Saturday morning

Little H and daddy were off to the fish markets at their usual ungodly hour this morning before the sun had barely risen. So after our sleep in Little D and I set off for our local farmers markets. Just the two of us.

We go every second week or so to buy flowers and organic meat direct from the farmers who grow it and whatever looks particularly yummy that day. (Like the strawberries a few weeks back which led to our Great Jam Experiment). Fortunately it's under cover so the rain wasn't a problem.


Little D enjoys choosing flowers for his bedroom. Always blue if blue is available. He'll go for purple or mauve if not. (He has a special vase he decorated himself, a large jar covered in coloured paper and glitter. It must be a year since we started this little flowers in his bedroom thing and he shows no sign of letting the ritual slide). Onto the cupcake stall next for a special treat.


On our the way back to the car we stopped for this. Just being plain silly really. The photos were pretty poor to start with, being murky reflections in a dirty window and all - so I played around a bit with them on picnik.com. These windows belong to the Tafe and are incredibly tinted so you can't see inside. Fingers crossed there weren't people on the other side watching us!


Have a lovely weekend!

Pear shaped

I'm a big fan of The Quiet Day at Home. We usually have one at least every 3rd or 4th day. Not that it's necessarily quiet as such - but skipping the whole business of getting out of the house (getting dressed, packing snacks, being oh so patient while the 2 year old does everything all by himself, no helping allowed even for the tricky stuff like zippers...) means we can each settle into a day of moving at our own individual pace. For a whoooole day. Lovely. Well today, against my inner clock telling me to slow down, we had our 4th busy out and about day in a row. It went pear shaped of course. The boys hit a wall at the same time - right about when our food arrived at a cafe we were in with mates. Little H needed to poo but wanted his potty. I was hungry (grumpy) and distracted with attempting to have a conversation with my adult companion. Little D wasn't coping with other children's interest in his toys cars. Total meltdown by D and H SIMULTANEOUSLY, in an otherwise seriously serene cafe adjoining a yoga studio. Yay!

Oh well, not to worry. I managed to wolf down some food before things amped up TOO much and we high tailed it home for a much needed afternoon of not much. Kids crashed exhausted into bed early, Will's delicious homemade chicken soup for dinner. Peace restored!

While our day morphed into something less than happy happy joy joy around 2.30pm, it wasn't a total right off.

Little D was uncharacteristically quiet in the car this morning. When we pulled up at our destination, he said "there are soooo many people in the world. I can't even COUNT them. I was trying to count them all the way here but there were too many. There must be TWO HUNDRED PEOPLE in the world." Eyes wide. Totally gobsmacked expression on his face.

There were droplets of water on the car window, just suspended there as there was a pause in the rain for a few minutes. Little D pointed out the constellation Orion the Hunter in the droplets! See mum? The 3 stars (drops) in a row - that's his belt. Classic. It DID look like it too. Love my space obsessed boy. He wore his astronaut suit to the powerhouse museum again yesterday -it never fails to grab the attention of the staff and volunteers there. If ever you want the star treatment at the museum, take a 4 year old dressed in a NASA suit. The guy at the desk said - Ohh, you look cute. Who are you? Buzz Lightyear? D was horrified and said 'no I'm Buzz ALDRIN, you know, he was on the Apollo 11 mission with Neil Armstrong and Micheal Collins?' Puh - an animated character, what an insult!!

We're getting actual sentences from Little H today. He said 'more egg please mum'. And it was actually clear and understandable. Yeah! I mean, we generally know what he's saying and he chatters away like there's no tomorrow - it's just that to anyone else he pretty much sounds like a cave man. So a truely clear sentence excites me.

Here's a couple of snapshot from our day, pre-meltdowns!




And finally, from yesterday's visit to daddy at the warehouse. A once a week or so occurrence and it's here, at the espresso machine, that you can really see these two peas in a pod shining! It's almost creepy how alike these 2 are at times...

Wet weekend - no worries!

