Where I Ramble On

Let's face it, at the moment this blog could pretty much be exposed as my need to show off how damn cute Ted is in various photos I've taken of him around the traps. And it is. Harriet just refuses to have her photo taken and on that very rare occasion where her head doesn't spin around if she sees the camera, she's decided to adopt this rather odd 'coy' pose which belies the madness and thus is not at all an accurate representation of her.

Lately it is fair to say Ted is obsessed...OBSESSED with puzzles. Oh. My. God. We have a whole lot of these puzzles and Ted has just all five boxes (holding four puzzles each) over and over and over again. So I cracked open the big floor puzzles with 24pcs and he loved those too...again...and again. The only problem with the floor puzzles is that they're so huge and he gets cranky if you try to pack them away before he's ready, meaning there's a significant portion of the playroom rendered unusable. Hmm..not really that practical.

The other thing Ted is completely fixated on is Wallace and Gromit. How can that be when we're screen free I hear you ask? Well we're not entirely screen free. Ted plays Starfall and loves it, and he has also watched a bit of Wall-E one night when he just could not calm down and Harriet had been promised a very special movie night. But this particular interest has gone haywire! On the night before James' 40th I surprised him with a trip to Tetsuya's for dinner. Lisa came over to watch the children and to ease her way we decided to let the Harry and Ted have something wild, something crazy, something totally out there - a video night of Wallace and Gromit! Woot! Hear the screams of excitement? We did! Well while we were out they apparently watched them SIX TIMES over, ate about three huge bowls of popcorn (Lisa jokingly said "Is this organic popcorn?" to which I had to tell her yes, yes it was), some gf lamingtons and Lisa felt compelled to tell us when we arrived home "Uh, your children eat a LOT". Hey, tell our bank account, this organic gig ain't cheap sunshine.

Anyway the Wallace and Gromit love somehow resulted in Ted getting the movie on my phone. No, you read that correctly. TED got the movie ON MY PHONE. I have no idea how it got there. I'm sure I must have paid for it. I found a preview of it on iTunes and played that 30seconds for him a couple of times which he found fascinating. Then Lisa and Jay called me asking why I had called them early in the morning. Then next thing I know Ted comes running up to me saying "Look, whole thing on your phone now Mama" and shows me A Grand Day Out playing on my phone! I mean, what the hell? I also (knowingly) downloaded (and paid for) the Wallace and Gromit ringtone which elicits squeals of excitement when it's played. Luckily not many people call me.

Other things happened for James' 40th too. Ted made a cake. I made one too, and we both used similar ingredients, but somehow Ted's carrot cake didn't seem quite as appetising after I scraped most of it off the ground and in to the baking tray, so I settled on mine to serve instead.

He took the day off work to receive his present from Harriet. In a touching moment a week earlier, Harriet had told him that she wanted to take him to breakfast for his birthday. So on his birthday he dutifully trotted off to take Harry to school early so they could stop off and enjoy breakfast at the local cafe first. So cute. When he came home in the afternoon the children excitedly ran up and wanted him to open his presents, which were out on the table. Since they hadn't been there when they'd been bought they were pretty excited to watch the opening too. There was a subscription to The Monthly, a mortar and pestle, a board game (geek alert - it's about ships and has a rule book like an actual book), a big mug, a $100 egg records voucher and an antique map of Sydney Cove that had been framed. He did alright I think.

We've been running around like mad things lately, with nary a moment to even spend in our local op shop, which gives you some indication of how busy we've been! Ted had a friend over and I got the chance to enjoy a cup of tea in the wintry sunshine with Oscar's mum and the boys played together pretty well actually, especially considering it was their first real play together (that and the fact they're not really into playing *with* anyone just now).

Ted managed to conquer the world with the flag in our backyard, as you can see. He also made me realise that he has fewer long sleeved shirts that cover his belly than I was aware. Whoops.


But the nights have been rough yet again with this one. Not sure why he continues to drive me crazy in that regard, but luckily he is incredibly sweet and fun and delicious during the day. He's saying the funniest little things all the time, none of which I can ever recall as soon as I sit in front of the computer unfortunately.

He's much more adventurous than Harriet was at this age and will go running off at any opportunity. He's a bolter but he always bolts at specific times - when I'm waiting in line to pay at a shop, when we've just walked out of the front yard on to the footpath outside our house and when we're running late to drop Harriet off at school. Honestly, those are all times when he reliably (and with the most cheeky grin you can imagine) runs in exactly the opposite direction while pointing and yelling at me "No, let's go in this direction Mama".












Oh that's right. Harriet! The other child! She received her first report from school which was so cute. She tells us on a regular basis about how boring Japanese is, and how shes tired of the baby books at school. But then her report tells us of how conscientious and quiet she is at school. Well, will wonders never cease?! Her latest love is the fact that we're going to the snow next week, so we'll be sure to update you all on that little adventure. And she hates her photo being taken. And she loves to give instructional videos, so I'll have to upload a few of the ones she's given lately for you to watch, in case you're feeling the need for a touch of self improvement.



And for those of you who thought he didn't cry, here's a video I took of Ted being woken up earlier than he should have been and what happened when I told him (gently) that I didn't like being sprayed with water on a winter's afternoon:




And just so you know, I stopped the camera and gave him a big hug and lots of love straight away. And he likes to be left alone to cry when he's tired which is why we weren't physically consoling him. Just in case you were wondering, And were about to call DOCS. And knew we were 'mean parents' all along, just as Harriet tells us we are on an (almost) daily basis.