A very Kiwi Christmas

We were blessed this year with a classic Hawke's Bay Kiwi Christmas. The weather was not too hot, not too cold, not too windy and just the right amount of sun for a day at the beach. 

Christmas Eve dinner on the deck

Richie enjoying his first Christmas cookie

Christmas lunch at the beach with the obligatory party hats (part of the imported UK Christmas cracker tradition)

Richie and Paul hit the beach after lunch

Did I mention how gorgeous the water was?

Me and my little man. Doesn't he look like a mini J Crew ad here? Totally by accident

It's our 5th Christmas here, and as we polished off our eggnog pie on the deck overlooking the sea at the end of the day and heard cheesy pop songs wafting over from the neighbor's patio, we finally got it. Kiwi's treat Christmas like Americans treat Fourth of July but add the presents. They go to the beach, have a bbq, set off fireworks or noisemakers and get silly drunk by the end of the day with friends.

We're not complaining, it just finally made sense. But we combined some of our family traditions (Swedish meatballs, eggnog pie, Christmas cookies, etc) with our favorite Kiwi ones and had a grand old time. Hope you all had a great holiday too!

Another day at the beach

Nothing says Christmas like singing Jingle Bells on the way to the beach...?! Well, yes that's what we're getting used to here. Lucky for us Northerners we have had a few rainy days to get all the Christmas cookie baking done but other than that it's been full on summer here. The last two Sunday afternoons we've gone down to the local beach to let Richie and Paul cool off in the water. It's still too cold for me, but Richie doesn't seem to mind it  a bit. He squeals with excitement every time the water rushes in around him as he sits in the sand and plays. Lucky for us, this beach is literally down the hill from us and has been recently expanded.  Quite convenient, but the sand isn't as nice as it is at some of the more secluded beaches 30-45 minutes away, like the one we'll be going to for our annual Christmas lunch at the beach.

Have we created a monster?

Ok, I know I've bragged about Richie being a foodie just like his mama, but I think things have gone too far. This weekend, I cooked up the last 2 of the treasured 3 artichokes that were produced by our garden (we planted our own since they are so hard to find and we LOVE to eat them whole). While Richie was happily eating his own dinner, I started to eat mine. He took great interest in it and asked for "bite?"

Heck, I thought, I'll let him try one leaf and A) he won't be able to figure out how to eat it or B) he'll think the strange bitter leaf is yucky and he'll let me finish it in peace. Well, this clever boy picked up the leaf, eyed it like a pro at delicately bit off the tender inner core of the leaf like a gourmand! Of course his next move was to look at me, say "yum!" and ask for more. So Paul and I ended up sharing those last two precious artichokes with Richie, wondering if we've created a monster. I mean, really, kids are not supposed to like "grown up food" right?

Obligatory scary Santa photo

Last night was the big Christmas party for Parent & Child, a great play center where I take Richie twice a week. It was held at a lovely garden nearby that has an amazing elevated miniature railway running through it that the kids (& their parents) can ride on. But the biggest line was to sit on Santa's lap so after 20 minutes of tag-team place holding while one of us ran around with Richie we finally got to the head of the line. Richie smiled at Santa and gave him a high five, but then as if on cue as soon as I put him on Santa's lap, he let out a blood-curdling scream and wriggled right outta there! Cross one more holiday cliche off the list. I'm sure this one will be a classic.

Does oatmeal count as a finger food?

We've really been trying to encourage Richie to use a spoon on his own and while he's getting pretty good at it, sometimes he must feel that it just slows him down too much. So he dives into even the mushiest foods with his fingers in an effort to get it in his mouth faster. And yet he still holds onto the spoon as a token gesture.

More adventures in eating

Mmm, Thai peanut noodles and pork mini meatballs! What's not to like, it's got peanut butter in it, it's noodles and it's very messy!

What's this? Dessert after dinner? Unprecedented!

Oh my, rhubarb crumble is a little bit tart!

But it like it! More please!

