
Friday, December 18, 2009
Couple more photos

Spiderman dress up



Monday, December 07, 2009
Christmas - Eventually I will put some photos up
We have just got back from a quick trip to Melbourne and my office Christmas party. David had a fun filled time at Nanna's house. We are getting into a routine with the Melbourne trips. David said that he likes his bed and his room at Nanna's house. He also likes his bed at our house.
Last night we wrote the letter to Father Christmas. We need to post it soon. At one of the shopping centres, they promise that if you post the letter to Santa/Father Christmas by 16 December, you will get a response. It must be from a letter writing elf - I told David that Santa wouldn't get time to write back to everyone.
David spoke to the Shopping Centre Father Christmas, and shook his hand. He didn't want to sit on his knee - which is fine by me.
The letter was delayed as David kept changing his mind on what to ask Santa to bring him for Christmas. We have now settled on one thing, but I convinced David to include a few more things that he likes in the letter, to give Santa a few ideas. The main choice was a Spider-man web shooter (a common favourite throughout the year) but with dress-ups and Transformers as other choices. Because the web shooter is not available in stores (it is an old toy) he is hoping that one of the elves can make it specially for him.
David wants to leave something out for Father Christmas as a present - his idea, after we read some books. He thinks that a first-aid kit would be a really good idea, with band aids and bandages. This would be good if he hurts himself. We will have to work on that.
We put the Christmas tree and decorations up early, because of the trip away. David helped lots. As in previous years, we have the decorations on the stairs as well as the tree. This year I put up low voltage lights on the tree. They aren't as bright as regular lights, but they do glow and they are safer.
The tree has a white theme this year. David put on some little crocheted animals (I bought them years ago in Singapore, at the zoo I think) so we have a menagerie in the tree.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
What's new?
Since then Cousin Lizzie has had her baby, so there are now four boy cousins (including David). Cousin Jennifer is expecting another baby boy next March, so Nanna is proudly telling everyone that there will be five boys under five years of age.
Nanna is having a few problems with her leg, but hanging in there! David enjoyed his day with Nanna and Auntie Gaye, while I was at work, and catching up with the family. David squashed and cut his finger in one of the sliding wardrobe doors - lots of blood and crying. It was fairly traumatic for mum & Dad, but David was much better after a night's sleep. We bandaged it (better than a bandaid, it protected it from bumps and sand and stayed on) for five days, and then he wanted it off. After a day at the pool on Saturday, it has been remarkably better, and hardly worht talking about now. He did enjoy showing people the bandage.
We will be down in Melbourne again for Christmas, so we are planning to write to Father Christmas. It is important that he knows where to leave David's presents.
After Melbourne and South Australia's heatwave, it has been Sydney's turn. Friday was very hot - over 40C before a thunderstorm. We went out to a playground (of course) and survived. We didn't get to the pool as planned, because of the lightning. Saturday was cooler. We all went to the doctor for injections - David had his four year old shots and we had swine fly shots. We did go to the pool in the afternoon, because I had promised. David loved swimming with his noodle - he seems to be immediately more independent. I hope that I can get him in for swimming lessons early next year, because he suddenly looks really ready for real swimming.
Sunday was dreadfully hot - 42C and still 35C in David's room at 10.00pm before the southerly bluster blew through after midnight.
Despite the heat, and because it wasn't too bad in the morning, we went in to the Museum in the city. There is a special Eygpt exhibition on, complete with mummies and coffins and sarcophagi - Really exciting and greatly enjoyed. This builds on the mummy book that we have, the King Tut documentary that we saw on TV, the DVD from the library on Ancient Egypt and of course mummies in Caspar's Scare School, Night at the Museum and The Mummy.
We also went to the newish Dinosaur exhibition - really good - and the old favourite from last visit, the skeleton room. It was lovely and cool in the Museum and lots of exhibitions that kids can touch. David got a special treat - mummy gloves. Black gloves to fit an adult, which look like they have bones and bandages on them. He loves them.
At daycare they are all getting ready for the end of the year. Lots of pre-schoolers are off to primary school next year. David thinks that he should be going to - he wants to go to the same school as Jesse. I am not sure if he believes me that he will be at pre-school again next year, but I am trying to impress on him that he will be one of the big boys next year. It also means that he will have to be grown up and gentle with the other kids, especially the babies in the nursery. We have been having issues for the second half of the year with the boys in pre-school learing how to play together, but not too roughly. It can all change from happiness and light to crying in the blink of an eye, especially when they are tired, late in the day. David gives a good as he gets - some days he comes home with scratches and bruises, other days he has hitor pushed someone else. In particular he has a love/hate relationship with Jesse. One day he loves Jesse and he is his best friend. Then there may be a week where he hates Jesse. A real roller coaster.
There is also a bit of politics/relationships creeping in - one day they are best friends, the next day (or only an hour later) they are not friends ("Jesse says he is not going to be my friend today". "I told Isabelle that she wasn't my friend, because Rafaela is my friend today."). It can change back again after what seems to me as an adult as a completely arbitrary wait.
This week, after daycare, I was told that "You don't know anything!" I was completely mystified, but not particularly bothered. By the time we went to bed David did admit that I knew something about a few things (including cut fingers). I found out that Marcus had been saying that today - so he was trying it out at home. I suspect that he was trying it out because marcus had got a big reaction from someone (David or others) at Daycare. Last night David announced that he wasn't doing kisses anymore, that he hated kisses. He still wanted a kiss goodnight, though. A couple of months ago it was "You're not my mother anymore!" "You're sacked!" Sometimes it took as long as 15 minutes to be reinstated - "You can be my mother again!" Well, my view is that if we work on it now, hopefully there are techniques that work even at primary and secondary school.
The Daycare concert will be on Friday 19 December this year, and we should actually make it along. I understand that there has been a lot of practising of songs (like "We wish you a merry Christmas). Hopefully it will go well, and we get some good snaps.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Birthday party

