A day that was

Midnight, 2am. 4:30am, 6am – these times were when I had to get up to a screaming child yesterday morning, the last being the start to my day. He grumbled and lamented over everything (and nothing), and by 7am there was a Pity Party exclusive for one going on in my head when Jef went off to work particularly early. I had envisaged a whirl-wind cleaning episode of our apartment while Kien entertained himself quietly in his toy corner. I had hoped to have our mountain of laundry line dried in the sun and beautifully folded or hung up by the end of the day. I wanted to scrape and mop up the chewed-up-and-spat-out cracker deposits from the floor, with at least a once over with the vacuum. Mattresses needed to be turned, sheets needed to be changed, surfaces needed to be wiped.

With Kien up on the kitchen bench playing with water and utentials in the sink I was able to whip up a batch of muffins to take to playgroup. I also chucked some Thai Chicken curry ingredients into the slow-cooker. He had his blueberry porridge on the kitchen floor while being distracted with me reciting "Humpty Dumpty" and him doing all the sound effects. Then 2 loads of laundry were washed and chucked into the dryer (wasting all that lovely sunshine), and as the muffins were cooling for all of 5 minutes on the rack I pursuaded Kien out of his pijamas and into going out clothes.

He became reasonable when I told him we were going for a walk outside. Outside is where he wants to be all the time and he says the word constantly whilst pointing toward windows or doors. We do play out in the stairwell from time to time; with all my vegetable pots combined with our neighbour's plantings it is almost outside.

It was a pleasant stroll to Ponsonby Tce, and Kien was good and happy to be running around with other children while I had a well deserved coffee and muffin - still warm, just the way a muffin should be served if possible. Morning tea was served outside.

He fell asleep in the buggy just as we were walking down Anglesea St, so I made myself comfortable outside our back door and enjoyed my sushi in relative quietness.

With lunch over I lay on the grass outside our apartment watching the world go by. I could hear the birds chirping all around me, and looked up to see them sitting in the tree that is now budding with new growth. Lawns were being mowed, and small patches of daisy florettes were bursting through the ground with their vibrant yellow discs smiling toward the sun. Yes, indeed it must be Spring?! My child snoring in the stroller as the faint smell of Fresias waffed through the air certainly leads me to believe Winter is finally over. Not that my child snoring in the stroller has anything to do with the start of Spring…

45 minutes later he was awake and raring to go. It was only 12:15pm, and I had the entire afternoon stretched out before me. So up the stairs to the apartment for a quick change of clothes, a towel and a sunhat, and we were in the car heading for Sentinel Beach. Less than 10 minutes later (it took ≈ 5 minutes for a toddler who insisted on walking down the flight of stairs) Kien was frolicking in the sand and I was enjoying the sea breeze, high tide and lapping waves.

It was 2 hours of joy; Kien running, climbing, jumping up and down, rolling in the sand, digging, laughing and kissing his mother lots. Even if they were sloppy I didn’t care – he would run up to me or lean over, pout and make the “mmmwaa” noise.

Come 3pm we had to get going as I had arranged for a kids dinner on the lawn with my neighbours. We dashed to the supermarket for a few odds and ends, and when we got home I put a pot of rice on. Then it was kids fun time outside.

Kien and his love of bubbles was evident when Rie started blowing them.

They are sat down to share chicken curry and rice.

It was such a pleasant way to finish the day.

The mountain of dirty washing is now a mound of floppy but clean laundry (as opposed to crisp and fresh from the line). Mattresses unturned, sheets unchanged, surfaces unwiped, floors unvacuumed. But do you know what? It doesn't really matter, because the day that was supposed to have chores done ended up being a day that happiness and fond memories were achieved instead.

Our 4 quarters

First quarter of the weekend: breakfast at Mission Bay.

I arranged for us to meet bright and early at Mecca Stonehouse in Mission Bay at 08:00. The sun was shining brightly when Kien and I arrived, and all 4 children had a nice sociable session on the swings.

After breakfast the kids enjoyed the warmth of the sun out on the beach.

