puff and huff

Everyone has been sick at one point or another this week, so it hasn’t been all that much fun. A tired Puff means an ill-disciplined Puff, and we’re seeing more screaming and tantrums, and less ease in dealing with him.

The new thing for this week is, when an upset Puff is asked “What’s wrong?”, the response is an emotional “Nothing!” (or, on occasion “NOTHING!”). This happens at a variety of times, though most of the time – as long as he’s getting his own way, really – he’s good natured.

Huff has been a bit cough-and-spluttery this week, and has made a habbit of breaking with her sleeping-through-the-night tradition, waking instead for a 3, 4 or 5am feed (but only one). It’s still tough for Mum to cope with this change in routine. Here’s an update on what she looks like.

She likes looking around the room, to see what’s going on, and will even be happy looking around an empty room for a while, until it gets too quiet for her.

We tried out her kicking on a mat on the floor for the first time this week, and she enjoyed it for a while, and then wanted to be held again.

On Saturday, Mum took Puff and Huff down to Wollongong to see Aunty C and Uncle J while Dad slept off a fever and sore throat. There, he was taken to see a LEGO show of sorts – he came back speaking favourably of it, so that was a good thing. He was a bit sad that the barbecue had been packed up before he’d had a chance to eat – he explained it in some detail!

Sunday morning Puff and Dad tried to give Mum a sleep-in, so there was much quiet play, and a little bit of video watching on Dad’s old (aka Puff’s) iPhone. Worried about Puff holding the phone for too long, Dad made an iPhone stand out of Duplo, which Puff swiftly started elaborating, adding a Duplo pig and dog, who were then watching the video.

It was a bit comforting to watch the video recede in his attention, though it made Dad reflect on how much the technology has changed since *he* was a boy.

Sunday night the poor sick family bunkered down to have a salad and BBQ chicken for dinner, and it was up to Dad to chop up the vegetables, with Puff offering advice. We were going well with circle-shaped carrots, and with celery sticks, but when the capsicum came along, he asked for “heart shaped” capsicums. Mum remembered that we had some cookie cutters in the cupboard, and you can see the result in the tiny white bowl.

Lastly for this week, Puff’s fascination with forming the shapes of different numbers has taken a painful-looking twist: this is how he makes a nine.

See you next week!

Everyone is back from the Queensland trip, to visit the Grandragon and the Great Grandragon, and – after a few days with no parenting tasks to do Dad is back to the more familiar routine of trying to balance working, studying, and parenting. Which is his preference, let’s be honest.

Rewind to Dad’s birthday and everyone came in to Dad’s work to have a birthday lunch. We had different noodles and soup. Puff did a good job eating, and managed to stay in a good mood even thought it was a long wait for the food to arrive!

Sunday was Mother’s Day, but with the flight and everything else being early on Sunday, we celebrated on Saturday. Dad pushed a little too much to get this card ready early, and there were some unhappy people, but this photo captures the aspect of the day that we wanted to remember.

Sunday morning we were up early to pack the car – some challenges working out how Huff’s hammock was to go on the plane – and everyone was in the car ready to go to the airport. Puff walked through airport security on his own two feet, for the first time.

After a quick breakfast at the airport, it was time to jump on the flight. Mum took this photo from the air. Puff and Huff were both good flyers.

Once in Queensland, there were lots of reunions. Puff had a great time playing with Bandit and fluffing his tail.

An trowel left in a pot-plant made for an exciting diversion for a while.

And Huff had a chance to rest in the arms of her great-grandmother.

Huff continues to learn new things. This week she discovered her feet – hold her at the right angle so she can see them, and she will move them around and look fascinated that such things exist. She’s starting to kick more in the bath now as well. We’re giving her more “tummy-time”, and she’s getting better at holding her head in place when she’s reclining in a corner pillow.

Though there’s no animosity between Huff and Puff, it’s clear that they haven’t worked out a way to play together successfully.

