Guess who's swimming again?

We had a bit of time off of the swimming lessons, but we're back at it this winter and Elliot is loving them just as much as ever. It's so much fun to be with him in the water. He's just so happy and comfortable there.

Our new favourite thing is for him to lay on my tummy and hold on while I do the backstroke. Talk about a workout!! But Elliot's little grin and giggles are pretty good motivation to keep swimming.

Getting dirty!

The weather has been beautiful lately so Mommy and Daddy got out the wheelbarrow that Sam got me for my birthday, and I've been busy helping Daddy garden and making mud pies with Mommy. It's all great fun until Mommy makes me go inside AND gets all weird about getting clean before we can go in. I'd be fine if we never went inside! ~ Elliot

 

 

 

 

Chase

I just love watching Elliot and Paul play. Here's an epic chase! And it keeps going and going! There's just nothing better in the world than Elliot's giggle. Don't ya think?

A day at the zoo!

On Friday, Mommy and Daddy and I went to the Perth Zoo for the very first time. Holy cow, how come it took Mommy and Daddy more than a year to bring me to the zoo? I LOVE it there. I love watching the animals and playing with the other children. The rhinos were definitely my favourite, but I also really liked the elephants and orangutans and sun bears (they came right up to the glass to say 'hello'!). Here's some pics of Daddy and I checking out the animals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's some videos of the fun we had at the zoo:

Dangerous animal

I love rhinos!

 Running 'round the zoo

 

P.S. The one photo without me in it, is just Mom showing off her photo of a possum. And she thinks I'm shameless! ~ Elliot

Have I told you how much I like my dog?

The toy library

We joined a toy library a few weeks ago and have been having a great time trying out new toys. The foam blocks were such a hit (this was before our house was filled with Megablocks!!!) that we checked them out a couple of times. Here's one of my finest towers (over 7 feet tall!) and Elliot having fun knocking it over.

Mega loads of Megablocks

The other day I found a killer deal on Megablocks on the Gumtree (a resale website). Going to get them was a bit of a journey, but oh, the fun we've been having with the world's largest box of blocks. Now, I thought 600 blocks seemed like a lot, but I didn't realize how much space they'd take up. No matter, Paul and I have nearly as good of a time building enormous towers each night as Elliot does when he gleefully knocks them down each morning.

 

 

Footie fever!!!

Australian Rules Football is a very weird "sport". I say "sport" in quotes because to the casual spectator it looks like some weird made-up playground game where incredibly fit young men in very small uniforms run around slamming into each other while trying to pick up a ball. Let's just say I haven't really taken to Australia's favourite sport.

That is until the Fremantle Dockers up and decided to start winning. It's amazing how much fun sports are when your local team doesn't lose all the time. And just to show my most loyal fair-weather support, we decided to get tickets and go to last weekend's game when Freo took on the Collingwood magpies (I know really fierce mascot.)

. . . Right, back to footie (as we Aussies call it). It just so happens that Rob across the street happens to be a big Collingwood supporter, so he and his lovely wife, Sam joined us for the game. It also just happens that Collingwood and Freo were tied for first place, so it was a very very BIG game.

And it was very fun . . . and very cold . . . and the Dockers put on a shocking performance and lost miserably, and we were subjected to the Collingwood fight song over and over and over the whole way home.

I think my footie days might be numbered. Cricket is a much more civilized game.

Mommy blogs

My newest addiction is reading random mommy blogs. Addiction is probably the only word for it since I've moved on from casually reading to obsessively checking my friends' blogs, and now I'm actively searching out more mommy wit and wisdom from people I never have met and never will meet  . . . and yet I know their kids and dogs by name and could tell you what they had for breakfast this morning!

All the while, I have an inbox filling up with emails I haven't returned and a perfectly good phone that I hardly ever pick up and use. Does this mean I'm a better voyeur than friend? 

(Blabbermouse and Pretty All True are two of my faves.)

Happy Mommy's Day!

