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.