Out and about

A couple of weeks ago we had a lovely day at Symbio Wildlife Park. The weather was perfect and the three of us had a fantastic time seeing the animals. It was the first time we'd taken the Lukester anywhere like it and he had a ball. There's an interesting mix of animals there including Red Pandas, crocodiles, sheep, pigs, ponies, koalas and Meerkats.
Luke especially loved the lizards and feeding the wallaby, it was so hard to tear him away from one exhibit to the next, he just couldn't seem to get enough of everything he saw. I would dearly love to take him to Taronga Zoo to see all the other animals that he's so familiar with from books and tv shows, but unfortunately the trip of at least two hours each way, and the rather exorbitant entry cost won't see us heading that way any time soon. Hopefully we'll make it to Adelaide Zoo when we head back to South Australia for the Christmas holidays.

Nice Lazy Day

We had a Public Holiday here today so we spent it at home not doing much at all, just being together, which was a really nice change for us. The morning was spent playing and a bit of time spent on various computers (don' ask!). Then after lunch we were treated to a pretty good thunder storm. Just before it hit the lake turned a really beautiful green colour, so I had to take some pics.

The rest of the afternoon saw me get some knitting done on my cardigan. The first sleeve is almost finished, so hopefully I'll have a completed cardigan by the end of the week.

I had a good chat with my Mum on the phone then headed off to the supermarket for the weekly grocery shop. I also tried a new recipe, a Gnocchi Pasta Bake which we ended up calling Pizza Pasta because that's what it kind of tasted like! It still didn't impress the Lukester though seeing as we're going through the "terrible toddler not wanting to eat dinner phase", he kept saying that it smelled!
He's now nicely tucked up in his bed, so I'm here on the computer for a little while, then I'm off to finish that sleeve. Have a good night everyone, see you tomorrow!

Food, yummy food!

Today the Lukester and I had a play date. We haven't had one in such a long time that I thought I'd mark the occasion with some yummy baking. I even tried a new recipe, something decadent, something by Nigella Lawson! The Chocolate Mint Cookies from her Nigella Express book worked a treat. They are so yummy I will definitely be making these again! They were also very well appreciated by the Lukester's friends Mum and Dad, always a good sign.

While I was in a good cooking mood I also thought I'd try something new for dinner. A nice, winter warming Tomato and Roast Capsicum soup, and yay, another success. Mr two and a half even liked it - bonus points to me!! I'm a happy Mum today.

It can't be....can it?

How time flies, yet again it's been over a month since my last post. Can't say I haven't been thinking about it but have been a bit lazy and have the excuse of not having taken any good photos lately. Weak I know but I promise to try and be a bit better at this.

What have I been up to you ask? Just the usual, lots of playing with the Lukester, lots of knitting and spending time at home. Time spent sitting on the computer playing on Ravelry and reading lots of blogs, trying to get ideas. There are just so many creative people out there , I'm in awe of what everyone gets up to. In an attempt to start the creative juices flowing I've been making a list of possible blog posts and am starting to get a better feel for our new(ish) camera so I can put some pretty pictures up here.

In the mean time, here's a picture I took at Christmas time that I was quite chuffed with! See you soon...

A day, just like any other...

This morning when I got up I was greeted by a calm morning with the lake looking beautifully smooth, almost like glass, so I decided to take a couple of pictures and the idea of this post was born.....a day in my life!

It's been pretty much a normal weekday with me hanging out at home with the Lukester. We had a play this morning, kicking the ball and playing catch as well as some colouring in (mostly on my part!). Then it was off to the shops to grab a few things for dinner and a birthday present for my niece who's 4 on Sunday. An interesting expedition was had with Mr Terrible Two displaying all the annoying traits of a toddler by constant crying for things he couldn't have. So we did what we had to, came straight home and he was put to bed for his daytime sleep.


