New traditions

I've always loved the wooden advent calendars I've spied in the homewares shops, but each Christmas I've kept it cheap and bought the $2 chocolate ones instead. This Christmas I bit the bullet and spent some money on a wooden one.

This Christmas I'm starting a new tradition. Rather than the kids getting a chocolate each day, we are going to really get into the festive spirit with Christmas-themed family activities to countdown the days. Each day there will be a note in a box and I'm hoping every morning I will see excited faces, eager to find out what each day reveals. To put a stop to tears and tantrums over who gets to open the day's box, they will take it in turns. I'll be keeping the wording of each activity simple, so Henry will have to read each note to discover the surprise.

Some of the activities I've got planned are: decorate the Christmas tree; read Christmas stories; sing Christmas songs; make and decorate a gingerbread house; visit the Christmas lights; go Christmas shopping; write and deliver their Christmas cards; give to a charity; give gifts to their teachers; and wrap presents. Of course, I'm not a complete grinch and on some days they'll get a chocolate or lolly, and I've even planned a little treasure hunt in the garden.

So four more sleeps until the advent calendar makes it's appearance. I'll keep you posted on how successful it is.

One word

The other day I asked Michael if he could choose one word to describe each of the kids what would it be. His answers were:
Henry - precious
Milly - volatile
Buster - cheeky.

I've thought about my own responses too.
Henry - daydreamer
Milly - impossible
Buster - rascal.

Hope that paints a picture for you.

The Boo turns two

Our little man has turned two. And when I say little, I mean little, because he is still growing into many of his size 1 clothes. But don't think just because he is small he is still a baby. Buster has a big vocabulary and his language skills are very good. He is physically very capable and has great coordination. So to celebrate his achievements and birthday milestone we had a little get together on the weekend with my brother and his family to celebrate.

Buster seemed a natural when it came to present opening. No one need show him how to do it, he instinctively ripped open his gifts like a seasoned professional. This was a bit of a disappointment to Henry, who was quite keen to open Buster's presents for him.

I'd made Buster a train cake. He was very good a blowing out the candles and then helping himself to the lollies decorating the cake.

On the morning of Buster's actual birthday we were all woken quite early by a very excited Henry - excited because he wanted to open Buster's presents. Buster is quite used to fending off his big brother and sister and voicing "mine", and was more than capable of opening his own presents.

Funnily enough, after his midday nap the first thing he said when I picked him up out of his cot was "more pressies". Thankfully during his nap time a courier and the postman had made their deliveries and I was able to oblige Buster his need for "more pressies".

After a long day of present opening, playing and taking birthday phone calls, our little man was tired. Some cuddles from Mum ended his special day.

The toothy milestone

After watching some of his pre-school and then school friends lose their teeth Henry was beginning to wonder when it would happen for him. Finally about three months ago his first tooth started to wobble. It was just a little wobble, but it was enough to get him excited. Not much as happened with that tooth over the past few months but last week it suddenly started to wobbly a bit more and then it was barely hanging on.

It's final moment came during dinner. It was getting in the way of him eating his pasta and he just pulled it out.

We wrapped the tooth in some tissue and put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy. He couldn't wait to find out if the tooth fairy would take it away and leave him some money. I let him know that the tooth fairy often gives the first tooth back to the Mum and Dad for a keepsake, because it is a special tooth.

The next morning at 5:50am Henry woke me up to show me his $2 and tell me his tooth was gone. I told him to look under my pillow to see if the tooth fairy had left it behind for me. Surely enough, the tooth fairy had.

Living in fear

You might not know it, but Michael and the kids certainly do. I hate lizards and snakes. Sorry, I don't think I made myself clear enough. I HATE LIZARDS AND SNAKES!!!!! My skin crawls, my heart beats faster from the fear, I freeze, I flee, I panic, I jog on the spot flapping my hands. They freak me out. I can't even see the ones at the zoo, even though they are behind glass. Just being near the entrance to the reptile section of the zoo, without even seeing anything, has me rocking backwards and forwards like a crazy person. Just watching them slither about, or their scaly skin glisten, their tongues......eeeeekkk! Just typing this is giving me the heebie jeebies.




So you can now imagine how I felt when Henry announced that he found a blue-tongue lizard in the garden. I froze. Completely froze. Michael had to go and confirm it was a blue-tongue, it was alive, and it was slithering about.

Now, I know that blue-tongues are harmless and they are in fact good for my vegie patch. They eat the snails, slugs, and caterpillars. They are doing me a service, I should be grateful. But I'm not about to start a fan club or give the lizard a medal. Instead, I'm now living in fear everytime I walk out the backdoor. Worse still, I have discovered the lizard's hide out. MY VEGIE PATCH. The perfect spot for it to sunbake. Aaarrrgggghhhhh!

So now everytime I'm heading out to the backyard I'm creeping about on my tip toes on the look out for the bloody lizard.

Note: A special acknowledgement to Michael for taking the photo of our lizard. I can't even look at it.