We had a great little overnight trip up to the Hunter Valley to see the Christmas lights display (which continue on until Australia Day). We stayed at the Hunter Resort and Puff enjoyed learning about grapes and how they grow.
The real highlight of the trip for the kids was the lights display. We arrived around 6:30pm for dinner, and then walked through the park – it’s a long way, and we were glad we brought the stroller! Puff managed to walk for some of it.
Huff enjoyed looking at the different shapes and colours – there was a lot that she recognised.
After sunset, the lights are even more impressive. Mum managed to find some glow-in-the-dark bracelets for the kids which were a big hit – Huff was still wearing hers after bedtime.
The next day we had a look at some of Mum and Dad’s favourite parts of the Hunter Valley. Huff managed to sit through a fair amount of a wine appreciation seminar, but Dad had to take her out after a while in search of Sam (“Yam”), the winery’s dog. Here’s Huff mid-way through a walk around the balcony at Audrey Wilkinson.
Once back in Sydney, Dad took Puff out in search of coffee. We split a brownie, and Puff was impressed, once his babycino cooled down.
On Australia Day too, we went to a friend’s house for a party. Here are the kids enjoying a picnic dinner.
Sunday morning was breakfast with Dad and Puff again – Puff picked the button-up shirt because it would make him look handsome. It did.
After church, we went for afternoon tea at a cafe in Marrickville. Huff had a good go at a milkshake.
Monday was a chance to catch up with one of Dad’s old friends from uni. The kids had fun playing with a variety of board games, and even managed to try out the piano (and some other instruments).
Oh, and today was Puff’s first day at preschool. How quickly the time has gone! Mum and Dad have both been a bit sad to see a new chapter of life starting up: have we done enough to prepare him for this new transition?
By all accounts, he had a great day, and is even looking forward to going back. Huff was a bit sad that he didn’t stay around, but managed to cope okay.
Despite lots of late nights this weeks, the kids were – for the most part – well behaved.
A slightly quieter week with Dad, again, spending some more time than usual looking after the kids. It was tricky keeping them quiet for church on Sunday with only one parent wrangling: perhaps more practice is in order.
Mum took the kids to a petting zoo that was conveniently located at Hurstville Westfield. Puff is fearless with animals now.
Huff took a bit longer to warm to them, but enjoyed it (perhaps more than this photo would suggest).
There were lots of different animals around.
Huff is more confident on her feet every day. Dad already has a sense of “what was he worrying about” with her walking, and yet the memory of not knowing when she’d learn is still acute. Here she is showing off climbing up a slippery dip: she’s still careful when she needs to be, but the confidence to try is there.
On a cafe trip, we spotted a phone booth with a little shelf – it seemed perfect for a flying baby type of photo.
Puff was keen to give it a try too.
Friday was a really hot day in Sydney (45.8 degrees) – so Huff and Puff had slurpees, and ice creams. Despite all the extra sugar, Huff still had a nap in the afternoon. The smartie pop-ups are probably the tidiest ice creams on the market: recommended.
On the weekend, we went looking at a couple of cafes. With Huff sleeping, Puff and Dad had the chance to spend some time together – we worked on one of Puff’s find-a-word / find-a-picture puzzles for a while.
Looking for a break from her car seat while we were parked for a while, Huff had a chance to play in the car with Mum. She was very reluctant to give up the grown-up seat when it was time to go back in the car.
Other highlights
a chance for the kids to Skype with an old friend
Puff worked out a way to take off his sunglasses while looking particularly cool
Dad looking after the kids solo on a hot day and a church morning service
A friend was asking me today what’s the best and worst thing about having kids. The best thing is the moments of pure, childlike happiness. The worst thing is everything else. Sure, I was going for the laugh, and that’s too reductionistic, but the great things about kids are really great, the bad things are incredibly frustrating, and life branches off to a different path to the pre-kids time.
But desserts are forever sweeter when you see them through someone else’s eyes.
It’s been a big week: even Puff needed to have an in-stroller nap at one stage!
After another big day of travelling, both kids slept in the car.
Puff managed to beat Dad at air-hockey, and then Mum beat Dad at air hockey while holding Huff.
The kids are having a great time with their new water bottles. Huff struggles a bit to carry hers when she’s walking, but she’s much more confident walking.
