Happy Birthday you beautiful boy!

Jack has turned 2 and received some wonderful presents....we gave him a trike and Nana bought him another Careflight bear. A Bob jigsaw puzzle from Aunty Tracy and a great pop up book from Aunty Annie - Web the spider. A drum kit with musical things inside from Catherine, Cynthia and Trish, and an Elmo guitar from Alicia, Mikayla and Lorraine (he grooves to this!). And thanks to Cassie I now call my son, Mr Potato Head (thanks Cassie!) - he loved it and knows what all the bits and pieces are... he came and stood quietly in front of me one morning and it took me ages to work out what was different... can you tell? I laughed and laughed - he was so gorgeous !

Madge

Phantom Pains

The MIL's 80th birthday party went really well. Everyone had a wonderful day. I made the invitations and inserted a little message card that could be brought with them to the party to insert into an album - all and more were returned to Shirley with the most wonderful messages of friendship and affection. Was way more successful than I thought and everyone enjoyed flicking through the album and reading everyone else's messages! MIL had a really nice time with all her loved ones around her. Photos are really bad because the DH used all the memory space on the camera for video. But if you know the MIL, you'll know the cats in the photos (to quote the SIL). We had a really nice meal at the Corner Restaurant, Batlow - excellent staff, really helpful and lots of nice food.

For the first time in 2 years I am bach-ing it. My DH and DS are at the farm. DH is doing a chemical users certificate for the orchard for two days. DS went with him to stay with Nana while Mum is at work. Oh me oh my. If I think about it I'll cry or pine or do both so I'll do the next best thing to drinking and that's scrapbooking!

Madge

Words

I haven't kept a record of Jack's progress for a long time so I'll do it here. He speaks, but only in private with me and John, never in a crowd. He seems to be the observant type not the rowdy type. He loves to climb a tree and will get so high up the tree (in the front yard) that he's over my head. Loves any animals and is interested in "...nts!" at the moment - yes that's Jack-for-Ant. Except he keeps trying to squash them. Knows how to say - "Baa" (sheep), "Moo" (cow), "ggggg" for grrrgh lions, tigers, crocodiles etc., "Bum" (that's Mr Potato Head's Bum that all the little bits and pieces are kept in!), "NO!", "Mum", "Daaa" (that's Jack for where's Dad?), "Oh No" when something gets spilt, "Bye" (he chats on his phone and puts it down on the ground and says loudly, BYE! - do I do that??!), "Fly" for butterfly, "ZZZ" for bee, "dink" for drink, "skit" for biscuit (shame on you mummy), "Light", "s...wing" for please push me higher Mum!, "swim" for a swim in the bath, and "NOOOOOO" when he doesn't want to get out of the bath. If I try to change his nappy, he just pulls his trousers back up and runs off without a nappy, saying NOOOOOO! Toilet training coming right up! A girlfriend suggested I wait to summer and then the accidents can happen outside - happy with that idea!

He prefers to sleep in our bed with his arm around my neck and his face pressed up against mine, sucking his thumb. I have a story book called "I love you mummy" about lots of kids saying what they like about their mum and at the end it says "I love you mummy"... when I get to that line he reaches up and hugs me! beautiful

One day Jack and I were sitting at the kitchen table having an ice cream in a little square cone, when Daddy came in, sat down and said to Jack - "Can I have some of your icecream, Jack? Jack looked at him quietly, looked at me, looked down at his icecream and then he reached over, took the icecream out of my hands and gave it to John. How funny is that?! We laughed and laughed and laughed.

And he LOVES a wrestle with Dad - nothing is too rough! I get upset and make them stop - Jack pulls his hair and jumps up and down on his back and slaps his head - I wish I could do that to him but wives aren't allowed to are they?!

love you son,
Mummy Madge

Fruity ATCs

Wow! I received the ATCs in the mail and they are so beautiful. I've shown them to all my scrapping mates and work mates! How exciting is that?! And to think that one of the participant's has a link to Batlow. Too Small a World! I'll upload a photo when the DH gets the camera sorted, until then, have a look on www.limetart.blogspot.com. I want to do another one.

Madge

Mr Potato Head Turns 2

Jack has turned 2 and spent a wonderful day riding around on his new trike and entertaining the girls from next door. He loves his new Mr Potato Head (thanks Cassie!) and goes to bed with him on its own pillow next to his. He also spent an afternoon with a friend and his new jeep. That's Jack in the passenger seat hanging on to the seatbelt very tightly!
And what a week. I cannot believe how gutted I feel about Steve Irwin's death. Maybe its because I was 3 and my sister was 8 when our mum died. I just feel their pain.
And even though my first date with my DH was to Sandown to watch the V8s and our second date was to Bathurst, in my DH's Brock Commodore, I still feel sadder about Irwin than I do about Brockie.

Madge