Test Run

Ella received a parcel in the post last week from Aoife (really from Cath and her mum Carolyn). It was a beautifully made brightly coloured beanie, knitted by the master knitter herself (aka Carolyn).  Sunday morning turned out to be bright and sunny but a chilly 4C - what a perfect day to put the new beanie through it's paces.  So Ella, Pippa and I headed out for a pram run on the track round the back of Cook - commonly known as the farmhouse loop.  The beanie was a hit (unlike the mittens which Ella kept pulling off her hands!) THANKS Grandma Chalmers - you're very clever.

Mmm Tasty

On Saturday night we headed interstate with Stacey, Dave, Emily and Thomas for dinner. Byrne's Mill Restaurant,  described as a charming heritage-listed building on the banks of the Queanbeyan River which specialises in international cuisine, has a reputation as being informal yet intimate.  Great food, great wine and great friends - what more could you ask for?

4th word!

One of Ella's favourite games that she learned from childcare is "row your boat". To play this game, one has to sit in front of Ella, grab both her arms and sing "Row, row, row your boat" while pushing her backwards and forwards. I doubt that she gets the connection between what rowing is and her swaying back & forth, but it's fun all the same.

Today Ella was playing with her 2nd favourite toy (Snow Tiger, pictured) on the coffee table when she started yelling "Row, row row". I looked up from reading the paper to see that she had Snow Tiger by the arms and was pushing him back & forth as she "sang". I was pretty impressed on two counts. Firstly that she realised she could play her games with Snow Tiger (i.e. this realisation will save me hours each day) and secondly we can now claim her 4th word: Row. (For reference, the first three were Dada, Mama and Banana respectively, except that Banana is pronounced "Nana" and collectively means anything edible, including the contents of the compost bin.)

Brrrrr

It's very windy and cold here today - I think it may reach a max. of about 11C.  We didn't stick around for an extra paddle at the pool this morning after swimming lessons because the water was freezing too!  Ella didn't complain too much as we participated in the usual activities - playing humpty dumpty on the wall, riding the pool noodle like a horse and swimming through hoops.  The hot shower after was luxury though.

Monday Morning Blues

Not a good start to the working week when you turn up to work and all your colleagues are standing outside the front of the building because of the fire alarm!  It's even worse when you have to stand there for 30mins listening to the LOUD fire alarm in the freezing cold (8 degrees) waiting for the fire truck to arrive. Needless to say, it was a long morning spent rushing around trying to make up time.....

Busy Weekend

The weekend was a busy one.  Saturday after going running we headed off to the Baby and Kids Markets.  This market is a bit like trash'n'treasure for kids.  I think we were a bit late for the bargains but Andy did purchase a pair of real shoes for Ella.  After all that hard core shopping, we met up with the BA, Jase, A & Z.  While waiting for coffee Andy decided that Ella should test out her new shoes.  After putting them on, she was quite stunned - her new shoes are significantly bigger and heavier than all her previous soft slipper type ones. She stood still for what seemed like a very long time wondering what to do.  She now has the hang of them and enjoys the loud noise they make on the floorboards in our house. 

During the afternoon while Andy was re installing stuff on the home computer which decided to spit the dummy, I climbed up on the roof to clean out the gutters.

Sunday saw us venture out to orienteering - our club was responsible for the event at Ororral Crossing.  I headed out on a short hard course while Andy was multi tasking (helping with the computer and looking after Ella).  Can't say I enjoyed myself very much at all (neither did Andy on his long course). This area of Namadgi was burnt out a few years ago and the regrowth is very, very thick.  On  a positive note, the sun was shinning which meant Ella happily explored the assembly area in her new shoes.  I believe they were very good for rock climbing! Patrick and Ingrid also turned up - they went around a blue course and afterwards had a picnic lunch. Ella thought their picnic lunch was pretty good too!

  

We finished off the weekend by having a few friends over for dinner - Andy cooked lamb shanks with apple & rhubarb crumble - YUM.

Another first

As a general rule between the time of 5pm - 7.30ish it's dinner, bath, playtime and then bed for Ella. Once she is tucked up in bed usually chatting away to Allison (her elephant), we organise our own dinner and sit down to eat sometime around 8pm.  Last night however we needed to go to an orienteering workshop (on event organisation and using the OE program) which started at 7.30. So we had to cook dinner really early (5.30pm).  House special was on the menu - pasta with cherry tomatoes, feta, pinenuts, olives and basil.  This meant we had our first real family dinner all sitting around the dining table. I'm not too sure how much Ella actually ate though - I think most of it ended up on the floor!

Anyway while I was typing this entry up another first occurred, this time it was Ella's first tumble off the couch! No major injury - just a few tears....

