Star struck

You know, it's funny what a morning in the country does for one's enthusiasm.



Firstly, word of the day - umbrella.





A close second - mud.



You think we were crazy? Spectators came out in droves!





We were all there to see some cars zoom by.



And our little boy in his red hooded jacket zipped around without a care in the world.



Then in the afternoon we were back at North Wharf for the party.



Photographers littered the area.



Kien was happy.





We were able to get up close and personal with the champs.





The buzz around there made me feel all star struck, especially toward this dude, the winner - Sebastien Loeb.



Meanwhile, this is Kien making his great escape.





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After all that testosterone pumping action during the weekend I thought Kien might like a change of pace. I ran a kids baking session at playgroup yesterday. Banana chocolate chip muffins - they were awesome.



Kien ate lots of them. I think it's time I did some more baking and cooking with him at home. He's definitely interested.

Afternoon glow

The glow of the afternoon sun. Oh how I long for it, love it, seek it, enjoy it.





It's nice to be outside! I've pretty much been in bed for a couple of days, and I realised just how desperately I needed the rest. It's so nice to sleep, uninterrupted, with the sun streaming in through the windows.

This morning Jef and I both spent an entire morning in bed while Kien played around us. Then we finally decided to go and have a late lunch at my Dad's. Kien did not nap again today - second day in a row. So he was a little temperamental at times. However, he happily played with my little sister in the afternoon glow.





He also did some sketching...



...and he surprised us with this little gem - he sketched his very first helicopter.


Tail roter, landing skids, a door, a window, and a main roter.

Tonight we went down to the Viaduct Events Centre to see the Rally NZ cars.









We hung around both outside and inside, where they had lots of activities, like slot cars - Kien's favourite to watch.



The face of happiness (or is that delirium?).

Lantern walking and lounging

Saint Martins procession, where children carry lanterns through the streets and sing songs, is something my German friend, Linda, loved from her childhood. So what else would she do when she had a child but to organise her very own lantern walk in June (November 11 is the official date, when Autumn finishes and everyone is settling in for the long winter). We joined them last year for the first time, and on Sunday Kien experienced his second lantern walk.



We went over to their place so the kids could play for a bit before dinner.



Then at 6pm there were lots of kids with lanterns at the park.



We did a loop around the park in pitch blackness, the path lightened only by the lanterns (and a few torches here and there).



It was nice to see such creativity in the lanterns people made.





At the end of the walk we were all treated to some home-made German cookies.







Kien conked out when we got home.



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Yesterday, being my day off, we spent practically all day doing nothing but this:





It's a rare thing for us to stay home on a Tuesday morning, but I was expecting a couple of important deliveries, and although I could have rushed out for a bit we were actually rather happy to be inside where it was warm and cosy.



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Both Jef and I are a bit under the weather at the moment, and I'm heading toward a sick day in bed tomorrow judging by how I'm feeling right now. I've got a tonne of work to do which I cannot afford to neglect despite illness, so I've brought my laptop home and that will probably be my bed pal tomorrow. Hopefully that will see me right for tomorrow evening. We've got a sitter organised and Jef and I are going to a function that involves drinks, canapés, and a private screening of Prometheus in 3D. I will be well for it!

Sentimental

I whispered to my son as I tucked him into bed last night "you can never ever know how much I love you" and he giggled and said "yes, Mummy". OMG, why must he be so adorable and sweet and cute and funny and smart and the most fantastic child I've ever breed? He lay there in his baby sleeping bag that I had earlier on in the day promised him he could use, and he was listening to Philip Glass "The Hours" soundtrack like he does practically every night. After storytime (and he almost always asks for the Kiwi Christmas book) I always ask what he would like to listen to; choices are noise, music, or nothing. His answer used to be noise (a combination of waterfall and raindrops via an iPhone app), but now it's music (which is always Philip Glass).



Kien's been watching lots of old videos of himself; from when he was just a little thing that could barely move, to when he started rolling, to when he was commando crawling, to climbing, to wobbly steps, to using sign language, to forming words, to running, and everything in between. It's amazing how quickly one forgets the different stages of their development and how they've gone from this worm-like creature to a walking-talking precocious human that pushes every boundary you've set and stubbornly chooses time-out over having to back down.



He's going to be two and a half on the 29th of this month - 2 1/2 years old! My little baby boy who now says "I'm not a baby, I'm a toddler", who can count up to 15 in alternates, who can recognise half of the letters of the alphabet, who sees a picture of the koru inside an outline of an aeroplane tail and yells "there's a plane!", who gives kisses and high fives readily, who still loves to cuddle his koala when he's drinking milk - my little boy, no longer a baby but who will always be my baby. I know, I can see the book "Love You Forever" playing out as I type this. Terrifying.

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It was nice to see Warren and Margaret here in Auckland for a few days last week. It was two very late nights for Kien, but he coped really well. I think he enjoyed showing his granddad the videos on his iPad.





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Check out this picture of Jef as a tot playing in the creek with is dad.



Look at Jef with his sister, Sandra. So cute.



I loved seeing the old slides on Mothers Day. We really have to get them digitised.

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We created face collages on paper plates at playgroup last week. At the end of our decorative/creative portraits I'm pretty sure our plate looked more like an abstract meal than an actual face.



Oh well, so long as the kids enjoyed sticking stuff down with PVC glue. Trust me, Kien did enjoy himself despite what this picture suggests.



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Kien loves eating beans. I know! As if he loves to eat anything - not even ice-cream. But yes, beans. On Saturday he only wanted beans for lunch. Kidney beans are his favourite, but he will settle for chick peas too.





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Conked out after a long day, with his sleeping bag on for the second night.