Time for a better laundry basket

Until now the lightweight red mesh laundry basket had been ideal for Richie's room. That is until he discovered it makes an awesome costume once completely emptied of its contents.

Mouse Catcher

Richie has always been fascinated by the cat, but now that he's mobile they are beginning to regard each other as playmates. The cat will walk up to him and rub up against him just like he does to us (in hopes of getting food, no doubt). And Richie desperately wants the cat to play with him. If the cat is lying on the floor, Richie will start bringing all his toys over to him and placing them beside him, much to Banderas' amusement. But his favorite game is to pick up the cat's toy mouse (always by the tail, as if he knows what it is) and dangle it in front of him. The cat isn't quite as interested in this but sometimes gives in and takes a swat at the toy. Very cute.

A hairy situation

Richie was born with a great head of dark hair and since then it's morphed into a shaggy blonde mop. In fact, he's got much more hair than his dad now (as Paul says "Live now, Richie live now!"). 

I tried to give him a little trim before we went to Fiji, b

ut it was less than successful and ended with me chasing him around a coffee table with a dull pair of scissors. My mom and sister begged me not to cut his hair, but the hairs in his eyes and down his neck were just too much. So I took him to a professional (and mother of a 14 month old herself) to get a proper haircut.

He sat contentedly on my lap while she clipped aw

ay and 10 minutes later, my baby was gone and a chubby little boy's face was looking up at me. While I'm glad the hair is out of his eyes, he's changed now into a much older looking little man. I have to say the short hair also makes his already jowly cheeks look even wider too. I guess he doesn't really need to worry about flattering haircuts just yet anyway. With the speed that he's moving lately, that baby fat will be short lived.

Above is the before, and here is the after shot.

Happy Father's Day 2.0

Yes, Paul gets TWO Father's Days since it falls on a different day here in NZ (Sept 5) than in the US. We're still debating how we'll sort this out in the future. I say we should only celebrate the NZ one since it'd be too hard for Richie to know about the one in June, but Paul says since he celebrates that day with his Dad, he wants to celebrate it with Richie too. So the bugger somehow gets away with 2 Father's Days while Mommy here is robbed with just one. Oh well, it was a good excuse to have a good meal and go to the park.

I love this pic of Paul and Richie checking out the spring blooms at the Botanical Garden.

Later we went to a friends' place for dinner with their two adorable little boys. They asked if Richie could join them in the bath, and well the results speak for themselves. Cuteness 3.0!

Ode to a sand pit

Or sand box as they're known on the other side of the world. Despite my aversion to large plastic toys, I caved in and got Richie a "clam shell," which is an NZ-made blue plastic shell (yes, they only come in one color) that you can fill with sand and then buy another one to use as a lid or paddling pool. We were going to build a wooden sandbox, but since our garden is so overgrown with plants, it's very hard to dig through all those roots. And the advantage of the clam shell is that I can move it around according to where it's shady and use the lid as a pool when it gets hot.

Richie loved playing in the sand in Fiji and has played in the sand box at Parent and Child before, but when I showed him his very own sandbox in the side yard, his eyes absolutely lit up! Soon afterwards, his friend Chiara came over and the Mommies were able to have a nice cup of coffee on the front deck while they played away in the sandbox. Mommy likes this very much and is looking forward to getting lots of gardening done and peaceful cuppas on the deck this summer with Richie in the box.

Where do I start?

Since we got back from Fiji, Richie has been amazing us on a daily basis.
First, the day we got back he decided to master his little wooden wagon and take it all over the house without any assistance. He even would back it up and do a three-point turn in the hallway to turn around.
Second, on day two he decided he wasn't going to wait for us to take him upstairs, he was going to do it himself and climbed up the entire staircase (and part of the way back down before we had to stop him from trying to go down head first) on his own on HIS VERY FIRST ATTEMPT! He had never even shown an interest in the stairs until then. We learned something very important about his personality then. He isn't a reckless daredevil type, he observes, analyzes and then when he's got the problem solved completely in his mind, he does it. Nothing half-ass.

