Toby turns 5!

So the day had arrived.

Toby has been so excited about this day, it has been such a big deal in his life for the last few months. Deciding who he was going to invite, what he would wear, what the theme would be. I remember when he first started asking about his birthday, back when there were still 170 days to go...Each week he would ask, How many days until my birthday party?

And today finally was the day.

A magic themed birthday party to celebrate his 5th birthday. With a magician and a rabbit in a hat cake. Lolly bags filled with sweeties and magic wands. And Toby insisted that everyone come dressed up as their favourite thing.

So the birthday boy was Superman, complete with hair curl, we also had a couple of Snow Whites, a couple of princesses, a magician, a fairy, a Ninja Turtle, The Flash superhero and three Batmans.

The magician, TipTopTom, was excellent. Lots of magic and jokes that had the kids utterly rapt, and killing themselves laughing. The adults that stayed around really enjoyed it too. And after making balls disappear, turning magic wands floppy, pulling handkerchiefs out of boxes, and changing the colours of balls, his finale was to magic a real rabbit out of a hat. Much to the delight of the children, who all got to stroke it at the end.
And then the magician made each of them a balloon animal at the end to take home.

It was a bit crazy, with 16 children in the house and quite a few grown ups, but they all seemed to really love it. And despite a few tears at the end from Toby (Because he didn't receive the first bit of cake!) it all went really well. Toby had a brilliant time, and i think it really did live up to his expectations.

Toby and his pride of lions

So we're back after a lovely month in England.
The sun shone, we ate plenty of ice-cream (and pork pie)  and we had a wonderful trip.

Our bodies are only just back in the right time zone.

Toby is still sneaking into our bed sometime in the early hours of the morning, his arms filled with lions. Gaw-Gaw gained a new baby brother in England from Longleat Safari Park - "Lion-Knee" as he was named. (Toby was quite particular, it was not to be pronounced Lion-y, but Lion-Knee). So clutching his three lions, he sneaks in, pushing me right to the edge and proceeding to sleep star shaped across the bed.

Despite the fact that we are all suffering from colds now, and me not sleeping properly due to excessive amounts of lions being in the bed, we managed to have a good weekend.

Breakfast out at Hammer and Tong, coffees at Seven Seeds, meandering around Gertrude St in Fitzroy, homemade hamburgers with brioche buns and we even managed to sneak in a visit to the Monet exhibition at the National Gallery.

Toby didn't go swimming this morning because of his cough and cold. So we spent some of the morning looking at our photos of England and talking about everything we did.

It's nice to be home, but we still miss England.

Gaw-gaw is NOT a donkey

My little man, he is so sensitive.
We popped into the dry cleaners last week to drop some stuff off. Toby isn't feeling very well, and he wanted to take Gawgely in with him.
The old man inside pretended Toby was bringing Gawgely in to be dry cleaned. He thought Gawgely was a donkey, then a dog and a bear, until I informed him Gawgely was indeed a well loved lion.
As soon as we left the shop Toby's little face crumpled, and silent tears started to pour down his face that soon turned into a flood. He was so upset. Because the man had mistaken Gawgely for a donkey. Toby sobbed, I don't want Gawgely to be ugly. It broke my heart a little bit, that he was so upset that someone had insulted his beloved toy. He is not a donkey. We can't send him to the dry cleaners. I want him to smell the way I like. He cried for a while, until we went to the French patisserie for some pain au chocolate.

And I think it might be the last time Gawgely comes with us to the dry cleaners.

Paper Planes

He is mostly so gentle, and funny, and loving.
He is mostly calm, and sensitive and playful.
And then there are moments of time, when he is such a boy. As if suddenly overcome with testosterone, he'll be rough and naughty and a little bit mean. All normal growing boy stuff. For just a few minutes.
And in this photo, Luis managed to capture one of those brief moments. Toby pulling one of those faces, as he aims his paper plane.

