I don't need help. Four words we hear a lot of lately. This week Clark kicked the independence up a notch. Everything needs to be tried on his own first. I have learnt to factor in extra time before we need to be somewhere. For hurrying things along by not letting him do it himself often results in a reaction that overtakes the initial time to let Clark do it himself. Taking a step back and waiting for him to ask for help really is the best way to go I have found. I think it has coincided with toilet training, and the lead up to his third birthday. Of course, as I write this, my boy has already turned three, but more on that in the next post. This week however, his last week of being two, Clark climbed up a rock climbing wall out of my reach before I could blink. I think just to prove that fierce independence and to show me that he could. It really is a waiting game, a trusting game and a hoping he doesn't fall on his head game. Something that we do from the minute they are born but every now and then it moves up a level. When they suddenly seem to grow an inch taller and learn a new skill overnight. The game changes slightly, their confidence grows and you are filled with a mixture of pride for the person they are becoming and a tinge of worry that they may not know their limits and there may be tears. Thankfully the tears are still easily comforted with cuddles and kisses... and the occasional ice block.
And an extra photo this week because my boy is just so adorable... and it was one of the last I took when he was two.
Ten things I love about gardening with my child:
1. The look on his face when he gets to pick something straight from the vine and eat it. Like this season's first strawberry, so patiently waited upon to turn red.
2. Knowing where our produce comes from and what went in/on it to make it grow.
3. Clark's wonder at watching things grow from a seed or seeding into a bigger plant.
4. The glee, and slight chaos, that comes with a toddler being given the hose to water the plants.
5. Sitting amongst our plants in our garden and feeling the calm that comes from being outside.
6. Watching how much Clark loves digging with his shovel and raking with his rake.
7. The bugs and butterflies that a garden brings and teaching Clark about how they help the plants grow.
8. Clark's excitement when a new flower blooms and watching him smell it carefully and enthusiastically.
9. Encouraging Clark's generosity as he shares the tiniest of strawberries with us or picks us a flower.
10. How many more things Clark eats because he has grown them and picked them.
We have two vegetable patches at the front of our house as it is simply a better use of our space and means we can use the sun for all it's worth. Clark loves sitting on the benches at the end of the garden beds to eat his afternoon tea. He often points out the window and asks to go and "sit quietly" on the benches and it is a really great way to find some calm in our busy lives.
I cannot recommend gardening with your child enough.
We finally managed a trip to Taronga Zoo to see the Elephants. And it delivered. Warm sunny day and lots of playful animals to see. Most importantly Clark got to see Elephants in person for the first time. He watched them peacefully and curiously. The whole day was lovely, and better shared with his Gran and Poppy.
Our Sydney trip felt like a huge adventure... fireworks, the Zoo and lots of shopping. Thank goodness for an abundance of frozen yoghurt! We pushed ourselves and our little boy as it is not often he gets to see his Gran and Poppy and you know what? We got through. Yes, we all had less sleep than usual (add daylight savings cutting over in the middle) and it took a week for us all to catch up, but it was worth it to see Clark spending some quality time with his Gran and Poppy. His Gran who he loves 'more than chocolate eclairs'. Bless.
Clark loves. He is verbal about his love for people and also for his toys. He is affectionate and loves kisses and cuddles... when he is not being rough and tumble! He loves apples and his Slinky Dog, dinosaurs and olives. It is either dont like or love for our little boy, everything in extremes. This week he said to me "let's talk about ducks", and his monologue followed like this:
"Let's talk about ducks
Do you like ducks?
I love ducks
You love ducks
Daddy loves ducks
Everyone loves ducks
and dinosaurs
and houses
and people
and love hearts
and snakes".
Right now I am loving his super hero poses... and his need to chase every magpie he sees!
Clark loves to categorise at the moment. Especially by what things are made of. "This is glass", "this is not glass". "This is plastic". Glass is the particular material that he is fascinated with, mostly because we have large amount of tiling in our house. We had an incident a few months ago that Clark cannot let go of. We say "be careful carrying that Clark". He asks "this is glass?" and upon confirmation he often recounts the time he knocked the large pyrex jug of mashed potato off the bench and it smashed into a thousand smithereens... complete with bits of lovely mashed potato stuck everywhere. It was traumatising for both him and his father and now is a cautionary tale for both about leaving things on the end of the bench and being careful when you are standing up at the bench. And of course we all know you mash the potatoes last in the order of cooking sides for dinner. No mash was had that night. Clark does love explaining how he "smashed" the potatoes down onto the ground.
Clark also loves to cook and I cannot believe that it has been almost one year since his last birthday, the birthday we gave him his kitchen. Like all toys that are around often it gets played with sometimes and ignored others, but he does always put on an apron and use his glove. His latest is to make us cupcake cases full of dinosaurs. A dinosaur cupcake of course. I do hope that our boy grows up to love cooking as much as his Daddy. And not just for selfish reasons!
Now off to my long weekend and a boy with a returned cough!
Another busy weekend for our little family! With the addition of Clark's Uncle Steven coming to stay, we did a lot! School fete, swimming lessons and general mucking about. The next few months are hectic for us with birthday parties, trips away and long-planned play dates. A good sign that our family is really becoming busy is when I finally get the calendar out and plot our weekends on it. Of course this is when we realise that we have double booked, however the up side is often I find a weekend is not as full as we originally thought once we put it down on paper. Cue the need to find something to do in those mornings or afternoons that are now sitting empty on a calendar!
The weekend ended with a trip to see Uncle Steven off at the airport. Something that we thought would be fun for Clark. However he had a meltdown upon the realisation that not only was Uncle Steven leaving but that he wasn't going on the plane with him. Now there are a number of factors that came into play (time of day, empty stomachs, busy weekends) but on the outside for all to see was a little boy crying loudly and not wanting to say goodbye. It is so hard to explain to little people sometimes why things are hte way that they are, and dealing with disappointment. Thankfully a (late) trip to the shops on the way home to fill our stomachs made everything better. And not just for the littlest member of our family.
Late late late... of course. I think about posting during the week and then early evening runs into my need for an early bed time, and this blog is going to the wayside. Jodi from Che and Fidel has posted her Week thirty seven post already and I am still trying to cram in week thirty six. However I decided weeks ago (pretty much around the time morning sickness clicked in) that I need to give myself a break with a few things! Spending time with my boy is more important that spending time blogging about my boy. Some weeks that is simple, but the last couple of months what with being ill as well as being exhausted, it is simply not simple.
Last weekend we did A LOT. I think to make up for the fact that I have been feeling like I have been letting our weekends slide. A walk to vote (and eat sausages), hair cuts, a trip to the Dinosaur museum and our first visit to Stripey Sundae. We crammed adventures in and also got the groceries and the laundry done. Clark was wiped, as we all were, but it felt good to get things done. Finally cutting Clark's hair has made him look older and seems to have coincided with a developmental leap with his language. My favourite of his sayings at the moment? "Let's talk about something". Often the something is exchanges for dinosaurs. Of course.
