Justin loves the beach!

18 Months already....

In my mind I have built up 18 months old to be a big milestone although I'm not quite sure why, maybe it's because we've noticed so many changes in Justin or maybe it's because he's no longer a baby and it has become more evident or maybe because it's the last set of immunizations for a long while. 

Justin's little personality is definitely shining through; he's an affectionate little boy with a contagious laugh and smile but can also be very stubborn and prone to throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his way. The other day Justin woke up from his nap after only half an hour and he was still tired so I held him until he fell asleep again and then I put him on our bed and I decided to have a nap with him. After 45mins he woke up, put his arms around my neck and nuzzled into me and fell asleep again. That was an awesome feeling! The teachers at school love Justin and always look forward to Friday because that's the day he goes and he blows them kisses and gives them hugs. Before we leave in the afternoons, he has to give all his friends a hug and sometimes even a kiss too. A worrying thing is that he has started hitting if he doesn't get his way or gets frustrated so if anyone knows of how to nip this in the bud, please let me know.

I've started teaching Justin sign language in the hopes that it will decrease his frustration in trying to get us to understand and meet his needs but that's going a bit slow as he only knows "please", "thank you" and "water". We're currently learning "milk", "hungry" and have our own versions for "elephant, crocodile and fish". The one word he has definitely mastered is "NO!" and if he's quite adamant about it, he'll say "No no no no!"  Justin can also say more, wo-wo (for dog), dada, ma, mum-mum and bear. He's definitely copying us more in terms of the way we do things and saying words so we really have to be very careful with what we do and say and how we do and say it. I used to say "beep beep" to Justin when he was in the way and now he says that to anyone who is in his way, oops! Justin knows various body parts and can point out them out when we ask him to. He loves reading and can point out different animals or objects in the books. He still loves his music and dancing and is a frequent You Tube viewer.  

Physically, Justin is growing very tall very quickly so he's lost his baby fat and looks much thinner until he takes his t-shirt off and you see his little tummy. He has so much energy and loves exploring his surroundings. Justin is running around, kicking balls, riding his tricycle, climbing up climbing frames, going down big and small slides all by himself and just having loads of fun. He enjoys painting and drawing and I am very impressed at the way he is already able to grip a crayon, a pen or paintbrush. Justin's self feeding skills have vastly improved but he is still quite messy and I allow him to drink water out of a cup when I have the patience and energy to patrol him closely. He loves going to the beach but only playing with the sand; he's still not keen on the water.

Typical boy, Justin loves cars, trucks, motorbikes, cranes, aeroplanes, excavators, etc. He gets so excited when we pass a building site and he sees the excavators in action.He loves playing in the car, opening the windows, changing the volume of the radio, turning the window wipers and indicators on. The latest thing is to sit on dad's lap while dad parks the car in the garage.

Justin is also following more and more instructions and we've also started reasoning with him which he seems to understand and becomes more cooperative.It doesn't always work but the times it has, I'm amazed that he can comprehend what we are explaining to him.

All these little things that seem to happen overnight still boggles my mind and amazes me that they learn so much in such a short space of time.

Justin has practically outgrown his cot

Justin loves playing with the sand, whether it's at the beach or in the sandpit

He loves playing in puddles

A drive up to Central Coast

Before Justin was born, Row and I use to make a concerted effort to go to church but since his birth, we haven't stepped inside of a church bar his baptism and a wedding. Since moving into our apartment and having discovered a Catholic church 3 blocks away, we've been saying we will go back to church and it hasn't happened. But one of our new housemates is also Catholic and regularly goes to church so yesterday we decided to make an effort. In preparation for the hour long mass, I packed a bottle of water, a tupperware filled with grapes, crackers, a toy car and a toy fish to amuse Justin. We were pleasantly surprised; Justin was quite well behaved during the mass until it was time for communion. He saw everybody going up and decided he also wanted to stretch his legs so it was up to dad to take him out for the last 5 minutes.

