I’m not sure of the etiquette involved in a modern world and all but we have such shitty internet and phone access that it is hard to stay in PROPER contact with everyone so i am sorry for those that might feel out of the loop but for those that don’t know- Tim and i have separated… and for those that do know- we are all doing fine.

The travels continue and we are all working on a way to make things go smoothly for the boys.

We are still best mates even though the marriage is over. And we love travelling too much and love this lifestyle for our kids that we are determined to find a way to continue. Not entirely sure how we will work it! But it’s a priority for us both so i guess we’ll just have to give it a go.

We will still be working in Litchfield until September and then will head south to continue the journey and also to look for a place to settle- individually, but making a joint decision that suits the way we want to raise the boys.

I think i will keep the travel blog separate to all this…. but i think this blog might also become a bit of a journal of how two people give co-parenting a go and try to live separate lives together…. ?????

Happy Birthday Jordy!!!

My little boy turned 3 today. Wow! 3 sounds so grown up. LOL!
He has been looking forward to his birthday and reminding us all for the last few weeks that soon he will be 3. The other day he told me that when he is big he is going to cook some food for me because I cooked food for him when he was little. When I asked what he was going to cook for me and he said “sausages…. And ONION!” :)

balloonsJLast night Tim blew up heaps of balloons so when Jordy woke this morning the van was filled with balloons. I heard him chatting to Tim when he first woke and, like he does every morning, he told Tim what he dreamt about during the night…. I knew the minute that he sat up cos he started yammering and I heard him say that there was a balloon on the table and he could see an “orange balloon, a blue balloon, purple, green, LOTS of balloons here, Dad!” His voice getting more and more excited as he saw more and more colours.
balloonsbed

Then he remembered what day it was and said “It might be my birthday!” Tim had a hard time keeping him somewhat quiet so he would not wake Darcy. He threw the balloons and ran through them and kicked them and piled them in the bed. Very adorable. He wanted to know where the balloons had come from and Tim told him it was the Balloon Fairy. Jordy did not think so and said maybe Mum did it. But later on he told me that the Dancing Balloon Fairy danced in and put the balloons there and then went home to Mummy Dancing Fairy and Daddy Dancing Fairy and Baby Darcy Dancing Fairy.

balloonsDWhen Darcy woke up the two of them played crazy fellas in the balloons for ages. Darcy kept sitting and bouncing on them and trying to climb on them. Jordy played tennis with them.

bdayheliThen we went over to Mum and Dad’s van and Jordy opened his card and present from them. They got him Harold the Helicopter (from Thomas the Tank Engine) and he was totally excited when he saw it. He had played with it in Big W in Darwin a few weeks ago when Mum and I were in there and he did not want to leave it behind and he remembered it and could not believe that it was here and he could keep it so that was really cute. He has flown it all over the place all morning. bdaypressie

Tim made him an aeroplane cake which looked pretty neat. Complete with little lego pilot. We wanted to sing Happy Birthday but Jordy did not want us to sing to him, he wanted us to sing to the aeroplane!!?? So we sang that “Up in the air I fly, zoom zoom a zoom zoom zoom” song instead. Then he hogged into the cake. Poor Darcy was stuck with his fruit platter cos we did not have a chance to get a decent recipe for a dairy-free cake. bdaycake bdayfruit

Then we gave him our pressies. Some sticker books and some DVDs. Not very exciting but we don’t have room for much. I want to get him an origami book and a soccer ball but have not had a chance to buy it yet.

bdaymoneyThen back to our van and the kids went crazy in the balloons again. Phew! All before 10am cos Tim and Mum had to start work at 10. Jordy opened his cards from Nanny and Poppy and from Uncle Brian. The kid is cashed up now! The money went straight into his Thomas the Tank Engine wallet which is where he puts loose change for donuts. That’s a lot of donuts!

The other kids that live here and not here at the moment (their car broke down in Darwin and they can’t get back) so that was a bit sad that he has no one else to play with. Darcy and Jordy play so great together and they are best buddies but it still would have been nice to have had a few friends to play a party game with.

