30 Months

Dear Master Z,
It has been sixth months since I last wrote to you, and you are now 2 and a half! Time has flown by so quickly and you are growing up so fast.

You continue to bring so much pleasure and happiness to the lives of everyone around you. Your Mummy and Daddy can't believe how blessed we are and your grand parents think the world of you. 

In the last six months, you have gained a new baby cousin and have the excitement of another one on the way. That will be 4 cousins for you to grow up with. It is awesome you are all so close in age. Your Nanna and Grandad are well and truly run off their feet, and loving it!

You are still mad keen on the Wiggles and Bob the Builder - but Thomas the Tank is your first love. You can spot something Thomas related from a mile away and just seeing him on something brings the biggest smile to your face - just you wait to see what Father Christmas has in store - it will blow your mind :) You would watch Thomas 24/7 if we didn't limit your tv time, and you spend hours and hours playing with your trains.

You have been such an awesome 'pick-me-up' on the days Mummy has been feeling down. You can sense when Mummy is sad and you do anything to make me smile. I am sorry that I haven't been 100% there for you these last 6 months, but just seeing you and hugging you tight gives me hope that it will all work out in the end.

We saw Elmo's World Tour together - your first stage show. You were mesmerized from start to finish. We got you a small Elmo and you have slept with him and Ted Ted ever since.

You are starting to really enjoy your stories before bed - I can at least read them to you without you wanting to turn the pages to the end. Your favourite is Thomas and the Jet Engine (of course) and what you call the 'I love you' book -'Guess How Much I Love You' - that is Mummy's favourite too.

You love music, love singing and your voice is one of the cutest things I have heard. Your rendition of the 'Offspring' theme tune where you sing "Giraffe, giraffe ooh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh" is just gorgeous. You love listening to Daddy play his guitar and you will often join him for a jam on your drums. 

Your words and sentences are zooming ahead. You dont shut up - wonder who you got that trait from ;) You have started to say that something you really like is "the best thing ever", but you pronounce ever as "eber" which makes my heart melt. You follow me around asking "what's that Mummy?" pointing to Every. Single. Thing. we pass. Lucky you are so cute! 

You are still doing swimming lessons with Daddy every Saturday morning and You are gaining in confidence each week. At this point in time, it seems like you may have inherited Mummy's co-ordination on land - so we will focus on your swimming - ha ha! 

You are growing into such a delightful little boy. Your manners are beautiful and your compassion for others is already shining through. Thank you for the joy, laughter and love you bring to our lives, we love you to the moon and back xxxxx

Yep, Mummy put you in a onesie - you're welcome!

Linking up today, as every Tuesday with Jess from Diary of a SAHM for IBOT. Head on over to check out some posts.

Nature Play

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When we were kids, we grew up in a small country town, where our back yard was limitless. Our play ground was wherever there was a patch of bush between the houses and we would get home from school, grab a snack and then head off, not getting home til the sun went down. We played wars, with the bush being our battlefield, we played house, made cubbies and shops in the trees, collected tadpoles and lizards and we did 'pottery' in the creek beds. Life was simple.


Unfortunately the world doesn't seem to be as safe a place as when we were kids. Whether or not this is the case, or if we as parents are just more aware of what is going on outside our front doors from being exposed to news and media stories of all the bad things that happen, I am not sure. It does mean however, that we are more cautious about what our children get up to and it is very rare that we would let them play outside of the yard unsupervised. 


Urbanisation and location is also a factor. If we stay where we are living at the moment, Master Z is 10 kms from the nearest natural bush area. There are no trees around to build tree houses in, and no creeks to go traipsing through in his wellies, or even better, in his bare feet to feel his toes slip through the cold mud.


Nature play is so important for children of all ages. There is research to prove that children benefit from appropriate risk taking outdoors by helping them refine their motor skills and gain confidence in being physically active. It has been proven that older children who spend more time outside tend to be physically active and less likely to be overweight, and children who play regularly in natural settings are sick less often, are more resistant to stress, have improved cognitive skills, have lower incidence of behavioural disorders, anxiety and depression and have a higher measure of self worth. There is also evidence that bullying behaviour is reduced when children have access to diverse nature-play environments.


Some ways that we can bring nature play into our children's lives are:

• Taking a walk through bushland - Pointing out the different plants and animals you may come across and encouraging them to register the different noises and smells that come from the bush.
• Growing your own fruit and veges - If space permits, a small patch is all that is needed for them to help prepare, plant and take care of a vege patch. If you don't have any yard space, planter boxes, or pots can be planted out with flowers or herbs.
• Beachcombing -  if you are close to the beach, take a walk, collect shells, or cuttlefish. Let them build sandcastles and forts.
• Backyard camping - the fun of camping under the stars, without the hassle of having to pack the car with everything but the kitchen sink. Your children can watch the sun go down, star watch and eat camping food - with a comfortable toilet close by.

