Adlai Does the Zoo

I tried to get some cool shots with the seals. But I’m not too good with a camera.

It’s either a fuzzy seal in the background.

Or a cute kid in the foreground.

Never mind, here he is with a cement frog.

I can do that one.

Thanksgiving Down Under

I don't have a single picture. I was slaving away all day and night. Well, not really but I was pretty busy. The set up of our new house is such that I can be in the kitchen and have a conversation with the people that are watching football in our "living room". It works out well on days like this.

Anyway, we had two other families over plus one of Seth's co-workers who is from the US. In total we had 7 adults, 5 girls under the age of 6 and 2 boys under the age of 9 months. It was loud yet fun.

The food rocked. The turkey was awesome. And the company was absolutely lovely. I'll have to see if I can get a picture of the 7 kg turkey. It was something to write home about.

8 Months!

Still 2 teeth. Claps like a champion. Sits like a warrior. Uses pinchy fingers to pick things up. If I had to change one thing . . . it would be that he slept through the night. Like he used to.

And maybe he shouldn't smile so much. He looks far to happy.

I'm outta here . . .

Goodbye, Hospital!

Last appointment at the hospital for Lilly’s arm. We are given the thumbs up for all activities. Until the regular doctor sees Lilly and says “I would keep her off the monkey bars for another 2-3 . . .

[I’m thinking, really 2-3 weeks? This kid is itchin’ to play on the bars at school with all the other kids.]

months.”

Excuse me? Months? Really? She’s 5! You want me to go to school every day and monitor her play so she stays off the equipment. Not to mention Lilly’s eyes are welling up. I told him thank you and took her out. She just kept looking at me. Really, mom? I told her we’d discuss it later and to stay off the monkey bars today.

All is Well at 8 Months

Adlai had his 8 month check up and all looks good. He’s a small 20% in height and 25% in weight. And he just might be 75% in head size. Hmmm . . .

Again the midwife was pleased with Adlai’s excellent balance. The kid sits up for hours. Maybe not hours, he usually gets bored and flops himself backwards. The midwife was excited about his ability to clap. I’ve never seen someone so happy that a baby could clap (she said it was a 12 month skill). So of course she says “so he’s reached all his other milestones and he’s rolling around and doing some sort of crawl?”

Me: Um . . . Nope, this is all he does. Sits and claps.

Midwife: Oh.

Me: But look how well he can clap!

The kid just doesn’t care. Well, and we’ve been trying to get our house sorted. I haven’t really wanted him moving around because our house is just one big hazard. So really, we haven’t encouraged it. I guess he’s obliged to follow our lead on that one.

Wild Animals

There was a possum stuck in the boys toilet at Lilly’s school. I was under the impression that it was stuck in the outside toilets (they have a building in the yard to use at recess). But no, it was in the main building. The possum was pretty young so I wonder where it’s mom and siblings were . . .

Well . . .

Lilly said her first very naughty word! I wasn’t sure whether to keep walking or stop and discuss. Seth chose the latter, making sure it was clear that she is not to use that word. Wonder how long it will be before she has used it on the playground.

Goodbye Pain in My Behind

Oh, the day for the cast removal, how I have longed for you to arrive!

I am excited for my beautiful daughter to be able to bathe in a normal fashion.

But first she needs to be able to move her arm.

And I guess I’ll have to wait another few days for that.

But at least the cast is off.

Birthday Bash

Lilly was invited to her friend’s birthday party.

Oh wait, did I tell you she broke her arm?

Here is Seth’s birthday twin, Nicolas, blowing bubbles for the kids. He’s fun like that. I like his hat.

Nicolas told the kids that a pirate had lost his treasure in a big storm the night before.

[Lilly was doing an interpretive dance of the story.]

Lilly told me later that he HAD to have made the story up because pirates don’t live in Melbourne. And because they wouldn’t have had a treasure full of candy. And there wasn’t a storm the night before. Oh, and because we live kind of far from water and there is NO WAY a pirate's boat could have blown that far.

Sneaky Little Guy

Adlai slipped into Lilly’s room to play with her toys while she was at school. Ok, he can’t crawl yet. I may have put him down while I was putting away clothes. He had fun.

Fancy Hat

The first Tuesday in November is the Melbourne Cup, a horse race that is also known as “The Race that Stops the Nation.” Everyone has the day off. I thought it was only in Victoria but last year we were out of town and people were off to the bars in their best racing gear to bet on the races. Racing gear usually consists of fancy dress and entertaining, I mean, fancy hats.

Lilly’s school has a Race Day celebration. They have races and a picnic and all the kids come in their fancy dress. We don’t have a fancy hat so we made an impromptu one. My cowboy hat along with some flowers Lilly and my mom made and she has a knockout race hat. I think she would wear it again.

Her cast is covered up but I swear I have a picture of her somewhere with that thing.