So, what’s my three year old up to?? It’s interesting that there are so many milestones that seem obvious to me for Darcy but for Jordy things are not so clear. I guess as they get older there are no definite things that they achieve and can suddenly do. He just gets better with his counting and understanding letters and letter sounds, builds more and more complex lego planes, gets more creative with his games and the concepts that he understands. He loves playing that memory game where you turn over cards to find the matching pairs. And he loves matching the picture cards to the words but I think a lot of the words that he matches he does cos the colours of the cards match as well. He likes spot the difference books and just LOVES Where’s Wally. I have to say that I am amazed by his Where’s Wally skills. The kid can spot things a mile off.

There is this computer game that he started playing back when we stayed with his Nanny and Poppy where you have to find things hidden in a picture, and also play a version of Mah Jong, and match pictures of pelicans and all sorts of little observational things. It’s a game for adults so even Tim and Mum and I all love it as well… well, Jordy can play it all by himself. In the beginning I had to help with some of the harder matching games but not anymore. And he has the memory of an elephant. He’ll come out with a comment about something that he remembers and he has all the details right and even knows things that now one else remembers and whatever he is talking about happened six months ago! Goes to show how early they start paying attention to things that we adults just assume they are too young for.

He is massively into planes and rockets, still! And has recently started tap dancing… can I call it tap dancing?? If you imagine some crazy spastic looking flapping of hands and legs then you have it about right! But it certainly makes a noise on the van floor. The dance often comes complete with hand stands and leg kicks and spins and somersaults. He watched too much “So You Think You Can Dance?” back at home I think.

He is really funny with hide and seek and the warmer warmer colder colder game. He has enjoyed warmer warmer colder colder for a while now and we play it sort of often but he still has no clue how it is supposed to work. It is hilarious playing it with him. He’ll tell us we are getting warmer warmer but he sends us off in the wrong direction, or he’ll move the hiding object half way through, or he’ll half reveal it so we can have a ‘hint’ at where it is, or while he is saying colder colder he’ll point to where it is hiding, and all sorts of funny little things that make the game totally pointless.

Rhyming has become a sudden obsession. He has to rhyme everything (gets a little old I have to say!). Hat cat mat pat fat… fair enough, but when it becomes house, mouse, wouse, thouse, bijimOLOUSE! And he starts making up pretend words that seem to need to be shouted at the top of his lungs it can be a little annoying. I know, I should not complain. It’s funny cos the kids have some new stuffed toys and Jordy named them- the little kangaroo is Joey Licketts, the crocodile is Mololoowoogijama and the bear is Mr Billabillabillamugaloo or some darn thing with sixty syllables.

There are a selection of stuffed toys for sale at the café and Darcy has always pointed and grunted at them and wanted to hug and kiss them and carry them around. We did not bring any stuffed toys because Jordy could take or leave them and never really had a favourite doll or bear and it did not occur to me that Darcy might really want one, but being consistently the opposite to his brother it appears Darcy loves them. So I got him one to snuggle at night and a couple of times now he has woken and stirred and hugged croc and gone back to sleep. And the ambulance bear that was given to Jordy has been handed over to Darce. He is really cute with them and will kiss them on the nose and smile at them and hold them close under his chin for a snuggle. Darcy is a real snuggler too and often holds my face to turn it towards him so he can kiss me.

He is such a copy cat and loves to do everything Jordy does. He loves to draw at the moment and the dining table here is constantly being drawn all over. I can’t seem to convince Darcy that paper is for drawing on. Admittedly he tries to stay on the paper but does not quite have the idea that one hand holds the paper and one holds the pencil and so the piece of paper keeps moving and he just ends up drawing on the table.

He has figured out that he can climb up onto the lounge area with Jordy’s step. So now he goes and gets the step and carries it to where he wants to climb so that he can get up to the lounge and the bed and the kitchen bench. Trouble!!! He climbed up and pulled the kettle down last week and I was in the process of boiling the water. The water went all over him and all over the floor. Very scary thought as to what would have happened if he had done it 5min later when the water would have been boiling hot. A few things in the van have had to be re-thought now that he is able to climb up on everything. He even gets up on the back of the lounge and hangs off the window covers. And he climbs out of bed on his own! A backwards foot-first drop of over a metre and he just goes plop on the floor. Nugget.

