Size matters
We were out at Officeworks today, getting something bound. While we were waiting, we walked around, looking at various things, but not buying. Daddy and Elijah were checking out the computers when Elijah spied a
Dell Hybrid. "Look Daddy, that's an Elijah-sized computer!" he said. I guess, proportionately, indeed it was.
Labels: intelligence, out and about
Can we go to the Child Care, Mummy?
We've enrolled Elijah in the Child Care centre down the road, three days a week. Now that I'm working more during the day and now that he's getting older and closer to when he must go to school, we decided to bite the bullet and put him into part-time care. We tried contacting Family Day Care, but they never returned our calls, so we checked out the very small centre nearby and decided that it's actually quite a good fit for us. What we like about it most is that it seems to be the antithesis of pretty much every other centre we've ever seen. It's small (definitely less than 30 children there all up, including the babies - possibly less than two dozen, but I haven't counted). There's a high ratio of carers to children. The carers are busy but not harried or overwhelmed. They encourage parental involvement. They aren't rigid with their programming. The owners are there on site and involved in the care of the children at the centre as well as the business side of things. They just reduced their fees when all the other centres are putting them up. All up, it didn't feel like a "machine" like other centres I've visited.
The big benefit for Elijah is that he gets to socialise with other children and will hopefully learn that he is also a child and not a small adult, which is his current perspective. We're not too concerned at the moment about the educational side of the centre because that's not our focus. We just want him to be able to socialise with his peers instead of running away from them, screaming in fear.
The best thing, however, is that Elijah loves it there. He wants to go every day, doesn't want to leave and asks to go back as soon as we've closed the gate. He particularly likes the toys they have, which is funny because he has plenty of toys at home that he hasn't touched in ages, but he also seems to like the carers and the environment and there has been no separation anxiety whatsoever. He is coming home exhausted and ratty, but hopefully as he gets used to it, that will settle down.
Next week is actually our first week of attendance on all three days. This week he only attended Monday and Friday because he was suffering from a cold midweek and too sick to go. Last week he was there with Daddy for two hours of orientation and then a full day by himself. Next week, he'll be champing at the bit to go for all three days, I'm sure.
Labels: child care, milestones
Darling Harbour jaunt
Some of my family stayed with us last weekend on route to Melbourne. Elijah's cousin was on tour with her school music ensembles and so we all trekked in to Darling Harbour to watch the first gig of their tour. The poor students and teachers had spent 15.5 hours on the bus travelling and had only arrived at their accommodation at 6:30am that day. They'd only had about three hours broken sleep at best.
Elijah with his aunt (my sister) and cousin before the gig. His uncle is in the background.Elijah was extremely well behaved. He watched the concert band, the string ensemble and the jazz band in awe and applauded after each item, with our prompting.
Elijah with his cousin, uncle and aunt
Elijah watches the musicians on his older cousin's lapHe was particularly fond of the trumpets.
Elijah and his "trumpet"
Afterwards, we got on the bus with the band members and went for a very short ride into the city to hang out with Elijah's cousin for a bit longer.
Elijah and his younger cousin (the musician) after the gig - she was exhausted!
We ended up having our lunch delayed and Elijah did remarkably well, considering. He didn't whinge or complain that he was hungry, just asked nicely if we could have lunch. I ended up buying him a muesli bar from a vending machine to tide him over until we found something a bit more substantial.
After lunch, we wandered around for a bit and then as we headed back over Pyrmont bridge with Elijah in the stroller, it started to rain lightly. Elijah found it hilarious that he was getting wet. He still talks about it almost a week later.
The best bit about the whole expedition is that Elijah did it without nappies and without accidents! He is now well and truly toilet trained.
Labels: family, music, out and about, photos, potty training
A good ol' barn raisin'
Elijah and his babysitter built this awesome barn for his animals last weekend. The best part about having new babysitters is the fact that they bring new ideas and new games into the mix!
Labels: photos, playtime
Fox in Socks
Elijah's favourite book at the moment is
Fox in Socks.
He's also very reluctant at the moment to change out of his PJs in the morning.
Solution:
In case you are wondering what he's doing, he's prepping for a handstand. I couldn't catch a good shot of him upside down.
Labels: monkey business, photos, reading
#1 Fan (aka Oops I forgot to blog this)
We took Elijah to see a children's show in a shopping centre back on April 22nd. It was The
YellowKat Show. Elijah loves YellowKat. We have both the CDs and he also has a t-shirt, as you can see in the photos. He's pretty much YellowKat's number one fan. He loved the show.
The only problem was, we didn't tell him that a certain familiar face was playing YellowKat. Recognise her?
Elijah was a bit confused and didn't want to talk to YellowKat after the show. When the costume and makeup were removed, he was ready for cuddles again.
Labels: music, out and about, show business
Oh well
Elijah didn't get a callback. Never mind. At least he had fun. The brief did specifically ask for a blonde, so perhaps the clients didn't want to budge on that.
Labels: show business
Elijah with his aunt (my sister) and cousin before the gig. His uncle is in the background.
Elijah with his cousin, uncle and aunt
Elijah watches the musicians on his older cousin's lap
Elijah and his "trumpet"
Elijah and his younger cousin (the musician) after the gig - she was exhausted!