Ordinarily he'll have a good couple of hours so I can happily potter around the house, and have a nice sit down with my knitting. Today though, it wasn't to be. For some reason he refused to sleep and was banging the wall and throwing his pillow and toys around until I gave in and got him up again. Some more playing and eating then took place and by the time my MIL got home I needed a break. So to kill two birds with one stone I picked up the Purple iPod and headed out the door for a walk down by the lake. I clocked up 3kms too so I've added a few dollars to the Exer-Stash!!


Back home, dinner needed to be made so I set to on a favourite standard meal of Nigella Lawson's Pollo Alla Cacciatora from Nigella Express This one has become such a popular meal that I've now committed it to memory and it's one that I know will be eaten by Mr Terrible Two.



Dinner was enjoyed, the toddler was bathed and is now quietly sleeping in his bed - hooray!! Now I get to sit on the couch, watch some Law & Order and hopefully get to finish the back of the cardigan I'm working on. Hope you enjoy your evening too!

My son the dinosaur

The little man is now two and is growing more independent and sure of himself by the day. He loves all things "dinosaur", as mentioned in a previous post, and likes to walk around stomping and roaring whenever he can. For his birthday his Aunty bought him a tail which also roars. It's great, but he wasn't too sure about it at first, but the other day I managed to snap him having a play with it.

I've noticed too that he has started to play act a lot more and I began to wonder at what age that usually starts. He's starting to pretend he's a dog, coming up to me barking and scratching behind his ear (very cute), as well as interacting with two toys making them talk to one another and feeding them, and so on. It's so interesting to watch him do these things, some of them seemingly coming out of thin air. So, my question is, how old were your kids when they started to play act?

I need all the help I can get!

Just lately I've been feeling like I'm lacking in the 'engaging the toddler in interesting activities' area, so I did what I always do and went out and bought a couple of books to try and spur me on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally inept we do have a couple of regular activities that we go to once a week but I've been finding that when we are at home I've been resorting to the wonderful ABC kids and DVDs a little too much. Plus, he's a boy and jumping on the couch is much more appealing than sitting on the floor and playing with building blocks with Mum apparently. One thing I am really looking forward too though is the Wiggles concert that we'll be going to in December, I am so excited about it, it's not funny! Hopefully Mr Lukey Dukey will enjoy it as much as I know I will.

Heartbreaking

Yesterday and today my little man has not been himself, so much so that today I took him to the Doctor. The poor little thing has been running a temperature, has not wanted to eat (which is very unusual) and has just been lying on the couch wanting to cuddle up to me. Usually I'm having to chase him around the house and am constantly telling him he can't jump on the couch or stand on the coffee table. Luckily the doc says he's ok, just a bit of fluid in his ear which isn't infected, so hopefully he'll be back to his usual bubbly self tomorrow. It was just heartbreaking knowing that he was hurting and he couldn't tell me what it was. It made me think of how terrible it must be to have a little one sick in hospital with something serious and thankful that we're not having to deal with that horror.

Just one of those days...

Don't you hate those days where you wish you could have stayed in bed a bit longer? Master 19months old decided last night that he wasn't going to go to sleep until after 9:30pm and then woke at 3am and 4 am jumping and yelling and laughing in his cot. He then proceeded to wake again at around 6am and then 9am, who knows if he slept in between these times, probably not! Meanwhile his poor mother and father tried to get some sleep, with dear old dad having to get up for work at 5am and mum (that's me) trying to relax to see in the day.

Needless to say I wasn't in a good mood today, we missed our music class due to the late hour getting up and the rest of the day didn't improve much, especially seeing as the little master would not go for his day time sleep until after 2:30pm! The fact that he spent most of the day alternating between saying "hi mummy" and hugging and kissing me with throwing toys around and running around the house crying for no reason didn't do much to help my poor mood. Ahhh the day in the life of toddlerville. Anyway, I've had my rant, off to bed now for some sleep, tomorrow is another day after all.