Huff is getting back into the swing of sleeping through the night. Some nights she sleeps through, other nights she wakes up once (and sometimes twice). Puff, with one exception, is still getting up twice or more in the night. This hasn’t been great for Dad’s sleep patterns, and he seems to be sick again.
Huff is loving her different choices of food. (She’s pretty handy with a mango seed). Her favourite seems to be broccolini, but she makes a tremendous mess with whatever she’s handled, while remaining resolutely cheerful about it.
Huff is better able to sit up for longer periods: here she is playing near Puff while he plays with his Duplo.
On Friday, Mum, Huff and Puff came into the office to have lunch with Dad. Here’s a photo of a quite fidgety Puff with Dad.
Mum had Puff help out making a salad – bocconcini, basil and tomato. He was pretty dextrous with a toothpick, but not quite ready for TV cooking shows.
Saturday was a trip to Bowral Markets; Puff enjoyed walking around and being very polite to the stallholders, and soaking up the free samples. Here he is checking his height with the conveniently located giraffe.
It was a good little Saturday outing – we had some family time, then visited our friends in a nearby town for lunch.
The last milestone for this week was the arrival of Puff’s new bed (a full-size single bed from ‘bunkers’). He helped out with the assembly, kind of.
Here he is, looking very small on his new (full-size single) bed.
We’re all starting to get healthy again, at different paces. Huff now has six teeth, which is well ahead of schedule, and making for an unpredictable sleeping routine. To compensate, Puff has also been getting up, sometimes as often as five or six times per night, asking to be taken back to bed. This is wearing pretty thin, but we’re hoping for a breakthrough soon.
Huff runs an emotional spectrum between inconsolable and ridiculously cheerful and smiley. We try and photograph the good moods, and wait through the bad ones.
Wednesday was a trip to a nearby play centre, where Huff had her first play in a ball pit. Now that she can sit up more reliably, she seemed to enjoy it a lot.
Puff, an old veteran at such things, still managed to be a good big brother in the way he was playing.
Thursday night was a trip to Huff’s first tweetup: Sydribs. We ate ribs and other things, and Huff just looked around and was generally cute.
On the weekend we visited Grandma and Doc: Puff’s reading is improving: at the moment he’s a little obsessed with a Wiggles activity book he was given. Here he is reading it to Doc.
On (public holiday) Monday morning, Dad took Huff and Puff out in the car to a cafe while Mum had a sleep-in. It was an adrenaline rush to look after both of them, but it went pretty smoothly.
Monday was also a visit to a friend’s house, where Puff actually seemed to be playing *with* our friends’ kids, not just near them.
Today involved a visit to Aunty C and Uncle J’s. A very tired Puff had a long sleep in a big bed.
Another week where everyone was sick. It’s been hard for us to get better with Huff not sleeping very well. On the positive side, after a few weeks of saying “da da da” and “bu bu bu”, she’s had a go at saying “ma ma”. Mum is very pleased.
As you can see, Huff has a lot of teeth coming through – it seems that every time Dad picks her up she has a new tooth!
A trip up to the mountains with Mum led to Huff’s first go on a swing. She lasted very briefly in a cheerful upright position, and then tried to throw herself backwards! She might need to wait a bit longer before this is a regular piece of play equipment. Aunty C also took Huff on a slide, but we don’t have a photo of it.
Saturday saw the four of us take a trip to Eveleigh markets: we hada lot of fun breakfasting together and watching cooking demonstrations!
Saturday was a long day, and Puff didn’t start his afternoon nap until after 4:30pm. Oddly, he slept through from that nap until the next morning, completely missing out on seeing our dinner guests. When he awoke the next morning, he found the pipe cleaners that he’d been given – he was very excited.
On Sunday afternoon, Puff met a friend’s dog – Sophie – he was very excited to make her acquaintance.
After that, we called in to see Grandma and Doc, but again, no photos. Hoping that everyone gets better this week!
This week Dad has had some time off, and we spent almost the whole week up in Queensland with our friends M&T, and little H.
Despite our fears about how the flight would go, Huff had a great time on the plane. One of her favourite things (when she wasn’t being fed) was the in-flight screen: she was trying to touch the things on the screen as they appeared!
Puff coped differently – when he wasn’t playing with a sticker book or having snacks, he was reading the inflight safety card.
Once on the ground, we went to see the grandragon.
We stayed with our friends M&T – they were great hosts, but the kids never quite adjusted to the sleeping routine. Puff was confused because he didn’t have a clock to check, so he kept getting up to ask Dad if it was time to wake up! On the positive side, there was a great coffee machine to use. Huff helped out a couple of mornings with the coffee making, in her own way.