It's raining, it's pouring and that's not a problem! I didn't always enjoy this time of year but since having kids, something about the cold weather just makes home feel so much cozier. Everyone's been busy in their own ways, but all up not a whole lot took place this wet weekend. It was our last weekend free of anything for the next several weekends (we've got christenings, and birthday parties and the like coming up so a 'nothing weekend' suited me fine).

Aside from wearing his pajamas all weekend Little D has been crafting like mad - to be honest I didn't realise just how much a part of D's life all this craft business was until starting this blog and tuning into our goings ons more conciously. During the week, when we found ourselves at the park (albeit briefly with all the rain we've been having) D collected some autumn leaves with the idea that he could use them in his craft. He has what he calls his 'precious' things stored in a little tin - seed pods, rocks, bark, the odd washer/cog picked up from a gutter somewhere and a few shells. So it was decided that he would use the collected leaves and some of his precious things to make an autumn collage. Little H joined in (see, we don't always wait until he's sleeping to do the messy stuff!) He was most interested in smelling the glue though...hmm.


Little H has recently entered that gorgeous stage of young childhood where he role plays and plays make believe. He spent ages today playing with their treehouse. Hooking and unhooking the little man from the pulley rope. Walking him up and down the stairs. Chatting away to himself as he went - "Pull! Eh, eh, and puuuul Up! Dooown. Yeah!" Just all by himself in their bedroom. Eventually D joined in and they actually played very well together, D respecting the 'game' that was already in motion by H and following his lead instead of his usual - barge in, and take over approach!



(That treehouse is one of their most played with toys - phew! It wasn't cheap but isn't it totally gorgeous? I'm so glad they like it as much as I do!) Another thing, Little H is really into counting things lately but he prefers the number 9 when 4 is called for - one, two, three, NINE!! He's 'counting' the legs of that lion in the photo below. You can see his mouth wrapping around the number three!


We had mates over for brunch today. Will made his famous French toast and the kids helped squeeze fresh orange juice. D's favourite part though was tapping the colander to add 'snow' to the toast. How nice to have company and to not have to leave the house! And how decadent - sweet vanilla French toast with dusted icing sugar and maple syrup! It was kind of a special occasion, a celebration of a real milestone we have reached as a company - but that's another blog, so to speak! (Well, you can check our our latest news on the website if you're particularly interested www.camposcoffee.com)


Besides the brunch Will of course has spent most of the weekend in the kitchen or out and about getting ingredients to cook with. He and Little H go off to the fish markets very early most Saturday mornings to allow moi and D a little sleep in. No different this weekend. I love watching them go off together when it's still dark (especially from beneath warm blankets) - H in his hoodie and full of excitement at the prospect of one on one time with Daddy. After running full pelt - read loudly - up and down the hallway finding his and daddy's shoes he walks right up to me in bed - leans in close and says ' Mum. (long pause for effect). Daddy and me. (points to himself for emphasis). Out! BYE BYE BYE!' accompanied by mad hand waving in my face. It's a wonder Little D isn't woken by all the action but he sleeps through and it's off to snoozy land for me for another hour or so. Ahh, I love that my better half is an early morning kind of guy. Cause I'm just NOT.

Finally, a little father son computer action this afternoon. Little D convinced Daddy to check out an online game for kids that he learnt about from his big (and most adored) cousin Zelda. Check out the glee on his face. Deary me - I worry about this kids enthusiasm for all things computer-y. What is it with boys (MEN too) and computer games?!!

Gingerbread men

Yesterday we baked gingerbread men. Today we decorated them. Nom nom.

(We did other stuff too but no time for idle chit chat. My Singer is calling and I'm going to be very disciplined and Walk. Away. From. The . Computer. Right now.)

We welcomed a new member to the family today...

I went upstairs today for a quick sewing session while Little H had his sleep. Leaving Little D with a couple of new art supplies from our trip to the art store this morning. (Paint pens, dot stickers, stuff like that). And who should I find standing on the lounge looking like he was pleased to find himself a part of our family - after a very fruitful session at the sewing machine during which I almost completed a pair of pants for D - but Mr Robot.


