Talking to balloons

I drew a face on a balloon he was given this morning, so we could talk to it. And so he'd get a move on eating his breakfast. It can take 45 minutes some days.....
Toby loves talking to things. And as previously mentioned, I have to be the voice of the object he's talking to. The biscuit he's eating (he loves it when they shout Ow! Please don't eat me!), the lego man he's playing with, the pirate I've just drawn, pictures in books, his toy stretchy hammerhead shark, the giant concrete green giraffe we drive past everyday, the list could go on and on.
So when I drew this face, he was in delicious fits of laughter over him. He's called Bobby, and he just kept hitting Toby over the head and blowing raspberrys at him. And Toby just loved him. And loved copying him to.

Smooth Criminal

These were taken during dance practice one morning....
His own rendition of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal

Fabric design for Ti-Ti

After a few weeks of impatient waiting, my digitally printed fabric from Spoonflower has arrived!

And I'm super pleased with it.
Woodland animals, with various things that Toby likes - robbers, beards and hats with feathers in. And of course, they all have their own names. Which I was glad I did, as one of the first things Toby said while pointing at the bear, was "Mummy, what's his name?"

I'm going to make a quilt cover out of it, and I've yet to design the pillowcase. These are just test swatches, front and back, to make sure I liked the fabric and the colours.

Pirate Ship making

Toby and I made some pirate ships together, out of a couple of egg boxes and some lollipop sticks.

We had great fun, we even made a map and some tin foil treasure. And we gave them all names, which is essential for Toby. Everything and everyone must have a name. Or he is not very happy.


So here are (l-r) Blackheart, Captain Claw, Digger, Francois Feathersword, Peg-leg Pete and Pierre the Shark.

And Toby is loving playing with them. Though I'm not sure if he really understands what Pirates really are. When they went on an adventure and found some treasure, Toby told me that the treasure was a pile of books, and each pirate had to chose just one to take home. So sweet and innocent!

Dancing

He woke up yesterday after his afternoon sleep (of 3 hours! He must of been so tired, after keeping us awake all night long...) full of beans and happiness. And laughing at his crazy sweaty sleep hair. After a bit of chocolate brioche, he just started dancing, and dancing, and dancing...





Just a pure pleasure to watch.

Happy Birthday Gra-Gra!

We hope you have a lovely day xx

Ti-Ti and the things he loves

He has changed so much over the last few months, growing bigger and being funnier than ever before. And sometimes embarrassing.
Last week while sitting in a cafe he exclaimed, 'Mummy! That lady has a beard!" as he pointed at her. She kind of did have a beard, but I'm sure she really didn't want someone pointing it out for her!
Other things remain the same. He is still very shy. He wouldn't climb into the fire engine and press the buttons, even though the firemen outside Seven Seeds cafe were so lovely in offering to let him do so.
And he still loves Gaw-Gaw. His best friend, his sleep companion, his travelling buddy.

And these are his latest loves in no particular order:

• Dancing. Any kind, but he still loves break dancing, and has totally perfected his backspins now.
• Michael Jackson. Beat it and The Way You Make Me Feel are favourites. And it makes me laugh when he asks, "Mummy, is he a girl?"
  
• The Gruffalo. He can recite the pretty much the whole book. In the car on the way home from work, we recite it together. I am the narrator and other animal voices, and Toby is the mouse.
• Mechanics. All his stories that he makes up involve mechanics.
• F1 Racing
• Lego
• Chocolate
• Pretending to be a newborn baby
• Helping (or hindering? Not sure which...)in the kitchen
• Talking to inanimate objects. And making me do the voices that answer him. We've even had to make a rule, only objects/things that have a face can talk back. He now asks, "Mummy, does a potato have a face?" That's kind of a difficult one, as they have eyes...
• The Stone Men (The busker who dresses as if made from stone and stands completely still in the middle of the city)
• Beards/Mustaches and the people that have them.
• Making up words, I have no idea what they mean. Kissanova, Tilly-Tilly, Pulla-Pulla. What your name Toby? "Tilly-Tilly" is his reply. Why did you keep waking up last night? "Because I was kissanova" ???What? We have no idea...
• Aquariums
• Good Eggs and Bad Eggs (from the Willy Wonka movie). He asks about some people that he thinks are not nice - "Mummy, is he a bad egg?"
• Playing cops and robbers. And locking people in jail.
• And of course, Gaw-Gaw.

A Bowling Superstar

We went bowling last Friday with Uncle Pablo. I may have been an expert on the Wii, but I was terrible in reality. But it was still good fun. Toby had a brilliant time, and thrashed us all. He had special bumper bars that came up when it was his turn, so his ball couldn't go in the gutter. And a special ramp to help guide his ball. He just loved it.

Later in the afternoon, we did some painting. And Toby painted his very first portrait of me! He was even copying me when I draw, and studying me while he painted. I was very proud.

A day in the country, A day in the city

Last Sunday, we had a day in the country, in the Dandenong mountains. Toby was desperate to see some kookaburras, so we went where we knew we would find them. We also spotted some yellow-tailed black cockatoos, sulphur crested cockatoos and crimson rosellas on our walk through the forest.

A fairy door

Toby loved his walk. I told him that fairies live inside the tree trunks, and he spent ages knocking on their doors and trying to spot them.

Knocking on a fairy door

Explaining to Gaw-Gaw all about fairies and fairy doors

And we hiked over some slippery rocks to see a waterfall, Toby was pretty proud of himself.

And we even went fishing (Imaginary, of course.)



This Sunday, we had a day in the city. Breakfast at the European, then on to the craft market, then to the art gallery. Where we met a huge rhino that both terrified and fascinated Toby, as he stomped about and tried to spray him with water. And in the art gallery we were chased by crocodiles and had to run very fast. (Toby is just loving imaginary games at the moment. Especially if it involves being chased, and even more so if it involves robbers and police)




Two lovely days out.

An Autumn Walk

It's Autumn, and getting pretty cold around here. This year though, the leaves on the trees are making the most beautiful show, after the best summer rains in a decade or so. We decided to go for a walk in the Botanic Gardens on Friday, to enjoy the fresh air and the colours of autumn, (and collect a few leaves for printing and painting later on.)



Toby wore his new wellies, he thought they looked like fireman boots, so was very proud of them.


And he loved collecting all the leaves, checking for bugs, watching out for fairies and keeping his eyes peeled for kookaburras. We saw a few bugs, we think we saw some fairies, but no kookaburras. We're going to go looking for some of those tomorrow....