On Friday (as it turned out, the last day of school term in Queensland) we went to Seaworld. This meant that it was easy to find a parking spot, and that there wasn’t much queueing. On the other hand, it wasn’t a promising start:
He woke up easily enough, and was ready to go through the ticket gates where we paid $50 for him (at 3, he’s a child, not an infant) and had a great day. Here’s the feeding of the sting ray (which, to be honest, wasn’t his favourite part of the day).
Against his better judgment, he came along on this viking boat ride – he enjoyed it, but didn’t want to go again.
His favourite part of the day was the water jets in the kids area – he ran around happy getting soaked. He liked it so much he had two goes at it – the first time, Mum told him that his time was up, and he had only one more lap of the water area to go. He took five goes instead, and so was in trouble for being disobedient. The rest of the day he was really well-behaved, so we gave him another chance around 5pm. When it was time to go, Mum told him he could have five more laps of the water jets, and then – after only one lap – the water was switched off. Sadly for Mum, Puff blamed Mum for the sudden switching off the water.
Here’s an updated family photo.
Puff had a great time staying with M&T. Here he is with H.
Huff had some problems sleeping while we were away, but it seems like this was because she has more teeth coming through.
We went to a playground where there was a nearby bouncing castle. Puff talked his way into the castle, and had fun “playing his walking game”.
At a cousin’s baby shower, Puff had a great time playing with their dog Tyson (a very friendly and longsuffering pet). We had a few problems with outfit changes for the kids on the way to the party, but we made it!
On our last night in the Gold Coast, we headed out for dinner with the Grandragon. Puff was so tired that he made it all the way into the restaurant asleep. He woke up, though, and did a great job eating his dinner, even being awarded an avocado for his good manners.
Thanks must go to Aunty C and Uncle J for looking after our house, and helping us get to and from the airport.
This is the first weekend in a while where no-one has been sick, so it’s been a lot of fun. We made a trip to Eveleigh markets, Puff and Dad walked the Bay Run, we bought a bed, went to Parramatta Westfield, visited some family members, and then had church and some church friends over for a barbecue.
Huff is getting stronger, and can remain seated once she’s correctly set up. She will also try and grab anything that’s within reach.
Very exciting news: Huff has worked out how to eat with a spoon. There’s been a few troubling meals where she made a mess and looked back blankly, but tonight she’s done well.
She also said her first words this week: “da da da”. We have one happy parent, and one less happy parent (Puff’s first words were “muh muh muh”.
One thing we’ve been looking forward to is Puff being old enough to actually use the Wii Fit. Here is his new little avatar. He no longer has to be carried to be weighed on the Wii Fit.
He still finds the gameplay alternatively compelling and hilarious.
We had a trip to the club this week, and Puff ordered a pizza, but there was nothing on the kids menu, so he ended up having one or two slices of this giant pizza, and had a great time (as usual) watching the “screen with the numbers on it”.
This week has also seen Puff obsess over the Octonauts a little bit. He has a new ritual of calling himself Kwazii (the kitten), and closing one eye. He asks “how are you going daddy?”, and then, if called by his name, he will correct Dad, saying “no Daddy, I have one eye closed.” This ritual only ends once he’s called Kwazii. He was as excited as I’ve ever seen him when he had the chance to colour in some Kwazii pictures.
Lastly, today, on a trip to Aunty C & Uncle J’s house, he played his first game of Trouble which, by all accounts, he quite enjoyed.
Huff’s teething adventures have reduced the amount of sleep in the house (she’s jumped from one tooth to three in the last few days), which has caused a little bit of tension, but hopefully is drawing to a close.
Another week with lots of adventures: we’re all trying to catch up on sleep a little.
One of the benefits of spending time with her aunties is the fun things that they get to do together.
Huff is more and more interested in her surroundings. Pick her up and she’ll look around eagerly (holding your gaze for many seconds at a time), and if she’s within reach of anything, she’ll make a grab for it – here she is grabbing Dad’s hair.
Part of her being unsettled comes from teething – here’s a picture of her first tooth.
With the tooth coming through, she’s been a bit more settled with people who she normally screams at. Here she is getting cuddles with Grandma.
Huff is also starting to be more competent at sitting up. Here she is spending some time with her friend O.
Saturday was a big day. With Huff still sleeping, Dad and Puff snuck out of the house for a quick breakfast, and to read the Cat in the Hat.
After that we headed down to Braemar to look at trains with our friends from Canberra. He had a great time watching the trains, and didn’t want to leave!
Fathers’ day was Sunday. Mum had a bit of a sleep in and Dad had the chance to spend time with Puff and Huff for a little while. Life has certainly changed for Dad in the past three years: busier, richer, and much more challenging.
Tonight we made a trip to IKEA in search of a new place for Puff to sleep (sadly, they were out of stock of the one thing that we wanted). His favourite part of the trip? A hot dog before we started the trip through.
