Isn't he an angel...when he's asleep?

I just had to share with you a few photos which were taken of Carl recently.

We love this first one of him fast asleep on his bedroom floor – for some reason Carl seems to prefer falling asleep on the floor, as often as not flat on his face on the wooden floorboards just inside his room! At least on this occasion he chose his nice soft airplane mat to snooze on (see blog about the mat here: http://thesingaporesling.blogspot.com/2006/10/they-are-for-kidshonestly.html).
At night when we do our last check of the kids before going to bed we'll usually have to hoist Carl up into his bed from a little warm spot on the floor. It's amazing how heavy 15 kg can seem when it's an unconcious little boy. You can see in this photo that he still curls up into the foetal position to sleep sometimes – this is how babies are positioned in the womb. Aaaaahhhhhhhh…

The next one I snapped when Carl was playing with a fireman’s hat he’d made at pre-school. He was very proud of his creation and this photo shows a hint of his true character – fun loving, mischievous, and definitely planning his next naughty move! I don't know if he will really end up ever being a fireman but the volume of noise he can achieve when he is "being a siren" as he so succinctly puts it certainly puts him in the running for an honorary position.

Finally there are a couple taken at his pre-school when they had an animal day, with all sorts of baby animals for the kids to see and talk about.

Carl is now 3 years and 4 months old, and growing up so quickly. He still loves to cuddle up to me and whisper “I love your boobies” in my ear but he’s also developing quite a temper and has been known to shout “I’m not naughty, you’re the naughty one – so there!”
He'll then yell at the top of his lungs "you are you are you are you are..." repeat that about 20 more times at 90 decibels and you'll get the idea.
He has also developed a very dramatic flick of the head and sticking of his nose in the air when he doesn’t want to do something!
Last Sunday, right on queue for when hubby was home Carl picked a fight with him about staying is his room to sleep. Actually it doesn't matter what the subject is, the routine doesn't vary much. After ten minutes of doing the Good Dad routine - quietly reasoning and forcefully sitcking to his guns - Holger was being worn down by Carl's relentless screeches and series of "NO! NO! NO!" Finally after what must have felt like an eternity hubby staggered out of Carl's bedroom, pulled the door shut behind him and leaned his head back on the door. "My God" I heard him mutter to himself. I couldn't resist: with a sweet smile I said to him "welcome to my world".

The other day I was telling Carl off for doing something – probably waking us up yet again in the middle of the night. I was giving him my very sternest bad-cop routine complete with wagging finger when he suddenly put his hands on his hips, fixed me with a glare from under his crinkled brow and snarled “GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!”. I was so surprised and it was so funny I cracked up laughing, which of course was exactly the reaction he was after. With a devilish smile he said “bye Mummy!” then skipped back to bed with an obvious sense of victory.

Who could stay angry with a kid like that?

Carl at Jip & Janneke pre-school