The month of April

Can't believe how quickly this month has gone by. Our last set of visitors left early April and now we are gearing up for the next set, my folks, Row's uncle, some friends from Hong Kong and a cousin from Cape Town....shew, May is going to be busy month. 

After Ann, T and Aidan left, Row really had to knuckle down and study for his Actuarial exam (which he's writing today as I type this post). Row was going into the office early in the mornings to get some studying in before work and then also on the weekends as it was just too noisy with Justin in the house. 

Aidan and Justin

Summer has ended and autumn has brought the cold and rain which has kept us housebound for many a day. After Justin's last bout of illness, he has become an avid Shrek and Cars fan and can name some of the characters.  He can say "Shrek", "Mater" and "Doc" but the ironic thing is that he can't say his own name yet :P This has also resulted in a lot more TV watching and it hasn't helped that we are cooped up in the house when the weather is disagreeable. Having said that, his vocabulary has since increased.   
This little boy  (sadly I can no longer say baby) has shown us more and more how independent he can be by brushing his teeth, putting on his socks and slippers, putting on and taking off his pants and taking his own zipper jumper off. His stubborn streak is also growing more vivid as his tantrums have become increasingly frequent because he wants to assert his independence and takes strong offense should you try to assist him if he seems to be struggling or because he is so frustrated at not being able to do what he wants to do or tell you what he needs or wants. Everyday is a minefield that has to be carefully navigated so as to avoid these tantrums and I have learnt to pick my battles otherwise it just seems that we are constantly butting heads. 
Justin was showing some interest in going to the toilet and we were getting excited thinking that the end of nappies was drawing nearer. Some mornings and most evenings before bath time he would sit on the loo but never did anything. I eventually went out and bought a toilet training seat that fits onto the toilet and a children's book about how the little baby bear is now a big bear and uses the potty....this has just resulted in him shying away from the toilet and now he never wants to sit on the loo. But we haven't made a big issue of it and we haven't forced him, we shall just let nature take its course ;) Sleep.....our constant issue that never seems to resolve itself. Justin loves his new bed and likes sleeping in it....with me next to him!!!!! This has lead to a lot of tears (both mine and Justin's), a lot of shouting and screaming (again, both me and Justin) and a lot of sleepless nights (all round!) Because we had visitors around the same time we were transitioning Justin to his big bed, it seemed easier to just lie in bed with him till he fell asleep both at nap time, bed time and wakings in the middle of the night.  Now that our visitors are gone, I have tried to stop that and it's been a difficult time in the Ming household. Long story short, a few nights ago, I tried a different approach and Justin's sleep seems to be getting better. He's still waking up at night but not as frequently, we were looking at 3-4 times a night, the last 2 nights it's been once or twice and he goes back to sleep relatively quickly. I will not say it's perfect or that it's improved dramatically but just this teeny tiny bit of improvement has given me hope. 

Justin and his posse watching Shrek or Cars

Easter weekend was really quiet as the weather was horrible and Row was studying. Justin had an Easter egg hunt at school and his teacher said he was the king of the hunt! They said he is so observant and managed to find most of the eggs. Thursday was a bit of a nightmare as we picked him up from school and he was on a sugar rush and came crashing down with lots of tears and tantrums. Which lead me to hide all his chocolate eggs and ration him. 

Justin's Easter spoils

So that's it for April and now we await May and Justin's 2nd birthday! 

Peace out!

Weekend In!

What a miserable weekend! And the weather had nothing to do with it, on the contrary, the sun was shining and the skies were blue. It turned out to be such a mis weekend because all 3 of us fell sick....and here's the interesting bit, none of us have the same illness! Although we think Justin is the cause of all this (poor baby, we'll blame the germs from daycare!) From last Sunday, Justin had diarrhoea and really bad nappy rash, so bad that we couldn't wipe his bum without him screaming and crying and writhing away in pain while also trying to cross his legs to deny us access. Thankfully by Wednesday it stopped and he went to daycare as usual on Thursday and started developing a cough and runny nose. Still no cause for alarm as he went to daycare on Friday although Row wasn't feeling so great and stayed home and in bed (anybody have a cure for the man cold, it would be much appreciated!) Friday night Justin started with a fever and had a restless night of sleep. I wasn't in the best shape as I picked up Justin's stomach bug and so we all spent a miserable weekend together at home. Stuck indoors, there's not much else to do but put the TV on. Justin loves loves loves The Wiggles and that is what he's been watching, along with Barney, Cars and Finding Nemo. Today we also decided to bake banana muffins as we had 3 bananas going vrot (rotten) and my little baker had so much fun helping me. We still haven't eaten the muffins so not sure how well they taste plus we're not sure if other people would want to eat the muffins we made while we were sick. But don't they look delicious?

