Ben :: Two

Dear Benjamin,

You are TWO (it happened yesterday)! A mere 24-months. It's so crazy how much bubs learn and grow in that 24-months. You're getting so big, but you are still little too. You went from my little swaddled bub to a talking, running, crazy little dude. I want to always remeber you as this little person who is always always by my side. Here are some of those things:

Your favorite things in life include; buses and trucks, particularly the rubbish truck (affectionately pronounced Labish truck). We live above a busy bend and you scream for buses. The moon - you really really love the moon. Dinosaurs (saur saurs), choo choo trains, stickers and bubbles. Peppa Pig and The Wheels on the Bus.

You require lots of cuddles (uddles). Often you'll just come running up to me and throw yourself at my legs and strech up your arms and demand cuddles. I'll pick you up and then after a bit I'll sit down becuase you are just too heavy to hold for too long and then something will catch your eye and you will go about your business. If I'm sitting on the floor you often just sit your bottom in my lap (Dad's too) and hand us a book to read. We read at your pace, which usually means we never actually finish reading a page before you are on to the next.

You have always been a chubby, squishy baby, but you are starting to slim down a bit. And while it hasn't been easy to always to carry you around the squishyness has always been pretty irresistible. You are still a good eater, but you have recently started turning your nose up to certain foods. You eat most things, with the exception of cooked veggies. You'll eat raw carrots, cumber, tomatoes, avocado, so you get most of those things in a a little salad every night. You do love corn on the cob. You'll eat a egg for dinner, but do not like one for breakfast. You love bread and cereals and oatmeal. You LOVE fruit. Of course, you are game for anything sweet. And in typical Aussie fashion you like Vegemite, sausage roles and meat pies. 

You've been doing that cute thing when you close your eyes and think no one can see you. Cleaning up is still a game to you and you like making animal noises. You give the sweetest kisses, including butterfly and Eskimo. You are incredibly shy and will look down or place your head on my shoulder when someone new says hello to you. You talk a lot and try new words all the time.

You are a solid sleeper. At home (we had some hiccups in Bali). Your minny (bunny), blanket and the sound of the ocean put you to sleep. You like your day sleep.

Of course not everything is cuddles and sweetness; you despise sharing and you use the word mine way to often. You always want what your sister has and she often takes the brunt of your frustration. You hate having your teeth brushed and like tasting rocks. You have never been a big fan of being in the car and the same is still true.

I have the best time hanging out with you (most days). We have a nice little rhythm when it's just the two of us. You get a little sad when we drop Annmarie off at school and go crazy when we pick her up. She loves you so much and told me the other day she thinks you should always stay a baby, but that you should start talking in complete sentences like a five year old.

We all love you buddy.  

Happy Birthday! Hip Hip Hooray!

Love you to the moon and back,
Mommy xx

 (birth, 1 year, 2 year)

It was not easy to take your picture, here are some of the outtakes.

Athletics Carnival, Surry Hills and Misc.

Annmarie participated in her first Athletics Carnival through school. It was held at the Sydney Academy of Sport. It was pretty low key for the Kinders, the message being to just go out and have fun and introduce them to lanes. They ran one 70 meter race and they didn't give out awards or make a big deal out what place you got. Annmarie claims she got second, but Jamie thinks it was more like third. Unfortunately I didn't go because Ben was home with his man flu. Jamie said she did great, she stayed in her lane and ran right through the finish line. After the K's did their race they played games like egg and spoon on the infield while all the other years did their races.

Jamie, Ben and I headed into Sydney last Friday because I needed to link my visa to my passport. We are going on a 'holiday' very soon - Bali!! It will be an adventure to say the least, but a place we really want to go to while we are still here . Anyway, we went to Surry Hills for lunch and came across this awesome park - Prince Alfred Park and Pool. It was an incredible sunny day.

 Ben liked the park, but was most interested in watching the airplanes and the trains.

We then stopped for Tacos at Mexico-Food and Liquor and we were quite impressed. It's hard to find good Mexican food around these parts.

And in other stuff:
We introduced some Aussies to s'mores. 
I made a curry (it was process) with the help of Curry Traders and I'm hooked and can't wait to try others.
And most days at 4:30 pm you can find Ben looking for buses around the bends.

Lately

Ok right, it's been awhile, like a month. So I'll just ramble and list some of what happened in July.

School Holidays -Annmarie was out on School Holiday's for the first two weeks of July. We didn't do much. Slept in, made pancakes for breakfast, played with friends and visited Dad at work. It was nice not having to live by the school bell, but we were all happy for school to start back up.

Annmarie's Teeth - A couple of months ago Annmarie's lower two bottom permanent teeth started coming up behind her baby teeth. Also known as shark teeth (Dr Google). We let them be for awhile to see if the two baby teeth would loosen and nothing happened; so we took her to the dentist. The dentist wasn't too concerned with them at the moment and told us we (and by we I mean Jamie - he took her) could wait a bit longer to see if they would fall out naturally, he could refer us to a peds dentist or he could pull the two bottom teeth. Right then and there Annmarie said she wanted her baby teeth out, so he pulled them. He numbed her up, told her he was going in with some water, but gave her shots of Novocaine (she claims she didn't feel the shots)! And just like that he extracted her teeth! She was a total champ. Girl will cry over writing a letter backwards, but having her teeth extracted, no big deal. I'm pretty sure if I would have taken her to the appointment, I would have said we'll just wait a bit longer and I certainty wouldn't have been able to see him extract the teeth like Jamie did. She even went to a birthday party right after. That evening the tooth fairy left her two, two dollar gold coins, she was thrilled. Sorry no picture, seems a little invasive.

Here are some random photos from my phone over the school holiday.

Walk/Hike - We went on this little walk down the road from us that leads to a waterfall. It's about 1K to the waterfall and Ben walked/ran almost all of it. It was a beautiful little walk.

French Knitting - Annmarie is really into French Knitting. Here is a link to it if you want the DIY. It basically makes a really long cable and I have no idea what you can do with it.  She learned how to do it at school. She is really into at the moment and it's a great way to kill time, versus TV or the iPad. 

Gross Motor - Annmarie's primary school has a great outpouring of parent support. Parents volunteer for literacy groups, math groups, computer time, gardening and others. Jamie and I try to do our bit and we have been helping out with gross motor. Once a week, weather permitting (it's outdoors), different little stations are set up that work on, balance, dribbling, eye hand coordination, etc. It's complete chaos. Kindergarten teaches rock, seriously. We've been doing it all year, but I've gone to the last two they've had this term and I leave with my head spinning and sounding like a five year old Aussie - it's not cute. 

Open Day - At the end of the month there was a open day at school. Jamie and I visited Annmarie's classroom and looked through her workbooks and saw all her art projects on the wall - she was so proud.  Then there was a little concert; all the years did a little performance and the kindergarteners along with their year six buddies sang The Silly Postman Song.  Afterwards, the parents were able to stay for morning tea and buy treats from the canteen, which consisted of sausage rolls and meat pies.

Man Flu - Ben got sick at the end of the month. Nothing a little babbyccino couldn't fix, well for 5 minutes at least. Ben is a bit dramatic when he is sick. Thankfully, this one didn't last long.

We also went out and saw Ben Ottewell of Gomez - so good. Enjoyed rainbows and sunsets and of course, lots of coffee. Oh the coffee (and wine), that gets me through the snotty noses, Annmaries' dramas, Bens' dramas and all the not so pretty stuff.

 xx