Travel Plans

Today Isaac wrote the following list of places he'd like to visit:

1. The South Pole
2. China
3. Washington D.C.
4. Glacier National Park

I'm sure that we'll visit 3 and 4 at some stage in the next few years. And we may even visit China, as Ben has always wanted to take us there (I think all of Ben's stories about his visit to China have influenced Isaac). But the South Pole doesn't strike me as a family vacation destination. I think that this goal will have to be one that he does as an adult. Hey - the kid likes science - perhaps he can do a stint there one day as part of his studies :)

Perspective

I had a few family members comment about the background in my Trip_Down_Memory_Lane post. Just to give a little perspective for the first photo, with me standing on the back verandah in the bikini ... had this photo been taken a few years later, Jan B's house would have been there instead :)

Santa

Lizzy and I were driving to the shops on Saturday, when she suddenly said "Wouldn't it be funny if we had to pay for Christmas?"

"We sort of do" I said. "We buy gifts for one another."

"No. I mean wouldn't it be funny if we had to pay for Santa's gifts?".

Ummm. Yeah. Funny.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I was looking through some old photos tonight and thought I'd take you on a trip down memory lane.

"What do you get if you wear a yellow jacket?"

"A Bee Sting."

Well technically, it would be a wasp sting, but I had to smile at how far Lizzy's jokes have progressed over the past year. Was it really only a year ago that she made up knock, knock jokes that made no sense?

Just Like Daddy

Kai is a good imitator. He obviously wants to be just like all the older people in our household, but of everyone, Daddy is his idol.

Yesterday, as Ben was getting ready for work, Kai was in the bathroom watching him. He then reached up and picked up Ben's deodorant, took off the lid, lifted up his shirt and dabbed the deodorant on his belly.

Mmmmm. Kai will be smelling fresh all day long - just like Daddy.

Can you spot anything different?

Take a close look at this photo? Yes - they are 3 gorgeous Armstrong's but there is something different..

Any guesses?


Well - I suppose it's a bit hard to tell from the photo but you are looking at 3 Australian citizens :)

Yes. Kai is now an Australian. Sometime in the next 2 months, he & I are going to go on a little vacation to San Francisco to get his Australian passport. Without it, I'm told we won't be allowed into the country.

Reading with Rover

There is a local charity here called Reading with Rover. Their mission is "to inspire children to discover the joy of reading while developing literacy skills and confidence in a safe environment using Reading with Rover Dogs." If you want to read more about it you can look at their webpage at http://readingwithrover.org/

Yesterday, our local second-hand bookshop had a Meet the Author with a children's author. We took the kids along to listen to her read her book "Don't Lick the Dog", which is about how to approach a dog. Afterwards the kids were able to read to two Reading with Rover dogs. Isaac insisted on reading to both dogs and read the book by the featured author. Lizzy was hesitant about reading to start with - but then we found a second-hand book called "Olive My Love". It's a book about a dog called Olive (you might know her from Olive the Other Reindeer) and it just so happened that one of the Reading with Rover dogs was called Olive. This tickled her fancy, so she happily read to Olive. Kai was Kai. He ran all around the bookshop and happily patted the reading dogs. Who cares about authors at this age.

All over it was a fun experience, and I was very impressed with the Reading with Rover program.

What does a bird say?

If you ask this of most people, they would tell you that a bird says "tweet, tweet" or something to that effect. However, in our household, if you ask Kai what a bird says (or if he sees a bird) he says "caw, caw".

I think this might be a good indication to you about how many crows we have around us.

House Extention

Yesterday, Isaac and I had an interesting conversation in the kitchen.

"Mum, are you going to have another baby?"

"No" Pause. "Do you think we need 4 kids instead of 3?"

"Yes."

"But Isaac, we don't have room for another baby".

"We could get a house extention."

"And where would this house extention go?"

"We could get a 3rd floor. Nathaniel & Jonathan have a 3rd floor."

Yes I suppose there is a solution for anything. However, I think we'll skip this one.

Dare Devil

I think I have a little dare devil on my hands.

For a while now, Kai's been trying to climb up on my small (but tall) round footstool. Yesterday he suceeded. He then stood on the footstool, huge grin on his face and arms out wide.

The other thing he loves to do is stand on our bed and do a free fall forward onto the matress. Usually he'll stand up with his feet under my legs and then throw himself forward, keeping his body straight. It's worth lots of giggles.

Ben & I have been debating whether our first broken bone will come from Lizzy or Kai.

