Sunday, December 23, 2012

Keeping Busy and Doing Not Much at All

 

So the grandparents came for a little visit before Christmas.  Can anyone say TWO CHRISTMASES?  Our children can.  In fact Ted is close to spelling the damn word on his own by now.  Actually just on that, you can see here Ted doing some writing.  I don't really talk much about developmental stuff any more but I should probably note for history's sake that Ted is reading reasonably fluently now (except that he is a whole word learner and, as such, tends to read 'plant' as 'paint'  for example, when he's reading quickly).  He's also right into writing this past week and wrote "From Ted and Harriet and Mama and Papa" the other day without anyone there to help or coach him along.  Twas very cute.  Rather messy and scrawly but definitely sweet as anything (I'll take a photo in the morning with better light).






But anyway, back on to the grandparent experience.  Ted decided to throw himself into each and every day with the gusto and unabashed volume we have come to expect.  My favourite day was when we decided to head off to Manly for the ferry experience.  I completely misjudged the day, thinking that we would toddle off the ferry, wander around a little, have lunch in a cafe somewhere and then head back.  Nuh-uh.  Oh no.  See that maniacal squealing face above?  That's Ted before he decided to play in the water.  In the sun. In the middle of the day.  For three hours straight.  He didn't even budge when lunch was declared and the other three in our party left for the shaded, eating end of town.


It is safe to say that now at least we can discuss with Ted the need for sunscreen and he understands first hand the sunburn we are trying to prevent.  His back was bright, bright red.  He couldn't sleep the second night from the pain.  I felt pretty much as I should have - in fact I could vividly picture exactly what I would wear to the Worst Mother of the Year awards ceremony where I would be crowned for 2012.  I did have sunscreen but he screamed, ran away from me into dangerously deeper waters, writhed and refused to get dry to apply.  The result was that the upper right section of his back, where I could grab him and managed to apply sunscreen thicker than the other places I groped on his back, was left unscathed.  But oh dear, the peeling back was a herald back to my own childhood from the 70s and 80s.  I don't need your scorn and judgment believe me, I have dealt out enough (this is from a mother who has two hats for this monkey just in case, a tube of sunscreen permanently in my bag, and who tut-tuts at the fact there are no long sleeved rashies for children to be found).

 

But James and I managed to go out for little adventures.  The difference that having family around can make to your child-free lifestyle!  I envy those of you with family nearby.  We went out for a night away together in the city courtesy of Mike and Jan - and I really felt the love when I came home and Teddy was asking me when I would go back out again.  Hmmm

 

Harriet does love her Gangpa.  She had a little chat with him about sending each other mail.  Letters.  Remember those?  Without the clear plastic windows and with handwriting from a real, actual person.  Anyway, Harriet wrote one the very morning after they had left, using her special new swanky writing paper from one of her best friends at school.  So stinking cute.

 

This photo was taken in the minutes after Harriet opened her Sylvanian Families caravan at fake christmas.  Uhhh...I think the thirty odd times she yelled out "OH MY GOD, I actually WANTED this!" may have been an indication that she was in love with the present.  Since we don't really buy big things like that, I guess she just thought it was something she would love from afar.  I guess it must have been for her what it would have been like for me if I had unwrapped a video camera in about 1994.  I'd like to point out that in 1994 a video camera would have set you back...oohh...about $2k.  And weighed about 13kgs.

 

Ted managed to keep us all entertained throughout the day.  At volume.



 

 Errr...not too sure what's happening here.  A stare-off with the musical amphibian perhaps?

 

Ted also decided to expand his eating horizons by embracing chopsticks. This was on the evening that Harriet headed off to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  No matinee for her!  In fact the lasting legacy of the grandparents trip has been the children's endurance for the night.  Now this has actually come in handy, since last night we all had a Christmas party in the afternoon which we had to leave at about 8pm to head off and see Darren Hanlon for our annual Christmas concert experience.  Some families do carols; we do Hanlon.  And guess what?  After five years in a row of attending said concert, this was the first year we managed to stay until the end.  Woot!  Ted did try to storm the stage on a number of occasions and his favourite part did seem to be the whooping and clapping ("I'm going to do the biggest and loudest clapping Darren Hanlon has ever had!"), but no matter what the reason, we saw the whole concert.  Huzzah!

I've also been busy of an evening, heading out to gigs and generally ignoring the huge amount of Christmas crafting that I haven't done.  I've been busy with editing and still have work to do in that regard, but I've been managing to fit in some pretty awesomely fun social time too.  I'm really so lucky that I've stumbled into two lovely new friendships recently, which is just what I needed to end what has been a pretty rough second half to the year.

I'll post before 2013 but make sure you all enjoy yourselves, celebrate what you want to celebrate and enjoy the weather, holidays and love.  I know I will.

1 comment:

JennieMo said...

Cass....I win the bad mom of the year award for not putting sunscreen on Rhett's pink non-pigmented nose everyday...I have the tube of non-toxic sunscreen in my bag..in the car...at my desk...but he hates me putting it on about as much as Teddy.

Happy Non-Christmas Christmas/Festivus. When can we start the airing of grievences?? Rhett's will be a mile long. LOL!! Love your posts!