Austy is THREE!!

How fast does time fly when you have kids?! It still seems like only yesterday that I held my boy for the very first time and am now about to do it all again, so I thought I had better get around to updating his blog before he shares it with his new baby brother or sister.

In the lead up to his own birthday Austy had a couple of other 3rd birthday parties to attend, one for his best friend James:

and on the same day we headed to anbother party in the afternoon, this time for Lizzie:

He had a great time at both parties and although exhausted and on the verge of a tummy bug that showed itself all over our rug that night (yeuckkk!), he was very much looking forward to being a big three year old himself.

He had already toilet trained himself about a month before he turned 3, as Andrew and I had a couple of weeks off work with teh October shutdown, and he decided on the first day of holidays that he didn't want to wear nappies anymore. We were silently cheering as we'd pretty much had him toilet trained during the day not long after his second birthday but with the news of a new baby on the way he went backwards and decided to wear nappies and be a baby, perhaps realising that the limelight wouldn't be all his in a few months time. But as the due date drew nearer, Austy has embraced the "Big Brother" gig and just can't wait.

So for his third birthday, we decided to throw him a real kids party rather than the standard family gathering, hiring a jumping castle and making kiddie cupcakes with butterflies and caterpillars on them (he chose them) and playing a couple of party games. The jumping castle was a big hit with everyone, and it was gorgeous to see his litle face light up and break into a ginormous smile as the man set it up out the back. Unfortunately though, since we'd decided to save our gifts for his actual birthday, the tears came when the man came back to take it down - Austy thought we had given him the jumping castle for his birthday!! He told the man he couldn't take it because it was his and kept yelling out "Stop, I don't like it - it's MINE!!" So we had a little chat and I asked Austy if the letters on the front of the castle were Austin's name. He looked at it and sadly said to me, "No, that doesn't say Austin". I told him it was the man's name because it was his castle and we were very lucky that the man let us borrow it for the party. So Austy politely went up and said "Thankyou man, for letting me borrow your castle, I had lots of fun!" then walked inside to play with his new toys. He is such a beautiful natured little boy (when he's not throwing tantrums!) and I am so proud of the child he has grown into.

For his birthday from us, his main present was a bike. His first ever bike as we had no room to ride anything at the old house. He was so excited when he firts got it, but since then the novelty has well worn off... he won't give it a chance to learn how to ride and wants to be pushed everywhere which is a little hard at the moment with my bump in the way.

So what can Austy do now he's 3?

* Counts to 20

* Goes to the toilet all by himself (although sometimes he puts his jocks on with two legs in one hole...)

* Dresses himself
* Builds great castles with his duplo

* Amuses himself for hours with his playdough

* Plays some educational computer games by himself

* Chats constantly to everyone he sees

* Remembers his manners

* Says "Gday" to guys, and "Hello" to girls (no idea why?)

* Really good at reasoning and will develop his own theories based on little things he's heard

Happy birthday gorgeous boy - we hope that the next year brings you lots of fun and new experiences, and we just know that you will make the best big brother ever!

Splish splash

Today we had some lovely spring weather, so Austy delighted in "dangling" in the pool. We asked if he wanted to dangle his legs, and a split second later all the clothes were off!

Here are a couple of pics from this week's dog sitting stint - we "borrowed" Jane and Norm's beuatiful girl for a few days while they all went on a road trip. Honestly we'd take her at every chance we got, she's got such a lovely personality, and as you can see there's a little boy here that loves her to bits. When she went home, he came home and started calling her, upset that she had left before he could say goodbye :( Fortunately they don't live far away so he went up for a visit today.

We are also very proud of him as he decided 2 weeks ago that he wanted to wear jocks. No more nappies for our boy, pull-ups included. We were a bit apprehensive about those first few trips out, but surprisingly we can count the number of accidents in that time on one hand, and part of that was because of a tummy upset. So in Austy's words he is a "Grand Champion!", a title he learned from playing Pyjama Sam on the computer. Yes, that's right. Computer games. If we don't get up straight away when we hear his door open, the computer is on, logged in as Austin, and a disc put in, game loaded and boy playing quite competently on his own! Where did our baby go?