While Naadia's son, Josh, got wet from wading in the sea and the fountain, her daughter decided to give cuddles instead. A child's embrace is so lovely!

The weather turned from bright and sunny to cloudy and grey within a matter of minutes, and the rain started descending from the sky heavily. Kien however did not care! He was too interested in sliding to leave.

Second quarter of the weekend: brief visit to the shop.

It was very brief. It has become increasingly harder to get Kien to nap, and on Saturday it took almost 1 ½ hours of me going in and out with promises of books, milk, more books, more milk etc. before he finally slept. He woke up grumpy, so it was no surprise that he wasn't particularly friendly toward any of his relatives. We called it quits pretty quickly and our way home was via Wynyard Quarter playground. It was cold when we got there; so cold in fact that I wrapped myself up in the picnic blanket, and Jef also joined me in there for a bit as well. When it started to rain we promptly went home.

Third quarter of the weekend: BMX track to see Flynn ride.

It seems something was in the air as Flynn apparently woke up in a foul mood on Sunday. I woke up early, baked some muffins to take along for morning tea and see Flynn ride his brand new bike.

No, this isn't Flynn on the brand new bike!

I had hoped for at least one picture of Flynn on the track, but no - he barely did ½ a lap and wanted to play with Kien instead.

Despite Flynn's morose petulance he did not show it toward Kien in the slightest. Instead he was cheerful and considerate, helping and guiding Kien around the perimeter of the track.

Fourth quarter of the weekend: Franklin Zoo and Wildlife Sanctuary.

Kien napped in the car on the way there after he refused to sleep at home. He had an absolute meltdown though prior to falling asleep. It was hard on mine and Jef's ears, let me tell you!

Highlights of the zoo visit?

A giant happy bunny rabbit. It hopped around, dug, burrowed - and its ears were floppy and coat was shiny.

Peacocks flying on roofs - they just look too big to fly!

Doves playing with pigeons.

Best of all?

Duck sitting under a Camellia bush. It let me get so close to take this picture.

Not sure why they called this place a sanctuary. It wasn't. We were there for less than 40 minutes and Jef found it depressing. So we left.

Michelle and Thomas had a bunch of visitors in the caravan, and we joined them. The caravan is perched on a giant rock overlooking a vast plain in the wilderness. You can see the base of a lovely mountain way off in the distance, and wild cattle often roam these parts. Kien actually spotted a herd as he was admiring the view outside.

The camera never lies!

Reality is so far from my description, but when I found the shot on my camera and made a colour and contrast adjustment, what sprung to mind when I saw the result was the movie "Into the Wild".

Pitter patter of tiny feet...

The sound is unmistakable. He kind of does the shuffle-thump-shuffle-thump-thump thing, and the thumps are definitely purposeful! He likes the sound his "new" shoes make - "new" meaning they are not the soft soled leather variety that he is accustomed to. These are the grown up type, only made for little people. But his thumps are now not only reserved for when he is wearing shoes, as he has discovered he can actually make quite a bit of noise without shoes on. When he is running from one room to the next we definitely know about it. Lets face it, children are noisy, and my little guy is no exception.

Toys are noisy too, especially when they are heavy and hard, and when hitting wooden floors from the top storey of an apartment I'm sure the sound reverberates all the way through to the next level down (or perhaps even further). No complaints from our neighbours yet, but I'm making doubly sure I'm nice to them all so they may have some sympathy when they are peacefully sitting in their lounge whilst listening to buffalos traipsing above them.

So what does Kien choose as his favourite toy(s) of the week?

There is the robot dog that plays a barking, chiming and sort of musical track at a volume that is uncomfortable, and did I mention the sound loops? The dog also walks and scampers, with feet lighting up and flashing like a Christmas tree. All well and good if you are into that sort of thing, and Kien is, but when that dog has been on for 5 minutes I really just want for it to have an accident off our balcony.

Then there's the electric organ, which sounds like it is dying since the battery has depleted from him playing with it so much, and we just happen not to have any of those types of batteries in the house...sorry Kien, it means no more stamping on it to make lots of weird an funky tunes anymore. What a shame!