After mass we took a drive out to the Central Coast to visit Row's cousin, Diona, and her family who recently moved back from Brisbane. Umina (pronounced Oo-mine-ah) is 88kms out of Sydney and we had trouble just getting out of North Sydney so it was a longer drive than expected but thankfully Justin slept for part of the drive. It also helped that it was a very scenic drive so we could appreciate the beauty of Australia. When Justin woke up I had to sing "The wheels on the bus", "Round and round the garden" and "This little piggy"; I was pointing out the water, the trees, the big yellow dinosaur, the speed boat....you get the picture. Eventually we arrived at our destination and from the minute we stepped into Diona's house, Justin made himself right at home. Diona and her husband, Ben, have 3 kids, a 6yo (Matthew), a 3yo (Nicholas) and a 2yo (Catherine) and they had a pool, a trampoline and so many toys. Justin's head was spinning round as he looked around trying to decide what he should play with first. After a delicious lunch, we took the kids to the beach and they went wild. Justin had so much fun because it was low tide so no pesky waves to worry about. He was running up and down the beach, jumping in a puddle of water, helping the boys dig their trench and rolling about in the sand. He had so much fun and when we got back to the Diona and Ben's house, Justin had a bath as there was sand everywhere and then he joined us for dessert before we headed back home. Needless to say, Justin fell asleep in the car but by the time we reached home, he had his second wind which didn't last long and soon it was tantrum-throwing time. Poor guy had such an exciting day that it took him much longer to settle and fall asleep. 

Seeing Justin running around the beach without us having to worry too much about him made us remember why we made the sacrifice of leaving family and friends in South Africa and realising that it is worth it. 

Lunch time

Playing in the puddle of water and having a ball

Playing in the sand is good fun!

Happy birthday Row!

It's celebration time, actually, it was yesterday. Thanks to Kar, Trev, Ethan and Jenna for making sure Row received their SMS on his birthday, like at 4am Sydney time, hehehehe, thanks again guys! Shortly thereafter, Justin woke up to give his daddy a big love and kiss and helped daddy open his present. Row has been eyeing a stove top espresso maker and when he opened his gift, he got out of bed to play with his new toy. Usually it takes Row a few "snooze" button pushes to get out of bed but yesterday he was so eager to try out his present and make a good cup of coffee. Then it was off to work, unfortunately, but Row had dinner to look forward to. I had made a booking at Angelo's, a Portuguese restuarant down the road from us. It's not Calisto's or Adega but it was still pretty good. We enjoyed a dinner with all the family present in Sydney and a couple of good friends. The food was delicious and the company was brilliant and Justin was quite well behaved considering he was out of routine again. To end of the fabulous meal, I had baked flake cupcakes as a surprise for my dear husband which we had with tea and coffee. 

Happy birthday Row! Wishing you a fantastic year ahead and may we celebrate many more happy ones together. Lots of Love, Tash and Justin

Paddington Market

We have been wanting to go to Featherdale Farm since Row finished his exam but we've either had plans or the weather has been lousy. Last week we checked the weather forecast and guess what....lovely weather forecast for the whole week until Friday where it would rain for the whole weekend. So we decided to arrange yum cha with some friends to introduce them to Row's cousin and her husband, Candice and Barry, as they have recently moved here and are staying with us until they find an apartment. 

The weather on Saturday was lovely, the sun was shining and it was warm so Row and I decided to make the most of the good weather before it would presumably turn bad. After Justin's morning nap (yes, we're back to 2 naps but that's another story) we headed out to Paddington Market. Paddington is a stone's throw from us but it is quite an upmarket, trendy, old money area. This market is held on the grounds of a school and there were lots of stalls selling some very nice stuff. I'm not a flea market kind of person and wouldn't really buy anything from flea markets but this market had some really nice things ranging from jewellery to ceramic dishes to clothing. There were a few food stalls and apparently a whole organic deli and chocolate store which we missed. Being a school ground, there was a playground where I managed to take some photos of Justin.

Lunch with dad

Having fun on the playground

Having a rest

 On Sunday the weather was looking a bit iffy but we had yum cha plans on the lower North Shore. What better way to spend a miserable day than inside a restaurant stuffing your faces? Well, the food was pretty good but the weather turned out to be fantastic. Hopefully the weather will be good this weekend and maybe we can finally make our way to Featherdale Farm. 

