Thirty-Seven Weeks Old -- a post by Seb

Its me and I am riting with a COMPLANTE.

mY DAD looks after me rite? becos boys rool and gurls drool. But this weekend he went off and LEFT ME WITH THEM. I got kissed and kissed ewwwwwww and now I am nearly bald from all the stupid kissing, I had heeps more hair before.

Anyway I got them back, I decided to prove that only BOYS can look arfter BOYS. So i looked all sooper angelick and stuff but sekritly I was a bad egg. We had a piknik, see how angelick I look?



But relly I was working on an eevul jeanyus plan and I hav made my funny sticky-outy ear go all red and sort of pustulous, heh heh heh, no i don't even kno how I did it I just did. Daddy will go bananaz and never leave me with them again.



specially wen he sees this picha of how I did a big spew and mum had to wash it away with the watring can. See that big leaf in the middle, thats why I dun a spew, coz i et it. And sum grass too but that was yum. Mum cort my huge spew in her hands wich was a bit gross but also a bit superheroey and impressive. but she said she got lots of practiss wiv Moll.



so I have two fings to say and the first fing is HEHEHEHEH EEVUL JEANYUS, here is my bwahahahaha face.



And the second fing is COME BACK MY DADDY I LOVE YOU.

This One's for Pen

It worked!



With instructions from Pen, I made suety duff for me and Molls tonight, since Daddy isn't here to be horrified by all the butter, sugar and suet. And it is still the best comfort food in the whole world, bar none. Thanks, Pen! And thanks, Grandee. Mine wasn't as good as yours, but it brought back a lot of yummy memories.

My Girl

What happens when you go to see the English teacher of a girl who has a pile of books this high on her bedside table?



I'll tell you. Her teacher will say things like, "I love teaching Molly!" and "When it comes to her writing -- her sentence construction, her syntax, her grammar -- she's just..." (and the teacher, who is very sweet and enthusiastic, will flail a bit here, and nearly smack a passing small child in the gob) "she's just my shining star!"

You're my shining star too, M.

A Spunky, Literate Adrenalin Junkie

Doesn't that sound like the perfect man? Well actually I'm not sure about the Adrenalin Junkie bit, it just rhymed with Spunky. What about a Spunky, Literate and Fearless Hero? Okay, now we're talking. And that's my boy. No seriously; let the images speak for themselves.

First up, here he is in one of his two COOL new shirts, courtesy of darling Auntie Willa. Thanks so much, Will! He looks great! And he's going to love the toy, too. Mwuh!

It was pretty hard to get a pic where you could see what the shirt said, though, 'cos if I took the real estate mag off him all hell broke loose. In case you can't tell, it says "The cool kid just showed up". Heh. Ain't that the truth, Sebby! (Can you believe this shirt is size 1 AND A HALF??? He's not shrimpy, that boy.)



And his literary endeavours don't end there. He's taken to squirming his way across the lounge and jamming himself up against the bookshelf; from which awkward possie, he begins to select reading material.



He's not starting on the easy stuff, either.



As for the Fearless Hero/Adrenalin Junkie... Daddy likes to play this game:



Mysteriously, Sebby loves it.

Thirty Six Weeks Old - Bother and Blister

Today was a gloriously blue Nelson day, and I took my two babies down to Rabbit Island for an icecream (larger baby) and some crackers and cheese (smaller baby, only he's not yet convinced about cheese; I have a bit of groundwork still to lay, there). (In fact I have concerns for his genetic inheritance if he's going to be all anti-cheese. It's just not Jinksian.)



After our mini-nic, Mossy and I took little man for a walk down the beach in his back pack. We had to take turns because he's such a heavy wee lump!



And this one's for Mutti and Bunce. We'll take the bestest care of him for you till September, promise!

Thirty-Five Weeks Old

On a frosty southern morning we said goodbye to dear Amy. Who was no longer the smartest car on the road, that's for sure; but she was a lovely reliable wee thing, and easy as pie to live with. 150,000k and she never once failed us. That's pretty good going. I am going to miss her. Seb left her a little appreciative love message, since she was the car who brought him home from the hospital when he was only two days old, and lulled him to sleep many times. Thanks, Ames. We hope you get bought by a gorgeous South American backpacker and taken round all the country's most beautiful spots as your retirement package.



And then I came home with ERNIE. Who is a Toyota Ist. Ern-ist. Ernie. Anyway, point is, despite the name she is a GIRL. And she is blue. And she sports a few features that dear Amy lacked, some of which are sensible and necessary (airbags), some of which will make my mornings a damn sight safer (rear window wiper) and some of which are no use at all but lots of fun (a rear-vision camera for when reversing which shows you onscreen what's behind you and what you're going to hit at your current heading).



