Category: week in review

It’s been the final week of Puff’s first term of school, and the first few days of the school holidays, and eventful: all leading up to Puff’s tonsillectomy. With Easter and Anzac Day both falling in the school holidays, there was a school Easter hat parade on Thursday, and the Anzac Day ceremony on the Friday, so very busy times.

Here’s a picture of Puff’s long awaited Easter Hat; he had a friend at school from another grade work on it with him, so it was a big surprise for Mum and Dad.

So far we’ve had a bible study dinner which Huff and Puff went along for – Puff has a new LCD-screened hand-held game to play, which is a bit more educational and a bit less engrossing than other forms of screen entertainment as we keep searching for the game that he wants to pay but is happy to put down.

Saturday we headed down to Wollongong for Aunty C’s birthday lunch. Dad and Puff walked the long way, and saw some giant waves.

After lunch, where Huff doted on baby E, there was a chance for the bigger kids to play on the beach – they had a great time running around and drawing in the sand, and Dad had a chat to Puff about looking at the positive (time to play on the beach) versus the negative (not being able to go barefoot and run in the water) which seemed to help.

We’ve seen Huff starting to show more interest in photos, both appearing in them and taking them. She’s starting to think about framing the photo more carefully: here she is with (current favourite toy) Tweak.

Monday was the last day of active play before Puff had to take things easy for a while, so Mum (after dropping Dad at work) took the kids to Monkey Mania for the day. Huff was much more engaged with the play equipment, and Puff did a good job protecting her from disagreement with the bigger kids.

Tuesday morning we didn’t need to be at the hospital until the early afternoon, so we let Puff pick his choice of breakfast cafe location. After some deliberation with an even further away favourite, we settled on a place in Cronulla where we had colouring in and kid-sized pancakes. Dad helped with the colouring in a little.

One last stop for coffee (anticipating a fairly broken night’s sleep for Dad) gave Puff an extra chance to pose for photos.

From there, we went home to grab our packed bag “paste”, and parked at the hospital to go and be admitted.

We had a while in the hospital room for him to get changed into the provided pyjamas and then wait to be called down. It was a positive experience overall: he didn’t have much of a sense of any potential downsides of having his tonsils out, so he was in good spirits. He looked very tiny in the full-size hospital bed.

Dad went down with him to the pre-op space, and then into the theatre. With small kids, they don’t put a cannula into their hand in the theatre, but rather they put them to sleep with gas, and then tape them up.

Sadly, this meant that after the 25 minutes of surgery and a few minutes’ recovery time, Puff was awake again with a bandaged hand and not sure why his throat was hurting. It took a little while to resettle him, but once the staff offered him an ice block, his spirits picked up again.

Not long later he was back in his room, sharing dinner with his sister.

Dad stayed overnight with Puff: there’s lots of broken sleep between waking up to take him to the bathroom, talking to the nurses who were in once an hour or so to check his vitals, and to make sure he wasn’t wrapping the drip cord around his neck (only a problem once).

The next morning he was in much better spirits, and it was time to drive him home. Expect a much more home-centric update next week!

If you’re looking to take a small child in for a tonsillectomy, drop Dad a line: happy to share further insights.

Huff and Puff are still enjoying their penguin torches, playing with their toy laptops in the early morning.

Huff was very proud of the craft she put together at her playgroup this week. It’s now stuck onto the window.

We went out for dinner on Friday night, celebrating Huff’s ongoing dryness. Huff has been really keen to wear gumboots at the slightest opportunity of puddle jumping.

We went to a favourite cafe to see C&J and baby E, and the kids were more adventurous (and less aware of their surroundings) than ever. 

Puff was even climbing to do the pretend-flying thing.

On the way home, we had to go over the Sea Cliff bridge, so Dad asked which of the kids wanted to walk over the bridge with him. Huff was keen, so she walked over with Dad, stopping to look at some of the waves, and impressed by how tall the trees were.

We stopped at Stanwell Tops to watch people flying in the air.

Choc-top ice creams were a bit of a bad idea: there was a lot of melted ice cream and chocolate on the grass.

Saturday night Dad walked with the kids (most of the way) to church family dinner. Mum met us with the car.

We had a good time, but it was a bit of a late night. Even with the extra hour for daylight savings, when Dad took the kids for a bus ride, they fell asleep. So much for quality time!