Even though it was Halloween, it doesn't seem to be a big event here in Sydney. We did see some houses in Paddington decorated for Halloween but perhaps that was more for house parties. Happy Halloween to all our family and friends in North America and Canada!

Noodles and Pies

The Crave Sydney Food Festival has been on for the month of October with lots of good things going on. Last Wednesday night, against out better judgment, we decided to go to Night Noodle Markets, which was part of the food festival. I say against our better judgment because it was chilly despite people saying it was lovely spring weather and Justin was yanked right out routine again. The Night Noodle Market was held in Hyde Park with lots of different tents featuring Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, Singaporean, Japanese and Indian cuisine and not specifically noodles. It was good to experience more of what Sydneysiders do for fun but dang, was it cold! The food was average, nothing special or extravagant or different  from what you could get at a food court so it turned out to be a bit disappointing. But it was nice for Row and I to get out and do something different.

Row let me sleep in on Saturday morning and he took Justin out to the park to ride his new tricycle. He surprised me with baked goods, quiches and croissants, from the well known Bourke Street Bakery. Row's been reading about "Harry's Pies"  which is apparently quite famous. At lunch time we took a drive out to Woolloomooloo which is only supposed to take about 15-20 mins from where we live but because of awful traffic, it took us 45mins. But the pies did not disappoint! I had a "tiger" which was a beef pie topped with a ring of mashed potato and a ring of mushy peas on top and soaked in gravy....yummmm! I was so hungry I forgot to take a photo of this delicious pie.

Other than these two food outings, the weekend was rather chilled and relaxed as it rained the whole weekend.

17 Months old

Another lovely weekend but with very strange unpredictable weather. This weekend was quite chilled and relaxing. We had Bg and Louise over for dinner so it was a great opportunity to try a new Jamie Oliver recipe and bake a cake. I made Mediterranean lamb for dinner and a lemon meringue for dessert. Now for those who know me, know that I am no domestic goddess and baking is certainly not one of my strong points but since Row bought me a mixer for my birthday, I have had to ensure that it gets used. So far I've made a milk tart because I was just craving one and then I made cheese and bacon muffins and now I tried a lemon meringue. All the goodies turned out alright, quite edible and tasty but the milk tart and lemon meringue needs some more practice...not such good news for our waist lines but oh well. On Saturday we ventured out to Toys R Us as the weather turned icy cold overnight and it was too cold to go to the park. Thanks to Justin's Ah Ma (grandmother) and Ah Ye (grandfather), he is now the proud owner of a brand spanking new, shiny tri-cycle with little tassels hanging from the handlebars. Justin just loves his new wheels! Last night we had a barbie at some friends and Justin had an absolute ball playing with the other kids but it was a very late night....so late that he was "babalass" (similar to being hung over) and today he still woke up at his normal time. We had a very relaxing day today, eating at the Entertainment Quarter because the weather had warmed up and then to the mall to buy some nappies.

Now that Justin is 17 months, we've changed a couple of things and working on new things. I've been transitioning him to 1 nap a day and it's been okay, he has been sleeping for longer than his usual 30 minutes. But we've had to work on putting him down and walking out as he has been crying and crying and screaming at both nap time and bed time. He's still not talking yet but trying very hard to imitate us and he can say some words that I understand but no one else does. His new thing is "No", everything is "No!" Justin, are you still hungry? No! But he'll open his mouth for another spoon of food. Justin do you want to go outside? No! But then he runs to the front door so we can go out. I've started letting him drink out of a proper cup but I make sure he is sitting down and I only put a sip of water inside but he loves the novelty of it and will drink more water than usual. We bought some paints for Justin and he loves it, getting his hands all dirty and creating works of art. Justin was going through a difficult time at day care as he only goes once a week and he missed a week because he was sick so it took him a few weeks to get back into the swing of things but the last 3 weeks he has been so happy. He loves the sand pit and painting and singing and dancing. His teachers love him and think he is so adorable when he blows them kisses before leaving. So at least he's settled back into day care and is totally enjoying it.

Getting better at putting his hat on by himself

Getting better at feeding himself

    

Finger painting

 

 

 

 

 

Justin's new wheels