Actually his name according to his creator is Tiny. Little D has been learning about machines and such at preschool lately and I spotted someone rather like Tiny in D's classroom yesterday at pick up time. Obviously Little D needed one of his own.


Throughout the afternoon Tiny underwent upgrades. A torch to help him blast off. His head was removed to insert an earlier creation of D's into his chest cavity - a jet pack, to also help him fly. And just as we were heading out the door to meet daddy for dinner at our favourite pizza place, I discovered my mobile phone stuck to Tiny's chest! No photo of that sorry. We were rushing out the door and I'd just enought time to rip off the sticky tape and pop my phone into my bag.



Oh and Little H spent the afternoon pursuing his own creative endeavours - covering our poor dog in dot stickers. Again, too rushed to photograph it. Marvin did his best to remove them while we were out to dinner so the opportunity was lost.

Bula

Everyone tells you that Fiji is THE place to go for a child friendly holiday. Well, they're 100% right.


I was a tad highly strung about going through with the trip after Will had to pull out and almost didn't go but I'm so glad we did. Fiji is beautiful and the people we met were relaxed, genuine and simply put, nuts about kids. I mean they knew D and H's names within 10 mins of our arrival. D was shouting bula (Fijian meaning welcome/hello) at everyone in the resort within a couple of hours, such was their way with kids!


Little D had a blast. He wore himself out trying to keep up with the big kids swimming, playing cricket, beach volley ball, learning how to throw a 'spear' (a very small and blunt stick!), a mini triathlon, treasure hunt and coin diving. He shadowed 7 year old George like some kind of groupie. If we lost sight of him (which wasn't really possible in his lime green swim shirt and bright yellow arm floaties) we just looked for George. George thankfully is a very sweet kid, and very skilled in hanging out with little ones (having 2 little sisters himself) and he tolerated D's intrusion of his personal space without a fuss. The poor kid couldn't turn around without tripping over D! (On a side note - it was worth the 4 hour flight just to look at those delicious humidity induced curls. I know his hair is barely wavy normally and as for H's, well, even humidity isn't budging those dead straight locks, but come on. Big fat curls! I couldn't take my eyes off them).




Little H did what he does best - wandered happily around flashing his grin at anyone he cast eyes on. A bucket kept him busy ferrying pool water around, the lid from D's markers entertained him early each morning in our suite while D and I tried to snooze until a more reasonable time to get up. It was a holiday after all. That said, by 'sleep in' I mean 7am instead of 5am. Hey, being first to the buffet breakfast bar has it's perks! And Little H enjoyed the food too as you can see by the photo of his pool side dining. His appetite was more ferocious than usual as he wasn't having his quota of goats milk each day. Hmm, a bit of a problem to source the old goats milk. Doesn't travel so well. He wasn't having a bar of the powdered goats formula I paid way too much for the day before we left. Lucky for him spaghetti bolognaise was on the menu.


And who should show up for our last 24 hours on Denarua Island but daddy! O.k, so that could be anyone's hand on the right but it is Will's I promise. And, in perfect tradition for our family, the only other photo showing that he actually was there with the rest of us - a whole family photo - is absolutely terrible. But there we are together. Will arrived after the kids had gone to bed on our last night and lucky us, having twisted the arm of the very helpful Rebecca (long time friend and go to babysitter for the boys since forever) to join me in Fiji for the second half of our short holiday - we had ourselves an in-room babysitter. It was rather surreal actually. And all the more romantic due to the unexpectedness of it all. After a meal by candle light on the beach, we wandered over to the pool side bar, drank pina colada's and danced the night away to the live band. Finishing our Fijian sojourn boogying beneath the stars with my crazy husband (I mean what kind of fruit cake flies to Fiji for one night, really?) - a perfect ending. Bula!

the kids and I are outta here...

We're off to Fiji. I can post that now that I've told my darling sister. (Hi Smell - I hope you'll forgive me soon for not visiting YOUR island). How will I cope without internet connection for 5 days? I'll just have to take some photos and post them here next week won't I?