Sunday afternoon was the graduation mass for Aunty S, where she was singing in the choir.

Monday morning we had to make a trip to the doctor, so we paused for a quick coffee. Huff was hiding her drink behind this giant pumpkin.

Not to be outdone, Puff was hiding his drink behind this watermelon.

Huff has had a big week with flowers. Every time we walk anywhere, if she spots a dandelion, she wants to pick it. She had the chance to pick out the flowers for Aunty S’ graduation, and by all accounts did a great job.

The kids visited the graduation site at Luna Park – they didn’t get much further than looking at the mirrors.

While Dad was at the graduation, the kids had a quick game of bingo.

Another night’s sleep, and Huff was back to choosing flowers again.

Next week will be a little late.

It’s been a wet week – the yard needed mowing, which was finished off in the dark. This meant figuring out some new routines, like how to do the school run in the rain. Puff is big enough for this umbrella, but Huff is a little dwarfed.

Huff called in (with Mum) to visit Dad for a babycino. She had a big chocolate smile, and Mum taught her to say “Why so serious?” which made everyone laugh.

On the weekend we were planning a trip to Monkey Mania, but it didn’t work out that way. Instead, we went to a couple of cafes in the morning.

The kids put up with it pretty well, but their behaviour was getting worse and worse, and then both kids fell asleep, so we changed our plans and went to visit Grandragon instead. Dad and Puff played catch for an hour, and Huff – having worn gumboots all day – finally had a chance for some puddle playing.

The next day, Dad had some solo time with the kids. It was a total joy to go for a walk with Huff. She was telling stories, and looking at the numbers on the letterbox, and insisting that we run most of the way. She’s full of energy, and stories, and enthusiasm. Especially first thing in the morning.

Puff had his solo time with Dad in the afternoon: Dad wanted to walk along the concrete, but Puff was all about the sand. He had a great time digging through the sand, and walking along. A lesson to Dad to take things more slowly, and not be in such a rush all the time.

Looks like Dad is going to need to carve out more time to spend with each child individually.

With Mum sick for much of this week, Dad took some time off work above and beyond the planned trip to the Zoo this Friday, and so after the school run on Thursday, there was a chance for Dad and Huff to have some time together.

We went to Kindermusik together, and then home via the library, where Huff made a wide selection of books, and had two rides on this dinosaur.

We also managed to spend some time getting pizza (well, oregano pizza) together, and did some cooking before the afternoon school run. Sadly, there had been too much excitement in the day, and she fell asleep just before we picked up Puff from school. By then, the cowboy hat (not a cowgirl hat, as it was Puff’s) was a fixture.

Thursday, after a trip to the physio, Puff and Dad had dinner together, and then went for a short slurpee walk for dessert. It was a slightly later night than planned, but it was good to share chats.

Mum was busily putting Huff to bed again, with mixed results.

Friday was the big zoo trip day. Here is a family photo, snapped awkwardly in the mirror of the lift.

There were lots of good things about the zoo trip, not least spending time with our friends M, T, H and Z. The place-your-head-in-something-and-take-a-picture displays were popular with the kids.

The fenec fox was popular. Puff decided to close his eyes for this photo: not sure if it makes him look more or less like a fox.

Huff’s favourite animal was by far the Elephant.

The kids were very big fans of the water play area near this bird pen – lots of animals walking around and lots of water to splash in.

After that, Dad was expecting Huff to be exhausted, but she just wanted to lay on the grass for a moment and stretch.

Immediately afterwards, she was running along saying “chugga chugga choo choo!” and insisting that Dad walk immediately behind her.

This didn’t leave room for Puff, who also wanted to drive the train, but we eventually sorted it out.

We also managed to check the size of the kids against external markers. Here’s Puff’s latest wingspan.

And here’s Huff’s wingspan.

We also measured their height against penguins. Puff was very excited to be the height of an emperor penguin.

Once the zoo closed, we went for dinner, via ferry. Huff had a nap.

Puff fell asleep after dinner, but Huff pushed through, keen to test out her new penguin torch.

Monday morning was babycinos before school. Huff was very excited about this.

Puff was more stoic.

And Mum snapped this one today – it’s a mix of Huff showing off her fashion sense and identifying the number 3 – both have been prominent features of the week.

We continue to search for wisdom with Puff and his use of screens. A bit of a meltdown on Sunday led Dad to take Puff on a long walk in the sunshine, which was fun for both of them, and not completely peppered with stories of video game adventures.

