Return to: BabyworldHi everyone Some might say that not going to school or work means that everyday is a holiday for me - but I assure you that even a toddler has defined periods of holidays and work. The past month I've spent my time refusing sleep, waking early, "shadowing", slamming, throwing.... I don't even wear nappies during the day anymore! Now, as for daddy - his holidays just finished and he has returned to work (hence he now has the time to send my email to you). However, daddy's return to work marks the beginning of my holidays. The past month has been a very hectic time for me. There were five distinct time periods: 1. Christmas 2. Gardening 3. Museum 4. Zoo 5. Shopping I shall now briefly deal with each period in turn..... Christmas To me, Christmas represented not so much a time for giving but a time for getting. As a young person who has not yet arranged a personal credit line, I find my spending habits peculiarly curbed. It's not normally a great problem, since the fridge and kitchen cupboards supply most of my culinary needs. However, it means that the presents that I give are normally limited to things like tiny bits of ripped paper, carpet lint and spilt drinks (the latter is particularly the case given my developing fine motor skills). Just the other day, I was pouring myself a glass of orange juice when it happened that the glass had become full and I was beginning to overflow. Mummy panicked and screamed and I was flown into a state of flux where I started waving the very open bottle of juice in a fairly random and haphazard manner around the room. I love giving mummy presents! Well, back to Christmas, I did indeed get quite a lot of stuff without necessarily giving a whole lot. However, I did also manage to help with clearing out the wine out of the bottom of some unguarded wine glasses - Nanna says that mummy and daddy should be very careful since I'm likely to become an alcoholic. I just consider it being helpful.... Gardening Next, daddy has been doing quite a bit of "gardening" as he calls it. I consider it more the random placement of interconnecting potholes and the filling in thereof. Ok, the front yard has changed a bit - retaining walls, lots of new plants, a birdbath, hardwood chips, gravel, garden lighting etc.. The problem is that daddy has tried to define certain areas as being, for example, chip areas, gravel areas etc.. I've repeatedly shown daddy that a good garden isn't so straightjacketed - chips should be where bark is and vice versa. The museum The museum was a lot of fun. We did a trip down to Sydney to a dinosaur exhibition. There were motorised dinosaurs and everything. My favourite bit was the test to see if you could outrun a dinosaur. The set-up was a 25m runway with lots of flashing lights and a monitor to tell you how fast you ran. Daddy and I were waiting in a line for the chance to see how fast I am. I was getting a bit impatient - so when a girl a few places in front was told to run, I broke from daddy and ran too. It turned out that the girl got eaten, but since I was running behind her, I got through safely. Daddy got me to wait in line again, but wasn't holding me securely enough - a little boy was eaten, but Elliot made it through again! The third wait in line saw daddy holding me a little tighter. When daddy eventually said "go", I turned and looked at him, he said "go" again, I turned and ran as hard as I could - I pumped my arms and threw out my legs. Unfortunately, my 6km/hour meant that I was caught and devoured. The zoo The zoo was OK (although daddy was disappointed that I spent more time looking at the pictures of animals rather than the animals themselves). Getting to the zoo in Sydney was much more fun. We car-tripped to the train station in Sydney (2.5 hours). Then spent over an hour on the train. Then got on a ferry (20 mins). Then bused from the ferry to the zoo (5 minutes). The ferry trip was the best part - I got to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. I liked seeing the buses and trains going over the Bridge. Daddy pointed to the Opera House and said "funny roof". I corrected him "No, funny windows" - the roof perfectly matched the strange windows.... On the way home we got to visit daddy's old work - we went in an elevator and went up a long way. The only problem with the building is that apparently you're not allowed to spit out the windows. Shopping Got to do quite a bit of shopping over the last month. The best time I had was whilst being passed from mummy to daddy in the shops. Now, any of you who have had responsibility for children would know, the handover of a child between adults is a time for concentration.... Daddy had been spending quite a while in a music shop in a shopping complex. Mummy, Felix and I sat outside and I would periodically enter the shop to reconnoitre and sabotage. Daddy would return me to Mummy. At last, Daddy approached the counter to buy a CD and Mummy sent me to him to look after. Fortunately, no verbal instructions were given to daddy - it was implied that a handover had taken place and sabotage should commence immediately. Daddy said "Where's mummy?" I replied "Outside". (Daddy thought I meant outside the shop when I meant outside, somewhere in the shopping complex.) Daddy said "Go to mummy, I'll be there in a minute". I said "OK". Mummy wasn't immediately outside the shop. Mummy wasn't at the top of the ramp to the carpark. A couple of policemen walked by (apparently, the sight of a 2 year old waiting patiently at the top of the ramp is a common situation) - they said nothing..... I waited.... 20 seconds later, I decided I was hungry and my best bet of sustenance was the shopping market. They have quite a good bread roll selection there. I got the biggest ham and cheese roll I could find and went outside to await mummy and daddy. Apparently, a few moments after leaving daddy, mummy returned to find out that daddy had mislaid me. Daddy was in BIG trouble - he even argued that the handover is an important time (almost scared) - no excuses were accepted. Daddy was told to check for me in the supermarket, whilst mummy checked the toy shops. Of course, daddy ignored the instructions, preferring to check the street and the carpark first. When he returned from the carpark I had reappeared and was happily eating my bun. Daddy said "Where did you get that from?" I said "Supermarket" He said "Why didn't you get lollies instead?" I had no answer. Next time there's an improper handover, I know what I'll do.... Well, that's pretty much my work over the past month. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and the New Year will prove even better! Elliot
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