His bee, good old fashioned Mr Buzzy Bee. Let me tell you that wood on wooden floors dropped from 840 millimeters makes a really loud bang, not to mention wooden wheels pulled along on wooden floors has a nice instrumental tone when combined with it being lifted off the floor and dropped every few steps. We rolled out the mat again for this very reason. But he likes to buzz it around the furniture and other surfaces.

So when he's done with that he'll find something else amusing to do, and what's better than the ball to bounce on.

You wouldn't think it but he can actually get quite a good distance in the air, and when his feet hit the ground...well, you get the picture.

Up, up and away

I find that life can be a little strange sometimes; how different it can look from one moment to the next, how you can go from one way of seeing things and then realise how fleeting that time is, as all of a sudden something else comes along, and change happens once again. Rearing a child is exactly this - change is the only constant. My working life currently also has it's own set of challenges too. It's very much like train tracks stretching out into the distance in parallel - not much of a metaphor, I know, but none the less all I can muster up right now.

It wasn't so long ago I was exclaiming how easy it was to put Kien to sleep. A bottle, a kiss and he was waving to me as I walked out the door. He babbled or sung to himself until he was asleep. He would wake up once during the night and after a bottle would go straight back to sleep until the morning. Nap time was the same - it was like clockwork. Since his last bout of tonsillitis (when he actually slept through the night for an entire week) it has been increasingly difficult to get him down for the night. He doesn't finish his bottle and yet asks for more if I put it down. He doesn't want me to leave the room, and sits up looking for me constantly. During his night wakings it is the same as well. The night before last when it was my shift he woke up 3 times, and he did not want me to leave him. So I curled up on his floor each time waiting for him to fall asleep. Needless to say I did not manage a huge amount of sleep overnight, especially when he woke up at 5:45 in the morning wanting cuddles. He snoozed for another 15 minutes in his cot and then we were done with sleeping. I bundled him up in my arms and we curled up on the floor together. His little arms intertwined with my enveloping embrace. He chatted to me as we lay there, pointing out all the things he could identify in the semi-darkness. I'd ask for kisses and he gave them freely, sloppily. Then he went back to chatting merrily. Every cloud has a silver lining, and even though I had such an early start to the day it was also a beautiful time Kien and I shared.

Kien was one day shy of 20 months old when he took his first flight.

It was on a Beechcraft 1900D, and we were seated at the very back of the plane.

Kien was pretty good on the flight, although he was apprehensive when boarding (and screamed at being restrained in the child safety harness). His fascination for airplanes saw us right for the take off, and he pointed out all the planes he could see on the runway.

For parents who love to travel this was a pretty exciting milestone, and a test before the big trips overseas.

The scenery is terrific, especially on such a lovely day.

Our little aircraft's shadow in the ocean on our decent into Whangarei.

The flight between Auckland and Whangarei is so short. It feels like no sooner have we taken off then we are getting ready for landing again - we actually were taxiing on the runway at 9:05 and we disembarked at our destination at 9:34 - off this plane:

Kien's Granddad Warren picked us up from the airport and endured a 20 minute drive home with a screaming child who did not want to be restrained in the carseat. At this point I realised Kien has never ever been in any other vehicle except our Honda CRV. Oh well, this was our test run after all! But when we got to their place he warmed up, and everything was fine.

After a cuppa and biscuits being crumbed all over Warren and Margaret's place we were off to enjoy the sunshine. First stop was the park.

Kien's favourite book at the moment is "Humpty Dumpty". Kien did have a fall that day, but not here.

Wearing his Granddad's School of Engineering cap Kien definitely looks cool in his jeans and sneakers.

It was a fantastic playground, and I reckon he will enjoy it even more so when he is older and able to play on all the equipment. The facilities do cater for everyone though.

We had a lovely picnic lunch at the beach in Onerahi

The eldest son of the eldest son.

Margaret and Kien had their own little adventure on the beach.

We had such a fabulous day with the family, and Kien was almost perfect on the flight home as he played with his spoon and raisins for pretty much the entire time. Auckland welcomed us home.