About three weeks ago I stopped watching him go up and down the stairs in the van. They are steeper than regular stairs but the motivation to get in or out obviously outweighs any fear for him and he just figured it out. He does it really easily now and I don’t think he has fallen at all. He now tries to walk up and down smaller stairs all on his own with one foot after the other instead of sitting down to do it. He can’t quite manage a full size stair (his legs are too short) but there are some smaller steps around he and he goes them no worries just with a little quick-step stumble-run at the end.

He is making lots of word sounds and signing a lot now, and I love it. Even apart from the regular stuff like being handy for us when he can tell me if he is thirsty or hungry, I think it’s even more important that he can communicate about things that he is excited about. He loves dogs and birds and will yell “dog, dog, dog” and make the sign again and again and again and again when he sees one, even just a picture of one.

So far he signs food, dog, bird, bug, light, biscuit, toast, fish, book, hat, outside. Not all the signs are all that clear and co-ordinated yet and you need the context or word-sound to be sure of what he is signing (light can look like bird, and both bug and outside can look like he is waving etc) but at least he feels like he is getting the message across. He recognizes the signs for a few more things but does not make the sign himself; cat, cow, drink, kangaroo. And there are others that I use but that I am not sure if he has made the connection for them properly yet.

He does not seem to be into music as much as Jordy was at this age. He still gets the bum jiggling thing going and when Jordy dances Darcy will copy him. Oh, one hilarious thing he does, he now spins around and around until he gets dizzy and falls over, hits his head on the cupboard doors, and cacks himself laughing. The two boys try to wrestle together and it’s hard to remind Jordy to be gentle when he lays on Darcy cos Darcy is a classic and he lays on top of Jordy’s back or belly and slaps him with two open hands and just squeals with laughter. Oh, Darcy is a squealer! It’s horrible! He has this high pitched squeal and massive lungs that can keep the squeal going for forever. He then stops to see who is watching, gives a cheeky grin, and squeals all over again.

edited- i’ll have to come back with more photos… .the connection here is sooooooooooooooo slow that it is taking forever and i need to head back to the van to put the kids to bed. hugs all.

I keep thinking of little things I should stick on the blog but I get sidetracked and busy with something and miss the chance and then I can’t remember what I was going to say! So…. What can I think of.

Jordy was sitting inside in the air con in the nudie (cos he tells me he likes to feel the breeze on his belly) and he asked me if I could put his undies on his head… And I said “you mean you want you undies on your bum?” and he said “No, on my head. You put my undies on my head and that makes me feel better.” um… ok then. I stuck a pair of green undies on his head. ???

Darcy has discovered Nutrigrain. He does a crazy little foot-stomping dance and almost hyperventilates in excitement when he sees the box (Tim eats it) and thinks he might be able to get some. We are teaching him the sign language sign for a few foods the same as I did with Jordy and I figured I may as well give him a sign for Nutrigrain as well (I just used the sign for the letter N repeated cos without access to the internet I can’t see if one exists for it) and funnily enough he picked it up almost straight away. With most signs I have to use it a few times before he recognizes and tries to repeat it but not this one. Now he can bang on the pantry door and sign “n, n” and now when he howls in disappointment it’s because I have said No, and not because I have no idea what he is on about!

Same with overnights at the moment. Darcy has never been much of a sleeper…. And the last week has been shocking. I am going to blame teething, he still only has six teeth so there HAS to be something going on! And I need to blame it on something that will eventually pass or I will go insane. But each night he has woken between 10 and midnight and screamed and howled and kicked and tried to climb out of bed again and again and again and I keep dragging him back. At one point I said “Darcy! What’s wrong? What do you want?” and he instantly stopped howling and signed “outside”. When I said “no outside, it’s time for nigh-nighs” the howling started all over again at twice the volume.

