A first birthday adventure

Sailor turned one last week!

While he was happily oblivious to the fact that he turned one, we lapped it up by enjoying some cake and taking the children to a wildlife park near us which is one of those places which has kangaroos and emus wandering around posing for German tourists.

Highlights of the day involved watching Little Man trying to hug the neck of an emu, watching Little Man slip not once but twice in a concoction of mud and roo poo and walking stiffly away, watching Little Man try to catch a quoll and me pushing the pram for 1 km along a hilly bush track up and down log steps (while Ben was elsewhere enjoying a bush tucker tour!). Throughout a lot of this, Sailor was blissfully asleep.

The best part of the day was that the kids conked out early, and I now am a fully rejuvenated mother!

He said...

Toddlerese from Little Man who has a lot to say these days:

"I'll play hokkymokky*."

"Look! A hoogadooga**!"

*harmonica
** helicopter

signing off till the New Year

I realise with some guilt that it's been several months since I've posted!

We accepted a rural relief position for Ben to work in Queanbeyan for a month in October. It was exciting and fun, but also caused our Little Man to become very unsettled and to go off his food. Sailor was still having breast milk then, and not being able to tolerate it was also very unhappy, and things have only just calmed down now so we've had our hands full!

Now we are off to spend Christmas with my in-laws in WA, so I'll be signing off until the new year.

My apologies to Vicky for not checking my blog for comments - I'd like some time to think about the homeschooling resources meme. It is somehting that I have thought about a lot in the past, as I have found it very hard to know what to do with children under two (at least it was that way with Little Man). And it's true, there does not seem to be much written about preschoolers. Perhaps because those years fly by so quickly?

I always have so much to write about in my head, but finding the time to open a computer at the moment is very hard. When the day is over and the children are in bed I have so little precious free time, I tend to prefer reading to writing. I'm looking forward to jotting down all my thoughts on our break and blogging again in January!!

7 Quick Takes Friday (4)

[1]

I had the joy today of meeting up with some Catholic homeschoolers in my area. I have much to be thankful for in the welcoming kindness of them and their beautiful families.

[2]

Our Little Man has recovered from his bad cold and is back to his happy, cheerful self. His appetite has returned and he enjoyed a piece of gluten free bread so much that he let out a huge operatic "Breaaaaaaaaad!" to prove it.

[3]

Speaking of Little Man, his speech is improving after a shaky start. He is more frequently stringing three words together "look digger there", "where man hat?", "daddy robot fix?" and in the last month or two he has been much more able to repeat words we say.

We have been able to learn a lot more about his thought processes now that he can express himself verbally. When he wakes up from a sleep saying "Finley bell broken there" we now know that he has been dreaming about his favourite episode of that Fire Engine cartoon. Ahhh the innocence of childhood!

[4]

Sailor has his own little personality at 7 months. He's a determined little fellow as he refuses to be weaned onto hypoallergenic formula, much to my chagrin. We are using the softly softly approach.

He is a happy boy (when he's not in reflux pain) and he laughs at anything his brother does to/with him. Little Man had him doing 'tummy time' on his tummy today (closely supervised!). He has a very cute low chuckle and a twinkly smile.

If he's not getting enough attention (after two minutes of no one looking at him!) he lets out an official sounding "Hey!" to remind us of his presence.

Is there a little bit of a temper peeping though there? He seems to get frustrated easily if he has to wait for anything, letting out a high-pitched squeal which I must admit, speeds me up!

[5]

The potatoes Ben planted a week or so ago are starting to come up with strong-looking seedlings. I wonder how many potatoes are produced per potato planted?

[6]

Ben has finally received his gun licence after MONTHS of patient waiting. He is now eagerly perusing gun catalogues to buy his weapon of choice. For me, it's more a case of being happy for him rather than with him as I tend to associate guns with murderers and insurgents and suchlike. Also images of being a rifle range widow pop into my head now and then... but really, after all a man has to have a hobby and he's looking forward to scaring off marauders trying to steal our chickens after the global economy collapses... One must have one's pleasures in life!

[7]

Tomorrow is the first Saturday of the month. I want to start doing Our Lady of Fatima's First Saturday Devotions. If I don't try I'll never get there!

