A day out in Geelong and Queenscliff

 It was a beautiful day on Saturday. Hot and sunny. We decided to have a day out by the sea in Queenscliff, and we stopped off in Geelong on the way to have a look at the wooden people who are dotted all along the waterfront.

Once in Queenscliff we had a spot of lunch, and then the most enormous serves of ice cream before heading to the beach to play beach ball. Toby really enjoyed himself, killing himself laughing as he stunt rolled in the water. Totally forgetting about his bad knees that he has been weeping and fussing over constantly. Not noticing that he was running across the sand with blood dripping down his leg as he raced against the wind to catch the ball.
It was fun.

My little man starts Kindergarten

We talked about it for weeks ahead. He got to chose his own bag on the internet, and then open the big box when it arrived.
We had 2 weeks of settling in, where I went with him just for the mornings and got him used to everything.
And last Friday he had his first proper day there. I left him making Spring rolls for Chinese New Year and then picked him up after lunch. I felt guilty the whole time he was there, guilty for having time to myself, guilty for liking the idea....
I phoned part way through the morning to check that everything was going OK, and the teacher said he was absolutely fine, though he had fallen over and grazed his knees. But he had been very brave and not cried.
When I arrived he was happily playing with Lego and didn't even want to go home! He had really enjoyed himself.
As soon as we left Kinder, the crying really started over his knees. It was his first really big fall, he is so cautious usually. I felt guilty that I hadn't been there to give him a cuddle and a kiss. And my guilt got the better of me so I promised him that we would take a tram into the city and go and get a new Lego set because he had been so good.

He managed to limp his way through the city. And he chose a new Lego mechanics set, that comes with an extra bag of bricks to make up your own cars. He loved it, and has pretty much being playing with it non-stop ever since, making up his own crazy cars.

The Games We Play

Oh, the complicated games we have to play.....
All invented by Toby, of course.
There's the game where he is a barista (coffee maker) in a cafe, and I have to come in as a robber and steal all the coffee and cakes and Toby arrests me and throws me in jail.
And the game where he is a famous motorbike rider who keeps on crashing, and I am the TV commentator.
And the game where he is a contestant on "It's a knockout" and he keeps falling over and losing all his clothes.
And one of his favourites, when he is a stone statue busker, and Gaw-Gaw and I have to drop money in his hat.
He's still fanatical about Michael Jackson, and we spend many an evening re-creating the video for 'Beat It', complete with fight scene. I've noticed that Toby even pretends to smoke a cigarette and then throw it on the floor. That surely isn't a good thing for a three year old to be doing....

Last week we went to a playground we haven't been to before. It's in Albert Park and is all wooden and resembles a huge castle. I took with us his knight's cloak so we could play together. Each time we play knights I give him a different knight's name, Sir StinkySocks or Sir Sleep-a-Not or something silly like that. I started saying to him, "OK Toby, so today you can be Sir..." and I couldn't think of a name, my mind was tired and fuzzy and not a single name could come to me. Then Toby turned to me and said, "Mummy, just call me Lami, I want to be Sir Lami" and then he killed himself laughing at his own joke. 
 

He's just so funny, this delicious, crazy boy of mine.

little Mr. Wordsmith

He has always loved words. He used really long ones even when he could still barely talk. He asks about words and phrases all the time, what they mean and why.
He finds it funny when one word has two meanings. He made a joke just the other day when I asked him if he was going to eat the rest of his pancakes. 'No Mummy. I'm going to have a rest on my pancakes instead. I'm going to go to sleep on them!' It makes me laugh, and it amazes me the way he has worked this stuff out for himself.
For a while now he has been curious about sarcasm, and I knew it was only a matter of time before he tried it himself. I use it on him when I'm tired and cross, and he'll always pick up on it. He'll do something annoying and I'll mutter, "Thanks Toby, that's really nice of you" and then he'll ask, " Why did you say thanks? Why did you say that?" "I'm being sarcastic" is my only reply.
And now he's used it on me while we were decorating the gingerbread house just before Christmas. He was stirring the icing, I had to sieve the sugar. I was getting bored as it was taking sooo long, and ended up sieving the icing sugar all over Toby's hand. And he said, "Mummy, I really love it when you snow on my hand" in a serious, slightly annoyed tone. "Do you?" I said. "Not really, I was being sarcastic" he laughed. And I killed myself laughing too, amazed at him and how much he absorbs from all around him.

Christmas Day

All the signs that father Christmas had been....

Christmas morning

 

Opening his stocking

His favourite toys - Fireman hat (complete with visor) and his Lego, of course...

Christmas Eve

Decorations in the city

 a gift from the Christmas Fairy

Reindeer Ti-Ti

Stone Santa

The Gingerbread Village, in the city

Our gingerbread house

Christmas Eve dinner at Abu's house

Christmas time making

I've been decorating twigs and crocheting garlands to hang. Planning biscuits to make, gathering recipes for glazed hams, buying supplies and sweeties for the gingerbread house we'll make tomorrow.....

and Toby and I have been crafting together too. Googly eye glueing, painting, pretending to be Mister Maker...

and making a festive reindeer for Daddy's desk. (There was to have been a Father Christmas too, but Toby was adamant the toilet roll he had just painted red would be better off being a fire engine, and I couldn't argue with that!)

Decorating the Tree

It was almost as much fun for Toby as Christmas day.  He couldn't wait to hang up his new nutcracker from Gra-Gra, and we opened our box of decorations in an excited frenzy, tissue paper flying and Toby shouting "I remember this one Mummy!"
 

Christmas has begun

Toby and I are very excited about Christmas this year.
I remember reading something somewhere on another blog, where the girl was writing about loving all the excitement of Christmas, all the preparations, all the planning, but feeling a little bit let down by the actual day itself. I know what she means. Especially since being here in Australia, the Christmases don't feel like those of my own childhood. No fires in the living room, twinkling fairy lights lighting up the house by half past three as it's so dark outside. Frost crunching underfoot in the mornings, the excitement and possibilities of snow, icicles hanging off the windows, and cold, how I miss the cold at Christmas!
But there are positives here too. Sunshine, lots of it. Light, warmth, long days, cider on the roof terrace, barbeques, eating seafood.

So this year I decided that we'll make the most of the excitement of Christmas, to spread it out over the whole month. I have finished making Toby his advent calendar. Everyday a new felt ornament to hang on the fabric tree, and a little surprise for him in the pocket too. Yesterday he couldn't believe it when he found a large gold (chocolate) coin, and that he was allowed to eat it before breakfast! And today an even bigger surprise, a tiny letter from the Christmas fairy, a small chocolate coin and a Lego skateboarder.

He was beside himself with excitement! And he's been re-counting the story of how he found everything in his advent calendar, how the Christmas fairy had left it all there for him while he slept, all morning to Gaw-Gaw.
This is what Christmas is all about for me. Magic, the sharing of excitement, anticipation.

And we're going to put the tree up this weekend, to make the most of it. And just in time, a parcel arrived this morning from England with new decorations for our tree! Toby loved his soldier, thank you Gra-Gra!

Last Weekend

Just mucking about in the city.
We went to a lovely contemporary craft market at Fed square, bought some nice stuff.

Looked at some vintage minis
Toby danced in the street in his new red shoes 

And we watched an old fashioned bike ride along the Yarra