blowing bubbles

On Monday we hit the local pool. Much to my delight, Q is transforming into quite the little fish. Here he is impressing himself by blowing bubbles.

We hang out in the toddler pool and in the metre deep learner's pool. He is getting more and more comfortable and even dreaming of bigger and better things...

Maybe next year, buddy.

After that picture was taken a busload of day campers descended on the pool and it wasn't quite so serene! But in Q fashion he made friends with an 8-year-old boy named Liam whose mum is also from America. Liam made Quincy crack up, they followed each other around, and Liam kept saying to all his friends, "This is Quincy. Don't we look alike?"

food. glorious food.

Tonight at dinner Q picked a piece of broccoli out of his couscous. I hadn't chopped it as small as i normally do. I thought he'd surely throw it to the dogs. But no. He said "broccoli" and popped it in his mouth. Good boy.

self portrait

One day when Quincy is in school and is asked to draw a picture of his mama, this might be the image he has in his head upon which to base his drawing...

I do love my camera, but even so, I hope not.

OCD, the geek hat, + messy hands

Q likes to have his cars all facing the same way and lined up. Nature or nurture? I'm not sure, but either way or both, very likely something his mama lovingly passed along to him. Poor boy.

And something else he likes... bathing caps. The lycra ones with the flaps. You know the ones I mean. He loves his "geek hat" and likes to wear it as an everyday sun hat. When there is no water in sight. But I am still easily able to talk him out of it.

And, yes, he still occasionally pulls out those two too small hats, which he also collectively refers to as "geek hat".

Maybe he inherited his sense of style from his other parent.

What doesn't he like? Dirty hands. While he was painting yesterday, I said excitedly, "Quincy, your hands are all blue." His response, "All done. Wash hands." And that was the end of that.

beagle walk: ataturk memorial

Today was our monthly Beagle Walk. We don't get to every one, but on average we probably make it every other month.

The sky was deep Wellington blue, the sea looked way warmer than it actually is, and the scenery was spectacular.

We, okay I thought we'd try to get some family photos, but no one was even remotely on board but me.

This is the best we got. (If you look closely you can see Kai's tail on the right.)

Quincy and I had a little misunderstanding. Apparently I should have read his mind and known that he wanted to climb over the fence not sit on the fence.

Once that was behind us, he was in his element.

I can't believe we've never been on this track. We will definitely be going back sometime.

coordinate + synchronize

It takes a lot of coordination to get into those huge gumboots, but it sure is rewarding once you do.

And, oddly enough, this time, Q and Kai are in sync. Just catchin' some summer rays. Side by side.

sometimes the photos just speak for themselves

apologies

So we've been working on the art of the apology around here. A hug, a "sorry so and so" and a brief explanation. We were off to a slow start, but Q seems to be catching on.

Lately he has been kicking me while I change his nappy. Not hard. But seriously annoying. I keep telling him to stop kicking mama but he thinks "keecking mama" is a hilarious game. And if I raise me voice and get all serious and authoritarian, it apparently becomes funnier. But tonight we made a breakthrough. I said sternly, "Quincy, it isn't nice to kick mama." He immediately stopped laughing and said, "saya mama" and pulled me down to give me a hug.

The last few days we've been hearing "saya digger", "saya fire onion", "saya guys", etcetera if he accidently bumps a toy during play or even if he has to move a toy in order to start playing with something else. And yesterday he fell and when I gave him a cuddle, he said "saya mama", so he might just be getting a tad confused and taking it all a bit far.

Tonight I was in the middle of a conversation with Jeremy. He was getting frustrated that I wouldn't read him The Snail and the Whale (Quincy not Jeremy), so he threw the book on the floor (again Quincy not Jeremy). I gasped oh so dramatically and told him with the straightest face I could muster that it wasn't nice to the book, the whale, or the snail, so he said "saya book" while giving it a hug. Jeremy, laughing, took it a step further, and well, have you ever seen someone try to give the floor a hug?

This reminds me of a story about Max, one of my nephews. To preface, they have to give four-step apologies... "I'm sorry for such and such because (insert reason it wasn't a nice thing to do). I promise not to do it again. Do you accept my apology?"

So Eddye was trying to cultivate a beautiful rare plant. Max loved to play with his guys and dinosaurs around said plant. One day he knocked the big red blossom off. Lisa told him he needed to apologize and here is how it went down...

Max: I'm sorry for knocking off your head. It must have hurt. I won't do it again. Do you accept my apology?
Beautiful rare plant: silence
Max: (with a hint of frustration in the voice) I'm sorry for knocking off your head. It must have hurt. I won't do it again. Do you accept my apology?
Beautiful rare plant: silence
Max: (totally frustrated) I'M SORRY FOR KNOCKING OFF YOUR HEAD. IF YOU DON'T ACCEPT MY APOLOGY, I'M GONNA KNOCK YOUR HEAD OFF AGAIN.

an historic day indeed

Whatever your political leanings, there is no doubt that we are part of a very important time in history.

combining two loves

Trucks and books are Quincy's peanut butter and chocolate.

twenty months

Today Quincy turned twenty months old. I will spare you the "how can this be?", "it seems like yesterday he was just a tiny baby", and "where has the time gone?". For now anyway. No promises about future posts.

