toothie pegs

mummy finally
managed to capture
my little chompers
in action
each new arrival
is always heralded
by hourly cry-fests
all through the nights...
how many more
are there to come
she cringes?!
whilst daddy
suspects those
amber teething beads
are akin to snake-oil...

celebrating samhain / all hallow's eve

mummy had yet
another 'excuse'
for a dress-up costume
as daycare celebrated
the traditional all hallow's eve
with a halloween costume party
and so inspired by
one of her favourite
web-sites, ohdeedoh
she went about with
sewing needle, thread,
scissors, a pipe-cleaner
and two pieces of black craft felt
to turn me into
a little bat
nice and easy
to drive her
batty...

and he's off...!

this past week callum started
rearing up on his haunches rocking back and forth
sometimes he does this on his hands and feet
ala the down dog yoga pose
a few days ago he started moving about
from one spot to another
yes, he'd been able to spin around on his tummy aka sky-diving
but now, he's definitely begun a semblance of the crawl
In his own inimitable fashion!
mummy can't get over how much sooner he's begun chasing after everything
mobility may not be an issue for callum anymore
but keeping the place safe and chomp-proof definitely is now for mummy!
and here's a flashback to when i started crawling at 9 months
3 months later than callum...

sold on solids

a big bravo to mummy
for successfully persevering and reaching her goal
of exclusively breastfeeding
callum for his first 6 months (and to many many more...)
(despite the initial hurdles of cracked, bleeding and shorn-off nipples)
since then, he's started his first tastes of solids
here he's captured having his first spoonfuls of rice cerealhe's been eating pretty well ever since...
between his breastfeeds
he breakfasts on oat and banana flake porridge
lunches on pureed butternut pumpkin and sweet potato
dines on pureed broccoli zucchini and carrot with rice cereal
and has just deserts of pureed apple and pear
mummy is slowly and steadily increasing his varieties
and enjoys using the bebedelice to make all his organic food, the lucky duck!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... transformation me hearties!

Apologies for our little bit of absence -
mummy finally worked out
how to use her new camera
(she managed to fall on the other one
and broke it much to her chagrin)
she also eventually found the cable
to download photos
so we are finally able
to update our posts.

Yesterday I went to my mate
Matthew's pirate birthday party
so we had a dress up situation happening
and mummy being mummy
refused to buy into commercialised costumes
racked her brains to work out how to turn me into a
right ol' pirate of the land seas.

After raiding my wardrobe
for a stripey tee
and a dash to Spotlight
for raw materials
she ended up destroying her
own black singlet
with scissors
using felt and glue
to craft a
skull and crossbones
coupled with the magic of
some face paint
and thanks to daddy's nifty
fold and tie work with
red polka-dotted fabric

shiver me timbers...
voila... bearded captain pirate
arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... you like?

spot the difference

one of us sleeps through the night (and day)
the other one wakes up intermittently to snack and party
one of us need never wear no nappy
the other one emits explosive poops and pops
one of us never dribbles, ever
the other one salivates because he can't swallow his own drool yet
one of us does not need hair combed or nails clipped
the other one has fearsome hair on his back and nails that can scratch eyes out
one of us closes our eyes when the dummy gets popped in
the other one closes his eyes only when exhausted or in deep slumber
one of us can only visualise our hands from a distance
the other one sucks at his fingers and thumb at every opportunity
one of us never ever makes a noise or cries
the other one can launch into (incomprehensible) loud 'conversations' at 4am
replete with coos, shrieks, snuffles, squeaks, squeals and squawks
one of us only ever has one expression on his face
the other one has a myriad of smiles, gurgles, frowns, grins, cringes, wails, laughs,
and ably expresses astonishment and delight, joy and sadness,
frustration and contentment, surprise and amusement
one of us will always wear the same-sized clothes
the other one keeps growing like there is no tomorrow
one of us stays still in one position when manipulated
the other one can sit still for a few seconds, kicks and flaps about
and occasionally overbalances and keels over
one of us hardly ever needs a bath
the other one rather likes splashing about in the water
one of us is quite hard and unwieldy
the other one is soft yet firm, tender and smooshy,
squeezable and smooth as, cuddly and oh so warm,
eminently and incontrovertibly munchable
one of us is played with occasionally then left around
the other one is held so dear, cherished to bits
and loved so deeply like nothing else in the world...
one of us has an elder brother with a wicked sense of humour -
"mum... callum looks like a zebra today!"
can you guess which one i am?

