Frankton Gala

I love school gala's.  I love the family atmosphere, I love that all the proceeds are going to help a school, I love all the food.  This was the first time the boys had been to a gala.  It was not as big as I had expected, but still really great.  I'm so glad that it worked out that Tui would be home that night to come with us.

The boys got to ride on a mini Ferris Wheel.  We're so lucky that Malachi is such a great brother, coz there is no way Vili would have gone on it without him.  It was so cute, every time they went around they SCREAMED at us "Hi!!! Can you see me??!!! I'm up here!!! Whooo hoooo!!".  It was so cute.

 

We did a few carnival games, but only the ones where everyone wins a prize. :)

 

Each of the classes had to set up and run their own game or stall, so Malachi played a few of their games too, like the frisby toss.  He won a bottle of water.  He could not have been more proud of his water.

The boys got their faces painted.  Malachi wanted to be a boy butterfly, and Vili is a tiger. It was the first time that Vili was brave enough to let someone paint his face. 

 

 

 

They were going to have hot air balloon rides but it was too windy, so instead they just let the kids run around inside the balloon, which they still thought was really cool.

They also had the Super XV trophey on display, which the boys were underwhelmed by.

And of course, there was lots of yummy stuff to eat.

 

We topped it all off with a picnic for dinner and called it a great night.

Toilet Training Vili

I had been dreading this process for a while.  Malachi was generally a placid, obedient kid, no real drama from him, so potty training was drama-free.  Vili, however, is a lot more ''spirited'' and I was worried toilet training would be opening a can of worms.  So we spent a week prepping him, telling him he was going to wear big boy undies, that he'd go to the toilet like Malachi, that he'd get treats when he went etc.  Him and I went on a special outing together to choose his undies and his reward treats.  We dusted off the ol' potty and we were ready to go.

Monday - He wet through every pair of pants and shorts he owned, didn't have a single success.  In fact, I would have him sitting on the toilet for about 20minutes, nothing, the second he got off and got his pants back on, wet.  Over, and over, and over again.  And he would SCREAM that he hates the toilet, he don't like the toilet, and I'd have to hold him down to sit on it.  So by about 10.30am, with no more pants to wear, he was back in nappies.

Tuesday - I wasn't game enough to try again.

Wednesday - A total repeat of Monday, accident after accident, except he did have ONE sucess.  By 1pm all 18 pairs of his pants and shorts were wet and he was back in undies.

Thursday - I hadn't done the washing so there was no pants for him to wear so we took a break.

Friday - I decided this would be my last try.  If he wasn't ready then we'd just try again in a few months.  Vili wakes up and says to me "Mummy, I need to go toilet", very much to my surprise.  So I take him, sit him down, and he goes, just like that.  I'm astonished.  I cautiously put on his pants.  About 20 minutes later he tells me again "Mummy, I need to go to the toilet".  It took Malachi about 6 months to get to the point where he would initiate the going to the toilet, so this was a big deal to me.  That day he had only 1 accident.

 In the 6 weeks since we started, he has had 6 accidents total, none of those in the last 2 weeks.  He is also dry during naps and at night (although I'm not brave enough to let him sleep in undies so he still sleeps in a nappy).  We've been on road trips, to the movies, and still he's dry.  It's totally flabbergasted me, that of all the children to be a super easy potty trainee, it's Vili.  Don't get me wrong, I'm EXTREMELY grateful, he's now saving us about $15 a week.  I'm pretty proud of my 3 day wonder boy.  And he's pretty proud of himself too.