It is much larger than our house and back yard, and the kids were able to run and run and run and run. There was so much noise that no-one really heard any of the music I spent hours assembling. However we have been listening to it in the car, so David is still enjoying it.

It was a Spiderman birthday party. I managed to find Spiderman banners and tableclothes and other paraphenalia, including party bags, rings and hats. We asked the kids to dress up, and most did. David was going to go as Black Spiderman, but on the morning of the party, at the last minu

We invited lots of kids and just about all of them came! I thought that we would have more drop out. I included siblings, and so we had a variety of ages from babies, to crawlers to toddlers and even one older sister (Vienna).
I kept David involved and he was very excited about it all. He told me who to invite, and mostly didn't change his mind. A few days before the party he said that he didn't want any girls at the party. We were in the car coming home from Daycare. I asked him "What about Katie and Rafaela? " He said "Oh, except for Katie and Rafaela." I asked "what about Isabelle? Sara? Celestine (etc....) The result was that except for the twelve girls we invited, there were to be no girls. He actually invited more girls than boys.
We had on the menu: potato chips (plain salted), popcorn, fruit (watermelon and black and white grapes, with bananas on the side), chocolate cupcakes, orange cupcakes, juice packs, soft drink. Hot food for mostly the adults was party pies, sausage rolls, spinach & chees filo triangles, mini quiches.
The birthday cake was a carrot cake, with a superhero decal on the top - I had to search all over to get it but finally got it at Woolies in the city. David and the kids all ate the cake.
Lots of kids, lots of fun. No tantrums. We had egg and spoon races with kinder surprises, so all the kids got a prize. Lots of fun, but no-one did it properly. Gordon won the first race, and held his egg on the spoon. Finn won the second race, and he had the spoon in one hand and the egg in the other. We had a mini parade with all the dressup costumes, which was fun. I never got the time to bring out all the bubble mix and wands, but no-one missed it. It started on time (with one guest early) and pretty much ended on time. We were all packed up, cleaned up and exited the hall by 4.45pm. We then went home and David opened all the presents!!!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Birthday party

David was very excited, and we agreed to open the presents at home after the party. David tried to negotiate a different result, but we held firm. Everyone was met at the gate, and asked about the present (he generally asked what it was) then he explained that "Mummy said" he had to wait until afterwards and open them at home.
Later, when Paul loaded all the presents into the car, David jumped right into his car seat to go with them. As Paul had to come back for a second load (including me), he then had to negotiate with David, who wanted to go into the house and open "all the presents" and then "just one, really quickly". David is a good negotiator - He suggests something , "How's that for an idea? It's a good idea!" (I think that he has probably got it from me.)
When the presents were opened, somehow all the cards got detatched from the respective present. I only know where a couple came from..... Boy, did he get some good stuff! Completely overwhelming in numbers and scope. Thank goodness we separated the party and presents from the actual birthday. It meant that he got a chance to appreciate his actual birthday and presents from family before the new wave.
We held the party at the local Community Centre hall. The hall has lovely polished boards, toilets, kitchen, quiet room, trestle tables, padded mats, sandpit, tiled & grassed outdoor area with climbing castle and slide and shady tree. And very importantly, LOTS of room to run.
Boy. oh boy, did they run! I put up three Spiderman banners and some streamers. We took a big bag of David's toys for the kids to play with, and some toys for the sand pit. Anthony's dad blew up balloons, but for some reason they were popping on the floor - bio-degradable, and not strong I suspect.
The party was in the afternoon from 2.00 to 4.00pm, and I got access to the hall at 1.30pm.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
David's music list
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Holiday snaps
All of those things are getting better though, compared with 12 months ago. Soon he won't want tme to play with him, so I will enjoy it while I can.
an idea for a monster ....
It was green, and had a hard body, like a toaster. It was really tall. It had buttons for teeth. It shot laser lights out of its eyes. It couldn't talk, but it could hear. It was going to rip our skin off.
First we hid under the umbrella, on the chair. From the top, the umbrella would look like a mushroom, and the monster wouldn't see us. Then we had to run across the house and hide in the downstairs toilet, with the door locked and his little chair against the door. This was to stop the monster.
We came out when I worked out that Daddy was going to be the monster when he came home, and I told David that it was another hour before Daddy was due home. David was disappointed.
Lots of imagination! I ought to point out that this was a scary (not funny) monster, but David wasn't scared!
We also made Ben 10 watches (again). And a Heatblast figure, out of yellow paper. David is getting a Ben 10 Omnitrix watch for his birthday, if he is good.
We had a great day on Thursday. We waited for the Foxtel man (unit broken and replaced).After lunch we went to visit Annie, who has had an operation. Then we went to Centennial Park, to see the gun/cannon and statues. We also found a great playground. It has button bells that you can play with your feet, swings and lots more. It also had a waterplay section. A fire hydrant that kids can make flow, into a river. Once the river fills, it overflows into the sand pit, where the play equipment is. David was making a river for three or four little kids. Then Joseph came along. Joseph is four and a half and had a Ben 10 bike and helmet. They had a wow of a time, first with the water, then climbing and just playing. Well, I barely got him out of there before dark. I put him into dry clothes, gave him his (long ignored) sandwich and in the slow traffic home he fell asleep. We couldn't wake him, so we put him to bed. He slept right through until 3.30am. That is another story in itself......
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Likes & dislikes
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Sydney Festival, earlier this year