Third, last weekend he took his first 3 solo steps for Dad as Mom was out at the garden center (drat). He was playing with my big pilates ball and he let pushed it away and then step, step, stepped back to it. We tried to get him to do it again for mom but he'd just stand there and bounce up and down to taunt us. The next day he took another three steps for the babysitter (are you kidding me??? I am with him 95% of the time and he does this to me?!). But when he got home Mommy tricked him into taking a few shuffle steps for her too. Now he's up to about 5-6 in a row and gaining confidence every second. He's also picked up dancing along the way and likes to stand and giggle up and down. Very amusing to watch.

Two of my favorite things

Richie and a Fijian sunset. Just back from our trip. Will post more photos soon, but this one is my favorite!

Monkey Business

Richie's 1st Birthday Party! He's still coming down off that banana cupcake sugar high!

Caught in the act

Literally while I was publishing the last post about what Richie did yesterday, this is what Richie was up to today.

Yes, he is now STANDING in the crib whilst throwing his pacifier out. Gee, I wonder what's next. (I know, don't say it...)

uh oh

Somebody forgot to raise the crib rail. And somebody else isn't letting his sleeping bag stop him from climbing all over after his nap.

Belated 4th of July Festivities

Obviously the 4th of July isn't a major holiday here, but we still had plenty of celebrating as Richie attended his first, 1st birthday party for his friend Chiara during the day. That night after dinner (remember it gets dark early here since it's winter) we bundled him up and took him outside to set off some sparklers and small fireworks that I bought months ago during the one time of the year that it is legal to buy them in NZ (Nov 5th for Guy Fawkes celebrations).

Richie loved them. We saved some of the sparklers for his birthday in a couple weeks.

But the reason I'm posting this now is that we finally received our first American flag from Paul's parents yesterday. They sent it long before the 4th of July for Richie to have, but the envelope appears to have been damaged en route and hence delayed. It arrived in a plastic bag with a note from the US Postal Service apologizing for the damage. Luckily the flag was unscathed and when I presented it to Richie today, he went nuts waving it around. Who know he was such a patriot?

Put a lid on it

Richie has hit the lid phase of his toy obsessions. Surely this is a common phenomenon. Anything with a lid becomes fascinating. He takes the lid off, waves it around, sometimes offers it to me and then smashes it back down into place (or upside down into place, whatever works for him at the moment). Of course we have taken it one step further and taught him to put the lids on his head too. Sometimes the results are just too cute not to share.

Rice is nice

The other night at dinner Richie had finished his finger food and we were trying to feed him some apples & rice (he was getting over a stomach bug so he was on the BART diet). Every time the spoon came at him he kept pushing it away, which is very unlike him. Finally we put a bit on his tray and he grabbed at it. He just wanted to feed himself, even though rice isn't exactly the ideal candidate. Believe it or not, he did manage to get some in his mouth too. Could chopsticks be far behind for this fellow?

Busting out

Every now and then Richie does something that takes my breath away. 2 weeks ago it was him starting to use baby sign language (more on this in another post, I videoed that one). Last week it was this. Richie has double doors on his bedroom (don't ask me why, the house came like that). We keep one door closed and use the other side most of the time. I put him down in front of his chair next to the open door and 10 minutes later I came back and he had worked his way around the entire perimeter of the room, making a big U from the chair to the stool, to the rocking chair, along the crib, to the changing table along the dresser and then scaled his way along the closed door until he was hanging halfway out into the hallway, as if to say "I'm busting outta here Mom!" He was obviously very proud of himself.

The Lion Tamer

Richie's discovered a new form of transportation: scooting. With the help of the friendly toy library lion Richie can now scoot up and down the hallway to his heart's content. It's amazing how quickly he caught on to the whole process. At first we would just pull him up along. Then all of a sudden he realized that if he pushed with his feet he didn't need us anymore. Now he can go backward and forward and push his way along carpet as well as hardwood floors. Lucky for us they have a whole range of these scooting toys at the toy library. Next he can move up to the zebra.