Growing Up

It's a bitter sweet day when you are folding your washing and suddenly realise that you have sorted one of your sons shirts in with one of your husbands. He's getting bigger every day.

Math Helper

Lizzy came home with a worksheet which she completed during math time. It was all about greater, between and less. I looked at it, rolled my eyes and asked "Was that easy, hard or just right?"

"It was easy, Mummy. But I finished first and then I got to help other kids in the class."
"Did anyone else help?"
"Just Mrs Lenderman."

The next day she bought home another. This time I simply asked whether she helped anyone in her class. The answer was yes.

I do hope she's going to get something a little more challenging than helping others with their math.

Daddy Preference

It has started. Kai is going through his daddy preference stage. I knew it would happen sooner or later, as all my kids have done it. I'm still good for food, but he'd much rather Ben do everything else for him.

The cutest one is each night after dinner. Kai gets down off his chair and I tell him it's time for a bath. He walks over to Ben and pulls on Ben's leg. He often will head off towards the bath but if Ben doesn't get up straight away he goes back and pulls on his leg again. The funniest thing is that once he's in the bath, it's OK for Ben to leave. I wonder for how long though. If Isaac is any indication the amount of daddy preference is only going to grow over the next month or two.

Bob

Kai has a new love in his life. It is Bob the Builder - otherwise known as Ba Ba Baa. However, there is an episode where Pilchard (the cat) gets stuck in a tree over a pond. Without fail, Kai will sob because Pilchard is in trouble. Unless Ben & I are sitting down holding him, we no longer let him watch Pets in a Pickle. It's just too upsetting.

I've got to think it's because he loves our cat so much (much to Cleo's dismay).

Family History

While Kai is napping, I'm spending my time on a volunteer family history project called "FreeReg". I am helping transcribe historical parish registers, and right now I am transcribing records from the 1700's in Rochester, Kent, England.

I wish my ancestors died in Rochester. The vicar is a rare man for his times, and he records lots of interesting information on his parishioners. I know who was an Alderman (obviously you had to be pretty old to be an alderman because quite a few of them are dying), I know who committed suicide, who was accidently killed, and I even know the ship on which someone captained. I know who died in the workhouse, and who had a higher social status, as they are recorded as Mr or Mrs. Even better, every entry has whether they lived in Rochester or somewhere else. This is a historical gem field. Most registers at this time usually only had a name and date - if you are really unlucky a widowed woman is recorded as Widow Smith.

I am enjoying this project, despite the fact that Ben laughs and tells me he couldn't think of anything more boring.

Ouch!

Ben commented that my blog makes it seem like we lead an idealic life with a happy family, which has nothing go wrong. Well just to proove a point, I'm letting you know that I slammed my finger in the car door on Wednesday. Oh how it hurt! I actually looked at it and my first thought was "I think I've broken it" thanks to the indent the door left. Luckily it wasn't but now I have a pinky which is slowly turning purple.

Ben was on his way home from New Zealand, so I was so thankful that I have friends whom I can call and say "I need to go to ER. Can I drop my kids over at your place?" And I was especially thankful that Kai has been to Kristina's house often enough that he didn't scream when I left - which is what he does at church nursery each week.

For Mum...

While Mum was visiting, she gave me the pattern for her sleeping sacks. I didn't feel up to the challenge of making one with a zipper, but I was willing to try one that could be pulled over the head. When she left, I'd sewn the seams but not put on the ribbing. I finally finished the bag today.

I'm not a sempstress. Whilst I feel great that I managed to do this, it's not something I want to do again any time soon. Mum - you are amazing.

For Dad...

Dad and Mum did some awesome work in our backyard while they were visiting. They laid a path, leveled off the soil and planted grass seeds. Just before they left, the grass was beginning to sprout. It seemed like it was growing before our eyes, as each time we looked out there was more grass.

Dad - I thought you'd like to see it now..

Lefty

It looks like we might have a lefty. Ben & I have suspected for a while that Kai was showing a preference for his left hand. He looked much more comfortable holding his spoon in his left hand and would often reach out with his left hand. However, he would also use his right hand.

However, today Kai was was struggling to put the straw into a juice box using his right hand. After a little bit, he swapped hands and instantly got the straw through the tiny hole with his left hand.

Ben looked at me and said "Perhaps we should start handing him everything to his left hand - I heard that's one of the biggest mistakes right-handed parents do to their left handed kids".

I had to agree.