Christmas is coming and coming fast. Though not fast enough for Clark! I have mentioned (probably too many times) how tired and ready for the end of the year we are, however instead of having a quiet weekend we crammed in as much Christmas as possible!
Clark has been loving his advent calendar, and Friday morning he opened up the little pouch to find a note that said to go and look at Christmas lights. So once it was (finally) dark on Friday evening, after dinner and a bath, we climbed into the car and made the trek to see the amazing lights at Forrest. Clark was overawed at walking amongst the lights and it was truly beautiful. I felt my Christmas excitement start to creep up. A trek back to the southside to check out the lights in Gordon and Clark nodded off before we could see any more! I attempted to wake him (bad Mama) to see some of the amazing displays, however he was solidly asleep. There was something almost tranquil about driving around with my husband looking at the lights with our small boy asleep in the back.
The bulk of the weekend was taken up by Christmas Shopping at the Handmade Markets (sans small notaloverofshopping boy) and working for me on Sunday at the Young Carers Christmas Party. Once that was over I rushed home to ready my family to go to the divine Lanyon Homestead Christmas Carols. Lanyon Homestead is where Glenn and I were married and I delight in taking our growing family there at any given chance.
After such little photographing of our little boy over the last couple of weeks, we embarked on the end of our full-o-Christmas weekend event with camera in hand. Settling in to our picnic at Carols by Candlelight at the divine Lanyon Homestead I pulled out my camera and... the battery had run out. And yes, it was Sunday night. No more chances to take photos! So this week you are going to have to make do with iPhone photos!
This was Clark's first Christmas Carols and he loved it. A picnic (complete with many flies and noisy people encroaching on our space) followed by a shift to a quieter and more pleasant spot amongst the trees. Wandering the lawns completing Christmas craft activities and watching other children play. Eating ice cream as we sat and listened to the wonderful band and beautiful voices of Sing Australia. Once we had moved and had space to spread out and listen to the music, my Christmas bliss finally set in properly. I love Christmas and the excitement that goes with it, and this year it feels even more exciting with Clark being really involved in what is going on. He is excited about Santa coming (though has hidden some of the decorations behind the tree away from Santa) and we have talked about Christmas being a time for giving and spending time with our family. Today we made a trip to the shops so he could pick out a couple of presents to put under the giving tree and he did this happily. Little traditions and things that are important to us that we will build into his idea of Christmas and what it is about. Of course he is also very excited with the idea that Santa will bring chocolate coins, a lion and a dinosaur!
To add a further note... I have since charged the camera, and will keep it charged for the last few weeks of the year!
It was a sick week and a ratty week. A week too full of appointments and things we had to do. We made poor decisions like taking Clark shopping when really he does not like it. If I do not like grocery shopping, why would a three year old who has felt cooped up all week? As Clark pushed against the boundaries and we all felt worn out, there were tears and tantrums... and not just from the three year old. As I cancelled social events due to illness I too felt cooped up and restless, and impatient with the lack of natural rhythm to our family life.
But we love and hug each other and say sorry for the times we lose our patience. We try to teach our boy about kindness and hope that we move through the rough patches more quickly and smoothly each time. As we learn more about what our boy needs each day, I think we in turn learn more about ourselves and our own needs.
-----------
I am finding more and more that each week Sunday arrives and I have not taken a photo. I think that this has been a great project for me but I have to admit that I cannot see how this will work in 2014 as we ready ourselves for our new arrival and move from balancing the busy lives of three to the busy lives of four (and less sleep). I know I will have the camera out constantly to take photos of our new arrival, but if I manage to blog I will be surprised. That said I do also think that this could be the natural tiredness that comes with the end of the year. I will see how I feel in a few weeks (cannot believe it is almost 2014 already) and go from there I suppose!
Five things I have discovered recently that my child likes:
- 'golfball' on the oval after school
- taking his socks off during the day at school (but leaving his shoes on)
- short sleeves
- plums straight from the tree
- turning on the blue fairy lights on his tent to have "a party"
First trip to the circus, with 'my cousin Chelsea'. Clark does love that girl. And Chelsea loves Clark. Their relationship is lovely and Miss 10 is so great with Clark... playing with him, keeping an eye on him, and letting me know when he is getting up to too much mischief. Everything has a golden tint to it when Clark knows that Chelsea will be there! A heart of gold and so very sincere is our Chelsea... something Clark knows well.
