Catch up photos

Well, the purpose of this blog is to add a couple of photos that I haven't been able to load before. There is a good photo of David at playgroup, and you can see how much bigger he is getting.

There is also a photo of the flooded kitchen - with buckets under the light fittings. We are still getting musty smells, so hopefully that will dry out in the drought that Sydney is having - there is always a silver lining to every dark cloud.

And last, but not least, a photo of David taken on the weekend, in his new toy. I got him a truck and sort of carriage - both megablocks and second hand from the local St Vinnies. They are a great size and he loves them. I haven't seen anything like them at the toy stores - only much smaller trucks. He climbed in himself and was very proud of it.

It is David's birthday tomorrow and he was weighed and measured today. He is 11.08kgs DWT, 76cms long and 47.5cms head circumference. Basically still following his curves, he has a head well above the 50percentile, lengthy almost exactly on the 50 percentile and weight well above the 50 percentile. Doing well!

Getting bigger and older

So, what a difference a few months makes! The first photo is David around three months of age (just after New Year in Perth).


The second is this last week, and David is nearly 12 months old. It is interesting to see how his face has changed, as well as him getting bigger! David has had a bit of a cold and cough and has been having showers in the morning with Dad, rather than baths at night. David now walks into the shower and grabs dad's leg to be picked up. It is warmer for him in the mornings and helps stave off the coughing. Having said that, the cold seems to have passed off.

We will get him weighed again tomorrow or next week and see just how large he is at 12 months. There are no big plans for his birthday - there is a big joint birthday party planned for all the babies from Mother's Group in October. Dad will be away on his actual birthday, and we plan to pick a nice day on the weekend and go to the zoo. David is old enough now to really appreciate all the animals and birds. He loves watching the birds flying overhead, or in the park. His favourites at the moment are the suphur crested cockatoos and currawongs. The willy wagtail is also pretty special. Our plovers are back across the road, making lots of noise and getting David excited (so it is definitely Spring). Dad and David saw the pair of plovers with two chicks in the park on Sunday so that will be lots of fun until they are grown. Hopefully the plovers keep off the road this year. Last year was nerve wracking!

David loves it when I imitate a kookaburra and can say the word "kookaburra" a bit himself. He says "kookoo b" or "kooka b". I showed him a kookaburra on Friday but unfortunately it was being mobbed by noisy minors so it wasn't making any calls! This last is a photo of David at playgroup with an xylophone. Only 6 notes, and the one that I have bought him for his birthday is 8 notes - a full octave.

He has his full 6 teeth now, but still having discomfort with them - he bites down a lot and woke up crying last night. He walks everywhere now and is getting faster. He confidently climbs the stairs, when he has the chance. And remember, David's reach is always an inch or two longer than you think it is!

That's all for now, folks!

The flood

A photo of David in the bath for no reason other than it is funny. He is balancing a beach ball on his head, which he enjoys.


Well, Sydney had over 100mls of rain overnight on Wednesday 6/ Thursday 7 September. Some of it fell in the catchment areas. A lot of it fell through our roof and into our kitchen! We survived! It makes you realise just how terrible real disasters like a cyclone or the flooding of New Orleans are, and how lucky we were that it was just a semi blocked gutter which gave up when the rain became torrential. The guys from the SES came out and checked the roof, because I was positive that there were sheets of metal banging. They were marvelous! and said it was only a gutter problem that they had cleared. Apparently the banging is from the block of units behind us which is having major renovation works done to all the units. Hooray!!!

David survived it all realy well. It is very exciting to have water everywhere - it gives lots of opportunities for crawling through puddles. However, he didn't enjoy the very loud thunder and lightening which went with the storm. We kept him in bed with us for a couple of hours when it was at its worst.

We should have a week or so of rain now - with good falls due in the catchment area. It will be miserable, but great. Back to warmer clothes though.

David is eating well and sleeping well. The six teeth are all through and still bothering him from time to time - more so when he is tired.

The attached photo is of muscleman David, with Daddy in our hammock chair. Daddy is holding him up, but don't underestimate how strong he is! He grabs at door knobs or the staircase balustrade when we are carrying him past and he has a good grip on him!! It is enough to pull you up and turn you around.

Beach baby

David on an overcast but warm day - yesterday- at Bondi beach, playing in the sand. He actually kept my hat on for a while. It isn't as tight as his hat. We didn't go near the water, as there were a few waves and we weren't really equipped for the beach. We went to Bondi after dropping Dad at the Swans/Carlton football match. In fact, David nearly missed the beach visit entirely as he was fast asleep in the carseat. Luckily he woke up, just as I was thinking about going home.

After approximately twenty minutes of crawling in the sand and having a marvelous time, we went and had some lunch overlooking the walkway near the beach.

I bought a little fish and chips (but without the chips) on the basis that it was a classic experience. David tried some fish, but was so unimpressed that he took it back out of his mouth and threw it away.

He did love his usual lunch of fruit and crumpet with cream cheese, and watching the world walk past. Then we went home, and David had a lovely long sleep in the car. He had his bath early, to get rid of all the sand. After the bath, he was still restless so we went for a walk in the park, to spot planes and birds and stretch mummy's legs.


It was a big day, because we had breakfast out to celebrate David and Paul's first Father's Day. It was a beautiful, warm Spring morning, which didn't last.

The change came through finally, lots of wind but only a few spots of rain. Out second warm night - and the fruit trees, magnolias and jasmines are definitely broken out in bloom so Spring has sprung. They are forecasting an El Nino summer, so it will be long hot and dry.

David is definitely walking whenever he wants to. Which means still crawling for speed. This is probably the third week now, with hard floors being better for balance than carpet. Erin says that for the last couple of weeks he has been taking eight to ten steps, and tonight he was walking forward and sideways across the kitchen floor. He is also getting very good at communicating - "B" and pointing for bird, "Ga" for garage (as in, hammering on the door to go into the garage), "Sh" for shoe, "Ra" for rain and most importantly, "P" or "Bl" with looking up and pointing for plane when he sees or hears one of the commercial airliners go overhead.

Also new this weekend, he was making lots of sounds with his hand back and forth over his mouth, to change the sound. Lots of fun.

That's all for now.