Today Mum, Huff and Puff had a trip to IKEA with Aunty S.
Other highlights
Dad had a lunch break with the kids two days in a row, once so that Mum could go to an appointment, and once so that he could see them before Dad went out with friends
The kids had a number of trips to IKEA (Huff recognises the sign and says the name of the store)
Cafe breakfast with the kids, and a friend’s birthday party
Church on Sunday and a lazy afternoon with church friends.
This evening we escaped the heat of Sydney to go to a friend’s house for a swim. Huff is becoming ever more confident in her walking, insisting on going the long way where she can, and not worrying about any potential danger of falling.
Grandragon and Bandit headed back to Queensland on Sunday. Huff especially has loved having a little puppy around. We could tell she recognised our driveway – she would call out “Mandit” or “Bandit” depending on her mood.
She was very sad to say goodbye (to Bandit, and to the Grandragon).
We had dinner with C&J and the Grandragon on Friday night, and then Saturday was a trip into the city for Mum, Dad, Huff and Puff. We went to yum cha with friends, then headed down to Darling Harbour to surprise the kids. It was the opening of the Sydney Festival, and there was a 5-storey-high duck being sailed into Darling Harbour.
To help with celebrations, they were handing out duck whistles in the shape of duck bills.
Huff couldn’t quite work out how to make noise with hers, but was relatively happy to sit with us in the sun for an hour or so and watch the entertainment.
As you can see, it was a very large duck.
Sunday after church we visited friends who had a slip and slide. Puff and Huff had fun playing on it, although they didn’t quite understand the sliding aspect of the play.
Mum challenged Puff to a game of air hockey on Monday. It was a very close call, but Puff managed to win.
Puff also made up a new joke:
What do you call it when you cool down in a place where there’s water? Pool-ing down!
Happy New Year! It’s been something of an exhausting week, despite being on holidays. Late nights, not much sleep, and not a lot of photos having been taken this week. Let’s have a look back at what we’ve been doing.
Boxing Day was a trip down to Wollongong for brunch with Aunty C and Uncle J. Puff and Huff played with Huff’s Mr Potato Head toys – for the most part, it’s great to see them playing together, and then occasionally it’s a little painful to watch when they fight. Huff has gone from saying her name when she’s trying to assert her ownership over a thing or a task to saying “mine!” which is much less adorable.
The day after boxing day was cubby-house working bee day. S came over to help Dad overcome his lack of DIY skills, and we moved the cubby house from the front yard to the back, rebuilt it and put a new roof on it. Everyone involved was sunburnt by the end of it, but we had a stable play area that is in a much safer spot for the kids to play in.
Both Huff and Puff love the new cubby house: we have a couple of minor additions planned for later in the week, but even now, Huff says “more! more!” when it’s time to go back inside, which is a good sign for the weeks to come.
The next day we trekked across Sydney to spend most of the day with friends and have our kids play with their kids. Lots of fun was had, but the photos tended to be too embarrassing for at least one of the people involved. Huff’s highlight was feeding a rabbit with a carrot, and Puff’s was probably sitting in a large bucket of water (just a little smaller than a paddling pool).
On Saturday, it was time to plant Puff’s Christmas present – some sweet corn seedlings. Dad dug out a new garden bed in the backyard. Puff helped, and also composed a song about digging. Here’s our budding gardener standing in front of the finished patch.
At church, Huff is continuing to exert her independence, insisting on exploring the outdoor environment, and walk by herself on ramps. This has resulted in some minor abrasions this week when she walked too fast down an incline. Mum picked her up to comfort her, but she insisted on being put down and trying again: it looks like her stubbornness about not walking has been replaced with a stubbornness to master it. Dad would like to take a little of the credit, sneaking her out for some walking practice while everyone else was playing video games, but it’s likely that this is – at last – her time to try walking.
New Year’s Eve saw the family head to another friend’s house for a quiet dinner and other pleasant distractions. The kids lasted past the 9pm fireworks, and then Dad took them home for bed – they were asleep by the time we were a few kilometres from home.
Huff’s vocabulary continues to increase. Some of her words aren’t particularly clear yet (at least to Dad) but they’re put forth with a lot of passion.