So much for cars, the rest of this post is for Mutti who requested more baby photos. Can do, Mutti! Check out this paternal chin:



This one didn't quite get what I wanted, which was that darling little squished-up-n-shaped-eyes face he's pulling at the moment, it's like an anime cartoon. But you get the idea.



In case you don't get the idea, this is what he does:



And here's one of those photos that suddenly catapults your child several years ahead of his age and shows you what he's going to look like one day.



It's another glorious blue-sky day today, following on from last night's minus 2 (brrrrr) and the camellias are starting to bud on the trees outside the conservatory... southern winters aren't all bad. Specially on days that start with long Sebby cuddles and eating toast in bed together. Crumbs, schmumbs.

Eight Months Old

Dearest Seb,

here you are, two thirds of the way to your first birthday! Wow!

I didn't see so much of you today, 'cos it was a working day. You woke me up at 1.30 with a little yelp, and again shortly after six; you're not sleeping like a log at the moment, I'm not sure why. Anyway, I got up just after seven and woke you up, which seems like a terrible pity,but we're on a schedule on work mornings! A change and a feed and then I handed you over to your Daddy. You came out into the chilly morning to watch me defrost the car, and then we waved, and off I went.

But Daddy says you were a very good boy today. You loved having Molly's friends Ashleigh and Loretta around to play with, and you ate lots and slept well. You tried two new foods today, waffles and peas (though not together) and loved them both. You eat so many things now, so well. Yesterday you even had sandwiches for dinner! (Peanut butter ones.) When I came home you were sitting on the mat, without even a cushion behind you,playing with your toys, and you sat there for ages, nearly half an hour. What a top guy you are!

After dinner you had a shower with Daddy (oh, to listen to your giggles as he kisses you with his stubbly chin to make you laugh!) and then your nighttime feed with me, and I tucked you in, and you watched me leave, and that was that, not a peep out of you. You are so very good and easy. So very charming and funny.

Your newest face hasn't been captured on camera yet, but it's just hilarious. You pull it when you're yelling in annoyance, and it involves screwing up your eyes from beneath, till they turn into little n-shaped moons. It only lasts a second, and I love it so much! I can't stop laughing when I see it, which you don't appreciate at all.

Oh, and the other new thing you've learned is shaking your head, and you'll do it in response to any nod or shake of mine; we can have the funniest arguments, nodding and shaking and shaking and nodding at one another. And how could I forget your crazy bear-cub growling? That's the funniest thing ever, and you do that all the time at the moment. Grrrrrr! RRRRRRR! Shake! Squint! Chuckle!

Love you, my funny bunny.

XXXXX
Mama

Shake it, baby!

Frantic and very enthusiastic paper-shaking. Boy, the news is enraging some days!



More importantly, happy birthday darling Aunty Fuf! We all missed you today and were thinking of you and hope you had a really fabulous day. Love you, bud! Thanks for joining me in official decrepitude!

Thirty-Four Weeks

This week Seb's been well settled in with his grandparents. He even had two days with them while Daddy went tramping up to Mount Arthur, in the snow! And Seb had a great time with it, he was (apparently) good as gold and was clearly a very happy boy with all the love and attention he was getting.



Such a busy week, too. Lovely day last Sunday, up at Woollaston, sitting in the sun drinking wine and eating fabulous goodies. Sebby enjoyed the hot crusty bread, and tried a few grapes, carefully peeled for him by his adoring fans. I can't call them grapes though, in Molly's terminology they were always "bibbies", and for me they're still bibbies now. Anyway, Seb liked his bibbies!

And look how much fun Bunce and Molly are having. HAHA! Wot japes! They are clearly being VERY witty and amusante.

(No, actually they're mocking my request for them to look like they were having a good time.)



And I'm putting in this picture, taken on Mutti's new camera, just because it captures the way Seb feels when he's in his Jolly Jumper, so clearly. Great photography, Mutt!



All good things come to an end, and we had to say goodbye on Saturday, which was sad; but not as bad as it could've been, because it won't be long till our dear Mutti and Bunce are back, hurray!

Thanks so much for coming down, guys, and for being such stellar grandparents. It made me so happy to watch Sebby with you. I was so lucky that my "difficult" baby had her grandparents right there on the spot helping us all get through, but still; this darling little man might not need you as much as Molls did, but he surely deserves some doting. And for the last two weeks he's had that in spades. Love you, guys.