In Queensland, Puff also had the chance to play with his friend H. He wasn’t completely comfortable playing together with another toddler – they’re not in separate houses for nothing! We’re hoping that as Huff grows up that they learn to play well together!

Another fun time for him was meeting our friends’ dogs – Cookies and Custard. Puff hasn’t seen them since before he could walk!

We were sad to see C&J move to their new house – Puff wasn’t feeling well on the day, and took some calming down in the morning before we were ready to head down to see them. Eventually he calmed down, and had fun running around the new place (even if he was a little shy around all the people who helped).

He was well enough to go from C&J’s house to E’s birthday party – he’s starting to understand what a birthday party is, though he’s still not a fan of sudden loud noises like a roomful of people singing ‘Happy Birthday’.

Sunday wasn’t much better for Puff: – he spent some time in the morning resting on his couch (an easier sell for him than going back to bed) watching Hairy MacLary on DVD.

On hold for now – Puff, Huff and Mum are all in Queensland at the moment. They’ll be back tomorrow!

Huff is 12 weeks old! It’s all gone so quickly, despite this week being unusually rainy, with lots more time spent indoors than we would have liked. She’s still sleeping well (though she’s in the middle of a course of eye drops at the moment), and is interested in her surroundings, spending more time awake and looking around.

On Sunday, Mum looked like she needed some extra sleep, so after an early morning feed for Huff, Dad took Puff and Huff out for breakfast. It’s a big expedition to leave the house with two kids – stroller, sling, snack pack, nappy change mat (with two set of nappies), a bib for Huff and making sure that everyone has enough clothes for the temperature or any change of temperature, but Dad figured it all out without waking Mum to ask questions.

Dad had to take an umbrella to work, and Puff, saying “U is for umbrella” ran back inside to get a letter U. He knows how to spell an ever-increasing number of words, and has started to guess which letter a word starts with, based on how it sounds (he guessed that “oregano” started with an “R”).

On Saturday we went to a friend’s birthday party, and there was face painting. After a very brief period of decision making, he opted for a “slinky malinki cat”.

He wasn’t a big fan of playing with the other kids (being a 5 year old party, a lot of the kids were bigger than him, which he always finds off-putting. He seemed happiest playing in the cubby-house with the kitchen things, where he was pretend-cooking a variety of meals that Dad and Puff have prepared before.

On Sunday we all went out for yum-cha: Puff’s favourite was the calamari, which he ate a lot of, without any prompting.

 

 

Happy Easter, and Anzac Day. It’s been an interesting week – five days off work and study, so lots of family time. We’ve tried to balance some day trips to different places, and ended up with an overtired and sniffly Puff needing some downtime to recover. He spent today at home, and was in bed asleep before 7pm. Hoping he gets better – there are only so many times you can wipe someone’s nose before it starts to be sore just from the wiping!

Huff is 11 weeks old now, and is definitely interested in spending more of her time in between feeds looking around at her surroundings. She continues to sleep long hours at night, and then in the day when she wakes up she’ll cry in her hammock, but be perfectly happy sitting in a bouncer where she can see family life unfolding.

Obviously she has other facial expressions than just smiling, but that’s the one that we keep seeking after.

We went to visit E&O over the weekend, and had a chance to put Huff and Puff down on a mat with them for a photo – yes, it was a bit staged, but they seemed to enjoy the attention!

After church on Good Friday we headed up to see J&M at Katoomba. The traffic was worse than I’ve ever seen it, and we had to stop and feed Huff – in the end, a 2-hour drive took around 4 hours. We paused at Lawson for a rest break, and Puff enjoyed running around in the autumn leaves.

Once we finally arrived up there, we had a chance to catch up with our friends and their 4 kids – and Puff watched part of Stuart Little 2 with them.

It was a very late night by the time we made it home, and we decanted a very sleepy Puff into bed around 9:30pm, but then he was up again around 6:30 the next morning – very inconvenient for trying to sleep!

