it's not everyday

that a cat talks to you at the local 4 Square.

the air force helicopter

Today Jeremy wished he was a stay-at-home dad. You see, we got word that the Air Force helicopter was going to be doing some drills in the area. Around lunchtime they were going to let kids on board. What an experience.

Quincy was terrified by the noise as we watched the massive thing take off and land several times, so I wasn't sure if he'd go in. But, in true Q-fashion, he couldn't resist all those levers and dials.

We even got to see them refuel. A dream come true for our truck-mad son.

Oh and in the shot of the air force soldier explaining things to the older boys, Quincy walked up to them saying "helping army worker guy". I think his belief in his abilities might be slightly inflated!

our little animal whisperer

A petting zoo came to Pop In 'N Play today. A nice little diversion from missing Stef.

Could Q have been an animal in a former life or something? I don't know, but he intensely observes them and then seems to channel them. Whether they have hooves, beaks, or whiskers, he has their number.

See what I mean? In case you require more proof, here he is channeling the goat...

Now this isn't the first time he has shared a moment with a furry creature, mind you.

Exhibit A: 28 December 2008, having a conversation with a deer about his "new shoes" and his "shark shirt". Seriously.

Exhibit B: 2 February 2009, getting in touch with his inner billy goat.

Exhibit C: 2 February 2009, eating hay.

And lest you forget, exhibit D: 2 December 2008, a hound at heart.

And finally, another familiar photo, exhibit E: 24 January 2009, in sync with Kai.

Should we worry?!!

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?"

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.

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.

Santa. Try again.

So yesterday we visited Santa at the mall. Although he was still apprehensive, this time went much better. He wasn't sick for starters. Plus we've been reveling in all things Christmas all month. so he's no stranger to Santa. However, he most definitely prefers images of him to the "real thing".

Back to our visit... He was happy to see him from about 10 feet away, but as we approached, he waved and said "Bye Santa." It was pretty funny. We made it to his lap with a little resistance and only a few tears. As soon as Santa gave him some chocolate, though, he was fine. But there was no way he was gonna look at him. From such a close proximity, I don't think so.

Can you tell I'm happy the boy's not screaming?

On the way home we saw a digger cleaning up one of the nearby beaches. We stopped and he just sat and watched. Now if you ask him what he'd like Santa to bring him, he replies, "yellow deeger."

I'm pretty sure that if he weren't rendered speechless, he would have uttered his first complete sentence here... "Do you see what I see, mama?"

This kid is definitely passionate about his diggers. Let's hope Santa gets the memo.

nice neighbours

Today Quincy and I collected for Plunket [the Plunket nurses do home visits for newborns and then regular well checks until age 5, they hold educational classes, and they organize PIN (Plunket in the Neighborhood) coffee/play groups]. While out, my love of our neighbourhood and the goodness of the people in it were reaffirmed.

Our next door neighbour with three girls (aged 7, 12, and 15) wanted Quincy to stay and play while I finished collecting. He could not bust out of the pram quick enough and made himself right at home. When I later went back to get him, he was of course sitting on their old trike and getting off wasn't really in his plan, so she offered to lend it to us. Then when I told her Quincy didn't like the pea soup we were having for dinner, she wanted to send us home with some of their dinner!

At another house, we got invited for a BBQ on the weekend if the weather holds up. At another house we got a recommendation for a landscaper. And Norma insisted on lending us a ride on that her grandchildren wouldn't be using for the next couple months.

How's that for nice neighbours?

life in a small town

you know you live in a small town when...

1. the (note I said the not a) local police man visited our Mainly Music session today to mingle with the mums (and a handful of dads) and meet the littlies. After the music the ladies at the church serve up coffee + tea and some homemade goodies and they have water, biscuits, and apple slices for the kiddos. So I'm thinking he may have been hungry!


2. you go to the local dentist (for the first time) and the first thing he says to you is, "I saw you at music this morning."

Speaking of the dentist, I have been putting it off since before becoming pregnant. Not a good idea. I have quite a bit of work to be done in the next couple of weeks. It'll be good to rid myself of these toothaches, but no one, other than Marsha Brady, likes going to the dentist. I think I'd rather go have another C-section!

Something interesting I learned though... Apparently as babies we pick up the bugs that live in the mouth of one of our parents and that plays a big role in our oral health. So it's especially important to have any decay fixed before having a baby, so those bugs aren't passed on. I really wish I'd known that sooner. Poor Quincy. He doesn't have a chance unless he picks up his dad's bugs.

True? I'm not sure. But interesting nonetheless.

four days later...

and he's crawling on sand. He's a machine I tell ya!