Mum and Dad have enjoyed a couple of nights out (once to see a movie, and once for a late dinner) with the Grandragon around to watch the kids.
Breakfast out as a family continues to be a challenge – it seems like fun in theory, but is generally a bit of a struggle, laying down consistent discipline to try and keep the kids quiet and well behaved.
Puff is enjoying his new bible (an NIrV translation) – Dad’s been reading sections to him, and he’s asking some interesting questions about what he’s hearing.
Happy Christmas! It’s late on Christmas night after a big day (and not much sleep the night before). Dad seems to be reaching a point where Christmas is more about seeing family members and watching the reactions to presents than receiving presents. It’s a nice place to reach.
The week leading up to Christmas was a somewhat busy one. Kel brought the kids in for dinner after work. The food court where we usually have laksa had complimentary balloon animals made-to-order. Huff and Puff enjoyed playing with their animals once dinner was over, though Huff was looking intently at hers trying to work out how hers could be deconstructed back to being a balloon.
Mum has gone to some trouble doing cooking and baking for a variety of recipients, and having Puff (and, as it turns out, his sister who tends to copy everything she can see her brother doing) help by decorating things. Here’s Puff working away with some edible icing to decorate the various Christmas-shaped biscuits.
Huff impressed everyone at Dad’s work when visiting (here she is with a candy cane in each hand – it’s been a big week for sugar consumption).
We managed to track down Uncle J for a brief visit – Puff persuaded him to provide a “piggy back” (there’s still some disagreement on the difference between a piggy back and riding on someone’s shoulders),
Puff is still enjoying being Bandit’s ‘dad’ (or ‘pretend dad’ depending on Puff’s mood). Dad took Puff and Bandit out for a Sunday morning walk – Puff is getting better at having Bandit obey his instructions.
We augmented a couple of already-late nights by saying “they’re already up: let’s see if there are any Christmas lights”. Puff and Huff have both been highly impressed with some of these places – the high point for Puff in both places has been the quasi-animatronic animals. One house had a polar bear singing carols into a microphone, and the other had a couple of Adelie penguins standing still.
Needless to say, Huff has been taking additional naps this week. She tends to get a bit sweaty, so we’ve been varying her outfits accordingly to try and make sure she can rest comfortably.
The Grandragon arrived on Christmas eve – here’s everyone preparing biscuits for Christmas day.
Huff wasn’t entirely convinced about the tradition of wearing tissue-paper crowns from Christmas crackers, so this photo had to be taken quickly.
Overall we were really happy with the way the kids handled themselves on Christmas Day, expressing gratitude for gifts and – for the most part – not nagging about presents or special treats. Their Mum has done a great job with them.
Dad’s first week back at work. We still managed to make time for some family activities. Dad had a couple of lifts into work with the family: Puff was very sad to find out that the Emperor Puff shop doesn’t open until midday.
While Puff was getting a much-needed haircut, Huff was reading dinosaur colouring books. Here she is making dinosaur faces.
This was also the week that she decided to start playing with dolls. She’s named this rag-doll “baby”, and likes to push her around in the stroller, to read to her, and even to put her into a toy truck and push her around. You may be able to spot here her trademark “knee-walking” – her preferred method of travel for when she needs to reach up higher than she can when crawling.
Saturday we had breakfast out at a cafe as a family. We ordered smoothies for the kids before realising that their t-shirts matched their drinks. Here’s Puff’s mango smoothie.
And Huff’s blueberry smoothie. From there (Newtown) Dad, Puff and Huff walked in the stroller to Glebe markets to have a look for some Christmas presents. Puff sang the song from “baby monkey riding backwards on a pig” while Huff slept.
From the markets we headed to another cafe for some video games. The highlight for Huff was getting a piggyback with Dad.
Puff preferred trying his hand at a few old coin-op style games. The favourite was Junior Pacman. It was good to see him able to make more sense of using a joystick.
Both Huff and Puff have enjoyed having Bandit around for his holiday.
At church on Sunday, both kids were presented with books. Huff liked hers, and flicked through it.
Puff had already finished reading his before he reached his seat, and by Monday night had memorised the whole thing (including the inscription in the front of the book) to recite to Uncle Jordan and Dad.
