Category: week in review

Another big week. The kids for finally starting to feel better, so we started to leave the house a bit more.

Wednesday was a trip to the north side to visit some chickens, and some friends. Puff played his first game of Lego Star Wars, which is likely to be an ongoing passion. Huff kept asking permission at every step of the way – there was cake to be eaten, and she would ask “if it’s okay with you” for every tiny piece.

On the weekend, it was back to reading sticker books and listening to giant shells on our way down to the first of Puff’s 5-day birthday marathon. He was very excited to spread his birthday out this far.

Huff also managed to try and make pom-poms, though she lost interest a little while after the photo was taken.

After a quick visit south to see baby E, we settled down on the couch for dinner and some Octonaut watching.

On Sunday, Puff wanted to take a birthday cake to church, so he and Huff decorated one. Huff had some bigger challenges, learning important lessons like “don’t eat the toppings from the cake you’re decorating”.

Grandma made a cake for him too, though it had his name on it so there’s no photo here. Grandragon made him a cake based on his favourite iPad game at the moment – Sprinkle. He was pretty happy with it, and his preschool friends were happy to share it.

Puff’s family members were very generous to him, and he was very grateful for all his presents, but his favourite was probably this duckling costume.

It escalated the next day, and they were both ducks.

Thanks for everyone who wished him a happy birthday – it’s hard to believe it’s been five years! Here’s the family.

Big week. Huff has said a few gems this week. She’s struggling with the concept of what happens exactly when she closes her eyes – she thinks that this will make her disappear.

When Huff was visiting Dad at work last week, she was busily drawing with a highlighter. She asked us to guess what she was drawing, and wouldn’t tell until we guessed! Eventually we found out it was a bird. Of course.

Mum found some of her childhood toys at Grandragon’s house, and the kids had a lot of fun exploring them.

Puff was especially a fan of the puzzle cubes.

On the weekend, Dad and Puff were playing ‘boxes’ with chalk on the footpath. Huff wanted to play too, but doesn’t quite have the understanding of the gameplay.

One of Huff’s favourite things is swinging.

Puff’s still been sick this week, but still managed to have a great time playing with friends on the weekend. It should be noted that we had a sermon on a book of the bible that matched the name of a friend’s son. Huff heard the sermon, put the pieces together and said “we saw him yesterday!”

Dad found some time to tidy the backyard over the weekend, so the kids have been spending some more time outside.

But the most exciting news for the kids this week was meeting their new cousin, baby E.

Another week of sick kids.

You may not have noticed that Huff’s hair is very scruffy in the morning. Still trying to figure out her morning hair-care routine.

Puff is still on the mend, but mostly more run down than we’d like.

Dad still managed to take Puff out for breakfast on Saturday morning. He was pretty happy to be out with Dad, and then spent a lot of the rest of the day playing tablet games.

Meanwhile, Dad took Huff out to the library to pick up some books and ingredients for cooking.

We cooked lunch together, and then Dad had to head out again – there was a fundraising BBQ for Puff’s preschool, and Dad was helping on the afternoon shift.

Huff had a good time napping at Bunnings and woke up in a much better mood.

The kids have been doing various cute things this week, but it’s mostly been peace, quiet and resting. Hopefully next week there will be more to tell!

Between Dad writing a sermon this week and Mum being sick from the weekend onward, we don’t have much in the way of photos.

Puff has been sick since Friday, and is being a trooper at taking some unpleasant tasting medicine, but we’ve mostly been home in recovery mode.

Huff has been sick since Sunday, though hasn’t needed medicine.

Saturday was a trip to visit the Grandragon with some supplies. Huff had a great time visiting with her friend S, and Puff managed to run around a little bit before wanting to sit in the car and rest.

After a while of playing, Huff decided she wanted be back with her brother, and insisted on being strapped into the front passenger seat of the car.

Apart from that, Dad was mostly home working on sermon writing, and celebrating the end of study by cooking a range of meals.

There’s been more television watching than usual – still haven’t worked out a better way to keep the kids occupied and resting as much as possible: they never seem to want to admit to being sick.

Hoping for a more adventurous time next week.

Another wintery week. Huff is loving having a hand-me-down scarf to wear. Huff has lots of her own clothes, but has this week been wearing some hand-me-downs. Not as many photos taken this week as the average: we must be settling back into a routine!

One morning this week, Dad put his head into the lounge room to see the kids cheerfully playing together: Huff was helping Puff sort out the Blokus pieces and put them back in their respective bags.

Friday saw the kids head back to a favourite play centre to catch up with their friends E and O. They did lots of running around, but the spinning car was a favourite again.

On Saturday we made a trip to our favourite cafe in Woonona: Puff had fun working on their pom-pom project (despite the serious expression on his face).

Huff had fun playing with wool, but wasn’t yet ready for the patience and motor-skill requirements of pom-pom building.

