The Weekend

SATURDAY

After a spontaneous drop-in visit to see their Auntie Manda, Uncle Mike, and little baby cousin, I decided to take Tas and Angus to the playground to run off some energy.

We had the playground all to ourselves and the rain held off for an hour.

Trees make great backdrops. This is Tas's extremely happy face.

SUNDAY

It began as any other Sunday morning: with pancakes.

But we all felt a bit bored and house-bound today.

So we hopped on a train into the city.

We laughed in the face of the weather bureau's rain forecast.

We decided to go to the museum and DH and I took turns to see the photography exhibition Images of the Interior, and here were two of my fave images, courtesy of the SA Museum. First, Bill Walker, the photographer, getting his wife Mollie to help him extract his own tooth:

And this one was taken by Samuel White - check out the Museum director in the top middle, Edgar Waite. Love that outfit:

The kids looked at the silent animals behind the glass then went outside to run around some more.

Friday - pretty as a picture

I took Angie outside for a swing and was pleased to find he still fits! We went along to our Play Connect in the afternoon and had an interesting conversation with another parent, Sam, about how you can look up food additives on an iPhone app.

In the evening DH came home with a parcel containing little presents from Karissa in Melbourne. Tassie was thrilled to find a little scarf and hat - which she has barely taken off since - and little all-in-one sleepsuits for Angus. An Awesome present. There were even scrapbooking goodies for me. Yay for surprise presents in the mail!

Thursday - who's in my bed?

I woke up to the sound of Angie crying and sounding upset this morning.


I opened the door into the nursery and looked over at Tassie's bed. It was totally empty - no bedding, no toys, no Tasmin.


I look over at Angie's cot - and there is all Tassie's bedding, toys, Tasmin, and squashed over at the end, is poor little Angus, looking invaded.

He was resuced very quickly, no fear. She was warned sternly not to try that again! After Tas went to childcare, I decided to bring out the new library toys to cheer him up - he loved playing with Bob the Builder and his building equipment.



He clearly said "Up" when we hoisted the building materials up into the air.


GO ANGUS GO!

Wednesday

Today Angie and I had a little trip to Disability SA to meet with an OT there as part of our participation in the Monash program, set up for parents of children with Autism. So far so good. It was interesting to see how well she engaged him, and advised I should work with him at the level he's at. So for example, when he got on the couch next to her, and put his feet up, she played with him, labelling his toes, knees and chin. He liked it and she repeated it several times. This is something I'm learning: wait time and repetition. All good teaching tools in general.


His reward is a little play outside.


I love that he keeps a close eye on me when we're playing outside now, whereas before he didn't notice if someone was there or not. Our work is paying off!

In the afternoon we picked up Gandy and went to visit Tasmin at childcare for a special visitors afternoon tea. Angie got the sandpit all to himself.

Sunday - Gandy returns

It was great to see Gandy again today after several weeks. She surprised us by coming before lunch and staying for dinner. Tasmin was rapt to see her and had plenty of new stuff to show Gandy. Angus jumped.


I love this image of Angus crashing happily into Gandy and her startled expression.

She tried really hard to engage him today, and of course he obliged her with cuddles.

His sweet little face.

Weekend - Her Millipeep and His First Sentence

On Saturday I decided to venture out to the shops with Tasmin. She was pretty well behaved, actually, until we met up with one of her little friends from childcare. This little girl was friendly and sweet, with energy levels to match Tasmin's. They got a bit wild, as we Mums walked and talked, and it was a relief to get home again! We made cupcakes to celebrate Moo-Cow's birthday and played parties with balloons.

On Sunday there was a lot of excitement as Tasmin ran to show me something.


There was something crawling up her arm. I went "Yuuuuckk!" and she explained, 'It's a millipeep."




On Sunday Angie surprised us with his Very. First. Sentence.

It was, "See you in the morning," as they say in the ABC Kids goodnight hour.