There are also several nature playgrounds that have been built in our cities recently, to bring the bush to the city kids. In Perth, an excellent one has been launched by Rio Tinto at Kings Park - check it out here. 

What other activities do you do to encourage your children to play outside? Do they get the opportunities to explore the natural environment?

Resources:


Nature Play WA - an excellent website with information and resources, particularly for those of us in WA
Children and Nature Network - excellent site with the latest evidenced based research on play and development
Richard Louv - this guy is the nature play guru - if you ever get a chance to hear him talk, do! He is inspiring.

Haircut Take 3

Master Z has been needing a haircut for a few weeks, but I have been putting it off. This is only his 3rd haircut, the first was a disaster at my hands and the 2nd one he cried the whole time, trying to escape the chair and not much was able to be taken off.

Today, I decided to make a morning of it for him. We have been talking about having a haircut for the last few days and he knew he was going to have a haircut and the lady would play with his hair and go "snip, snip, snip".

The before shot

We went to a cafe near to the hair dressers and he had a milkshake 

 

and I had Spanish beans with an egg - Yum! - and of course, a loooonnnng black coffe as I was trying to avoid thinking about the disaster of our last effort. I was armed with a bag of toys, books and Tiny Teddies to try to bribe the tears away.

We headed over to Banana Skin's in Applecross,

where he was the perfect angel! I could not believe it. 

No tears, no tantrums, sitting still and quietly. All my fears of a repeat performance were put to rest.

It may have to do with The Wiggles being on the TV, I prefer to think of it as my baby is growing up!

Finished product (with the finishing bribe - hey, good enough for doctors, good enough for hairdressers!)

People might say it was a waste of money for me to take him to a place like this, but if you read this, you will see that it will work out heaps cheaper than having to pay for therapy bills later in life!

How do you go with haircuts? Easy street? or Disaster Zone?

Chantel x

Linking up today with Jess and all that is fabulous for IBOT

In between the rain

Autumn has arrived here, with bursts of rain through the day. TBone took Master Z outside in the brief periods of sunshine yesterday to play some soccer.

 Most of the time he looked the part

 But sometimes he showed that his co-ordination genes may have come from Mummy.

Game ended with an intercept from the dog. Princess K 1 : Humans 0

Hope you had a lovely weekend.

Chantel x

Christmas Tree of Memories

This last week, I have been in a real 'funk'. Not impressed with life at all, and I think at the heart of it, was my angst over not having our Christmas tree up yet (I know, first world problems!) We had chosen our tree last weekend, but as we didn't have a towbar, or access to a ute, we were unable to get the tree to our house - and I didn't really want to part with the $75 it would have cost to have it delivered (only $5 less than the tree........)


Thankfully, this was all rectified on Friday and our tree was delivered and positioned in its rightful place in our living room.


As I have mentioned many times, I am not an organised person. Nothing I do would be classed as 'put together'. I dream of having a house with decor that matches, but this is unlikely to happen. Our Christmas tree decorations reflect this. But when I was putting them up today and telling Master Z about what I was doing, I realised that they are a reflection of our lives so far.


Each of the decorations is embedded with a memory-


Our first trip to Prague:

Apologies for overuse of filters - could not get the light right on any of these photos

From my sister-in-law when we went to Edinburgh with her and my brother:

A present from Disneyland from a special friend:

My favourite Van Gogh painting:

From a cute little shop down a cobbled street in London:

From our Bratislava trip with 3 wonderful friends:

From Lhasa, in Tibet - our 3 week trek to Everest Base Camp, where TBone proposed:

To celebrate Master Z's first Christmas:

A representation of our little family from a dear friend:

The one time I asked TBone to choose something and this is what he came back with - it looks nicotine stained and pretty creepy - I try to put it at the back of the tree.....

And they all go together to form this higgledy, piggledy tree, that we love. They don't need to match, they don't need to follow a theme. They represent our life so far and tell a story of our journey to where we are now.

What does your tree look like? Do you go for a colour theme? 


Just found this to link up to - check out other trees.

Chantel x

Christmas Traditions

I love Christmas. We are not particularly religious, but Christmas has always been a time for family and friends. A time to all get together and eat so much food.

Now that Master Z is in our life, I want to make sure we keep our extended family at the heart of our Christmas celebrations, but I also want to start some new traditions for our little family of 3. Things that we can do together, to bond us and become part of our family story.

