper during the day). They both appear to be in quite a bit of discomfort. Grace seems to be getting better. Eli is still running around happy and smiling, but he’s not quite himself. Hopefully they’ll both be better in the morning.

Grace was asking for some flour and water, so Donné helped her out. She and Eli mixed away and then she wanted some salt and bicarb. Those were a no, but Donné gave them some food colouring to mix in. The two of them mixed it in and then thought the the mix looked like some yummy icing and decided to taste it….not quite what they were expecting. Grace wasn’t convinced from the first taste of hers, so she tried Eli’s too. Nope, definitely not icing.

The boys in our neighbourhood really seem to love Eli. If he is out in the street they tend to gather around him, push him around on his motorbike, and just generally play with him.

Out playing with the boys

Eli is turning out to be a great help at the office

Zooting around on the scooter

Eli is enjoying riding around on the scooter, and for some reason always loves to get a backpack and ride around with that on his back.

He also (to Donné’s horror) has a little bit of an obsession with motorbikes – if he sees one he points and makes a sound, whether it is in the parking lot, on the road, or in a book.

4 weeks in and Eli is potty trained! What has made it relatively easy is that Eli is always willing to try to push, and somehow manages to produce something every time he sits on the potty. For more than a week now his night time nappy has been empty, and now we’re taking him out in underpants without any accidents. Occasionally he has a dribble in his underpants which he stops and let’s us know that he needs to go, but overall we’re pretty much there.

Morning cuddles