No idea how I am going to handle his temper. Actually, I wish I had of had more help from Karitane. The second time when I phoned them I spoke to a totally unhelpful woman that essentially said that if we were going to be in the caravan and unable to follow through with their routine then there was no point in them helping me. Which is fine for them but not much help for me and I have no idea how to get Darcy to sleep so our nights involve a good two hours of me hugging, kissing, shooshing, rocking him back to sleep, or him screaming and crawling all over the bed until he eventually gives up and comes back for a hug and falls asleep exhausted only to wake again an hour later when I invariably give up and boob him back to sleep. ?? I wonder if he would sleep better in his own bed and if it goes on like it is at the moment for much longer and turns out not to be teething then I think I will set the travel cot up in the annexe or something and see how it goes.

Oh, and yesterday he did not even have a day nap. He has dropped his day nap down to just one hour in the middle of the day (he used to have two hours) and then yesterday I could not get him to sleep at all. Who the heck ever heard of a 13month old not having a day nap? I had hoped that maybe it would mean he would sleep better overnight but it made no difference! LOL! But he is still Mr Adventure Boy. Its funny when I think that Jordy was just starting to walk at this age and Darcy runs everywhere and climbs like a mountain goat. Over the last few weeks he has started running away from us. Cheeky bugger. We’ll call him back when he starts to wander off and he’ll look over his shoulder, give a cheeky grin, and then turn and run flat out. And he can move! He giggles the whole time.

A while back he started climbing up on Jordy’s trike. Well now he climbs on the back, climbs up onto the seat, and then stands up with both feet balancing on the sat and waves his hands and claps. I have stopped rushing to get him down cos even in the unlikely event that he falls he just lays on his back and stares up at the sky for a minute before rolling over and going again.. Sometimes he’ll lay there and kick his legs and wave his arms like a dying bug. ?? No clue what he’s thinking.

He and Jordy play so wonderfully together that it’s great to watch. They play a chasing, catching, pushing, pulling game up and down the caravan and wrestle on the bed together. And Jordy will get toys for Darcy and show him how things work. He has also discovered that he can use Darcy to get stuff he wants. J He’ll ask me for something and if I say no he’ll chatter away at Darcy for a minute and then say “Mum, Darcy wants x” And Darcy is such a copy cat that the pair of them will be real trouble when they get bigger. And I honestly think Darcy will be the instigator of most of it cos he’s just Mr Trouble.

J Jordy is loving crafty things at the moment too. And as a proud mum I have to say I think his drawings are pretty cool. He draws people with legs and toes and fingers and eye brows! And you can even recognise them as people.

i know i am slow but Darcy is 1 year old!!! yay!! They grow up so, so fast. There have been lots of little things that i have wanted to make a not of but the travel blog seems to take up all of my time… so lets see what i can remember.

Darcy has started to use baby sign. A few weeks ago (at Lake Tinaroo) out of nowhere he walked up to Tim and signed “food“.  He has such a temper that it will be great when he learns more signs and can tell us what he wants. Jordy never signed food or drink but i am not at all surprised that it was Darcy’s first sign. He does love to eat.

It is actually hilarious how bad his temper is. He throws himself backwards on the ground or storms off to lean on something and bury his head in a towel or on a chair or even in the grass and HOWL! Then he throws his head back and screws his face up and HOWLS up the sky.

And he has to do everything himself. You’ll think he is not hungry cos he keeps refusing food or shaking his head or having a tanty so you go to put the food down and he carries on even worse. But he wants to feed himself. So you have to give him the spoon and the bowl and he poke pokes the spoon in and then puts it in his mouth. So i have to have a second spoon to slip the food in at the same time so he thinks he is doing it himself.

Same with a cup. Jordy was take it or leave it with a cup at this age but Darcy is surprisingly good. He holds it in two hands and drinks really well. Only problem is at the end when he has had enough to drink he just drops his hands or drops the cup and i am never quick enough to catch it.

He is Mr Adventure Boy and Mr Independant. He loves to just wander off and take himself from our van over to Grandma and Grandpa’s van and then sqwark outside until they let him in.

And he is finally starting to sleep a bit better. He still wakes often but we have discovered he has a bad intolerance to tomato. So those nights when i could never figure out why he screamed and threw himself around one night and then was good the next is likely to all have been nights he ate tomato. I think there might be another intolerance we have yet to identify (along with dairy) cos every now and again he’ll react even though he has not had dairy or tomato. Unless i need to be more strict with some packaged products that might have some dairy base that i have not looked into yet.