Clark also loves 'webbing'. We are at the circus, but Clark would like to throw webs. It is a serious art and comes with rules. We do not web at each other. And sometimes we are only allowed to web outside. Webbing is for baddies and to get ourselves out of (sticky) situations. Clark climbed behind the Christmas tree the other and had problems getting out. He called for help as he was 'stuck in the mud'. I reached in and helped him stand up, but before I could help him out he said 'no, I will web out'. And web out he did.
Playing much catch up this week. Catch up on washing, catch up on blogging... catch up on life! I feel I am moving more slowly the last couple of weeks, a combination of our ever growing baby girl stretching against my insides mixed with this oh so busy time of year. I really think our boy is feeling the pressure of it all and has needed extra attention to get through these hectic days. So I have really pulled myself out from behind the camera and just focused on what our beautiful boy needs... a balance between getting out and running, mixed with time to sit with his Mama and Daddy and read, make, talk.
When you wake up on a Sunday morning and it is rainy and cold and you are all a bit tired, sometimes you just need to embrace the Pyjama day. So we did just that a couple of weeks ago (yes, behind again). Movies on the couch, reading stories in bed and playing with playdough are sometimes just what the doctor ordered. So while I often feel like glaring at the rain, on this day I was happy for it to come. It was supposed to rain on the Saturday, but the rain held out and we went to a lovely friend's birthday party. It was a very social weekend for our little boy, and I spent most of the weekend tired and coughing. By Sunday morning we really were all ready to just mooch. Such a great word really!
With grey skies looming I decided to play with the black and white setting on my camera. Something I haven't really done before. I certainly need to play more! But that goes for most settings on my camera really. Thankfully I figured how to turn the setting off again!
As parents we often cannot help but wonder what our children will "be" when they grow up. Funny when really I still wonder that about myself... minus the growing up bit. In an age where our careers or professions change often I realise this could be many things and not just one set career. Do I wish I had known when I was younger that I would like to do when I left school? Sure. Then I could have focused and not be sitting here at 34 wondering if I will ever have the time or energy to go to University. But then I wouldn't have met the people I have met and had the experiences I have had. And maybe I only now know sort of what I would like to do because of the journey I have taken. If I had worked in the community sector earlier would I have spent so many years in Vinnies doing volunteer work, something that I have cherised over the years and feel has moulded me into the person I am? Or is it only because I worked in the private sector that I felt the need to work with kids in a volunteer capacity for as long as I did?
I guess the point is that some people need to try different things first to figure out what they want to do. And may know what they want to do but then want to do something different later. Clark has all of this ahead of him and I cannot help but wonder what path he will take, both socially as well as his career or profession. We jokingly banned the word horse from our house early in case Clark found a love for them, a love we would not be able to afford! However this backfired and Clark fell head over heels for horses early. It was taken over by dinosaurs (funnily enough less expensive to keep than a horse) and recently Clark found a love for puppies, but one ride on Jeffery the Pony the other day at a fete and Clark is hooked again.
He also has a bit of an obsession with fires (thankfully pretends to be putting fires out, not lighting them) and has always said that he wants to be a Doctor. Clark also has always been interested in how things work. And likes to sit and pretend to fix things. So maybe a surgeon? Or an engineer, or a mechanic. The options are endless at this stage and in a time when we our job market is as unsteady as it is I am glad that he has many years before he has to worry about any of this at any real level. For now he can pretend to fix his bike with his croquet mallet and 'fix Mama's cough' by tying a ribbon around my wrist. Cutest moment of our week really. x
One thing no one could ever say about our family? That we do birthdays lightly. Or Christmas for that matter, but that is for a later post. And Clark's third birthday was no exception. Glenn and I took the week off, thinking we could have a bit of us time, bit of party planning and baking time, and spend Wednesday doing fun birthday things with Clark. It was a huge week for many reasons and really not the most restful of times. I really do not think why I thought it would be anything other than it was!