This is a photo taken during the Sydney Festival, early 2009. One of the installations was to put pianos around in public places in Sydney, and let people make their own music and interact with them. This one is on the paved area at the front of the Sydney Opera House. David is (of course) for the period, wearing the Batman dress up, but with shorts, because I convinced him that it was too hot for the long trousers.
David walked right up to it and wanted to play it - lots of crashing and noise, and complete confidence. He played for at least 8 or 10 minutes. Tourist were taking his photo, because he looked photogenic, I guess. I got him off to let others have a turn - David inspired a couple of other children who could actually play to have a turn.
We then went around the Botanic Garden, and back home on the ferry from Circular Quay.
Another day we went in to see the free kids show in Hyde Park, and see the fabulous Spiegeltent. The Spiegeltent was worth seeing - atmosphere, mirrors and it all fits together like a jigsaw! There were juggling lessons, tumbling lessons and a magic show. Lots of fun. We got cupcakes on the way, and David really enjoyed seeing other kids playing "What's the time Mr Wolf" while we were waiting for the shows to start. Hot days, but a breeze and better in the gardens under the trees than in the concrete streets. We also played in the fountain in Hyde Park, but David got too cold, so we went home. He fell asleep in the stroller while we were walking back to the Light Rail, so he missed the train trip home. A good time was had by all.
some photos


Some more from David!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Spiderman comic
When we went to Wagin for Christmas he found it in the newsagent there. Uncle Steve was asking what David would like for Christmas. I told him to get the comic for David. ( Uncle Steve also got David some other wonderful stuff, like a Batmobile).
Well, David just loved it, and still loves it. For weeks I had to read stories from the comic book everynight before he went to sleep. Then I rationed him to one story only from it. After a hiatus, we were reading from it again last night - two stories. David has learnt lots about the different villains and lots of language. In one comic, Red Skull is "never satisfied". David asked what it meant. I explained that it meant that he always wanted more. What ever he got was never enough. David thought about it and said, "I am never satisfied." Later when he was having a bit of a tantrum because I wouldn't give him / buy him something he again said (throught the tears) " I am never satisfied." You have to smile sometimes. He has DVDs of cartoon Spiderman, and again, loves them.
There was an Iron Man cartoon on TV (ABC Kids) and David saw the trailer and wanted to watch it. We saw it, and as a result, Iron Man was very popular for a while. There is also a new movie out (rated M) with Robert Downey Jr and they are making a sequel, but they are too old and violent yet. Ben 10 is becoming the new big thing, because it is very very big in the playgrounds, but Spiderman is a constant. The interesting thing about Ben 10 is that David knew about it and the Ben 10 watch (Omnitrix) before he had ever seen any shows, or read any books on it. Just from the talk between the kids.
This birthday David wants a Ben 10 watch, that lights up and makes noises. We have told him that he can have it if he is good. It is interesting watching him wait for it - he really doesn't like waiting. Waiting for weeks is really hard. I have a few other Ben 10 things organised for presents too.
He still plays with Buzz Lightyear though... Regular Buzz and his brother, silver Buzz.
That's all for now.
A few quick things


Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Mum
She met Fiona with Steve on Saturday afternoon. She told me that she didn't want to put it off any longer. She didn't want Fiona to think that she didn't want to meet her, and she couldn't wait until she was well.
She liked Fiona.
She went into the local hospital later that night, because she was vomiting a lot (after the chemo) and she died early the next afternoon.
We all went across, for the funeral, and to spend Christmas with Steve, Puss and Ted in Wagin. We met Fiona and young Stephen and Matthew.
Anyway, after that I haven't really had the time or energy for the blog.