outdoor entertainment # 74

what
could
be
better
than
lazing
about
on a
mound
of dirt
flinging
sand...

or
doing
a
rain
dance
and
waiting
for
some
drink...

or lying in the dirt
and building sandcastles
whilst the roos go about their business in the background...

hence
the
cheesy
grin...
ahhhh...
the
life
of
a
semi
country
boy

outdoor entertainment # 73

what do i
get up to
each time
we head down
to nannup?
easy -
fling self
and stones
into
puddles
to see
who makes
the
biggest
splash!

no prizes
for guessing
why i am
bottomless..!

reason # 29 you can tell callum is not the firstborn

when i was a baby and even up till only very recently
mummy refused to let me near the computer - real or toy
for fear of irradiation and/or addiction
and yet with callum
they seem to have a devil-may-care attitude of
whatever it takes to amuse him!
looks as if it doesn't matter that all that drool
could possibly lead to electrocution or destruction, does it?!

chrismas in july

despite the rain and wind and hail
we had a lovely christmas-in-july roast on sunday
with great-grandma kate and grandma sheila
it has been a right treat having grandma sheila around lately
and sad to have to say goodbye as she returns to tassie
hopefully we will see her again soon, possibly in november??!

gobsmacked

poor mummy has been rather perturbed
with our mouth antics of late...
me
and
my
angelina-jolie/
mick jagger/
pouty supermodel
impressions

and
callum
and
his
rabid
he-can't-seriously-
be-teething-yet-can-he
effervescence...

what the...???!

Méi Lánfāng eat your heart out!

two weeks ago, callum was a happy normal chatty baby
since last week, the pendulum has swung!
his chat sessions can now rival Méi Lánfāng the famous peking opera singer's work
mummy tends to roll about with laughter at callum's antics
sometimes i wish he'd reach just that tad pitch higher
so only the dogs could hear him...

Cal's delightful squeals from Eileen Chan on Vimeo.

when in nannup...

apart from running about the block in nannup
and imitating daddy with his wheelbarrow
i have a pretty fabulous time with all the space down there
and of late my budding 'engineering' skills have come to the fore
with my train-track-building projects
ably assisted, of course, by my 2ic labourers - mummy and daddy!
callum also seems to enjoy all that fresh country air
as he quite frequently plays, laughs and kicks so hard on his playmat
that he subsequently falls asleep mid-play
all by himself, with his favourite digit in his mouth...
(remarkably like his kong kong reading his newspapers)

getting down and drrrrrtyy

lately we have been
fortunate enough
to travel to our
little nannup
pied a tierre
quite frequently
mummy and daddy
are so grateful
that callum and i
travel pretty well
with just one
short break
in between
trips for
feeds.

daddy has been
busy building
fences to keep
the roos out
so the trees
we've planted
this winter
have a chance
of not
being eaten alive.
and so i help out
as little as possible
preferring to
mess about
in the earth and
muddy puddles...

talk to the animals

you definitely know callum is a second child
when mummy and daddy welcome with widely open arms
kaleidescopically-coloured baby furniture kindly donated by friends
that will surely clash with the home decor
but might free up their hands and entertain him from time to time...
witness for yourself callum chatting up his little friends
and getting quite a kick out of his burgeoning social skills!

Cal chatting from Eileen Chan on Vimeo.