puff and huff

A bit of a quiet week for photo taking – Dad was out most nights, catching up with people, and we had a weekend that involved some office moving, some family time, and a lot of spending time quietly at home where we could.

Nonetheless, Huff improved her climbing skills (though like Tigger, she was happier climbing up than climbing down).

The kids helped out by playing quietly after Dad’s office move until everything was sorted out.

Both kids had a great time taking turns to ride a mobility scooter – best toy ever.

And we managed to fit in lunch with Grandragon, with a lot of colouring in and playing on the nearby playground.

There was also a trip to Woonona to do some church visiting (an encouraging sermon on what to do when facing grief and loss), a visit to a market, and some cousin bonding.

Huff has regressed a bit in terms of sleeping through the night: she still comes in to Mum and Dad more nights than not at 4am asking to be tucked back in. Knowing that it’s going to stop someday soon, we’re trying to stay positive about it.

We’re still trying to find ways to keep Puff engaged away from screens; some books and activities work better than others.

We’re getting back to a normal pattern of weeks for the most part: On Friday, Dad was taking Puff to a pre-school music lesson, which was unexpectedly cancelled. So we went for coffee. It was good to have some time to share chats and see how he was going with school for the new year.

Mum had a similar opportunity with Huff.

The big news for the week, though, was Huff getting her “big girl” bed. Here she is, pretending to sleep so we can take a photo.

She was super excited in the lead-up to the bed being delivered, but managed to have a good night’s sleep (more or less) from the first night. We’ve now seen a transition from a 4am “Dad, can you tuck me back in?” to a 4am “Dad, can you come and watch me tuck myself back in?”

This rather odd picture was from the middle of dinner – Huff decided that by ducking her head under the table and lifting her arm up, she could make a “puppet show”.

Look how crowded the kids’ room is with three beds – Dad insisted on taking down the cot straight away. It’s the end of an era – we’ve had it, in one form or another, for six years!

Puff was on a bit of a time-out from screens over the weekend, which led to a bunch of other creative play, including getting excited about making paper planes.

Sunday we had lunch with Grandragon, Uncle J and Aunty C and cousin E; there was a nearby play centre, so the kids had the chance to play. Puff is starting to get too big for play centres! It’s bizarre to look at the different obstacles, and think back over the different stages where it was too much of a challenge, or just stretching enough, to now, when it’s easy. 

Starting to get back to normal this week: Mum still needing some extra rest, but definitely getting better.

Saturday Dad was trying to sneak out for a walk, but the kids were up all of a sudden, so we decided to go for a walk together. Huff lasted a few houses before taking a drink from her backpack. She held onto the apple for a few kilometres of walking, but not the backpack. Puff walked like a champion, as expected. We saw ducks, we walked all the way to a train station.

From there (after a bit of a wait at the platform) we caught a train one stop, which Huff was especially happy about.

Later in the weekend, while catching up with Grandragon, the kids went to Yogurberry: it’s still one of their favourite places to have dessert.

Mum made it back out to try some coffee, and we wanted to see Uncle J and C. Times have changed from when we only felt comfortable holding their hands when walking around. We’re still very strict about roads, but on the footpath, especially when we know the area, they are keen to explore a little.

Huff has actually taught us a lot about stopping to smellthe roses.

Huff has been a bit all over the place in her level of comfort around being dropped off for different groups that she’s in. Sometimes she’s happy to run and be a part of whatever it is, other times she’s really clingy, and doesn’t want to leave whoever is dropping her off.

We had something like that today with the preschool drop-off, and so we brought her out of preschool a little early today, and went for a babycino,

She’s very cuddly.

Even though she had a rest, she was back watching Puff have his swimming lesson, and cheering him on in her own way.

Oh, and Puff learned (from a school friend) how to go cross-eyed. He’s very proud of the new skill.

We were expecting this to be a quiet week leading in to celebrating Huff’s 4th birthday, and it was, until we had a surprise trip to hospital for Mum, who needed to stay overnight.

Big thanks to Aunty C and Uncle J for all their help, and to everyone who helped out by providing meals and other forms of help and encouragement.

The kids didn’t seem all that worried on the way through, and were relishing their extra screen time.

On Wednesday night, with Mum settled in to stay overnight, Dad took the kids home. There was some discussion about what they might like to eat for dinner (Puff wanted fast food, Huff wanted scrambled eggs. Puff really didn’t want scrambled eggs) and we eventually ended up eating Thai food. Dad managed to order about the right amount of food for everyone, and distract the kids by encouraging them to look at the men in the kitchen cooking stir fry by flipping the food out of big woks.

Aunty C organised some flowers for Mum that were from huff and Puff. Huff was very glad to be put in charge of carrying them when we brought Mum home again on Thursday.

On the weekend, it was Huff’s birthday. She was finally 4! Here she is wearing the birthday outfit that Grandragon made for her.

Dad and Puff went for a walk and threw some paper airplanes they had been folding, despite not having seen the currently released movie of the same name.

