moving on

Well the big news in our neck of the W is that we are finally moving south (for the winter? For the lifestyle!) I have got a new job at Hastings District Council and so we are moving to the sunny Hawkes Bay as we've been talking about for YEARS!

Yesterday, I had memories of us in Oct 2004 packing up our flat in brixton, surrounded by boxes, eating a picnic in the kitchen, laughing at our nutty selves. We were there again yesterday but this time we're in Akl. same stuff (more of it!) same boxes. Bax sitting in Izzie's high chair, Izzie asleep - so it was the three of us making lists, and chatting, eating a picnic together.

Izzie is the same age now as Bax was then - if you get what I mean!

Bax was telling G about going to the fair (at Titirangi) and seeing Miss O and her pushing him out of the pushchair and me and Auntie H getting mad with Miss O purely out of shock that she's managed to push a very heavy buggy over! And calling her naughty. Sometimes we can't get over how grown up he is getting especially when he managed to get out enough words to piece together a real story!

Izzie is having a terrible time with her teeth! She didn't sleep or eat very much this weekend and we proabably didn't help by having to 'just keep going' working our way down our lists of things to do. By this morning she was much much better though.

We had a lovely dinner of DUCK at Granny and Poppa's on Saturday. G and I were like tired teenagers - I was lying on the floor watching crap but good tv and G was reading the paper - we were both so buggered we just left all the parenting to Granny and Poppa and ignored our children for a couple of hours - it was great, but a bit rude!?

Well - lots to do - namely I am diligantly working out six weeks notice while G is at home cleaning/packing/painting/l;ooking after midgets. off we go on our next amazing adventure!

Wakey wakey!!

Groggy from a night of frivolity at the Godparents, G and I hide from our children, under our covers, trying to un glue our eyelids.

Bax comes in bright as a morning chicken "Mummy! Daddy! Waaaayy-kkkke uuuup! Stop hiding under the blankets! Mummy! Daddy!"

Adventures in Izzie-land

Here she comes, on her wobbling legs, speeding up when she thinks she's going to fall, walking down the hall towards us. She's wearing striped tights and bright pink converse trainers, a denim pinafore, a clip in her curls, a soft green merino hoodie with little ribbons on the cuffs. She's giving you a big grin and squishing up her eys, she's got 6 teeth with a big gap at the front.

Izzie woke up at 4 am freezing cold and moaning half heartedly. I got up to her and brought her into our bed to warm her up, she cuddled in and rested her head on my shoulder. She hugs properly, putting both her arms as far around you as she can and resting her head on you. (Some times I feel her come up behind me, wrap her arms around my leg and rest her head on my knee.)

She didn't go back to sleep as i'd hoped but sat up giggling, crawled to the end of our bed and carefully slid down onto the cold floor.

She headed out into the hall.

I let her wander round the house, playing on her cow, climbing into both her trolleys, laughing at her dolls and teddies. She's real little kid as in she likes to play with toys and cuddle things and she laughs at stuff that is designed to make kids laugh - whereas Bax has a more cynical way of looking at things.

I changed her into much warmer pjs and she laughed at me.

I made her a bottle of milk and sat on her squishy chair with her on my lap. She drank her milk while clutching her dummy tightly in her other hand. Every now and then she swapped the two over and sucked vigorously on ehr dummy holding her milk out at me. her eye lids drooped and I carefully lowered her back into bed. She rolled over and went back to sleep.

In the morning as I got her dressed for the day, she wriggled and growled at me, desperate to escape and waddle off to explore. Bax came over and pinned her down, blowing long grose raspberries on her chubby belly. That kept her still.

Then off she goes today to spend the day with Nana Pat, doing chores and running errands - happy little button.

Another little image to leave you with: Bax being driven through Auckland City, he sees the SKY Tower through the window and using perspective he lines his finger up so it's sitting ontop of the Tower's spiky top - says to Daddy "Ouch Daddy Sharp finger" he pretends to prick his finger tip on the spikey tower.

photo update

Ahh summer! Remember that...?!
Very recent - perhaps a week ago
Yes Izzie does ride the cow too

With pagan-god-father George

photo update

Reading material and printed matter

My mum sends clippings from the UK because let's face it the journalism here is dreadful.
They arrive every few weeks in a mannila envelope labelled Printed Matter.

