Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Fun at the beach

This weather is driving us mad, summer has been teasing us by giving us a few really nice hot days and then slips away to make may for winter to taunt  us. A few weeks ago, the weather was warming up really nicely so Justin and I took advantage and went to the beach.

Bondi Beach was having the Festival of Wind which was basically a kite festival. There were loads of colourful kites, big and small, filling up the sky. There were craft stations for the kids to make their own kites and of course, lots of stalls selling kites. The highlight of Justin's day - chips on the beach! He was entertained by the kites for a full 2 minutes before demanding chips at Bondi! The other highlight was catching the bus there which thankfully seems to have tapered off as he hasn't been asking to go on the bus lately! We bought grilled fish and chips and ate it on the grass, Justin thoroughly enjoying his lunch. For a an extra special treat, he had ice cream for dessert. After lunch we went to check out the fire breathing sand dragon which Justin was so in awe of....for another 5 minutes...and then it was time to go home.

Colourful kites filling up the sky
Justin at the Festival of Wind

Enjoying our fish and chips

The fire breathing sand dragon
The awesome weather continued so we took advantage again by going to Coogee beach with his friend Rafael. These two monkeys play so well together and always have fun. That day, we decided to explore the rock pools which was quite tricky watching 2 toddler boys while Rafael's mom had the baby in the Baby Bjorn and making sure no one slipped. The boys had such fun dodging the waves and splashing about. 

Rinsing off after our play date at the beach

Since then, the weather has turned cold and even raining some days. Oh summer, how I wish you would come back for longer than a few days, stop teasing us and just stay already.






Thursday, 8 September 2011

Growing up

Our little Justin is growing up! Yesterday was his first day in the Eagle Room (the toddler room) at day care. He's no longer in the nursery with the babies, he's now with the older children. I was a bit worried about moving him up because drop off had become a teary affair since Row went back to South Africa and only last week he'd stopped crying. But surprise surprise....Justin did me proud! I stayed with him for a couple of minutes so he could settle down and see how comfortable I was in his new room. At first he clung to me and wouldn't leave me, then slowly he started getting up to get more toys and then venturing further away to explore but always coming back. After about 5 mins, I plucked up the courage to say good bye as Justin had found a box of toys that caught his eye. He gave me a kiss and a cuddle and said "Bye mommy!" and sat down next to his teacher with his box of toys. What a champ! At the dinner table last night Justin proudly told his daddy that he'd spent the day in the Eagle room! 

Our little monkey is quite the chatterbox and loves giving a commentary of all the things he sees and hears. I dread the day when he can read and will tell me where I can and can't park and for how long and pointing out the speed limit. Justin is now counting up to 10 and will use every opportunity to show off his new skill; he'll count everything although sometimes we get a bit worried when he counts 10 toes on each foot! He also knows some of his colours like red, blue, yellow, green and orange. At first I thought it was fluke cos he started off with red and blue and nearly everything he has is either red or blue and sometimes he was right and other times not so right. But now he gets it right every time and he points out other the colours. 

He has an extremely good memory so we really have to be careful about what we say and what we promise. Sometimes he'll bring something up that Row or I mentioned in passing and we'll be like, uh oh, better start being careful of what we say in front of this little sponge, goodness knows he might start repeating what goes on at home. He's also very observant! He'll point things out that we don't take notice of, like a picture of a shark on the side of the building or the digger on the truck that we just passed. 

And he has answer for everything, always needs to have the last word! Tonight, while I was washing the dishes, Justin was emptying my tupperware cupboard. I commented that he was just making a big mess, his reply was, "I'm just playing!" When he made a move to leave the kitchen I asked him to tidy up the mess he'd made, he told me he was still playing. 

Justin is quite the Dora fan but we've never made a point of telling him that Dora's a girl. Well, he has a Diego toothbrush and tonight, before brushing his teeth, he told me has a Diego toothbrush, I agreed with him. Then he said Diego is blue and again, I agreed with him. Then he said Diego is Dora's friend and I said yes, that's right, they're friends. Then he said Diego is blue and Dora is pink because she's a girl. 

To end the post, one last story about our monkey. A few weeks ago, Justin and Row were bathing together. Justin pointed downwards and said "Daddy's winkie" then he pointed to his own and said "Justin's winkie." Row said yes, that's right. Justin said, "Mommy's winkie" and Row said no, mommy doesn't have a winkie, she's a girl. Row pointed to himself and said "Daddy's a boy" and then said "Mommy's a girl" and then he pointed to Justin and said, "Justin is a ...." and Justin shouted "... a monkey!" You gotta love the things they say *grin*

Wednesday, 7 September 2011

Best day ever!

Justin's idea of a good time involves riding public transport! Last Friday night, on the spur of the moment,  Row and I decided to go out for dinner. We were on our way home, having picked Row and Justin up, when we decided that curry would be far better than me having to go home and cook. Justin's seat looked straight out the window of the restaurant and his eyes lit up when he saw the big, bendy, red bus and he said he wanted to go home on the bus. Row, always keen to egg Justin on, told him to tell me to take him on the bus. 

So that's what we did this weekend....on Saturday and Sunday morning, while Row was studying at the office, Justin and I caught the big, bendy, red bus to the beach. Thankfully the weather was awesome so we chilled on the beach, played in the sand, ate chips, Justin chatted up some blonde mummies and made a couple of friends and then we caught the bus home. I know he enjoyed sitting on the bus more than the beach because usually it's quite a battle to leave the beach but this time there were no fights. Another reason why I know he enjoyed the bus more is because when we got off the bus, he wanted to throw a tantrum, even the sight of the beach didn't entice him....funny boy! Thankfully, after enough warning that we were approaching our stop, Justin got off the bus without hassles and even said thank you and good bye to the bus driver.

Sunday was also Father's Day...Row decided to come home after lunch and take advantage of the beautiful weather and spend some time with Justin. After the beach, Justin and I had lunch and then waited for Row. We went to the playground at Centennial Park and it was packed. But Justin loved having his dad there with him to do all the cool things like climb trees. 

That evening, after dinner, Row was washing dishes, I was tidying up and Justin ran up to us and said, "This was the best day ever!" and we totally agreed with him! He was so excited, he kept running around the house shouting his declaration :)

Waiting for our bus

Playing on the beach

Climbing trees

Happy Father's Day!

Swinging like a monkey