He has been walking properly and walking full time since about 11months. And he has been climbing everything since around the same time. If there is a chair and then a table he can climb up into the chair (with much grunting and leg kicking) and then climb up onto the table. He then stands up and does a knee-bending jig that is hilarious and needs to be recorded when i get the chance. He has started to climb down things properly now by going feet first rather than head first but he either has no fear or no understanding of height cos he’ll climb down from anything. But he’s a tough nut!

He loves to move things. He’ll sit happily for AGES if he has a pile of dirt or rocks and he’ll pick up handful after handful from in front of him and move it all behind him. If it is dirt he loves to watch it trickle and float from his fingers. And he loves sticks. He wanders all over our camps picking up sticks and then carries his favourites around with him from place to place.

I weighed him yesterday and he is 11kg and 78.5cm tall. He still only has six teeth and hardly any hair.

He says “dog” and “daa” (dad) and “joooordan” and “he-llo” and “tis” (this).  He does not really say “mum” at all. How rude! He calls birds “dook” (not sure if he is calling them all ducks??) And even when he is not using his Darcy-words he never shuts up with happy na-na-rah-naaa noises or “dook-daaa-argh-dup” stories.

Darcy is loving any flat surface we come to. Poor kids usually now gets stuck with bumpy grass or hilly dirt. We stopped at a concrete floor rest area the other day and he just walked and walked and laughed and laughed. He did the same thing when we went to the bank in Gladstone. Everyone was smiling at him cos he kept trying to walk around the bank.

I think by this age Jordy may have had two face plants with split lips. Darcy i think has had six or seven. Another one today. He keeps climbing everything. And the kid can climb! But unfortunatley he can also fall.

Darcy is picking up on the funniest things. He had a drink yesterday and choked a little bit and so had a big cough. He then reached up and tried to pat himself on the back! He can only reach the back of his head so it looks hilarious.

Tooth number six has broken the gum. We might get a few better nights (i hope) as last night was not too bad. I think he only woke three times. And he is back to having two day naps now with so much else going on. Even Jordy is napping at the moment, which will not be good for tonight cos it’s nearly 5pm.

He’s walking lots more now and generally tries to walk before he gives up and crawls. He regularly does half a dozen steps and has often crossed the room with nearly twenty steps so it won’t be all that long before he is toddling.

And Jordy needs a hair cut. We’ve mentioned it a couple of times to him and even though he enjoyed his last couple of hair cuts he insists that his hair is pretty and just smooths it back over his ears. hehehe.  We bought him some sunnies today at the markets. He choose and tried on about six or seven pair before he decided on a blue and silver pair.

While we were at home before we moved into the van i found not eating meat to be easy enough. I just planned the meals differently. I was eating lots of yummy things and it was all good. I had some trouble when we went to Sydney- the longer trips on the highway are shockers cos there is no decent vegetarian food at all unless you pack your own but i made do. But then we went to a pub for dinner and i was STARVING hungry and some places seem to think that a greek salad and pumpkin soup is all they need on their vegetarian menu!! I have no idea how vegans manage to eat when outside their own home cos there must be bugger all that suits them! Anyway, i had meat for dinner two nights in a row… ?

And sadly enough i think it helped a bit! LOL! I had been feeling really run down and exhausted and i had put it down to the lack of sleep with Darcy and all the stress of packing but i think my iron levels may have needed a top up. It would have been fine when we had our own garden as i was combining spinach and tomato a lot, and i was being more careful with combining proteins over the day. But since i had other rubbish going on i had stopped paying attention.

And now since we have been living with Tim’s folks for a couple of weeks i made my own meals a couple of times but then it just became easier to fit in with everyone elses meals. Then we went out for dinner with a voucher from the real estate people and the meat dishes sounded yummy…. and then it all just went to hell.

