Euey's B'day Party

Have finally gotten around to posting some photos of Euey's b'day party at the play centre. Georgia (friend from Mum's group) gave them to me ages ago, I'm just slack. It was an awesome day, the kids had a ball.

Megan, Spencer, Euey

Luken, Nathan, Maya.

Megan, Paddy, Euey, Maya, Luken, Nathan.

Xavier, Brock, Josh.

Good Cake!

Paddy, Euey, Xavier and The Bart Simpson Cake (that took Charlie and I about 4 hrs to decorate!)

Euey spent ages on this swing, every time Will tried to get him off he said 'fish, fish' (now he would know it's a dolphin, and would say 'no, stop it' if you tried to get him out. Amazing the difference a few months makes!

Megan

Double Trouble.

Nathan

Paddy (but no, he's not one).

Pop Quiz and Other Stuff

Pop Quiz: Can you understand Euey-speak?

Every day since we went to visit George, Phil, Anna and Charlie at the farm Euey has told me the following: Anna ... ra ra ... bop ... bwork ... egg ... duck nuuum ... wawa ... Jeh ca-ca.
Ie. We saw Anna and some big dogs and a small dog called Bob and some chickens and we collected eggs and fed the ducks and jumped in puddles and we went in Gen's car.

Today for lunch we had coh with buh-gee and for brekkie we had tode with pee-gut buh-gee and geese and vege.
Ie. for lunch we had corn with butter and for brekkie we had toast with peanut butter, cheese and vegemite (not all on the one piece of toast!).

When I change his nappy he asks for pow-gee, at dinner time he often asks for sow-gu and when we put him to bed he says nigh-night and lo-loo.
That would be powder, sausage, night-night and love you respectively.

Other Stuff

Aoife is 3 months old today. She giggles and spends most of her waking hours grinning her face off. She has just learnt to suck her thumb which is a blessing as she self-soothes. She still loves her brother to death and the sounds she makes often mirror his! She is much much more vocal than Euey was but less physical. By this stage Euey wouldn't sit on our laps, only stand, Aoife sits (although wriggles) and stares into our eyes chatting incessantly. She puts herself to sleep mostly and has slept through the night every night (except 2) for over two weeks now. In short she is still behaving like a dream baby.

Euey turned 22 months last Saturday. He is a madman and he loves jumping. He climbs onto the furniture and jumps off. When I take him outside or to the shops he jumps off all the gutters and climbs any steps he sees just so he can jump down. He chatters away all day, mostly in words, sometimes in nonsense. He has just begun to pair words (Gnuck Dada = Dad's truck, Bup mall = Small bus aka van) and the flavour of the month at the moment is mall. Everything that could conceivably be smaller than something else is pronounced to be mall and his favourite is mall mon-nee - 5c pieces that he puts into his footy bank.

His activities are changing as he gets older. He now colours and draws (same thing really in his book, just hold a random pencil and move it around the page) and loves to glue. Or rather, loves to put glue all over whatever is in front of him, but doesn't really care if any of the pictures I lovingly cut out of magazines are then placed on top of the glue.

He still loves his sister to death - really, those Euey-hugs could one day really harm her! The other day I left her in the bouncer and went into the kitchen to get Euey a cup of water. When I came back out she was lying on the ground and Euey was tickling her tummy. I have no idea how he managed to pick her up and put her down without hurting her, but I guess all that trying to be gentle paid off. Sometimes he gets a little jealous and wants to do whatever she is doing (eg lying down right beside her on her blanket) but he also wants to share what he's doing with her and often gives her presents of his toys. He holds things out to her, tells her ta then tries to put it in her hand. At first he used to get annoyed at her when she didn't accept his gifts, now he just leaves them on her tummy and takes them back when he wants them later.

The latest news: tonight he went to sleep in his big bed for the first time. He is there right now, my humungous boy in his ginormous bed. Wow!

Library = books.

It is amazing the concepts a toddler will grasp if it involves something they love. Euey and I have been to the local library together 3 times since he was born. The first was long enough ago that it doesn't count. The second was yesterday. When I asked him if he wanted to go to the library today (a question I was expecting a 'Yes' to because I said it in a tone that suggested fun, not because he necessarily understood) he looked up and said 'Ssyess! Book'.