The next morning we had sprinkle-pancakes for breakfast. Huff was a big fan.

Dad took the kids to church, so that Mum could rest at home. The kids had a lot of fun – Huff went to Sunday School for the first time, all by herself, and came back and sat by herself in the kids talk (normally she asks Dad to sit with her). She’s growing up!

Sunday we visited Grandma and Doc, and Huff had some more candles to blow out. She had a lovely birthday weekend.

And then we were back to the normal routine of life again. Puff didn’t seem worried at all about the week’s adventures. Huff was a bit anxious about being separated from Dad on those few occasions during the week where that was necessary, but generally seemed fine.

It was a reminder of how fragile life is, but we’re very grateful that Mum is on the mend.

It’s the first week of school! Things are getting back to normal. Here’s an update on what the kids look like, for future reference. 

The kids were very patient with Dad wanting to take photos of them two days in a row.

Puff was looking forward to getting back to school (Dad may have said some go-to funny things to get this response).

He was at school maybe 2 minutes before showing off his tooth gap to his friends. It’s pretty spectacular (he’s worked out how it helps with drinking straws already).

Mum and Huff had some one-on-one time with a trip to a working bakery / cafe for pancakes.

And we managed a family breakfast out. Huff was content to eat her toast and egg.

Puff was excited that the toast with egg yolk looked like a toucan, and interrupted breakfast to show this off.

It should be noted that Dad and Puff caught the train to breakfast – due to track work this involved a 2km walk, then a train ride, and then a race up escalators and stairs that was much closer in result than anyone was expecting.

And then today Dad found himself in charge of school lunches: they look very different these days. No after shot is supplied, but they ate between half and 2/3rds of their lunch on the day. Not a bad innings.

Mum is adjusting to days with both kids away, though today was a fairly packed day. More details next week!

This was the last week of the holidays, with Huff starting preschool today, and Puff back to school tomorrow. With the last Friday of the holidays, Dad took Puff in to the city on the train to see the coffee mornings crowd, where he caught up with a few people.

Saturday saw us head south to see a friend’s cafe, catch up with cousin E and her parents, and then double back for a garden party in the afternoon.

While with cousin E, we noticed that Puff had a loose tooth! More on that saga below.

At the garden party, the kids played Hungry Hungry Hippo with their newly made teenager friends, and Puff even had a go at freestyle scrabble for a while, holding his own pretty well.

Sunday was church, a visit to Grandma and Doc, and then a quiet afternoon at home. To round out the long weekend, we visited friends for a traditional Australia Day celebration. Huff had her first go at backyard cricket, which she enjoyed quite a bit, for a while.

Puff was a very helpful big brother to his little sister on her first day of preschool. 

She started the day by walking in to our room at 6am with her eyes closed saying “I’m sleepwalking”. From the moment we arrived at the preschool, she was keen to go in (asking when we were still in the carpark if we could leave her behind). After unpacking her food for the day, she made a beeline for the painting, and her big brother helped her out with her smock.

Here we were at the start of the day: proof of attendance.

Oh, and Puff had an exciting week from a tooth point of view. Sunday morning he lost his first tooth, leaving a wobbly front-bottom tooth in its wake. Today, he lost the second one, though he’s waiting for a custom pillow (with tooth pocket) for the second tooth to be liberated by mysterious forces.

We tried to counterbalance the material excess of Puff’s back-to-school haul with a new umbrella for Huff. She was very happy about it, but it’s a little sad to see how independent she’s becoming. We’ll adjust in time.

Not much of the school holidays left now – everything goes past so quickly! Before we know it, Huff will be 4. The kids continue to get along well – every now and again they’ll do something cute.

The kids have been taking a lot of trains through the holidays, but Huff still finds it Amazing that the seats flip over. Mum is great at packing the right mix of snacks and activities to have a great time. Puff is reading his science facts book at the moment, learning (and sharing) lots of different things from it.

The kids came in during the week to have lunch with Dad and we went to Hyde Park for a picnic, and then some soft serve.

On Saturday we went to the Central Coast to visit a friend; the kids were loving spending time on the balcony, but the best part was spending time on Caves Beach – they were splashing around in some shallow pools, and even in the surf for a while. We made sandcastles, splashed around: it was a great day.

This week Mum took the kids to IKEA – Huff wasn’t sure about Smalland at first, but decided to go in once she saw that Peppa Pig was on the TV. They both had a great time.

Oh, and bingo was back on for the year, earlier than expected, so Puff had a chance to go along – he won a meat tray, and some groceries. He was very proud.

We’ve seen a few nightmares this week. Literally! The kids come in at different times, worried about different things. Dad has been learning the skill of clarifying his sleepy thinking to answer very surreal questions with reassuring words.

This week there was a lot of public transport, with Mum or Dad supervising. Saturday, Dad caught the train in to Glebe with Puff to meet Mum and Huff, then Huff and Dad went on a public transport adventure – with her 4th birthday approaching, the window of free public transport is almost closed.

