Bins and Cubby Houses

Bins. Jed is obsessed with Bins. The one in the kitchen (which unfortunately cannot be hidden as we have very limited cupboard space) is a favourite. It can be used for drumming and hiding things in - like socks and books. The big bin outside is another fav, as we generally visit it every morning when disposing of his stinky overnight nappies. 'Bin, Bin!!' Jed will say after his morning nappy change. Then we head outside, Jed opens the lid and in goes the nappy with a look of contentment on Jed's face.

The other morning as we walked to the markets, it was bin morning so everyone's bin was on the nature strip. 'Bin, Bin!' pointing to each and everyone of them. He was in bin heaven. Some were overflowing and Jed would state 'oh ohhhhhhh, bin bin'. 'Yes Jed' I would reply, 'very full bin'. The bins on the other side of the street had been emptied and some had fallen over. 'oh, ohhhhhhh bin bin' Yes Jed - the bin has fallen over.
I can tell you are excited by this story of bins but wait for the climax - the rubbish truck came around the corner and started emptying the bins! I've never seen such a look of astonishment on the little mans face! These huge mechanical arms come out, pick up a bin, dispose of the rubbish in the big truck, then arms drop bin on ground (sometimes not too accurately - 'oh ohhhhhh'), then truck moves onto next bin - Jed was memorized.

Cubby Houses. Another obsession. I think it began at day care and it has ended with us having a permanent cubby house in our lounge room. It's a card table with a big red sheet over the top and has recently extended to behind the couch to create a little back verandah. Like anyone's house, you must be invited in. If you decide to pop in uninvited, you'll receive a cute wave and a 'bye bye'. The exception to this is Rudi. Rudi can come and go as he pleases and Jed is always absolutely delighted to have him as a guest.  He recently refurbished with some comfy cushions and blankies - Rudi couldn't be happier. 

Jed spends his quiet time in the cubby - reading books, chatting to himself and cuddling his toys. Very cute indeed.

Blueberries

Blueberries - I just love them



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Just one more?

Too long

We are feeling very slack indeed. Over the past months we have not only celebrated Jed's first birthday, we've had a naming day, he's started child care, he's been attracted to a number of infections (which they tell me are all boosting his immune system. I thought he was getting enough 'boosting' from licking Rudi every day) and i think the biggest milestone to report is JED IS A WALKING LITTLE MAN!!!

It's been hard to decipher as to when to officially title Jed, as a 'walker'. He's been taking a few steps since early January, slowly progressing from 5 steps in a row, to 7 to 10 and so on. Then there's been the falling. Thankfully it's common to see a child with a purple chin and knees. Poor little man. I think it became official on the day he began to pick himself up after falling and continued to walk instead of crawling. It's been a couple of months since then and boy, can he walk! Add shoes to the equation and you're back at square one for a little while but soon enough, moon boots become the norm and it's full steam ahead!!

Although Jed's vocab diminished during his 'learning to walk' phase, a common symptom apparently - he is back on track. I am mumma, Luke is dadda and Rudi is ra ra. Then we have bird, ball, boohat (for hat or bike helmet) and baba (for babies or any small object) Very cute indeed. Then there's hello when answering the phone and bye bye with a flick of the arm (the pseudo wave which is still a work in progress). There has also been many random words - I swear I even heard him say watermelon the other day. Every day, something new. Jed's personality is certainly shining.

Cool Pool

It has been pure pleasure having a pool at home this summer. Melbourne has had many heat waves with temperatures soring over 40 degrees - ughhhh. Pool fun has been a daily activity. We had a little pool party while our friends Mel and Gregory were in town. They were keen to catch up with all our friends who have pro-created over the past few years so a big bbq/pool party was in order. I think the ratio of adults to children was 1:1 at some stages. Add a pool, lots of excited little squeals and you might call it intense. Here's some of the many photos taken by Melly and myself. Click on the picture to zoom in. Jed misses you Melly and Gregory and we do too xxx

Poo Corner

Jed is slowly becoming more and more like his parents. His latest thing – the poo corner. At 9:45am every morning for the past 6 days, Jed has taken himself into one particular corner of the kitchen and done a poo (in his nappy of course). Right on schedule, just like his mum and extremely regular, just like his dad. And what a lovely corner it is. It has a delightful view looking out to a succulent pot plant garden and it’s right next to the heating duct for when it’s a little nippy. If I could sit anywhere in the house to do my business, I might just have chosen exactly the same location. Again, like mother, like son. Bless.