I need to get back into my groove.  And i think i need one of those vego booklets to help me do it right.

d_cupboardJordy started the game and then Darcy had to copy. The pair of them sat and played in the cupboard for ages. Jordy would pull the door shut from inside and close them both in there and Darcy thought it was wonderful. The gooses sat in the dark and laughed and squealed and carried on. Was so funny to watch them.

And Darcy is even closer to walking. He has taken about 10 steps a few times and now will often start out walking between things and then will just keep crawling once he falls over. Still well and truely crawling more often than walking though.

all the kids

all the kids

Had a family BBQ on the weekend to say goodbye and thanks to everyone for all their help getting us organised. Was great to all get together as everyone has been so busy it’s hard to find the time to really sit and catch up.

Got some great photos of the kids together too.

aren't they cute!
aren’t they cute!

How much do Bek and Jordy look alike now that they are older!!!! Never would have picked it six months ago but a lot of little similarities are peeking through.

And we went to the beach to get some shots of the clan all together. Too bright and too hot! But a few photos turned out ok.

j_surf

d_surf

Finally got a video. I forgot to count the steps but i think there were five….? let’s see….

He is often stepping out on his own when he decides to go somewhere – instead of dropping to his bum straight away he tries to take a few steps first.

itchy itchy scratchy spots.
Not sure if he is allergic to the cat or to the antibiotics he is on….

my poor itchy boy
my poor itchy boy
doesn't stop him from dancing
doesn’t stop him from dancing

and not updated for a couple of weeks but we’ve been crazy busy.  I’ll update the travel blog tonight as well if i can (although with the rain there is not a lot of travel going on!!).

We are staying with Tim’s parents at the moment while we wait for the rain to let up. The boys are enjoying seeing Nanny and Poppa lots. Although Jordy is confused about why we can’t go back home (the house settled last Friday. YAY!).

What’s new with the boys… Darcy has five teeth through and number six is just poking at the gum. And he took three and four steps several times today with one that was almost five steps but it ended in a tumble. hehehe. I’m going to get the camera out tomorrow and get a video. He has a great laugh whenever he takes a few steps and is clearly impressed with himself.

He is breastfeeding a lot less of a day time at the moment. I think the last few days he has only fed twice during the day (not counting his feed before bed) but he is back to wanting three or more feeds overnight. There seems to be so much going on that he’ll start to feed but then wants to be off chasing Jordy.

And climbing! my god that kid can climb. He loves to climb on or in anything. Up the back of chairs, he’ll open the bottom drawer and want to climb in, if there is a basket on the floor he has to be in it… i think i have a photo of that from a couple of weeks ago…. where is that??

look at me balance!

look at me balance!

For the first time today Darcy stood up all on his own with nothing to help him. Usually he needs a wall or chair or something to balance on to stand up but this time he did it in the middle of nowhere.

This photo is an ‘actual re-enactment’ LOL!  I missed it when he did it so this is just him standing up after holding on to me.

He is trying to walk on his own too. He was standing against the lounge with Jordy today and decided he wanted to come over to where i was and so he took two steps…. before throwing his arms at me and just lunging. hehehe. He thought it was hilarious and so he did it again and again laughing and laying his head down on my leg for a snuggle each time.

Here’s a little video. Check out the happy head wobble at the end.

waiting, waiting...

waiting, waiting...

Darcy is getting really chatty. He has lots of word sounds now and loves to try to say ‘Darcy’ and ‘Jordan’. Well, it sounds like ‘Jordan’ to me! I think he is trying to drop one of his day naps. A few times over the last couple of weeks he has only had one midday nap of between 80min and 2hours. Well, he had a 2hour nap ONCE! LOL! But i live in hope that it will happen again. I can’t remember when Jordy dropped to one nap. But his day nap was always a big three hour one.

He is still feeding three times a night. Waking about two or three hourly. I have given up on trying to get him to sleep through. I either feed him and he sleeps for two or more hours or i settle him back to sleep with pats and rocks and humming and he wakes again 15-30min later and we do it all over again.

For my own future reference… Jordy started to drop his day nap altogether approx November (so just before about 2+half) although he still needed one on big days and a catch up nap about once a week. Then by January he hardly ever had a day nap but we still have to be careful if we put him in the car around 4 or 5pm cos he’ll drift off!

