As you may have guessed from the title… Oscar was 18 months old on Friday! We celebrated with a trip to Go Wild Activity Centre and a slice of cake with his little friend, Lily.

Here’s what the little guy is up to these days…

Continue reading →

We may have been a bit under the weather lately, but it’s reminded me of just how blessed we are. Sickly, but blessed.

When I first caught the bug (ok, ok, Gordon), I had a husband to stumble into the bathroom in the middle of the night offering me a glass of water or anything else I might need. I had a co-parent (same guy!) to entertain Oscar and try to keep him away from Mummy’s germs. I’ve no idea how single parents manage sometimes. Hats off to them.

When germ-lockdown failed, Oscar had his Daddy to cuddle him and reassure him that he’d be ok.

When it looked like he wasn’t ok, we had his devoted grandparents, willing to drop everything and help take him to the hospital and fetch medicine for me.

When Gerrod fell victim, we had access to an ambulance and medical care, and the means to afford it.

When we were effectively quarantined, since nobody else wanted to meet Gordon, we had each other to share quarantine with.

Things could definitely be a lot worse.

As 2011 draws to a close, I’ve looked back over what Oscar’s been up to this year and made a few notes here as reminders.

Friends
Oscar’s spent a fair bit of time in the company of his little friends, with at least one play date a week. In addition to the cast of characters that we previously saw regularly, he’s also struck up great friendships with Amelie J, and little Lily who I met at the hospital. Amelie dotes on Oscar and shows amazing maturity and understanding of what he is and isn’t capable of at his tender age. Lily just lights up when she see’s Oscar and is one of the most social babies I’ve ever met!

Unfortunately our Qld Health Mother’s Group never quite got off the ground, so we haven’t spent time with those little people for ages.

Adventures
Oscar’s bigger adventures have obviously been this year’s travel, including his first flight (Melbourne) and his first overseas trip (Fiji). He’s also hit the beach a few times with trips to the Gold Coast, Mudjimba and Kingscliff.

Smaller adventures have included: sleepy bushwalks around Mt Tambourine and Noosa, safely strapped to Daddy’s back; regular riverside walks between New Farm Park and Teneriffe; and a visit to Debbie’s backyard menagerie!

Culture
Oscar’s a big fan of music and continues to bop along whenever he hears music. He’ll often sit beside a musical toy, tap it to make it start, then turn to play with something else. As soon as the music stops, he’ll turn back to restore his backing track. Maybe he thinks he should have theme music?

We’ve seen a few musical performances (Pineapple Productions at Paddington, and Katie Noonan performing Cradle Songs), and watched a puppet show. Surprisingly, the puppets seemed to be the favourite.

Playtime
Oscar loves walking down to the park at the bottom of our street and helpfully points out directions to us, to ensure we don’t miss his favourite destination. Swings and slides are met with squeals of delight, and there’s a new rule that you must sit on the adult swing beside him, rather than stand and push him. Walks about the neighbourhood are good fun, provided we go by the dog park and see who’s playing.

Reading is a favourite pasttime, especially Dig Dig Digging (thanks Meegan!). Oscar loves to turn the pages, point out clocks and things in the background, and make hand gestures and try words to “read along”, eg. the crane goes “up up up” as do Oscar’s little hands. Visits to the library are great and Oscar’s starting to help me pick out books rather than just play with the toys there.

Activities
Kids activities are expensive. Super expensive. So we’ve tried to strike a balance of free, discounted and paid activities. He’s loving his swimming lessons and so far they’ve made family beach holidays lots more fun, knowing that he’ll be keen at any time of day to jump in the pool.

Gymboree seems a bit overpriced, but I’m hoping that the padded flooring and equipment will encourage him to be a bit more daring (he’s a cautious soul!).

And indoor play centres are a fun rainy day play date, especially if you have a two for one coupon to the Strathpine centre.

Other than swimming, our most frequent activity has been free library Rhyme Time which was fun for Oscar and a great help to me in remembering some nursery rhyme lyrics! I’ll be keen to see what Toddler Time is like, now that he’s graduated to the next age group.

It’s hard to find activities that are aimed at this age group, but I keep reading about things that are fun to do with slightly older kids. Next year I’m hoping to join a playgroup (it’s been difficult to fit these morning sessions around his sleep time), and head on out for some more new experiences. Model boats and kite flying anyone?

Turning 31 turns out to be pretty cruisy, pretty cool. I’m too old to get truly, butterflies-in-my-stomach excited but too happy to be filled with a pass-the-kleenex fear of ageing. My birthday arrived without a countdown, but left me with a smile on my face!

The fest started with a girls’ night out on Friday. It’s something that a good friend started a little while ago, to keep us new Mums in touch with our friends and the outside world in general. A London buddy of mine joined in this time, and I was very proud of myself for talking about things other than babies and relieved to find that it’s getting easier to do so. We dined at the Crosstown near the Gabba, and had after dinner drinks across the road at Canvas. I really enjoyed trying out two new venues in what turns out to be a pretty cool neighbourhood!

On Saturday, I enjoyed an early gift: a 3 hour package of beauty treatments at MummaBubba Windsor. They weren’t all that I had hoped for, but just lying down in silence for 3 hours was wonderful! Gerrod then cooked me the now famous Beef Wellington, which was ah-mazing. Thanks to Jason and Susan for their help and their company!