This post is very rambly, but I wanted to capture the events of the week if only for us down the track. One of the things that I have loved about this 52 week project is the time to sit and ponder on our week and to have a
visual and written reminder of our comings and goings. I do try to
condense and some weeks I have been too tired to write much, but this
week I just wanted to document the week that Clark turned three.
We had an amazing week that started with the three of us going to our 20 week ultrasound and seeing our baby girl. We overestimated Clark's understanding and the process was quite daunting for him. He was very protective over me as the ultrasound wand was gliding over my tummy and stuck very close by wanting to make sure that the baby and I were ok. He did well however and seemed unsurprised (though happy) to find out we are having a girl. We are thrilled!
The rest of the week involved a lot of shopping and getting ready for The Festival of Clark. Martha Stewart has a lot to answer for and I spent most of my week shopping for the right paper cups, more puppy dog themed items to go into lolly bags and essential craft items for the 12 sets of puppy dog ears I spent many many hours on.
Amongst it all was Wednesday, Clark's birthday. Each year his understanding grows about special events and this year his excitement levels matched ours. We stayed up the night before icing the first of his two cakes and wrapping his presents. We set up his teepee in the loungeroom and the next morning when he saw it he stopped in his tracks and let out an excited gasp. We couldn't ask for anything more and I am so happy he loved his presents. Chocolate pancakes followed and then his hearing teacher came for his hearing lesson. Once that was finished we went to the movies to see Turbo which Clark loved. As per usual we tried to cram as much into the day as possible! A big nap and a play with his toys later, and my parents and brother came over for dinner and to give him his present... his first bike! He opened the bike helmet first (while we waiting for my brother to arrive) and I love that Clark was content with the helmet and did not make the connection that the strange thing hiding in the corner covered in a sheet was actually a bike. More excitement! Actually riding the bike will take practice which is half the fun really. Mexican for dinner (Clark loves the sour cream the best I think!) and chocolate cake with ice cream later, and our little boy crashed out. Followed not long after by two exhausted parents!
The rest of the week was spent finalising more details and completing craft activities, but thankfully we also managed a movie visit and a few lunches. Some much needed us-time away from work.
On Saturday, after a late night the night before finishing my Martha Steward dog ears (complete with melt downs not only by the hot glue gun) we had Clark's birthday party. Previous years have been mostly OUR village, but this year was the first year it became more about Clark's village. The party was more a kid's party with a few grown-ups allowed. I am beyond thankful that I gave myself permission to not have any party games this year and just made use of a small park that we quite like for it's quietness and age appropriate equipment. My family, some friends from school and some of our friends with children, plus a few extra important "villagers" sat on picnic rugs and ate food and chatted while the children played. Clark opened presents (which I hadnt planned on happening for some reason) and I learnt that he has terrible card etiquette. We will work on that later! I was extremely proud of the cake my husband made (under my bossy instructions) and grateful for everyone's help with so many details of the day. Over by late lunchtime we collapsed at home while our boy slept. The rest of the weekend was spent recovering and letting Clark open his presents properly and look at who gave him what and just letting him play.
Through our busy week, and celebrating our amazing little boy, I was reminded constantly just how lucky and blessed we are. For what we have in our life, for our special family and for friends both old and new. For our health and our resources and for our strength. Glenn and I are constantly taken aback at the things our boy comes out with and how quickly he is growing. I feel we have mastered toilet training this week and for those that are parents or work with or are surrounded by young children you know what a big step this can feel like. I am constantly thankful for my husband and how much he does for us. The last few months he has stepped up more than usual to look after me through morning sickness, stress at work and what seems like endless colds. We are a team and we always share the load but he has been carrying my load a lot lately and I could never express my thanks enough. Clark is lucky to have such a wonderful dad who loves him so much. We have both been swept away by this little man and I simply cannot imagine it being any other way.
Happy Birthday Clark. You are a joy to your father and I. You challenge me and surprise me constantly. I love how affectionate and loving you are. I love how curious you are about the world and how much you take in what is going on around you. You are empathetic and strong willed and while can get swept up in the moment also love a sense of order. I love your love of books and gardening and that while you want to roar loudly like a dinosaur you also love pretending to be a puppy dog. You are our little super hero and are going to be a wonderful big brother. You have changed our lives more than I could imagine and I would not have it any other way. We love you to the moon and back. xxx