Well we had a bit of a back log and three arrived at once and we got bogged under and what with one thing and another one envelope got lost under a huge moutain of "To be sorted" on the kitchen table.

Yesterday G tidyed and the package was revealed.

I got home and sat down and Bax brought it to me full of delight, Bax now knows what they are and as they are welcomed with such glee on behalf of myself and G he wants his slice of the hoohaa.

He passed it to me and said it was a parpel from Nana and that we should "Share!"

So we opened it up and I read some articles and gave Bax a glossy inclusion about New Zealand. I read and oohed and ahhed and hahaha'd and Bax pointed at the mountains and the rivers in this glossy bumpf and went "Wow, oooo, Hmmmm".

It's a Soutar family thing I suspect.

When my grandparents came out here on a cargo boat from England in 1951 my Nana had packed away 6 weeks worth of untouched newspapers so my Grandpa would have his morning paper each day even though they were in the middle of the ocean- he would only read unread papers. Imagine.

One evening

I get home to find Izzie and Bax in the hall on their way into Bax' bedroom.

Izzie is in the terrific old wooden trolley granny and poppa found in the shed at their place.

The kids take turns - one sitting and one pushing - if Izzie's at the helm they can't turn corners so G has to come in to save the day.

Reminds me to tell you: Bax still wears his fireman's helmet everywhere - when I told his self-appointed pagan godfather that he loved fireengines, George said "They're cars and they save the day - what's not to love?"

So anyway two kids and a trolley...they love it and I do think that if anything happened to all the adults in the world they would simply pack the trolley with all the things they could think of and set off into the hinterland together.

Later that evening when Izzie was in bed and G was at the chirapedshiropadontist Bax and I sat together on the couch and chatted - he loves chatting, somedays he just says to me, "let's chat, let's do talking"

We talked about our day.

I started singing to him. We sing alot, make up lyrics about what we see and what's happening and he's getting very good at it - he can even hold a tune.

They do alot of singing at kindy too - about everything - pretty much they sing all day.

Then suddenly Bax said to me "Stop singing!"

I laughed and he grinned at me.

"is that what you tell Bon? (his kindy carer)" I said "What do you say to her?"

"Stop singing"

Of course i won't though - i think secretly he likes it.

I forgot our birthday!

Bax and Izzie's blog has been going one year on April 4. Congrats to our little band of readers for sticking with us.

Barron family festival of freaks

We're a bunch of misfits at the moment. Beset by injury, we've been trying to get together for a family meal for a few days now - started off being an Easter thing and now it's a week later.

Granny Rob-rob fell down the stairs and sprained both ankles.

G has done his back and can't sit down. I got home last night to find the two kids sitting on the floor with a large picture book open on the floor and G standing above them naming objects for the to point at because he couldn't sit down to read them a story.

Django is limping very badly and moaning to himself.

Bax went a-over-t off a stone wall at One Tree park and landed on his face. His nose is so puffed up and bruised that he looks like a Klingon.

Imagine us lot walking down the road together - the peasants would laugh and throw tomatos.

Actually Izzie and i are smirking quietly to ourselves and hoping we're not next on the stretcher.

Singing in the rain

Weather's horrid here at the moment. Sheets of rain and the sky turns grey quicker than you can say "it's precipitating domestic quadrapeds".

Standing in the kitchen this morning making lunch and brek simultaneousl, I could hear Bax in the shower singing "it's raining, it's pouring..." word perfect, and every single word. So funny and cute. Even at that age, he can't help but sing in the shower "It's Waining, it's pawing, old man snawing, bumped head outta bed, couldn't getup in da mawning".

Then later G called to say he had got caught on the phone to his dad and he'd forgotten to close the front door. Izzie was happily riding her ride on cow around the house, bax was asleep. When G finished his call he looked around for Izzie, couldn't find her. Panicked.

He ran outside to find her out on the lane, very muddy, soaking wet because it had been raining so hard, shivering but grinning ear to ear, still riding her cow. She ridden it down the hall, out the front door, along the patio, down the steps, down the path, across the lawn, past the car, down the drive, to the lane. Poor midget.

I think G is probably getting pretty cabin feverish, he's very outdoorsy and I have a feeling our house is getting smaller and smaller the longer this bad weather lasts.