One more stop

Usually at some point on my days off we venture to the Belco markets to do the weekly food shop.  Normally this involves visiting the deli, pet store, fruit/vegie shop, chicken shop and butcher.  However the last few weeks have included a new stop at the mushroom.   For those who are not in the know, the mushroom is the kids playground.  The mushroom is the roof and attached to the stalk are various ladders and steps, X & O, fireman pole, rockers and numerous slides. Ella promoted herself today from the beginner slide (straight, fairly short and not too steep) to the curly beginner slide - although she hasn't mastered coming down it yet as every time she came down, she ended up rolling onto her tummy as she slid down around the curve!

How to climb into a washing basket

Instructions and photos by Ella Hogg

1. Put the basket into an upright position.

2. Lift your left leg over the edge of the basket.

3. Place both your hands into the washing basket and keep your head down.

4. Lift your right leg over the edge of the basket. Note you may get a little stuck here but it's important not to panic or cry, just slowly wiggle your head out.

5. Adjust your position so you are comfortable. Note try not to lean back too much or otherwise you'll tip over backwards and fall out of the basket. If this happens start from #1.

6. Get mum to add more clothes and play peekaboo!

A visit from Aoife

Ella caught up with Aoife twice in the past week. Last weekend it was at Black Mountain Pennisula and yesterday at Aunty Nadine's house. It's moments like these when you wished you lived in the same city....

Letterbox

Latest breaking news is that I have put the finishing touches on the famous letterbox
which caused so much hullabaloo last weekend.

The finishing touch was to borrow Searlo's angle-grinder to get the old letterbox post out. Now, I'm not an avid angle-grinder at the best of times. I mean, it's fun to cut stuff up & all, but there's always the thought in the back of my mind that one slip & I'll lose an arm or leg. Or that the dog will want to come & help me & she'll lose a paw. Today there were two added stresses. First, I was angle grinding metal so there were sparks flying everywhere. Second, there was the thought that maybe last weeks gas leak was still active & I would blow the whole street up.

At this point I should point out that this is the first solo home handyman project I've done by myself in the year since we moved in to #5. In that time my darling wife has re-landscaped the back garden, painted half the house, planted an entire new ecosystem, painted the fence and gutters ... the list goes on. My only project has been of the slow and stealthy type. I first decided to make a letterbox when we found a large brass #5 in New York last October. I bought it off a Chinese lady for $5 (I still remember how she got angry when I asked her if it would have been $4 if I lived at #4 -- she shouted something about how they retail for $12 over the road). The letterbox materials (wood, etc.) were bought at Christmas, and I really started construction in April for a June finish. Only 6 months over schedule and a factor of 5 over budget !!

The letterbox, as you can see from the attached photo, as a fine specimen and was well worth the trouble. Pippa has been posted as guard dog, as the box has already had death threats of baseball bat variety. From the angle photographed you can see that the box almost as big as the house, and constructed to a much higher standard. Now it's time for a coffee, and to think about what's next in my busy handyman schedule ...

Firecrackers - who needs them??

Poor Pippa suffered somewhat over the recent long weekend due to firecrackers being legal in ACT.  Laws were applied this year to restrict both the buying and setting off of fireworks.  We thought this was much better for us as Pippa was on a lead, lying at our feet, under a blanket for only a few hours rather than as in previous years being anxious all evening as random firecrakers were let off. According to the RSPCA, this years restrictions made no difference to the amount of calls or to the number of lost dogs and hence they are petitioning for a complete ban on fireworks.  Who knows what next year will bring - if they are not banned I think we need to go on a trip to the vet prior to the long weekend.

Sleepyheads

So Andy departed this morning at 6.35am for orienteering training - Ella woke up briefly then drifted back off to sleep.  The phone rang at 8am and woke both of us up.  It seems her sleep patterns are changing again but for the good!  I could consider that almost a sleep-in.  Day time sleeping however is still a hit and miss affair and i tend to take it as it comes - sometimes it's 2, other times 1 longish (2+ hours) or like today only 1 small (1 hour) sleep.

As good as new

Well I managed to complete my long-weekend-project without blowing up the front yard, our house or even the next door neighbours house (see Andy's latest blog: National Emergency in Aston Cres). I restored my old toybox for Ella.  Wasn't too sure when I started what the end product would look like but I think it's not too bad!  The black base is actually a chalkboard ..... now just need to get some chalk and teach her how to write.

 

National Emergency in Aston Cres

What can I say? It's been a traumatic long weekend for me, and I've only just recovered sufficiently to write about it.

The focus of the weekend was to finish & install our new letterbox. I had borrowed the post-hile digger of my folks, and had the concrete. The letterbox was painted and I spent saturday attaching two posts, one on each side. All that remained was to dig a couple of holes & plonk the letterbox in. A nice little job for a sunday afternoon.