GO, ANGUS, GO

Weekend - jumping into cushions

We set up the loungeroom floor with cushions and doonas for the kids to run and jump into. It was great fun. Later I spent the ENTIRE Saturday afternoon sleeping. I decided I must have been catching up on four years of sleep deprivation! Ian's so generous letting me nap at weekends lately.

On Sunday he spent a lot of time clearing out under the house for the hard rubbish collection. His weekend downtime is usually in the study, either chuckling at something on Facebook, updating his military history research blogs or this computer game.


In the afternoon I set Tas up to do some "scrapbooking" and even gave her a good collection of spare photos I've been putting aside for her. She loves gluing, drawing and cutting with her scissors, only later I found she'd sliced several photos into tiny slivers!



When Tas was in bed Sunday night, Ian and the little man had fun on the cushions, rolling around, being tickled and both giggling. Angus definitely slept better that night.

Monday - Where were you when you heard the news?

Where were you when you heard the news about Osama bin Laden?

I was in the car, feeling resentful about having to attend a meeting on my one free day of the week. I was on my way to Tassie's new kindy, and DH had left the news radio station on. It was about 1.45pm. My two were happily playing at childcare.



Our thoughts are with my brother-in-law who deploys to Afghanistan on Tuesday, and his family, who'll be missing him for the next few months. We're so grateful to the men and women willing to serve their country in this way.

Tuesday and Wednesday - Steph arrives

Steph arrived from Canberra on Tuesday. Ian and the kids went to collect her from the airport, then spent the day together before returning home in the late afternoon.

Wednesday Tas and I had our own little appointment and came back with some great strategies for managing behaviour.
It's such a treat to have someone new do the bedtime story!

Sunday - the very long Easter post

The first one!

Wow...

Angie didn't get it. He legged it over to the sandpit.

Making Anzac biscuits

Playing in the sandpit. Pretty dress? No matter.

Mum's lemon meringue pie.

Wednesday - new word #3

This is Angie in his new little dressing gown from Gandy. I handed him his banana, saying banana as I do everyday, only this time he said BABA. For banana.

GO ANGUS GO!

Tuesday - I'm a ltttle over excited and new word #2

Because I've been on the web so little lately, I hadn't realised that I had WON a scrapbooking challenge a few ago, on the Aussie Scrap Source blog. You may recall the layout I made with a home made rub on which they very kindly published on their site. So, apparently, there is a little goodie pack coming my way. And as you can see in the image above, I'[m a little over excited about it. It was just the pick me up I needed today.


Angie was playing in the backyard this morning and eventually came looking for me on the deck. He saw me pop my head out and he said PEEPO! It's a word Mum has used a lot, and I haven't said it in a while, so that was a real surprise.

GO ANGUS GO!

Monday - new words this week #1

How cute is this little Easter basket that Angus came home from childcare with today? Ian picked him up so I hope he thanked them properly. I KNOW the staff would have spent ages making them for the children.

At dinner time after Tasmin had demanded juice - which we don't allow in the evening - and gotten it, cos it wasn't worth the grief - Angus surprised us with I WANT JUICE. Come again? He said three words! I still can't believe it.

Sunday - outside day

It was a great weekend for going outside, and lovely sunshine. Ian was great and let the kids go outside for ages while he kept busy mending the rickety old gate (again) and other things that needed attention. We've found the kids can play relatively safely outside without needing micro management. Just a basic check every five to ten minutes to make sure they haven't run away/fallen down/hurt themselves/each other. It's definitely not a child proof backyard but we're working on it. I got to have a rest - trying to catch up on sleep whenever I can.


In the evening I felt so rested that I made three scrap pages. Three! I will post these up closer soon. I'm trying to catch up on my blog posts - getting a bit behind lately.

Friday - bye Mutti

And so we said farewell at the airport, with a quick photo opportunity with Mutti's camera.

Mutti was very loving and attentive to Angie while she was visiting. It made me so happy to be in the kitchen and hear her quietly talking to him, engaging him. He went to her quite willingly, sitting on her lap and enjoying cuddles. Ian and I love it whenever someone pays HIM some attention, which isn't easy when Little Miss Tasmin is around.