After breakfast we headed back the scenic way, and walked over the sea cliff bridge (with Bandit): the kids had a great time (Puff noted that the rocks looked like cupcakes, and the sea looked like icing for the cupcakes). Dad found it darkly funny when some tourists with a little girl who was on a leash and a harness had the chance to pat Bandit who was also on a leash and a harness.

Huff is speaking more and more often. She can form more complex sentences: if she’s misunderstood, and then someone says whatever it was she meant to say, she will chip in “that’s what I was saying”. She’s also getting better at using the right word for the possessive: it took a few goes, but she corrected herself each time. 

Something of a quiet week this week, with much father-son adventuring. This of course poses the problem of how to fit in some father-daughter adventuring, and what that might look like, but that’s a challenge for another night.

After taking Dad to one of the seemingly never-ending physio appointments, we headed out for dinner, somewhere where we could see fish. Huff was as excited as we’ve ever seen her, dancing on the spot and saying “fish, fish”! 

Apart from being out for dinner, and having dessert while watching live music (both kids refused to dance), the high point for both kids was waiting for the shuttle bus, and then catching the shuttle bus to and from the car.

The next morning we went out for breakfast. Huff was looking very cute with her pigtails and Peppa Pig outfit – it seemed as good a time as any to have a reference point for how long her hair is. It’s tough to know what to say to a little girl when there’s so much pressure to give her positive feedback for her looks, rather than anything else she might be able to do, think, or bring to the world. We try to encourage her to look “nice and neat”, but you’ll forgive, I hope, the occasional proud parent image post.

Visiting Grandragon in her new place, Huff was enthralled by a window she could both look through and pass items back and forth – she was grinning for a long while.

Sunday morning, Puff snuck into Mum and Dad’s room and asked if he and Dad could go on an adventure. Despite bitter cold, Puff’s preference was to travel by train, and so, a train and 1.5kms of walking later we were at The Grounds, playing on their playground while waiting for a table. He made everyone proud by ordering banana bread with a side of bacon, using the full description of both on the menu to the amused waitress.

After church we visited Grandma and Doc (and Aunty S). Puff played ker-plunk (Huff’s efforts to simply pull all the sticks out as quickly as possible missed the point somewhat).

Huff was happier playing with a toy kitchen. Despite several false starts with a toy kettle and various toy teacups, Doc never did get his pretend cup of tea this visit.

Tuesday Dad had the day off work, so managed to take Puff (and Bandit) to preschool.

After preschool, we went for a walk in the nearby bushland. Puff took some more risks than usual with his climbing, and we had a great time chatting about a range of almost-five-year-old topics. 

Somewhat nerdily, Dad taught him the powers of two: he was fine up to 2^12, but struggled a little after that. iPad game of the week was Sprinkle, and its follow-up Sprinkle Islands.

Huff is now almost the same age as Puff was when she was born. Time flies! 

The kids broke with their usual tradition of creating edible breakfasts by churning out this delicious pretend breakfast on Sunday morning. They went to some trouble, pretend cooking the eggs and the toast before combining them on the plate and bringing them over. You can see Puff hurrying in the background as the waiter.

Mum introduced the kids to a dessert food called “Marshmallow Fluff”. It was a hit with both of them, in moderation.

In an ill-advised move, we left home around 3:30 in the afternoon and took the kids to Cronulla for dinner and to walk the dog. Huff was asleep by the time we reached Cronulla, and Puff was a bit out of sorts too, but we managed a pleasant enough family dinner, and put the kids to bed only somewhat late.

The kids were, perhaps tired from helping Dad with some gardening. They did a good job for a while, until the boredom set in and they went back inside for lunch.

Saturday was the baby shower for +1. The kids had fun playing with toys afterward in the church hall. Here’s Huff with her friend O.

Huff was also playing blocks with her friend J. Dad was helping, but only to make sure the structure was somewhat physically sound, not at all to play with the brightly coloured blocks. Well, perhaps a little.

Huff’s favourite thing at the party was to draw with Sharpies, perhaps a little too zealously at times.

As part of the baby shower, Huff and Puff went for a walk with their friends E & O, and the two Dads. We had babycinos and some food. Huff’s favourite thing about this cafe seems to be the cookies.

A visit to this particular staircase was a race between the kids to see who could climb to the top first. Huff had enough of a headstart to be competitive, but Puff managed to scrape by with a win.

 

See you next week!

Massive week this week – a few nights out, and some daytime activities. It kicked off with Mum, Huff and Puff seeing Lah Lah live in concert.

 The next night we had dinner in the city with an old work-mate of Dad’s, and met both his sister and his 2 year old son. It was great to catch up, and the kids enjoyed dinner.

 The next day Dad had a half-day off work so Mum could go to a work event. Dad took the kids down to All and Sundry for coffee, where Huff discovered this tiny spoon.

 After the cafe, we went to a big park: the kids had a great time playing on the equipment. Puff is more and more confident at climbing, and Huff loves to slide and swing.

The next night we went out to dinner as a family. There was a lot of smiling.

Maybe not so much from Huff.