We went to story time (which involved a lot of parent-involved singing unfortuately) and came home with a book about a Duck with a Truck. Euey was beside himself - a book with a Duck and a Truck! Holey Moley!! (Do you think if I keep saying Holey Moley as a substitute for swearing, and Euey picks it up, people will mind?)

Gung-ah is the new Ga.

It's the end of an era. Euey's Ga seems to have been replaced by Gung-ah. As with Ga it can mean anything from check this out to I want to read this book now Mum. A very versitile word indeed.

Woah! Day 25. First day out with both kids. Not meant to lift Euey or pram for another 3 weeks.

Pack nappy bag. Feed and water Euey. Feed Aoife. Get Euey a drink 'cause it took so long to feed Aoife he was thirsty again. Finally out the door. Carry Aoife in one hand, push pram in other. Tell Euey to wait and hope to god he does. Phew, he does. Put Euey in passenger door and tell him to climb through. Put Aoife in seat. Tell Euey to climb through. Do up Aoife's belt. Reach in and direct Euey where to go. Put pram in boot. Finally notice Euey is sitting very low. Distinct lack of car seat now noticeable. Ring Will - 'where is car seat?'. Took it out yesterday, damn!
Get kids out of car. Get to front door only to realise house key is on the fridge. Back to car. Get pram out, load kids in pram to keep them in check. Back to front door, climb in window. Get key and car seat. Back to car. Pack kids and pram again.
Time check: 20 mins from walking out front door to driving away.
No of times lifted pram: 3

Need to go to post office, Aldi, Coles and Office Works. Which first? Decide Aldi and Office Works because on same road as McDonald's and is now close to Euey's lunch time (my brekkie was a long time ago, need comfort food). Order food at McDonald's drive thru, turn around to find Euey asleep. Sit in the car park and eat. Euey must sleep for at least an hour or all hell will break loose later. Drive to post office and Coles because the drive is longer and Euey will sleep. Get a park right outside the post office and decide to leave Euey asleep. Go into post office. Parcel costs $4 to post, have no cash and eftpos is only for transactions over $10. Leave post office with parcel unposted. Go to Coles. Unload kids, shop, load kids and pram, load shopping.
Time check: about an hour and a half since leaving home.
No of times lifted pram: 5

Go to Aldi. Unload kids, shop, load kids and pram, load shopping.
Time check: nearly 2 hrs since leaving home.
No of times lifted pram: 7

Go to Office Works. Unload kids. Discover Office Works doesn't have what I want. Load kids, load pram. Drive home. Unload kids and take them inside. Back out to car to get shopping. Feed Aoife. Get Euey a bottle and snack.
Time check: just over 2 and a half hrs since leaving home.
No of times lifted pram: 9

Damn, still haven't posted Catha's wedding present!

Our Conversation

I thought, seeing as things have calmed down somewhat in the Morrissey / Hyde household (Euey playing happily outside after a nap and Adie FINALLY asleep) I would record a few more of Euey's 'words'. These days he not only has words but whole conversations with me - some in English and some in Eulish. The title of this post alludes to one conversation. There is not only one conversation that Euey and I have, but there is definately one that dominates most of our day. It goes as follows:

Euey: Dada?
Me: Dada? Dada's at work sweetheart.
Euey: Bubble?
Me: Bubble? Bubble's at home.
Euey: Dada?
Me: Dada's at work.
Euey: Bubble?
Me: At home.
Euey: Dada?
Me: Work!!
Euey: Bubble?
Me: Euey, Dada's at work, Bubble's at home - okay??!
Euey: Dada, Bubble, Dada, Bubble ... ad nausium!!!!!

As I said, that's not the only conversation we have, it's just the most repetative! We still have the old faithfuls like 'Wha-ya-ga?' and these days a whole host of new and useful words. He copies everything we say, problem is it's not always intelligable and usually not remembe red for his own use. More often than not he copies the intenation and sound of a sentence without focusing on individual words - which is where Wha-ya-ga comes from (Where'd it/you go?).

Big Bed

We have started the transition to the BIG BED! Wev've only tried it once so far. After 10 or so of his giggling trips down the hall to the living room, and our trips back down (with smothered gigles) we gave up and put him in the cot. We moved him to the bed once he was asleep so he could wake up there.

We'll try it again soon.