A Mummy Day

We had a lovely Mummy day together, Toby and I.
In the beautiful Melbourne autumn sunshine. We played in the playground in the morning. Toby climbing on everything, and doing Spiderman jumps. He's getting a little more daring these days, with his climbing.

We met a friend for lunch, and shared a pizza. Afterwards we went to the Children's Farm. 

Toby fed the sheep and the goats. We chased some chickens. He held a guinea pig and fed it some carrots. We watched the baby piglets cavorting around, and laughed at them as they were terrorized by the farm cat. I tried to sneak up on the peacocks to get a close up photo, but they were far too clever for me. And then at the end of the day, Toby got to milk a cow. 

We had a lovely day together. No shouting, no cross words, just talking, laughter and sunshine.

Big News

Toby came home from kinder with some big news.

He got married today.

To Maya.
His friend Harvey was there too. He must have been his best man, I suppose.
I asked him if he kissed her, and he said yes. On her hand.

I just told him that next time he gets married, he should invite me.

Little Hipster

Toby came home from kinder today with an idea in his head that he wasn't going to let go of.
Desperate, he searched high and low for the packet sent to him a long while ago now, from Grandma Danger.

Tattoos.

He wanted five, yes FIVE on his arm. After some negotiation, he agreed to settle for two.

I just know how proud and cool he'll feel tomorrow at kinder, showing them off to his friends.

Easter Holidays

 

In Venus Bay.
We rented a little beach house, right by the sand dunes, behind the beach.
Venus bay has the most beautiful, wide, flat beach with white sand. We spent our first day exploring the beach, drawing (Star wars) pictures in the sand and watching the waves washing them away. We were wind swept, but it was fun.

 

That evening, we went on our night time adventure to Phillip Island to watch the penguins on their nightly journey across the beach to their homes in the sand dunes. We had a great time, and got to see the penguins really closely, watching them from the board walk as they waddled into their burrows. Toby made his way back to the car waddling like a penguin.
On Saturday, we went to the farmers market in Venus Bay. Buying strawberries and brioche buns. Afterwards, we drove to Wilsons Promontory, to visit Squeaky Beach. We stopped on the way at a really sweet little town called Fish Creek. We had coffee and pain au chocolates sitting outside.
Wilsons Promontory looks beautiful and wild, and next time I woud love to explore it some more.  We visited Squeaky Beach, where much to all of our delight, the sand really was squeaky. We ran about squeaking, exploring the passageways between the rocks, dipping our toes in the water and building sand castles. Toby and I had a game of chicken with the sea, and I think the ocean won. We both were soaked and sand covered by the end.



 








In the evening, we had surprisingly delicious fish and chips from the local Venus Bay take away.
On Easter Sunday, the Easter Bunny had made an egg hunt inside the house for Toby, as it was raining. He was very pleased with all of his bounty, and especially the Star Wars paper plane book sent from Gragely and Grandpa. We had a slow and chocolate filled day. We had a meander along the beach, before heading off for lunch at a nearby country town called Meeniyan. We headed back to the beach house via Fish Creek again, to stop for another delicious coffee. In the evening, Luis made gourmet hamburgers.

On Monday, we packed up, and said a quick goodbye to the beach before heading home. We stopped off at Kilcunda, to visit Shelly Beach. A beach just filled with shells, and rock pools for exploring. There is a really lovely gourmet food store, gift shop and cafe there too.  We had coffee and brunch, before heading back on the road home.

