Wheels

Every day I'm finding out a little more about the little man - a morsel more of his personality reveals itself on the menu of his day to day activities.

I'm not sure how to describe one of the recent discoveries but I'll try. He a 'sticker' he finds what he likes and then he does that one thing - a lot - and for a long time. This applies to a few situations.

For example, there is a playground near our place, he used to be happy playing on the swing, pretending to call someone on the oversized telephone, whizzing down the slide - then one day he discovered, up the stairs, across the wobbly bridge - a wheel! This simple, red, metal steering wheel sits at the top of the highest section of the playground - just near where you would go down the slide. Presumably it's there to keep kids occupied while they wait for other kids to hurl themselves down the slide sideways, backwards all the ways that kids seems to do.

For our Alexander there is no greater pleasure in this earth than standing at the top of the playground turning the steering wheel this way and that. Literally nothing comes close! Occasionally he will press the middle of the wheel where the horn would be and say "beep beep"

Alex with his beloved wheel - one of them anyway

"Do you want to go down the slide now?" we'll ask him after 20 minutes or so of standing and turning the wheel.
"No!" he'll reply with a determined shake of the head
"What about the dinosaur bouncy thing - you used to like the dinosaur bouncy thing..."
"No."

If either of us dare to remove Alex from this prime position there will be tears, flailing of arms and eventually, he will climb back up the stairs, across the wobbly bridge and up to his post - at the wheel, captain of the playground.

A few lessons from a Teddy Bear's picnic

A couple of weekends ago (bad blogging practice but I'm at least 2 weeks behind at the moment) we went to little Elliott Cleary's Teddy Bear's Picnic 1st birthday party and learned a few lessons.

The name is Bond...

Attempting to coral the kids and their teddy bears for a photo

1. If you're going to have a party for 20 + kids and parents have it at the in law's house and pray for sunshine
















2. A little plastic tunnel in the middle of the lawn can provide hours of entertainment

Tunnel mission complete M

3. Alex is a bit too young for face painting

Alex and the face painter were not the best of friends

4. You can never be too young for birthday cake - especially when you're the birthday boy!

Elliott birthday boy with mum and dad

Alex meets three chilly sisters

Alex poses with the three sisters in Katoomba

This weekend Alex, Dad, Nanna B and I had a lovely relaxing long weekend in the Blue Mountains. Alex got to wear his new lovingly Nanna-knitted hat, cosy jacket and toasty moccasins as we visited Katoomba, Wentworth Falls and a few lovely eating establishments along the way.

We stayed in a lovely old cottage and Alex adapted well to his new environment. The cottage was based around a cosy lounge room with doors going to the kitchen, and both bedrooms. Alex was amused by his, and our, ability to exit from one door and then arrive in the same room by an entirely different door. This from a little man who will basically be programming his own iPhone by the time he's two.

The only slight disaster of the trip was mum and dad forgetting his travel cot. So we unintentionally introduced bubba to sleeping in a big kids bed (thankfully one that was very low to the ground). Results were mixed, he didn't exactly fall out of bed, instead he would sit up in the middle of the bed, look around confused by his new found freedom and lack of bars and then cry.

I'm sure there is a nice parable here about why the caged bird sings but I can't think of it just yet. Instead here are some photos from the weekend.

Attack of the tickle monster

Just located, some very rare footage of the little known but much reviled 'tickle monster'. As you can see the footage is a little shaky, no doubt the camera(wo)man got a little concerned for their safety during the attack.

Winter sun

When we decided to make the move from the UK to Australia we often pointed to 'better weather' as one of the big temptations of the southern hemisphere. In my head I guess I'd always been thinking about summer. The English summer is anything but reliable and every time I'd come back home on holiday over the last 11 years, its usually been in February - universally agreed as the most rubbish month to be in the UK, and always guaranteed hot weather in Sydney. 

Over the past couple of weeks I've realised it's not summer that makes the real difference between Sydney and London it is actually winter. The last two weekends we've enjoyed crisp clear blue skies, warming sun and generally lovely outdoor, picnic, walk and ferry catching weather.  And it's the middle of winter!

In summer months we now have to worry about Alex's whiter than white delicate skin, while in winter the sun isn't so harsh and we can spend time outdoors without needing to wrap him up like the Michelin baby to protect him from the wet and windy European winter.

It's a win win for winter!