Homework continues to be an interesting adventure.

Big week. Dad, after over seven years of study, finally graduated from his M. Div. Mum and the kids turned up to watch. Here we are before he ceremony, when everyone is well rested and in good spirits.

The kids behaved themselves incredibly well during the graduation ceremony, but were a little hyperactive by the end of the night. Huff was very fond of her skirt, calling it a “beautiful” skirt, and saying that she looked “very handsome”. Mum was worried that Huff would be wearing the skirt all week, but it seems to have returned to normal rotation.

There was lots of tiredness on Thursday and Friday after the graduation, but on Saturday we went out for breakfast – the kids were able to choose a treat for their second breakfast. 

After breakfast we did some running around the nearby park, and then spent a good bit of time on the play equipment. Huff was very confident on this enormous slide, while Puff explored his inner Spiderman on the climbing frame. It was great to see both of them have some time playing outside.

They were also fond of this “telephone” of sorts at the park, and spent no small amount of time talking to each other.

Later that day, we went to the nearby swimming pool, where Puff had a great time playing on the bouncing castle they had on the water, then swimming back to the side of the pool again afterwards. Dad, not being fully up-to-date with Puff’s swimming prowess, put him through his paces first to make sure he was up to it, but he had a great time.

On Sunday, it was time for Bandit to have a bath. Huff helped out with it.

Poem of the week is Jabberwocky – Puff is trying to memorise it, but not after lights out, as it makes Huff “nervous” (her words).

We’ve had a week where there has been entirely too much time on screen games. Huff was playing with a doll, and she named it “Swampy”, after the character in the “Where’s my Water?” game.

It was tough to fit it in, but the kids and Dad managed to cook “green eggs and ham before work/school one morning. The kids did a good job  working together on the mixing and pouring.

Huff and Mum visited Dad in the office, and we went out for lunch. Huff was a bit unsettled for a while.

On Saturday, we went to the local festival, and they had an enormous bouncing castle. Huff and Puff both played on it for quite a while – it’s exciting to see Huff big enough to be able to jump around on a castle. She hurt her hand a little bit while playing, and kept talking about how she had been having “bouncy fun”.

The kids have been calling in to a local cafe for babycinos before school – it has done a good job of motivating them to get out of the house in a hurry, though it’s going to remain a treat.

Mum and Huff stopped today for selfies.

Huff is still unsettled at night, but having big naps during the day. After a predictable number of turns climbing out of bed in search of someone to talk to, she will eventually settle down and go to sleep.Hoping this gets easier soon, for everyone’s sake. 

Life is settling down into a new routine with school, swimming lessons, kindermusik, church and what we laughingly refer to as our social life.

Mornings we try to fit some kind of activity – sometimes the kids play board games, other times they help Dad prepare food for breakfast.

We had dinner out with the kids – it was tricky: at this stage I think we’re looking for a place without TV’s for the sake of conversation with the kids.

Here Dr Huff was serving tea on the iPad to her Octonaut toy, Tweak. Dad was playing as well. 

There was some rain over the weekend. The kids were keen for some Peppa Pig style jumping in muddy puddles.

From a babycino in an odd-shaped cup, Huff ended up with this Salvador Dali moustache.

Sunday morning, Mum took Huff and Puff out for a walk so Dad could have a sleep-in. As you can tell, they had a great time.

There’s been more cooking than before – Puff has been more confident in the kitchen, and we’ve given him a chance to stir things in a saucepan – Dad still takes over for the more dangerous things, but it’s good to develop some interests there.

A mix of different adventures this week: some eating out, some cooking at home.

First off is Huff’s go at origami – watching her brother carefully fold a napkin, she had a go, then it quickly ended up like this, a “squash ball” as she called it.

Puff had a good day at school, and we even bought a badge (for a good cause) for him to wear.

Mum brought Huff in to have lunch with Dad, and she slept through almost the whole thing.

A trip to a shopping centre (to buy supplies for the easter hat parade) ended with the kids climbing on a coin-operated robot. After the initial disagreements (about who should sit where) were resolved, everything was quite pleasant.

When you ask Huff about something she may have graffitied, she we generally qualify her behaviour with “I did that on a different day”, but in this case, Mum had to take all the textas away from her for a while.

Saturday saw Huff invited to a friend’s birthday party – pirate themed. The pirate who was hosting the party had some coloured hair spray, which Huff was very happy about.