I started by trying to dig out the old letterbox. Two problems there. It was heavily cemented in, and also appeared to be sited above the gas mains. I didn't want to dig through the gas mains, so I decided to shift the new installation back about a meter. Dug one hole, then the next, but they weren't quite deep enough. I needed another 5 cm. So I went back to hole #1 a bit deeper and then -- WHOOSH -- the ground beneath me erupted! I had conveniently missed the gas mains, but instead had hit (and punctured) the line running between the mains and our house. Gas was pouring out, and continued to do so until the fire brigade arrived to clamp it off. Nat, meanwhile, thought this was sufficiently funny to record it for posterity -- hence the photos of the fire crew at work. When I pointed out how much it would cost to pay for the gas to be fixed on a public holiday sunday she didn't think it was so amusing.

I guess we can console ourselves with a few things. We now have the most expensive letterbox in the street. I'm only going to do this once (the head fireman pointed that out for me). We provided some entertainment for our neighbours. And Ella got to see a real live fire truck in action.

Orienteering

Yesterday we went orienteering at Birkenburn. Mum looked after me while Dad went running and we had lots of fun. We chased our own shadow for a while and discovered kangaroo poo (just the right size for little fingers like mine to pick up - although Mum always managed to get it before I got it into my mouth!). Then we went for a little walk in the backpack and saw some bark, leaves, a wombat hole (but no wombat) and I found a control right at the end. My friends Abby and Zoe were there but they slept most of the time and I didn't see Max until we were leaving. On the way home we stopped at a coffee shop in Bungendore and had some yummy scones. Here are some pictures mum took today showing my adventures.....

sickos

It's a commonly held view that one major benefit of childcare is that it "activates" your child's immune system. This occurs because, during the first winter of childcare, one's child is constantly sick. Every morning when Ella gets up I have to wipe the dried boogas off her face. Once an hour we have to wipe her nose -- she doesn't like this, because her nose is so red and sore that wiping it hurts -- but my motto in this regard is that if I start a battle with her on this front, the battle must be won. Wiping her nose usually ends in tears (on btoh sides;-).

Anyway, what they don't tell you is that the parent's immune system is also "activated" as part of this process. Translation: you will be sick for an entire winter. Actually, the way we work is to take in shifts -- much like looking after Ella. I was sick last week. Took all week to recover. Nat got sick today and was so bad that decided to ring up and ask for an extra day's childcare for Ella so Nat could stay at home and sleep it off. Anyway, she seems to be recovering.

Finally, Ella has discovered then notion of freedom. Seen here in an escape attempt, ably assisted by Allison the Elephant, she tried route # 1 -- straight through the gate. No doubt she'll become more elaborate in her attempts.

New Tricks

It's fascinating watching our little girl grow up, figuring out what things do, how things work and what she can and can't do.  Take for example bathtime... way back when she was this tiny little thing floating in the gigantic baby bath to now where she sits, stands and rolls around. She has discovered various bath toys starting off with the rubber ducks, the pirate ship, empty bathwash containers, cups and of course the taps - now aren't they fun to drive!  Ella can crouch on all fours, put her mouth into the water and even drink - YUM.  Tonight though when she was discovering the water with her mouth, her legs slipped from underneath her and she was now on her tummy. Then she discovered she could kick her legs (while on her tummy) and make lots of splashing. I think we are heading into the "everything gets wet at bathtime period".  Anyone got a spare raincoat?

Ooops

Yesterday our alarm clock (Ella) woke briefly at 6.30am then went back to sleep. Unfortunately so did we only to awake at 7.40am!!  Panic stations BUT I did manage to get to work on time...just....

Fact of the day

Did you know that you lose your sense of smell when you are asleep and most people die from smoke inhalation rather than actual burns. That's according to the fire dude who came to our work today to remind us of our fire procedures.  Hence the importance of smoke detectors in your house.  I now feel VERY reassured that we installed a couple in our place.

Projects, projects & projects.

Over the weekend while Ella was napping, we managed to get a few projects done. Andy installed new fans in the bathroom and toilet which will enable us to claim $500 back from our energy audit. Just got to submit the paperwork.

Also Andy almost finished our new letterbox, which he designed and constructed.  The legs need a 2nd coat of paint before being attached on to the letterbox.  I predict that it will be in the ground when I return from work on dad-at-home-Tuesday (I hope Andy is reading this!)

Meanwhile I started my next project - restoring a toy box from my childhood.  I hope to paint, re-cover the yellow vinyl lid with some child resistant fabric and add a chalkboard to the front. I do have memories of being squashed while trying to retrieve something from it, so to prevent various head and finger injuries to Ella I think it would be wise to attach some sort of mechanism to prevent the lid from slamming down - I'm sure I'll find something at Bunnings to do the trick.