Justin checking his temperature

Mixing the bananas, sugar and egg

Sifting the dry ingredients

Voila!

Watching The Wiggles over and over and over and over and over again......Justin started learning the actions to the songs. This song is called Rock a-bye Bear, a real big hit with our son! The words are "Everybody clap your hands *clap hands*, Everybody sing *la la la*, Bow to your partner *bow*, Hands in the air *put hands up*,Rock a bye bear, Bear's now asleep *sssh sshhh ssshhh*. He usually pre-empts the actions :)

Day trip to Central Coast

We recently had another set of visitors from South Africa; Row's cousin, Lee-Ann, her husband Terence and their adorable little boy Aidan. Lee-Ann is also cousins with Diona who lives on the Central Coast so we organised a day trip and even hired a Pajero for the day. Guess who were the most comfortable passengers and who were the least comfortable! Each time we go there, Justin grows more and more comfortable with the family and the surroundings. That day was no different; he remembered they have a trampoline and that is where he headed to straight away. Usually Justin seems to play more with Nicholas but that day he seemed to play more with Catherine. They had so much fun together, jumping on the trampoline, drawing on the chalk board and mowing the lawn. Diona's delicious roast veggie lasagne, spaghetti bolognaise and sticky date pudding did not disappoint! Justin also had his first taste of an ice lolly which he loved but thankfully could not finish so had to palm it off to dad. It seemed like a long day but both kids and adults had a very nice day!

The boys in business class; the mums in cattle class!

Catherine and Justin eating ice lollies

Becoming more and more of a dare devil!

Having loads of fun on the trampoline

Yummm, this is so good!

Whee! whee!!!

Taking turns to mow the lawn

Drawing lines on the chalk board

Aidan and Justin watching Nicholas bake doughnuts on the iPhone

Baking cupcakes

Sadly, summer has ended and the weather has become cooler and the rain has started. Last week the weather was pretty miserable for a few days so I decided to try baking mini cupcakes with Justin. This being our first time, I took the easy way out and bought the box mix. Nevertheless, Justin had so much fun mixing the batter. He was so fascinated with the cupcakes baking in the oven and couldn't wait to ice them and pour the sprinkles over. Obviously, the best part of it was eating the cupcakes. The box mix said it made 18 and we managed to make 18 and I'm pretty sure Justin ate at least half of that over the next few days. My little baker had so much fun it looks like we'll be doing this more often as it gets colder and we become housebound. 

Jumping on the trampoline

The life of Justin at 22 months

Justin is still an active and busy toddler, becoming braver and more daring and growing into a little boy and becoming less of a baby. His little personality shines through more and more and we're noticing our mannerisms coming out of him. 

Justin's speech is developing and he's able to name lots of objects either using words or his "sign language". He's also started stringing along 2-3 word sentences like "There's a car!" or "That's a ball!" We're still working on him asking for something using "please dada/ meme" (his version of mummy) instead of just "please". Funnily enough, he hasn't said "thank you" but continues to use the sign language for that. While we were in Perth watching the destruction of the fires on the news, Lee said "Gees, look at that!" The other day while we were watching the unfurling of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Justin stood next to us watching the news and exclaimed,"Gees!" He's also started saying "No, mine!" when we take his dummy or blankey away from him. He's also learnt to say "BOO!" and loves frightening us. Sometimes he covers his head with his blankey, or covers his face with his hands or runs up to you and says "BOO!" and thinks it's hilarious when you get a "fright". I've also taught Justin to say "sies!" (gross/ yuck) so whenever I change his nappy, he lies there saying "sies!"

