Swims, sizzles and slides

Had a fantastic day yesterday. For the second time Alex swam by himself. Initially he was too scared to swim, but gently pointing his bum downwards in the water with a couple of fingers set him off kicking and splashing his arms. Then, when the instructor brought out the foam mat and bent it to become a "tunnel" Alex couldn't wait to go through, and did so all by himself. 

Sizzler might seem a bit of a daggy place to eat now, but B and I have happy memories of it from our uni days. After Alex slept off his morning exertions we drove to the Sizzler in Kogarah for lunch. It was so much fun! Alex had a blast feeding himself lots of different foods brought back from the salad bar and even managed to poach a few Smarties from our bowls of dessert. For once a restaurant meal wasn't all about chopping up our own dishes and feeding him at his pace. Instead we could give him his own bowl of suitable stuff and enjoy our own meals. 

It was a beautiful warm sunny day outside, so we continued on to Kyeemagh and let Alex loose on a playground while I caught glimpses the aircraft take off across Botany Bay. He had great fun on the swings, slides and tunnels, while reading the numbers off a clock display in the playground.

More fun today when we brought Alex and Kita to Miranda Park and let them run on the greens. It's so nice to watch KIta run, while Alex had a huge grin on his face.

Off to Canberra for a Communicators meeting tomorrow. I'll be missing Alex and B and no doubt be left with a big headache at the end of the day.

Father's day 2010

Alex actually slept in the cot throughout last night, despite the ferocious winds outside. Then, when he woke up early this morning I carried him to our bed where he promptly slept again until 8am. What a magnificent father's day gift!

I can't believe that he is already reading numbers now. He is really so much fun to be with, such a lovely, fun personality, despite him trying to rip my face off when I wouldn't let him down on the bird poo covered walkway  to chase seagulls and jump into Darling Harbour today.

Brown skies

Smoke somewhere around Sydney lent the air a brown tinge today. Late in the afternoon the light was golden, as in Asia. I watched the aircraft fly overhead and imagined that I was there. If only there were hawker stalls and noodle carts along the street! I'm sorry to say that I like polluted skies.

The little ones attack at night

Saturday was very busy. After a rough Friday night that saw me struggling to resettle Alex at 3.30am we woke up a bit late. Then race off to Alex's swimming lessons. Return late library books. Eat and shop for Malaysian ingrediants at Kingsford. Take Alex to a playground at Kyeemagh. Buy other groceries at Menai. Dinner at the relatives. I'm exhausted and have a headache.

Finally, everyone had gone to bed. After a whole day of waiting I went to the loo. Relax. When I emerged I could now hear Alex crying. Unfortunately, you can't hear him while in the loo, because he had been crying so much that he had vomited. Meanwhile, B is blissfully asleep.

I remove him from his cot and go to the kitched to give him some water. Then I feel something underfoot. A dog turd!

I lose it, swearing and shouting, before running off to the bathroom and washing my feet in the tub, Alex still in my arms. B awakes to the commotion and helps clean up, but I just feel like nobody will allow me to relax anymore.

It's all better in the morning...

Moving forward

MFlight International reports that Julia Gillard has taken the campaign to outer space. Despite being an atheist she has, pledged to move Australia forward with a Hy(er)Cause.


Caption: The Australians are moving forward with HyShot and HyCause, launched June 2007.

Obviously Flight International made a small error with the caption as it should read:

The Australians are moving forward with HyShot and HyCause, launching Kevin07 into space as our first ambassador to the Universal Nations

Alex loves trains

B drove Alex and I home from work yesterday. Late in the drive Alex suddenly started saying "No, no! Woo-woo. Woo-woo". Woo-woo means train. It was pretty clear that he wanted to ride on the train rather than the car. He was so upset he threw up a couple of times.

Alex loves his Dad

Childcare told me that they had to put tape over their photo of Alex and I as Alex was walking up to the photo, looking at it, then crying. He used to kiss it.