More Catch up

A little more about our trip to WA. It was HOT, really really hot. Mostly 35 - 38C. This is the second year of the three year trial of daylight saving in WA, and however lovely it may be in Autumn, it is really horrid in January & February. The maxima are reached around 4.00 to 5.00pm and it is still high 30s at 6.00pm. I tried to get David to sleep from around 2.00pm until 4.30 to 5.00pm, because it was just too hot to do anything. He was waking up with his pillow soaked with sweat, and then as soon as the shadows started to come over, going out to run around the back paved area. After a little while in Wagin there was a change, and a bit of rain over the weekend (lots in Perth) and while Perth went back to VERY hot days and nights, Wagin was having cooler, windy nights (the Albany doctor) and cooler overcast mornings. Mid morning the sun was out and it would suddenly be roasting, but the wind at night was a blessing.

I have attached a couple of photos with trucks from the backyard. Nanna and Uncle Steve provided a fantastic Tonka truck, which David ran up and down the driveway (and into Charlie's fence) and a yellow digger. The best trick was pushing the truck down the hill in the driveway and watching how far it would go, and if you could hit the fence. There was also the great fun of beating and stabbing the hedge on Charlie's side of the boundary with a very large metal hook (one of the hanging basket hooks). Charlie was marvelous, and helped David get the hook out when it was stuck, rather than telling him off.

In this one, David is wearing his spiderman cap, which has been wonderful, because David enjoys wearing it. That is also the photo with the two crashed trucks - David is proudly showing off the stacked, crashed trucks.

We were also swimming a lot until Nanna got too sick - sometimes in the morning (but again, it was getting really hot, too hot to be coming home when the Wagin pool closed at 1.00pm) or in the evening, as the pool was open until 7.00pm. The best time was from around 6.00pm, again because it was so hot. Nanna came down one day to watch us. Another day, I walked down for a swim myself, which was marvelous, and Nanna dropped David off later. David was really enjoying the different pools- paddler, deeper paddler and the full olympic size pool. There is also a proper diving pool (4.8m) with diving tower, but I did convince him that it was too deep, and that you have to be 11 to use the diving tower. The Wagin pool is lovely, clean, a great temperature and never crowded. Other than during vacation swimming lessons, it opens for three sessions - early morning from 6.00 to 8.00am, then from 11.00 to 2.00pm, then again in the afternoon from 3.00pm to 7.00pm. It is staying open later because of the daylight saving. The two guys who look after the pool are lovely and very friendly. They take care of the Australian flag on the flagpole outside, and David really liked seeing our flag every time we went to the pool. We got to know a couple of regular swimmers - Seb who is 6years old and Meg who is 11 years old. Sorry but there are no photos of David swimming, mostly because I was always in the pool with him. David also loves getting out of the pool and running around - from one end to the other, on the grass, up the hill to the diving pool, and over to the toddler pool. It was pretty hard on my shoulders, with all the lifting and jumping and supporting him in the water. My back & shoulders got a bit proppy after a few weeks.

He hadn't been swimming for approximately 12 mths until getting to WA, but he quickly got more confident and loved it all. I have taken him swimming only once since we got back - to Leichhardt pool. I thought we would go for an hour, but we stayed for three. We were both exhausted after we got home, and my shoulders took a few days to recover. I think we need to keep it to shorter sessions.

The Library was also a great place for us to go. Rita, one of Nanna's friends operates the library, and we were able to borrow books, DVDs and videos for David on Nanna's card. David loved them all, and loved visiting. It is a small library, but with a good selection for toddlers. Hooray for LSWA!