Life under a Pepper Tree

I don't even know where to start with this post.  The past week has been one crazy busy work nightmare.  It just doesn't end.  There's been just a couple of fleeting moments during the week where I've thought to take my camera out and get some shots of Dylan, knowing full well that I may not get another chance.  I'm happy that at least one of my few shots turned out half decent.  Dylan playing with every possible toy dragged outside on the driveway, and with a cheeky grin (with lunch still on his face), he was so thrilled that mummy could get off the computer and play for just a few minutes.  Mother guilt right here... A portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2015 Joining in with Jodi and Project 52 . Bel

A few weeks ago Dylan helped me plant some cherry tomato plants into a pot.  It's a bit late in the season for it, but I figured it was worth a shot.  Last year I had some that grew out from seeds that went through the worm farm process before being watered over the garden.  Dylan loved picking those tomatoes, and as he wasn't really eating them at that stage he just squished them between his fingers and generally made a mess!  Most days I try to get Dylan out into the garden and have a look at how the tomatoes are growing.  We talk about how tall they are, and how they now have lots of little yellow flowers that will hopefully produce us some yummy fruit.  We currently have 3 little green tomatoes growing that little fingers like to poke and touch!  I'm hoping they'll reach maturity before the temptation to pick them off becomes too strong. A portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2015 Joining in with Jodi and Project 52 . Bel

Dylan started whinging mid-morning that he wanted to go to the park.  No amount of play out in the backyard was as good as the park.  They predicted rain, and we could see the looming storm clouds.  The closest park was our choice to get the maximum play time in, and have the shortest route home in case the rain started falling.  The longer we stayed, the blacker the sky got, and the more fun Dylan seemed to be having.  After maybe 20 minutes we felt the first spots of rain, and we hightailed it out of there.  Dylan was devastated and cried the whole way home (about 2 minutes drive!).  Of course within about 15 minutes of being home, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  Bugger! A portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2015 Joining in with Jodi and Project 52 . Bel

So last weekend really was a busy one.   On the Sunday we decided to join a few others on a navigational run with our car club.   We hadn’t been on a car club run in ages, so it was nice it get the Kombi out and go for a drive.  It was our club's 30th Anniversary, and this same route we were about to take was first done on the original run of the club. We met up with all the other starters at Parramatta.   We got our question sheet, and hit the road carefully following the directions.   We managed to not miss any important signs, or take any wrong turns which was a miracle!   It really was a nice drive and Dylan happily sat in his seat looking out the Kombi windows.   He only really got a bit cranky after we told him we were going on a boat, but when we got there, he wasn’t allowed out of the car.   I guess the ferry across the river there is a pretty short ride and so they don’t allow people to get out and have a good look around.   We finally made it to t

There's no fooling this boy.  Thomas is blue.  I should know that.  Percy is green apparently.  I didn't know until I googled it.  Last weekend we took a ride on a steam train from Central all the way down to Wollongong and back.  We'd been telling Dylan about going on a train all week, and finally the day arrived.  He was so excited to be going on a "real train", as opposed to what? A fake train??  Who knows!  We drove to a local train station to get a maybe-not-quite-real train into Central.  Here we found that Mummy was wrong and had been winding him up all week with the promise of a Thomas train.  Toddlers are sure quick to point out your mistake!!   We spotted the Percy train!  The Percy train! We hopped onboard and took our seats.  Dylan was just so thrilled to see EVERYTHING!  From the sounds of the train, the steam out the window, the gentle rocking as we chugged along the tracks.  We watched out the window as so many people stopped, wav

If I had a dollar for every time I got asked "mummy, play cars?" I think I'd be a very rich person!  And if it's not cars, then it's trains, or trucks or diggers.  We've had a busy week and so on one of the days where we had a couple of hours at home with no plans, we brought what seemed like every possible toy car, truck, and digger out into the sunshine and just played.  Racing up and down the driveway, standing in the dirt, rolling around on the grass.  Whatever Dylan wanted to do and play, we just did it.  Couldn't get the smile off his face.  At one point he just sat in the middle of the driveway and lined up all the cars he had been driving around in the back of his truck.  My funny sweet boy.  I wonder what he was thinking... A portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2015 Joining in with Jodi and Project 52 . Bel

I fully admit, this is a BAD photo.  I was laughing so hard at the time that I'm sure it could have been a lot worse!  Hubby has been invited to a colleague's birthday party next weekend, and much to his horror it's a dress up theme; super heroes and villains.  He's procrastinated for a few weeks now on what he could go as.  Eventually he decided that trying to put something together himself just wouldn't work and so I was asked to look around for a suitable costume.  The local party shop near my work had a selection of costumes and with maybe 3 or 4 easily identifiable as "super heroes".  I picked the "best" of them, the best being the one that had built in arm muscles and a six pack!!  So as of Friday I became the proud owner of a "one size fits most" batman outfit.  $35 bought me the jumpsuit with built in muscles, a belt, a cape and the face mask.  Bargain! So come Saturday morning I sit Dylan up in front of the TV for a few mi

I'm very quickly realising that this lovely summer is almost over, and with the end of summer also comes the end of daylight savings. Now autumn is certainly not all doom and gloom, but I am firmly in the summer-loving camp.  We've been having a fair bit of trouble in the past weeks getting Dylan to sleep, both daytime naps and night time.  He cries, he calls out, we go in to his room and we hear every "excuse" under the sun. Here's the usual list: He needs a "mummy cuddle" He wants some water.... but only from one specific drink bottle He needs a tissue He needs to go to the toilet He's hot, he wants his fan on He's "sick" and needs medicine He wants his toy train He wants a specific toy car and don't even think about getting him the wrong one cos that will be the end of the world He wants you to rinse his dummy as it tastes "yucky" He wants a "daddy cuddle" He wants a different dummy He wants a di