And on the topic of babies, my belly is rather huge however much to my relief, bub is spot on for dates (unlike Austy who always measured 2-3w ahead). The pregnancy is going smoothly, not much to complain about other than tiredness (bound to happen with a nearly 3yr old to chase) and Austy is very much looking forward to being a big brother. Fascinated with babies, today he couldn't stop cuddling and kissing my friend's 8 week old son, more interested in him than the equipment at the park. So far, it looks promising!

Austyisms...

I know it has been like forever since I have been in here, and I really need to get down some of the cute things Austy is saying and doing lately. He is very excited about becoming a big brother in December, and today when an ambulance drove past as we drove home, the topic came up. He was telling me that someone needs to go to hospital and then we got onto the fact that I will have to go to hospital when the baby is big enough so the doctors can help the baby come out. He added "...and I will get some lovely flowers with Daddy to give to you in hospital and help you get better!" Isn't he a darling!?

Oh and he is just sooo funny sometimes. When I called the Chinese shop for takeaway on Saturday night (yep, the tiredness is getting to me lately with the housework, full days at work, chasing Austy around and trying to finish my Masters before the bub comes) I took 5 minutes to go and put some freshly folded washing away in Austy's room. He followed me, and then went to the bathroom, telling me he wanted to brush his teeth. No harm in that, I thought so I put the clothes away and then went to the bathroom to see how he was going. He got a bit of a surprise as I walked in the door, jumped, smeared something all over his face in the surprise and exclaimed "I'm getting ready to go to the Chinese shop!". Here is what he was REALLY up to... not brushing his teeth at all!

His favourite things at the moment are sewing and baking with me, or using his toy mower while his Dad mows the lawn with the real one. He likes to do anything where he can be our "special helper". He also likes playing on the computer after discovering the sesame street PC game at childcare in the kindy room one day. He came home super keen to play so we set up his "My first computer" that I got him in America that he had hardly used. After a few short sessions at it he had already mastered mouse navigation and knows most of the letters on the keyboard. I couldn't believe it when he started playing the alphabet game and instead of asking for single letters it was asking for short words, meaning he'd gone up a few levels all by himself!

He also had a fantastic day the other day at the concert of his favourite singer - Justine Clarke from playschool. He loves her music so much that he has to play it several times a day, and sings along to every song. We really must catch him on video soon, it's so cute watching him sing. Unfortunately he got shy as he neared the front of the photo queue, but his Dad grabbed a snap for me anyway as I had to be at work so missed the thrill on his face at the concert.

Thank goodness the weather is warming up as it has been so wet and cold, and there's only so much you can do inside with a very busy two and three quarters year old boy! I can't count how many batches of playdough I have made - it's been a LOT! But soon we will be spending more time out in the park, and the Adelaide zoo, wearing a certain little someone out!

It's nice to be home

After being away in the US for 10 days with work, it's so nice to be back with this adorable boy. It seems in that short time he has learned so much more and is telling us stories like the best of them.

Ever since I got back I have been smothered in a gazillion kisses, squeezled to bits and loved every second (except maybe the tantrums in the carpark tonight at the end of a long hot day for him). We spent the weekend doing Austy and Mummy things - Saturday was the animal expo where he had a blast, feeding baby goats and lambs, watching bunnies jump a course and ferrets run through tunnels, had a pony ride and saw the dogs and cats. He also got to play in a jumping castle, do some gymnastics and jump on a trampoline, smiling all the while.

We came home in time for swimming and were told he's ready for the big boy class (where I won't be in the water with him any more - he's just growing up soooo fast!).

Yesterday we hung out at home, playing with toys and a massive big afternoon nap after Saturday's fun. Today we had a public holiday so went for a swim at Aunty Katy's... or should I say Zachary's pool as Austy has decided to call it, and then home to paint. At the end of the painting we had one very messy boy so I gave him a mop bucket to wash up in out the back. While I hung out the washing, he decided to jump in and I took a thousand photos while he stayed put for once, amused by the fact he just fits in the bucket still!

This cheeky grin...

...was giggling at me, right there on the face of my nudey bum boy sitting on the front window sill right after he locked me out of the house!!!

