Milestones...

It's a big one but the birthday boy is blissfully unaware.

My toddler is two today and cannot be called a toddler anymore. As if to underline that he seems to have learnt another fifty words overnight and was strutting around at creche this morning throwing balls with the big boys.

Cake, party and presents on Saturday when his dad is around to enjoy it too.

This was taken hours after his birth... can't quite believe that it was only two years ago - he seems to have been part of our family forever.

Getting around...

My husband is having a love hate relationship with the bus. Actually hate hate. We live 5kms from his office and it can take an hour to get there by bus... and we live on the route of the tourist link bus. Apparently that's the best bus.

Good to know that we have found somewhere in the world that makes Sydney's ailing (journalists always say ailing when they mean crap) transport system look pretty good.

Anyway this wall decal might cheer him up or just annoy him more....  I could put it near the front door.

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It's from Perth based Little Design Horse who have a groovy shop and take phone orders. They also have a blog. All the cool people do.

Going native...

A barefoot childhood is something Kiwis are proud of. For me bare feet were reserved for the beach - and having no shoes on in a shop or on the road was on a level with eating in the street - an absolute no no. I still furtively bite into an apple if I'm walking in public (I am lying about the apple - it's a chocolate bar or it was until the late New Year resolutions)

Kiwi kids tend to kick off their shoes anywhere. I was a little taken aback to see children walking to and from school barefoot... my kids of course have gone native quickly and the shoes (and jumper) are dumped along with the school bag as as soon as we get to the classroom.

We got this note home from school about this week's cross country race. Along with the usual instructions to bring a drink etc was the sort of advice I've never seen before...

It did make me laugh... like seeing the "no dogs allowed" signs in English pubs. I remember thinking 'well of course no dogs are allowed'. Well, likewise 'of course you wear shoes in a race.' 

Apparently we Australians are more uptight than we'd like to think... My kids are going to get wide flat feet and soles like shoe leather but they look pretty happy about it. 

Day tripping...

I wanted to take you back to Piha - our day trip last Sunday.  It was truly stunning... helped by a gorgeous, sunny and warm May day.

Piha is about a 45 minute drive from Auckland - longer if you like to navigate from a map printed at the last minute from the internet which could have been zoomed in a little more... We did an extended tour of the western suburbs on our way to the Waitakere Ranges.

The west coast is wild, the sand is black and sticks to everything - it apparently gets baking hot underfoot in the summer.

We spent our time on North Piha - there is another smaller beach to the south of the majestic Lion Rock.

We've decided it's the perfect autumn and winter beach for us. Way too wild for swimming with children... the littlest was dunked by a very strong rogue wave and we could see more rips than we could count.

There are lots of great walks to go back to and we'd like to climb the rock without a toddler in tow.

Kiwi books for kids...

Last night our five year old got a new book to add to his kiwi collection... apparently a best seller here. Perky is an orphaned pukeko taken in and cared for by a farmer who looks very Wal Footrot - remember Footrot Flats?

A Pukeko is a purple swamp hen. Pukeko is a much, much nicer name. Perky the Purple Swamp Hen doesn't shout "read me".

If course we've long been fans of Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy -  My brother used to read them (he's ten years younger than me so I remember quite a lot about his childhood) and I liked them way back then. 

Oh to write like Lynley Dodd.

With tails in the air 

they trotted on down

past the shops and the park 

to the far end of town.

They sniffed at the smells

and snooped at each door,

And the characters - Bottomley Pots all covered in spots, Bitzer Maloney all skinny and bony... it's fabulous!

It did take me a while to realise Hairy hailed from these parts... and now I know that the Dairy you see the corner of as he leaves for his walk is not a farm with loads of cows but a corner store or milk bar. AND  it's pronounced "deery" - rather than dare-ee as we Australians would say. Very confusing for our five year old when we arrived and his first friend kept talking about going to the dairy for a treat. "Mum," he said to me, "what's a deery?" 

Of course nine months on he says deery too.  

Spring cleaning

I know, I know, I live in New Zealand and it is not actually spring but I need to sort out my life and I need something to spur me on.

Today it is unseasonably warm  - actually what would I know?! I haven't lived here long enough to know what the weather should be like!  Anyway it's warm, sunny and feels like spring. And in spring you de-clutter, tidy and clean. And that is me in the month of May 2010.

First the overflowing paperwork drawer, and the tangle of spoons and other crap paraphernalia that lives in my second kitchen drawer. Then it is drawer by drawer, cupboard by cupboard, room by room through the whole house. We've only been in it for nine months but boy is it a mess.

Along the way I am going to test out all the advice I can find on blogs and self help sites and let you know what I think works and what doesn't.  I am a messy, lazy, domestically challenged, busy mother who actually hates clutter and mess - the perfect crash test dummy.

By the way the photograph was taken a few years ago in London's beautiful Richmond Park - in spring. When spring sprang in the UK it really was the most wonderful feeling that you never get in NZ or Australia. That first day in March or April when you can feel the sun's warmth after months of weak, watery sunlight is magical.

Milestones...

My littlest is nearly two. I love the new person that's emerging (exhausting as he is sometimes) but I am also a little sad he's growing up. Hormones I imagine... there can be no rational reason for wanting a newborn again!

So it's a big birthday for both of us and there are a few new things in his life to mark the occasion.

He has spent two nights in his brand new big boy bed. Most of the night anyway... he refuses to lie down at bedtime and sits very quietly in it for ages before giving in to sleep.

He fell out at two am on the first night and then after a long cuddle sat like a little monkey in the dark perched on the pillow refusing to either lie down or be put into his cot. I left him sitting there in silence and he eventually keeled over. Funny kid.

The bed linen like most things in his life is a hand me down from his big brother, the walls need some love and so does the storage. Time too for a toy cull ahead of the birthday party next week. I love a good clear out (it's all the moving we've done) but giving away the baby toys might be a little harder...