Saturday was a trip to Mittagong to see T&R. We drove down for lunch, and stayed for the afternoon – Puff shared cupcakes with E that we bought at Colo Vale markets

Sunday was a bit quieter. In the morning we had C&J come and visit and we exchanged chocolate. Mum had made Puff a pom-pom lamb, that he was quite fond of.

His grandragon gave him a toy lamb and some chocolate eggs, which were also gratefully received. We went to Grandma and Doc’s house for a delicious lunch, and Grandma read some stories to Puff.

Monday saw us take a trip down to Kiama to visit some family who were staying in a caravan park. Puff had fun running around outside, but seemed to prefer standing over near the barbecue to sitting in a circle. Huff enjoyed cuddles with a few people, and getting to look at some new scenery.

Tuesday has been a day of rest, but some extra sleep in the morning brought about a better mood, and so we gave him a new toy that we’ve been saving for a rainy day – an electronic book with alphabet and number buttons that can speak and give him things to do.

Parenting has its emotional extremes – some days it’s incredibly frustrating, and you’re doing your best just to keep a consistent sense of discipline. There are also moments of amusement. We checked on Puff once this week, and instead of being asleep on his bed, he was asleep on the floor, with all his toys.

We were given this mask as part of our trip to the zoo. One day this week Puff insisted on wearing it (I think it was when we were on our way to church).

Huff is 10 weeks old now – it seems like she’s been with us forever. You probably can’t tell from our selection of photos, but she doesn’t spend all that much time smiling. She mostly looks around with an indifferent expression and wide eyes.

Dad is still trying to balance spending time with Puff (so he doesn’t feel left out or overlooked) and Huff. It means that he only really sees her at night, with the occasional carry in the morning. Things will change once she can move around of her own volition, I suspect!

Here’s a photo of her happy on the bouncer at Grandma and Doc’s house.

We’re encouraged to see Puff and Huff interacting in different ways. While playing with one of his favourite books (and having done something similar with a few toys), he held Huff’s hand while pushing the buttons. It was a very cute moment.

For Dad’s last day of parental leave, we decided a trip to the zoo would be a good idea. We didn’t tell Puff where we were going until we saw the sign, so he was back to his usual tricks – insisting on wearing mittens in the car.

When he saw the “Taronga Zoo” sign from the car window, he realised where we were, and was mildly excited. We took a photo on the way in (knowing that we’d be pretty tired by the end of the day).

After looking at a few animals, we queued up for the Seal Show. Puff handled the queueing admirably, though he was a little manic for a little while.

From there it was time for Huff, Mum and Dad to grab some lunch while Puff played in the zoo pond. Lots of other kids were playing too, but he was the only one avoiding the giant sprinkler, giving him lots of space whenever it was running. He had a great time splashing around (and we’d brought a change of clothes for him, to be on the safe side).

The highlight of the day was watching him play with the penguins. They would swim up to the glass, and then they would follow his finger around and he would giggle. This happened a few times.

After the zoo, we went to a friend’s house for dinner. He lasted through the meal, but was very tired not long afterward.

Later in the week, over dinner at C&J’s house, Puff learned his first Dean Martin song.

This week is a study week for Dad. Puff is increasingly interested in reading the words that he knows (numbers, people he’s met, some animals, and a few Christian terms). When Dad was reading his notes, he was pointing out some of the numbers in the text, and Puff decided to help by grabbing one of his numbers, presumably to help.

Another high point for Dad this week was a little story that Puff made up:

At night the sun goes to bed and the moon comes up and [Puff] has a sleep. Then the moon goes to bed and the sun comes up and [Puff] and Daddy will do stuff.

It’s good to know that he looks forward to spending time with his Dad.

What a packed week! Huff had her 2 month immunisations, everyone was up very early to take Dad to hospital for half a day, we saw a lot of friends in different places, had a family outing to a cemetery, went to evening church together, and had our first successful use of the potty.