Jammin'

What gorgeous Autumn weather we are having. We had a very relaxed weekend.


We did something we've never done before. We made jam. The sugar and strawberries soaked overnight. We cooked them this morning and the smell was UNBELIEVABLY delicious. Into jars and then for the taste test while it was still warm. Hey, it's not hard to make jam at all. Although once it had cooled down we discovered we may have overdone it a little as it has set like toffee. Seriously. You can hardly get a spoon into it. But it tastes great and we MADE it!

Little D made me a Tree for mothers day. Remember the ring he made last week? Well, in typical D fashion something he created was morphed into something else and it became the base of 'flowers' around the tree trunk. He was so gorgeous about it all. Handed it to me wrapped (with 'mum' scrawled on it in his sweet 4 year old handwriting) while I ate my porridge in the morning sun. And then once unwrapped he added a few improvements before he was completely satisfied that it was done.


As well as having a sleep in, home made jam on polenta sourdough for brunch, an insistence from Will to sit and read on the deck for as long as I wanted and not being allowed anywhere near the dishes or cooking I even got a little time to sew... which I didn't even do. It's such a rare thing to have time in my sewing area during day light. All that natural light prompted me to simply give it a good tidy up, get excited about the many on the go projects I seem never to finish and to finally photograph my scalloped bunting (free tutorial at sewmamasew.com). Which I made weeks ago JUST BECAUSE. It hangs above where I sew, serving absolutely no other purpose than to look pretty.

Happy Mothers Day!

mahhhh-ney

Little H is obsessed by money at the moment. This morning he burst into Campos, pushed his way to the front of the queue and shouted at me - money money money! He likes to pay for things. And play with my purse. It keeps him occupied while Little D and I drink our coffees/iced chocolates. Once it would have driven me crazy to allow him (or D) to completely unpack and repack my wallet, over and over again underneath the counter, but not so these days. For the sake of 3 minutes of espresso bliss the boy can play with my purse. Especially when he looks so cute down there at my feet.

Another day, another park visit

When we go to the park these days it looks like this. Little D climbs. Play equipment, trees, sign posts, lamp posts - whatever so long as it's climbable. Little H rides (and enjoys having dramatic slow motion crashes when he thinks I'm watching). Although, watching can get tricky when one child is 8 foot above the ground on the top side of the monkey bars and the other is at the opposite end of the park speeding through the middle of a soccer game!

Museum visit

A trip to the museum today. We discovered that the dinosaurs still scare the pants off Little D so we got outta there in a flash. He wanted to see if it was as scary as he remembered from our last visit some months ago, bravely took a deep breath and entered the vast space. About 60 seconds was all it took for him to turn around and say 'I think we should go look at something else actually mum". It IS scary too - moody lighting and unexpected sound effects. Life size replica's looming out of the darkness. Too much for my sensitive boy.

Kidspace was the place to be and we enjoyed doing puzzles, crayon rubbings, dress ups, animal hand puppets and studying insects through the magnifying glasses. That last shot is Little H walking backwards all the way to the car - his latest trick. Thinks it's the coolest thing in the world!

Bum business

We've reached that *fun* part of toilet training with Little H where he thinks a good time to use the potty is after he's already gone to bed. Of course he wears a nappy to bed but try explaining to a 2 year old that during the day we expect he does his business in the potty but after lights out it's a pee-in-your-pants free for all.

Even when we put him down asleep, he wakes (either that or he's been faking the sleep), strips off his clothes and nappy and calls out "Mum! Bum! Weeeeeee!" This goes on over and over and over again for up to an hour for goodness sakes! He of course finds the whole thing hilarious, running naked to his potty and forcing out a few drops.

But we have just outsmarted him. Little D did exactly the same thing and we only just remembered how we cured it - potty in the bedroom. So tonight we moved the potty into their room. He called out as usual but instead of getting to run through the house shouting 'Mum, Dad, goo gah did da WEE!' (waking his big brother in the process) he got to sit, in near darkness, in his room to do his business. BORING. Better to just go to sleep my little one and save that potty fun for the morning! (It seems thus far to be working, he only called out twice tonight). Wish us luck.

