Internet Helpdesk Part 2

took some cute pix of lachlan playing internet helpdesk the other day that i thought i would share with you all. he loves sitting at the desk in the study and banging away on the computer keyboard and talking on the phone. fortunately, he likes to mimic so most of the time when he is playing with the phone, he is pressing the button to disconnect the call (which he sees me doing when he actually manages to press numbers) so we haven't gotten any huge phone bills because he has accidently called some international number.. i'm sure it's only a matter of time though - just one more reason why you should never leave a toddler unsupervised..

Water Play

you may remember me mentioning in a previous post that i had set up a water play area for lachlan in the atrium.. amazing what you can do with a couple of buckets, scoops, cups and bath toys.. mind you, depending on his mood when he goes in, he can be in there happily scooping away for between 30 seconds and 30 minutes..

It's Only a Matter of TIme..

every visit to a shopping centre these days means that we have to stop so that lachlan can sit in the rides scattered throughout the centre.. i guess i should just be thankful that he hasn't worked out that if you put money in them, things happen so at least it's only costing me time for now, not gold coins! here are a few pix i snapped with my mobile while we've been out and about over the last couple of days..

How quickly they grow..

well, let me think of what's new since i last updated..

lachlan has changed childcare centres and is now going to tallowwood on tuesdays and wednesdays. i took him there for a couple of hours a few times before he started officially so he could get used to the centre and the staff.. he had a fantastic time playing on all the equipment and especially with the water play table they have. unfortunately, his first week there didn't go as well as i had hoped after all the groundwork we put in - he was still very upset about being left there and hardly ate or slept both days he was there. seems that it's not such a fun place to be when mummy isn't by his side. on the up side, he has gotten much better with being left at his grandma's to the extent that he wouldn't even come back to me to give me a cuddle when i dropped him off this week!

he is getting very confident with his walking and almost runs at times now.. he loves climbing on all the equipment at gymboree when we go each week and is getting more independent each day.. he is happier to play on his own rather than insisting that you are within touching distance and will wander around the house from room to room playing with things.. we've set up some buckets with water in them and some scoops and cups for him in the atrium and let him play with it all - some days he really likes it and it will keep him occupied for around half an hour, other days it will last five minutes before his attention wanders to something else..

he has gotten two more teeth on his bottom gum so has 8 in total now.. he also has a molar on the way - you can feel the points of it thru his gum when you press down although i'm a little scared of doing that because he has a habit of adjusting his mouth so that your finger is lined up with his front teeth and then chomping down on you.. ouch!

he has started putting a little weight back on and was 10.9 kgs the last time we weighed him which was a couple of weeks ago now.. he was steady at 10.7 kgs for a couple of months when he first started walking and going to daycare.. burning off more energy than he was consuming, we think..

his eating skills are getting more developed and he is more capable when it comes to self feeding of finger food, and he is showing an interest in holding the spoon and directing it into his mouth during mealtimes.. unfortunately he has also shown an interest in up-ending his bowl and saying "uh-oh" as he watches the contents scatter all over the floor..

he has picked up some other new words and can say "more" and "nana" (banana) as well as make cute noises when you prompt him to tell you what certain animals and things say.. he can do noises for lions, bears, ducks, birds, fish, cars and babies..

he loves reading his books and recognises pictures in there and can match them with other objects - he has a wooden puzzle that has various sea animals and will take the whale piece from the puzzle and tap it on the picture of the whale in his animal book.. he also loves to listen to my singing (strange child, i know) and does the hand movements for a few songs like twinkle twinkle and itsy bitsy spider.. he waves hello and goodbye and likes to pretend to be talking on the phone - even if it's only his hand that he is holding up to his ear..

he is constantly surprising us by how much he understands, and even though he can't always express himself verbally, he is very good and letting us know what he means..

Lachlan's First Haircut

i decided today that the planets were all in alignment and the time had come for lachlan to have his first haircut. we went to tallowwood for a visit this morning which wore him out so he had a two hour sleep before having a huge lunch.. he seemed to be in a good mood so i called the hairdressers in the off chance that they had an appointment available, which they did. i changed him nappy, got him in the car and we headed up to garden city..

things were going great until we got to the hairdressers.. he worked out that something was going to happen and started getting a little anxious.. he didn't like the cape they put on him much (which doesn't surprise me considering he won't wear a bib) and pretty much refused to sit still on the chair by himself so we went to plan b - me sitting in the chair with lachlan on my lap.. about this point, the crying and thrashing started.. the hairdresser decided she would worry less about neatness and more about just getting the hair cut without removing his ears in the process.. by the end of it all, i was standing holding lachlan while the hairdresser quickly trimmed around his ears.. as soon as she finished and we got the cape off, he was fine again and even had a smile and a wave for her as we left..

once we got home, it was bathtime to remove all the hair that was still stuck to his face and neck, and then photo time! it's amazing how much older he looks without the little wispy curls..

A Shoe Fetish

it seems that in the list of things in his life that seem to fascinate him, mummy's shoes rate way up there.. trying on some high heels and taking a stroll around the house seems to be a daily event.. now all i have to do is teach him about colour coordination!

The Internet Helpdesk

we've decided to start training lachlan up for a job on the helpdesk.. he's worked out how the keyboard and mouse work already - it's only a matter of time before he can configure outlook to pop your lotus account while running liveupdate on your symantec products!

meanwhile, if you are ever chatting to me while i'm at home and weird messages appear in the chat window, now you know why!

Child Labour

lachlan has recently discovered there are things in the broom closet and likes to take them out and play with them.. i figure the earlier we train him to do housework, the better, so i have no problems with him getting the mop and bucket out! took these cute pix the other day when he was "helping" me clean the house..

A Day of Firsts..

today was my first day back at work and lachlan's first day at daycare - i'm not sure who was the most traumatised! all i have to say about being back at work is that it's amazing how some things change so much and yet other things that were supposed to change are still the same.. i spent most of the day setting up my machine with all the software that i need to do my job, and socialising with people and catching up on all the news i've missed.. i guess you could say that i didn't actually do that much in the way of work - in fact, i only took one call!

we took lachlan to daycare early so he would have a little bit of time to get settled in before i had to go to work seeing we were expecting tears.. he screamed a bit after i left (i could hear him from the carpark) but john was able to calm him down after awhile by distracting him with toys. however, things went downhill after john left.. he apparently screamed for over half an hour at which point they called john to say he wasn't settling (and was setting off all the other kids).. when john arrived, lachlan had cried himself to sleep, so john left again. lachlan woke up half an hour later and started crying again, so the staff called john again and john went and picked lachlan up and brought him home.. once he got home, lachlan settled down and was good for the rest of the afternoon, although he has been very clingy with me since i got home from work..

one day down, many more to come.. hopefully it won't take him too long to get used to going to daycare, and not be so upset by it.. but i suspect that it's all wishful thinking on my behalf and we will be in for a tough couple of months..

Family Catch Ups

on friday, we headed over to popsy's and nanna's place for lunch with john's family. i remembered to snap a photo of leah and madeline to post so everyone could see how much she has grown.. it's amazing how much they change in three months when they are this little..