First Christmas

Awww, the little man's first Christmas! Lots of presents (and very interesting wrapping paper and boxes!) lots of food and lots of love. We spent it in Macksville at Luke's family home with both sets of grandparents and Auntie Karee. It took a 3 day road trip (only driving around 5hours a day) to get there with Rudi panting in the back pretty much the whole way while Jed attempted to poke his eyes and nostrils - much to his own amusement. Highlights for the little man included -

* swinging in the hammock with Auntie Karee
* bath and story time with the grandparents
* playing with the choo choo christmas train
* eating blueberries
* eating sand at the beach

After Christmas, we set off back on our road trip to Killcare to welcome 08 with friends. Jed finally got to meet some of our very special friends for the first time, taking a particular liking to Gregory (see family photos for pics of the love). Everyday the weather was just beautiful. Perfect for trips down to the beach to swim in the rock pools and playing in the sand. Jed hadn't seen the ocean for months and was quite taken back by the mass amount of water - so much bigger than a bath or pool! You'll find lots of pics in family photos which pretty much cover our wonderfully sunny summer holiday.

World Traveller - Amsterdam and the home stretch

Well, what can we say, Amsterdam is one of our favourite European destinations. Obviously things were different travelling with the little man in tow but it still rates highly. We decided to rent an apartment on the outskirts of the centre - close to parks, good cafes and restaurants. We spent our days walking the streets and canals, watching the autumn leaves fall and stopping regularly for food, coffee and beer. We ventured into the centre once, which was also the only day where Jed developed a little cold. He had the runny nose, red eye look going on, blending in quite well with all those seedy coffee shop punters.

Vondelpark was a real treat. Massive, beautiful, parklands that takes hours to walk around with a great cafe (although we got attacked by pigeons - much to Jed's amusement). We definitely relaxed but it wasn't too long until we were back on a plane, heading to London for the weekend before the flight home.

It was definitely not as smooth sailing as the flight over. I have a little tradition at Heathrow. Every time I'm there, I head to the seafood bar for a glass of bubbles, some of the freshest salmon around and sit back and recap on my fabulous holiday. And this is exactly what we did. Jed was asleep in the pram, we drank, ate, reminisced and possibly got ourselves a little too relaxed before the flight home. We had to wake Jed up to board, only to be delayed for 2 hours. Just like his parents, the little man does not like a delay. And this was only the beginning. We were pretty much delayed every leg of the trip, totalling around an extra 6 hours of travel. Jed managed to sleep for about 8hrs of the total 28hrs travel time - he was exhausted the poor little tacker. To add to his crankness, I had not packed much food for him for the flight. On the way over, I had brought all his meals on board, but he was supplied with a delicious array of fine canned and jarred baby foods which came with the price of the ticket. So I thought I might have overkilled on the pre-packed food and decided only to bring a few jars - big mistake. After waking from his night-time sleep, when we were all enjoying a not so delicious eggs and mini sausage breakfast, Jed was supplied with a can of chicken hot pot and a can of chocolate egg custard - both of these things he had never tasted before and was certainly not interested in doing so at breakfast time on a plane.

Upon arriving in Melbourne and waiting 1 1/2hrs for our luggage, we headed home - delirious and kinda wide awake. It took us all around a week to get back our southern hemisphere body clock but it was certainly worth it. What a wonderful, fun filled, sometimes challenging holiday we just had! Thank you to all who so generously looked after us. We hope we can do the same to you if you're ever in Melbourne.