On Sunday, my actual birthday, we went out for breakfast at Cafe des Alpes, Mitchelton. The breakfast was way too heavy, but had we not gone there we wouldn’t have discovered the awesome farmers’ markets on Blackwood Street. I’ll definitely be heading back there to wander and snack!

Our plans to indulge in fish and chips on the waterfront were foiled by the weather, so instead we ate pizza, drank beer and watched Modern Family. Aaaah. Such a cruisy way to end the day!

Thanks to Gerrod for his thoughtfulness and birthday planning, and to all the beautiful friends and family who spoiled me and wished me well!

Wednesday was “neighbour day” in our household, and reminded me that there are some really wonderful things about living in the ‘burbs.

The weather was gorgeous, so Oscar and I started it on the front deck, watching the comings and goings of the neighbourhood and the birds. Our friendly neighbours, who have a home business, invited us over for morning tea. It was great to enjoy some company in the middle of the day, without the hassle of packing Oscar into the car and loading up the nappy bag. Then, as Oscar woke from his afternoon nap another neighbour sent a text message, “Are you free now for a walk? I’ll meet you at the end of the street”. So Oscar and I headed out for a challenging walk up and down big hills with Jen and her bub Mason. The walk took us past Laura’s house, so I was able to return a borrowed plate with a few home-baked cookies thrown in for good measure. It’s so nice to feel part of a community!

It’s been a big month for Oscar, in baby terms at least. He’s developed new interests, new skills and experienced new things. We’ve had a really fun time watching his antics too! These stories are chiefly to help us remember this stage of his life, so apologies if it’s too detailed and baby-ish to interest anyone else.

G: Spoiler alert: There’s videos.

Continue reading →

The little man has reached double (month) digits! Saturday the 23rd was the big day, though we got confused and thought it was Sunday. For that reason, here’s a photo of Oscar aged ten months and one day.

(I know it looks like we cheated to boost his height a bit, but it’s near impossible to get him to hold his legs still! But they were all lined up with Raggy’s legs – honest!)

So what’s happened in the last month? Oscar has started moving around the room, but for the life of me I can’t work out how. I can watch him playing, not looking away for a second, and honestly not understand how his funny little rocking motion from bottom to knees and back generates movement! But slowly and surely it does. Crawling is still restricted to going backwards.

Oscar spends a large part of every day laughing. Laughing when you walk behind him, laughing when you look around a corner, laughing when you make eye contact, laughing when he wants attention, laughing when he hears someone else laugh. It’s become my favourite way of checking if he’s still awake in the car. I can’t see him so I just do a fake laugh and wait to see if he fake laughs along with me!

We started baby swim lessons recently, and so far he seems to be having fun. In lesson two he put his head under completely, with no tears and minimal water intake.

Oscar switched to formula milk this month and coincidentally (or not) started sleeping through the night! He still cries out occasionally when he rolls over or has a bad dream, but settles himself back down in a few seconds. What a champion! I went nine months without getting into sleep deep enough to have dreams. I cannot describe what that does to a person’s body and mindset, though I’m sure some of you know from experience! Gerrod and I will never take sleep for granted again.

Oscar has funny taste in toys. Household objects are infinitely more fun than toys. My wallet. An ice-cream bucket. A rubber pastry brush. A newspaper. These and many other objects create hours of entertainment. A laundry basket is especially good fun, worn as a hat, used as a seat, or to play a game of peek-a-boo where he has to catch the worm (my finger) as it pokes through random basket holes.

As for real toys, he’s getting quite good at stacking rings, and balancing a ball on a stack of nested cups. He also has a worrying obsession with a little crab that hangs from his toy mirror. When we sit in his playpen he holds it with one hand and plays with toys in the other. I cannot persuade him to let go of it, and he cries when I unlatch his fingers to take him somewhere else.

Day by day our happy little boy becomes more and more fun to laugh and play with!

On days when G has an early start, or Oscar is a bit clingy, eating a healthy breakfast can be a bit tricky. Here’s my solution: breakfast made the night before! My inspiration came from cafes at Heathrow airport.

Take some frozen berries, fruit yogurt and muesli.

Layer the the ingredients in a regular glass. Cover and refrigerate overnight, so the berries can defrost. Voila! Breakfast can be eaten, one-handed, in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee.

It’s super easy and tasty. And you can alter your berries and yogurt for some variety. I like Carmen’s muesli in the yellow pack, but G says it’s too cinnamon-y. Any suggestions for a new box would be welcome!

Woolworths recently had flan cases at half price so I just had to buy one (ahem, three). But since they had no purpose, it became a question of what to put in them. This lemon tart recipe from the back of the box came to the rescue. It uses only a few ingredients and can be made from start to finish in about 35 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 Woolworths Flan Case (probably best to use this one as the filling fills it perfectly)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 tsp grated lemon rind
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup thickened cream

Enjoy! We certainly did! I was surprised that something so quick and easy could taste so good.

You may be thinking, if the recipe is on the box, why post it here? Well, this way I can find the recipe again if they change the packaging, or buy the complementary ingredients at the same time as the flan case when online shopping. See? I’m not nuts after all.

When you’re feeling blue ’cause you’ve got the flu, and poor cranky baby’s got it to, what’s a girl to do?

Put on Jack Johnson and dance with tea towels as pom poms.

Baby laughs, and we’re four minutes closer to nap time.