how i spent my morning...

while Quincy was at Playcentre...

I could've used those precious few hours* to clean the house. I could've prepared dinner. I could've done some major organizing in closets, the garage, and in my craft room. I could've listed some furniture on Trade Me. I could've caught up on (gasp) 5 months of Project 365.

Nope. That stuff can continue to wait. Besides there were leftover black beans in the fridge.

So instead of tackling things on my growing to-do list, I took a long overdue, relaxing, off-lead walk with the dogs. Just me and the hounds. Like old times. The dogs happily set the pace, instead of a certain curious someone who likes to make lots of pit stops. Don't get me wrong, these two noses on legs make their fair share of stops, but today everything was on their terms for a change.

It's pretty rare these days for the dogs, i.e. the dogs minus their 3-year-old human brother, to be my sole photographic subjects.

After the last post, Kai was keen for me to show off her fancy fetch moves. That girl's got some serious skills.

Did I mention the walk was windy?

Here is the ferry that travels between the North and South Islands. [Quincy is desperate to take our car on it and travel around the South Island picking apples(???).] I love the snow-capped mountains on the South Island in the background.

By 5 o'clock, with the laundry thankfully dry and folded inside, the gorgeous blue sky was replaced by a very rare thunder and lightning storm accompanied by hail. Ahhh, spring in Wellington.

Footnotes & Asides

*Actually, "precious" is an understatement as they only come around once a week.

An aside...In the car on the way to dropping the boy off this morning, he said, "You're dropping me off. And then at the end you'll come back and pick me up. That's what Playcentre is all about." I couldn't help but reply, "Amen, brother!"

snippets of a sunday.

Papa: Quincy, tomorrow morning I'll make pancakes or waffles. You choose.
Quincy: Ummmmmm, pancakes. Pancakes sound good. We don't have waffle spray. Waffle spray. (thinking a moment and recalling that Jeremy ran out to get some last time he made waffles) Actually, waffles sound good.

Quincy: They're good. They're really really good. I love waffles. I love Papa. And Papa loves me.

Quincy: I just need to drive for a liiiiittle bit.

Wearing a hat and sunglasses just like Papa and waiting in the car while Jeremy gets chips to enjoy during our walk. Slightly counter productive, don't ya think?

Quincy pedaled for our entire dog walk. It was so fun. A new door has definitely been opened.

Quincy: The dogs are fast and I'm prrrretty fast too.

Pausing for tricycle ice cream. There were plenty of ingredients on the beach for the five dollar (gasp!) ice creams. Jeremy's flavor: anchovy. (You did this as a kid, right? Jeremy thought I was a bit odd.)

Another stop. This time at the playground, where Jeremy gave Q lessons to improve his pumping.

Me: Quincy, you are not the boss of the playground.
Quincy: The biggest chimp of the troop is the boss of the playground.

He always has the last word.

telling words indeed

While reading Who's Driving to Quincy before his nap today, he pointed out that the rhinoceros on one page was a mama. I asked why, thinking he'd mention the bright-colored Hawaiian shirt. Instead he said matter-of-factly, "She's carrying a camera."

Indeed.

These photos were taken one evening in mid-December when Quincy was rediscovering "the other Kawincys" after a 7-week separation. He was full of life as he cracked himself (and me) up making silly faces, kissing the other Quincys, and singing a very animated rendition of Frosty.

I must say, I'm glad my camera is often within arm's reach.

Indeed.

All that silliness would be long forgotten otherwise.

three conversations on 09.09.09

Busy day today. Two things scheduled. Very rare in our world. I am a nap nazi so it's gotta be pretty good for me to let him skip his afternoon sleep!

When I went into his room this morning...

Q: (noticing I was showered and dressed first thing) Ready to go bye bye.
me: Where do you think we're going today?
Q: Somewhere.

Well, you can't lose with that answer.

This morning somewhere happened to be Playcentre, where good hygiene is critical,

and play is taken very seriously.

I love watching them having morning tea together. They seem so grown up. And civilized! (pardon the blurred faces)

Here they are learning a Maori song...

me: Cool. Is this a space ship?
Q: No, it's a barrel swing.

You can always count on a child to state the obvious.

And in the afternoon, a picnic with some of our antenatal group, whom we haven't seen in 70 days. How do I know that? Because the last day we got together was the day MJ died and the press did a good job this week reminding us of how long ago that was.

And finally, in the evening, while getting him in his PJs...

me: What was your favourite part of the day?
Q: Staglands.
me: But we didn't go to Staglands today.
Q: Staglands Sunday.
me: Yup, that's right, Buddy. We went to Staglands on Sunday. Today we went to Playcentre in the morning and played with Lucy and Teegan at the park this afternoon. What was your favourite part of today?
Q: Staglands.

Well, okay then.