Buster's first party

B-Boy Buster Boo has turned one and we held a little family gathering to celebrate. It all started for Buster when he woke from his morning nap to discover a house full of extra people. At first he was a little overwhelmed, but some snuggle time with his Dad saw him smiling again.

We held the party at our house and it was a wonderful sunny day, but it was also incredibly hot and humid. Just as well we had plenty of cold drinks to keep us chilled. Buster at times was still a little concerned with why everyone was there.

Henry and Milly are well seasoned party goers, so were in their element with all the extra attention and visitors. They love their little brother and delighted in sharing his presents with him.

Then it was time for the cake and a bit of a sing song. Poor Buster still didn't really know what was going on and wasn't that interested in tasting his first cake. He was pleased enough when he could get his shirt off and cool down a bit. Even more pleased when we let him crawl about and he found the ice bucket full of beer and wine, plus a few other plastic things he threw in for cooling off.

Later in the day he got to open some presents (well, he got to watch Henry and Milly open his presents) and have a little play with his cousin Casper.

When everyone had gone it was "night night" time for our exhausted Buster to dream of parties to come.

A special thank you to all family who made the trip for Buster's birthday.

Here, there, and everywhere

Our nature boy loves climbing trees.

Milly loves following.

Fleeing the scene of the crime - a plastic bag massacre.

Buster making some room for himself in the cupboard.

Big school here we come

It was a big week for Henry this week. He had the first of his kindergarten orientation days and me and Michael got to learn more about the school he will be starting at next year and what we need to do. The most exciting part for Henry has been the purchasing of the school uniform. The school has four uniforms: summer, winter, sport and formal. He is especially proud of the school tie and says he wants to wear it everyday.

Summer uniform with formal tie and sun hat.

Tracksuit top for sports uniform.

School logo.


Sports shirt.

Henry has another orientation day this week. He and a number of other new students will sit with the current kindergarten classes for their morning lessons. He officially starts school on Wednesday, 2 February 2011.

Family moments

Visitors, visitors everywhere. We love it. Here are some snaps from some recent family visitors.

Grandad Bryan and Buster Bryan John

Daddy's girl

Buster doing his best Dora the Explorer impression

Cuddles with Nanna Trace

Sumo Casper outgrowing Buster

There was an old lady who lived in a shoe.... oops, I mean Nanoo and her grandchildren

Buster and Nanoo

Loving his stories with GrandJan

Buster and Casper

A visit from cousin Casper. Buster was very excited, Casper less so.

Almost one

In four weeks time our little boy Buster will be one year old. At 11 months of age his main interests are watching his siblings, dribbling, and giving me cuddles. But Buster's world is just starting to get a little bit bigger. Finally he has started moving. He still doesn't roll (not interested) and has completed skipped the commando crawling stage. He has gone straight to crawling on his hands and knees, and is slowly starting to pull himself up onto his knees. As soon as he realised he could get himself about he discovered he could open drawers and cupboards (but still doesn't understand how he gets his fingers jammed).

He has also become fascinated with putting things in boxes or containers, which is handy when it is time to tidy up the toys and put them away.


Another new habit Buster is displaying is scrunching up his nose when he smiles. Sometimes it makes him look a little evil, but it definitely makes him look very cheeky.

So now that he is moving about we are having to be more watchful. He has found his way into the pantry a couple of times where there are all kinds of hazards. But he is loving his new found freedom and while it seems like it has taken ages for him to realise he has legs and he can use them to get him places, he certainly seems to have embraced it and is quickly gaining confidence.

Cheerio beard

Buster loves his little snacks. Sometimes it's a piece of raison bread, other times some sultanas, and quite often it is Cheerios. The great thing about Cheerios is they distract him as he focuses on trying to pick up the little rings. The funny thing about Cheerios is they manage to stick to him, in funny places.

Pop concert - kiddie style

Justine Clarke is one of Australia's much loved children's entertainers. Our kids love her songs (as do mum and dad), so when I heard she was bringing her tour to Newcastle I quickly grabbed us some tickets for a family day out.

On the day of the concert Milly was very excited. She had picked out her outfit to wear the night before. It was her new dress that Nanoo had got her in Spain and she teamed it with a large tattoo of a dragon on her forearm, and socks and sandals. Henry picked out a shirt which he often calls his "party shirt" and a pair of trousers.

Milly's flamenco dress from Spain.

Waiting for the concert to start.

Finally Justine performs and the kids (and mums and dads) are singing and dancing.

Henry and Milly join the mosh pit.

Raising a psychopath

It's a lazy day today. I'm letting Henry and Milly watch a movie. It's the first time they have ever seen Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Not surprisingly, Henry ran to my side when the evil Queen starting making her potion to turn into the old woman. He's easily scared by most villians in children's films.

Henry: What's she doing?

