My Little Mermaid

Bax's very last day at the dreaded Bear Park today so I used the opp to take little Izzie to the swimming pool for her very first swim. Pretty freezing outside but lovely in the aquatic centre at Henderson - practically tropical. I squeezed her little sumo figure into a bright pink swimsuit inherited from O and waded into the water with her. She loved it of course being a Soutar and her huge eyes seemed to widen even more as she watched the light reflections dancing on the ceiling.

I look her into the bubbly bit with the spray outlets that shoot warm water and put her feet up against them which she seemed to enjoy. She smiled at strangers and they complimented me on how cute she is - well of course I know that but it's nice to hear it from strangers.

It's a lovely centre, much nicer than the one near us which is like swimming through human soup.

Now Ms Izz is fast asleep - that's what water does to us all isn't it?

Caution: The following is for mature audiences only and does contain some material of an explicit nature which may offend some viewers

Baxter did a poo in the toilet! (No picture available for this blog installment I'm afraid.)

In it together.

Could be a fatal mistake but we've moved Bax and Izzie in together. This is so we can reclaim our study and get some work done in the evenings - G mainly as I prefer to sit in front of the TV and knit.

It all went quite well on their first night together. We had dinner (tacos - Bax was very brave and plowed through the chilli mince and salsa) and the kids had a bath and then we dressed them in multi layers because it's so cold at the moment, put on the friendly fairy light and somevery soft Nina Simone and they both fell asleep very quickly with no chatter or crying - until 1am... Then for the next 4 hours they woke each other up every hour until G gave in and let Bax sleep in our bed. Ah well we will keep trying and hope that they get used to each other.

Speaking of TV (which I was two paragraphs back) we have purchased a DVD of Hairy McLary and Bax particularly likes the one with all the cats. Last night as we were finishing tea he managed to explain to us that he would like to watch the story on telly where the dog finds the cats and then the cat that growls scares the dog back into his house. Very clever seeing as he only has about 20 words.

Father Son Day

I've been wondering why Bax likes going out with G in the truck so much (Bax calls G's big old manual Surf a truck) and now I know - it's fun to do boy stuff.

We have had to evict some tenants from a property this week and there was a lot of junk and stuff in the back garden so in order to get the property tenanted again ASAP I went over to clean up the yard - in a thunder storm (G is on a course). I left Izzie with my friend H and took Bax and met G's frind Gray their with his two boys O (3) and E (5). We hired a trailer and got stuck in. E swept the porch and O carried bits of junk to the trailer. Gray and I heaved an old couch and a collection of odds and ends into the trailer. Gray took his boys home and Bax and I racked and swept and wedded and filled bagsa of rubbish getting wetter and muddier by the minute.

When it was all done we jumped in the truck and drove to the tip. I had a to get a spare lad who was behind me in the queue to back the trailer but other than that we did it all ourselves. Bax sitting next to me in the truck chatting away.

We went to H's to see Izzie and she was fast asleep. So we stripped off all our wet, muddy clothes and had a steaming hot shower. Then in warm cosy clean clothes I gave him a bottle and sang twinkle twinkle little star in his ear as his blinks got longer and heavier and then I put him in the porta cot and fell asleep.

A perfect Mummy-son day.

Of, course then I had to put my old wet dirty clothes back on and rush across town to return the trailer...!

Good old fashioned child abuse

G was changing Bax this morning and Bax was kicking and yelling and generally performing, and somehow he slipped head first down between the change table and the big old chair in his room. He said "Bump" and patted his head rather than cry.

About six minutes later G was cleaning his ears and Bax wanted his ears cleaned too so I did and even though I know full well that you should never stick anything smaller than an elbow in your ear I pushed a bit hard and Bax squeeled and when I looked his ear was bleeding! I was pretty upset. We frantically packed up both kids and all the stuff for the day and trucked off to A and E.

While in the doctors room Bax slipped out of my hands and collided with the leg of the table.

Three major ooopsses before 9am.

Off we went to daycare anyway (he was happy as larry especially as he had a lion stamp on each first - he growled when he showed them to me). In the reception of daycare Bax found a little plastic motorbike and decided to ride it into his room. We were twenty minutes late and there were lots of kids and teachers watching as he cruised into the room. He was wearing his russian fur hat and he had the stalk of an apple in his mouth. Someone mentioned "Easy rider" and he did look pretty cool. My little hero.

Cats!

Bax now speaks fluent...cat! He has always been good at sound effects and we have thought of sending him off to foley-artist school. But the little bit of roaring and growling has now turned into fully fledged Feline.

Last week I took both Bax and Izzie to Mary's and as soon as we got in the door Bax was looking for the cat Christopher. Finally found him hiding in the fire place and then spent over three minutes miowing at him. A whole range of different Miaows too!

I've said before but on the way home from daycare Bax chats and chats, as we come down the hill towards home he begins chanting Daddy Daddy Daddy, getting louder and louder, it's always a bit of a shame if we are early and G's not home yet. Well now Bax starts Miowing on the sweep down the hill - that was the first indication I had that there is a cute little stray living in our garage!

Portrait of my son as a small boy

Bax calls me to get him up from his nap quite a while after he wakes up. I go in and he's standing there wearing a sunhat and holding up his shorts both of which he has taken out of his top drawer. He can reach it from his cot. I pick him up and he shows me that he wants to wear the shorts "Short-short" he says trying to get them on himself. I pull the blue hawaiian shorts over his camo pants and leave the sun hat on and we go into the kitchen for lunch.