He dragged out his dinner eating and then when it was jarmie time he asked me very nicely if he could "be nudey for a little bit please?" Obviously trying to put off going to bed, but he asked nicely instead of the usual screaming demands at me so I decided, why not? What's the harm in a little nudey run? I normally wrap up his nappy and dirty clothes in the nappy square I change him on and put it by the back door (on the tiles) to take out as soon as he's in bed, however this time I thought "He's happy, I'll just take this nappy out straight away". As soon as I was out the back I heard it. SLAM! The back door. For a second I thought it was fine, but then I remembered we had come straight inside when we got home from childcare, too hot to play outside, I didn't bother latching the back door so it wouldn't lock, thinking we'd be inside until after Austy went to bed. My reaction was to call out to Austy, bang on the back door (as if THAT was going to help!) and try to open a window thinking I had opened them only a day or two ago and that they might still be unlocked. No luck, so I ran to the back fence and called to the only neighbours I know in desperation, not wanting to leave the yard while Austy was locked in the house. We managed to get a hold of Austy's "Gwampaaa" and he said he'd be around with the spare key soon. Meanwhile, back in the house, what had our boy been doing?

His reaction to the realization that I couldn't get to him was to cry at first, making my heart pound even harder and my shaking in stress and worry get worse. Luckily that only lasted for a few moments before a flashlight went off in his head. I swear he thought, "Hey Mummy can't stop me, I can do what I like!" He opened the bib and facewasher drawer, climbed on it like a step, got up on the bench and took off with the roller door remote. The whole time I was making phonecalls with the neighbour, I could hear the roller door going up, down, up , down...

After a short button war with him trying to get the roller door to stay up for long enough to let me out the front where I could see him, I sat and talked to him out the front where he was sitting there in all his glory watching the door obey his pressing. Our neighbour came around to wait with me, as I was quite shaken by the whole thing thinking of all the awful things that might happen while I couldn't get to him. He suddenly got a worried look on his face and told me he needed to go to the toilet. I told him quick - you can go to the toilet on your own like abig boy. He started crying wanting me to take him, then it was too late and the carpet was wet. I think that's the only thing that upset him about the whole event - the door had already kept him amused for at least 15 minutes. At last Andrew's Mum arrived to save the day, telling me that his Dad didn't realise the urgency but she knew that when I said I was locked out that Austy would be inside and came straight over. The annoying thing is we used to keep a key hidden outside until recently - it was still out in the kennel from when we had our rottweiler, thinking he would guard it well for us. As soon as we stopped keeping the key outside, it finally happened.

Here are some pics of the day before, us both happily outside TOGETHER!

Couldn't resist

I stumbled upon this cute kids music when blog surfing tonight, just as Austy was having a meltdown because the dry bickie he was eating broke and the cheese had fallen off. I did attempt to make him happy by telling him he now had three bickies which was perfect as he also had three pieces of cheese. I put one piece on each bit of broken biscuit but he just wouldn't have it, after already throwing a tantrum and breaking down into a bundle of tears and screams because I had cooked him chicken shaslik instead of sausages with his vegies. I decided to ignore him and blog surf for a minute or two to see if he would calm down on his own since my help with the bickie only made him worse. As soon as he heard this gorgeous music by renee and jeremy, he instantly stopped crying. I went to their website and found their online mp3 player and all the lyrics so he sat on my lap and happily ate his cheese and biscuit while we cuddled, smiled and sang together. He went to bed singing "Falling back to sleep". So I thought it only fitting to link it here and have it playing on his special blog.



Austin really loves music, one thing I think he's picked up from me. Every morning he starts the day with a tune or two, mostly Old MacDonald's Farm, Baa Baa Black Sheep or Open Shut Them, but he has quite a repertoir now! When he was a baby and was upset, singing was the best thing for him. Luckily for him, I enjoy singing a few notes here and there. I learned and remembered lots of kids songs but what I was really looking for was something like this music. I have found it now, so will be keeping my eye on these artists as their music is soothing not only for children but for their parents too. I recently bought Austy "I like to sing" on DVD by Justine Clarke which he absolutely loves and likes to hear over and over. Originally it was a nice change from the Baby Classics (after 2 yrs of him asking to watch Peepo Duck) until I realised the songs although bright, fun and happy, were also very catchy and at a whole day scrapbooking workshop I found myself humming them over and over! "Can you make a laughing face?" Lets see how long this music lasts before I'm sick of it... I have a feeling it will last longer than Justine!

