august is coming up dinosaurs!

not so many notes this month.... liam is speaking more fluently and also having more tantrums... a lot. more it feels. am i less inspired to keep notes because i am being more challenged?  what happens when your kid stops being less cute? this month was a toughy with more aggressive behavior. nothing really bad really, and not all of the time but more resistant and illogical and.. just testing.
all normal i know but liam's always been pretty darn easy. i am spoiled ;) he's growing up.

shades of things to come?

 do you see that little boy body taking over the little toddler body.... eep...




















August was a month of good times with little friends culminating in friends celebrating liam, now a little less little.

applying first ever cake sprinkles

thanks to lucy and pal gregory

the zoo will never get old

liam really likes to help me in the kitchen. here we are making mules mariniers at liam's request- the mussles, not the wine sauce-  it's hard to say but sometimes he wants to help me more than i want him to. it is true that you have to sacrifice your adjenda to get kids involved in these tasks... it will take longer, be less perfect and more messy but really.... does that matter? it'd a tough one for me sometimes but i know the benefits of getting liam involved so anytime he wants to i take a deep breath and make it happen ;)

 

here's a good low impact activity.         

sunday family brunch and dinosaurs. always a great combination. @
http://www.thecross.co.nz/about/about-us

rawr

fun times with gregory's kid magnet papa geoffroy. and yes we are hanging out in a pub. on a sunday afternoon. have to love french and british friends!

and a fun family dinner out. oh yeah. liam is actually pulling dad's hair there. it was a bit nutso with little baby and 2 tired boys flailing all over the place but we can handle it.

and here we had a fun alternative for our petits francais french playgroup. a trip to the zoo! and we spent at least half of the visit actually speaking in french... yay us :D

 liam and lois are friends from playgroup but when they started sharing a day at crossways creche a few months agao they really became fast friends. she is several months younger than liam... and so tall!

can you tell how much he likes her? ;)










OH YES SOMEBODY"S GETTING EXCITED TO PARTY!

mama preppin' for the big day

dino deviled egg anyone?

birthday morning! liam helped me to make his cake.
chocolate miette cake. DA BOMB and easy
with cream cheese frosting of course :)

http://www.bakerella.com/miettes-double-chocolate-cake/

dino madness begins in the morning with prezzies from nana.  dino backpack is a big hit
and obviously word has spread of this singular passion :)








friends large and small gather for the original puppet show "we're off to liam's birthday" written by talented play write and lovely friend lucy ( mum of gregory. i have noticed that the shuter/giverny family figure largely in this entry. we have a good time :)

the play featured a wombat, an owl, a lion, and an octopus who are looking for the mischievous dinos who have stolen liam's birthday cake! these characters happen to comprise liam's puppet collection how convenient ;) the play also featured orginal music by lucy including the theme song " oh we are off to liam's birthday (oh liam is 3 today)."

our story culminated with the characters catching up with the dinos who were taking the cake to liam's birthday! and we all know what you do at birthday parties... sing happy birthday! and that is how the play ended. genius :)

the dinos were very excited to blow out the candles

plastic dino figures saved the cake from lots of gross colored edible stuff going all over it.... yay
those are lollies on there tho! (for rocks!) yep, i went totally mainstream for #3. oh well.

see the eggs and crudite in the background there? tried to redeem myself

i think i might have helped liam blow those candles out. lame mama! oh well ;)

the most incredible bday present ever from the very talented imery ( idea by jenn :) liam has had a huge blank wall since we have lived here and now he has the perfect thing for it. and he can write on it! on the wall! how genius is that.


some more fun inside and out

writer, director and actors enjoying some post show R&R. oh yeah, i forgot to mention that i played the part of the owl- wise old gal- and miss octopus, from the deep south-ern sea. she had a drawl and was purportedly a bit... saucy sounding ;)

 and last but not least, at the end of the day when the dust had settled and the guests had gone, presents from mom and dad

a magneting fishing set for the tub, a spiffy new scooter and some nice wooden animals

measuring mr giraffe- still the solid favorite, btw. this guy knows what he likes! no doubt there. very loyal and consistent... just like his dad :) actually the era of an animal in hand at all times is fading.... how many months is that? many i think!! always wondered what to make of that....