And it’s come and gone. Puff is now a three year old. With sickness still floating around the house, and Dad working on Saturday it was a bit of a quiet celebration at first, but he was happy to have hit this latest milestone. He has a renewed passion for opening presents, and has started surprising us by how much of his birthday cards he can read, even when they’re hand-written!
Huff continues to thrive and grow – she doesn’t like to be left alone (except for a short period time at the start of each day, where she’ll happily play on her play mat), but she’s generally happy in her Dad’s arms.
It seems that she’s a bit ticklish now – here’s Mum taking advantage of this for some giggling.
Puff went to J’s birthday party on Saturday, dressed in the dragon costume that C&J gave him. He had a great time flapping his wings on the trampoline.
Another high-point for our animal-loving boy was meeting this giant monkey.
One last one of the full costume.
Sunday we went to church in the morning, and then off to the (Taronga) zoo! Puff saw three lions, a tiger (“it looks a bit like a tigger”), a lemur (“I like to move it move it”), and a number of other animals. We caught the skyway back up to the top of the zoo (“I can see lots of special cable cars”). We wrapped up with dinner and gelato in Crows Nest. Overall, he had a fantastic day.
Another week where various people were sick at various times, not least Dad, who had a couple of days off work, and is left wondering if his immune system is ever going to be the same again.
Puff was well overdue for a haircut this week. He visited Grandma at work, and spent some time visiting a classroom. He did so well, that he scored a lot of stickers: they even gave him an award for good behaviour.
Aunty C surprised Mum just in time to test out the new stroller configuration at the shops – it went well.
Here’s a photo of Huff and Puff together at the shops – they continue to get along well.
With Puff’s birthday only a few days away, and Dad having to work the Saturday after his birthday, we had a bit of a get-together for his birthday. It was going to be out at a park, but bad weather meant that we moved it back home. He was a bit stressed (he knew that it wasn’t his birthday until Friday), but managed to enjoy himself. Here’s the cake that Aunty C made.
One of the favourite activities (of sorts) was to have run the bubble machine. Puff and several of his friends ran around chasing bubbles and having a great time.
Oh, and he finally had a haircut too. You can see here that his cheeks are a bit red. Doc told us that this was a “viral rash” (another ailment we’d never heard of before) which indeed went away after a few days.
And so that marks the last blog update for Puff’s third year of life. See you next week!
It’s been a week where Puff has spent a lot of time sick – tonsillitis, and so for once we have more pictures of Huff than of Puff.
We called in to Grandma and Doc’s house over the weekend, where Grandma had some cuddles with Huff while she was in a good mood.
She has a very mischievous smile.
One of the odd things about seeing a baby interact with everyday objects is how much of a blank slate they work from. Huff is learning how to use a spoon, yet she has no idea of how a spoon works. She’s not sure which end of it to put in her mouth, or even if she should put the ends into her mouth, or the flat of the spoon.
With Puff sick, the normal order of household tasks has been upset, and so Mum was bathing Huff this week. I think they both enjoyed it.
We’re not just trying to introduce spoons, but solid food: here’s one of a stack of photos we took of her trying avocado for the first time.
Puff had some trouble: he would regularly say his “mouth hurts”, which changed his diet around this week some of the time. He found the iPhone a good distraction (with its traditional negative impact on his behaviour).
A trip to his friend E’s house was fairly quiet for him: he spent a lot of the time stretched out on the mat, reading and resting. Aunty C took this photo.
And then tonight, we had dinner out with Aunty C and Uncle J. it’s a little troubling that Puff’s favourite thing about dinner at a club is watching the Keno screens – he likes watching “TV with numbers on it”.
It’s been a quiet week for taking photos of Huff. She turned 6 months old this week, and had the immunisations that went with it. She’s teething, and has been more grizzly asking to be carried more than usual. Having said that, she’s now worked out how to roll from her back to and from her left side, and from her back to and from her right side. This is the kind of thing that only her parents are likely to be interested in, but we’re logging it for future reference.
Saturday included a trip to Pyrmont growers’ markets and some time around Darling Harbour. Huff made most of the trip in the stroller.
Puff is much more confident on climbing equipment. Left to his own devices now he will seek out the slides, and anything that he has previously mastered. He’s even willing to try out new ladders, walkways with a little bit of help, and is then happy to try them on his own. It’s great to see.
To head off any jealousy about seeing Huff in the ergo carrier, Dad gave him a bit of a piggy back in the ergo. It was a lot of fun, but hard to do for too long – he’s getting pretty heavy!
A couple of songs:
And one last bit of footage from our Darling Harbour trip – running back to Mum after having a go at walking through a water feature by himself.