Justin has also started jumping down from our couch and bed and climbing up chairs and shelves. You should see him on the climbing frame, quick as a monkey! And thank goodness he's now learned to climb back down as opposed to reaching the top and then letting go because mom is always there to catch him. We've enrolled Justin for another day at day care so he's now going twice a week and absolutely loves it. He still cries when I drop him off but the teachers say his tears last for 5 minutes and then he's off to play. When we pick him from day-care he's very happy to see us but loves to take his time leaving, giving each teacher and most of the other children a hug. Justin is still an affectionate little boy and loves giving hugs and kisses. 

He loves the scooter that he got from aunty Wendy, uncle Dylan and cousin Nathan, aunty Claire and uncle B. He's become a real pro on it and has built up some confidence to go a little way up our drive way and zoom down because of the incline....we'd better go buy him a helmet...soon!

Another step closer to being a little boy and further away from baby is the move from cot to big bed. We want to get a bunk bed for Justin because we're thinking long term (for the 2nd child) but then he started jumping off the couch and we had visions of Justin jumping down from the top bunk. Luckily we found a bunk bed that can be assembled as two separate single beds so we've built the top bunk because it has the safety rails and we've stored the bottom bunk in the garage as it comes flat packed. I spoiled Justin by lying in bed with him till he fell asleep thinking I was helping him get use to the new bed. But last night Row said enough is enough, he needs to learn to fall asleep without me there. One sleepless night led to one very cranky mother! But there is light at the end of the tunnel so I shall persevere! 

Cannot believe that Justin will be 2 in 2 months time! Time to start planning his party.

Justin in his new big boy's bed!

Figuring out how to climb out of his bed

Justin being affectionate with dada!

Ya-Ya and Ah Ma's Visit

Shew, time has just run away leaving no time to blog or do anything for that matter. So we have to backtrack a couple of weeks.

After our holiday in Perth, Row's parents flew to Sydney to spend some quality time with Justin and us. This was a holiday that we were all looking forward to as it's the first time we've seen Row's parents since we left South Africa 13 months ago. It was also nice because Justin is old enough to interact with and do more fun things with. Plus he also learnt how to say "Ya-Ya" (his version of Ye-Ye (grandfather)) prior to their visit. We tried to do as much as possible while also sticking as close to Justin's routine as possible. The first few days it was relatively easy as Justin's cough got much worse and we kept him home at night hoping that he would get better quicker so he could do fun things with his grandparents. I also took Justin back to the doctor and practically demanded some antibiotics to get rid of the cough which it did, thankfully. 

With Justin on the mend, we took a drive up to Central Coast to see Row's cousin, Diona and her family. Justin absolutely loves spending time with Nicholas and Catherine and gets so excited when we tell him we're going to see them. The weather was a bit miserable which was a good thing because it meant we didn't have to keep Justin out of the sea while the other kids were swimming but it also meant that my in-laws couldn't fully appreciate the beauty of Umina. 

Justin and Nicholas

Ah Ma pushing Catherine and Justin

Catherine feeding watermelon to Justin

The grandparent's time in Sydney was really just to spend time with Justin so they took Justin to the playground nearly every morning. Of course we included other touristy attractions as this was their first time to Sydney. We all went to the aquarium which they all loved; Justin because he just loves the aquarium and the grandparents because they saw his excitement which turned out to be contagious!  We went on a harbour cruise that included lunch and then had dessert at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe. We had to have fish and chips at Watson's Bay and walk up the heads. Definitely included in the itinerary is lunch at the Sydney Fish Market. Too many little outings to detail and too many photos to add but I shall add a couple and put captions. 

Waiting for the bus

Our harbour cruise 

Just chilling!

Lunch at Watson's Bay

Hanging out in Lavender Bay

Walking across the Harbour Bridge

Nearly three weeks after they've left, Justin still asks for Ya-Ya and still keeps telling us about the time Ya-Ya and him went on the bus together. Their next visit will hopefully be sooner than 13 months!