Mornings with Bax

Got up at 6.30am and took Django out for a walk with Bax. He loves walking Django, it is his favourite thing. i love having him along for the ride. We seem to go either at day break or twilight. We rug up warm and he likes to sit in the buggy rather than walk, although sometimes I cajol him to run. Django is so funny, he bowls off ahead of Bax and rounds up in front of him which has the effect of slowly bax to a stop. Very helpful when he's hurtling down hills towards roads.

Today we took the old old buggy which is rickety and wobllely and squeaks. It took us ages just to go around the block.

We got home, got ready for work/gym/kindy and off we went in the car.

On the way G was telling me about something he heard on the radio: A train had nearly hit a cement truck and the trainee driver had stopped the train just in time and hadn't actually hit the truck. A near miss..

When he'd finished there was only a brief silence before Bax told us the story back again, word for word. he went over it and over it, the cement truck, the driver, the train, the button pushed to stop the train from crashing into the cement truck. The lucky escape. It was priceless.

When we got to kindy I took him in and we put his bag away. Then he took me to the corriodor and opened a big old chest. It took all his strength. It was a chest full of dress ups. he busily burrowed inside. Then we pulled out not one but two firemen's helmets. Put one on his said then looked around saying Lockie?

One of the carers - Mariana - said he wears the fireman's helmet alot and it's his fav thing at kindy.

As i walked down the path to the car i could see him waving from the window - him in his fireman's hat.

Going home

Had to share this with you all while I'm still laughing about it...

G just rang and said that he had let Bax navigate home from Kindy. He sat in the front seat (in his car seat) and told G 'Go this way " "go that way" "Down there" all the way.

it took them two hours.

To go from Epsom to New Lynn.

They went via Hillsborough, Onehunga and Blockhouse bay and finally made it to a park Bax recognised - to which he announced "Play here. Stop daddy".

So they got out, had a play and then G navigated the rest of the way home - about 5 minutes.

Baby steps!!

Izzie is walking!! About five steps then she kills herself laughing and does a comedy dive forward into who every is closest. Superbly cute.

What's that Skippy? Jimmy's fallen down the well?!

This morning Bax and I skipped outta bed and made some porridge very happily while those lazy Barrons were sleeping. We sat in the kitchn together stirring in the milk and adding feijoas straight from our garden. Although Bax isn't so sure about Feijoas and mad me promise to scoop them out of his bowl once the poppige was cooked. He calls the microwave "the little window" - although he says "Liddle Linlow"

He was chatting away and then he suddenly said very brightly "What Fwek?"

I asked him to say it again because I didn't know what he meant "What Fwek? What Fwek?"

I still didn't get it. I said "What do you want sweetheart - I don't understand"

What Fwek What Fwek" he started getting very frustrated with me and then burst into tears - big heavy spolts dropped onto the counter top "What Fewk! " He yelled - and then "Please"

Still I had no idea.

"What Fwek" "Dada said Please!" he yelled

I gave him a big cuddle as he gulped "What Fwek!!" Please Mummy, need Fwek"

And then i got it...

We'd got a DVD out in the weekend and we'd all sat down on the rainy sunday afternoon to watch it - we'd laughed and laughed at the monster and the three little pigs and the pretty princess and Daddy doing funny dances to the songs.

Bax wanted to revisit the moment.

That's why he'd asked again and again, in his nicest voice, he'd even remembered to say please, and I hadn't got it.. til now...

"Watch Shrek!"

And he did, after breakfast, sitting on his fireman pillow.

And later at the supermarket when G bumped into Nikau's Mummy, Holly, Bax growled and roared at her saying he was "Liddle Fwek" And Holly said to G "We should get our boys together so they can roar at eachother!"

Bed bug

Help!!

We've taken the side off Bax' cot so it's now a little bed, and he is very good at not creeping out of his room once he's 'gone to bed'. However...he does creep out of bed to play in his room and some nights we can still hear him chatting and singing and telling stories at 9.30pm!! He also gathers things into bed so there is very little room left for him to be!

So he ends up either falling out or just getting so befuddled that he cries and then ends up in our bed. He must be so conscious of falling out that he thinks about it often. As I woke this morning I saw him stroking his sleeping father's back and sayin "Watch out Daddy, don't fall ouuuttt!" In a very quiet loving voice.