We met Jeremy as he got off the ferry this evening. Pre-Quincy, I used to do that all the time, so it felt like old times.

i love our neighborhood

People stop by for coffee. A couple of neighbors have offered to bring me to the hospital if Jeremy is at work. There is a retired midwife down the street who has offered her services in an emergency. One woman told me I can call her anytime, day or night, if I need anything. One has offered to run errands for me after the bub arrives. Several have offered to babysit. And today I got a phone call from a woman up the road who I often see while walking the dogs. She hadn't seen me for a while and wanted to make sure I was okay and to check if I needed anything.

It's a real throw back.

Oh and last night when Jeremy picked up fish 'n chips, the "fish 'n chips lady" asked him when the baby was coming. Honestly we don't eat fish 'n chips all the time or anything. It's just a seriously small community.

{loose lips}

Who has developed a relationship with their local takeaways shop?

In most village centers here there seem to be two fish 'n chips shops and I'm guessing people pick one and stick with it. Call it loyalty. I am not a fan of seafood and the burgers at our fish 'n chips shop are made fresh from real beef, so our choice was an easy one. By the way, fish 'n chips shops serve more than just fish 'n chips. Typically they also have asian food, burgers, and pretty much anything deep fried, including hot dogs, squid, bananas, pineapple rings, and candy bars. Seriously.

Anyway, last night for some reason, still unknown to me, I decided to take my realtionship with our fish 'n chips lady to the next level...

Well, Jeremy had a rough day, so I suggested getting fish 'n chips. We headed to the local and while I went in to order, Jeremy walked down to the 4 Square for milk. Now it was early, so I was the only customer in the shop and she began talking to me about the baby store that opened up next door. This seemed rather random since it's been a while since the shop opened. She said, "You don't have kids yet but maybe someday you will." When a simple nod or a smile would have done just fine, I instead chose to reply, "Well, actually we're expecting." She got all excited and began pointing to her stomach and making the gestures of a big pregnant belly and said, "You mean this?" Apparently we are having a boar, as in next year is the year of the boar.

Meanwhile Jeremy returned just as the conversation progressed to cribs and clothing. He quietly observed.

Once outside Jeremy turned to me, grinning but in shock and asked, "YOU MEAN YOU TOLD THE FISH 'N CHIPS LADY? IS THERE ANYONE YOU HAVEN'T TOLD? Should we stop and tell this random man on the corner? What's wrong with keeping our personal business private?" This was really no surprise coming from a man who didn't tell a soul, including the people he spends 10 hours a day with, because he didn't want to cause a fuss. Still he has only told a couple people recently, and that was purely out of necessity!

It was all very amusing.

---

Thanks to all of you for your well wishes and kind words lately. :)

unreal.

As I type, mud and rocks are rushing down our street. There is a massive slip at Norma's. Her garage is full of mud and the water is just gushing down. It's unreal. And the bulk of it is going down into our neighbor's house.

It's nearly midnight and there are about 15 neighbours out there working hard; helping the 6 firemen. Trying to shovel the muck into wheelbarrows and build a barrier to guide the slip down the road instead of into our neighbour's house. It's coming down faster than it can possibly be shoveled though.

The sound of shovels scraping against pavement fills the night air. The stream in our neighbourhood sounds like Huka Falls. Unreal.

Jeremy is out there getting dirty using our only shovel. I tried to help but wasn't much use so came back inside.

I wish it was appropriate to go out and take photos. It is such a sight. The teamwork is inspiring. Teenagers through to pensioners. Everyone in gum boots, except my husband who seems to be the only Kiwi without them. Many with their Dry-As-A-Bone's on.

Also there is another slip at Sunshine Bay, the bay just past ours, making the only road to Days Bay and Eastbourne impassible. I was driving home at about 1030 tonight (I never ever go out, mind you!) and there were police at the bottom of my street forcing people to turn around to find accomodation for the night. I was able to turn up my road at least. I had to turn around once I get close to my house though.

Stefanie, I finally had a reason to go up Richmond. To park. Away from the mud.

Note to self: Crocs are not good for trudging through mudslides.

A further indication that the weather is insane... It took the ferry over 9.5 hours to cross Cook Strait. This is normally a 3-hour journey! There were 9-meter swells. The airport has been closed all day. Not a good day to be in Wellington.

ETA: The weather has cleared this morning thankfully. The slips were most likely caused by the logging from several months back. This morning Jeremy said to me, "I thought I'd come in and you'd have clean pants and a hot drink waiting for me. Instead you were there with your camera." To my credit after I took a few pics, I quickly got him dry clothes and a hot drink!