Me: She's a nasty Queen and she's making a magic drink to change herself so she can trick Snow White. That's not very nice, is it?

Henry: I'm going to punch her in the face.

Milly: And I'm going to fart in her face, cut her hair and cut her eyeballs out.

Dreams

This morning at 6.00am Milly came into the bedroom with a big smile on her face.

Milly: Mama, I just had a really good dream.
Me: Did you poppet?
Milly: Yeah, it had boys in it. Lots and lots and lots and lots of boys.

An update on Lamby

I never thought I would see the day that Milly would let Lamby leave her side. Suddenly in her new role as mother she has moved Lamby's cot into Henry and Buster's room and Lamby has his naps and bedtime when Buster does. Side by side. Lamby has his own mobile, his own bedtime toys, his own blanket. He gets kissed goodnight and loving tucked in and settled by Milly. Coincidently he also wakes up at the same time as Buster.



Milly has already starting talking about Christmas and what Lamby wants. Apparently, Lamby wants Buster to share his Christmas presents with him. I've mentioned to Nanoo that she might want to make Lamby his own Christmas stocking.

So whatever Buster is doing, Lamby is generally along side him doing it as well. When Buster has tummy time, so does Lamby. When Buster is in his rocking car, Lamby joins him.

It's nice to see this nurturing side in Milly. It's quite a nice change from the bossy boots she normally is.

Brad and the super fish

Milly has been sitting on the sidelines watching Henry's swimming lessons for almost two years. We've always intended for her to start as well, it's just been a matter of when. With all things Milly there is no point starting her with anything until she wants to do it. The more you push, the more she pushes back.

She had been happily having swimming playdates with Nanoo for a while, but they had been infrequent and Nanoo had been away having overseas adventures for three and a half months. Finally a few weeks ago when I asked her if she would like to starting swimming lessons she said "yes".

As luck would have it one of my favourite swim teachers had a spot and at the same time as Henry's lesson. It was also a male teacher which was perfect for Milly as she likes to flirt and bat her eyes at the boys.

So it was with much enthusiasm that Milly had her first official swimming lesson today with Brad.

When she jumped into the pool it was clear the time she had spent with Nanoo in the pool had paid off. She was confident and more than capable of doing everything Brad asked her to do. For her very first lesson I was so proud and couldn't help but be excited for her. There were no tantrums and plenty of smiles, thumbs up and high fives. I think even Brad was surprised when he got her to float on her back unaided that she could do it for more than 10 seconds.

It has been Milly's determination that has sometimes led to her tantrums. But because she is so determined it has also seen her excel. I've no doubt she will be a super fish and within six months have reached the same level of swimming as Henry.

So this afternoon as Milly was reflecting on her day she said "Mama, I don't want to go to preschool anymore. I want to do swimming all day with Brad."

Camel ride

One of the great things about living in Newcastle is how family friendly it is. There is always a free family activity to do on the weekend and last weekend it happened to be camel rides. The kids were excited about the possibility of riding a camel, the weather was less wintery and it was a lovely sunny day, so we headed on down.

It turned out a few other families had the same idea. The queue was quite long and there were only three camels, so the wait was just over an hour. All the kids waiting were very patient and were kept amused when the camels did a wee or a poo.

Finally Henry and Milly were fitted with helmuts and placed on a camel. The camels were led by a handler and slowly plodded up and back, with the whole ride lasting a little less than five minutes. Was it worth the wait? The kids said it was and it's always nice to be able to give them new experiences - especially when they are free.

Our little morning out turned into a big day out when our car broke down on the way home. Thankfully Nanoo was able to rescue us in her car and ran a shuttle service back to our house while Michael waited for a tow truck.

The weekend turned into a little adventure and now that the car has been fixed we'll be looking for more free activities to do for quite some time.

My new favourite day

Milly started daycare this week. She now goes one day a week with Henry.

Leading up to "the big day" we needed to go shopping and get a backpack, which she picked out herself, and we talked about what should could expect.



On the morning I took her she ran in with so much enthusiasm and didn't know which table of activities to start on first. Needless to say when I picked them up in the afternoon and asked Milly what her favourite bit of daycare was her response was "all the bits". The staff also said she settled in really well and one of the older girls had taken Milly under her wing to look after and play with her.

Dressed and excited.

The proud big brother.

Henry's new haircut. Gotta admit I miss his long haired look but I'm sure Henry doesn't miss being mistaken for a girl anymore.

So with H&M together at daycare I now have one day devoted to Buster, and when he's asleep devoted to myself. The house was very quiet and I loved every minute of it. Being able to do things uninterrupted was bliss, like having lunch and being able to sit down and enjoy it, grocery shopping without the nagging for a "special treat", reading for myself, even going to the toilet. It was a good taste of what next year will be like when Henry starts school and Milly is in preschool. So it is now official - in 2010, Wednesday is my favourite day.