Some more details follow, but here we are showing off our new sunglasses from the shop. These were the second ones she picked – the first pair had yellow lenses and so weren’t going to provide much glare protection.

During the week, Mum brought the kids in for some lunch. Puff saw the hotdogs and was keen to give one a try. He made it about half-way through.

There was a quick trip to a lolly shop as well. Huff picked something that looked like a wand.

Puff was trying to figure out what kind of lolly he could share with Dad, but was given free reign.

As we keep trying to balance out screen time from non-screen-time, the kids have been spending more time doing analogue things.

Back to the public transport adventure. Bus ride to Circular Quay, ferry to Darling Harbour, tram to Chinatown where we saw this busker, who asked for a photo with Huff.

All Huff really wanted, though, was to ride on another train, and be able to see the seats change direction. She has simple tastes.

One other thing I wanted to capture was the way Huff (despite her still-short legs) rides on escalators. She will deliberately line up her feet in this way, so she is riding on two steps at once. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Sunday we went for lunch after church. Huff slept through the meal, but Puff asked for a milkshake. It was nearly the size of his head, but he finished it (with a bit of help from Huff) by the end of the day.

The countdown to Huff’s birthday continues next week.

Also, Puff, impatient with Huff’s inability to take his reading of a science book seriously said her talking was “259% crazy talk”. 

We caught up with friends and did a photomosaic jigsaw puzzle while the kids played with a lot of lego.

Back after some time away, so this is a two-week-update-in-one post. 

Christmas Eve we went down to have dinner with cousin E. The kids had a great time in the Christmas outfits aunty C had made (and playing screens), and it was good to see Grandragon and uncle J as well.

Christmas Day was very busy: we had presents, church, lunch with Grandma and Doc, and then some afternoon tea with some old school friends of Dad.

Boxing Day we had brunch with a friend, and the kids continued to re-read “The Book with No Pictures” to each other, even after the adults had stopped reading them.

Dad had a great time playing with the kinetic sand, and occasionally sharing it with the kids.

Dad and the kids also had a trip to the Opera House with Grandma to see a pantomime – “The Tiger who came to Tea”. We had a picnic in the Botanic Gardens beforehand, saw the pantomime (which both kids loved), and had gelato afterwards.

On the way back, we called in at the State Library to look at the Hairy Maclary exhibition – it took a while for the kids to get past the TV that was showing the episodes of the animated TV version, but they enjoyed the books as well.

We went to Canberra for an interstate break. While Mum went to do some grocery shopping, Dad and the kids went for a walk. For the kids, everything was new, and Huff was keen to explore the “towers” and other buildings, which turned out to be bus stops.

The main reason for going to Canberra was to go back to Questacon, and make sure we’d seen everything that was there. We learned a lot of different science-y things, and Puff and Huff made (among other things) some paper helicopters. We also saw a dinosaur puppet show called “The Lizard of Oz”.

We went back to the kids area of Questacon, and Huff dressed up as a vet.

The next day we went to the National Dinosaur Museum. The kids had a lot of fun playing with the large dinosaur sculptures. Here’s Huff.

Puff had an even larger dinosaur friend.

The museum was well set up for kids to visit – here’s the large dinosaur head you can walk through on the way in.

We also had some places to sit and have photos taken. Dad managed to scrunch into the background of this dinosaur egg.

We went from there to have dumplings, and then went to Koko Black. Here’s Huff having something deliciously chocolatey. 

And here’s Puff, who doesn’t like chocolate, having the one thing on the menu that doesn’t have chocolate in it.

For New Year’s Eve, we spent time with friends and their kids. Despite our best intentions, the kids made it up late enough to watch the fireworks. Here they are, playing with glow sticks (there were also sparklers).

On our last day in Canberra, we wanted to find a way for the kids to have a run around. We went back to the Tunnel Playground near Lake Burley Griffin.

Lastly in the holiday, we went to another friends’ house, and even had an ocean swim as a family (no photos). Puff was very happy with his robot lamp – have a look!

It’s the last week before Christmas. It’s been a mix of family catch-ups and shopping-related adventures.

We’ve tried to give the kids a chance to get some naps so they can survive staying up late, but it’s a balancing act: once they have had one nap, it’s hard to get them to stay in bed later in the night.

The kids had a great time opening presents: Puff is keeping a running tally of how many presents have been opened ahead of Christmas Day.

Sunday morning, to give Kel a bit of a break, Dad walked the kids to church. Huff was a bit sad that Mum was missing, as when we walked past this sign, we didn’t have two adults and two children.

We had brought some snacks: a dinner roll each. Huff decided to use hers as a mobile phone, and called Mum on it a couple of times. Once we reached these ducks, though, all bets were off. The phones quickly became duck food, which was about as good as life gets for the kids.

Despite not having much sleep, they walked all the way to church (a couple of kilometres) and then ran around for 20 minutes before church started!

It’s a good stage of life. Hope you have a good Christmas!