Things we've being doing

Lots and lots of break dancing...


I've mentioned before that he won't really let me take photos of him much these days. But if it's photos of him break dancing? That's a whole different story, he actually wants me to take photos of him dancing, and then he loves to look at them on the camera.





We had a family barbecue for Australia day, and I made a big pavlova, as I always do for any get together. Toby seems to have inherited his Dad's obsession with this dessert, he couldn't wait for everyone else to sit down, before he grabbed himself a spoon and started digging in....



And he ended up having two adult size portions. Definitely taking after his Dad, who has been known to have sneaky 4am pavlova feasts, the stress of the pavlova being left in the fridge overnight (where someone else might eat it before he does) proving too much.


And Toby's beloved Abu is not very well at the moment. 'Abu has a sore tummy' he keeps telling me. So he made these pictures, to help her feel better. I asked him, "What shall we draw that will make Abu feel happy?" His simple answer, "Cars".
OK then.


Get better soon Abu.

Faces....

This is one of our favourite games, originally started by Ti-Ti, he likes to copy the faces I make especially when I'm cross.
The game is called Daddy's Face, Mummy's Face.

Daddy's Face:

(He tries to look all cross)

Mummy's Face:

(Big smiles!)

And then we fall about laughing.

Superhero Ti-Ti - The Breakdancing Terror

The first post of the new year!
Toby is getting harder and harder to photograph, as today's blurry shots will show you....

He got so cross when I stopped our game of superheroes to take some quick photos that he ended up having a tantrum. He was temporarily distracted with a clip of Yo Gabba Gabba playing superheroes on the computer, so I managed to sneak these shots in...


He just loves superheroes.

Toby's Top Ten Things He Loves: (in no particular order)

Breakdancing
Superheroes
Fish (both eating them and watching them at the aquarium/ pet shop)
Mini-Bikes (or motorbikes or scooters, they are all mini-bikes to him)
Deep Sea Divers
Caillou (funny little French Canadian cartoon about everyday life of a 4 year old boy)
Chocolate Brioche
Rubbish Trucks (he has even invented a song about how much he loves these)
Matchbox cars
Gaw-Gaw

The break dancing obsession is now almost getting out of control. He break dances everywhere - in his bedroom, in the kitchen, in shops and even in the streets...and he wants to watch clips of it on youtube ALL the time. And he thinks it is absolutely hilarious when I try and break dance with him (which is more awful/funnier than you can possibly ever imagine, even 2 year old Ti-Ti is better than me) The two of us have spent many an evening in the last week while Daddy has been away break dancing before bed time.

Here are some more shots of our new year so far...

(An afternoon at the beach, 2nd January 2011)
You see? Every photo these days he has to pull a face.....
Watching a cow being milked with his friend Lily, at the Children's Farm, 3rd January

Picnic at the Botanic Gardens for Abu's birthday, 8th January
Ti-Ti got his own back, and pretended to take photos of us
( he didn't seem to notice that there was no camera on the tripod!)

Christmas in photos....

A gingerbread house.



Which Ti-Ti loved, and loved even more when he realised he could pull up a chair and climb up onto the kitchen counter to steal the smarties off it.

Christmas Eve, at Abu and Papa's house.



His first bike! A Christmas present from Abu and Papa.




Christmas morning, Ti-ti's presents under the tree from Father Christmas...



and his new wooden garage waiting for him on the table. He just loved it, and wanted to play with it all day long!




The wooden soldiers he had begged for from Father Christmas for weeks before hand



the Christmas ham glazed in maple syrup and honey,



and the boxing day monster pavlova,



and Ti-Ti bowing, after a performance on his 'mini-bike'



We had a wonderful Christmas, relaxing and fun.

All I want for Christmas is......

The tree is up, and caused much excitement for Toby.


I bought a special book to teach Toby all about Christmas. He seemed to get the concept of Father Christmas bringing him presents instantly. He loves the Christmas book, and wants to read it all the time, his favourite page being one showing Father Christmas's workshop, with all the toys being made and wrapped. A few nights ago now, he said to me with the sweetest, most desperate voice, Mummy, will Father Christmas bring Ti-Ti a wooden soldier for Christmas? I told him that maybe he would, (Where on earth am I going to find one of those?) Then I asked him what Gaw-Gaw would like for Christmas, and Toby replied, Gaw-Gaw share Ti-Ti's toys!
How delicious is that?