Rituals

Toby calls them a Mummy Day, these precious days we have together.
I so want them to be lovely, carefree, happy days. Filled with fun and laughter. But invariably, on Fridays, they certainly don't start off like that. 
I put it down to his tiredness, after 3 long days at kinder, I think he is worn out. Karen, his kinder teacher keeps mentioning how happy he is there now. He has lots of friends, and apparently doesn't stop running around and playing all day long.
So by Friday, I think he really is shattered.
This morning, was one of those really bad mornings. The kind of morning when I almost wish I had gone to work.
It all started when Daddy forgot to wave goodbye from the car. Hysterical tears began. Even though Luis drove back home to wave and even ended up coming back inside the house, for Toby it was too late. If he doesn't wave the first time, it doesn't count driving back and trying to make amends, apparently.
Fed up with the tears, I had a pre-breakfast shower to escape. This is not what what we usually do. Breakfast is always eaten in pyjamas on a Friday. And this break in the routine made Toby worse.
Several other tiny things were not done correctly, and the morning became disastrous.  With Toby saying, over and over, I hate this day. Today is a bad day. It breaks my heart.

I knew we had to just get out of the house, even though I had promised a morning of crafting.
To try and get back to some of our Friday rituals, and get Toby back on track.

I find it so odd, this need of Toby's to follow rituals.

There are a few he has.

On kinder days, Toby must eat his breakfast while sitting on the blue stool in the kitchen. On a non-kinder day he must sit on the green stool. This must never be altered.

His afternoon snack can only be eaten whilst watching Peppa Pig. If we have missed it, then he won't eat it. ( But screams in protest instead)

He must pick out his own underpants, and can never wear any that I have selected for him.

If we go to South Melbourne market, we must have sushi for lunch. And a macaron afterwards. Always. I don't dare to deviate.
Which is exactly what I decided we should do today.
Get back to some favourite rituals of his, and make the day right again.

So sushi it was. Then we bought fish, lentils,  fruit and vegetables from the market, followed afterwards by a trip to Chez Dre. To sip babychinos and eat salted caramel macaroons.

We go there so often, we even have our own little table, that is not even a table at all. It is so busy there at lunch time there is often a bit of a wait for a table. But we get special treatment. We get to skip the queue and sit on a little bench at the side in the shade, just perfect for the two of us.

And afterwards when we paid, we got a little surprise from the girl at the counter. She gave us a bag of imperfect salted caramel macarons to take home.
And after our little trip out, the following of a much loved ritual, the day was alright once more.

Tobi-Wan-Kenobi

A few weeks ago now, Toby and I went to the theatre to watch Giggle and Hoot live. (An Australian children's show, that I actually quite like)
Toby loved it, he is the perfect age for that kind of thing now. (Unlike the time we went to watch the Gruffalo, where only about five minutes in he started crying and we had to leave).
This time he really enjoyed himself, joining in with it all. Shouting out 'he's behind you' and all that kind of stuff.

I think the theatre struck a chord with him, and ever since he has been trying to re-create it at home.
Last week we spent a whole morning making paper puppets, all Toby's idea. After we had finished them he was determined he wanted to make a little theatre so he had do a show for all of his toys. I tried to fob him off, (there are dishwashers to be emptied and loads of washing to put on!!) but he went and found himself an old box and persuaded me to help him cut it out and draw a backdrop on the computer to stick in the back. I soon got into the swing of it, and we had a great time together creating our cowboy theatre.
Once it was finished we went into his bedroom where he lined all his toys up in rows, shouting 'Come and get your tickets! Tickets for sale!' We turned the lights down low, and made a show together.


He has even invited our neighbours to watch his theatre show. I helped him make tickets and he sold them at the door. We all sat on his bed with the lights off, and dressed as Obi-wan Kenobi he did a light saber display for us. (With a light up wand I bought for him).
It was very impressive.

And this weekend, he asked for me to make him a plait, so he can look like a true Padawan ( a Jedi in training, I am told) They all wear a long braid, tucked behind their ear.
I managed to find some wool that matched his hair colour, made a plait and attached it to a hair clip.
He was pretty proud wearing it, and insisted on wearing it on our trip to Red Hill market. Dressed in his full Jedi costume, with his braid. I loved watching grown men spot him, a smile and a special look passes on their faces. As if remembering their own childhoods, and that special innocence that allows you to pretend and dream.