What a lovely, lovely day we had for Mother's Day. We joined Paul's mum (and Keith and David) for a scrumptious lunch at a peaceful pub in the country and then headed back to her house for some deeeelicious homemade tiramisu.

And oh yeah, I should probably mention that my boys are the most thoughtful wonderful boys that a girl could ask for. Not only did they pick out the cutest pair of comfy pjs for me, but they warmed my heart with the most thoughtful gift I could ever ask for, a donation to the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia so some less fortunate mom has a new chance on life.

Here's a link to their site if you got your mum/mom a bummer gift and want to make it up to her.
Australia site: http://www.hamlinfistula.org.au/
U.S. site: http://www.fistulafoundation.org/

P.S. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!

Tantrums!!!

Elliot has been possessed by the devil.

I know, it's not something to joke about, but it's the only way I can begin to explain how a sweet boy with only the occasional demonstration of, shall we say, self-expression has turned overnight into a little monster who shamelessly threw six tantrums in one day.

I'm not sure which one of the six was the more embarrassing: the one at the toy library parking lot, the one in the parking lot at the mall, or the one in the medicare office. I do know the one I enjoyed most was the last one of the day where I, as a seasoned veteran of dealing with a possessed child, got to observe Paul's dismayed initial reaction to Elliot's fits.

And he does throw a full fit. He hurls himself on the ground, kicks his feet, throws anything that might be in his vicinity. And the funniest bit of it all is how he keeps checking to see if we're watching.

Now I didn't handle all of the fits gracefully, but I can happily convey that I did not give in. Mark my words, I will not give in to the tantrum. Standing strong (and even learning to ignore!) six in the first day has got to say something.

No kissing!

Elliot has decided that he absolutely positively never ever wants to see his mom and dad kiss or cuddle or even hold hands. Everytime he catches a glimpse of even the smallest little bit of affection between his ma and pa, he screws up his face and starts to screech. We've tried reassuring him that everything is okay; we've tried pulling him into the cuddle. No matter; he wants none of it. NONE OF IT!!!

Do you think he's letting us know how he feels about a brother or sister?

Bubble and Squeak

Y'know that when your kid starts giggling maniacally when you give him something new that it is a winner. And that is exactly what happened when I gave Elliot some Bubble and Squeak the other day. Now for those of you don't know, Bubble and Squeak is an English leftover trick where you mash up all the extra veggies from your Sunday roast, throw in an egg and fry it all up in little patties. It's such a hit with the kiddies here in Australia that you can by it in the frozen food section all pre-made (and probably less healthy). For a working mom who is struggling to get some veggies in her little man, I'm willing to make some concessions to my preconceived notions of how healthily I would feed him. (And yes, I might as well confess it now, he has been to McDonalds already one day when we were in a pinch and he's also tasted chocolate cake and ice cream and other goodies that I thought I would hold off on until he was at least two--what do you do at parties when everyone else is eating it?)

All I can say is bring on the boxed Bubble and Squeak!

I'm a rockstar!

You might think I'm a bit young to be going to rock-n-roll parties, but nope kids are rockin' and rollin' a lot younger these days. Mommy and Daddy thought I looked pretty cute so they took lots of pictures and I didn't mind posing with my bestest rock-n-roll poses at all.

 

 

And once we got to the party, I really rocked out! ~ Elliot
 

 



Three . . .

 . . . because sometimes you can't decide which spoon is best or which photo is cuter!

 

 

 

Where's your nose?

I swear, Paul and I had very little to do with the fact that if you ask Elliot where his nose is, he'll quite likely put his finger up it! Cute? We think so . . . for now at least.

Peek-a-boo!!

Who knew curtains could be soooo much fun?!?!?!?

And here's me having even more fun. ~ Elliot

Walking Nacho

Elliot had been walking Nacho all over the house until I got the video camera out, and then of course he lost interest. I'm beginning to notice that this is a common theme in our videotaping. But here's a wee snippet.

Eating like a big boy

You probably won't believe it, but I can eat all by myself now. Mommy and Daddy still try to help me, but I don't need any help at all. Nope, I can do it myself; just watch! ~ Elliot