My future's so bright - I've got to wear Nanna's shades

The effortless dressed up look

Fashion is a tough business

As every girl knows, it's essential for any wardrobe to contain at least one posh frock, an outfit that is ready to go when that invitation to the oscars or the royal wedding comes beckoning.

Now I'm pleased to announce that Alex has one such outfit. Stylish yet comfortable, funky without being too hipster, smart and ready for all seasons - well until it doesn't fit him in about 5 weeks time. It's the perfect number to slip on when the queen surprises you with an invitation to afternoon tea.

Alex gave his new look its first outing for our friends Nick and Rosie's wedding in Bondi this past weekend. It proved to be a hit with the guests and provided enough comfort and flexibility to do lots of crawling around and climbing onto furniture in. Perfect! It's essentially the baby equivalent to the LBD.

Now I just need to teach Alex which fork to use first... it's outside in... or is it inside out...

Much happier now we're outside

Marks Park @ Nick & Rosie's wedding

NZ bye bye

For a while there Alex got into waving bye bye. Not always at the right time but with a bit of gentle encouragement he would start waving and sometimes not stop for most of the afternoon. I'm not sure if Alex gave NZ an official goodbye but we had lots of lovely fair-well adventures before we left. Here are a few photos from our last few days.

Fairwell BBQ at Nanna Bs

Last picnic at Pilot Bay

A professional haircut from Kyleigh 

The family resemblance? - cousin Ruby & Alex 

Having fun... I think... At Ruby's 2nd birthday party

Backyard tradition

A few days ago Alex got to experience the ancient New Zealand tradition of sitting naked in a big shell filled with water in the backyard. Did the young man enjoy, and fully appreciate the significance of this important occasion? See the video to find out.

The Family Series: Second cousin Ruby

Decided to try comic form for today's entry. You will probably need to click on the image to read it.

Showing his loyalty

Yesterday in a fit of enthusiasm I attempted to bake some healthy scones, all wholemeal flour and no sugar etc. etc. Let's just say they didn't quite work out, unless you were looking for a small wholemeal weapon or an unattractive paperweight.

This morning at breakfast I discovered the true loyalty of our 7 month old baby boy. Disinterested in his strawberry and banana breakfast I thought I'd see if he fancied a nibble on one of the aforementioned rocks... i mean scones, soaked in tea to be slightly edible. Well, the enthusiasm was enormous, in fact when he discovered his piece of scone had fallen from his hand he was visibly upset. My heart did swell.

The video below shows a dedication to him mother's cooking well beyond the call of duty!

Byron Baby

Here are a few photos from the last leg of our Australian trip, where we stayed with Amma on the gold coast, had a lovely trip to a slightly soggy Byron Bay and visited the lovely Kate in Brisbane.


A tasty brunch and the morning papers in Byron


It's never too cold for a quick walk on the sand


A quick visit with Kate in Brisbane

Alfresco baby

Part of the appeal of moving bubba to the other side of the world is obviously the weather and the outdoor lifestyle that comes with more warm months. Given he's not yet walking, or even crawling for that matter (will he ever?) he can't fully appreciate the great outdoors.

One way we've made the most of it is through the great art of eating outdoors, as demonstrated by these photos. As well as being a lovely way to dine, or lunch or breakfast for that matter, the other bonus is it's much easier to clean up the um... slight mess which accompanies the darling boy whenever he has a meal. Win win!

The Family Series: GrandPa

Next stage on our journey was an introduction to GrandPa in Merriwa. A nice, relaxing change in pace from Sydney. A place where bubba got to see real versions of all sorts of animals only previously seen on his peek a boo iphone application including horses, cows, sheep and the very unusual beast which GrandPa breeds almost exclusively, and rarely found outside of the Upper Hunter area, the electric folding bicycle creature. Not to be missed.

Baby Alex seemed to take to his GrandPa with his usual enthusiasm, starting off with staring followed by big smiles and finally random laughing. This despite the cold he acquired during our travels (and promptly passed on to his GrandPa).

Weekend break with the girls

Young master Butler spent last weekend away in the Cotswolds with three young ladies - OK one of the ladies was his mum and the other two were his mum's friends' Sandra and Amy so not quite a playboy weekend.

He got a good dose of English countryside with thatched cottages, rainy walks, the odd dose of sunshine and an English pub with an open fire - and yes it's August so 'technically speaking' summer.