Huff is using a wider variety of words now: she knows the different features on her face, and other peoples’ faces. She can make animal noises and say the names of a few animals. More importantly, she has moments where she’s prepared to echo words that are said to her. We’re pleased with her progress.
Un-photographed: Puff and Huff went swimming on Sunday in a friend’s pool; we visited Grandma and Doc, and Aunty S and Uncle A, and we had a late night Tuesday spending time with some old friends.
Double week this time around, as we were away on holidays last week. I uploaded some photos, but was having something of a laptop sabbatical.
Let’s start with the first week. We spent the first couple of days still in Sydney. Wednesday we dropped the car in for a pre-road-trip service. Dad and Puff caught the train into the city. Puff was super excited to get off the train at Museum (his first trip to Museum station).
After a bit of Christmas shopping, we managed to meet up with Mum and look at the DJ’s Christmas windows. We had less success trying to take the kids to a kind of high tea at Westfield Sydney, and walked most of the way across the city to grab some emperor puffs before heading back to pick up the car from the mechanic. Puff insisted on pushing the stroller uphill for a while. What he lacked in steering, he made up for in enthusiasm.
On Thursday, after Puff’s final Kindermusik class for the year, we headed north. We stopped at Hexham service station to give the kids some food, and a chance to play in a little playground. I’ve rarely seen Huff so happy in one of these places, but she had a great time crawling around and following her big brother.
Thursday night we had dinner with old friends and caught up with them, staying up fairly late. The kids slept well, even though we were all in the same room (much to our relief).
Friday we drove to Coffs Harbour. We booked through the wotif app and ended up with a 3br unit to stay overnight: this meant that the kids had their own space, and we had our own space.
The next morning we headed to the Big Banana. It was only a short stay, but Puff said banana at least 100 times in the short space of time. Huff shared a chocolate coated frozen banana with Dad, and Puff ate most of a banana split, and then asked if we could buy him another banana to eat in the car. We also picked up a fridge magnet each to help the kids remember the trip.
At last on Saturday we arrived in the Gold Coast to stay with our friends. Huff was transfixed by their TV, and this indeed seemed a fixture of the stay.
We visited the Grandragon and the Great Grandragon. Though they enjoyed seeing their relatives, the high point may well have been being allowed to play phone games.
Our friends kids H (pictured) and Z (out of frame) were our companions for most of the week. Everyone managed to get along (for the most part) really well.
Very exciting news for Huff, who took her first unassisted steps this week. She is still shy about it, but has replicated the feat many times. She’s also learned to say her name (all the syllables).
Dad wanted to take the family to see some cafes in the gold coast, so on Tuesday we loaded everyone into the car and went looking at some recommended spots.
Another cafe was much better suited to visiting children, giving them a choice of activities to amuse themselves.
One brief instance of disagreement between the kids was over night-time toys. Puff was hiding some of his things in obscure played in his borrowed room. Our host only just found the prize today!
Huff – when she feels like it – can mimic other peoples’ efforts on the harmonica.
On our way home from the Gold Coast we stopped at Tropical Fruit World to buy some fruit. Puff’s favourite was the star fruit: he set up a star fruit ‘shop’ in the skin of the dragon fruit.
We stopped in Nambucca Heads on the way south. Here’s Huff, Puff and Bandit at the V Wall.
Mum and Dad also took the kids to the place where Dad asked Mum out, many years ago. Puff was unimpressed at the lack of fridge magnets, and Huff was asleep!
We continued our tour of big things on the way south – here’s Taree’s Big Oyster.
We made it back to Sydney late on Friday night, which meant that our efforts to have a family breakfast out of the house were met with a lack of enthusiasm.
Some cake pops for dessert after a breakfast for Uncle S’s birthday seemed to brighten Huff’s mood.
Saturday night was our church’s annual Christmas Carol night. There was face painting, so Puff decided to be a green cat.
Puff (front row, centre) did a great job singing in the pageant, though he was shining his torch on the currently-sung word, rather than concentrating on the singing itself.
Overall, this has been the best road trip we’ve taken since becoming parents. The kids slept consistently well, and behaved themselves spectacularly in the car. Looking forward to the next trip!
A funny week – part last-week-of-work, and part first-week-of-holidays. Lots of waiting for the kids, but a lot of fun too.
