The skills you learn as a mother

Well, apart from the expected, like how to look after your child, I could add "can fix matchbox cars" to my resume the next time I update it. However, as of yesterday I can now add "basic hair cutting" to my list of skills. I have been cutting Mathew's hair for 12 years and Brendon has recently watched me cutting Mathew's hair and asked if I could cut his too. Although the hairdresser has been doing it since he was 7 months old, he now refuses to let her anywhere near him with the scissors. We only have a No. 2 comb for our clippers, and it's the only haircut I know how to do. Brendon sat very still on Mathew's lap, much better than he ever did for the hairdresser, and didn't get too stressed by the sound of the clippers on his head. His new hair cut has taken Mathew and I a little getting used to, but it looks ok now.

Like father like son

Yesterday I couldn't help laughing every time I looked out the window and saw this...Mathew and Brendon mowing the lawn together. Everywhere Mathew went with his lawn mower, Brendon was right behind him with his.

Check out my pyjamas

Here they are...I made them myself. Check out paulinestips.blogspot.com for more on how I made these.

New blog

I've joined the frugality movement! I'm trying to live more simply, waste less, etc. Follow my journey on my new blog...paulinestips.blogspot.com

Bay to Birdwood and Brendon's birthday

On Brendon's birthday we went on the Bay to Birdwood in our Mini. It was great fun, as we congregated with 1800 other cars at West Beach, before heading off towards Birdwood. As it was the 50th year of minis in Australia, the minis headed off first. I was surprised at how many people were out and about, lining the streets of Adelaide and on the way up the hill. There must have been hundreds of thousands of people waving and cheering us on. What a blast! There was about 50 minis in the parade and most of them parked together at the Birdwood Motor Museum at the end.
At the end of the day we came home and Brendon got to open the last of his birthday presents and have his third and final birthday cake...a Bay to Birdwood cake, complete with toy cars relevant to the period of the cars in the event (pre 1977). Thanks to the Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake book my cake decorating skills has vastly improved!

New roof, camping and birthday cake

Here are some photos taken recently. They include photos of our old roof coming off, new roof going on, camping at Burra Gorge and the first of Brendon's birthday cakes (Bananas in Pyjamas).

Updates

I just realised it's been a while since I updated the blog. What can Brendon do now...he can count to 10, identify all numbers up to 10, can tell you that if you have 2 and 1 more make 3 and 3 and 1 more make 4, sing the alphabet song, knows M is for Mum, D is for Dad, G is for Granddad or Grandma, N is for Nanna. He had a chest infection and ear infection, it went away but then his cough came back again. Then he shared his virus with his Dad! He can also tell you that he will be 2 "in September" and that he wants a party! He is now only having a breast feed two or three times per week. He is going down for his daytime sleep in his cot without needing a breast feed to get him off to sleep. He can sing lots of songs and loves to sing all day long. As I type this he is singing "Roads Will Take You There" which is a Playschool song. He also loves making up songs and tends to change words of songs he knows to make them about Mokes and Mini's. For example, the song We're Going On a Bear Hunt he sings as We're Going On a Mini Hunt. Brendon loves building things with his Lego, just like Mum and Dad. He is 92cm tall and no longer fits under the overhand of the breakfast bar without banging his head. He has gone up the next level at Gymbaroo as the instructor thought he needed a bit more challenge, and he seems to enjoy it so far. Brendon is learning to say our address, which I think is important in case of emergency. He loves numbers so much these days that his favourite passtime is to tell us the numbers on the mail boxes when we go for a walk.