Lexicon

I'm watching the Oscars in the background as Aidan totters around, getting up to his usual mischief. He managed to STACK BLOCKS - isn't that a developmental milestone??! - scatter cracker crumbs around the living room, drool on the floorboards, and insert, eject, then re-insert the CD into the Nintendo Wii. Pretty nifty!

Oh hang on a tic. Gotta get him away from the X-Box now, before his Dada gets upset again.

Anyways, he's been articulating heaps lately, saying "pease", "tankoo", and "khock" a lot. It's hilarious! The little young'un is well on his way to verbalising his wants and dislikes ("noooooooooo"), even while dripping snot 'coz of his cold. Poor bubba! So far, his vocabulary consists of:

Boh-beh-ba! = STRAWBERRIES
Awwww-wah! = ORANGE
Gape = GRAPES
Pease = PLEASE
Tankoo = THANK YOU
Khock = CLOCK
Dada = DAD
Mama = MUM (he can also say por-por, dan-dad (grandad), ahn-na (his cousin Anna))
Ahmo = ELMO (he pointed to the Elmo packaging at the supermarket and said "AHMO"!! Amazing!)
Oh-pehn = OPEN
Beh! = PRESS (the Button)

When I can remember more, I'll add to this list. Still waiting on him to string words together to form sentences...

He's also developed a delightful habit of wiping surfaces, like the table, floor, windows, his face, etc... Yes, who needs a housekeeper when the creator of the mess cleans up after himself? ;-)

Happy Engagement Anniversary!

Today marks 6 years since EG and I got engaged. He'd proposed on the spur-of-the-moment at a church camp (Equipping Weekend), hemming and hawing as I stifled then released uncontrollable fits of laughter, protesting "No! Don't ask me don't ask me!!" while he half-kneeled off the dorm bunkbed for half an hour. Classy.

Sadly though, the place where all this occurred has been largely destroyed. Marysville has been obliterated by last Saturday's bushfires, one of the worst in Australia's history, surpassing Ash Wednesday and Black Friday. Yesterday, some of the survivors returned for the first time to view the wreckage they'd once called home. Where EG'd proposed, El Kanah lodge (which had changed management and been renovated since we'd gotten engaged), no longer exists.

Charred remains of a fuel station in Marysville

Aerial view of the township

Closer look at the carnage, from above

More devastating scenes can be seen here, as well as a video from a survivor's point of view.

I guess we won't be able to bring Aidan to see the place where his parents got engaged :-( Our prayers are with those in need.


If you'd like to give towards the effort, you can do so through the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal.

I swear it's true...

I've never really won a significant competition in my life so far. Yes, there was that Christmas-card contest in church, some lucky draw, and most recently, a Border's gift-card for creative feedback. So it's to my chagrin that I'm awarding the Worst Mother in the World prize to myself, for successfully locking my son in the car, WITH my car keys, AND my bag, AND my mobile phone.

It felt like something out of a movie, or a poorly written sitcom at the very least. I stupidly handed my keys over to Aidan to play with after I parked in the garage on Monday arvo. As I got out of the car, the door shuts behind me (which I doesn't usually matter since I'm holding the car keys, right? Ohwaitaminit!!), and just as I reach Aidan's door, I hear a "phoomp", the doors are locked, and I'm standing there flabbergasted as my son looks at me gleefully through the car window. He'd clicked on the remote and LOCKED HIMSELF IN!

The next few minutes see me coaxing and pleading with him to press the "unlock" button on the car remote. He doesn't get it. He then drops the key. Then wails at me. I try not to panic. I call EG frantically, several times, but he doesn't pick up 'coz apparently he's on his bike returning to the store from the coffee roaster's. I call Chris, whose home number is saved on the house phone, and she starts looking for numbers to locksmiths on the internet. Finally, I get through to EG, he leaves the shop to come home with the other key. And I wait.

In the meantime, A is getting cranky (rightfully-so) at being trapped in the car, while I am standing outside singing silly songs and pulling funny faces, in between sprints upstairs to upturn every box I have looking for the spare manual car key (the type you insert directly into the car door).

Alls well that ends well though. EG finally got home, A was released from his prison, and I'm convinced not to let him play with valuable objects no matter how much he whines. The little bubba clung onto EG for dear life though, and shook his head violently whenver I reached for him. Serves me right I guess!

A couple of things I'm grateful for though:
1) The weather wasn't too hot - thank God it wasn't the 47-degree day! A was still pretty sweaty though, after being in there for half an hour.
2) We'd reached home when this had happened, and the door from my garage to the house wasn't locked, so I could call for help.
3) We'd JUST found our other car key the night before (hidden in the TV cabinet for some unfathomable reason).

What a day.

And the winner is...

Big thanks to the few of you who wrote in with a caption for this post, either or FB or on the blog.

And I declare the winner to be... Deadpoet!

Motorists wondered about the sudden downpour.

As the winner of this leg of the race, Deadpoet as received an all-expenses paid treat to a restaurant of his choice, valid in Melbourne or Singapore.

If you've missed out, don't worry, we'll run another contest again soon... ;-)