The other night I went in to him at about 11.30 because he was crying and there he was with ten books, a bulldozer, a tractor and trailer set, 5 small cars, and Bax was sitting on his pillow crying because there was no where to sleep.

G says put the side back on his cot or handcuff him to the rails.
I say buy him a proper single bed so it's higher off the ground, there's more room, and if he does end up in our bed at least there is somewhere for one of us to sleep!

What do you say?

Letters to the editor

Mother of 12 from manawatu writes:
"One of the things that intrigues me about Bax' scenarios as you describe them is that he is always the bystander - he's not the fireman or the monster - he's the narrator, pretty excited, but still telling about whats happening. I wonder if its another stage when he starts saying: here I come! Im a big dragon! Grrrh! etc."

Well Mother of 12, thanks for your thoughts. Perhaps I can tell another couple of witty little anecdotes to flesh the picture out.

He often says to the assembled audience "Here comes Dada!" with a big flourish of hands but you're right he does tell the story with actions rather than simply acting it out.

We had Trinket over for dinner last night and because Bax just loves her he stayed up and entertained us wll with stories and songs and dances.

When asked "Who is a funny boy?" He answers "Not meeee!" In a silly little sing song voice. And then he says empathetically patting his chest 'I'm not a funny boy".

He made G sit on some cushions on the floor so he could drive them as a bus and he kept turning around and saying to G "Seat belt on! click click!" and then asking him if he wanted some snacks. He ran out of the room and we all wondered where he'd got to and he came back with a little piece of paper he'd found in his room and said to G "Ticket Daddy".

He sang his whole repertoire which is: Insy Wincey spider, old MacDonald, wheels on the bus, ba ba black sheep and Postman Pat - I sing each line and he says the last few words and does the sound effects and chooses what's on the farm or which bit of the bus to do next. He does an excellent conductor "Any more fares?" And a great driver "Move back!" He says Noisy! when he wants you to sing louder, and Listen! when he wants you to sing quietly. I told him to Listen! when he sang his final number - Twinkle twinkle and he sang the whole thing very quietly and beautifully and it was enchanting - Gran and G and Trinket and izzie and i were all transfixed.

He thinks that baa baa black sheep goes One for the master, one for the lady, one for the little boy...

And when people come to visit or when I get home from work he pops up at the Living room window and says "Hello There (insert name). Hello there" and then runs to the hall and says "Come in come in come in!!!"

Fireman Bax to the Rescue!

Bax' latest thing is firemen, fire engines, hoses, helmets, sirens. He fell out of bed the other night and he was wearing his fireman helmet because G heard it land just before he did. G went in to find Bax standing in his room with his fire helmet in his hands crying "Poor Dada".

Poor dada - he says this whenever he hurts himself. or when he gets bitten by a mossie - Poor Dada naughty mossie. Poor Dada sore tummy - When my german uncle Norbert was visiting in the summer he told Bax that when he had a sore tummy he had to do a big fart and now whenever Bax is feeling sorry for himself he rubs his tummy and says Poor Dada, Uncle norbert said Big Fart. And then he blows a raspberry. he is a very funny little chap.

Bax puts on that fireman helmet and runs after you yelling "help fireman sam come quick there's a fire help me" and then he'll make his voice go a notch lower and say a whole babble of mongolian in a reassuring tone, then he'll pitch up again and say "Faster Fireman Sam we neeeeed you". (I do have to say he watches not much at all Fireman Sam on DVD)

And izzie too has a terrific sense of humour. i was watching her last night put her hands on G's knees and crouch down in front of him as he sat on the couch, then pop up and down. As in G would say 'Where's Izzie?" and Izzie would pop up and giggle. They are both funny but in very different ways. Bax will play funny word games and do silly voices and look at you sideway when you're telling him off until he makes you crack a smile, he'll pull his cheeks down to make a monster face and roar at you.

izzie laughs constantly and if she does cry it's more of a groan and she pulls her nose up so it crinkles and groans with her eyes squeezed closed and then she giggles at you for looking concerned.

I'd love to capture it comeway better than just writing it here but it's impossible. you just have to imagine.

And then look behind when they're both in their car seats and you see two very similar little faces, all round and smiley, and Bax has these big chocolate brown very dark eyes and a big mop of rockstar hair all tussled and dark, and Izzie has these big bright blue eyes and blondy curls. They are cherubs, and just as cheeky.