Saturday, July 24, 2010

All About Ted

Poor ole Ted. You'd think I never spent any time with him or liked him or something the way this blog bangs on and on about Harriet and leaves the odd reminder about our second child towards the end of each post. Well the reality is definitely different to that perception - in fact the reason there are very few photos of him is because he is more often than not in my arms, boobing, leading me around the house or having a book read to him by your truly. Being in such close physical proximity makes it really tricky to take a decent photo of him. And as you can see by this post, even when he's off my hands I still don't really manage to get a decent photo of him. Oh well!

Today we went down to Bulli for a photo session I was doing there and Ted went off happily with James and Harriet for a play in the playground. Afterwards we all met up and Ted needed some milk but was otherwise happy to have been off playing with only two thirds of the family unit. In fact he was so excited when I asked him if he'd been on the slide that he jumped off my lap and headed straight back out to the playground. And guess what? When I say he headed off I mean ON HIS OWN! Oh yes people - it has only taken six freaking months but Ted has decided that autonomous ambulation is not that bad. In fact it may even be fun!

So this new development has meant he's displaying his preferences for things - such as investigating birds. The cafe at the beach had a reliable contingent of seagulls which Ted was determined to track down and touch. The seagulls, however, have heard all this confident toddler nonsense before and weren't standing for any of it. Ted's unerring faith in his ability to eventually access his avian friends was impressive but, ultimately, misguided.

Of course the best part of this increased exercise cannot be overlooked - exhaustion! Huzzah! So we went down to the beach with a crashed out Ted in the Mei Tai while Harriet built sandcastles with James. In an almost unheard of situation, Lisa and I managed to hold a conversation sans interruption while the two children were otherwise engaged. Woot!


Ted has also been copying sounds we've been making (like Zzzzz for 'zoom') and his favourite animal sign is for a crocodile - yesterday we were at the museum and we saw this huge rubber snake head. Ted walked up to it frantically doing his crocodile sign and seemed most put out when I explained it was actually a snake, although he did concede a 'ssss' in agreement. The funniest part of the museum trip was when we all walked into the skeleton room. Ted let out this sound that made me think he was being asphyxiated! I did a double take and he was just having a HUGE intake of breath in surprise at seeing the skeletons. So cute! His eyes were double the size!

He loves to sit inside pretty much anything and be pushed - inside the Tonka truck, inside the doll stroller, inside his car. He often sits in the back of the (real) car and just cracks up laughing for no discernable reason. He points out trucks and excavators with an excited finger waggle (oh yes he doesn't just point at stuff, he waggles his finger in a disapproving school marm fashion). If he hears music and he's in the Mei Tai he starts bopping his whole body up and down. If I happen to walk away from where the music is coming from he gets most upset and demands we move back to where it's louder. He does the 'bus driver' when dancing, as well as a right knee that gives out a wicked beat. He has a sleep about two hours after he wakes up but is in that weird transition period between one and two day sleeps.

Mostly, Teddy is incredibly sweet and good natured. He is quite determined though and knows what he wants in true toddler style. The other night (at 2.30am) I found a little skink inside (it was on its last legs poor thing) and showed it to Ted, explaining that it needed to be touched gently. He very gently stroked its back, and then I placed it outside. Oh dear! When I told Teddy it was now outside and couldn't be touched any more boy oh boy did he wail! He was devastated, poor boy, and stood sobbing and banging against the back door for quite a while until dstracted.

But I quite enjoy the determined phase - I don't want to produce children who are walk-overs. However if there were two things about Ted I would change they are:
1.) Stay asleep at night! The wakeful periods between 1 and 4am are wearing thin.
2.) Keep your freaking socks on! The boy won't keep *anything* on his feet. Today we were in freezing cold winds and he had bare feet hanging in the breeze - freak! I was so cold myself, god only know what he must have been feeling.

Mostly, however, I want him to keep on being the happy little bundle that he is right now.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was so cool to catch up with you guys (I love my photo !!) Harriet is growing up so quick now (even if she was born at 27 !)I loved how Ted sat in the car at the end of the day just reading to himself, pointing & mouthing words and dutifully pointing to anything we asked him to- he really is the cutest boy ! I look forward to Harriet's correpondance via mail (or carrier pigeon if Ted has anything to do with it ;-)
xx Lis
ps it was great to "TALK" !!!! and to you too Jimbo ;-)

Anonymous said...

Hey Cass!
Teddy is adorable. The sock prob is easily solved - get him some girly tights/stocking things. Lani pulls socks off all the time but the stockings have defeated her! Mwah ha ha!!! He may look a little Tudor England, but perhaps aristocratic dressing will suit him...
xo
Mellissa