7 quick takes Friday (3)



[1]

I'm enjoying watching a budding relationship between our two boys. Sailor looks at Little Man with an expression of great expectation that he will soon be made to laugh by Little Man being goofy ie, himself (dancing jigs, attempting somersaults, making silly faces). Little Man finds great amusement in Sailor's attempts to grab at him, and the sqwarks that sailor emits (from his mouth).

 

[2]

The wind is howling and it's pouring out there tonight. I'm glad Ben has stopped over for the night at my parent's closer to work rather than driving the one-and-a half-hours on the freeway to get home. This freeway is a killer when it's wet. Waterfalls cascade down cliff faces onto the busy road and anyone on a motorbike is like an ant being caught under a flowing tap.

[3]

Our Little Man thinks that the word 'cooee' (which as Wiki says is a shout used in Australia, usually in the Bush, to attract attention, find missing people, or indicate one's own location) is pronounced "Pooey" (the word we use to indicate that he has done his number twos). So when we happen upon places that echo, like public toilets or libraries, he will cheerily call out "Pooooey!" for all to hear.

[4]

Despite current inclement weather, a recent spate of sunshine has caused our broad beans to flower.

[5]

We've learnt that sticking the roots of used shallots and leeks in a jar - with an inch or two of water and carp fertilizer - causes this to happen! If I'm short of shallots, I grab this bunch and chop up a bit of it and whack them back in! I haven't sampled the leeks yet - not quite brave enough yet. 

[6]

Little Man had his first ever swimming lesson this week. It didn't go er... swimmingly at first. I think he had something very different in mind from the thick fog of chlorine that hovered above the indoor pool. Then he realised that he wasn't going to be swimming with MUMMY or DADDY but a STRANGE LADY and it was all over.

Happily he was eventually won over by the strange lady offering him a series of interesting floating and squirting toys he spent the rest of the lesson playing happily.

Note to self not to encourage him to accept toys from strangers....

[7]

It's exciting to pick your own vegetables for dinner, even if this is all you have to pick!

7 Quick Takes Friday (2)

[1]

Sailor has taken reflux to a whole new level. He was like a little spurting fountain today, and if anyone wanted to know how he was, all they had to do was to look at my curdled milk-covered jumper. His medication only mildly helps, my restricted diet is not enough, and he won't take the bottle. There. I said it. Now on to happier happenings...

[2]

I've been enjoying reading about permaculture over the last few months. The broad concept excites me very much. It makes one consider elements of the whole property before even deciding where to build your house. Not that we have a property, but it's so fun to think about it! I like to imagine chicken tractors and braod beans growing up the clothes line. I definitely don't like the Earth worship aspects of it though.

[3]

Speaking of gardening our broad beans are starting to flower with the run of warm sunny days we've had, and Ben has just put potatoes in the second planter box. Neither of our thumbs are green so we're hoping for the best!

[4]

It was the third wedding anniversary this week. We had some time to reflect on those three years and we both agree that that time has gone quickly and yet it seems so much longer as we've moved house twice and had two children in those years. We also agreed that our marriage is getting happier and happier as time goes on. Yay!

[5]

So we had a treat and went to a cafe to celebrate our anniversary and as if to mark how married we really are, I spent time at the table nursing a grunting baby, while Ben was off with Little Man looking at some fish in the cafe pond... And we both declared what a lovely time it was! I think it's the mutual smiles of understanding that we gave over out children's heads that make it special.

[6]

Little Man is obsessed with fire engines at the moment, especially a certain cartoon that involves a talking fire truck. Every time he gets up from a sleep he is instantly talking about an episode, or is it all the episodes at once? Hard to tell with his limited vocabulary. Something about bells, hiccups and storms. I've come to rely on this cartoon to keep him calm while Sailor is screaming in the background. It allows Little Man to zone out of the loud baby and reduces his stress.I'm hoping Sailor will start feeling better soon, though, so I can direct Little Man to other activities.

[7]

I'm sampling cloth nappies (diapers) on Sailor and I'm very happy with the results: less of a red bottom, and not as many leaks as I thought would happen. I don't know if they'll be all that much cheaper than disposables, but I hate the idea of all the chemicals in those nappies leaching into their little bottoms.

Seaside tonic

What is the best cure for a tired and grumpy toddler?

An evening visit to the seaside of course!

 Involving a splash...

... a scramble...

... and a bird as big as yourself...