Today was also a holiday. (No, we don't celebrate Martin Luther King Day here. Today is Wellington Anniversary Day.) It got off to a quiet start. Ugly weather. Reading. Building (baby) Lego trains. Playing with "Eyit Blocks" (a cool Christmas gift from my friend Maria's son, Eliot).

By lunchtime, though, the weather cleared, so after Q-Bert's nap, we took a walk.

Once released from his pouch, Q threw lots and lots of stones in the water. Plus he got to learn all sorts of cool things from a two-and-a-half-year-old boy he knows.

I love love love family walks.

dreams

Last night Quincy wanted to sleep with his baby for the first time [after feeding him sauce (applesauce) and a bottle. He couldn't go to bed with an empty tum, now could he?]. And he almost certainly dreamt about him.

Meanwhile I was in the next room dreaming about new camera bodies and super-fast lenses.

I found him this morning happy as, standing in bed, still gingerly holding his baby.

The floor was littered with everything else.

speaking of geeks

Oh how I wish this photo was in focus. And oh how I wish I had a D300 or, even better, a D700 camera body with 51 points of auto focus.

A girl can wish.

organizing, helping mama + the nummer eight

I'm in an organizing mood and I must take advantage. Today I cleaned my craft room. I mean really cleaned it. And man does it feel good. For the first time since July I have had the desire to make a non-digital layout. And that makes me almost as happy as having an organized space in which to create it.

Naturally I got help.

Now it's not hard to figure out why this kid loves "nummers", but we have no idea why he has a very special place in his heart for the "nummer eight". He is forever seeking it out. Yes, a geek in the making. But in my world, being a geek is a good thing.

finally.

So we finally started taking down the Christmas decorations today. So fun to put up. A real drag to take down. How come it never fits back into the boxes from whence it came?

Q loved EVERYTHING about Christmas this year. Especially the tree and all the fun ornaments. He had to say his good byes to all his favorites.

Christmas, we'll see you again in ten-and-a-half-months...

the sandbox and our new shell garden

For years I have been collecting bits and pieces that I find on the beach. Paua shells. Driftwood. Sea glass. Quartz. Cool rocks. Whatever. They were randomly stashed around the house, in jacket pockets, on the hall table, in backpacks, in various flower pots, in the garage. They were always little treasures without a home. Until today. We made a shell garden in the flower bed above the sandbox. And it's the perfect home for all our beach finds. Perfect for buried treasures. Perfect for decorations in our sandy artwork. Perfect for filling the dump truck. Just perfect.

Last month we converted one level of the garden around the deck into a sandbox and this is the not-so-perfect result.

Jeremy started the project but didn't have time to finish. Nor did he have the right tools. (How come they never have the right tools? And each project requires an expensive trip to Mitre 10? But I'm a scrapbooker so I certainly have no right to complain!)

So we called in a handyman. A very nice guy, but we had to promise him our next born child. And it looks awful. Ridiculously awful. It's times like this (among others, of course) when I sure miss my dad! Anyway it's functional. And hours and hours of fun. And Quincy is learning that getting dirty is actually okay.

He discovered his back pocket and held his little pointer in there for so long.

chasing seagulls

Chasing seagulls.

Playing trucks with older girls.

Cracking yourself up by pretending to go "night night" on the beach.

Eating Rice Bubbles off the dirty floor with the dogs.

Not bad for a Wednesday.

the ultimate toddler torture

How do you go from this

to this in mere seconds?

Bring out the haircutting scissors. That's how.

Why is a haircut to a toddler the worst thing since, well, since rinsing the shampoo out of their hair? I don't get it.

OK, maybe I had a little bit to do with this new hatred of getting his hair cut. Last time it was a painless exercise. At least until I couldn't leave well enough alone and kept snipping at the back throughout the day. He got really annoyed when I broke out his tiny nail cutting scissors and trimmed a bit while I was reading him a bedtime story.

Alright, maybe I do get it afterall.

Unfortunately after a few sudden movements, I have some major damage control to do in the back and a little more to trim in front, but I will call it finished before the nail cutting scissors come out. I promise.

just as i'd hoped...

we are spending a lot of time at the beach this summer. We tend to go to the dog beach for obvious reasons, but after today, we will definitely be spending more mornings on the local beach. For starters, we can walk there. Plus it's pretty much deserted, especially now that today marked the end of Christmas holidays for most people. And I'm not sure if it's a bonus or a curse, but I get to/have to push a pram up a steep hill afterwards.

Best of all, we can play with neighborhood friends on the beach. This morning we met Amelia and her dad, so the kiddos could watch the telephone pole repairs. Exciting!

After they went home, a friend, his granddaughter, and his sweet dog wandered past. The granddaughter just turned two and the pair hit it off instantly. It was lovely to watch them play, copy, hug, share, and smile at each other.

A little Photoshop talk. The photo on the left is the original. I was playing around and was very happy with the outcome. To get the slightly washed out look on the right... 1. adjust levels. (always my first step and 99% of the time that's all I do.) 2. duplicate the background layer. 3. convert the background to black + white. 4. change the blending mode on the duplicated layer to screen and keep the opacity at 100%. 5. this washed out the sky and hills too much, so i needed to select the sky and hills (with feathering at 10px) and adjust the levels and curves to get the blue and detail back.