Toast

What's this stuff you're giving me Mummy?

Mmmmmmm toast! Can I fit both in here at once?

Just you try and take one away! I dare you!

The First Family Ride

Today the four of us went for a bike ride together. Our first family ride!

Finally the weather, equipment and sleeping patterns were all working in our favour and we got our chance to turn the legs over and give Max his first taste of cycling. He loved it.

Here he is getting ready to go.

Can't Talk ... Bouncing

Molly has the most amazing imaginary telephone conversations. If you didn;t know better you would swear there was someone talking back to her and asking questions on the other end of the phone. Today even the phone was imaginary. This conversation was with our neighbour Morgan and took place while bouncing enthusiastically on the trampoline in her party dress. Priceless!

Feed the Man Meat

Our baby boy became a carnivore today! Max took to a lamb cutlet like a lion cub, growling and grunting like we had triggered some primitive instinct. He continued with this behaviour long after dinner. Here you can see him attacking the lounge chair.

Operation Dummy Ditch

We are into night three of Operation Dummy Ditch and all is going better than expected.

I'll start at the beginning...... Molly is, or rather was, a confirmed dummy addict. For a long time her dummy use has been restricted to her bed and the car, but being such a clever little girl she found all kinds of loopholes to have as much dummy time as possible. The biggest loophole was to say she wanted to go to bed during the day when she would actually just be playing happily in her bedroom with the dummy firmly in her little gob! It was time to instigate OPERATION DUMMY DITCH!

We enlisted the help of the Dummy Fairy who is a close relative of the Tooth Fairy and friend to Santa. The arrangement was that we were to leave said dummies in a marked box, along with suitable refreshments, on the coffee table before going to bed. The Dummy Fairy would then pay us a visit overnight and collect the dummies, leaving a highly desirable gift in their place. The fairy would then deliver the dummies to a new little baby.

Molly was happy with this arrangement right up until the time she had to put the dummies into the box and she realised the finality of it all.

Here she is having one last suck....

and reluctantly putting the last dummy into the box.

Night one was quite challenging to say the least. There were lots of tears and cries of "I can't go to bed without my dummy!", "I'm not finished with my dummy yet!", "I need it!" "I don't want her [the Dummy Fairy] to come!" I was eventually able to calm her down by reading about 10 favourite stories and she finally went to bed at around 9pm and fell asleep. She stayed asleep all night long which was a pleasant surprise.

The next morning she woke and had forgotten all about the Dummy Fairy but when we mentioned it she said hopefully "She didn't come." She was pretty happy with the FP Little People Nativity Set though and the card the Dummy Fairy had left for her, complete with fairy dust.

Fast forward to night 3 and Molly has gone to sleep dummy free without a fuss. Hallelujah!

Colouring In

Molly has suddenly developed a keen interest in colouring in.
This is quite a large video ofher colouring in and talking about it


Hard work this colouring in gig!

Special Moments

We had a lovely family day at home today. It was just great to spend the day together enjoying each other's company and we captured some very special moments on "film".
I think these images speak for themselves.
I love them all!

Family Fun in Our Own Backyard

M&M had fun clowning around on their little bench

Max had his first chance to sit on the grass today.

I'm not sure he was all that keen

"Oooh! A cup!"
A little distraction can do wonders

A New Cycling Enthusiast is Born

We tried Max out in his bike seat today for the first time.
Now before anyone calls DoCS the bike wasn't moving. We'll be buying the helmet tomorrow so the real riding can begin.

Didn't Dave do a fantastic job of designing and building the bike especially for M&M!

Max was very interested in chewing on his handle bar.

The family that rides together..................

And so it Begins!

This is Max mesmerised by Thomas the Tank Engine today.

I see a very expensive train collection in our future.

TEETH!

I seem to be taking a lot of photos of Max in his high chair these days.
Maybe it's because he spends so much time in there these days ..... our little man LOVES his food.
Maybe it's because I can hold him captive in there and snap away.
Today I managed to photograph his two new teeth. He has had them for a couple of weeks now and don't I know it! Our breastfeeding days may be numbered!

"More photos Mum? But I'm hungry!"

"Put that thing away!"

"Look! I'm serious OK! Put the camera away and get my food!"

"OK, OK! Here's my teeth now get my food!"

"Pleeeeeeeease Mummy??"

An Illegal Tackle? You Be the Judge

Was Molly's tackle on Declan a legitimate one?
Did he have the ball?
Was he held too long?
Should Molly be sent off the trampoline?

Let's go to the video referee and see .....

A Bouncy Playdate

Today Molly had a playdate with Emily, Declan, Jack, Sophie, Eliza and Evan. They had a great time putting the trampoline through its paces between rain showers.

Max can't wait to be big enough to join in the fun.

Look Who's Sitting Now!

All we needed was some motivation in the form of a Twirly Whirly Garden!

Guess What Santa Brought for Molly

Merry Christmas

A Work of Art

Molly called this drawing "Molly and the Mess".

Morning TV

Here are M&M watchingTV together the other morning.

Mozart's Piano Concerto No1 in F major

The Healing Power of the Christmas Tree

"I'm not feeling well Mummy!"


"I better lie down under the Christmas tree."


"There. That's better!"

Christmas at the Farm

Our Playgroup Christmas party was held on a farm this year. It promised to be a great day and then the weather turned on us! We couldn't pass up an opportunity to see Santa so we got out our rain gear and off we went...

First stop some billy tea and damper. Mmmmmm

Max stayed warm and dry inside his rain cover. He was the only dry person there.

"Can we eat it now Mummy?"

Next stop the cow milking demonstration.
Molly's comment, "He's pulling her doodle!"

Molly was happy to pat the cow but no way was she "pulling her doodle!"

Next was the sheep shearing demonstration. You can see I was a bit soggy by this stage!

A quick ride on the sheep before lunch.

And look who stopped by......with presents!

Here is my best attempt at a group shot!
Santa is trying desperately to hold onto his beard while Max gives it a good hard tug!

It was worthwhile braving the weather for a fun day out. Molly had a ball jumping in puddles all the way back to the car where she changed into dry clothes and promptly fell asleep.

Thanks to all our playgroup friends for a wonderful year. We'll see you again in 2007!