We're Out!

Our voluntary quarantine has ended. Yeehah. Had a lovely unplanned afternoon at the park with friends. Their daughter and our little D go to preschool together. James is planning Dad Camp 2010 which Will and Little D are attending (more about this in due time). Cass is a professional photographer. POOR me, she needed to practise teaching photography skills in preparation for a workshop she has coming up. So while the kids ran and rode around giddy with being outdoors for the first time in days, I got some one on one with a real pro! Check her out. Of course by posting her photos here I'll be making all my future photo's look terrible in comparison...but hey. I may have a long road ahead in the skilled photographer department but I've also got Cass. And she needs a guinea pig to test her workshop. Win win!

Mending and making

The kids and I haven't left the house since Wednesday! Funny how bugs have a life and agenda all of their own, indiscriminate of whether you have plans, people to see, places to go. So here you have it, day 3 of not going anywhere and surprisingly the cabin fever has yet to set in. It helps that it's cold and rainy. We have used the heaters for the 1st time and switched to winter bedding. Mmmm, truth be told I'm not minding this enforced stay at home business at all. (Missing my daily espresso fix but the plunger/syphon coffee hits the spot just fine).

We aren't actually horribly unwell, certainly nothing like some of the lurgies that have passed through this house in the past. But enough to keep to ourselves. Little H has been cuddlier than usual and a bit grumpy. His upset tummy is all but over but a slight fever lingers. Little D has been switching between a manic fever induced chattiness and periods of laying about doing nothing much. He always gets a bit crazy with a fever, and it is most entertaining. In a way it's like being sick and 'stopping' allows his mind to reflect and consolidate what he's been learning about the world and his place in it. Yesterday when he was feeling nauseous and very determined to make it stop he said 'Mum, if I keep having sips of water it blocks the entrance so the throw-up can't come out'! He also requested he have nil by mouth - I wont have dinner cause I don't want to feed the germs in my tummy. It's working, his tummy ache is gone (no throwing up took place because 'I starved the germs'!) and he is back to eating today. I suspect our lock down will be over by tomorrow.

So with time on my hands I thought I'd document Little D's art/craft of late. This kid LOVES to make things. Of course I love that he loves his creative pursuits! It takes so little to entertain this love; sticky tape, stuff from the recycling tub, paint pens, buttons and scissors are favourite materials at the moment. I'm sure it is utterly self indulgent of me to gush about my 4 year old's artistic prowess but I'm going to do it anyway!

It's not actually prowess I'm gushing about but the fact that he DOES it at all, and he does it often. I have friends who complain that their children aren't interested in craft/art activities and I really appreciate that Little D finds so much enjoyment in it. Many times throughout a normal day he can be found at his craft table. He makes things that become intertwined with the rest of his playing. Little cardboard 'signal boxes' for his wooden railway set or buttons stuck to a box with a straw antenna to represent a radio when role playing in his astronaut suit. It's always self led and he loves nothing more than to solve a problem by creating something.

Below you can see a ring he made me for Mother's Day. He knows it's not for another week and said I can't have it yet as he'd like to wrap it etc. How cute is it?! Next is a yoghurt tub truck and his painted wooden train in the background. At Easter time he decided to make his own fluffy chick. It requires a little imagination but you can make out the wings and legs and little face. Finally something he created the other day after his discovery of The Ruler. He spent forever diligently drawing lines all over this paper, growing more and more excited about his new found skill with a texta and ruler. When Will got home he told him he spent TEN HOURS doing it! Don't we take for granted these skills we have? Who knew that to a 4 year old a ruler would seem such a fun and satisfactory tool? He is so proud of this piece of paper and said it's just to look at because it's beautiful!



And here are a couple of recent drawings. Kites, including such details as the string of one being tangled in a tree. And a rocket with a fairy. Pat on the back for you if you read this far! Have a lovely weekend!