marc.vic.max.elliot

Max had a good friend that he used to go to playgroup with called Owen.  They’d see each other 3-5 times a week over about eight months and always got on really well.  I wouldn’t have thought that kids that young had strong friendships but Owen and his family moved away over a month ago and Max still mentions Owen’s name.  He even yells out his name whenever we drive passed their old house and even when planes go over sometimes (Owen left on a plane)

It makes me sad to know that this is just the first of many broken friendships I guess 🙁 Here’s a shot of Max taking Owen for a ride in his tractor (Max is three months younger than Owen)

Because I’m with Max everyday (well almost) I don’t really see him getting any taller in my view.  That was until yesterday…….

Just after we moved into this house Max couldn’t open doors (bliss!) through a mixture of being too short and a lack of motor skills.  This was great of course as we could shut him in a room and there he would stay Then things changed and he a) figured out how doorknobs worked and b) could just reach them if he stretched up as high as he could on tippy-toes.

Yesterday Max came into our bedroom in the morning (as he always does) and shut the door behind him (which he’s taken to doing whenever he comes into our room – strange) When he left about 15 minutes later he walked up to the door and opened it easily and walked out.  It wasn’t the fact that he opened it easily that amazed but more the fact that the doorknob was at eye level!

How fast they grow………

What a way to start your morning – cleaning up vomit

I’m sure most parents have gone through this but this is my first experience of having to clean up my child’s meals after they’ve been ingested.  So far Max has only thrown up a couple of times in his life and they’ve only been a mouthful or so – this morning was the whole “entire stomach contents and hey, where are the diced carrots” deal.

Max and I had gone downstairs to have breakfast while Vic kept sleeping and, after not eating all that well over the last couple of days, he had a pretty hearty breakfast.  After his cereal he was eating some toast and started to cough.  I was squatting down in front of his table telling him to chew his food properly (he just inhales food sometimes) when all of a sudden he heaves!  He looks at me with a confused look on his face and then really starts to bring up his breakfast 🙁 After three more big heaves he starts crying and there’s vomit all over his plate, the table, the floor, his shoes, his trousers, his top and hands and he really doesn’t know what’s going on.  To be fair he had said that he had a sore tummy about 30 minutes before so next time I’ll take him at his word!

After I strip him down and get him a drink to clear his mouth out I leave him sitting there watching me and start to clean up.  8 paper towels and a wet cloth later and we’re off upstairs to get some clean clothes.  After that he had some more toast and seemed in a better mood Now he’s running around as though nothing happened so I’m guessing it was something he ate rather than a fever (plus his temp is fine)

I realised today that I haven’t really spoken about Max lately, which is a shame as he is going through a period of dramatic (to me) change.

The change is about how he’s relating to the world in a vocal way.  I kept thinking that he wasn’t talking as much as he should but boy he’s changed that thought!  We can’t shut him up now and he seems to be coming out with new words every day!  It’s fantastic that he can come up to you and (sometimes) make himself understood – it makes him wanting specific things a whole lot easier

Another nice thing is that he’s going through a really affectionate phase where he’s just full of kisses and cuddles…… just melts my heart.

Max is so funny when he plays hide and seek

Just before his bath tonight I told him to hide under the covers of our bed while Mummy came to look for him.  He hid under the covers and waited (so far so good)…….  Vic walked in and was saying things like “is Max in the closet” “is Max in the bathroom” – y’now, the usual.

The hilarious thing was whenever Vic would speak Max would yell out “BED” and then giggle.

Makes him easy to find though

Max pretending to be asleep.  He’s not grown to be about 6’ 6” overnight Peter and Sally bought him a little wrought iron and wood park bench for Christmas and he loves it.

Max had a run-in with Saffy this evening……….

He’s being a bit mean to her at the moment and I think she had had enough He’s still smiling about it though as you can see.

Off to Sydney again in about 4 hours!  It seems like only yesterday that I was away in Shanghai but it was 6 months ago!  I’m away for the whole week so updates will be pretty much non-existent I think.

I picked up an NEC 3520 DVD burner during the week and what fun I’ve had Max ruins all his DVD’s by taking them out of the DVD player and just dropping them on the floor sometimes.  It’s not the dropping that damages them but the fact that we have wooden floors in the family room and if any grit gets underneath the DVD they just get scratched to hell!  In comes my new DVD burner, a software product called DVD-X-COPY, a DVD-R disk and 15 minutes later I have a full working copy of the DVD.  I think this is going to be a real money saver as Max has already ruined two DVD’s and at 30-40 bucks a piece it will have paid for the DVD burner in about 5 non-knackered movies!

In mt last entry I showed some cynicism toward the 5 day forecast and my mother berated me for it when the next two days were stunning weather Although it hasn’t rained the weather hasn’t quite been up to the high promise given by the MetService 🙁 Today has dawned a beauty though and it’s a shame I’m flying out but here’s a picture of Max taking advantage of the weather in a little paddling pool that hasn’t got as much use as we were hoping.

Have a good week everyone