Jordy is just leaping ahead with his swimming lessons. And loving it! He swims to the bottom of the pool to pick up a toy and kicks to the surface again. He needs a push to get down but does the rest himself. He can balance on a noodle like he is riding a bike and then he can be pushed over and he can kick to right himself back upright again all on his own (great safety thing!). He is at the stage where i happily take both kids in the water on my own cos i hold Darcy, and Jordy just kicks and swims around on his own so long as he has a noodle to swim to.

Over the last few weeks Jordy has started to get singing down pat. He has always loved to sing and make up songs and there were a few that he’d sort of sing but he couldn’t really sing the words and the tune at the same time if that makes sense! He’d get the rhythm right but stumble over the words, or get the words right but not have the tune. Well now he sings LOTS of songs and he gets the tune and the words right at the same time.

And in a cute moment last week…. he took off down the street in his pyjamas and i was out the front yelling at him to come back home. He stopped on the neighbour’s driveway and started walking around and around in circles.
I was still doing the whole “Jordy! I need you to come home NOW!” routine and being totally ignored. After a few moments of circle-work i was getting impatient and yelled “What are you doing? Come and get dressesd. You can’t just wander around on people’s driveways!”
And he yelled back “NO! Jordy’s thinking!”
huh? “What are you doing?”
“Jordy. Is. THINKING!” still walking in circles.
ok…. “What are you thinking about?”
“Thinking about Mum’s chocolate!”
…… well you can’t argue with that. :)

i’ve been playing with my new camera (Sony A300) and practising with a few of the settings. I had it on me down at Alf’s. 

Jordy was eating an icypole that Darcy was VERY interested in…. Here are some shots of Jordy sharing, and then Darcy’s response when Jordy took the icypole away.

Jordy sharing

Jordy sharing

Jordy not sharing.

Jordy not sharing.

It’s a neat little camera. I can’t wait to learn to use it properly. I can get some nice close ups that i just could not do on the compact. Especially photos of the boys- they move too fast!

Here are a couple more of Jordy. Him happily eating his icypole all zenned out and staring into space…. and then him saying “NO! no take photos of Jordy. Jordy eating!” hehehe.

close up #1
close up #1

 

close up #2
close up #2
and my favourite... close up #3

and my favourite... close up #3

 

yay!

yay!

Three teeth

Three teeth

You can see his top tooth poking through and just make out the line under the gum of his fourth tooth. You can probably also see the bruised and split gum where he face-planted on the tiles yesterday!

He is sooooo crazy into things and active and climbing and fearless. I can just see so many more scrapes and bruises ahead for him compared to Jordy at the same age.

Today he balanced on his own for about 5 seconds as he waved his hands trying to grab a piece of fruit off me. He’ll do anything for food!

Montessori - colour matching

Montessori - colour matching

Jordy wanted to work with the colour resemblance task again today. We made a big long line and it became a train! All the coloured people had to get into the right seats.  I really like this activity. Sometimes he seems to just do it without much effort (ie he can name the light, darker, darker, darkest of each shade without any problem) but then other times he’ll put the pegs in the correct colour group but out of order and insist to me that they are right when i ask him if they look like they match. You might be able to see in the picture that a couple of the groups are out of order…. i left it and did not correct him and i’ll get it out again tomorrow to play.

Yesterday we used the geometric presentation tray and traced the insets and lined the shape up with the outlines etc. We had some fun with that. He is enjoying drawing at the moment and likes to fold his finished picture up like he is wrapping a gift and then give it to me or Tim as a present (often with some imaginary object inside).

And Lego… wow! Loving his lego. We bought some blocks with wheels and propellors and gears and folding bits so he can make lots of cool stuff. And Tim is such a big kid that he is rediscovering his childhood all over again with it. I have surprised myself with my complete lack of ability to make stuff with lego. Seriously. How hard can it be? But i suck at it :)

Jordy also loves to pull faces and make his “angry face”, “happy face”, “surprise face”, “laughing face” and other things. Here he is being a goose.

Angry faceSurprise faceHappy faceLaughing face

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