Lo Lo

Euey has developed a fascination with lawn mowers. It started with 'Lo Lo', his very own lawn mower - a Victa no less. He's had his Victa since he was 11 months, but it's only in the last month that he's developed such an attachment to it that he wants to take it into the shower, the bath and to the park. He has two bikes, but he never rides either of them to the park because he's hands are full pushing Lo Lo. In the last 2 weeks or so the fascination has grown to include all lawn mowers. When he hears one start up he cocks his little head to one side, his eyes light up and go wide and before he runs to the door his emits a very excited little 'Lo Lo'.

Slide

Euey just went down the slide all by himself!! He's climbed the stairs before, but never done the whole lot. We went over to the park last night and he was going down by himself but only if Will was at the top with him. This morning he went straight over to it, up the stairs and down the slide without even thinking about it!

The Moon

Euey loves the moon. His fascination started with a book about animals going to sleep (a very welcome gift). Once he discovered there was a moon to point out on every page he stopped caring about the sleeping or the story and now just wants to read it over and over only stopping briefly on each page to point out the moon.

Anyway, that was the story, but you should have seen his face the night Will took him out and showed him the real moon. I love that look of pure amazment he gets, like 'Holy Shit, why didn't you show me that cool thing before?!' He has that look right now. It's 9 in the morning but he's just discovered you can see the moon really clearly. (Why is that? There must be some scientific explanation involving Earth rotation or something, surely?) The difference between this time and the first time is not in the level of amazment but the level of congnition. He's not just looking at it, he's saying 'Mooore, moooo, mmmmm' (not quite there, but well on the way to 'moon').

Words

Just wanted to record a few of Euey's first words.
It is difficult to pin down the first word, I'm finding. Do animal sounds count? What about words like Yuck. Is that a 'real' word? In order Euey's first words were Quack, Yuck, Dada. Does that make Dada the first official 'real' word - I'm sure Will would love to claim as such. I like to think that Quack counts. But does that mean 'Ah ah ah' should count, considering it is accompanied by a very definite monkey looking action?

WAIT: Jesus! Something in my belly just poked out so far I doubled over, said something I'm glad Euey wasn't awake to hear and actually saw it poke out in my peripheral while looking at the computer screen. I think Dot is getting impatient and cramped in there!

Anyway, back to the Words. They're so lovely. All of them.
Dada was a great one for awhile, then, much to my disgust, he learnt Bubble (the dog's name) and I was (and still am) subjected to Dada? Bubble? over and over all day - my disgust lies mainly in the fact that he did this for nearly 2 weeks before he finally learnt 'Mama'. I am still obliged to play the 'Dada? He's at work. Bubble? He's at home.' game constantly, but it doesn't hurt as much now that there is the occasional Mama thrown in and accompanied by a huge grin.

We also have other regulars: bap (bath), guk ('Chuck' - my sister Charlie - or 'truck', depending on where we are), car-car (never in the singular, always car-car), bup (bus, are you beginning to see the pattern here? My son loves things that go) and many more. Today we got two new ones - pool (we were there) and Den (meaning my Mum Gen, which would have brought tears except she was getting changed for the pool at the time!).

The Words are fantastic, but the thing I really love is the nonsensical, yet understandable, sentences - groups of sounds that are consistently used in the same scenario. We have: ah-ya-gaaa? (where did you / it go?), ah-i-ya! (here I am) and ahh-ya? (where are you? - repeated 'til he gets an answer).

It is strange (wonderful and amazing yes, but very strange) watching language develop. I had no idea how it would work before it happened. I could not for the life of me figure out how this little thing who had only vowel sounds would eventually, seemingly all by himself, figure out the marvel of the English language.

It happens slowly. The way it happens makes sense when you're watching it. Vowels combine with consonants to make little syllables. Eventually those syllables are said with meaning. Then those little baby words go together to form mini sentences. Dada Bap? is easily understood to mean Can I have a bath with Daddy? While all this makes sense, it's hard to really grasp until you see it unfolding before you. And what I didn't expect is that Euey would grasp the vague sound of a sentence, and the meaning, and use it before he can actually pronounce each individual word. The aahh-ya-ga? amazes me every day. It sounds so close to Where'd you go? and is only used in that context. I didn't expect that language would develop like that, I thought it would be more like building blocks, like the Dada bap? example.

And we're only just beginning. All the really funny, inappropriate comments are still ahead of us. Awesome!