my girl

This girl is amazing. She's strong, intelligent, kind, loving, caring, funny, artistic, creative, musical, compassionate, friendly and cheeky.  Oh, and did I mention that she's incredibly beautiful?

She loves Selena Gomez, Camp Rock, Twilight, Harry Potter, Dr Who and so much more.

She takes great care of her dogs. 

She adores her little brother.  He is so lucky to have her for a big sister, always watching his back and protecting him.  It's not easy to be the sibling of a special needs child, but this gorgeous girl displays such love and understanding that it humbles us every day.

She's our Gig, and we love her so very, very much.

smarter than the average bear

It's been a while since I posted about the Bear and his speech issues.  Which is odd,  as the reason that I started this blog in the first place was to be able to process some of the thoughts and emotions that his journey raises.

So let me tell you how he's going.  Well, he's doing very well with repeating words.  He now repeats about 50 words, including "day-ya" (shower), "dow-dare" (downstairs - said with force, to the dog), "dad-da" (no, not Daddy, but Jasper the dog), "nin-ny" (kindy) and "dee" (afternoon tea).  If he wants something, and we ask him to use his words, he will say "more".  Unfortunately, if he hasn't had "some" of whatever he wants in the recent past, interpreting "more" can be difficult, to say the least.  If he wants assistance, he is learning (with prompting) to say "eh" (help).  And when he wants a cuddle, he needs to say "uh" (up) before we will pick him up.

He is yet to initiate any words other than "har", which means car.  "Har" seems to mean, "Mummy, I'm a bit bored with you.  Let's go and get Daddy and the Gig."

My little Bear is also doing very well with his Occupational Therapy.  He has some motor planning problems (probably motor dyspraxia), and we are working on getting him able to draw descending vertical lines at the moment.  We are also working on sequencing activities, using flash cards to tell him what's coming next.  This is going well.  He likes knowing what's next, but isn't quite so keen on relinquishing control!

The third therapy he is receiving is a Playgroup attached to a Special Needs Early Childhood Unit.  We've only been twice, and each time he has done some spectacular door work.  The second time, his door work wasn't nearly as frenzied or desperate as the first time, so hopefully it will ease as time goes by.

In the meantime, here's what he's really good at - problem solving!

down and out

I was recently asked to reveal my secret. How, I was asked, do I manage to look so young, fresh-faced and utterly gorgeous in every photo?

What? That's not how it happened? Are you saying that, in truth, there was a thread about profile pics over in SIF's fab community and I gratuitously showed off that I have no double chin in my profile pic? (Trust me, I have one - or even two -in real life.)

Is that what happened? Really? But what about my little fantasy that I'm being asked to share beauty secrets? Ohhhhh, I get it...fantasy! Right.

Oh well, because I'm nice, I'll share my no-double-chin secret with you.

Two words. Down, and Out. But the other way round. Out, and Down.

When you're posing for a photo, and pose you must, my friends, because face it, no one's getting any younger here, all you need to do is stick your chin out, then down. Your neck will hurt and you'll look like a turtle, but beauty is pain, my friends, beauty is pain. As for the turtle thing, I'm not sure about you, but I'd prefer to look like a turtle than look double-chinny.

And because I'm extra nice, up the top are some photos to prove my point. The top one is, obviously, the after shot. (They weren't meant to be up the top; they were meant to be down here, but I can't work out how to shift them around. Also, the before shot was clearly meant to be ...er...before the after shot. Pointers gratefully accepted!!)

Yes, it's true, I'm going public with a non-down-and-out photo. I must really love you guys!

flashback friday: hello baby

Gorgeous from the start.

good news/bad news

Yep, folks, it's Fake Wednesday again, which means it's time to join The Missus in all the fun of Good News/Bad News. If you'd like to join in, head over to http://revandthemissus.blogspot.com and link up!

So here's my news for the week -

Good news? The Bear responded really well to his OT this morning
Bad news? He had one tantrum which resulted in a fat lip for me when he threw his head back
Good news? I'm still pretty ;)

Good news? It's nearly school holidays
Bad news? The Easter Bunny is very disorganised
Good news? Still plenty of time to shop
Bad news? Still plenty of time to eat Easter Eggs

Good news? The Gig has finally finished her reading assignment
Bad news? It took her soooo loooong
Good news? She did a great job

Good news? Pacino (remember him? used to be called MOTH?) is taking time off over Easter
Bad news? He's not taking all of the school holidays
Good news? We still have 6 days together as a family

Good news? I'm going out to breakfast with the girls tomorrow after we drop our kids off
Bad news? I'm already thinking about bacon and eggs. Not to mention mushrooms, tomatos, haloumi cheese and really good coffee...

Good news? The Bear is in bed so I can't throw him in the car and go through the McDonald's drive through
Bad news? Now I'm cranky because I want Maccas

And that's my news for the week!

when you're this cute...

You can raid my pantry any time.

a day at the zoo

We went to the zoo yesterday. It was a cloudy, humid day, with rain threatening from morning till afternoon. But it didn't spoil our fun.

We fed Kangaroos,

and miniature horses,
and cuddled guinea pigs.

Because after all, that's what going to the zoo is all about. Spending some time up close and personal with the animals. We didn't cuddle the koalas, because the queue was really long and, well, we've done that before.

Yesterday really illustrated to us how very different our two children are.

One communed with the animals.

The other, meanwhile, had fun with a stick and some dirt.