A connoisseur

A couple of weeks ago now we went out for lunch with Toby to a local gastropub. He ordered fish and chips, and when they arrived he proceeded to eat them in the most hilarious fashion. With each mouthful, he would lean right back in is chair, eyes tightly closed in concentration, slowly shaking his head and making little noises to express his utter delight in the flavours he was experiencing. Ever since then, I have been trying to teach him to say, "I am a connoisseur." He is saying it almost perfectly now.
His lunch time sushi today received the same treatment.


We went out on Monday for lunch too, Luis took the morning off so he could watch one of Toby's swimming lessons. Afterwards, we went down to Docklands and ate some seafood together.

And Toby is now teaching Gaw-Gaw how to be a connoisseur.

Words of the Week:

Same as ours

One more time

He loves using these little sentences, it's amazing how many different situations he can apply them to!

We watched playschool today whilst eating ham sandwiches. They happened to also be making ham and avocado sandwiches on the show. Toby came running in to the kitchen shouting, Mummy! Sandwiches, same as ours! He was so excited. And after he finished his plate full, he said - Mummy, one more time? And he ate another plate full.




We had a coffee this morning at the Auction Rooms. Toby spotted a fire engine parked across the road, so we stood in the doorway and waved at it together. They turned their flashing lights on especially for him and waved too. We went back inside after a couple of minutes, as it was raining so hard. And then, to Toby's absolute amazement, one of the fire men walked inside the cafe in his uniform, with a set of special stickers just for him. It was so exciting, and Toby immediately stuck the stickers all over himself, and has worn them ever since.
Later in the car on the way home, Toby said, Mummy, see fireman one more time?
He was so proud of his stickers.

Toby's First Concert

(Warming up for the concert, by playing Superhero. Which involves running around holding his arms out behind him, shouting Superhero! and then falling over)

Ti-Ti had his first music performance in front of an audience on Sunday. I wasn't sure if he would actually do the little routine we have been practising for the last month or so, or even if he would sit with me on the stage, but I needn't have worried. He did his best ever performance and seemed to love the stage, shaking his maracas


and stopping when the music did (they have to rest their maracas on their shoulders, and he did it perfectly, I was so proud!)


hiding and singing his peekaboo song

and waving ribbons


He really loved performing. At the end, he threw his arms in the air in celebration of himself, shouting in delight. After, we watched the older children doing their routines, and Toby was trying to copy them, excitedly. And his excitement was infectious. It was such a fun morning.

A rainy day

He was so excited about the parcel that arrived for us today from Gra-Gra. It brightened up a bit of a dull day. We unwrapped special handmade Christmas decorations, and a shirt for Toby.


He wanted to wear the shirt straight away. He is obsessed with wearing things that have buttons, and spends ages trying to do the buttons up himself. It drives him insane, and he often ends up having a bit of a tantrum over it...

So he wore the shirt , and then we went to get his hair cut.


And then came home and painted. It has been a really grey, dark and rainy day. Toby must have picked up on the mood of the day, as he only wanted to paint in black.

Doing stuff

Words of the week:

Tomorrow

Another time

It's getting hard work these days keeping Toby entertained, he just likes to be doing stuff all day long. It's kind of sad that these are the new words he says time and time again, and he even anticipates when I'm about to say them to him.
Mummy, make Playdough? (I pause, thinking of an excuse why we can't...) and then he'll say, Tomorrow? And it all works out fine, he doesn't get upset, I just feel guilty that tomorrow seems to be my excuse all the time...


But we had a busy week doing stuff this week. Making chocolate cake together, he calls it Masterchef. And of course licking the bowl out afterwards, such joy!



Making cars from playdough. This has to be one of his favourite things to do a the moment. He concentrates for ages, picking them apart as soon as I have made them and exclaiming, Oh no! Crash! Cars broken! and then making me make them all over again...

Drawing faces. I drew the circles and the hair, and Toby did all of the features all by himself, I was impressed!

Busy days, but such fun.