That afternoon, after a bit of a cafe trip, we went ten pin bowling – a first for Puff and Huff. They both loved it. Huff lasted through to about the 6th frame of the second game before getting bored, where Puff nobly offered to take over her game. Dad found the whole thing pretty tiring – he was standing or bowling or moving ramps around for two full games without a break.

We’ll leave it to the reader to determine if Puff liked ten-pin bowling or not. He was using the ramp at first, but after a while had a go at throwing the ball down the lane.

There’s been a lot of reading this week as well; Puff has school library books and school reading books to get through. Here he is reading one of Huff’s birthday present books. This is the last page, so I won’t spoil the twist ending by letting you know the title.

Dad and the kids did a lot of cooking over the week: we had eggy bread, scones, and then we cooked pikelets one morning. Puff did most of the cooking work for the pikelets, which was very impressive.

We’ve had some trouble with bad dreams this week, but hopefully it’s a one-off.

Huff has had more trouble than usual settling down for the night. She complained one night that her (half-full) water bottle needed to be filled with “top water”, as it only had “down water” in it.

Dad and Puff managed to fit in another chess game while Huff was at her party – it’s getting more and more competitive, but Puff is yet to win his first match. Not long now!
 

We’re settling into some kind of school routine now: when there’s time, Dad and Puff will play some kind of board game before Dad goes to work – sometimes this is chess, other times it’s been Angry Birds Space, and other times it’s air hockey.

Puff is getting more confident in the kitchen, and can put together a toast breakfast really well these days.

Mum and Huff came into the city to have lunch with Dad again this week; we managed to keep Huff quiet with the magnetic board, until it was doused with water and had to spend a few days drying out in a bed of rice.

On Wednesday, after a trip to see about whether Puff would need his tonsils out, we had dinner out with some old friends. Puff and Huff played screens for a long while, and then fell asleep in the car on the way home after one and four minutes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony respectively.

On another cafe trip, this time just with Mum, Huff continued her tradition of falling asleep in Mum’s lap. We’re just enjoying these things while they last now.

Puff did some craft one morning, a good chance to practice his knot-tying.

And we hit a small rite of passage. This is Puff playing some kind of ten pin bowling challenge game on the Wii. Huff also had her first go on the Wii where she was allowed to stand on the board and weigh herself! We hadn’t updated her height since she was born (51cm), so the BMI calculation was significantly wrong, which was an amusing study of contrasts for a little while.

We also went to Woonona for church on Sunday with Aunty C, Uncle J and baby E, and had lunch and “lunch dessert” in Wollongong with Uncle J and C. Some new books arrived for the kids from friends for Huff’s birthday – she’s a big fan of them already.

This week little Huff turned three! She’s increasingly independent – here she is walking along the edge of a garden bed, not holding on to anyone or anything, just powering along. It’s a far cry from wondering when (if ever) she was going to walk!

A big fan of the babycino, and of chocolate (always said with a big smile), she’s still very smiley and cuddly, except when first woken up when she tends to be shy and cuddly (but only with her one chosen guardian for that particular ten minutes).

We showed her some baby pictures of herself – she recognised them as her as a baby, then proceeded to pull all the faces the baby was pulling. She looks exactly the same, and completely different.

We stopped the birthday celebration just in time to grab a family snapshot, so we can remember how everyone looked when she was three.

We did a lot of walking over the weekend, especially Dad and Puff. Here we all are on Saturday, taking a stroller walk to the next suburb and back to do some shopping for Huff’s birthday lunch.

The favourite birthday present was this red thing: it’s a kind of pixelated magnadoodle, currently residing in a big container of rice, in an attempt to dry out the water spilled upon it from Huff’s too eager hands. Here it is in happier times.

Saturday afternoon was lunch, and some swimming with the kids and Mum’s side of the family. Here are the kids showing their respective ages in front of the cake they’d just decorated. Huff ate some icing and a couple of m&m’s, and was done with cake.

Sunday was then also lunch, and catching up with Dad’s side of the family. We staggered it so Huff wouldn’t be too overwhelmed with all the activity. She still has the occasional moment of being shy. 

Puff “finally” (his words) – earned a pink reward certificate from school: one of the ones where you collect ten to get the next level up of certificate. He’s continuing to enjoy school, and school work, and seems to be making friends.