More things I'm loving

1. UP & GO. I'd have been lost without these drinks, they have been so handy both for midnight snacks when breastfeeding, and then for meal replacements for me this week on my liquid diet.

Actually I think I'm probably in love with food in general at the moment, because I can't eat most of it! It's been a form of torture seeing and smelling the delicious meals coming out of Mark's kitchen each night, plus I've been cooking up meals to freeze for Mylo during the day and often haven't been able to sample even his blended versions! I think I feel a mini food rampage coming on when I'm back on the hard stuff!

2. Noah's letter recognition and writing. He now writes his name with a little bit of guidance, and practices writing his letters (capital and small) most nights in the condensation of the shower, asking me to guess what he has written. We look at the various bottles of shower gel and shampoo and he tries to spot any of the letters from his 'letter of the week'. This week is H, h so he already decided on Monday that he'd be taking his Westpac Rescue helicopter for show and tell tomorrow. Last week was E, e - has anyone ever tried to think up nouns starting with e? There aren't many that's for sure. We resorted to the dictionary, the obvious ones for show and tell were elephant, egg, and envelope. There are lots of describing words starting with e, just not many nouns. In the end, Noah took the polystyrene Easter Eggs that he had helped Grandma paint at Easter.

3. Baby sign language. We're just starting out with Mylo. We taught Noah how to sign from when he was about 10 months old, and from memory he started signing back to us when he was about a year old. The time it was most useful was between the ages of 12-18 months when he understood so much of what we were saying and yet we couldn't understand his speech at that point. The favourites I remember using from last time were MILK, EAT, MORE, FINISHED, PARDON ME, THANK YOU, CAT, DOG, GIRAFFE, AEROPLANE, HELICOPTER, TURTLE, SLEEP, WHERE. As Mylo is already very dexterous with his fingers and we are starting a bit earlier than we did with Noah, it will be interesting to see how long it is before Mylo responds with his own signs.

4. Sunny windless afternoons. On Sunday (before the dry socket kicked in) I took in some fresh air on a gentle walk to the dairy and back. Loved the late afternoon sun shining on the side of Mt Victoria, and the vivid blue sky. It felt so crisp, and wintry all of a sudden, and the sun's warmth is definitely a much watered down version of what it was even a few weeks back. And then I realised it is May already, so the weather was totally in keeping with a late autumn afternoon!

5. Flash Forward. The first season has been ace, lots of twists and turns. ~~And Mark Benford makes good eye candy~~ (oops did I say that out loud?). I'm just hoping it doesn't lose the plot like LOST did so many seasons ago.

6. Boy The Movie - Oh how I laughed (as did Mark). It poked fun at the Maori culture in such a clever, but not unreasonable way. But it also had its poignant moments too. I'm not sure how well it would be understood by non-Kiwis though - most of the humour was very local. The dance during the credits which was part Michael Jackson's Thriller/part haka was fabulous. I really could have adopted Boy's little brother Rocky. And with other character's names like Alamein, Chardonnay, and Dynasty, how could this movie not be delightful. See it if you haven't!

http://www.boythemovie.co.nz/

Rocky's got magic powers. Alamein is the best Dad in the world. Just not in this world.

Welcome to my interesting world.

7. Homemade cards with my 'stampin up' prize kit. Keeping a low profile after my operation meant I haven't had much time to pop out to buy cards (like for Mothers Day). So instead I've enjoyed being a little creative and saving a few doleros in the process.

8. Little Treasures craft ideas. Even when I've finished with the magazines, I always go through and tear out the craft/play sections and put them in a folder for future reference. Last weekend, this resulted in some fun new games for us to try out.

What's Missing - we spread about a dozen items (mostly toys) on a blanket and then while one person wasn't looking, the other took an item (or two) away. The person then had to guess what was missing. Noah was incredibly good at this. But then he has a fantastic memory, so why should we be surprised?

Balloon boxing - we strung 3 balloons up on some string in the air between 2 chairs and boxed/kicked them. I must say quite a good stress reliever. Must remember that for the future.

Balloon Tennis - we then took the balloons off but left the string up for a net, and made some racquets/bats from rolled up newspapers. This kept Noah entertained for quite some time. So simple, but a really good game for his age and stage.

9. Cherry tomatoes - the last of this year's produce is ripening in the kitchen as we speak. Even Mylo has been trying them.