Jaxon: What are we having for dinner??
Mum: We’re having…
… steak and three veg…
… fettuccini carbonara…
… steamed chicken and vegitables…
… insert any number of meals here…

Jaxon: I don’t like…
… steak and three veg…
… fettuccini carbonara…
… steamed chicken and vegitables…
… insert any number of meals here…

Every single night we have to battle him at the kitchen table. Every night we have to fight with him to eat his dinner. Regardless of the fact if he has had it before and loved it, never tried it or only had it once. Its so repetitive and by far our biggest challenge when it comes to raising Jaxon.

We have tried various methods to try and get him to eat more (I am so so so so so so so sorry for doing this to you Mum!) or try something new (including cakes and sweets!) We have sent him to bed hungry on various occasions. We have sat and tried to reason with him. We have yelled at him. We’ve tried negotiating number of mouthful’s before he can leave the table and stop being begged to eat his dinner. We have tried it all and he just does not repsond to those things.

Mid way through our first discussion about all of the reasons he couldn’t eat dinner I decided I would try something different. I forced him to sit at the table until he finshed his dinner.

We all ate our dinner and then moved away from the table. I did the dishes, played with Dexter and gave him a bottle. For one and a half hours Jaxon sat at the table with his cold spaghetti.

He tried every single trick in the book! He dug really deep this time!

… Muuum, I’m not hungry…
… Mum I’ve got a sore throat…
… Maaaaarrrrmeeee, I have a sore tummy…
… Mum, I just don’t want it…
… Mum I’m very very sad…
… Mummeeeeeeeee, I’m going to cry!…

He really did cry! He’s never cried at the kitchen table like that. But he refused to eat all night before finally getting told to go to bed hungry ten minutes before bedtime!

So I’m hoping I won this battle of will’s with him tonight. Since starting school he’s really been one up on me behaviour and additude wise and I am hoping this will be my one up on him for a breath of fresh air!

The Jaxon-ism’s are coming hard and fast and I can’t remember half of them by the end of the day! Especially when he spits these things out in the car more often than not. I have a book on the table outside to write it all in. I have the mobile when I’m out and about. But I can’t stop looking at the roads!!

So, the other day we took our Soul Family in to Melbourne to see some of the sights. We got the City Circle Tram in to the Old Melbourne Gaol, then back down to Flinders Street to the Yarra and then home. A loooooong day!

On the way home we stopped for more booze. James and Harry were fast asleep in the car when Jaxon asked where they were.

Jaxon: Where’s James and Harry?
Mum: Asleep in the car.
Jaxon: Why?
Mum: Because that’s what normal kids do in the car after a long day!
Jaxon: I’m not normal!
(Dexter was not asleep either!?!?)

On the way to get Jaxon new texta’s after school last Friday.

Mum: We’re going to get you new texta’s Jaxon.
Jaxon: Jessica got new texta’s.
Mum: Did she??
Jaxon: Yeah. I don’t want the same texta’s as Jessica. That would just be weird.

When we got home from the texta shop, Dexter was still in day care. So Jaxon got all of his texta’s and all of his new pens and a pad of paper to go crazy on. But the rule was that when we got back with Dexter he would have to have them ALL away and have ALL of the lids on. So we went to Nanny and Poppy’s for pizza (yum!) and when we got home the texta’s were ALL over the lounge room floor. I had to help him get them all packed up and every single lid had been taken off.

While we’re doing it I am getting frustrated at him. I kept saying “Jaxon! Why did you take ALL of the lids off!?” and towards the end of our 20 minute exercise in matching lids to pens he said to me “I think I got a bit carried away didn’t I Mum?” (You think!?)

The other afternoon Daddy hopped in the sandpit with Jaxon and started making sand castles with him. He pulled the bucket up on one sand castle and then on another. The turrets on one had come off and the turrets on the other were still there. Jaxon pointed at the one with turrets and said “Hey that one’s got turrets”

Now, I write turrets as if I actually knew what that word was 5 days ago. But I didn’t! I’ll wait here while you go and google turrets…

Daddy looked over at me and I looked at him questioningly and he nodded. Yes, they really are called turrets.

When asked where he learned that from…he told us Mr Maker. A craft show we have for him where Mr Maker makes bigger junk out of smaller junk you’d find in your kitchen. Empty boxes become money boxes. Plates and paint become spiders and what not. I hate Mr Maker…but he taught Jaxon about turrets. And Jaxon taught me about turrets. So I guess I have to go easy on him.

Well beautiful readers, while I would love to sit here and painstakingly put up hundreds of photo’s of our two days with our South African friends…I’m too eager to get to bed because I’m heading out to spend two more days with them tomorrow!!

Tim can’t come because he can’t miss school. But the boys and I are sick and we’ve been instructed to stay home from school until Wednesday…so off to Healsville Sanctuary we go!

We had an AMAZING weekend. Words can not describe how much I wish we had known each other in person far longer than we have. Tim and George get along and have a bit of a bro-mance going on. Jeannette and I can sit and laugh for hours drawing stick figures and the boys truly adore each other!! James and Jaxon were moping around all morning until we finally had to say good bye to them on Sunday. James even cried for most of it. It was so sad.

They are, without a doubt, the most beautiful family (outside of my own!) I have ever met. I will miss them when they go, but look forward to doing it all again. Hopefully, in South Africa next time!!

(p.s…moooooooore photo’s to come!!)