First, here’s Huff at 2 months: she’s still having epic night sleeps (6-8 hours) most days, and is spending more time awake and looking around when she’s up during the day.

She coped as well as might be expected for her 2 month immunisations. The nurse had Dad hold her up while she had the drink part of the immunisation, and then we had to lie her down on the bed, while she had the needle in each leg, and then, after less than a minute of crying, she calmed down enough to have a snack with Mum. She’s putting on weight nicely, having reached 4.87kg with a singlet and nappy on.

She continues to be happy to lie down on flat surfaces and wriggle around. Here we see (Puff’s toy) Cat posing with her.

We made a lot of jelly this week – enough that Mum found lots of ways that Puff could help in the kitchen. He continues to be good natured much of the time, though (not seen in this video) he has an increasing sense of what he wants, and what he doesn’t want.

The phrase of the week has been “Don’t talk to me [mummy or daddy]” in any context where we might give him an instruction he doesn’t want to obey. We’re not letting him get away with that particular approach, but it’s interesting to see his sense of self develop.

Sunday morning we made pancakes – Puff wolfed down 2 of these, and then finished a third, which is no small feat when you consider they were made of wholemeal flour (Dad only managed 4!)

After dropping Dad at the hospital, Mum called in on Aunty C, who took this photo of Mum, Huff and Puff (very cute). It was also Aunty C’s birthday this week, and they all, with Uncle J, went to our favourite bread shop/cafe to celebrate.

Saturday saw us make a family trip to Surry Hills for breakfast together, and we looked at the Surry Hills festival. Puff had a shaved ice drink with no flavouring, which he loved. After that, we headed to Woronora cemetery for their open day. Puff had a great time looking around, enjoying a free sausage sizzle, but his favourite part was getting to operate one of the excavators (with the keys out of the ignition). He was using every one of the controls he could reach!

Friday night saw us catch up with S and meet her 3 kids, and also see N&S and their 3 kids. Lots of fun, and a late night. Sunday we saw A&D for lunch, and then made it to night church as a family. It’s getting trickier to be out at that particular hour, but we somehow made it work.

Puff is spending a lot more time drawing: on paper with pencils and crayons, outside with chalk, and (regrettably) on his little wooden table with pencils when no-one is looking. His hand-eye coordination is improving, and he’s starting to draw big circles, and sevens.

A problem with the trains on Tuesday saw Dad get a lift to work, and so Huff and Puff made their first appearance back at Dad’s work since Huff’s arrival. Everyone was very impressed with how cute a baby Huff was, and Puff acquitted himself well with good behaviour, even if he was a little overwhelmed with how many people were there!

One other exciting (to his parents at least) milestone. After months and months of sitting on the potty as part of the pre-bath routine (to get him used to sitting still, and standing up without tipping anything over), we had two consecutive nights of revealing the train on the heat-activated sticker. Exciting stuff.

This week is the day before Huff is due to have her 2-month immunisations: how quickly the time has gone! She’s very cute, and putting on weight nicely.

On Sunday, when Dad cooked pancakes for breakfast, he was also watching Huff while Mum slept a little more. Huff is far too young to have pancakes, and didn’t seem to happy about it!

Now that there are two kids at home, it tends to be Dad’s job to look after Puff, while Mum looks after Huff. Dad felt it was time to get another photo of just the two of them.

Puff is being increasingly helpful in the kitchen. This week’s challenge was to learn how to sift the flour for the pancakes. There were some difficulties – he wasn’t convinced that the sifter had to be upright, nor that it needed to be over the bowl!

The prize purchase of the week has been Puff’s new slippers. He loves them, and has already slept in them twice.

One last story around helping in the kitchen: Dad has been looking for ways to involve him in different processes. Here he is moving the chopped vegetables into the microwave steamer!

We also managed to fit in a family reunion for Dad’s side of the family, and lunch with Uncle M.