Bax eats a plate of bits and pieces: oro (his word for orange), apple, cheese, cracker, bikkie; and drinks a centremetre of juice carefully from a cup. The whole time he tells me what he's eating interspersed with random words like "shoes" "cup" "teddy" "izzie" "daddy" "sweatshirt" "book". Bax likes to read at the table but gets frustrated because his favorite Richard Scary Picture Dictionary is too big to fit on the tray. He most read page is Transport: "Bus" "Truck" "Car" says Bax.

After lunch Bax plays with a box of toys - either dress ups or blocks or musical instruments or cars. He likes to put on his soldiers hat and his tutu and a bib and prance around the house. He is very proud of his jumping and often goes out into the hall to practice: "Up" "Down" "Stop" "Go".

Bax loves Izzie and likes to squeeze her tummy and she laughs at him.

Bax is a bit of a show-off, a real amateur dramatisist, throws too many tantrums when he doesn't get his way, but when I push him on the swing and when we're driving somewhere he sings lovely little hums and somehow all of that comes as a bundle, doesn't it?

My pigeon pair

Bax and Izzie are just beginning to notice the joy of each other. Bax was nagging me to push him around the floor in his toy box and that was just too exhausting for me so I put Izzie in the box on her sheep skin and he pushed her around for ages. When G came home he said "Daddy puuuussshhh Bubba."

Also they are sharing their bath now and they love that. Bax pulls Izzie by the toys until she is stradling him and he puts his arms around her and won't let go.

Nana in Britain has just sent some lovely PJs for both and the ones for Izzie are just like some we already have for Bax - I'm also aware that the little monster suit that Bax used to wear will probably fit Izzie now and we do have that devil outfit that fits Bax - am I a bad mother for dressing up my kids to match and then taking pictures?!

Helping

I've said it before but Bax really is a wonderful asset to the household. G had the heater on tonight and both back and front doors were wide open. I was folding laundry and he was cast on the couch groaning about his long week. I said to Bax "Go and close the front door" and he did. Then I said "Go and close the back door" and he did! But the slams woke up Izzie and she started crying. Pushing my luck I said "Bax, Go and give bubba her nummie." Well I never, off he went and popped her nummie in and she went off to sleep again.

Little star

Had a meeting with a client sho owns a beauty parlor this week and took Izzie along. I popped her on a towel on the floor and she blew raspberries and chatted for about half an hour then fell asleep. Seeing how she slept with her arms out made me want to rush out and buy her a cot -so after the meeting I did.

See she's been sleeping in her bassinette up til now and she's been shoe-horned into it for the last month.

Last night I smiled when I went in to check her before I went to sleep. She had a big smile on her face and her arms and legs star-fish style across the matress. Lovely.

PS Funny little thing happened today: Miss O came to play and have lunch and mid way through all that Bax was standing up in his high chair and she said her first two word string (little note: There are lots of first words but stringing them together is a big step - the two word string is the first stage of making real sentences) her first two-word string was "Sit Down!" Her second two word string came a minute or two later when she brought her plate to the kitchen and on the way spilt the scraps onto the floor, she said "Oh shit!" Auntie H and I laughed through our hands.

Num 'n' Yuk

Turned up early to get Bax from daycare this week and he and the gang were still eating afternoon tea. Of course the minute he saw me he refused to sit on his little chair but forced his way onto my lap instead and then had a bit of a fit when I suggested he eat the baked bean and cheese scone on his plate - actually though that combo makes me feel a little off-food too. The lovely daycare lady insisted that this was a one off for my benefit only performance but still.

The food thing was really getting to me this week so I decided to bite it in the bum - scuse the expression. I got Bax to help me make a batch of cheese scones and some banana and chocolate mini-muffins this week. Now he really likes helping in the kitchen. He stands up on the little kitchen stool-steps and eats egg shells and stirs flour and says Num a lot which is very helpful.

And the other thing we've started doing is sitting up as a family together. Means G and I eat very early but we are eating better and Bax does his bit too. Nice to actually make dinner conversation with the telly off, and all that. Meat and three veg is making a come back at our place. And then for pud we have a bit of fruit which I cut up into pieces and share between us - ooorrrrrhhhhh! (oh you're just jealous!)

I dream of a good night's sleep

Finally had enough of being woken all night by one or other child. There is a limit to the number of nights one can spend being kicked in the head by an under two. So I decamped to the couch, closed all the doors between myself and the children, and pulled the duvet over my head, leaving the nighttime antics to G (who is deaf in one ear so therefore harder to wake). After a full ten days of being woken every two hours of either Bax or Izzie and sometimes both, and only getting about five hours (broken) sleep a night, I didn't care if I was being unfair or selfish I just knew I needed a long stretch of deep sleep.

I woke up at 8am. Both children had slept right through and G looked perky, much to my iritation.

Since then they've been pretty good. We've got in a lot of gadgets to support them in their sleeping, from rudimentary to sophisticated: a hot water bottle with a lovely knitted cover that Mummy made; a gas heater; a new pillow and case; a dehumidifier. In actual fact G is enjoying the dehumidifier the most. He loves to pull out the tank and show us with great delight how much water has been sucked out of the air over the last hour. He's all for inviting friends around to share the game with - I'm not sure that it's something to be proud of.

It's not a bus Bax

G and I have been exercising - funny I know. But the funniest bit is watching Bax doing warm up stretches with Dad.

Now today HMc and I took Lil O and Bax and Izzie on a train and they loved it! Bax kept clapping his hands and squeeking with glee. "Bus bus!" He kept saying. I carefully explained that it was not a bus, buses were crowded and slow and nasty and trains went choo choo puff puff toot! "Bus Bus" said Bax.

We got on in Henderson and went in to Britomart where we had a hot choc and a short walk around then we got back on and went back to Henderson. The conductor made train gags and pretended to clip off the kids' noses with his ticket clicker. Marvellous stuff!