Saturday morning we went to the Grounds (we bumped into some friends while there), where they had the opportunity to feed some small animals. Huff enjoyed it, whether it was feeding them carrots or grass.

Puff was completely in his element, asking the people in charge if he could hold different animals, and feed them: he had trouble leaving even after a good long stint.

Sunday was breakfast with S&K, then church, then heading up to the Blue Mountains for J’s birthday. We all had a good time there, and the kids enjoyed playing with J’s toys, and listening to her books being read.

After the party we stopped for dinner at a pizza place in Katoomba. Huff was unteachable in terms of the rolling pin, but still enjoyed playing with dough. Puff made a “5” out of dough.

Mum managed to take the kids, and Bandit, out for a walk: they really love having the puppy around, even if he does have moments of insomnia. 

 Huff impressed everyone this week with learning how to say/sing “Fly away Peter, Fly away Paul. Come back Peter, come back Paul!”.

Big week. Our kids are still too young to be impacted much by school holidays, but many of there usually scheduled activities were cancelled, which means more time in indoor play centres. Huff enjoyed her time at one such centre on Friday.

But it was playing with friends that made the difference for Puff.

Saturday morning while Dad and Puff were getting haircuts together, Mum took Huff out for a babycino. It’s not quite at the point where either can relax: the risk of spilling is always present.

From there, newly haircut one and two went to a cafe to work on a crossword puzzle together (Dad did much of the heavy lifting, but it’s only a matter of time).

We did some other grocery shopping, including our first trip to Sydney Markets at Flemington (too crowded and busy to photograph, and Huff slept peacefully in the ergo carrier for most of it). Puff was rewarded for his good behaviour with a bag of peanuts – he spent much of the next two days setting up shop and “selling” them with his cash register in his pretend shop.

Sunday was some father-son time after church. Dad and Puff walked from Kevin Bacon’s house…

…all the way – despite some of it being in the rain – to the domestic airport. It was a long walk, but character building (and a welcome chance to burn some energy after an otherwise sedentary weekend).

We were there to farewell another friend, who gave presents to Huff and Puff – Huff’s new favourite “Peppa Pig” hoodie, and Puff’s solar powered helicopter.

It was Puff’s first balsa wood model (and Dad’s). At first Puff wanted Dad to do all the work of assembling, but he soon decided he could help, and we were all very happy when the rotor started turning in the sunlight the next morning.

Tuesday was a special trip to see Great Grandragon’s cousin Dorothy for her hundredth birthday, in Taree. By all reports she had a lovely time, even if the kids struggled a little with the final leg of the travel.

Puff made up a joke: knock, knock. Who’s there? Duck, duck. Duck, duck who? Duck duck goose! (Runs off).

Huff was trying to play I-spy, despite not knowing her letters. I spy something beginning with “O”. Is it inside the car? “Yes.” What is it? “Don’t know.”

We spent a lot of time with the kids this week, but didn’t take a lot of photos. Lots of normal, everyday life kinds of things, but the weekend was probably the highlight. Saturday morning we watched some videos at home with the kids in an effort to sleep in a little, but ultimately jumped in the car to drive south to a cafe. The kids we enjoying it for a while (Puff asked to be able to read their coffee book again, and Dad tried to explain the graphs to him in as interesting a way as possible). 

Huff was happy to stay in the cafe for a long while, but Puff was keen to walk around the suburb and explore. We stopped by a gallery, and spotted a blackboard for kids to use. Puff was pretty keen to draw this duckling, and then show off his duckling skills.

We kept walking for a while (Puff knows his times tables up to 6x pretty confidently, though you can tell the ones where a song has helped). He finds the zero times table the funniest.

A short drive further south and we were at Kiama, where Huff and Puff split a hot dog and walked along exploring the markets.

After a lot of walking, the best part of the trip was watching the blowhole work its magic – Huff was fairly convinced it was a dragon sneezing, and would say “achoo dragon” and “bless you dragon” alternately, stopping only to encourage Mum and Dad to keep watching in between dragon sneezes.

We thought this sign was too good an opportunity not to photograph. Mum had them say “Serious injury”, but we made sure there was no risk of that (the danger is on the other side of the sign).

The kids were keen for a lot more running around even after that, so we played on the grass near the lighthouse. They paused for a picture on this little “table” – a map showing the sights in all directions.

On the way home we called in to see Aunty C for a cup of tea, and then went home, grabbing some dinner on the way while the kids’ behaviour held out.

The next day it was rainy enough to wear gumboots to church. The kids had a great time splashing in the puddles.

Later in the day we stayed in, out of the weather, and made home-made pizzas and watched the Octonauts. It was a weekend where Dad spent enough time with the kids that when he heard someone else’s child say “Dad”, his initial thought was that the other child meant him.

There’s been some fractured sleep this week. Huff in particular is devising ever more elaborate rituals for her night-time soft toys, and calls out for help if they’re not tucked in correctly in the middle of the night.

Here’s to sunnier weekends ahead (or at least more time with the gumboots).