The kids had to queue up for a while in this space – the staff were very impressed with their good behaviour (access to the iPhone didn’t hurt, but they managed to make their own fun just by looking out the window and notice what was going on). Huff is getting better at noticing her surroundings and pointing them out – if she sees a dog, she’ll say “woof” (or “oof”, depending on how tired she is).
Wednesday night was a farewell dinner for a friend. The kids had a very late night, but managed to keep their composure well. These giant pipe cleaners helped.
Thursday the kids came in for a hot chocolate at lunchtime. Huff has taken to pouting sometimes, knowing that it amuses us. We say “duck face”, and she will make this face. Here she is after her babycino (note the chocolate eyebrow). Puff, never one to miss out, pulls the same face at a similar time.
Saturday saw us make a trip down to Wollongong to see Aunty C. With exams over, Dad could finally break out the DSLR camera (though it’s still hard to find time/space to use it). There’s lots of taking pictures of the kids and then showing them the pictures.
After breakfast, Puff and Dad went for a fountain walk down Wollongong mall, and then we all headed to a park at Towradgi. Puff bravely climbed some very tall structures – he’s reached a solid level of confidence that’s encouraging to see.
At church on Sunday, Puff was teaching himself how to ride a scooter (with some tips from the bigger kids).
After church we headed south again, this time to visit some other friends. Everyone was keen to hear Dad read them a story.
Monday was a family day of errands, and today was a mix of meetings, coffee, Scrabble, and visits to Grandma and Doc. Mum and Puff collaborated on the Scrabble game, but it seems that Puff is getting the hang of it (“What’s a word that ends in ‘N’?” Puff: “Pigeon?”).
Huff made Doc lots of pretend cups of tea with a borrowed tea set – she likes him a lot, and has her own word for him (“gock”). There’s still plenty of time for her to switch to pretend coffee.
Lots on this week: Dad had an exam on Monday, and spent much of the weekend trying to study. To try and make the most of family time, we did a few fun things together. Wednesday night we had dinner together in Hurstville. Puff and Huff had dumplings and noodles, and Huff entertained us by blowing on her food to try and cool it down.
Puff was very patient waiting for his dinner, while Huff had to be entertained by watching a Hairy Maclary video on Mum’s phone. Yes, we’re *those* parents, although we put the phone away once the food arrives.
Friday night we had dinner in the city with Dad after work. We tried out the giant Fruit Ninja FX game they have at an arcade. Puff managed to win 70 tickets from $5 worth of games. We exchanged the tickets for a plastic spinning top, and a wand for Huff. The wand was of such dubious build quality that it had broken into several pieces before the first car trip.
Huff and Puff went with Mum down to visit Aunty C. For craft, they each made cake pops. Huff made a big mess eating hers, but her face was as much covered with a grin as chocolate.
Huff is good enough at balancing to write on a blackboard while leaning against it. Huff really likes random drawing, while Puff puts more effort into trying to draw letter forms and write words.
Before his Saturday afternoon studying, Dad took Puff (and a late rising Huff) to Eveleigh markets for breakfast, and then for babycinos afterward. Huff did herself proud balancing on a stool – she didn’t even make an attempt to throw herself down.
Sunday morning Mum graciously organised for Dad to have a sleep in, and took Puff out for breakfast while Huff slept. You can tell from the photo that Puff had a great time reliving the days when he had Mum all to himself. In his typical selfless way, he tried to take Mum to a cafe where he could buy takeaway coffee for Dad.
Puff was telling Mum that he only has “half fun” when he’s with one parent. To have “whole fun”, the whole family needs to be together.
Huff has a new favourite game to play (apart from “round and round the garden like a teddy bear”, which she never seems to tire of). Sitting in her car seat while we’re driving, she’ll say “Dad! Dad!”. When Dad responds, she laughs. She’s too young for knock and run, but this seems a close cousin of that game.
When we went for dinner at IKEA one afternoon, a primary school aged child said “hello! how do you do?” as Puff walked past. He wasn’t being a bully, but he wasn’t expecting it when Puff stopped and shook hands with him.
Out at a cafe with Mum, Puff noticed someone he knew was there, and shared half Mum’s banana bread. He’s a very generous kid. Huff’s first instinct is not to share.