Living in England for seven years, we got used to our friends all having 'real' Christmas trees each year and that is something I wanted to keep up here. It is a bit of a different experience chopping down a tree in 40 degree heat, swatting millions of flies away, compared to trudging through snow in zero degrees to find that one tree. Regardless of the temperature, nothing beats that beautiful pine smell that seeps slowly through the house once the tree is up and for the past few years, that smell has meant 'Christmas' to me.

Last weekend, we took Master Z one of the Christmas tree farms that have popped up over the last few years in our Northern suburbs. 

Oh so cute in mini Blundstones!

They have such a great, customer friendly set up, where you are able to walk through the plantation looking for the 'one'. 

Unfortunately it wasn't marked by a light shining from the sky like the Griswold's tree was in 'Christmas Vacation', but we found one that suited our purposes. A nice, 7ft tree that was a great shape and had the right 'look'. You wouldn't believe how picky you get going along the rows - I mean really, surely they all look the same......

This year, I probably was a bit (OK, a lot) more excited than Master Z about the whole experience, but it is the beginning of what I hope will be one of the lasting traditions of our family.

What Christmas traditions do you have in your family?

Chantel x

Sunday Session - Ear Worms

It's been one of those weeks. We have all had a few days in bed with one bug or another, so there has been a lot of crappy tv and bad music being listened to.


Here are my ear worms for the week.


Master Z is obsessed! "Bob! Bob! Bob!" One of only a handful of words he can say, but boy does he practice it over and over! he also sings the first line in an extremely cute manner :o)



I have just changed back to driving my car after 4 months of driving TBone's. I am getting reacquainted with my Katy Perry CDs. I love this film clip!







We went to a wedding yesterday, a good old country wedding, with great dancing music. Oh, and of course Cold Chisel.






And to leave you with THE most annoying song in my head this week - and I am sure the people sitting in the desks next to me will confirm this - I don't know how these songs make their way into my head - and how do I know the words???? Osmosis has a lot to answer for....





Sorry for the last one - you are singing it now aren't you?? Linking up with Thea at Do I really wanna blog? for her Sunday Session.

Have a great week

Chantel x

Grateful for Spring Picnics

   

Today was a wonderful spring day in Perth. The sun was shining, there was a gentle breeze and we went on a picnic! I love picnics, I always have. I have such fond memories growing up of our family picnics, which used to be the greatest adventures.


We attended TBone's company picnic at a local winery and the setting was magnificent. The grounds are immaculate and the grass runs for miles with beautiful, old trees providing much needed shade. There are several picnic benches and tables dotted around the grounds, but we were content with the good old picnic rug - which has seen better days - and camp chairs.

We ordered a wonderful platter of local produce and sampled the vineyards best wine. It was the perfect setting for a wonderful family day out and Master Z had the best time running away from me. Such a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon - bring on more Spring picnics!!!!

How did you spend Saturday in your neck of the woods?

Linking up with Maxabella's Grateful for.... hosted today by Sonia from Lioness Lady

Chantel x

Jingley Jingles

I just read Jodie's post today at Mummy Mayhem in which she is talking about Mad World and advertising of years gone by. I know many bloggers are from PR or media backgrounds, but I am purely a consumer, a sucker for a good advertisement, well really an advertisers dream (2am on the Shopping Channel is amazeballs with such quality stuff I need!!!)


Jodie mentioned jingles and when I thought about it, there doesn't seem to many jingles used anymore. Is that because we are more stimulated by the visuals than audio nowadays, or is it the brands that want something to be visually enticing first and foremost? Or, is it that I am no longer part of the target audience and the Gen Y and Z respond to different methods altogether? (Any reasons advertising people???)


I remember growing up with some great jingles, for Vegemite, for cereals, toys, services and all sorts. I can remember the words to so many of them, and yet, can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday. So obviously the jingles worked on me.


When travelling through Europe, and bumping into other Western Australians, drunken conversations would inevitably turn to reminiscing of home. 9 times out of 10, the Channel 9 Community Service announcements were brought up. We all knew all the words to everyone of them. For those non-sandgropers, they were a series of public service announcements on Channel 9 telling us not to put knives in toasters, to wash our hands before we ate, to eat healthy and to stay away from ding-a-lings. Life seemed simpler then!


These ads definitely influenced me. I know that Mum knows, I brush my teeth, keep cuts clean, I know what each of the vitamins do (after singing through the song in my head), and I think that the ding-a-lings ad may have had something to do with my irrational fear of people with red hair when I was young (sorry!). If you only watch one, watch Ding-a-lings!

















Are there any radio or television ads from your childhood that get stuck in your head?

Chantel x