I think I might have to keep it under my belt as a little settling tool for those end of the day tired toddler tantrums - I was totally impressed with how well it worked tonight and hope it works that well for a while. It's such a nice way to spend quiet time with him before he goes to bed. Having the lyrics available is just wonderful as it's so easy to sing along, making him think it all the more special, gazing into my eyes and trying to sing along with me. Aaaawwww....

Autsty's "Thought of the Day"

Come ON Joy! I REEEEEALLLY must keep up. This little boy of ours is growing up at a frantic rate right before our very eyes and I just HAVE to write it all down so we can always remember these moments.

I realised today that while I had every intention of writing down what we have dubbed "Austy's Thought of the Day" comments, a few have slipped by without me doing so. I normally give Andrew a call as soon as the little guy comes up with one of his cute toddler brainwaves so that he gets to share in it too before I subsequently forget about it. I even bought a notebook for these things... but I packed it! So that's no good.

Andrew reminded me today when he rang ME to tell me one of these things Austy blurted out. His thought for today was "Austy cries, but Daddy doesn't cry". Insightful. And he's right. I've only seen a tear in Andrew's eyes a few times in our nearly 11yrs together, at times that I have been bawling my eyes out.

Austy has been asking for a baby sister for many months now (one night as I kissed him goodnight he asked for me to produce one in the morning and no, apparently a brother will NOT do) so it was no surprise tonight when he came out with "Mummy needs to have a baby sister for Austy. Mummy can have a baby, Daddy can have a baby. We can ALL have a baby sister for Austy. Then Austy will have a baby sister like James has a baby sister". James is his friend who you might spot over here at my good friend (and very talented friend) Emma's blog. Hmm... the pressure is ON!!

And the Thought of the day that started it all came out while we were packing up the kitchen goods into boxes over Christmas. "Cats don't open doors". No mate, they don't. Unless they are really strong and really clever. Not like Gryffin. I did have a cat like that once, who opened the door for his feline buddy, who kept miaowing at the door anyway. But that's another story.

And on the house front - we sold prior to auction with an offer too good to refuse. Austy seemed pretty excited about it. No more house opens means more family time, and soon we get to move into the new house he makes us drive past on a regular basis.

Austy in the river!

Austy had his first trip to the river yesterday (apart from the time he was 4 weeks old and draped in muslin wraps to try and protect him from the blowing gale and 40 degree sun!). He had an absolute ball!! They have upgraded the reserve since we last went, with a little barbeque shelter, and Austy's favourite, a climbing frame. It's meant for much older kids, but that didn't stop the little guy from scaling it all the way to the top and hanging onto the little swing disc things like a little monkey.

It took him a little while to get used to the bouyancy vest that we had on him from the minute he got out of the car till the minute he went back in it to go home, and he was a little scared of the river (unlike him as he's such a water bug), but he absolutely loved riding in the boat and once we got him used to the river he wanted to paddle and kick all afternoon.

He was thrilled that Lulu puppy could come along with his big cousins, and had a good play with her. Then he noticed something sitting with another family and asked "Want to go play with the purple kitten". We had no idea at first then he took me by the hand and lead me to a tiny chocolate coloured labrador puppy, 12 weeks old, named Cocoa. The owners were kind enough to let him pat her and we were told to be careful as she is a bit of a nipper. Then Austy exclaimed "She won't bite!", quite sure of himself too.

In the end it became a bit much and he zonked it... in my arms in the back of the boat while it was running! He must have been exhausted since this was the same kid that slept only 20 mins in the long car trip between Adelaide and Falls Creek (and I think we only got that much on the way back too). The nap was short lived though as Austy's Dad kept flooding the boat with his sudden stops, and within minutes he had us both saturated and the poor boy awoke with a start!

Still, he can't wait to go back again soon.