                                   HAAPY BDAY LITTLE LIGHT OF OUR LIFE
                                            

 

and the next day- last day of august- was a sunday so off to southern cross we went again for another iteration of dino face paint.
and here direct evidence of how children's play comes from what they are exposed to... the stage had a moment of -short lived- extreme popularity










here is one tidbit i saved from our month's convos:

can you make me a brother?
a little brother?
yeah
he'll always be littler than you. is that ok?
yeah
it might be a sister, a girl
i like boys


and so a wonderful crap weather month ( yes, we got an unusually warm and stunning day for lee's bday :) filled with a lot of decidely uncrap fun.

peace y'all :)

july-- all in a month's fun

a bit of the quotidien this month

a rainbow in our backyard:

island weather... lots of rain and shine. i love weather and i love living somewhere i get to see rainbows quite often. i would personally never chose to put a big metal shed in the middle of the view.... but i am so grateful to have a big green backyard for liam to play in.  this would be nearly impossible to find or afford in vancouver.

liam has quite the sense of humor and loves to be silly ( esp with papa). he started imitating his talking bear from nana... "nana loves you" and laughing with glee. super cute :)

liam's creche celebrated matariki with a family lunch... was just as we were beginning to really plan the benefit gala i chose to co- chair and i took the chance to "network" with some of the parents... haha. scored a bach getaway for the auction and lined up a bread donation from one of the best bakeries in town. wohoo! ;)

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/matariki-maori-new-year

i love that the maori culture and language is taught as part of the curriculum in the schools here. very cool.

 it's a big thing here for the kiddos to get a "fluffy" when their parents get coffees.. the coffee culture is quite serious - the flat white is my perfect coffee. this was liam's first fluffy... i held off as long as possible- they are usually served with sprinkles or a shake of choco powder and lollies - but a naked one is just steamed milk and usually pretty cheap. it's a nice way to include the little ones in the ritual :)

i gave liam some dulce de leche ice cream- his dad's favorite- and i asked him:

"is it too sweet?"

"too sweet"

"are you done then?"

"nope!"

haha. kids can never get enough sweets! i know i was the same..... !

 

liam has become quite the proficient helper! he can help me measure, pour, stir and of course lick the bowl :) think we were making the ubiquitous pumpkin muffin here... pumpkin is a staple in our CSA box and demands to be used somehow! he impressed me by using a kiwi knife (plastic serrated) to cut a banana and add it to his porridge!

when i asked him if he wanted to have waffles and ice cream for dinner he exclaimed with serious concern: "nooooooooo! it will make us sick!" haha. job well done ;)

 

we took liam to a kid friendly exhibition at the city gallery.... a korean artist  sueng yul oh

http://www.citygallery.org.nz/exhibitions/seung-yul-oh-moamoa-decade

was really cool and i would love to do more things like that with liam. looking forward to travel in december... all new museums and zoos in sydney and melbourne!

he drew papa a yellow circle. first circle i have seen  :)

 

and also getting more and more creative, liam's latest zoo: quite a pretty fantasy

 

last but not least our friend tom ( henry joan's dad) celebrated his 40th birthday at the end of july.  HJ and liam had a play at ours while the party was getting set up. the party was at the surf club and was great fun. at tom's request i made a flan chococake- a layer of cake topped with flan! pretty decadent all right.

intimidating strathmore biker gang

the kids impatiently waiting

and the end of the day as we left the party.... really, doesn't it just take your breath away? i am in love


competative games are coming more and more into play.... "i'm the winner and you are the leader!" haha. sure it won't stay that way ;)
we started a car game: spot the cab! after our aukland trip. we took a bunch of cabs there and now liam spots them from the car window and calls out the colors of the different companies.

dinos are still number one... liam sang a version of old macdonald with only dinosaurs and here he made an "alienasuarus" i think that's pretty clever. he makes lots of words replacing syllables with "saurus" and has made songs with rhyming lyrics! wish i had made a note of what they were....

liam's play has become more imaginative in general with more connections. he told me that light blue is morning blue :) but dark blue is his favorite.

we have lost the bibby and the booby. by the end of july liam is asking me what words start with a lot... especially people's names. i am in no rush for liam to learn to read but it is exciting for me to realize that child led really works.. it just happens... and you just make sure help support where they want to go :)